Scott's Egg Nog

• Egg Nog - 1 cup per glass (You want the stuff in the green carton. I think it's Borden's. The other stuff just isn't as thick and delicious.)
• Vanilla - 1/4 tsp per glass (Use the real stuff, not imitation.)
• Sugar - 1 TBS per glass
• Spiced Rum - 1 or 2 shots per class

Mix ingredients in a glass. Shake or stir. Sprinkle with nutmeg. Serve.

Enjoy responsibly.

Mama's Best Breakfast Casserole

• 8 slices of bread (cubed)
• 1 ½ lb sausage – fried and cubed
• 2 c. milk
• 1 c. thick cream (can be sour)
• 5 eggs
• ¼ tsp salt
• ¼ tsp pepper
• 1 ½ c. grated sharp cheese

Butter bottom of casserole; place bread crumbs in casserole – add cooked sausage.  Beat well milk and eggs together; pour over bread and sausage.  Sprinkle with cheese. Bake at 350 for 1 hour.

The Sugar Cookies

Ingredients:

• ½ cup butter or margarine, melted
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• ¼ cup milk
• ½ tsp vanilla
• 2 ¼ cup all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp baking powder 

Directions:

Stir butter and sugar.  Add egg, milk, and vanilla.  Beat well.

In a separate bowl, stir flour and baking powder.  Blend flour mixture into butter mixture.  Divide dough in half, cover, and chill at least one hour (over night is preferable).

Flour surface, and roll out each half of dough to 1/3 or ¼ inch thickness, depending on desired cookie thickness.  Cut into desired shapes with floured cookie cutters.  Place on ungreased cookie sheets.

Bake at 375 degrees for 7-10 minutes, checking frequently to prevent burning.

Frosting

Ingredients:

• 1 - (1 lb.) pkg. Domino® Confectioners’ Sugar (approx. 3 3/4 cups)
• 1/2 cup - butter or margarine, softened
• 3 to 4 tablespoons - milk
• 1 teaspoon - vanilla

Directions:

Combine in large bowl, with mixer at low speed: confectioners' sugar, butter, milk and vanilla.  Beat at medium speed 1-2 minutes until creamy. If desired, add more milk until frosting is spreading consistency.

Use food coloring to color frosting.

Ice cookies – it will likely be messy, and it will definitely be delicious!

These ain't the prettiest sugar cookies you'll ever make, but it would be hard to find more delicious ones. After a bit (usually by the next day), the frosting hardens up a bit, and these cookies take on a new life. I can't even explain how good they are. Seriously. We fight over the last one--complete with hiding them from each other.

Mama's Pecan Pie

• 1 cup KARO light corn syrup
• 1 cup sugar
• 3 eggs, slightly beaten
• 2 Tbsp margarine or butter, melted
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 ¼ cup pecans
• 1 (9-inch) unbaked or frozen deep-dish pie crust

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. In large bowl, stir first 5 ingredients until well blended. Stir in pecans.  Pour into pie crust.
3. Bake 50 to 55 minutes or until knife inserted halfway between center and edge comes out clean.  Cool on wire rack.  Makes 8 servings.

*To use prepared frozen pie crust: Use 9-inch deep-dish pie crust.  Do not thaw.  Preheat oven and a cookie sheet.  Pour filling into frozen crust; bake on cookie sheet. (Insulated cookie sheet is NOT recommended.)

Mama's Pumpkin Pie

• 1 CUP SUGAR (KAITLYN!!)
• 1 pint pumpkin (fresh works best)
• 2 eggs
• 2 TBS flour
• ½ - 2/3 cup evaporated milk
• Cinnamon
• Dash of cloves, nutmeg, and allspice
• Pie crust

Mix ingredients together and fill pie crust. Bake hot (400 degrees) for 15 minutes. Then bake at 300 degrees for 45 minutes.

Cranberry Salad

• 1 lb Cranberries
• 1 2/3 or 2 cups sugar
• 1 big or 2 small apples
• 1 small can or 1 cup crushed pineapple
• 2 oranges
• Grated rind of 1 orange 

Grind all ingredients together.

Jell-o Salad

• 1 large package cherry or strawberry Jell-o (sugar free or regular)
• 1 can strawberry pie filling (sugar free or regular)
• 1 carton Cool Whip, thawed
• 1 package cream cheese, softened

Make Jell-o according to directions, and let it chill until set.   Add pie filling, cream cheese, and thawed cool whip.  (If you are going for low sugar, you can skip the cream cheese and use light Cool Whip.) Stir ingredients together very well.  Then put mixture into a pretty bowl.  Refrigerate until ready to serve.  This is deliciously sweet and really more of a dessert than a salad, but I cheat and call it salad on holidays.

Chinese Vegetable Casserole

• 2 cans french green beans
• 1 ½ cans mushroom soup, undiluted
• 1 can mushrooms (stems and pieces)
• 1 can water chestnuts (sliced thin)
• 1 can bean sprouts
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1 tsp soy sauce
• 1 can French fried onion rings
• 1 cup grated cheese 

Drain all vegetables thoroughly. Chop Onion. Add soy sauce to mushroom soup. Mix all vegetables in a large bowl.

Make a layer in a casserole using half the vegetables—sprinkle with salt and pepper and all the cheese.

Make a second layer of vegetables—sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cover with mushroom sauce.

Bake for 20 minutes uncovered at 350°.  Remove from oven and cover with crushed onion rings.  Bake uncovered for 10 minutes – or until onion rings are lightly browned.

CAUTION! The onions burn easily!

Daddy's Mashed Potatoes

• Idaho potatoes (5-10 lbs)
• Water
• Butter (2-3 sticks)
• Milk
• Salt and Pepper (to taste)

Peel and quarter potatoes. Boil in a large pot with enough water to cover them well.  Cook until they are soft.  Drain in a colander.  Put into a large mixing bowl and add a lot of butter (about two sticks) and some milk.  You can add this while you are beating them with a mixer until fluffy.  After they are fluffy and look like mashed potatoes should, add salt and pepper to taste.  Then put Pam in your crockpot and add all the potatoes.  You may want to add some butter on the top.  Turn the crockpot on and keep them hot until it is time to serve them.  You can get them ready a little ahead of time and not have them get cold or burn them if you put them in the crockpot.

Squash Dressing Casserole

• Squash (5 or 6 medium, yellow)
• Butter (1 stick)
• Cornbread Stovetop Stuffing (1 box) 

Prepare 1 package Stovetop cornbread dressing as directed on the package.  Slice 4 medium or 5 small yellow summer squash into 1/8 inch slices (approximately).  Put about 1 tbsp butter in frying pan and sauté the squash until soft and done.  Mix in with the warm dressing.  Add the rest of a stick of butter to the mixture until it melts.  Put into baking dish and bake about 30 minutes.  Don’t get it too dry.  Cover it if you need to leave it in longer than 30 minutes.  You can microwave this if you need to instead of baking it in the oven.  My mother put cut up sautéed onions in this, but I don’t make it that way because my husband hates onions.

Mixed Bread Dressing

• 1 loaf of white bread, toasted in the oven until kind of crisp but not burned and then torn into bits
• 3 packages of Jiffy cornbread muffin mixed, prepared and baked according to directions on package and then crumbled
• 1 large container of chicken broth or cook a whole chicken in several quarts of water; remove chicken, refrigerate broth, and then skim off fat. Use the broth.
• 1 big bunch of celery, trimmed and sliced and cooked in butter until soft
• 2 large sweet (Vidalia if possible) onions, chopped and cooked in butter
• 1 stick of butter, melted in pan to cook the celery and onion

Mix all but the broth together in a big bowl.  Pour the chicken stock over it (warm it up if it is refrigerated).   Put it into casserole dishes and bake for about 40 minutes at 350 degrees.  You can make it the day before and bake it right before dinner.

Holiday Ham

Ham is really easy. 

Place ham in a baking dish big enough to hold it and the juice from it when it bakes.  Put about half a cup or so brown sugar on top of the ham.  Press it into the ham.  I just pat it down so it stays on the ham and can kind of melt into it.  Bake for an hour or two (or so).  Slice and serve. 

Yum!

Turkey Gravy

• Turkey drippings (broth) – from Turkey
• Flour – about ½ cup
• Water -  about 1 ½ cups

After the turkey is cooked, and a little while before dinner, open the turkey pan and ladle out a lot of the turkey drippings (broth) from the turkey pan.   You have to kind of tip the pan to the side (use a potholder) and scoop a lot of the broth out and put it in a bowl.

Then use a cup designed to siphon off the fat (can be made without this step, but may cause indigestion) to remove the fat. Put the now fat-free broth into a pot.  Heat the broth. 

Put about one and a half cups of water and maybe a half cup or so of flour (I just eyeball this so the amounts are not exact at all) in a cup with a lid. I use a plastic two cup container that comes with its own lid and spout.  Shake it up really good to mix. 

Then use a strainer as you pour the water/flour mixture into the pot of boiling broth.  Stir like crazy, without splashing it out.  Keep stirring until it thickens, or it will lump.  If it lumps anyway, which it often does, put it in a blender and blend out all the lumps and then put it back in a pot.

Keep it on low heat until you are ready to serve it.  Salt and pepper to taste.

Holiday Turkey

Thaw turkey for about four days in the refrigerator.

Open his bag and rinse him out with warm water because he is usually frozen some on the inside and that helps to get the giblets and stuff out.

Check his neck cavity, too, to get the stuff out.  You can cook the stuff separately if you want to, or you can throw it out.  Your choice!

Put him in the turkey pan, close it, and put it in the oven at 350° for about 5 or 6 hours.  The turkey usually has a little thermometer thing, and it is done when it pops out.  It doesn’t hurt to leave it in awhile after it is done as long as you don’t open the pan. 

If you are planning to slice it and not serve it on the table all intact, you can turn it upside down when you cook it.  That will make the breast more moist.  It doesn’t look as pretty as when you cook it right-side up, though.  Again, your choice! 

Mom says, "I used to get up in the middle of the night to cook it so that my oven was open for casseroles."

Aunt Millie's Cranberry Pudding

The Cake

Mix together:

• 1 cup flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 level tsp baking powder

In measuring cup, mix together:

• 1/2 cup evaporated milk (PET is good)
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1 tsp mexico vanilla (don't you dare use different vanilla and then complain that it doesn't taste right)

Stir the measuring cup mixture into dry ingredients.

Then add:

• 3/4 cup grated pecans
• 2 cups washed fresh cranberries

Melt 1/2-stick butter (UNSALTED!) and pour into square pan or pyrex dish. Then pour batter in.

Bake at 400 until inserted toothpick comes out clean--approximately 20-30 minutes. While still warm, pour icing over and spread.


The Icing

• 1/3 cup evaporated milk
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 stick butter
• 1 tsp mexico vanilla (again, don't use regular vanilla. you'll just ruin this recipe.)

Add ingredients to small pot on stove.  Cook, stirring occasionally, to softball stage and pour over warm pudding. Spread evenly. It should harden to a nice coating on top of the bread pudding.


Husbands sweet Aunt Millie made this for us one Christmas. I was so blown away by it that I had her write the recipe out for me. Then, I lost the recipe in our move, and I had to ask for it again. I've only made it one time, and mine just wasn't as good as hers... which I attribute partially to the fact that she doesn't actually own a written copy of this recipe and partially to my use of salted butter. Apparently, you need some sort of coastal Texan genetics to get this recipe just perfect, but I'm going to continue to try anyway.

White Chocolate Ginger Cheesecake

• 2-1/4 cups gingersnap cookie crumbs
• 1/4 cup plus 2 TBS butter or margarine, melted
• 2/3 cup whipping cream
• 1 pound white chocolate, finely chopped (or you can just use white chocolate chips) - see note b
• 4 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 6 large eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• choice of topping: fresh fruit, candied cranberries, chopped nuts, caramel, chocolate sauce - optional

Combine gingersnap crumbs and melted butter; stir well. Press crumb mixture into bottom and 1" up sides of a 10" springform pan.

Bring whipping cream to a simmer in a saucepan. Remove from heat and pour over chocolate in a large bowl. Stir mixture with a rubber spatula until smooth. Let cool.

Beat cream cheese at high speed with an electric mixer until creamy. Add sugar; beat well.  Add eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition.  Fold in chocolate mixture. Stir in vanilla. Pour batter into prepared crust.

Bake at 300 for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Let cool completely on a wire rack. Cover and chill at least 8 hours. Remove sides of pan. If desired, decorate cheesecake with topping.


I'm considering making some variations of this yumminess: like an oreo cheesecake, a chocolate cheesecake, a s'more cheesecake, and even a samoa cheesecake. Me and cheesecake are about to become bestest friends.

BEST EVAH! Sweet Potato Casserole

• 4-5 sweet potatoes
• 1/2 cup butter (I use the real stuff)
• 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
• 1/2 cup real maple syryp (Do not use store-brand maple syrup. If you can't get the real Grade A stuff, don't bother making these. Seriously.)
• 1/2 bag of mini marshmallows

The day before you're planning to serve...

Peel sweet potatoes and dice into chunks. My chunks are usually about 1.5 to 2-inches. Larger chunks will take longer to cook, but you don't want the chunks to be so small that your sweet potatoes disintegrate on their own.

Put sweet potatoes in a pot and cover with water. Boil on medium-high until potatoes are soft enough to mash.  You'll know they're done when you can stab a piece with a fork and it slide right out without picking the potato up.

While potatoes are boiling, cut up a stick of butter (into about 8 pieces) and spread around the bottom of an 8x8 or 9x9 glass dish. When the potatoes are done, drain them using a colander, then dump them into the glass dish with the butter. Now add the brown sugar and the maple syrup and mash up the mixture so that it's fairly uniform and only somewhat lumpy. Yes, yes, I know. That description isn't particularly scientific, but it's how I do it, so deal with it.

Top with about 1/4-bag of mini marshmallows, and bake uncovered at 350 for 45 minutes. Remove from the oven, stir the marshmallows into the casserole, re-smooth the top of the casserole, let cool, then cover and refrigerate over night.

About an hour before you serve...

Preheat the oven to 350. Remove the cover and top casserole with 1/4-bag of mini marshmallows. Bake for 45 minutes. Serve hot.

Now sit back, relax, and enjoy the sounds of people stuffing their face, murmering little sounds of contentment, and exclaiming that this is the best sweet potato casserole EVAH. I promise it will happen. It always does for me.



As a note, of all the recipes I've ever posted, this one is the most mine. My grandma used to make something like it, but I've tweaked it and messed with it over the years and this recipe is the final coup d'etat. I really hope you get the same results I do from it. Because I swear it doesn't get better than this.

Fantasy Fudge

Ingredients:

• 3 c. sugar
• 3/4 c. butter
• 1 (5 oz) can evaporated milk
• 12 oz. (1-1/2 packages) BAKER's Simi-Sweet Baking Chocolate, chopped
• 1 (7 oz) jar JET-PUFFED Marshmallow Creme
• 1 c. chopped walnuts
• 1 tsp vanilla (I'm gonna try it with Mexico vanilla this year and see if it's better.)

1.  Grease your pan.  I usually use butter instead of spray or lining with foil.  I typically use a 9-inch square pan, but I'm considering going for thinner pieces this year and using a 9x13-inch pan instead. 

2.  Place sugar, butter, and evaporated milk in large, heavy saucepan. Bring to full rolling boil on medium heat, stirring constantly.  Boil for 4 minutes, stirring constantly to prevent scorching.  Remove from heat.

3.  Add chocolate and marshmallow creme; stir until completely melted.  Add walnuts and vanilla; mix well.

4.  Pour immediately into prepared pan; spread to form even layer in pan.  Let stand at room temperature 4 hours or until completely cooled; cut into squares. Store in tightly covered container at room temperature.

I like to keep this a Christmas-only treat.  It's way too many fat/calories to keep it around for more than a couple of weeks out of the year, but way too delicious to forego altogether!  One year, I bought see-through tins in the shape of Texas and made a batch for each of husband's relatives (because they all live in Texas).  I love the idea of shaped tins of fudge as Christmas treats for co-workers and other people you'd like to give "a little something" over the holidays. 

I'm also considering trying a variation of this recipe with white chocolate instead of semi-sweet and crumbled Oreo cookies in place of the nuts. I will let you know how my "cookies and cream" fudge turns out.

Thanksgiving Corn Casserole

• 1 stick of butter, melted
• 1 can of whole kernel corn
• 1 can of creamed corn
• 12 oz. cornbread mix (I like Jiffy corn muffin mix)
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup sour cream

Preheat oven to 350.  Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl.  Dump mixture into 9x13 dish. Bake for about 40 minutes, or until edges start to pull away from sides of pan and top begins to brown.

I pretty much stole this recipe, in whole, from allrecipes.com (Baked Corn by Rhonda Mellott).  I'm only relisting it here so I don't end up forgetting which recipe I fell in love with.  I'm willing to bet this would be pretty delicious with low-fat butter (or Brummel and Brown), egg whites, and light sour cream.  That would cut PointsPlus value tremendously.  I'm going to try the lighter version for Christmas this year, so I'll let you know how it turns out. Might just have to "healthify" this one permanently if it works out like I hope.

Pumpkin Pound Cake

- 2 c. plain flour
- 2 c. sugar
- 2 tsp baking soda
- 4 eggs
- 1 TBS cinnamon
- 1 c. vegetable oil
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 can (15 oz) pumpkin

Pre-heat oven to 350.  Mix all ingredients well.  Beat for 2 minutes.  Grease tube or bundt pan and bake for 1 hour.  Cool completely in pan.  Place on pretty cake plate & frost with Cream Cheese Frosting. 

Hint: Place a glass measuring cup filled with 3/4 c. water in the oven beside the cake.  The water will steam the cake and make it extra moist!