I can’t believe it’s 2010, it seems like just yesterday we were celebrating 2000, where has ten years gone. But then I look back I accomplished a lot in this decade. Hopefully the next decade will be just as good!! I did a look back last year and enjoyed it so I figured I would do it again. It’s been a quiet year on my blog with being pregnant and having a newborn. But I hope to get the blog mojo back in 2010.

Here is a look back at my favorite recipes of 2009.

Appetizer: Hush Puppies

Breakfast: Banana Nut Pancakes

Dessert: German Chocolate Cake

Cookie: Almond Triangles

Main Dish: Turkey Pot Pie

Side Dish: Homemade Rice A Roni

Hope you and yours have a safe and happy new year.

I am not a big turkey person, if it wasn’t on the Thanksgiving table I would be fine. This year was a different story though, my mom used one of the bags and the turkey was SO moist, flavorful and yummy. I had 2 helpings at dinner, had  a turkey sandwich later and asked to take leftovers home, yea it was AWESOME! Way to go Mom.

Once we got home I went to put the leftovers in the fridge and saw I had a package of pie crusts sitting there, for some reason I thought turkey pot pie. Tonight I finally made it, this is my first time making a pot pie and I couldn’t be happier it was awesome!!! Definitely try this recipe!!!! I plan to make another with potatoes and chicken.

Turkey Pot Pie (From: Pioneer Woman)

• 1 pie crust
• 1/2 stick butter
• 1/2 cup finely diced onion
• 1/2 cup finely diced carrot
• 1/2 cup finely diced celery
• 2 cups leftover turkey,diced or shredded
• 1/4 cup flour
• 2 cups low-sodium chicken or turkey broth
• splash of white wine (optional)
• 1 cup heavy cream
• Frozen peas (optional)
• Fresh thyme, chopped
• salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Melt butter in a skillet or dutch oven. Add onion, carrots, and celery, and cook until translucent (a couple of minutes.)

Add turkey and stir. Sprinkle flour over mixture and stir. Cook over medium heat for a couple of minutes, stirring constantly.

Pour in chicken or turkey broth, stirring constantly. Splash in wine (you can leave this out if you’d like.) Pour in cream. (May add frozen peas at this point if you’d like.)

Bring to a slow boil and allow mixture to cook and thicken for a few minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste (do not underseason), and fresh or dried thyme to taste. Do one final taste at the end and add what it needs.

Pour mixture into a casserole dish or deep pie pan.

Roll out crust so that it’s about 1 inch larger than the pan you’re using.

Place the crust on top of the pot pie mixture, and press crust into the sides of the dish. Cut vents in the top of the crust.
Bake for 30 minutes or until very golden and bubbly.

Allow to cool for a little bit before serving.

Thank you for all the wonderful ideas for me to welcome in fall, now it’s your turn to vote and decide what I will make to welcome in fall.

The poll will be open until 9am Central time Sept. 21st.

Fall is definitely in the air for me, I cannot wait to arrive it. It will officially arrive 1 week from tomorrow. I would like to do a special blog post to welcome it. But need you my readers help.

Please leave a comment with your favorite fall treat, leave a comment by Thursday Sept 17th and then I will post a poll and the item with the most votes will be featured on my blog September 22nd.

So leave a comment with your favorite fall dessert!!

We are still trying to get through our 200 lbs of beef our mom gifted us. I have been trying to get creative with hamburger and though swedish meaballs over noodles sounded great.

This was an excellent meal, the meatballs had a great flavor as well as the sauce, and the even better part was Adam made it. We will be making this often.

Swedish Meatballs (From: Elly Says Opa, Originally From: Allrecipes)

• 1 cup evaporated milk, divided
• 1 egg yolk
• 1/2 cup onion, finely diced
• olive oil
• 1/4 cup bread crumbs
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon allspice
• Dash pepper
• 1 pound ground beef
• 1 Tbsp butter
• 1.5 cups beef stock/strong broth
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice

Heat a skillet and add a little olive oil. Sweat onions with a pinch of salt until translucent. Set aside to cool.

Meanwhile, combine 1/4 cup evaporated milk with breadcrumbs. Stir to combine and set aside for several minutes.

To the breadcrumb mixture, stir in onions, yolk, salt, allspice and pepper. Add meat and mix until just combined. Shape meat mixture into 1-in. balls.

In large skillet, melt butter and cook meatballs. Remove from skillet (you may want to keep in a warmed oven).

In same skillet, cook flour (add more butter if necessary) 1-2 minutes.

Slowly whisk in beef broth and simmer to thicken.

Add remaining 3/4 cup evaporated milk and heat through.  Season to taste.

Return meatballs to skillet, and add lemon juice.

We had this over whole wheat egg noodles tossed with some poppy seeds, and a salad on the side.