Classic Rolled Sugar Cookies Recipe (Christmas Cookies)

I'm not a a baker!  I really don't like making these cookies because they take FOREVER but they were always a big hit and I spent many years helpin my mom with these cookies.  She usually did get the compliments, but she'd give us kids the credit for the decorating.  Ha ha!  I sure do miss my mom!

This is also all my brother ever wants for Christmas.  When you think about it, this is a very nice gift!  They take a lot of work, time, love, sweat, swears, and they are sweet and delicious.  I'm thinking GIFT CARD this year.  Ha ha!

My brother and my baby girl!

A funny story and then I'll share the recipe!  A few years ago, my sister sent me a picture of her showing me that she was baking these cookies for my brother's Christmas gift!  He's a sly devil, as he asked BOTH of us that year!  So I asked her for the recipe because obviously she had our mom's recipe.  She said she'd bring it to me when they came to see our new house.

She and her honey came to see us, from Charlotte, NC, before heading to my brothers.  She brought us some of the cookies but NO recipe.  She said, I didn't remind her to bring it.  Well... well... that was true.  Ha ha!  So, no recipe and we were a day away from our Christmas gathering.  Sigh!

Baby girl with my sister and her honey!

So began the frantic recipe hunt!  I thought mom always used her yellow cookbook when we made the cookies, so I went to my cookbook bookshelf and looked.  THE PAGE WAS MISSING!!!  So I looked in my grandmother's old Betty Crocker cookbook and the sugar cookie recipe page was missing from her's too!  WHAT THE...

Then I was really scrambling.  I looked on vintage recipe sites, pinterest, cookbook.com sites, and even my grandma's Encyclopedia of Cooking book.  In there, I found a recipe that seemed close.  After discussing this weirdness with hubby,  I wondered how my sister had the recipe.  Thinking back... I vaguely remembered emailing it to her when mom was still alive.  YES!  Hit the email archives... JACKPOT! (but I kept the Encyclopedia handy)



via GIPHY

So now that I have the recipe too, I'm putting it here so it won't mysteriously disappear again!

Making Christmas cookies or any cut out sugar cookies is always more fun if:
1. You enjoy baking
2. You do it family and friends (and a cocktail).
Doing it by yourself is torture, unless of course you are 1.

Rolled Sugar Cookies from the Pillsbury New Family Cookbook (1973)

Yield: 72 Cookies
Ingredients:
1 cup butter softened (I used real butter of course!)  {my mom used margarine }
1 cup sugar
1 egg
3 tablespoons cream or milk (I recommend 2% or higher - I used half and half)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 tsp anise extract (Not sure if this was my mom's add in or in the original recipe.  We DO NOT like licorice so I used almond extract)
3 cups unsifted flour (with self-rising flour, omit baking powder and salt)
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt (I used my Himalayan pink salt and they were great!)

Directions:
In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar.
Beat in egg, cream, vanilla, and flavored extract
Stir in flour, baking powder, and salt until well mixed

Wrap the dough in wax paper and refrigerate for easier handling.

Getting ready to chill the dough while I chill with a rum and coke! 

Preheat oven to 400
Roll out dough, one-third at a time on a floured surface to 1/8 inch thickness.
Cut into desired shapes
Place 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets
Bake 5 - 8 minutes or until slightly golden.
Cool on rack

Decorate as desired

Enjoy!

Hemp Seed Chicken Salad Recipe

How Tracy does chicken salad.

Yum!

Tracy's Hemp Seed Chicken Salad
2 cans chicken in broth, drained
1/2 onion (I prefer red, but only had sweet) chopped
1 stalk celery finely chopped
15 grapes, halved (If I don't have grapes, I use apples)
2 tbsp hemp seeds (hemp hearts)
4 tbsp Hellman's Olive Oil mayo
Pink salt & pepper to taste

Here's the fun part. 

Drain the chicken, then place in large dish (with room for mixing).  Shred the chicken with a fork.  Add the onion, celery, grapes, hemp seeds, and mayo.

Mix well.

Yum!  Makes like 6 servings.

We enjoyed ours with fresh veggies today and a pita.

Enjoy!

What's your chicken salad recipe?

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Easy Salmon Patties - Grain Free

Honey has been hinting around for me to make salmon patties.  His mom used to make them.   Eek! How can I even come close to as good as mom's!

Well, honey gets my version of how I think you make salmon patties (I've never made these before). I don't have flour in the house, so I used almond meal which makes these grain free.  Cool!

I think they tasted pretty good, but I think next go I'll add another egg and more almond meal.  These were sort of iffy on staying together when they needed to be turned.  I also think I'll experiment more with spice the next time.

Grain Free Salmon Patties
Ingredients
2  6 oz cans of salmon shredded with a fork
1/4 of a sweet onion
1/4 of a cup of almond meal
1 egg
various seasoning (I used onion powder, garlic powder, salt and pepper)

Begin heating your large fry pan on medium heat with non stick spray

Mix your ingredients.

Form 4 patties.  Place in pan and brown, turning gently.  Cook until golden brown.

We enjoyed ours with my easy peasy hash browns (sweet for me) and corn on the cobb.

Enjoy

Homemade Ketchup Recipe

Okay, we hardly ever eat ketchup so I've not really stressed about the ingredients of what I'm buying, but we've been exercising 30 minutes a day and watching our carbs and sugar.  The result... 2 lb weight gain.  Thanks!

So I am looking at everything!  Sugar is in almost everything and sugar is evil.  I think I've mentioned before that I don't have a huge sweet tooth, so cutting sweets is not a big deal for me, but finding out it's in almost everything I buy, just sucks.

So I'm trying to cut it out in places I know where it is.  Ketchup is one of those places.  I've searched pinterest and this recipe is very common out there.  I've made my own tweaks but that's how I "own it'  You need to do the same!  "Own it!".

Homemade Ketchup
Ingredients
2 6oz cans of tomato paste
1/4 cup honey (use your local honey)
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1 packet stevia (optional - I might leave it out of the next batch)
1/2 cup of water
Pink salt, garlic powder, onion powder, and pepper to taste.  Start with a 1/4 tsp of each.  You will need to add more to "own it!".
Additional Tracy "own it" ingredient was white wine.  Yum!  - We usually have chardonnay and cabernet sauvignon on hand which make great cooking add in!

Put all of the ingredients in a saucepan and simmer for 2 hours.  Taste and add more seasoning.  Mine was way too sweet when I tasted it but adding a few more shakes of the garlic powder, onion powder, salt, and pepper made it pretty awesome!

Use a funnel and slowly pour your ketchup in a container (preferably glass) and store in the fridge.

I had saved our last ketchup bottle to store my homemade ketchup.

I'll be on the lookout for a glass bottle or 2 for the next batch of ketchup.  I must note that the brand on the bottle that you see, is the the best store bought ketchup we have ever had!

Enjoy!

Southwestern Sweet Potatoes

This recipe is how I learned to like sweet potatoes.  I'm not much of a sweets eater and when I was ever at a dinner with sweet potatoes, they were served as a marshmallow goo or with cinnamon and sugar.  Not my thing.  I'm a savory girl.  Maybe a bit salty too.  ha ha.  Now I love sweet potatoes, but still not sweetened! 

Only 1 picture for this recipe.  I thought about sharing the recipe after they were almost done.  

Southwestern Sweet Potatoes

Ingredients:
2 sweet potatoes
1 large pepper or equivalent in sliced multi color peppers
1/2 large sweet onion
EVOO
Seasonings of garlic powder, pepper, onion pepper

• Bake your sweet potatoes in the microwave (firm)or use leftover baked sweet potatoes 
• Slice your peppers and onions while potatoes cook.
• Cut the cooked potatoes lengthwise in half, then slice through to make half circle cuts.
• Heat pan to medium heat with the EVOO 
• Add all to heated oil, season. 
• Stir and cook to desired texture

I like my veggies and potatoes browned. This photo was while they were 5 minutes away from done for me. 

Enjoy!

💚

Easy Roasted Grape Tomatoes

I never thought of roasting tomatoes and adding them to a meal or even making them the main attraction of a dish.  But I had a pint that got dried out a tad from being forgotten a few days.  They were fine, they were just slightly wrinkly in places.  So I decided I'd roast them and add them to pasta with pesto for an easy supper.

The hardest part of roasting the tomatoes is halving them.  And that's not even hard.  It's just tedious cuz, you know... short attention span Tracy was handling it.  ha ha.

These were lightly seasoned but the roasting infused the seasons and really brought out the sweetness of the tomatoes.  Wow, were they delicious!

In case you are like me, and didn't really know what to add to your tomatoes or how long and what temperature to bake your tomatoes, this recipe is for YOU!  I even measured this time and if you've read any of my recipes, you know this is like miraculous. 

Easy Roasted Grape Tomatoes

Ingredients:
1 Pint Grape Tomatoes halved
1 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1/4 tsp salt (I use pink Himalayan)
1/4 tsp pepper
4 cloves minced garlic ( I buy the jars of minced garlic and use the equivalent - this is a great short cut for any busy cook that's also wanting to visit with the family and have a bit of time for their side business)

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

Add your halved tomatoes to a small mixing bowl.

Add the EVOO, salt & pepper, and garlic.

Gently fold the ingredients to keep the tomatoes intact.

Place the tomatoes on the parchment paper lined cookie sheet.

Bake for 30 minutes.

Now add them to tonight's supper!  I added them to freshly cooked pasta, pesto, and some pre-cooked grilled chicken pieces.  Easy peasy yummy in the tummy supper!

Enjoy!

Your turn!  What do you plan to add your tomatoes to?

Sweet and Tangy Cucumbers

This is one of our favorite side dishes!  It's refreshing, versatile, and inexpensive!

My grandmother K and my mom used to make a similar cucumber recipe that I understood to be a common Polish side dish.  Well at least it was in my grandma's Polish house and my mom's 1/2 Polish home.  They added Miracle Whip and sugar to white vinegar to make theirs.  We enjoyed them growing up as they were sweet.  My father LOVED them.

I tried this mixture to eliminate the mayo and sugar but try to obtain a similar flavor.  I've tasted similar at our favorite Thai restaurant.

Sweet and Tangy Cucumbers
Ingredients
1 large cucumber (peeled and sliced per preference)
2 -3 tbsp of Rice Vinegar
2 stevia packets

I've always used a coffee mug to mix this.  I'm not sure why.  ha ha... but add your vinegar to a mixing cup or bowl then add your stevia.  Mix well.

(disclaimer - I'm guessing on the vinegar amount.  I'm a dumper from way back and I stink at remembering to measure.  Be brave and taste test a tiny amount before adding to your cucumber)

Pour over your cucumbers and stir.

If possible, make this about an hour or 2 prior to your meal so the cucumbers can marinate.  These are wonderful on day 1 but amazing day 2!

My cucumber tip.  I'm not an expert on veggie storage but I normally store cucumbers in the fridge.  I go ahead and peel and slice my cucumbers and let them sit a while on the counter tossed in extremely light salt before I pour this mixture on them.

If you have any cucumber tips, please share in the comments!

Easy Lentil Sloppy Joes

Our attempts at eating mostly vegetarian continue after an all meat Sunday left me feeling like poo!
I will reiterate, that we have not gone 100% vegetarian... We actually enjoy eating meat.  I love a good burger, a yummy steak, and messy chicken wings.  But goodness!  I feel so much better eating plant protein over animal protein and that's my personal fact!

So where was I... oh! yes, vegetarian adventures.  As I am still not well since January, our vegetarian adventures are on the easy side.  So tonight even has crummy pictures... this extreme fatigue is REAL y'all.  Ugh.

But let's start with a little fun.  Does anyone know where Sloppy Joes originated?  I didn't!  But being naturally curious and a constant learner... I googled it!  I came across this great little article on the history of sloppy joes.  Check it out...  The History of Sloppy Joes by ionnutrition.com

So here's the super easy lentil sloppy joes.  If you prefer to make this meaty style, I've made these with ground chicken or as lean as possible ground beef (but ground chicken is very, very lean and tastes pretty good as a sloppy joe)

Easy Lentil Sloppy Joes
Ingredients:
Cooked Lentils
1 packet McCormick Sloppy Joes seasoning mix
1 1/4 cup water
6 oz. tomato paste
1/4 or 1/2 cup brown sugar (optional)

If you need to cook your lentils.  I cook about 1 cup of lentils in 2 cups of water.  This is about the equivalent of 1 lb and a half of ground meat.  (I always make too much for 2 people with left overs)

Instructions to cook lentils: 

• Sort 1 cup of lentils in a strainer to remove any stones or bad pieces
• rinse the lentils
• Add the lentils to 2 cups of water and bring to gentle boil on medium heat.  Lower heat to a simmer for 20 minutes or until desired texture.  If adding salt, wait until about 5 minutes left and lightly salt lentils.  
• When they are done, put back in strainer to drain excess water

Lentil Sloppy Joes

• Put the cooked lentils to a frying pan
• Add the seasoning mix, 1 1/4 cup of water, 6 oz of tomato paste, and brown sugar if adding it. 
• Follow the instructions on the seasoning packet.  (gently mix ingredients, bring to a boil, then turn temperature down to simmer for 10 minutes)
• Serve on your favorite bun and yum! 

Hubby even had seconds and said this was a keeper!

Yummy!

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Veggie Skillet Pasta

This was super easy and yummy!  It's actually a good base for a camping dinner recipe!

You can also own and vary this recipe however you want.  This made about 6 servings


Veggie Skillet Pasta
1 box of pasta (I had 1/2 a box of Dreamfield's penne and threw in come whole wheat elbows)
1 jar of sauce (I used Bertolli Rustic Cut pasta sauce with garden vegetables - Roasted Garlic)
1 pepper (I had an orange one on hand) - coarsely chopped
1 small sweet onion - coarsely chopped
1 zucchini - sliced
2 cups of water
1 tbsp EVOO
1 tsp minced garlic
salt and pepper (optional)


You could save time and dishes and maybe cook your veggies in with the pasta, but I used my good ole frying pan and sauteed my veggies in EVOO and garlic.

• In a deep skillet, empty your jar of sauce and 2 cups of water and put on medium to heat sauce to a simmer.

• While the sauce heats, place your EVOO and garlic in your frying pan, heat up for a minute or so and then add your chopped veggies.  Sautee to your liking.  

• Your sauce will be a good heat while your veggies are cooking.  As it lightly bubbles, turn heat down to medium low and add your pasta.  Time 10 minutes.

• Finish your veggies and remove from heat.

• After 10 minutes, reduce heat on the pasta to low, add your veggies, then wait another 5 minutes.

• The pasta will be wonderful, the veggies re-heated, and the sauce thickened and absorbed into the pasta. 

Enjoy!

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Roasted Garlic Parmesan Chickpeas

Roasted chickpea pita with sliced cucumber, red onion, tomato, lettuce, and homemade tzatziki sauce

I mentioned in my Veggie Enchilada Lasagna recipe that we are trying to eat more "plant based" and less meat.  In an effort to maintain proper protein levels but incorporate great flavor and satiety, I found chickpeas and black beans may be our go-to protein during the week as we get started.

Roasted chickpeas are super easy and very versatile.  This recipe is for a Garlic Parmesan flavor but you could totally get creative with this on your seasonings, double the batch for a larger family, and the kids can help you mix the chickpeas and decide on the seasonings.

I don't have great pictures as putting these on a blog was a thought part way through.  We ate these with pitas, veggies, and homemade tzatziki sauce the first night.  I ate leftovers on a baked potato the next day.

Leftover roasted chickpeas on a baked potato with tzatziki sauce.  YUM!

This recipe is super easy, has minimal ingredients, fairly easy clean up, and minimal time.

Roasted Garlic Parmesan Chickpeas

Ingredients: 
Chickpeas - 1 Can (I used organic no salt added)
Olive Oil - 2 tbsp
Garlic Powder - 1 tsp
Onion Powder - 1 tsp
Grated Parmesan - 2 tbsp
Salt & Pepper to taste (optional)   I only used pepper as the Parmesan is salty to me

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and prepare a 9x13 glass baking dish or lipped baking tray.  Maybe lightly coat with spray oil to prevent some of the sticking I had or use more Olive Oil.

Drain and rinse the chickpeas and wrap them in paper towels to dry some.  After they are ready, put them in a small mixing bowl and add the olive oil, garlic powder, onion powder, grated parmesan, and salt and pepper if desired.

Mix gently and then put in your baking dish.

Place them in the 400 degree oven and time 10 minutes.  After 10 minutes, give them a gentle stir and then let them bake 10 more minutes.

Enjoy!



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Trudy's Potato Salad

My sweet grandma, Trudy, was a wonderful, wonderful woman.  I miss her so much.  She was a pretty good cook and had a few dishes that everyone loved and one of those dishes was her potato salad.  Which then was handed down to my mom, which was then handed down to us girls.

It's a very simple style of potato salad, but ended up being one of my mom's most requested dishes for potlucks, besides her brownies.

It has now become my husband's favorite potato salad and this is trying every store bought (Publix, Kroger, Walmart) variety.

You'll die at how easy it is too!

Trudy's Potato Salad

Ingredients

• Potatoes (about 5-6 medium sized, of any variety potatoes.  This recipe used Klondike Rose)
• 1/2 Vidalia onion chopped
• 2 hard boiled eggs
• 2 celery heart stalks finely chopped
• 1/2 Hellmann's Mayonnaise
• Seasoning Salt 

Wash then chop up potatoes.  I did not peel the Klondike Rose potatoes.  But if you use brown skinned potato, you might want to peel them before you chop them.

Place them in a medium sized pan and cover with water

Bring potatoes to a boil and then let them boil for about 10 minutes.

While potatoes are boiling, chop your onion, eggs, and celery

After 10 minutes, drain your potatoes and let them cool for about 30 minutes.

While your potatoes cool, have a glass of wine and listen to some music (Relax!)

After your potatoes have cooled, pour them into a large serving bowl or casserole.  I used my mom's vintage cornflower corning ware casserole.

Add about 1/2 of your ingredients and mix... then combine the rest of your ingredients and mix.

Season to taste.  I'm guessing I used about 1 teaspoon of seasoning salt.  You may like less or more.

Enjoy!!!

We enjoyed ours with burgers and corn on the cobb!

What do you usually serve your potato salad with?

Super Easy Garlic Dipping Oil for Bread Recipe

We made a light summer supper tonight.  We included dipping oil for our bread.  It was so easy to make... but I might add, that although many Italian restaurants serve this with their bread (and it's oh so yummy) I don't think it's actually an Italian custom.  I think proper bread etiquette is to eat bread with your meal and use it to dip into the delectable sauces... but I've never been to Italy, so what do I know!

So, since we're in Georgia, USA... we had sort of an appetizer supper.  Cheeses, fruit, crusty garlic bread with dipping oil, and cocktail sausage... because there just wasn't enough to share with Baby dog if we didn't have them.  =)

Garlic Dipping Oil

Ingredients:

• 4 tablespoons of Olive Oil 
• 5-6 cloves of fresh garlic, chopped 

Add about 1 teaspoon of Olive Oil to a small fry pan and warm on medium heat.  Add the chopped garlic and stir until brown.  

Oh the fragrance is fabulous! 

This made about 2 teaspoons of garlic (maybe a tad more).  

Add 1 teaspoon of the roasted garlic to 2 tablespoons of olive oil in dipping bowls.  Let the dipping oil sit for about 30 minutes to infuse the flavor.

This was sooooooooooooo good and sooooooooooo easy!

Enjoy!