Home Made Eggnog

One of the yummiest Eggnogs EVER!



I use a punch bowl for this recipe.

6 egg whites
1 cup of sugar
6 egg yolks
2 cups of whipping cream
4 cups of milk
freshly grated nutmeg

In a large mixer bowl beat egg whites til soft peaks form ( tips curl )
Gradually add 1/2 cup sugar beating til stiff peaks form ( tips stand straight )
Set Aside

In a small mixer bowl beat egg yolks till thick and lemon colored
Gradually beat in remaining sugar
Fold egg yolk mixture into beaten egg whites. Stir in whipping cream, and milk.

Cover and chill

Before serving, sprinkle with nutmeg

Spicy Christmas Coffee

I'm not a coffee connoisseur, but my wonderful Husband is,
and he says " This is great Coffee" so I'll take his word for it,
you try it, and let me know what you think!

* Warning * you need to start this coffee a month before Christmas to let the flavours blend!!

Buy a bag of coffee, something not too strong. You can either grind beans or buy already ground. ( Most coffee shops will grind it for you, so why not take advantage of the freshest coffee?)

ok... so take a pound of coffee and put it in an airtight container.

add about 18 ( 1 package ) cinnamon sticks, broken up but not crushed.

add a tablespoon of cloves

add about 4 - 5 vanilla beans, sliced down the side and cut into 1 inch pieces

add a few slices of dried Mandarin orange peals

Put everything in container, shake it up and store in the fridge. Shake it up every now and then, serve at Christmas time, ( maybe with your favorite Bailey's?)

It takes about 3 weeks.

Pasta Fagioli

It's that time of year when soup is considered 'good food" here is one of my fave's.

1 pound ground beef

can of pinto or mixed lentils

2 carrots, diced small or shredded

2 celery stalks, cut into very small slices

1/4 cup olive oil

1 1/2 cups chopped onions

3 tablespoons minced garlic

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1 teaspoon dried basil

1 teaspoon crushed chili's

3/4 cup fresh chopped parsley

3 bay leaves

1 can tomato paste ( 6 oz )

1 can tomatoes ( 28 oz )

10 cups water

salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

2 cups ( or more ) orzo or other small pasta

freshly grated Parmesan cheese for garnish.

Heat oil in large soup pot. Add the onions, garlic, oregano, chili, basil, celery, carrots and bay leaves. Cook over low heat until onions are soft about 10 - 15 minutes. Stir occasionally.

Cook ground beef in frying pan and drain excess fat.

Add the tomatoes, ground beef, and tomato paste to large pot. Cook another 5 minutes.

Stir in the water; cover partially with and cook over medium heat for 20 minutes.

Drain the beans and add them to the kettle with salt and pepper to taste. Reduce the heat, cover, and simmer about 1 1/2 hours.

Add the orzo and continue to simmer until the pasta is tender, about 10 minutes depending on pasta choice. Stir in the parsley.

Garnish with Parmesan cheese.

Serve with some red wine and snuggle by the fire!

Bean Salad

Maddie's second favorite salad is Bean Salad,
so again now she can check the right ingredients :-)


1 can of lentils ( mixed beans ) this also works on any bean, green, yellow or canned asparagus!

drain and rinse beans

pour red wine vinegar and Olive oil once around the bowl

sprinkle garlic salt, salt and pepper

dash of lemon juice

and if I have onions on hand already cut up I'll add a teaspoon to the mix.

Mix it up, serve at room temperature, the longer it sits the better it is.

Tomato Salad

Tomato salad is one of Maddie's Favorite salads. She always forgets what I put it in tho' so I thot I'd blog it, and she can check whenever she needs to.

As many tomatoes as your appetite is big! cut into bite size chunks

pour Olive oil over tomatoes, once around the bowl

cut onion into wedges, as many onions as you want

sprinkle oregano

dash of salt

serve at room temperature, and if it sits for a couple of hours it's even better.

serve with french bread, and use the bread to soak up the juice after.

Yummy Pumpkin Pie

Ok here it is, the infamous, world renowned pumpkin pie. ( Ok fine, then the Friend and family renowned pumpkin pie! )

First is the crust. No pastry for me, Graham Wafers all the way!!

Based on a 9 inch pie

preheat oven to 350

24 Graham crackers ( about 1 3/4 cups )

1/4 cup Sugar


1/2 cup butter melted


sprinkle of cinnamon

1 Finely crush the wafers then combine them with the remaining ingredients and blend thoroughly. Put aside 2 tablespoons of mix to sprinkle on top of pie ( if you wish )

2 Press the mixture firmly to the bottom and sides of a well buttered pie plate.

3 Bake in 350 oven for 15 minutes - until lightly golden


Now the pumpkin.
Split the pumpkin in half


Remove the seeds and put in a small saucepan, add 1 Tablespoon of coarse salt and simmer on low for about an hour. Then place on an oiled cookie sheet in 275 oven for another hour, sprinkle with salt.

Cut the Pumpkin into large ( 3 inch ) chunks. Steam for about 20 minutes, until a fork goes in easily. A pumpkin about the size of your head will probably need to be split into 2 batches.


Let the pumpkin cool. Now cut off the stringy side, and cut off the skin. Puree'
2 eggs

2 cups pumpkin


1/2 teaspoon salt


1 teaspoon cinnamon


1/2 teaspoon ginger


1/4 teaspoon crushed cloves


1/4 teaspoon nutmeg


1 2/3 Carnation Eagle Brand Condensed Milk ( 2 cans )

Preheat oven to 425.


beat eggs slightly, beat in remaining ingredients. Pour into pie shell

Bake 15 minutes

Reduce oven temperature to 350


sprinkle remaining graham crust mixture if you saved it now


Bake 45 minutes longer or until knife inserted comes out clean.

let cool, serve with whipped cream

Witches Fingers

What would October be without posting my favorite

Halloween cookies.... beware... witches ahead!!

Heat oven to 325

1 cup butter softened

1 cup icing sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon almond extract

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 3/4 cups all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup whole blanched almonds

1 tube red decorater gel or Raspberry jam

In a bowl beat together butter, sugar, egg, vanilla and almond extract; beat in flour, baking powder and salt.

Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes

Working with 1/4 of the dough at a time and keeping remaining dough refigerated, roll heaping tablespoons into finger shapes. Press almond firmly into 1 end for nail. Press in center to create knuckle shape and using a paring knife make slashes in several places over knuckles.

Bake on lightly greased baking sheet in 325 F for 20- 25 minutes or until pale golden.

Let cool for 3 minutes.

Lift up almond nail and place jam underneath. Replace nail.

Remove from baking sheet let cool on racks... be afraid, be very afraid!

Fettuccine Alfredo

Ok, I know this isn't the greatest food for the calorie counters out there, but it one of the greatest foods!!! I tried all kinds of low fat- la de da recipes but for taste I always came back to this one, so now it is the official recipe, and I won't try to fix it anymore if it ain't broke. So try it out and let me know what you think!

Fettuccine noodles

1/4 cup margarine or butter

1 cup whipping cream

3/4 cup Parmesan cheese ( don't try the Kraft kind in the green container.. that stuff doesn't melt?? )

1/2 teaspoon salt

dash pepper

2 teaspoons basil ( or parsley, choose your fave )


Cook noodles as directed on package ( this is also great over tortellini or cheese ravioli! )
Heat margarine and whipping cream over low heat until margarine is melted
Stir in cheese, salt and pepper and basil
pour sauce over hot noodles, stirring until noodles are well coated
sprinkle a bit of basil on top

and as they say in Italy, mange' :-)

It's All About The Cheese French Onion Soup

Do you like mozzarella cheese so much you would build a monument to it if you could? No? Okay, maybe it's just me then. Here is my Tribute to Mozzarella cheese.






1 White Onion

1L of Beef stock.

A 1/2 pound (or more) of grated mozza cheese


1) Take a small, medium or large onion (depending on how much you like onions) and dice it.

2) In a frying pan, put a tablespoon of butter and begin to saute the onions on medium heat.

3) Take some beef stock (I use campbells) and add 500ml of water to 500ml of beef stock and beat on medium heat.

4) Stir and toss the onions repeatedly and make sure they don't burn. Sautee the onions until they are nearly translucent.

5) Add the onions to the beef stock and let simmer for about 10 minutes.

6) Add a pinch or two of cheese to your french onion soup bowls. Then add the onion soup to the bowls.

7) Put a slice of bread on top of the soup. Then add the cheese. Lots of cheese.

8) Bake in the oven at 350 for about 10 -12 minutes.

Enjoy your monument to mozzarella cheese!

Crunchy Vegetable Wraps

When Maddie was little she used to call Vegetables, VENGtables. Who knew that she would turn out to BE a VENGetarian!! She found a few recipes that are really good! So this is the Vegan part of the Blog... for Maddie :-)

1/4 cup cream cheese

4 10 inch tortillas

1 cup shredded spinach

1/4 cup alfalfa sprouts

1/2 cup shredded red cabbage

1/2 cup sliced avocado

1/4 cup chopped tomatoes

1/2 cup diced cucumbers

2 tablespoons diced red onion

salt and pepper to taste

Mix everything together in a big bowl

Spread 1 tablespoon of the cream cheese on each tortilla. Spread ingredients over tortilla and roll up.

Great on the side instead of salad, or as Nana Weber did, she cut the wrap into bite size slices and served as an appetizer!

Cheese Dip

My friend from Winnipeg came to visit in May, and she made a dip that was awesome. Easy and yummy, my favorite thing! Thank you Katieface :-)




2 garlic cloves chopped

1 block cream cheese

250 g feta ( broken into small pieces )

3/4 cup plain yogurt

2 tablespoons parsley

dash of salt

sprinkle of pepper

1/8 teaspoon cayenne

Mix together as creamy as you can get it.
Let sit at least 4 hours, for the flavors to blend. Dip away...
Recipe from Katie Rydzkowski AKA: Katieface

Pita Chips

These tasty morsels go hand in hand ( Hand to mouth ) with the Cheese dip from Katieface. We made 2 different kinds but you can be as creative as you want!

Take as many pitas as you can get!! These are eaten fast!

Preheat oven to 350

Brush pitas with any dressing. ( one side ) We used Italian for one stack, and garlic butter for the other.

Cut into wedges, and place on a tray and pop them into the oven for about 9 minutes or until crispy.

Now I dare you not to eat any til you serve them!

Recipe from Katie Rydzkowski AKA: Katieface

Pork Roast

One of my favorite dishes that my mom made was her pork roast. She would make it in a cast iron pan in the BBQ, with veggies all around it.... it was soooo good. I am NOT a BBQ'r... kinda frightened of the thing to tell you the truth.... but Dean is a BBQ master so... I dug out my mom's recipe and we tried it. It was gooood!


Weigh your pork roast and calculate 45 minutes per pound. The method is the same for BBQ and oven so you have your pick as to how you wanna cook it.

Preheat to 325 F
Score the top of the roast and brush with butter
Sprinkle, salt, pepper and paprika on top.

Place roast in Oven (bbq)

Boil potatoes, onions and carrots 15 minutes
During the LAST 45 minutes of time left to cook the roast place the potatoes around the roast.
10 minutes later add the carrots and onions and turn the potatoes.

Take the roast out and let it sit for 10 minutes after it's cooked.
Turn the heat up to 425 F, add some butter to the veggies, stir them around and cook the 10 minutes that the roast is sitting.
Voila!
Recipe from Linda Beaton ( My Mommy )

Extremely Easy Beer Chicken

This is a really easy way to cook a chicken on the BBQ.

All you need is a beer chicken stand and a "tall boy" can of beer. I bought the beer chicken stand from Home Depot for $8.00

Here is all you need:

1 whole frying chicken

Seasoning salt.

1 "tall boy" can of your favourite beer.

Pre-heat your bbq for indirect medium heat. This works out to about 350 degrees or so.

Season the chicken to taste all over with the seasoning salt or you can do it after you place the chicken on the stand. The choice is yours.

Open the can of beer and drain about 1/4 out of the beer. I usually put this extra beer in the bottom of the beer chicken stand. Punch a couple more extra holes near the top of the can of beer.

Place the chicken on the stand and place the chicken in the center of he bbq. If you can, only leave the front and back burners on and leave the middle one off.

Cook for about 1-1/4 to 1-1/2 hours.


I got to enjoy a beer or two as the chicken was cooking.

Here is the the result after about 90 mins on the bbq.
It was cooked to juicy perfection.

Gordon Ramsay's Scrambled Eggs

One of my favourite breakfast foods is eggs. I love them. Especially scrambled eggs. However, scrambled eggs are always a bit of a challenge because they can can come out dry, overcooked or lacking in flavour. Enter Gordon Ramsay. His secret "on again, off again" method (click on the video below) of cooking scrambled eggs give you beautiful creamy, perfect scrambled eggs every single time. Try it yourself!

3 Eggs

Nob of Butter

Half Table Spoon of Crème fraîche

Little bit of Salt & Pepper

Chopped Chives

Fat cap mushrooms

Salt & Pepper

Vine tomatoes

Sour Dough Bread (thick cut)

Drizzle Olive Oil


The above is the deleuxe edition of the eggs, really easy but I also do a basic version. I just cook the eggs without the creme fraiche and they are just as good. I usually put them on the burner for 30-45 seconds and then off the burner for the same amount of time. It really works. Creamy perfect, non runny, scrambled eggs every time.

Totellinini Soup

I made this soup awhile back. I had started it and then left a message for Dean when he got home to have some soup. He saw the tortellini in the fridge... and drained it, not realizing when I said "soup" I meant "soup" so he had just the pasta part, and for some reason wasn't a big fan of this dish until I made it again for him.... with the liquid. :-)





1 garlic finely chopped

1 med celery stalk finely chopped

1/2 small onion chopped

1 small carrot chopped

1 1/2 tablespoon margarine

3 cans chicken broth ( or 4 cups water and 3 oxo cubes )

2 cups water

1 package of tortellini

1 tablespoon parsley

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1/8 teaspoon crushed chili's



Cook garlic, celery, onion and carrot in butter over medium heat for 10 minutes

Stir in chicken broth and water, heat to boiling

Stir in tortellini, cover and simmer 20 minutes.

Stir in parsley, pepper and nutmeg.

Cover and cook 10 more minutes.

Serve with Parmesan cheese


recipe from Bink Treyturik

Nacho Dip

I first tried this at a pool party. It was so yummy, I couldn't believe when I read the recipe how easy it was to make!

1 can re fried beans

2 cups ( or so ) Salsa dip

1 block of cream cheese

grated cheddar cheese ( enough to cover the size of your pie dish )

tortilla chips

Spread cream cheese in a microwavable bowl

Spread beans, then salsa

Top with cheddar cheese.

Melt in microwave or oven

Serve and enjoy!



Sorry that's Nacho Libre, not Nacho Dip!

Testa Dura Sauce

My family on my dad's side were born in Calabria, so he is Calabrese. The word Tetsa Dura means hard headed, and the 2 words Calabria and Testa Dura go hand in hand. Not that I'm saying my family is hard headed, just don't ask them about making " white pasta sauces" they won't acknowledge it as belonging with pasta!


28 oz can of Tomatoes
Olive oil to coat bottom of pan
1 medium onion
dash salt
pinch of pepper
chopped garlic clove
dash of chili peppers
teaspoon basil
teaspoon parsley

Fry onion in oil, add tomatoes. Bring to boil and add spices.

Use on tortellini or any quick pasta. Also good for Chicken Parmigiana.

Chicken Parmigiana

This is one of my favorites, and I have a panic attack when I can't find the recipe, even tho I have made it 1000 times, I need the recipe in front of me! So now, it is in a safe place. :-)



3 whole chicken breasts ( boneless also works )

1/2 cup fine seasoned dry bread crumbs

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1 large egg

1/4 to 1/3 cup olive oil

2 cups spaghetti sauce ( canned or make your own, I'll post a sauce later )

1 garlic clove, crushed

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1 pkg ( 8 oz ) mozzarella cheese cut into 6 slices

3 cups hot cooked pasta

2 tablespoons minced parsley

1. preheat the oven to 350F. Remove and discard skin from each chicken breast: cut each breast in half. In a shallow bowl, combine bread crumbs and 1/4 cup of the Parmesan cheese. Place egg in another shallow bowl and beat thoroughly.

2. Dip a chicken piece into beaten egg, letting excess drip off, then dip chicken into bread crumb mixture, turning it to coat thoroughly. Shake to remove excess crumbs. Repeat until all chicken pieces are coated.

3. In a large skillet, heat 1/4 cup of the Olive oil over medium-high heat until hot. Add half of the chicken pieces: saute' 5 minutes on each side, turning once, until golden brown. Remove to plate. Repeat with remaining chicken, adding oil to skillet as necessary.

4. In a small bowl, combine spaghetti sauce, garlic and oregano; mix thoroughly. Pour into a 13 x 9 x 1 3/4 inch baking dish. Arrange chicken pieces bone side down over sauce mixture. Cover loosely with a sheet a aluminum foil. Bake 40 minutes.

5.Remove foil from baking dish . Top each piece of chicken with one slice of mozzarella cheese. Sprinkle with remaining 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese. Return dish to the oven and bake 10 minutes longer or until mozzarella is lightly browned and sauce is bubbly.

6. To serve: Toss hot cooked pasta with 1 tablespoon Olive oil and the minced parsley. Transfer pasta to the center of a serving platter; arrange chicken parmigiana around the pasta and serve immediately.

Makes 6 servings

Gramma's Pasta Sauce

Well I was going to start the Cook Book with the recipe that has been requested the most. But..... that recipe is one that I cannot share. I promise to make it for you whenever you ask, but... hahaha I cannot give away my secret. So, NO you can't have my Gramma's Spaghetti sauce recipe, but I will give away the Lasagna recipe :-)

1 pound ground pork,

1 pound ground beef

2 Med onions chopped

1 garlic clove chopped

3 1/2 Tbsp olive oil

3 28oz cans tomatoes

1 can tomato paste

4 tbsp parsley

1 tsp salt1 tsp basil

1 tsp oregano

1/2 tsp pepper

1 box oven ready lasagna

healthy wedge of ricotta cheese

block of mozzarella cheese

1 cup grated Parmesan cheese

saute' onion and garlic in olive oil. Add meat and brown, stir in tomatoes and spices, simmer 15 minutes.

Spread about 1 cup meat sauce in deep dish, layer noodles, meat sauce, cheese, keep layering til done. Sprinkle top with Parmesan. Cover with tinfoil and cook in 350 oven for 30 minutes. Take cover off and cook 15 more minutes. Let stand 15 minutes before cutting. ENJOY :-)