AMISH CORN BAKE

2 eggs, separated
1/2 tsp salt
3 cups uncooked kernel corn
1/4 tsp black pepper
3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup cracker crumbs
1/2 cup sour cream
1/4 tsp salt
2 tbsp melted butter
2 tbsp chopped pimento

Note: You could use frozen whole kernel corn.

Beat the egg yolks and combine with the corn, 1/2 tsp salt, black pepper, and milk. Blend well and pour into a buttered 2-quart casserole dish. Beat the egg whites until stiff and gently blend in the sour cream. Fold the sour cream mixture into the corn mixture. Sprinkle the top with the cracker crumbs that have been mixed with the butter. Dot top with the chopped pimento. Bake 1 hour at 350 degrees.

COCONUT BUTTERMILK PIE

1 cup sugar
2 eggs, room temperature
4 tbsps butter, melted
3 tbsps flour
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp lemon juice
pinch of salt
1 cup buttermilk, room temperature
1/2 cup shredded coconut
1 9-inch pie crust, lightly baked and cooled

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
In a large bowl, combine sugar, eggs, butter, and flour. Beat with electric mixer until well blended. Mix in the vanilla, lemon juice, and salt. Using a wire whisk, whisk in the buttermilk until well blended. Pour into the prepared pie crust and sprinkle the coconut over the top. Bake on the middle oven rack for 10 minutes at 425 degrees then lower the temperature to 350 degrees until lightly browned and a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.

Note: To prevent edges of pie crust from getting too brown, loosely wrap the edge of the pie with foil before putting in the oven.

MARGIE’S OVEN BAKED CHICKEN

1 tbsp butter or margarine
2/3 cup Bisquick
1 1/2 tsp paprika
1 1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
2 1/2 to 3 1/2 lb frying chicken, cut-up

Heat oven to 425 degrees. Melt butter in an oblong baking pan 9 x 13-inches, in the oven. Mix the Bisquick with the paprika, salt and pepper; coat the chicken. Place chicken, skin sides down, in the pan. Bake, uncovered, for 35 minutes. Turn and bake until done, about 15 minutes longer.

Enjoy!

WISCONSIN OVEN-BAKED BEANS

1 can (15-oz) butter beans with liquid
1 can (15-oz) great northern beans with liquid
1 can (15 1/4-oz) kidney beans, drained
3/4 lb thick-cut bacon, cut crosswise into 1/2-inch pieces
1 cup diced onions
3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
1 tbsp prepared mustard
1 tbsp prepared horseradish

In a 3-quart baking dish combine the butter beans, great northern beans and kidney beans. Stir in the bacon pieces, onion, brown sugar, mustard and horseradish. Cover and bake at 325 degrees for 2 1/2 to 3 hours. Uncover during the last hour of baking to brown the top. Add water during baking if needed.

Note: This is a good dish for diabetics if they substitute 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons Splenda Brown Sugar Blend for the brown sugar listed above. You won’t even notice the difference in the taste.

PINEAPPLE NUT BREAD

1 cup pecans, chopped fine
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/4 tsp lemon peel
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg, beaten
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
8.5-oz can crushed pineapple, undrained
1/4 cup milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Butter a 9-inch loaf pan; add 1/4 cup of the pecans and shake around in pan to coat. Lightly sprinkle these nuts with a pinch of sugar. Set pan aside.

In a medium bowl,blend together the butter and lemon peel; beat in sugar and add egg. Sift the flour, baking powder and baking soda into the sugar mixture alternately with the pineapple. Add the milk and mix well. Stir in the remaining nuts and pour batter into the prepared pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 50 minutes.

CRISPY ITALIAN CHICKEN

2 cups Corn Chex cereal
2 cups Rice Chex cereal
2 tsp Italian seasoning blend
1 tsp parsley
1 tsp garlic salt
1/4 cup margarine, melted
3 lb skinless chicken pieces
Paprika

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In a plastic bag, crush cereals together until the 4 cups are only 1 1/2 cups of crumbs. In a large shallow dish, combine the crushed cereal, Italian seasoning, parsley, and garlic salt. Place the margarine in a 13 x 9 x 2-inch baking pan; roll the chicken in the margarine. Remove chicken and dredge in the cereal crumb mixture. Return the coated chicken to the baking pan. Sprinkle paprika over the chicken. Bake 50 to 55 minutes or until lightly browned.

6 servings: Approximate per serving = 316 calories, 17 g carbs, 28 g protein

Note: This is a good recipe for diabetics.

Enjoy!

1. Use a low gluten flour. We like to use unbleached pastry flour in our recipes—that’s what our mixes are made with—but all purpose flour will do. Bread flour makes for a pancake that is too tough and chewy.

2. Don’t over mix. Mixing develops the gluten in the batter. Mix the dry ingredients together to dispense the leavening throughout the flour. Mix the recipe’s wet ingredients together in another bowl. Pour the wet ingredients into the bowl with the dry ingredients and mix until just moistened. There will still be lumps. That’s okay—they’ll cook out. If it’s beat too much, you’ll develop the gluten and create a chewy pancake.

3. Get the batter the right consistency. The batter should be runny enough that it will spread on the griddle. If it is too runny, the pancakes will be crepe-like. As you progress through the batch, the batter will tend to become thicker as the leavenings work. Add a little more water or milk as needed but remember to stir minimally. After the batter sits for a while, it becomes thinner as the bubbles dissipate. You can rejuvenate your batter with the addition of a little baking powder (don’t add flour).

4. Prepare the griddle. Very lightly grease the griddle with a little shortening or with an aerosol can of vegetable oil. We often spread just a little butter on the griddle. The butter tastes great but it burns more easily than vegetable oil so use it sparingly.

5. Get the griddle hot enough. Set the griddle on high or medium-high heat. When the griddle is hot enough, water droplets will dance on the surface. After putting batter on the griddle, turn the heat to medium.

6. Cook neat, uniform, pancakes. A 1/3-cup measure will give you medium pancakes. Use a 1/2-cup measure for large pancakes. You may also use also use a pancake dispenser available at kitchen stores.

7. Cook it right. You can tell when it’s time to turn the pancake by watching the bubbles form and watching the edges of the pancakes. The bubbles tend to cook into little craters and the edges will be dry-looking when the pancake is ready to turn. A little practice makes perfect.

8. Keep your pancakes hot. Pancakes are best if steaming hot. As you take the pancakes off the grill, cover them lightly with aluminum foil. Better yet, use a pancake and tortilla keeper to keep them hot. You may also stick the loosely covered plate in an oven heated to 275 degrees. For a special touch, heat the empty plates in the oven before serving.

Baker’s note: One of my granddaughters, Lily, loves chocolate pancakes with coconut cream syrup. (Who wouldn’t?) When her mother makes these pancakes, she makes extra. She stacks the extra in a pancake and tortilla keeper and places the keeper in the refrigerator. When Lily gets home from school and needs a snack, her mother heats a couple in the microwave and serves them to her.

Making an Elmo-themed birthday cake is super fun and amazingly easily to do. You don’t have to be a professional baker to bring a smile to your child’s face. There are a number of ways for you to quickly make a baked cake in to an Elmo birthday cake within minutes. You might choose edible cake topper designs which are made of sugar which can be laid across the surface of a cake. Instantly you will have an Elmo birthday cake that your child will appreciate. You can also get several different, small, washable, and reusable Elmo figurines which can be rested on top of the cake’s surface too. The latter methods are two, super fast and simplistic ways to create the Elmo birthday cake you desire.

Elmo cake rings are another cake decoration that can turn a simple cake into an Elmo birthday cake in moments. The cake rings can be inserted into the surface or top of the cake and a parent’s cake decorating endeavor is finished in seconds. If you are into baking and cake decorating, you can get a cake pan in the shape of Elmo. When the cake is baked and completely cooled, you can then use a variety of colored frostings and can apply the colored frosting via frosting applicators. The latter method is a bit more time consuming, but the finished product is attractive, fun, and quite an achievement: definitely a cake that will build lasting birthday memories!

To learn more about Elmo Birthday Cake, I recommend you checking out Shop Elmo. It is a specialized Elmo toys and Elmo products for sale site that lists up to the minute deals on the Elmo-themed products and gifts. Be sure to try this website first.

If you want to make the perfect batch of cookies, you must follow a few important rules.

• Measure the ingredients accurately

• Heat the oven to the correct temperature

• Mix ingredients with love

• Make sure the cookies are not too large, too small or too close together.

• Set a timer for optimal baking.

Nurturing a relationship is similar to making a batch of cookies. First of all, we need to measure the ingredients accurately. Relationships need to be balanced. In a healthy relationship everyone is getting their needs met.

The Law of Love states that we need to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. Many people are good at one or the other. Brett R. Williams, author of You Can Be Right or You Can Be Married, says that women are often really good at loving others. Women are quick to put aside their own needs in order to make sure their children or husbands are getting their needs met.

Men on the other hand are good at meeting their own needs. Williams explains that both parties need to make sure their own needs are being met in the relationship in order to keep it balanced.

Like baking cookies, the needs of each person and the needs of the couple need to be blended together for a pleasant consistency. When placing cookies on the cookie sheet, you need to make sure they are even in size and not too close together. Likewise, each person’s demands need to be about the same size and for practical reasons they need to be spread out a little.

For example, several weeks ago my husband took off to Boy Scout Camp for the week with our two sons. He had a great time snorkeling, hiking, and hanging out with the kids. I encouraged him to take time to do that because I knew he really wanted to and that he would really enjoy it. A few weeks from now I will take off with my girlfriends for a weekend of scrapbooking and girl-talk.

Giving each other personal time is one way to make sure our individual needs are met. However, each person needs to be responsible to inform their spouse about what they need. Our needs vary greatly as individuals and we cannot assume our partner knows what we need. Like setting a precise temperature on the oven or setting the timer for cooking, being clear about what you need as an individual and clearly articulating this to your partner will benefit your relationship. Case in point, my husband is an extrovert and loves to be with other people including me. I enjoy time with others, but find I need time by myself in order to really love others when I am with them.

It is important for us to find a balance in scheduling our days together so that we are both getting our needs met. On a typical Saturday, Brett will take care of the kids in the morning so that I can have time to exercise and meditate. Later in the day we make a point of doing many things together including errands, helping kids with homework and preparing meals. It takes time and practice to learn to bake the perfect batch of cookies. Balancing the needs of each individual in a relationship is not difficult, but it does take some time and attention, to develop the perfect recipe for your happiness.

Popular edibles you can give as presents for Christmas are baked goodies, candies, chocolates, and specially-baked breads. Homemade cookies and Christmas fruit cakes are also part of the category which you can hand out to friends, relatives, co workers and associates.

Throughout the years, potential Christmas food gift ideas or stuff people hand over includes sophisticated boxes of chocolates in several Christmas shapes like a Christmas star, Frosty the Snowman, or the traditional Christmas tree; an assortment of fruits, unique and stylish arrangements of fruit baskets, conventional Christmas hampers that is loaded with nice treats such as ham and cheese, fruit cakes and puddings, tarts in different shapes and sizes, holiday shaped shortbreads, and one or two bottles of wine.

Christmas food gift giving can be made personalized into different variations. One example would be the Wine and Gourmet food gift basket that may include gourmet pepper and crackers, a smoked salmon with gourmet cheese spread or a Sesame Crackers food gift which consists of a selection of garlic and cheese mix.

You may also want to consider giving a Christmas food gift that includes a wide selection of various nuts such as almonds, pili nuts, cashews, pecans, hazelnuts, pistachios, walnuts, and many others; a Candy food gift basket may consists of several variations of candies and sweets treats; or a Healthy Christmas food gift that includes snack boxes such as bottles of preserved fruits, maple syrup, honey, jams, fruit tarts and fruit-filled pies.

However, in the middle of the so-many potential Christmas food gift stuff, cookies-in special shapes, taste, and dimension-are constantly on top of the list. Here are a few of the cookie essentials you need to know prior to giving out this most well-liked Christmas food gift.

1. Decide on the recipient’s preferred cookie. Knowing your recipient’s most desired cookie will make it simple for you to purchase or set up your gift. If not, go for typical cookie favorites such as the fresh ginger cookies, the fruitcake cookies, the holly Christmas cookies, the Christmas tree cookies, and the chocolate chip or the oatmeal cookies.

2. Make the appearance eye-catching. Be artistic in packing up your cookies by trimming it with ceramic, metal, or plastic stamps or baking molds or by adding up exceptional add-ons to the finished product like colored sugar, finely chopped walnuts, or colorful candy sprinkles. Make sure that you adorn the exterior of your cookie box with unique labels, exclusive cards, and colorful and vibrant stickers or a lovely wrapping paper.

3. Take full advantage of your effort. If you are baking the cookies all by yourself, make sure that you are set up to bake a large collection of cookies by chilling a number of rounds of this dough ahead.

Product Description
A fabulous collection of ideas for home baking in two tempting volumes. Covers useful baking techniques, ingredients, equipment and storage and even includes ideas for decoration of novelty cakes and cookies. With a total of 400 recipes to choose from, you’ll never be short of baking inspiration.

The Cookie & Baking Book Box: How to bake perfect cookies, cakes, pies, muffins, breads and brownies in two irresistible how-to cookbooks, ncludes 400 … recipes with 1400 gorgeous color photographs

Whether it’s services like Dating on Demand, soon to be launched by Comcast Cable, Match.com or a chat room, lonely lookers do no longer have to linger alone at bar while searching for their soul mate. If alcohol is your forte’, grapedates.com can match you up with another wine enthusiast to smell the bouquet. Heck, you can even send video flirts to someone’s cell phone! Even religion has jumped on the matchmaking train with special sites such as SoulMatch.com and Christiansingles.com. On the other side of the spectrum Swingerclub.com provides a platform for those who consider monogamy monotony. Really, whatever you are searching, you are bound to find it in the plethora of dating services on the net. Mixedrace.com and Saltandpeppersingles.com offer interracial dating, and Gaymatchmaker.com and Bgay.com offer dating for same sex relationships.

The question is, are the users of dating services themselves so sure what they really desire when they fill out their profile? One element the online dating technology can’t cater for is the thing happening between people that is commonly called ‘chemistry’. Haven’t we all fallen in love with someone before who didn’t share our hobbies, likes and dislikes or views on life?

Maybe one day we will enter our DNA readout into the singles dating profile and this will match us with our perfect mate. That could be an interesting prospect, especially if this perfect mate doesn’t encompass the characteristics our socialization tells us to look for.

So…daters start your engines…or ready those computers, cell phones, and ipods because the future of dating will definitely encompass technology.

The Perfect Chocolate Cookie

Cocoa drop cookie, the best chocolate cookie. They are not only delicious, but very easy to make as well.

The ingredients required for this recipe are: ¼ cup butter, softened; ¼ cup shortening; 1 cup sugar; 1 egg; ¾ cup buttermilk; 1 tsp vanilla; 1 ¼ cup sifted all-purpose flour; ½ tsp baking soda; ½ tsp salt; ½ cup cocoa powder, unsweetened; and 1 cup of chopped pecans.

1. Cream the shortening and butter with sugar; beat in egg.

2. Stir in the buttermilk and vanilla

3. Sift the dry ingredients together and add to the first mixture.

4. Stir in the pecans, and chill the cookie dough for about an hour.

5. Use a teaspoon to drop the dough onto a greased baking sheet, leaving about 2 inches between the cookies.

6. Bake in a preheated 400°F oven for about 8-10 minutes, or until set.

7. Then cool and frost with a simple chocolate or vanilla icing if desired.

Shortbread Cookie Recipe

Here is the recipe for another great cookie, the chocolate covered shortbread cookie recipe. For this you will need: 8 ounces butter at room temperature; ½ cup powdered sugar; 2 cups all-purpose flour; ½ teaspoon baking powder; 2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, melted; and ½ teaspoon vanilla extract.

1. Combine all ingredients.

2. Knead with your hands to made sure they are well mixed

3. Press into lightly buttered pans.

4. Bake at 325°F for about 20 minutes.

5. Cut into wedges while they are still warm or break them apart.

There are many fabulous recipes out there but here are two of the best. Remember these recipes around the holidays and you can present your friends and family with delightful treats that will be remembered the rest of the year.