Common Cuisine |

Here is about the easiest way I’ve ever seen to make French Dip. It’s very tasty, too! You can also thicken the sauce with cornstarch and call it Roast Beef with Gravy. Serve with the kind of refrigerator biscuits that peel into thin layers.

• 2.5 to 4 pound chuck roast
• 1 can beef broth
• 1 can beef consomme
• 1 can french onion soup

Simply put the roast into your slow cooker, pour the three cans of soup over, cover and cook for 8 hours on low. The longer you cook it the more tender it becomes.

• ½ package frozen dinner rolls
• ½ C sugar
• 1 ½ tsp cinnamon
• ¾ C chopped pecans
• ½ C packed brown sugar
• ½ package cook ‘n’ serve butterscotch pudding mix
• 1 stick (½ cup) cold butter

Arrange dough balls in greased bundt pan or large baking dish.

Mix sugar, cinnamon, pecans, brown sugar and pudding mix in small bowl. Sprinkle over rolls.

Slice butter and arrange slices over rolls.

Cover with foil and a dishtowel and let rise overnight on the kitchen counter.

In morning, preheat oven to 350. Bake for 35-40 minutes. Invert onto plate, let stand for a few minutes, remove pan.

Makes 18 delicious, decadent, gooey servings.

Actually, my Nana and my mom have both confessed to me they don’t really have a recipe for stuffing. They just put in a little of this and a little of that. It’s comforting to know I come by it honestly.

Anyway, this is Nana’s best estimate for how she would have made the walnut stuffing I remember from childhood, loosely based on the favorite cookbook she has referred to for 62 years, the Woman’s Home Companion Cook Book.

Submitted by Dorothy Goodnough

• 1 ½ cups butter (3 sticks)
• ½ cup finely chopped onion
• ½ cup chopped celery (optional)
• 1 lg loaf 2-day old bread, cut into ½” cubes
• 1 Tbsp salt
• ¼ tsp pepper
• 1 ½ tsp poultry seasoning (or about ½ tsp each thyme, marjoram, sage, and savory)
• 1 to 2 cups walnut pieces (or almonds, brazil nuts, chestnuts, pecans, or pine nuts)
• 1 to 2 cups water, milk, cream, or chicken broth (optional)

Melt butter in skillet or pot large enough to hold all the bread. Add onions and celery, if using, and saute until tender. Stir in walnuts and toast for a few minutes.

Add bread cubes and seasoning. Heat until butter is completely absorbed and cubes are toasted, stirring constantly. If stuffing is more dry and crumbly than you like, add a little liquid at a time until it is the way you like it.

Note: When I make this recipe for Thanksgiving, I will use hearty whole grain bread plus a couple tablespoons of wheat germ, probably substitute extra light olive oil for at least a third of the butter, and use chicken broth for the liquid (I love moist stuffing).

This year I joined a group called MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers). At our final meeting of the semester, we assembled a craft that was a gift jar of cookie mix. I haven’t tried the Five Layer Bars yet, but have assembled more jars as gifts. The ingredients in the jar are just so pretty, and they are all my favorite things: chocolate chips, butterscotch, coconut and pecans!

For our Christmas party, my table group had a cookie recipe exchange. Here are our recipes from that fun night of yummy holiday treats!

Valerie brought Death by Chocolate.
Wendy brought Peanut Butter Bars.
Brandee brought Peanut Butter Cookies.
Gracie brought Apple Jack Cookies and Pumpkin Chip Cookies.
My contribution was Peppermint Bark.

I could get used to this business of sharing fun recipes! Hope everyone in the group has a fun holiday.

Our final MOPS craft project of the semester was to make a gift jar of this mix. Make a label including Bars and Directions info, and include with the jar of yummy stuff. Here is the formula:

Into a 1 quart mason jar, layer the following in order:

• 1 cup butterscotch chips
• 1 cup chocolate chips
• 1 cup flaked coconut
• ½ cup chopped pecans
• 1 ½ cups graham cracker mix, in a closed sandwich bag

Five Layer Bars:

• 1 jar mix
• ½ cup (1 stick) butter, melted
• 1 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk

Directions: Preheat oven to 350.

Mix graham cracker crumbs with melted butter. Press into bottom of 9 x 13 baking dish.

Sprinkle remaining ingredients over graham cracker crumbs. Drizzle with sweetened condensed milk.

Bake for 30 minutes. Allow to cool before cutting.

• 12 oz. semisweet chocolate chips
• 12 oz. white chocolate chips
• 1 tsp. peppermint oil
• 1/2 cup crushed peppermint candy (about 5 large candy canes)

Line a jellyroll pan or cookie sheet with foil. Have a wooden spoon and a rubber spatula on hand.

In a double boiler, melt semisweet chocolate chips over medium heat, stirring constantly with wooden spoon. As soon as it is fully melted, remove from heat and stir in peppermint oil. Pour mixture onto lined pan and use spatula to spread to about 1/4″ thickness. Place in refrigerator or freezer to harden.

Wash double boiler pot and utensils, and dry carefully. A drop of water can spoil a batch.

Melt white chocolate chips over medium heat, stirring constantly. Remove pan from freezer and pour white chocolate on top. Spread quickly. Sprinkle crushed candy over top. Return to freezer.

When hard, break bark into 1″ x 2″ pieces. Makes 1-1/2 pounds bark.

from the kitchen of Valerie Mace

• ½ C flour
• ½ C butter, melted
• 2 Tbsp cocoa
• ½ C powdered sugar
• ½ C pecans, chopped
• ½ jar fudge topping
• 1 pkg (8 oz) cream cheese
• 1 C powdered sugar
• 1 C cool whip
• 2 C milk
• 2 pkgs instant pudding (any chocolate flavor)
• 1 C. cool whip
• Chocolate shavings

Preheat oven to 350.

Mix flour, butter, cocoa, ½ C powdered sugar and pecans in medium bowl. Spread evenly in 9 x 13 dish. Bake 15 minutes. Cool completely.

Mix pudding powder and milk, and set aside.

Spread fudge topping over crust. Combine cream cheese, 1 C powdered sugar, pudding mixture and cool whip, and gently mix. Spread evenly over fudge topping.

Top with final 1 C cool whip and chocolate shavings.