Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!
I have a lot to be thankful for, a wonderful healthy family and great friends. I am also thankful that I actually enjoy cooking especially since I enjoy eating great food. It is easy for us all to take some many little things for granted and so Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays in that you are reminded of how lucky you are. Hope you all have a great day!

Pumpkin Pie

Pumpkin Pie
This recipe will fill 2 pies.

1 29 oz can pumpkin
4 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 can evaporated milk
1/2 t salt

I use pumpkin pie spice because it has everything in it and I only need to keep one bottle around instead of 4.
6 t pumpkin pie spice
OR
2 1/2 t cinnamon
2 t ginger
1 t nutmeg
1/2 t cloves

Bake at 400 for the first 15 minutes, then reduce heat to 350 and cook until center is set and knife comes out clean.

Crab Cheeseball

This is a recipe I started making when I worked at the grocery store in high school. It uses imitation crab which is made from white fish, all imitation crab is not created equal. I use a brand called seablends and it is good, try to stay away from the stuff that is supposed to be like crab legs or sticks. I use the 1/3 reduced fat cream cheese for 2 reasons, 1 I hope it is a little healthier and 2 it seems to spread on crackers easier as it is not as hard. You can roll it into a ball and cover with almonds but do it right before serving so the almonds stay crisp.
This recipe makes a lot so if you get tired of eating it on crackers and veggies you can make some crab wontons with it. Use one teaspoon in each wonton wrapper, seal and fry. I like to have a sweet and sour dipping sauce with it.

4 8 oz bars cream cheese
1 16 oz package crab meat
2 bunches green onions sliced thinly
Celery salt to taste, start with 1 T and taste it

You can just mix this in a mixer until well blended. If you are mixing it by hand break the crab up first so you don't have big pieces in it.

Raw Cranberry Relish

1 package (12 oz) fresh cranberries

1 apple

1 orange

sugar to taste

I like to use the food processor with the blade attachment for this. You don't need to peel the apple or orange, just take any seeds out. Grind it all up until it is chopped pretty finely. Add sugar to taste. I like to start with 1/2 cup and then taste it, if you wait a couple days it will sweeten so don't make it too sweet. Refrigerate at least overnight, the longer it sits the better. This is really yummy and refreshing, especially with all the rich thanksgiving foods. You could probably use some other sweetener like honey or agave if you like. You can double this easily.

Great Grandma's Molasses Cookies

This is my great grandmas recipe. My mom still has the card she wrote it on. We have traditionally made these on Thanksgiving, in the shape of a turkey. This year I am a little less ambitious and can't really reach the back of the counter so instead of rolling them out I used a cookie scoop and then flattened them with a glass. I have only made one change, she used lard and I use butter. You could use shortening also. Traditions are fun, I want to start more, any ideas?

2 cups sugar

1 cup molasses

1 cup butter

1 t allspice

2 t cinnamon

3 eggs (save one egg white to brush the tops, this keeps them soft)

2 t baking soda dissolved in 3 T water

5-6 cups flour, start with 5 and see how sticky it is

Mix in order given, roll out and cut into shapes. Brush with egg whites and bake at 350 until tops are cracked looking.

Sometimes I burn a tray just to keep as my stash in the freezer to have with tea.

Apple Pancake

Sometimes I get tired of the same things for dinner so I make breakfast foods because we usually just eat cereal or something in the mornings. This is a twist on German Pancakes, I like them because you can just put it in the oven and you don't have to stand and flip pancakes forever. We have a lot of apples so I looked around online and saw some recipes like this.

This is not a very good picture but it was yummy.

Apple Pancake

2 apples peeled cored and chopped

1/4 cup orange juice

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 t cinnamon (I used pumpkin pie spice)

Cook until apples are soft but not mushy

In a separate bowl

6 eggs

1 cup milk

1 cup flour

Mix well

In a 9x13 pan melt 2 T butter, add cooked apple mixture, top with egg mixture. Bake at 400 until golden and puffy.

Updated Crescent Rolls

This recipe came from my mom, I have cut the sugar and butter in half and used half wheat flour and they are still very good rolls.

2 T yeast
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups warm water
Let this sit for 10 minutes until bubbly.
Then mix the rest of the ingredients in
1/2 stick melted butter (1/4 cup)
2 eggs
1 t salt
3 cups white flour
3 cups wheat flour (You may not need all of this)
Let rise until doubled in size then punch down and make into two balls. Let these rise until doubled and then roll out into a circle. Spread a thin layer of butter on top of circle. You need to cut it like a pizza into triangles to roll up. I find a pizza cutter works really well but you can use a knife. Roll up into crescents and place on baking sheet. Let rise again and bake at 350 until light brown on top.

Veggie Cheese Soup

It is raining and starting to snow here today so I decided I better make some soup! This recipe can be changed around a bit depending on what veggies you have or want to use. I have used a frozen medley of carrots broccoli and cauliflower because that is what I had but you could use potatoes, just broccoli, really anything you want that you think would be good with a cheesy sauce.

Veggie Cheese Soup

4 cups water

1 onion diced

3-4 stalks celery diced

3 chicken bouillon cubes

1/2 t garlic powder

1 t pepper

Boil this for 15 minutes

Then add your veggies of choice and cook 15-20 minutes more until soft. Do not drain.

In a separate pan combine

4 cups milk

1/4 cup cornstarch

1 can condensed cheese soup, I used nacho cheese just for fun

Cook on medium heat and keep stirring until thickened.

Add to cooked veggie mix and simmer for another few minutes.

Season with salt and pepper to taste

Rhubarb Cake

This is a recipe I have from a family cookbook, I made a few changes. You might not like rhubarb so you could use raspberries, blackberries or blueberries and it would be really good too. The buttermilk makes a big difference, whenever I make a cake from scratch I always use buttermilk.

1 1/2 cups brown sugar

1/2 cup canola oil

2 eggs

1 cup buttermilk

1 t baking soda

2 cups flour

1/4 t salt

1 1/2 cups chopped rhubarb or raspberries

Mix everything but the flour and fruit until smooth. Add flour and mix just until blended then fold in fruit. Bake at 325 in a greased 9x13 cake pan.

Optional-sprinkle with white sugar and cinnamon

Crustless Pumpkin Pie

Pie crust is one of my least favorite things to make. Pumpkin pie is one of my favorite desserts though so I thought I would give this a try. I roasted a squash for dinner and it was good to eat by itself but it did have a pumpkin-y flavor so I used it. The pie turned out a little sweet, maybe because there was not a crust and maybe the sweetened condensed milk was too sweet.

2 cups pumpkin (I used some that squash that I had roasted)

1 can sweetened condensed milk

3 eggs

1/2 t salt

1 t vanilla

1 t pumpkin pie spice

Mix in food processor or blender until smooth. Bake in greased pie plate for 30 minutes.