25 Days of Christmas: Christmas Food

As I mentioned in my post earlier today, my mom had homemade lasagna ready for us when we arrived at her house to celebrate Christmas.  I'm not a big lasagna fan, but this is probably the one and only recipe that I will eat.  Plus, it's easy to make ahead and throw into the oven.

Christmas Eve Lasagna:

• 1 1/2 pounds ground beef
• 1/4 teaspoon parmesan cheese
• 1/8 teaspoon pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon basil
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• 6 ounce can tomato paste
• 15 ounce can tomato sauce
• 1/3 cup water
• 16-24 ounce cottage cheese
• 1 egg
• 1 tablespoon parsley
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 8 ounces cooked lasagna noodles
• 1 pound shredded mozzarella

Brown ground beef, add parmesan cheese, pepper, oregano, basil, and sugar.  Then add tomato paste, tomato sauce, and water.  In a separate bowl, combine cottage cheese, egg, parsley, and salt.  Layer in a 13x9 inch pan beginning with meat mixture, noodles, cheese mixture, and mozzarella and ending with a meat layer on top.  Bake covered at 375 degrees for 25 minutes and uncovered for five minutes.  Let set for 10 minutes prior to serving.

I've also had a few requests for some of the recipes from our goodie baking day so here they are!

Sugar Cookies:

• 1 cup butter
• 1 tablespoon orange juice
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 egg
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 tablespoons milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 3 cups flour

Cream butter, gradually adding sugar and cream well.  Blend in eggs, milk, orange juice, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and vanilla.  Gradually add flour.  Roll out 1/3 dough at a time on floured surface and cut 1/8 inch thick.  Bake 5-7 minutes at 400 degrees.

Sugar Cookie Frosting:

• 1/2 cup butter
• 3 cups powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 teaspoon milk
• 1/4 cup orange juice

Cream butter, powdered sugar, vanilla, and milk then add orange juice.

Mini Cherry Cheesecakes:

• 2 packages of cream cheese (8 oz. each and softened)
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 24 vanilla wafers
• 21 ounce can cherry pie filling

Beat cream cheese, sugar, eggs, lemon juice, and vanilla until light and fluffy.  Line small muffin pans (approx. 2 inches in diameter) and place vanilla wafer in the bottom of each cup. Fill the cups 2/3 full with cream cheese mixture.   Bake at 375 degrees for 15-20 minutes.  Top each cheesecake with 1 tablespoon cherry pie filling.

Billionaire Bars:

• 1 package (14 oz.) caramels
• 3 tablespoons water
• 1 1/2 cups chopped pecans
• 1 cup crisp rice cereal
• 3 cups milk chocolate chips
• 1 1/2 teaspoon shortening

Line two baking sheets with waxed paper; grease paper and set aside.  In a large saucepan, combine the caramels and water, cook and stir over low heat until smooth.  Stir in pecans and cereal until coated.  Drop by teaspoonful onto prepared pans.  Refrigerate for ten minutes or until firm.  Meanwhile, in a microwave, melt chocolate chips and shortening; stir until smooth.  Dip candy into chocolate, coating all sides; allow excess to drip off.  Place on prepared pans; refrigerate until set.  Store in an airtight container.

Peanut Clusters:

• 1 pound white chocolate
• 12 ounce package milk chocolate chips
• 15 ounce Spanish peanuts (cooked not raw)  

Melt white chocolate and chocolate chips together until smooth.  Add peanuts and stir until combined.  Drop by teaspoonful onto wax paper lined baking sheets.  Let cool until hardened.

Layered Mint Chocolate Candy:

• 12 ounce package semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 14 ounce can sweetened condensed milk
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 6 ounces white confectioner's coating
• 1 tablespoon peppermint extract
• few drops green or red food coloring

In a heavy saucepan, over low heat, melt the chocolate chips with 1 cup sweetened condensed milk.  Stir in vanilla.  Spread 1/2 the mixture into wax paper lined 8 or 9 inch square pan; chill ten minutes or until firm.  Keep remaining chocolate mixture at room temperature.  In a heavy saucepan over low heat, melt coating with remaining sweetened condensed milk.  Stir in peppermint extract and food coloring if desired.  Spread on chilled chocolate layer.  Chill ten minutes longer or until firm.  Spread reserved chocolate mixture on mint layer.  Chill two hours.

Salted Caramel Pretzel Bark:

• 1/2 bag of mini pretzel twists
• 2 sticks of butter
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 bag of chocolate chips
• sea salt or table salt

Preheat oven to 350 degree.  Line a large cookie sheet with aluminum foil and lay a single layer of pretzels down.  In a medium saucepan, melt the butter and the brown sugar until the sugar is dissolved.  Let it boil gently until it starts to stick tot he bottom and it forms a nice smooth caramel.  You'll want to let it bubble a little and get really thick.  Remove from heat and pour evenly over the top of the pretzels.  Put in the oven for five minutes.  Remove from oven and sprinkle chocolate chips over the top.  Put back in the oven for one minute.  Spread  the chocolate chips around with a spatula until mostly melted.  Sprinkle generously with salt. Let cool on the counter top for a few minutes and then pop in the freezer for at least two to three hours.  

Salted Caramel Butter Bars:

Find the recipe here!

Snowman Poop:

• 1 package Oreos
• 8 ounce block of cream cheese (softened)

Crush oreos (I use our food processor) until crumbly.  Mix crumb mixture with cream cheese. Form into 1-1 1/2 inch balls.  Put in freezer to harden.  You can also dip them in white chocolate, but I skip this part.

Sorry there aren't many pictures!  Enjoy!