Christmas Cookies Good the Year Round

This recipe is one that was given to me by my mother. It was given to her by a good friend of hers and Mother tried them out one Christmas. Well, everyone loved them and the recipe has since passed around and been copied several times. It has now become a Christmas staple in our family.
Although this cookie was born at our house one Christmas season it does not have to be just for the holidays. Bake them anytime, they will be eaten.
This recipe makes about 4 dozen cookies which also make them great for fund raisers and bake sales as well as for large gatherings at home or at the office. As a matter of fact, my daughter is getting married next weekend and we are having a reception till seven, then a big open party and I am going to make a couple of batches for the party. I think I’ll take the recipe card, I know someone will ask for it. Enjoy!

Southern Sour Cream Cookies

1 cup Crisco
3 eggs, beaten
2 cups white sugar
½ tsp. vanilla
1 cup sour cream
5 cups sifted flour
3 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
½ tsp. baking soda
1 ½ cups pecans

½ cup white sugar
½ tsp. cinnamon

Cream Crisco, eggs, and sugar.
Add vanilla and sour cream and mix well
Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt into the mixture.
Add pecans and stir.
Drop by rounded teaspoons onto baking sheet.
Grease the bottom of a nice rounded bottom drinking glass.
Dip glass into a mixture of cinnamon and sugar and press down on each cookie, to flatten slightly.
Bake at 350 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes
Makes 4 dozen

A French Toast You Can Take To Bed and Eat It Up In The Morning

Everyone I know loves French toast, but, it can be a bit messy and time consuming to make in the morning and that is when this Mama just wants to sit down and eat with her family.
When what you really want is something warm, comforting, tasty, and easy, this is a great recipe for a different take on French toast that you can prepare the night before you want to eat it and in the morning all you have to do is take it out of the refrigerator and pop it in the oven.
Plus, it is so much better than plain old French toast.
This is a great idea for when you have overnight guests too.
I like to make this Christmas Eve and in the morning it can be baking while we unwrap our gifts and usually it’s done just as we are finishing up. I can’t think of anything better than all of us sitting together Christmas morning and having this warm, delicious breakfast.
Unless it’s Easter morning or Saturday morning or any morning.
It’s just great! Syrup is up to you.

Baked Apple French Toast

¼ cup butter
½ cup brown sugar
1 tbsp. corn syrup
2 apples peeled and thinly sliced
½ loaf French bread sliced
2 eggs
¾ cup milk
½ tsp. vanilla

Melt butter, stir in brown sugar and syrup in a sauce pan
Spread mixture in the bottom of your baking dish
Arrange your apple slices over the top
Place bread slices over the top of your apples
Beat eggs until light and fluffy
Add milk and vanilla and combine
Pour evenly over the bread
Cover and refrigerate overnight
In the morning, preheat your oven to 350 degrees
Bake, uncovered for about 40 minutes until bread is golden brown

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French Onion Soup Your Favorite Restaurant Would Be Jealous Of

This dish is a favorite at my house. I will serve it as an appetizer with a steak dinner or as a side dish with a Philly Steak and Cheese sandwich.
In my opinion, there is nothing better than a steaming hot bowl of French onion soup loaded with melted, gooey Swiss cheese. Even my kids, at a very young age, loved and appreciated this wonderful soup.
The nice thing about it is that you can change it up a little and give it your own signature. For instance, you can use all beef broth and no chicken broth. If you don’t have white wine gives it a splash of red wine or just a tablespoon of red wine vinegar. You can also change the cheese that you use such as fontina or gruyere or even parmesan cheese. And don’t forget, fresh herbs are always a good alternative to dried.


Delicious French Onion Soup

1. 6 Cups onions peeled and sliced.
2. 3 Cups beef broth.
3. 1 Cup chicken broth
4. ¼ Cup butter
5. 1 tsp. sugar
6. ¼ Cup white wine
7. 1 tsp. garlic
8. 1 bay leaf
9. ¼ tsp. dried thyme
10. ¼ tsp. dried parsley
11. 2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
12. salt and pepper to taste
13. 6-8 slices French bread toasted and cut into 1” cubes
14. 1 Cup Swiss cheese

Sauté onions in butter till tender.
Add garlic, sugar, bay leaf, thyme, and parsley then sauté for just a couple minutes.
Add Worcestershire sauce and salt and pepper to taste.
Now add your broth and white wine and bring to a boil, then cook over medium heat for 15 to 20 minutes.
Ladle soup into oven proof bowls.
Place one slice of the toasted bread cubes in each bowl.
Top each bowl with cheese and bake in oven or under your broiler until cheese is melted and lightly browned.

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Baked Cavatelli With Italian Sausage And Eggplant

1 lb. bulk Italian sausage
1 large onion
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper
2 med. eggplants, peeled and cubed
2(8oz.) cans tomato sauce
1/2 cup water
1/4 tsp. blk. pepper
8oz. cavatelli or any small shell pasta
1tblsp. dried parsley
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

1. Heat oven to 400 degrees. Grease a 2 qt. casserole. Heat lg. skillet over med. high heat until hot. Cook and stir sausage, breaking into pieces, until browned. Add onion, garlic, and crushed red pepper, cook 1 min. Add eggplant, cook 5 min.stirring occasionally. Stir in tomato sauce, water and blk. pepper, cook 10 min.
2. Meanwhile, cook pasta, drain and toss with sauce.
3. Place half of the mixture in casserole, top with half each parsley and cheese. Cover with remaining pasta mixture, sprinkle with remaining parsley and cheese. Cover with foil. Bake 15 to 20 min. till thoroughly heated. Serves six. Reheat leftovers the next night and you have a great two night meal just add bread and salad.

beef maria

> 3 tbs. butter or margerine, in all
>1 cup beef tenderloin strips
>3 tbs.finly chopped onion
> salt and pepper, to taste
> 1/2 tsp. chopped garlic
>2 cups chopped tomatoes , canned is fine
> 1 cup chicken stock
> 1/2 pound uncooked pasta

cook pasta according to package directions.

In a heavy skillet over high heat, melt 2 tbs. of butter or margarine.
Add beef and onions saute until beef is browned and a crust forms on the bottom of the pan.
Add garlic and tomatoes scraping the bits off the bottom.
Continue cooking, stirring occasionally till tomatoes are cooked.
Add stock and bring to a boil .
Whisk in remaining 1tbs. butter and cook till sauce is creamy and slightly thickened.
Add cooked pasta to pan , stir to coat well and cook till pasta is heated through.
Remove from heat and serve.

marinated grilled pork chops

1. pork chops
2. 2 tbsp. soy sauce
3. 1 tbsp. chopped garlic
4. tsp. salt
5. 1/2 tsp. blk.pepper
6. tbsp. olive oil

whisk all ingredients together, place pork chops in a resealable plastic bag, pour marinade into the bag and move it all around till pork chops are covered . may marinade up to 8 hrs. place on your grill and cook till desired doneness.

this could not be more easy and the flavors are great. i always place the chops in the marinade in the refrigerator in the morning before work then, it,s all ready when i get home.

broccoli and garlic pasta

30 min./15 min.prep.

serv. 4



> 1 cup chicken broth

>1/2 teasp. dried basil

>2 cloves garlic. minced

>3 cup broccoli

>4 1/2 cup hot cooked penne

>1 tablsp. lemon juice

> Parmesan cheese



1. in a large skillet, combine broth, basil, pepper, garlic and broccoli. bring to a boil.

2. cover and cook over low heat for 3 minutes or till broccoli is tender crisp.

3. add hot cooked pasta and lemon juice. toss to coat. serve with cheese.



to add a little more heartiness to the dish you can grill some chicken breasts and top your pasta.

easy family recipes

Hello,

Here is a quick and easy recipe for this week. I am going to post 1 or 2 new recipes each week always keeping in mind that:

" WORKING MOTHERS NEED QUICK AND EASY"

Some times there will be a recipe that is best cooked on your day off and reheated the next day.

But I promise there will be enough to have two different times that week. so one night all you have to do is put the pot on the stove and warm it up.

EASY AND QUICK!

This recipe is so easy it is hard to take all the compliments you will get .

" CHICKEN BREASTS with HAM"

First prepare a salad , warm a loaf of french bread , cook any kind of pasta and place chicken breasts on the pasta.

4- chicken breasts

4-thin slices of ham ( deli ham is perfect)

6-to 8 mushrooms finely chopped (1 Sm. can of m.rooms is fine)

salt and pepper

1/4 C. flour

1 tbsp. butter

1/2 C. chicken stock

1/2 C. grated Parmesan cheese

melt butter in skillet

saute mushrooms till lightly browned then remove and place in a bowl.

season chicken with salt and pepper to taste.

lightly brown these in your skillet.

place a slice of ham on each breast then cover with the chopped mushrooms and sprinkle with the parm. cheese.

pour chicken broth in skillet to moisten chicken and De glaze your pan.

cover and simmer for about 10 minutes.

place chicken on top of your cooked pasta, pour broth over that , sprinkle with a little more cheese and you have a quick tasty meal.

I hope you and your family enjoy this dish as much as ours does

And you can do what I did.

Play with it a little--- add a little this and a little that. replace ingredients you don't like with ones you do.

Make it your own.

Talk to you later

Dee Ann

Family Recipies

On this blog I will post my personal take on some old recipies that add flavor and pizazz to family dinners.
I have had to cook for thirty years for a meat and potatos guy and actually have him looking forward to my creations.
I hope you will enjoy these as much as we have.
There will be new recipies posted each week.

Thanks for reading,

Dee Ann

Easy Family Recipies

Hello,

I thought I would reach out to all you working moms out there , as I am one too.

I have a system of feeding my family home cooked meals each night of the week saving one for me to go out, with as little effort as possible but with as much old fashion family table warmth as I can possibly manage.

ConsideringI am tired and just maybe a little grumpy each night when I get home but knowing that it is one of the few times we are all together talking and enjoying each other over a good home cooked meal makes me feel like I am doing something great and a little unusual in todays world .

Especially when my childrens friends go to school and tell their teachers and their friends what a great cook Elayna and Maria's mom is.

So here we go .

Sure it takes a little planning .

Each week beforeI go to the grocery I plan my entire weeks worth of meals making sure thatI schedule most of my cooking for my days off.

For example- Sunday : make speghetti sauce.

Now I make enough for Sunday dinner and Monday dinner .

Don't forget a large salad and a large loaf of garlic bread.

Now Monday night I come home at 5:30p.m, heat up my sauce, boil water for noodles, set salad on the table, reheat garlic bread.

Voila, a quick home cooked meal. now .... I know you are saying..... left overs.... but if the food is good enough you will find your family saying " are we having that speghetti for supper tonight cause that was really good?

Now Tuesday, you don't have the time to cook a two night meal so you cook something easy and quick i.e. pork chops on the grill with some oven roasted potatoes, skins on; cut into quarters on a sheet pan in the oven for 30 minutes, just enough time to set the table put some corn on the stove, apple sauce on the table and grill the chops. in less than an hour another easy home cooked meal.

Now if you are off on Wednesday then you cook a two night meal ,reheat on Thursday.

Friday an easy quick meal and Saturday night out you go Mom needs a break!!!!

But you have successfully fed your family a home cooked meal each night except for your personal "home cooked meal" with minimal effort and you should feel good about yourself and what you are doing for your family.

And don't forget, hamburgers on the grill is also a home cooked meal.

........ so hence forth.. do you like that ? I think I read too many Victorian novels. any way, from now on my blog will consist of easy great tasting recipes.

Let me know what you think.