Vanilla Snowmen

It is something to do with the kids when they want to be out building a snowman and it is too cold or they are sick or, like here in Utah, when the inversion makes the air quality awful.

Basically, you use vanilla ice cream for snow and  add goodies to make the face and body.

I started with a light dusting of coconut for "snow" covered ground:

Next, I made a plate of leftover Christmas candy:

Then I scooped 2-3 balls of vanilla ice cream and let them build:

Cranberry Nut Bread

 This recipe came from my Mom- I have no idea where she got it, but we've had it around for years!

1 beaten egg

2 tbs melted shortening (I usually forget to add this, oops!)

1/2 cup prepared orange juice

2 tbs hot water

 

Add dry ingredients

 

2 cups flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup sugar

1/2 tsp baking powder

 

Mix well, then fold in

 

1/2 cup walnuts

1 cup raw cranberries, cut in half (hint: it is easier to slice them if they have been in the freezer for a while)

 

Dough will be thick and kind of sticky.

 

Pour in greased and floured pan (about 2/3 full)

Bake at 325 for about 1 hour, or until toothpick comes out clean

Baklava

Tyler Florence's Baklava

(I make this for Easter - my family loves baklava and over the years I have found this is one of the best recipes out there. -Lexi)

Ingredients

• 1 pound shelled walnuts, toasted
• 1/2 pound blanched almonds, toasted
• 1/2 pound shelled pistachios, toasted
• 2/3 cup brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 pound unsalted butter, melted
• 1 pound phyllo pastry sheets

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Finely chop the nuts in a food processor or coffee grinder. Transfer nuts to a bowl and mix in brown sugar, ground cinnamon, and cloves.

Brush a 13 by 9-inch baking pan with melted butter and set aside. Cut a piece of cardboard into a 13 by 9-inch rectangle. Unroll the phyllo dough and lay the sheets flat on a work surface. Set the cardboard template on the stack of phyllo and trim the excess so they fit the pan. Keep the pastry covered with a damp, not wet, towel as you work to prevent drying out.

To build the baklava, you will alternate 3 layers of dough with 2 layers of nuts. Start with a stable base of 8 sheets on the bottom, brushing each with melted butter. Spread 1/2 the nut mixture evenly over the stacked sheets. Cover with 4 sheets of phyllo, painting each with melted butter, then sprinkle again with remaining nut mixture. Top the last layer of nuts with 8 layers of phyllo as you did for the bottom. Drizzleany remaining butter over top.

If you have time, cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes so the butter will set and make the baklava easier to cut. Using a sharp knife, make 5 cuts across lengthwise, then cut diagonally to form diamonds. Baklava is more difficult to cut after it is cooked because the pastry becomes so flaky. Bake for about 40 minutes until golden and flaky. If the top browns too quickly during baking, tent with foil.

Orange Scented Simple Syrup:

• 2 cups sugar
• 2 cups water
• 1/2 cup orange blossom honey
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 lemon, juiced
• 2 large strips orange peel
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 3 whole cloves

To make the syrup: combine the ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and letsimmer for 10 minutes until thickened. Remove the orange peel, cinnamon stick, and whole clove; set aside to cool.

Remove an end piece of the baklava and tilt the pan to allow the butter to collect in the corner. Spoon out the excess and discard. With the pan flat, pour the syrup evenly over the hot baklava. Allow to stand for several hours before serving.

Jazzed up Deviled Eggs

I personally love deviled eggs year round, I think they are great to bring to BBQ's, family get together's, church socials etc. With these you can almost always guaranty you'll head home from the event with an empty plate. 

I like to make a statement when I bring these delicious little morsels with me...for Easter or any function really...adding a splash of color to your deviled eggs makes a fun statement.

Start by filling a few cups with plain vinegar. Add regular food coloring to each cup and insert peeled hard boiled eggs one at a time. Leave in the vinegar until you have reached your desired color (this won't take long so don't worry...you're not pickling the eggs)

Next...slice eggs in two, remove yokes and create standard deviled eggs filling (use your favorite recipe). Fill each half with the creamy mixture and a dash of paprika for color. Enjoy!

I've also colored the eggs after they were sliced in half to color the whole visible surface area. It's entirely up to you :-)

Corned Beef and Cabbage with Potatoes

We have to make this every once in a while for my hubby and kids and their Irish heritage.

This traditional dish is surprisingly one of the easiest to make.

Ready?

You need:

A large pot or crock pot

packaged corned beef with season packet

head of cabbage broken up or chopped

peeled and diced potatoes

water

Dump everything into the pot.  Incluing the juices in the meat package and seasonings from the packet.

This is meant to be boiled, so fill with water to the top of the contents of your pot.

Boil for 4-6 hours in a pot or on high in a crock pot

or on Low in the crock pot over night or for at least 12 hours.

When it is done, the beef will fall apart and be stringy.

the cooked cabbage will blend in with the potatoes.

Corned beef is a great source of Iron.  Corned beef and Cabbage has a ton of Vitamin A, Vitamin C, 1/8 your daily value of calcium,  and Potatoes have potassium.This is a high in sodium meal, but they do have lower sodium Corned beef if you look hard enough.

Traditional Irish Soda Bread Farls



Place a large flat skillet, lightly floured on the stove over medium low heat.

2 C Flour

1/2 tsp Salt

1 tsp Baking Soda (Sifted)

fluff together in a large bowl and make a large hole in the center

1 Cup Buttermilk

fill the hole with the buttermilk and quickly mix into a dough.

Place dough on a floured surface and gently knead into a ball, then press into a disk about 1/2 in thick.

cut disk into 1/4 pieces (Farls)



Place your fourths/Farls on the floured, heated skillet and cook until golden brown (about 5 min) flipping once to brown the other side (another 5-ish minutes)

Think really dense KFC biscuit with butter and jam....but better.  Also, the dough can be fried like a scone or baked into a bread.

Thanksgiving in a burger!

1 lb. Ground Turkey
1 sweet apple; grated
1/2 onion
1/2 C chopped Celery
1/2 pkg dry stuffing
1 egg
1/2 C dry bread crumbs
Poultry seasoning.

Combine ingredients and shape into a ball. Divide into 4ths and make into patties. Fry over med-high heat flipping periodically until heated through. Remember with all poutry to be very sure the meat is fully cooked.

Top with Cranberry sauce or this fantastic Cider Gravy by Rachel Ray. It is super easy and while it makes the burger a bit messy is, as RR would say: YUM-O!

Grandma Jean's Applesauce Pie

When my dad was little he didn't like the chunks of apples in an apple pie, so my Grandmother came up with this recipe for Applesauce Pie, which if you ask me is just as good or better, and definitely quicker to prep!

1 48 oz jar of Cinnamon flavored Applesauce
2 cups water
1/2 cup corn starch
1 cup sugar
4 tsp lemon juice
2 prepared pie crusts

Pour entire jar of applesauce in a large pan. (You can use plain applesauce and then add cinnamon if you want.)

Pour water and corn starch into empty applesauce jar and shake until corn starch and water are mixed well. Add to apple sauce. Add sugar and lemon juice.

Bring mixture to a boil. Stirring often so that it doesn't burn to the bottom of the pan. As it boils the mixture will thicken and change color. Let the mixture boil until it can't be stirred down. When the mixture is thick, pour into pie crusts. It will make 2 pies. Bake at 375 until the pie crust is done. Let cool and then refrigerate until ready to eat.

Edible Turkeys!

We made these cute little turkeys for an activity at church tonight.
Thought you all might enjoy them! Follow the link for a list of ingredients...

Turkey Ingredients

Holiday Table Displays

I know this isn't a recipe... but I thought with the holidays coming up it might also be fun to share our entertaining/decorating ideas with one another to help us get inspired to not only prepare an amazing culinary feast for family and friends...but also a feast for the eye's.

The cornicopia is filled with yarn in the back to hold the fall veggies upright for the display. The candle holder is an empty wine bottle (try local restaurants many are happy to pass along their empty bottles)
The flowers and grass in these displays were gathered from yard...but if you don't have these readily available check out the dollar store...for under 5 dollars you can have all these same pieces to decorate your table.
The ribbon is from the dollar store and the lantern is from Ikea (only 3.00)!

Happy Decorating!

Cranberry sauce

1 Cup sugar
1 cup water
1 pkg. cranberries (2 cups)

Wash berries put water in a pan
add sugar.  bring to a boil stirring often.
add cranberries
return to a boil
reduce heat and boil gently 10 min
cool to room temp before refrigerating.

Grandma Teasdale's Pumpkin Coconut Bread

1 1/3 C oil
5 eggs (beaten)
1 small can pumpkin

Beat together and add:

2 C sugar
2 C flour
2 pkg coconut cream pie filling
1 tsp Cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
Nuts (optional)


Makes 4 small or 2 large loaves
325 degrees
45 min for small loaves
60 min for large laoves

Blood Punch with a floating hand

 Halloween Neighbor gift--great for visiting teaching

1 Quart mason jar
2 packet black cherry Kool-aid
2 Cups sugar
1-2 vinyl gloves (NO LATEX!)
1 square of fabric
String or ribbon
paper with instructions:
Blood Punch with a floating hand
Fill Glove (s) with water, tie off and freeze
Add 2 quarts of water for Blood Punch
carefully remove glove from icy hand
place in punch and serve
Hole punch 


Stir the sugar and kool-aid together in the Mason Jar.  Place the lid on the jar and then center the square of fabric on the lid and secure with the ring.  Hole punch the paper and place on string.  Using the same string, tie the gloves to the mason Jar ring.


I loved doing this.  The Ice turns white in the middle when you drop it in the punch and it looks like bones!  Super cool and the kids love it.   I found this variation online:

http://murfreesborohaunts.blogspot.com/2007/09/blood-punch-recipe-for-all-you-vampires.html

3 cups (500 mL) cranberry juice
1-1/2 cups (250 mL) apple juice
1-1/2 cups (250 mL) grape juice
2 cups (500 mL) caffeine-free cola
1 cup (250 mL) frozen strawberries
Cooking Instructions
In a large pitcher or punch bowl, combine the cranberry juice, apple juice and grape juice. Stir, then refrigerate until you're ready to serve. At the last possible moment, add the cola, the strawberries and, of course, the Floating Hand of Death (directions below).
Floating Hand

In a measuring cup or jar, stir a few drops of green food coloring into some water — not too much, just enough to give it a slightly decomposed tint. Pour the greenish water into a disposable rubber glove (the stretchy kind — make sure it's not powder-coated inside) and tie the top securely. Place in the freezer for several hours or overnight. At serving time, peel the glove off the hand and deposit icy hand in chilled punch. Yum.
Servings: Makes about 10 servings.
How kids can help

Stir together the punch ingredients.
Un-glove the Hand of Death and add to the punch.

Kim's Cranberry Salad

A Colorful addition to the holiday table.


2 PACKAGES CANBERRIES CHOPPED
2 RED APPLES CHOPPED REAL FINE
¼ C PECANS CHOPPED
Sugar into taste
ADD   Mini Marshmallows

Directions:
Chop, mix, taste, and eat!

Beve's Pumpkin Potpourri

a FALL TWIST for Gorp Ingredients: 1/2 c. Wild Berries (Red Jelly Beans) 1/2 c. Owl Rings (Cheerios Cereal) 1/2 c. Colored Flies (M&M's) 1/2 c. Butterfly Wings (Fritos) 1/2 c. Cobwebs (Coconut) 1/2 c. Ants (Raisins) 1/2 c. Earth Worms (Chow Mein Noodles) 1/2 c. Squirrel nuts (Shelled Peanuts) 1/2 c. Bat Bones (Pretzels) 1/2 c. Bird Seed (Shelled Sunflower Seeds) Directions: Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl. Makes 10 (1/2 c.) servings. A fun treat at Halloween time, thanksgiving time, or any time during the fall. Number Of Servings:How big are the hands grabing the goodies???

Grandma Tracy's Swedish Christmas Rice

1 cup long grain rice (rinse)
6 cups whole milk
3 T sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup sugar

Butter
1/2 and 1/2 Cream

After rice is rinsed, put in a large, heavy pan.

Add milk, 3T sugar, and salt
Heat over Med heat, stirring constantly until it bubbles around the edge.


For a fun Christmas party tradition, we hide one slivered almond in the rice and who ever finds it, gets a prize.

Peanut Brittle the longer way

2 cups sugar
1 cup Karo Syrup
1/2 cup water
1 lb raw peanuts
2 tsp. soda
1 tsp. salt


use a heavy sauce pan. Cook sugar, syrup and water on medium heat until it makes a thread (about 10 minutes after boiling) After thread, put in peanuts consistantly (about 10 min) until golden color and you can smell the peanuts roasting. Remove from heat and add salt and soda.
Mix well and put on greased cookie sheet.

Microwave Peanut Brittle

1 Cup Sugar
1/2 Cup corn syrup
1 Cup raw peanuts
1/8 tsp. Salt

cook 7-8 min stir after 4 min.

1 T. Butter

Add-cook 2 min or until mixture looks caramelized in color

1 tsp. Soda
1 tsp. Vanilla

Add-spread out on buttered cookie sheet.