I really like to make these green beans for holidays. They come together quickly and are a guaranteed crowd pleaser. Recipe and photo courtesy of The Farm Stand on Facebook.

• 5 regular cans of green beans, drained (note: you can substitute a similar amount of frozen green beans, about 4 (12-ounce) bags, thawed, or you can use fresh green beans, too)
• 12 slices of bacon
• 2/3 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 7 teaspoons soy sauce
• 1 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder

Put the drained beans in a 9×13 pan. Add the cooked bacon pieces. Mix the remaining ingredients ( the crack sauce). Pour over the beans and bake 40 minutes at 350. Toss and serve.

I made this casserole for Thanksgiving and it was so good my dad asked if I would make it for Christmas too. It is practically a dessert, and amazingly delicious. The other thing I really liked about this recipe was that it was dairy-free, which meant that my lactose-intolerant family member could enjoy it also! Recipe and photo courtesy of frugalginger.com.

For the Topping:

• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/3 cup flour
• 1 cup chopped nuts (pecans preferred)
• 1/3 stick butter, melted

For the Filling:

• 3 cups mashed sweet potatoes
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 eggs, well beaten
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted

Combine brown sugar, flour, nuts and butter in mixing bowl for the top crust. Set aside. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat a medium-size casserole dish with nonstick spray. Combine sweet potatoes, sugar, salt, vanilla, eggs and butter in a large mixing bowl in the order listed. Beat thoroughly with a hand mixer to increase the fluffiness of the sweet potato mixture. You can also use a stand mixer. Pour mixture into buttered baking dish. Bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees. (At this point, dish can be covered and refrigerated.) Sprinkle the surface of the sweet potato mixture evenly with the crust mixture and return to oven for 10 minutes. Allow to set at least 30 minutes before serving. The brown sugar and pecan crust should be slightly browned and crunchy.

This recipe comes from a cookbook my mother-in-law gave me that is filled with recipes that are kid-friendly.  I love this cornbread, and has a different flavor than the other recipe on my site.  It goes great with my Texas Chili recipe.

• 3/4 cup cornmeal
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons milk
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup warm water
• 4 tablespoon butter, melted

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Spray an 8″ square pan with cooking spray.  In a large bowl, combine the cornmeal, flour, sugar, milk, baking powder, and salt. In another bowl, beat the egg.  Add the water and melted butter to the egg, and mix well.  Combine the two mixtures and blend together.  Pour the cornbread batter into the prepared baking pan. Bake 20-25 minutes, or until golden brown.

I made this stuffing recipe for the first time last Thanksgiving to take to my work dinner, and I liked it so much I made it again for my family celebration.  As someone who has never liked stuffing, I’m glad to have found a recipe to make every year.  Recipe and photo courtesy of sixsistersstuff.com.

• 3/4 cup water
• 4 tablespoons butter
• 21 oz can Lucky Leaf Apple Cranberry Pie Filling
• 1 6 oz box of dry stuffing mix

Combine water with butter in a large microwave safe bowl. Microwave on high until boiling (about 3 minutes).
Add your pie filling and cook for an additional 4 minutes. Remove from the microwave and stir in stuffing mix and seasoning packet. Return to the microwave and cook for 5 more minutes. Fluff with fork and serve warm.

* If you don’t have the Lucky Leaf product where you live, you can use the 21 oz can of apple pie filling and about 1/4 cup of whole berry cranberry sauce, (take away a 1/4 cup of the pie filling)

*Do not use meat flavored stuffing

This is my recipe for sweet potato fries.  There are a few keys steps to ensure they get super crunchy and yummy. Make sure they are cut almost shoe string in size, well coated in corn starch and the oil is nice and hot.  It has taken a while to perfect this recipe, but if you follow those 3 key steps they will turn out every time.  These are also great to make into a hash the next day.

• 3-5 medium sweet potatoes
• 2-3 tablespoons cornstarch
• ziploc bag
• vegetable oil
• salt for seasoning

Start by peeling and cutting the sweet potatoes into shoe string fries. Soak them in cold water for at least 30 minutes.  After they have soaked, put 2-3 tablespoons of cornstarch in a ziplock bag and add the fries.  Make sure the shake as much water off the fries as you can before you add them to the bag.  If you have a large batch, I would split the fries between two bags with cornstarch in each.  They key is the get the fries well coated with cornstarch. While coating the fries, heat the oil and make sure it gets very hot.  Fry them in the oil for about 5-7 minutes in batches, and then put in a bowl lined with paper towel to soak up the extra oil.  Season liberally with salt and eat immediately.

These tortillas are very easy to make and taste better than store bought.

• 1 3/4 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/3 cup lard
• 1/2 cup cool water

Whisk together the flour and salt, then cut in the lard with your hands, a fork or pastry blender.  Add in the water until the dough comes together.  I like to knead the dough for a minute or so to make sure it’s fully incorporated, then pull off small pieces at a time and roll into circles. If you want taco size tortillas it will make about 12.  If you want bigger tortillas it will make about 8. Let the dough rest for about 30 minutes, then roll out the balls one by one and put the tortilla rounds onto a hot griddle, cooking on each side until you see the brown spots on both sides.  Store in a tortilla warmer or plastic baggie.  Will keep for a day or so.