Holiday Foods

Suet Treat

A high calorie food for your wild feathered friends.
In a sauce pan over low heat.
Melt 1 lb lard.
Add 1/2 cup peanut butter stirring occasionally.
Add 1 cup corn meal or other seeds.
Add 1/2 cup sunflower seeds.
Stir well to mix.
Pour into a tin can or plastic container lined with wax paper.
Chill till solid.
Place in a mesh bag and hang from tree branch.
If wax paper is a problem add liquid to container.
Once chilled remove by running a little hot water over bottom of container

These recipes are from reader Toni Hamann. Thank you Toni, for sharing with us.

The first one is incredibly easy and would make a fun appetizer.

Caramel Dipped Cranberries

Freshly washed cranberries raw
container of fat free carmel dip
toothpicks

Put the toothpicks in the cranberries, insert into the carmel dip, insert in your mouth enjoy.

Yogurt Apple Coffee Cake

1/2 c. raisins or craisisn( the dehydrated form of cranberries)
1/2 c. walnuts
1/2 c. brown sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
Chop and mix the above ingredients

2 c. flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
Sift above ingredients together and set aside

5 tbsp. butter or margarine
1 c. sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
Cream together.
Cream flour, sugar, eggs and vanilla. Add to the flour mixture 1 c. yogurt. Spread 1/2 batter in angel food pan. 2 medium sliced apples. Spread 1/2 of the raisin nut mixture on top of the apples. Spread the other 1/2 of the batter ontop. Another 2 apples. Then put on the rest of the raisisn nut mixture bake 375 degrees for 40-45 minutes or until cake springs back when you touch it.

Cranberry Bread

2 c. flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. soda
1 cup sugar
sift together

Beat 1 egg, 2 tsp. nelted butter, 1/2 c. frozen orange juice concentrate, 2 tbsp. hot water and 1 1/2 cup cranberries whole. 1/2 c. nuts. Bake 320 for 1 hour and 10 minutes

And last but certainly not least, this recipe from my friend Diane Witt. It is a bit more complicated than the recipes I use in my column, but this sounds sooooo good, I wanted to include it.

Cranberry Apple Popover Puff

Popover Puff:

3T butter or margarine, divided
1 cup milk
6 eggs
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 t salt

Apple Cranberry Filling:

1 orange
1/2 cup dried cranberries (or raisins)
1 package (3 oz) vanilla cook and serve pudding mix (not instant)
1 teaspoon cinnamon
4 firm, red baking apples such as Jonathan
1/4 cup sliced almonds, toasted (or not)
Powdered sugar
Vanilla ice cream or thawed, frozen whipped topping (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. For popover puff, melt butter. Brush one tablespoon of melted butter over bottom only of deep dish pie dish. Whisk together milk, eggs and remaining butter. In a small bowl, stir together flour and salt. Add flour mixture to egg mixture; whisk 1 minute or until smooth. Pour batter in pie dish. Bake 20 minutes. Reduce oven temp to 350 degrees F and continue baking 10-15 minutes or until puffed and golden brown.

2. Meanwhile, prepare apple cranberry filling. Zest orange to measure 1 tablespoon zest. Juice orange and add enough water to measure 1 cup. In a large Microwave safe covered dish, combine orange zest, orange juice, cranberries, pudding mix and cinnamon; Mix well. Core and slice apples, leaving peel on. Put slices into pudding mixture. Microwave, covered, on High 4 minutes; stir gently. Continue microwaving 4-5 minutes or until glaze is thickened and clear; stir gently to evenly coat apples with glaze.

3. Remove puff form oven to cooling rack. Let stand 3 minutes or until puff begins to fall, forming a shell. If necessary, use a paring knife to cut around sides of puff to loosen from pie dish.

4. Spoon filling into center of puff. Sprinkle with toasted almonds around edges of filling. Sprinkle entire puff with powdered sugar. Cut and serve, if desired with ice cream or whipped topping.

Yield: 12 servings

Old Fashioned Sugar Cookies

1 1/2 C flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2/4 C sugar
1/2 margarine
1 egg
2 heaping tsp milk (I had to laugh when I read this ingredient. It is NOT a typo on my part. LOL I think it would be safe to substitute 2 tsp. for one heaping.)
1 tsp vanilla

1.Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
2.Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar.
3.Cut in margarine until mixture resembles corn meal
4.Blend in egg, milk, and vanilla
5.Roll out on floured board, cut with cookie cutters
If dough is too soft and difficult to handle, refrigerate for 1 hr.
6.Place on ungreased cookie sheets. Bake 8 minutes.
Sprinkle with colored sugar before baking or ice when removed from oven and cooled.

Icing for Sugar Cookies

1 C confectioners sugar
1 egg white
few drops of lemon juice

Combine icing ingredients until smooth. Either spread on cookies or pipe on for decorations.

Another favorite is
Gingerbread People

3/4 C brown sugar (firmly packed)
1 egg
1/2 C butter softened
1/4 C molasses
2 2/3 C flour
2 tsp ginger
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinammon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp salt

1.In a large bowl thoroughly mix sugar and butter. Beat in egg and molasses.
2.Stir in flour, ginger, baking soda, spices and salt.
3.Roll dough on well floured board until 1/8 inch thick. Cut into desired shapes.
4.Place on greased baking sheet.
5.Bake at 350 degrees F. for 10 minutes.
6.Cool cookies on wire rack. Decorate as desired.

Another favorite from my childhood-

Peanutbutter Cookies

1C margarine
1 tsp vanilla
1C granulated sugar
1C brown sugar
2 eggs beaten
1C peanutbutter
3C flour
1/8 tsp salt (optional)
2 tsp soda baking soda

1.Thoroughly cream margarine, and sugars.
2.Add eggs. Beat thourouly.
3.Stir in peanutbutter then add sifted dry ingredients.
4.Form into tiny balls with the palms of your hands.
5.Place on greased cookie sheet and press with the back of a fork to make criss-cross marks. (Dough may be rolled and sliced if desired.)
6.Back in oven at 375 degrees F. for 10 minutes.

Coated Pretzels

Buy almond bark in your grocery store. I like vanilla best on pretzels, but chocolate is good too.
Melt it in your microwave and dip your own pretzels.
You can make them a little more fancy looking by adding sprinkles or colored sugar while they are still moist.
This is a project your kids can help with. A real "bonding" time for you.

Another quick and easy thing to use with the almond bark are "Ritz" or Ritz-type crackers. Just spread peanut butter between 2 of the crackers, then dip in the melted almond bark.

Peanut Butter Balls

Heat peanut butter in the microwave
Add enough powdered sugar that you can make balls that hold their shape.
Dip in melted chocolate almond bark.

Another simple thing to do is add crispy rice cereal to melted chocolate almond bark. Drop by spoonfuls onto waxed paper, and cool.

Or add peanuts or other nuts to melted almond bark. Even coconut works well. I have even used raisins. Use your imagination and make CANDY for Christmas.

Grandmas Pumpkin Pie
1 15oz. can of pumpkin
4 eggs slightly beaten
1 tbs. pumpkin pie spice or 1 tsp. of ginger, 1 tsp. of nutmeg, 4 tsp. of cinnamon
(to be honest, I shake in pumpkin pie spice until it looks right to me. lol)
1 C of brown sugar
1C of white sugar (or all white or all brown if you are out of either. Makes some difference, but nothing major)
2 cans of evaporated milk (NOT sweetened condensed)
2 tsp. of vanilla

Mix well.
Pour into 2-9inch pie shells (I buy the frozen ones or you can make your own).
Bake in a 350 degree oven until a knife inserted into the center of the pie, comes out clean. Usually about an hour.
Serve chilled with a dollop of whipped cream or whipped topping-ENJOY!

Next we have a wonderful salad for the holidays which incorporates the traditional cranberries.

Cranberry and Apple Salad
1 bag of fresh cranberries, washed and picked over
4-5 fresh apples, washed and cored
1 C sugar
1 C chopped English walnuts
1 to 1 1/2 C miniature marshmallows

Run whole cranberries and apples through a grinder or your food processor (the pieces should be fairly small but not mush)
Add all other ingredients
Let sit for a couple of hours for flavors to blend or in your frig. over night.

Now for my own stuffing recipe. It is a pretty traditional/basic recipe.

Bread Stuffing
1-1 LB loaf of bread-dried
1 med onion chopped fine
2-3 ribs of celery chopped fine
1 egg
2 tsps more or less, of sage or poultry seasoning
moisten with broth or just plain water (about 1/2 C)
Mix all together and stuff the turkey or bake as a side dish.
Enough for about 6-7 people.