Marsha’s Gingerbread Cookies

Gingerbread frosting drying.

This recipe is altered a little from the one I got from Larry’s mother, Vera Landis. I like it more gingery and clovy than the original. These cookies have a soft texture like cake.
Note that this dough must chill overnight, so plan on more than one day to make these!

Ingredients

• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup shortening
• 1 cup molasses
• 2 eggs
• 3 tablespoons vinegar
• 1 ½ tablespoons baking soda
• 1 heaping teaspoon ginger
• ½ teaspoon cloves
• ½ cup hot water (dissolve soda and vinegar in water–use a large bowl, because this foams up like a science project!)
• 6 cups flour

Cream shortening; continue beating while you gradually add sugar. Beat one minute longer to mix thoroughly.

Add molasses and hot water mixture and beat for ½ a minute. (It is not pretty at this point, so don’t be alarmed if it looks like it is not mixing up well.)

Add eggs and beat for 2 minutes. Add ginger and cloves, and gradually add flour. Mix until all flour is incorporated.

Chill dough, preferably overnight.

Preheat oven to 325° F.

On a floured surface, with a floured rolling pin, roll out about a grapefruit-sized ball of dough to ¼ inch thickness and cut out with cookie cutters. (Mix leftover dough in with the next ball of dough.)

Place cookies on an ungreased cookie sheet. (I use a Silpat for even baking and easy cleanup.) Bake 15 to 20 minutes at 325° F.

Let cookies cool, and then decorate them with butter frosting or canned frosting. Let frosting dry before storing them so that they don’t all stick together.

Butter Frosting

You can mix up different colors and spread this frosting on the cookies, or use frosting bags to decorate them.

• 6 tablespoons butter or margarine
• 4 ½ to 4 ¾ cups powdered sugar
• ¼ cup milk
• 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla

In a large mixing bowl, beat butter until it’s light and fluffy. Gradually add about half of the powdered sugar and beat well.

Beat in the milk and vanilla. Gradually beat in the remaining powdered sugar. If the frosting isn’t spreadable, add more milk (or food coloring) a few drops at a time to change the consistency. (Be careful–just a few drops can make it go from hard to liquid instantly!) If the frosting gets too watery, add more powdered sugar.

GingerSnap Peach Whip

This recipe was inspired by Glenola Hooper’s Pretzel Salad recipe and a box of ginger snaps.

Crust ingredients:

• 2 c crushed ginger snaps (not too fine)
• 3/4 c butter, melted
• 2 T sugar
• a dash of salt

In a 13″ x 10″ baking dish, mix ginger snaps, butter, 2 T of sugar and a pinch of salt. Press into the bottom and bake at 400 for 9 minutes. DO NOT OVERBAKE! Let cool completely.

Filling ingredients:

• 8 oz pkg cream cheese
• 1 c sugar
• 16 oz (2 c) cool whip

Mix cream cheese and sugar. Fold in cool whip. Spread over cooled crust.

Topping ingredients:

• 2 3-oz boxes Island Pineapple Jello
• 2 c boiling water OR 2 c pineapple juice
• 1 t lime juice (optional)
• 16 to 20 oz frozen peaches, cut into bite-sized chunks

Mix Jello and boiling water/juice. Stir until dissolved. Add frozen peaches and set in refrigerator for ten minutes.

Pour topping over cream cheese layer. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Optionally top with Cool Whip, gingersnap crumbs, and peach slices.

GingerSnap Peach Whip

Fried Green Tomatoes

Ingredients :  1/2 cup all pourpose flour—1 tablespoon corn meal—1/2 teaspoon salt for dip and 1 egg for the wash.

Select fresh  and firm green tomatoes and slice in 1/4 inch slices.  Dip slices in a wash of an egg that is well beaten and then dip in a flour, salt, and cornmeal mixture until well coated.  Fry in a heavy skillet  with canola oil and bacon fat until browned.  Salt and pepper to taste. 

As you will see in the pictures, I did try dipping the tomato in the flour mixture, then in the egg wash and then back in the flour mixture again.  There was no difference in the way they fried up.  It is just a lot of extra dipping.

This recipe is from my childhood as I watched my Grandma (Lula Bell Shultz) and then my Mom (Glenola Marie Shultz-Hooper) make the fried green tomatoes.  I hope you all enjoy them.  They can also be served with gravy.

To Prevent Spots on Apples

Chive Spray:
For preventing apple scab and downy mildew on cucumber, pumpkin and zucchini.

To make: Put a bunch of chopped chives in a heat proof glass container, cover with boiling water. Let this sit until cool, strain and spray as often as two to three times a week.

Pretzel Salad Recipe

I got this recipe from my mom, Glenola Hooper. It’s in Heavenly Recipes compiled by the First Baptist Church of Weirton, WV in 1990. I use this one all the time to take to parties and things.

Pretzel Salad

• 2 c crushed pretzels (not too fine)
• 3/4 c oleo, melted
• 3 T sugar
• 1 (8 oz) pkg cream cheese
• 1 c sugar
• 16 oz pkg Cool Whip
• 2 (3 oz) pkgs strawberry Jello
• 2 c pineapple juice OR 2 c boiling water
• 2 (10) pkgs frozen strawberries

Mix pretzels, oleo, and 3 tablespoons sugar. Put into a 13 x 10 inch baking dish. Bake at 400° for 8 to 10 minutes. Do not overbake. Let cool.

Mix cream cheese and sugar; fold in Cool Whip. Spread over pretzel crust.

Mix strawberry Jello and boiling pineapple juice or boiling water. Add frozen strawberries. Stir until Jello dissolves. Set in refrigerator for 10 minutes. Pour over top of cream cheese.

Keep in refrigerator until ready to serve. Makes about 20 servings.

Lightweight plant container instructions

Materials needed are cement, peat and vermiculite.  Mix the cement  according to package instruction and add equal parts of peat and vermiculite to the cement mix.   Mix all together and pour into a plastic bag or plastic sheet lined form.  Make your indentation for the potting soil when it is done.   You can use baskets , boxes, or anything.  Use your imagination or build a form if you feel creative.  Set in a covered area and let cure for maybe a week or two. It will depend on the thickness of your container.  It could take up to a month to cure.  These can be moss covered when dry.  Just grind up moss and buttermilk and spread on the outside of the container.  Also may be painted.

I have not yet tried this recipe but look forward to trying it and when I do I will post my results.

Lemon Delight Recipe

I got this one off the internet, but it’s the same as my mom’s recipe (Glenola Hooper). It’s another one that I use a lot when I want to take a dessert to a party.

Lemon Delight

• 1 stick butter
• 1 cup flour
• 1/2 cup nuts

Mix together butter, flour and nuts. Bake in a 9″ x 13″ pan at 375° for 15 minutes. Cool.

• 8 oz cream cheese
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1 cup Cool Whip

Mix together with beater cream cheese and powdered sugar. Fold in Cool Whip. Spread on top of crust. Let chill 15 minutes.

• 3 cups milk
• 2 pkgs instant lemon pudding

Beat together till thickened. Spread on cream cheese layer. Chill for 15 minutes.

Top with extra Cool Whip and sprinkle with nuts.       I have tried different flavors of pudding and it is just as good as the lemon.  Experiment… as my grandson Ben would say.

Link to a Chicken Tetrazzini Recipe I want to try…

http://southernfood.about.com/od/chickencasseroles/r/bl31011b.htm

That sounds like the one I used to make.