Strawberry Shortcake

Ingredients:

4 cups sliced fresh strawberries

1/4 cup sugar

Vegetable cooking spray

1/4 cup margarine, softened

1/3 cup sugar

1 large egg, separated

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup skim milk

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 egg white

2 tablespoons sugar

1 1/2 cups thawed, reduced-calorie frozen whipped topping

Garnish: Strawberry fan

• Combine strawberries and 1/4 cup sugar; cover and refrigerate 2 to 3 hours, stirring occasionally.
• Coat a 9-inch round cakepan with vegetable cooking spray; dust with flour, and set prepared pan aside.
• Beat margarine at medium speed with an electric mixer until soft, gradually add 1/3 cup sugar, beating well. Add egg yolk, beating just until blended. Combine flour, baking powder, and salt in a small bowl; add dry ingredients to creamed mixture alternately with milk, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Mix after each addition. Stir in vanilla.
• Beat egg whites until foamy. Gradually add  2 tablespoons sugar, one at a time, beating until stiff peaks form. Stir about 1/2 cup beaten egg whites into batter; fold in remaining egg whites. Spoon batter into prepared pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until a wood pick inserted in center comes out clean. Let cool in pan on a wire rack 10 minutes. Remove cake from pan; let cool completely on a wire rack.
• Slice shortcake in half horizontally. Place bottom half, cut side up, on a serving plate. Drain strawberries, reserving juice, and drizzle half of juice over bottom layer. Set aside 1 tablespoon whipped topping, spread 3/4 cup whipped topping over cake layer, and arrange half of strawberries over topping. Top with remaining cake layer, cut side down, and repeat procedure. Dollop with reserved 1 tablespoon whipped topping; garnish with strawberry fan.

Company Corned Beef

Company Corned Beef from

Farm Journal's Country Cookbook

4 to 5 lbs corned beef

5 bay leaves

4 peppersorns

2 sprigs parsley

1 branch celery, cut in chunks

1 small onion, sliced

Whole cloves

2 tblsp. butter or margarine

1 tblsp. prepared mustard

1/3 c.brown sugar, firmly packed

1/3 cup ketchup

3 tablsp. vinegar

3 tablsp. water

Wash corned beef thoroughly to remove brine.  Place in a large kettle and cover with cold water.  Add bay leaves, peppercorns, parsley, celery, and onion.  Cover and simmer 3 to 3 3/4 hours, or until tender.

Remove hot beef to shallow baking dish.  Insert whole cloves in it to decorate and season.

Melt butter, add remaining ingredients and mix thoroughly.  Cook over medium heat until ingredients are well blended.

Pour sauce over corned beef and bake at 350 for 15 minutes.  Serve with homemade bread, and boiled cabbage, potatoes, and carrots.  Enjoy!

Submitted by: Rose Clawson of Baskets by Rose

Perfect Cream Scones

Ingredients:

3 cups flour **(I use naturally white whole wheat)
1/2 cup sugar
2 Tbsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
2 cups heavy whipping cream
pinch of cinnamon

Directions:

• Sift flour, sugar, baking powder & salt together in a large mixing bowl. Make a well in the center of the flour and slowly add the cream stirring by hand just until the batter is evenly moistened.
• Place dough on a cookie sheet and pat out into a circle. Cut into 6-8 triangular pieces.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Variation: Add Dried Cherries or Cranberries

~ Recipe by Heidi Dunbar of Heidi's Designs 2

Onion Patties

3/4 Cup Flour                               
1 Tablespoon Sugar
1 Tablespoon Cornmeal           
2 Teaspoons Baking Powder
2 Teaspoons Salt  (or less)      
3/4 Cup Milk
2 1/2 Cups finely Chopped Onion

Mix dry ingredients together, then add milk.  Batter should be fairly thick. Add onions and mix thoroughly. 

Drop by tablespoonful into 1/2" of oil in skillet. (I personally use a tad less than the directions state.) Flatten slightly as you turn them.  Brown on both sides. Drain on a paper towel lined plate.

My husband loves these Onion Patties.  They are great to serve as a side with any meat etc.

Enjoy!
Susan

Cheddar Muffins

Yield: 24 mini-muffins

2 cups unsifted all-purpose flour
1 TBS baking powder
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup milk
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 large egg
1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
2 tsp fresh chives

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Grease mini-muffin pans or line with paper muffin liners.

In large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, sugar and salt.

In small bowl, with wire whisk, combine milk, butter and egg.

Stir milk mixture into flour mixture just until flour is moistened. (Batter will be lumpy.) Fold in cheese and chives. Using small spoon, divide batter among muffin cups.

Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until centers spring back when lightly pressed with fingertip. Cool muffins on wire rack for 5 minutes. Remove from pan and serve warm.

Submitted by: Lucy Galgano of The Farmer's Attic

Traditional Christmas Snowball Cookies from Irish Rose Creations

Ingredients:

1 cup butter softened

1 cup powdered sugar (plus more for topping)

1-1/2 tsp. vanilla

2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup finely chopped pecans

3/4 tsp. salt

Preparation:

Heat oven to 350 . Mix butter, 1 cup powdered sugar and the vanilla. Stir in flour, nuts and salt until dough holds together. Shape into 1-inch balls. Place about 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 17 to 20 minutes or until set but not brown. Roll in powdered sugar while warm. Cool. Roll in powdered sugar again.

Chicken Waldorf Salad

Pictured is a serving of our Waldorf Chicken Salad, which can be eaten as a salad or spread on homemade breads as a sandwich. Yummm.

Ingredients:  Chicken, Apples, Grapes, Walnuts, Sweet Pickles, Boiled Eggs, Mayonnaise

This is the Firecrackerkid's version of a Chicken Salad. It's pretty quick and easy to fix, and pretty healthy also providing it's eaten in moderation. I don't normally follow a recipe. I so hope there are others  out there like me. Well, sometimes I do, depending on the circumstances, but mostly not. So here's, at best, my preparation of our Waldorf Chicken Salad.

Use canned chicken, drained and rinsed. Put the eggs on to boil. While those are cooking chop, slice, and/or dice other ingredients by hand. I don't have the fancy slap chop or any of those other infomercial products for the kitchen, so if you do, by all means use them. That's not to say I wouldn't mind having them. LOL. Anyhow, measure your ingredients according to how many people you will be serving.

After your boiled eggs have cooled some, peel the shells away, rinse and slice them. Get out your favorite serving bowl and pour everything in together, spoon in the mayonnaise, stir and mix until everything is mingled and "shazaam" you have your Waldorf Chicken Salad.

You can alternate or add ingredients to your need or preferences, i.e., sliced almonds, spices, etc. That's the fun of making this dish.

Oh, and yes, I did devour the serving in the photo:)

Happy Thanksgiving!