White Chocolate Frosting

The color scheme was black, white and red at the bridal shower I made these for. We had the idea to do 2-layer red velvet cupcakes with white frosting and a kiss on top...because well, it's a kiss. Now that I think about it, we should've gotten the dark chocolate kisses. So I just needed to decide which frosting to make...buttercream? no, too uninteresting. Cream cheese? nah, too cliche. Then it hit me. White chocolate! My go-to no-fail so good chocolate sour cream frosting recipe would be perfect except I would substitute white chocolate for the semisweet. Let me tell you...It. Was. Brilliant. I will definitely make this one again and again!

Ingredients:

• 2 cups white chocolate pieces 
• 1/2 cup butter 
• 1 cup sour cream (not reduced fat or fat free) 
• 5 cups sifted powdered sugar
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon almond extract*

In a saucepan melt white chocolate and butter over low heat, stirring frequently. Cool about 5 minutes. Stir in sour cream. Gradually add sifted powdered sugar, salt and almond (or vanilla), beating till smooth and of spreading consistency.   

* I used almond extract in this frosting only because I didn't have any colorless vanilla and I wanted the frosting to stay the purest white otherwise I would've put in a teaspoon of vanilla extract.  I wanted just a hint of almond flavor so I only put in 1/8 teaspoon and it was amazing. If you want the almond flavor a little stronger you can add more.

Parmesan Corn Chowder

It's that time of year...when I want to make soup every night. It's so comforting. I love to cook it. It is as relaxing to me to cook it as it is to eat it. The ease of one big pot of soup, some bread and a simple salad and the meal is complete. That always makes me happy on a busy weeknight. I started making this one 15 years ago when Q and I were first married and it's been a regular favorite every year since. I remember when we were living in Ukraine, in '03 and '04, Eden was 4 years old and she loved this soup and she even started calling herself "soup girl". I can't make this soup now without remembering that and smiling. Then again, she's 12 now, and when I realize how fast the time has gone I can't help but cry. So, tonight I was smiling and crying and making this favorite soup. If you try it, maybe it will become a favorite of yours too.


adapted from Better Homes and Gardens Best Loved Community Recipes

Ingredients:

• 3-4 cups cubed peeled potato
• 3/4 cup thinly sliced carrot
• 1/2 cup thinly sliced celery
• 1/4 cup chopped onion
• 1/4 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
• 6 tablespoons butter
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1 teaspoon salt 
• 2 cups heavy cream
• 1 cup milk
• 2 cups freshly grated parmesan cheese
• 1 can Green Giant cream-style corn
• 1 can Green Giant (not reduced sodium) whole kernel corn drained

Directions:

1. In a large Dutch oven, stir together 2 cups water, the potato, carrot, celery, onion and pepper. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 10 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, in a large saucepan, melt butter. Stir in the flour. Add the milk and cream all at once. Cook and stir over medium heat until the mixture is thickened and bubbly. Cook and stir for 1 minute more.

3. Add the cheese, stirring unto vegetable mixture. Stir in the til it is melted. Carefully add the cheese mixture corn. Heat the soup through, stirring occasionally. Do not boil.

B's Velvet Sweet Potatoes

The name was lovingly given by my friend Sue. I've won metaphorical awards at Marty family gatherings, and dinners with friends for these sweet potatoes. They are ever-present at Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner on my side of the family made by my cousin's wife who is an amazing cook and baker. She started making them years ago with this wonderful praline topping. But over the years, I began to miss the marshmallow top I remembered enjoying so much as a young girl when my grandma used to make them. So my cousin started making a small casserole dish of marshmallow topped sweet potatoes just for me. It didn't take long though, and other family members joined in my nostalgia and helped themselves to my toasted marshmallow dream-come-true... and now Jean just makes two big casseroles...one of each kind.

...so, praline or marshmallow topped; you decide...or be like us and choose both...but topping or not, your mouth will think it died and went to sweet potato heaven when you taste this velvety goodness.

adapted from Jean's recipe

Ingredients and Directions:

• 6 cups baked* mashed sweet potatoes

clean the sweet potatoes and make an X in the top with a knife. place them on a baking sheet and bake at 350 for 1 hour or until they are done. the baking time depends entirely on the size of your potatoes so check them frequently once they start to feel soft when squeezed. if you have varying sizes you can remove them from the oven as they finish baking. they will ooze and become almost carmelized. *Baking them versus boiling is the key to the amazingness of the finished product so give yourself plenty of time to make them or *BONUS* you can even make them the night before once they have cooled slightly you can easily remove the skins with a knife. To mash them a potato ricer works the best to get them extra smooth but if you don't have a ricer just use an electric mixer to mash them.

• 4 eggs beaten
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 cup melted butter
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 2/3 cup heavy cream
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

mix the remaining ingredients into the mashed potatoes and put into a pretty casserole dish 9x13 or any one with the appropriate capacity. you can make them ahead up to this point and refrigerate them. 
note: you may have to adjust the baking time slightly if they are cold when you put them in the oven.

praline topping:

• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup flour
• 5 tablespoons melted butter
• 1 cup chopped pecans

mix together and cover the top of the sweet potatoes and bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes

for the nostalgic marshmallow topping:

cover the top with large marshmallows for the last 15 minutes of baking time and cook until golden watching them closely.

Sugared Cranberries

I "heart" cranberries! so I love cranberries anyway but these are highly addictive. Don't say I didn't warn you.

Don't they just scream Christmas? How pretty would these look in a bowl right next to the nuts? or on the dessert table? or I don't know, just put a bowl of them in every room of my house because I want to eat them all the time. I think the antioxidants in the cranberries justifies all the sugar. Are you with me on this?

Ingredients:

• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 2 cups water
• 2 cups fresh cranberries
• 3/4 superfine sugar

Directions:

1. combine granulated sugar and water in a small saucepan over low heat, stirring mixture until sugar dissolves.
2. bring to a simmer; remove from heat. (Do not boil or the cranberries may pop when added.)
3. stir in cranberries
4. pour mixture into a bowl. Cover and refrigerate 8 hours or overnight.
5. drain cranberries in a colander
6. place superfine sugar* in a shallow dish. Add the cranberries in small batches of 20 -30 at a time, rolling to coat with sugar.
7. carefully place sugared cranberries in a single layer on a baking sheet; let stand at room temperature 1 hour or until dry.

Store in an airtight container in a cool place for up to a week.

*to make your own superfine sugar, process a cup of granulated sugar in the food processor for 30 seconds to one minute

I used them as a garnish on these cupcakes I made for a bridal shower. The wedding colors are black white and red so we wanted to incorporate the same theme into the shower.

Snappy Gingersnaps

I love gingersnaps! It's like fall disguised as a cookie. This is a great recipe that's morphed into the perfect gingersnap over my years of baking these. I always make these cookies when I make my pumpkin cheesecake dip.

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup butter, room temperature
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white granulated sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/4 cup molasses
• 2 cups flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 2 teaspoons ground ginger (or 2- 3 tablespoons fresh grated*)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• pinch cayenne pepper (optional) I like to add this to give them a little extra 'snap'
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions:

1. preheat oven to 350
2. cream butter and sugars
3. add egg and vanilla and beat well
4. stir in molasses and mix well *if using fresh ginger add it here
5. sift together flour and spices twice
6. add to molasses mixture and beat until dough forms
7. chill dough about 30 minutes
8. roll into small uniform balls (I use my kitchen scale to measure 15 grams per cookie)
9. roll in white sugar and place 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet
10. flatten slightly with the bottom of a glass
11. bake in the preheated oven for exactly 9 minutes (longer if you like your ginger snaps more crispy)
12. remove to wire racks to cool completely

Pumpkin Cheesecake Dip

I got the idea for this recipe from Southern Living. This is so much fun to serve at a party in the fall and it's always a huge hit.

Ingredients:

• 8 oz. cream cheese, softened
• 1 cup  powdered sugar, sifted
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup canned pumpkin puree
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• dash allspice
• dash nutmeg
• dash ground cloves
• chopped pecans and brown sugar (optional)

Directions:

1. beat cream cheese till creamy 
2. gradually add sugars, beating well.

3. stir in pumpkin, and spices.
4. cover and chill.
5. garnish with a little brown sugar and chopped pecans just before serving

I love to serve this with my homemade gingersnaps and gingerbread cookies cut out in fun pumpkin and leaf shapes and little hearts. I also have a turkey shaped cookie cutter that's really cute. Apple and pear slices are a nice complement and they look pretty on the plate. This dip is good with a salty companion too like pretzel crisps.

Salmon Salad

This is a Marty family recipe. Quenton and I used to have this salad all the time before we had kids. It's perfect for a light dinner or lunch.

Ingredients and Directions:

• 2 hearts of romaine lettuce chopped
• 3-4 hard boiled eggs chopped
• 1/2 - 1lb. bacon cooked crispy and crumbled
• 1 large tomato diced (or grape tomatoes cut in half)
• 1 avacado diced
• 1 7.1 oz. package salmon (Chicken of the Sea pink salmon skinless boneless in the pouch)

Dressing:

• juice of 1-2 lemons
• 1/4 c. oil
• salt and pepper to taste

wisk together, toss with salad and serve immediately

Serve with a warm loaf of hearty multi-grain bread and butter. This is also the perfect complement to any vegetarian soup. 

this recipe serves 2-4

Scalloped Corn

This is definitely a family favorite recipe on my side of the family. This corn always reminds me of my grandpa, my mom's dad, because he loved it so much. He passed away in 2004 when we were living in Ukraine...I miss him.

Ingredients:

• 1 can cream style corn
• 1 can whole kernel corn drained (Green Giant is the best)
• 1 cup milk
• 1 well beaten egg
• 1 cup soda cracker crumbs
• 1/2 medium onion minced (1/4 cup)
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• dash pepper
• 1/2 cup townhouse or club cracker crumbs

Directions:

1. heat corn and milk in a saucepan over medium to medium high heat.
2. gradually stir in egg.
3. add next 4 ingredients. Mix well.
4. put into greased 8 inch round baking dish.
5. coat top with townhouse or club cracker crumbs.
6. bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 20 minutes or until center is set.

SHORTCUT: if you have a blender...put milk, 1/2 onion, egg, salt and pepper into blender and blend it up. add to the corn in a saucepan and heat. stir in the soda cracker crumbs put into the baking dish top with crumbs and bake

Cream Cheese Mashed Potatoes

Ingredients:

• 5 lbs. potatoes, peeled, cooked and mashed
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 8 oz. block of cream cheese, softened
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon onion salt
• fresh ground black pepper to taste (I like a lot)
• 1/2 - 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter divided

Directions:

1. peel and clean 5 lbs potatoes. cut into small even-sized pieces. add to large pot of boiling water. return to boiling, reduce heat and cover. cook potatoes until fork-tender (about 15 - 20 minutes).
2. mash the cooked potatoes with an electric mixer.
3. add the cream cheese and mix well.
4. add the 1/2 cup (or a little less)butter and sour cream ***and mix well.
5. add salt, onion salt and fresh ground pepper mix well.
6. put into a 9 x 13 inch baking dish.
7. dot the top of potatoes with 1/4 cup butter.
8. cover with foil and bake for 40 minutes at 350 degrees.

***Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes option:  to make these wonderful mashed potatoes even more wonderful, sometimes I add roasted garlic.  Separate the cloves of one to two whole bulbs of garlic but don't peel them. toss them with 1 tablespoon of olive oil, place on a baking sheet and roast in a preheated 375 degree oven for 10 minutes or until very tender. cool slightly then squeeze the pulp from the garlic cloves into the pot of mashed potatoes and mix in with the butter and sour cream. continue with the directions above.

Baked Oatmeal

I wasted too much of my life not making this and not eating this. I hadn't even heard of it until we moved to Pennsylvania in 2004. Q had it at a breakfast meeting and came home and raved about it to me. It sounded amazing...so how do you make it? We noticed it was often on the menu at restaurants so we figured it must be a Pennsylvania thing. So I got the recipe from my friend Dawn. I love to make this for our overnight guests or take a pan of it unbaked along with a dinner for a family in need [so they can put it in the oven for breakfast the next morning]. We also sold this at our coffee shop in Krakow, Poland and it was a huge hit. This is another one of those recipes that you can be  creative with and try different variations.

Ingredients:

• 3 cups [quick 1 minute] oats
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon
• 2 teaspoon baking powder
• 3/4 - 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup milk
• 2 eggs beaten
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup melted butter

Directions:

1. preheat oven to 350 degrees

2. combine first four ingredients in a medium mixing bowl

3. in a seperate bowl whisk together brown sugar, milk, eggs and vanilla

4. add to dry ingredients and mix well

5. Stir in the melted butter last.

6. Pour into a shallow 9x9 baking dish

7. Bake uncovered for 30 minutes

Serve with milk or cream and fresh fruit or berries. It's also fun to experiment with different nuts and I've tried it with about 3/4 cup cranberries cut in half (stir in with the melted butter) adds a wonderful tartness.

Swedish Pancakes

These are a childhood favorite of Q's and now we make them for our kids. They LOVE these... even better than the American pancakes. They are similar to crepes. I love to experiment with different fruits and toppings but we for sure always serve them with lemon and powdered sugar. I like to mix it together in a little bowl and drizzle it over the pancakes. Sometimes I make a strawberry puree to serve with them or a cherry syrup. The best part is that you can just be creative with whatever you have on hand. YUM.

Ingredients and Directions:

• 3 eggs
• 1 1/4 cups milk

beat well with an electric mixer

• 1 1/4 cups flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

combine and beat into above until smooth

• 3 tablespoons melted butter
• 1 1/4 cups milk

stir into above. batter should be thin and smooth.

heat large skillet with a small amount of vegetable oil over medium to medium high heat. pour about 1/3 cup batter into the hot skillet and swirl it around so it spreads out to cover the bottom of the pan. cook for 1-2 minutes and flip. cook for an additional 30 seconds or so. They should be very thin.

Serve with berries and sweetened fresh lemon juice. Dust with powdered sugar.