My dad said that the bakery in his hometown of Bluffton, Ohio had the most amazing sausage rolls when he was growing up. I have yet to find a recipe like what he described, so I invented my own. I've named them woof rolls for obvious reasons--any type of meat or cheese brings our two dogs, Stormie and Colum, running to the kitchen. In any case, here's the recipe I came up with. Enjoy!

Stormie and Colum's Woof Rolls
(Sausage and Cheese Rolls)
Serves 8

16 oz of ground sausage
16 crescent rolls (2 pkgs)
8 oz pkg of shredded cheddar

Brown ground sausage; drain well. On a cookie sheet, arrange flattened crescent rolls. Press shredded cheese into dough; top with ground sausage. Roll tightly. If desired, press a small amount of cheese on top of the crescent roll. Bake for approximately 10 minutes at 375 until golden brown.

This is the classic cut-out Christmas cookie recipe we used when I was a child (although the recipe could easily be used year-round). The recipe was called "Ethel's Sugar Cookies (N. N. S.)"--to this day, I'm not sure who Ethel is, and I'm not even sure what N. N. S. stands for (although, knowing the preschool my mom taught at in the early 1980s in Mundelein, IL, I think it probably stood for Nazarene Nursery School.) I'm listing the original recipe as it was, but regular flour could easily be substituted for gluten-free flour.

Ethel's Sugar Cookies

3/4 cup of shortening, part butter
1 cup of sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups of flour
1 teaspoon of baking powder
1 teaspoon of salt

Chill dough for 1 hour. Roll out and put on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 400 degrees for 6-8 minutes. Makes approximately 1 dozen cookies.

My mother would often make this pie in the summertime following our trips to the nearby strawberry patches in southwest Ohio where I grew up. It was always a delightful end to warm summer days:

Strawberry Pie

9" pie shell, baked according to directions
1 qt of strawberries cleaned and put in pie shell, points side up.

Set aside. Then, mix the following ingredients together:

1 cup of sugar
1 cup of water
3 Tbsp of cornstarch
3 Tbsp of strawberry jello mix

Boil this mixture for 1 minute in sauce pan. Cool and refrigerate gel before pouring over strawberries in pie shell. Refrigerate; top with cool whip before serving.

A Note From Bethany...
You can use an 8" pie shell with 1 pint of strawberries to make a smaller pie.

My mother used to make these cookies around Christmas time when I was growing up. They taste like holidays to me in fact, even decades later. You'll notice that the recipe is very easy to make and calls for very few ingredients, hence the "easy" in their title. However, although the recipe mentions either chocolate or cherry cake mix, I've never had them with chocolate as my mother always used cherry growing up and this is what I remember. I cannot vouch for how they would turn out with chocolate cake mix.

Easy Yum-Yum Cookies
Makes 3-4 doz.

1 egg
2 cups of cool whip
1 box of cherry (or chocolate) cake mix
1 tsp of vanilla
Powdered sugar

Mix egg, cool whip, cake mix, and vanilla extract by hand. (Dough will be stiff). Drop by teaspoon in powdered sugar, then on greased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes.

This is the second time I have heard of Peanut Butter Pie in my family. My Aunt Chris on my mother's side makes one that we often eat at Thanksgiving and family gatherings and with which I am familiar. But yesterday, I found a pie recipe when I was preparing my post on zucchini bread that I'd like to share. Not surprisingly, it is a recipe from my grandfather, who was known for making dozens of pies by hand at holiday gatherings, most famously vanilla cake pie which was often playfully fought over by my dad and my cousins. This recipe, however, is for a pie that I don't remember him ever making.

Peanut Butter Pie

1 envelope of plain Knox gelatin
1/3 cup of peanut butter
1/2 cup of hot water
4 oz of cream cheese
8 oz of cool whip
1 cup powdered sugar
Graham cracker pie crust

Put 1 envelope of plain (Knox) gelatin into 1/2 cup of hot water. Let cool.

Cream together cream cheese, peanut butter, cool whip, and powdered sugar. Pour in gelatin and mix well. Pour into graham cracker pie crust shell. Let stand in fridge for 30 minutes or overnight.

This recipe is from my great aunt, Mary Clark, my grandmother Joan (Clark) Crites' sister-in-law.

Cherry Walnut Bars

2 cups of flour
1 cup of oleo (margarine)
1/2 cup of granulated sugar

Mix into fine crumbs, pat into 9 X 13 inch pan. Bake 12 minutes at 350 degrees. Take out of oven and spread the following mixture on top:

1 1/2 cup of brown sugar
1/4 cup of flour
1/2 teaspoon of baking powder
1 cup of chopped English walnuts
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1/2 cup of maraschino cherries

Put into oven and bake 20 minutes at 350 degrees. Cool and top with frosting.

FROSTING:
2 1/2 cups of powdered sugar
2 1/2 Tbsp of oleo (margarine)
4 Tbsp of cherry juice
Enough water to spread nicely

This recipe from my grandfather was found in the St. John's UCC Bluffton cookbook. It is a recipe I've never heard my family mention, nor do I remember:

Sweet Potato Soufflé

3 cup mashed sweet potatoes
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
3 eggs, well beaten
3/4 stick of margarine
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup crushed pineapple, drained

Mix above together well and place in greased baking dish. Mix together and top with:

1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup flour (or gluten-free flour)
1 cup chopped pecans
1/2 stick of margarine

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

I made this cake for the Crites family's 263rd Anniversary Celebration, in honor of the day we landed in Philadelphia from Switzerland on the Snow Rowand. This recipe has been slightly modified and clarified from the one found in the cookbook of my paternal grandparents' home church, St. John's United Church of Christ. However, I substituted regular flour for rice flour and omitted the nuts; the result is the picture you see here. In addition, although the recipe doesn't call for icing or a powered sugar coating on top, this can easily be added to suit your tastes. It takes a little time to mix the ingredients together for this cake, but the result is delicious and well worth it!

Cinnamon Coffee Cake

1/2 cup shortening
3/4 cup of sugar
1 tsp of vanilla
3 eggs
2 cups of flour (or gluten-free flour)
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 pint sour cream
6 tbsp butter, softened
1 cup of brown sugar, firmly packed
2 tsp cinnamon
1 cup of walnuts (optional)

Cream shortening, sugar, and vanilla. Add eggs, singly, stirring well after each addition. Sift flour, baking powder, and baking soda together. Add sour cream and beat until well blended. Spread half of the batter in a 10-inch Bundt pan that has been greased and lined on the bottom with wax paper.

In a separate bowl, cream butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon together. (If desired, add walnuts and mix well.) Sprinkle this mixture evenly over the batter in the pan. Cover with remaining batter. Bake at 350 degrees for about 50 minutes or until done.

A Note From Bethany...
The wax paper can be omitted; just make sure that you grease the sides and bottom of the pan well!

If you don't have a Bundt pan, you can easily make this in a regular square 8 x 8 cake pan or two loaf pans.

This recipe from my mom dates back to at least 1978. It was one of my favorite desserts growing up. Down in the South it's called just Banana Pudding, but no matter. Check it out below!

Banana Boat Dessert

1 box of banana pudding
2 bananas
1/2 cup whipped cream
1 1/2 cups of small marshmallows
vanilla wafers

Prepare pudding per instructions. Chill. Fold in whipped cream and marshmallows. Line bottom and sides of 10 x 6 pan with wafers. Pour in half of pudding mixture. Cover with banana slices. Top with remaining pudding. Chill.

Ho-Ho Cake 

Prepare 1 box chocolate cake mix according to directions and bake in 9x13 inch baking dish. Set aside to cool.

Mix 5 tablespoons of flour with 1 1/4 cup milk. Cook over low heat until thickened. Cool.

Cream: 1 cup of sugar, 1 cup of Crisco, 1 stick of margarine. Add cooled milk mixture. Spread on cake. To frost, melt 3 ounces of Baker's chocolate with 1 stick of margarine and 2 1/2 tablespoons of water. Cool. Then add 1 egg, 1 teaspoon of vanilla and 2 cups of powdered sugar. Frost cake and refrigerate.

This recipe comes from my paternal grandparents' home church, St. John's United Church of Christ in Bluffton, OH. The recipe in the Ladies' Auxiliary cookbook is listed as from my great-grandmother, Della (Bushong) Clark, but my father says he only remembers Grandpa Crites making it, especially at family gatherings.

Vanilla Cake Pie
Serves 6

1 cup sugar
1 Tbsp flour
1/4 tsp salt
2 Tbsp oleo (margarine)
2 eggs, separated
1 Tbsp vanilla
2 Tbsp cold water
1 cup milk

Beat egg whites until stiff. Set aside.  Combine egg yolks with other ingredients.  Fold in egg whites.  Pour into unbaked pie shell (9 inch).  Bake at 350 degrees approximately 30 minutes or until firm.