The End

Well, folks. After only five months, we’ve reached the end of the project.

Over 17 dozen eggs, 57 pounds of sugar, and too much cheese and butter to even think about were used to cook these 175 recipes of the Cross Family Cookbook.

My oven is in dire need of being cleaned. My dishwasher has been working overtime. And my freezer is bursting at the seams with breads, cookies, fudge and muffins that we haven’t eaten yet.

I’ve scanned the recipes from the book into this website. I’ve updated some recipes with comments after-the-fact (P.S.). I’ve printed the dozen or so recipes I absolutely LOVED that I may actually make once in awhile (everything with chili sauce!). And I have the Cross Family Cookbook for future reference.

I’m not planning to make further updates here UNLESS someone sends me another treasured Cross family recipe that didn’t get included in the cookbook. Grandma’s divinity? Popcorn balls? I sure have the memories, but not the recipes.

Also, you can still make a Comment on this website and/or send me an email to keep in touch.

Happy Eating,

Robin
robinmazna@hotmail.com

Simple Pork Chops

I made this final recipe for last night's dinner and was surprised by how good it was.

The only challenge was figuring out a McGuyveresque way to open the cans when my can opener broke.

I added some frozen green peas to this to add some color to the white pork and white butter beans.

Sour Cream Cookies

The last cookie recipe, and it involves flour and a rolling pin. I woke up early this morning and decided to get started.

I had to improvise because my baking supplies are low. I ran out of flour before the dough was the right consistency, so I used cornstarch as a stand-in. Conveniently, I had read on the label a few days prior that it can be used in place of flour as a thickener. Sweet. The batter still didn't get thick enough to 'handle,' but it was certainly thick enough to drop by spoonful on a baking sheet, so that's what I did. Into the oven for twelve minutes.

Ten minutes later, I noticed smoke coming from the oven. NO! NO! NO! I got the pan out of the oven and hurried upstairs to take the batteries out of that smoke detector so Andy didn't have a rude awakening this morning. WHEW!

The cookies looked fine once I removed the charred edges, and I baked the rest of the batter.

I frosted these with the frosting I have left from the Coffee Drop Cookies.

Saucy Steak Skillet

Except for making substitutions for the dried spices, I followed this recipe as writtern. An excellent dinner. We ate this from a bowl, and the meat was so tender I could cut it with my spoon.

Chewy Oatmeal Cookies

These are delicious.

Quick "N" Easy Chicken

I liked this as much as I liked the Chicken Drummies appetizer recipe Richard also submitted. I just wouldn't serve them at the same meal!

Tonight I used chicken breasts and the French dressing leftover from December.

B.G.'s Oatmeal Cookies

These very tasty cookies were fun to make. This recipe made three and a half dozen.

And they look adorable.

Barbe-qued Spareribs

The sauce was wonderful. I never knew I liked 'things with chili sauce' this much until I cooked from this cookbook.

Unfortunately, the meat I bought had a lot of gristle.

Oatmeal Crispies

This makes three dozen wonderful cookies.

I used raisins, but chocolate chips would have been great.

I always use the old fashioned oats, even when a recipe calls for quick-cooking oats, and it doesn't seem to matter.

I dropped these by spoonful immediately, rather than chilling overnight.

The cookie dough on its own was pretty darn good, too.

Baked Salmon "Ala Cross"

Everything was perfect!

Also, I noticed that four hours later the No-Bake Cookies has indeed set. I guess I didn't remember that it would take time. Now I feel bad that I threw out two attempts at the No Bake Chocolate Cookies. Maybe its for the best because I sure can eat a lot of them.

No-Bake Cookies

It wasn't meant to be! These no-bake cookies didn't set either. I've made them probably a hundred times in my life, so it's not the recipes, it's just today.

Grandma Tauer's Cooky Turnovers

No, this is not a picture of my finished "cooky." But it's what I had in mind when I started cooking.

I made the filling first. I was concerned that it would burn before it got thick, but when I added the walnuts it became thick enough.

Next, the dough. Before I added flour, it was very thin. I didn't think it would ever get to the right consistency. I added flour, more flour, more flour. I must have added three or more cups of flour before it got to the right consistency. I almost gave up and was going to make these in muffin tins, but the dough tasted like sugar cookie dough from when I was a kid so I thought I might be on the right track. I kept adding more flour, and eventually the dough became roll-able.

I didn't get these very thin, and I made them MUCH larger than this recipe intends. But I have five cazone-sized cookies that are good. It was easy to share one.

No Bake Chocolate Cookie

Well, this didn't have the happy ending I was counting on.

I tried making this recipe on Saturday. I had the sugar/milk/butter/cocoa mixture boiling when I realized I was out of coconut. GRR! I went ahead anyway to finish the cookies, sans coconut. But, insult to injury, they didn't set. So I tossed the whole batch into the food waste bin. Sad, but it didn't feel right without the coconut anyway.

I know I originally said 'no do-overs,' but I tried again this morning.

• Oats - check
• Coconut - check
• Nuts - check

I let the sugar/milk/butter/cocoa mixture come to a boil and let it boil for at least a minute. They still didn't set, even an hour later.

Very disappointing because I know these are good, and I hate wasting oatmeal and nuts. I'll be especially appreciative of the next no-bake recipe coming soon.

Chicken Parmesan

Another good chicken recipe.

I didn't realize until AFTERWARDS that I made the full recipe of crumb mixture, but only used a half portion of chicken (six thighs).

Waffles or Pancakes

I decided to make pancakes. I used whole wheat flour and omitted the oil. I used the whole egg - gotta get that Vitamin D from the yolk.

The batter was very thin, and I thought I had made an error or the recipe was wrong. I was going to add more flour, but then I took a look under Pancakes in another cookbook, and sure enough, it told me the batter for cornmeal pancakes would be very thin.

I made three large pancakes. They were very good, but we couldn't eat them all at once because they are so filling.

Better Than Mrs. Fields' Cookies

These were a great success. I took the suggestion 'the more things you put in, the better they taste' to heart and added the entire bag of peanut butter chips and a cup of M&Ms left over from a previous recipe.

I made BIG cookies, six to a baking sheet.

This recipe made just under three dozen AMAZING cookies.

Plain and Simple Chewies

When I saw that this was such a simple bar cookie, I couldn't NOT make it tonight. I'm sure the stain on the cookbook is from a long-ago episode of making Coffee Drop Cookies!

I did not dust the finished cookies with powdered sugar because I didn't think it would stick, and I didn't want to deal with the mess.

Chicken Ole'

Glad to have another casserole. I have a friend (also newly unemployed) who joined the Campbell's Soup recipe of the week mailing list and is having a blast. I guess comfort foods are back in demand these days.

This was easy - I tore up about two-thirds of the package of corn tortillas and spread over the bottom of the pan. I had boneless chicken breasts, so I cut them into chunks and put across the tortilla pieces. I covered with a layer of grated cheddar, and then I covered it all with a sauce made of a can of fat-free mushroom soup, plain yogurt (instead of sour cream), and a can of diced green chilies.

I baked it for about an hour. The corn tortilla aroma was wonderful. No olives to add tonight, but that would have been good. This was nicer than I expected. A little spice from the chilies; the chicken was very moist. It could have handled the whole package of corn tortillas. My only complaint is that I should have torn the tortillas in much smaller pieces, since they were hard to cut.

Coffee Drop Cookies

I have memories of making these with mom many times. This may be where my love for coffee started. I know I always loved this cookie.

When I made them today, the batter was too thin and the 'cookies' were more like little pancakes all run together.

The frosting is great, and I have lots left over - brought back memories of eating frosted crackers - graham and saltine. I saved the extra, so I may do that!

I still love these cookies.

Potato Pancakes

This was a delicious cross between a hashbrown and pancake.

Crock Pot BBQ Ribs

Delicious.

I don't have a crock pot, so I slow-cooked this stovetop for 7 hours. I mostly followed the recipe as written.

The meat is so tender I can cut it with a spoon. The sauce is delicious.

Norwegian Potato Lefse

I don't have a ricer, so I mashed/whipped the potatoes to as smooth a consistency as I could.

I added enough flour to get the texture I needed to roll the potato dough out thin, and then treated it like a crepe once it was in the hot skillet.

I made one fourth the recipe and had 8 lefse!

Congo Squares

"Moist & chewy," said my Taster. And let me add "delicious. "

I always loved these, and they were just as good as I remember.

Molasses Cookies

This cookie was a pleasure to make because of it's tidiness. The dough wasn't sticky!

I made half batch, which gave me 24+ cookies.

I had some unused shortening, so I used the last of it.

Very nice molasses flavor.

Monster Cookies

This is an amazing cookie!


But first, a few words about the recipe:

The quantities made my head spin. I decided making one third of the recipe would be reasonable. I filled up my mixing bowl with the peanut butter, solid coconut oil (for the oleo), the sugars, eggs, M&Ms, and chocolate chips. It was pretty full, and I hadn't even added the oats yet! I slowly added as many oats as needed to get the cookie dough to the right consistency. I used about five cups of the old-fashioned oats, not the quick version. The bowl is full. I wonder what container you would use to make the full recipe???

I dropped large balls on the baking sheet. They were huge. Then I started rethinking the size. The large size when I worked at a fast food place in the late 1970s is now the regular size. I reduced the cookie dough balls by half and put them in to bake. Ten minutes in the oven and a minute or two sitting on the baking sheet before removing them was the key to perfection.

They cookies are the size of a big cookie you would buy at Starbucks today. My one third recipe made four pans of six cookies. And they are excellent.

P.S. The coconut oil did not add a coconut flavor to this cookie, so I'm going to freely use it whenever a baking recipe calls for shortening.

Chicken Divan

When I started assembling this, I realized I didn't have three whole chicken breasts, but one chicken breast in three parts. So...

I used the full amount of frozen broccoli. I cut the chicken breasts into bigger-than-bite-size pieces and put the pieces among the broccoli.

I had made the whole sauce recipe first, so I spooned about a third of it over the chicken and broccoli pieces. I covered the entire dish with bread crumbs and then shredded cheddar before I baked it.

Very good.

Delicious Cookies

I knew I didn't want a hundred cookies, but I also didn't want to halve a recipe with one egg. I figured that I'd make the full recipe and would make normal size rather than small balls.

When I was checking my supplies yesterday, I noticed that I had a jar of Organic Extra Virgin Coconut Oil (a "good" fat) that I haven't used for a long time. It's a solid fat. It also had a noticeable coconut scent and taste, which is why we don't use it often for cooking. I was happy to see that it could be used in place of shortening, so that's what I used for the oleo.

Lots of great ingredients. When everything was mixed together it seemed pretty dry, but I managed to make a dozen balls. They crumbled when I flattened them with a fork. I squished them into cookie shape and put them in to bake. At twelve minutes I checked - the bottoms were burned and the rest of the cookie was dark brown.

I added another third cup oil to the cookie dough hoping they would hold together better. They did, and I put in the second dozen for ten minutes. Better, but still pretty brown.

I made the third dozen bigger and baked for ten minutes. They looked pretty nice, but came apart easily when I took them off the baking sheet.

I put the last seven very large cookies in the oven as golf ball-sized balls. After eight minutes, I flattened them with a fork. After ten minutes, they were pretty light, but the bottoms looked brown. I took them out of the oven and let them sit on the baking sheet for another minute. They are perfect.

The cookies are good and have a distinct coconut flavor. I don't know if that's from coconut in the cookie or the coconut oil. We'll see how the coconut oil works as a shortening substitute for a cookie without coconut as an ingredient.

Meat Logs

This is another recipe I was worried about because I could imagine what it's supposed to look like.

I decided to make half a recipe - two pounds of ground meat, not four. I used a pound of lean ground beef and a pound of mild Italian sausage. I skipped the dried onions since I don't have any. I didn't want to chop any fresh onions either.

I made the meat mixture and put it on a sheet of waxed paper on a cookie sheet. Then I held my pan next to it so I'd know which way I needed to 'roll' to fit. (Horizontally.)

I put a thin layer of shredded cheese on the meat. I decided to put another thin layer of cheese on. I have some fresh cilantro, so I decided to chop some of that and put it on.

I have little cans of chopped green chilies and chopped olives. I put the green chilies in the vertical middle. The same size can of chopped olives went a lot further, so I put a row on each side of the chilies.

Ready to Roll!

I was happy to learn when I re-read the recipe that I just had to lap the ends and not really roll them. So I lapped one side and then the other. Either my meat layer is too thick or I'm using to much filling, because it's not realistic to seal the ends.

Next I put greased baking pan over the filled meat loaf and flipped the cookie sheet over so the loaf was now in the pan. Whew. I covered it with a jar on salsa and I baked for about an hour at 350. This was a great meatloaf.

Lemon Bar Cookies

I wasn't a fan as a kid, but I've really developed a love for lemon flavor as an adult. If I made these again, I'd make them more lemony - personal preference!

For some reason I always thought lemon bars would be difficult to make, but these were simple.

They are delicious, but I think I baked the crust too long because the edges are too brown and dry.

Ham Balls or Loaf

I used a pound of lean ground beef, a pound of ground pork, and 12-ounces of ham patties cut into small pieces.

I made the loaf option because I was a little tired this afternoon. I spread the meat mixture in a 9x13 pan and poured the sauce mixture on top.

I baked for the entire 90 minutes uncovered.

This was quite good and would be good as a 'meatball on a toothpick' appetizer, too.

Coconut Joys

When I read this recipe, I was able to visualize what it should look like, which scared me a little because I don't always have the skills to create my images.

I stirred the melted butter, powdered sugar and coconut together. I molded a small ball of it, put it on waxed paper on a baking sheet, and then squished it down a bit. I used my index finger to make a small hole in the squished ball. I made 12 of these. Tiny for a bird's nest; not so tiny for a cookie.

Next - melt the chocolate chips. I thought it would be simple to melt the chips in a liquid measuring cup in the microwave, thinking I could then pour the chocolate into the nests. Well, I soon smelled burned chocolate so that didn't work. I put the chips in a bowl and microwaved until the chocolate was melted. It was still thick, and I was able to use a teaspoon to get a glob of chocolate and then maneuver it over the hole in the nest. Beautiful! I feel like an artist.

I put the baking sheet in the refrigerator for about an hour. The cookies are beautiful and very good.

Snippy Doodles

This is very nice. It reminds me of a coffee cake.

Chocolate Chip Pudding Cookies

I used chocolate pudding mix, which made this a very chocolately cookie - a chocolate lover's dream? I used walnuts, which are always delicious.

The batter is VERY stiff, which made it easy to drop the cookie dough on the baking sheet.

I used a teaspoon that's over forty years old, but I still only made them small enough for just over four dozen cookies.

Chicken Scruda

Another of the many Cross Family recipes with a very interesting name. I wish I knew who or what it refers to.

I used the half onion left from last night's Cheeseburger Pie. I was able to cover the bottom of my 9x13 pan with only five slices of bread. I didn't have milk, since it isn't listed in the ingredients, so I just skipped it. And I added the shredded cheese at the beginning and let it cook for the full 50 minutes.

I peeked after 30 minutes. The cheese had formed a golden crust, so I covered the dish with foil for the remaining 20 minutes.

This was good. The bottom was a bit tough to cut through, no doubt because I skipped the milk.

Cheeseburger Pie

This was really good. I guess I like the flavor of Heinz chili sauce, because I really liked the Beef B.B.Q. from a few days ago, too.

I made the crust and lined a baking dish since I don't have a pie tin. All of my pie making for this project involved using a store-bought crust in a tin.

I used half an onion and sauteed it with the beef once the beef was browned.

Bread crumbs! What a great excuse to make crumbs from the crusts I cut off from the thirteen slices of bread I needed for the Seafood Salad and the extra buns from the Beef B.B.Q.

I made this a few hours ahead and then baked it for dinner.

White Fudge

I used white chocolate chips instead of almond bark - I think it's mostly the same thing. I used walnuts.

This, too, was very good.

I'm partial to fudge and peanut butter, so I've enjoyed the recipes for the last few days.

It's hard to believe, but after four months, I can see the end in sight for finishing my cooking of the Cross Family Cookbook. There are (I think) eighteen cookies recipes left, about a dozen more main dishes, and a handful of interesting things left in the bread section. I have a personal goal to finish by the end of May.

So all the fudge is going into the freezer so I can keep going!

Creamy Dreamy Fudge

This recipe has fascinated me for months:

• Velveeta.


• as an ingredient in fudge.


• 4 cubes of butter.


• 15 cups of powdered sugar.


• YIKES!

I was skeptical, but I followed the recipe. It's very 'fudgy' and smooth, with a flavor I can't quite identify...!

Holiday Fruit Balls

The challenge here was translating quantities in half pounds to cups. This website was helpful:

http://www.ellenskitchen.com/pantry/suboamc.html

Once I had that information, I adjusted the measurements based on the quantities of ingredients I wanted to use. I had a 5-ounce bag of dried candied mangoes (a substitute for the candied pineapple) and a 5-ounce bag of dried candied cherries. I figured that was close enough to 1/2 pound. I used about a 1/4 cube butter, 2 cups mini-marshmallows, and 1/4 cup evaporated milk for the syrup and about a third of a 14-ounce box of graham crackers, the dried cherries and mangoes, 2 cups regular raisins, and 2 cups nuts. I have no doubt that I made errors in conversion and adapting the recipe. Whatever. I was able to form solid balls, but not much coconut stuck to them when I rolled them in it. I did about five and decided to skip the coconut. But after about five more, the non-coconut balls looked naked. So I rolled all the balls and used a little pressure when I rolled them to get the coconut to adhere.

There are good; not too sweet. The taste reminds me of something similar we used to have that was made in logs, rolled in something (coconut? powdered sugar?) and kept in the refrigerator.

Diabetic Peanut Butter Candy

Hmmm, Is one graham cracker square half the graham cracker rectangle? I decided to double the recipe to use the entire cracker. I thought I used the right measurements (4T=1/4 cup, right?), but the mixture wasn't thick enough to make a ball. I decided I could put it aside and at least spread it on a cracker. Then I thought, NO, Aunt Martha used this recipe to make a special treat for my cousin Ken long ago. I'd at least try to make something nice. So I added a few more graham crackers until this got to the consistency I needed to make 5 peanut butter balls.

Creamy Peanut Butter Brittle

The first things I did were (1) grease the cookie sheet and (2) mix the peanuts-peanut butter-vanilla together so it would be ready to go when the syrup was ready. I'm using a natural peanut butter, and it's very oily. Next, I mixed the sugar and water in a pan. I had no idea what to do with the karo, so I put it in now, too. I waited for the mixture to get HOT-HOT-HOT, and then added the peanut butter mixture and soda. I worked as quickly as I could to get the hot candy out of the pan and spead on the cookie sheet. It hardened very quickly, and it's thicker than I would like. I let it cool and broke it into pieces. Some parts are soft, maybe from the oily peanut butter? Maybe because of the thickness?

WOW, this is a flavorful peanut-peanut butter candy, a peanut butter lover's dream!

Dad's Dumplings

This looked easy - I already had flour, baking powder, salt, and eggs, and had picked up a can of chicken broth at the grocery store yesterday. I wasn't exactly sure what a perfect dumpling would be like, but I figured I knew enough to give it a shot.

I started small - one cup of flour, one egg. I added milk as needed until my batter was doughy enough to form 5 meatball-size balls. I brought the can of chicken broth to a boil and dropped the balls in. They were not submerged, but about half covered. I set the timer for 15 minutes.

I noticed a burning smell after about 8 minutes and saw that the broth had nearly boiled dry. Yikes. I had to remove the lid to do something. I added more water, a bouillon cube, and turned the dumplings over because they had burned to the bottom of the pan. I covered them and let them boil for another few minutes. Then I took them out to 'dry' and cut the burned portions off.
They taste pretty good and are what I think a dumpling would be like with a bowl of chicken noodle soup.

P.S. Andy did detect a burned taste, and I did make these over a couple weeks later. I made smaller dumplings and boiled them in a larger volume of chicken broth. I then added some vegetables, and we had soup with dumplings.

Easy Caramel Rolls

I started these yesterday. I had a bag of 36 frozen rolls. I don't have a Bundt pan, but I figured a casserole would do just fine. I buttered the dish and put the frozen rolls in it. I thought I would just use half the bag, and I was surprised that all 36 fit in the dish nicely.

I sprinkled them with a dry butterscotch pudding mix. It was instant; that was my only option. DRAT! I used the last of my cinnamon last week and forgot to buy more! I looked in my spice basket for alternatives and decided that pumpkin pie spice would be a decent substitution. Cinnamon is the main ingredient, and the ginger and nutmeg wouldn't be inappropriate.

I chopped some pecans and put them on, too. Then I melted some butter, mixed it with brown sugar, and poured it all over the mound of rolls.

Rather than use foil and a towel to cover for overnight, I put the lid on the casserole dish and put it in my cold oven until this morning.

When I opened my oven this morning. I had to laugh. Surprise! The rolls had expanded so they were overflowing the dish. The lid was askew and there was brown sugar mixture all over the floor of the oven. Easy to clean up, and I put all the rolls in a large baking pan.

I baked them for 30 minutes, then let them sit for 15 minutes before I turned them out onto a baking sheet. They are glorious - caramely and sticky. They would be even more wonderful if I had the bread/topping proportions right.

Mom's Peanut Brittle

I made a nice candy from this recipe.

It didn't look like my grandma's recipe that I remember, but I don't know if I did something wrong or if that was a different recipe.

This made a white peanut brittle. It's quite nice. While the sugar-karo mixture was getting to the extremely hot stage, I read the next peanut brittle recipe (coming soon) and decided to pour this one out onto a greased baking sheet. It was easy to remove and break into pieces.

"Feudin Pudding"

This was a delicious sweet bread or cake for dessert.

I loved the crispy, sweet crust.

I used fairly large pieces of chopped apples and walnuts, so it was hearty.

I had a whipped topping, but forgot to use it.

Corn Pudding

This is a delicious savory dish. It would make a good side dish.

The texture is that of a custard.

Love the corn flavor.

Sinful Salad

This final recipe in the Soups & Salads category makes a big, beautiful jello-fruit salad.

I used pecans and sour cream. I only used one bag of strawberries, and it seems to be enough.

It is a very fruity dish!

Custard With Powdered Milk

This recipe, from my aunts, made a very nice dessert. It was simple and fast to make, too.

Beef B.B.Q.

Total comfort food. I regret that I only made half the recipe.