Grandma
gives cooking ideas
By Alexis Kindig
On-line Forty-Niner
The
thought of cooking, especially for the holidays,
can make the bravehearted among us want
to run screaming. Take courage — here are
some simple holiday cooking ideas that will
impress family and friends while causing
minimal fear and loathing on the part of
the cook.
For those who are not particularly experienced
in the kitchen, side dishes and desserts
are the way to go. The following recipe
is compiled from my granny’s recipe.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Mash the
cooked sweet potatoes in a big bowl and
mix in the other ingredients, except the
ingredients for the topping. Put the
casserole in a baking dish. Mix the topping
ingredients together and spread them onto
the casserole. Cook the casserole for about
35 minutes.
Pies are an important part of holiday meals.
To make pie-making simpler, use store-bought
crust. Most of them are very good, and,
if you brush a little egg wash on the top
crust and sprinkle it with sugar, no one
will know the difference.
Seasonal drinks are very simple to make.
Mulled apple cider is made with nothing
more than apple cider and prepackaged mulling
spices. Tins of spices are available at
stores such as Williams-Sonoma and generally
contain things like nutmeg, cinnamon, and
dried orange peel. Bring a pot of apple
cider (not juice, not the sparkling variety
and definitely not the hard stuff) to a
boil. Put the spices into a tea ball and
let them sit in the boiling cider for about
20 minutes. Voila!
The next section is only for those aged
21 and over, please. Egg nog is a particularly
simple libation. Buy a carton of egg nog,
pour it into a punch bowl, add rum or your
favorite liquor and stir. Also, the above
recipe for mulled cider works well with
burgundy wine, though a good deal of the
alcohol will cook off. Add a little sugar
to the boiling wine in addition to other
spices.
Of course, for those still unwilling to
endure the privations of holiday cooking,
there’s always the easy way out. Buy a bunch
of nice cheeses, arrange them on a platter
and serve with crackers. The fancier the
cheese and crackers, of course, the better.
Season’s eatings!
The
following recipe is compiled from my granny’s
recipe.
For the casserole itself you will
need:
A 40 oz. can of cut sweet potatoes
(you can buy them ready to save yourself
a step)
1 cup of white sugar
2 eggs
1/3 cup butter
1/3 cup milk (you can also use evaporated
milk)
1 tsp. vanilla extract
For the casserole topping:
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup of your favorite chopped nut
1/3 cup flour
1/3 cup melted butter
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