Do you plan on serving CRANBERRIES this Thanksgiving?

400 million pounds of cranberries are consumed by Americans each year, 20% during the week of Thanksgiving.

1912 was the year cranberry sauce was first marketed.

5,062,500 gallons of jellied cranberry sauce is consumed by Americans each holiday season.

94% of Thanksgiving dinners include cranberry sauce.

1683 was the year cranberry sauce was first made by American settlers.

If you have a yummy recipe for cranberry sauce, chutney, salsa, pie, jello, or whatever please post it (or let me know and I'll post it for you)! YUM!

~Cranberry facts from LDS Living Magazine

Apple and Pear Crisp

Ingredients:
-2 lbs of ripe pears (about 4)
-2 lbs of apples (about 6)
-2 T. orange juice
-2 T. lemon juice
-1/2 c. sugar
-1/4 c. flour
-1 t. cinnamon

Topping:
-1 1/2 c. flour
-3/4 c. sugar
-3/4 c. brown sugar
-1/2 t. salt
-1 c. old-fashioned oatmeal
-1/2 lb cold unsalted butter, diced (2 sticks)

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Peel, core, and cut the pears and apples into large chunks. Place the fruit in a large bowl and add the juices, sugar, flour, and cinnamon. Pour into a 9x13x2 inch oval baking dish.

For the topping:
Combine the flour, sugars, salts, oatmeal, and butter in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on low speed for 1 minute, until the mixture is in crumbles (don't over mix). Sprinkle evenly over the fruit, covering the fruit completely.

Place the baking dich on a sheet pan and bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour, until the top is brown and the fruit is bubbly. Serve warm. YUM!!!!!!

Bar-b-que Pork Salad

From: Kim McCrary, my Aunt

Place a 3-4 lb. pork roast (the inexpensive picnic pork roasts or country style boneless ribs work best) in crock pot with a 20 oz. can of coke. Cook on high for 1-2 hours, then turn to low for several hours or until tender. (I put mine in the crock pot in the evening and cook overnight or in the morning and cook it all day--super tender!)

Shred pork with two forks and add:
1 teaspoon garlic salt
¼ cup bar-b-que sauce
¾ cup ketchup
1/3 cup brown sugar


SALAD
Layer the following:
Romaine lettuce
bar-b-que pork
black or pinto beans
cheese
tomatoes or pico de gallo
dressing, sour cream and/or guacamole
tortilla strips or Fritos


Stephanie’s Dressing: so fresh and tasty!
Pulse in blender until mixed thoroughly:
1 cup mayo
1 cup milk
1 package ranch dressing mix
2 tomatillas
1 serrano pepper
½ bunch cilantro

Double-Crusted Chocolate Covered Sweet Surprise Cheesecake

I made this cheesecake for Terri's birthday the 24th of September. Don't ask her how old she is...it's a touchy subject. LOL! Just kidding.
This recipe seems hard with lots of instructions, but it's super easy, I promise. It's just written out to make it easy to understand and prepare, so it looks long. And you don't need a springform pan, a PYREX 9-inch round would be fine.

Ganache Topping:
12 ounces semi-sweet chocolate
1 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon vanilla

Oatmeal-Pretzel Crust:
½ cup lightly packed brown sugar
1 ½ cups flour
1 ½ cups oats (I used instant)
1 ½ cups pretzels (crushed coarsely)
1 ½ sticks butter (melted)

Filling:
2 blocks cream cheese (at room temperature)
1 ½ cups plain yogurt
3 eggs
1 cup white sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 bag (10 ounce) miniature Snickers bars

Directions
1. Make Ganache: Put chocolate chips in a glass or steel bowl. In a small saucepan, bring cream and butter to a boil and pour it over the chocolate chips. Leave chocolate and cream alone for 5 minutes, then stir to combine; mix in vanilla. At room temperature the ganache is the perfect consistency to "frost" the cheesecake.

2. Preheat the oven to 375˚F. Use a fork to combine all ingredients for the crust. Lightly grease the bottom and sides of a 9-inch springform pan with butter. Pour half crust mixture (2 1/2 cups) into greased cheesecake pan and reserve other half of crust mixture for later. Use a glass to help you firmly press the mixture down evenly. Bake crust for 8 minutes. Once the crust is out of the oven, turn the oven down to 325°F.

3. Chop candy bars into bite-sized pieces. Use a mixer to blend together cream cheese and yogurt; once they’re fully incorporated, mix in one egg at a time; add sugar and vanilla and mix until everything is just incorporated. Fold in chopped candy and pour mixture into pre-baked crust. Bake for 40 minutes, then remove cheesecake from the oven and evenly sprinkle remaining crust mixture on the top; bake for another 20 minutes.

4. Allow cheesecake to cool completely, then refrigerate for 2 hours. Pour the room-temperature ganache over the cooled cheesecake and spread it out in an even layer (some chocolate will drip down the sides of the cheesecake, but don't worry about spreading it evenly over the sides). Refrigerate for another 2 hours.

Original recipe from www.delish.com

Chocolate Chip Cookies

This is just a simple chocolate chip cookie recipe, but I had alot of requests for it at the Cub Scout Pack Meeting.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 cup butter flavored crisco
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla
4 eggs
4 1/2 cups flour
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
chocolate chips

Combine crisco, sugars, vanilla, and eggs, mix well. Add the rest of the ingredients until combined and then add chocolate chips. Bake at 350 for 11 min. I watch them closely when they are cooking and take them out when they will still be a bit soft in the middle, just barely turning golden brown. Enjoy!

Orange-Pecan Granola

1 cup old-fashioned oats
2 cups wheat flakes (Wheaties Cereal)
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1 cup chopped pecans
Finely grated zest of 1 orange (I omit this and it's still great!)
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup unsalted butter (I use on 1/4 cup)
1/4 cup honey

Preheat oven to 350. Put oats, flakes, sugar, nuts, zest, nutmeg and cinnamon in a medium bowl. Melt butter with honey in a saucepan over low heat; stir into oat mixture. Spread mixture in a 8x11 in pan. Bake until just golden, about 10 minutes. Let cool in pan.
This receipe came from Amy Hartnett.

Grandma Dorothy's Popcorn Balls

I was cleaning out my recipe file and came across this recipe from my Grandma Dorothy McCrary, my Mom's Mother. It is the best recipe for Caramel Corn! To make this recipe even sweeter, my Grandma was born today, July 31, 1923. She died when I was 12 and in 7th grade. Enjoy...


1 cup Karo Syrup
2 1/4 cups packed brown sugar
1 can Eagle brand sweetened condensed milk
1 cube butter
10 quarts (40 cups) popped corn, remove all the un-popped kernels or you'll break a tooth.
(A full-size bag of microwave popcorn is 5 cups)

Pop the popcorn first and remove the un-popped kernels.
Have a large mixing bowl ready that has been lightly coated with cooking spray.

Caramel:
Combine syrup and sugar in heavy saucepan and stir together well. Cook on medium heat until it boils. Make sure the sugar is completely dissolved and keep the sides of the pan clean to avoid sugary caramel later. Add milk and butter, cook and stir until it forms soft ball in cold water (about 236 degrees). Cool slightly while putting the popped corn in the prepared bowl, then pour caramel over popped corn and stir, stir, stir.
Spray your hands with cooking spray. The popcorn can now be formed into balls and bagged, or left loose and put in large Ziploc bags. Makes about 18 popcorn balls.

This is her original recipe card in her handwriting.

Brown Sugar Meatloaf

From: http://www.excellenteats.blogspot.com/

½ cup packed brown sugar
½ cup ketchup
1 pound of ground beef
1 pound sausage
¾ cup milk
2 eggs
1 ½ teaspoons salt
¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
1 small onion, chopped, OR 2 tablespoons onion flakes
¾ cup oatmeal, regular or instant

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a bread pan. Mix ketchup & brown sugar, put half in the bottom of the loaf pan. Save the other half to put on the top. In a mixing bowl, mix thoroughly all remaining ingredients and shape into a loaf. Place on top of the ketchup/brown sugar mixture in the loaf pan. Top with ketchup/brown sugar and bake for about 70 minutes or until juices are clear.
I usually put potatoes in the oven at the same time and bake till tender.

Peanut Butter Fudge Brownie Bars

1 1/2 cup butter or margarine, melted, divided
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup baking cocoa
1/4 cup milk
1 1/4 cups chopped pecans, divided (optional)
1 pkg. (10oz) peanut butter chips
1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk
1/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips

In a large bowl, combine 1 cup melted butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla; beat well. Add flour, cocoa and milk; beat until blended. Stir in 1 cup pecans. Pour into a greased 13x9 baking pan. Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes or just until edges begin to pull away from sides of pan. Cool completely in pan on wire rack. In a medium saucepan over low heat, combine remaining butter and peanut butter chips, stirring constantly. Stir in sweetened condensed milk until smooth; pour over baked layer. Place chocolate chips in a small microwave-safe bowl. Microwave on high for 45 seconds; stir. If necessary, microwave an additional 15 seconds at a time, stirrring after each heating, just until chips are melted. Drizzle bars with melted chocolate; sprinkle with remaining pecans. Refrigerate 1 hour or until firm. Cut into bars. Yield 2 dozen.

Sausage Pasta Dish

1 box Rigatoni Pasta
Jimmy Dean sausage
1 jar spagetti sauce
1 can sliced olives
1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

Boil pasta, brown sausage. combine pasta, meat, sauce and olives in 13x9 pan. Sprinkle with cheese. Bake at 350 for 20-30 min.