Crawfish Soup

UPDATE: I just made the soup tonight...oh so good!

Although I haven't tried this myself, everyone who did said this was very good. So I thought I'd get the recipe from my aunt and make it myself. I'm waiting to see if Super Wal-Mart has the crawfish cheaper (Lincoln Center Hy-Vee has frozen for $7.99 a pound). I'll be stopping at Wal-Mart before heading home, as I have all the other ingredients ready to go! Looks like I'll be eating soup for the next week!

Ingredients:

1 stick butter
1 onion, chopped
1 can Cream of Chicken Soup
1 can Cream of Mushroom Soup
1 can Cream of Celery Soup
3 soup cans milk
1 pound broccoli, cooked (I used frozen chopped and cooked in the microwave for about 7 minutes.)
1 pound box Mexican Velveeta (or regular Velveeta plus 1 tsp. chili powder) (I used the 2% and 1 tsp. Tastefully Simple Fiesta Party Dip mix)
2 pounds crawfish (I used frozen from Wal-Mart...a total of 24 oz., which is plenty.)

Directions:

Saute butter and onion. Add soups, milk, broccoli, Velveeta and crawfish. Cook until heated through.

Grape Salad

Ingredients:

4 pounds seedless grapes
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese
1 (8 ounce) container sour cream
1/2 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 ounces chopped pecans
2 tablespoons (plus) brown sugar

Directions:

Wash and dry grapes. In a large bowl, mix together the cream cheese, sour cream, sugar and vanilla. Add grapes and mix until evenly incorporated. Sprinkle with brown sugar and pecans. Refrigerate until serving.

Glazed Cherry Cookie Strips

Ingredients:

Cookies:

1/4 c. packed brown sugar
2 T. shortening
2 T. butter
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 egg yolk
1 1/2 c. Original Bisquick mix
1/3 c. cherry preserves (or substitute your favorite preserves)

Glaze:

1/2 c. powdered sugar
1 to 2 tsp. milk

Directions:

Heat oven to 350 degrees. In medium bowl, stir together brown sugar, shortening butter, vanilla and egg yolk. Stir in Bisquick until well blended.

Divide dough into 4 equal parts. On ungreased cookie sheet, shape each part into 8x1-inch strip crosswise. Using handle of a wooden spoon, make a slight indentation lengthwise in each strip. Fill each strip with about 1 1/2 T. preserves.

Bake 12 to 14 minutes or until edges are light brown. Cool slightly on cookie sheet.

Meanwhile, in small bowl, mix glaze ingredients until smooth and thin enough to drizzle. Drizzle glaze over cookies. Cut diagonally into 1-inch strips.

Makes 32 cookies.

Vinegar Candy

At our family Thanksgiving, my mom and her siblings talked about the vinegar candy their dad would make. I thought I'd put it here.

Ingredients:

3 parts sugar
2 parts vinegar
1 part water

Directions:

Cook until it reaches the hard crack stage (when the mixture is tried in cold water, it becomes brittle). Pour into a well buttered pan and allow to cool (if it's winter, place it in the snow!). When it's cold, break into pieces.

*I'm not sure if this is how it's made (the directions) for sure, but it's what I seemed to remember. If I'm wrong, please let me know!