Jambalaya

I shifted this a little from another Snow family favorite from Audrey Goodrich. She's Dave's cousin. Impressed I actually know that? Me too. You can add pepper/chili powder as much as you want to make this spicier, but what I have listed is pretty spicy to start with.

Seasoning:
2 whole bay leaves
1 tsp ground red pepper
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp white pepper
1 tsp dried thyme leaves
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp rubbed sage

Additional ingredients:
2 T butter
1/2 lb chopped ham (2 c)
3/4 lb boneless chicken breasts, cut into bite size pieces (2 c)
1 c. onions, chopped
1 c. chopped celery
1 c. chopped green peppers
1 T minced garlic
1/2 c. canned tomato sauce
1 c. peeled and chopped tomatoes (I usually use fresh ones, but diced tomatoes in a can work fine as long as you drain them)
2 1/2 c. chicken stock
1 1/2 c. uncooked rice (this recipe uses white rice. If you want to use brown, you will need to add more liquid and cook for longer.)

Combine seasoning in a small bowl and set aside.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In large skillet, melt butter over high heat. Add ham and chicken and cook until meat starts to brown. Stir in the seasoning mix and 1/2 c each of onions, celery, and bell peppers, and the garlic. Cook until vegetables start to get tender, about 5 to 8 minutes, stirring fairly constantly and scraping pan bottom as needed. Stir in the remaining 1/2 c. each of onions, celery, and bell peppers and the tomatoes. Remove from heat. Stir in the stock and rice, mixing well.

Transfer mixture into and ungreased 9 x 13 in pan. Bake uncovered until rice is tender, about 1 hour. Stir well and remove bay leaves. Let stand for 5 minutes before serving.

Pumpkin Waffles with Buttermilk syrup

Can you tell what my favorite ingredient has been lately? This is another gem from the Snow family cookbook, courtesy of Jileen Ward. I have no idea who she is, but I thank her for this delicious contribution to the Snow family collection. This is a good one for special breakfast day too.;)

Batter:
2 c. flour
2 T baking powder
2 T cinnamon
1 T sugar
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp salt
4 egg yolks (save the whites)
1 c. pumpkin puree
1 T vanilla
1 1/2c. milk
3/4 c. melted butter

Mix flour, baking powder, cinnamon, sugar, nutmeg, and salt together. Then add egg yolks, pumpkin, vanilla, milk, and melted butter. Beat 4 egg whites until stiff peaks form and fold into the batter. Cook in waffle iron.

Buttermilk syrup:
1/2 cube butter (not margarine)
1 tsp light corn syrup
1/2 c. buttermilk (or sub 1 T lemon juice plus 1/2 c. milk)
1 tsp baking soda
1 c. sugar
1 tsp vanilla

Bring butter, sugar, corn syrup, and buttermilk to a boil and remove from heat. Add baking soda and vanilla. It will bubble up quite a bit, so make sure your pan is large enough. Stir until it settles. Serve warm over pumpkin waffles.

Pumpkin Sugar Cookies

So I've always wanted to find a recipe that combined pumpkin and sugar cookies, as I love both quite dearly. It never occurred to me to figure it out on my own. So this recipe is an adaptation from my mother-in-law's super yummy sugar cookie recipe, which can also be found on this blog.

1 c. butter or margarine
4 to 6 c. flour (I usually end up using 5)
2 c. sugar
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 c. pumpkin puree
1/4 c. sour cream
1 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. I like to line my baking sheets with parchment paper, but if you want to leave them plain, that's fine. You shouldn't need cooking spray.

Cream butter and sugar, then add vanilla and eggs. Slowly add pumpkin puree and sour cream, mixing until they combine well. You will probably need to scrape the sides at least once.

In a separate bowl, combine 4 cups flour, salt, soda, baking powder, and pumpkin pie spice. Slowly add to butter mixture, scraping from the sides as needed. Add flour as needed to form a slightly sticky, mostly firm dough. Cover and refrigerate at least 30 minutes.

Roll and cut cookies as desired. This dough will behave exactly like regular sugar cookie dough. Bake 8-10 minutes. (If you pull them out of the oven just before their edges start to turn brown and leave them on the pan for a couple of minutes, they stay really soft and yummy. If you like crispy sugar cookies, this recipe is not for you.) Transfer to rack to cool completely. Frost and decorate at will!

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Frosting
1 (8 oz.) package of cream cheese
1/4 c (1/2 cube) butter
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
3 cups powdered sugar
1-2 T milk (to thin as desired)

Combine cream cheese and butter and beat on high until fluffy, about 1-2 minutes. Add vanilla and pumpkin pie spice. Mix well, scraping sides to assure everything mixes well. Gradually add powdered sugar and milk until desired consistency is reached.

*blogger was not uploading photos when I posted this. I actually have a picture that I will happily post at a later date.*