Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Ingredients:

Ingredients:

Preparation:

Mix rosemary, sage, basil, pepper and garlic with oil to form a thick (but not dry) paste. Rub paste thoroughly into all sides of lamb chops. Cover, and allow to rest in refrigerator at least one hour (preferably longer). Grill chops on barbecue grill until rare to medium rare; herb coating should be slightly charred. Serves 4

I serve this dish with fried asparagus and roasted potatoes.

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon butter
6 ounces sliced mushrooms
1 (9 inch) unbaked pie shell
8 asparagus spears about 4 inches in length,
  or about 6 to 8 ounces
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup (4 oz.) shredded Monterey Jack or mild Cheddar cheese
3 eggs
1 1/4 cup half and half
grated peel and juice of 1/2 lemon
1/4 teaspoon seasoned salt
pepper to taste
dash of nutmeg, freshly ground if possible

Preparation:

Sauté mushrooms until lightly browned. Using a slotted spoon, remove to a plate; set aside. Rinse the skillet out; fill with water to a depth of about 2 inches. Add 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Bring water to a boil; add trimmed asparagus.

Cook for about 4 to 5 minutes, or just until tender. Bake the pie crust at 375° for 10 minutes to partially cook the crust. Sprinkle 3/4 cup cheese and mushrooms over bottom of shell. Arrange asparagus spears in a spoke fashion over mushrooms in a even layer. In a medium bowl lightly beat eggs with half and half, lemon peel, juice, salt and pepper, and nutmeg; pour over vegetables. Sprinkle with remaining cheese. Set the pie on a cookie sheet in a preheated 350° oven. Bake for 45 minutes or until knife inserted comes out clean.

Makes 6 servings.

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
2 cups milk
3/4 pound fresh asparagus
boiling water
salt and pepper -- to taste

Preparation:

Make the white sauce: Melt butter in a saucepan over low heat. Blend in flour, 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/8 teaspoon pepper. Stir until smooth. Add milk; cook, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens and begins to bubble. Set aside.

Wash asparagus and cut in 1/2-inch pieces. Cook asparagus in a small amount of boiling water until tender, about 5 minutes. Drain, reserving the cooking liquid. Set aside a few of the asparagus tips or pieces aside for garnish, if desired. Mash or blend remaining asparagus; set aside. Add enough boiling water to cooking liquid to make 1 cup; add white sauce and pureed asparagus. Heat thoroughly; season to taste with salt and pepper.

Add whole asparagus pieces and serve.

Ingredients:

1 pound trimmed asparagus spears, fresh or frozen
salt and pepper
8 ounces sliced mushrooms
2 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/4 cup milk
2 teaspoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 225°. Put asparagus in a pan large enough to hold them lying flat. Pour enough boiling water in the pan to cover asparagus; add salt, to taste. Cover and simmer gently for 10 to 15 minutes, or until tender.

Lift asparagus out carefully with a spatula; transfer to paper towels to drain. Reserve 1/4 cup of cooking liquid. Arrange asparagus with tips all pointing in one direction on a warm, ovenproof serving dish; cover and keep warm in warming drawer or in a 225° degree oven. Simmer mushrooms in half of reserved asparagus liquid (2 tablespoons) for about 2 minutes, or until tender.

Drain and arrange over the bottom half of asparagus, leaving tips uncovered. Cover and continue to keep warm while making sauce. In a small saucepan over low heat, melt butter; stir in flour until smooth. Continue to cook and stir for 1 to 2 minutes, until golden in color. Remove from heat; gradually stir in milk, the remaining half of asparagus cooking liquid (2 tablespoons), and lemon juice. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Return sauce to heat; simmer for 2 minutes, stirring constantly, until thickened. Pour over mushrooms and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Asparagus tips will remain exposed. Cover exposed asparagus with foil; place dish under broiler for 2 to 3 minutes, or until sauce with cheese is browned.

Asparagus au gratin recipe serves 4.

Ingredients:

2 to 3 pounds of asparagus, or 18 to 20 ounces frozen asparagus
6 tablespoons butter or margarine
3/4 cup soft bread crumbs
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper, or to taste
2 cups milk
1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
3/4 cup grated mild Cheddar cheese
2 ounces drained pimiento, 1/4 cup chopped

Preparation:

Wash asparagus, remove woody part of stalks and cut into 2 1/2-inch pieces. Cook in boiling salted water until just tender. Drain and place in a shallow baking dish or casserole. Melt butter in saucepan. Mix 2 tablespoons of the butter with the soft bread crumbs; set aside for topping casserole later. Blend flour, salt, and pepper into remaining butter in saucepan. Continue cooking and stirring over low heat. Gradually add milk, stirring until thickened. Add Worcestershire sauce, pimiento, and cheese; stir until cheese is melted. Pour sauce over asparagus in casserole; top with buttered crumbs. Bake at 350° for 20 minutes.

Serves 4 to 6.

Ingredients:

Preparation:

Brown sausage, tomatoes, garlic, onion and spices together. When browned add tomato sauce and let simmer.

Roll out the canned biscuits into large rounds on a floured surface, not too thin. Begin to assemble your calzones. I start with a layer of pepperoni, and then a few heaping spoons full of the sausage mixture, top with mozzarella cheese and fold over and fuse edges together with a fork, sealing the filling inside. I prepare some of my favorite Pizza sauce to dip the calzones in, this makes them a little more special.

Bake at 350 degrees until golden brown.
Serve with a great salad and potato chips for a quick and easy meal.

These are great to make for a snack or a real meal. You can also make these up in advance and just heat them up when you are ready to eat. Enjoy!!!!!!

1. Cut ribs into 2 or 3-rib portions.

2. In a 6 quart Dutch oven, place ribs in enough water to cover. Heat water to boiling over high heat. Reduce heat to low.  Cover and cook for 35 minutes; drain.

3. In a 1 quart saucepan, combine soup mix, ketchup, water, molasses, brown sugar, pepper and garlic powder. Heat to boiling over high heat. Reduce heat to low; cook for five minutes, stirring occasionally.

4. On a preheated grill, place ribs above coals and grill uncovered, 30 minutes, turning often and basting with barbecue sauce.

Start by making the dressing, Slice the red onion into medium slices, and separate the rings. Squeeze the 4 limes and pour the juice over the sliced onions. Add the olive oil and refrigerate, in a sealed container, the red onion will turn the lime juice a beautiful pink color.

Prepare the watermelon by cutting into bite sized pieces; drain any excess juice from the melon. Chop the two bunches of fresh parsley in small pieces, and add to the watermelon. Drain the liquid off the two cans of black olives and add them to the melon and parsley, crumble the feta cheese and mix with the melon mixture. Refrigerate for one hour. Shake the dressing to mix and pour over the salad, serve cold and enjoy.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, beat the egg to a foamy consistency with an electric mixer on medium. Add the remaining ingredients and continue beating until well blended.

Form 1" balls and place on an ungreased cookie sheet 2" apart. Using a fork, flatten each ball in a crisscrossed pattern.

Bake cookies 10 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool a couple minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely. Of course, we never do wait long enough to completely cool them. After all, there's nothing better than a warm cookie and a cold glass of milk. We consistently get about 2 dozen cookies per batch.

The filling:
Brown sirloin and Italian sausage with onion and garlic, add can of tomato puree and let simmer for 15 minutes. Set off to the side.

Wash three medium to large zucchini, cut in half length wise. With a spoon dig out the center of each squash half, removing all the seeds. Fill each of the halves with the meat sauce, don’t over fill.

Top each of the halves with mozzarella cheese, and shake Italian seasoning over the top. Place the squash halves in a baking dish and cover with foil, bake at 350* for 45 minutes to one hour until squash is tender. Remove foil and return to oven to brown the cheese.

This serves 6.

Grease, and flour two loaf pans. Preheat oven to 350* Combine all ingredients together and mix well. Divide the batter between two loaf pans and bake for 1 hour at 350*, or until a toothpick comes out clean from the center of the loaves.

This is one of my family’s favorite recipes. In the summer months we are blessed with lots and lots and lots of zucchini squash, so after many years we have many recipes for different ways to use zucchini. This is one of the favorites. My family makes about 90 to 100 loaves of this bread a year, but no we do not eat all of it at one time, this bread freezes beautifully, and also makes a great hostess gifts for friends. I hope that you enjoy this bread slightly warmed with some butter spread on it as much as my family and I do.

1 cup good-quality balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon ground black pepper
3 peaches halved and pitted
2 tablespoons virgin olive oil
4 ounces Maytag blue cheese or your favorite

In a small sauce pan, combine the vinegar, sugar, and pepper and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 45 minutes to one hour, stirring occasionally. The mixture should reduce to about two-thirds, at this point; the glaze should coat the back of a spoon.

Rub the peach halves with the olive oil and grill over medium to low heat for until slightly charred, 8 to 10 minutes. Brush the tops of peaches with the glaze, and grill for another 3 minutes, or until the glaze starts to caramelize slightly.

Remove the peaches from the grill. Brush on another layer of glaze, top with the blue cheese crumbles and serve.

This dish is great for an appetizer or a great compliment to a late summer meal as dessert. There are many ways to grill peaches, this is my favorite. It has a great flavor and looks beautiful.

Easy pie crust

2½ cups all-purpose flour
¼ teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons butter cut in small pieces
6 tablespoons shorting cut into small pieces
About 5 tablespoons water
1 egg for glazing

Filling

1 lb. Paula red apples, peeled, cored, and sliced
2/3 cup sugar
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon allspice

For the crust:
Sift flour and salt into large bowl. Add the butter and shorting and rub with your fingers until the mixture resembles bread crumbs. Add water, and mix together into a dough. Wrap the dough and refrigerate for thirty minutes.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Roll out two thirds of the dough and use it to line a 9 inch pie plate.

Mix the apples with the sugar and spices and pour in to the pie shell, the apple mixture should be a little higher than the rim of the shell. Roll out the remaining pie dough to form the top. Dampen the edges of the rim with water and place the top on the pie, press the edges firmly together. Trim off the excess dough and pinch the edges of the pie together.

Use the trimmed off pieces of dough to cut small leaves or other shapes to decorate the top of your pie, dampen with water and attach to the pie. Glaze the top of your pie with beaten egg; make 2 small slits in the top. Place the pie on a cookie sheet to avoid run over in the oven.

Bake at 425 degrees for 20 minutes, then reduce temperature to 350 degrees and bake for 30 minutes or until top of the pie is lightly browned. Remove from oven and sprinkle with sugar.

½ cup butter
1 lb Paula red apples
1 ¼ cups self-rising flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon salt
½ cup sugar
2 tablespoons milk
2 eggs
Powdered sugar for dusting the top

For the top:

¾ cup self-rising flour
6 tablespoons butter
½ cup sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, and grease a 9” spring form cake pan. Make the streusel topping by sifting the flour into a bowl and working the butter in to coarse crumbs. Stir in the sugar and set aside.

Peel and core the apples, then thin slice the apples. To make the cake, sift flour in to a bowl with the cinnamon and salt. Mix butter and sugar in a separate bowl until light and fluffy. Slowly beat in the eggs one at a time, add a little of the flour mixture with each of the eggs. Add the milk and mix well.

Spoon cake batter into the greased pan and smooth the top. Cover with the sliced apples and sprinkle the streusel topping evenly over the apples. Bake in preheated oven for one hour, or until lightly browned or firm to the touch. Let cool in the pan before releasing the sides. Dust the top of the cake with powdered sugar and serve.

This is a fairly easy cake to make; I bake this quite often in the fall when I can pick fresh apples from the trees in the orchard. This cake is a great finale to any fall dinner with friends and family.

5 lbs Paula red (cooking apples)
Peeled, cored and sliced
2 cups sugar
1/3 cup water
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
¼ teaspoon ground allspice
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg

In a large mixing bowl mix all ingredients together, pour in a 4 quart crock pot, and set on high setting, let cook for 5 to 6 hours. Stir good and let cool overnight. Pour butter in half pint jars and seal. Keep refrigerated. The butter will keep in the refrigerator for up to three weeks.

As a little boy my grandmother made homemade apple butter every fall, it was one of my favorites then and still is. I serve my apple butter with fresh fruit, cheese and crackers, as an appetizer, or just spread it on my biscuits in the morning.

3 packages cream cheese ( softened )
1 medium sized jar sliced olives chopped
1 small jar chopped garlic
2 tablespoons parsley flakes
Salt and pepper to taste

Mix all ingredients together and refrigerate overnight.

Serve with tortilla chips, cut into our favorite shapes.

2 5 lb. whole roasting chickens
4 cups peeled and quartered yellow onions
1 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp paprika
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp black pepper
1 tsp ground nutmeg
4 tbs. olive oil

Pre-Heat oven to 350 degrees. In a large roasting pan, scatter 2 cups of the quartered onions in an even layer. In a small bowl, mix together sugar, garlic, paprika, salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Brush chickens with olive oil. Sprinkle spice mixture over chickens and rub into the skin. Place the chickens in the roasting pan breast side up, on top of the onions. Cover with foil and roast for 1 hour. Remove foil and add remaining onions to pan return to oven and cook 30 minutes longer or until the chickens test to 180 degrees with a meat thermometer. Remove from oven and cover with foil 10 minutes before carving. Serve these beautiful chickens with roasted butternut squash, mushrooms and cauliflower for a fantastic fall dinner.

1 package (18 oz.) spice cake mix
1 can (15 oz.) pure pumpkin
3 eggs
½ stick butter softened
¼ cup caramel topping
½ cup pecan halves
Cream Cheese Frosting

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 9"X13" cake pan. Combine cake mix, eggs, pumpkin and butter in large mixing bowl; beat with electric mixer at medium speed for 2 minutes. Pour batter into pan. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes until a tooth pick tests clean. Let cake cool completely.

For the Cream Cheese frosting:

1 8oz. package cream cheese
1 stick butter
1 cup confectioner's sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla

Gingersnap Cookie Crust

1 cup gingersnap cookie crumbs
½ cup chopped pecans
¼ cup butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350F. Combine cookie crumbs and nuts in small bowl. Mix in butter. Press mixture on bottom and 1-inch up side of 9” spring form pan. Bake 8 minutes; cool. Set aside.

Filling

3 8oz. packages cream cheese softened
1 cup granulated sugar
4 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 table spoon vanilla extract
1 cup eggnog
2 table spoons spiced rum

To make the filling, in the food processor process the cream cheese until smooth and then add the sugar and eggs, processing after each addition. Continue to process until the mixture is thoroughly combined and creamy, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl one or two times. Add the vanilla, eggnog, and the rum and process until completely smooth and all ingredients are thoroughly combined.

Slowly pour the filling into the pre-baked crust. The filling will rise above the crust. Bake until the sides are slightly puffed, about 40 minutes. The center will jiggle when you shake the pan gently. Turn off the oven, and set the oven door ajar, and leave the cheesecake, undisturbed, in the oven for 40 minutes. Then transfer the cheesecake to a wire rack and let cool completely in the pan. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

To decorate your cheese cake, unlatch the sides and remove.

Topping:

½ cup Heavy (Whipping) Cream Very Cold
1 tablespoon confectioner’s sugar
4 drops green food coloring

In a medium bowl, combine cream, confectioner’s sugar and green food coloring, beat with electric mixer until stiff peaks form. Transfer cream to a pastry bag fitted with a leaf tip and create leaves around the edge of the cheesecake. I use dried cranberries to finish off the top of the cheesecake, giving the look of a winter berry or holly.

I love cheese cake, and I love eggnog so when you put the two together you have a Fantastic Holiday winner.

1 dozen 6” peppermint candy canes
1 lb. couverture bittersweet chocolate
  (chopped finely)
1 lb. couverture white chocolate
  (chopped finely)

What is couverture chocolate? Couverture chocolate is chocolate that has a cocoa butter content of at least 32 percent. It will be very fluid when melted, and when it hardens it hardens very smooth. You can find this in most baking sections of your local grocery store.

Line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil, shiny side up, and smooth out any wrinkles making sure you have a smooth surface. Place candy canes in food processor and pulse until canes are broken into small pieces. Temper the bittersweet chocolate in a double boiler, stirring gently till all chocolate has melted. Don’t over stir as this will cause your chocolate to be grainy. Never heat chocolate over 115 degrees. Spread a thin even layer of the bittersweet chocolate all over the aluminum foil using a spatula. It doesn’t have to be perfectly rectangular like the pan, because the candy will be broken up into random pieces. Place in refrigerator to harden while you temper the white chocolate.

Spread the tempered white chocolate in a thin layer over bittersweet chocolate. Immediately sprinkle candy cane pieces over the white chocolate while it is still wet. Place the cookie sheet back in the refrigerator until it is completely hardened, about 30 minutes. Peel off the aluminum foil. Break in to different sized pieces and enjoy.

For years I have bought Peppermint bark chocolate, I have given it as gifts and consumed a lot myself.

This candy is fairly easy to make and has a beautiful presentation. Wrap pieces of the bark in cello bags and tie with holiday ribbon, this makes great gifts for you friends. I hope that you will enjoy this candy as much as I do.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Use a large holly cookie cutter and cut holly leaves out of the tortillas. Lay leaf shapes flat on cookie sheets and bake 5 to 7 minutes until crisp, be sure not to get them too brown.

To serve bake the brie cheese for about 5 to 7 minutes at 400 degrees until cheese is soft. Spread the relish over the top and surround the cheese with the holly chips. This makes about 200 chips. I hope you enjoy this as much as I do.
Have a Happy Holly Day!!!!