Potato Cream Cheese Soup 4 cups shredded hashbrowns 4 cups chicken broth ½ cup shredded carrots 1 bay leaf ¼ cup minced onion 1 tsp seasoned salt ½ tsp pepper

Simmer for 15 to 20 minutes. Remove the bay leaf. Stir in 8 oz cream cheese until melted.

Glenda’s & Cheryl’s Favorite Chicken Noodle Soup 4 cups cooked chicken, diced 1 cup chopped celery 1 cup chopped onion ¼ cup butter or margarine 12 cups water 1 cup diced carrot 3 T chicken flavor instant bouillon ½ tsp marjoram leaves ¼ to ½ tsp pepper 1 bay leaf ½ of a (12 oz) pkg medium egg noodles 1 T chopped parsley

In a large Dutch oven, cook celery and onion in butter until tender. Add remaining ingredients except noodles and parsley. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer covered 30 minutes. Remove bay leaf; Add noodles and parsley. Cook 10 minutes longer or until noodles are tender, stirring occasionally. Makes 4 quarts.

Glenda’s Coffee Cake / Yeast Roll Dough (the crescent rolls) 1 cup milk, scalded ¼ cup sugar 1 tsp salt ¼ cup Parkay margarine ¼ cup lukewarm water 1 pkg active dry yeast 1 egg, beaten 4 cups sifted flour (about) Pour 1 cup milk into sauce pan and heat to the scalding point. Turn off heat. Stir in the sugar, salt and margarine. Set the mixture aside to cool to lukewarm.

While the milk cools, put ¼ cup warm, not hot, water into the mixing bowl. Sprinkle a package of dry yeast into the warm water. Stir until dissolved.

When the milk has cooled to lukewarm, add it to the dissolved yeast. Stir in 1 egg, beaten. Stir in half of the flour. Beat or mix until smooth. Add the remainder of the flour. (You may have to use a little less or a little more flour in order to make a dough that has a rough dull appearance and will be a bit sticky to handle.) Turn the dough out on a lightly floured breadboard and knead for 8 to 10 minutes. Place the dough in a greased bowl, cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled in 10 minutes. Place the dough in a greased bowl, cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk. Punch dough down and shape for coffee cake or rolls. Cover with a towel and let rise in a warm place for a final time, about 45 minutes. Bake at 350° until nicely browned. (Notes: I usually double this recipe to make 3 coffee cakes)

Springy, Fluffy Marshmallows http://smittenkitchen.com/2009/06/springy-fluffy-marshmallows/ Adapted from Gourmet, December 1998

These homemade marshmallows are not only easy to make, they set as perfectly as promised: puffed and lightweight, bouncing off one another as I tossed them in the container. Even better, they toasted like a campfire charm speared on the end of a skewer, and s’mooshed between two graham crackers with a square of chocolate.

Makes about 96 1-inch cubed marshmallows

About 1 cup confectioners’ sugar 3 1/2 envelopes (2 tablespoons plus 2 1/2 teaspoons) unflavored gelatin 1 cup cold water, divided 2 cups granulated sugar (cane sugar worked just fine) 1/2 cup light corn syrup 1/4 teaspoon salt 2 large egg whites or reconstituted powdered egg whites 1 tablespoon vanilla (alternately: 1/2 of a scraped vanilla bean, 2 teaspoons almond or mint extract or maybe even some food coloring for tinting)

Oil bottom and sides of a 13- by 9- by 2-inch rectangular metal baking pan and dust bottom and sides with some confectioners’ sugar.

In bowl of a standing electric mixer or in a large bowl sprinkle gelatin over 1/2 cup cold cold water, and let stand to soften.

In a 3-quart heavy saucepan cook granulated sugar, corn syrup, second 1/2 cup of cold water, and salt over low heat, stirring with a wooden spoon, until sugar is dissolved. Increase heat to moderate and boil mixture, without stirring, until a candy or digital thermometer registers 240°F, about 12 minutes. Remove pan from heat and pour sugar mixture over gelatin mixture, stirring until gelatin is dissolved.

With standing or a hand-held electric mixer beat mixture on high speed until white, thick, and nearly tripled in volume, about six minutes if using standing mixer or about 10 minutes if using hand-held mixer. (Some reviewers felt this took even longer with a hand mixer, but still eventually whipped up nicely.)

In separate medium bowl with cleaned beaters beat egg whites (or reconstituted powdered whites) until they just hold stiff peaks. Beat whites and vanilla (or your choice of flavoring) into sugar mixture until just combined. Pour mixture into baking pan and don’t fret if you don’t get it all out (learning from my mess of a first round). Sift 1/4 cup confectioners sugar evenly over top. Chill marshmallow, uncovered, until firm, at least three hours, and up to one day.

Run a thin knife around edges of pan and invert pan onto a large cutting board. Lifting up one corner of inverted pan, with fingers loosen marshmallow and ease onto cutting board. With a large knife trim edges of marshmallow and cut marshmallow into roughly one-inch cubes. (An oiled pizza cutter works well here too.) Sift remaining confectioners’ sugar back into your now-empty baking pan, and roll the marshmallows through it, on all six sides, before shaking off the excess and packing them away.

Do ahead: Marshmallows keep in an airtight container at cool room temperature 1 week.

Aunt Lillian’s Animal Cookies 1 cup butter 2 cups sugar 4 eggs 2 Tablespoons cream 4 cups flour 1/8 teaspoon salt 4 teaspoons baking powder 1 teaspoon vanilla

Cream together butter and sugar. Add eggs and cream. Sift together dry ingredients and add to mixture. Add vanilla and mix. Place in refrigerator to chill dough. Roll out dough and make cookies. Bake at 350 degrees.

These are a favorite at Christmas, but Mom bakes them for Valentine’s Day, Easter and Halloween, too. She decorates them with powdered sugar icing and always makes a special “personalized” cookie for each of her grandchildren.) Glenda

Cinnamon roll recipe http://bluewillowpantry.wordpress.com/sweet-bread-pastries The crescent roll recipe from above is on this page.