A word from the Chef:

“Mom’s turkey and gravy was exceptional. If you’re looking for a little holiday meal inspiration, this could be it.”

Turkey ingredients

• 1 large turkey with giblets and neck reserved
• 1 Cup of flour
• Salt & pepper to taste
• 1 stick of margarine
• 2 tart apples
• 2 12oz cans of chicken broth

Instruction

1. Follow turkey cooking time and heating instructions on turkey package to insure maximum food safety
2. Wash turkey with salt including the neck and giblets.
3. In bowl add 1 cup flour, salt and pepper.
4. Melt 1 stick margarine and brush the whole turkey with it.
5. Sprinkle flour mixture all over turkey.  Rub it in with hands.
6. Put 2 apples inside turkey.
7. Continue to baste turkey with throughout cook time with chicken broth.  ( approx. 2 cans but more or less may be needed)

Mom’s Gravy Ingredients

• Turkey pan drippings
• 1 1/2 Cups all-purpose flour
• 2 12oz cans of chicken broth
• 1 Cup water
• 1/2 Cup soy sauce

Mom’s Gravy Instructions

1. Place turkey pan on 2 burners.
2. In bowl add 1/2 – 1 cup flour with chicken broth and water until it reaches a soupy consistence.  ( don’t worry about lumps)
3. Add soy sauce to turkey pan and cook on low.
4. Add flour mixture slowly and combine thoroughly (add more or less flour to get your desired gravy consistency)
5. Strain gravy and serve.

Ingredients

• 5 medium sweet potatoes, scrubbed
• 4 bananas, unpeeled
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1/2 tsp Kosher salt
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup dark brown sugar
• 1 1/2 cups pecans, chopped

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
2. Prick the sweet potatoes all over with a fork, put them in a roasting pan and roast for 30 minutes.
3. Toss the bananas into the pan and continue roasting for 10 to 15 minutes, until both the bananas and potatoes are very soft.
4. Remove the pan from the oven but don’t turn the oven off.
5. When the potatoes are cool enough to handle, scoop out the flesh into a large mixing bowl.
6. Peel the bananas and add them to the bowl along with 1 stick of the butter, and the honey.
7. Season with salt and beat vigorously with a wooden spoon until everything’s well combined and the mixture is fluffy.
8. Spoon into an oven-proof serving bowl and smooth the top.In a separate mixing bowl, use your fingers to rub together the remaining stick of butter, the brown sugar, flour, and pecans until the mixture is the consistency of coarse crumbs. Sprinkle the crumb mixture over the sweet potatoes and return to the oven. Cook for about 20 minutes, until the crumbs are golden. Serve hot.

Mary Belle, Malt-O-Meal Family Facebook Member

This delicious recipe was submitted by Malt-O-Meal Family Facebook  Member Mary-Belle Simmons
“Wife to one. Mom to nine and counting.” Would you like to contribute your favorite Holiday recipe? Go to: www.facebook.com/MaltOMealFanPage  and become a Facebook  fan for details!

A note from the Chef:

“This one will be easy for people who want to impress friends & family! Even if they don’t usually have the most impressive cooking skills. Enjoy!” – Johnathan

Ingredients

• One half pound sausage. (I recommend extra sage or spicy)
• One can of crescent-shaped rolls

Instructions

1. Unroll the crescent rolls. Ignore the perforations, as you will not be baking whole rolls. If you can find one of the roll varieties without perforations, lucky you! If not, ignore them or mash them together to form one long sheet.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Very lightly spray a cookie sheet.
3. Spread half a pound of sausage onto the sheet of  crescent roll. Make it thin.
4. Roll up the sheet, and chill for half an hour in wax paper in the fridge. Using a wet knife, cut into cookie-sized disks.
5. Place on cookie sheet with room for expansion, an inch and a half or so between each pinwheel.
6. Cook for about ten minutes, or until the dough is golden brown. Do not let it burn on the bottom! Check it with paranoia.
7. Let cool slightly, then remove from pan and serve warm.

Preparation Hint: It’s easier to work with the dough when it is cold.

This lovingly, rich and vibrant post was brought to us by Shal at Jasmine & Ginger. She is a daughter, mother and great blogger who is sharing a look at her life with us from her home in Hong Kong, China. Enjoy! -MPGodfrey, Team Malt-O-Meal

_________________________________________________

My mother is a heavyweight mother. By this I mean she’s always been there – one eye on us, one eye on the pot bubbling on the cooker. She was a stay-at-home mum for most of my childhood, with a brief spell as a working mother when I was a ‘tween’. She cooked 98% of meals in our home and did most of the household chores, though as soon as my brother and I were old enough, she roped us into this task. She was the ‘bad’ cop, the one who shouted, who doled out the punishments, and the one who chased us round the dining-room table to tickle us and cuddle us.

My mother and my son.

I’m sure by today’s standards her methods of discipline would be severely frowned on, and in some places, no doubt, she would have been locked up for child cruelty. But this was back in the 80s and 90s, in Hong Kong – a place where people still smack their children’s bottom in public without people batting an eyelid. (more…)

I spend a part of each day reading blogs written by people who share the amazing stories of their lives with us. Sometimes the blog entries relate to Malt-O-Meal cereal directly, and sometimes not so directly. No matter how they fit in, the stories and posts featured on this blog are often as educational as they are heart-warming. One such story comes to us from a family who recently endured the lengthy process of child adoption from outside the US.

About a year ago, the Henderson’s returned from Russia with two VERY tiny, new additions to their family in-tow. Many of us know what a challenge it can be to get our picky eaters to finish what we put on their plates. This family had an entirely different version of the “picky-eater” challenge ahead of them with trying to feed two children who were severely underweight, undersized, and unfamiliar with Western food.

I must further preface this story for the readers who don’t already know that Malt-O-Meal Hot Wheat® tastes really good when prepared using the recipe on the box. Increasing the caloric content usually isn’t necessary to get adequate nutrition and flavor benefits. It’s fortified with vitamins and minerals including iron and has been approved by WIC program dietitians and kid nutrition experts in 33 States. (However, I still add a serving fruit to mine, but I’m a somewhat of a rebel.)

This blog entry from www.clutteredpantry.com was written by Mr. Henderson about 7 months ago:

” It’s been 5 months since we brought home our two new, adorable, tiny daughters from eastern Siberia. We’re so unbelievably happy to have them in our lives, and we’re even more happy that these two sisters get to stay together. That day in October, when we finally began our 18 hours of air travel home with them, they were happy, but quite small (hardly on the US growth charts) and, as they only spoke Russian, difficult to anticipate with regard to what they’d be able, or willing, to eat. Once we got home to Chicago we kind of looked at each other, looked at them, and considered how we’d reach our goals for helping them to pack on healthy weight just as quickly as possible. (more…)