Recipe # 22 Celebrate with Non-Alcoholic Drinks

We don't drink alcoholic beverages, but we do like to celebrate with fancy drinks that are non-alcoholic. Here's one that I came up with.

You can use regular Sprite, Fresca, other soft drinks, or if you like to get a little fancier you can use one of  Martinellis sparkling juices or Welch's sparkling juices.

Simply get a fancy glass for everyone, pour in the soft drink or sparkling juice of your choice and add fresh or frozen fruit like raspberries, strawberries, or blue berries. You could add fresh mint as a finishing touch if you would like. That's it. Pretty easy and it adds some fun to your party.

Have fun celebrating!

Recipe # 21 Easy Creamy Icing

I have no idea where I got this recipe from. I typed it in awhile ago and I thought I'd share it. If I find where I got it from I'll give them credit where credit is due. It might be from one of my cookbooks. I can't remember. Sorry!

Easy Creamy Icing

1 Cup Powdered Sugar

¼ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon vanilla or other flavoring

11/2 Tablespoon cream

Or 1 Tablespoon water

Food Coloring to desired color

I think this is a great recipe for frosting cookies. I just made some frosting for sugar cookies the other day. I made it up myself. I had one package of cream cheese, about a cup and a half of powdered sugar, 2 Tablespoons of vanilla, and I mixed it all together. It turned out pretty good. I hope my neighbors like it too. :)

Recipe # 20 Halloween Favorites

A tradition that we had growing up in my parent's house was having Potato Cheese soup when we got finished Trick or Treating out in the neighborhood. Later, we added the bread sticks recipe to the mix from my food's class. 

I love both of them and recommend you try our fun Halloween family tradition. 

Sometimes we would throw in a Halloween movie into the mix and invite the grandparents over to watch it with us and enjoy our Potato Cheese soup and Bread sticks.

Garner’s Famous Halloween Potato Cheese Soup

Ingredients:

4 Cups Potatoes

1 Cup Celery

1 Cup Carrots

½ Cup Onion

2 Cups Grated Cheese

2 Cups Ham

Directions:

Cut up vegetables into bite-sized chunks. Boil vegetables in 3 Cups of Water for 10 minutes.

Cheese Sauce Ingredients:

½ Cup Butter

½ Cup Flour

4 Cups Milk

2 teaspoons Salt

Directions:

Make white sauce. Melt butter and flour in a pan. Stir to make a paste. Try not to make it lumpy. Pour in milk and salt. Stir constantly until it gets smooth.

Add cream sauce to vegetables. Don’t drain the water off of the vegetables. Cool a little so the cheese won’t curdle when you add it to the mix.

Add one pound (2 Cups) of grated cheese. 

Add two cups of chopped ham.

And what soup would be complete without bread sticks to go with it?

Chewy Bread Sticks

Ingredients:

11/2 teaspoon Yeast (add ½ teaspoon white sugar to help the yeast grow faster)

3 Cups of warmer water

Combine and let sit for 2 to 5 minutes.

11/2 teaspoon Malted Milk Powder

11/2 teaspoon Honey

½ teaspoon Salt

Mix together in a larger bowl, then add the yeast and water mixture.

11/2 to 13/4 Cups of flour

Add flour cup by cup to make soft, but not sticky dough.

Knead the dough. Let raise for 15 to 30 minutes.

Shape dough with your hands by rolling golf ball sized pieces of dough between your hands. ¾ inch thick to 4 to 5 inches long.

Brush with melted butter and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and a little Lawery season salt. Let raise to double the size. Bake at 400 degrees on an ungreased cookie sheet for 10 to 15 minutes.

Happy Halloween! Thanks Mom & Dad for making it so much fun growing up!

Love,

Tiffany

Recipe # 19 Soft and Moist Banana Bread

BANANA BREAD (SOFT AND MOIST) 

1/2 c. butter 2 eggs 1 c. white sugar 1 tsp. vanilla extract 1 c. ripe mashed bananas 1 tsp. cinnamon 1 tsp. baking soda 1/2 tsp. salt 1/2 c. sour cream 1-1/2 c. sifted flour 1/2 c. chopped walnuts (optional) Preheat oven to 350°F.Mix: butter, eggs, sugar, vanilla in a bowl and mix until creamy. Add: bananas, cinnamon and mix well. Add: baking soda, salt, sour cream, flour, mix until all smooth. Pour into a greased and floured loaf pan. Bake at 350°F for 1 hour until done.

I got this recipe from: http://www.cooks.com/rec/doc/0,184,145186-230200,00.html


Thanks! Check out www.cooks.com for more brilliant recipes!


I found two bananas that were just ripe enough to make banana bread. The only problem for us is we don't have a banana bread loaf pan... So, I might have to get a little creative and make it into a cake instead of bread I guess. That would be a good thing to put on one of my birthday/Christmas lists for someone to get as a present. It can't be too expensive right? I can't wait to make our banana bread cake and smell it cooking. That's the best part before eating it. I hope it turns out ok. :)


Happy baking!


Love,


Tiffany

Recipe # 18 Old-Fashioned Lemonade

Old-Fashioned Lemonade

Ingredients

• 6 lemons
• 1 cup white sugar
• 6 cups cold water

Directions

1. Juice the lemons to make 1 cup of juice. To make your labor easier, FIRMLY roll the lemons between your hand and counter top before cutting in half and juicing.
2. In a gallon pitcher combine 1 cup lemon juice, 1 cup sugar, and 6 cups cold water. Stir. Adjust water to taste. Chill and serve over ice.

A nice thing to make when it gets warmer outside is ice cold lemonade. It brings me back to my days as a child with a lemonade stand. I got this recipe from allrecipes.com Thanks! Go check them out for more recipes with lemons. And don't forget the famous saying: "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade!"

Happy juicing,

Tiffany

Here's a twist thanks to Martha Stewart and bfeedme.com:

Strawberry Lemonade

Ingredients:

1  pint strawberries  

8  tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons superfine sugar  

8  tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice  

Seltzer water AKA Sparkling water

What’s Next:

Before squeezing juice from the lemons, roll them on the countertop, applying gentle pressure with the heel of your palm. This will really get the lemons’ juices flowing and make it easier to squeeze them.


Purée strawberries and 2 teaspoons sugar in a blender. Set out two glasses, and spoon 3 tablespoons of the resulting strawberry purée, 4 tablespoons sugar, and 4 tablespoons lemon juice into each glass. Stir the lemonade, and add ice. Top off the glasses with seltzer water. Add more sugar if desired.  And that’s all, good work!

Enjoy! Until next time.