Chocolate Covered Pretzels

Very easy and fun for the kids.

pretzels
chocolate chips (semi-sweet or milk chocolate or white chocolate)
sprinkles

Lay out the pretzels on a cookie sheet. Then melt some chocolate. Get a spoon and pour chocolate on the pretzels. Then put sprinkles on them and allow them to dry.

Have fun,

Tina

Inspirational Break

A friend sent this to me and I thought I'd share.
Thanks, Cheryl St. John
At 211 degrees...water is hot.
At 212 degrees...it boils.
And with boiling water, comes steam.
And steam can power a locomotive.
And, it's that one extra degree that...makes all the difference.
It's that one extra degree of effort that separates the good from the great. - Mac Anderson

Have a great day,

Tina

Easy Divinity

Just found this recipe on http://www.northpole.com/

Sounds easy and makes about 2 dozen candies.

1 jar marshmallow cream
1/2 cup water
2 cups sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla(optional items to add see list below)

Boil the sugar and water to the soft ball stage. Remove from heat and stir in marshmallow cream and vanilla. Add other items, if desired. Let cool 5-10 minutes.

Drop from spoon onto wax paper to cool. If the pieces run and are smooth, let cool for a couple more minutes before dropping any more onto paper. The pieces should be fluffy when dropped, not runny. Place peppermint on top of each piece if desired, as dropped. Let cool 30 minutes and enjoy!

The reason I like Divinty is all the ways you can change it up.

Here some suggestion on how:
add a little creme de mint and green food coloring for a green treat
add any type of nut, walnuts, pecans, almonds, peanuts
add peppermint pieces
add tiny chocolate chips
add coconutadd finely chopped dryed fruit

As you can see the options are limitless.

Hope you enjoy,

Tina

Pumpkin Torte (Eagle Brand flyer)

Easy and good, I like this better than pumpkin pie.
8 eggs
1 (29-oz) can pumpkin
1 (14 oz) can Eagle Brand Sweetened Condensed Milk
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon 1 teaspoons ground ginger1/2 teaspoon each of ground cloves, ground mace, and ground nutmeg. (I leave out the mace)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Nut Topping

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In large bowl or blender beat eggs, then add remaining ingredients. Except the stuff for the topping. And mix well. Pour into lightly greased 9-inch spring form pan.

Bake 55 to 60 minutes or until knife inserted near center comes out clean. Cool thoroughly, remove side of pan. Spring with Nut Topping

Nut Topping - in heavy skillet, melt 2 tablespoons of butter or margarine, add 1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract plus a 3/4 cup of nuts. (I like walnuts) when brown sugar has melted pour over the top of the torte. Mix all ingredients together in a pan and cook until thick. Pour into bowl or pie filling and cool for several hours.

If you don't like nuts try a scoop of whip topping.

Hope you enjoy,

Tina

Pudding or Pie Filling

This is a very easy recipe which I discovered recently. It can be low calorie by using sugar-free pudding and jello Strawberry (but almost any fruit could be used)

1 box of strawberry jello

Same size box of pudding cook-to-serve(vanilla is used for most types of fruit but you might try mixing it up)

2 cups of milk (but this depends on the size of box you buy. Use whatever is on the pudding box.)

1 cup of strawberries (I use frozen but I'm sure you could use fresh too)

Mix all ingredients together in a pan and cook until thick. Pour into bowl or pie filling and cool for several hours.

I add a scoop of whip topping and it's good to go.

Hope you enjoy,

Tina

Holiday Recipes

Thought about this for a while and decide to share some of my favorite recipes for the Holiday season.

Pumpkin Bread (Found in Cooking Collectibles - From friends of the Greater Houston Unit of the American Cancer Society)

3 cups sugar
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsps. soda
2 tsps. each nutmeg, cloves, allspice and cinnamon
4 eggs1 (20-oz.) can pumpkin
1 cup oil1 cup raisins
1 cup walnuts or pecans

Sift dry ingredients into a large mixing bowl. This should include the spices. (Note - you don't like a particular spice leave it out) Add oil, eggs, pumpkin and raisins soaked in the water. Blend all well and then stir in the nuts.

Grease two a 9x5x3 loaf pans (Note I've also made this in a all type of pans just adjust cooking time) with shortening and sprinkle with flour. Divide dough in two pans and bake at 325 degrees for 50 minutes.

Great to serve for breakfast.

Tina

Kitchen Duty

The one thing I enjoy the most about the holiday is spending time in the kitchen with friends and family. That's not to say, I enjoy being in the kitchen alone. I like to have other people around while I cook, talking and discussing the every day events in our lives makes the time more enjoyable.

Each year, I make my husband and kids help with the preparations. This way I don't have to do everything by myself and I can spend time with them too.

I wonder, why would you not want the kitchen full of people?

Yet some people prefer to labor away by themself.

Have a great holiday season,

Tina