Snow-Cream

My cousin in Spartanburg has had around 6 inches of snow fall this week and she sent me this recipe! We didn't get any snow, so we didn't get to make this, but it looked like so much fun I had to share!!! Would you send a photo if you make this? mummiesyummies@gmail.com I would love to see what fun it is to make this!!! :)

Ingredients:

Fresh snow (probably 4 big handfuls)

1 or 2 cups of whole or evaporated milk (I used 1 cup of whole and 1/2 cup of heavy cream because I ran out of whole)

1 or 2 tsp of vanilla extract (I used 1)

1/2 to 1 cup of sugar (I used 1/2)

Directions: 

Place the snow in a mixing bowl.  Quickly stir in enough milk to get the consistency of ice cream.  (start with a little and if you add to much it's not a big deal...go get some more snow).

When you get the consistency that you like, stir in the vanilla and sugar. 

 

You should make it right before you will eat it....you can freeze but the consistency won't be the same and not quite as fun as when you just made it!

You can always experiment and add maple extract, peppermint, or root beer which we had not tried. 

 

Sauerkraut and Pork

Up North, Pork and Sauerkraut are the New Year's staple! Since we are from the North, but live in the South we decided to eat both! :)

Ingredients:
1 pork loin or pork roast
20 oz sauerkraut with liquid
1 large apple chopped in large pieces (I used Fuji)

Directions:
Put pork in bottom of slow cooker, place apples around and top with sauerkraut and liquid. Cook on low 8 hours or high 4 hours. Enjoy!

Black Eyed Pea Gumbo

Down South, Hoppin John is a staple on New Years...this is our version to try this year! :)

Ingredients:

1 t liquid smoke

1 medium red onion, chopped

1 medium green bell pepper, chopped

5 stalks celery, chopped (we left this out)

2 bouillon cubes

4 (15 ounce) cans black-eyed peas with liquid

1 (10 ounce) can diced tomatoes and green chiles

1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

Directions:

Put all ingredients in a slow cooker on low for 8-10 hours or high 4-6 hours.

Serve with cornbread.

I know what is in my Hot Cocoa

Our family is trying our very best not to eat processed foods. So, when my kids asked me for Hot Cocoa today, I decided to make my own instead of buying the packets of who knows what is in there! It was delicious and the kids drank it up not knowing any different!

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup unsweetened 100% cocoa powder
• 1/4 cup agave nectar
• 1 pinch salt
• 1/3 cup boiling water
• 3 1/2 cups milk
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• heavy cream (optional)

Directions:

Put cocoa powder in a sauce pot. In a separate pot, boil water with salt. After water reaches boiling pour over cocoa powder and whisk together. Again bring to a boil making sure not to scald the cocoa. Whisk in agave nectar and milk and heat. (DO NOT BOIL at this point). Finally remove from burner and add vanilla extract.

If desired, add heavy cream or whipped cream before serving. Enjoy! Serves 4.

Bread & Butter Freezer Pickles

Bread & Butter Freezer Pickles

Seeing the other pickle recipe inspired me to find a bread and butter pickle (sweet pickle) recipe that didn't require any canning (since I don't know how to do that . . . yet). Here's one that I adapted from recipezaar.com.

7 cups cucumbers, sliced
2 cups sugar
1 cup white vinegar
1 cup onion, sliced
1 teaspoon celery seed
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
½ teaspoon turmeric (this gives it that b&b “look”)
1 tablespoon mustard seed

Mix vinegar and sugar until sugar dissolves. (I had to bring it to a boiling point and boil for about 2 minutes to get it to dissolve.)

Then I added the spices to the pan and let it cool just a bit.

Place cucumbers and onions in a large bowl and pour the liquid over them. Refrigerate overnight.

Pack into freezer-safe canning jars (or other suitable containers) and freeze.

Not sure how long these last in the freezer, but I can’t imagine ours going bad before we eat them all!

I got 7 pints from this recipe.

Dill Pickles

This is from Gramma Genevieve from my family...and I'm told it is really yummy and refreshing in the summer! I'll be trying this one very soon, because my kids love pickles and I really enjoy them too!!

Ingredients:

2 quarts of water

1 cup vinegar

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup salt (we use less!)

pickling cucumbers

garlic cloves

dill

Directions: 

Boil water, vinegar,sugar and salt until they are dissolved (does not take too long). 

Place pickling cucumbers in mason/canning jar.  (I have a container garden and have used 3 or 4 pickling cucumber..they're about 4 inches long).  Slice, or quarter, them how you would like.  Add 3 garlic cloves (more if you would like) into the jar along with 3 sprigs of dill (we added more as well...probably 6 to 8). 

When water, vinegar, sugar, salt mixture is luke warm, pour over cucumbers/dill/garlic and refrigerate for 24 hours.

Mom used to make this and would get about 8 pints of pickles!

GREEK CHOPPED MEAT STUFFING

This recipe came from my friend Hallsy, whose family used to make this during the holidays. He brought back leftovers one time to my boyfriend's (now husband) house and I got a taste. It was the strangest sounding thing, but actually quite delicious. Now, this is the second year that I have made it!

Ingredients:
2 small onions -- chopped

1 Stalk celery -- chopped
2 Tb Butter
1 lb Ground beef
1/2 c Dry red wine
1/4 lb Pignoli nuts
1/2 c White raisins
1/4 c White rice
1 box crushed zweiback cookies or 5oz ginger snaps --crushed
1 C Water

2 Tb tomato paste

Salt and pepper to taste or Greek seasoning (preferred)

Directions:

Brown onions and celery in butter. Add beef and cook until brown.
Add wine and tomato paste, and simmer until meat is tender.
Add nuts, raisins, and rice. Stir in water and cook,
covered, until the rice is done. Mix in cookies crumbs
and season to taste. Stuff loosely into the turkey. Or leave out and serve in bowl.

If made ahead (not in turkey), you could bake in 325 oven for 20 minutes to reheat before serving. Stuffs a 10-12 pound turkey.

Pumpkin Pie Cake

This is my absolute favorite pumpkin recipe! I have made it many many times and even people who do not like pumpkin have enjoyed this recipe. I've even been able to cut back on the sugar. This happened as a mistake when one time I left out ALL of the sugar by accident! That was a huge mistake, but surprisingly it still tasted good. Now, I must admit, I liked it better of course with the sugar, but I could not notice a difference by just reducing the sugar a bit. Anyhow, I originally got this recipe from a friend of mine named Tannis. She is always full of great recipes! I hope you all get to enjoy this one during the fall season!

Ingredients:
1 large can pure pumpkin (3 1/2-4 cups) or 2 - 15oz cans
1 1/2 C sugar (partly brown), if using full amt. sugar I'd use 1c white & 1/2c brown or reduced 3/4c white &1/4c brown
3 eggs
1 13-14oz can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 t ginger
1/2 t nutmeg
1/4 t ground clove
1 t cinnamon
1/2 t salt
3/4C butter
3/4C fine chopped walnuts
1 box dry yellow cake mix

Directions:
- Beat ingredients (except: butter, nuts & cake mix)
- Pour evenly into GREASED 13x9 inch glass pan
- Sprinkle dry cake mix evenly over pumpkin mixture
- Melt butter & drizzle evenly over dry cake mix - sprinkle chopped nuts over
- Bake 350 degrees for 50 min or until set
- Enjoy!!! (great served warm or cold)

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

Here is a recipe I searched out to make use of the leftover pumpkin I had after making pumpkin spice lattes. I found it somewhere on the internet, I think maybe at www.5dollardinners.com.
Anyhow, it is pretty good and of course the kids loved them! You can also double the recipe so that you can use a whole can of pumpkin, in case you have no plans of making lattes. A double recipe would make 12 jumbo sized muffins.

Ingredients:
3/4 C sugar
1 1/2 C flour
3/4 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1 t pumpkin pie spice
1/4 t salt
1/4 C vegetable oil
2 eggs
1/4 C water
3/4 C canned pumpkin (1/2 of 15 oz can)
1/2 C chocolate chips

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease 12 medium muffin tins or 6 jumbo muffin tins. Mix all ingredients with hand mixer. Bake for 20-25 minutes (a little longer for jumbo muffins).
You may want to leave the chocolate chips out and in that case add a dollop of cream cheese icing to the top after muffins have completely cooled!

Pumpkin Spice Latte

Hooray! Hooray! There is now pumpkin to be found in the stores!!! So, in light of that exciting news, here is the first pumpkin recipe of the year! I found this recipe somewhere on the internet last year and it was a huge hit. It is really important that you do NOT substitute pumpkin pie filling for the pure pumpkin, it will not be so yummie. I enjoyed making this last year before trick or treating with the kiddos. I filled up a disposable cup (you can buy these in the paper goods aisle at the store) and it kept me nice and warm as we walked around the neighborhood!

Ingredients:
2 C milk (I use 1 %)
2 T canned pureed pumpkin (only 100% pure pumpkin)
2 T white sugar
2 T vanilla extract (not a typo, two tablespoons!)
1/2 t pumpkin pie spice OR: 1/4 t cinnamon, 1/8 t ground cloves, 1/8 t nutmeg & a teeny tiny pinch of ground ginger
1/2 C brewed espresso or 3/4 C strong brewed coffee
garnish w/ whipped cream, additional cinnamon & cinnamon stick (optional)

This will make enough for 2 people to have a big mug with a bit leftover. A 1.5 quart crockpot will work well with these amounts.

Directions:
Add coffee or espresso and milk to the crockpot
Whisk in the pumpkin, spices, sugar and vanilla
Cover and cook on high for 2 hours if everything is cold
Whisk again
Ladle into mugs and garnish as desired

*see Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffin recipe to make use of the leftover pumpkin or freeze for use later.

Pumpkin Puree

So, has anyone heard about the nationwide canned pumpkin shortage? Well, sadly it is true! Due to drought last year Libby and other canned pumpkin manufacturers have just plain run out of pumpkin! They "assure" that there will be some on the shelves next month, but until then... if you need a pumpkin fix...go to the store, buy a small pumpkin and in a little over an hour you can have your very own pumpkin puree. Here is the recipe courtesy of BH&G!

Ingredients:
2 - 3 1/2 lb. pie pumpkins (those are the tiny ones you find in your grocery store)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cut pumpkins in 5x5 inch pieces. Remove seeds and strings. Arrange pieces in single layer, skin side up, in foil-lined baking pan.

Bake, covered, 1 hour or until tender. When cool enough to handle, scoop pulp from rind. Place pulp in blender or food processor.

Cover and blend or process until smooth. Transfer to freezer bags. (or I like to put in ice cube trays...freeze, then pop out into freezer bags for little 1 oz portions). Store in refrigerator up to 3 days, or freeze up to 6 months. Thaw in refrigerator before use.

Makes 5 cups puree.

NUTRITION FACTS-Each 1/2 cup serving: 58 cal, 0 g fat, 0 mg chol, 2 mg sodium, 14g carb, 1 g fiber, 2 g protein

Pumpkin Soup

Here is a recipe from my friend Polly, who lives in Australia! She is the gal that won 2nd prize in the latest recipe contest. Since she is experiencing winter right now, she has warm recipes on her mind. I love pumpkin anything, so I asked her if I could share this one with you and she obliged. This is her post taken directly from her blog.

Here is what she said:
Pumpkin Soup to be exact - I love when it first gets so very cold that all you really want is a piping hot bowl of soup. One of the first soups of the season I always always make is Pumpkin Soup - it is my very favourite. So I thought I would share with you my very easy recipe.

1 kilo (35 oz or about 4 1/2 cups) pumpkin diced (I use butternut for the sweet flavour)
2 large potatoes diced
1 onion diced
2 cups chicken stock
1 large tablespoon brown sugar.
1 teaspoon cumin
1/2 cup water

Put everything in a large saucepan and simmer for as long as it takes until all mushy (I generally put it on and forget about it for a couple of hours)

Blend mixture

At this point you can add sour cream and nutmeg if you like, however I prefer with with some cracked black pepper and salt.

I made my first big pot yesterday and I suspect it won't last the week. Oh well, its an excuse to make up more!

Farmer John's Pumpkin Bread

Let me tell you, My friend Christina brought these to a playgroup and...they were the absolute best pumpkin muffins I have EVER eaten! My children loved them too.

1st bowl:
2 c flour
1 1/4 c dark brown sugar
1 c granulated sugar
1 c coarsely chopped walnuts or pecans
1/2 c raisins (i used craisins)
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp nutmeg
3/4 tsp salt
3/4 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp ground allspice
1/2 tsp ginger

2nd bowl:
3 large eggs
1 3/4 c mashed pumpkin (i used a bit more)
3/4 c vegetable oil

Add wet ingredients to dry. Stir just until blended. Pour into 2 8-1/2 x 4-1/2 loaf pans. Or 1 loaf pan and muffins.
Bake at 350 for 50-60 mins.
Cool 15 mins and then remove.

Enjoy!