Turkey Cranberry Crescent Ring

Many years ago I had a Pampered Chef party and was introduced to this delicious recipe. It's one of my favorite things to make with turkey leftovers. And very easy!

Turkey Cranberry Crescent Ring

2 cans crescent rolls
2 cups chopped cooked turkey
1 1/4 cups shredded Swiss cheese
1/2 finely chopped celery
1/2 cup sweetened dried cranberries
1 tablespoon dried parsley
1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons honey Dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 egg white, lightly beaten

In a mixing bowl, combine all ingredients except for egg white and mix well. On a large cookie sheet or baking stone, arrange the 16 crescent roll triangles in a circle, overlapping each other, and points facing out. Press the overlapping areas together with your fingers. Scoop the turkey mixture around the center of the ring, then take each point of each roll and fold it over the top and tuck it under. Once you finish folding over all the rolls and tucking them under, brush the entire ring with the egg white. This will give it a nice shiny, golden look after it is baked. Bake at 375 degrees for 25-30 minutes, or until golden brown.


My kids didn't love this, but that didn't surprise me. Both my husband and I enjoyed it for a couple of days. I like to eat it cold the next day!!

You can make this with chicken, too (I have), but I personally think it tastes much better with turkey!

Sweet Potato Casserole

This casserole is one of the side dishes I made for Thanksgiving. You may have seen this recipe on my old blog last year. My mom got this recipe from a family friend, Judy G., many years ago, and it quickly became a favorite of ours. It is like eating dessert WITH your dinner!

Sweet Potato Casserole

3 large sweet potatoes
1/2 cup butter
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup milk or cream
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup sugar

Topping:
1 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup flour
1 cup chopped pecans

Cut sweet potatoes into chunks of roughly the same size. Place in a large pot and cover with water. Bring potatoes to a boil and let boil until you can easily pierce with a fork (about 20 minutes?). Drain potatoes in a colander and return to pan and mash. Add butter, vanilla, milk/cream, eggs and sugar. Mix well. Place into a baking dish (a 9x13 dish works well). Mix topping ingredients with a fork until they resemble coarse crumbs. Sprinkle topping over casserole and bake uncovered for 30 minutes at 350 degrees.

You can make this a couple days ahead of time and store covered in the refrigerator. You will need to increase the baking time if making them ahead!

Sorry I don't know the exact time I boil the sweet potatoes for....I guess that is probably important information. I just always check them around 15 minutes, and then again at 20 minutes. They should easily break up with a fork when checking.

This is my kids absolute favorite Thanksgiving dish. I love it, but I think they may love it more! My husband won't touch it. He has a dislike for sweet potatoes, so even though this is a completely sugared up version of sweet potatoes, he still won't eat it. This past Thanksgiving, I made a full feast even though it was just the 4 of us, partly because I wanted to not have to cook the rest of the weekend. It worked! My kids were begging for sweet potato casserole for breakfast! I said, "Go for it!". I just didn't want to see any of the food go to waste, so I didn't care what meal they ate it!

Anyhow, I highly recommend this dish. It's delish. Don't listen to my husband. Seriously. He doesn't know what he's missing. And that's fine. More for the rest of us!!

Magic Cookie Bars

Bar cookies are one of my favorite things to make because they don't usually require as much work as other cookies. These are another cookie I have been enjoying my entire life, and another family favorite. And again, I have heard these called several different names. I call them Magic Cookie Bars, but my husband grew up knowing them as Santa Snacks. Please share any other names you know them as in the comments!!

Magic Cookie Bars

1 stick of butter
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1 cup sweetened, flaked coconut
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 cup chocolate chips
1 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk

Place butter in a 9x13 pan and turn the oven on to 350 degrees. Place the pan in the oven as it is heating up to melt the butter. Watch carefully as you don't want to burn it! When butter is melted, carefully remove pan from oven and tip the pan so that the butter coats the entire bottom of the pan and about 1/4 inch up the sides. Add the graham cracker crumbs into the pan and mix into the butter. Press crumb mixture onto the bottom of pan with a fork. Next layer the coconut, walnuts and chocolate chips. Then take a clean fork or the back of a spoon and press down on the chocolate chips to push them a little farther into the other ingredients. This will help them stick to the cookie bars when all done. (I forgot to do this one time, and lost several chocolate chips after cutting). Drizzle or spoon the condensed milk evenly over the top. Bake for 25-30 minutes. While still warm, run an knife around the edge of the pan so they will be easier to remove when cool.

These cookies freeze very well. I put them in ziploc freezer bags in 2 layers, placing a piece of wax paper between the layers. They stack easily in the freezer, and aren't fragile like some of the other cookies I make.

Feel free to make these using different nuts or chocolate chips to experiment with the flavor, if you want. I have never done this, because part of what I love about them is the remind me of my childhood! And I love them just the way they are!

Enjoy!

Snowballs

Another cookie that I make every year is known by many names such as Russian Tea Cakes, Mexican Wedding Cakes, or by the name my family calls them (for obvious reasons): Snowballs!! My mom has also been making these for as long as I can remember. They are melt in your mouth yummy! And so very easy to make.

Snowballs

1 cup softened butter
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
2 1/2 cups flour
1/4 tsp. salt
3/4 cup finely chopped walnuts

Place butter, sugar and vanilla in a mixing bowl and beat until well combined. Stir together the flour and salt and add to butter mixture. Mix in nuts. Chill dough.
(At this point I prefer to take all the dough out of the bowl and flatten it into a disk around 1/2 to 1 inch thick. No need to be exact. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap or wax paper and place in the refrigerator for at least an hour.) When ready to bake, shape the dough into 1 inch balls. Place on ungreased cookie sheet and bake at 400 degrees for 10-12 minutes, or until set, but don't let them brown. The cookies do not spread, so you only need to leave a little space between each cookie. While still warm, roll in powdered sugar. Cool. Roll in powdered sugar again.


As you probably know, I make several different kinds of Christmas cookies, and I start making them in October or November and freezing them. When I make these and freeze them, I don't roll them in the powdered sugar the second time until I thaw them from the freezer before serving or giving away.

These are another cookie that is a good one for kids to help with! My kids love to help with these. And they eat as much dough as I will let them since they know there aren't any eggs in them!

Happy Baking!

Peanut Butter Kisses

I have several recipes that I made for Thanksgiving to share with you, but I think it would be more practical for me to share my Christmas treats with you now! That way, you can make them to enjoy yourself or give to others!

Most of you know that I enjoy making lots and lots of Christmas cookies. This is one of my regular cookies that I make every year. My family would hurt me if I didn't make them. I am kidding. Sort of.

I have been making Peanut Butter Kisses for years. I have also heard them called Peanut Butter Blossoms, and you may have another name, but it doesn't matter because the end result is the same: YUM! My mom always made these growning up, but this is not the same recipe she used. I am not exactly sure where I got this one...possibly off of a bag of Hershey Kisses.

Peanut Butter Kisses

48 unwrapped Hershey Kisses
1/2 cup shortening
3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
1 egg
2 tbsp. milk
1 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
granulated sugar

Mix flour, baking soda & salt in a medium bowl and set aside. Beat butter and shortening together until well blended. Add both sugars, and continue beating until light and fluffy. Add the egg, milk, and vanilla and mix well. Add the flour mixture into the peanut butter mixture a little at a time, until it is all mixed in. Form dough into 1" balls and roll in granulated sugar. Place the cookes 2 inches apart onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 375 degrees for 8-10 minutes or until lightly browned. Immediately after removing cookie sheet from oven, carefully press a Hershey Kiss into the middle of each cookie. After placing them all, go back and give each of them a gentle twist. This will help secure them to the cookie. Let cool for a few minutes on the pan before removing to a cooling rack. Do not store the cookies until the chocolate has completely firmed up again!!


I do want to mention something about the sugar I prefer. I only use cane sugar. If your sugar does not specifically say it's cane sugar, then it is most likely beet sugar. There is DEFINITELY a difference when it comes to baking. I use the Domino brand for all my sugar (granulated, brown, and powdered). It is a little more pricey, but it is worth it for the quality of your baked goods! You can research the difference between the two sugars for yourself (I have) and make your own decision!

If you have never made these, they are very easy to make, and a good cookie for young bakers to help with. Lots of unwrapping of candy,rolling dough into balls and rolling in sugar to do, and that is perfect for little hands! I know my kids love to help with all that!

Anyhow, I will be sharing more of my cookie recipes with you soon! Enjoy!

Baked Brisket

I had never cooked a beef brisket before yesterday, but my daughter had been begging me to make one ever since she had some at a friend's house in October. I saw this recipe and it sounded like a good one to make for the first time.

Baked Brisket - adapted from a Southern Living magazine recipe

1 12 oz. bottle of chili sauce
2 cups ketchup
1 can Coke (not diet)
1 box Lipton dry onion soup mix
1 4 to 5 pound beef brisket

Mix the chili sauce, ketchup, Coke and BOTH packets of the onion soup mix together. In a roasting pan, put the brisket in fat side up and pour all of the chili sauce mixture over it. Cover the pan with a lid or aluminum foil. Bake for 4 hours at 350 degrees. You should be able to cut it with a fork when it is done. Let it rest for 20 minutes before slicing and serving. Top slices with pan juices, if desired.


The brisket I bought was just under 5 pounds and took 4 hours to cook. Don't trim off any of the fat. This helps keep the meat moist while cooking, and it comes right off after it is cooked. This brisket was so tender, it was impossible to slice. It was more like shredded beef, which was great, too!

Everyone in my family loved this. We ate it for 2 nights, and there are still leftovers. The sauce had a good taste. The whole flavor reminded me of a tomato based beef stew recipe from my Grandma that I make. I served it with some mashed potatoes, broccoli, and rolls.

I would make this again, but I would also like to try another brisket recipe just to have something to compare it to. It's hard to say when something's good, when you haven't made or at least tried a few different recipes! If you have a recipe for brisket you love, please let me know. I would love to try it!

More recipes to come! I have been baking Christmas cookies, and will be starting to prep my Thanksgiving dishes today!!!

A fresh start...

Welcome to my new blog! Many of you followed my old blog, and I stopped blogging awhile ago for many reasons. I have decided to start again. I have chosen a new, shorter name: The Seventh Kitchen. I am sure you can figure out where the name comes from. Yes, this is the seventh home I have had since getting married, so it is my "seventh kitchen". Lucky number 7! Maybe I'll get to enjoy this one for awhile! :)

It's the holiday season and I am doing lots of cooking and baking, so I will start to post lots of recipes soon. New ones and ones that I had posted on my old site. If there is a recipe you are looking for from my old blog, please let me know and I will be sure to get it posted as soon as possible!

For now, I just wanted to let you know that I am back to blogging! Please feel free to share this site with your family and friends!

Recipes to come soon!!