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