Walnut Cake

1/3 cup butter

1 3/4 cup flour
2 3/4 tsp baking powder
1 cup black walnut
1/2 cup milk
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs separated

Cream sugar and 1/2 of the sugar, beaten egg yolks. Add dry ingredients with milk. Add nuts. Add beaten egg whites, gradually with the remaining sugar. Bake in fluted pan at 350 for 30-40 minutes.

From Margaret Hickman

Danish Pastry

Margaret Hickman made this special dessert for
 Da-Daw every weekend

We spent this Easter weekend visiting Mamaw and Vada in Clarksburg. It was my mission to find the recipe to go with this photo from 2005 when Margaret showed me how to make this wonderful pastry. Of course, it was in the last recipe box I looked in!
Margaret is 96 years old and no longer spends time in the kitchen doing what she lovingly did for her family. I will try to make this Dutch Pastry before the week is out.

1 cup flour
1/2 cup butter
2 tbsp water
1/2 cup butter
1 cup water
1 tsp almond flavor
1 cup flour
3 eggs

Heat oven to 350. Measure first cup of flour into bowl. Cut in butter. Sprinkle with 2 tbsp water and mix with fork. Round into ball and cut in half. Pat dough with hands into 2 long strips 13 x 3. Make them 3 inches apart on ungreased baking sheet.

Mix the second amount of butter and water. Bring to rolling boil. Add almond flavoring and remove from heat. Stir in flour immediately to keep from lumping. When smooth and thick add one egg at a time, beating until smooth. Divide in half and spread evenly on each piece of pastry. Bake 1 hour and 15 mins. Until crisp and nicely browned. Frost with a confectioners icing and sprinkle generously with finely chopped nuts. Check baking time at 1 hour.
Frosting, milk and powdered sugar and vanilla.

Vada also gave me three of Margaret's cookbooks which I will always cherish. One of the cookbooks was used by Margaret and her mother in the 1930's. I am looking forward to trying many of the recipes. Especially some of the old fashioned cakes!

Homemade Noodles

March is National Noodle Month so I thought this would be fine time to talk about Gramsy's Homemade Noodles. I vividly remember the time she let me cut the noodles when I was probably 5 or 6 years old. Gramsy cut the dough into about six sections then stacked them. She gave me this huge brown knife and instructed me  to slice  thin strips. Well, I proceeded to slice right across my thumb!  I yelped and she grabbed a towel. We went out to the sink in the back room and pumped cold water on my hand.

2 cups flour

½ tsp salt

½ tsp baking powder

3 large eggs

1/8 cup milk (2 TBSPs)

Put all ingredients in food processor. Pulse until in ball form. Rest 20 minutes, covered.  Roll into large thin piece. Cut into sections; stack them, cut noodles using lots of flour.  Let dry overnight. Cook in chicken or beef broth.

Gramsy made corrections to the recipe in my mom's cookbook

French Onion Soup

1 lb onions sliced (about 5 med onions)
2 T. oil Cook for 15 minutes, add salt, pepper and 1 T. brown sugar. This has a tendency to burn So keep an eye on it and add a little water. Cook for additional 35 minutes until onions caramelize. Then add one or two cans of beef broth. Heat and serve with a slice of bread, cheese on top ( I used provolone) and put in microwave to melt cheese.
I got this recipe from a diabetic cookbook.

 from Sharon

Crock Pot Fajitas

Since I had today off, I decided to try a recipe for Crock Pot Fajitas.  It was AMAZING so I thought I would share.

1 lb Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast

1 can Diced Tomatoes (with jalapenos if you like) drained

2 Bell Peppers - Julienne (I used red)

3 Medium Onions - Julienne

2 packets Taco Seasoning (use one in the beginning and one at the end)

Mix the Taco Seasoning packet according to the directions on the package.

Add chicken and veggies to crock pot, pour seasoning mix over it and cook on high for 5-6 hours.  Remove cooked chicken and shred.  Place back into crock pot, mix and add second packet to taste.

Serve with tortillas and desired toppings.  

Enjoy!

Heather Shockey

Cream of Mushroom Soup

 Richard created this amazing Cream of mushroom soup!

2- Large jars of sliced mushrooms, Not the stems and pieces but the sliced ones

1-can beef broth 16 oz

1-Can vegetable broth, 16 oz

¼ cup flour

½ cup cream (increases richness)

½ cup sour cream (gives nice texture and smooth taste)

2 Tbsp butter

2 Tbsp olive oil

1 tsp dill weed

¼ cup water

1-Medium onion diced thinly

1-Tbsp minced garlic

Salt and pepper to taste

1-beef bouillon cube (adds flavor like it has cooked for many hours)

In large skillet put in butter and oil and cook onion and garlic until transparent. Do not overcook.

Add the dill weed and mushrooms and cook three minutes.

Add the beef broth, vegetable broth and bouillon cube and bring to low boil.

Mix flour and cold water together, making sure all the lumps are out and slowly stir into the low boiling mixture.  Add cream and sour cream whisking in until smooth. Continue cooking until the desired thickness is reached.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.

While you could use an immersion blender on the mixture you miss out on the large slices of mushroom and the little bits of onion and garlic that give added texture to the taste.

Cookie Ingredient Form

We created this cookie ingredient form a few years ago to help us tally the ingredients needed for our annual Christmas Cookie Bake-a-thon. You can download this form and change the types of cookies you want to make in the left column before you print your own copy. After printing, just fill in the recipe measurements. Add each column to calculate the total amount of ingredients needed. check out this Measurement & Conversion Chart

Check back after Christmas. I will remake this chart on an excel spreadsheet so the columns will total automatically.


Check out these recipes!
Oatmeal Coconut Cookies
Spritz
Russian Teacakes
Rugelach
Toffy
Fantasy Fudge
Coconut Dream Bars
Pecan Pie Bars