Good Food At Survivor Haven

Good Food At The Haven Yummm, the holidays! Ok, so many of us use food as a comfort tool but there is still a great deal to be said about the food to be found during the holiday season. While many may consider the turkeys, hams or roasts to be the main course, I prefer to dream of a meal that would start out with dessert and something good to drink. DRINKS "Heidi" wrote and told us, "In Germany, where I was born and raised, we have a New Years Eve traditiontranslated called "Fireplierpunch" "You fill a large pot with dark red wine, add orange slices, lemon slices, cinnamon sticks and heat the wine just before boiling. Then you set it on a heat pad on the table. Across the top of the pot slide onto a skewer is a sugarcone (not cane). It might be hard to find one of those in the States, but an International Food store might carry them. Anyhow, the cone is drenched in flammable alcohol and set on fire. Turn down or off the lights and watch the bluish flame melt the sugar into the wine." "You drink it hot. It warms cold winterfeet and don't drink too much as this stuff is heavy!" "I miss this tradition (along with the fireworks that light up the sky on New Year's Eve and put any 4th of July firework to shame as EVERY household is allowed to set them off." Heide please be sure to stop by my website and I am also now the proud published co-author of "Romantic Emotions" check here for purchasing information: and now, the latest news: I'm one of America's Most Unwanted at http://www.janetelainesmith.com Go check it out! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Spiced Cider If you are looking for a non-alcoholic style beverage to warm you up, try spiced cider. The Perry spiced cider is easily begun by pouring a half-gallon(or more depending on the number of people and size of pot) of apple cider into a large pot or even a slow cooker turned on med. Now the rest will depend on the amount of cider you are making. For half a gallon, I usually make 1/4 inch slices of two granny smith apples, three oranges and two lemons. Into each of these slices, stick several cloves. Add the fruit and cloves to the cider and allow to cook for an hour. When ready to serve, do so in a heavy coffee style cup with a cinnamon stick in each cup. Kids and adults seem to like this sweet, fruity drink. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ DESSERTS! Cheescake by "Tina" 1-1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs 1/4 cup sugar 1/3 cup margarine or butter (melted) 2 (8 oz.) packages cream cheese (softened) 1 (14 oz.) can sweetened condensed milk 3 eggs 1/4 cup lemon juice 1 (8 oz.) container sour cream (at room temperature) 1 (21 oz.) can strawberry pie filling or fresh strawberries (sliced) Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Combine crumbs, sugar and margarine; press firmly on bottom of 9-inch springform pan. In a large mixer bowl, beat cheese until fluffy. Gradually beat in sweetened condensed milk until smooth. Add eggs and lemon juice; mix well. Pour into prepared pan. Bake 50 to 55 minutes or until center is set; top with sour cream. Bake 5 minutes longer. Cool. Chill. Just before serving, remove side of springform pan. Top with strawberry pie filling or fresh strawberries. Refrigerate leftovers. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Cheater's Cheesecake with no bake variations This is a recipe that is quick, easy and even true cheesecake lovers come back for seconds. Graham cracker crust 1 1/2 cups crumbs 3 Tbs soft or melted butter/margarine 2 Tbs sugar Mix and press into large pie pan. Bake 10 minutes at 250 Filling 1 softened brick of cream cheese 1/2 cup sugar 1-2 tsp. vanilla extract (depending on taste) 1 16oz container sour cream 1 12oz. container of whipped topping (not lite) 1 pkg. hot cocoa mix English toffee chips (I use about 1/8 - 1/4 cup) Beat sugar, cream cheese, vanilla and 1/2 pkg. of cocoa until smooth. Add sour cream and toffee chips on low speed until well blended. Stir or fold in the whipped topping. Sprinkle remaining cocoa mix on cooled crust. Pour in filling and chill for at least 3 hours. The basic recipe without cocoa and toffee is great by itself. Top with dark sweet cherries, strawberries or any favorite cheese cake topping. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Buttermilk pie 1 3/4 cups sugar l/4 cup flour l/2 cup buttemilk l/2 cup butter melted 1 tsp vanilla extract 3 eggs 2 Tablespoons lemon juice Pinch of salt l pie shell (9inch) unbaked Combine all ingredients in the order given. Mix well and pour into pie shell. Bake at 350 degrees for l hour, or until brown. Filling is set when a light crust forms on top. Serves 8. A nice variation to this is to add pecan halves to the pie's top before baking. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Dave's Raisin Bread Pudding While the idea of most bread pudding makes me want to run and hide, the one my husband makes is the difference. Although you can use fresh raisin bread, he prefers me to get it a week in advance so it is stale. It seems to give more texture to the end result. 8-12 toasted pieces of cinnamon raisin bread 2 TBsp softened margarine 3 cups scalded milk 3 large eggs 1/4 tsp salt 1/2 cup sugar 1 tsp vanilla 1/2 tsp cinnamon Preheat oven to 350 F You will need a rectangular baking pan. The glass pyrex types seem to work best. Spray pan with a non-stick butter flavored cooking spray. Spread the butter over your warm toast, cut in half and then add the pieces to the pan overlapping slightly. While your milk is scalding, beat the eggs lightly in a medium sized mixing bowl. Stir in the salt, vanilla and all but 2 tablespoons of the sugar. Add the scalded milk. Stir until mixed then pour over the bread. Allow to soak up the milk for at least 10 minutes. Use the remaining sugar and mix with cinnamon. Sprinkle this mix over the top of the bread. Bake for 20-30 minutes or until a knife comes out clean. Is excellent served warm or cold (I prefer the warm!). ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ BREADS Years ago I participated in civil war re-enacting. There was also one time I attempted to make yeast rolls from scratch. The result was a wad of white baked stuff that could have doubled for mortar shells. Since then I have learned to let my husband Dave do all the baking in the family! Below is his yeast roll recipe that is a must for all our family get togethers. (Hint: With a little more sugar and rolled out, it can be sprinkled with a heavy dose of cinnamon and sugar, rolled up and then cut into cinnamon rolls. Baked and topped with cream cheese icing!) Dave's Yeast Rolls Dissolve two packages of dried yeast into 3 TBsp. warm water and then set it aside. Mix 2 beaten eggs, 1 cup of sugar, 1/2 cup Crisco shortening (we prefer the butter flavored) and salt. Stir in 1 cup warm wataer. Dump in the yeast mixture and slowly add 4 cups of sifted flour. Mix it well then cover the bowl with a clean towel and set aside at room temperature. Wait about 3 hours and dump it onto a floured countertop or baking board. Knead the mixture well. If you flour your hands before kneading, they will clean easier later on! Toss back into bowl and cover for another 2-3 hours. From this point it is up to you as to how much time you want to take and how fine the texture of the roll. If you have time, knead and allow to rise again. If not, flour your rolling pin, place mixture on the countertop and roll out to about 1/4 inch thickness. Use a circular cookie cutter to cut rolls out. Place on a greased cookie sheet with about 1/2 - 1 inch inbetween rolls. Allow to rise once more for 1-2 hours. Bake at 425 degrees for 6-8 minutes. For a pretty finish, brush with melted butter as soon as they come out of the oven. Beware though! Don't take out around the guests before the dinner or there won't be any left over when it is time to eat! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ MEATS Tenna's Cure For The Dry Turkey My number one cure is to have someone else cook it, eat it and then have the problem of storing the leftovers. For those timeS when I can't weasel out of making one of those obnoxious birds, I once again cheat. We usually have a large gathering so we need a large bird. I start cooking it the night before. Take one defrosted turkey (don't forget to take the insides out like I did one year). Place it in a clean sink or roaster pan and stab the devil out of it with a two pronged meat fork. Once thoroughly skewered, place in a turkey sized Reynolds baking bag with the breast side up and set to the side. In a 2 qt pot, melt 2 sticks of butter or margarine, add 1 heaping TBsp of prechopped garlic, 1/4 cup minced onion, 1 TBsp of cajiun spice and 1 tsp black pepper. Cook over medium heat until bubbling. Remember the stabbed turkey? Have someone hold the bag open as you pour the butter mix over the bird. The punture wounds should allow the butter to seep deep into the bird. I then close the bag with the plastic holder provided and cook at 275 over night (normally I do this about midnight for a noon meal). If you like your dressing cooked in the bird, it can be added and cooked along with the bird in the bag. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SIDE DISHES Smashed Yams 8 -10 fresh yams peeled 1/2 -2/3 cup of brown sugar 1 stick of butter 1/3 cup chopped pecans marshmalloss if you like Take the peeled yams and slice them into a microwave safe dish. Cover and cook until tender. Remove cover (be careful of the steam!) Place yams in a large mixing bowl and proceed to mash or blend like you would regular mashed potatoes. Add the remaining ingredients and mix well. They are now ready to be served or can be placed in an oven safe dish, covered with marshmallows and baked until the marshmallows reach your desired color. While a little more effort, these are a great deal better than the prechopped style that gets dumped out of a can. The butter and sugar can be adjusted easily to taste. Be sure to check back with us a little later as we plan on adding more recipes to this page as they come in. Return To: The Winter 2003 Issue Survivor Haven's Homepage