Hawaiian Haystacks

I thought this was just weird when I heard of it but it's actually very good!  I rarely use a recipe for it but here's the one my visiting teacher gave me when I was a young newlywed.  I substitute 3-4 chicken breasts for cooking a whole chicken.  Much easier!

Ingredients:
1 large chicken, cooked and picked off the bone (as if!)
2 cans cream of chicken soup
1 C chicken broth
Pepper to taste
2 Tbs. parsley flakes
2 cans cream of chicken soup
1 package chow mein noodles
3 tomatoes, chopped
1 C celery, chopped
1/2 C green pepper, chopped
1/2 C green onion, chopped
1 20 0z. can of pineapple chunks, drained
1 C grated cheese
1/2 C coconut, shredded
1/2 C slivered almonds

Instructions:  Simmer chicken, broth and canned soup for 10 minutes. Add pepper and parsley.
Have all other ingredients in separate bowls so people can choose what they want as toppings. (I choose everything!) Serve over rice.

Peanut Butter Cookies

Ruby and Wyatt were very suspicious when I made these for them last month.  Peanut butter?  It almost sounds healthy!  But then they tried them and asked that I make them again the next time they came!  Soft and chewy deliciousness! This recipe was inspired by the "Better Homes and Gardens New Junior Cook Book".

Ingredients:

1 C butter, softened

1 C peanut butter

1 C sugar

1 C brown sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

2 1/4 C flour

2 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

Instructions:

Pre-heat oven to 350°

Mix butter and peanut butter.  Add sugar and brown sugar and mix. Add eggs and vanilla. Add all the dry ingredients and mix. 

Roll into balls and place on greased cookie sheet (or use a silicone mat.) Smash down with a fork in a cross-hatch pattern. Bake for 10 minutes or until lightly browned but still mushy.  The cookies will harden as they cool.

Hint: If you spray the measuring cup and spoon with cooking spray, the peanut butter will be easier to manage.

Russian Tea Cakes

These were my favorite cookies that my mom made at Christmastime! So easy to make but so elegant looking!  It looks like I forgot to take a picture of the final product so you'll have to wait until next year for the reveal haha! Peityn was a big help making these cookies.  She really liked trying to roll them into balls.

Ingredients:

1 c soft butter

1/2 C sifted* powdered sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

2 1/4 C sifted flour

1/4 tsp. salt

3/4 C finely chopped pecans

Instructions:

Heat oven to 400°

Mix together the butter, powdered sugar and vanilla

Mix in the flour.  Add and mix the nuts.

Roll into medium-sized balls.

Bake at 400° for 10 minutes.  While still warm, roll into powdered sugar.

*My sifter broke about 20 years ago so I don't sift.  I know they come out better if you do but they're already so good that it doesn't seem worth the trouble. Grandma used to also make a variation wherein she added a tsp. of almond extract and shaped the cookies into crescents.  Instead of rolling them in powdered sugar, she rolled them in colored granulated sugar. She called them "almond crescents." Stay tuned, next year I'll remember to take a picture of the finished project.

2019 So, I never remembered to take a picture of the finished project! However, here's a picture of Olive and Clara helping make these cookies today...