Holiday Recipe Thread!

I can spot moosewood font from a mile away 💕 lovely to have more recipes to try!

Thank you to everyone for your recipes and memories, my screenshotting finger is plumb tuckered

I like Sarah’s sweet potato suggestion. I wanted to add if you are taking your dog for a walk you can put a sweet potato in the oven for yourself and also one for your dog and when you get back from your walk you can each have a sweet potato (once it’s cooled down a bit.)

No longer the holidays and I am back home cooking for just myself. Here is a recipe I think lives in the Peg Bracken tradition - you can cook it in a frying pan on the stove, and the sauce is mostly made of a packaged cheese thing (an 8 oz container of Boursin). Melt a couple tablespoons of butter and/or olive oil in a pan on medium-high heat. Season some chicken breasts or thighs with salt and pepper, then cook them in the pan, six minutes a side; put the chicken on a plate. Add a chopped onion and some minced garlic to the pan and cook for five minutes or so. Then add the Boursin cheese and 3/4 cup of chicken broth; let all that simmer for five minutes. Add the chicken back to the pan and warm it all through. It goes great with green beans and mashed potatoes.

I’m a little late to the party, but here’s my uncle Grant’s fridge cookie recipe: Two cups brown sugar One cup milk Half cup cocoa powder 2 Tbsp butter Good pinch salt Heat on medium high. Boil for 5 mins stirring continuously Take off heat, add: 1 tsp vanilla extract, stir Then: 3 cups oats 2 cups raisins 1 cup dried coconut Still until incorporated Spoon onto plates or trays covered in wax paper Chill until solid Makes 2 dozen big or 3 dozen small cookies Can be easily made vegan/dairy free. Use any variety of raisin, and any cut of cooked oat and/ or coconut you prefer.

I like to make up new recipes for the holidays- so far the best-ever is Purple Sweet Potato Walnut pie. I roast purple japanese sweet potatoes, refrigerate them overnight, scoop them up, and mash them into a fine paste. That gets mixed with a double batch of home-made custard, made with some extra nutmeg and pumpkin pie spice. Then, I roast walnuts in spices, and blend them into the smoothest paste possible, and mix with the custard-sweet potato mixture until thick. Very thick. The end result is a light lavender color, and has about the texture of a pumpkin pie. Unfortunately, I don't usually measure things when home cooking, so the amounts are anyone's guess.

I've just read this post on Christmas Eve while making a Clootie Dumpling (an old Scottish steamed pudding). My granny, then my auntie, would make it for Christmas when I was a kid and a couple of years ago I decided to bring back. I was thinking how I wished I had taken an interest in how to make it when I could have learned from my Gran but at least I have her recipe.

I really really did like to know that it can be eaten like a hand fruit, thank you T.T

I love this book ♥️

My favorite cold weather recipe is split pea soup. I am not a measurements person when cooking so this is a pretty loose recipe: Chop one leek (washed well because they are so sandy), a few handfuls of baby carrots or maybe like 1 large carrot, some garlic, and some sort of pork, whatever is cheap or leftover as long as it’s fatty. You don’t need a lot, maybe the equivalent of a palm sized piece. I like a spare piece of ham or some bacon if i can dig it out of my freezer. Then put your instant pot in sauté mode and brown off the meat. Add some butter and the leeks, sauté those until soft and almost “melted”. Then add in a Bay Leaf, your garlic, carrots, salt and pepper. Rinse off about 1 cup of split peas, add them to the pot and then add 3 cups of broth. put the lid on and pressure cook high for 20 min. After you open the pot, you may need to add more liquid to your desired consistency and season to taste with salt, pepper, garlic, or even Maggi. A spoon of vinegar or lemon is also amazing. serve with a dollop of plain yogurt on top and some crushed pita chips!

I recognized the recipe as soon as I saw the drawing! Glad you and your mom enjoy the original Moosewood too! Mine is stained and amended as well.

If you live alone and you need something easy that still feels a little special, I got the following from Instagram. It helps me feel like I'm taking slightly better care of myself than "two slices of cheese dipped in hummus". Roasted potatoes with pesto eggs: - Cube up some small potatoes (seed potatoes or similar - I like the multicolored ones). Use however many you think you'll eat in one sitting. Put in a mixing bowl with some olive oil and seasoning of your choice (I use either seasoned salt or garlic/onion powder), put the lid on and shake shake shake until the potatoes are coated. Roast at 450 for 40ish minutes. - Watch the latest video from your favorite niche historical YouTuber. Become slightly disconcerted when you hear your potatoes screaming tiny screams. - Cook two eggs to your liking. I fry them but I'm not very good at frying eggs, so the yolks are a "whatever happens, happens" situation. - Assemble! Potatoes first, then eggs, then parmesan and pesto (I'm partial to sun-dried tomato pesto). Alternatively, put the parmesan on top of your eggs while still in the skillet and cover for a minute or two to melt before plating. Serve with toast, especially if your yolks are runny.

I'll be making Raised Waffles on Christmas morning. The recipe is from the Fannie Farmer cookbook and is easy to find online and the waffles are buttery and delicious. What I 'd like to suggest is that you write in your cookbooks, or on you splattered pages when you made a dish, noting who you shared it with and what was going on. I wish I could upload a picture of this recipe with its 10 years of comments, with details of who was here- human and canine, what was going on in the world and with friends and family at the time.

This carrot cake recipe is loved by my whole family and is a recipe from one of my mom’s friends from when they were in their 20s. My mom has probably been making it for over 40 years. It also adapts beautifully to gluten free (I was diagnosed with celiac this year) and is still a hit! Laura’s Carrot Cake Preheat oven to 350 and grease and flour a 13x9” cake pan (I prefer aluminum but my sister uses pyrex) Mix: 1 ½ cups granulated sugar 2c all purpose flour (or swap 1 2/3 cup 1:1 gf flour like bobs red mill PLUS 1/3 cup coconut flour or almond flour) 2 tsp baking soda 1 tbsp cinnamon Then add: 1 cup vegetable oil 4 eggs, beaten 2 tbsp orange juice (or swap apple or pineapple) Mix in: 3.5 cups finely grated carrots Bake until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean and the cake is set, usually about an hour (start checking after 45 minutes). Cool completely before frosting. Even better the next day (wrap tightly and refrigerate). Cream cheese frosting 1 8oz block cream cheese softened at room temp 1 16oz bag powdered sugar 2 T butter Pinch salt Beat cream cheese and butter together with mixer, starting slow and getting to medium speed. In low gradually add in powdered sugar. Once combined beat at medium high until soft and slightly fluffy.

I don’t cook, but this is the closest thing I have to a “recipe.” My grandparents used to serve cut pineapple chunks with a marshmallow fluff dippin’ sauce. The sauce is just thinning out the fluff with a bit of water until it’s your desired consistency. The acid of the pineapple + sweetness of the fluff is divine. 🥰

I love that soup! The Moosewood carrot soup is also fantastic. If your mom has the real, original Moosewood Cookbook from the 1970s (not the inferior low-fat revised edition), you should look up and make the Soy Gevult. It's delicious. Only, don't use soy beans, they give many people horrible gas. I like to make it with gigante or lima beans or any large white bean. And I always put on a delicious crunchy topping of panko breadcrumbs and grated Parmesan. Hot tip: "Chinese black mushrooms" are dried shiitake mushrooms. If, sadly, you only have access to the revised edition, the recipe for the sauce is un it under the name "Stellar Mushroom Sauce," with brief instructions for making the Soy Gevult casserole.

My father in law passed away a few months ago, so we are making his recipes for rum balls and fruit pudding in his memory. The rum balls: - soak 1 packet of raisins/sultanas in rum for at least 3 days - crush 2 packets of milk arrowroot biscuits - mix biscuits, raisins, 2 tins condensed milk, 1 cup dessicated coconut, and 3 table spoons of cocoa powder. Add more rum if too dry/crumbly - roll mixture into small balls, then roll the balls in fresh dessicated coconut - store in the fridge

This is long, but maybe it will help people. If you find yourself wanting to make a pie, but A) don’t want to use store-bought crust and B) don’t want to wait to have to chill it/don’t have shortening or butter, my Great Aunt Lora’s pie crust is the only recipe I use and I can almost guarantee you have everything you need already. Lora was born at home in the Ozarks in 1917 and she was the best cook of her six siblings…which really isn’t saying much because they were all terrible cooks but she was the oldest so she had to help figure out how to feed everyone during the Depression and WWII so she was def the most culinarily creative. Here goes: Aunt Lora’s Pie Crust That Was Supposedly A Secret But Fuck It Spread The Love (makes two standard pie crust shells or enough to make a chunky apple pie with a full cover, none of that crosshatch nonsense) IMPORTANT MEASURING/PREPARATION NOTE: Aunt Lora was a firm believer in Pyrex glass measuring cups. She had every size. She would buy more at the St. Vincent’s charity store and randomly give them to you. This is a classic one-eight cup recipe. You put the flour and salt in the eight cup Pyrex measuring cup and you measure the oil and milk by pouring the oil in first to the 2/3 cup mark. Then you top it up with the milk to the 1 cup mark. I have literally never made it any other way because it feels disrespectful or sacrilegious or satanic or something not to. But Lora would probably say not to give a shit if you don’t have the right tools, so do what you gotta do. INGREDIENTS - 2.25 cups all purpose flour (based on scooping, not weighing, just vibes. I tend to use a bit more if I’m making a pie that just has a bottom crust, like pumpkin, and a little less if it needs to be stretchier for coverage purposes; YMMV) - 2/3 cup oil (in general this is just vegetable oil but any oil will do, just make it as neutral as possible unless you’re a weird foodie wanting to make, like, a rosemary olive oil cranberry quince pie or some shit. You do you, just know that Aunt Lora’s gonna give you heavenly side eye.) - 1/3 cup milk (any dairy milk is fine here. I’ve never tried other kinds of milk but probably they would work, just pay attention to the flavor, see oil above.) - About 1/4 teaspoon of salt (Lora never measured so I just go on vibes, but that’s usually about what I use STEPS: - measure the milk and oil in a one cup measuring glass as instructed above - Put the flour and salt in a big measuring glass or a bowl (I recommend NOT using plastic because it gets sticky) and mix well with a fork - Gradually pour in milk and oil, mixing with fork all the while - Fully mix the ingredients together, making sure to scrape up any flour bits into the dough. The dough should be slightly flaky, but it should easily make a (slightly oily) ball - Divide the dough in two. Put one ball of dough on a strip of wax paper. (It has to be wax paper, unfortunately. I’ve tried all the other things – parchment paper, Saran wrap, reusable silicone – but only wax paper seems to work for this step.) - Put another sheet of wax paper on top of the dough and smash it into a circle. Then roll it out between the sheets of wax paper until it is the right size for your pie plate. Add more dough from the other ball if you need it; you can always make more dough if you need it. - Peel off the top layer of wax paper. Put your hands under the bottom layer of wax paper and flip the dough onto the pie pan. Fit the dough to the pie pan until satisfied. Then slowly peel the wax paper off the dough. - Adjust the dough and fill in any holes as needed. Use the fork you used for mixing to crimp the edges of the dough. If you’re a person who likes to par bake crust, go nuts, but make sure to put a pie shield on the edges when you bake the pie. - Voilà. You’ve got a pie. Some people love this crust, some hate it. But it’s cheap and fast and gets the job done. Hopefully this made sense! I know it was overly verbose, so if you need a short version, leave a comment and I’ll find the short version of the recipe Lora gave me.

In hot weather, a cold drink is essential. Take one bottle of a dry white wine and one tub of weis mango sorbet, mix them in a jug, just a potato masher, not a blender.

My dad's family is AmeroScandinavian and always had a huge, frequently refreshed pot of wassail on the back of the stove at the holidays. I made myself sick on this multiple times as a child because I love it so much and just drank mug after mug. Endlessly variable. I make it in a crock pot now, haven't made it with booze in forever and it still slaps. Studding the oranges is a great kid job. My only advice - if you can make it with fresh cider DO. This is my Grandma Jean's recipe copied from the sticky, smudgy recipe card: 6” stick cinnamon 16 whole cloves 1 teaspoon whole allspice 3 medium oranges studded with cloves 2 cups cranberry juice 6 cups apple juice or cider 1/4 cup sugar 1 teaspoon bitters rum (optional) Break the stick cinnamon into pieces and combine them with the loose cloves and allspice in a bundle made out of cheese cloth and kitchen twine. Combine all ingredients and the spice bundle in a large pot over low heat. It should get quite warm but never boil. Add rum just before serving.

NoThis might seem a bit worthy given the ingredients, but my friend Brigitte taught me this recipe when we were a couple of scruffy vegan punks living in a drafty redbrick terrace in Rusholme. B's Beetroot Salad: - Take a bunch of kale and pull the tender leaves away from the woody stems - discard the stems - using a box grater, shred a couple of carrots and a beetroot. You should probably peel them if you can be arsed but I often leave the skins on if I have washed them - mince a few cloves of garlic. The more the better - chuck everything in a bowl. Drizzle with olive oil and a couple of glugs of Braggs Liquid Aminos (or soy sauce in a pinch) - mix it all with your hands B always says you're supposed to let it marinate overnight, but I honestly never managed to wait that long. It's this great mix of salty and earthy and bitterness and garlicky fire. I can eat the whole bowl without looking up once.

My mom’s take on pecan pie - no pie crust, the graham crackers make a crusty top instead. I think this came from Gourmet Magazine in the 1980s: 4 large egg whites 1 1⁄3 cups graham cracker crumbs 1 cup granulated sugar 1 1⁄3 teaspoons baking powder 1 1⁄3 teaspoons vanilla 1 cup pecans, finely chopped whipped cream, as garnish,optional Preheat oven to 350 F and butter a 9" pie plate. Beat egg whites using an electric mixer until they hold stiff peaks. Fold in the graham cracker crumbs, the sugar, baking powder, vanilla, and nuts using a rubber spatula. Pour into a buttered pie plate and bake for 25-30 minutes or until pie is puffy and golden. Let cool before serving. If desired, garnish with whipped cream.

my grandmother’s gingerbread recipe (read: soft ginger cookies) is indeed an index card copied several times over. although we’re jewish, so not sure why we have the best gingerbread i’ve ever tasted. it reads as follows: about 8 5” long fat men or 16 thinner ones blend until creamy: 1/4 c butter 1/2 c white or brown sugar beat in 1/2 c dark molasses sift 3 1/2 c ap flour 1 t baking soda 1/4 t cloves 1/2 t cinnamon 1 t ground ginger 1/2 t salt add sifted things to butter-sugar mixture in three parts, alternating with 5 tablespoons or more of water. roll out the dough on the greased cookie sheet. stamp out men (that sounds very feministic!) decorate bake 350 about 8 min. i have made no alterations to the text; i love 60s era feminism. also, bake about 5 min and then decide if you want them hard. i pull them at 5min for soft, lovely cookies. oh and they’re great for kids with greedy fingers. no egg!

With the Coast Guard, I used to deploy to St. Paul Island in the middle of the Bering Sea to cook for rescue helicopter crews all winter long. I sucked at baking when I started, but each year I decided to get good at one thing. It was dinner rolls one year, and I got good enough that now they're requested all the time by various family members I do and do not like. I call them Pocket Rolls because I had a specific fleece liner. Each laundry day i would take out and return the recipe to the liner pockets so I'd always have it ready. For 9 months out of the year the recipe hung in my closet in the pockets awaiting my return. It's here. They taste like rolls to me, but some people love them idk. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1PMhdgPgX1bZzmVPqb4geq03FHTRA_P6tu9bScXJFJaw/edit?usp=drivesdk

I make a Finnish Rutabaga casserole every year--it's from Beatrice Ojakangas' The Finnish Cookbook (and the recipe is online conveniently at the Vermont Public Radio website [although I am not the Candace who makes the recipe over there] so I didn't have to type it!) I've successfully made this with many alterations for people with different dietary needs: No Dairy? Use your favorite alt-milk and alt-butter. Cholesterol concerns: Use egg beaters (or vegan Just Egg). Gluten-free--use those gluten-free breadcrumbs. No cream? Just use milk. Don't like rutabagas? My dude, I can't help you there. Rutabaga casserole (Lanttulaatikko) The Finnish Cookbook, Crown Publishers, 1964 2 medium rutabagas, peeled and diced (about 6 cups) ¼ cup fine dry bread crumbs ¼ cup cream ½ teaspoon nutmeg 1 teaspoon salt 2 eggs, beaten 3 tablespoons butter Cook the rutabagas until soft, about 20 minutes, in salted water to cover. Drain and mash. Soak the bread crumbs in the cream and stir in the nutmeg, salt and beaten eggs. Combine with the mashed rutabagas. Turn into a buttered 2 1/2 quart casserole, dot the top with butter, and bake in a moderate oven (350 degrees) for 1 hour or until lightly browned on top. Serves 6 to 8.

This is my mother-in-law's recipe and it single handedly made me love cranberry sauce. It is a Thanksgiving and Christmas staple! Cranberry Pear Chutney 1 pound fresh or frozen cranberries 2 small pears, peeled & chopped (about 1 ½ cup) 1 large onion, chopped (1 cup) 1 cup granulated sugar ½ cup packed brown sugar ½ cup golden raisins 1 cup water 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon 1½ teaspoons ground ginger ¼ teaspoon ground cloves ¼ teaspoon ground allspice Combine all ingredients in a 3 quart saucepan. Heat to boiling over high heat, stirring frequently. Reduce heat to medium. Cook 25 to 30 minutes, stirring occasionally until thickened. Cool at room temperature 30 minutes, then refrigerate at least 2 hours, Chutney will thicken more as it cools. Store in refrigerator up to two weeks.

I always make my late grandma's no-bake cookies, they've been part of Christmas for as long as I can remember. Ingredients: 5 tablespoons cocoa powder 2 cups granulated sugar 1/2 cup milk 1/2 cup butter 3 cups quick-cooking oatmeal 1 teaspoon vanilla 1 cup mini marshmallows Combine cocoa powder, sugar, milk, and butter in a medium saucepan and boil for 1 minute. Remove from heat and stir in oatmeal, vanilla, and marshmallows. Allow mixture to cool for several minutes until lukewarm. Drop rounded teaspoonfuls of the mixture onto wax paper and allow to set.

I work for an electric utility and collect utility cookbooks from the 50’s and 60’s when utilities had Home Economics departments. They’re usually pretty simple recipes, and fairly healthy, considering the times. I have a recipe for a frozen Waldorf Salad from Seattle City Light that always gets rave reviews (and which of course I can’t find at the moment)

I made Russian tea cakes and a spin on Lebkuchen which calls for grinding up ginger snaps and mixing them with cream cheese, candied orange peel, and a dash of almond extract, then forming into balls around a maraschino cherry (I used Luxardo brand bc once you have a Luxardo cherry you will never go back to the bright red variety), and then coating the balls in chocolate to make delightful little ginger snappy cherry bomb truffles. They were both a big hit at the office!

Port onions. Chop an onion and sauté in butter and cheap supermarket port over medium heat until the onion bits turn translucent ruby.

My grandma made peanut chocolate candy every year and it’s nothing fancy but I still make it in her honor (only at thanksgiving and Christmas, that was her rule!) 1 pack of almond bark (has to be almond bark, white melting chocolate isn’t the same) + 1 twelve oz bag of chocolate chips + 1 sixteen oz jar of salted, roasted peanuts Melt almond bark in the microwave in 45 second intervals until smooth, stir in chocolate chips and peanuts, drop by large spoonful on parchment paper and leave for a few hours or overnight to set

Mom Parsons' Cranberries--not too fussy but good enough to convert my sister to liking cranberries--THESE cranberries--they make your kitchen smell nice, too--I go this recipe from the LA Times something like 25 or 30 years ago--Food editor Russ Parsons shared his mother's recipe one Thanksgiving and I've been making them for both holidays every since! If you like winter spices (cloves, cinnamon, allspice) and orange in your cranberries, give this one a try: Make 1-3 days ahead, to let those flavors meld in the fridge. Double the recipe if you have lots of people at your table! (No dis on the good ol' perfectly slice-able canned crans, but these are sweet and wintery-spiced and bright with orange-y notes--delish. :) • 1 1/2 cups sugar • 3/4 cup water • 3 cloves • 3 allspice berries • 2 (3-inch) cinnamon sticks • 1 (12-ounce) bag fresh cranberries • Grated zest of 1 orange 1. Bring sugar, water, cloves, allspice* and cinnamon sticks to boil in 4-quart saucepan. Cook, stirring, until syrup is clear, about 3 minutes. Add cranberries and cook just until they begin to pop, about 5 minutes. (*NOTE: I take a bit of extra trouble to tie up the cloves and allspice berries in a little cheesecloth bag with kitchen twine. It makes it infinitely easier to find one small packet to remove before serving) 2. Remove from heat, add grated orange zest and cool. 3. Refrigerate 1 to 3 days before serving. Remove cloves, allspice and cinnamon sticks before serving.

I love this French Toast Casserole recipe, passed to us in the great tradition of church cookbooks. Growing up we often ate it on Christmas Day, and I’m making it this year, too. BAKED FRENCH TOAST FOR THE FRENCH TOAST: 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, room temperature 12(3/4 inch thick) French bread slices 6 eggs 11/2 cups milk 1/4 cup sugar 2 tablespoons maple syrup 1 teaspoon vanilla 1/2 teaspoon salt Powdered sugar TO MAKE THE FRENCH TOAST: Spread butter over bottom of heavy large baking pan with 1 inch high sides. Arrange bread slices in pan. Beat eggs, milk, sugar, syrup, vanilla and salt to blend in large bowl. Pour mixture over bread. Turn bread slices to coat. Cover with plastic and refrigerate overnight. Preheat oven to 400°. Bake bread 10 minutes. Turn bread over and continue baking until just golden, about 4 minutes longer. Transfer cooked toast to plates and sprinkle with powdered sugar. Yield: 6 servings. Serve immediately with Banana Walnut Sauce (recipe below). FOR THE BANANA WALNUT SAUCE: 3 tablespoons butter 1/4 cup brown sugar 1/2 teaspoon lemon zest 3 bananas, peeled and sliced into 2 inch thick diagonals 1 cup chopped walnuts 2 tablespoons rum (optional) Melt butter in skillet and stir in sugar and zest. Cook over medium high heat for 3 to 5 minutes stirring occasionally. When sugar has reached a caramel like consistency add bananas and walnuts. Cook for 3 minutes. Add rum.

My granny used to make THE chex mix recipe every year so I've picked up the tradition. Take the box's recipe but do a full stick of butter. She always added cheez-itz. I make a gluten-free sometimes with parmesan crisps. My secret addition is ketchup 😉 It's a very customizable recipe

We make “steak” soup. I don’t know why it’s called that. There’s no steak. It’s cheap, easy, healthy-ish, and such a comforting winter meal. 1 lb ground beef 1 onion, diced or 1 cup frozen 10-16 oz frozen mixed veggies 1 celery stalk chopped 1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes 3 cups water 2-4 tbsp beef bouillon granules 1/4 cup butter 1/4 cup flour Salt/pepper to taste Optional: cheddar cheese and sourdough for serving Brown 1 lb of ground beef. Throw it in the crockpot with a diced onion (or 1 cup frozen), 10 or 16 oz bag of mixed frozen veggies, 1 medium celery stalk chopped, a 14.5 oz can of diced tomatoes, 3 cups water, and 2-4 tbsp of beef bouillon granules (better than bouillon brand normally). Cook on low 8-12 hrs or high 4-6. One hour or so before serving, make a paste with 1/4 cup butter and 1/4 cup flour. Add it to the crockpot. I usually have it with cheddar cheese and sourdough. And half the time I don’t even add celery or tomato. It’s mostly based on vibes and has never failed me.

I come from a "brunch for Christmas" family, and the recipe that we had every year (and which I now make for my husband's family every year) has the very descriptive name of Eggs & Sausage Overnight: -Grease a 9" x 13" baking dish. -Cube up 6 slices of bread (I like sourdough) and add to baking dish; sprinkle 1 cup of shredded cheese over the cubed bread. -Brown 1 pound of sausage; add browned sausage and leftover oil in pan into the baking dish. Mix up the bread, cheese and sausage a little bit. -Whisk together 6 eggs, 2 cups of milk, and 1 Tablespoon of dry mustard (+ salt and pepper). Pour egg & milk mixture over the bread/cheese/sausage mixture in the baking dish and press down so that the bread starts to absorb the eggs, etc. -Put foil over the baking dish, making sure that the foil is flush to the mixture (press down on the foil!). Put into fridge and put some things on top to keep it compacted. -The next morning, pull the pan out of the fridge and put in a 350-degree oven for 45 minutes. It's like a savory bread pudding; it reheats beautifully and can serve a crowd depending on what else is around.

I've had cause to reflect on the recipes that have been passed down from my mother's family, and I'm realizing that they're all "do minimal prep, use as few steps as possible" recipes...hmm I wonder whether there could POSSIBLY be neurodivergence running through my family... Anyway here's my grandmother's shortbread cookies. I've added at least five more sentences of instruction than she ever did. As a fairly dense cookie they also hold up decently well if made with GF flour. SHORTBREAD COOKIES 2 1/4 C flour 3/4 C sugar 1/4 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp salt 1 C shortening (I recommend getting the kind that comes in sticks, for your own sanity) 1 egg 1 tsp vanilla Sift dry ingredients together. Cut the shortening into dry ingredients until mixture is full of fine lumps. Measure egg into a measuring cup–if it measures less than 1/4 C, add water to make it 1/4 C. Add egg and vanilla to mixture. Beat well. Roll about a spoonful at a time into little balls on a baking sheet, then squish the balls down with the back of a spoon until they have enough of a flat surface that you can put some sprinkles on it and they won't roll off. Add sprinkles. Bake at 375° for 10-12 minutes or until the bottoms are just starting to brown.

My go-to winter recipe for chicken and leek pie and mash. I love it and it’s super easy. Pie crust 175g AP flour, 135g cold cubed butter, some salt, some ice cold water), I blind bake the bottoms Filling In a pan one large chicken breast (salt, pepper) + bacon (cur up to little cubes), cook, add leek, let cook for a little bit and then add 30% cream. I also add some flour later to thicken if needed. Makes 3 small pies. Serve with your favourite mashed potatoes ❤️

If a digital recipe could be well-worn and splattered, this lentil soup recipe would be mine: https://cookieandkate.com/best-lentil-soup-recipe/ I made a batch for the freezer to be enjoyed on NYE when I get back from holiday travel. I like to add minced ginger, corn, and diced bell pepper. Sooo cozy and a dollop of Greek yogurt and hot sauce make it perfect.

Real-deal gingerbread (read: molasses cake) from the Pepperidge Farm cookbook. When I was a vegan, my mom would use apple sauce + baking powder instead of the egg. Her sticky note is still on the page. 🥲

I can't cook. I live largely on string cheese and pistachios. But my senior year of college, when I had my own kitchen, I decided to try to make my favorite food in the world, my mom's mac and cheese. It was quite the feat at that point as I had no measuring cups and a pan from the dollar store. 🥲 But I've spent the past 20 years perfecting that recipe. My mom long ago told me it surpassed hers. Not a single person who's had it in recent memory has not spontaneously expressed that it's the best mac and cheese they've ever had. My boyfriend's mom's neighbors, who I've met exactly once for 2 hours last Christmas, have said they're flexible on what people bring but demand that I bring mac and cheese again this year. Once enough people asked me for the recipe, I finally typed it up. This is my one and only kitchen-related claim to fame (...well, I make a pretty good Fat Kid Grilled Cheese™️ too). If anyone happens to try it, please share your feedback!! 😊 https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ROdUo57nCO2DXh0p1l9_nvicFbi2rr2o/view?usp=drivesdk

My family's sweet potato bread recipe comes from a restaurant we used to frequent on vacations to Virginia Beach when I was a child. They served it as biscuits on the tables and got so many requests for the recipe that the chef had it posted by the front door. There was inevitably a crush of people around it copying it into notebooks or on the backs of receipts. RIP Blue Pete's. Anyway, here it is: Ingredients: 2-3 medium sweet potatoes 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter 1/2 cup sugar 2 TBS milk 1 tsp salt 3 1/2 - 4 cups flour (Note: I usually weigh my flour, and use about 455 grams, which is approximately 3.5 cups) 4 1/2 tsp baking powder 1 to 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon (I usually go with 1 1/2) Instructions: Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Boil (or just cook, really; how you get there doesn't matter) and mash sweet potatoes. Measure 1 1/2 cups of hot potato and add butter, sugar, salt, and milk. Mix well. Sift flour, baking powder, and cinnamon. Add to potatoes. Mix with hands (waiting for it to cool a bit is highly recommended). For biscuits, chill dough, then roll and cut out. Bake 15-20 minutes on greased baking sheet. For bread, put in greased/floured pan (mine is a 9" x 9" glass pan). Bake until golden brown (approx. 25 minutes).

We've been really into this chili crisp Alfredo from the NYT! It's amazing alone but sometimes I'll make a Parmesan crusted chicken breast to go with it. https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1023609-chile-crisp-fettuccine-alfredo-with-spinach?smid=ck-recipe-android-share

Sharing a family recipe for Touritère that is near and dear to my heart. 1 lb ground pork 5 lbs ground beef 1 apple, peeled, cored and chopped well 2 stalks celery 1 large onion EITHER bread crumbs or mashed or boxed potatoes poultry seasoning and sage to taste Place ingredients EXCEPT potato flakes and spices in large pot and cover with ½” water. Boil until cooked. When done, add potatoes to thicken, stirring constantly. Season to taste.

My go-to is the most simple peanut butter cookie recipe ever. 1 cup peanut butter, 1 cup sugar, and 1 egg. Combine. Roll in sugar, if desired, or add a kiss or other candy to the center. Bake at 350 for until desired darkness. Easy to make in small or large batches!

We made vegetarian shepherd's pie the other night, and I think it's our new holiday staple! Shepherd's Pie with Beyond Beef - Best Served Vegan https://share.google/q6Les86tvTRCa7gzZ