Recipes For Christmas

German Pancake Recipe - A Lot Like a Popover

I serve a wonderful German Pancake to company with a kiwi and a dash of powdered sugar for artistry. I don't just make it for company though, it is really easy so I in fact serve this yummy delight quite a bit. Below is my recipe.

I have no idea if this recipe is German or not, I am not even sure I would call it a pancake. I guess it it cause you top it with syrup. Is that what makes a pancake pancake?

Humm the dictionary defines pancakes as a thin, flat cake of batter, usually fried and turned in a pan. Pancakes are usually eaten with syrup or rolled up with a filling. Or as a noun a short stack of pancakes with maple syrup hotcake, flapjack, griddle cake, crepe, blintz; latke, potato pancake.

Blintzes.. umm, now those are darn nummy! I make cheese blinzes on occasion with cottage cheese or ricotta, an egg, vanilla and a tad of sugar tucked inside a folded up crepe. I top that with sour cream that has a tad of sugar and vanilla to it, along with some strawberry jam. I like mine with jam. I guess that's just me.

OK. back to my German Pancake, that is a lot like a popover, because of all the eggs and the way it rises.

"German Pancakes"

4 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup flour
1/4 tsp. salt
2 Tbl. sugar

Mix all ingredients until un-lumpy. Grease two pie pans and pour a cup of the mixture into each pan. (I could have said add one half of batter to each but whatever right?) Bake at 450 degrees for fifteen to twenty minutes. Top with butter and jam or pancake syrup, or do as I do and serve it with a kiwi or some other fruit. Hey, a strawberry and kiwi would be really pretty for the holidays in December no? Add the powered sugar and it will look like snow! I love it!

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The Best Bean You've Ever Had - Crock Pot Cooking

To be honest, when a friend gave me this recipe I thought.. Yeah, humm and so. It just didn't sound all that great. She kept telling me to try it and I just kept dragging my feet. Then one night I had a bunch of people over for a pot luck and what do you think my friend brought? The "Best Bean You've Ever Had!". Now if you make these and don't think what I am saying is true, well then, we just have different taste buds I guess. These are not spicy beans, they are sweet. Try it anyway and don't drab your feet about it like I did. Hey! Maybe they are just the right thing for you to take to the next pot luck you attend. Smile.

The other very cool thing about this recipe is that it is a crock pot recipe. You just put it in the pot, turn it on all day and let it do its wonderful magic. Besides having a wonderful meal at the end of the day your house will smell glorious all day!

And now.. ta da! the recipe that I have built up to be so fabulous:

"The Best Bean You've Ever Had"

Fry together and then drain off the fat (yuk to fat right?)

3 strips of bacon
1 chopped onion
1 pound ground beef

In a crock pot add meat mixture and then add to that the following:

1- 31 oz. Van Camps Pork and Beans
2- 15 oz. butter beans (drained)
1- 15 oz. kidney beans (drained)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 TBl. Liquid Smoke (I had never heard of this either if this is new to you)
3 TBl. Vinegar
1 1/4 cup Ketchup
Salt and pepper to taste

Simmer on low all day. Don't ya just ADORE crock pots?




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Vegetarian or not, come this way, this is so nummy. This recipe is vegetarian so you meat eaters might want this with a beef, pork, or whatever meat steak. This is not a recipe for Vegans though, I have not gotten there yet unless I fill up on vegetables and fruit. Hey! what a concept, vegetables and fruit. One should always remember the basics if one wants to stay healthy right?

Years ago for about nine months I was a vegetarian. I bought a lot of veggie stuff.. veggie hot dogs, veggie patties, unknown what they were supposed to be really , anyway you get the picture right? I wanted to be a vegetarian for the animals. I felt to so guilty and I guess I still do, but I eat meat again and I guess close off that part of me that worries about it. Once in awhile I make this dish just because I love it. The consistency is very meaty actually. Try it, I think you will like it Micky!

"Oatmeal Mushroom Steak"

1 TBL. vegex (like a bouillon cube)
1/2 cup hot water
1 tsp. sea salt (yes if you are gonna be healthy make it sea salt, smile)
1/2 sage or poultry seasoning
1 onion chopped
3 TBL. Butter (I always use real butter, the flavor cannot be compared)
3 eggs well beaten
1 can cream of mushroom soup
2 soup cans - hot water
1 can mushrooms (I know, I can 'hear' you, canned stuff isn't all that healthy)
2 1/4 Cup uncooked old fashioned oatmeal

Saute the onions in the butter. Combine all except the mushroom soup, 2 cans of hot water and vegex. Mix well. Cover and let it stand for about 45 minutes. Mold the mixture into small meal size patties and fry in hot oil until golden brown. (Gads another unhealthy thing, stop thinking so loud! I can hear you all the way to Hawaii). Pour a little of the soup mixture (all the stuff you did not use to make the patties) in the bottom of a 9x12 baking dish to cover the bottom. Arrange patties on top of mixture and cover the rest with the soup mixture.
Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.

Yay, you are done.

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Someone gave me this recipe about twenty years ago. I copied it off in her kitchen on a little recipe card. My friend had served it to me and I said, "I MUST have this recipe!" You know how that goes? You taste it and think to yourself I gotta have this at least once a week.

One of my sisters says that when chocolate cake is in the house she wake up in the morning, head still on her pillow, her eyes open wide and she immediately has a HUGE smile on her face. Both my sister and I are prone to eating chocolate cake in the morning. What am I saying? We are prone to eating chocolate day and night! We are truly chocolate connoisseurs. Yes, expert judges in matters of taste. HUGE smile.

The recipe below is unique because it is made from scratch, I know.. stop thinking about the trouble and think of the outcome, besides, it truly is not that much trouble. The other thing that is unique about it is that it takes boiling water to make it. Once everything is put together you pour boiling water over it and mix. Crazy huh? and most definitely if not defiantly unique!

"Evon's Chocolate Cake" (who is Evon? I have absolutely no idea!)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Mix together:

2 cups sugar
6 TBL. butter
1/2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. vanilla

Add:

2 eggs ....and mix well

Sift together: (yes you gotta sift it. It will turn out weird if you don't, sorry)

6 TBL. unsweetened cocoa powder
2 cups flour
2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. soda (and you know what happens if you don't mix soda or baking powder in with the dry stuff right?
.. weird tasting stuff, very strange chemical reactions and ewww! horrible, thats what!)

Mix Both ingredients together.

Add slowly as you stir ( you might ask someone to help you)

2 cups boiling water

Pour into your already prepared with butter and flour, oblong approx. 9x12 pan.
Bake for 45-50 minutes (test with a toothpick or whatever)

After you take it out of the oven?

COVER IT with aluminum foil until it cools.

This is a very moist cake! You can add frosting if you want to of course. Some people just can't handle cake without frosting, but normally this cake is served without it. HUGE SMILE.