"The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it." 
                                     - Oscar Wilde

Anybody who knows ME, knows that I am a lover of food. I love to shop for it, cook it myself and watch others cook it.  I love to order it in but more than ANYTHING, I love to eat it in a restaurant. 

When I was a little girl, I used to derive immense pleasure from watching my Grandma Sarah cook.  If I was a good girl (which was quite a rare occurence ) My Grandma would allow me the privilege of assisting her in the kitchen by way of gathering and/or separating the ingredients for whatever culinary concoction she would be creating at the time.  Want to hear something HYSTERICAL? I think this is SOfunny and SO true of ALL of the great cooks of the world...when it came to the actual measuring of the ingredients, my Grandma Sarah would use her eyes as her guide in that she would say "I need a little bit of this" or a "tiny bit of that" and to HER way of thinking,THAT as how she did her recipe measuring! my Grandma was (and still IS) an EXCEPTIONAL cook, and I remember hearing our family as well as our friends constantly begging her to cook her various recipes that she delighted in preparing for us. 

Over the years, my Mother Harriet and also myself (at least I would like to THINK so, anyway  have pretty well mastered my Grandma's most treasured recipes.  And now with your kind permission, I would very much love to SHARE these recipes with you, as well as many OTHER people's recipes (cooked by famiy, friends, etc.) that have found their way into my vast collection.

I have a GREAT IDEA!!! If YOU would like to share YOUR favorite recipes, (and I sincerely hope that you DO) simply e-mail me the recipe, along with your name and e-mail address, and I will post it right here for everybody to ENJOY! 

Please remember to try your best to eat healthily and in moderation (easier said than done ) and I hope you will enjoy these comfort food recipes as much as WE do!!! 

STUFFED CABBAGE

ROLLS: 1 head of cabbage (3 lbs.), 2 lbs. lean ground beef, 1 small onion, chopped, 2 large eggs, lightly beaten, 1/2 c. ketchup, 1/2 c. bread crumbs, 1/2 c. water
SAUCE: 16 oz. tomato sauce, 1/3 c. brown sugar, 14 oz. cranberry sauce, 1/4 c. lemon juice  (use more or less sugar and lemon juice to suit your taste)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine all sauce ingredients and mix in blender or food processor with metal blade. Pour into a large kettle and let simmer over medium heat while you prepare the cabbge rolls. Cut core out of  the cabbage. Pull off as many leaves as possible till they become too small to hold filling. Bring 1 cup of water to a boil, place the leaves in the water, cover, turn the heat to simmer and let cook for 10 min. until soft. Combine ground beef, chopped onion, eggs, ketchup, bread crumbs and water. Mix well. Fill the cabbage leaves by placing about 1 Tbspn. (or a litte bit more  of the ground beef mixture in the center of each cabbage leaf.  Fold over the sides of the cabbage leaf and roll the cabbage ball away from you.  Place seam side down in the sauce. Continue this procedure until all of the cabbage leaves have been used (if you have some ground beef left over,  just make some more balls and add them to the sauce   Simmer, covered, on top of stove for 20 minutes.  Bake in the oven (uncovered) for 20 more minutes to brown the top.  Let me tell you...this dish is one of my FAVORITES!!! 

2 (8 oz.) pckgs. cream cheese, 1 3 oz. pckg. cream cheese,  3 eggs, 1 (16 oz.) container sour cream,  1 (8 oz.) container sour cream (all items at room temperature), 1 c. sugar, 2 tspns. vanilla, 1 box crushed graham crackers, 1/4 lb. butter, melted, cooking spray

This recipe makes a 9" cheese cake.  Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Mix all but sour cream together in a big bowl.  Add sour cream and blend for 12 minutes with an electric mixer.  For the crust, mix  crushed graham crackers with melted butter in another bowl and then put in bottom of 9" springform pan.  VERY IMPORTANT: Coat sides of pan with cooking spray or cake will stick to pan and be ruined (NO!!! we can't have THAT!  Add cream cheese mixture to pan and bake in oven for 40-45 minutes. Now here comes the fun part! Turn the oven off and let cake stay in oven for 1 hour. Open oven door and let cake stay for another hour. Then remove cake and cool for 3 hours. Cover top of cake with foil and pop in the refrigerator.  This cake is so RICH you'll go WILD for it!!! 

1 stick butter, 1 lb. bag medium sized egg noodles, 6 eggs, 1 pint sour cream, 4 oz. container cottage cheese,  3/4 c. sugar, 1/2 tspn. vanilla, 1 tspn. lemon juice, cinnamon, 1/2 c. raisins. 
TOPPING: crushed corn flakes mixed with some sugar, Maraschino cherries. 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Melt butter in a lasagna pan in oven.  Set aside.  In large mixing bowl, combine remaining ingredients except for corn flakes, some sugar and cherries.  Pour mixture into lasagna pan, mixing butter through.  Crush cornflakes and mix some sugar (to taste) into them. Sprinkle them over the pudding mixture.  Place the cherries on top of the pudding and then bake in oven for 1 hour or until golden brown.  I used to help PREPARE this delicious pudding! oh the memories...

1 1/2 lbs. stew beef, 2 bell peppers (different colors) sliced into strips , 2 Tbspns. Olive Oil (where's Popeye?) , 1 jar Uncle Ben's Pepper Steak Sauce, 1 can sliced water chestnuts, 1 onion, sliced into strips, rice

In a large skillet, heat oil and then add meat which has been cut into thin slices.  Cook until meat is brown, then add pepper steak sauce and a little water. Cover and simmer about 30 minutes.  Add strips of peppers, onions and the water chestnuts. Cover and simmer about 10 more minutes or until meat is tender.  Serve over a bed of rice (I LOVE saying that) 

3 cans solid white tuna, 1/4 c. bread crumbs, 1 small can French Fried Onions, garlic powder, onion powder, 1 large can Veg-All, 1/4 c. mayonnaise, 1 egg, beaten

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  On a dinner plate, mash the can of Veg-All veggies with a potato masher (not TOO mushy though!). Set aside. In a large mixing bowl, combine tuna (after you have taken it out of the cans and rubbed it well with your fingers like Al Pacino did in "Scent of a Woman ) and then add the rest of the ingredients and mix well.  Place mixture in a loaf pan and bake in oven for 1 hour or until golden brown. I love this dish with macaroni and cheese as a side dish.

Corn starch, water, cold cream, food coloring, muffin tins

In each cup of the muffin tin, mix 1 tspn. corn starch, 1/2 tspn. water, 1/2 tspn. cold cream and a couple of drops of food coloring (a different color for each cup).  Stir.  Kids LOVE this so make sure you have a lot of cleaning liquid and paper towels on hand for cleanup! 

2 Tbspns. butter, 2 c. broccoli florets, 2 medium carrots, sliced, 2 (10 3/4) cans of Campbell's Home Cookin' Cream of Chicken Soup, 1/2 tspn. garlic powder, 1/2 tspn. pepper, 4 c. cooked corkscrew style pasta

In a large saucepan over medium heat, in hot butter, cook broccoli and carrots until tender-crisp stirring often.  Add soup, garlic powder, pepper and pasta.  Heat through, stirring occasionally. Great side dish! 

1 large eggplant, 2 large green peppers, 2 hard-cooked eggs, oil, 1 large onion

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In large baking pan, place eggplant and peppers.  Bake until REALLY soft), about 1 - 1 1/2 hours.   While they are baking, saute a diced onion in a skillet until slightly brown. When they are ready, remove eggplant and pepper  from oven and allow to cool.  Wearing latex gloves (so your hands don't burn from the juices) peel the eggplant and peppers as best as you can and then place in a large chopping bowl or if you don't have THIS, try a food processor with the metal blade in. Slice the hard-cooked eggs using egg slicer if possible (it works better this way ) until the eggs are in very small pieces.  Add to eggplant and peppers and then chop with a chopper (or metal blade of food processor) until consistency is a smooth as you desire it to be.  Add sauted onion and chop a little bit more. Place mixture in a container with cover and then chill if desired until use.  I love to spread it on pita bread or on a bagel with butter (ok so I'm weird).

1/2 c. packed brown sugar, 1/4 c. butter, 1/2 c. dark corn syrup, 1/4 tspn. salt, 8 c. microwaved popcorn

Mix all ingredients except popcorn in 3 or 4 quart microwaveable bowl or casserole.  Microwave uncovered on HIGH for about 2 minutes or until boiling.  Stir until smooth.  Microwave uncovered about 1 minute longer or until boiling.  Stir in popcorn until well-coated; cool slightly.  Dip hands into cold water.  Shape mixture into 8 balls, each about 2 1/2" in diameter.  Place on waxed paper; cool.  Wrap individually in plastic wrap or place in plastic bags and seal.  You can tint popcorn balls to whatever color you choose by adding a few drops of food coloring to the corn syrup.  This is FUN for EVERYBODY!!! 

1 lb. ground beef, 1 c. chopped onion, 1/2 tspn. salt, 1 c. shredded Cheddar cheese, 1 c. milk, 1/2 c. Bisquick baking mix, 2 eggs

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Cook ground beef and onions; drain.  Stir in salt.  Spread in greased 9" pie plate; sprinkle with cheese.  Stir remaining ingredients with a fork until blended.  Pour into plate.  Bake in oven for 25 minutes or until knife inserted into the center comes out clean.  They ALWAYS say this when you bake cakes or pies, don't they? 

1 lb. crabmeat (imitation is fine too) broken up, 2 Tbspns. mayonnaise, 1 finely chopped green pepper, 1 tspn. parsley flakes, 1 tspn. mustard, 1 tspn. seafood seasoning, 1/4 tpsn. salt,  1/4 tspn. pepper, 1 egg, beaten (poor egg!), 3 slices white bread with crusts crumbled,  butter.

In a large mixing bowl, combine all ingredients except the butter.  Mix well and form into 6 or 8 patties.  Melt butter in a large skillet and cook patties over medium-high heat until browned on both sides.  Oh these are sooo GOOD!!! 

1 8 oz. pckg. shredded carrots, 1 small can crushed pineapple, drained, 2 small boxes raisins, 1/4 c. mayonnaise (or more or less to your taste), 1 Tbspn. sugar 

In a large mixing bowl, combine carrots, pineapples, raisins, mayonnaise and sugar.  Mix very well and chill for at least 5 hours before serving. It's even better the next day! 

2 pckgs. instant vanilla pudding, 3 3/4 c. milk, 1 pckg. Oreo cookies crushed; 1/2 c. butter, 8 oz. cream cheese, 1 large container Cool Whip whipped topping, 12 Gummy worms, 1 trowel, 1 flower pot, 1 plastic or silk flower

Mix pudding with milk and let stand until thickened.  Cream butter and cream cheese together. Hmmm...how do you cream cream cheese???!!!  Add to the pudding along with 2/3 of the crushed Oreos and fold in the Cool Whip.  Pour into well-scrubbed flower pot.  Top with remaining crushed Oreos.  Garnish with strategically placed Gummy Worms (yuck!)   Put flower in place.  Foil wrap pot with colored foil (if you can GET it) and tie with large decorative bow.  Don't forget to serve with a trowel! 

8 strips of bacon, crisply cooked and crumbled, 1 c. shredded Swiss cheese, 1/3 c. finely chopped onion, 4 eggs, beaten (poor eggs! ),  2 c. whipping cream (heavy), 1/4 tspn. salt, 1/4 tspn. pepper, 1/8 tspn. cayenne pepper (red), 1 9" pie shell, 9" pie plate

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Cook bacon in microwave.  Crumble and set aside.  Prepare pie shell.  Ease shell into pie plate.  Sprinkle bacon, cheese and onion in pastry-lined plate.  Beat eggs
slightly; beat in remaining ingredients.  Pour into pie plate.  Bake in oven for 15 minutes.  Reduce oven temperature to 300 degrees. Bake about 30 minutes longer or until knife inserted into center comes out clean (here we go again! ). Let stand 10 minutes before cutting.  This makes a great brunch! 

3 c. cooked and cooled spaghetti (or pisghetti as any kid would say) , 2 eggs, beaten (oh those poor eggs again!)  3/4 c. Parmesan cheese, pckg. sweet Italian sausages, browned, cooked and cut up, 1 lb. lean ground beef, browned,  a jar of your favorite pisghetti sauce ), 1 lb. shredded Mozzarella cheese, 1 (16 oz.) container Ricotta cheese

Cook and cool spaghetti ahead of time.  Prepare meats and add to the sauce.  Set aside.  Mix cooked spaghetti, eggs and Parmesan cheese together.  Pack into bottom of 13"x9"x2" casserole dish.  Cover pasta with Ricotta cheese.  Spread sauce and meat mixture over cheese.  Spread shredded Mozzarella cheese over top.  Bake in 350 degree oven for 20-30 minutes. Cool at least 10 minutes to let form. This dish is really yummy! 

1 pckg. spice cake mix, 1 pckg. white cake mix, 1 pckg. vanilla sandwich cookies, green food coloring, 12 small Tootsie Rolls (now what do you think THESE are for?!), 1 pckg. vanilla pudding mix, a brand new kitty litter box with liner, a brand new kitty litter scoop

Prepare cake mixes and bake according to package directions.  Prepare pudding mix and chill until ready to assemble.  Crumble vanilla sandwich cookies in small batches in a blender (they tend to stick so scrape often). Set aside all but about 1/4 cup.  To the 1/4 cup cookie crumbs, add a few drops of green food coloring and mix using a fork.  When cakes are cooled to room temperature, crumble into a large bowl.  Toss with half the remaining cookie crumbs and the chilled pudding; gently combine.  Line a brand new kitty litter box. Put mixture into it.  Put 3 unwrapped Tootsie Rolls in a microwave safe dish and heat until soft and pliable. Shape ends so that they are no longer blunt, curving slightly.  Oh this is so funny I just can't stop laughing!!!!  Repeat with 3 more Tootsie Rolls and bury in mixture.  Sprinkle the other half of cookie crumbs over top.  Scatter the green cookie crumbs lightly over the top (this is supposed to resemble the clorophyll in the kitty litter).  Heat remaining Tootsie Rolls, 3 at a time in the microwave until almost melted.  Scrape them on top of the cake and sprinkle with cookie crumbs.  Serve with a brand new kitty litter scoop. Oh this is TOO MUCH!!!!!!  I've gotta try this one real soon MYSELF at someone's next birthday! 

1 1/2 lbs.  ground beef, 1 c. chopped onion, 1 garlic clove minced, 1 jar of Spaghetti Sauce (I love the taste of Prego Garden Combination) :), 1 can (8 oz. tomato sauce),  1 can (6 oz.) tomato paste,  3/4 c. water, 1 pckg. (7 oz.) pasta shells, cooked and drained, 1 pckg. (10 oz.) frozen chopped spinach, thawed & drained, 2 eggs, beaten (but not too hard please! , 1 c. (4 oz.)  shredded sharp Cheddar cheese, 1/2 c. bread crumbs, 1/4 c. grated Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a saucepan over medium heat, cook beef, onion and garlic until meat is no longer pink and the veggies are tender; drain.  Add the next 7 ingredients; bring to a boil.  Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 10 minutes. Stir in macaroni, spinach, eggs, cheese and bread crumbs.  Pour into a greased (I use cooking spray for greasing) 13"x9"x2" baking dish. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Cover and bake in oven for 30-35 minutes or until bubbly.  Let stand for 10 minutes before serving. This is a great way to get kids to eat their spinach! 

2 eggs, beaten (don't hurt them TOO much though ), 1/4 c. milk, 1/2 c. strawberry preserves (or any OTHER flavor that you prefer), 8 slices day-old white bread, confectioners' sugar

In a small bowl, beat the eggs and milk; set aside.  Spread preserves on 4 slices of bread.  Trim crusts.  Cut each sandwich into 3 strips.  Dip both sides into egg mixture.  Fry in buttered skillet for 2 minutes on each side or until golden brown.  Dust with confectioners' sugar and serve. Kids love THIS dish TOO!