Gaiety Pastel Cookies

From: 100 Favorite Brand Name Recipes cookbook

Ingredients:
3 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) butter
1 cup sugar
1 package (4 serving size) Jello gelatin, any flavor
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
Additional Jello gelatin (same flavor)

Heat oven to 400 degrees.

Mix flour and baking powder in medium bowl. Beat butter in large bowl to soften. Gradually add sugar and 1 package gelatin, beating until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla. Gradually add flour mixture, beating well after each addition.

Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Place on an ungreased cookie sheet. Flatten with bottom of a glass. Sprinkle with additional gelatin.

Bake 10-12 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove from cookie sheets. Cool on wire racks. Store in tightly covered container.

Verdict:
Thumbs up! These are incredibly easy and fast to make. They are really good! The Jello cooking on top gives a little zing to the cookies. I also like that you can make any flavor you want. I made fruit punch. Yum!

Boston Cream Pie

From: 100 Favorite Brand Name Recipes cookbook

Ingredients:
1/3 cup shortening
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups AP flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup milk

Rich Filling:
1/3 cup sugar
2 Tbsp cornstarch
1 1/2 cups milk
2 egg yolks, slightly beaten
1 Tbsp butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
Stir together sugar and cornstarch in medium saucepan; gradually add milk and egg yolks, stirring until blended. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture comes to a boil. Boil 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat; stir in butter and vanilla. Cover; refrigerate several hours or until cold.

Dark Cocoa Glaze:
3 Tbsp water
2 Tbsp butter
3 Tbsp cocoa powder
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Heat water and butter in small saucepan over medium heat until mixture comes to a boil; remove from heat. Immediately stir in cocoa. Gradually add powdered sugar and vanilla, beating with whisk until smooth and of desired consistency; cool slightly.

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour 9-inch round baking pan.

Beat shortening, sugar, eggs and vanilla in large bowl until fluffy. Stir together flour, baking powder and salt; add alternately with milk to shortening mixture, beating well after each addition. Pour batter into prepared pan.

Bake 30-35 minutes or until done. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pan to wire rack. Cool completely.

Prepare rich filling. With long knife, cut cake in half horizontally. Place one layer, cut side up, on serving plate; spread with prepared filling. Top with remaining layer, cut side down. Prepare dark cocoa glaze; spread over cake, allowing glaze to run down sides. Refrigerate several hours or until cold. Garnish as desired. Refrigerate leftover pie.

 
Verdict:
Thumbs up! Okay, there is no way around it. This is a messy, falling-apart kind of cake. But trust me - it tasted delicious! I don't think I'd ever had Boston Cream Pie before and this was awesome. I'll make this again in the future!

Boxcar Children Stew

From: Divine Hostess

If you read my personal blog you know that our family just finished reading the first book in The Boxcar Children series. We really enjoyed it, and then I found this recipe for the stew that the children make. I knew I had to try this out! My kids begged me to make it and then didn't even try it! (Actually I do think my 3-year old ate the carrots). But my husband ate it and told me he would rather I make this recipe than any other stew beef recipe I've made. Wow! Okay... definitely a keeper! (Him AND the recipe!)

Ingredients:

• 4 stalks of celery minced
• 3 carrots roughly chopped
• 1.5 cups of potatoes in 1 inch cubes
• 2 to 3 vegetarian or chicken bouillon cubes (Veggie or chicken broth as substitute)
• Black Pepper
• Cumin
• 21 seasoning salute
• 2 TBSP chopped Parsley fresh or freeze dried
• 1/4 minced white onion
• 1 TBSP minced garlic
• 2 tsp olive oil
• 1 cup lentils (Can also be made with chicken breast pieces or steak. If meat is used, it will need to be added after step 1 and allowed to cook  a little while longer)

Place large dutch oven over medium high heat and brown 1 Tbsp garlic and minced onions in 1 tsp extra virgin olive oil for about 2 minutes.

Add bouillon cubes to water once it is boiling. Use 5 to 6 cups of water and appropriate cubes, or about 40oz of broth. Add celery, carrots and potatoes and stir. Add 1 tsp of all seasonings except parsley. Add 2 tbsp of parsley.

Lower heat to simmer. Since lentils only take about 20 minutes to cook add these about halfway through the process. Leave at a slow simmer for 30 to 45 minutes, or until carrots and potatoes are nice and tender. Top with a few sprigs of parsley or minced chives and serve with french baguette.

I did change a few things in the recipe based on what I had available:

I browned the garlic and onion in oil. For liquid, I added two cups of water, two cups of beef broth (I used bouillon cubes to make it) and then I poured some vegetable broth in. I didn't have any celery, so I just added the carrots, potatoes, and some venison tenderloin that I chopped up. I added a small amount of salt and pepper and garlic powder. I added the parsley as well. Then I just cooked until the meat was done. I think it took about 45 minutes to an hour.

Simple and very tasty!!