These Are A Few Of Our Favorite Things!

What I Love To Make!

Making our favorite dishes, is something I love to do around the holidays. I love cooking, baking and making a few special things that our family loves! Throughout the years, I am always asked to make them or send the recipe, so I will put the items on this post so everyone who wishes to, can refer to my blog for these! https://heartshare.blog/2019/11/02/top-10-ways-to-prepare-for-the-holidays/

One of my favorite things is ANYTHING Peppermint! My most recent creation is my newest Peppermint Mocha!

Peppermint Mocha

• 2 tsp Peppermint syrup(for coffee)
• 1 Cup of freshly brewed coffee
• 1 cup of boiling water
• 2 heaping Tbsp hot chocolate mix( I use mix with mini marshmallows)
• Whipped Cream
• Crushed candy canes or peppermints

Instructions:

Place Peppermint syrup at the bottom of your cup. Then add freshly brewed coffee, hot chocolate mix, and water. Then stir, add whipped cream on top. Place crushed peppermint on top with a candy cane on the side! You can adjust the amounts according to your taste preferences and the size of your cup!

Kentucky Corn Pudding

This is one of our family’s favorite vegetable casseroles! Our girls ask for the recipe and I make it often during the holiday meals!

• 2 cans of whole kernel corn
• 1 can of cream style corn
• 1/2 cup of self-rising flour
• 1 cup of milk
• 1/4 cup of sugar
• 1/2 tsp of salt
• 2 sticks of margarine
• 4 eggs

Instructions: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Drain the whole kernel corn. Beat the eggs and melt the margarine. Mix together the corn, flour, sugar and salt into a large mixing bowl. Then add the beaten eggs and melted margarine and milk. Stir these together and place them in a 9×13 glass dish and place them in the oven for 1 hour approximately. When the hour is over, check to make sure it is finished by placing a knife inside and poke several holes throughout the casserole. If the knife comes out clean, it is finished. If not, bake for a few more minutes, checking it regularly to see if the knife is clean.

Cheesy Potato Casserole

Another one of our favorite casseroles! I also regularly add small diced ham cubes. It adds extra protein, color and adds extra flavor! I normally use about 1/2-1 cup of the diced ham if I include ham in the recipe.

• 2 lb bag of frozen hash browns ( thaw them out before making this)
• 1 can of cream of mushroom soup
• 1/3 cup of chopped green onion
• 1 pint of sour cream
• 2 cups of shredded cheese
• salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix all of these ingredients together and place them in a 9×13 glass dish. For the topping, use 2-3 Tbsp of melted butter or margarine and mix with 1 cup of crushed corn flakes. Place them over the ingredients listed above and place them in the oven for 45 minutes.

Easy Fudge

This is my famous fudge recipe! It is our favorite candy recipe! I have had many people request it as gifts at Christmas time or to bring it to gatherings! What is interesting is, I had trouble in the past with getting fudge to reach the correct temperature, using a candy thermometer for years. When my husband and I were in college, one day we got some junk mail that included a recipe in it for fudge. This did not include having to use a candy thermometer, so I decided to give it a try! It came out great and I’ve made it ever since, for close to 20 years now!

• 1/2 stick of butter( it has to be butter, not margarine, and needs to be salted)
• 1 cup of sugar
• 2/3 can of evaporated milk
• 1 tsp of vanilla (I use real vanilla)
• 1 and 1/2 cups of semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 2 cups of mini marshmallows ( nuts are optional)

Measure the chocolate chips and marshmallows and place in separate bowls and place them aside! Timing is very important for making this recipe!

Prepare ahead of time, 1 8×8 glass dish by greasing the dish with butter, on the bottom and half way up the sides.

In a heavy non-stick pan, melt the butter, then add the sugar and evaporated milk. Bring these ingredients to a boil and watch for 3-4 minutes. Just watch for the 3-4 minutes, and stir it regularly until it looks like a smooth foam. Take off the stove and add the 1 tsp of vanilla, stir, add the chocolate chips, stir, add marshmallows and stir until they are completely melted, to where you can’t see any white, everything has to be smooth! Immediately place into the buttered pan. Spread it and let it set for about an hour. I also place it in the refrigerator to let it set quicker. After that hour, slice and serve it! Enjoy!

Sausage Balls

• 1 pound of ground pork sausage.( in a tube, I use Jimmy Dean usually)
• 1/2 cup of extra sharp cheddar cheese
• 3 cups of Bisquick

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Mix all of the ingredients together. Then roll the sausage balls the size that you want them. Sometimes I have to dampen the ingredients with very small amounts of water in order to keep the ingredients together when I roll them. I then bake them for 15-20 minutes. My husband got this recipe from a coworker many years ago and we traditionally make them for breakfast for Christmas morning. We love them! Another recipe I found that you can use to spice the recipe up is: http://delish.com

Pass On A Few Of Your Favorite Things!

I’m going to create another blog post of our favorite family recipes another day this week. I hope that you enjoy these recipes! Please find some of your favorite recipes and pass them on to other people who can enjoy them!