Pat Nelson's Pumpkin Cake Roll

2/3 cup canned or cooked pumpkin
3 eggs
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp giner
1/2 tsp salt
powdered sugar
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup flour
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmet
1/2 cup chopped nuts

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Beat eggs until lemon colored. Gradually add sugar. Stir in pumpkin and lemon juice. Sift flour, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and salt; add to egg-pumpkin mixture. Line a 10x15 jelly roll pan with wax paper, then grease the paper. Pour batter into pan and sprinkle with chopped nuts. Bake for 15 minutes. Sprinkle powdered sugar on kitchen towel. Turn cake onto towl and remove wax paper. Roll up cake and towel lengthwise and cool. Refrigerate or freeze.

Filling:
6 oz cream cheese
1 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup soft margarine
1/2 tsp vanilla

1. Whip cream cheese and margarine. Beat in 1 cup powdered sugar and vanilla. Unroll cake and spread with filling. Roll up again. Cut in half, wrap each half in plastic wrap and refrigerate or freeze.

Gloria Nelson's Pumpkin Pie Filling

2 cups milk
1 1/2 cup pumpkin
1/3 cup cornstarch
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 cup brown sugar
3 eggs
1/2 tsp ginger
salt
1 tsp vanilla

1. Scald milk with pumpkin and sugar in it. Beat eggs and add other ingredients. Add egg mixture to the pumpkin and stir well. Cool before adding filling to cooked pie shells. Makes 2 small pies. A double recipe will make 3 large pies. Refrigerate.

Lion House Wassail

2 1/4 cups sugar
2 cinnamon sticks
10 cloves
4 cups orange juice
2 quarts apple cider or juice
4 cups water
8 allspice berries
1 piece ginger
2 cups lemon juice

1. Combine sugar and water. Boil for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and add cinnamon sticks, allspice berries, cloves, and ginger. Cover and let stand in warm place for 1 hour. Strain.

2. Just before serving, add juices and cider and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and serve. Makes 36, 1/2 cup servings.

Chocolate and Caramel Dipped Pretzels

We love these pretzels- When I found this recipe on one of my favorite blogs with such great detail on the techniques for great looking pretzels I wanted to post it and share it with others. "We all know it's all about the presentation" and my pretzels before were lacking. So here's to better looking pretzel rods and many thanks to My Kitchen Cafe for the tutorial!

Chocolate and Caramel Dipped Pretzel Rods
adapted from A. Marilyn

Makes about 40 dipped pretzel rods

1 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup light corn syrup
14 0z. can sweetened condensed milk
dash of salt

pretzel rods

chocolate for dipping and drizzling (I used about 10 ounces of semi-sweet to cover the pretzels and for additional drizzling and 6 ounces of white chocolate for drizzling)

Mix ingredients in order over medium heat. Come to a rolling boil to soft ball stage (use a candy thermometer or test in a bowl of cold water - a drop of caramel in the cold water should roll into a soft ball in your fingers). Take caramel off heat and use a spatula to smooth caramel over pretzels. I laid the pretzels on parchment paper after coating them in caramel and after they had set for about 10 minutes, I rolled each one along the parchment paper to eliminate the pool of caramel on the side they were laying on.

After caramel has set on pretzels (about 20 minutes), melt desired chocolate in microwave or in a bowl over simmering water. I poured my melted chocolate into a tall glass and dipped each caramel pretzel into the glass to coat the caramel pretzel in chocolate. Again, lay the pretzel to dry on a tray covered in parchment paper. I put them in the refrigerator to set fully before drizzling with white chocolate and more semi-sweet chocolate. For drizzling, use remaining melted chocolate and pour into a ziploc bag. Cut a tiny tip off one corner and drizzle across pretzels. The lady who gave my aunt this recipe had a great idea for Christmas and drizzled the chocolate and caramel covered pretzels in red and green colored chocolate (I believe she used the Wilton candy pieces for the red and green). They were adorable (if you can call pretzels adorable).

Don't worry (like I did) that there is a flat side to the pretzel or that the chocolate may pool underneath the pretzel. Once the chocolate has set, you can easily shave off any unwanted pooling or excess chocolate for a prettier pretzel using a sharp knife.

White Chocolate Popcorn

2 bags microwave popcorn (butter kind)
12 - 16 oz. white chocolate chips, melted
3/4 C M & M’s
3/4 C peanuts (or more M & M’s)
1 1/2 C stick pretzels
1 C mini marshmallows (I wish I had used more)
6 oz. dark or milk chocolate

1. Pop popcorn, remove unpopped kernels. Put popcorn in a big bowl. In separate bowl, mix together melted white chocolate, M & M’s, peanuts and pretzels until coated with white chocolate. Pour over popcorn and mix to coat popcorn with white chocolate. Spread onto two jelly roll pans or cookie sheets.

2. Drizzle with melted dark or milk chocolate. Refrigerate for 10 minutes or longer until chocolate has hardened and popcorn breaks apart in bit pieces. Munch away!

Thanks to My homebased Mom for this recipe!

Cinnamon toast white chocolate pretzels

Cinnamon Toast White Chocolate Pretzels

1 bag (18 oz.) small pretzels

2/3 C oil

1/3 C granulated sugar

1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon

Extra cinnamon sugar for sprinkling

White chocolate for drizzling

In microwave safe bowl pour in pretzels. Mix together oil, sugar and cinnamon in small bowl. Pour over pretzels and mix well, making sure to coat pretzels. Place in microwave for 2 minutes on high. Check after first minute as they might burn. Stir the mixture and continue cooking. Microwave for 1 minute more.

When out of the microwave, stir again to make sure they are all coated. Spread the pretzels onto two cookie sheets. You want a single layer of pretzels. While they are still hot sprinkle additional cinnamon sugar over the top. Melt white chocolate and drizzle over the top of pretzels. Once white chocolate hardens put into air tight containers.

Thanksgiving Turkey

Ingredients

* 1 (14 to 16 pound) frozen young turkey

For the brine:

* 1 cup kosher salt
* 1/2 cup light brown sugar
* 1 gallon vegetable stock
* 1 tablespoon black peppercorns
* 1/2 tablespoon allspice berries
* 1/2 tablespoon candied ginger
* 1 gallon iced water

For the aromatics:

* 1 red apple, sliced
* 1/2 onion, sliced
* 1 cinnamon stick
* 1 cup water
* 4 sprigs rosemary
* 6 leaves sage
* Canola oil

Directions

Combine all brine ingredients, except ice water, in a stockpot, and bring to a boil. Stir to dissolve solids, then remove from heat, cool to room temperature, and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled.

Early on the day of cooking, (or late the night before) combine the brine and ice water in a clean 5-gallon bucket. Place thawed turkey breast side down in brine, cover, and refrigerate or set in cool area (like a basement) for 6 hours. Turn turkey over once, half way through brining.

A few minutes before roasting, heat oven to 500 degrees. Combine the apple, onion, cinnamon stick, and cup of water in a microwave safe dish and microwave on high for 5 minutes.

Remove bird from brine and rinse inside and out with cold water. Discard brine.

Place bird on roasting rack inside wide, low pan and pat dry with paper towels. Add steeped aromatics to cavity along with rosemary and sage. Tuck back wings and coat whole bird liberally with canola (or other neutral) oil.

Roast on lowest level of the oven at 500 degrees F. for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and cover breast with double layer of aluminum foil, insert probe thermometer into thickest part of the breast and return to oven, reducing temperature to 350 degrees F. Set thermometer alarm (if available) to 161 degrees. A 14 to 16 pound bird should require a total of 2 to 2 1/2 hours of roasting. Let turkey rest, loosely covered for 15 minutes before carving.

**http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/good-eats-roast-turkey-recipe/index.html

Mummy Calzone

2 loaves (1 pound each) frozen bread dough, thawed
1-1/2 cups (6 ounces) shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup pizza sauce
50 slices pepperoni
1/2 cup chopped green pepper
1 egg, beaten
1 pitted ripe olive, sliced and cut in half

1. Roll out each piece of dough into a rounded triangle shape, about 14-in. high x 11-in. wide at the base of the triangle. Place each on a parchment-lined baking sheet with the tip of the triangle toward you. Lightly score 4-in.-wide rectangle in the center of the triangle 2 in. from the top and bottom. On each long side, cut 1-in.-wide strips at an angle up to the score line, leaving a triangle in the top center of the wide end for the head.

2. Inside the scored rectangle in the center, layer cheese, pizza sauce, pepperoni and green pepper. Shape the top center triangle into a head. Starting at the head, fold alternating strips of dough at an angle across filling stopping at the last strip on each side. Fold the bottom dough tip up over the filling, then fold the remaining two strips over the top; press down firmly.

3. Brush dough with egg. Cover and let rise for 15 minutes. For eyes, press 1 olive slice into each head. Discard or save the remaining slices for another use. Bake at 350 ° for 25-28 minutes or until golden brown. Let stand for 5 minutes before slicing. Yield: 8-10 servings.

Amish Carmel corn

This is the best carmel corn recipe.

• 7 quarts plain popped popcorn
• 2 cups dry roasted peanuts (optional)
• 2 cups brown sugar
• 1/2 cup light corn syrup
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup margarine
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Place the popped popcorn into two shallow greased baking pans. You may use roasting pans, jelly roll pans, or disposable roasting pans. Add the peanuts to the popped corn if using. Set aside.

2. Preheat the oven to 250 degrees F (120 degrees C). Combine the brown sugar, corn syrup, margarine and salt in a saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring enough to blend. Once the mixture begins to boil, boil for 5 minutes while stirring constantly. Remove from the heat, and stir in the baking soda and vanilla. The mixture will be light and foamy. Immediately pour over the popcorn in the pans, and stir to coat. At this point is you want a dryer carmel corn put in the oven and bake for 1 hour, removing the pans, and giving them each a good stir every 15 minutes.

3. Line the counter top with waxed paper. Dump the corn out onto the waxed paper and separate the pieces. Allow to cool completely, then store in airtight containers or resealable bags.