Glazed Carrots

Glazed Carrots

Ingredients

• 2 (16 ounce) packages fresh baby carrots or cut regular carrots into 1/4 inch medallions
  
• 1/2 cup butter or margarine
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 (1 ounce) packages ranch salad dressing mix (I rarely have this on hand, so I use 2 tbsp of Ranch dressing from the bottle)
  

Directions

1. Place carrots in a saucepan; add 1 in. of water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and cook for 8-10 minutes or until crisp-tender. Drain and set aside.
2. In the same pan, combine butter, brown sugar and salad dressing mix until blended. Add carrots. Cook and stir over medium heat for 5 minutes or until glazed.

Creamy Ham and Potatoes

Does any one else have leftover ham after Christmas every year and wonder what to do with it? I borrowed this recipe from Allrecipes and made several changes. Loved it.

Creamy Ham and Potatoes
original recipe courtesy of Allrecipe
here is my version:

Ingredients

• 5 pounds white potatoes, partially cooked
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1/4 cup chopped onion or a sprinkle of onion powder if you're a Blake
  
• 1/2 cup diced green pepper
  
• 1 pound cooked ham, diced
• 1 1/2 cups chicken broth
  
• 1/4 cup sour cream
  
• 1 cup shredded cheese
• 1/4 tsp Thyme
  
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Peel potatoes; slice 1/4 in. thick. Spread in 9x13 pan. In saucepan, melt butter and stir in flour until well blended. Add onion, green pepper, ham, broth, sour cream and shredded cheese; cook until thickened. Season with Thyme, salt and pepper, if desired. Pour ham and cheese mixture over potatoes and toss gently. Bake at 350 degrees F for 1 1/2 hours or until potatoes are tender.

Celebration Cookies

Celebration Cookies
Courtesy of Anna Penrod

2 sticks butter
2 c. sugar
2 eggs
1 c. sour cream
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. soda
4 tsp. baking powder
4 1/2 c. flour
1/2 tsp. salt

Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs; beat well. Add sour cream and vanilla. Stir in dry ingredients. Roll on floured surface 1/2 inch thick. Cook on greased cookie sheet at 350 degrees for 14-17 minutes (I actually do 12-14 minutes).

The dough is pretty sticky. I just put flour on the counter and on the rolling pin. Then, the first time I roll a batch of dough out, I normally have some of it stick to the counter, so I have to scrap some of the cookies I "cut" and roll the dough back into a ball. Just a little more flour and it shouldn't stick much after that.

The trick for the frosting? Well, it's called extra milk. NOT MUCH. Just a smidge and the frosting becomes a WEE BIT runny. This keeps the frosting from getting real thick, but I don't like much frosting anyway, so it works for me. (And who cares what other people prefer because the less they like them, the less they eat. The less they eat, the more I get. :))