Black Eyed Peas and Hogs Jowl for New Years Day Dinner

We have this every New Year's day, it is a tradition for us. What do you have for New Year's day?

Black Eye Peas and Hogs Jowl

You will need:
•Hogs Jowl, sliced
•Skillet

Put the skillet on the stove burner and turn it to medium. Add the sliced hogs jowl in one layer until the skillet is full but leaving room to turn the meat. Brown on one side and then turn and brown on the other. Remove and drain on paper towels. Serve along side the black eyed peas.

To make the peas you will need:
•1 pound package dried black eye peas
•5 cups of water
•salt to taste
•pepper to taste
•hogs jowl cut up in small pieces - You can also use smoked pork such as scrap ham


Pour the peas out in a bowl or on the counter and sort through them to remove any that look bad. Then wash them off by running water over them. Drain the water and add the peas to the crock pot. You can soak them but I usually put them straight into the crock pot. Add the small pieces of cut up pork to the peas in the crock pot. Salt and pepper to taste. Add enough of the water to cover the peas. Put the lid on the crock pot. Cook on high for about 3 hours. Lower heat to low on the crock pot and cook for about 3 more hours. When the are soft they are done. You can drain the water from them or serve them in the soup.

If you don't have time to cook them in a crockpot or on stove top you can use the black eyed peas in the can that you get at the grocery store. The hogs jowl can be cut up into small pieces and added to the hogs jowl or fried in strips and served along side the peas.

Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup Recipe

Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup in the Crockpot

December is a great time to pull that crockpot out and get some use from it. It is a great feeling after a hctic day of work, shopping or play practice to come home to dinner already cooked and just waiting to be served.

The recipe for today is Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup. This recipe is a half crockpot and half stove top but is still easy and taste great.

1 whole chicken
1/2 cup chopped onions
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup chopped carrots
1/2 bag of egg noodles
2 cans of cream of chicken soup
1 cup of milk
Salt and pepper to taste

Put the whole chicken , spices and cut up vegetables in the crockpot. I put enough water in the pot to nearly cover the chicken. Cooked on high for about 4 - 5 hours. Just check it along. When it is done remove the chicken and set the stock aside in another pan. Debone the chicken (I use about half of the chicken in this recipe and save the others for a different recipe).
Put the noodles in the stock and add the soup and milk and cook until done and then add the chicken and stir it in and you are ready to serve.

Some Extra Tips and Ideas:

1. You can use all the chicken and a full bag of noodles if you have more to serve. We have 4 to serve at our house and using the recipe above we still have some leftover. You may need to add extra milk to the soup.
2. You can also make this all on the stove top instead of a crockpot.
3. Dried parsley could also be added.
4. You can use turkey instead of chicken.

Eggless Nog Recipe

I am the only one in my household that likes eggnog so each year I get to drink it all. I usually buy 1 quart and drink it pretty quick. I made homemade eggnog last year but didn't like it very well. This year I decided to try a recipe I found in my Christmas notebook called Eggnog with No Eggs but I think it would be better called Nog. I like this one, it isn't as thick as the ones from the grocery store but I think it does a great job of replacing it for me.

No Egg Nog - Eggless Nog or how about No Nog

1/3 cup sugar
3 oz. package vanilla pudding mix (instant)
8 cups milk
2 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon nutmeg
Some extra nutmeg to sprinkle on top

Mix the first 5 ingredients together. I used a whisk and then sprinkle nutmeg on top or wait until you put it into the cups and sprinkle the extra nutmeg on top.

Using Leftover Turkey and Fried Turkey Sandwiches

Using Leftover Turkey and Fried Turkey Sandwiches

If you have turkey leftover after Thanksgiving here are some easy ways to use it in your meals in case you are looking for any ideas.

1. Make sandwiches with the cut up slices of turkey.
2. In nearly any recipe that calls for chicken you can replace with your turkey.
3. Slice it up and put it in freezer safe bags or containers and freeze for later use. This is especially a good idea if your family is tired of turkey.
4. Use it to make  Gobble Good Casserole
5. Casseroles
6. Soups
7. I like to fry some of the leftover turkey to make sandwiches.

Fried Turkey Sandwiches

Leftover Turkey
Bread
Mayonnaise or your favorite sandwich dressings
Tomato
Onions
Lettuces
Cooking Oil

I simply put the oil in the skillet and let it get hot and then add my leftover turkey slices and fry just long enough to get them hot and a little crispy. Then when that is done I just begin putting the sandwiches together and serve.
* You can use whatever you have on hand for the sandwich dressings and vegetables. Some people like to put leftover cranberry sauce on them.

Recipe for Cornflake Candy

Cornflake Candy

1 cup sugar
1 cup white corn syrup
4 cups cornflakes
1 1/2 cups peanut butter ( I like creamy but you could use crunchy)

Boil sugar and syrup until it reaches a full rolling boil. Mix in peanut butter and then the cornflakes. get them coated well and pour into pan and cut into squares. I also like them just dropped from a spoon on wax paper and let cool and eat.

Lemon Crispie Kringles Cookie Recipe

Lemon Crispie Kringles

This cookie is called Lemon Crispie Kringles and they are very good.

1 box of lemon cake mix
1/2 cup melted butter
1 egg, beaten
1/4 teaspoon lemon extract
1 cup crisp rice cereal

Preheat oven to  350 degree.
Combine all ingredients until mixed well. Roll into small balls and put on your ungreased cookie sheet. Bake about 10 - 12 minutes.

Fruit Cocktail Cake Recipe

This is a really rich tasting cake, super sweet but good.

To make the cake you will need:
1 can fruit cocktail
2 eggs
2 cups flour, self rising
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cup sugar

Preheat oven to 350 F.
Grease and flour your cake pan. Mix all the ingredients together and pour into your pan 9 x 13. Bake for about 45 minutes.

To make the topping you will need:
1 cup of coconut
1 stick butter
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 can of sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup chooped pecans (you can use more or less)

Mix together and let boil but be very careful because it will burn very fast. I just let it get good and hot to melt it all together. Pour this over the cake.

Serve.

How to Make Tater Cakes

My husband loves Tater Cakes and it is a great way to use up leftover mashed potatoes. They are simple to make. Some people call them Tater Patties.

You will need:

• 2 cups of mashed potatoes
• 1/4 cup flour
• onion, diced small (amount depends on your liking, I put about 2 tablespoons of finally chopped up onion.
• oil for cooking in
• extra flour to roll patty in

Mix the 1/4 cup flour with the mashed potatoes then add the onions. Put cooking oil in skillet, I used a cast iron one. Let the oil get hot while you make the patties with your hand. Just scoop up enough to make a small patty and then roll it in the extra flour put the patty in the skillet and cook on each side until brown. I cook them on about medium/high heat. Adjust your heat if needed. 

Happy Thanksgiving Vintage Cards, Quotes and Bible Verses

I love old cards and graphics and thought I would use both these today to wish you a Happy Thanksgiving along with some quotes and Bible Verse.

"Thanksgiving Day is a jewel, to set in the hearts of honest men; but be careful that you do not take the day, and leave out the gratitude." 

~ E.P. Powell~

"He who thanks but with the lips

Thanks but in part;
The full, the true Thanksgiving
Comes from the heart."

~J.A. Shedd~

"Without Thy sunshine and Thy rain

We could not have the golden grain;
Without Thy love we'd not be fed;
We thank Thee for our daily bread."

~Anonymous~

Ah! on Thanksgiving day....

When the care-wearied man seeks his mother once more,
And the worn matron smiles where the girl smiled before.
What moistens the lips and what brightens the eye?
What calls back the past, like the rich pumpkin pie?
~John Greenleaf Whittier~

On Thanksgiving Day we acknowledge our dependence. 

~William Jennings Bryan~

It is literally true, as the thankless say, that they have nothing to be thankful for.  He who sits by the fire, thankless for the fire, is just as if he had no fire.  Nothing is possessed save in appreciation, of which thankfulness is the indispensable ingredient.  But a thankful heart hath a continual feast. 

 ~W.J. Cameron~

Forever on Thanksgiving Day

The heart will find the pathway home.
~Wilbur D. Nesbit~

O Lord that lends me life,

Lend me a heart replete with thankfulness.
~William Shakespeare

Hem your blessings with thankfulness so they don't unravel. 

~Author Unknown~

May your stuffing be tasty

May your turkey plump,
May your potatoes and gravy
Have nary a lump.
May your yams be delicious
And your pies take the prize,
And may your Thanksgiving dinner
Stay off your thighs!
~Author Unknown~

But whether we have less or more,

Always thank we God therefor.
~Author Unknown~

Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life.  It turns what we have into enough, and more.  It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity.  It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend.  Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow. 

~Melody Beattie~

Not what we say about our blessings, but how we use them, is the true measure of our thanksgiving. 

~W.T. Purkiser ~

Psalm 100
"Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands.
Serve the LORD with gladness: come before his presence with singing.
Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.  Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.  For the LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations."

1 Chronicles 29:11-13

Thine, O LORD is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty: for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is thine; thine is the kingdom, O LORD, and thou art exalted as head above all.
Both riches and honour come of thee, and thou reignest over all; and in thine hand is power and might; and in thine hand it is to make great, and to give strength unto all.
Now therefore, our God, we thank thee, and praise thy glorious name.