Easy Baked Manicotti

Tonight's supper was a recipe I found at Kraftrecipes.com.  I've tried many recipes from this site and I have to admit, I'm usually less than impressed.  I find many of their recipes bland. However, tonight's choice was absolutely delicious, fairly simple to put together, and very reasonably priced!

I'm trying out a new recipe card format (after having stole the idea from my friend Cris :)  Let me know what you think!

And lastly, here's a pic of my actual results tonight (well what was left of them :) 

Trevor's Cherry Cobbler

See, I didn't forget about Mom's Kitchen.  It's just been chaotic around here.  Things are finally calming down.  We're settled in the new place, classes are over until Aug. and I'm finally finding some spare time to work on my projects. 

Today's recipe is from Toby's mom, Sharon (Grandma King to Liv).  Her cherry cobbler was a favorite of Toby's brother Trevor which is why I decided to name it after him. None of us can eat it without thinking of him, so I just made it his.  The great thing about your own kitchen, is you can do that kind of thing :). 


Unfortunately, Trevor was called home way too soon and I never got to meet him. I hate that & I don't guess I'll ever stop wishing I could have got to see his smile that everyone always talks about for myself.  I'm told Liv has his laugh & I treasure that she carries a part of him with her. 


This cobbler recipe was what he requested instead of birthday cake each year.  Later on Toby's other brother, Trent, would also request this instead of birthday cake. It's just that good! Sharon had said she'd make it for me sometime as I did not have a cobbler recipe.  This past weekend for Mother's Day she decided to make her famous cobbler & I got my first taste.  Talk about YUM!!!  


Having been making this cobbler since the 70's, she's received MANY compliments.  One of Toby's cousins even pronounced it the best cobbler ever & proceeded to prove it by eating nearly the whole cobbler!  Try it for yourself & you'll see why it's so requested! 

Trevor's Cherry Cobbler

Never Fail Flaky Pie Crust (the boys grandma Bessie's recipe)

2 cups of flour
1 teaspoon of salt
1/2 cup of Crisco oil
1/4 cup cold water

Stir together with a fork till well blended, you might need to add a dab more oil. This recipe makes enough for a double crust pie. I halfed the recipe again to make enough crust for the cobbler baked in an 8" iron skillet. After you mix it well, take out and separate the dough, pat and make a ball and roll out between wax paper. You can lay your rolled out dough on your pan and just peel the wax paper off. I used about 3/4th's of the dough for the bottom and saving the other 1/4 for the top. Another nice thing about this dough, if your short some place, just pinch off a piece and flatten it right where you need it.

The filling:

For this size cobbler, use
2 cans of red tart pitted sour cherries. (do not use pie filling)
2/3 cup of sugar per each can of cherries used
About 4 T of cornstarch to help thicken (use an amount for the thickness you like, if you like juicy cobblers, use less, etc)

Stir all this and heat in a sauce pan, pour into your skillet or 8x8 pan with the dough already in the bottom, then roll out remainder of the dough to cover the top, sprinkle with sugar and dot with butter. Bake at 400º for about 40 minutes.

Christmas Baking

No, I'm not wishing it was Christmas yet, even though this the 2nd blog this week about a Christmas recipe! haha! My mom (Grandma Snell to Liv) recently emailed me 2 of her recipes along with one of her favorite kitchen memories: our annual bake day.  So, even though it's not Christmas time, I thought I'd go ahead and share them. I'm sure they're just as tasty any other time of the year too! 


The first of Dec. each year mom and I would take one day and do nothing but bake. Mom remembers, "We baked dozen after dozen of cookies, peanut butter, chocolate chip, pineapple, and chocolate cherry.  We made batches of candy, peanut butter fudge and chocolate fudge."  We laughed, made a mess, and enjoyed each other's company.  One thing that sticks out in my mind is the HUGE coat boxes we filled with cookies and candy.  We would take the majority of what we made to the church who used baked goods from the church members to make baskets to take to the elderly and shut-ins. I wish I had a pic of one of those boxes.  Most people wouldn't believe how big they were and how much food you could put in them!  Still, even after we had filled at least 2 of those boxes, mom would make a smaller box for the mailman, my bus driver, maybe a teacher or two, for dad to take to his office, for her to take to her work, and yet there'd always be some left for us to eat on too...yeah, we made THAT many goodies! 


Anyway, mom says her favorite was always the pineapple cookies and I always thought the chocolate cherry cookies looked so festive. Don't take our word for it though...try 'em out! 

Pineapple Cookies

Old recipe from Granny Moore (Liv's great-great grandma)

2 eggs
1 cup white sugar
2 tsp vanilla
1 cup nut meats
1 tsp soda
2 tsp baking powder
1 cup shortening
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup strained crushed pineapple
½ tsp salt
3 ½ cups flour

Cream shortening, sugar and vanilla. Add pineapple and nut meats. Sift salt, baking powders and flour together and add to other ingredients. Blend and drop on greased baking sheet. Bake @ 350 degrees until brown. Drop with spoon on cookie sheet.

Chocolate Cherry Cookies

(The recipe came out of a paper called Grit dated Nov. 30-Dec. 6th, 1986)

2/3 cup butter or margarine
¾ cup sugar
1 egg
1 ½ tsps vanilla
1 2/3 cups unsifted all-purpose flour
6 tbsps unsweetened cocoa
¼ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp salt
18 maraschino cherries, well-drained and halved

Cream butter, sugar egg and vanilla until fluffy. Stir together dry ingredients: add to creamed mixture (dough will be still). Shape into 1-inch balls. Place on increased baking sheets about 1 inch apart. Press a cherry half into center of each cookie. Bake at 350 degrees for 8 to 10 minutes or until almost set. Cool on wire rack. Prepare Chocolate Glaze. Frost each cookie, leaving top of cherry showing. Makes about 3 dozen cookies.

Chocolate Glaze

Combine 2 tablespoons sugar and 2 tablespoons water in small saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture boils and sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat: immediately add ½ cup chocolate chips, stirring just until melted. Cool until glaze is of spreading consistency.

Mom's Cheese Ball

One the most requested things my mom (Grandma Snell to Liv) makes is her cheese ball.  Everyone always raves about it & she kept telling us it was super easy to make.  After finally getting her recipe from her, she's right! It IS really easy.  To read the ingredients you just wouldn't imagine the great flavor this cheese ball has.  Don't take my word for it...try it for yourself! :) 

Mom's Cheese Ball

1 8 oz. pkg of cream cheese

1 pkg of sliced dried beef - chopped (I use Armour Dried Beef & put it in the food processor to get it evenly chopped up)
1/2 tsp. onion powder
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/3 bottle of chives
1/2 tsp. Accent (I don't use this.  Accent is MSG which we try to avoid in my household. It's found in a lot of things we eat, but I don't want to purposely put it in our food if I can avoid it. It is suppose to be a flavor enhancer, but there's loads of flavor in this cheese ball without the MSG's help.)


Mix all the ingredients together & form into a ball.  You can roll the ball in pecan chips or almond slivers if you want.  I usually roll mine in more chopped up dried beef.  Wrap in plastic wrap & refrigerate.  It's best if you make it the night before & they can be frozen if you want to make them way in advance or just keep them on hand in case company stops by.

Marinated Vegetable Salad

This salad is perfect for Christmas because it's red, green & white when it's made & it looks very festive!  But it's so good & so easy to make, you won't want to wait until Christmas time to eat it.  My MIL, Sharon (Grandma King to Liv), gave me this recipe a few years ago.  It's still one of Toby's faves!  

Marinated Vegetable Salad

4 cups chopped tomatoes
1 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup chopped green peppers
1 cup chopped onions


Combine the following ingredients in a jar or bowl & shake or whisk until combined. Then pour the mixture over the vegetables. 


3/4 cup vinegar
1/2 cup oil
1/4 cup sugar
2 Tblsp poppy seeds
1 Tblsp salt


Cover & chill the salad for at least 3 hours.
Makes 6-8 servings. 

Did You Know?

I know some of my family has mentioned reading the blog, but not everyone has a blogger account.  Did you know that you can comment on my blogs (either of them) without having a blogger account?  You can use your Google account (if you have one - like for gmail) or you can comment with the anonymous option (but please sign your comment so I know who you are :)


Thought I'd pass this info along in case any of you would like to add your thoughts!   

Grandma King's Potato Soup

Today's recipe is from Toby's mom, Sharon (or Grandma King to Liv).  Her original potato soup has always been a family favorite.  In fact, it was one of the first recipes I asked her for when Toby & I got married because he was always wanting it. (Right after I asked her how to make iced tea...yeah, I didn't know how - pretty amazing, huh? She wrote it on a piece of paper &, although I no longer need a recipe for iced tea, I've always placed that recipe under my silverware drawer in every house we've lived.  It's kind of like a good luck charm that reminds me of when we first started out). 

Anyway, back to the potato soup...a few years ago she received a potato soup recipe from her best friend, Annette, and decided to modify her own recipe.  At first we were all like "don't mess with a good thing", but boy are we glad she did!  What was good before is now absolute heaven for the taste buds!

Pic by Grandma King :) 

Grandma King's Hearty Potato Soup

4 or 5 med to large red potatoes (red ones make the best soup, mashed and fried too,☺)
2 to 4 stalks of celery
1 med sized onion
Salt & pepper to taste
Parsley
1/2 cup cream or more
2 T of butter
1 to 2 cups of milk or more
I/2 # or 1/2 package of Eckrich skinless kielbasa or more

Chunk the potatoes (about an inch) chop onion and celery (large chop) and put into your large sauce pan, use just enough bottled water (our water from the tap is awful) to almost cover the veggies. Add salt, pepper and rub some parley in your hands and add that. Cook till tender and let the water cook down some.

Do not drain, but then add the butter, cream, milk and kielbasa then simmer for about 20 minutes.

Grandma also says:
"All of these are estimates because I do not follow a recipe. If you like a more thick soup, then use more veggies. Or if you want plain soup, leave out the kielbasa, as some prefer the soup plain, ☺"
(This last smiley is for Toby who is the only freak in the family who does not like the soup better with the keilbasa - haha!)

Yeah, I know I've used this pic before, but it's one of my faves! Liv has been interested in cooking since she was itsy-bitsy. I have to say that I (& she) have Grandma King to thank for cultivating this love of all things food. When I was too much of a "mommy" to let Liv help me (afraid she'd get hurt or in a hurry just to get supper on the table), Grandma was letting Liv pull up a chair & stir what didn't need stir, encouraging her to find new recipes they could try & allowing her to use her creative food instincts. Today, Miss Liv is quite the capable cook & it's due in great part to the hours she spent at Grandma King's side in the kitchen...Just another example of the impact Grandma's have on our lives :)