My favorite Christmas recipes (part one)

Here are some yummy winter/Christmas recipes that my family enjoys . . . I meant to post these yesterday, but Maddie had a hard day.  She is fluctuating between feeling sick and yucky and wild spurts of energy during which she is practicing her new favorite sport - diving off the couch.  And to top it all off - James is mobile!  Yes my five month old can scoot himself all over the floor! 

Grammy's Famous Snowball Cookies

Makes six dozen (I never get six dozen out of it cause I snitch dough while I am rolling them)

Ingredients

1 pound butter or margarine
4 cups sifted flour
one cup powdered sugar
one cup chopped nuts (pecans walnuts or almonds)
1 tsp. Vanilla

Directions

Let butter stand at room temp until it gets soft. Cream butter in large bowl, gradually working in flour, sugar, nuts, and vanilla. Chill until firm enough to roll into large marble sized balls. place on an ungreased cookie sheet about 2 inches apart. Cook 350 degrees until light golden brown. (Approx. 20 -25) cool on cookie sheet for aprox. 10 min. Remove carefully. Shake gently in a bag with 1 cup powdered sugar until generously coated. may need to be re-coated. cool completely on wire rack, before storing in a tight container with wax paper between layers to keep from sticking.

Cock-a-leekie Soup

We like to have this in the days leading up to Christmas - so full of yummy goodness!

Ingredients

4 lbs chicken breast (you can use dark meat too if you like)

10 cups water

1 onion, chopped

1/3 cup barley

1 (10.5 ounce) can condensed chicken broth

7 leeks, sliced

2 stalks celery, thickly sliced

1 sprig fresh thyme, chopped (I like to use 2 or 3 sprigs, and cook them whole in the pot then chop or break them up near the end of cooking, yum)

1 TBS. chopped fresh parsley

1 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. ground black pepper 

Directions

In a large pot over high heat, combine the chicken, water, onion, and barley.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low and simmer for one hour.  Remove chicken, discard the bones and skin, chop meat into bite size pieces and return to the pot.

Add the chicken broth, leeks, celery, thyme, parsley, salt and pepper.  Simmer for 30 more minutes, or until all vegetables are tender.