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This is a staple on my Christmas cookie tray, but occasionally I make them at other times of the year. They are easy to put together and don't take long to bake. Plus they are a favorite at potlucks. My friend ate 4 during the coffee hour after worship this past Sunday! NUTTY DATE SQUARES 1/4 cup butter 3/4 cup sugar 1 egg 1 2/3 cups Bisquick 1 cup chopped dates 1/2 cup chopped nuts (I use pecans) Powdered sugar (optional -- I don't use this because I don't like the sugar falling on my clothing) Preheat oven to 350. Mix butter, sugar and egg thoroughly. Stir in Bisquick, dates and nuts. Spread in a greased and floured 9-by-9-inch pan or baking dish. Bake for 25-30 minutes. Cool. Cut into 1 1/2 inch pieces. Roll in powdered sugar, if desired.

Served with bacon, these filling pancakes were a comforting breakfast-for-dinner on a cold, snowy winter night. I took a photo of this one because I thought it kinda looked like ... something ... maybe a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle, Princess Leia or Nancy from the old comic strip. But instead of selling it on eBay, we ate it. SPICY PUMPKIN PANCAKES 2 1/3   cups Original Bisquick® mix 1/3   cup canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix) 1 1/4   cups milk ...

Today I share more recipes from my pal, Karen Bright, Nutrition Outreach Instructor for WVU Extension Service in Preston County. If you want to save money and cut preservatives out of your food, try these from-scratch mixes. I have used the homemade Bisquick for biscuits and pancakes and it works just like the store-bought mix. I have also used the cream-of-whatever soup mix in casserole recipes. BAKING MIX Use this homemade mix in any recipe calling for Bisquick or other commercial baking mixes. 8 cups flour 1 1/4 cups nonfat dry milk powder 1/4 cup baking powder 1 tablespoon salt 2 cups shortening or 1 cup canola oil Combine flour, milk, baking powder and salt in a very large bowl. Cut in shortening until it resembles coarse corn meal. Store in tightly covered container in the refrigerator. CREAM-OF-WHATEVER SOUP MIX 2 cups powdered nonfat milk 3/4 cup cornstarch 1/4 cup instant chicken boullion (can also use powdered vegetable stock if you can find it) 2 tablespoons dried onion fla...

Even good cooks can still learn something. I'm getting a little bored in the kitchen and I need to find some new favorite recipes to add to my repertoire. So on Tuesday I'm going to attend FREE cooking classes from 10:30-noon at the WVU Extension Service Preston County office behind the courthouse in Kingwood. That is if the instructor will have me -- The introductory class started last week. You can join me. I'm going to call ahead to make sure she has room for me and you should too. The number is (304) 329-1391. I've taken Karen's classes before. She is the Nutrition Outreach Instructor in the Family Nutrition Program. Her lessons are hands-on, money-saving and healthy. She amasses ingredients, assigns recipes and the students spend the class time preparing them. At the end, everybody eats. And they take home copies of the recipes and sometimes prizes. In past classes, I have cooked something featuring ingredients from every state. But this series of classes takes...

Chef Harv died before I got to make his acquaintance. Harvey Christie could've gone quite far, but was just getting companies and concepts off the ground when he crashed his van in December 2006 and died. He had founded a gourmet company in the Eastern Panhandle that served The Greenbrier Resort among others. But his most intriguing concept was a company that handled the overhead for people who wanted to make and package their own products to sell. For example, let's say I had what I thought was a great recipe for Granny's apple butter but opening a commercial kitchen and getting the proper permits was too overwhelming. I could call Harvey Christie's Gourmet Central, take my apples and spices to their kitchen and use their equipment to prepare, package and even label my product before marketing it. Harv's wife and partner are still running it last I heard. What got me thinking about Chef Harv? I caught a 15-minute cooking show he hosted on our local public televisio...

I abhor Hardee's fast-food restaurants. The grease in their food -- even the salads -- is not the only thing that makes me queasy. They concoct the most unhealthful sandwiches -- huge slabs of meat with more meat as toppings. Disgusting. However, every now and then, I crave their cinnamon-raisin biscuits. That happened early one morning back when I was helping on my mom's paper route. I went through the drive-thru. Some employees smoking outside told me that they don't open till 6. It was 5:55 -- you have got to be kidding me. I laid rubber to get home and look up a comparable recipe to do it myself. Who needs Hardee's? I found this online and this morning I finally made it after saving it all that time. The craving had apparently passed. I have been trying to make myself an easy little comfort food homemade treat on Friday mornings just because. This was today's. I think if I make it again I would cut back on the sugar a little. And instead of making drop biscuits,...