Recipes From November Cookin Night

Here are some of the recipes that came from our November cookin night. Thank you Vicki, for typing them up for us. Photos can be found in the previous post.

Cranberry Chutney--Mary
1 bag (16oz) of fresh cranberries
2 apples peeled, cored and cut into chunks
2 pears, peeled, cored and cut into chunks
1 cup golden raisins
2/3 c sugar
1/2 c honey
1/2 c orange juice
1 tbsp. orange rind
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
walnuts--optional
1/2 c. black raspberry liqueur--optional
Combine all ingredients except liqueur in a large saucepan and simmer for 30-45 minutes or until desired consistency.Remove from heat and add liqueur if desired.(recipe from Las Vegas Review Journal)

Chocolate Balls--Suzi
3 large hershey choc bars w/almonds
1 8 oz. cool whip--frozen
vanilla wafers crushed
Using a double boiler, (or a makeshift one) melt the chocolate. Add the coolwhip and blend. Mixture will be soft and sticky. Drop by teaspoon or small cookie scoop into bowl of crushed vanilla wafers. Roll and place on cookie sheet. Refrigerate
Helpful Hints:**Don't let the chocolate get tooo hot. Just needs to be warmed**Best to use frozen cool whip**May need to shape the chocolate into balls by hand after rolling in wafers
GOOD LUCK!!!


Almond Pinecones--LeAnn
1 1/4 c whole almonds
8 oz cream cheese--softened
1/2 c. mayonnaise
5 crisp bacon slices crumbled
1 tbsp. chopped green onion
1/2 tsp. dill weed
1/8 tsp. pepper
Combine cream cheese, and mayo. Add bacon, onion, dill and pepper. Cover and chill overnight
Shape mixture into two pinecone shapes and press almonds into mixture just enough to stick, overlapping the almonds. (completely cover the outside of the pinescones) Garnish with pine sprigs

Holiday Fruit Salad--Connie and Her Mom
Beat together 2 eggs, 1/2 c sugar, 1 1/2 tsp flour and juice of one lemon. Add 1 cup of pineapple juice and cook until thick. Cool. When ready to use fold in 1 cup of whipping cream that has been beat until stiff. Salad Part:
3 bananas cut into pieces
4 slices of pineapple cut inot pieces or you can use the tidbits if not using fresh
red seedless grapes cut in half
marshmallows
dates cut into pieces
walnut pieces
Add all of this to first mixture to make the salad. Most delicious!

Thanksgiving Raspberry-Cranberry Jello--Paula
1 lg. pkg cherry jello
1 can whole berry cranberry sauce (crush with a fork)
1 sm can crushed pineapple (drained)
1 pt. sour cream
1 8 oz. pkg cream cheese--softened
1 lg. pkg raspberry jello
2 pkg. frozen raspberries ( about 16 oz. )
Dissolve cherry jello in 1 1/2 c boiling water, add cranberry sauce, and pineapple. Chill until firm. Next mix sour cream and cream cheese well with an electric mixer. Spread over chilled layer. Final layer, dissolve raspberry jello in 1 1/2 cups boiling water, stir in raspberries.Pour over sour cream/cream cheese mixture. Chill until firm. This looks nice in a jello mold, but fits better in a 9x13 pan. Great for Thanksgiving.

Red and Green Cheese Ball--Michelle
8 oz. cream cheese--softened
1/4 c mayo
1 tbsp. fresh parsley chopped fine--could substitute dried
3 chopped green onions
2 pkg. of Buddig lean Pastrami or can use lean pastrami from the deli
about 4 oz garlic
salt to taste

Holiday Recipes

The CHICKS

Bev and her cuter than ever gingerbread house.

Our November cookin night was so much fun! We had a pretty good group there this month..about 16 chicks. Bev showed us her gingerbread house making skills. She made it look soooo easy. The night before, her husband even decorated one....a redneck gingerbread single wide trailer. It was the best. Many shared some family recipes that were very close to them. Connie lost her mom last month to cancer and she shared a recipe that her mom always made for Thanksgiving and Christmas. She even brought a picture of her mom to show. The cheese balls were a hit as well. It really got us excited for the holidays...everyone wanted to go home and set up their Christmas tree when the night was done. I will post the recipes that were emailed in, that saves me from having to type them on the blog. If your recipe is not here, email it to us so I can post it.

Bev's husband's redneck house.

Connie with a picture of her mom and her fruit salad.

Le Ann made this cheese ball shaped like pine cones...it was not only cute but yummy too!

Annette made some delicious pumpkin bars with cream cheese frosting. That's what I call holiday tastes!

Susie made some melt in your mouth chocolate balls....so sweet and so good.

Michelle, describing her delicious cheese ball.

Mary shared a Cranberry Chutney. It was full of fresh fruit and the smells of the holidays.

Vicki also made a cheese ball. All the cheese balls had different flavors and they were all delicious.

One of our chicks, Donna, could not be there, but she sent her peanut brittle and her recipe. This candy always reminds me of Christmas.

Dixie Peanut Brittle
2 C Sugar
1 C light Corn Syrup (Karo)
½ C Water
1 pkg 16 oz RAW Peanuts
½ tsp Salt
1 tsp Baking Soda
2 tsp Butter or Margarine
1 tsp Vanilla
Candy Thermometer (a must!!!)
Heavily butter a cookie sheet or pizza pan.
Combine sugar, corn syrup and water in heavy sauce pan. Cook slowly; stirring until sugar dissolves. Cook to soft ball stage (240 degrees – about 30 minutes).
Add peanuts and salt. Cook to hard ball stage (295-300 degrees). Stir constantly. DO NOT ALLOW MIXTURE TO BOIL OVER.
Remove from heat. Add baking soda, butter and vanilla. (Mixture will bubble) Stir completely.
Pour mixture evenly on cookie sheet. Spread as evenly as possible. Work quickly – mixture is hot. Once spread, soak sauce pan. (This will save you a lot of scrubbing.) When completely cool, break into pieces. Store covered.
Note: Buy your peanuts early. They only come out once a year and go quickly. I start looking for them in October. I buy my supply and put them in the refrigerator. Walmart usually has them in their Baking Aisle.
This is my Mother’s recipe and she has made this since I was a child.

The following cheese ball recipe is from Vicki--

Sharp Cheese Ball

12 oz. cream cheese softened

1 jar old english cheese spread

2 tbsp minced onion, 1/4 tsp coarse grind pepper, 1/4 tsp salt,

1/3 c. blue cheese salad dressing

Mix together, shape into cheese ball, refrigerate. Serve with crackers or vegetables.

NOVEMBER COOKIN NIGHT

Hello Cookin' Chicks!

Mark your calendar! Tuesday, Nov. 10th, 6:30pm, at Michelle's home.

Our theme is "Holiday" cooking and baking, and our demonstration will be Gingerbread Houses. We Chicks are waiting to sample all of your Yummy recipes and add them to our books! You are welcome to bring more than 1 dish if you wish. We know that you all have some delicious idea's to share.

Don't forget to invite all your chick friends too. The more, the merrier!

Don't forget to bring copies of your recipes to share or you can email them to us so we can post them on our blog.

give me 5 of fewer

Even though our numbers seem to be getting less and less...we are still having a great time getting together and sharing good company and recipes. This month our theme was recipes with 5 ingredients or less. Some of us cheated a bit and had a few more ingredients but the recipes were delicious as usual!

Vicki made apple dip. This is a recipe that is so fitting for this time of year!

1 c. brown sugar

1 8oz pkg. cream cheese--softened

1/2 bag Heath toffee Bits

Put into a bowl and mix together. Serve with sliced apples.

Michelle made something that she said did not really have a name, so we dubbed it Sammie's Shepherds Pie. She also did not type up the recipe but it is basically layered with green beans, ground beef (browned) and seasoned with taco seasoning, mashed potatoes and then cheese. Bake until warmed through. It was so good and also a great recipe for the fall weather.

Bev made Aunt Maggie's Rice What a great spin on a basic side dish. 1 c rice, browned in 1 TBS butter, add 1 c chopped onion after rice is browned. Add 2 cups water and 3 chicken bouillon cubes, 1 can mushrooms (sliced & drained) and a pinch of rosemary and 1/2 tsp marjoram. Cook at a simmer for 45 min with a lid on.

I (Paula) made grape salad. I got the recipe from my sister in law, Janna. It is a little different so people are always surprised at how good it is.

2 8oz pks. cream cheese (softened)

2/3 cup sugar

1 cup sour cream

1 tbs vanilla

5-6 lbs red seedless grapes

2 cups chopped pecans (opt)

brown sugar for garnish

Beat together cr. cheese, sugar, sour cream and vanilla. Stir in grapes and pecans. Sprinkle with b. sugar just before serving. (don't mix the b. sugar in)

Connie made some rich, rich brownies! They were super simple and if you like chocolate...well, you will love these!

You will need 2 boxes of brownie mix--(the box will say family size for 9X13 pan)

3 symphony bars (6.8oz) any variety

Make one box of brownie mix according to pkg directions. Spread it into a 9X13 pan. Place the 3 candy bars on top of that. Make the 2nd box of brownies and spread that over the top of the candy bars. Bake at recommended temp for 40-50 min. It depends on what type of pan you use. (metal, glass, etc)

Cool before cutting into squares.

Suzi made a delicious crock pot chicken. This meal is a great one to put in the crock pot in the morning and have ready to eat at the end of your day.

Becky's Crock-Pot Chicken
1 bag of chicken breasts
1 pkg. Italian dressing mix (dry--by H.V. Ranch)
1 8 oz. cream cheese
2 cans cream of chicken soup
Put chicken, soup, and seasoning in crock pot. Cook all day on low (8 hours). Add cream cheese for the last 1/2 hour. Serve over noodles or rice.
**You can either shred, cube, or leave the chicken whole**

Let's Get Cookin Again

Well....summers is winding down, kids are back in school and of course our schedules are as hectic as ever! That being said....it's time to start cookin again!

WHAT: COOKIN WITH THE CHICKS

WHEN: THESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15

TIME: 6:30PM

WHERE: MICHELLE'S HOUSE

THEME: RECIPES WITH 5 INGREDIENTS OR LESS

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE....EMAIL YOUR RECIPE TO COOKINWITHTHECHICKS@GMAIL.COM. THAT WAY I CAN POST EVERYONES RECIPE ON THE BLOG FOR THE WORLD WIDE WEB TO SEE!

THANKS AND HOPE TO SEE YOU THERE!

any questions...Paula 658-8578, Michelle 658-0846, Vicki 658-1007

Banana Cookies

Hi everyone - its Paula...I know its been a really long time. Here is a recipe I tried today. Hope you like it! I had some over-ripe bananas I needed to use and instead of the old favorite, banana bread, I decided to try these cookies. They are moist and delicious - and the frosting! Well, you just have to try them for yourself--

Cookies-

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/4 cup Crisco shortening

3/4 cup brown sugar

1 egg

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp banana flavoring (can omit and increase vanilla to 1 tsp)

2 lg ripe bananas - peeled and mashed

1 heaping TBS sour cream

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

2 cups flour

Cream together butter, shortening, and sugar. Add egg, flavorings, bananas and sour cream; beat well. Add dry ingredients; mix well. Drop by spoonfuls onto greased cookie sheet. Bake @ 350 for about 10 min. until bottoms are just lightly browned. Cool and frost.

Frosting- (the best part)

6 TBS brown sugar

1/4 cup whole milk or half and half

4 TBS butter

powdered sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla

Combine brown sugar, milk and butter in saucepan; bring to a rolling boil. Remove pan from heat and beat in enough powdered sugar to make frosting spreadable; beat in vanilla. As the frosting cools, it will become difficult to spread. If this happens, reheat in the microwave for a few seconds or add a bit more milk to thin it.

July Class Update

Our July cookin class has been cancelled. We will not be having another cookin night until September - due to some very busy Chicks this summer. More later on Septembers Cookin night.
Have a great summer!

Mexican Food Anyone?

Our May cookin night was smaller in numbers than previous nights, but the food was delish. We decided to do a Cinco De Mayo theme. Thanks to everyone that came and shared a dish. As always, we are glad that you choose to spend an evening with us and share your recipes and ideas.

I did not get any recipes emailed to me, I will request them from those that brought a dish and post as they come in.

We had:

Homemade tortilla chips and bottled salsa, homemade cinnamon crispers, 2 delicious soups, homemade refried beans, chicken enchilada casserole...if I forgot any, Im sorry...like I said, I hope the chicks will email me the recipes so I can post them.

Our next night will be in July and we are going to share a dish that you might have at a summer picnic or bar-b-q.

May Cookin' Night

Hello fellow CHICKS!
We originally had our May cookin night scheduled for the 5th. We are going to reschedule for the next Tuesday, the 12th. Hope you all can still make it...and yes we will still be celebrating Cinco de Mayo, so get your Mexican recipes out!

PS...
Toni, my mom and I made the slushy punch for our famiy get together at Easter...it turned out great!

RECIPES FROM MARCH COOKIN NIGHT...

So...what do ya think I am gonna do with this????

SLUSHY PUNCH --TONI FOSTER
1 can frozen orange juice
1 can frozen lemonade
1 46oz. can pineapple juice
2 packets cherry kool aid (or flavor of your choice) tropical punch is good too
1 bottle fruit juice of your choice (or use a can of frozen fruit juice)
3 to 4 cups sugar
1 gallon of water
4 to 6 two liter bottles lemon lime soda COLD!!! very important
In a large pitcher mix all ingredients except water. Put large pan or several smaller pans in freezer, add pitcher of juice. Then add the water. Mix water & juice around in freezer. Let freeze at least overnight. Take pan out of freezer let stand for 15 or more min. Cut up punch in cubes, then smash it up as much as possible. Put in gallon zip bags. then store in freezer until ready to serve. Put one bag of slush in a punch bowl then add COLD lemon lime soda mix & serve.
I have made this punch with lots of different juices & they are all yummy. I usually just use what ever is on sale or less expensive. At Thanksgiving & Christmas time I like to use cranberry juice cocktail. My family loves to have this punch at all our get togethers! Especially the kids!!!


Grandma’s Sour Cream Raisin Pie--PAULA KELSEY
2 lg eggs 1/4 tsp salt
1 cup sour cream 1/4 tsp nutmeg
3/4 cup sugar 1 cup raisins
1 tsp vanilla
Beat eggs, sour cream, sugar, vanilla, salt and nutmeg together until
well blended. Stir in raisins until well blended. Pour into unbaked pie
shell-bake below oven center @ 375 for 40 min.
Serve with a dollop of sour cream or whipped cream.













Serving up Grandma's Pie

Lindsey made Killer Kelsey Biscuits & Gravy

Vicki made Pineapple Banana Muffins

This is Vicki's Mom Janice, she made a delicious Lemon Pie

This is Paula's Mom Claudine, she made Shrimp Rice Salad

Connie shared her canned meat. Delicious!

Michelle made enchiladas with elk meat.

The other Michelle made "Junk Dip"-sort of a salsa dip, served with tortilla chips.

And here we have the 3 Chicks in the official Chicks apron. The aprons were made by Paula's mom, Claudine. A big thanks for the cute aprons Mom!

I did not get any other recipes emailed to me, if I do, I will post them.

March Cookin Night

I know--I know---it's been a while since my last post. Just a reminder that our next cookin night will be March 3. If you have a recipe that has been in your family for years-or if you have started a family tradition with a recipe of your own, we want you to share it with us. We have had so much fun with our previous meetings and are really looking forward to this one.

We want to try something with the recipes-

not only would we like you to make copies of them to bring, but if you could email the recipe to me, I will post it on the blog for all of the world wide web to enjoy. We noticed that pretty much all of you that brought your recipe to share typed them on the computer, so.....once its typed, send it to me at paulakelsey@cox.net or our cookin email address is cookinwiththechicks@gmail.com. Thanks and we will see you all soon!

Super Simple Cherry Crisp

I found this recipe on the internet. I made it the other day to take to work for a birthday luncheon. It was delicious. And SO easy. I love the topping, so I doubled that part to put on top. (you can't have to much of the CRISP part, can you?) I served it with vanilla bean ice cream. You could also top with whipped topping or serve plain.



CHERRY CRISP
1 21OZ CAN CHERRY PIE FILLING


1/2 CUP FLOUR


1/2 CUP ROLLED OATS


2/3 CUP BROWN SUGAR


3/4 tsp CINNAMON


3/4 tsp NUTMEG


1/4 CUP CHOPPED PECANS


1/3 CUP MELTED BUTTER


Preheat oven to 350. Lightly grease a 2 qt. baking dish. Pour pie filling into dish and spread evenly.


In a med. bowl, mix together flour, oats, sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Mix in melted butter. Crumble over pie filling. Sprinkle with chopped pecans.


Bake 30 min. or until the topping is golden brown. Allow to cool 15 min before serving.

I hope you try it-

Paula

January Cookin Night

Our January cookin night was a lot of fun. I learned we have a few cheesers in our group that love to ham it up for the pictures. Comfort food was the theme and did we ever feel comforted. I hope I remember all the dishes that were shared. We had crock pot meatloaf, homemade chicken noodle soup, homemade ZESTY kielbasa soup, pretzel salad, english toffee, lasagna soup, pumpkin cookies, cranberry pineapple salad, tater tot casserole, shepherds pie and a demo on how to make pull-apart bread. Everything was delicious. We had some new faces come and we are excited to get the word out. Thanks to everyone for sharing their recipes, ideas and for coming to learn, eat, and socialize.

Winter Coco Warmer

This is a recipe from our cookin chick Vicki--
Winter Cocoa Warmer
Almond Bark Coating--Vanilla Flavored
6 peppermint candy canes, or peppermint stick
Put 3 of candy canes into a plastic bag, and crush with rolling pin until fine.Melt 1/2 the package of almond bark and stir in the crushed candy cane. Pour out onto wax paper, and spread until it is in a thin layer, (about 1/4") let cool.Break into small pieces. Can store in a plastic bag in freezer, or a tin.Place 3-4 small pieces into your cocoa cup and stir, the chocolate will melt in and give your cocoa a light minty taste!
The almond bark comes in a package usually about 20-24 oz. in size. It looks like a giant chocolate bar with squares in it. You can find it in most grocery stores in thebaking aisle.
Take 1/2 the package and break it in to chunks. Place it in a bowl and melt in the microwave. You want to microwave it for 45 seconds, and stir then 45 seconds and stir. Repeat this until you can stir it smooth. DO NOT overheat it or it will sieze and turn into crumbles.Usually about the 3rd time you heat it, it is soft enough to stir it until it is smooth.

Cookin' Night Info...

DATE: Tuesday, January 6
TIME: 6:30pm
PLACE: 6220 Newkirk Ct. (Michelle's House)
TOPIC: Comfort Foods
If you signed up to bring something, we can't wait to try it! If you did not, come have some fun and get some new ideas and recipes! Hope to see you there!