Parmesan Garlic Mashed Turnips

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Ok, I have a confession. The only reason I made these is because I had to make something with turnips for my pregnancy foodie project. I had no intention of liking them.

Parmesan Garlic Mashed Turnips
I couldn't help it. I liked them anyway! I am pretty adventurous when it comes to foods and trying new things, however I just had a preconceived notion that turnips were icky.Worried about what they taste like,I did what I always do when I want to know something; I googled it. "What do turnips taste like?"  I read that they are like a cross between a potato and a parsnip. Hmmm, that doesn't sound so bad. Slightly sweet, but a little bitter. Wait, slightly sweet? What the?And the way that I mostly found mashed turnips prepared was with cinnamon and cloves and such, spices that remind me of sweet things. Well, that's a problem because I have been craving salty! So I stuck with what I know......salt, garlic and cheese. Oh, and that "bitter" taste? Don't worry; I've got a great tip to take care of that!
Parmesan Garlic Mashed Turnips      serves 6-83 lb turnips, peeled and diced into 1 inch cubes {about 8 C}1 small potato1 T salt 4 C garlic1 T light butter, + 2 T butter1/4-1/2 C milk {I used 2%}1 C shredded Parmesan
Use a vegetable peeler and remove the skins form the turnips, dice and place in a large pot. {Some turnips come with a waxy coating that will come off when peeled.} Place the potato in with the turnips. This will get rid of the bitter taste of the turnips while they are cooking. 
Cover the turnips with cool water and place on the stove. Add the salt and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and cover. Cook for about 15 minutes or until turnips are tender when pierced with a fork. 
While the turnips are cooking, in a small sauce pot, cook the chopped garlic on low heat for a minute or so. Add a T of light butter and cook for a minute more. Add the milk and stir to combine. This will serve as the cream in the mash. Let the milk simmer, stirring often.
When the turnips are finished cooking, drain and remove potato. Pour turnips back into pot and mash with potato masher. Stir in the garlic milk mixture a little at a time, then stir in the remaining butter. You may not need all of the milk. Gently stir and add in the Parmesan. Serve warm.
This is a GREAT option for someone on a low carb diet! It would be a great alternative to mashed potatoes on a holiday for someone with a special diatary need. The only other tip I have is to not let the turnips cook too long or they will become slightly watery at the bottom.
The taste was GREAT! I actually could not believe how much I liked them, and they were not bitter in the least. I'm sure they would be great with other spices and a little sugar in them as well, but I would make them like this every time. I have to say, I feel a little more grown up now that I've had and liked turnips. :)

Cowboy or Cowgirl?

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Yesterday was one of the most fun days of our lives. We got to find out the gender of our sweet little baby!! Chris and I wanted to have something fun to share with our friends and family that are far away. I thought y'all might enjoy it too! It's a......

We could not be more excited about our happy news! So what did we do? A photo shoot! 
Through all the excitement of taking calls and texts from family members after we emailed them the video, we were chasing day light to get a few more pictures in! Can you tell we're thrilled?!

The best part of the night was after everything had calmed down and we were getting ready for bed, she wiggled around and let me feel her for the first time! It's like she knew all of the commotion of the day was about her. What a wonderful feeling! And she must have know how happy her little movement made me because after that she would not hold still! Yeah, I'm sure you can imagine how much sleep I got after that. :) 

We feel so blessed and excited during this time in our lives and can't wait to meet our little Cowgirl! We love you, Baby GIRL Hann!! XOXO

Sausage Rice Casserole Stuffed Peppers

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Bell peppers are one of those things that add great flavor to a dish with out adding any heat. They can also serve as a wonderful presentation because they really hold their shape, even if they've been cooked.

Sausage Rice Casserole Stuffed Peppers

Growing up, my favorite casserole was always my mom's sausage rice casserole. It's s delicious and warm, filling and full of flavor, and there is something about it that is so satisfying! It's one of those dishes that just brings back memories. So while deciding what do to for my Pregnancy Foodie Project last week, I decided to take my favorite casserole, stuff it in a pepper and bake it all together.

Sausage Rice Casserole Stuffed Peppers     makes 6 peppers 1 lb lean hot Italian turkey sausage
7 green bell peppers
1 onion
2 cloves of garlic
2/3 C uncooked rice
1 10.5 oz can cream of chicken soup (98% fat free)
1 10.5 oz can cream of mushroom soup (98% fat free)
1/4 C milk (I used 2%)
1 T Salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Chop the onion, one bell pepper and the garlic and set aside. Brown the sausage in a skillet over medium heat until it's cooked. Add the chopped ingredients and simmer until they are tender. Pour sausage and veggie content in to a large bowl. Add the rice, soups and milk and stir to combine. Pour into a 9X13 baking dish and cover. Bake for 1 hour, stirring 1/2 way through. If the mixture looks a little dry, add a little more milk and stir, cover and finish baking.

Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to boil. Cut the top inch off of the remaining bell peppers and clean the seeds out. Add the peppers and salt to the pot and cook for 3-4 minutes. You may have to use a large spoon to keep them under the water. The peppers will become bright in color.

Drain and let cool before handling. Place in a baking dish to make sure they fit.

When the casserole is finished, spoon mixture into peppers and cover with foil again.

Bake for 20 minutes, remove from oven and serve.

If you have your own sausage rice casserole recipe, feel free to try that with my pepper stuffing method. Just make sure to take a look at the measurements because I did change them from the origional recipe. There is normally more rice and one more can of soup. Also, my mom uses pork sausage, but I wanted to lighten it up a little. Like I was explaining in the beginning, the bell peppers do not have any heat, however if you have a picky eater that does not like spicy things, you might want to use regular sausage, not hot.


I hope you give this fabulous dish a try! The casserole is a family favorite, and who doesn't like stuffed peppers? This was my first time to bake peppers like this. I have done them in a slow cooker before and they are fantastic like that as well! If you would like to give that a try, try my slow cooker southwestern stuffed peppers.

Quinoa Tabouli with Heirloom Tomatoes

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Tabouli {tabbouleh, tabouleh, taboula} is one of those dishes that you can make small changes to and make it your own. The few staples are bulgur wheat, tomatoes, parsley, and a lemon juice and olive oil dressing. I decided to go way outside the box and use quinoa instead of bulgur {bulgar} wheat in this recipe for the "grain." I also used huge, heirloom tomatoes for my Pregnancy Foodie Project.

There are several variations you can use when making tabouli. You can add in some chopped mint, onion, garlic or cucumber. I added cucumber but left the others out. This dish is fun to personalize! I got the original recipe {with cracked wheat} from my mother-in-law, Toni. She is half Lebanese, and this recipe has been passed down from her family. I will be the 4th generation to have it. Isn't that cool?!

Quinoa Tabouli with Heirloom Tomatoes
Quinoa Tabouli with Heirloom Tomatoes     adapted from Momma Hann's Taboula recipe1 C quinoa1 1/2 C cold water 1 bunch green onions, finely chopped2-3 heirloom tomatoes, finely chopped2 bunches parsley, finely chopped (no stems)1/2 head lettuce, finely chopped1/2 large cucumber, finely chopped 3/4 C freshly squeezed lemon juice3/4 C olive oilSalt to taste
Rinse quinoa in a bowl and drain off in a mesh strainer. In a large pot, add the rinsed quinoa and cold water and bring to a boil. Cover with lid and reduce heat to low. Cook for 15 minutes or until the quinoa has soaked up the water. Stir occasionally so the quinoa does not stick to the bottom of the pot. Remove pot from stove and allow quinoa to cool completely before adding it to the rest of the ingredients.
Meanwhile, chop the veggies. Mix together the lemon juice and olive oil for the dressing. In a large bowl, add the veggies and gently fold in the quinoa. Mix together the lemon juice and olive oil. Pour some dressing over the tabouli and add salt to taste. Add more dressing if needed. If you need more dressing, just mix equal parts oil and lemon juice together. Serve chilled.


If you are preparing this dish ahead of time, do not pour the dressing over the salad until you are ready to serve so that the parsley stays fresh. Also, keep it in the refrigerator, covered until served. 

Try this recipe-remix or use bulgur wheat. Or try something else entirely!  This is such a lovely dish for summer because it's light and served cold. A great appetizer to serve with this dish is my Classic Hummus, and for the main dish I have two healthy, delicious ideas. You can't go wrong with my Spinach and Feta Chicken, or my Lemon and Herb Chicken Skewers with Cucumber Yogurt Sauce. 


Lastly, it's fun to serve a salad like this in a hollowed out tomato. Just remove seeds and juice and fill with tabouli for an easy, inexpensive presentation that your guests will love!

Banana Hazelnut Bread

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Baby Hann is on "length of a banana" for my Pregnancy Foodie Project. How is she already SO big? I can't believe it! I was in Dallas talking with my sis about what I should do for banana week and we decided on banana bread. Mmmmm.

I have had banana bread several times, but this was my first time making it. I asked my sister if she had a good banana bread recipe and she said she always used the William-Sonoma one, the one with the buttermilk. "Hmmm, buttermilk?" I thought. "I'll give a whirl."
I did make some changes, of course. I added the two things every good quick bread needs, ground cinnamon and good vanilla extract. I also "healthified" it up by swapping 1/2 the flour for whole wheat and using low fat buttermilk.

Banana Hazelnut Bread
The only thing I did not like about this recipe is that it just made too much batter for one loaf of bread. I know it said to fill loaf pan "no more than-two thirds full," but come on! I want every last bit of those ripe, sweet bananas in that one loaf of bread. I was never good with following instructions anyway! ;) The problem with scraping every last bit of that delicious batter into one loaf pan is that it has to cook for a lot longer {I have never been very patient either}, and your bread ends up with a big split down the middle and crazy edges, like mine did! But looks aren't everything. Next time, I promise to only fill that bad boy two-thirds full. And to make a few muffins with the extra batter. OR....maybe I'll make it again and fix the proportions for you. Ok, that's what I'll do.
Banana Hazelnut Bread    makes one loaf + about 2 muffins    adapted from Williams-Sonoma6 T butter (3/4 C), at room temperature1 C sugar3 very ripe bananas3 eggs, lightly beaten 1/2 C low fat buttermilk 1 tsp vanilla extract1 C whole wheat flour1 C all-purpose flour1 tsp baking powder1 tsp baking soda1 tsp freshly grated nutmeg1 tsp ground cinnamon1/2 tsp salt1/2 C chopped hazelnuts {or pecans/walnuts}
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spray a 9X5 loaf pan with Baker's Joy {or grease and lightly flour}.
Beat the butter and sugar on medium speed in a mixer {with flat paddle attachment} until creamy, about 1 minute. Add the bananas, eggs and vanilla and beat until smooth. Add buttermilk; mix on low just until combined. 

In a separate large bowl, mix together the flours, baking powder and soda, nutmeg, cinnamon and salt. Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and stir just to combine. Fold in the chopped hazelnuts, do not over mix. Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan {and muffin tin}, bake for 55 to 60 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.


How have I been eating this, you ask? I've been cutting a thick slice, slathering it with peanut butter, and heating it up for about 15 seconds. Mmmmm, pregnant woman's perfect breakfast! {Just call me Elivs!}

Need another delicious quick bread recipe? Try this Zucchini Walnut Poppy Seed Bread, or my Cranberry Orange Bread with Oat Streusel Topping.