Low-Fat Scalloped Potatoes and Ham

Found this low-fat remake on Kraft's website. Turned out very tasty!

Ingredients:
4-1/2 lb. red potatoes (about 9), cut into 1/4-inch-thick slices
1 container (16 oz.) Fat Free Sour Cream
3/4 lb. (12 oz.) VELVEETA 2% Milk Pasteurized Prepared Cheese Product, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1/2 lb. (1/2 of 1-lb. pkg.) Smoked Ham, chopped
1/4 cup Grated Parmesan Cheese

HEAT oven to 350°F.

COOK potatoes in boiling water in large saucepan 10 to 12 min. or just until potatoes are tender; drain. Remove 3/4 of the potatoes; place in large bowl. Add sour cream; mash until smooth. Stir in VELVEETA and ham. Gently stir in remaining potato slices.

SPOON into 13x9-inch baking dish sprayed with cooking spray; sprinkle with Parmesan.

BAKE 30 min. or until heated through.

Pumpkin Stew

Photo by Taste of Home

Ever since I discovered this recipe in Taste of Home magazine in the Oct/Nov 1995 issue, it has been my favorite beef stew recipe and I've made it *almost* every year since then.  It is meant to be baked in a pumpkin, which gives it a unique presentation and some great pumpkin squash flavor. However, I've also made it in the crock pot with equally good results.

Ingredients

• 2 pounds beef stew meat, cut into 1-inch cubes
• 3 tablespoons canola oil, divided
• 1 cup water
• 3 large potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes
• 4 medium carrots, sliced
• 1 large green pepper, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 2 tablespoons beef bouillon granules
• 1 can (14-1/2 ounces) diced tomatoes, undrained
• 1 pumpkin (10 to 12 pounds) (make sure it will fit into your oven!)

Directions

• In a Dutch oven, brown meat in 2 tablespoons oil. Add water, potatoes, carrots, green pepper, garlic, onion, salt and pepper. Cover and simmer for 2 hours. Stir in bouillon and tomatoes. Wash pumpkin; cut to 6 to 8 in. circle around top stem. Remove top and set aside; discard seeds and loosen fibers from inside.
• Place pumpkin in a shallow sturdy baking pan. Spoon stew into pumpkin and replace top. Brush outside of pumpkin with remaining oil. Bake at 325° for 2 hours or just until the pumpkin is tender (do not overbake). Serve stew from pumpkin, scooping out a little pumpkin with each serving. 
• Yield: 8-10 servings.

Best Beer Bread

There are a million recipes for beer bread (and a million mixes, too) but this is what I've found to work best for me.  This tastes just like that famous mix and is a LOT cheaper!  Because we don't drink much beer, I like to buy the single 24 oz cans that sell for around $1 at the grocery store, and double the recipe.

INGREDIENTS:
1 (12 fl oz) can or bottle beer
3 cups self-rising flour
OR
3 cups all purpose flour + 3 tsp baking powder + 1 1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup white sugar
4 tbsp melted butter

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl, mix together the sugar and flour. Add beer and continue to mix. The dough will be sticky!

Pour into a greased 9x5 inch greased loaf pan and bake for 50-60 minutes. Halfway through baking, brush w/melted butter.  Also brush with butter after removing from the oven after baking.

Bread Machine Dinner Rolls

These may be my new favorite dinner rolls! So light and fluffy and TASTEE. And the bonus is that they are "bread machine friendly."  I found these on The Pioneer Woman's Tasty Kitchen website.



Ingredients
1 cup Warm Water
2 Tablespoons Butter
1 whole Egg
3 1/2 cups Bread Flour
1/4 cups Sugar
1 teaspoon Salt
3 teaspoons Quick-acting Active Dry Yeast Or Bread Machine Yeast

Directions:
Put the ingredients into your bread machine in the order given. Water first and then the butter and so on. Make sure you have a little dent in the top of your mound of ingredients for the yeast.
Set your machine on the dough setting, then press the button.
When your dough is ready, lay it out onto a floured surface. Cut into 18 small rolls (or could make 12 hamburger size buns).
Pinch the rolls into a nice shape and place on baking sheet (I put a Silpat under mine. They didn't brown very much on the bottom - not sure if that was why?)
Cover with a clean towel and let the rolls rise for 30 minutes, they should double in size.
Cook at 375 degrees for 12 to 15 minutes.