Grandma Nelson's Potato Salad

Jake's very favorite - this recipe is a request from Brianne.

6 potatoes, boiled

6 hard-boiled eggs, reserve one for garnish

¼ cup onion, finely chopped

2 sweet pickles, chopped

1 ¼ cup Miracle Whip

2 T. sweet pickle juice

1 T. sugar

1 t. salt

1 T. prepared mustard

Dash pepper

After boiling the potatoes, remove the skins and dice into a large bowl.  Chopped eggs, onion, and pickles.  Combine Miracle Whip, pickle juice, sugar, salt, prepared mustard and pepper.  Stir dressing into the potato mixture.  Add a little extra Miracle Whip if it is not moist enough.  It will absorb a bit as it chills.  Place in serving bowl and garnish with sliced egg, a sprinkle of paprika and a bit of parsley.  Refrigerate 4 hours or overnight.  Serves 8.

Coconut Pecan Italian Cream Cake

Prep: 50 min. Bake 20 min if have 2 ovens...three 9 inch pans don't all fit into my oven so may need double oven batch) + Cooling. 
Makes: 16 servings
From TasteofHome.com Feb/March 2015 magazine pg. 53 recipe, photo from magazine below
pic on the left (pink right strawberry cake I want to try as well since I LOVE HOMEMADE cake)

CAKE:
5 large eggs, separated
1 cup butter, softened
1 2/3 cups sugar
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup buttermilk
1 1/3 cups flaked coconut
1 cup chopped pecans, toasted

FROSTING:
12 oz. cream cheese, softened
6 Tbsp. butter, softened
2 1/4 tsp. vanilla extract
5 2/3 cups confectioners' sugar
2-4 Tbsp. heavy whipping cream (just used a can of spray cream in my fridge)
1/2 cup chopped pecans, toasted
1/4 cup toasted flaked coconut, optional  (toast in oven watch carefully burns easy!)

1) Place egg whites in a small bowl; let stand @ room temp 30 min. Preheat oven to 350. Line bottoms of three greased 9 inch round baking pans with parchment paper; grease paper.

2) in a large bowl  (used Bosch) cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Add egg yolks, one at a time, beating well after each addition.  Beat in vanilla.  In another bowl, whisk flour, baking soda and salt; add to creamed mixture alternately with buttermilk, beating well after each addition.  Fold in coconut and pecans.

3) With clean beaters, beat egg whites on medium speed until stiff peaks form.  Gradually fold into batter.  Transfer to pans.  Bake 20-25 min. or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.  Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans.  Cool completely on wire racks.

4) For frosting, in a large bowl, beat cream cheese, butter and vanilla until smooth.  Gradually beat in confectioners' sugar and enough cream to reach spreading consistency.  Spread frosting, between layers and over top and sides of cake.  Sprinkle with pecans and if desired coconut.  Refrigerate leftovers (I never do though...??)

Per serving 667 calories (worth it) 36g fat, 18 g sat. fat, 128 mg chol, 402 mg sodium
no wonder I gained a few extra pounds at doc visit this morning!!

not the best cake froster, but it turned out quite nice for my first try...

I'll have to get another 9 inch pan - 3 layers is fun

Dutch Pancakes

Call them what you want, crepes, German or English, at our house they are Dutch pancakes.  That is what my Grandpa and Grandma Mines called them  With a name like Mines you would think they would call them German pancakes.  (Especially since I don't have Dutch ancestry)  When I would stay at my grandparents for a few days, Grandpa would always make Dutch pancakes for breakfast. Served with syrup, powdered sugar or jam and rolled up they make a yummy breakfast.  My favorite!

John and Lizzie enjoying the Dutch pancake tradition!

Dutch Pancakes

1 egg
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup water - plus maybe a tablespoon or two more
Butter

Heat up a skillet/fry pan on medium.  Mix the egg, flour and water until a fairly thin consistency. Melt about a teaspoon of butter and pour in a pool of pancake batter, roll the pan around until it fills the pan and let cook for a few minutes.  Flip it over and let it cook for a minute more.  Serve.  One egg makes 2 - 3 pancakes.

Easy Ranch Cheese Ball

1 pkg. (8 oz.) cream cheese, softened

1 cup grated cheddar cheese

1 ½ T. ranch dressing mix

3 green onions, chopped

Bacon, cooked and crumbled

Chopped nuts, pecans or toasted almonds

Mix all ingredients together.  Shape into a ball and roll in chopped nuts.  Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 1 hour.  Serve with your favorite crackers.  

From the blog: It's Always Autumn
Heather brought this Sunday and it was delicious.  It disappeared!  Ashley Olson made it first from Pinterest and it's so delicious - no need to look further ~

Blueberry Pie

Sweet, juicy berries baked in a flaky crust.  Delightful.

4 cups fresh blueberries
2/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
1 t. fresh lemon zest
2 T. fresh lemon juice

Pie dough

Preheat oven to 400º.  Roll out crust and fit into a pie plate.  Roll out the rest of the crust and cut into 1/2-inch wide strips with a pizza cutter or knife.

In a large bowl, toss the blueberries, sugar, cornstarch, lemon zest and lemon juice.  Let stand 5 minutes.  Pour berry mixture into the pie shell.  Weave a lattice over the top with the pastry strips. Trim and crimp them to the bottom crust.  Brush the top with milk and sprinkle with sugar.

Bake at 400º for 15 minutes.  Reduce the heat to 350º and continue to bake for 45 to 50 minutes or until the berries are bubbly and the crust is golden.  Tent with foil if the crust is getting too brown. This pie is like apple pie, when the filling bubbles up and over (and makes a mess of the oven) then it is finished.  I like to put a baking tray on the rack below to catch drips.

Serve warm with vanilla ice cream.

Thanks, Heather, for another great recipe.


Just so you know:

Before it's rolled: DOUGH
After it's rolled: PASTRY
After it's baked: CRUST

Yummy Apple Dip

Heather made this yummy apple dip that you might like to try.  It is EASY.  For one Sunday dinner, Chelsea brought apples and dip for the appetizer and it tasted very refreshing.

1 (8 oz.) pkg. cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 t. vanilla
1/2 t. lemon juice

Beat cream cheese well.  Add sugars a little at a time.  Add the remaining ingredients and mix well.
Optional: add toffee bits.

Gingersnap Coconut Creams

"When Christmas is around the corner, we want gingerbread and macaroons.  I combine the two for gingersnap sandwhiches filled with sweet coconut." Darlene Brenden Salem, Or field Editor TasteofHome.com  Dec. 2014  pg. 44 recipe

I was curious about this recipe since I love gingerbread and Matt loves coconut.  Also this recipe is smaller scale than my normal gingersnap cookie with a kiss that dad likes so much.  Win - Win
I loved the sandwhich cookie idea and filling inside is GOOD.

 Prep: 35 Min.
Bake: 10./batch + cooling
Makes: (I made about 18 complete cookies using small cookie scoop...recipes says 4 dozen?)

INGREDIENTS:
1/3 cup butter, softened
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1/3 cup molasses (I used dark molasses and I think that is why my cookies turned out darker than magazine pic)
1.5 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground cloves

FILLING:
1/4 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup confectioners' sugar
1/2 tsp. orange extract (didn't have orange but used coconut and it was great - a citrus hint would be fun to try too, but I think I'll stick with coconut extract!)
1/4 cup flaked coconut

1) Preheat oven to 375. In a large bowl, cream butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy.  Beat in egg and molasses.  In another bowl, whisk flour, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, and cloves; gradually beat into creamed mixture.

2) Drop dough by level teaspoonfuls 1 in apart onto parchment paper-lined baking sheets.  Bake cookies 6-8 minutes or just until edges begin to brown.  Remove from pans to wire racks to cool completely.

3)  For coconut filling, in a small bowl, mix butter, confectioners' sugar and orange extract until blended; stir in coconut.  Spread on bottoms of half of the cookies; cover with remaining cookies.

per sandwhich cookie 58 cal., 3 g fat (2 g. sat. fat), 10 mg. chol., 50 mg sodium, 8 g carb., trace fiber, 1 g pro.