Out of town till 11/17, but stay tuned for some Thanksgiving dishes!

I'll be in NYC for a week, but as soon as I get back I'll be working on a couple classic Smith Turkey-day recipes, including my mom's Sweet Potato Casserole and Jonathan's "Snickers Salad."

Better than Sex Cake

I believe my aunt Tookie is the woman responsible for the name. All claims aside, this is a damn good cake, and it's SUPER easy to make.

Ingredients
-1 chocolate cake mix + ingredients for cake (eggs, water, oil)
-1 can sweetened condensed milk
-1 jar butterscotch ice cream topping
-1 package CoolWhip (thawed in fridge)
-2 Butterfingers

Steps
1. Make cake as directed.
2. As soon as cake comes out of oven, poke a bunch of holes (like every centimeter) in the cake (I use the back of a wooden spoon).
3. Immediately pour condensed milk and butterscotch topping into holes and over cake.
4. Let cake cool completely.
5. Top with whipped cream and crushed up Butterfingers.
(Note: I let the CoolWhip dethaw in the fridge for several hours so that it is spreadable)

Shepherd's Pie (vegetarian)

I got a craving for this, even though I had never had it or made it. It just sounded like something that would be warm and comforting on a cold night, and it was. The recipe I used called for beef or lamb, but we used faux veggie crumbles instead. However, I might try this with ground turkey at some point.

Ingredients:
Mashed potato topping
~2 lbs potatoes, cut into smallish pieces
-2 T sour cream
-3 tsp chopped garlic
-1/2 cup low fat milk
-1 egg yolk
-salt & pepper to taste
Faux meat mixture
-1 package veggie meat crumbles (such as Morningstar Farms)
-1 onion, diced
-2 carrots, diced
-1/2 C frozen peas
Gravy
-1 C broth (we use beef broth, but I'm sure veggie would be fine)
-2 T flour
-2 T butter (I used margarine)
-2 tsp Worcestershire

-Parsley or green onion garnish, optional

Steps:
1. Boil potatoes in salted water until tender (about 12 minutes).

2. While potatoes are boiling, saute your onion and faux meat with 2 T EVOO. After about 5 minutes, add carrots; saute another 4 minutes or so. Turn off heat, set aside.

3. Make your mashed potatoes by combining all ingredients under "mashed potato topping" and mashing with a masher.
4. Make the gravy in small sauce pan. Cook margerine and flour over medium heat for 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Slowly add in 1 C broth, whisking all the while. Add Worcestershire sauce and continue cooking until gravy thikens a bit (about 4 minutes).

5. Stir in gravy and peas (can still be frozen) to faux meat mixture.

6. Put meat mixture in a Pam'd casserole dish (I used an 8X9).
7. Spoon mashed potatoes over top.
8. Cook at 350 for about 10 minutes.
9. Turn on broiler and cook for about another 8 or so minutes on the lowest rack of oven (or until potatoes are browned on top).
11. Top with parsley or green onion if you have on hand and serve.

Hearty Vegan Veggie Soup

(Note: Bear with me on the pictures. Until I get a new camera, I'm having to use the camera on my cell phone.)

I got this recipe from my good friend Katie. Using V8 as the broth gives it a kick and also adds to the ease of the recipe. Also, I really like the addition of sweet potatoes.

Ingredients
-1 large bottle of V8 (I recommend the spicy kind)
-1 potato, diced into bite size pieces
-1 sweet potato, diced into bite size pieces
-1 19oz can of white cannelli beans (or whatever you prefer)
-2 handfuls of green beans, diced into bite size pieces
-3 carrots, diced into bite size pieces
-1 onion, diced into bite size pieces
-pepper, to taste
-2 tsp chopped garlic
-other spices, to taste (I threw in some oregano, thyme, and 2 bay leaves)

Steps
1. Put all of the above in a big pot (except maybe carrots and green beans), bring to a boil, let simmer for about 1 hour-1.5 hours (until potatoes are cooked). I put the green beans and carrots in after about 30 minutes so they're still a little crispy.

 Note: This makes A LOT, but it freezes well (thaw before reheating).

Atlanta engagement!

As many of you know, my boyfriend, or I guess I should say fiancé, and I got engaged this past weekend!
Aside from the "getting engaged" part, we had a wonderful weekend of eating and relaxing in Atlanta. I had taken some pictures of some of the delicious food we ate to post here, but alas, in my post-engagement-post-champagne-drinking dreamlike stupor I left my camera in a cab. Since I can't post pictures of the food, I'll list links to the restaurants I highly recommend you check out, should you ever be in the Atlanta area.

Hayakawa House
Best Japanese food outside of Japan. For real. From the all Japanese waitstaff who relay orders in Japanese to the sushi that is flown in daily from Japan, this place is 100% legit. No fru-fru rolls with mango pieces and schmancy sauces are served, just high quality sushi, nigiri, rice bowls, and udon.
http://www.atlantasushibar.com/

Flying Biscuit
http://www.flyingbiscuit.com/
Best breakfast place. Ever.
Get the Eggstravaganza: Two large farm fresh eggs served with chicken breakfast sausage, crisp turkey bacon, plus whole wheat french toast topped with raspberry sauce & honey creme anglais (and of course their signature homemade biscuits and apple butter). We ate here two days in a row.

Pura Vida
http://www.puravidatapas.com/
http://www.puravidatapas.com/tapasMenu.pdf
Amazing tapas (get the steamed coconut buns with fried pork belly) and authentic mojitos that come by the pitcher.


Holy Taco
http://www.holy-taco.com/menu.html
This is the place we went immediately after getting engaged. They have delicious margaritas and PBR tallboys, so it couldn't have been more perfect for the two of us. Also, their fish tacos were awesome.

Stuffed Pasta Shells

These are pretty much my favorite thing ever, and I have to thank my awesome Mom for the recipe. Also, big thanks to my friend, Joanna, for helping me make these last night.  These freeze really well (if for some reason you end up not eating them all).

Ingredients (makes ~25 shells)

-1.5 jars pasta sauce
~30 shells (some will likely break while cooking, so I make a couple extra)
-1 cup shredded mozzarella
-2 T basil

Veggie topping
-1 10 oz bag of fresh spinach
~7 oz sliced mushrooms (I use baby portabellas)
-1 medium onion, diced
-3-4 cloves of garlic, minced
-2 T balsamic vinegar
-1.5 T EVOO
Cheesy bread crumb topping
-2/3 C Italian bread crumbs
-1 C Ricotta cheese (or you can use cottage cheese)
-1 C Parmesan or shredded mozzarella
-1 T fresh oregano, chopped (optional)
-2 eggs, slightly beaten
-salt & pepper

Steps
1. Cook shells al dente
2. While water is bowling/shells are cooking, mix all the ingredients for the cheesy bread crumb topping together in a medium bowl.

3. Saute onion w/ EVOO in a large pan for a couple of minutes, then add mushrooms, garlic, and balsamic vinegar. Saute for another 5 or so minutes (you want the mushrooms to shrink a bit).

4. Turn the heat on the pan OFF. Add a couple of handfuls of spinach at a time to pan and toss with other veggies. Allow the heat from the other veggies to wilt the spinach, all the while adding more spinach and continuously tossing. (You want the spinach to cook down, but not be mush, which is why I turn the heat off and just let the heat from the other veggies slowly wilt down the spinach.)

5. Grease a 13X9 pan, and add 1/2 jar of sauce to the bottom.

6. Make your shells. Fill shell half-way with veggie mixture and top with a spoonful of cheesy bread crumb mixture.

7. Top shells with remaining jar of sauce.

8. Cover pan with foil and bake for 25 minutes at 350. After 25 minutes remove from oven, top with 1 cup shredded mozzarella and basil, cook for another 10 minutes (I turn the broiler on for the last couple minutes to brown the cheese).

BLOG FAIL

Don't be fooled. Although I think the pictures of these chickpea burgers turned out nice, the burgers themselves were pretty tasteless. As my boyfriend put it, "I feel like I'm eating nothing."

I got the recipe from Cooking Light, and even added more spices than called for, but alas, they "tasted like nothing."

However, I couldn't resist posting some pics, so should you desire to improve upon them, here's the link to the recipe: http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=1932648