Making Chicken Stock

If my children get only one thing out of this blog I'm writing for them it's this: the importance of making their own stock. I can't even begin to list the ways is which homemade stock is beneficial to your health, so I won't. But google it, you'll be impressed. (Please note that homemade stock is far superior to anything you can buy in the store.) Hopefully impressed enough to make the process a part of your routine. Other than being one of the most nutritious foods you can consume, homemade stock is VIRTUALLY FREE and EASY to make. Like roasting a chicken, the instructions may seem dauntng at first, but once you get the hang of it there will be no stopping you!

You might be wondering what on earth you can use all this homemade stock for, so allow me to enlighten you. The obvious is soup, which we eat quite a bit of around here. Other than the obvious, there are a multitude of ways I use stock. Basically any time a recipe calls for water, I use stock. I use it to sautee onions, make rice, make spaghetti sauce, and even to cook broccoli and cauliflower in. I use it in fondue, chili, cooked or refried beans, sausage ziti, barbque chicken sandwiches, chicken tacos, and UNion rings... I'm sure there are several more I can't even think of right now. Also, I often drink it straight from a mug with lunch and dinner as a digestive aid. I make my husband drink it if he starts to come down with something. As far as I'm concerned, you can't have too much stock.

You can find a million different ways to do this on the internet, this is just the way I do it. Feel free to tweak my method until it works for you! If you're reading this and you have your own tips for making stock, please leave them in the comments. I'm stock nerd, and I love hearing other people's methods and tips.

Supplies

Large stock pot (I used an 8 quart pot forever, but I got a 16 quart pot for Christmas and I love it! You can also use a crockpot.)
Another large stock pot or large glass bowl (for straining your stock into when you're done)
Skimmer (or something to skim with)
Colander or strainer
Funnel with filter (or you can use a fine strainer if you don't have this)
Wide mouth mason jars for freezing

Ingredients

Chicken bones
Chicken skin
Chicken feet
Gizzards and neck
Vegetable scraps
Peppercorns
Bay leaves
Apple cider vinegar
Cold, filtered water

My Method

1. Put all of your chicken parts into the stock pot, add water until they are covered, and add the apple cider vinegar. Let the pot sit for an hour. This sitting time allows the vinegar to draw the gelatin out of the bones. This is good. The more geletin in your stock, the better it is.

2. After an hour, bring the water to a boil. Any scum will rise to the top. Skim it off and discard it. You don't want it in there. After I'm done skimming I add the rest of the ingredients to the pot. (You can add them before, but it makes skimming harder.) Lower the burner until you have a very gentle simmer - almost not even simmering! Allow it to simmer all night, all day, and all night again. I generally simmer for 36ish hours, but more or less time is fine.

3. On the second morning, after all that delightful simmering, turn off the burner. Set the colander over a large pot or bowl and strain the stock through it. You can now dispose of all the solids. Wash out the original pot really well and return it to the stovetop. Filter all of the stock through the filtered funnel and return it to the stockpot. (If you don't have a filtered funnel, just strain it through the finest meshy thing you can find in your kitchen. Some people use a reusable coffee pot filter.)

4. Bring the stock to a boil. The goal is to reduce the stock until it's very concentrated. I always reduce mine by half. Doing this will require less storage space in your freezer and fewer storage containers. Put the stock in the jars. Remember to leave plenty of head space in the jars or they will break in the freezer. I'm always cautious and leave more than enough space. Once your stock is in the jars, let them cool on the counter so your fridge doesn't have to work too hard. I promise it will be just fine there all day. Once the jars are cooled you can put them straight in the freezer, or cool them further in the fridge before moving to the freezer.

5. When you're ready to use your condensed stock can reconstitue it with filtered water. How much to add is your call. I usually reduce my stock by half, so I just double my stock when I'm ready to use it. Sometimes I just leave it condensed because it's more nutrient dense.

Mom Tips

* Ask your butcher for chicken feet. I've purchased them from Whole Foods. I've also purchased them from a chicken farmer at the farmer's market. I just email her ahead of time and ask her to bring some for me. They're super cheap and worth it or all of the nutrition they add to the stock.

* I keep a Ziplock bag in the freezer and every time I have veggie scraps (carrots, onions, celery, bell peppers, apples) from cooking throughout the week I put them in there to add to my weekly stock. This is also a great place to put all of those carrot and celery sticks that make their way back home in your child's lunch box. This way you get the vitamins from vegetables in your stock without using perfectly good veggies that you end up throwing away. If you don't have scraps saved, just chop up some veggies.

* Since I don't use plastic containers for storing our food, wide mouth, quart size mason jars are my favorite solution for storing stock. They are very affordable - about ten dollars for a dozen at Wal Mart - and they store really nicely either in the freezer or in the cupboard when you're not using them. They have to be wide mouth, though, or they'll break in the freezer!

* Some people remove the fat from the top of their cooled stock. I do not. We always eat the fat, and I believe fat from quality sources is highly nutritious and essential in our diet. And it tastes delicious!

* Perhaps you don't have time to make stock every week. In that case, just save your bones in the freezer until you're ready!

* One last tip! Sometimes when I boil a chicken I save the water. After harvesting the meat I put the bones in the cooled water with vinegar and start the process for making stock from there. I figure we're getting even more nutrition this way.

Gulaschuppe

Gulaschuppe, or Goulash Soup, is a German classic that we had the pleasure of indulging in while in Germany this summer. "Indulging in" might not be the right phrase. "Gluttoning ourselves on" might be most appropriate. We positively inhaled serving after serving of this soup. Until it was gone.

Gone.

It's a simple one-dish meal, easy to make, and delicious served with warm (real) sourdough bread for sopping up broth. I've only made this twice but I've discovered that key to this soup's deliciousness is in the stock. It is imperative that you make the stock yourself, as store bought stock just won't cut it. The more delicious your stock is, the more delicious your soup will be. (Stay tuned, maybe someday I'll do a stock post.)

I've tweaked this recipe from several I've found online to suit our tastes and budget. If you want to save some coins, omit the tomato paste and you'll have a thinner soup. I personally cut the caraway seeds from 2 tablespoons to only a half tablespoon. Caraway seeds add a distinct European flavor, and a little goes a long way on our American tongues. Finally, I added garlic because let's face it, it's just not dinner without garlic.

Ingredients

2 Pounds grass-fed beef, cut into half inch cubes (cheap stew meat will work best)
1 large onion, chopped
1 large green pepper, chopped
Fat for sauteeing (I use lard)
3-4 medum potatoes, peeled and chopped
1 pound carrots, chopped
1 quart beef broth
1 cup water
2 Tbsp paprika
1 Tbsp sucanat (you can substitute any kind of sweetener if you don't have sucanat, or try leaving it out)
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
2 bay leaves
2 cups peeled, chopped tomatoes

1 6 ounce jar of tomato paste
1/2 tsp caraway seeds

Directions

1. Over medium high heat, melt some fat in a large skillet and add the beef, browning it on all sides. Halfway through, throw in the onions, peppers, and garlic and cook it with the meat until the onions are soft.

2. Throw everything in th crockpot and simmer on low all day. Remove the bay leaves before serving.

3. Serve with a dallop of sour cream and warm, sliced sourdough. Make sure to come up for air.

Tater Tot Casserole All Growed Up

The other day I found myself with a pound of ground beef and no dinner plans (I forgot to soak beans for tacos the night before and there's no way we're having tacos without beans!). What to do? I didn't want to make spaghetti as we're trying to avoid gluten as much as possible, we just had burgers last week, and I wasn't in the mood to make a boring meatloaf.

When I was in college I had a boyfriend whose mom made tater tot casserole so I invented this loose variation. It was actually pretty darn good. Even sister bear ate several helpings, and she doesn't do casseroles. This one goes in the comfort food category.

There are, in fact, no tater tots to be found in it, but let's not get all technical, okay?

Ingredients

1 pound grass-fed ground beef
1/2 onion, chopped
Salt
Pepper
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 cup cream of chicken soup
1 pound carrots, thinly sliced
1 head broccoli, chopped
1 head cauliflower, chopped
5 medium red potatoes, diced small
Fat for frying, I used ghee this time

Directions

1. Put the diced potatoes in a greased baking dish and bake them in the oven at 450 for 20 minutes. You don't have to put them in a single layer, but spread them out evenly. (You're just doing this step to cut down on cooking time later when you fry them.)

2. Brown the ground beef with the onions and garlic. Add salt and pepper. When the beef is brown, turn off the burner and mix in the soup. Spread the beef mixture in the bottom of a greased 9x13 casserole dish. Spread the chopped veggies over the top of the beef mixture.

3. Heat up a skillet nice and hot, add some fat, and fry the potatoes with salt and pepper (and chopped onions, if you want) until they're nice and brown. Don't overcook them , in fact, you should under cook them just slightly. Spread the brown potatoes over the top of the veggie layer.

4. Put the casserole in a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes.

Smashed Potatoes

Tank you, yet again, Rachael Ray. And I don't mean that in a Late Night Bacon kind of way. Ingredients 2 Pounds Small Red Potatoes Olive Oil Salt Pepper Directions 1. Boil potatoes until fork tender. Drain. 2. Toss with oil, salt, and pepper. 3. Press flat with the bottom of a glass. 4. Bake in a 400 degree oven about 30 minutes or until desired crispiness is reached.

UNion Rings

Thank you, Rachael Ray.

Ingredients

1/2 Cup Panko Breadcrumbs
2-3 Cloves Garlic, minced
Salt
3 Large Onions, peeled and halved crosswise
1/2 Cup Chicken Stock
3/4 Cup Filtered Water
2 Tbsp Butter

Directions

1.  Mix panko, garlic, and salt.

2.  Place onions flat side down in a skillet.  Add broth and water.  Partially cover and cook over medium-high heat for 20 minutes.

3.  Flip, add some butter on top, top onions with panko mixture and then dot with butter again.  Set skillet on lowest level in the oven and broil until golden.

Roasted Spaghetti Squash with Red Sauce

We try to avoid gluten around here whenever we can, and this makes a delicious alternative to pasta when you're craving spaghetti.  I like to serve it with rich, meaty spaghetti sauce.  I was shocked the first time I made this that everyone in the family not only ate it, but went back for seconds!

Ingredients

1 Spaghetti Squash, halved and cleaned out
Olive Oil
Minced Garlic (I like the crushed garlic in a jar at Trader Joe's)
Salt
Pepper

Directions

1.  Brush the olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper all over the flesh of the squash. 

2.  Set your two squash halves in a pan with the flesh side up and roast in a 400 degree oven for about an hour or until the flesh is tender.

3.  When it's done roasting, use a fork to pull out the strands of "spaghetti." 

Serve with spaghetti sauce.

Crock Pot Refried Beans

These are delicious and so easy! Fajita night just isn't complete without them...

I found this recipe at 100 Days of Real Food and tweaked it just a little bit.

Ingredients

2 Cups Dry Pinto Beans, rinsed
1 Onion, peeled and coarsely chopped
1/2 Jalapeno, seeded and diced
1 Tsp Minced Garlic
Salt
Pepper
Cumin
2 Cups Chicken Stock
4 Cups Filtered Water

Directions

1. Soak beans overnight.

2. In the morning, rinse the beans and add them to your crock pot with all of the ingredients.

3. Cook on high for eight hours.

4. Depending on how much liquid remains, you may need to drain the beans. I've found that you want a little liquid to remain so you can get the right consistency. Mash the beans with a potato masher.

Serve with shredded cheddar on top.

Mom Tips

* These make great leftovers to dip tortilla chips in for lunch the next day.

* Try this with black beans, or try half and half. Black beans are full of nutrition!

Garlic Mashed Potatoes

One word: Delicious.

Ingredients

8 Red Potatoes, with skin, quartered
3-4 Cloves Garlic, peeled
2 Tbsp REAL Butter
1/2 Cup Heavy Cream, room temperature
1/4 Cup Grated Parmesan Cheese
1/2 Tsp salt

Directions

1. Put potatoes AND garlic in pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil and immediately turn down to simmer. Cook until tender. Drain and return to pot.

2. Add butter, cream, cheese, and salt to the potatoes and garlic and mash to your preferred texture.

Mom Tip:

* You can make these as garlicky as you want. I like to cut the cloves in half before I put them in the pot.

Fried Rice

This is a cheap and easy recipe to throw together with ingredients you probably have on hand. It's a great accompaniment to Soy-Ginger Wings. We also like teriyaki flavored broccoli with it.

Ingredients

Leftover Long Grain White Rice (if it's a day old and refrigerated, it will work better)
Oil, for frying
Veggies, anything you have on hand (The picture above includes mushrooms, baby corn, two carrots sliced really thin, and red bell pepper)
Garlic, a few cloves sliced up
Soy Sauce
Sesame Oil

Directions

1. Heat the oil in a wok. Add the veggies and stir fry them for a couple of minutes. Throw in the rice and stir fry until it looks good to you! Throw in some soy sauce and toss a few times. Throw in some sesame oil and you're done!

Mom Tip

You can throw anything you want in fried rice! Try adding a beaten egg or two, or some leftover meat for protein.

Chicken Parmesan

It's taken awhile, but I finally fine-tuned this recipe to our utter satisfaction! We no longer need to go to a restaurant in order to be satisfied by Chicken Parmesan!

Ingredients

1/3 Cup Grated Parmesan Cheese, divided
1/4 Cup Panko Bread Crumbs
1 Tbsp Parsley
1/2 Tsp Basil
1/4 Tsp Salt
1 Egg, Beaten
2 Chicken Breasts, cut in half
2 Tbsp Coconut Oil
1 Jar Pasta Sauce
2 Tsp Balsamic Vinegar
1/2 Cup Shredded Mozzarella

Directions

1. Heat the pasta sauce and balsamic vinegar on low heat on the stove.

2. Hammer the chicken breasts flat (that's the fun part:). Pat them very, very dry.

3. Heat an iron skillet to medium-high. In the meantime, preheat the broiler in the oven.

4. Combine 2 Tbsp Parmesan, breadcrumbs, parsley, basil, and salt in a shallow dish. Place the beaten egg in a second shallow dish. Dip each piece of chicken in the egg, then press into the breadcrumb mixture.

5. Melt the coconut oil in the skillet. Place the chicken in the oil and cook for three minutes on each side until done.

6. Pour the pasta sauce in the skillet over the chicken. Sprinkle with the remaining Parmesan and the mozzarella. Place skillet in the oven and broil until the cheese melts and browns. Remember to watch it closely!

Serve over spaghetti noodles and spoon on extra sauce.

Strawberry Ice Cream

We make very good use of our ice cream maker around here, and this is our favorite recipe. There are a few "musts" to consider in order to ensure that your strawberry ice cream turns out especially delicious. First, the better your strawberries taste, the better your strawberry ice cream will taste.. duh, right? Second, use very high quality vanilla. If you use cheap vanilla, you'll taste it, and it doesn't taste good. I like to use alcohol-free vanilla in ice cream.

Ingredients

2/3 Pint Fresh, Ripe Strawberries (cut into little pieces)
3 Tbsp Lemon Juice
1/3 Cup Sucanat (regular sugar will work fine, too)
1 Cup Whole Milk
2/3 Cup Sugar
2 Cups Heavy Cream
1 Tsp Vanilla Extract

Directions

1. Combine the cut up strawberries with the lemon juice and sucanat. Stir gently and let sit for two hours or overnight.

2. When the strawberries are ready, whisk the milk and sugar together for two minutes to disolve the sugar. Add the cream, the juices from the strawberries, and the vanilla and combine.

3. Pour the ingredients into the freezer bowl and let mix for 25 minutes. When the time is up, add the strawberries in and mix for an additional 5 minutes. Put the ice cream in a 1.75 quart lidded Pyrex dish and transfer to the freezer immediately.

Mom Tip

Don't take the freezer bowl out of the freezer until the moment you're ready to pour the ingredients into it. The more frozen it is, the better.

Cheddar & Fontina Fondue

A few months ago I found a great deal on a brand new fondue pot on Craigslist and this meal has quickly become a staple at our house. Friday nights are great fondue nights and we look forward to them all week when they're on the menu. Fondue is also great for serving when you have another family over for dinner (and later you can fill it with chocolate!). Every family needs a fondue pot that gets regular use!

We've tried a few different recipes but this one is by far our favorite. The inspiration came from Jen's blog. The most important thing with fondue is using good quality cheeses. If you already have a bottle open, you can substitute half of the stock for a good quality dry, white wine like Chardonnay.

Ingredients

2 Tbsp Butter
2 Tbsp Flour
1 Clove Garlic
1 Bay Leaf
1/8 Tsp Pepper
1/4 Tsp Marjoram
1 Cup Chicken Stock
3 Cups of Shredded Cheese (we use 1 1/2 cups of cheddar and 1 1/2 cups of fontina)

Our Favorite Dippers

Apples
Carrots
Broccoli
Cauliflower
Sourdough Bread
Chicken Apple Sausage

Directions

1. Prepare all of your dippers first: lightly steam the veggies, cut up the apples and bread into cubes, brown the sausages... you won't have time to do it after the fondue is ready.

2. To prepare the fondue, melt the butter in a saucepan. Add garlic and spices and cook for a minute. Add the flour and whisk constantly for one minute. Add chicken stock and whisk until thickened. Add the cheese and stir until smooth. Remove the bay leaf.

3. Transfer to your fondue pot and enjoy!

Mom Tip

Try rubbing a clove of garlic all over the inside of the fondue pot before you add the cheese mixture.

If your fondue gets gloopy, add some lemon juice to the mixture to smooth it.

Best Chicken Tacos Ever

Tonight I made the tastiest chicken tacos I've ever had... I thought I should write down how I did it so I don't forget! I'm pretty sure the ingredient that made these particular tacos so delicious was the homemade chicken stock from the batch I made a few weeks ago. It was the thickest, most gelatinous chicken stock I've ever made... yum! We could taste it in the chicken, it was so flavorful!

I can't recommend store bought chicken stock because the quality is sub-par to homemade. Also, they all contain MSG (even the ones at Whole Foods!). MSG masquerades as all kinds of other ingredients, so you have to be careful. (A quick google search of "MSG ingredients list" will help you out.) Personally, MSG gives me headaches!

Anyway, here's how it went down...

Ingredients

1 Whole Chicken
1 Jalapeno Pepper
1/2 Red Onion, chopped
Coconut Oil
1 Cup Homemade Chicken Stock
Seasoning (a mixture of cumin, oregano, cayenne pepper, salt, black pepper, onion powder, & garlic powder)

Directions

1. Boil a whole chicken for an hour and a half and let it cool on the counter for an hour or two. Take the meat off the bones and gently shredded it with your fingers.

2. Saute a chopped jalapeno pepper and half a chopped red onion in an iron skillet using coconut oil. Then add the chicken, some seasoning, and the homemade chicken stock. Heat it up until the water evaporates off.

Enjoy with black beans, mexican rice, "homemade" tortillas (a la Trader Joe's;) and all the trimmings!

Stuffed Bell Peppers

I did it again! I soaked my grains! This time it was rice. Yay for me! It takes a little planning ahead but it's really easy. If you plan your meals it will become second nature and it only takes a few minutes of your time.

This recipe is a family favorite, and I saw these beautiful organic peppers in the store this week and I just couldn't resist. Delish!

Ingredients

6 Bell Peppers

1 Cup Brown Basmati Rice, soaked and cooked

1 Lb Grass-Fed Ground Beef

1/2 Onion, diced

2 Garlic Cloves, finely chopped

1 Box Pomi Chopped Tomatoes (or just chop up a few tomatoes if they're in season)

8 oz Sharp Cheddar Cheese, grated

1/2 tsp Fresh Ground Black Pepper

1 tsp Salt

To Prepare Soaked Rice...

Place 1 cup of rice and 2 cups of warm, filtered water plus 2 tablespoons of yogurt, kefir, or buttermilk in a pot and leave in a warm place for at least 7 hours. Bring to a boil, skim, reduce heat, stir in 1/2 teaspoon of salt and 1-2 tablespoons butter and cover tightly. Cook over low heat for 45 minutes.

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400

2. Cut the bell peppers in half, top to bottom. Remove seeds and ribs.

3. Brown the beef, onions and garlic in a cast iron skillet. Turn off the heat and add in the tomatoes, rice, and spices, mixing them up well.

4. Arrange the peppers in a baking dish skin side down. Divide the beef mixture among the pepper halves. Cover the dish with foil and bake for 40 minutes.

5. Remove the foil and sprinkle the cheese on the top (remember to leave a few cheese-free for Miss I-Don't-Eat-Food-With-Melted-Cheese-On-Top, aka Sister Bear). Return dish to the oven, uncovered, for about five minutes.

Mom Tip

*You can of course make this recipe without soaking the rice ahead of time - just cook it according to package directions. I soaked the rice overnight and cooked it when I woke up in the morning and just saved it in the fridge until I was ready to use it.

Soaked Pancakes

When I first started reading about soaking grains over a year ago I was intimidated and overwhelmed. It took me awhile, but today I made my first recipe using soaked grains and it was a SUCCESS and SO easy! In the words of Sister Bear after taking her first bite of these: "I'm just warnin' ya! These are Yuh - Uh - Uh - Uh - MEEEE!"

*If you're interested in reading about the benefits of soaking grains, just google "soaking grains." There's no shortage of information!

Ingredients

2 Cups Whole Wheat Pastry Flour
2 Cups Yogurt (you could also use buttermilk or kefir)
2 eggs
1/2 tsp Salt
1 tsp Baking Soda
2 Tbsp Butter, melted

Directions

1. Mix the flour with the yogurt and place it in a warm place for 12-24 hours. (I set the bowl inside the oven.)

2. When you're ready to make the pancakes, stir in the rest of the ingredients. Add water to obtain desired thickness. I suggest adding only a little bit at a time because it doesn't take a great deal of water to make your pancakes thin.

3. Cook on a hot, oiled griddle or cast iron skillet. I use coconut oil.

Mom Tip We love thinly sliced strawberries in our pancake batter!

Soy-Ginger Wings

This is a cheap meal. Whenever I see wings on sale at Whole Foods I stock up. I can get two pounds for under five bucks. Not too shabby!

I adapted this recipe from one I found in Parents magazine. I switched the grapeseed oil out in favor of coconut, which has tremendous health benefits. The recipe originally called for 3 pounds of wings, but 2 is enough for our family right now (someday I'm sure we'll need more!). I also added the sesame seeds.

Serve with some teriyaki flavored asparagus, some rice, and some tropical fruit like mango or grilled pineapple... YUM!

Ingredients

2 lbs Chicken Wings, room temperature

2 Tbsp Coconut Oil

Salt and Pepper

Sesame Seeds

For the soy-ginger glaze, combine:

1/4 Cup Soy Sauce

2 Tbsp Sesame Oil

2 Tbsp Rice-Wine Vinegar

2 Tbsp Fresh Ginger, grated

Directions

1. Heat the oven to 450. Put the chicken wings in a large roasting pan, drizzle with the coconut oil and sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper. Toss to coat and spread wings in a single layer, meaty side down.

2. Put the pan in the oven and immediately turn oven down to 375. Roast, undisturbed, until the bottom of the pan is coated with fat and the wings are beginning to brown, about 15 minutes (or until they're not sticking to the pan).

3. Take the pan out of the oven and toss the wings with the soy-ginger glaze. Sprinkle with sesame seeds. Arrange the wings with the meaty side up and return the pan to the oven until they are nicely browned, about 10 more minutes.

4. Raise the oven temperature to 450 and continue to cook until wings are crisp all over, about ten more minutes. Transfer the wings to a serving dish and pour the pan drippings over the top.

Mom Tip

If your coconut oil is solid, just stick it somewhere warm for a few seconds until it's liquid.

Pumpkin Chiffon Pie

This is great grandma Lois's recipe, and it's dad's absolute favorite pumpkin pie in the world! (Mine, too - but the way he goes on about it you'd think it was his grandma's recipe.) We love it with a homemade graham cracker crust, which is super easy to make.

It doesn't require an oven (except for the pie crust), just a stovetop and a double boiler.

Ingredients

3 Eggs, separated into yolks and whites
1 Cup Sugar
1 1/4 Cup Pureed Pumpkin
1/2 Cup Milk
1/2 Tsp Salt
1/2 Tsp Ginger
1/2 Tsp Nutmeg
1 Tbsp Unflavored Gelatin
1/4 Cup Water
1 Graham Cracker Pie Shell

Directions

1. Heat water in the bottom of a double boiler until boiling. In a mixer, beat egg yolk plus 1/2 cup sugar til thick. Add pumpkin, milk, salt and spices and mix together. Transfer this mixture to the top of a double boiler and cook until thick.

2. Soften gelatin in the 1/4 cup of cold water for five minutes. Stir into hot mixture.

3. In the mixer, beat egg whites until stiff, then add 1/2 cup sugar. Add to double boiler and mix.

4. Pour into pie shell and chill for at least three hours. Serve with whipped cream.

Sweet Potato & Fresh Orange Casserole

Believe it or not, I found this delicious recipe last year on Live with Regis and Kelly. It must have been fate that the one random time I ever watched that show I got something out of it! Gotta give all the credit to Joy Philbin, as it's her recipe, and it's delicious! I only wish that someone in my family liked sweet potatoes besides me... I'm putting it here anyway, because someday my kids are going to have to make it for me.

Ingredients

4 Large Sweet Potatoes
2 Oranges
1 Stick of Butter
1 Cup Light Brown Sugar
1/2 Cup Pecans, chopped
1 Tbsp Cornstarch
1 Cup Orange Juice
3 Tbsp Maple Syrup
1/8 Tsp Cloves

Directions

1. Cover potatoes in water and boil until tender, approximately 25-30 minutes. Remove the potatoes and peel while still warm. Cut into 1/4" slices and set aside. Peel, then slice the oranges into 1/4" slices. Mix gently with potatoes.

2. Grease a 9x13 casserole dish and add potato/orange mixture.

3. Meanwhile, melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Add brown sugar and pecans. Simmer 3 minutes. Pour sugar/pecan mixture over the top of the potato/orange mixture.

4. In a saucepan, mix the OJ, cornstarch, maple syrup, and cloves. Cook and stir until thick. Pour over potatoes and bake at 375 for 15 minutes.

Cardamom Bread

This bread has been a staple at my family's holiday dinners for as long as I can remember. Dad loves it, and would eat an entire loaf in two days if I made him one.

The original recipe is double this one. Great-grandma always made two loaves at Thanksgiving and put one in the freezer to keep until Christmas. I divided the recipe in half so it would fit in my bread machine. I'm lazy like that.

It's very important that this braided loaf be served warm and not sliced. It must be passed around the table and your piece must be torn from the loaf. It's essential for proper absorption of butter into the nooks and crannies. I repeat, do not let anyone slice this bread!

Ingredients

1 1/8 tsp Active Dry Yeast or Bread Machine Yeast
1/8 Cup Water, warm
1 1/4 Cup Milk, scalded and cooled
3/8 Cup Butter
1/2 Egg
1/4 Tsp Salt
1/2 C Sugar
3/4 Tsp Cardamom
4 Cups Flour (white is usually used, but I've used wheat with great success)

Bread Machine Directions

1. Put all ingredients into the bread machine in order listed, except add the yeast last! Put it on top! Run the machine through on the dough setting.

2. When the dough is finished rising (and you can let it rise as long as you want, but at least 1 1/2 hours), remove it from the chamber. Punch down, divide into three equal pieces and braid it. Let it rise for at least another 40 minutes.

3. Bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes.

Directions for making without a bread machine:

1. In large bowl blend yeast and water. Let stand for 5 minutes.

2. Stir in all ingredients except flour until blended.

3. Stir in most of the flour, about 3 1/2 cups, until dough is stiff. Turn onto floured board and knead in remaining flour until smooth and elastic.

4. Place in greased bowl, cover, and let rise for at least 1 1/2-2 hours until double.

5. Punch down, divide into three equal pieces and braid it. Let rise for at least another 4o minutes.

6. Bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes.

Serve warm and do not slice!

Melting Moments

THE premiere holiday cookie... Great grandma's very best!

Cookie Ingredients

1 Cup Butter

1/3 Cup Powdered Sugar

3/4 Cup Cornstarch

1 Cup Flour

Cookie Directions

1. Mix all ingredients together, form small balls on cookie sheet; chill overnight.

2. Bake at 350 for 10 to 15 minutes.

*A small cookie scoop is 2 teaspoons and is the perfect size for these cookies. Little hands can stay busy by rolling them after they are measured.

Icing Ingredients

1 Small (4 Ounce) Package of Cream Cheese

1 Cup Powdered Sugar

1 Tsp total Vanilla & Food Coloring

Icing Directions

1. Mix ingredients. Drop onto cooked cookies.

Mom Tips

* I always sift the powdered sugar into the cookie and the frosting recipes.

* The "classic" version of this recipe features green icing using conventional food coloring, however artificial food dyes are off limits here. We use India Tree Natural Decorating Colors. They are $18.99 for three colors at Whole Foods, but we have no other choice if we want color! It's hard to get vibrant colors using natural food dyes, so we opted for a light pink.