Mmmm Cracker Barrel Potato Casserole

My boyfriend absolutely loves potatoes but is very very picky on how they're prepared. He had no desire to even try a piece of this casserole when it first was taken out of the oven...but low and behold after seeing me dig into it he couldn't resist. Now...I've been volun-told that I will be making a second casserole tomorrow for the party at his mom's place ...lol!!--Hopefully the Irish family will like it as much as the two of us do.

Author: CopyKat Recipes

Recipe Type: Side Dish

Prep time: 10 min

Cook time: 45 min

Serves: 10

This classic casserole is one of our favorite recipes at Copykat.com. You don't even need to be an experienced cook to make this dish--it is easy.

Ingredients

• 1 (2 pound) package frozen hash browns
• 8 ounces sour cream
• 1 can cream of chicken soup
• 1/2 cup margarine or even butter works very well also
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 2 cups grated Colby cheese (personal note--I prefer sharp cheddar)

Instructions

Place potatoes in a greased 9x13 inch pan. Season with salt and pepper. Melt butter in the microwave. In a bowl, add minced onions, sour cream, cream of chicken soup, and melted butter and mix together. Pour soup mixture over potatoes; sprinkle with cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes, or until all is completely warm, and the cheese begins to melt.

One of the best things about the Cracker Barrel Hash Brown Casserole is you can literally serve it for any meal. One thing is for certain: now you won't wonder how to make the Cracker Barrel Hash Brown casserole anymore!

Apple Fritters Anyone?

I really don't have much of a sweet tooth but when it comes to Apple Fritters (made the right way) and Butter Tarts (made with the right pastry shell) I CANNOT resist. Here is an easy recipe that is bound to be a hit in your home. Give it a try and let me know what you think. Thanks to one of my favourite Canadian Chefs, Stefano Faita on CBC television

                          Photo compliements of In the Kitchen on CBC television

Coated in cinnamon and sugar, kids and adults will do anything to get their hands on this dessert.

INGREDIENTS

2/3 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup ground almonds or almond flour
1 tsp. sugar
Pinch salt
1/2 tsp. baking powder
Pinch cinnamon
1 egg, beaten
2/3 cup milk
1/2 tsp. vanilla
2 large apples, such as golden delicious or McIntosh (about 1/2 pound)
2 tbsp. lemon juice
Flour, for dredging apples
Vegetable oil, for frying
Icing sugar, for finishing fritters
1 tbsp. ground cinnamon, for finishing fritters (optional)
1 cup sugar, for finishing fritters (optional)

PREPARATION

In a large bowl, combine flour, ground almonds, 1 tsp. sugar, salt, pinch cinnamon and baking powder. Set aside.
Combine egg, milk and vanilla. Gently stir the wet ingredients into the dry. Let the batter rest in fridge for 30 minutes.
Peel and core apples. Slice apples into 1/2-inch thick rings. Sprinkle apple slices with lemon juice to stop them from browning.
Meanwhile, in deep fryer or deep saucepan, heat about 2 to 3-inches oil, over medium heat to 375 degrees F.
Dredge apple rings in flour, shaking off excess. Then dip into batter to evenly coat. Carefully add fritters to hot oil, in batches, turning once. Fry fritters until apple is tender and batter is golden brown, about 3 minutes. Transfer to paper towels to remove excess oil.
Dip fritters in icing sugar. Alternatively, make cinnamon sugar by combining 1 cup sugar with 1 tbsp. ground cinnamon and dip fritters in the cinnamon sugar. Serve warm.

Yield: 4 servings.

Kit Kat Lasagna?? Yes please!!

I have a fabulous Educational Assistant that works alongside me in my Comprehensive Intellectual class. She truly is one of a kind. I am very grateful to have her in my classroom helping out just about everywhere. This particular day while I was assisting other students, she took the lead in putting together an AMAZING KitKat lasagna as our classroom treat with one of our students. This recipe is fool proof and no bake.

Give it a try and I challenge you not to love it as much as we did!!

What you need:
3 family size KitKat blocks
250g Cream Cheese 
1 container of whip cream
1 packet Graham Crackers or Sweet Biscuits
1 lasagna dish

 Putting it all together:
1. Soften the cream cheese
2. Combine the cream cheese with the whip cream
3. Place one layer of graham crackers into the lasagna dish
4. spread on a layer of the cream cheese/ whip cream combination
5. generously place on a layer of kit kat
6. repeat steps 3,4 and 5 until the desired amount of layers have been reached
7. Chill in fridge for a couple hours
8. Cut and enjoy!!

I would love to hear what you thought of this recipe once you've tried it!

Chicken Wings in an Actifry??---Yes Please!!

Anyone who knows me well KNOWS that I am a HUGE wingnut!! I am craaaazy about my chicken wings. I have been as long as I can remember. Serve them to me hot or cold, I'll eat'em! About a year ago I bought myself this amazing machine called the actifry. I bought it for the purpose of cooking my french fries but as I soon discovered [insert suspense music here] that chicken wings baked VERY nicely in this gadget.

With this new found discovery I decided to look online for new ways to marinade my wings and found my hands-down new love. I would like to introduce you all to---

Emeril's Oven Roasted Chicken Wings

Chicken Wings

You won't have to clean the fryer or hide from your doctor ... Need I say more?

• Yield: 4 to 6 servings

Ingredients

• 4 pounds chicken wings, wing tips removed, separated at the joints
• 1/4 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon garlic powder
• 1 tablespoon onion powder
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 2 teaspoons dried thyme
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne
• 4 tablespoons butter, melted
• Your favorite sauce, for serving, such as barbecue sauce, ranch dressing, or blue cheese dressing, optional

Directions

• Preheat the oven to 500 F.
• Line large rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil. In large mixing bowl, combine wings and lemon juice and mix thoroughly. Add pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, and salt. While crushing between your fingers, add thyme. Mix again and add cayenne and butter. Mix thoroughly, then transfer wings to baking sheet and arrange in one layer. Roast in oven for 10 minutes, rotate pan and cook 10 minutes longer until wings are nicely browned and cooked through. Serve alone or with your favorite dipping sauce.

                                          BON APPETITE!!

Spicy beer sauce anyone?

There is a restaurant my boyfriend and I frequent called Qb's, they serve THE most amazing Spicy beer chicken penne pasta. The sauce simply is to die for...it's creamy and has just the right amount of spiciness. We really wanted the restaurant to share their recipe with us but as we expected it's a chef secret. After spending many, many meals eating their awesome spicy beer sauce in their pasta; on their fries and even on their chicken wings I decided to try my own hand at creating this sauce. After many many attempts I am pleased to share with you my replica of the Spicy Beer Sauce. Do let me know what you think of it as this is my attempt at creating a sauce from scratch. Use it in your pasta; on fries; as a dip...let me know what you would use my spicy beer sauce for.

Ingredients:
3 teaspoons of finely diced garlic
2 tablespoons of olive oil
2 tablespoon of flour
2 cups of cream
1/2 a cup of parmesan cheese (grated)
1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese (I use old)
1/2 a cup of beer (I use whatever is cheap)
1/2 stick of butter
6 teaspoons of chili powder
6 teaspoons of cayenne pepper
salt to taste
cornstarch

What to do:
1. Using enough olive oil to coat the bottom of frying pan sautee the garlic on low heat.
2. Sautee flour in with the garlic
3. Add cream and butter
4. Add beer, chili and cayenne pepper
5. Begin to cook the entire sauce on medium heat
6. Add both parmesan and cheddar cheese
7. Add salt to taste
To thicken up the sauce stir in cornstarch (approximately 3 tablespoons)

Bon Appetite!! ENJOY!!

Gotta try this butter tart recipe

I love, love, love, LOVE butter tarts. They are my absolute favourite dessert/snack to have (aside from fresh apple fritters). The flakiness of the tart and the gooiness of the filling make them so irresistable. I am currently looking for THE BEST recipe out there. There is a place called Madelyn's Cafe in Stratford, Ontario that serves `to die for`ones but I can`t be driving 2 hours out of town just for them everytime I have a craving for a fantastic butter tart. Which is why I have decided to try out different recipes in the attempt to find a tart that is identical to Madelyn`s. This is recipe number one I plan to try this weekend. I`ll let you know how it goes...


Butter Tarts Recipe
Crust (by Simply Recipes)
What You Need

• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for rolling
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• 8 Tbsp (1 stick) unsalted butter, very-cold, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
• 3 to 4 Tbsp ice water, very cold

What You Need to Do
1 Freeze the butter in cubes at least 15 minutes, better an hour, best overnight.
2 Place the flour, salt, and sugar into a food processor and pulse until well combined. Add half of the butter cubes and pulse 6 to 8 times. Then add the other half of the butter cubes and pulse 6 to 8 more times. You should have a mixture that resembles a coarse meal, with many butter pieces the size of peas.
3 Add a couple of tablespoons of ice cold water (without the ice!) to the food processor bowl and pulse a couple of times. Then add more ice water, slowly, about a tablespoon at a time, pulsing after each addition, until the mixture just barely begins to clump together. If you pinch some of the crumbly dough and it holds together, it’s ready, if not, add a little more water and pulse again. Try to keep the water to a minimum. Too much water will make your crust tough.
4 Remove the crumbly mixture from the food processor and place on a very clean, smooth surface. If you want an extra flaky crust, you can press the heel of your palm into the crumbly mixture, pressing down and shmooshing the mixture into the table top. This is a French technique, called “fraisage”. Do this a few times, maybe 4 to 6 times, and it will help your crust be extra flaky. Then, use your hands to press the crumbly dough together and shape into a disc. Work the dough only enough to just bring the dough together. Do not over-knead or your crust will end up tough. You should be able to see little bits of butter, speckling the dough. When these bits of butter melt as the crust cooks, the butter will help separate the dough into flaky layers. So, visible pieces of butter are a good thing, what you are aiming for, in the dough. Sprinkle the disc with a little flour on all sides. Wrap the disc in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 1 hour. (At this point you can freeze the dough disk for several months until ready to use. Defrost overnight in the refrigerator before proceeding.)
5 When you are ready to roll out the dough, remove the disk from the refrigerator and place on a clean, smooth, lightly floured surface. Let it sit for 5 to 10 minutes to take just enough of a chill off of it so that it becomes easier to roll out. Sprinkle some flour on top of the disk. Using a rolling pin, roll out the dough to a 12 inch circle, to a thickness of about 1/8 of an inch thick. As you roll out the dough, check if the dough is sticking to the surface below. Add a few sprinkles of flour if necessary to keep the dough from sticking. Place on to a 9-inch pie plate, lining up the fold with the center of the pan. Gently unfold and press down to line the pie dish with the dough.
Filling (by Back of the Cupboard)
What You Need

• pie pastry
• 1/2 cup raisins
• 1/4 cup soft butter
• 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 pinch salt
• 1/2 cup corn syrup
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

What You Need to Do

1. Prepare muffin pans by rolling out pie dough and cutting 4-inch (approx) circles; ease dough circles into ungreased muffin cups; set aside in fridge until ready to fill.
2. In a small bowl, place raisins and cover with hot tap water; let stand on the counter for 30 minutes.
3. In a large bowl, using a wooden spoon, mix together the soft butter, brown sugar, salt and corn syrup; stir well until sugar is dissolved and butter is creamed.
4. Add egg and vanilla and mix well.
5. Drain raisins.
6. Retrieve tart shells and divide raisins equally into all shells; then divide butter mixture into all tarts. Don’t fill tarts all the way to the very top, as the filling bubbles up quite a bit, and will get everywhere
7. Bake at 400F for 15-20 minutes; filling will be lightly browned but still bubbling.
8. If you prefer a firmer filling, baked for the full 20 minutes.
9. Let cooked butter tarts cool in pans for 10 minutes after removing from oven; then carefully remove and place on racks until completely cool.