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♦ WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2006
4C
Time to create some Christmas magic
Time is running out,
girls; only the rest
of this week remains
for us to create something
marvelous and wonderful
from the kitchen. Wonderful
friends have inundated me
with great recipes this sea
son - so - let’s get to it!
Spinach balls and
sauce
2 boxes frozen spinach,
chopped, thawed and
drained
2 cups herb seasoning
stuffing
1 onion, finely
chopped
4 eggs, beaten
1 stick butter or marga
rine, melted
1/2 cup Parmesan
cheese
1 tablespoon garlic salt
(may cut down to suit
personal taste)
1/2 teaspoon thyme
Mix all ingredients togeth
er and form into balls about
the size of a large walnut.
Place on a sprayed cook
ie sheet and bake at 350
degrees for approximately
20 minutes. Serve with the
following sauce.
Sauce:
1 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup mustard
1/3 cup milk
4 Tsp lemon juice
Mix all ingredients togeth
er and place in the refrigera
tor until serving time
Eggnog bread
pudding
4 large eggs
1 quart egg nog
Taking it easy during the holidays
Gourmet cooking is
fine, and so are reci
pes with a dozen
ingredients, but there’s a lot
to be said for the ridiculously
easy options.
If you’re overwhelmed
right now, consider the pos
sibility of letting somebody
else do the cooking.
In my family we’ve tried
both Publix and Sonny’s for
this purpose and can vouch
for both.
You get a lot of good
food, well prepared, and
- if you’re like me and go
wild in the grocery store at
times - you’ll probably even
come out ahead financially.
There are other good places
to order prepared food, too.
You pay in advance and pick
the dishes up - everything
from ham to turkey to dress
ing to green beans - right on
schedule in foil containers.
Check it out.
Or consider a spiral cut
honey-baked ham, which
just about everybody loves,
to take the stress out of the
big meal.
Or consider just scaling
the whole thing down. It’s
not engraved in stone that
you have to have 15 dishes
on the table to make it a
holiday. You already did that
at Thanksgiving.
Now, for those who just
have to cook, here are my
three favorite ridiculously
easy recipes for the holidays,
and Merry Christmas to all!
Pick up your LED Christmas lights and
watch them glow for five years!
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A Division of. Southeast C-icctrk'ai Stlppiv gr
926 Carroll St. • Perry, G A 31069
T-F 9am-spm
10 slices cinnamon
bread
Preheat oven to 350
degrees. Spray a 2-qt. Pyres
dish with spray.
Beat eggs
Faye Jones
Magic from
the kitchen
egg and egg nog mixture over
bread cubes. Cut the rest of
the cinnamon bread slices in
half and arrange in a pretty
way over the mixture. Bake,
uncovered, for 5 minutes
or until a knife inserted in
the center comes out clean.
Variations: Add a bit of
nutmeg on top of pud
ding before baking. Add
golden raisins soaked in
rum - about 1/4 to 1/2 cup.
Oh, so good!
If you received a copy
of “Style” last week you
already have this recipe. If
you don’t, by all means, try
it. These are soooo easy and
delicious, too!
Coconut macaroons
3 cups shredded sweet
ened coconut
1 cup sweetened con
densed milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
extract
1/8 teaspoon salt
Preheat oven to 350
degrees. Generously grease a
large baking sheet. Combine
Ridiculously easy
fudge
16 oz. chocolate chips
combine melt mix pour
04
Charlotte
Perkins
Lifestyle Editorxx
Melt the chips in the micro
wave in a big bowl. Pour in
the condensed milk (that’s
the sweet stuff, not evapo
rated!) Stir like crazy, add
ing the nuts as you stir. You
can also add mini-marshmal
lows. Spread in a buttered
Pyrex pan while still warm.
Cover and refrigerate. Serve
to your friends and pretend
you did the whole candy
thermometer and “soft ball”
routine. They will not know
the difference. This is good
fudge.
Ridiculously easy
rum balls
1/4 cup rum
1 tablespoon water
2 tablespoons cocoa
2 cups vanilla wafer
crumbs, pulverized in
blender
478-224-8888
all ingredients in a large
mixing and stir until thor
oughly blended. Using two
spoons (I use 1 spoon and
1 finger), scoop and shape
the mixture into walnut-size
halls and drop by spoonfuls
in rows on the baking sheet
about 1-inch apart. Bake at
350 degrees for about 15 - 20
minutes until macaroons are
golden brown. Allow to cool
and remove from baking
sheet with a spatula. While
macaroons are still soft,
they may lose their shape
on being removed from the
baking sheet and may need
to be reshaped using your
fingers.
Butterballs
1 cup butter, room tem
perature
4 tablespoon powdered
sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups all-purpose
flour
1 cup pecans, finely
chipped
Powdered sugar for
dusting.
In a large mixing bowl,
cream butter and sugar. Add
vanilla. Add flour and stir
until mixture forms a ball of
dough.
Add nuts and mix in well.
Shape dough into 1-inch
balls. Arrange in rows on
an ungreased baking sheet
and bake at 350 degrees for
15 - 20 minutes or until very
lightly browned. Do NOT
over bake. While butterballs
are still warm, roll them in
sifted powdered sugar and
transfer to a sheet of waxed
paper to cool. Makes 2 dozen.
Enjoy!
and then
add egg
nog. Cut
4 slices
of cinna
mon bread
into 1-inch
cubes and
place in the
prepared
baking
dish. Pour
half of the
3 cups confectioners’
sugar, divided
1 cup chopped nuts
3 tablespoons light
corn syrup
dash salt
In a mixing bowl, mix rum,
water, cocoa, vanilla wafer
crumbs, 2 cups of confec
tioners’ sugar, chopped nuts,
and corn syrup; mix well.
You may need to use your
hands. Measure mocha ball
mixture in teaspoonfuls; roll
into small balls. Roll in the
sifted confectioner’s sugar.
Store in tightly covered con
tainer for several days to
bring flavor out.
Ridiculously easy
fruß salad
My kids used to think this
was the best holiday dish of
all, and my daughter still
makes it for her family. You
can eat it as a salad or a light
dessert.
1 11-ounce can man
darin-orange sections in
light syrup
1 8-ounce can pineap
ple tidbits in unsweet
ened pineapple juice
1 8 1/2-ounce can fruit
cocktail in heavy syrup
Put all fruit in a colander
and let it drain very well.
Place in a big bowl, and stir
in 1 can flaked coconut Add
a cup or two of miniature
marshmallows. Add enough
sour cream to moisten the
whole thing (1-2 pints)
Let it sit overnight.
into mold
chill to
set
14 fl.
Oz. (1
can)
sweet
enedcon-
densed
milk
Some
vanilla
Some
nuts
SAT 10am-2pm
FOOD
Something different after Christmas
Thanks to every
one who showed
their friendship and
Christmas spirit at the open
house. It was a joy to visit
with so many people
Most of us cook too much
for the holidays. Just e sure
to store and freeze it until
later. You are sick of look
ing at it now, but it will
taste good later. Mamma
always said, ‘Don’t waste.
If you are wanting
something different after
Christmas, try the “Texas
Catfish.”
Merry Christmas!
'Texas cattish'
Dry salt meat
Buttermilk
Flour
Slice dry salt meat in thin
strips. Drop into saucepan
of boiling water and boil for
3 minutes. Drain. Dip each
slice in buttermilk. Roll or
cover with flour. Then drop
into hot (375 degrees) fat
and cook until good and
brown. Yum. Yum. Good.
Smoked turkey
salad
1 Vi cup cooked long
grain rice
Vi cup minced onion
1 teaspoon curry pow
der
1 tablespoon vinegar
2 tablespoons Wesson
oil
Mix and chill thoroughly.
Just before serving add 2
cups chilled, diced smoked
turkey, % cup mayonnaise,
1 cup chopped celery, V 2 tea
spoon salt, dash of pepper.
Smoked turkey
casserole
2 cups cooked, chopped
smoked turkey
1 can cream of chicken
MCDONALD
From page jC
serving food made with
trans fats by the end of
2007. Also, its licensed and
promotional products will
be trans-fat free by the end
of 2008.
Restaurants have balked
at the new law, saying it
doesn’t give them enough
time to find substitute oils
and ingredients.
“There are serious legal
concerns about a munici
pal health agency ban
ning a product or ingre
dient the Food and Drug
Administration has already
approved,” the National
Restaurant Association
asserted in a post-decision
press release.
Local and state govern
ments getting involved in
food issues will take place
more and more. As I see it,
it’s all about health insur
ance.
Look out your office
window at your smoking
friends. Why are they doing
that? Smoking causes can
cer, and cancer is a costly
health matter that insur
ance companies would rath
er not pay for.
Where do people get their
health insurance? At work.
Reducing smoking cuts
insurance costs for both
GILBERT
APPLIANCE, INC.
925 Jernigan St., • Perry, GA
478-987-2284
SFRIGIDAIRE
ALL
FRIGIDAIRE LAUNDRY
APPLIANCES
Marked Down To Be Moved Out.
RANGES AS LOW AS
4i*i r
soup
I can mushrooms,
drained
1 small jar pimentos,
chopped
1 can green peas,
drained
1 cup diced celery
2 tea
spoons
rated
onion
*/* tea
-Bpo o n
pepper
12 tea
spoon
salt
V 2 cup
mayon
naise
1 tea-
Jean Rea
Cooking with
Jean
spoon lemon juice
3 hard-boiled eggs,
chopped
1 cup almonds, sliv
ered
Mix the ingredients and
top with V 2 to % cup but
tered bread crumbs. Bake
at 350 degrees for 30 min
utes or until bubbly.
Turkey carcass
gumbo
Turkey cart ass
3 to 4 chicken boullion
cubes
1/3 cup salad oil
2/3 cup flour
Pinch of salt
Chopped onion
Chopped celery
Parsley
Green onions
Minced garlic
1 Tablespoon
Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon or more
Tony’s Cajun Seasoning
Red pepper
Louisiana hot sauce to
taste
1 can chopped toma
toes
employers and employees.
I’m predicting that
national health insurance
will be a reality in the next
10 years. When it is, gov
ernment will want to try to
eliminate costs wherever it
can. Look for laws restrict
ing smoking, drinking and
other life-endangering
practices.
Even in the laws on the
books today, you’ll find bans
on foods that aren’t all that
bad for you.
Foie gras will be outlawed
in California in 2012, and
that is tied to persuasive
activist groups that don’t
like the way foie gras ducks
are raised.
That argument is for
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HOUSTON DAILY JOURNAL
Sliced okra (optional)
1 or 2 packages smoked
sausage
Rice
Don’t throw away that
turkey carcass. Use it to
make turkey and sausage
gumbo. Put the carcass into
a pressure cooker or large
saucepan, breaking it apart
if you need to. Cover wit
water, adding bouillon cubes
and let simmer until tender
and the meat comes off the
bones. You’ll be surprised
how much meat there is.
Smoked turkey works well,
too.
Picke meat off the bones
and discard bones. Make a
brown roux using about V 2
cup salad oil and 2/3 cup
flour with a pinch of salt.
Brown slowly in a heavy
skillet. Stir at 1 minute
intervals until the roux is
browned.
In skillet, combine
roux with chopped onion,
chopped celery (use the
leaves, too), parsley, green
onions and minced garlic.
Saute until vegetable are
wilted. Season with one
tablespoon Worcestershire
sauce, 1 teaspoon or more
Tony’s Cajun seasoning, red
pepper and hot sauce. Add 1
can chopped tomatoes and
put into a large saucepan
in which you stewed the
carcass. Cover and simmer
an hour or two, stirring at
intervals. If you like you
may add sliced okra. Adjust
seasonings to taste.
While gumbo is simmer
ing, slice smoked sausage,
removing rind. Fry the sau
sage lightly in a skillet jut
to remove excess grease.
Blot with paper towels and
add to gumbo for the last 30
minutes of cooking. Serve
over rice.
another day (but let me
say, I’ve heard it said that
given a choice of being a
duck force fed to fatten its
liver or a factory farmed
chicken with a clipped beak
crammed in a cage with the
waste of 1,000 chickens, I’d
choose the duck’s life in a
heartbeat).
I’m a little sour on local
governments banning food
products. In a perfect world,
chefs looking out for the
health of their customers
would make the trans fat
decisions, not the govern
ment.
When we look back at
this slippery slope, we will
see that it was greased with
hydrogenated oil.
F