Susan's Pecan Cookies

These are some of my very favorite cookies my mom used to make.  Recently my Aunt Sally made some and I asked her for the recipe because I am not sure where it is at my parent's house.


Ingredients:

1 cup butter or marg 2 cups flour

1 cup brown sugar packed 1 to 2 cups pecans

1 egg separated

1 ½ Tab Cinnamon chopped

1 ½ Tea spoon vanilla


Directions:

Preheat oven to 325

Melt Butter and combine with sugar, cinnamon, vanilla and egg yolk (add last.) Stir in flour and mix well.

Spread on greased cookie sheet to cover completely. Pour egg white on top and spread completely over dough. Pour excess off. Sprinkle on pecans and gently press into dough.

Bake 25 to 30 min, until light golden. IMMEDIATELY slice into cookie bars (approx 6 dz) and remove from pan to cool. They freeze well or keep will in tightly closed container.

OPTIONS: Sprinkle sesame seeds between pecans to completely cover. Or, Chop 2 pralines and sprinkle along with pecans. This needs to also be pressed into dough.

Diana's Zucchini Bread

Years ago my friend Diana brought us all some zucchini bread to dinner one night when us girls met.  It was so incredibly delicious so I asked for the recipe and tucked it away for years.  I need to make this soon!  I bet my kids would love it and the added bonus would be some veggies in their bread!

Zucchini Bread

Ingredients:

 4 c coarsely chopped zucchini
3 c all-purpose flour
2 1/2 c sugar
1 1/4 c vegetable oil
4 eggs, beaten
1 Tbsp + 1 tsp vanilla
1 Tbsp cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 c chopped nuts (optional)

Directions:
 Heat oven to 350.  Generously grease bottoms only of 2 loaf pans.  Blend all ingredients in mixer on low speed for 1 minutes, scraping bowl constantly.  Beat on medium speed for 1 minute.  Pour into pans.  Bake for 50 minutes to an hour.  Pick should come out clean.  Cool for 10 minutes and remove from pans.  Cool completely before cutting.  Stores well in refrigerator for about a week.  Freezes well, too.

Aunt Sally's Super Delicious Seasoned Crackers

My Aunt Sally made these for everyone for Christmas this year and they are to die for!  I have eaten then plenty by themselves as well as put them out with cheese for guests.  These are so so yummy and very addictive!

Ingredients

• 3 sleeves of Saltines
• 1 c. of oil
• 1 envelope of ranch dressing mix
• 1 Tbsp. garlic powder
• 2 Tbsp. red pepper flakes
• 1-gallon ziploc bag

Instructions

• Put the sleeves of crackers in the Ziploc bag.
• Mix oil, pepper and garlic power in container that can pour (I use my pyrex measuring cup)
• Pour mix over crackers and swish around a bit. Lay flat for 20 minutes.
• Flip bag for another 20 minutes.
• Maybe flip again twice, in 15-minutes intervals, or just give up trying to coat crackers evenly and dump entire bag out into your mouth.

I use the new round crackers, one whole box. A large ziplock bag works best...I think mine are 2 gal. It allows you lots of room to mix the crackers around. I flip my bag more than twice, but you can decide what works best for you. I don't always put 2 Tbs. of red peppers, then sometimes I put a little more. Keep them in air tight container, they will last for weeks, if you don't eat them first. :)

Lemon Butter Shrimp with pasta and veggies

This is by far a very favorite meal in our house.  Both of my kids shovel it in and usually ask for more.

Ingredients: 

* 1 package of cooked, pealed and deveined frozen shrimp
* 1 package of favorite veggie mix (I usually get one with squash, zucchini, green beans and carrots but have tried many variations)
* linguine noodles
* chopped garlic
* butter
* lemon juice
* dill, basil and oregano (dried)
* greek seasoning or salt and pepper

Directions:

* Preheat a skillet that has a top to a low temperature.
* In a measuring cup add a 4-5 TBS of butter.  Add lemon juice to taste (I like a lot), dill, basil, oregano.  Put in microwave and heat until melted.  Usually around a minute for me.  Set aside until you are ready for it.
* Cook about 10-12 oz of noodles.
* In skillet add garlic then frozen shrimp and frozen veggies.  Cover it and let them steam while the pasta cooks.  When you are about ready to add the pasta and lemon butter, and the shrimp/veggies seem defrosted and warmed, I pour off the excess water.   
 * Add in your pasta.  Mix well then pour the lemon butter mixture over it and season with greek seasoning.  Mix well again.  Turn to the lowest setting, cover and let the butter sort of cook onto the pasta.  Keep an eye on it and mix occasionally.

When I serve it, I often add more lemon juice to my serving.  It really just depends on how lemony your like it and I like a lot! 

I have also often adapted this into a side dish by removing the shrimp and veggies and just doing the pasta.