Not Your Ordinary Pretzels

Our neighbor gave us some pretzels as travel snacks when we left for Thanksgiving. One handful was not enough...I was hooked! Try them, you'll see!

Seasoned Pretzels

1 pkg. 20 oz. pretzels (Thin ones like "Rold Gold") (I use 44 oz. from Sam's Club and double the recipe. You can also get 20 oz. from Costco)

1 16 oz. bottle Orville Redenbachers Buttery Pop Corn Oil

1 envelope dry Italian Salad Dressing Mix

Start in late morning or early afternoon. Pour pretzels in a large bowl. Open oil and seasoning. Pour seasoning into oil, replace cap and shake. Pour over pretzels and stir. Stir throughout the day to mix. Before bed, pour pretzels onto double thick paper towels, brown paper bags, or newspaper covered with paper towels. Leave overnight to soak up excess oil. In the morning, put in an airtight container (I use the container they came in) or Ziploc bag. Can be frozen.

💗Thanks, Earlene!

A Couple of Thanksgiving Favorites

Here are a couple of Thanksgiving favorites at our house.



Pumpkin Delight

Crust:

1 yellow cake mix (reserve one cup for topping)
1 stick butter, melted
1 egg

Filling:

1 can (29 oz) pumpkin
2 eggs
2/3 c. milk
1 c. sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
½ tsp nutmeg
½ tsp. ginger
½ tsp. salt

Topping:

1 c. reserved cake mix
2 Tbls. sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
½ stick butter

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

To make crust, combine cake mix (minus 1 cup), melted butter, and egg. Press into a greased 9 X 13 pan.

Combine all filling ingredients and mix until smooth. Pour over crust.

For topping, mix reserved cake mix, cinnamon, and sugar; cut in butter until crumbly. Sprinkle over filling.

Bake 50 minutes, or until a knife inserted into center comes out clean. Cool slightly and top with whipped cream.

I don't know how it was at your house growing up, but at mine, the stuffing started the night before. Not at my own home! This is an easy recipe, just takes a bit of time to chop things. I loved my Mom's stuffing, but unfortunately, never got the recipe. Lucky for me, my friend Kim shared this one with me. It's much different than my Mom's, but REALLY GOOD! It's requested for me to make from both sides of our family.

GREAT Stuffing

3 c. cooked brown rice (not instant)
1 lb. sausage
2 chopped onions
4 stalks celery
3 c. fresh mushrooms
1 1/2 c. slivered almonds or pine nuts
5 oz. can water chestnuts
1/3 c. fresh parsley
1 bay leaf
1 tsp. sage
1 tsp. thyme
salt & pepper
1 Tbls. minced garlic
1 cube butter
1 small can chicken broth
10 oz. bag seasoned stuffing bread
1/2 c. white grape juice

Brown and drain sausage. Add 6 Tbls. butter, chopped onion, celery, garlic, salt, pepper, and bay leaf.  Cook til done.  Mix in last 2 Tbls. butter, mushrooms, thyme, and sage.  Remove from heat.  In a BIG bowl, add rice, *almonds, cut up chestnuts, chopped parsley, bread, and warm ingredients.  Add juice and chicken broth until desired wetness. Bake at 325 for 1 hour. (1/2 hour covered, 1/2 hour uncovered) *I usually double the batch and put almonds in one and pine nuts in the other.

💗Kim Shields

Absolutely The Easiest And Best Bread

This bread is beyond amazing! We have it with soup, pasta, really anything you'd have french/garlic bread with, only this is better!

1 loaf french bread (or crunchy baguette)

2 cubes butter

1 envelope Good Season dry Italian Dressing mix

Parmesan Cheese

Cut bread. Melt butter (I do it in the micro). Stir in seasoning packet. Spoon butter mixture onto bread liberally. Sprinkle with cheese and place in 450 oven for about 5 minutes or until edges are golden.

Apple Dumplings...Thanks, Tami!

Tami works with W and knows that I have this blog. As I was talking to her today, she recommended this recipe for Apple Dumplings. I had almost all of the ingredients, so after a quick trip to the store, we tried it tonight. Oh my wow, it was delish and easy! Because our family has shrunk, we will half it next time, but it's nice to have leftovers for tomorrow, too! I'm sure there are more really good recipes from the same site since it was voted #1 blog by the New York Times...or something like that. :)

💗Tami Eckloff

"Carmel" Dip

A Fall-time favorite at our house.

Apple Dip

1-8 oz. pkg. cream cheese

1/4 C. white sugar

3/4 C. brown sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

1 Tbls. milk

Beat with mixer until smooth and serve with favorite apples. We like Gala. (And yes, it really is that easy!)

If You Like Seafood, Give It A Try!

Years ago, W & I went to Uno Pizzeria and had a Seafood Pizza. It was absolutely amazing! But the next time we went, it was no longer available, which meant only one thing. Time to figure out how to make it ourselves!

This is what we came up with.

1 pkg. small to med. frozen shrimp

1 pkg. crab meat (I use the imitation stuff)

About 1 tsp. minced garlic

1 cube butter

Mozzarella cheese

2 Boboli pizza crusts

Melt butter and add garlic. Briefly saute, then add shrimp and crab meat. Saute until nice and hot. Place on pizza crusts and top with desired amount of cheese.

Bake according to pizza crust directions.

Pretty rich, but darn good!

**K thinks it would also be good with Alfredo Sauce on the bottom. Try it and let me know!

Bon Apetite!

French Onion Soup

2 Tbls. butter
4 medium sweet onions-sliced
2 cans (10.5 oz) condensed beef broth
1 1/2 C. water
1/8 tsp. pepper
1/8 tsp. dried thyme leaves
1 dried bay leaf
French bread-sliced 3/4-1 inch thick, toasted
1 C. Gruyere, Swiss, or Mozzarella Cheese
1/4 C. Parmesan cheese-grated


In 4-quart nonstick Dutch oven or large pan melt butter over medium-high heat. Stir in onions to coat with butter. Cook uncovered 10 minutes, stirring every 3-4 minutes.


Reduce heat to medium-low. Cook 35-40 minutes longer, stirring well every 5 minutes, until onions are light golden brown (onions will shrink during cooking).

Stir broth, water, pepper, thyme, and bay leaf. heat to boiling, reduce heat. Cover and simmer 15 minutes. Remove bay leaf.

Set oven control to broil. Place toasted bread in 4 ovenproof bowls or individual ceramic casseroles. Add onion soup. top with Gruyere cheese. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Place ovenproof bowls on cookie sheet or in pan with shallow sides.

Broil with cheese about 5 inches from heat 1-2 minutes or just until cheese is melted and golden brown. Watch carefully so cheese does not burn. Serve with additional french bread, if desired.

This recipe is easy, it just takes awhile to make.

I used Gruyere cheese and it was a bit strong for my taste (and smell), so I'll try something else next time.

Enjoy!