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!

Upcoming Posts Preview! Recipes, A Travel Post, and Exciting News

Hey y'all!  I've lost count on my days being sick!  I'm now in the waiting period of blood work results and making an appointment with an ENT possibly.  I actually developed sinus symptoms over the past month, but a 2nd round of antibiotics has done nothing to heal me.  I still have an elevated temp, painful swollen glands, and the extreme fatigue.

BUT, we are trying to still enjoy life as we can. We still have a trip coming up that we scheduled before I got sick.  I never dreamed I'd still feel ill by the time the trip rolled around.  At any rate, I'm excited to go and scheduled a day off from work, after we return, so that I can take a full rest day.

I'm trying to resume decent cooking again and have started the adventure of vegetarian cooking.  We are finding that we eat a lot of Latin inspired meals lately.  We are not full out vegetarian but we are discovering it to be agreeable to eat that way most days.

We've resumed getting out in the world a little.  The weather has warmed up here and there to enjoy sitting on our deck (which brings me great joy).  We started to slowly catch up on calendar items that have been put off since February, however; we are cautious as to how we spend my "tired" time and are avoiding emotionally and mentally draining situations. 

As you may know, over the past few years, it has been my goal to get us to better health (how ironic considering my current situation).  My biggest goals were to help my husband feel better from arthritis pain and sleep better with the restless legs.  Of course he needs to want to and do his own work to feel better and be healthy, but I try to give him the best tools that I can in the form of supplements and healthy meals.  I will share exciting news soon regarding something we decided to try for him that is HELPING!  Sleep is good my friends, especially when it's accompanied by less pain and comes from nature and not a chemical!

Stay tuned!  

Your Turn!  I'd love to hear what your favorite posts are.  I want to work harder to provide posts that you enjoy for find valuable. 

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Waste Not - Especially the Wine!

Wine Cubes

I shared this on a previous recipe post, but I think it's a great idea worth re-posting

Honey and I enjoy a glass of wine (or two) here and there and sometimes honey can't finish his glass, and I may not want to finish his too (this happens only on occasion).  So I usually put the rest of his in the fridge and use it within the next day or so in a supper recipe.

But now I've started freezing any left over wine in an extra ice cube tray.

Now when I make spaghetti sauce or my "Tipsy Chili" I just pop in a few wine cubes instead of opening a new bottle.

You are welcome!

"Stewed" Almost To Die For Roast Pork (Slow Cooker) Recipe

Based on the super easy "To Die For Roast"... My variation is also for the slow cooker.

I love my crockpot!  There I said it...

This is based on an excellent roast recipe, link above to food.com's recipe.

"Stewed" Almost To Die For Roast Pork

Note:  I did this recipe half and half.  I did a lower carb side for me and added mushrooms.  Honey doesn't like sweet potatoes or mushrooms.

Ingredients:
3 lb pork roast
1 packet Hidden Valley the Original Ranch Salad Dressing and Seasoning Mix
1 packet Good Seasons Italian All Natural Salad Dressing and Recipe Mix
1 16 oz. bag of baby carrots
1 16 oz. package of baby bella mushrooms
1 small sweet onion, coarsely chopped
1 large sweet potato cut into chunks
5 small/med red potatoes cut into chunks
3/4 cup white wine (I used chardonnay) - this is the "stewed" part.  hee hee
1/4 cup water

Here's the easy part... put it all in your slow cooker and set to low for 7-8 hours.  

After the roast was done, I sliced it up and emptied the veggies out of the pot with a slotted spoon.  I took the juice in the slow cooker and  poured it into a small sauce pan and made my own gravy from the flavored juice.  It was sweet and tangy.  Yummy, really.

additional note:  The original "To Die For" recipe adds a gravy mix to the slow cooker in addition to the other flavor packets... but I prefer to make my own gravy.

one more note:  I make a larger roast as I will freeze the other half and then re-purpose it into bbq... It's to die for... =)

Enjoy!

Sausage Casserole Recipe

Sausage Casserole Recipe

This recipe is another one of my mother's staples from our childhood.  I am not sure if this was a southern living recipe or something handed down.  My grandmother did not make this though, that I am aware of.  I note that it could be a southern living recipe only because my mother was obsessed with southern living cookbooks.  Sadly, I had to give a ton of her cookbooks away, but as I inherited her obsession with cookbooks, I am not limited to just southern living.  Wait... where was I going with that?? (My sister read this and let me know that it may have been our "Aunt" Bev's recipe.  Aunt Bev was our mom's Bff since we were littles.)

Anyway, we had this like every week or every other week... a lot!  My guess is because it was fairly inexpensive, easy to make, and pretty darn good.  

My version is made half and half.  Half for honey with mashed potatoes and half for me made with fauxtatoes.  I also use turkey sausage instead of mild sausage to save on fat content and I do like the taste of turkey sausage.  

Sausage Casserole Recipe:

Ingredients:

Jenni-O mild turkey breakfast sausage (entire package) or mild sausage of choice

Potatoes (4 - 5 servings)

Raw cauliflower (almost 2 cups)

EVOO 1 tbsp 

Half and half (I use Horizon organic) 3 tbsp or so

Salt (I use pink Himalayan) a few shakes

Black Pepper a few shakes

Canned sauerkraut (1 can) or 1/2 Jar (not Bavarian style)

Grated Parmesan (a few shakes)

Okay.. we all know that I'm horrible at remembering to measure.  My goal this year is to get better at that for my 20 readers.  =)

Cut up your potatoes into small pieces.  Place in a medium size pan and cover with water.  Shake a bit of salt on the water and boil until soft for mashing.

While your potatoes are boiling, steam your cauliflower and brown your sausage.

When your potatoes are done, drain them and add 1 tbsp of butter, about 2 tbsps half and half and a few shakes of salt and pepper and start mashing.

Now mash your cauliflower with about 1 tbsp of butter and maybe 1 tbsp of half and half.  Also add a little salt and pepper to taste

When the sausage is finished, drain any water or fat.  I hardly ever have to drain turkey sausage.

Now you are ready to assemble...

In your larger casserole dish, add your cooked sausage.  If you have minced onions, go ahead and sprinkle those on top of the sausage.  I didn't have any so I sprinkled Parmesan cheese.  

Next, add your sauerkraut.  I did drain mine by pushing the fork against the sauerkraut and draining the in the sink.  I pulled the sauerkraut out with the fork and spread it all over the sausage.

next, I added the mashed potatoes to one half of the casserole and the mashed cauliflower to the other half of the casserole.  This made a normal carb and a low carb dinner.  =)

Mashed potatoes on left

mashed cauliflower on right

Sprinkle a little more parm on top and then  bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes.  

Yummy out of the oven

Normal carb mashed potatoes serving

Low carb mashed cauliflower serving

Delish!

Enjoy!

Please let me know if you make any of these recipes and how you liked them.  I'd love to hear from you.

Tracy's Tipsy Chili Recipe

Tipsy Chili!

I must admit, that until my mom passed away, I had never made my own chili.  Her chili was so yummy, why should I make my own?  Anyway, a while after she passed away, the search was on for her recipe.  I found it, and here it is.  

It's yummy!  

So from that recipe, I evolved slightly.  Basically, I season it as I like it, or rather as honey and Kelly like it.  They are my taste testers as to when it's done.  

I prefer to simmer my chili as long as possible, so I normally make chili on the weekends.  Today is an exception.  It's an after work chili that's been simmering an hour or so now, but it will be amazing re-heated tomorrow after everything marinates.

I did post a picture of the spices on Insta and FB to see if anyone could guess my secret ingredient.  So far, the guesses have been cocoa powder, coffee, bacon, and beer.  All great guesses and ideas!  Thanks Chrissy, Dawn, Cheryl, and Dawn!  My mom's secret ingredient was taco bell sauce packets!  Medium!  Try it.  She would be okay with me sharing!

Enjoy my super easy recipe and of course, "own it" and make it your own!

Ingredients:

1 1b. of ground meat of choice (I used organic ground chicken)

1 28 oz can of tomato sauce or puree (I accidentally got puree this time, but it just made for a thicker chili)

1 8 oz can of diced tomatoes ( I prefer low sodium if I can find it)

1 8 oz can of chili beans

1 8 oz can of black beans

Various spices:  (I am horrible at measuring) I always forget the bay leaf, so this recipe was with out it.  Wait, does anyone know what the bay leaf flavor is like? (squirrel)

chili powder - 2 shakes to start

garlic minced and/or garlic powder - lots of it

cumin - 3-4 shakes

onion flakes - 3 shakes

cayenne - 2 shakes to start

seasoning salt - 1 shake or none at all

sriracha (because I was out of of Frank's hot sauce) - a good squirt of sriracha or about 5 shakes of Franks to start

1 green pepper - chopped

1 sweet onion - chopped

1 tbsp of olive oil

I think that's everything!

• brown your ground meat in a non-stick pan (I can't find my orgreenic since the move, so I'm using the old T Fals for now).  I don't add spray oil or any oil.  Drain when finished if any liquid or grease ( sometimes, I season the meat with the dried onions and some garlic while it browns)
• while the meat browns, add 1tbsp of olive oil to your big cooking pot and cook the chopped green peppers and onions on medium heat.  (sometimes I go ahead and add a little garlic while the veggies cook)
  
• when the meat is done, add it to the pot with the peppers and onions
• add your canned puree or sauce, the tomatoes, and rinsed beans.  
• start shaking your seasonings
  

• add your secret ingredient... mine is... ta da!... 1/2 a cup or so of Cabernet Sauvignon!  I bet you were curious about the tipsy part of the chili (no, the cook isn't tipsy).  
• simmer for a few hours
  
• If you like, top with cheese, onions, and greek yogurt or sour cream.  Serve with cornbread, on top of rice, baked regular or sweet potato, with tortilla chips, or just in the bowl!  Sometimes left overs top a salad.  
• I'm hungry
• I'll take a glass of wine now... oh, beer is good with this too.

Enjoy!

Philly Peppers Recipe

Philly Peppers!

I made these back in December.  This was just a fun way to assemble extra ingredients I had from making fajitas.  I've seen plenty of pictures of these recipes on Pinterest, so this isn't an original idea.  

Does anyone else save recipes for the picture and not really read the recipes?  I have a bad habit of doing that.  I think it's an ADD tendency to not want to sit long enough to read the recipe.  I'll just make it like I think it's made.... ha ha (more like a recipe picture is an inspiration and the recipe is maybe a suggestion of what to buy)  wait... SQUIRREL!!!

I looked up free pictures for this, so hopefully this doesn't make anyone mad!

Okay... I had an extra package of peppers that included red, orange, and yellow peppers.  So I was super excited for a colorful dinner.  I also had left over frozen fajita steak... so again, I'm excited because I love to eat meat.  Just sayin'.  I also made what I thought was just a cup of quinoa.  Does that stuff like double in size over night?  I had a ton of cooked quinoa and needed to use it up (I still threw out like what seemed 2 lbs of it to the birds).  

Oh!  The recipe!  Here you go!

Ingredients:

3 fresh peppers (any color that you prefer) cut in half, tops and seeds removed.

1 cup to 1 cup and a half quinoa (cooked and maybe lightly salted with pink salt of course and peppered) enough for 3 servings.

1 small sweet onion coarsely chopped then cooked or caramelized to your liking

EVOO (for the onions)

9 oz steak or chicken strips (cooked and chunked into small pieces) enough for 3 servings

6 provolone cheese slices 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

begin cooking your onions on medium heat (not higher). 

Par boil your peppers for about 3-5 minutes so that they are still firm but not too crunchy.  I hate hearing people crunch their food sometimes (squirrel!) 

Cool them off slightly on a foil lined cookie sheet so that you can handle them.

Begin your assembly of your stuffed peppers.  

This is how I did it:

a little quinoa on the bottom of each pepper half,

then maybe an ounce to ounce and half of meat

then stack some of the cooked onions

top with a broken slice of provolone

add more quinoa

add more meat

add more onion

top with a slice of provolone

Bake in oven for like 10 minutes or until cheese is melty.  It shouldn't take long as your ingredients were all cooked and warm before you put them in the oven.  

This seems like a lot of words, but it really didn't take long to prepare or get my fork into them.  

You can see that depending on the size of your peppers, you will not need much to stuff them, but I enjoyed 2 halves for supper and it was yummy.  So yummy, that I forgot to take pictures of the peppers cut open.  I'll have to update this post when I make them again to get some assembly pictures.  

Enjoy!

Plum Salsa Recipe

Plum Salsa!

You know when you buy a bunch of fruit, with good intentions, only to find it got too ripe before you could eat it?

Yes, that was the inspiration for this recipe.  I had 2 very soft plums.

Plum Salsa 

2 very ripe plums chopped

1/4 red onion chopped

2 tsps apple cider vinegar 

dash of pink salt

sprinkle of dried cilantro (or fresh of course if you have it)

squirt of Sriracha sauce

Gently mix up your salsa and chill.

While you chill, let the salsa chill a bit so the flavors can marinate.   

My daughter taste tested and approved this on Keebler Club crackers.  Honey approved it on baked tilapia.  

I suppose this would be yummy on baked chicken or with tortilla chips or even a sandwich topping.

Enjoy!

Hey!... this is my 100th post!  (I guess only exciting news to me.  ha ha!)

Egg Roll Bowl Recipe

Egg Roll Bowl

photo by Tracy Hilbun

This is pretty easy, although not super fast, to make.  I also like the short list of ingredients.

Ingredients:

Large bag of slaw mix (5 servings size).  I used the mix that has the red cabbage and carrots in it.

1 large onion coarsely chopped

1lb of ground turkey sausage (or ground meat of choice – pork, chicken, beef maybe?)

2 tbsp rice vinegar

2-4 tbsp low sodium soy sauce

In a large skillet, brown the ground meat on medium heat.  (I used ground turkey sausage because I didn’t have ground pork or chicken.)   After the meat is browned, set it aside and use the drippings to cook the chopped onion pieces until they are soft (I like mine a little browned).   **Because I used ground turkey sausage, I did not have any drippings left in the pan but I did have some stored bacon drippings from Christmas, in the fridge. 

When the onion is ready, add the bag of slaw mix to the skillet.  Still working on medium heat, gently stire the mixture occasionally for about 20 minutes. 

photo by Tracy Hilbun

Once the slaw is cooked, add the ground meat back in the skillet and then add the rice vinegar and soy sauce.  Stir gently to mix.  Then set to low heat and let this simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. 

Photo by Tracy Hilbun

Your low carb, yummy dinner is now ready. 

Enjoy!

Photo By Tracy Hilbun

Honey, did ask for some of the left over brown rice, from Saturday’s meal, to eat with his and a bit more soy sauce.  But I didn’t have a fortune cookie for him.  

**Disclaimer:  This is not my original recipe.  It’s how I made a version of the recipe.  Not sure who originated it as there are so many versions out there with Paleo version, Trim Healthy Mama, and another diet plan that’s a secret as an egg roll in a bowl.

Peach Salsa Chicken Recipe

Photo by Tracy Hilbun

Peach Salsa Chicken

Super easy and yummy supper.  This is not an original idea.  I think this is a take on a Weight Watchers recipe.  

My ingredients:

4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts

Betty's Country Store Peach Salsa (Betty's Country Store is located in Helen, GA - about 10 miles from us)

Mozzarella cheese slices (part skim)

Pink Himalayan Salt

Pepper

Preheat oven to 375

Place your chicken breasts in a prepared glass baking dish (use cooking spray, oil, or butter)

Sprinkle a little salt and pepper on the chicken breasts

Top with salsa (maybe 1/2 cup on each breast?) {I'm terrible about measuring}

Cover dish with foil and bake for 20 minutes or so

After 20 minutes, remove chicken and add a slice of cheese to each chicken breast

Bake an additional 15-20 minutes re-covered in foil

After about 15 minutes, remove foil and bake an additional 10 minutes with an additional slice of cheese on each chicken breast to brown the cheese.

Enjoy with some nice low carb sides to complete your colorful plate!

Yummy, easy, cheesy!

Tracy's Vegetable Beef Stew Recipe

Let me start by saying that it is really, really, really cold here and it's supposed to be colder, in the middle of the night, when we leave for work.  This inspired me to make a soup or a stew for supper tonight and something that would warm us up for the next few nights.

"Honey, how about beef stew?" Honey replied, "ooo YES!"

I used to enjoy my mom's stew but the trick here... how did she make it (another recipe gone to Heaven with mom)?  Ha ha... well, this is where I picked up too many things at the grocery to make stew but in the long run, I think I have dinner for the next 3 nights and maybe some lunches too!  Basically, I have no idea how to make mom's stew or any stew, so I'll make Tracy's stew.  Of course this means it will be easy and fairly simple too!

Photo by Tracy Hilbun

Tracy's Vegetable Beef Stew

Ingredients:  This looks like 6-8 servings (maybe more depending on your bowls or honey's appetite)
1 bag frozen mixed vegetables (mine had peas, carrots, butter beans, green beans, and corn in it)
3-4 carrots, sliced
2 potatoes, sliced (peeled or unpeeled)
1 small onion, cut up in smaller pieces
10 (about) radishes, ends removed (I didn't go too heavy on these because I wasn't sure if they'd go over okay)
1 package of stew beef
8 cups of water
4-6 low sodium beef bullion packets
various spices and ingredients to taste:  garlic powder, pink himalayan salt, pepper, worcestershire sauce, rosemary, *red wine cubes, half and half


Go ahead and get your 8 cups of water in a stock pot, add the bullion and start heating on medium high to mix the bullion.  After you get this set up, brown your meat slightly on medium heat with a small amount of olive oil.  While the meat is browning, add the dry seasonings to the meat.

photo by Tracy Hilbun

When the pot of bullion starts getting rumbly, add the bag of frozen vegetables, the rest of the fresh vegetable ingredients and the stew beef.  Gently stir it up and add 4 frozen *wine cubes (not quite a half a glass of red wine) and a little half and half to make a pretty color (maybe 1/4 of a cup?)

Photo by Tracy Hilbun

Put a lid on the pot and let this simmering on a medium low setting for about 4 hours.  We cleaned up the basement and moved boxes around while mine cooked.

Photo by Tracy Hilbun

Honey said this was really good and enjoyed this served with crusty sourdough bread with grassfed butter.  It was pretty good.  Although I took a chance with the radishes, they really were nice blended with all of the vegetables and flavors.  

Note:  You may prefer a thickened broth and I think that would be awesome too, but I went for the thinner broth this time.  

Enjoy!

*Wine Cubes

Okay.. every now and then, honey and I have a glass of wine and for some reason, he doesn't always finish his.  I don't always want to finish his too, so I freeze the leftover wine in an ice cube tray to use in my spaghetti sauce or whatever I want to add it to, like tonight's stew.  You can also do this with your leftover coffee!  I've seen those used in mixed drinks, like with Irish Cream!  I'm thinking white wine cubes with small pieces of fruit would make a lovely compliment to a glass of white this summer.  Just thinkin'

Photo by Tracy Hilbun

Simple Roast Turkey Recipe

I think I'm like totally late.. um... by 4 days..

Oh! well.  I hope you had a fabulous and blessed Thanksgiving.  I cooked and cooked and cooked.. and... then I cooked, with some cleaning in between.  I ended up being exhausted and having sore feet and calves for 2 days... but it was worth it.

My turkey came out fabulous!  I'm so proud of myself.  I had never hosted Thanksgiving on my own before.  My mother always did it and then after she passed away, and some years before she passed away, we went to my brother's and celebrated with his in-laws.  We also went to my sisters a few times.

This year I invited my family to our new to us home.  This was a big deal to me as this is my first home (not an apartment or living with my parents) since my first marriage.  I haven't had a home of my own since my daughter was 2 years old (she's now 21)... so I was a bit excited, to say the least, to host Thanksgiving at our new home.

Everyone was invited!

My mother-in-law and my brother-in-law came along with my lovely daughter.  Life is good.


Although exhausting... dinner was nice and yummy.  Everyone said they enjoyed it and I'd like to believe it.  Below is my turkey how to... I know I  had to look this up on the net, so maybe you will find this helpful for Christmas or future holidays.

Dinner:
turkey
gravy
crockpot mashed potatoes
sweet bacon dressing (I should put this recipe on the blog!)
cornbread dressing
green bean casserole
corn
everything italian bread
cranberries
2 frozen pies (pecan and pumpkin)  - I totally ran out of time for scratch and I am not a great baker.

Roast Turkey
Ingredients:
Whole Turkey (defrosted per instructions)
1 Stick of REAL butter - I use Kerry Gold
1 apple - quartered
1 orange - quartered
1 Sweet Onion - quartered or cut in smaller pieces
2 Stalks of celery - quartered
Seasonings of choice:  I used garlic powder, onion powder, and pink salt.

Chicken broth for simmering the giblet package in the neck.  

I purchased a 15.08 lb turkey from Ingles... at  $ .57 a lb, I got a heck of deal on this bird.  It was a Honeysuckle too!  (no antibiotics and awesome)

I defrosted for 3 days in the fridge, but did need to soak it about 30 minutes in cold water the night before and the morning of to assist in defrosting.

I pulled the giblet pack out of the neck area and the package in the turkey's hiney and put them in a pan with some chicken broth and simmered all morning for the gravy.

I stuffed a quarter stick of KerryGold butter in the neck

I stuffed a half a stick of the butter in it's hiney with a quartered apple, a quartered orange, an onion cut up and 2 celery stalks cut up.

I rubbed the rest of the butter, about a quarter of a stick, all over the bird and sprinkled with onion powder, garlic powder and some pink himalyan salt.

I cooked at 325 degrees for 15 minutes a pound.  It was done in 3 hours and 45 minutes.(160 degrees ish... as it continues to cook on the counter... fully cooked is 165 degrees).. then I pulled it out and let it rest while I baked the sides for about 30 - 45 minutes...

It was juicy and lovely.

photo and cooking credit

Tracy Hilbun

Vintage Holiday Recipes from BHG

What do you think?  Are these recipes worth reviving?

I wasn't anxious to try to make any of these, but it made me want to look through my grandmother's Joy of Cooking book and my mom's Betty Crocker cookbook!  At any rate to enjoy the vintage photos.

BHG Vintage Holiday recipes

Fun Snack Time - Light Appetizer Recipe

Another one of my weird creations from leftovers. Let's call them Summer Delights.

Ingredients on hand
Rye party breads
Port wine cheese
Cucumbers
Radishes

I can't use my oven yet so I toasted the breads in my fry pan
After they toasted, I spread a little of the port wine cheese, then topped them with a cucumber slice and radish slices.

Yay, a pretty and light summer snack!
Enjoy

photo by Tracy Hilbun

weird... I posted this in June.. how'd it get here?