Every year at Christmas when we have our cookie exchange, my sister Janette makes oatmeal cookies. And every year my husband HIDES our share so that he can eat all 12 cookies!

So this year for Valentine's Day, I asked Janette for the recipe so that I can make them for my DH! And maybe the rest of the family will get to taste them.

Enjoy!


COCONUT-OATMEAL COOKIES:

(Mix in order given)
1 c. margarine, room temp.
2 c brown sugar
2 eggs lightly beaten
1 c coconut
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 c flour (yes, only one cup - that is one of the funky things with this recipe)
4 c oatmeal.

Mix well. Refrigerate dough for about 4 hours. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Make into 1-inch balls and place 2 inches apart on a greased cookie sheet. Press down with a fork (like you do with peanutbutter) and bake until golden brown.

Here are the recipes for quick pies.

I don't know if the recipe book is still available or not since it was puclished in 1983, "The Best Of Bisquick from Betty Crocker".

There are all kinds of main course pies, desserts, breads and other goodies in this book. Mine is a mess, it's been used so much.

Maybe it's still available -- or an updated edition -- brom Betty Crocker.

Jan


IMPOSSIBLE FRENCH APPLE PIE

PIE:
6 cups slice, pared tart apples
1&1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
3/4 cup milk
2 TBS margarine or butter, softened
2 eggs
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup Bisquick

STREUSEL:
Mix 1 cup Bisquick, 1/2 cup chopped nuts, 1/3 cup packed brown sugar and 3 TBS firm butter or margarine until crumbly.

Heat oven to 325. Grease pie plate -- 10"x1".
Mix apple and spices; turn into plate.
Beat remaining ingredients except Streusel until smooth, 15 seconds in the blender on high or 1 minute with a hand beater.
Pour into pie plate.
Sprinkle with Streusel.
Bake until knife inserted in center comes out clean -- 55-60 minutes
Cool


IMPOSSIBLE COCONUT PIE

2 cups milk
1/4 cup margarine or butter
1/&1/2 tsps vanilla
4 eggs
1 cup flaked or shredded coconut [we like lots of coconut so I pack the cup]
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup Bisquick

Heat oven to 350. Grease pie plate [9"X1&1/4" or 10"X1&1/2"]
Place all ingredients in blender.
Cover and blend on high for 15 seconds.
Pour into plate.
Bake until knife inserted in center comes out clean -- 50-55 minutes.
Cool


IMPOSSIBLE BANANA CREAM PIE

1 cup milk
1/3 cup margarine or butter -- melted
1 tsp vanilla
3 eggs
1&1/2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup Bisquick
2 medium bananas, sliced
1 cup chilled whipping cream
2 TBS powdered sugar

Heat oven to 350. Grease pie plate, 9"X1&1/4 "
Beat milk, margarine, vanilla, eggs, sugarand baking mix until smooth -- 30 seconds in blender on high and 1 minute with hand beater.

Pour mix into plate
Bake until knife inserted in center come out clean, about 30 minutes.
Cool completely.
Arrange banana slices on pie.
Beat whipping cream and powedered sugar in chilled bowl until stiff.
Spreak over top.

Kelli Giffin’s Spicy Chicken

1 lb of boneless chicken
1 cup chopped onion
1 jar of salsa
1packet of taco seasoning

Cut chicken into smaller pieces mix ingredients in crockpot, cover and cook on high for 3 hours. Near the end of the cooking time, shred chicken with 2 forks. Serve on heated tortillas with cheese and sour cream.

Every year I make peanut butter blossom cookies for our cookie exchange. Because I need 12 dozen, I'm forced to multiply everything by 3.

So for those of you who have big families or make cookies as gifts...here's the recipe for Peanut Butter Blossom Cookies from the back of the Hershey Kisses package...Tripled!


PEANUT BUTTER BLOSSOM COOKIES (triple recipe)

144 Hershey Kisses
1-1/2 cups shortening
2-1/4 cups Creamy Peanut Butter
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup packed light brown sugar
3 eggs

1/3 cup milk
3 teaspoons vanilla extract
4-1/2 cups all purpose flour
3 teaspoons baking soda
1-1/2 teaspoons salt
Granulate sugar to roll cookies in

Heat over to 375 degrees (While oven heats, remove wrappers from chocolate)

Beat shortening and peanut butter in a large bowl until well blended. Add granulated sugar and brown sugar; beat until fluffy. Add eggs, milk and vanilla; beat well.

Stir together flour, baking soda and salt; gradually beat into peanut-butter mixture.

Shape dough into 1-inch balls.

Roll in granulated sugar; place on UNGREASED cookie sheet.

Bake 8-10 minutes or until lightly browned. Immediately press a chocolate into center of each cookie; cookie will crack around edges. Remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Cool completely.

This is the best pie crust recipe I've found. Not just because it's my mom's. :) But also because the crusts actually roll nicely.

It's perfect for pumpkin pies ... and also perfect for a little breakfast treat we call pie dough cinnamon rolls. Recipe to follow later this month!

5 cups of flour
2 cups Crisco
1 Tsp Salt

1 egg
1 Tbs vinegar
enough water to make a cup

Mix egg and vinegar in a 1 cup measuring cup. When blended, add as much water as necessary to fill the measuring cup.

In a separate bowl blend flour, salt and Crisco.

Slow add egg/vinegar/wter mixture to flour, salt and Crisco.

When blended into a stiff dough, break into 5 equal-sized balls. Roll each ball into a crust approximate 1/4 inch thick. Lay into pie pans.

Fill with fruit or pumpkin. Bake bumpkin as directed.

Place a second crust on top of fruit pies.

If crust is for "pudding pie" lay crust in pie pan. Using a fork make holes in the crust to allow it to breathe while baking so it won't shrink too much. Bake crust separately until dry. This will be no more than 15 to 20 minutes. Prepare pudding as directed for pie, let cool, pour into cooled pie crust!

Simple as ... well, pie! Enjoy

susan

My friend Deb Mullins writes wonderful historical romances for Avon. So she is part of the Avon Ladies Recipe Ring.

Here's a little story about her recipe...

"If you want to start at the beginning of the ring, please click here.
When I was a kid, we used to go sledding during the holiday vacation at the hill up the street from our house. I would come home hours later, wet and cold, dragging my sled behind me, then shed my layers of clothing in the warmth of a kitchen smelling of my mom’s baking. I dropped soaking wet mittens into the drain board, peeled off coat and snow pants and extra pair of jeans, then pried my feet out of boots caked with snow. (I remember we used to wear two pairs of socks and plastic bags over them in a vain effort to keep our feet from getting wet, but snow always got in our boots!) And when I was finally partially defrosted and down to one layer of clothing, I would sit down at the kitchen table and get warm again with a mug of hot cocoa and my mother’s gingersnap cookies.

To this day, those tastes mean the holidays to me. Below is the recipe for Mom’s gingersnap cookies. Pair with hot cocoa and enjoy!

For Deb's Ginger Snap recipe...Click here...

http://www.debramullins.com/avon_ladies_rr.html

If you want to see ALL the recipes from the ring...Click here...

http://www.avonauthors.com/FunStuff.html


susan

If you're looking for some intersting dishes, appetizers or desserts to make for Thanksgiving dinner, go to Pillsbury.com. I love this site!

In the meantime, here's Pillsbury.com's recipe for a Thanksgiving Turkey and gravy.

(For high altitude directions go to Pillsbury.com)


Turkey

1(8 to 12-lb.) whole turkey, thawed if frozen
1/2teaspoon salt
Stuffing of choice
1/4cup margarine or butter, melted
GravyTurkey pan drippings
1 3/4cups Progresso® chicken broth (from 32-oz. carton)
1/3cup all-purpose flour
Water

DIRECTIONS
Heat oven to 325°F. Remove and discard neck and giblets from turkey. Rinse turkey inside and out with cold water; pat dry with paper towels. Sprinkle cavity of turkey with salt.

2 Spoon stuffing loosely into neck and body cavities of turkey. Place any remaining stuffing in lightly buttered casserole; cover and refrigerate to bake as side dish. Turn wings back and tuck tips over shoulder joints. Refasten drumsticks with metal piece or tuck under skin at tail. Fasten neck skin to back with skewers.

3Place turkey, breast side up, in roasting pan. Insert ovenproof meat thermometer so tip is in thickest part of inside thigh and does not touch bone. Spoon margarine over turkey. Do not add water or cover.

4Bake until temperature reads 165°F and drumsticks move easily when lifted or twisted. Use "Timetable for Roasting Turkey" below. If necessary, cover turkey breast with tent of foil during last 1 1/2 to 2 hours of baking to prevent excessive browning.

5Remove turkey from roasting pan. Let stand 15 to 20 minutes before carving. Remove skewers. Remove stuffing; place in serving bowl.

6Gravy Directions: Pour drippings from roasting pan into strainer over bowl. Spoon off fat that rises to top, reserving 1/4 cup. Pour drippings into measuring cup. Add broth and enough water to make 3 1/2 cups liquid.

7In large saucepan, combine reserved 1/4 cup fat and flour. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly with wire whisk until mixture turns golden brown, about 2 minutes.

8Gradually stir drippings mixture into flour mixture. Cook over low heat until mixture boils and thickens, stirring constantly..Stuffing can be made ahead of time and placed in a greased casserole dish and heated in the oven. An unstuffed turkey cooks more quickly.

Frozen turkeys must be fully thawed before cooking.

Nutrition Information:

1 Serving (1 Serving)Calories 590(Calories from Fat 190),Total Fat 21g(Saturated Fat 7g,Cholesterol 190mg;Sodium 880mg;Total Carbohydrate 25g(Dietary Fiber 1g,Sugars 2g),Protein 75g;Percent Daily Value*:Calcium ;Exchanges:1 1/2 Starch;10 Very Lean Meat;2 1/2 Fat;*Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet..

It's cold and rainy today,so I thought soup would be nice!

Crockpot Broccoli & Cheese Soup
1/2 white onion, finely diced

1 quart chicken broth

2 cups milk

26 ounces frozen broccoli

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon salt....or to taste (I added more)

3 cups shredded cheese (I started out using velveeta, but added sharp cheddar too...I think I would just use cheddar next time)



Add onion, broth, milk, broccoli, and spices to crockpot. Cook on low for 7 hours. Stir in cheese and let cook for an additional 30 minutes.



http://daydreamin-lisa.blogspot.com/2010/01/crockpot-broccoli-cheese-soup.html

Summer is coming, which means a lot of us will be asked to bring a cover dish for picnics and parties.

Because I'm always pressed for time, I've created a great little macaroni salad recipe that doesn't take a lot of time and can actually be made a little bit at a time.

Ingredients

1 pound box of macaroni
1/2 30 ounce jar of Miracle Whip Salad Dressing
1 dozen eggs boiled
1 medium onion

Boil the one dozen eggs for fifteen minutes. Let cool.

While macaroni cooks (per package directions), chop onion into tiny pieces.

When macaroni is finished cooking and is drained, pour into a big bowl with a secure lid. Stir in the chopped onions, then put the lid on the bowl and let the steam from the macaroni soften the onion (and release its flavor).

An hour after the onion has steeped with the macaroni, peel the hard boiled eggs and chop them into small pieces. Add into macaroni/onion mixture.

Add the 1/2 jar of Miracle Whip and stir in until evenly spread.

Refrigerate until served.

Simple macaroni salad that will win rave reviews!

susan

My sister and I are both working toward a low fat world. When she told me of these waffles yesterday, I had to have it!

Whole Wheat Waffles...

Get a box of Hodgson Whole Wheat Baking Mix at Walmart (top shelf by the flour). The recipe for the waffles is on the back.

For the blueberry topping:

1 pt of blueberries
1/2 cup to 3/4 cup of water
1/3 cup of sugar

Boil these three ingredients for a couple of minutes (3 or so)

Mix 1 tsp of corn starch (2 if you like it really thick) with 2 Tablespoons of lemon juice.

Mix it together (as if you are making flour and water for gravy).

Add it to blueberry mix on stove stirring constantly.

Ba-boom, a minute more of boiling and you are done!

Very easy, very good.

Can always top with just a smidge of cool whip.

For those of you eating low fat, Myrna MacKenzie, also a Harlequin Romance author, gave me a quick, easy recipe for salmon.

You lightly oils a baking sheet with olive oil. Place the salmon on the oil, then brush olive oil on the salmon. Sprinkle on salt, pepper, garlic powder and "Italian" spice.

Broil from 12 to 15 minutes.

It's fantastic!

susan

Just a reminder that THE MAGIC OF A FAMILY CHRISTMAS has my mother's sugar cookie recipe, with a recipe for the icing used to "paint" the cookies.

s

Over the weekend I made a ham pot pie for my niece's family. She'd mentioned that ham pot pie was her husband's favorite and I wanted to make a ham for my family, but knew I'd have a lot of ham left over.

Ham pot pie is a delicious way to use your leftover holiday ham. So I've posted my recipe.

Now...this is a made up recipe. It's probably not like a normal ham pot pie recipe! LOL But it's delicious.

Enjoy!

susan
THE MAGIC OF A FAMILY CHRISTMAS 11/09

1 box (15 oz) refrigerated pie crusts, softened as directed on box. (I use Pillsbury.)

1 cup of diced potatoes
1 large onion
1/2 bag of frozen green beans
1 cup of diced ham
2 cups of "juice" from ham
2 tbs flour

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Bring juice to boil, add potatoes and onion. Boil for 15 minutes.

While boiling, make flour and water paste. When the potatoes and onions have boiled for 15 minutes, add the flour and water paste to "thicken" the juice of the potato and onion mixture.

Set aside.

Unroll crusts. Line 9" pie pan with first crust.

Layer frozen green beans on the bottom of the crust. Approx 1/2 a bag should make one nice row of beans.

Place diced ham on top of frozen beans.

Pour enough of the potato/onion/gravy mixture to fill pie "almost" to the top.

Place second crust on top of pie. Poke holes in the top crust for ventilation.

Bake 30 to 40 minutes or until crust is golden brown. (You might have to cover the edge of the crust with a strip of aluminum foil to keep from burning in the last 15minutes or so.)

Let stand five minutes before serving.

My younger sister, Laura, makes one of the best linguine salads for picnics. With the Fourth of July looming, I thought this would make a great addition for the blog. My mouth watered just typing the recipe! LOL

1 Tomato, chopped
1 Cucumber, chopped
1 Box Linguine
1/2 Onion, finely chopped
1 Bottle (8 oz.) Italian salad dressing
3/4 Bottle McCormick Salad Supreme

Cook linguine and drain. Pour dressing over linguine immediately, toss. Add chopped ingredients; sprinkle with Salad Supreme. Toss lightly, refrigerate and serve cold.

This week as I was leafing through the cookbook to choose a recipe to post, I came upon Mary's Cakey Fruit Pie and I thought...It's too bad I can't post the pictures with the recipes in this book.

The picture with my sister Mary's recipe is a picture of her and her youngest son Davey. Davey is a cute kid. Very happy. Kinda crazy. All of Mary's kids are outgoing and fun. Fun to be with. Her Daughter Stephanie turned 21 last week and wanted all of us to wear mini-skirts and high heels to go out with her for her first official (read: Legal) drinks in a bar.

Those of who tossed our miniskirts out during the Clinton administration had to beg off.

But seriously, the real fun of this cookbook is the pictures. All of us are represented at various ages and weights. With hair styles that somebody in some era obviously thought was a good idea.

Reading the book, using the recipes, is like being there with our family. Remembering things we'd forgotten.

Once again, I have to thank my sister Tammy for taking charge and getting this done!

susan

1 cup oil
1 cup sugar
4 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 cups fruit pie filling (apple or peach)
1 tsp cinnamon 1/2 cup sugar

Mix oil and 1 cup sugar together. Add one egg at a time and beat after each egg. Add vanilla, baking powder and flour; mix together.

Grease cake pan and pour half of the patter into the pan. Mix cinnamon and 1/2 cup sugar together; sprinkle half over batter. Add fruit pie filling. Add remaining batter and sprinkle with remaining cinnamon mixture onto the batter. Bake for 45 minutes at 350 degrees.

Janette is one of my younger sisters. I've always admired her abilities as a homemaker. She doesn't just cook. She also sews and decorates. She's one of those women with lots and lots of natural abilities. And she's cute too. LOL

Meatballs have always been a main staple in our family. You can serve them with spaghetti or ravioli or on a sandwich. It's especially good if you have leftovers!

Hope you enjoy Janette's garlic meatballs!

susan

2 lbs super-lean hamburger
3 eggs
1 1/4 cups bread crumbs
1 tablespoon onion flakes
Sprinkle of garlic powder
Salt
3 cans (8 oz cans) tomato sauce
Mozzarella cheese

Mix together hamburger, eggs, bread crumbs, onion flakes, garlic powder and salt. Roll into 2" balls. Brown in frying pan. Put in crockpot with tomato suace. Twenty minutes before serving add mozzarella.