Handwritten Recipes for Christmas

I'm always up for hearing Christmas gift ideas early, and get a head start every year--so I thought I would share what I did for my HUGE family last year, when we were on a tight budget.  It turned out so special, and there wasn't a dry eye in the Christmas gathering.

My Mom loved to cook for her family.  She wasn't the kind of cook that, if she would have had a blog, all her recipes would be re-pinned 500,000 times.  But to her family, her food was the kind that we could eat 500,000 times and it would never get old.  Her food tasted like growing up in our home; like the sanctuary of loved ones after a long workday; like the kitchen radio playing softly in the background, and laughing together around the table, long after the plates had been licked clean.

Last year, I tearfully went through hers and Grandma's cookbooks and found so many of our treasured dishes written in their own hand.  Handwritten recipes are so precious.  Especially the ones dating as far back as the late 1800s, like my Grandma's (Dad's Mom) pie crust and Mom's homemade tortillas (her Mom's recipe)--all in their familiar penmanship.  Some of them had humorous cooking notes, which makes me make such notes on MY recipes when I fill out my cards.

Last year, I was at a loss for my huge family's Christmas gifts (especially on a slim-to-no budget).  So I decided to photocopy all of Mom and Grandma's handwritten recipes and give those as gifts.  I simply photocopied them, printed them on multi-colored cardstock, and tied them with ribbon into bunches.  Even including a bit for the printer ink, I spent approximately $30-40 for this project, and it covered 22+ people for Christmas.

I'm so happy that my Mom and Grandma did this, and that I can pass these down to my girls. You could even go so far as to interview family members about their favorite family recipes, and include those on the backs of the cards.  If you have a Dad who is the family cook, encourage him to write his favorites down, too!  Things like this will be treasured for generations, and make extra special Christmas gifts.

Stuffed Peppers (Yub Nub Style)

Everyone knows that whatever you do not have leftovers of is a keeper-recipe.  This was true for my whack at stuffed peppers, inspired by Italian taste and whatever I had on hand at the time.  Since we loved it so much, I had to share it...

Italian Stuffed Peppers
Ingredients (some approximate):
1 lbs. of ground beef
1/4 cup green bell pepper, chopped
1/4 cup onion, chopped
1/2 cup black olives, chopped
1 cup of mushrooms, sliced
1 14.5 oz. can of diced tomatoes
Garlic powder, to taste
6-8 fresh basil leaves, torn
1/2 cup of Velveeta
4 large green bell peppers (or probably 6 small peppers)
3/4 - 1 cup of Colby jack cheese, grated

Brown the ground beef and drain.  Add chopped bell pepper and onion, sauté until soft and translucent.  Add olives, mushrooms and canned tomatoes.  Add garlic powder and basil and stir.  Remove from heat and stir in Velveeta until melted.  Cut around the top of your bell peppers and discard the "lid". Cut out the spines and rinse out the seeds.  Generously stuff your peppers with meat mixture, and top with Colby jack cheese, stuffing it in a little to create a cheesy, gooey trap.  Place on ungreased cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes or until stuffing is bubbly and cheese is melted and browned.
Makes 4 large, generously stuffed peppers (with some leftover stuffing).

Notes:

• These were Italian-inspired and I wanted to make a red sauce from the diced tomatoes, but added them straight from the can since our blender was out of commission.
• We don't like to remove the fresh basil from any of our dishes, but if you find that icky, chopping it fine or using dried basil would be good, too.
• Velveeta and Colby jack cheeses were all I had on hand, but a more Italian-ish stuffed pepper would have mozzarella or provolone.
• I would have loved to have had carrots or spinach on hand--grating the carrots fine and sprinkling in some spinach would have been a stealthy dare to healthy fare!

Yumminess and that last brilliant cheesy line brought to you by, Jen.  You're welcome.