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recipes,savory

Easy Weeknight Reuben Casserole

posted on : January 2, 2019 posted by : Kirsten Bell 1 Comment

Nothing is better, or easier, than this easy reuben casserole! It’s reuben sandwich meets delicious casserole. But healthier, and dare I say, possibly even more scrumptious! The best part is that it can be prepped ahead of time, so you can come home from a busy day, pop it in the oven, and have hot dinner ready in no time!

Rye bread, layered with pastrami, sauerkraut, and swiss cheese, all topped with the most delicious sauce you’ve ever tasted (trust me), and baked until bubbling and amazing. Quick, simple, and crazy good! It even gets the picky toddler stamp of approval, and let me tell you, that means something!

easy reuben casserole

When the temperatures get colder, I’m always reaching for comfort food like warm casseroles and soups. There’s just nothing better than eating something cozy after a long day, am I right?

Growing up, my brother loved reubens. Like, loved them. There was a Jewish deli near where we lived, and they seriously made the best reuben sandwiches ever! They’re such a simple sandwich, and sometimes I think simple means even more delicious.

So when cold weather and the yearning for comfort food, and memories of reuben sandwiches meet, what do you get? Reuben casserole!

reuben casserole recipe

This casserole is our go-to for busy weeknight dinners. The morning of, I prepare the casserole up until adding the sauce, so it’s really fast and easy once we get home from work, school, or activities.

I also love that this is all assembled in one casserole dish (plus a small bowl for the sauce). Fewer dishes for me, means a happier mom in this house!

easy weeknight dinner

Make this for family and friends, everyone will love it!

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Easy Weeknight Reuben Casserole

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  • Author: Kirsten Bell
  • Prep Time: 15
  • Cook Time: 40
  • Total Time: 55 minutes
  • Yield: 8 Servings 1x
  • Method: Cooking
  • Cuisine: American
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Description

An easy weeknight dinner idea that the whole family will love! If you love Reuben sandwiches you will be heads over heels for this easy and delicious casserole.

Ingredients

Scale

4 slices dark rye bread
1 pound sliced pastrami (I buy mine from the deli because it’s way less expensive than individual packs)
1 25 oz jar sauerkraut, drained very well (we love Bubbies!)
5 cups shredded swiss cheese
1/3 cup breadcrumbs
3/4 cup milk
2 eggs
1/2 cup thousand island dressing
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon horseradish

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350. Cut the rye bread into 1-2 inch cubes, and layer on the bottom of a 11×7 baking dish. Cover the bread evenly with half the sliced pastrami, and then cover the pastrami with half the shredded cheese. Layer the drained sauerkraut on top of the shredded cheese. Cover the sauerkraut with remaining pastrami, then add the remaining 2.5 cups of shredded cheese on top of the pastrami. Sprinkle the breadcrumbs on top of the shredded cheese.

To make the sauce: combine the milk, eggs, thousand island, Dijon and horseradish in a medium mixing bowl. Whisk to combine. Pour or spoon the sauce over the casserole as evenly as possible. You may need to use a spatula to carefully redistribute the sauce a little so that it evenly covers the top.

Cover with foil, and bake about 40-45 minutes. Remove from oven, and allow to cool at least 5 minutes before serving. Enjoy!

Notes

To make this casserole ahead of time, complete all steps up to pouring over the sauce. Store the casserole and sauce in the fridge until ready to bake, then pour over sauce and bake.

Looking for more dinner dinner ideas? Check these out:

New Years,recipes

Ginger Pear Champagne Fizz

posted on : December 31, 2018 posted by : Kirsten Bell 0 Comment

Happy New Years Eve everyone!! One more day of 2018, we’ve got this!! I’m sharing a new cocktail with you today, to kick off New Years celebrations. This cocktail recipe was inspired by my love of fresh ginger, paired with sweet pear and of course – champagne! It wouldn’t be a New Years Eve cocktail without champagne, right? And there is one extra ingredient in there – just a dash of gin! The herbiness of gin compliments the fresh ginger so well, I just had to add it in.

I love easy cocktail recipes. Especially if I’m hosting a dinner or cocktail party, I don’t want to be busy mixing cocktails with no time to talk with my friends. Since I know a lot of you are celebrating tonight, I wanted to create a super simple, super quick and super DELICIOUS cocktail for you to share with loved ones as you ring in the new year! You can even mix this together and just top with champagne before serving. Done, done and done! Cheers, and happy New Year everyone!!

Makes 1 drink

Ginger Simple Syrup Ingredients (makes enough for 8 drinks): 

3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
2 full fresh roots ginger, peeled and chopped

Ginger Simple Syrup Directions: 

Combine the sugar, water and ginger in a small saucepan and bring to a boil uncovered on medium heat. Once a low boil is reached, lower the temperature and simmer until all the sugar is dissolved, stirring often. Simmer about 20-25 minutes, then remove from heat and strain out ginger. Allow to cool completely before using in your cocktails, and store in the fridge for up to 5 days.

Cocktail Ingredients: 

1/2 oz gin (I use Bombay Sapphire)
1 oz pear juice, chilled
1 oz ginger simple syrup (recipe above)
3-4 oz champagne, chilled

Cocktail Directions: 

Combine gin through champagne in a glass, stir, and serve! If you want to pre-mix, stir again before serving because the syrup will sink to the bottom of your container. Then top with champagne and enjoy! 

drinks,recipes

Christmas Cardamom Mimosas

posted on : December 21, 2018 posted by : Kirsten Bell 0 Comment

I love many things about Christmas – the lights, the baked goods, the presents (duh!), but one of my very favorite things is my family’s traditional Christmas morning brunch! This year I’m serving up some Christmas mimosas to accompany our morning festivities!

These are very similar to a traditional mimosa, but have one extra ingredient. Cardamom bitters! Cardamom pairs so deliciously with orange, and is perfect with the sweetness from the champagne. I love that these are so easy too – no need to break out any fancy cocktail shaking equipment for this Christmas cocktail!

Ingredients:

1/3 cup chilled champagne
1/3 cup orange juice
2-3 shakes cardamom bitters

Directions: 

Combine all the ingredients in a champagne flute, stir gently and serve! Easy enough, right?

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dessert,recipes

Cherry Almond Biscotti

posted on : December 19, 2018 posted by : Kirsten Bell 0 Comment

I love biscotti, because they’re such simple yet delicious cookies. They are soooo good enjoyed with a hot cup of coffee or tea, and are a perfect afternoon treat!

I used to not really like biscotti, because they all seemed kind of dry and flavorless to me. Then I started experimenting with making them myself, and discovered that a fresh, homemade biscotti is nothing like one from the store or coffee shop.

These biscotti cookies can be stores in an airtight container for up to three weeks, so they’re really perfect for impromptu guests or just enjoying a quiet moment to yourself.

Did you know? Biscotti in Italian actually means twice baked, and these cookies are appropriately named because, you guessed it, they’re baked twice! Biscotti are very easy to make, but I’d recommend reading through the directions before getting started if you’ve never made biscotti before to familiarize yourself with the steps. 

I seriously debated dipping these in dark chocolate, and you totally can!  But sometimes I think there’s something really nice about a simple recipe.  I really enjoy the subtle almond and bright cherry flavors in these, which would be overpowered by chocolate.

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon melted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 large eggs
1/2 cup chopped almonds
1/2 cup dried cherries

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350, and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Whisk together the dry ingredients, flour through cinnamon and set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix together melted butter, vanilla and eggs. Add the flour mixture in two batches, mixing until just combined. Dough will be sticky! Add almonds and cherries, and mix until they’re all incorporated.

Moisten your hands, and separate the dough in two. Form into two logs on the prepared baking sheet, about 8 inches by 3 inches, continuing to moisten hands as needed to prevent the dough from sticking to you. As you can see in the photo below my logs were not exactly even, and that’s ok.

Bake for 35 minutes, or until the logs are lightly browned. Remove from the oven, and allow them to cool about 20-25 minutes, or until they’re just warm to the touch. Then use a serrated knife, and cut the logs into 1 inch slices. I discard the ends (by discarding I mean I eat them then and there haha!), just because they’re not as pretty.

Arrange the biscotti slices flat side down on the baking sheet, and bake again for about 15 minutes or until golden. 

Serve with tea or coffee, and enjoy!

dessert,holidays,recipes

Irresistibly Fun and Easy Gingerbread Cupcakes

posted on : December 18, 2018 posted by : Kirsten Bell 0 Comment

It’s been a while since I shared a new cupcake recipe with you! I’ve been working on this gingerbread cupcake recipe for a few weeks, and have been doing lots of taste testing haha! This is the perfect holiday party recipe, because the cupcakes are such a traditional Christmas dessert flavor, but in a new form. I also love that when I serve them as mini cupcakes they’re so easy for people to eat in a party setting.

What I found interesting in making these cupcakes is that I needed to tone down the traditional spices quite a bit compared to what you would find in a gingerbread cookie recipe. Now they’re still definitely present, prominent and flavorful, but not overwhelming.

My other “secret” ingredient is coffee. I tested this recipe with milk, buttermilk, water, eggnog (not even kidding haha!), and coffee. They all turned out well, but using coffee added a delicious level of richness and depth to the gingerbread flavor that I loved.

Aren’t the sprinkles on these so fun? I can’t not mention them, because I think they’re so cute! They’re such a perfect finishing touch and really elevate the final product. When I served these cupcakes this past weekend, so many people commented on how cute the sprinkles are. 

Makes approximately 12 regular cupcakes or 36 mini cupcakes

Gingerbread Cupcake Ingredients: 

1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup coffee
1/2 cup molasses
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon cloves

Cream Cheese Frosting Ingredients: 

1/2 cup (1 stick) salted butter, softened
8 oz full-fat cream cheese, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 cups powdered sugar

Directions: 

Preheat the oven to 350, and line two mini cupcake tins with liners.

Whisk together the dry ingredients, flour through cloves, and set aside.

In the bowl of your stand mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the softened butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg, vanilla, molasses and coffee, mixing until combined. Your batter will look kind of piecy at this stage, and that’s ok! It will all come together in the next step.

Add the dry ingredients in two batches, mixing on low speed until just combined and making sure to scrape the bottom of the bowl often.

Fill mini cupcake liners about 2/3 full each of the batter, and bake for 7-9 minutes or until a toothpick comes out with moist crumbs. Allow to cool completely before frosting.

To make the frosting: beat together the cream cheese and butter until light and fluffy. Add the powdered sugar one cup at a time, mixing on low. Add the vanilla extract and mix until combined.

At this point you can add a little more powdered sugar if the frosting needs to be thicker, or a little bit of milk if it’s too thick. Beat on high for a few minutes to fluff up the frosting, and then fill a piping bag and frost your completely cooled cupcakes.

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