It's that time of the year again!

Time to start thinking about holiday baking and candy making.

This was last year's round up (which links back to previous years).

A few things to add from last year:

Reindeer Cookies using a chocolate sugar cookie recipe (recipe is on Domino Sugar site)



Rich and Dark Fudge Tassies - very chocolatey!



Drop Sugar Cookies (recipe is on Domino Sugar site)



Caramel and chocolate dipped pretzel rods and caramel covered chocolate dipped Lorna Doones using the caramel recipe from Chocolate Covered Caramels (I overcooked the caramel the year I took that lousy picture)



Candy-Cane Twists - an old, old recipe of mine that is a pain in the behind but so cute



South Seas Cookies - these were a big hit last year. I used my homemade caramel to make them



Butterhorns - another old recipe I brought out of retirement



These are recipes that I made in 2010 that might be good for the holidays too:

Lime Cooler Cookies



White Chocolate Dried Cherry (or Craisin) Cookies (SO GOOD!)



Big Soft Ginger Cookies (if you don't feel like making gingerbread men but you want something spicy)



Big Sugar Cookies - I'm definitely making these with Christmas sprinkles




Icebox Cookies - this is a great basic cookie that can be doctored up for the holidays



Cherry Chip Bars

Another short break?

Now that I've been posting more regularly again, I hate not having anything new to share with you today. I did cook this weekend but it was mainly for meals this upcoming week so I can't comment on the recipes yet. I winged a big pot of beef vegetable soup that came out pretty good. I should have taken a picture of that. I also have some recipes in the backup queue but I have to track down the actual recipes first. I am at a loss at to where some of them came from, it's been so long since I made them.

I think many blog readers will be busy getting ready for Thanksgiving so maybe I will just wait and pick up posting next week.

I don't have anything exciting planned for Thanksgiving, recipe-wise. I'm not doing a ton of pies this year. I'm taking a break. I am going to make the Deen Bros. Truffle Pie again. I love this pie.


Maybe I'll get a better picture this year.

My brother will be spending Thanksgiving with his new wife's family so I won't be making his favorite, Butterscotch Pie, which is also one of my favorites. I'm going to miss that pie but it is sort of labor intensive so I won't miss it too much.

Otherwise I am in charge of mashed potatoes and gravy but I have to do it with as little sodium as possible so I'm not too excited about that but at least I'll have the pie to look forward to!

Pretty in pink

Maraschino Cherry Bars
Cookies 1,001 Mouthwatering Recipes From Around the World Copyright 2004

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
¾ cup (1 ½ sticks) butter, softened
½ cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon maraschino syrup (from a jar of maraschino cherries)
½ cup finely chopped maraschino cherries
Maraschino Frosting

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter a 13x9-inch baking pan. (I think this is better suited to a 11x7-inch baking dish). Sift the flour and salt into a medium bowl. Beat the butter, brown sugar, and maraschino cherry syrup in a large bowl with an electric mixer at high speed until creamy. Mix in the dry ingredients and cherries until well blended. Spread the mixture evenly in the baking pan. Bake for 30-40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool completely in the pan. If desired, spread the frosting over, Cut into bars.

Maraschino Frosting (This will make way more than you need)
4 cups confectioners’ sugar
¼ cup (1/2 stick) butter, softened
½ cup milk
2 tablespoons maraschino cherry syrup
16 maraschino cherries, finely chopped

Beat the confectioners’ sugar, butter, and milk in a large bowl with an electric mixer at high speed until smooth. (**I wouldn't add the milk all at once. Safer to blend everything else then add the milk until you reach the right consistency. **)Beat in the cherry syrup and cherries until well blended.
_________________________

I've had a jar of cherries in the cupboard for quite some time that I wanted to use in something. There are plenty of recipes that use maraschino cherries but this one was the least labor intensive and it didn't require any other special ingredients.

This is basically a shortbread, which I'm generally not crazy about. The frosting gave these a more personally pleasing texture for me (it softened the bars slightly). They are VERY sweet - don't cut them too large. They didn't blow me away right off the bat but everyone seemed to love them - they got a few 'extra' comments from the work crew and disappeared quickly. I was sorry to see the last one go since they really grew on me, but I'm still not sure if I would make them again. When it comes to sweets, I generally only remake the things that knock my socks off. As much as everyone enjoyed these, I don't think these fell into that category for me, since, like I already mentioned, I'm just not a huge shortbread fan. I could maybe see making them again if I needed a pink treat someday - I loved the color.

Meatloaf recipes

Apparently I love meatloaf (or meat loaf, if you prefer). I've made quite a few of them and I thought it would be handy to put all the meatloaf recipes together in their own post. There isn't a true stinker in the bunch - I enjoyed them all. I couldn't tell you which one was the best either. That's really impossible to say.

As you can see in many of the pictures, I often cook my meatloaf ahead of time, then I grill it on my Cuisinart Griddler. Oddly, I never seem to make meatloaf with gravy. I'll have to work on that.

I'll add any future meatloaves I make to this list.

Laura P's Grandma's Meat Loaf, submitted by a reader, this meat loaf has a touch of sage in the meat and a touch of nutmeg in the sauce




Family-Style Turkey Loaf, a gluten-free meatloaf made with ground turkey



Herbed Chicken Meatloaf, a Greek-inspired meatloaf, served in a pita



Brown Sugar Meat Loaf, a classic from the Bridges of Madison County Cookbook



Buffalo Chicken-Blue Cheese Meatloaf, from one of the Biggest Loser Cookbooks



BBQ-Bacon Meat Loaf, another Biggest Loser recipe, made with ground chicken



Tomato Meat Loaf, there are no eggs in this version



Spicy Glazed Meat Loaf, a crockpot meatloaf - watch the salt in this!



Mom’s Meatloaf, a Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives recipe



Picante Meat Loaf, a diabetic recipe for meat loaf



Mom’s Meat Loaf, another slow-cooked version of meatloaf



Turkey Meatloaf with Brown Sugar-Ketchup Glaze, a Cook's Illustrated recipe, slightly fussier than your average meatloaf but not too complicated. It's from 'Best Light Recipes'.



Dutch Meat Loaf, an awful picture but this is one of my favorite meatloaf recipes



Mexican Meat Loaf, this one uses tortilla chips



Lyn's Meatloaf - this one has a ketchup-brown sugar glaze with cloves and allspice

Just what I needed

Lyn’s Meatloaf
Wal*Mart Family Cookbook Copyright 2008

2 cups soft bread crumbs
½ cup milk
½ cup Egg Beaters or 2 eggs, slightly beaten
2 tsp onion powder
1 tsp salt
¼ tsp ground black pepper
2 lb lean ground beef
Cooking spray
½ cup ketchup
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp ground mustard
¼ tsp each allspice and ground cloves

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In large bowl stir together bread crumbs, milk, egg product, onion powder, 1 teaspoon salt and ¼ tsp pepper. Add ground beef; mix well. Spray 2-quart rectangular baking dish with no-stick cooking spray. Shape meat into loaf and place in 9x5x4 inch pan.
2. Bake, uncovered, for 45 minutes. Meanwhile in small bowl combine ketchup, brown sugar, mustard, allspice, and cloves. Pour sauce mixture over top of loaf. Bake for 30 minutes more of until a meat thermometer registers 160 degrees F. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

Serves 8.
___________________________________________

I've been craving meatloaf. Since I cut back on using meat, meatloaf has definitely been off the table since most recipes require 1.5 to 2 pounds of meat. But I found some lean beef on sale and this recipe required no other special ingredients so it came out to $5-$6 to make this meatloaf. It went a long way. I froze individual slices and this made dinner for me and the boys, a few sandwiches for lunch and even one for breakfast. There's nothing wrong with a meatloaf sandwich for breakfast.

Since I've cut back on meat, especially since red meat has mainly left my diet, my butt has been dragging. I know that one does not need red meat to feel good but I guess I haven't been eating as well in general lately. Eating this meatloaf felt very therapeutic.

There was a time when allspice and cloves would have sent me running from this recipe but after trying this sloppy joe recipe with the cloves and loving it, these spices are what attracted me to this recipe. I loved what those spices brought to this. This recipe definitely hit the spot.

I hadn't been cooking and I really needed to cook again. Every so often I think, I'm done, I'm not cooking, I'll just grab whatever and get by, but I just can't eat like that. I need to plan, I need to cook, I need to get enjoyment out of my food.

I was going to list my other meatloaf recipes here but there are too many. I'll make a separate post.

I picked up this cookbook for 97 cents in the Goodwill store. It has a lot of great recipes, that I've seen before for the most part, but it's still nice to have so many good recipes in one place. Various brands sponsor the book but it's largely from-scratch cooking. It's from 2008 - does Wal*Mart put one of these out every year? If they do, I need to track more of these down and look for future versions. I think this originally sold for $4.96 which is a great deal.