Linda’s Recipes – Linda's Place

Crispy Crackers

Linda A. Wingfield

I was browsing YouTube for anything interesting, and saw a guy making crackers. That was singular enough for me, so I watched and learned. He gave a basic recipe and said to, "Feel free to alter it any way you want," and to, "Experiment to come up with what works best for you." So I did. This is the recipe I put together, with the ingredients I had on hand. I'll tell you the same thing. Experiment! I will...the next time...and the next time...and the next time...ad infinitum...because the first batch (while not perfect) was great enough that I fell in love with the process and the results.

Print Recipe

Prep Time 30

Cook Time 2

Cooling Time 2

Total Time 4 30

Course Snack

Cuisine American

Equipment

Mixer with Dough Hook
Rolling Pin
At Least 3 Pizza Pans or Cookie Sheets
Oil Spritzer
Blender or Coffee Grinder
Mixing Bowls
Measuring Cups
Wooden Spoons
Whisk
Timer

Ingredients

2 cups Oatmeal or Cornmeal (any type)
4 cups All Purpose Flour (or other flour blend of your choice)
2 tbsp Herbs (OPTIONAL) (ground or powdered)
4 tsp Salt (+ some to sprinkle on after crackers are half-baked)
3 tsp Honey (or sugar)
2 tbsp Cooking Oil (+ some to spray on after crackers are half-baked)
2 cups Warm or Hot Water

Instructions

Preheat Oven to 425 degrees F.
Grind the oatmeal or cornmeal into flour, using a blender or coffee grinder. NOTE: If you use ready-made flour of either type, use slightly less than the amount shown for either the oatmeal or cornmeal.
Mix the dry ingredients together in a bowl you'd usually use for making bread. If you use sugar, include that here.
In a smaller bowl, mix the wet ingredients together, using a whisk.
Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, using a wooden spoon, until all is incorporated.
In the bowl, pull the dough together, then knead it by hand for a few minutes, OR use your dough hook with your mixer. After a few minutes it should stick together well, be slightly elastic, and just a tad sticky, yet smooth. If it needs a little flour, sprinkle a tiny bit in and knead again. If it needs a little more moisture, sprinkle a tiny bit in and knead again (either by hand or machine).
When satisfied with a "Play Doh" type of feel to the dough, turn it out onto a floured board and knead by hand for at least another few minutes.
Divide the dough into quarters or smaller (depending on the size of your baking sheets). Be sure your kneading board is still floured.
Using a rolling pin, roll out one piece of dough as thin as you can get it. THINK "Wheat Thins." Then transfer the dough to the FIRST baking sheet. One good way to do that is to lightly flour the top of the dough, fold it in half (don't press the crease), then fold it in half again (again, don't press the crease). Lift the dough onto the baking sheet and unfold it twice, and arrange it to your satisfaction. You can stretch it into place with your hands, as necessary, after it's basically placed in the pan.
BEFORE placing the crackers into the preheated oven, slice the dough into 1" - 1-1/2" strips, then across the strips to create squares. Do it BEFORE baking, because that will be next to impossible to do AFTER baking.
Go ahead and get the first baking sheet full of cut crackers into the oven, and set a timer for 7 minutes (this can be adjusted with the next pan, after you see how it works out). At 7 minutes, your crackers should be starting to solidify, but not yet turning brown.
Start rolling out and preparing the next sheet of crackers while the first sheet goes through the first 7 minutes of baking.
Take out the first sheet, and spray the surface of the half-baked crackers lightly with oil (or brush on some oil), then lightly sprinkle on some salt (any type you generally use).
Now you begin juggling...
JUGGLE...
TOP RACK IN THE OVEN...Place newly-prepared, raw crackers.
BOTTOM RACK IN THE OVEN...Place oiled-and-salted, half-baked crackers.
Bake for 7 (or adjusted) minutes, while getting THE NEXT BAKING SHEET OF CRACKERS READY.
Just before the timer sounds, remove the pan-cooled crackers onto a flat surface covered with a towel, parchment paper, waxed paper, or foil, so you can re-use the pan for JUGGLING.
Remove BOTH pans from the oven.
Set the now FULLY-BAKED (oiled-and-salted) crackers aside to cool on the pan for a bit.
Oil and salt the HALF-BAKED crackers.
Keep repeating the JUGGLE instructions for baking, oiling and salting, pan-cooling, and secondary-cooling, until all crackers have been baked, oiled, and salted.
NOTE: You'll also want to probably move the prior cooled crackers to a bowl, thus making room for the next sheet pan-cooled crackers.
Just think back to the ever-so-famous Chocolate Factory scene from "I Love Lucy." (GRIN)
https://youtu.be/_y0nsN4px10

Notes

I wouldn't suggest storing the crackers in a plastic bag until they are THOROUGHLY AIR-COOLED.

Minish Family Holiday Stuffing

Recipe by Linda A. Wingfield

Minish Family Holiday Stuffing

Linda A. Wingfield

I don't know where my mom got the recipe for this stuffing. Actually, I don't think there's ever been a definitive recipe written out for it before. I may have done one in the past, but I no longer have it. Mom never used one. She always just added any appropriate ingredients we had on hand, and the recipe changed over the years. It still does. In order to produce this recipe, I made a foil roasting pan full of the stuffing, the way I make it now. It's in the freezer (six days before Thanksgiving 2018), ready to pop into the oven when the turkey and ham are about halfway done.

5 from 1 vote

Print Recipe

Prep Time 1

Cook Time 1 30

Total Time 2 30

Course Main Course

Cuisine American

Servings 48 servings

Ingredients

Begin by chopping all of the following vegetables and setting them aside. The measurements are what you should end up with after the chopping is done. Chop finely, or leave somewhat chunky--whatever you and your family prefer. The only one I chop finely is the garlic.

2 cups Chopped Carrots
2 cups Chopped Celery
2 cups Chopped Onion (I usually use Vidalia onions.)
1 cup Chopped Bell Pepper (any color)
2 cups Chopped Water Chestnuts (I chopped up 2 cans of sliced water chestnuts.)
4 large cloves Fresh Garlic (finely-chopped, or minced)

Melt the butter (shown below), and sauté all of the chopped vegies (from above) and the other ingredients (shown below), in a very large saucepan or kettle. Cook only until the onions start to turn "clear." Be sure to stir most of the time, and don't let anything burn.

2 sticks Butter (or margarine...I would NOT use oil.)
2 tsp Salt (I use RealSalt, from Redmond Trading Company.)
1 tsp Ground Pepper
1 tblsp Poultry Seasoning
3 cups Sunflower Kernels (Unsalted) (If you use salted kernels, leave out the salt ingredient above.) (Or substitute Chopped Walnuts or Pecans, or...)

Once all of the sautéed mixture is ready, dump in the canned mushroom soup (shown below) and the water/chicken broth (shown below). Stir it well, and let cook for another very short time, just to make sure it's completely incorporated.

3 cans Mushroom Soup (Any brand...don't use low-fat, healthy choice, etc., unless you really must.)
4 cups Water or Chicken Broth (Unsalted) (Again, if you use salted broth, leave out the added salt, above.)

Pour the croutons (shown below) into a VERY large bowl, or straight into a large roasting pan...whatever works better for you.

3 14-oz bags Croutons (I used Country Hearth Herb Seasonsed Croutons. I tasted them first, before coming up with the seasonings used earlier in the recipe. If you use unseasoned croutons, you may want to double the seasonsings shown above.)

Instructions

It's very important that you do NOT completely fill your bowl or pan with the croutons, because if you do, there won't be enough room to mix in the (hot) wet ingredients! If you don't have a bowl big enough to mix it all at once, use half the croutons and half the wet mixture, put them into your baking dish, then do the other half the same way.
The mixing is easy. Just dump all the wet stuff into the dry stuff. Since it still will be hot, you need a very heavy duty spoon or mixing paddle. The croutons will absorb all the moisture, and everything will start gluing itself together (like a meatloaf...sort of...).
If you didn't mix it in the roasting pan, dump the finished mixture into the roasting pan, and PRESS IT DOWN fairly firmly.
You can either do this on the day of the feast and bake it immediately, or (as I've just done, five days before Thanksgiving) you can cover the filled roasting pan (preferably with foil, so that you can just pop the entire package into the oven when it's time), then put the filled pan into the freezer to keep until you are ready for it to be baked. If it's just a day ahead, don't bother with the freezer. Just put it into the fridge.
If you freeze it, don't thaw it before baking it. Bake it about 30-45 minutes with the foil covering it...until it is thoroughly thawed. Then remove the foil and bake it another 30-45 minutes until it is all hot and the top gets golden brown. Since all the ingredients were cooked ahead of time, that's all that's necessary...just make sure it's hot, fragrant, yummy, and ready to serve with the turkey, ham, or whatever other meat you are serving for your feast!

Keyword Christmas, Feast, Holiday, Thanksgiving

Nutrition Facts
(Using Water instead of Chicken Broth)

48 Servings

Amount Per Serving*

Calories 255.0
Total Fat 14.8g
…..Saturated Fat 4.7g
…..Polyunsaturated Fat 2.1g
…..Monounsaturated Fat 4.0g
Cholesterol 14.0mg
Sodium 767.2mg
Potassium 120.6mg
Total Carbohydrate 25.5g
…..Dietary Fiber 3.4g
…..Sugars 2.8g
Protein 5.2g

Vitamin A 15.5%
Vitamin C 1.2%
Calcium 3.7%
Iron 7.3%

*Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.

Grandma Anderson’s Persimmon Cookies

You might want to check out this great article about persimmons, before you begin this recipe, if you’ve never made anything with persimmons before.

Grandma Anderson's Persimmon Cookies

Linda A. Wingfield

This recipe was handed down from my husband David's Grandmother. I don't always follow it exactly, depending on what I have on hand, but the cookies are delectable, no matter what! We try to have someone from California send us persimmons every December. This year (2018), just before Thanksgiving, I'm planning to use applesauce instead of the persimmon pulp. It works just as well. The cookies will have a slightly different (still good) taste, and the texture will be almost identical. Hopefully we'll have persimmons in December, so David will get his annual REAL persimmon cookie fix. 🙂

5 from 1 vote

Print Recipe

Prep Time 45

Cook Time 4

Refrigerate: 2

Total Time 4 45

Course Dessert, Snack

Cuisine American

Servings 72 cookies

Ingredients

(1) Mix these two ingredients together and set aside.

1 cup persimmon pulp (use HACHIYA persimmons--about 1 persimmon to 1 cup of pulp)
1 tsp baking soda

(2) Beat these two ingredients together well, in a large bowl.

1 large egg (beaten)
1/2 cup butter or margarine (melted)

(3) Add the persimmon pulp/baking soda mixture into the egg/butter mixture, in the large bowl, and beat well. Set this mixture aside.

(4) Mix the remaining ingredients together, making sure to get all of the nuts, raisins, and chocolate chips dredged fully with the sugar/flour/spices mixture.

1 cup chopped nuts (your choice, or use sunflower seeds, etc.)
1 cup raisins (any type)
1 large bag chocolate chips (any type)
1 cup granulated sugar (or use a low-calorie baking combo, or substitute 1/2-cup honey)
2 cups unbleached flour (or white whole wheat flour)
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp cinnamon

(5) Once the "goodies" are all combined well with the dry ingredients, dump them into the wet (first four) ingredients that have been already combined and set aside. Mix everything together very well.

(6) Refrigerate the entire mixture (at least two hours, or overnight) before baking the cookies.

(7) Drop cookie dough from a tsp, onto cookie sheets. Bake at 350 degrees F, for 10-15 minutes. Do not overbake! Cookies should be slightly browned but still a bit tacky, when you remove them from the oven, and moist, but not mushy, when cooled.

(8) These are great, eaten just as they are, but if you like icing, make a quick powdered sugar glaze (powdered sugar with just enough water to mix in to make a very thick paste). Add about 1/2-tsp of glaze, dotted onto the center of each HOT cookie, and let it melt and run down (be sure you have the cookies on some foil or waxed paper when you do this). As the cookies cool, the glaze will harden on top. NOTE: If you do add the glaze, a small amount of calories, etc., will be added to each cookie. 😉

Keyword Chocolate Chips, Christmas, Fruit, Nuts, Persimmons, Raisins, Spices, Thanksgiving

Nutrition Facts
(using the ingredients as shown, with no powdered sugar glaze)

72 Cookies

Amount Per Cookie*

Calories 48.5g
…..Total Fat 2.5g
…..Saturated Fat 1.0g
…..Polyunsaturated Fat 0.8g
…..Monounsaturated Fat 0.5
Cholesterol 6.0mg
Sodium 27.7mg
Potassium 27mg
Total Carbohydrate 6.1g
…..Dietary Fiber 0.3g
…..Sugars 2.8g
Protein 0.7g

Vitamin A 1.9%
Vitamin C 0.3%
Calcium 1.0%
Iron 1.0%

*Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.

Light Nut Bread

Recipe by Linda A. Wingfield

Light Nut Bread

Linda A. Wingfield

I've been loving this nut bread recipe since I was just tiny. I believe it was a holiday staple in my mom's family, long before she married my dad. I was pretty sure the recipe had come from the original Betty Crocker Cookbook, but I've been trying to find an identical recipe online, and it doesn't seem to exist. So...just throw this easy mix together, bake, enjoy, and think about how many generations have done the same, since at least the 1930s.

5 from 2 votes

Print Recipe

Prep Time 30

Cook Time 1

Minnimum Cooling Time 2

Total Time 3 30

Course Appetizer, Breakfast, Dessert, Side Dish, Snack

Cuisine American

Servings 72 Slices

Ingredients

4 eggs
4 cups sour milk (or buttermilk)
1 tsp salt
4 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
4 cups brown sugar
8 cups flour
2 cups broken nutmeats (your preference)

Instructions

Beat eggs and sugar. Add milk and beat thoroughly. Add sifted dry ingredients and nuts, stirring only until all is moistened. This is a quick bread (like muffins), so you should NOT beat or stir thoroughly. Bake in three waxed-paper-lined, bread pans or any type of pans you like--fill each pan about halfway, at 350 degrees F. for 1 hour. Turn loaves out onto cooling racks, and wrap after they are cool. Store in refrigerator, or freeze. Texture and flavor improve after 18 hours.

Notes

If you'd rather not use nuts, try pumpkin seeds or sunflower seeds, or maybe something like Grape Nuts Cereal. You can also easily transform this into just about any type of fruit or fruit-nut bread, by changing half of the milk to something like smashed bananas, pumpkin pulp or applesauce. Because the recipe uses both baking powder and baking soda, you don't have to change anything about that.

If you noticed that there is no shortening in this recipe, don't worry. It's not supposed to be there. You can experiment by adding a tablespoon or two of melted butter or changing out some of the sour milk/buttermilk for either sour cream or Greek yogurt. Keep in mind that the reason no oil or butter is added, is because the recipe originally called for old-fashioned whole milk with the cream still in it, or rich buttermilk that resulted from the churning of butter. Experimenting with other things will change the texture of the bread, which can be really interesting and lovely, or...disastrous.

This quick bread (made without changing the recipe) is excellent for making fun nut bread sandwiches, using butter, honey butter, lemon butter, cream cheese (plain or flavored), jelly, or even peanut butter. Serving some sliced fruit on the side is also delicious. Experiment, and have fun--yum!

Keyword Christmas, Nuts, Thanksgiving

Nutrition Facts
(using whole milk–soured–and walnuts as the nutmeats of preference)

72 Slices

Amount Per Serving*

Calories 189.0
Total Fat 8.8g
…..Saturated Fat 1.1g
…..Polyunsaturated Fat 0.1g
…..Monounsaturated Fat 0.1g
Cholesterol 12.3mg
Sodium 131.5mg
Potassium 61.1mg
Total Carbohydrate 29.4g
…..Dietary Fiber 1.3g
…..Sugars 12.9g
Protein 4.0g

Vitamin A 0.7%
Vitamin C 0.2%
Calcium 8.1%
Iron 6.9%

*Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.

Bishop’s Bread

Recipe by Linda A. Wingfield

BISHOP'S BREAD

Linda A. Wingfield

This is a favorite recipe for both Thanksgiving and Christmas, that goes way back into the late 60s in our family. I believe my mom found it in a McCall's magazine, but I haven't been able to corroborate that. I do know that there are similar recipes on the internet, if you Google the name, but so far I haven't found any exactly the same. THIS IS NOT FRUITCAKE.

5 from 2 votes

Print Recipe

Prep Time 30

Cook Time 1 30

Minimum Cooling Time 2

Total Time 4

Course Dessert, Side Dish, Snack

Cuisine Mediterranean

Servings 24 slices

Ingredients

1-1/2 cups sifted flour
1-1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2/3 cup glazed chocolate chips
2 cups chopped walnuts (or other nuts of your choice)
1 cup halved maraschino cherries (or other candied fruit)
1 cup finely-snipped dates
3 eggs
1 cup sugar

Instructions

Heat oven to 325 degrees F. Grease 10"x5"x3" loaf pan (or 3-4 "tiny" loaf pans) well, then line bottom with waxed paper.
Sift flour into bowl, then add baking powder and salt.
Stir chips, nuts, dates, and cherries into flour mixture, coating all pieces well.
Beat eggs in LARGE bowl. Gradually beat sugar into eggs.
Fold flour mixture into egg mixture. Pour entire mixture into prepared loaf pan(s). If you use the "tiny" pans, each one should be filled about 1/2 - 2/3 of the way full.
Bake for 1-1/2 hours, or until done (a toothpick inserted into the center should come out ALMOST clean...don't overdo it). Turn loaf (loaves) out of pan(s) onto cooling rack, and cool thoroughly. Wrap well, and store. The Bishop's Bread gains flavor after a day or two of refrigerated storage. It also freezes well.

Notes

You can get really creative with this recipe. If you don't like semi-sweet chocolate morsels, try dark ones or milk chocolate ones. Or use things like butterscotch chips or white chocolate chips. If you don't want to use nuts, try things like pumpkin or sunflower seeds (to get a bit of a crunch). For the cherries and dates, try any type of candied or dried fruits.

The main thing you are shooting for is a mix of chocolate and sweet, candied fruit, with none of the liquored-up taste of fruitcake. The texture of the "bread" will also be completely different than a fruitcake texture...more like fruity, nutty brownies.

Have fun, and enjoy!

Keyword Chocolate Chips, Christmas, Maraschino Cherries, NOT Fruitcake, Thanksgiving

Nutrition Facts
(using the ingredients in the recipe, without getting creative, using the full-size bread pan)

24 Servings

Amount Per Serving*

Calories 191.3
Total Fat 9.1 g
…..Saturated Fat 2.0 g
…..Polyunsaturated Fat 4.8 g
…..Monounsaturated Fat 0.9 g
Cholesterol 23.1 mg
Sodium 63.7 mg
Potassium 58.3 mg
Total Carbohydrate 26.5 g
…..Dietary Fiber 1.6 g
…..Sugars 18.6 g
Protein 3.0 g

Vitamin A 0.8 %
Vitamin C 0.0 %
Calcium 2.4 %
Iron 2.6 %

*Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.