Christmas Tip

One of the most over-looked tips at Christmas time is that the whole outdoors can function as a spare refrigerator.  And unheated spot will do.  When I was a kid we used the laundry room and my step-mother would set all her baked goods there to keep until we delivered them.. This was a spot of genius until the squirrels chewed an access to the room and ate the pecan gracing each cookie.  It didn't touch the cookie, just the pecan,  The past few years I've used an ice chest I keep in the back of the car. I keep an ice chest in my car to keep the ice cream cooler in the summer's drive home or keep the rotisserie chicken warm on the drive home in the winter.  You can also put your pies straight into the trunk of the car.  At Christmas the outside temperature is about the same as the refrigerator.

Kat's Eazy Breezy Corn Casserole

We've had a casserole served at church suppers for years that everyone always loves but nobody has ever known who made it.  It was like Magic Farries visited every single supper and faded into the background.  One of the teenagers, aware of going off to college and possibly never getting this acasserole again, spent her time at this year's Christmas Dinner asking around  and found out who was making this casserole.  It turns out it was the church secretary who got it from one our now departed saints who probably got it from someone else.  Thanks Kat!

1 egg

¼ cup of butter (I melted it J)

1 8 ¾ oz. can whole kernel corn (drained)

1 8 ¾ oz. can cream style corn

1 box of Jiffy Cornbread mix

1 8 oz. carton of plain yogurt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Mix all ingredients and pour into an 8X8 inch pan coated with cooking spray.  Bake for 45 minutes or until set.

Suzanna's Seasoned Christmas Crackers

Beaven's cousin has sent us these for the past two years and I finally got the recipe from her.  It was simply called "seasoned crackers" but I've decided she needs a snack named for her.  It just sounds better this way.  Suzanna isn't the only lady in the world making these, though.  When I took them to bible study last week another woman had the same snack but with different crackers.  Good thing, too, because we ate them both right down to the last cracker.  I added some of them to my Texas Trash.  I guess I'll list that recipe here, too.  Or you could just buy a box of wheat chex cereal and the recipe is on the box.

1 package oyster crackers
1 package Good Season Italian Dressing mix (the other lady at bible study used Hidden Valley dressing mix)
1/2 teaspoon dill weed
1 teaspoon garlic powder
2/3 cup oil (I used olive oil)
* Suzanna said you can also add crushed red pepper-which I think she did to mine.  Very tasty addition)

combine it all and give the oil time to soak in.

Oven S'mores

I was skeptical at first but can now tell you from making a batch of these yesterday that they are PERFECT for an open house.  I AM somewhat of a purist when it comes to my S'mores with all my Girl Scout and Youth Group camping experience. Yes, they are infinitely better around a real camp fire.  But these are just as tasty and can be prepared a whole day in advance.

Preheat over to 400 degrees.

line cookie sheet with aluminum foild.  Place about six or eight graham crackers on the foil.  Top each one with a regular size marshmallow.  Heat in the oven for 5 minutes or until the marshmallow is lightly brown on top.

Add a half of a  bar of chocolate and top with the second graham cracker.  Mash lightly to set it all together..  If you're short on chocolate a quarter of a bar will work.  Put back into the oven to heat the chocolate a bit.  Watch carefully because you don't want a melted mess on your hands.  Just a little softening of the chocolate is best.

For some reason I can't explain it takes a really long time for the chocolate to set up once you take it out of the oven.  This is one time it actually is better a few hours later than eating it immediately.  Plan ahead. If you make them a day ahead you can even cut them into fourths for bite-sized pieces.

Deviled Eggs

This recipe is for Sarah who aspires to become Deviled Egg Queen:

First you have to boil eggs.  And here is a secret to boiled eggs: the older the eggs are, the easier it is to peel after it's boiled.  There's something that happens inside the egg as it ages...something about gases or such.  I don't understand what happens but I do know this to be true.  It's a lot easier to peel an old egg than a fresh one.  I have been known to leave the eggs out for a couple of days after I buy them if I'm planning to make a dozen or so.  No one has died from my deviled eggs yet. And when you think about it, the egg is designed to lay around in a warm place for several days without spoiling before it hatches into a chicken.  I mean, it's Mother sits on it for goodness sakes.  Eggs are pretty durable things unless you drop one.

Boil the eggs: Fill a pot with water leaving a few inches at the top.  Turn the heat on high and cover the pot. Boil  the water. Place the eggs into boiling water carefully so you don't break them.  Turn the water down to medium and let them cook for about 15 minutes.  Take them out and put in cold water, cracking them when you pour out the hot water and replace it with cold water.  Peel the eggs.  If the yolk is still soft and not fluffable you didn't cook them long enough and you're screwed. But 15 minutes should do the trick.
Cut each egg in half and put the yellow part into a bowl.  Mash these yolks with a little mayonnaise, adding mayonnaise as you go until it's the right consistency.  It should be thick like peanut butter. Add salt and pepper until it tastes the way you want it to taste.

Fill the whites with the yellow mixture. You can fill them using a teaspoon or if you have a whole bunch put the mixture in a ziplock bag, cut off one corner and squeeze like a pastry bag.

Roasted Vegetables

Roasted Vegetables has become one of my favorite standards for any big meal.  And it's just about the easiest dish you will ever make.

Here is the recipe:

Buy some vegetables. Season them. Roast them. Season them again.  Eat them.

Depending on how many people I'm serving I assemble veggies thusly:  for a big crowd it doesn't really take many vegetables.  You can spend more or less money by changing what you buy.

Get at least one potato and one sweet potato.  Peel and cut into cubes about 1/2-1 inch..  I usually get a package of brussel sprouts, trim them and cut in half.  Add a handful of baby carrots.  Mushrooms are nice--but I don't add them until the dense veggies are almost cooked.

Heat the oven to around 350 degrees.  mix the potatoes and brussel sprouts with some olive oil.  Sprinkle on some hamburger seasoning or other multi-spice.

When these veggies are almost done add the mushrooms, maybe asparagus, sliced bell peppers (the red ones are best), sliced onions.  Then cook and mix these together.

When these are all cooked, add some sun-dried tomatoes, rosemary if you have it, a smidge of garlic and more seasoning mix.  Maybe even toss this with a few drizzles of balsamic vinegar or even butter.

I love to cook this whenever I get a bunch of friends together.  I put everything out on the counter-top and let them cut, peel and assemble the dish.  It's a great bonding experience to cook together.  Plus sometimes they'll have ideas of other things to add,  This is also good at holiday meals for people who have a variety of tastes.  The kids don't have to eat the brussel sprouts if they don't want to.

Caesar Salad

I finally got the courage to make Caesar salad dressing and found out it's not that hard.  The whole "Anchovies" part always stopped me.  When I got the nerve to use a recipe that required them I next hit an obstacle that it required "anchovie paste" which I couldn't find at Walmart.  My philosophy of cooking calls for ingredients that can be found at any grocery store and doesn't send you to boutique stores with French names.  If I can't find it at Walmart then I'm just not going to mess with it.

Then it occurred to me that I could just smash up the anchovy and have paste.  Genius, no?

The next hurdle was that the recipe calls for a raw egg yolk then immediately tells you how you can die from eating raw eggs and you should make sure you are eating safe eggs.  I have personally never known or heard of anyone who has gotten sick on eating raw eggs so this is a risk I am willing to take.  The benefits of this wonderful salad are too good to pass up.

So, here is the recipe:

Buy canned anchovies ($1 at my Walmart; how can you NOT buy it?)

Take out 2 of the filets and store the rest in a ziplock bag for the next day when you will want to make more salad.  I don't know how long it will keep in the fridge but if it gets lost and forgotten for a few weeks just go buy more and throw the old stuff away. If anchovies live up to their reputation as being nasty you probably couldn't tell the difference if they went bad on you.

Mash up the two anchovies.

Here are the ingredients:

1 raw egg yolk
3 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 Tablespoon minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon Worchestershire sauce
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 Tablespoon Dijon mustard
2 anchovy filets, mashed

Scant 1 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
salt and freshly ground pepper

Note the vegetable oil and olive oil.  The first time I made this I used all olive oil and it gave  it a strong taste.  I think the vegetable oil is better at taking a back seat to the other flavors.

Put everything but the oil in a blender and start blending.  Add the oils VERY slowly and it will emulsify like mayonnaise does.  This recipe will make a whole lot.  You will have some left over.  I don't know how long it will last in the fridge and you will probably lie awake at night thinking of raw eggs so don't try to keep it too long.

After you get the dressing made the rest is as easy as tearing up some romaine lettuce and adding some fresh slivers of Parmesan cheese and croutons.  I'll try to post a recipe for the crutons separately.