FRUIT LEATHER (dried apples too!)

FRUIT LEATHER/DRIED FRUIT

About the time when I started having kids fruit leather became popular in the grocery stores, or at least I never noticed it before. I bought a dehydrater at the Western Washington State Fair one year when they (kids) were starting to need snacks. My family is a little hyper so if you didn't want your kids bouncing off the walls you had to think up some healthy snacks. I always tried to make up stories about how it was natures candy and such. It really came in handy when we went camping or hiking and when the kids began track in high school they were sure glad mom went ot the trouble of making these snacks. I wrap it in wax paper because it doesn't stick, much easier to pull off.

If you fold the corner down just a little then roll it comes out real nice.

You may use fresh fruit but the easy way is to take a large can of fruit(29 oz.) drain the liquid off and put in your blender or 2-2 1/2 cups fruit puree. Applesauce works very well and the cinnamon flavored one is great.

Make fruit into a puree, no chunks, just like baby food.

For the fruit leather you have to have these trays and you must oil them very lightly. I use pam then wipe with a paper towel. If you use a sticky fruit like banana, which I usually mix with some other fruits. be sure the oil gets all around...they stick otherwise.

load up the trays with the measurements that best suits your dehydrater, ( mine is 2 or 2 1/2 cups)

and in 24 -36 hours you have a nice snack that travels well.

I have 8 trays so when I do this I like to fill all the trays and will add fruit this time it was apples. I used the apple-peeler-corer thing, which makes the apples thin but make a great chip like snack. My daughter loves banana chips because they are not crisp like you buy in the store. It is fun coming up with different combinations.

Bonelos Aga (Ripe Banana Donuts)

This is a favorite of Tom's ( my husband ). I've only made these once before and had never seen or tried them so when I got done making my very first batch I thought I'd done it all completely wrong. They didn't look or taste like any donuts I'd ever had. My husband came home from work, very excited to see I'd made these donuts and gobbled them all up saying they were great! That was a few years ago and he's been begging for us to make some more ever since. Well, today was the day and our daughter wanted to learn so I let her do most of the work. They are very simple:

• You will need: 10 to 12 ripe bananas.
• 1 cup flour
• 4 to 5 tablespoons sugar

Peel and thoroughly mash bananas. Add flour and sugar. Mix until smooth. Drop by tablespoon into hot fat. Once browned on all sides, drain on brown paper or paper towels and roll in sugar.

You may need to beat off sneaky fingers until they are cooled enough to eat.

Chicken Nibblies

Make a lot of these little appetizers, they go fast! You will need:

• 4 Tablespoons cream cheese, softened
• 2 cups ground cooked chicken
• 2 Tablespoons chopped chives
• 1 teaspoon prepared mustard
• salt and pepper
• 3/4 teaspoon liquid smoke
• 2 1/2 tablespoons milk
• fine dry bread crumbs
• paprika

MUSTARD DIP

• salad dressing or mayonnaise
• soft honey
• prepared mustard

Put first 8 ingredients into a bowl. Mix well adding a bit more milk if needed to hold shape. Roll into 1 inch balls.

Mix bread crumbs with paprika, coat balls and chill.

Mustard Dip: Mix mayo , honey and mustard in a small bowl. Spear smoked balls with wooden pick to dip before eating. Makes 1/2 cup dip and 32 meatballs. recipe from COMPANY'S COMING - Chicken Etc. by Jean Pare'

I added this recipe to the Family Favorites because Jim prepared this as an appetizer for a delicious duck dinner and I could have eaten them all by myself. JIm made them again a few days later and I ate most of them. This is a new family favorite around here~

Favorite Chicken & Rice Casserole

This is a tried , true, and favorite chicken and rice recipe~our youngest son Daniel especially loves it! This is an easy chicken casserole to make for those nights I am in a hurry , or have unexpected company over for dinner. Pop it into the oven and visit while the whole meal is baking. You will need~

• 1 can (10 3/4 ounce ) cream of mushroom soup
• 1 cup water
• 3/4 cup uncooked white rice
• 1/4 tsp. paprika
• dash of pepper
• 4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves, although I usually use chicken thighs

1. In a 2 quart shallow baking dish, mix soup, water,rice and seasonings. Place chicken on rice mixture. Sprinkle additional paprika and pepper ( I use Johnny's seasoning too )
2. Bake at 375 degrees for 45 minutes or until chicken and rice are done. Sometimes I add cooked broccoli to the rice mixture, this is yummy and you will get the veggies into the one-dish meal !

MAKING KRUMKAKE

~KRUMKAKE~

A Norwegian waffle cookie traditionally made during the Christmas Season.

3 well beaten eggs

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup butter, melted

1/2 cup flour

1 teaspoon vanilla, almond, or lemon extract

( Iused lemon today)

Beat the eggs well

Add sugar and beat well

Then add melted butter (cooled- just

so you don't cook the eggs)
mix till combined..should look like this

I mix in the flour by hand.

Heat the krumkake iron to medium...

lower or raise temperature depending on your stove

drop a teaspoonful on the iron and close then cook..

It should cook 30 seconds per side
(flip after the first 30 seconds and cook the other side)

Remove fron iron...

and roll the cookie around a wooden cone on a wooden board..they are still hot,
if they cool they will break and they cool fast

Fill with cream and eat..and add a bit of sifted powdered sugar for looks.

A traditionl cream called Multekrem can be made from cloudberries mixed into the whipped cream

Here is the decorative 2-sided iron used to cook the thin round cakes

they are used over the stove element.
sorry ..the pictures turned out small

Modern electric irons have a no-stick surface, are automatic timing and cook two per batch.

These cookies are not only popular in Norway but also among Norwegian immigrant descendants here in America. They offer a sweet dessert after the traditional Christmas Eve dinner of Ribs or Pinnekjott.

In Germany they are filled with sweet stuffings or even used as ice cream cones. Mine always come out to fragile so I am not sure if you would thicken the dough a bit for ice cream.

Coming from a Norwegian family who loves to bake a lot I have come to love Krumkake at Christmas..well really anytime I can get it. I usually eat the first 5 or so coming fresh off the iron and you might guess, the batch I made today, is gone already but my husband and son helped me. ~PLEASE ENJOY~

Smitty's Northwestern Pulled Pork

This recipe comes from my cousin Brad. Brad has grown into a fine cook and quite the master of the dutch oven and other 'cowboy' type cooking methods. Of course I still remember Brad as my cute little cousin growing up next door and getting into mischief with my two brothers, trodding around in their ARMY fatigues which were about 6 sizes too big and purchased from the local ARMY surplus store and their black barn boots. - This same Brad was seen making peanut butter cookies for the county fair and when asked if we'd like to try some cookie dough we obliged only to find it kind of tasted like play dough. Oops ~ Brad realized he'd accidentally put 1/4 CUP salt in the batter instead of 1/4 teaspoon. He didn't enter those cookies in the fair that year but we always thought he should have just to see the look on the judges faces when they 'tested' them. Every great cook has his mishaps and I believe it probably only made Brad a better artist in the kitchen. So here's his recipe for pulled pork which we liked so much we traded our first child for it and now make it every time we have a large gathering of people or a small gathering of people who want to eat a large amount of really great food! ( I'm kidding of course. About the trading our first child part. We let Brad have his own. Love you Brad and keep passing us those tried and tested recipes! )
You'll want to ~ get 1 Pork roast ( Butt)
Season with BBQ rub or just salt and cracked black pepper.
Using Apple chips, smoke for 1 -2 hours with almost no heat. Just enough for smoke flavor. ( This is optional ).
Put in crock-pot and cook until easy to pull apart - OR - in oven inside of foil until easy to pull apart. ( About 175 - 180 deg. internal temp. )
Next, mix up some of Brad's Washington Mop Sauce.
3 cups cider vinegar
1/4 cup apple juice
1/4 Tablespoon ketchup
1/2 cup brown sugar
4 tsp salt
2 Tablespoons pepper
1 Tablespoon hot sauce
1 Tablespoon liquid smoke flavor
Stir ingredients in a small pot over low heat for a few minutes. Mop sauce over pork every 1/2 hour and then set the remaining sauce aside. Use extra sauce to desired taste.

Now everyone has their own favorite way of serving this wonderful meat. Brad's recipe says he likes to serve his on Texas toast. We like to serve ours with ...

some Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ sauce ( or some Huckleberry BBQ given to us by my brother and made in Idaho ) along with some coleslaw on top of a big potato hamburger bun! Heck, you might even want to put it on top of your pancakes after you try how tasty it is! ( We ate all the buns before I could get a decent photo so here's pulled pork, coleslaw, bbq sauce on 2 slices of wheat bread. ) Enjoy!

Grandma Burnson's No-Fail Fudge

This fudge recipe came to us from my husband's mother, Dorothy. Her fudge is the best and we always looked forward to it around Christmas. She said she obtained this recipe from someone she knew in college. All I can say is it is easy to make, and it is easy to eat! Just make sure you have a glass of fresh, cold milk or cup of very good, fresh coffee to drink along-side this rich deliciousness.

Grandma Burnson's No-Fail Fudge

• 5 cups sugar
• 1/2 pound ( 2 cubes) margarine or butter
• 1 can evaporated milk
• 18 ounces chocolate chips
• 7 ounces marshmallow cream
• 1 cup chopped walnuts

In a pan over med. high heat, stir the sugar, butter and evaporated milk until it boils, then keep stirring the boiling mixture for 10 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in the chocolate chips and marshmallow cream until well melted and blended. Add the walnuts, stir throughout the fudge mixture and then pour it into a greased 11 X 13 pan and cool to room temperature before cutting. Enjoy!

Pancit ( Panseat )

• This is a recipe brought to Guam by way of the Philippines and a real fiesta table will always have this tasty dish on hand. We make this several time a year. This dish can also be made with the clear, thin rice noodles ~ we just happen to prefer these thicker, yellow noodles for ours. So, you're going to need ~
• 1 medium onion chopped fine.
• 4 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 cup shrimp, however, if you're only using shrimp like I've done here - make it 2 or 3 cups.
• 1 cup pork or left over roast chopped
• 1 cup cabbage, chopped into small strips
• 2 carrots, slivered
• 4 Tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 cup water
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Pancit noodles ( 14 oz package. )

Cook your shrimp or other meat first. I like to do mine in butter ( margarine ) , the garlic and a little soy sauce until pink. Set aside.
Put cabbage, carrot and onion into large pot and add water and soy sauce. Turn heat to medium and simmer for about 5 minutes or until vegetables are steamed. Place noodles on top of cooked vegetables and spoon liquid and vegetables over the noodles carefully. You might have to add a little more water if the noodles have not wilted. Cover and allow to steam for about 2 minutes. Stir in shrimp and/ or other meat. Season to taste. This recipe can also be varied with chicken leftovers, bean sprouts or green onions and can be served in large bowl garnished with lemon wedges. Will serve 4.