Christmas Candy

Grace Morgan’s Divinity

3 cups sugar
2/3 cup water
2/3 cup white corn syrup
1/8 teaspoon salt

Combine above ingredients in a heavy saucepan with a tight fitting lid.
Cover with lid until mixture boils. Remove lid and cook until it reaches 260° (hard ball stage).
Do not stir while cooking.

When syrup is near 260° beat 2 egg whites in mixer bowl until medium stiff (hold their shape).
SPECIAL TRICK: When beating the egg whites add one package of Knots unflavored gelatin.

When syrup has reached 260°, pour syrup into the egg white mixture in a thin stream. Keep the mixer running. Add 1 teaspoon vanilla.

Beat until the mixture holds its shape. It will look like thick whipped cream.
The more air that is incorporated into the mixture the better the candy will be.
Add 1 cup of finely chopped nuts.

Dip by teaspoon onto wax paper.

Note: Grace Morgan was the world’s best candy makers. Every Christmas she brought a package of her home made candies and several bottles of home canned fruit to Chuck’s Dad. It was one of his favorite gifts. She generously shared her recipes with me. LeOra Stevenson

Yummy Fudge

1 can evaporated milk
4 ½ cup sugar
1 pound Hershey Bars
60 miniature marshmallows or 15 regular marshmallows cut up.
12 ounce package semi sweet chocolate chips
1 cup chopped walnuts

Have Hershey bar, marshmallows, chocolate chips and nuts ready in a bowl.

Bring sugar and milk to boil in a large saucepan and keep at a rolling boil for 5 minutes. Dump this all at one time over the chocolate mixture. Stir vigorously by hand until chocolate bits and marshmallows are melted and mixture is smooth.

Pour into greased (buttered) 9x13 pan and pack down. Let it set awhile.
Put in refrigerator to cool. Cut into desired size and enjoy.

The smaller the Hershey bar is chopped the faster it melts. You want it to melt quickly.
A food processor works well to chop the chocolate bar. (I always break it up by hand.)

Mexican Casserole

I made this for dinner tonight and I was a little scared at first but I loved it. I wanted to eat more but I was stuffed after one serving. I got the recipe off Allrecipes.com and then modified it a bit because that's how I roll.

Ingredients
oil for frying
3/4 pound cubed skinless, boneless chicken breast meat
1/2 (1.25 ounce) package taco seasoning mix
1 (15 ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained (I used pinto beans and didn't drain them)
1 (8.75 ounce) can sweet corn, drained
1/4 cup salsa (My new favorite is Targets fresh Mild Salsa)
water as needed (if you don't drain the beans you don't need to add water)
1 cup shredded Mexican-style cheese
1 1/2 cups crushed plain tortilla chips (I cut up flour tortillas and added a layer to the center aswell as the top)

DIRECTIONS
In a large skillet over medium high heat, saute chicken in oil until cooked through and no longer pink inside. Add taco seasoning, beans, corn, salsa and a little water to prevent drying out. Cover skillet and simmer over medium low heat for 10 minutes.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
Transfer chicken mixture to a 9x13 inch baking dish. Top with 1/2 cup of the cheese and crushed tortilla chips.
Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes. Add remaining 1/2 cup cheese and bake until cheese is melted and bubbly.

I threw a little cheese in the middle for good measure but waited till the tortillas where crisp before I put some on top then cooked for about 5 mins more.

I know this is about the most non-thanksgiving recipe I could post the day before Thanksgiving but it's what I had for dinner and I liked it so much I had to post it. Thanks Cate for all your fun holiday recipes.

Thanksgiving

If you're like me you are going through all your recipe boxes looking for all the holiday favorites (Like the Trader Joe's Stuffing that was such a big hit last year that I can't seem to find this year...) So I thought I would help out and try to put some favorites here so they're easier to find... Most of these are from Debbie and Sharon. There is also one from Grandma Hatton that Mom always made (before discovering the Easy Rolls (I'm going a step further this year and just doing frozen rolls...) There's also one from Chad's grandma (any surprise it's the Jell-0 Salad - that's about the extent of her cooking :)
Sorry, no pictures yet... I'll try to take some as I go.