Friday, December 7, 2012

DAY 7 OF CHRISTMAS (Meatball Stew)

This is a  quick and easy dinner idea.

Crock pot Meatball Stew

Ingredients
3 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 pound fresh baby carrots, quartered
1 onion, chopped
3 celery ribs, sliced
1 package (12 ounces) frozen fully cooked meatballs
1 can (10-3/4 ounces) condensed tomato soup, undiluted
1 can (10-1/2 ounces) beef gravy
1 cup water
1 envelope onion soup mix


Directions
Place the potatoes, carrots, onion, celery and meatballs in
a 5-qt. Crock pot. In a bowl, combine the remaining ingredients.
Pour over meatball mixture. Cover and cook on low for 9-10 hours
or until the vegetables are crisp-tender. Yield: 6 servingsStew

Thursday, December 6, 2012

DAY 6 1-2-3-4 POUND CAKE


The pound cake, most known as a rich cake, originally contained a pound of each of the main ingredients, including flour, sugar, and butter. That’s where the pound cake gets its name.
When I was a young girl, my grandmother didn't have a mixer she would beat this cake by hand and folded the dry ingredients in a little at a time before baking. She said it needed 300 strokes so we used to count as she mixed. She would bake it during the week for Sunday dinner,also she would bake one for my dad's Friday Night Fish Fry.
1-2-3-4  POUND CAKE   




Ingredients:

1 cup (2 sticks) butter or margarine, softened
2 cups sugar
3 cups flour sifted (to day we use Swans Down Cake Flour)
4 eggs
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon almond extract

Glaze:
1 cup confectioners' sugar
1 tablespoon bourbon
1 teaspoon orange zest, grated
1 - 2 tablespoons orange juice concentrate, thawed


Directions:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Sift flour with baking powder and salt. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat on medium speed 10 minutes. Add eggs one at a time, beating after each addition. Add flour mixture alternately with milk and flavorings, creaming by hand until smooth after each addition. Spread batter into prepared 10-inch bundt pan. Bake until tester inserted into cake comes out clean, about 1 hour and 25 minutes. Cool in pan 15 minutes. Remove from pan; cool on rack.
Glaze with OLD-FASHIONED BOURBON GLAZE: Combine sugar, bourbon, zest and enough orange juice to make a thin glaze. Drizzle onto cake.