We Don't Drop the Ball Around Here

We drop the Peep.

Say, what?

Yes, not only does Bethlehem, Pa. bill itself as "The Christmas City", we are also home to Just Born Inc makers of Mike & Ike, Zours, Hot Tamales, the recently acquired Goldenberg's Peanut Chews (that's an actual food group in this house) and the ever-popular Peeps.

Yep-marshmallow Peeps are made just down the road.
Eat your heart out, Charlie Bucket.

For several years now we've had the Peep-mobile; a bright yellow VW with an insanely large and equally bright Peep attached to the roof. The kids think it's fantastic and most days we can see it parked in front of the factory.


Just Born facts:

• Just Born produces more than 1 billion individual MARSHMALLOW PEEPS® per year covering all of its holiday seasons.

• Just Born goes through more than 34 million pounds of sugar per year.

• Just Born manufactures more than 200 thousand pounds of jelly beans a day.

I think the best fact about Just Born is the donations they make to the community.
My kids have come home many times with Peeps they received at various events, and they donate money and time to many as well. Truly a company to look up to.

So, we all know how NYC has their tradition of dropping the ball above Times Square on New Year's Eve and now Bethlehem will start a tradition this year by dropping a Peep. On New Year's Eve a 25 pound fiberglass Peep, lighted from inside, will descend in Payrow Plaza to mark the beginning of a new year. I wasn't able to find a good photo, but this is the Peep.
(I had to scan from the paper and colorize it. You get the idea.)

You bought WHAT?

Last night I bought a 4 pound jar of peanut butter. Not odd really considering I have 6 kids. I don't think it's the healthiest thing on the planet, and I prefer all-natural for myself but, the kids love the stuff and it goes way beyond PB& J and PB Cookies in usefulness. Of course, we don't have any peanut allergies here so we're lucky in that respect.

I'll bore you with a standard PB cookie recipe down the line here but, for now, let's look at some different things about the all-American favorite goo.

Nutritionally speaking, peanut butter isn't so bad. Look at the stats:

2 Tablespoons of PB give you 13% of your daily requirement of protein, 8% of your needed fiber, 22% of vitamin E, 24% of niacin (way important for neurological health!), 7.5% of folate (pg women, this is VERY necessary to keep neural tube defects like spina bifida at bay!), plus a host of other nutrients~all in a tiny package. Good deal, I think.

There's peanut butter history here~please give it a read, it's quite interesting. It isn't all George Washington Carver either!

History and nutrition aside, my favorite part of any food are the recipes.

This first one is odd, yes, please don't balk though. I must admit, my initial reaction was just flat out "Ew!" and then I tried it, not as the recipe states but, I had a bowl of steaming tomato soup, I was pregnant so my taste horizons were limitless, and I dropped a spoonful of pb into the soup and was hooked. Campbell's is usually pretty on the mark even if they do make cream-of soups. Be adventurous.

This comes from "A Campbell Cookbook, Easy Ways to Delicious Meals" last revised in 1970.

Creamy Peanut Butter Soup
Printable Recipe

1 can (10 3/4 ounces) condensed tomato soup
1/4 cup peanut butter (chunky or smooth)
1 1/2 soup cans milk.

Stir soup into peanut butter, a little at a time, until well blended; add milk. Heat, but do not boil; stir occasionally. 3 to 4 servings.

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In Africa peanuts are refered to as "groundnuts" and some of the best recipes I've seen come from that continent.

West African Chicken and Groundnut Stew
Printable Recipe

2 whole boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 tablespoon peanut oil or oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 teaspoon ground red pepper
1 can whole tomatoes, (28-oz.) undrained, cut up
1 can Great Northern beans, (15.5-oz.) undrained
1 can corn, (11-oz.) drained
1 sweet potato, peeled, chopped
1/4 cup peanut butter
3/4 cup water
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1 teaspoon chili powder
3 cups hot cooked rice

Cut chicken breasts into 1/2-inch pieces. In 4-quart Dutch oven
over medium-high heat, cook chicken in oil until chicken is lightly
browned and no longer pink, stirring frequently. Add onion and
garlic; cook and stir 3 to 4 minutes or unti l onion is tender.
Add remaining ingredients except rice; mix well. Bring to a boil.
Reduce heat to medium-low; cover and cook 30 minutes or until sweet
potat o is tender, stirring occasionally. If stew becomes too thick
add additional water. Serve stew over hot rice.

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When I owned a small cafe in Allentown (for about 2 minutes) an older patron asked if I could serve peanut butter soup. I didn't have a recipe then but I quickly came up with one and he was more than satisfied.

Peanut Butter Soup
Printable Recipe

1/2 cup diced onion
1/2 cup diced celery
1 clove garlic, minced
3 T Butter
1 T Flour
1 c Peanut butter
4 c Chicken stock or vegetable stock
Salt, pepper
1 c heavy cream

Cook onion, celery and garlic in butter until soft in 2-quart saucepan.
Add flour and cook, stirring, until smooth. Stir in peanut butter, add chicken
broth. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring, over low
heat until thickened and smooth. Add cream and blend well.

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Bangkok Beef
Printable Recipe

1/2 cup chunky peanut butter
1/3 cup soy sauce
1-1/2 tablespoons sesame oil
1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 tablespoons garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
3/4 pound boneless beef sirloin steak
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 large carrots, julienned
1/2 cup chopped green onions
1 medium red bell pepper, chopped
1/2 cup unsalted peanuts
3 cups cooked rice

Combine peanut butter, soy sauce, sesame oil, cilantro,
lemon juice, garlic powder, black pepper and red pepper
flakes in small bowl; set aside. Partially freeze steak;
slice across grain into 1/8 inch strips. Stir-fry beef in
oil in large skillet or wok over high heat 1 to 2 minutes.
Add carrots, onions, red pepper, and peanuts; cook 1 to 2
minutes. Add rice and peanut sauce; heat thoroughly. Serve warm.

Note: For Shrimp Bangkok, substitute 3/4 pound cooked and
de-veined shrimp for beef strips.

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Baked Peanut Butter Chicken
Printable Recipe

1 chicken-2-3 lb-cut into pieces.
1/4 c flour
1 egg
1/3 c peanut butter
1 t salt
1/8 t pepper
1/3 c milk
1/2 c bread crumbs,dry
1/4 c peanut oil

Wash and dry chicken pieces-dip in flour. Blend egg
with peanut butter, salt, and pepper. Gradually add
milk, beaten with fork to blend. Dip floured chicken in
peanut butter mixture and then in crumbs. Place on oiled
baking pan. Drizzle remaining oil over chicken pieces
and bake 375'F 45 minutes or until tender.

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Cold Sesame Noodles
Printable Recipe

4 T peanut butter
3 t warm water
2 t sesame oil
1 dash soy sauce
1/2 t sugar
1 dash Tobasco-to taste
3 c cooked spaghetti noodles

Cook spaghetti-drain and rinse with cold water
Mix peanut butter with water until creamy and light in
color. Add remaining ing. Pour over spaghetti. Toss well
to coat.

**********


Cinda's Peanut Butter Cookies
Printable Recipe

1 c Peanut butter
1 c Sugar
1 Egg

Mix ingredients together-form into balls-flatten with
fork. Bake at 350 until edges are lightly browned.

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Melt-in-Your-Mouth Peanut Butter Cookies
Printable Recipe

1/2 cup butter (don't use margarine - butter is best)
1/2 cup solid shortening (I use butter-flavored Crisco sticks)
1/2 cup peanut butter (I use creamy - but crunchy would be good too)
1-1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1 beaten egg
2 cups sifted flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cream of tartar

Cream butter, shortening and peanut butter. Add sugar and beat until mixture
is fluffy. Blend in vanilla and egg until creamy. Combine remaining
ingredients and add to creamed mixture; blend well. Roll into 1-inch balls, roll the balls
in granulated sugar, and put them on a cookie sheet; then flatten with a fork.
Bake at 350° for 12 minutes.

Also check out:

National Peanut Board
and
Peanut Butter Lovers

Merry Christmas

Everyone has holiday traditions; or they should. Our family celebrates Christmas with several traditions.

1) A real tree that we usually cut down at a tree farm that we decorate while sipping hot chocolate and munching on Christmas cookies.

2) Secret Santa~we pick names on Thanksgiving after dinner and give gifts to our recipients until Christmas Eve.

3) Our annual Christmas Eve party~just us ~we light every candle we have, light luminarias on the front walk, turn on Christmas songs, put out a table full of appetizer-type food and reveal our Secret Santas with a final gift. We also try to watch a Christmas Movie that night.

4) We put out Magic Reindeer Food before the kids go to bed on Christmas Eve.

5) I stay up after the kids are in bed and wrap presents by "Christmas light" and make "Santa's Footprints" on the floor with baby powder.

6) In the morning I wake the kids (YES, I am up before they are!) by ringing bells and telling them they just missed the Big Guy.

7) New this year will be a bowl full of oranges (clementines) and a small bowl full of pennies in remembrance of my grandfather Theodore Sharp~when he would wake on Christmas morning there was an orange and a penny in his stocking and they always had homemade vanilla ice cream on Christmas Day. I want my children to always understand how fortunate they are that we are able to have so much. We are actually very poor by today's standards but I still believe we are richer than most in what we do have, and I am very grateful for it. I want them to learn that as well.

On to menus! Our Christmas Eve party varies slightly in some aspects each year but there are mainstays that we cannot be without and they are:

Cajun BBQ Shrimp
Chicken Cheese Spread
A plateful of various fish; smoked oysters, kippers, etc.Nanaimos

We also usually have cheeses and crackers, a bowl of candy and Chex mix! My kids worship that stuff.

For Christmas dinner this year I wanted to go as simple as possible without losing any of the festive feel of the day. We will be having:

Roast pork loin and new potatoes with rosemary and garlic (there's mom's rosemary!)
Gravy
Green bean casserole (kids' request)
Baby asparagus
White corn
Relish tray
Homemade rolls
Salad

Dessert:

Croquembouche (I will have to take a picture)
Cherry pie
Cookies etc.

Here are a few of the recipes, I won't repeat ones I have already posted.
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Cajun BBQ Shrimp
Printable Recipe

3 slices bacon-diced fine
2 sticks- 1 c. margarine (NOT butter)
2T. Dijon mustard
1 1/2t. chili powder
1/4 t. dried basil
1/4 t. dried thyme
black pepper to taste
1T. crab boil
1/2t. Tabasco
1 1/2 lbs large shrimp-shell on

Cook bacon in a large oven proof pot until brown. Add margarine and melt. Add remaining ingredients and place in oven-uncovered. Bake at 375 degrees F for 20 minutes.

These are great even with the shell still on and eaten with the shrimp.

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Chicken Cheese Spread
Printable Recipe

2-8oz. pkgs. cream cheese (softened)
2 cans Underwood Chicken Spread
1/4 c. green pepper-small dice
1/4c. peanuts-chopped fine

Mix all and chill-allow to soften slightly before serving with crackers.

Variations on green peppers and peanuts:
red pepper and walnuts
grated carrot and raisins
dried apricot and pecans

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Magic Reindeer Food
Printable Recipe

Santa can't help but stop if the reindeer take him to your treat!
Mix together:

1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup instant oatmeal
2 tbsp of glitter (substitute edible sprinkles if you live in an area with wildlife)

It's All Good

Today I was able to do a rare thing; talk a walk downtown with Katie and Ian, 4 years old and 17 months old, repectively. Most "downtowns" aren't anything like ours. We are lucky. We live in, what our city refers to itself as "Christmas City, USA", Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. We also are very blessed to live on the street most famous in our city, Main Street. Yes, go ahead and giggle, I live on Main Street, USA.

Anyhow, if you click the linked words above you will see that, indeed, Main Street here is quite attractive during the Holiday season. There are carols playing from hidden speakers, shops full of Christmas Cheer, and the lights after dusk are very pretty. We also have a huge star set on South Mountain that is lit up all year long.

We stopped by the bank after dropping 2 of the kids off at school and made customary stops at all my favorite places starting with The Moravian Cook Shop~which is attached to The Moravian Book Shop, who bills itself as America's Oldest Book Store. Cool stuff, huh? Bethlehem was founded by Moravians, Count Zinzendorf in particular, and Moravian College is still alive and doing very well~I should know, I live directly across the street!

On to the food part~we stopped in at the Cook Shop first and Katie had a hot chocolate and strawberry chocolate chip muffin, and I had a cafe au lait and a palmier (!YES , they had them this morning!). That muffin was divine, and I will be sharing a recipe for strawberry bread that is nearly identical.

Off then to Donegal Square, my favorite Celtic shopping spot, where I spied a tea in the window that I made them scramble for when I went in called Taylors of Harrogate, UK~Spiced Christmas Fruit Tea. As soon as we were able to stop for lunch (hot dog for Katie, and turkey on wheat for mom-btw Ian always eats whatever we are all having!) I opened the tin to smell it. Yummy. As soon as hubby gets home I'll brew a perfect pot and if I feel generous I'll make some when my brother and his wife and kids visit next week :o)

Now, this isn't much to the average person at all but, I love food-if you don't know this by now-and these things are all little luxuries to me and, as such, are so well enjoyed.

There were several small things as well that my mom dropped off yesterday. I am lucky enough to be the recipient of her "overages", magazines she accidentally bought twice, food she has too much of or no use for, soaps she bought in abundance; those types of things. Well, she dropped off a full pound of walnuts, a pound of unsalted butter, fresh rosemary, 3 little tea towels made from flour sacks with the cutest little chef design on them,




and~on the non-food-related end~three bars of delicious smelling French milled soap.
Once I utilize these things, you can bet I'll share recipes!


Strawberry Bread
Printable Recipe

This comes from a cookbook written by my mother's dear friend John Henry, who wrote it for his wife JoAn after her death.

2 -10 oz pkgs frozen strawberries, thawed
4 eggs
1 1/4 c cooking oil
2 c sugar
3 c all-purpose flour
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 c chopped nuts

Stir first 4 ingredients together well then add dry ingredients and stir until combined. Fold in nuts and pour into 2 9x5 inch greased loaf pans. Bake at 350 degrees F for 1 hour or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the loaf comes out clean.

*I top ours with cinnamon sugar.

Cookie Dough

~UPDATE AT BOTTOM OF POST~

What exactly is America's fascination with cookie dough? Maybe it's the "forbidden" aspect of eating something you really shouldn't. Might it be the texture? You know, that grainy feel that takes you back to your childhood when you heaped sugar on whatever you could when mom wasn't looking?

But, not just any cookie dough; chocolate chip cookie dough. For me, there is only one real chocolate chip cookie and that is Nestle Toll House cookies. That historic figure, Ruth Wakefield, and her "accident" have been loved world-wide since 1930. Read about her here and the next time you make chocolate chip cookies, make these.

Since eating cookie dough isn't so safe nowadays, these little bon-bons meet that need in a truly wonderful way:

Cookie Dough Truffles
From Taste of Home

Printable Recipe

1/2 c butter-softened
3/4 c packed brown sugar
2 c all purpose flour
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 t vanilla extract
1/2 c mini chocolate chips
1/2 c chopped walnuts-optional
1 -1/2 lbs chocolate candy coating

Cream butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy.
Add flour, condensed milk and vanilla-mix well.
Stir in nuts and chocolate chips.
Shape into 1" balls and place on waxed paper lined cookie sheets.
Cover loosely and refrigerate for 1 to 2 hours until firm.
Melt candy coating in microwave or double boiler until smooth.
Do NOT overheat!
Dip balls in chocolate and set back on waxed paper.
Refrigerate until hardened, about 15 minutes.

Makes about 5 1/2 dozen
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I just made the following version and gave a piece to the 2 kids at home. Ian, who is 17 months old, took his piece and as I turned to walk back the kitchen, he RAN in there, grabbed my leg and pulled me over to the counter saying "I some, I some!"

So ... they're good-but they don't call to be dipped in chocolate like the others. I'm dipping mine anyway.

Cookie Dough Truffles II
Printable Recipe

1 cup soft butter
1½ cups brown sugar, packed
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
½ teaspoon salt
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon water
6 ounces miniature chocolate chips.

Cream butter and sugar together. Add remaining ingredients and mix well by hand. Roll into bite size balls. Freeze until firm, about 30 minutes. Store in a plastic zippered bag in the freezer. Makes 4 dozen. Let stand at room temperature 5 minutes before eating.