Christmas Wassail

Kristin Reese shared this with us at a Relief Society holiday function. It tastes so good and it really makes the house smell good when it is warming on the stove.

1 gallon apple cider
1 t each-cloves, allspice, nutmeg, cinnamon
1-16 oz. can frozen lemonade
1/2 C brown sugar

Mix 2 C apple cider w/ spices and bring to boil. Add rest of ingredients and warm.

Can you smell it? Are you ready for the holidays?

Mexican Shrimp Cocktail

I have only seen this served in the Imperial Valley where Lance is from. The people there eat Mexican food whether they are Mexican or not. But down there the food is good. When you are away from it, you start to crave it. This recipe was given to me by my sister in law, Stephanie. It is great served as an appetizer or a light meal with tortilla chips.

Mix together in a big bowl:

2 cucumbers, diced
1 chopped onion-I use less and I chop small
2-3 avocados, diced
2 tomatoes seeded and diced
3 celery ribs, diced
1/4 bunch of cilantro, chopped
juice of 4 lemons-to taste
2 T horseradish
jalapenos-optional

Pour over:
1/2 jar of Clamato

Just before serving, add 50-70 count precooked shrimp from Costco or the like. If you add too early, the shrimp gets tough because the acid in the juices start to cook it.

This is so good, I am craving some right now!

Cinnamon Rolls

Jonathan helping to spread the filling-brown sugar and cinnamon.

The rolls before the last rise.

The boys love to make a mess!

Price was covered in flour.

Sethie cleaning up the flour mess.

Lance loves Cinnabon cinnamon rolls, so I was on a quest to find a recipe for them that I could make at home. Well of course the actual recipe is safely guarded somewhere, so I had to go with a clone recipe that I found online. There is a family in Texas that has done tons of research and testing and came up with this recipe that is very delicious. I am sure if you did all of the steps that they require and use all of the special ingredients that they call for, the rolls would taste very similar to Cinnabon, but I have altered the recipe a bit to fit my bread maker and took out some ingredients that I don't have in my pantry. They still come out absolutely to die for and we love them. We have made it a tradition to make them every General Conference weekend. It gives the boys something to look forward to! For the actual recipe click here.

Here is the version that fits in my 1 1/2 lb. bread maker and makes about 10 rolls:

Put in bread machine:

3/16 C water

3/4 C whole milk

3/8 C butter, melted, then cooled

1 beaten egg

3/4 t vanilla

3/8 t salt

3/8 C sugar

3 1/3 C bread flour

2 t rapid rise yeast

Run machine on dough cycle. Mine goes for about 1 hour 20 minutes. When dough is finished, roll out into a rectangle about 18x20 inches. It's a little tricky because the dough wants to go back to its original size, but just keep working at it, it will come.

Then spread on the following:

6 T margarine-room temp so it is spreadable

Mix together and sprinkle over margarine:

3/4 C brown sugar

4 T cinnamon

Roll up the 20" side very tightly to make a long roll. Cut off ends and then cut into 10 even sized rolls. Place rolls into 8" square baking pans 1" apart-one roll in each corner and one in the center.

Cover and let rise until doubled-about an hour. Bake at 335 degrees for 20 minutes, one pan at a time.

Frosting

Mix together:

6 T margarine

3 oz. cream cheese

1 1/8 C powdered sugar

3/4 t vanilla

Spread on top of warm or cooled cinnamon rolls and devour!

Sugar Cookies

This recipe is from Cindy Himes. I love it! Thanks for sharing, Cindy!

Cream together-

1 C shortening
1 cube butter
2 C sugar

Then add one at a time-

4 eggs

Mix in-

2t vanilla
2 t baking powder
2 t salt

Then add 1 cup at a time-

5 C flour

I use a wooden spoon to mix this together. It is ready when the dough becomes one big blob and all sticks together. Chill for at least 1 hour in refrigerator. Roll dough to 1/4-5/16 thick and cut into desired shapes. Bake at 400 degrees for 6-9 minutes. 6 minutes for small cookies and 9 minutes for bigger cookies. You do not want the edges to brown, so keep an eye on them. The cookies are fine if they are brown, but sooooo good if they are not because they stay softer.

Frosting for sugar cookies

I got this recipe from Cindy Himes, a girl who used to be in our ward. She has got cookie making down to a science and I just loved how her cookies tasted, so this is the best recipe I have found to date.

2/3 C butter
1 lb. bag of powdered sugar
2 t vanilla
3 T Milk-more or less

Butter should be at room temp. so it is easier to work with. Use electric mixer to mix butter & vanilla. Then add powdered sugar 1 cup at a time and beat. Add milk a tablespoon at a time to determine how much you need. Beat to desired consistency and then add food coloring.

I double this recipe for one batch of sugar cookies.

Yummy Teryaki Chicken

Tricia Underwood contributed this recipe to our Relief Society newsletter a few years ago. I altered it a little bit because we like more sauce for our rice. I love this recipe. Very easy and very yummy.

Combine in a baking dish:
1/2 C soy sauce
1/2 C brown sugar
1 C water
1 t ginger
1 t garlic

Add to dish:
3-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts-I cut in 1/2 so it cooks quicker and my kids won't eat a whole breast yet.

Bake covered at 350 degrees for 30-45 mins. Serve over white rice with chopped red peppers, pineapple, onion, whatever you like.

Sweet and Sour Chicken

My Stepmom gave me this recipe a few years ago and it is so good and so simple that we probably have it once a month for dinner. Only Jonathan complains because of the fruit and veggies that are in the recipe.

1 T oil
1 or 2 minced garlic cloves
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts cut into 1" pieces
1 C red and green peppers or whatever color you have
2 T cornstarch
1/4 C soy sauce
1 can chunk pineapple in juice
3 T vinegar
3 T brown sugar
1/2 t ginger

Heat oil and cook garlic until fragrant, 1 min or so. Throw in chicken and cook until done. Then throw in peppers and cook until crisp tender, 1 or 2 mins. Push to side of pan.

Mix cornstarch, soy sauce, pineapple juice, vinegar, sugar, and ginger. Pour into empty side of pan and cook until thickened and clear. Stir in chicken and peppers and add pineapple. Heat through. Serve over white rice.

Rice Krispie Treats

I was getting tired of having extra marshmallows after making treats because all of the recipes I had called for only part of the bag. I altered a recipe so that I could use the whole bag.

Place in a large microwaveable bowl and microwave for 1 min:

8 T butter
1 16 oz. bag marshmallows

Remove and stir with wooden spoon. Put back in microwave for 30 seconds and stir again. Repeat this step until mixture is completely melted and combined.

Add and stir:

1 t vanilla
dash of salt

Then add and stir in:

10 C rice krispies

After mixed, pour into a 9x13 pan or like size. I use a folded piece of wax paper greased with butter or cooking spray to pat down the rice krispie treats into pan. Let sit for a couple hours so they can set up.

Enjoy!

Chocolate Chip Cookies

This recipe was altered from one that I found on the back of a dried cranberry bag which was actually a recipe for white chocolate chip-cranberry cookies. I had been looking for a good recipe using only butter as the fat and when I tried these, they were so good. I will include the substitution for the white chocolate-cranberry cookies if you want to try those too.

Cream the following:

2/3 C butter, softened
1 1/2 C brown sugar, packed
2 T honey

Add and mix:

1 egg

Sprinkle on and mix well the following:

1/2 t baking soda
1 t vanilla
1/2 t salt

Stir in:

1/2 C regular oats

Mix one cup at a time:

2 C flour

Stir in:

1-1 1/2 C chocolate chips

Bake at 350* for 10 mins. or until golden brown.


For cranberry cookies, omit chocolate chips and replace with 1/2 t cinnamon, 3/4 C white chocolate chips, 1 C dried cranberries. Yum too!

Lemonade

Aaron Luekenga gave us this recipe when he and Nicole lived in Fullerton and we were in the Placentia 1st Ward together. He got it from another family in the ward, but I can't remember their name.

1 C lemon juice
4 C water
3/4 C sugar

This is the best lemonade ever. Of course, mix it up and pour over ice.

Whole Wheat Bread

I got this recipe from Emily Rockwood who was in our ward years ago when her husband was an optometry student. She did a bread making demo for Enrichment Night and it was the most delicious bread I have ever had. And it is so easy to make. If you need a staple wheat bread recipe, this is the one to go with.

4 C hot water from tap
2/3 C oil
2/3 C honey or molasses
2 pkg. (4 1/2 tsp) yeast
2 T salt
10-12 C whole wheat flour

Mix water, oil, and sweetener in a large bowl. Sprinkle yeast over the top and let soften for about 5 minutes. Stir in salt and enough flour-around 7 cups-to make a soft dough. Knead in remaining flour and let rise until doubled. Punch down and shape into 3 small (or 2 large) loaves. Place in greased bread pans and let rise until desired size-it takes about 40 minutes.

Bake at 350 for 30 minutes(or 40-50 mins. for lg. loaves). Loaves will be dark brown on top and will stand on their own, outside the pan if they are completely cooked. (Edited. Taken from "The LDS Mother's Almanac" by Janene W. Baadsgaard)

Vietnamese meatrolls

My mom made these when she was a young mom and continues to do so. They are so good. I don't have exact measurements, only ingredients and she just measures by what looks good to her. My mom and I got together to make these yesterday and this recipe made exactly 100 eggrolls.

Filling:
3 lbs. ground pork
1 yellow onion-rough mince with a knife
3 carrots-food processed into small pieces
1 medium jicima-julienned with a knife
1 bag chopped dried black fungus-microwave with water until soft, 2 or 3 minutes, then drain-can find in Asian supermarkets
3 small bunches mung bean noodles, bean thread size-microwave with water until soft, 2 or 3 minutes, then drain and cut into small pieces with knife or scissors
1/4 C + 1 T fish sauce
1/4 C + 2 T sugar
salt + pepper to taste
2 eggs + 1 egg yolk-save egg white for wrapping.

To make sure the filling has the right flavor, fry a little bit in olive oil to taste. Add seasonings to your taste.

Mix all together with hands until everything is distributed evenly.

100 -10x10 egg roll wraps.

Use remaining egg white to seal final corner.

Deep fry until golden brown at 350*

Can place uncooked meatrolls in small batches in freezer bags and freeze for a few weeks until ready to use. Thaw completely in fridge and then deep fry until golden brown.

Molasses Cookies

This recipe was given to me by my friend, Jessica Mortensen. She got it from her mother in law. Lance loves these and so do the rest of us. They are filled with oil and white flour-so not good for you- but the combo is too delicious to resist.

Blend together-I use my kitchenaid mixer:
1 1/2 C oil-I use canola
1/2 C molasses
2 C sugar
2 eggs

Then add and blend:
4 t baking soda
1 t salt
2 t cinnamon
1 t ginger
1 t cloves

Then add one cup at a time:
4 C Flour

Roll into 1" balls and roll in cinnamon sugar mixture. I place on a foil lined metal jelly roll pan.

Bake at 350 degrees for 6-8 mins. Cookies should look like they are undercooked, so don't let them crack on top. I pull out of my oven at 5 mins. Let them continue to bake on the hot sheet and then finish on a rack. They taste best the next day after they have sat for awhile.