Friday, December 4, 2009

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.

2 comments:

  1. That cookie recipe looks great Jessica!

    I got that you loved Lewis from the tile Narnia Mum, hehe! I am also a bit an Austen freak, she is second only to LMM. I did a post over a year ago that I think you might find enjoyable since you love Jane too: http://miss-print.blogspot.com/2008/08/this-is-occasion-for-genuinely-tiny.html

    I really hope to visit PEI one day too (although I guess I'm a lot closer than you), but I've never had the finances to do so having paid for my own schooling (and continuing to pay since I'm now in graduate school). One day it will happen though an it will be amazing!

    I'm actually a beginner quilter myself (just started in May/June). The Viliya Quilt is only the third quilt I've completed, but I seem to be taking to it. I really do love any kind of patchwork! I'm sure you will come up with something prettier than my quilts in no time!

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  2. Thanks for stopping by my blog! I love the Snowball cookies- one of my all time favorties (we call them Russian Teacakes!). :)

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