Aunt Diane's Baked Beans

2 cans (15 oz.) pork and beans
1/2 lb. bacon (cooked and crumbled)
3/4 C. brown sugar
1/2 C. catsup
Dried minced onions, to taste
2 Tsp. Worcestershire sauce

Mix all of the above ingredients in your casserole dish or crock pot. The secret of these baked beans tasting so good is letting them sit in your refrigerator, uncooked, the night before you serve them to marinate. Then, let them cook in your crock pot on low for most of the day. YUM! These can also be done in a casserole dish and baked at 325 for 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

Source:  Diane Earl

Aunt Diane's Lasagna

Diane Earl’s Lasagna

1 lb. hamburger
3 sweet Italian sausages
1 tsp. basil
1 tsp. oregano
½ tsp. garlic powder
1 sm. can tomato paste

water measured in can (½ to ¾ of can filled with water)

1 can stewed tomatoes
1 pkg. Lasagna noodles
1 carton ricotta cheese
Mozzarella cheese
Parmesan cheese

Brown hamburger & sausage. Add rest of ingredients. Simmer. Boil pkg. of lasagna noodles. Rinse noodles & drain well. Layer a 9 x 13 dish with noodles, meat mixture then ½ carton on ricotta cheese. Sprinkle with grated mozzarella cheese. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese. Repeat layers.

Bake 350 degrees for 25 minutes.

Aunt Diane's Pot Roast

Diane Earl's Pot Roast

This is how my mom learned to make pot roast from her grandmother, Madeleiene Swanner.

Ingredients:

1 - 7 bone pot roast (it doesn't taste as good without using this cut of meat.  The bones add a lot of flavor.)

1 can consomme soup

1 onion - cut up

olive oil

Seasonings:  salt, pepper, garlic salt, Spike (all purpose seasoning)

carrots - cut up

potatoes - cut up

Directions:

Season the pot roast well on both sides.  Brown the pot roast in olive oil and cut up onions on both sides.  After done browning, turn down electric skillet to a very low temperature (simmer).  Add 1 can of consomme soup and cover.  Let cook all day on the very low temperature.  This will make it fall apart tender.  Add water, if needed, during the day if cooking liquid gets low.  About 30 - 45 minutes before serving, put carrots and potatoes around roast.  Sprinkle vegetables with Spike and salt & pepper.  Cook vegetables in juices.  Enjoy!

Aunt Diane's Christmas Cheese Ring

My mom has made this pastry cheese ring for Christmas morning since I was in about 2nd grade. She got the recipe from her friend, Ann Flemming. It has always been a favorite of ours.

CHEESE RING RECIPE

1/2 C milk
1/2 C sugar
1 tsp. salt
l cube butter or margarine
1/2 C warm water
2 pkgs. yeast
2 eggs beaten
4 1/2 to 5 C flour

Scald milk, stir in sugar, salt and butter. Cool to lukewarm. Measure warm water into large bowl. Sprinkle in yeast; stir until dissolved. Stir in lukewarm milk mixture, beaten eggs and l C. flour. Beat until smooth. Add enough additional flour to make a soft dough. Turn onto a lightly floured board. Knead until smooth and elastic about 8 min.
(I use my Kitchen Aid machine.) Place in greased bowl turning to grease top. Cover and let rise in warm place, free from draft, until double in bulk (about 1 hour.) (I put mine in my oven that I have slightly heated and turned back off.) Punch down and let rise again until almost doubled, about 30 min. Turn dough onto lightly floured board and divide for rings.

Cheese Filling

2 8 oz. pkgs cream cheese
1/2 C. sugar
6 T. flour
2 egg yolks
1 tsp grated lemon peel (optional)
2 T. lemon juice

While dough is rising, soften cream cheese. Add sugar, beating until light and fluffy. Stir in flour, egg yolk, lemon peel and lemon juice. Roll dough into three equal rectangles. Spread filling over 2/3 of surface.

Overlap to center making a roll. Join ends in a circle. Make cuts from outside edge 2/3 of the way to the center edge. Turn each section over on its side.

Bake in 350 degree oven until nicely browned (about 25 minutes.) Then cool and glaze with powdered sugar and water mixture.

Aunt Diane said: "It is so delicious! The family just loves this. I've been making it for years."

Recipe - Pizza Dough

My mom is a really good cook. A favorite in our family is her homemade pizza. She has a good recipe for her crust. She makes a thin crust and it does turn out crispy (something that is difficult to achieve in the home oven).

So here it is!

Aunt Diane's Pizza Dough

3 cups flour
1 pkg. yeast
1 1/4 cups warm water
2 T. sugar
2 T. shortening (I use olive oil)
1 tsp. salt

Dissolve yeast in water. Add sugar, salt and oil. I then put it in my Kitchen Aid and add the 3 cups of flour gradually. After mixing it in the Kitchen Aid, I put it in a greased bowl and cover it with a dish towel.

I let it rise for at least one hour, (sometimes it takes a little longer.) Half way through the rising, I punch it down and let it start rising again. I make sure that it gets to the top of the bowl.

I divide it in half so I can make two pizzas with the dough.