What's cooking Suzanne?

By By Suzanne Langcuster
We have hit the jackpot this week. Grace Martin is sharing two delicious pumpkin recipes for the holidays. One is called Pumpkin Delight, a desert, that sounds delicious. We will certainly be trying it for our holidays. Also, Grace shares a pumpkin dip that is very unique. It makes a large recipe but can be halved. You serve it with ginger snaps. What a special holiday recipe. Just dip ginger snaps into this dip for a real treat.
Pumpkin Delight
Crust
1 and 3/4 c. graham cracker crumbs
1/4 c. sugar
1/2 c. melted butter
2- 3 and 3/4 oz. box vanilla instant pudding
3/4 c. milk
2 c. canned pumpkin
1-8oz. carton Cool Whip
1/2 c. chopped pecans
Dash of ground cinnamon
Make crust and set aside. Mix cream cheese, eggs, and 3/4 c. sugar and beat until fluffy. Put this on top of crust. Bake 20 minutes at 350 and set aside to cool. Combine pudding mix and milk and beat 32 minutes. Add pumpkin and cinnamon and mix well.
Stir in 1 c. Cool Whip. After above is cooled, spread pudding mix over baked mixture and put remaining Cool Whip on top and sprinkle with pecans.
Pumpkin Dip
4 c. confectioner sugar sifted
2 pkg. (8 oz. each) cream cheese softened
1-30 oz. can pumpkin pie filling mix
2 t. ground ginger
1 t. ground cinnamon
Blend sugar and cream cheese. Beat in remaining ingredients. Store in an air tight container in refrigerator. Serve with ginger snaps.
Apricot Salad
2-3 oz. pkg. apricot jelly
2/3 c. water
1 can Eagle Bran
1 c. pecans chopped
2/3 c. sugar
2 small apricot baby food
1-8oz. cream cheese
1-2 oz. can crushed pineapple, drained
Combine sugar, jello, water and boil. Stir constantly, remove and add baby food and pineapple. Set aside to cool. Mix condensed milk and cream cheese and beat until smooth. Stir into other mixture, add pecans and pour into 13×9 inch dish. Refrigerate
Southern Fried Cabbage
4 T. rendered bacon fat
1 small green cabbage, cored and shredded
2t. red pepper flakes
Salt to taste
Heat bacon fat in a skillet, toss in the cabbage and stir until it is glistening. Lower the heat, add the pepper flakes, season with salt to taste, and combine cooking and turning the cabbage until it is barely tender, about 10 minutes.
Yield 4 servings.
Dressing
Our family recipe with a little added through the years
1 recipe of corn bread(1 lg. pan of cornbread cooked in a black skillet)
4 to 5 slices of bread
1 lg. onion
Salt and pepper to taste
2 beaten eggs
1 can evaporated milk
1 stick crackers
2 to 2 and 1/2 T. poultry seasoning
1 can cream of chicken soup
2 stalks celery
Water Chestnuts, sliced (optional)
Chicken Broth
Use hot chicken broth to stir into the mixture until you get it to the consistency of a little thicker than corn bread mixture. Mix all well and melt a stick of margarine or butter in a 9×13 inch dish or pan and pour dressing into this. Bake at 350 until bubbles and browns on top.
Helpful hint-You may want to make your dressing ahead of time. Mix all the ingredients above and freeze. When your day arrives, let it defrost and put it in your cool oven and cook by directions above.
M&M Cookie Mix
This is one of the recipes you can make in a jar to give for a gift that we promised to send out to you. We will send more.
M&M Cookie Mix (layer the ingredients in the order given into a wide-mouth quart canning jar. Pack each layer in place before adding the next ingredient. Attach a gift tag with the mixing and baking directions.
Cookie mix to put in the jar
1 c. M&M candies
2 c. all-purpose flour
1/2 t. baking soda
1/2 t. baking powder
1 and 1/4 c. sugar
Copy this and put on the cookie jar:
1 jar M&M cookie mix
3/4 c. butter or margarine, softened
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1 t. vanilla
Preheat oven to 375. In a large bowl, cream butter, eggs, and vanilla. Add the M&M cookie mix and stir until mixture is well blended. Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls onto greased cookie sheet. Bake to 10 to 12 minutes. Cool.