Why fuss over Hot Chocolate! Because it makes a difference in taste. Milk chocolate or dark, milk or water, whipped cream or marshmallow … these all count. As a kid my hot chocolate had to be mild, sweet but not too sweet, and rich not watery. This hits it all. So, when I want to feel like a kid again I make this delicious drink.
If your friends and family have different taste ideas try this Hot Chocolate Bar.
Soups are my favorite! Yep, no matter the weather. But this foggy day has brought out one of best! Complete nutrition in one bowl. Delicious? You bet! Rustic crusty bread adds to the simple recipe. Use your favorite greens! Add a few shavings of Parmesan and voila!
Someone special asked for this. Sounded so good … I was into it! I mean, who doesn’t like chocolate and peanut butter in a salty crust!
Recipe is right out of Baking Made Easy, and this was really easy! I noted the magazine gave Kate Wood credit. So, I had to check her out! If you’re curious here she is. She has some good eats! I often like to speed up a recipe, impatience. Most often it turns out well. This is one! Enjoy a really tasty cheesecake-like pie with a smidge of chocolate ganache.
Pie with so many names, Peanut Butter Chocolate with Pretzel Crust, Peanut Butter Cheesecake, Peanut Butter Icebox Pie. I call it More Than Delicious!
Recipe coming soon!
Going through Mother’s recipe stash I found this simple Persimmon Pudding recipe written up by her friend Dorothy Hoffman. These two gals (now gone) knew each other since the 40’s. Dorothy was a good cook and Mother only kept recipes she thought delicious … usually making notes on the recipe card about the outcome. No notes this time but decided it must have been a keeper. Yep!!
Quick word about Persimmon pudding. It’s not a pudding at all just as a figgy pudding isn’t. The texture is of a very moist nutty cake. The prep is quick and the baking is longer than the usual. This gives you time to prepare a hard sauce. Serve this with hard sauce or chantilly cream. I like both (of course). Dorothy’s hard sauce recipe is very quick and tastes heavily of brown sugar. I love the taste but you may wish to try another version of hard sauce here.
Thanksgiving dinner Turkey and Stuffing has been on my menu for decades. Over time I’ve tried many different roasting methods and stuffing recipes. The meal has always turned out well but most compliments come with these following recipes. First, buy the best turkey … quality does make a difference. Fresh is preferred. It need not be processed with injections or other treatments … prefer it not be, actually. Using the popup, if present, to check doneness is up to you but I suggest a meat thermometer for true accuracy. What is the biggest complaint about roasted turkey? The breast meat is too dry. This is why I love Martha Stewart’s butter/wine roasting method. I cut the corners a bit but the result is moist and tender. As for the stuffing, I’ve often made my own bread cubes using whatever bread I might have saved in the freezer over several months … you know, the crust no one wants, end pieces, leftover corn bread … always quality breads, no crackers. (When my mother-in-law, an admitted poor cook, made her turkey stuffing with saltines … I don’t know what I expected, yes I do! … but it turned out well. I’m still amazed to this day but then I was very hungry and appreciative. We did a lot of fasting that trip.)
When my daughter became a vegetarian (progressed to vegan) I knew I had to find a different dressing recipe, one cooked separately from the turkey that maintained a great taste. I tried Rachel Ray’s Cranberry Pecan Dressing recipe … converting it to vegetarian and later to vegan. It worked beautifully baked separately, and stuffed loosely into the turkey cavities as well. There are some short cuts I take today when preparing Thanksgiving I wouldn’t have taken years ago. I will never give up homemade pie crusts … these often take a pie from good to amazingly delicious. So, what have I given up? Making the bread cubes. I now find myself buying William Sonoma’s … Even pre-seasoned. Yep, WS brand does make a difference.
Now, let’s jump into these recipes. Great recipes for the beginner as well as experienced!
When you can’t wait 8 hours for the traditional Slow Cooker Mississippi Pot Roast and you want all the fixings to caramelize the oven is your best bet. My family loves my Pot Roast and this brings the old recipe to extraordinary.
This is my Mother’s recipe but not as I remember it. After baking, these were not Bon Bon shaped nor as dry as the original recipe she used. As she would say, they’re better the next day, and sure enough the dryness disappeared in those Bon Bon’s. The newer recipe here is quite good. And doesn’t take a day for the moistness to be noticed. The spices even seem a bit different to me. It is a mystery … the origin of this recipe. But if you like moist, spicy, nutty, full of raisin cookies you’ll love these.
I’m not sure anyone in our family was broken-hearted if our annual persimmons didn’t arrive. No one ate them except in cookies or pudding. Well, not until my sister-in-law Linda. She loved persimmons, spooning the mushy pulp from inside the skin. I thought her so brave. My brother went on to plant a whole grove of Fuyu (the squatter version of the traditional fruit) when few in the San Joaquin Valley considered this a marketable product. Or maybe that was just my thought!
Here you go. Here’s the recipe. Hope you enjoy.
When a Rizzo birthday happens at my home Braciole is always the main dish. It’s his favorite! This year I wanted to try something a little different. Just a change up in the stuffing … like a bread stuffing. My use of flank steak is a favorite but other meats work too, such as round steak, pork, veal. You still can’t beat flank steak for its flavor and tenderness in this recipe.
If you’d like to try my Braciole Recipe 1 click here.