Gingerbread Houses

Gingerbread houses and Christmas just go together and making them is lots of fun for young and old, with lots of candy snitching!  Here is the recipe for gingerbread and the frosting.  The cookie cutters are from Wilton and can be purchased at Michael's at the beginning of the season.



Gingerbread

1 cup molasses

1 cup shortening

1 egg

1 cup sugar

1 t. vanilla

2 t. soda dissolved in ½ cup warm water

6 cups flour

1 t. salt

1 t. cinnamon

½ t. cloves

½ t. ginger

Bring molasses and shortening to a boil and simmer 2 minutes.  Cool.  Cream egg, sugar and vanilla.  Add soda and water.  Mix flour, salt and spices.  Add dry ingredients and molasses mixture alternately to the sugar mixture.  Mix well.

On a floured surface, roll out dough to ¼ inch thick.  Cut into desired shapes and place on greased baking tray.  Bake at 375º for 6 to 8 minutes.  If making house pieces, bake 10 minutes.

This recipe makes enough for 1 large house.  If the dough becomes stiff while rolling it out, put it on a plate and warm in the microwave for 30 to 60 seconds.

 Hard Royal Frosting

4 egg whites (about ½ cup)

1/8 t. cream of tartar

5-7 cups powdered sugar

Beat egg whites and cream of tartar until very stiff.  Add the powdered sugar a little at a time until the frosting is firm but not too stiff.

Company Carrots (from Aunt Shell)

Company Carrots

turn these into a fancy dish!

one of my favorite Thanksgiving/fall/holiday dishes

Easy - healthy - and quite easy

2.5 lbs. carrots whole (baby okay too)
     save quarter cup of the water you cooked the carrots in
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1T. minced onion
1 T. prepared horseradish (awesome little kick/secret ingredient!)
salt and pepper to taste
quarter cup of saltine crackers / crushed (I personally use more)
2 T. butter or margarine melted
a little bit of chopped parsley on top
a little bit of paprika on top

Directions:
cook carrots until tender, save a quarter cup of the water, if doing long carrots cut lengthwise, put in a 9x9 dish, then combine mayo, horseradish, salt and pepper (the sauce), put over the carrots, crackers/butter mixture on top.  (Sometimes I sprinkle more minced onion on top of the crackers.)

Bake @ 375 for 20 min.

Enough for 8 people

Yummy Apple Dip and Gift Idea

Just wanted to share a favorite apple dip and gift idea.  It takes just a minute to put together and is very tasty with the new crop of apples in the fall.  Here is the link:

Yummy Apple Dip and Gift Idea

(I am trying out adding a link to the blog so let me know if this works!)

Quick Tip for Sweet Breads

You know how difficult it can be to get sweet breads out of the pan?  This is a quick tip that makes it so easy and clean, especially with Chocolate Zucchini Bread that has a sugar and cinnamon topping.  None of the yummy topping falls off while trying to get the bread out and the bottom doesn't get stuck either.  Just lift it out.

Cut a piece of parchment the width of your bread pan.  For this size I cut the pre-cut squares in half.  Lightly grease your pan, put the parchment down in and lightly grease the parchment.  Flour the pan and tap out the excess.  Put your bread batter in and bake according to directions.  When baked, take out of the oven, let it cool and lift the bread out with the parchment.  Voile!

Artichoke Dip

This is a hot appetizer that you can make ahead and just throw in the oven when you need it. Heather found this great recipe that I love to serve over and over.

1 (14 oz.) can artichoke hearts, chopped

1 (4 oz.) can diced green chilies

1 heaping cup Monterey Jack cheese

¼ cup Parmesan cheese

1 cup mayonnaise

Mix all of the ingredients together.  Place in a baking dish.  Bake at 325° for 30 minutes, until bubbly and brown on the edges.  Serve with tortilla chips (my favorite) or your favorite crackers.  Serves about 12.

Parmesan Chicken Florentin

These are easy and so delicious.

4 oz. cream cheese, softened

1 (10 oz.) pkg. frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained

1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

6 T. Parmesan cheese, divided

6 boneless chicken breasts, ¼ inch thick (3 cut horizontally into cutlets)

1 egg

½ cup Ritz crackers crushed, about 10

½ t. Bon Appetit season salt

1½ cups spaghetti sauce, heated

Preheat oven to 375°.  Mix cream cheese, spinach, mozzarella cheese, salt to taste and 3 T. parmesan cheese until well blended.  Spread evenly onto chicken breasts and roll up tightly.

Beat egg in shallow bowl.  Mix remaining 3 T. Parmesan cheese, Bon Appetit and the cracker crumbs in a separate bowl.  Dip chicken bundles in egg then roll in crumb mixture.  Place chicken, seam sides down, in a 9 x 13 inch baking dish sprayed with cooking spray.

Bake 30 minutes or until chicken is cooked through.  Serve topped with spaghetti sauce.  Serves 6.

To make cutlets: place chicken breast on a cutting board.  Place your hand flat on it and cut through the middle horizontally.  This is much easier than pounding them out and makes a much better serving size.  

Green Flop Jello-O

Loved this fluffy lemon-lime goodness.  You can make with any flavor of Jell-O!  Reminded me of a green version of orange fluff but I love lemon-lime in jello and with cream cheese and cool whip I had to try.

Prep: 15 Min. + 4 Hours chilling
Makes: 16 servings... (yikes I'm the big jello eater around her should have waited for a party!)

2 cups lemon-lime soda
2 pkgs. (3 oz ea) lime gelatin
6 oz. cream cheese, softened
2 cups lemon-lime soda, chilled
2 carton (12 oz.) frozen whipped topping, thawed

what it looks like from the large bowl... cool zippy light creamy texture -

1.) Microwave 2 cups soda on high 1-2 minutes or until hot.  Place hot soda and gelatin in a blender; cover and process until gelatin is dissolved.  Add cream cheese; process to blend.

2) Transfer to a large bowl; stir in chilled soda.  Whisk in whipped topping.  Pour into a 3 qt. bowl. Refrigerate, covered, for 4 hours or until firm.

Per serving: 159 calories, 7 g fat, 12 mg chol, 62 mg sodium, 21 g carb, 2 g prot, 0 fiber