Egg  Nog Spice Bundt Cake

     by Linda Broday

 1 box spice cake mix

1 box Instant vanilla or cheesecake pudding & pie filling

1 cup nonfat vanilla yogurt

¼ cup canola oil

1 cup light eggnog

1 egg

3 egg whites

1 1/3 cups toasted chopped pecans

Powdered sugar

1.    Preheat oven to 350F. Coat a nonstick Bundt pan with cooking spray

2.    Combine cake mix, pudding mix, yogurt, oil, eggnog, egg, and egg whites in a large bowl.

3.    Stir in pecans. Pour into prepared pan. Bake 40 to 45 minutes, until wooden toothpick comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack. When cool, dust with powdered sugar.

 My Aunt Grace’s Downhome Banana Bread

     by Tanya Hanson

½ cup shortening

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

3 medium mashed bananas

2 cups flour

1 teaspoon soda

Cream shortening and sugar, add eggs and cream well. Sift flour and soda together. Fold flour and bananas into above mixture. Add ¼ cup chopped nuts.

 Bake in greased floured loaf pan, 1 hour, at 350º.

Haystack Drop Candies
By Winnie Griggs

This is a holiday favorite at my house.  It’s super easy and, as you can see from the notes on ingrediants that can be swapped out or added in, it is very versatile. 

INGREDIANTS

• 1 cup caramel chips (can substitute butterscotch chips)
• 2 cups shoestring potatoes (can substitute chow mein noodles)
• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 1/2 cup salted peanuts (optional)

DIRECTIONS

• Melt chips and peanut butter in microwave or double boiler.  Stir until well blended
• Gently stir in shoestring potatoes and nuts
• Drop by spoonfuls unto waxed paper 
• Cool until set

Other add-ins you can try

• Rice Krispie cereal
• Miniature marshmallows
• M&Ms
• Coconut

Andes Mint Cookies
By Cheryl Pierson

INGREDIANTS

• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
• 3/4 cup butter or margarine
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 tbs water
• 3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 6 oz. Andes mints
• Pecan halves

 
DIRECTIONS

• In a large bowl, cream sugars and butter or margarine.
• Add eggs and water. Beat well.
• Mix flour, soda and salt well.
• Add gradually to egg mixture. Chill dough overnight (it is important that the dough be well chilled). 
• Wrap each mint completely in cookie dough.
• Place 2″ apart on lightly greased cookie sheets and put a nut half on top of each cookie.
• Bake 7-9 minutes until golden brown in a 375 degree oven.

OLD FASHIONED RICE PUDDING

By Cheryl St. John

1/2 cup rice

1 quart milk

4 eggs, separated

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons margarine

1 teaspoon vanilla

3 tablespoons sugar

Combine rice, milk and salt. Cook in a double-boiler until rice is tender.

Beat egg yolks until light and lemon colored. Add these, 1/2 c sugar, margarine and vanilla to the rice. Stir vigorously as you add the egg mixture. Cook slowly until pudding becomes the consistency of custard.

Pour into casserole and top with meringue made of the 4 egg whites beaten stiffly and 3 tablespoons of sugar.

Brown in oven 10 to 12 minutes.

 ORGANIC RAW CHOCOLATE CREAM COOKIES SUPREME

 By Karen Kay

 1)  Fill a quart jar with almonds half full.  Fill another quart jar with pecans half full.   Fill jar with water and salt and let soak overnight.  (The purpose of this is to deactivate the anti-nutrients — phytates — in the nuts.  Phytates impair digestion and prevent the body from assimilating important nutrients like calcium, magnesium, etc.)

2)  Pour off water and salt and dehydrate the nuts in the lowest setting on your oven — or dehydrate them in a dehydrator if you have one.

Recipe:

 5 tblsp. soaked and dried raw organic almonds

5 tblsp. soaked and dried raw organic pecans

2 tblsp. raw organic cacao

2 tblsp. raw organic coconut flour

4 tblsp. raw organic butter or if raw butter not available, regular butter

1/4 teasp. pure organic stevia

1-2 tblsp. vegetable glycerin — or substitute 1-2 tblsp. maple syrup

1 cup raw organic cream or if raw cream not available, one can substitute regular cream — hopefully non-homogenized

1 teasp. vanilla

Put almonds and pecans in a food processor and grind until nuts are the consistency of a coarse flour.  Add raw cacao, coconut flour, butter, stevia and vegetable glycerin (or maple syrup) and blend until a dough forms.

Drop by spoonfuls onto the dehydrator or cookie sheet and press to form a flat cookies.  Dehydrate for 3-4 hours or put in oven at lowest possible heat and heat for 2-3 hours.  Whip raw cream with a couple of pinches of stevia and organic vanilla.

Place a spoonful of cream onto the cookie and place another cookie on top — making a cookie sandwich.  Makes about 16 cookies.

GRANNIE’S TEXAS GERMAN

CHOCOLATE CAKE

By Phyliss Miranda

Grannie was a cake baker for one of the first cafeterias in downtown Amarillo, Texas, during the 50’s and this is her original recipe she made every Thursday for the lunch crowd.

Recipe

2 c.      Sugar

1 c.      Shortening

4          Eggs, separated

2 ½ c.  Flour

½ tsp. Salt

1 tsp.   Soda

1 c.      Buttermilk

4 squares Semi-Sweet Chocolate

Dissolve chocolate in ½ cup hot water. Set aside. Cream sugar and 4 egg yokes (beaten).  Add 2 ½ cups flour and ½ t salt, alternating with buttermilk in which soda has been dissolved.  Add melted chocolate. Beat 4 egg whites till stiff, but not dry, and fold mixture into egg whites.

Bake 350 degrees for approximately ½ hour.  Makes 3 round pans.

German Chocolate Cake Icing

1 c.      Sugar

1 c.      Canned milk

½ c.     Chopped pecans

1 c.      Coconut

½ stick Butter

3          Egg yolks

Pinch of salt

Vanilla to taste

Combine ingredients.  Cook over very low heat until mixture spreads smoothly.  Ice cake.

Home on the Range Christmas Cookies

By Victoria Bylin

3/4 cup butter or margarine
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 cup flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp baking power
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 c. oatmeal (regular not instant or steel cut)
1 c. Rice Krispies
1/2 can shredded coconut (3 oz or so)
1 small bag chocolate chips
1/2  large box raisins
1/4  lb. walnuts
 

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Cream butter and sugar and vanilla. Add beaten eggs. Cream well. Add dry ingredients (sugar, brown sugar, flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt). Mix well. Add coconut, chocolate chips and nuts.  Flatten into small cookies with wet hands.  Bake for 10-12 minutes.  Makes approx. 8 dozen cookies.

Grandma Rosa’s Caramel Cookies

By Tracy Garrett

Since my Grandma Rosa played an important part in my first western historical, I thought I’d share one of her recipes with you. Every Christmas you would find some of these in Grandma’s freezer.

4 cups dark brown sugar
1 cup shortening
6 cups flour
4 eggs
1/4 cup molasses
1 tablespoon baking soda
1 tablespoon cream of tartar
8 tablespoons water
1/4 tsp salt 

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Cream sugar and shortening. Add eggs, slightly beaten, and  molasses and mix well. Add dry. Mix well. The dough will be very stiff. Form dough into two 2-inch rolls. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill overnight in the refrigerator. Slice thin and bake for 10-12 minutes. 

Grandma’s recipe calls for a “very slow” oven, which is 275-325 degrees. If your oven runs hot, go for a lower setting.

Wrangler Wreath Cookies

Mary Connealy

1/3 C. butter

 10 ounces marshmallows

Microwave 1 ½ minutes. Stir. Microwave again 1 ½ minutes. Continue until smooth. Add:

1 t. green food coloring

Add:

6 C. cornflakes (crushed)

Wet hands work as well as buttered hands to prevent sticking. Roll into balls. Poke thumb through center and flatten to form a wreath. Decorate with red hots.

 Gumdrop Cake

Donna Alward

1/2 cup Margarine

1 cup white sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp baking powder

2 cups flour

1 cup milk

1 cup gum drops (no black) chopped, or baking gums

Cream margarine and sugar, beat in eggs 1 at a time. Add vanilla. Mix together flour, salt, and baking powder. Add to the mixture, alternating with the milk until smooth.

Dust gumdrops with flour (to keep them from sticking together). Add to batter. Grease and flour a funnel or bundt pan. Bake at 350 until toothpick comes out clean. Wrap in foil and let ripen for 1 week (if you can stand to wait that long!).

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Now it’s the day after turkey-day. The feast has been enjoyed and only the carcass remains–and the relatives. J By now, you’ve probably talked over every subject you can think of. Just in case, here is some Thanksgiving trivia that might come in handy.

>> The first known thanksgiving feast or festival in North America was celebrated by Francisco Vásquez de Coronado and the people he called “Tejas” (members of the Hasinai group of Caddo-speaking Native Americans). [That was in the 1540s in eastern Texas!]

>> There are three places in the United States named after the holiday’s traditional main course — Turkey, Texas; Turkey Creek, La.; and Turkey, N.C. There are also nine townships around the country named “Turkey,” with three in Kansas.

>> The cranberry is a symbol and a modern diet staple of thanksgiving. Originally called crane berry, it derived its name from its pink blossoms and drooping head, which reminded the Pilgrims of a crane.

>> Fossil evidence shows that turkeys roamed the Americas 10 million years ago.

>> 91% of Americans eat turkey on Thanksgiving Day.

>> Turkeys were one of the first animals in the Americas to be domesticated. (Sorry, I just can’t see this guy as a pet.)

>> The Guinness Book of Records states that the greatest dressed weight recorded for a turkey is 39.09 kg (86 lbs), at the annual “heaviest turkey” competition held in London, England on December 12, 1989.

>> There are regional differences as to the “stuffing” (or “dressing”) traditionally served with the turkey. Southerners generally make theirs from cornbread, while in other parts of the country white bread is the base. One or several of the following may be added: oysters, apples, chestnuts, raisins, celery and/or other vegetables, sausage or the turkey’s giblets. 

>> More than 40 million green bean casseroles are served on Thanksgiving.

Happy day-after Thanksgiving, everyone! Now bring on the Christmas Carols!

On Thanksgiving Day we’re thankful for

Our blessings all year through,

For family we dearly love,

For good friends, old and new.

For sun to light and warm our days,

For stars that glow at night,

For trees of green and skies of blue,

And puffy clouds of white.

We’re grateful for our eyes that see

The beauty all around,

For arms to hug, and legs to walk,

And ears to hear each sound.

The list of all we’re grateful for

Would fill a great big book;

Our thankful hearts find new delights

Everywhere we look!

We love to share recipes here at Wildflower Junction. A few months back I was delighted to be invited to take part in a cookbook featuring recipes from 130 authors, which also includes fellow Fillies Elizabeth, Mary, Vicki, and Cheryl St. John. The proceeds from the cookbook go to Snap-4-Kids. With the holidays coming up I figured this would be a great time to share info about the cookbook and Snap-4-Kids. The Heart of Cooking could be a fun gift idea, and all for a super cause

Snap-4-Kids is an organization established to raise money for families of special needs children. Here is their mission statement: “Our Mission is assisting families of children with special needs, especially the physically challenged, in helping their child reach his/her maximum potential through information, referral, education, and modest grants for medical and therapeutic equipment, not covered by health insurance or in the case of no health insurance, throughout the United States, from birth to age 22.  By helping children with special needs in reaching their maximum potential, we are giving them the greatest gift that we can.”

The Heart of Cooking includes 170 recipes for a variety of food, as well as author pictures and bios. Some of the recipes also include personal stories about the recipes. Click on the cookbook for a list of all the contributing authors, the buy link and more information on the Snap-4-Kids foundation.

It’s likely no surprise my contribution has to do with potatoes (my favorite food!), a recipe I’d been cooking frequently at the time. Now I’m wishing I’d have sent the recipe for YESTERDAY’S MASHED POTATOES, a yummy recipe my mother-in-law turned me onto that could come in handy with holiday leftover mashed potatoes. But since I didn’t, I’ll post it today

YESTERDAY’S MASHED POTATOES

Ingredients:
6 cups leftover mashed potatoes (or you can use fresh, sometimes I can’t wait for leftovers)
1 pint sour cream (or plain yogurt)
1 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley
1 1/2 cup grated Cheddar cheese

Directions:
In a medium bowl mix mash potatoes, sour cream and parsley. Set aside. Spray a casserole dish with non-stick spray. Spread layer of mashed potato-sour cream mixture in casserole then layer of cheddar cheese; repeat. End with topping of remaining grated cheese. Cover and bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees F.

M-m-mmm goodness

Do you have a favorite potato recipe, or perhaps a favorite cookbook we should hunt down?

November is National Novel Writing Month. For those of you who aren’t writers, that means thousands upon thousands of writers are hunkered over their keyboards right now, tallying a word count. There’s a whole website and online community devoted to what is known as Nano-ing. Some years I participate and some I don’t. This year I committed to the whole 50,000 word goal.

It never fails that when a writer is buckled down for an intense writing spree, 300 emails pour into her inbox, the assistant editor requests a dear reader letter and study questions, ten things crop up on the home front that scream for her attention—and her turn to blog rolls around.

The organized Nanoers shop, prepare meals ahead and freeze them. Is that impressive, or what? Others send hubby for carry out four or five nights in a row—and some—like me—make use of all their quick and simple recipes.

And so today I share with you, a couple of my easiest on deadline or Nano-ing recipes.

TACO SOUP

This is a no fail hit. I’ve made it for only the family and I’ve made it for a soup supper at church. The quantities are easy to adjust.

1 ½ lbs ground beef, browned with a medium onion

For a crowd/  9 lbs & 4-6 onions

28 oz crushed tomatoes     / 168 oz

8 oz tomato sauce   / 48 oz

1 can corn      / 6 cans

1 can pinto beans      / 6 cans

Packet taco seasoning       /6 pkgs

1 cup water          / 6 cups

Simmer for 45 min to an hour and serve with shredded cheese, sour cram and corn chips

(My daughter adds a package of ranch dressing mix to the single recipe)

IHOP PANCAKES

1 ¼ c flour

1 egg

1 1/4 c buttermilk

½ c sugar

1 heaping tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 ¼ c oil

Pinch of salt

Preheat a nonstick skillet.

Combine all ingredients with mixer until smooth.

Pour by spoonfuls or small measuring cup to form 5” circles

When bubbles pop and edges appear to harden, flip.

Cook other side until golden.

8-10 pancakes

Serve with ready-to-eat sausages or microwave bacon

BEST BREAD MACHINE BREAD EVER

Mix: 1 cup + 2 Tbsp water and 1 or 2 eggs

4 tsp gluten

3 Tbsp brown sugar

3 Tbsp olive oil

1 ½ tsp salt

1 scat tsp yeast

1 cup Hodgson rye flour

1 c Hodgson whole wheat flour

1 cup unbleached bread flour

Easy to slice once cooled! Makes great sandwiches and excellent toast.

Have you noticed if some of your favorite authors have Nano-meters on their blogs this month? If so, leave them a note of encouragement.

I had a birthday recently and my buddy Nancy, the Nebraska native I mention from time to time, gave me my first-ever Farmer’s Almanac. When it flipped open to a chapter on Dutch ovens, I knew I had my topic for today, especially since my other favorite new book is American West Dutch Oven Cooking, from Great Mountain West Supply, Salt Lake Utah. Yes indeed, I got it on our wagon train trip as a souvenir after four days of fabulous Dutch oven meals out in the Teton wilderness.

Any discussion of Dutch ovens has to start by mentioning the method of casting with iron in dry sand molds. The technique’s exact origin isn’t known, but it most probably dates from the Dark Ages in Western Europe, refined later in both England and the Netherlands. The term “Dutch oven” may have come from the Netherlands connection and the Dutch traders who peddled them.

The “bulge” style pot –in my head I envision a witch’s cauldron— likely came over with the Pilgrims, but the 3-legged “bake” or “camp” oven appeared in the early 1700’s. Paul Revere (yes, he of the famous 1775 midnight Ridge) is said to have adapted the oven lid’s flanged lip to hold coals on top while the pot rested on a campfire. However, the oven was versatile and could be used on the hearth and for roasting in a stove’s oven. 

Lewis and Clark’s Corp of Discovery (1803-05) carried a “large-size Dutch oven” across their entire route to the Pacific Northwest and home again. No self-respecting covered wagon or cattle drive traveled without the Dutch oven, and every Gold Rush mining camp had several, needing at least one for their historic sourdough bread. Miners lucky enough to have a burro or pack mule invariably had a Dutch oven tied on top.

 By the mid 1870’s, every American household had some sort of cast iron cooking item, Dutch oven, skillet, or pot. Around 1920, casting iron reached its pinnacle in quality and quantity, but the invention of the electric stove in the 1890’s had already started a decline in interest of the Dutch ovens. However, one great casting company, Lodge, began operations in 1896 and continues to this day.

In recent years, the mystique of Dutch oven “black pot” cooking has made a comeback, not because of need but because of a resurgence in the outdoors, in nostalgia, and in love of history. Most Dutch oven recipes can be revised for stove top, oven or slow cooker as well.

Today’s Dutch oven chef needs a lid lifter, heavy special gloves, wooden utensils, briquettes, and a Dutch oven of 5 to 22 inches in diameter. The 12-incher is the most popular. The well-sealed lid allows heat and pressure to build while preserving the moisture of the food. Although there are many directions (e.g. “above-to-underneath” and “checkerboard pattern” among them) for actual food production, the general rule for the cook is to use twice as many briquettes as the diameter of the lid. Briquette placement on the lid and under the pot is crucial, as is rotating the lid and pot 90 degrees every fifteen minutes. Altitude, sun and even wind play important roles, too.

 The premier organization for Dutch oven cooking, the International Dutch Oven Society (www.idos.com) began in the Rocky mountains and now has 48 chapters in 27 states and 2 Canadian provinces. Each spring IDOS holds the World Championship Dutch Oven Cook-off. We’re not members yet LOL, but we got our brother-in-law (the one who went on the wagon train trip with us) a Dutch oven and cook-book for his recent birthday. I’ll let you know the progress of us suburbanites in replicating those down-home menus.  We’re not holding our breaths.

 Any Dutch oven stories or recipes to share today?                                                                                            

(click on any cover to order…all available at Amazon, too)