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Gingerbread Cookies for Santa

24 Dec

Gingerbread Cookies for Santa

Every year, this is the cookie we would make and decorate for Santa.  They are a nice, soft cookie, not too spicy, but still a nice gingerbread taste.  The cookies above were decorated with sprinkles before baking, and the other half were baked, then decorated with frosting and sprinkles.  Either way, they are cute and good to eat!  I believe this recipe came from an ad for Mrs. Butterworth syrup in the 1980s, and my mom has the cut out from the magazine with the recipe!

Gingerbread cookies for Santa

What you need:

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup Mrs. Butterworth’s syrup
2 cups unsifted flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon salt

How to make it:

Preheat oven to 350 F.

In medium bowl cream butter, sugar and syrup. Sift dry ingredients together; blend into creamed mixture. Chill 30 minutes. Roll dough on floured surface to 1/8 inch thickness, cut with cookie cutter. (See photo below).  Place on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 8 to 10 minutes. Cool on wire racks. Yield: 2 dozen (5 1/2-inch)

Rolling out the dough and cutting out cookies

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Roasted Vegetable Medley

16 Dec

Roasted Vegetable Medley

 

I have made a vegetable medley in the past, but it was a different mix, sweet potatoes, carrots, red peppers, parsnips, Mexican grey squash, and asparagus.  This time, I used what I had just gotten from Bountiful Baskets and some things I had in my fridge, red potatoes, rainbow carrots, radishes, red onion, Mexican grey squash and yellow squash.  It ended up really good this time too, the veggies got a very sweet taste to them.

 

Roasted Vegetable Medley

What you need:

2-3 red potatoes, cut into 1-inch pieces (I left on the peels)
2-3 carrots, sliced into thin rounds
1 bunch radishes, cut in halves or fourths, depending on size
1/2 of a red onion, cut in larger wedges
1 zucchini, or Mexican grey squash, sliced into thin rounds
1 yellow squash, sliced into thin rounds
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
Olive oil

How to make it:

Preheat oven to 425 F.

Line a baking sheet with foil and spray or brush with olive oil.  Place potatoes, carrots, and radishes on the baking sheet.  Drizzle or spray with olive oil and season with half of basil, oregano, garlic salt, and pepper.  Bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes.  Then, add the zucchini, yellow squash, and red onion to the baking sheet.  Drizzle or spray with olive oil, and season with the remaining spices. Bake again for 30 minutes, or until the vegetables have all softened.  If desired, splash vegetables with balsamic vinegar before serving.

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Cherry Cocoa Freeze

16 Dec

Cheery Cocoa Freeze

My older daughter received a Disney Princess Cupcakes & More cookbook from a family member recently, I think for her birthday or maybe even Christmas last year.  We haven’t used it yet, but she found it today and wanted to try something.  Since we already had started making mini muffins from a pouch mix, we turned to the drinks section and came across a Raspberry Cocoa Freeze.  I had everything except raspberries, but I do have plenty of frozen cherries, so we decided to use those instead.  Because who doesn’t like chocolate covered cherries, right?  Turns out the cherries were great in this drink and my daughter declared it the best day ever because we made mini muffins and a yummy, frozen drink!  I’m glad she’s still so easy to please (well, most days at least!).

Cherry Cocoa Freeze

What you need:

1 1/2 cups frozen cherries
2/3 cup milk
1 cup vanilla ice cream
2 teaspoons unsweetened cocoa powder

How to make it:

Place cherries and milk in blender, and blend until smooth.  Add ice cream and cocoa, and again blend until smooth.

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Sausage Spinach Crescent Calzones

16 Dec

Sausage Spinach Crescent Calzones

 

I had no idea or plan for dinner last night, which seems to be happening all too often for me lately!  So, I had gotten spinach from Bountiful Baskets in the morning, and wanted to incorporate that in somehow.  Then, I remembered I had 2 cans of crescent rolls about to expire, so, I thought I could use them calzone style with spinach, Parmesan, and mozzarella.  But, my husband would complain there was no meat, so I decided to use sausage, which I luckily have a stock of in my freezer ($2.99 at the commissary plus $.50 off 1 coupon = excellent price for Johnsonville Italian sausage!).  These turned out really great, and you could still them with a variety of meats, veggies, and cheeses.  Yum!

 

Sausage Spinach Crescent Calzones

What you need:

1 pound Italian sausage
2 cans crescent rolls
1 cup chopped spinach
1 cup shredded mozzrella
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Olive oil
Italian blend seasoning

How to make it:

Preheat oven to 375 F.

Brown the sausage in a large skillet; drain fat.

Open crescent roll cans and unroll, leaving as rectangles.  You will get 4 rectangles per can.  Lay crescent roll out on a baking sheet and press the diagonal cut to seal it.  Add sausage, spinach, and cheeses to one half.  Fold the other half over the filling and press edges to crimp and seal.  Repeat for remaining crescent rolls.  Brush or spray tops with olive oil and sprinkle with Italian blend seasoning.

Bake in the preheated oven for 15-18 minutes, or until golden brown.  Serve with warm pizza sauce, if desired.

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Chicken Parmesan Triangles

10 Dec

Chicken Parmesan Triangles

 

After making Lasagna with egg roll wrappers, I still had plenty of wrappers left.  I searched again, and came across this idea for Chicken Parmesan Triangles.  I did the filling a little differently and doubled the ingredients because I had 12 wrappers and wanted leftovers.  But, I had the same results, a delicious meal!  Now that I’ve done Chicken Parmesan, I have a bunch of other filling ideas, spinach and feta, oatmeal and cinnamon apples.  I don’t know if I will get to make them, but maybe at some point!

 

Chicken Parmesan Triangles
Based on recipe here

What you need:

1/2 cup onion, diced
2  cloves garlic, minced
2 lbs frozen or refrigerated fully cooked, diced chicken breast
Olive oil
1 cup chopped spinach
2 cups marinara sauce
12 egg roll wrappers
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

How to make  it:

Preheat oven to 400 F.

Heat olive oil in a large skillet.  Add onion and garlic, and cook until translucent.  Add chicken, continuing to cook until almost heated through.  Add spinach for the last part of cooking, and cook until chicken is heated all through and spinach  has wilted.  Remove from heat.

Lay an egg roll wrapper on a clean surface.  Place some of the chicken mixture on half of the wrapper, then add some mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses.

Filling the egg roll wrapper

 

Brush the two sides that come to a point under the chicken mixture with water.  Fold the upper corner downward to cover the filling and form a triangle.  Press the sides to seal.  Repeat for remaining wrappers, chicken mixture and cheese.

Spray 2 baking sheets with non-stick cooking spray.  Lay the filled triangles on the baking sheets and spray or brush the tops with olive oil.  Bake in the preheated oven for 12-15 minutes, or until edges turn a golden brown.

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Papaya Pineapple Banana Smoothies

6 Dec

I have honestly never eaten or seen a papaya before getting one recently from Bountiful Baskets.  If you haven’t seen a green papaya and it’s insides, here is what it looks like:

Inside of a green papaya

Since it was already pretty ripe and I haven’t had much time to cook lately, I did what we do with a lot of our fruit – make smoothies!  I used a papaya, some pineapple, a banana, 1 cup of milk, and ice cubes.  It was pretty tasty!

Papaya Pineapple Banana Smoothie

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Sausage Stuffed Mushrooms and Crescent Rolls

4 Dec

Sausage Stuffed Mushrooms and Crescent Rolls

 

After attending the Taste of Home Cooking School show and watching these being made, I have wanted to try this out.  The stuffing is all ingredients I tend to always have on hand, and then when I got mushrooms in this week’s Bountiful Baskets, I knew it was time to make them!  I only had 3 packages of mushrooms and ran out of mushrooms before running out of stuffing.  I had thought this stuffing would go great in crescent rolls too, so I got out a can of crescent rolls to finish up the stuffing.  Both were great and well received by my family (minus my 3-year-old who did not eat any because she is sick).

 

Sausage Stuffed Mushrooms
Original recipe from Johnsonville

What you need:

48 mushrooms or 24 crescent rolls (3 cans)
1 package Italian sausage
1/2 cup dry bread crumbs
1 8oz package cream cheese, softened
2 tablespoons fresh parsley, finely chopped
1 tablespoon lemon juice
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

How to make it:

Preheat oven to 400 F.  Line 2 baking sheets with foil.

Remove sausage from casings.  Place in a skillet over medium heat and crumble.  Cook until no longer pink and drain.  Stir in bread crumbs.

While sausage is cooking, mix together cream cheese, parsley, lemon juice and garlic.

Add sausage mixture to the cream cheese mixture.  Fill each mushroom or crescent roll with the stuffing.  Lay out on the baking sheets.  Sprinkle with the grated Parmesan cheese.

Bake for 14 to 16 minutes, or until mushrooms are tender and lightly browned, or until crescent rolls are golden brown.

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Basket Breakdown 12/1/2012

4 Dec

I haven’t done this in a while!  I actually have a basket picture!  This week, I got the conventional basket, the Mexican themed veggie pack, and the cherry pecan granola.

Here is what we got in the conventional basket:

Conventional Basket 12/1/2012

We got Romaine lettuce, papaya, broccoli, Roma tomatoes, watermelon, rainbow carrots, Hachiya persimmons, fuji apples, mushrooms, cantaloupe, and bananas.  I’ve already peeled and pureed the persimmons, and will be making Persimmon-Cranberry cookies.  Still working on what to do with the papaya.

Mexican themed veggie pack and cherry pecan granola

The Mexican themed veggie pack had tomatillos, dried chipotle peppers, yellow onion, garlic, Mexican grey squash, key limes, avocados, and jalapenos.

The cherry pecan granola is delicious!  The ingredient list is rolled oats, honey, coconut oil, cherries, pecans, pumpkin seeds, flax seeds, vanilla, and salt

 

Note: The type and amount of food may vary from another basket because of geographic location and because of variances in how case ends are distributed once everything is distributed evenly. I also volunteered and got an extra item for volunteering.

 

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Cheddar Turkey Casserole

4 Dec

Cheddar Turkey Casserole

 

Yes, I still have Thanksgiving turkey!  This time, I wanted to make a casserole, but I don’t have anymore canned “cream of” soups, so I needed a recipe that doesn’t use them.  I searched on the Taste of Homes website, and came across this recipe.  Really wasn’t too time consuming, and was very tasty!

 

Cheddar Turkey Casserole
Original recipe here

What you need:

4 cups uncooked pasta, like rotini or farfalle
1 garlic clove, minced
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon yellow mustard
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 cups milk
1-1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
2 cups cubed cooked turkey
2 cups frozen mixed vegetables
1/2 cup bread crumbs

How to make it:

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Cook pasta according to package directions in a large pot.

While pasta is cooking, saute garlic in butter in a large skillet until tender. Stir in the flour, salt, mustard, thyme, pepper, and frozen veggies. Gradually stir in milk. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Remove from the heat; stir in cheese until melted.

Drain the cooked pasta and return to the large pot. Mix in turkey and cheese sauce.

Spray a 13-in. x 9-in. baking dish with non-stick spray. Evenly spread the turkey-pasta mixture into the dish. Sprinkle with bread crumbs.  At this point, casserole can be baked or frozen:

Bake, uncovered, 35-40 minutes or until heated through.  Serve immediately.

Or

Freeze casserole, covered, for up to 3 months.  To use frozen casserole, thaw in the refrigerator overnight. Remove from the refrigerator 30 minutes before baking. Bake according to directions above. 

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Some Random Bountiful Baskets Extras

2 Dec

Well, you may have noticed that I haven’t been as diligent in taking pictures of my recent baskets from Bountiful Baskets.  I did, however, take a few pictures of some of the extras that I purchased that I would like to share now.

First, a friend and I shared a case of cranberries.  There were 24 pounds total, so we each got 12 pounds.  They were very colorful and tart!  I dehydrated one bag, and used part of another bag to make the cranberry sauce for Thanksgiving.  The other 2 are in the freezer for a later date.

4 3 lb bags of cranberries

 

Next, I contributed for the pumpkin cookies with cinnamon chips.  Yes, I realize that I could have made these myself, but I wanted to try them out.  They were delicious, and were gone in just a few days!

Pumpkin cookies with cinnamon chips

 

Finally, I contributed for the mixed nuts in a shell bag.  It had 2 pounds of pecans, 2 pounds of walnuts, and 2 pounds of almonds.  They are really good!  My hope is to try making a pecan pie.  Not sure what for the rest yet, but we’ve just been shelling them and eating them.

Mixed nuts in the shell, walnuts, pecans, and almonds

I’m hoping at some point I’ll get back in the routine of basket pictures!

 

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