Sunday, December 29, 2013

Ham & Bean Soup

GREAT SOUP FOR COLD WINTER NIGHTS! Add a grilled cheese or just hot crusty bread & you have DINNER!

1 Ham Portion with Bone in about 4 lbs ( I had my leftover ham from Christmas & it had about 3 LBS meat & the bone) You could use meaty Ham Hocks or 1 Ham Hock with another portion of ham to cook with it as long as you end up with about 3 LBS. of meat!
Water enough to cover the ham & ham bone 2 inches above the ham!
Put the above in a large deep pot & simmer for about 2 hours.
Remove from pot & let cool enough to handle, Remove meat from the bone & cut into large bite sized pieces.
IN the pot with the ham broth from cooking the meat & bone add the following:
2 Large Onions Chopped
2 Large Carrots peeled & cut into nice sized pieces
4 Large Potatoes peeled & cubed onto big bite sized pieces
2 Ribs of Celery diced
Dash of Pepper (I use White Pepper)
2 Bay Leaves
2 TSP Parsley Chopped or Dried Flakes
Taste to see if you need to add salt, mine needed no added salt it was perfect from the ham! Make sure you have enough broth to cover the vegetables & meat if you do not add water to cover enough so it is 2 inches over the pot contents!
Cook on medium heat until Carrots are tender. Now add the meat you cut into bite sized pieces & add 2, 40 OZ. cans of Great Northern White Beans. Cook on simmer about 1 & 1/2 hours stirring every now & then.
Now stir about 3 heaping TBS of Cornstarch into 1 cup of cold water. Stir until smooth. Slowly stir this into your simmering soup! Cook & stir until nice & thick! Remove the bay leaves & ladle up heaping bowls of SOUP MADE WITH LOVE!

Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Christmas Cottage Sugar Cookies!

                                                                                    
I named these Christmas Cottage Sugar cookies because I made them with 1 Cup of Cottage Cheese! These are a very pure & basic sugar cookie that is soft & moist. You could jazz these up with Christmas Sprinkles on top of the frosting if you so desire. I already have sprinkle cookies & was looking for a nice soft touch of white on my cookie trays. These could also be enhanced with 1 cup of any of the following added to the batter once you have them mixed up. Try, Chocolate Chips, Coconut, Chopped Nuts, Raisins or Dates, Candied Fruit, just about anything you can think of. These are very yummy & a nice cookie for Christmas!

3 Cups Flour
1 TSP. Baking Powder
1/2 TSP Baking Soda
1/2 TSP Salt
Stir all of the above together & set aside
10 TBS Butter
1 & 1/3 Cups Sugar
2 TSP Vanilla
2 Eggs
1 Cup Cottage Cheese Small Curd

Beat butter add sugar & beat again. Add eggs & vanilla & beat. Now beat in cottage cheese & beat very well. Now slowly add the dry ingredients adding 1/3 at time & beating well after each addition.  Lightly spray baking sheets & preheat oven to 375 degrees. Drop by heaped TBS onto sheets leaving about 2 inches between cookies. I like to bake 1 dozen at a time. Bake for 10 minutes or until cookie springs back when touched. Remove from sheets & let cool completely before frosting OR you could just roll the cookies in powdered sugar if you wish! For frosting use the following frosting:
FROSTING
4 TBS EACH, Butter softened & Shortening 
2 TSP Vanilla
4 Cups Powdered Sugar
1/2 TSP Salt
1/2 & 1/2  just enough to get spreading consistency!
Beat butter & shortening until fluffy. Add 2 Cups powdered sugar the vanilla & salt & beat. Add a TBS at a time the 1/2 & 1/2 cream. Add remaining sugar & enough 1/2 & 1/2 to get a light & fluffy frosting you do not want this & runny! If you add to much cream just add more sugar & beat it will correct itself!  This recipe makes 5 dozen DELICIOUS COOKIES!

Sunday, December 1, 2013

CHRISTMAS BAKING & CANDY!

Dear Foodies, I have many many Christmas Cookie & some Candy recipes on this blog! Just go & check out the archives from November through December from each year! There might be a few ideas in October & in January too! Go ahead & dig thru for some GREAT different ideas!