Mom and I make these bran muffins regularly. They're awesome.
You can leave out the nuts or raisins, if you don't like them.

Crunchy Bran Muffins

1 cup buttermilk
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter or margarine
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 tbsp molasses
1 cup bran
1/4 cup each raisins and chopped nuts

Combine buttermilk and baking soda and set aside.

Cream butter and brown sugar thoroughly. Add egg and beat well. Add buttermilk, then molasses and bran; blend.

Stir salt into flour and add to bran mixture. Fold in fruit and nuts. Spoon into well-greased muffin tins and bake at 375* 20 minutes or until done.

Bacon Biscuits
PREP TIME:
30 min
COOK TIME:
10 min
YIELD:
14 biscuits
INGREDIENTS:
No-Stick Cooking Spray
1/4 All-Vegetable Shortening
8 slices bacon 3/4 cup milk
2 cups Self-Rising flour
No-Stick Cooking Spray
* 8 slices bacon
* 2 cups Self-Rising Flour
* 1/4 cup All-Vegetable Shortening
* 3/4 cup milk

PREPARATION DIRECTIONS:

HEAT oven to 450ðF. Lightly spray a cookie sheet with no-stick cooking spray. Cook bacon in large skillet over medium heat until crisp. Drain on paper towels. Crumble.

PLACE flour in large bowl. Cut in shortening with pastry blender or fork until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in cooked bacon. Add milk; stir with fork until soft dough forms and mixture begins to pull away from sides of bowl.

KNEAD dough on lightly floured surface just until smooth. Roll out dough to 1/2-inch thickness. Cut with floured 2-inch round cutter. Place on prepared cookie sheet.

BAKE 10 to 12 minutes or until golden brown. Serve warm.

Sue

~~~~~~~~~Paula Deens Roasted Turkey~~~~~~~~~~~~
It has a rating of 5 stars

Tip: Drizzle the bird with its own juices once every 30 minutes for a perfectly moist turkey!

1 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon + 1/8 teaspoon pepper
1 turkey, 12-14 lbs, thawed if frozen
1 onion, quartered
1 head of garlic, halved crosswise
Several sprigs of fresh herbs, such as thyme, parsley, rosemary, and sage
2 bay leaves
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 can (14 1/2 oz) chicken broth
2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme
1/4 cup cornstarch

Preheat oven to 325 F. Sprinkle 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt and 1/4 teaspoon black pepper inside turkey cavity. Place onion, garlic, herb sprigs, and bay leaves insides cavity. Place turkey breast-side up on rack in large roasting pan. brush with half of butter; sprinkle with 1/4 teaspoon pepper and remaining salt. Truss, if desired.

Tent turkey with foil, roast 2 hours, 30 minutes. Remove foil, brush with remaining butter.

Increase oven temperature to 425 F. Roast turkey until meat thermometer inserted into thickest part of thigh away from bone registers 180 F about 45 minutes, tenting with foil during last 15 minutes of cooking time, if browning too quickly. Let stand 15 minutes before carving.

Meanwhile, skim and discard fat from pan juices. Place roasting pan with 1 1/2 cups juices over medium heat. Add broth, chopped thyme, and remaining pepper, stirring up browned bits from bottom of the pan. Simmer 3 minutes.
Stir together cornstarch and 1/3 cup water. Strain gravy into small pot over low heat, gradually whisk in cornstarch mixture. Simmer stirring, until thickened, 2 minutes.
Servings: 12 servings
Prep Time:
Cook Time: 3 hours 30 min
Difficulty: Easy

I'm thinking of making this, as an appetizer, this weekend.

Sweet pea pesto from Giada's Italian Cooking

Pesto
1 (10-ounce) package frozen peas, defrosted
1 garlic clove
1/2 cup grated Parmesan
1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus extra for seasoning
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus extra for seasoning
1/3 cup olive oil

Crostini:
8 (1/2-inch thick) slices whole-grain baguette or ciabatta bread, preferably day-old,
1/3 cup olive oil

8 cherry tomatoes, halved or 1 small tomato, diced
Directions
For the pea pesto: Pulse together the peas, garlic, Parmesan, 1 teaspoon of salt and 1/4 teaspoon of pepper in a food processor. With the machine running, slowly add the olive oil until well combined, about 1 to 2 minutes. Season with additional salt and pepper, if needed. Transfer to a small bowl and set aside.

For the crostini: Preheat a stovetop griddle or grill pan on medium-high heat. Brush both sides of the sliced bread with olive oil and grill until golden, about 1 to 2 minutes. Transfer the bread to a clean surface and spread 1 to 2 tablespoons of the prepared pesto on each slice.

Top with tomato halves and serve.

This recipe was in our newspaper Wednesday. Have any of you ever made it and, if you did, was it really good?

Tres Leches Cake

1 box yellow cake mix w/pudding (Betty Crocker)
1 c. water
1/3 c. vegetable oil
3 eggs

Sauce

1 c. whipping cream
1/3 c. rum (or 1 tsp. rum extract plus 1/3 c. water)
1 can (14 oz.) sweetened condensed milk
1 can (12 oz.) evaporated milk

Topping
1 c. whipping cream
1/3 c. coconut chiops, toasted (or sweetened coconut)
1/3 c. chopped macadamia nuts

Heat oven to 350. Grease a 9x13" glass pan. In a large bowl, beat the cake mix, water, oil and eggs with electric mixer on low for 30 second, then beat on medium for 2 minutes, scraping bowl occasionalaly. Pour batter in baking pan. Bake 25 to 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Meanwhile, in a large bowl mix the sauce ingredients. Using a long, tined fork, pierce hot cake every 1 to 2". Slowly pour sauce mixture over cake. Refrigerate cake at least 3 hours to chill. Cake will absorb most of the sauce mixture.

Before serving, beat 1 c. whipping cream until stiff peaks form. Spread over cold cake. Sprinkle with coconut and nuts. Cover and refrigerate leftover cake.

I've never made but I have eaten it. All I can say is OMG! Was it ever gooooooood!

I have eaten it also, never made it, very good and rich, the ones I have had.

This is one we do for the holidays a lot for a variety. This makes the most incredible brisket and gravy.

Ravens easy brisket:
1large beef brisket (no need to trim fat it will come off easily once cooked)(I buy the great big one's in the vac pac plastic bag)
1 Bottle Stubb's beef marinade (shake well)(found on bbq sauce aisle)
3-4 Tbs frenches mustard
1 chopped onion - optional
1/2 cup wine (white or blush)
1/2 cup water
Place brisket fat side down in a very large covered oven roasting pan after you coat both sides of brisket with mustard. Pour in 1/2 cup wine and 1/2 cup water. Pour in 1/2or entire bottle of Stubbs over the brisket (it will be more spicy if you use it all) Put chopped onion in and spread it around. No need for added seasoning!! Place covered roaster in oven at 350 for 5to6 hrs (check for fork tender) Check it occasionally while cooking to make sure there is liquid- if needed add a little water. Ladle the juices over the meat a couple times during cooking.
When done remove brisket to platter to cool.(easily remove excess fat)
GRAVY: Pour juice liquid into a saucepan; pour off most of the melted fat. In a separate bowl or cup mix 1 1/2 Tbs of cornstarch and 1/2 cup of water mix very well. Put gravy saucepan on stove and bring to a lite boil, slowly stir in the cornstarch mixture, continue stirring and heat for about 2 mins.
Serve the gravy over hot cooked rice or mashed potatoes.
Slice brisket across grain.
*If you want a bbq flavor cook in oven as above for 3 hrs then remove brisket and put on grill cook for final 3 hrs.

Stubb's Beef Marinade

what the raw beef brisket looks like
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brisket in big Magnalite roaster
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I just found this one, at the cooking forum, it looks very good.

Hot Cocoa Bread

1/2 cup cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/4 cups cocoa powder
1 1/4 cups buttermilk
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup mini marshmallows

Combine cream cheese, butter, and sugar. Cream with a mixer. Add egg and vanilla. Mix again. Add the cocoa powder and about 1/2 cup of the buttermilk; mix well. Add all the remaining ingredients (except the marshmallows) and stir to combine. Stir in the marshmallows.

(If you donâÂÂt have mini marshmallows, you can cut up big marshmallows.) Spoon into a greased loaf pan. This makes a large loaf��"use your largest loaf pan.

Bake at 350-degrees for one hour.

Makes one delicious hot chocolaty loaf! Goes good with a cup of hot cocoa.

*Try these in mini-loaves for holiday gift-giving! (How long it would take to bake would depend on your mini-loaf pan size. Probably 20-30 minutes.)

Ravencajun, is that the same cut of meat they make corned beef from? I've never made brisket, but yours sounds so good!

yes it is just a large version that has not been all trimmed down and cut into flat or point it is the full brisket.
You do not want to use the ones that are packaged as corned beef though since they have been prepared for use as corned beef.

It really is so good and tender, I usually use only about a half to 3/4 of the bottle of Stubbs, it has a lot of seasoning in it.
And just like with corned beef you want to cut brisket across the grain when slicing

Thanks, I'm going to try it. We love corned beef because it's so tender, so I'm sure the brisket is, too.