This is a sweet, but not overly sweet shortcake. It makes a great base for strawberries or other favorite berries. While we often use whipped cream with this, vanilla ice cream also works well.
Strawberry Shortcake
Elephant Ears
I learned how to make elephant ears in high school cooking class. But I never made them again until after we went to the fair in 2009.
The kids all wanted elephant ears and we were on a tight budget. I told them that we could make elephant ears at home. So we researched recipes and made them.
We often make them after the fair now.
Gravy (and Biscuits)
This is a family favorite recipe. It is a very adaptable. Add cheese to the gravy if desired, adjust the amount of onions, use different seasonings if you wish. We usually enjoy it as written.
Use your favorite biscuit recipe, but we prefer it with large buttermilk biscuits. Since this is a heavy meal, a simple fruit salad served alongside is wonderful.
Buttermilk Biscuits
These are super easy biscuits to make. I often start the dough ahead of time and place it in the refrigerator. Then I pull it out and finish it just before I want to bake the biscuits.
These are our favorite biscuits to serve with gravy.
Sugar Cookies
This is our favorite sugar cookie recipe. It is a flat, crisp cookie that is great for decorating. We usually use lemon extract (or 1/2 tsp lemon peel), but almond extract is good in these cookies also.
Graham Crackers
When we were overseas, we could not find graham crackers. We found a lot of other really good cookies and crackers, but sometimes I just wanted a graham cracker to dunk in milk or a good base for a s’more.
Cutting into long thin rectangles, and then baking the crackers until crisp, we often used these for when the children were teething. As they grew older, we cut them into small animal shapes for “animal crackers”. They also enjoyed these cut into large hearts and stars with shaped cut out from the middle.
The recipe makes a lot, but if stored in a cool dry place, they last for weeks. Unless your family enjoys them as much as mine, then the crackers only last a short while.
Two Bite Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Cookies
One of the first recipes that Andrea “invented” on her own. She wanted chocolate chip cookies and Audrey wanted peanut butter, so she experimented and came up with these.
Shmooey On Toast
I do not remember ever having biscuits and gravy growing up. However, my parents would make us “Shmooey on Toast”. It is the same idea as creamed chipped beef on toast–S.O.S. as soldiers called it according to my dad– but without the chipped beef. A little research and I learned if you use a chopped hard boiled egg, it is called Eggs à la Goldenrod.
I asked Dad where the name “Shmooey” came from. He said that shmooey sounded a lot better than “S.O.S”. With a little more research, I discovered why my parents swapped names for us kids. I agree… shmooey is a lot more kid friendly!
Following is the recipe we always followed for Shmooey, along with some variations.
English Muffins
While overseas, we often could not get some of our favorite foods. Most of the time it did not matter, but occasionally we wanted comfort food from home. Not only are English muffins easy to make, but use ingredients that were found easily while we traveled.
They are good plain, but English muffins are much better toasted. They are good eaten in so many ways; with eggs and cheese, as hamburger rolls, smothered in butter, or as a base for peanut butter and jelly.
Biscochitos
Our friend Mike is from New Mexico. He thought this would be a good cookie to add to the girls’ baking portfolio. They are super easy to make and great with tea.