Posted on 12/18/2010 5:40:18 AM PST by libertarian27
Merry 'Week Before' Christmas.
For the 2nd installment of the cooking thread I thought it would be great to have a hodgepodge of recipes for the upcoming 'Crunch Time' and Christmas week.
Have a delicious recipe for a quick meal during this hectic week? How about your most requested 'Party Food' that everyone says you must bring to the party? Have a favorite cookie, etc. recipe that you are cranking our batch after batch for family and friends? And everything else in between!
Here's the place to share your creations and get some food inspiration.
Baked off your Ginger Snap recipes tonight - they were excellent! Head of the Christmas cookie list, and really, throughout the year too!
Wonderful!
Merry Christmas!
bump for tomorrow read
Please add me to the list.
I’ve been eating these candies since I was a kid of 10 and I make them once a year, myself, I’m 62.
Use the rice crispy treats instructions with the jar marshmellow...the parafin just makes the melted real chocolate SHINNY instead of dull.
Through in some red & green M & M’s and you have a nice Christmas treat.
Or try making a trail mix out of different cereals, nuts and dried fruits like cranberries and rasins. I mix 3-4 different cereals, the whole grain ones, be sure to add a chocolate and a honey nut one. Some times I throw in small pretzel gold fish. The mix doesn’t last long, and stores well.
I switched hubby over to it instead of high cal, high fat snacks he likes, it helps keep his weight down...he is a grazer with a sweet tooth.
Cooking time and temp is what hardens candy. And I goofed it’s regular marsh mellows in the package not the jar stuff that goes into rice crispy treats...Brain fog this early...I should have remember I just made a batch and sprinkled them with red and green sugar crystals for our party tonight.
Merry Christmas All
Cheese Dip
1/2 stick butter
4 Tbls. Flour
Cook and stir until melted (about 1 minute) turn off heat & add:
1 tsp. paprika
1/2 tsp. dry mustard
1 tsp. chili powder
1 tsp. cumin
1 Tbls. catsup
2 diced peppers & juice(Jalapino) or 2 Tbls. Green Chiles with juice
1 grated pod garlic
6 oz. cubed velveeta cheese
Slowly add 2 cups milk cooking over low flame stirring until thick.
Sopapillas
Delicious for breakfast, lunch or dinner. May be served as a hot bread or dessert.
4 cups flour
4 tsp. baking powder 2 tsp. salt
1/4 cup shortening
1 to 1 1/2 cups water, as needed
oil for frying
Sift dry ingredients into mixing bowl. Cut in shortening. Add water, a little at a time, stirring to form a stiff dough. Knead until smooth. Roll thin; cut into 2 inch squares or triangles. Heat oil in deep heavy pan to 360F., deep fry dough a few pieces at a time until golden brown. They will puff up as they fry. Serve puffed bread hot
with butter and jelly. For a delicious dessert sprinkle with a mixture of sugar and cinnamon and fill with honey.
Makes about 40.
Aunt Rita’s lemon squares
Crust:
1 c. melted butter
2 c. sifted flour
1/2 c. powdered sugar
1/4 t salt
Mix above ingredients & put into bottom of 9 X 13 pan. Bake @ 350 for 20 mins.
Topping:
6 eggs (beaten)
6 T sifted flour
1 1/2 T grated lemon rind
3 c. sugar
8 1/2 T lemon juice (fresh)
Mix all and pour on top of baked crust. Bake @ 350 for 25 - 30 mins.
When cool sprinkle with powered sugar.
I usually refrigerate before cutting into squares.
Those lemon bars sound yummy. I love these bars in the summer and usually cheat and go with the Krusteaz box mix($when on sale$)- will try out your recipe the next time!
1 cup of milk or cream
1 tsp chicken bouillon
1 tsp dried onion bits
Instant Mashed Potatoes
parsley flakes
pat of butter
Combine 1st 3 ingredients in coffee cup and heat in Microwave for 1 minute. Add mashed potato flakes and stir(add more or less depending on how thick you want it) You can also substitute leftover mashed potatoes.
Top with a pat of butter and parsley flakes. When butter is melted it's time to drink your soup, or use a spoon if yours is thick. We also garnish with bacon and cheese.
1. Avoid carrot sticks. Anyone who puts carrots on a holiday buffet table knows nothing of the Christmas spirit. In fact, if you see carrots, leave immediately. Go next door, where they're serving rum balls.
2. Drink as much eggnog as you can. And quickly. It's rare. You cannot find it any other time of year but now. So drink up! Who cares that it has 10,000 calories in every sip? It's not as if you're going to turn into an eggnog-oholic or something. It's a treat. Enjoy it. Have one for me. Have two. It's later than you think. It's Christmas!
3. If something comes with gravy, use it. That's the whole point of gravy. Gravy does not stand-alone. Pour it on. Make a volcano out of your mashed potatoes. Fill it with gravy. Eat the volcano. Repeat.
4. As for mashed potatoes, always ask if they're made with skim milk or whole milk. If it's skim, pass. Why bother? It's like buying a sports car with an automatic transmission.
5. Do not have a snack before going to a party in an effort to control your eating. The whole point of going to a Christmas party is to eat other people's food for free. Lots of it. Hello?
6. Under no circumstances should you exercise between now and New Year's. You can do that in January when you have nothing else to do. This is the time for long naps, which you'll need after circling the buffet table while carrying a 10 pound plate of food and that vat of eggnog.
7. If you come across something really good at a buffet table, like frosted Christmas cookies in the shape and size of Santa, position yourself near them and don't budge. Have as many as you can before becoming the center of attention. They're like a beautiful pair of shoes. If you leave them behind, you're never going to see them again.
8. Same for pies. Apple, Pumpkin, Mincemeat. Have a slice of each. Or if you don't like mincemeat, have two apples and one pumpkin. Always have three. When else do you get to have more than one dessert? Labor Day?
9. Did someone mention fruitcake? Granted, it's loaded with the mandatory celebratory calories, but avoid it at all cost. I mean, have some standards.
10. One final tip: If you don't feel terrible when you leave the party or get up from the table, you haven't been paying attention. Re-read tips; start over, but hurry, January is just around the corner.
Remember this motto: "Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and screaming "WOO HOO!! What a ride!"
Have a great holiday season!
Three pieces of Mincedmeat pie is my idea of heaven.
By the way,I also like fruitcake.
Thanks Libloather.
Those are not tips, they are RULES!
Thanks!
Your blue cheese dip looks great. I like the extra kick of the dillweed. Will try that. One I throw together has garlic. Not a mayo fan, so tried making dressing with yogurt, instead. Very tasty!
Does the skin get crispy in that recipe?
Makes sense to me.
An extra pinch of Algore or Biden goes a long way.
LIZ’S EGGNOG LATTE
Nice on Christmas morning served in footed Christmas mug w/ cinnamon stick or candy cane stirrer.
ONE SERVING Heat together cup leftover strong brewed coffee, 1/2 cup milk, 1/2 cup Axelrod egg nog (or other prepared egg nog). Blender together til foamy, add fave sweetener.
I don’t know what it is but dill and blue cheese go together great(I put more dillweed in than the recipe+ blue cheese too).
That recipe came from a now closed restaurant that had the best blue cheese dressing in the county - I think they cut it down with buttermilk...it’s good to bump into a chef at a bar and buy them drinks- and have a pen handy (I got that recipe for making a gallon and had to cut it down) :>)
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