Favorite Family Recipes

Intro

I created this post for my children.

In the last few years, I’ve spent time and energy reducing the belongings of my parents’ lifetimes. And dismantling our family home. I’ve learned about what matters, what I can actually keep, and how to lighten my load.

I’ve also felt a pull to record stories and document memories, some of which surround food. As I sorted through my mom’s recipe box, I could see the history in each recipe.

Some of the recipes I made with my mom or dad. Others I didn’t and wish I could ask them their secrets. I tried to add commentary to the instructions.

I hope you’ll add a few of my favorite dishes to your own family gatherings. And add your own touches.

I hope you remember when I cooked for you, I did it with love. 💙

Carmelitas

Carmelitas (or oatmeal carmelitas) have a long history in our family. My Aunt Afton found the recipe and shared it with my mom. Carmelitas were a Pillsbury Bake-Off winner in 1967, 2 years after I was born.

Pillsbury updated the recipe to use their caramel ice cream topping rather than melted caramel candies. You remember that, right? One or two of you removed the wrappers of 68 or 70 caramels. The recipe calls for 64, but I always bought extra so you could eat a few. 

Chase loves these so much, he chose them in lieu of a birthday cake beginning when he was 10 years old. 

I used to share the recipe until my Aunt Dolores was a little offended. She didn’t share the recipe so she could take something special to events. The few people I shared it with (Jan, Christy and Brian) still send pictures when they make them.

After Aunt Dolores’ declaration, someone asked for the recipe. Scott said, you have to marry into the family to get it. So I held off. Later you could find it easily online. But the carmelitas I make look different from those, so I’ll share my secrets. 🙂

• 64 candy caramels (now I use 1-½ bags of caramel chips)
• ½ cup milk
• 2 cups flour
• 2 cups quick-cooking rolled oats
• 1 ½ cups firmly packed light brown sugar
• 1 tsp baking soda
• ½ tsp salt
• 1-½ cups melted butter
• 1 pkg (11.5 oz) chocolate chips (I think Hershey’s melt best)

Combine flour, oats, brown sugar, soda, and salt. Mix with hands. Melt butter in microwave. Stir butter into dry ingredients. Press little more than half of crumbs into 9” x 13” baking pan. Bake at 350° for 10 minutes. 

While crust is in the oven, add caramels and milk in a saucepan. Melt over low heat, stirring frequently. Remove crust from oven. Sprinkle with chocolate chips and let it sit for a minute. Carefully spread the chocolate chips into a layer of chocolate. Pour the melted caramel onto the chocolate. With a light touch, spread the caramel over the chocolate. Use your fingers to dollop remaining crust onto the top. 

Bake 15 minutes longer, until crust is golden. Chill 1 – 2 hours. Cut into bars.

Mint Bars

My mom made mint bars throughout the year and especially at Christmas. My brothers, Allen and Scott, remember our mom made carmelitas and mint bars to take to the basketball team after games.

They are especially good refrigerated.

BATTER:

• 1/2 butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 squares chocolate (1 semi-sweet and 1 unsweetened)
• 1/2 tsp. mint extract
• 1/2 cup flour

Combine butter, sugar and eggs, beat well. Melt chocolate. Add chocolate and mint to the mixture. Add flour and stir until just mixed. Spread evenly into 9” x 13” pan. Bake at 350° for 25-30 minutes. Cool thoroughly, then frost. 

FROSTING:

• 3 tbsp butter
• 2 tbsp milk
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1 tsp mint extract
• 3 – 4 drops green food coloring

Beat together and spread over mint bars. Cool. 

GLAZE:

• 8 oz. milk chocolate chips
• 1 tbsp butter

Melt 8 oz. milk chocolate chips and butter. Cool slightly and then spread on frosting. 

Bake at 350° for 25 – 30 minutes

Ella’s Lemon Bars

Through the years a lot of people have loved my lemon bars. One of my favorite compliments is from my cousin, Jeffrey. At a reunion, he commented on some lemon bars and said they were almost as good as the ones I used to make. He was referring to the time we were in high school, which had been more than 30 years earlier.

• 1 cup soft butter
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 2 cups flour
• dash of salt

Combine and press mix in 9” x 13” pan. Bake at 350° for 15 minutes.

• 4 eggs, beaten
• 2 cups sugar
• 1/4 cup flour
• 5 tbsp lemon juice

Beat eggs and lemon juice. Stir in flour and sugar. Pour into slightly cooled crust. (I usually don’t cool the crust.) Bake at 350° for 25 minutes. Sprinkle with powdered sugar. Cut into bars when cool. 

I think the secret is not overbaking. I start checking it after 20 minutes. The edges (just the part that touches the pan) should be brown. The middle may be a bit wobbly (not firm). After it has cooled to room temperature, I cut into bars and refrigerate.

Grandma’s Lemon Meringue Pie

My mom made pies for holidays and sometimes in between she’d make lemon meringue pie. It was my favorite. Although I don’t remember making pie with my mom, Alyssa did.

Lemon Chiffon Delight

Formerly known as Louise’s Icebox Dessert. I think Louise was my grandma’s (Genevieve) cousin. The recipe was in the cookbook I compiled of Genevieve’s. Icebox harkens to the days when you kept food cool in a box with ice in it, rather than a refrigerator run by electricity.

I love making it in the summer. Once we decided that the name was insufficient. Dad came up with the new name. Later when Amy and I were sorting through my mom’s recipes, we found that she had changed the name on all of her copies. She crossed through the title and wrote the new name on her handwritten recipe. She typed copies of the recipe with the new name. She was all in. 🙂

• 9 eggs
• 1 1/2 cup sugar
• 2/3 cup lemon juice
• 1-1/2 pints whipping cream
• Vanilla Wafers

Beat eggs well. Beat in sugar and lemon juice. Place in saucepan on medium heat. Stir frequently until thickened. Cool in refrigerator. When completely cool, remove custard from frig.  Beat whipping cream. Fold whipping cream into custard. 

Mash vanilla wafer into fine crumbs. Place ⅔ of the vanilla wafers in the bottom of a 9” x 12” pan. Carefully spread lemon mixture onto wafers. Sprinkle wafers on top of the lemon custard. Place pan in frig for an hour. Place dessert in freezer. I like the dessert somewhere in between frozen and refrigerated, so I put it in the frig some time before serving. 

Banana Bread

Whenever bananas began to brown, my mom would make banana bread. I’ve often done the same thing. This is my mom’s recipe and I’ve made it for years.

• 3 bananas, mash with a fork
• 1-1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup shortening
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 tsp baking soda dissolved in 1/4 cup hot water
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1-1/2 cup flour

Cream shortening and sugar. Add eggs, vanilla and soda water. Stir in salt, flour and bananas. Pour batter in loaf pan. Bake at 350° for 1 hour. (I set the timer for 55 minutes and check it.) 

I got the following recipe from the Webber’s more recently. I like it because I would rather melt butter than scrape shortening out of a measuring cup. Haha. The two recipes are similar and I can’t tell the difference in the banana bread. 

• 3 bananas, mashed
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• 1-1/2 cup flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking soda

Cream sugar, egg, butter. Stir in bananas and dry ingredients. Mix well. Pour into loaf pan and bake at 325° for 55-60 minutes.

One-Hour Cinnamon Rolls

Scott and I wanted cinnamon rolls one Sunday. I found this recipe online. It attracted me because – cinnamon rolls in an hour! They are delicious. Only 4 of us were home and we thought we may eat the entire batch. So we got in the habit of making them on Sunday’s and giving some away to neighbors.

Mix and let sit for 15 minutes:

• 3-1/2 cups warm water
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup oil
• 6 tbsp yeast (4-1/2 Saf-Instant)

Then add:

• 1 tbsp salt
• 3 eggs
• 10-1/2 cups flour

Mix together for 10 minutes. Let sit for 10 minutes. Oil counter, dump out dough, divid in half. Press one half out into rectangle. Spread with 1/4 cup melted butter, then cinnamon-sugar mixture. Roll up tight, but not too tight. Divide into 12 rolls and place on greased cookie sheet. Repeat with other half of dough. Let rise. Bake at 400° for 12 – 15 minutes.

Cinnamon Sugar:

• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tbsp cinnamon

Frosting:

• 1/2 cup butter
• 2 dashes of salt
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 6 cups powdered sugar
• milk

Flag Cake

This cake is from my mom. In her recipes, she calls it Blueberry White Cake. I started making it on the 4th of July with fresh strawberries and blueberries to look like a flag.

• white cake mix
• 1 cup whipping cream, unbeaten
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 8 oz. cream cheese, softened

Bake cake, according to directions, in jelly roll pan. Cool. 

Beat cream cheese and powdered sugar. Separately beat whip cream. Fold it into the cream cheese mixture. Spread on cooled cake. Top with fresh strawberries and blueberries in an American flag design.

Chocolate (Texas) Sheet Cake

This is a Lion House recipe. I made it often. It’s easy and it feeds a crowd.

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/2 cup shortening
• 4 tbsp cocoa
• 1 cup water
• 2 cups flour
• 2 cups sugar
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 eggs, beaten
• dash of salt

Mix together butter, shortening, cocoa, and water in saucepan. Bring to a boil. Pour over flour and sugar, which have been sifted together. Mix well. Add buttermilk, soda, cinnamon, vanilla, eggs, and salt and mix well. Bake 20 minutes at 400° in greased and floured jelly roll pan (10×15-inch). Five minutes before cake is done, prepare frosting.

• 1/2 cup butter
• 4 tbsp cocoa
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 6 tbsp milk
• 4 cups powdered sugar
• 1 cup chopped nuts (I like sliced almonds)

Melt butter, add cocoa, vanilla, and milk in saucepan and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and add powdered sugar and nuts. Mix well. Frost cake while hot.

Chocolate Chocolate Cake

This is Scott’s most requested birthday cake. His mom made it for him when he was a kid.

• 1 chocolate cake mix
• 1 instant chocolate pudding mix
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1/2 cup oil
• 1/2 cup warm water
• 4 eggs
• 1-1/2 cups chocolate chips

Combine cake mix, pudding, sour cream, oil, water and eggs. Blend until smooth. Add chocolate chips and beat short time. Turn into greased bundt pan. Bake at 350° for 40 minutes. Let cool before unmolding. Dust with powdered sugar.

Grandpa’s Homestyle Ice Cream

My dad grew up on a dairy farm. As soon as he was old enough, he milked cows every day, morning and night. As a student at Utah State University, he worked at the university dairy store making ice cream. He was excited about one of the perks: eat as much ice cream as you wanted.

As long I can remember, my dad made homemade ice cream. Our ice cream maker was a hand-crank until I left home. A big part of the process was tasting the mix before freezing it. Dad made ice cream more by taste than measurement. Always a small woman with a flat stomach, my mom amazed us by how many bowls of ice cream she could eat after a full meal.

ICE CREAM BASE:

Cook over low heat until thick. Place in refrigerator to cool.

• 4 eggs, beaten
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup milk

Combine the following and mix well.

• Base (after it’s cooled)
• 1 quart whipping cream
• 1 quart half and half
• 2% milk, enough to fill ice cream container 3/4 full (to fill line)
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup light Karo syrup
• Flavoring to taste ( if making vanilla, use 3 – 4 tbsp vanilla)

Follow directions for ice cream maker. My dad always added lots of ice and rock salt in order to decrease the freeze temperature.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

I grew up making chocolate chip cookies. I made the dough and refrigerated it. We always had dough in the frig ready to bake a pan of cookies. I got used to always having cookie dough in the frig.

I continued this when I married Scott. He loved to eat the cookie dough and would pop spoonfuls into his mouth. We didn’t get as many baked cookies that way. Scott said the constant supply of cookie dough is why he gained weight after we got married.

My family had dessert after nearly every dinner. We ate it right after dinner. I didn’t realize this was unusual until Scott mentioned it. On his first visit to Tulsa, he tanked up on dinner without saving room for dessert.

The recipe pictured is the one I grew up making, but I am always on the lookout for a better recipe. I’ve tried so many different ones. This recipe from Bruce Dunn is really good.

• 2-1/4 cups flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/2 cup shortening
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 whole egg
• 2 egg yolks
• 1/4 cup rolled oats

Combine flour, soda and salt and set aside. Blend butter, shortening, sugar, brown sugar and vanilla until fluffy. Gradually add all but 1/2 cup flour mixture. Mix rolled oats with remaining flour mixture and stir into batter. Stir in chocolate chips. Place on greased cookie sheet. Bake at 375° for 10 minutes.

Papa’s Peanut Brittle

Scott’s dad made peanut brittle every Christmas as long as he can remember.

• 1 cup Karo syrup
• 2 cups sugar
• 3 cups peanuts with skins (raw Spanish peanuts)
• 1 tbsp butter
• 1 tsp baking soda

Heat Karo syrup and sugar in electric frying pan at 360°. Mix until it melts. Add peanuts. Stir to boiling (bubbly), 10 – 12 minutes. Add butter and baking soda. Stir until blended. Pour into greased cookie sheet. Brittle is ready when cooled.

Boston Cream Candy

My grandma (LaVell) made this candy every Christmas. It was my favorite and I requested that she make it every time she visited. I remember watching her put a blob of the mixture in a cup of cold water to test if the candy was ready.

• 1/2 cup sugar, carmelized
• 1/8 cup water
• 2-1/2 cups sugar
• 1-1/2 cup cream
• dollup or large lump of butter
• Chopped Pecans, optional

Carmelize 1/2 cup sugar. Add water, enough to dissolve sugar. Add sugar, cream and butter (and nuts). Cook to soft ball stage. Test this by dropping a bit of the mixture into a cold mug of water. Cool. Beat and beat and beat and beat and beat and BEAT. Place in wax paper and roll in log shape.

Creamed Onions

This is another recipe from my Aunt Afton. It is a Thanksgiving staple to me. It is so good with turkey. My Thanksgiving dinner is complete if I have turkey, creamed onions, stuffing and strawberry pretzel salad. Everything else is optional.

Stuffing

Grandpa always made the stuffing for Thanksgiving. Several years, I made it with him so I could learn his secrets. (The main secret is tasting as you go to test the seasoning.)

Strawberry Pretzel Salad (Squares)

This is a favorite addition to Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners.

• 2 cups finely crushed pretzels
• 1/2 cup sugar, divided
• 2/3 cup butter melted
• 12 oz. cream cheese, softened
• 2 tbsp milk
• 1 cup thawed Cool Whip
• 2 cups boiling water
• 6 oz. package Strawberry Jello
• 2 cups boiling water
• 20 oz. frozen strawberries, sliced

Preheat oven to 350°. Combine pretzels, 1/4 cup of sugar and butter. Press onto bottom of 13×9-inch baking pan. Bake 10 minutes. Cool.

Beat cream cheese, remaining 1/4 cup sugar and milk until well blended. Gently fold in Cool Whip. Spread over cooled crust. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Dissolve gelatin in boiling water. Stir in still-frozen strawberries and allow to set briefly. Pour and spread over cream cheese layer; refrigerate until set, 2-3) hours or until firm. Cut into squares and serve.

Summer Pasta Salad

This is the recipe I made often in the summer. The Jensen’s usually asked me to bring it to our barbecues.

• 16 oz. package Rotini or Bowtie Pasta
• Good Seasons Zesty Italian packet (dry mix only)
• Olive Garden Italian Dressing
• Feta Cheese
• Olives
• Cherry Tomatoes
• Green Onions

Cook rotini or bowtie pasta as directed on the package. Rinse with cold water and drain. Pat dry with a paper towel to remove excess water. Add other ingredients. Can be served immediately. It is better when refrigerated for a couple of hours.

GramTuff’s Zesty Zucchini

I got this recipe from GramTuff. Dad named it for this. 🙂 I personalized it with garlic and Italian seasoning. (You probably know I love garlic.)

• 3 Zucchini, sliced
• 1 – 2 tsp Garlic, minced
• 1 – 2 tbsp Olive Oil
• 1/2 – 1 Onion, diced (yellow or white)
• 14.5 oz. can Diced Tomatoes (I like with peppers and onions)
• Korse salt and pepper to taste
• Italian seasoning
• Parmesan cheese (canned in fine)

In a large skillet over medium heat, heat oil. Add.onion and garlic for 1 minute. Add zucchini and Italian seasoning (or oregano and basil) for 1-2 minutes. Add tomatoes. Cook until zucchini is almost tender. Season with salt and pepper. Top with parmesan cheese. Cover with lid. Finished when cheese is melted. Serve warm.

Corn on the Cob

GramTuff showed me this way.

Hand shuck : ) the corn. I like to break it in half. 

Boil water in a saucepan. Add 1 teaspoon of sugar. Add corn and place the lid. Boil on for 1 minute. Remove pan from heat and let it sit (lid on) for 5 minutes.

Grilled Vegetables

Use any combo of the following.

• Bell peppers (green or red), cut in quarters
• Zucchini, slice lengthwise
• Yellow squash, slice lengthwise
• Onion (purple, yellow or white), cut in quarters or slice
• Cherry tomatoes
• Mushrooms, whole
• Asparagus
• Cauliflower

You can skewer the vegetables or leave them loose (my preference). Drizzle vegetables with olive oil. Smooth evenly with your hands. Sprinkle kosher salt and pepper. You could add dried basil or oregano or Italian seasoning, parmesan cheese or feta. Place on aluminum foil. Close the lid. Check often; they won’t take long. I like them more crunchy than squishy.

Bean Trio Dip

I made this at summer get-togethers and during vacations at the beach.

• 1/4 cup purple onion, diced
• 11 oz. can white shoepeg corn, rinsed and drained
• 1 can diced tomatoes
• 1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 can white northern beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 can black eye peas, rinsed and drained
• avocados, diced
• 1 package Good Seasons Zesty Italian dressing (optional)
• Olive Garden dressing

Mix everything together. Pour dressing over bean mixture. Taste. If needed, sprinkle Good Seasons packet and stir. Serve with tortilla chips.

Beef Stroganoff

• Ground beef, 2 lb.
• Yellow or white onion, chopped
• 1-2 Tablespoons fresh garlic
• 2 cans (10.5 oz) cream of mushroom soup
• 8 oz. sour cream (light or low fat is fine
• Salt and pepper to taste

Saute’ onions in olive oil until softened. Add ground beef and garlic until meat is brown. Add mushroom soup and sour cream. Can add milk if the sauce is too thick. Serve over cooked noodles.

Pulled Pork Sandwiches

• Pork loin, 3-4 lbs.
• Sweet Baby Ray’s barbecue sauce

Spray Pam in crockpot. Add pork loin. Cook on low for 6 hours. At 5 hours or so, try to shred the pork with 2 forks. Add barbecue sauce. Continue cooking until pork shreds easily with fork. Add barbecue sauce to taste. Serve over rolls.

French Dip Sandwiches

• Rump roast, 3-4 lb.
• 1 can (10.5 oz) Beef Consomme
• 1 can (10.5 oz) Beef Broth
• 1 can (10.5 oz) French Onion Soup

Place rump roast in crockpot. Add 3 cans of soup. Cook 4 hours on high or 6 hours on low. It’s finished when you can shred the beef easily with a fork. Serve on rolls with individual cups of au jus to dip the sandwich.

Baked Creamy Chicken Taquitos

This is a Six Sisters recipe. I cook the chicken in a crockpot, which makes it so easy to shred. Serve with salsa, guacamole, sour cream.

INGREDIENTS

• 4 ounces cream cheese
• 1/3 cup green salsa
• 1 Tablespoon lime juice
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon dried cilantro
• 2 green onions (sliced)
• 3 boneless skinless chicken breasts (cooked and shredded)
• 1 cup shredded Pepper Jack cheese
• 20 (6 inch) flour tortillas
• Cooking spray
• Salt, to taste
• 1 (8 ounce) bottle creamy Cilantro Dressing – optional dipping sauce

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Heat oven to 425 degrees.
2. Line a baking sheet with foil and lightly coat with cooking spray.
3. Heat cream cheese in the microwave for about 20-30 seconds so that it is soft and easy to stir.
4. Add green salsa, lime juice, cumin, chili powder, onion powder and garlic powder. Stir to combine.
5. Then add cilantro and green onions.
6. Add chicken and Pepper Jack cheese and combine well.
7. Place 2-3 Tablespoons of chicken mixture on the lower third of a tortilla, keeping it about 1/2 inch from the edges and roll it up as tight as you can. Place seam side down on the baking sheet.
8. Lay all of the filled taquitos on the baking sheet and make sure they are not touching each other. Spray the tops lightly with cooking spray and sprinkle some salt on top.
9. Place pan in oven and bake for 15-20 minutes or until crisp and the ends start to get golden brown.
10. Dip in creamy cilantro dressing if desired.

Sour Cream Burritos

• 20 small flour tortillas
• 2 lbs. ground beef
• 1/4 cup taco seasoning
• 1/2 – 3/4 cup water
• 2 – 10 oz. cans cream of chicken soup
• 1 quart sour cream
• shredded colby jack or cheddar cheese

Brown and season ground beef and onions. Add seasoning and water. Simmer. Combine soup and sour cream. Mix 1/2 soup with ground beef mixture. Add milk to the other half soup mixture to make cream. Grease pan. Roll ground beef mixture in tortillas. Place in pan. Pour soup mixture over the top. Sprinkle with cheese. Bake at 350° for 5 – 10 minutes.

Sausage Noodle Dish

• Sweet Italian sausage
• Green Bell Peppers, 2
• Onion, 1
• Minced Garlic
• 1 – 28 oz. can Diced Tomatoes
• 16 oz. Penne Pasta

Cut sausage into 1” slices. Brown in frying pan. Remove sausage from pan. Leave grease and add sliced peppers and onions. Sauté. Then add can of tomatoes. During this time cook pasta. Drain and mix together.

Creamy Tuscan Chicken

When searching online for a new restaurant or a new recipe, I use the keyword: yummy. LIke yummy lunch near me or yummy chicken dinner. In 2021, the word yummy helped me find this recipe, which is indeed yummy. It’s one of Dawson’s favorite meals I make. At Christmas 2022, Dawson harvested lemons from our tree which were super fragrant.

• 1 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
• Kosher salt
• Freshly ground pepper
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 3 Tablespoons butter
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1-1/2 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
• 3 cups baby spinach
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan
• Lemon wedges, for serving

Step 1: In a skillet over medium heat, heat oil. Add chicken and season with salt, pepper and oregano. Cook until golden and no longer pink, 8 minutes per side. Remove from skillet and set aside.

Step 2: In the same skillet over medium heat, melt butter. Stir in garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add cherry tomatoes and season with salt and pepper. Cook until tomatoes are beginning to burst then add spinach and cook until spinach is beginning to wilt.

Step 3: Stir in heavy cream and parmesan and bring mixture to a simmer. Reduce heat to low and simmer until sauce is slightly reduced, about 3 minutes. Return chicken to skillet and cook until heated through, 5 to 7 minutes.

Step 4: Serve over pasta with lemon wedges.

Yields: 4 servings

Cal/Serve: 380

From: Delish.com

Hawaiian Sloppy Joes

• 6 ounces center-cut bacon (I don’t always use this)
• 20 ounces extra-lean ground beef
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 1 green pepper, diced
• 3-4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon fresh minced ginger
• 3/4 cup ketchup
• 2 Tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 Tablespoons cider vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon hickory-flavored liquid smoke (I don’t use)
• 1 Tablespoon soy sauce
• 1/3 – 1/2 cup pineapple juice
• salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• 8 rolls
• pineapple rings, red onion slices, and/or banana peppers (optional)

Step 1: Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Lay each slice of bacon flat on a foil-lined baking sheet to bake for 15-18 minutes or until bacon is crisp. Remove from oven and drain bacon on a paper towel-lined plate reserving 2 tablespoons of the bacon drippings.

Step 2: Place bacon drippings in a large skillet and heat to medium heat. Add the ground turkey or beef, onion, and pepper and cook until the meat is about halfway cooked. Add the garlic and ginger and cook until the meat is completely cooked (about 6-7 minutes).

Step 3: While the meat is cooking, whisk the ketchup, brown sugar, vinegar, liquid smoke, and soy sauce together in a small bowl. Add the sauce to meat. Add pineapple juice, keeping in mind that the sauce will thicken Bring to a simmer, then cover and reduce heat to low. Cook 20-25 minutes, stirring occasionally, until peppers and onions are tender.

Step 4: Crumble the cooked bacon and add it to the meat mixture. Season to taste with salt and black pepper. Serve on bun with a slice of pineapple, a slice or red onion and a few banana pepper rings.

Serves: 8

Calories: 319 (using ground turkey)

From: Our Best Bites

Dunn Bacon

Cox’s Creamy Honey

A collection of recipes that has anything to do with the Bingham family would be incomplete without a mention of Cox’s Creamed Honey, which we always called Creamy Honey. My dad (Bob) grew up on a dairy farm in Groveland (southeastern Idaho). Twenty-one miles northeast of Groveland is Shelley, a small farming community where the honey is produced. At some point in my childhood, my dad began importing creamy honey after any visit to Idaho. We always had a 5 lb. tub and we children fought over who got to skim the top. I always kept a tub on hand when I had my own home. When I ran out, my dad would get one from his stash for me. I didn’t realize what a delicacy this was until my dad was gone. I ordered a tub of Cox’s honey on Amazon and had it sent to me in Ohio for $35 plus shipping (in 2019).

Serve: on a Sunday evening on a toasted English muffin or piece of sourdough bread and drink with a side of Braum’s milk.

Homemade Syrup

• 2 cups sugar
• 2 cups brown sugar
• 3 cups water
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 tsp maple flavoring

Stir sugar and water into saucepan. Bring to a boil. Add vanilla and maple. Turn off heat. Stir well. I pour the syrup into a microwavable

Egg Bake

I joined a women’s Bible study group at a Baptist church in Bismarck. I loved talking about Jesus with like-minded believers. We started with breakfast, watched a video, and discussed our reading.

At the end of our discussion, we would share concerns and go around the table to pray for our concerns. On more than one occasion, the women prayed for my family and I felt the spirit.

Breakfast usually included egg bake, which I would have called breakfast casserole. But the egg bakes had no hash browns.

Before moving to ND, I made breakfast casserole. But in ND, everyone makes egg bakes. (They also make tacos in a bag, pronounced beg.) There are lots of versions of egg bake. I like this one.

• 2 tbsp butter
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 1/2 green bell pepper, chopped
• 1 cup chopped cooked ham or sausage
• 8 eggs
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 400°. Grease 10 inch baking dish.

Melt butter in large skillet over medium heat; cook and stir onion and bell pepper until softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in ham or sausage and continue cooking until heated through 5 minutes more.

Beat eggs and milk in a large bowl. Stir in cheddar cheese and ham mixture; season with salt and pepper. Pour mixture into prepared baking dish.

Bake in preheated oven until eggs are browned and puffy, about 25 minutes. Serve warm.

Ella’s Smoothie

In the summer of 2018, I started taking ET. To disguise the taste, I put it in a smoothie. I originally blended frozen strawberries, 1 banana, water and vanilla protein powder with ET. By 2024, my smoothie has morphed to this. Since she was tiny, Hadley enjoyed my smoothie. The summer of 2024, Beau did too.

• 1 cup water
• 1 scoop (1 T) Youthful Returns (Elderly Take-Backs)
• 1 scoop (2 T) Muscle Milk Zero Protein Powder
• 2 scoops (2 T) chia seeds
• 3 cups fresh spinach
• 1 small banana
• 1 cup frozen blueberries

Blend well (I use Vitamix blender)