Deviled Eggs

12 eggs, hard boiled, shelled and cut in half long
1 cup mayonnaise
salt and pepper
garlic salt--dash
squirt of lemon juice
1 heaping T. mustard
yolks of eggs

Beat well. Squeeze filling into egg whites. Sprinkle with paprika and parsley sprig. Sometimes I use a tube (you could just use a plastic bag and cut off corner) with a fancy tip to make them look fancier. Usually I just spoon the filling in though.

Tip: Older eggs are easier to peel than fresher ones.

Hope you all had a GREAT THANKSGIVING!

Easy Holiday Green Beans

Toss fresh green beans with olive oil and minced garlic and fresh ginger.  Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes.

Candied Yams

Boil with skins on for 1/2 hour-45 minutes.  Remove peels and slice.  (This is great to do the day before.)  The day of: Pour brown sugar, karo syrup, and sliced butter.  Bake for another 30 minutes.  Top with mini marshmallows and put back in oven while watching carefully.  Remove when browned (these burn easily so watch closely).

Fruit Gobbler

From the magazine "Family Fun"

Ingredients

• Bosc pear (head)
• Melon (body)
• Cheese (beak and tail feathers)
• Red pepper (snood, feet and side feathers)

• Raisins (eyes)
• Grapes (tail feathers)
• Bamboo skewers
• Toothpicks

Instructions

1. Stabilize the melon body by cutting a shallow slice off the rind to form a flat base. Using a section of bamboo skewer, attach a Bosc pear head to the melon, as shown.
   
2. Cut a cheese triangle beak and red pepper snood. Attach both, along with raisin eyes, to the head with sections of toothpick.
   
3. Cut red pepper feet and set them in place. For tail feathers, skewer cheese cubes and red grapes, then insert the skewers as shown. Pin pepper side feathers in place with toothpicks.
   

Windswept Leaf Cookies

I know fall is nearly past, and with all of the snow that fell over the weekend here it's really time to start making the snowflake cookies, but I just couldn't resist.  I saw these in Woman's Day magazine about a month ago and I knew I had to make them.  It took me a while, but I'm so glad I did.  I love them, and my kids think they "are so awesome."  It makes a mom happy when she can impress her kids!

I really liked the sugar cookie recipe too.  It has a tablespoon of pumpkin spice that gives these cookies a really nice, fall flavor.

***Notes to self:  Follow directions exactly next time so you only have to try once.  Do not try and take a shortcut and buy pre-made sugar cookie dough.  As you found out--it does not work.  Chilling the dough really does make a difference, so just do it.  And read the directions completely on the icing.  I learned many of these the hard way, and had to start over.  Lots of wasted time, but they finally turned out in the end.  Only variation for me from original recipe is to cook 1-2 minutes less as my oven seems to bake hot.

Preparation Time: 45 minutes    Total time including chilling and baking: 3 hours

Ingredients:
1 stick (1/2 c.) unsalted butter (not spread)
1/2 c. sugar
1 Tbs. pumpkin pie spice
1/4 tsp salt (I omitted the salt because the butter I used was already salted)
1 large egg
1 Tbsp. light corn syrup
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 1/4 c. flour
leaf-shape cookie cutter

Decorating Icing:
1 lbs. box confectioners sugar
1/4 c. powdered egg whites (just whites)
1/3 cup water
yellow, orange, red gel food colors

1. Beat butter, sugar, spice and salt in a large bowl with mixer on mediumhigh until light, about 3 minutes. Reduce speed to medium; add egg and beat until combined. Beat in corn syrup and vanilla. Reduce speed to low; gradually add flour and beat until blended. Shape dough into two disks, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 1 hour. 

2. Heat oven to 350ºF. Roll out 1 disk between 2 sheets of wax paper to 1⁄4 in. thick. Remove top layer of wax paper and cut out shapes with cookie cutters. Transfer to a baking sheet. Bake 12 to 14 minutes until cookies are golden. Cool on sheet on wire rack 5 minutes; transfer to rack and cool completely. 

3. Icing: Beat confectioners’ sugar and powdered egg whites in a large bowl with mixer on low speed until combined. Add water; beat until blended. Increase speed to high; beat 8 minutes or until icing is very thick and white. 

4. Divide decorating icing into 3 bowls; tint one each yellow, orange and red. Add a few drops water to thin slightly until easy to spread. Spread a little of each color frosting onto a cookie.  Drag a wooden pick through colors to swirl. Let dry at least 1 hour; repeat with remaining cookies and icing.

In case you are wondering about the powdered egg whites (I was, this was the first time I have used them) you can purchase these at craft stores in the baking section (like Roberts) or at cooking stores.  Use can use meringue powder (it says on the front of the container that it can be used in place of powdered egg whites).  Hmm, I learn something new every day!  Actually, I learned a lot of new techniques from making theses cookies.  They were fun.  I want to make them again next fall!

Blessings Mix

Blessing Mix (pictures from Sally)

• Bugles: shaped like cornucopia or Horn of Plenty...a symbol of our nation's abundance
• Pretzels: arms folded in thanks and prayer
• Candy Corn reminds us that during the first winter, the pilgrims were only allowed 5 kernels of corn a day because food was so scarce
• orange slices or dried fruit: remind us that Thanksgivin is the celebration of the harvest
• peanuts or seeds--the potential of the bounteous harvest for the next season
• m & m's: memories of those who came before us to lead us into a blessed future
• hershey's kiss: the love of family and friends that sweetens our lives

Pilgrim Hats

From the Family Fun magazine

RECIPE INGREDIENTS:
24 chocolate-striped shortbread cookies
12-ounce package of chocolate chips
24 marshmallows
tube of yellow decorators' frosting

1. Set the chocolate-striped cookies stripes down on a wax-paper-covered tray, spacing them well apart.

2. Melt the chocolate chips in a microwave or double boiler.

3. One at a time, stick a wooden toothpick into a marshmallow, dip the marshmallow into the melted chocolate, and promptly center it atop a cookie.

4. Using a second toothpick to lightly hold down the marshmallow, carefully pull out the first toothpick.

5. Chill the hats until the chocolate sets, then pipe a yellow decorators' frosting buckle on the front of each hat.

Turkey Cookies

requires (for one turkey):

2 oreo double stuff cookies
1 malted milk balls (like a whopper)
4-6 candy corn

Directions:

Twist 1 oreo cookie apart... try to keep all the "cream" on one side of the cookie. Lay this cookie half (the one with the cream) chocolate side down, this will be the base.

Take the 2nd oreo & place the whole oreo on its side (so it sticks straight up into the air) on the "cream" base.

In front of the oreo on its side, place a malted-milk ball for the turkeys head.
place candy corn, points down, in between the oreo cookie that is standing on it's side. Use a white tip of a candy corn for a beak & dab oreo cookie "cream" dots, using a toothpick, on the malt ball for eyes. from here

Gobble-in Good Cupcakes

RECIPE INGREDIENTS:

24 frosted cupcakes
24 Nutter Butter cookies
2-3 tablespoons of white frosting or decorator's gel
Mini chocolate chips
Fruit leather, various flavors and colors
toothpicks

1. To make each turkey, press the lower portion of a Nutter Butter cookie into a frosted cupcake for the bird's head.
2. Use tiny dabs of frosting to stick on mini-chocolate chip eyes and a red fruit leather wattle.
3. For each turkey's tail, use a butter knife to cut out a dozen feather shapes (about 3 inches long and 1 inch wide) from fruit leather.
4. Lay 6 of the feather shapes on a flat surface and place a wooden toothpick lengthwise atop each so that one end of the toothpick extends about an inch below the feather. Layer another fruit leather feather layer atop each of the 6 shapes, sandwiching the toothpicks between them.
5. Press the 2 layers together to make them stick, then fringe the edges of the feather with a butter knife. Now your child can stick the colored feathers into the cupcake behind the cookie head.