Overnight Coffee Cake

My sister Trish took this pic. Ain't it festive? 

I owe everything about this recipe to my sister Trish.  She found this gem of a Paula Deen recipe and shared it with the rest of my family.  It's gooey, and caramel-y, and gooey, and buttery, and gooey.  Did I mention it's gooey? Seriously, this is the coffee cake to make all other coffee cakes swoon.  It's sort of a cross between cinnamon rolls and monkey bread, and yet it's better than either of those. 

The best part of this recipe is that it is incredibly easy to make.  You assemble the ingredients the night before without breaking a sweat, and let it rise overnight.  The  next morning, you simply stumble out of bed, pour yourself some coffee (Important:  Do NOT skip the coffee step), preheat the oven, and bake the coffee cake. 

I can't rave enough about how this is the perfect balance between decadent treat and amazingly simple.  Your family and friends will assume you slaved over it, but you'll know that it took mere minutes.  That is, of course, until they ask you for the recipe.  But do everyone a favor and share the recipe.  You never know when someone will make this for you out of sheer gratitude. 

I will be serving this on Christmas morning in my house.  It's the perfect holiday splurge.  That's right, I said SPLURGE. Don't think for a minute that this is a "light" recipe.  It's a real, honest-to-goodness, lip-smacking holiday recipe that you pull out for special occasions.  I fully believe that in order to maintain a healthy eating plan, you need to indulge.  It will keep you sane and you'll be glad you did! 

In the words of my sister when she emailed me the pictures, "I want coffee cake." 

Broccoli Casserole

This dish has replaced the much beloved green bean casserole on my family's holiday table.  It is super easy to prepare, cheesy and gooey to eat, and versatile, in that you can cook it in the oven or the crockpot.  Since the oven at my house is BEYOND tiny, that's an added bonus.  My mom got this recipe from a coworker.  All I can say is: God bless that coworker!

No, it's not very healthy.  But hey, it's the holidays.  I won't apologize for this dish, and neither should you.  It's not something you eat all the time.  But every once in a while, it's a real treat.

This recipe feeds many.  It makes a 13 x 9 pan FULL of goodness, and a little bit goes a long way.  If you feel this is too much, feel free to halve the recipe and make it in an 8 x 8 pan. But in my house, there has to be enough to feed the family, and then supply two households with leftovers.  So we always go with the big pan. 

Enough chit chat, though.  On to the recipe.  It's almost Thanksgiving, and we've got cooking to do!

Thanksgiving Plan (and bonus Sweet Potato Puff recipe)

 

FYI: This is NOT my table. 

Before I had my son, holidays were a fun time to plan a daring meal and enjoy lots of time in the kitchen with family members.  Now that kids are in the picture, holidays have changed a bit.  I prefer to be in the kitchen less, and spending more time with the kids.  So that means that my menus have had to adapt and change as well. 

This year for Thanksgiving I am focusing on getting as much cooking and prep done ahead of time. Since I have the day before Thanksgiving off from work, I will probably use that day to leisurely do my prepping.  The meal will be simple (for me, that is) but full of the flavors that myself and my family enjoy. 

I'm going to provide links to some recipes (and one actual recipe courtesy of my sister Trish), but I am writing this post more to give you an idea of my plan of attack, rather than my specific recipes.  Every family has their own traditional recipes, and I'm not about to mess with yours! But here's the plan for mine:

Simple Entertaining Meal

With Easter just around the corner, I thought I'd share a little bit about what our family will be having for a simple but special meal (emphasis on simple).  Here's a sneak peak.  It's a repeat of a meal my sister Julz made to entertain with awhile back.  Read on...

Recently my sister Julz decided to have a bunch of people over for Sunday lunch after church.  Well, it wasn't just a few...it was actually closer to 20 people.  I know.  I know.  Crazy!  But really, it wasn't.  Somehow she managed to pull off a delicious meal that was easy to make, a cinch to clean up, and all while being 4 months pregnant and having a 9 month old daughter hanging on her hip.  "Is she super woman?" you ask.   No.  But she was smart about her menu.  Here's what she did: