Pretzel Snack Mix

6 cups baked cheddar cheese crackers

1 (9-oz) package bite size square pretzel snaps (5 cups)

1 (12-oz) can peanuts

½ cup of butter – melted

2 Tablespoons dried Italian seasoning – crushed

1 clove garlic – finely minces

¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a roasting pan combine crackers, pretzels and peanuts.

In a small bowl stir together melted butter, Italian seasoning, garlic and pepper; drizzle over cracker mixture; stir evenly to coat.

Back uncovered for 45 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes.

Spread snack mix on large sheet of foil to cool. When cooled, simply store in airtight container.

Makes 20 (1/2 cup) servings.

Until later,

Linda

The ladies in my community put together their favorite appetizer recipes in a book titled, “A Taste of Game Trail.” All of these appetizer recipes have been tested and thoroughly enjoyed.

Shrimp Dip 

1 can tiny shrimp

1 (8-oz) cup sour cream

2 drops of vanilla

horseradish to taste

Mix all the ingredients together. After mixed taste the dip to see if you need more horseradish. If not, chill and serve with chips or raw vegetables.

Until later,

Linda

Here is a delicious and easy recipe given to me from one of my neighbor’s.

Mary Lee’s San Jose Cheese Ball

Ingredients: 

2 (8-oz) packages of cream cheese

2 cups grated cheddar cheese

1/4 – 1/2 cups dried cranberries

2-3 Tablespoons of frozen orange juice

1/-3/4 cup chopped nuts

Mix all the above ingredients and cut in half. Form two cheeseballs. Sprinkle or roll in chopped nuts. Refrigerate or freeze until ready to serve.

That’s it! How easy is that! And so delicious. Serve with crackers and enjoy the party!

Until later,

Linda

For a little over a dollar, you can buy a corn de-silking brush from CleanWay http://www.surlatable.com/gs/corn-de-silking-brush-lobster-and-corn-5.shtml. The price on line is much higher than what I found at Walmart right next to the corn display. This washable brush has soft and flexible plastic bristles to brush the corncob after you husk the corn. The brush is 3 x 1.75 x 1.75 inches and is tapered with different bristle lengths for all sizes and shapes of corn.

The instructions show that all you need to do is press down firmly and brush up and down on the cob. You don’t have to brush hard just enough pressure removes the silks from your corn-on-the-cob and it doesn’t damage the kernels. The tampered design along with the different bristle lengths reach and remove the silks especially the hard to get at silks in the rows down between the kernels.

I found the corn de-silking brush to be about 95% effective. Just think no more silks that float to the top when you are cooking the corn and no silks trapped in between your teeth and hang from your mouth when you eat corn-on-the-cob. And this product is made in the USA!

Until later,

Linda

The best part is you DON’T HAVE TO BAKE THIS PIE!  Once again this recipe has been handed down to me from my mother who I must admit was the best baker of all times.  But whose mother isn’t? 

She found this Dream Whip Cherry Cheese Pie recipe on a dream whip box many years ago and maybe you can still find it on the dream whip box today.

Pie Shell: 

Go to the supermarket and buy – yes buy – a graham cracker crust pie shell.  I tried to do my own graham cracker crust shell but I found that the store bought kind works just as well.  They make two sizes – I always take the bigger size because you can get more slices. 

The pie shell lid has directions on how to get the graham cracker crust to brown up.  Believe me this is easy to do.  Just crack an egg in a bowl.  You need to separate the yolk from the white.  Use that egg separator that I’m sure you got from a Tupperware party many years ago!  Mix up the egg white and brush it onto the graham cracker pie shell.  Okay, this is the ONLY part of the pie you need to bake.  Follow the directions on the oven temperature and time and you’ll have a nicely browned shell.

Onto the pie filling – I promise this is a no bake pie – Honest!

Take out that mixer that your mother-in-law gave you many years ago.  You will finally get to use it!

Pie filling: 

1 – 8 ounce package of cream cheese

1 cup confectionery sugar (powdered sugar)

1 Dream Whip package – if you want it more creamier use 2 dream whip packages

1 can cherries in syrup

In a small mixing bowl, mix together until creamy the cream cheese and powdered sugar.  Set it aside.

In a larger mixing bowl dump in the Dream Whip package and follow the directions on the package on how to make a creamy dream whip filling.

Pour in the cream cheese mix into the Dream Whip mix.  Mix all together until the mixture stands in peeks.

Once the filling is done, pour the filling into the graham cracker crust shell and then slowly pour the cherries on top.

Refrigerate over night. 

Now wasn’t that easy?  You will be the hit of any dinner party when you serve this pie for dessert.  Aren’t cherries one of the food groups that is suppose to be good for you?  Well there you go you are serving something nutritious as well.

Until later,

Linda

Ever since I was a little girl, my mother used to bake Russian Tea Cake/Cookies for the holidays.  Not until I got older did I realize why she enjoyed baking the Russian Tea Cake/Cookies.  Once again, they are easy to make and of course so easy to eat.

This recipe yields approximately 6 dozen cookies.

The ingredients you need are:

1 cup of butter

¼ tsp salt

½ cup of Confectioner sugar (powdered sugar)

2 ¼ cups of Flour

½ tsp of vanilla

¾ cup of finely chopped walnuts

Cream the butter then add sugar gradually and cream together.  Combine the flour and salt and add to the creamed mixture.  (Here is where the fun begins!)  Work the cookie mixture with your hands and then blend in the vanilla and nuts until all is mixed well.

Now, my mother used to refrigerate the cookie mix over night, but I have found that just as long as you chill the dough it works just fine.  So I recommend chilling it for just about and hour or two.

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

You now need to take pieces of the cookie dough and form them into small balls.  I find using a teaspoon and filling it up with the cookie dough makes the right size, but don’t forget to work the dough into tiny little balls. 

Place the formed cookies about 2 ½ inches apart on a lightly greased cookie sheet – you can also cover the cookie sheet with aluminum foil.

Bake the cookies for 14 to 17 minutes – you want the cookies to be lightly brown on the top.

Take the cookies off the cookie sheet but don’t let them cool you need to roll them in a bowl of powdered sugar.  After you rolled them in powdered sugar let the cookies cool.  But before you pack them away in a cookie tin, roll them again in powdered sugar and then pack them away.

Or do what I do – test a couple to make sure they are good.  And they are good!!!  They should be buttery, a hint of walnut and of course sweet from the powdered sugar.  They also should be easy to bite into but I have found that my sons and my husband just enjoy plopping the whole thing in their mouths!

Like I said, this is an easy holiday cookie recipe and so easy to eat.

Until later,

Linda

You will need two loaves of bread – one loaf should be white and the other light rye.  Depending on how much stuffing you want to make, cut in cube shapes half a loaf each, but if you cut up both full loaves, you will need a large bowl to put the cut up cube pieces of bread.  Have fun mixing the white and rye cubed pieces with your hand.

Once mixed, put it aside and start cooking the turkey giblets.  Most people don’t care for the giblets but they really taste good when it is boiled.  Trust me!  Place the thawed giblets in a big pot of water and a couple of Bay Leaves and start boiling.  This should take about 1 ½ to 2 hours until all the giblets are tender.  You can include the turkey neck but you really don’t get much meat off the bone and it takes longer to boil.

While the giblets are boiling, cut up a stalk of celery in small pieces.  If you like onions, dice up some onions as well.  In a large skillet place about a half of stick of butter – yes butter, why worry about calories and cholesterol, it’s Thanksgiving for heaven’s sakes! 

Melt the butter in the pan and dump in the diced celery and onions and sauté on low heat.  You don’t want to burn the celery or onion.  Just make them soft so they aren’t crunchy.

When the giblets are cooked cut them up in small pieces and put them in the bread bowl.  Don’t throw out the water that is left in the giblet pot because you can use it for the stuffing.  But do dump the bay leaves – don’t put them in the stuffing mix!

Here is where the real fun begins.  Take the sautéed celery and onion and mix it in the bread stuffing bowl.  Open 2 cans of Chicken with Rice Soup and dump it into the bread bowl and mix, also melt at least ½ lb or 1 lb of butter (1 lb if you cut up the full two loaves) and mix it into the stuffing bowl.  If the stuffing still looks dry, then slowly pour the giblet juice into the bread mix until the mix is moist.

That’s it!  Done!  

You can stuff the turkey with this bread stuffing, but now they are not recommending this.  I suggest that you put the bread stuffing in a heat proof bowl and about an hour and a half before your turkey is ready, place it in the oven.  Don’t forget to put at least a couple of pats of butter at the top to let it soak into the bread stuffing.  This will give the stuffing a nice crisp top.

I recommend that you make the stuffing recipe the night before and put it into the refrigerator until you are ready to heat it up in the oven the next day.  Your bread stuffing will be the hit of the meal.

Enjoy!

Linda