Swiss Chicken Cutlets

SWISS CHICKEN CUTLETS by Normandie Hays

5 chicken breasts, skinless, boneless
Or use chicken tenders
2 beaten, eggs
1 -2 cups of fine dry bread crumbs
¼ cup cooking or olive oil
3 Tbl. butter or margarine
¼ cup flour
½ tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. white pepper
2 ½ cups milk
1 cup grated Swiss cheese ( jack, or mozzarella works too)
Avocado slices & tomato wedges for garnish (optional)

Place each breast between wax paper, membrane side down, and pound to ¼ in thick. Season with salt or seasoned salt and dip into eggs and then bread crumbs. In skillet heat 2 Tbl. oil. Brown chicken cutlets, a few at a time, two minutes on each side. Add more oil as needed.

In a saucepan, melt butter; blend in flour, ½ tsp. salt and the pepper. Gradually add milk. Cook and stir until bubbly and thickened. Pour half of the white sauce in bottom of 13 X 9 X 2 inch dish. Arrange cutlets on top then cover with the remaining sauce. Cover and bake in 350 degree oven for about 30 minutes (until bubbly). Or cover and chill overnight and bake for 50 minutes. Remove from oven, sprinkle with cheese (garnish with avocado slices and tomato wedges if desired). Bake 2 minutes more until cheese melts.

You can add cooked red potatoes to the sauce before baking. First cut the raw potatoes in half or fourths, then place them in a covered dish in the microwave oven and cook until almost tender. Arrange the potatoes with the chicken cutlets, top with the sauce and bake all together for allotted time.

Almond cookies

This is mom's traditional Christmas cookie.

Cream together:
2 c. butter (softened)
2 C. sugar
1 tsp. almond flavoring

Mix together in a separate bowl:
4 c. flour
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. clove
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt

Add the dry mixture to the creamy ingredients, also alternating adding 1/2 c. sour cream. (Add a spoonful of sour cream, a scoop of the dry ingredients, and so on.)

Add 1/2 c. almonds (If you don't like nuts, like me, you can omit the almonds. If you want a little crunch though, just add some heath candy, it's really yummy)

Refrigerate batter until it is firm enough to mold. Then roll it onto wax paper in 2inch diameter rounds. Refrigerate until hard. Cut into 1/4 inch slices and place on greased cookie sheet. Bake at 375 degrees for 7-9 minutes, until lightly golden on top.

Layered Mocha Cheesecake

This is one of Jordan and Cindy's favorites

Crust:
1 1/2 cups cream filled chocolate sandwich cookie crumbs
1/4 cup butter

Filling:
2 TB plus 1 1/2 tsp instant coffee granules
1 TB boiling water
1/4 tsp cinnamon
4 pkgs (8 oz.) cream cheese, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/4 cup flour
4 eggs lightly beaten
2 tsp vanilla
2 cups (12 oz) of semi-sweet chocolate chips

Glaze:
1/2 c semisweet chocolate chips
3 TB butter
Chocolate covered coffee beans (optional)

Combine cookie crumbs and butter and press into the bottom of a greased 9 inch springform pan. In a small bowl combine coffee granules, water and cinnamon; set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese, sugar, and flour until smooth. Add eggs; beat on low speed just until combined. Stir in vanilla. Divide batter in half. Stir melted chocolate into one portion; pour over crust. Stir coffee mixture into the remaining batter; spoon over chocolate layer.

Place pan on a double thickness of heavy-duty foil (about 16 in square). Securely wrap foil around pan. Place in a large baking pan; add 1 in of hot water to larger pan.
Bake at 325 degrees for 45-50 minutes or until center is just set and top appears dull. Remove springform pan from water bath. Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Carefully run a knife around edge of pan to loosen; cool 1 hour longer. Refrigerate overnight.

In a microwave safe bowl, melt chocolate chips and butter; stir until smooth. Spread over cheesecake. Remove sides of pan. Garnish with coffee beans if desired. Yield: 16 servings.

Pumpkin Pie Cake

This recipe is a new tradition in the making for us. Both Justin and I have English heritage. On Christmas Eve, English families make a traditional English pudding with thirteen ingredients representing Christ and the twelve apostles. Everyone in the house takes a turn and stirs the batter from east to west, signifying the journey of the wise men seeking the baby Jesus, and makes a wish. I wasn't fond of the traditional Christmas pudding recipe, so I figured this would work - just count each of the eggs as an individual ingredient and you have thirteen ingredients. :) It's yummy with vanilla ice cream.

1 (29 ounce) can pumpkin puree
1 (12 fluid ounce) can evaporated milk
3 eggs
1 cup white sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1 (18.25 ounce) package yellow cake mix
1 cup butter
1 cup chopped walnuts


DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line a 9 x 13 inch pan with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, combine pumpkin, evaporated milk, eggs, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and cloves. Mix until smooth and pour into a 9x13 inch pan.
Sprinkle dry cake mix over pumpkin mixture, then sprinkle chopped nuts and pat down gently. Melt butter or margarine and drizzle over cake.
Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for approximately 45 to 60 minutes. (Be sure to check the cake after 45 minutes because oven temperatures vary.)
After cake cools, turn it upside down so the top of the cake will be the crust. Remove the parchment paper. Top with dessert topping (optional) before serving.

Bacon Wrapped Chicken

4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
1/2 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, sliced
4 slices bacon
1 teaspoon chopped fresh chives
1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of chicken soup
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 pinch salt


Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
Pound the chicken breasts until flat. Put a slice of cream cheese and 1 teaspoon chopped chives in the middle of each breast and roll up. Wrap each rolled breast with 1 slice of bacon and secure with toothpicks. Place in a 9x13 inch baking dish.

In a medium bowl, combine condensed soup, mayonnaise, milk, lemon juice, pepper and salt. Mix until smooth, then pour over chicken.

Bake in the preheated oven for 1 hour, or until no longer pink and juices run clear.

Notes: This was delicious! If you prefer your bacon on the crispier side, cook it before wrapping the chicken. I did not have chives so I used green onions. I did not have cream of chicken soup, so I used cream of mushroom. These substitutions were seemless and our dinner was very yummy.

Bûche de Noël/Yule Log Cake

This cake comes from the tradition of the yule log, which people burned in the hearth all night for Christmas Eve or during winter solstice during pagan times. It was thought to ward off lightning and bring good luck. In more modern times when fewer people had wood burning stoves or fireplaces, the French turned the yule log into a dessert called Bûche de Noël (Christmas Log) and crafted it to look like a yule log. You can play with any flavor of sponge cake and filling you like. You'll want the frosting to be brown so it looks like bark.

Chocolate Sponge Cake

1/2 C flour

1 tsp baking powder

4 egg yolks

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/3 c granulated sugar

4 egg whites

1/2 c granulated sugar

sifted powder sugar

Grease and flour a 15x10x1-inch jelly roll pan.

Stir together flour and baking powder; set aside.

In a medium mixing bowl beat egg yolks and vanilla with an electric mixer on high speed for 5 minutes or until thick and lemon colored. Gradually add the 1/3 c granulated sugar, beating on high speed till sugar is almost dissolved.

Thoroughly wash beaters. In another bowl beat egg whites on medium speed till soft peaks form (tips curl). Gradually add the 1/2 c granulated sugar, beating till stiff peaks form (tips stand straight). Fold egg yolk mixture into beaten eggs whites. Sprinkle dry mixture over egg mixture; fold in gently just till combined. Spread batter evenly in the prepared plan.

Bake in a 375 degree oven for 12 to 15 minutes or till cake springs back when lightly touched. Immediately loosen edges of cake from pan and turn cake out onto a towel sprinkled with powdered sugar. Roll up towel and cake, jelly-roll style. Cool on a wire rack.

Filling:

1/2 pint whipping cream

4 oz cream cheese

granulated sugar

1 tsp vanilla

You can use whatever kind of filling you like. I used whipped cream mixed and cream cheese with a dash of vanilla and sugared to taste. Another idea is to add a teaspoon of dissolved coffee granules to give it a mocha flavor. You can use fruit jam or jelly.

Chocolate Frosting:

3 cups powdered sugar, divided

2/3 cocoa

1/2 c (1 stick) butter or margarine, softened

5 to 6 TB milk, divided

1 tsp vanilla

When cool , unroll cake and remove towel. Spread cake with filling to within 1 inch of edges. Roll up cake. Cut ends off at a 45 degree angle to make look like a log. You can make two cakes and add a branch or use one of the cut off angles from the end to create a knot on the log. Frost with chocolate frosting. Drag a fork through frosting to make it look like bark.

Optional details:

Dust with powdered sugar for snow

Make mushrooms with marzipan or with meringue

Roll out green gum drops to make holly leaves and use red gum drop for holly berries

Get creative!

Keep refrigerated.

Pumpkin Soup

INGREDIENTS
6 cups chicken stock
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
4 cups pumpkin puree
1 teaspoon chopped fresh parsley
1 cup chopped onion
1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
5 whole black peppercorns
DIRECTIONS
Heat stock, salt, pumpkin, onion, thyme, garlic, and peppercorns. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, and simmer for 30 minutes uncovered.
Puree the soup in small batches (1 cup at a time) using a food processor or blender.
Return to pan, and bring to a boil again. Reduce heat to low, and simmer for another 30 minutes, uncovered. Stir in heavy cream. Pour into soup bowls and garnish with fresh parsley.