Pandora's Casket

With all the recipes out there it is so hard to find something that appeals to everyone that will sit at your table. I know that I have some pretty picky eaters coming and hopefully this recipe will make them smile and rub their tummies with delight!

If not there are plenty of other goodies to choose from at our table during the holidays!

Enjoy!


Taken From: http://food.yahoo.com/recipes/epicurious/108120/coconut-bread

1. 4 cups sweetened flaked coconut
2. 2 cups self-rising flour (not cake flour)
3. 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
4. 1/2 cup sugar
5. 2 large eggs



1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter and flour a 9- by 5- by 3-inch loaf pan, knocking out excess flour.
2. Toast and grind coconut: Spread 3 cups coconut in a large shallow baking pan (1 inch deep) and toast in middle of oven, stirring occasionally, until evenly golden brown, 20 to 25 minutes. (Watch flakes carefully; edges burn quickly.) Cool completely in pan on a rack, about 15 minutes, then grind in a food processor to a coarse meal, about 40 seconds (you will have about 1 1/4 cups). Leave oven on.
3. Make batter: Stir together self-rising flour, ground coconut, and remaining cup (untoasted) coconut in a large bowl. Beat together butter and sugar in another bowl with an electric mixer at medium speed until pale and creamy, 1 to 2 minutes. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Whisk 1 cup water into flour mixture, then add egg mixture, whisking just until well blended.
4. Bake bread: Pour batter into loaf pan, smoothing top with a spatula, and bake in middle of oven until a wooden skewer inserted in center comes out clean and top is evenly brown, 1 hour to 1 hour and 10 minutes. Cool bread to warm in pan on a rack, 10 to 15 minutes, then turn out of pan and set right side up on rack to cool completely, about 2 hours more. Cut into 1-inch-thick slices.

Yield: 8 servings

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If your children are anything like mine when they have days off they get tired of watching tv, riding bikes and playing card games. So what do they want to do? Mine love to do crafty things in the kitchen.

My 8 year old loves to work with paint and glue. Messy and fun! This is one of the things that he likes to do.

It is so fun to take a walk while collecting your leaves for this project. You and your child are able to talk about the change of season to why is there a face on the moon! Quality time is what it is all about. This is one of the most family friendly craft that appeals to all ages!

Fall Leaf Print

What you need:
Fall Leaves
Paint (Orange, red, brown, gold, etc.)
Black Construction Paper
Instructions:
Step 1: Lay your leaves down on newspaper or protective covering.
Step 2. Lightly paint the "face-up" side of each leaf with a different color.
Step 3. Arrange leaves in a pattern that is a little smaller than the size of your construction paper.
Step 4: Gently press your paper on top of the leaves to obtain your leaf prints.
Step 5: Your leaf print can be covered with contact paper to create a place mat.


Leave a little space blank on your construction paper at the bottom or top. Using a separate
piece of paper cut in the shape of a rectangle (the same size as your blank space), write
a poem, story, thank you note, etc. to someone special. Sign your name and date it.
Add a little glue to the back of your rectangle and add to your leaf press picture. Cover
with clear contact paper and give as a gift to someone special!

Last year while on a snow boarding family trip my son had an awful spill. We took the picture as he was being led back up the hill.



After we got him back up the hill we took him to the family doctor to find out that he had a fractured wrist. Could have been worse and I thought it was. Then mothers usually do, now don't they?

The pain was terrible for him and he was only 12 the medications that they gave him was not like that of an adult. Once the fracture was mended he still had pain in the spot even after months later. We tried everything that we could find to help him with this. Then one day a friend of mine told me about
Freeze It Gel. Further telling me that this gel helped with the muscle pain during the day so the person using it can do their day to day tasks easier and with little to no pain. I said OK worth a try.

I went to the local Wal-mart and bought some of the Freeze It roll on because I thought that it would be a little easier to use on Colt. We tried this before going to bed as the directions told that it would help while they slept. Colt had been complaining about that also, throbbing pain in the night . Especially on cold nights here. And it gets cold here in Indiana!

The next few days we alternated using this by doing the night time and before school. He was beginning to feel the difference, especially in his PE class which he said he was able to participate in and the throbbing wasn't as bad.

Since then he still has the pain don't get me wrong but by using this he isn't in as much on a daily basis. Made a 12 year olds life a little bit better who should not be in pain in the first place.

Since then we have used it for other ailments as well. My elderly father suffers Arthritis Pain and again in the cold weather it acts up and he complains about it. So I had him rub some on his hands and his one knee. He swears by it! He likes the scent and the feeling of it.

Now this product has made its way through the family. My daughter tried it before she exercises and even on her sore muscles afterwards while she is cooling down. She is sold and has a few in her room for those just in case she runs out times. haha

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I have passed the information on to a few of my other friends and even a couple business associates that were complaining about minor aches, pains along with painful movement. I feel like a bill board advertiser! haha

If you are on a diet this is not something that maybe you should make! haha

Since the holidays are here though you might want to splurge a bit and enjoy. Yes, you may eat this if you remember like anything do it in moderation.

I tried this recipe last year and it was yummy! My family asked for it again this year for the Christmas snack list that we do. It isnt that hard to make so I said sure why not!


MRS. CHILD'S FAMOUS STICKY CAKE
Source: From Julia Child's Kitchen by Julia Child, Pp.583, 584, 585

THE FRUIT and NUT MIXTURE:
To be macerated 12 hours
4 lbs diced mixed glazed fruits: parts of these may be diced dried dates, pitted tenderized dried prunes or apricots, or raisins, or currants
1 lb (2 cups) prepared store bought mincemeat
1 lb mixed unsalted whole or chopped nut meats (such as walnuts, pecans, almonds, cashews, filberts)
2/3 cup dark Jamaican rum
1/3 cup Cognac or Bourbon
1 tbsp instant coffee (espresso coffee suggested)
1/4 cup dark molasses
1 tsp cardamom
1/2 tsp each: cinnamon, cloves, allspice, mace
1 1/2 tsp salt

THE DRY INGREDIENTS:
31/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tbsp double action baking powder

THE REMAINING INGREDIENTS:
2 sticks butter
2 cups white sugar
1/3 cup light brown sugar
2 tbsp vanilla
6 large eggs

OPTIONAL DECORATION AFTER BAKING:

1 to 1 1/2 cups apricot glaze (apricot jam pushed through a sieve, boiled to the thread stage (228 degrees) with 2 tbsp sugar per cup of strained jam
12 or so glazed cherries
12 whole pecans or walnut halves

Turn the candied fruits into a very large mixing bowl, pour on boiling water to cover, stir for 20 to 30 seconds, drain thoroughly. Return fruit to bowl, add the mincemeat, nuts, liquors, instant coffee, molasses, spices and salt; stir about. Cover airtight and let macerate for 12 hours or longer.

Stir half the flour into the fruits and nuts, sprinkle over the baking powder and the rest of the flour and stir to blend. Using an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugars together in a separate bowl until light and fluffy, beat in the vanilla and the eggs, one at a time, beating 30 seconds after the addition of each egg. Blend the egg-sugar mixture into the fruits.

Preheat the oven to 275F. Butter you cake pan or pans, line bottom with wax paper, butter that, roll flour around in the pan to coat the interior and knock out excess flour.

Turn the batter into the pan, filling it to within 1/4 inch of the rim (and mold any extra cake mixture in a muffin tin).

Bake in the middle of the oven for 2 to 2 3/4 hours or longer, depending on size and shape of pan. Cake will rise about 1/4 inch and top will crack in several places. It is done when it shows the faintest line of shrinkage around edge of pan in several places; a skewer, plunged down into cake through a crack, should come out clean. remove cake from oven and place pan on a rack to cool to 20-25 minutes; cake should shrink a little more from sides, showing that it is ready to unmold.

Turn cake upside down on rack and give a little shake to un-mold. Peel paper off bottom and turn right side up.

If you wish additional cognac, bourbon or rum, pour a spoonful or two over the cake 2 or 3 times as it cools.

When cold, wrap in plastic, then in foil and store in a cool place. Will keep for months and flavor mature with age.

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Our traditional Christmas Eve is filled with old styled Italian food. Home made spaghetti, meat balls and a few other things thrown in . I can not remember a year that we have not spent the entire Christmas Eve preparing our meal.
This started way before I was born so my family carries on the tradition to this day

I thought that this might be a fun addition to our meal. Since I always have extra pumpkin left over now I know what to do with it!



INGREDIENTS

1 cup ricotta cheese
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup tomato paste
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 eggs
2 tablespoons water


DIRECTIONS

1. Mix the cheese, pumpkin, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and the nutmeg. Set filling aside.
2. Mix the flour, and 1/2 teaspoon salt in a large bowl; make a well in the center of the flour. Beat the tomato paste, oil, and eggs until well blended, and pour into the well in the flour. Stir with a fork, gradually bring the flour mixture to the center of the bow until the dough makes a ball. If the dough is too dry, mix in up to 2 tablespoons water.
3. Knead lightly on a floured cloth-covered surface, adding flour if dough is sticky, until smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes. Cover, and let rest for another 5 minutes. Divide the dough into 4 equal parts. Roll the dough, one part at a time, into a rectangle about 12 x 10 inches. Keep the rest of the dough covered while working.
4. Drop 2 level teaspoons filling onto half of the rectangle, about 1 1/2 inches apart in 2 rows of 4 mounds each. Moisten the edges of the dough, and the dough between the rows of pumpkin mixture with water. Fold the other half of the dough up over the pumpkin mixture, pressing the dough down around the pumpkin. Cut between the rows of filling to make ravioli; press the edges together with a fork, or cut with a pastry wheel. Seal edges well. Repeat with the remaining dough and pumpkin filling. Place ravioli on towel. Let stand, turning once, until dry, about 30 minutes.
5. Cook ravioli in 4 quarts of boiling salted water until tender; drain carefully.

Taken from: allrecipes.com

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