Do you need a recipe for that upcoming Christmas party? I've got several perfect recipes for you today! They're taken from my book "Super Holiday Ideas: From One Mother to Another"

Puppy Chow: Not for the dogs

1 lb. chocolate almond bark
3/4 c. peanut butter
8 c. Crispix cereal
1 c. peanuts
3 c. powdered sugar

Melt almond bark and peanut butter together in microwave. Pour over the cereal and peanuts in a large container. Mix until the cereal and peanuts are well coated. Put 1 cup of the powdered sugar in a clean grocery bag and pour in the cereal mixture. Add another cup of the powdered sugar on top. Close the top of the bag and shake. Open the bag and break apart any big clumps. Add the last cup of powdered sugar, shake and break apart again. Looks just like Puppy Chow and tastes wonderful. EVERYBODY loves this recipe…..you just can’t make enough! It makes a wonderful gift packaged in a beautiful, cellophane Christmas sack. Also this is great set out in a holiday dish during parties.

DISHPAN COOKIES:

4 eggs 1 teaspoon salt
2 teasp. vanilla 2 cups oil (I use canola)
2 cups brown sugar 2 cups white sugar
1 1/2 cups quick oats 4 cups rice krispies
1 cup coconut 1 cup chopped pecans (or nut of your choice)
4 cups flour 2 teaspoons soda

Mix eggs, oil, vanilla and sugar until well mixed.
Add flour, soda and salt a little at a time.
Stir in the rice krispies, oats, coconut and nuts. Mix well.
Drop by spoonfulls on greased cookie sheet.

Bake @ 350 degrees 10-14 minutes. I prefer cooking about 10-11 minutes. I like my cookies soft. Foods like cookies and cakes tend to continue cooking while cooling and can become too hard if overcooked. This makes around eight dozen cookies.

Earthquake Cake (makes you quake in your shoes it’s so good!)

1 c. coconut
1 c. chopped nuts
Mix together and spread in bottom of 9 x 13 inch of oblong pan.

1 box Swiss chocolate cake mix
Mix according to directions and then pour over coconut and nuts.

Beat together:
1 (8 oz.) cream cheese, softened1 stick butter
3 c. confectioners' sugar (powdered)

Mix well. Spoon over cake mix. DO NOT STIR INTO CAKE MIX. It will cook into your cake to make a filling. Bake at 350 degrees for 50 minutes. The top of the cake will not be smooth. It will crack open and be lumpy looking like an earthquake.


To Grandmother’s We Go for Dressing

I cook one baking hen on top of stove in lots of water. I debone the hen. I keep the broth for my dressing. You can use a fryer, but the baking hen broth is richer.
I use 1 package peppridge farm stuffing mix and 1/2 package of peppridge farm corn bread stuffing mix.
To that I add one pone cornbread. I add some salt, some pepper and some sage. (This can be added after adding the broth if you would like) add 4--5 eggs (or more--mixed well--the whites and yolk).
I cook 2 cups chopped celery and 1 cup chopped onion in 1 1/2 stick margarine. Simmering until..... I then add that to the dressing mix above. I pour the chicken broth over the dressing mix and mix real well. I add 1 to 1 1/2 cans of chopped water chestnuts and the deboned hen. Then bake at 350 to 400 degrees until done.

Aunt Kathy’s Potato Casserole

6 lg. potatoes
1 sm. carton sour cream
1 can cream of chicken soup
1/2 c. diced onions
1/2 stick butter
1 c. grated cheddar cheese
Salt and pepper to taste

Boil potatoes and drain. Slightly brown onion in butter. Mix drained potatoes with onion in butter and the rest of the ingredients. Bake 30 minutes on 350 degrees.

Aunt Kathy’s Corn Casserole

1 can regular corn 1 can cream corn
2 TBS flour onion
½ stick butter 1 egg
¼ cup sugar salt to taste
Pepper to taste

Mix both cans of corn in casserole dish (juice & all). Add flour. Saute diced onion (as much as you want) in butter; then put in corn. Mix egg & put into corn. Put sugar, pepper and dash of salt into corn. Bake at 350*F till crusty around the edges about 1 ¼ - 1 ½ hours. If you double this recipe use 3 eggs instead of 2.