What to Eat January 4th

Today I came home from work and put an entire turkey in the oven. I had thawed it out a few days ago and so I had to use it. By the time I got home from work it was perfect!

To cook the turkey I rubbed it down with salt, put it in a pan and into the oven at 475 degrees for 20 minutes. Then I turned it down to 250 and cooked it for 20 minutes for each pound. It was moist and tender and delicious.

I made gravy with the drippings in the pan. I put the pan on the stove and just added salt and then flour a spoonful at a time until it was thick and bubbly.

I put greenbeans on and took some cranberry sauce out of the can.

Then last but not least I made a homemade apple pie, crust and all. The crust I made the dough a while ago and froze it in sections so I would have it ready to use at any time. For the filling I put apples (diced up) 1 tsp allspice, nutmeg and cinnamon, 1 1/2 cups brown sugar, 1tsp vanilla and the zest of one orange. I cooked it at 350 for 1 hour. DELICIOUS!!

What to Eat Jan 3rd...

I actually didn't cook anything today... I was very busy cleaning out parts of our house and I was in a bad mood so I didn't cook. I also has not decided I was going to do this cooking every day thing at this point, so the lack of cooking is fine in my mind :)

What to Eat January 2nd

Today I cooked mint chocolate chip cookies.. again nothing special and no recipe... they came from a package.

What to Eat January 1st

This is going to be my new series/challenge... I am going to try very hard to stick to it, I may not get them posted every day, but I am going to cook SOMETHING every day. It may be small or a whole meal. I just know that I love to cook. It is relaxing and I enjoy it. It is my simple challenge to myself.

I started off my new year on Jan. 1st by cooking burrito's (nothing fancy, just simple burrito's).

I cooked ground beef and added taco seasoning, we had flour tortilla's, lettuce, refried beans, sour cream and montery jack cheese. They were delicious and simple.

Cream Cheese Bread...

This recipe is one that a friend of my mom's used to bring us every Christmas. This is a danish type pastry that is wonderful with coffee in the morning. I have never made it myself, but intend to sometime in the near future. As I remember it is a bit time consuming to make.. but worth it in the end.

Cream Cheese Bread

Courtesy of Susan Dillard

Bread Dough:

8 oz sour cream scalded
1 stick butter melted
1 tsp salt
1/2 C sugar
2 pkg quick rise yeast
1/2 C warm water
2 eggs beaten
4 C bread flour

Filling:
2-8 oz pkg cream cheese
1 egg beaten
3/4 C sugar
2 t. vanilla
1/8 t. salt

Glaze:
2 1/2 C powdered sugar
2 t. vanilla
1/4 C milk.

Preheat oven to 250 then turn off. Combine sour cream, sugar, butter and salt. Mix well. Let cool until lukewarm. While cooling, dissolve yeast in water in bowl you will mix bread in. Stir in sour cream mix, eggs, and flour 1 C. at a time. Oil a glass or aluminum bowl. After mixing up the dough, knead with flour until it is no longer gummy. Now put dough in oiled bowl and flip it over. Put in oven and let rise until doubled 1.5 hours. After it has risen knead again. Now divide into 4 equal parts. Take each fourth of mixture and knead on heavily floured surface. Roll each fourth into a 12x8 rectangle. Mix filling ingredients with

A mixer. Take 1/4 of filling and spread over rectangle with 1/2 inch margin on edges. Roll up like jelly roll. Pinch edges and ends. Place rolls seam side down on greased 9x13 pan. Make an x shaped cuts on top of each loaf through the first layer of dough. Put in over and let rise until doubled again (1-2 hours). Bake at 375 for 15-20 min. While cooling combine glaze ingredients and mix well with spoon. Drizzle glaze on top while loaves are warm.

4 loaves.

Apple Dumplings...

These are so simple and are something that people ask me to always make for get togethers etc. They could be eaten with dinner as a side, as a dessert, or even for a sweet breakfast (I guess no sweeter than waffles with syrup) It is so simple and delicious...

Apple Dumplings

from the kitchen of Lou Barnes

3 golden delicious apples 3 cans hungry jack flake biscuits
1 cup sugar 1 stick of butter 1 1/2 C. water
Cinnamon and nutmeg

Peel and slice apples into thin slices. Peel each biscuit into 3 equal segments. Wrap each apple slice into the biscuits and place in a 9x13 pan. In a container with a lid mix sugar, butter, and water. Heat until butter is melted and shake well to combine. Pour over the apples. Liquid should just come to the top of the apples. Sprinkle with cinnamon and nutmeg. Cook according to biscuit temperature for 30 min or until golden brown.

A special occasion breakfast...

Sometimes foods bring memories. You smell something cooking and it takes you back to a specific moment in you life. This breakfast casserole does that exact thing for me. My mom only made this casserole on Christmas morning.(well the night before, but cooked it on Christmas morning) and there is only one other time I can remember her making it and that was for the morning of my wedding. I am sure she made it sometimes in between, but it is something I associate with the holidays.

Egg Souffle Casserole

*** make this the night before***

Remove crust from 8 slices of white bread
2 Cups grated sharp cheddar cheese 6 eggs beaten
2 cups milk 1/2 t. salt
1/2 stick melted butter

Beat eggs and add milk, salt, butter. Put 4 slices of bread in lightly greased 8x8 casserole and sprinkle with half of the cheese. Top with another layer of bread and other half of cheese. Pour egg and milk mixture over top and put in refrigerator over night. Bake at 325 for 1 hour.