Sunday, November 29, 2009

12 Days of Christmas Continued........

Holiday greetings to all of you !!!! Just wanted to remind you to browse through our other posts because we have so many recipes on here that can be used for the holidays such as dips, fudge, potato recipes, breads, and salads to name a few that we also serve on special occasions. Thanks for stopping by and God Bless !

Creamy Crab Stuffed Garlic Shrimp

On the second day of Christmas you get............. a seafood dish !!!! Yum !
If you're having a small dinner party around holiday time with some folks who enjoy seafood you just have to try this recipe I created ! And I promise, this one is not like other seafood stuffing you have had it in the past. I split the shrimp basically like you would a lobster tail.Be sure and warn your guests that they are still in the shell. :) Serve these and it's bound to be one of the most memorable Christmas meal for years to come !


Ingredients you will need:

1 dozen jumbo uncooked shrimp still in the shell
2 Tbls. fresh minced garlic
1 8oz. cream cheese
1/4 cup fine bread crumbs
1 tsp. white cooking wine
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 small can fancy jumbo lump crab meat,drained
salt and pepper
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 lemon , cut in half
1/4 cup melted butter
paprika

De vein shrimp leaving the shell intact.
Rinse under cold water.
Slice part way down through the back
of shrimp and spread them
open a bit but don't break them apart.
Place in a covered baking dish and sprinkle with the minced
garlic .
Chill to marinate for several hours.
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Prepare your filling by mixing the cream cheese , Parmesan,
cooking wine, garlic powder, crumbs, a quick
squeeze of the lemon and a dash of
pepper and salt together in a medium bowl.

Gently stir in the lump crab.

Divide filling evenly and fill each shrimp.

Squeeze lemon juice over the top of the shrimp.

Drizzle melted butter over the stuffed shrimp.

Sprinkle with paprika and bake for 20 minutes.

Turn your oven up to broil and broil until the
top of the stuffing is lightly
brown a few minutes.

Watch these closely.

Let set for 3 minutes and serve.

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Cranberry Holiday Jello

On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...
A layered jello creation!!!!

And then I saw a little man eyeing my jello creation!!! (Can you blame him though? It does look wonderful...)




Okay for the first recipe we post I picked one that both looks and tastes wonderful and can be used for any special occasion. I found this in a 1982 Kraft cookbook and I continue to make it today. The wine is my first choice and in the original recipe but if children are eating I make it with juice. This layered fruit salad looks so pretty in a fancy glass bowl garnished with a curly endive lettuce leaf.

Happy Holidays to all of you !


Ingredients you will need for the first layer are as follows;

1 - 3 oz. box raspberry jello
1 cup boiling water
1/4 cup ice cold water
1/4 cup chilled port wine or cranberry juice
1 cup chilled whole berry cranberry sauce
1/4 cup chilled peeled chopped apple
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Dissolve the jello well in boiling water in a medium size bowl.

Add cold water and wine or juice.


Chill till partially set.

Stir the fruit and nuts in well and pour into the bottom of

a 2 + 1/2 qt. glass bowl and refrigerate again.




Ingredients for middle layer;


1 - 3 oz. box lemon jello
1 cup boiling water
1 cup heavy cream, whipped until thick

Dissolve jello in hot water and cool. When it's completely cool
add it to the whipped cream
and fold it gently in.

Pour this mixture over top of the first layer and chill.


Ingredients for last layer are as follows;

2 - 3 oz. boxes raspberry jello
2 cups boiling water
1/4 cup ice cold water
1/2 cup port wine or cranberry juice

Dissolve jello well in hot water.


Add cold water and juice or wine and chill till
partially set.


Pour this layer on top of the lemon layer.

Chill completely overnight.

Garnish if desired before serving.

Serves 10 to 12 but may be doubled in larger bowl.

Monday, November 23, 2009

12 recipes of Christmas!

Ok... so I know that Christmas isn't really here yet. But as of Friday the Christmas season will have officially arrived in my book, so you'll have to bear with me.

The next 12 recipes that we post are going to be some of our holiday season favorites. If you've ever celebrated Christmas with us, chances are you've had some of these recipes so this might be a walk down memory lane for you. If you haven't.. well you'll be with us in spirit if you try some of these.

Oh, and before you get your hopes up.. no my mama will NOT be sharing her award winning Christmas Cookie recipe!!!

Thursday, November 12, 2009

Spinach & Artichoke Dip

I can't believe I'm posting this recipe. It's just that awesome. It's like giving every woman in blogworld the key to my husband's heart. I'm not exaggerating. Be appreciative ladies, because I wouldn't share this recipe with just anyone. Wait. I guess that's exactly what I'm about to do...

Spinach & Artichoke Dip

1 8oz block of Cream Cheese, softened
1/2 c. mayo
1 can of artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
1/2 c. grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 tspn garlic salt
1 c. chopped fresh spinach

Stir together all ingredients until thoroughly mixed. Spread the mixture in a pie plate. Sprinkle additional Parmesan cheese on top. Bake at 375* 20-25 minutes or until golden. Eat with tortilla chips.

Try not to eat the whole dip yourself. Seriously. It's that good.

Friday, November 6, 2009

Chicken and Gnocchi Soup

This is my version of a famous restaurant soup I love. If your not as big a fan of spinach as I you could cut it in half but it needs some for flavor. I simply serve mine with some warm bread and make a meal but you could use it as a first course to your meal if your entertaining. It's so........ good ! All I can say is " try it you'll like it!"

Simmer for 45 minutes in a large pan ;

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
8 cups water
2 Tbls. instant chicken broth

In the meantime in a medium pan add;
1 stick butter
2 stalks finely chopped celery
1 large carrot, finely chopped
1 + 1/2 tsp. finely minced garlic
Cook on low heat until vegetables are soft stirring often.

Add;
1 cup chopped fresh spinach and cook till wilted.

Stir in;
1/3 cup flour
Cook stirring for about 3 minutes until flour is blended with butter.
Stir in;
2 cups milk
Cook on low heat stirring constantly until it bubbles and thickens .
Add;
1 Tbls. dry minced onion
1 pinch of italian seasonings
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp salt

Set this aside .

Remove chicken from broth and set aside to cool.
Mix the remaining broth from the chicken(around 4 cups)
and thickened vegetables together in the pan.
Add;
1 16 oz. pkg. gnocchi ( potato dumplings )
cooked chicken breasts, (cubed)

Cook the soup for about 10 minutes on low heat until
gnocchi are tender stirring often.

Thin with some water if necessary and serve.

Serves 4 to 6 people

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

A Christmas-y Cranberry filled cookie

My mother (AKA Granny, AKA Karen, AKA my fellow blogger) has found a blog that she enjoys immensely. It's called Mennonite Girls Can Cook and she has directed me there several times, but I'm a busy sort and I don't always follow her around blogworld because let's face it I just don't have time what with scheduling my own personal blog posts and trying to keep up with real life too.




Well recently she gave me a few cookies to try. They were a soft lemon cookie, filled with a cranberry concoction and frosted with an almond frosting and sprinkled with coconut. They were out of this world.



So of course... I asked where she found the recipe.


And of course... she answered "Mennonite Girls Can Cook".






And of course... I gave her that dumb deer in headlights look, to which she answered "I gave you the blog address ages ago." Yeah. Because I pay attention to things like that, lol!




Keep in mind that I'm snapping pictures of cookies at this point, in all different lighting and from all different angles because I love my new camera.




And then proceeds a conversation about how I think we should link to the recipe on our blog.. but since she's new to blogworld she was hesitant because, of course she didn't realize that it was proper blog etiquette to do so as long as you give credit to the author and ask permission to link.






Which leads me to... the link for Christmas Cranberry Filled Cookies. Visit the Mennonite Girls who can not only cook, but apparently cook REALLY WELL. And they post some delicious looking recipes so don't plan on just stopping by for one cookie. You'll probably want to stay for dinner.