Perfect for a Cold Night - Hamburger Minestrone Soup

Try this delicious and easy soup recipe - made enough for four and the same amount to freeze.

HAMBURGER MINESTRONE SOUP
1 lb. ground beef
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup cubed potatoes
1 cup cubed carrots
1/2 cup cubed celery
1 cup shredded cabbage
1 No. 2 can tomatoes
1/4 cup rice
1 small bay leaf
1/2 tsp. thyme
1/4 tsp. basil
Salt & pepper
1½ quarts water
Brown hamburger & onions. Add potatoes & bring to boil. Add remaining ingredients. Cook 1 hour. Put grated Parmesan cheese on top.

Family Party - Fruit Salad with Poppy Seed Dressing

Every year for at least 25 or so, we have a giant sleepover Christmas party with Doug's family. It's complete chaos, lots of noisy kids, fun & games, and no sleep. But wonderful. My food assignment, among several, was a fruit salad. And I just happened to have a recipe! This poppy seed dressing would be good on any salad. I doubled the fruit portion, and only used about half of a single recipe of the dressing. It goes a long way, especially since the juice left in the fruit tends to dilute the dressing.

FRUIT SALAD WITH POPPY SEED DRESSING
1 can pineapple chunks
1½ to 2 large Delicious apples
1 avocado (optional)
1 banana
1 can mandarin oranges
Flaked coconut
Miniature marshmallows
Dressing:
1 cup pineapple juice
2 well beaten egg yolks
2 tbsp. cornstarch
1/4 tsp. salt
Juice of 1 lemon & 1 orange
1/3 cup sugar
Cook until thick. Add few drops lemon extract. Cool. Add 1 heaping tbsp. poppy seeds and 1/2 cup mayonnaise.

Christmas Dinners - Salad (2) / Trifle / Impossible Pumpkin Pie

It seemed a little strange to not be making a huge Christmas dinner this year. It's the "off" year, which means everyone is off having fun somewhere besides home. We had a lovely invitation from my nephew's wife, phenagled by my wonderful sister, to join them for Christmas eve. My assignment was to bring a green salad. I decided to bring Geralee's recipe for this easy and delicious salad.

SALAD (2)
Lettuce
Grapefruit
Oranges
Avocado
Onions
with Catalina French

Geralee's food assignment was Trifle. Here she is holding the dessert she made. This recipe was attributed to Aunt Julie, but Geralee has made Trifle every year of Bruce's 40++ years of life, according to Bruce. She makes it with Danish Dessert, which is equally yummy to using Jello. And I prefer raspberries over strawberries. I have made Trifle every year since Coray's mission to England. We're a Trifle-loving family!

TRIFLE
Use flat bottom punch bowl. Line bottom of bowl with Lady Fingers or Angel Cake. 2 pkgs. Of jello slightly set. Pour over cake while runny. Let set. Drain fruit (2 pkgs. Strawberries). Use 1 pkg. vanilla pudding layer, fruit & pudding over jello. Set and serve garnished with whipped cream.

For Christmas day, I made this Impossible Pumpkin Pie. Note that there is no crust - perfect for Doug, who scrapes the filling and leaves the crust every time. Including this time! He didn't notice there was no crust until he got to the bottom. A pretty good pie, but I prefer crust over pie, so I like the traditional version best.

IMPOSSIBLE PUMPKIN PIE
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup Bisquick
2 tbsp. butter or margarine
1 large can evaporated milk
2 eggs
1 can pumpkin or 2 cups
2½ tsp. pumpkin pie spice
2 tsp. vanilla
Beat until smooth (2 min.). Pour in pie plate & bake 375°F (high alt.) 350°F (reg.) for 50-55 min. Serve with whipped cream.

Salads for the Shelter - Pineapple Cheese Salad / Delicious Salad / Orange Cream Cheese Salad / Bean Salad (3)

While it is a wonderful thing to do and a great time of year to do it, I can't take credit for overwhelming generosity. I had many of the ingredients in my fridge ready to expire, left over from too much food for Thanksgiving. Before anyone gags, I have properly checked expiration dates and they're all safe. And Doug won't eat the cream cheese. Great solution for us all - not wasting food and hopefully someone will appreciate a salad or two.

PINEAPPLE CHEESE SALAD
Bring to boil one #2 can crushed pineapple & 3/4 cup sugar. Add 1 pkg. Knox gelatin which has been dissolved in 1/3 cup cold water. Stir till mixed well. Set to thicken. Add 1 cup shredded cheese & fold in 1 cup whipped cream. Pour in 8" square pan. Chill.

By the way, I had to look up #2 can. It's a 20 ounce. In the "olden days" cans were numbered with some kind of system. I used to know what the numbers were but have lost that in the recess of other unused facts. I still love Google. Today at the grocery store, a lady asked if I knew what scallions were. I told her I was pretty sure they were green onions. Then I asked her if she would like me to "google" it and she said OK. Well, I was right and she was grateful!

DELICIOUS SALAD
1 large pkg. orange jello
1 large bottle maraschino cherries
1 large can whole pineapple
1 can pimentos
2 cups chopped celery
1 pint whipped cream
2 pkgs Philadelphia cream cheese
Set jello with boiled cherry & pineapple juice until slightly thickened. Add celery, pimentos, pineapple, cherries & cream cheese. Blend in whipped cream & set.

ORANGE CREAM CHEESE SALAD
6 oz. pkg. orange jello, set
1/2 cup chopped celery
1 small can pineapple tidbits
1 can mandarin oranges
3/4 cup cubed cream cheese
Set
Thicken pineapple juice. Cool & mix with 1 pkg. whipped topping mix. Spread on top of salad & sprinkle with nuts.

Confession here - I used Cool Whip on top, but I bet it would be really good with the pineapple cream topping.

BEAN SALAD (3)
1 can yellow beans
2 cans kidney beans
1 can green beans
1 can garbanzo beans
1 cup chopped celery
1 cup chopped green pepper
1 cup chopped onion
Dressing:
1/2 cup vinegar
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup oil
Salt & pepper
Mix & pour over vegetables. Set in refrigerator for at least one or two days.

Cathedral Window Cookies

Sometimes when I tell people this recipe title, they think of the cookies that you carve out a spot and then melt a life saver to make a little window. Not this recipe. These cookies look like stained glass when you cut them. I didn't use an entire bag of colored marshmallows because it was a large bag. I'm glad I didn't. Still I was afraid that I had used too many. I molded the cookies into about six small logs, which made it more manageable than trying to make one big log. After chilling, they hold together well, and taste great. So here's the dilemma with this recipe - the raw egg. Years ago, I don't think they worried about eating raw eggs like they do nowadays. Just have to say at this point that I love Google. You can ask any question and get the answer! I just "googled" raw egg substitute and got a great list of alternatives. The one I chose was 2 tbsp. cornstarch. Tasteless and safe. I added it with the powdered sugar.

CATHEDRAL WINDOW COOKIES
1 square margarine
1 bar German chocolate
1 cup powdered sugar
1 egg, well beaten
1 pkg. small colored marshmallows
1 cup chopped nuts
1 cup coconut
Melt margarine & chocolate in pan stirring constantly so it doesn't burn. Remove from heat. Add sugar & egg to chocolate mixture. Pour mix over marshmallows & nuts. Stir gently. Shape into roll & roll in coconut. Wrap in wax paper & refrigerate. Keep in fridge until used. Cut in slices to serve.

Sugar Cookies Times Three

There are three recipes for sugar cookies in the collection. I decided to stick with a sure thing, so I chose to make the recipe that I must have given to Mom. I got it from my friend Betty, so I recognized it right away. I did use one suggestion from the "Old Fashioned Sugar Cookies" recipe, though. I mixed some sugar with the flour that I used to roll the dough out on. It made it easier to pick up the cookies and I'm guessing that it tastes better too. So here's a trick that I'm pretty sure I made up. Rather than frosting the cookies, I like to use the pastel mint chips (Hickory Farms type). The small mints work best but the large ones are OK too if you cut them in smaller pieces. After baking the cookies about 7 minutes (5 isn't enough), you take them out of the oven and put the mint chips on top. Then put them back in the oven about 30 seconds. Spread with a knife, and voila! Minty frosting.

SUGAR COOKIES (2)
3/4 cup shortening
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
Cream together.
3 cups flour
3 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/3 cup milk
1/2 tsp. vanilla
Roll 1/4 inch thick. Chill about 1 hour. Bake 400°F 7 min.

Here are the other two recipes for sugar cookies:

OLD FASHIONED SUGAR COOKIES
(Newspaper Clipping)
3/4 cup shortening
1/4 cup butter or margarine
1 cup beet sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla extract
3 cups sifted all purpose flour
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking powder
In mixing bowl, cream shortening, butter or margarine, and sugar. Stir in each egg thoroughly; then add flavoring. Gradually fold in sifted dry ingredients. Work with about half the dough, keeping the remainder chilled. Roll dough out on board, lightly dusted with mixture of 1 cup flour and 1/2 cup sugar, to 1/8 inch thickness. Cut in desired shapes. Bake on ungreased cookie sheet in a hot oven (350°F) for about 7 to 9 minutes. Cool on cake rack on paper toweling. Makes about 7½ dozen 2-inch cookies.

SUGAR COOKIES
1 cup butter
1½ cup sugar
5½ cups flour
3/4 cup milk
1/2 tsp. vinegar
1½ tsp. soda
1½ tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. almond
2 tsp. vanilla
3 eggs
Cream sugar & butter. Add eggs & vanilla & almond extract. Sift dry ingredients. Add milk & dry ingredients. Roll 1/4 inch thick. Bake 400°F 8 to 10 min.

Divine Divinity

Whew! That's what I said as I put away my candy thermometer. I think I've made all the candy I'm going to make for a while. All that's left now is the gifting - and the eating, unfortunately. I'm not quite sure why I saved Divinity to the last, but I've always been a little intimidated by it. After a few tips from Geralee, I think I did a pretty good job. She said to be sure that the last stage is cooked to a hard crack (rather than hard ball as the recipe says). I used my Kitchen Aid for the beating phase and just kept beating till it started to thicken and lose its gloss. Then I finished a bit by hand and dropped it by teaspoons on my baking mat (still out of waxed paper). While it's not quite as perfect at Geralee's, it's still pretty good. Oh, and as for the saying that you can't make Divinity on a stormy day - Chris tells me that it's a matter of the barometer. If you re-test your candy thermometer and adjust for the difference, then you should be OK. I always use the cold water method as a backup.

DIVINITY
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup water
2 egg whites beaten well
1/2 cup Karo
1/2 cup walnuts
1 tsp. vanilla
Boil sugar, water, and Karo until it makes a soft ball in cold water. Then take out 1/2 cup full and beat into egg whites. Boil the rest of the syrup until it makes hard ball in cold water. Pour into egg whites and beat until it thickens, then add nuts and flavoring. Pour on buttered platter or drop by teaspoonfuls. For variety, color it and add different flavors to it.