Sunday, December 20, 2009

Baked Steak in Tangy Tomato Sauce

This is a great one for the freezer!

2 lbs round or sirloin steak
1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. pepper
3 T. shortening
1/3 c. onion, chopped
1/3 c. celery, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
2 T. brown sugar
2 t. yellow mustard
2 T. worcestershire sauce
2 t. lemon juice
dash of Tabasco sauce
1 c. undiluted tomato soup

Salt and pepper tenderized steak. Brown meat, onion, celery, and garlic in hot shortening. Add remaining ingredients and cover. Cook for 15-20 minutes. At this point you can Freeze, using the freezer bag method. ( I use gallon size ziploc freezer bags). Then on day you want to serve just thaw completely. Bake in 350 oven for 1 1/2-2 hours till tender.

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Pecan Balls

Makes 40 cookies

1/2 C butter
2 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 C ground pecans (a food processor works fine for this, just don't grind them too fine)
1 C flour
powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

Beat butter until soft. Blend in sugar until creamy. Add vanilla. Stir in nuts and flour until mixed. Roll dough into small balls (an inch or so in diameter). Bake on a greased sheet for 30 minutes. While hot, roll in powdered sugar and place on wax paper to cool. I usually roll them in powdered sugar again after they have cooled.

Note: These cookies don't spread much during baking so they can be baked close together. The whole recipe can fit on a 10" x 15" sheet.

Almond Snow Balls

Almond Snow Balls

Ingredients
1 pound (4 sticks) margarine, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
3 to 4 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup blanched sliced almonds, finely chopped
3 1/2 to 4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup powdered sugar

Yields: About 4 dozen cookies

Preparation
Preheat oven to 250°F.


In a mixing bowl, thoroughly combine margarine, sugar, vanilla extract and chopped almonds using a rubber spatula.

Fold in the flour – you want the dough to be dense enough to handle with your hands. Sometimes it will take more flour to make this happen, so start with 3 1/2 cups and add flour as necessary.


Roll spoonfuls of the dough into balls about the size of a small walnut and arrange them on a cookie sheet. Transfer to the oven and bake for 45 minutes to an hour, until the cookies are no longer doughy and are cooked through.


Remove the cookies from the oven and, while still hot, roll and toss around in a bowl with the powdered sugar. Once coated, allow to cool. And then they're ready to eat!