Plum Pudding Murder Bundle with Candy Cane Murder & Sugar Cookie Murder

by Joanne Fluke

  Irma York tested this recipe. She couldn’t write down how many cups it makes because her husband, Gus, kept sneaking it out of her slow cooker.

  Quick Irish Chili

  This recipe is from Bridget Murphy. It came from her sister, Patsy, who got it from a cousin who got it from her next-door neighbor, a man named John Brady.

  2 pounds hamburger (don’t use lean—it needs some fat in it)

  2 minced garlic cloves (or one Tablespoon of jarred, chopped garlic)

  1 large onion, finely chopped

  8-ounce can tomato sauce

  3 whole cooked tomatoes, skins removed and cut into large pieces (you can use canned)

  1 bottle Guinness Stout (12 ounces)

  3 teaspoons chili powder

  ¾ teaspoon ground red pepper (cayenne)

  2 teaspoons ground cumin

  2 teaspoons whole green peppercorns

  1 teaspoon salt

  1 Tablespoon brown sugar

  Brown the hamburger in a large skillet. Add the garlic and onion and stir until the onion pieces are translucent.

  Add the tomato sauce and the tomatoes. Stir well.

  Add remaining ingredients and heat everything up over medium heat, then cover, turn heat to low, and simmer for 20 minutes.

  Toppings:

  chopped celery sautéed in oil, but still a bit crunchy

  chopped green onions

  shredded cheese

  chopped black olives

  sour cream

  chili beans (but only if you must—real chili doesn’t have beans)

  Fill bowls with chili and top with any or all of the above.

  This chili is especially good served with Bridget’s Soda Bread.

  Bridget says to tell you to back off a bit on the red pepper if your family doesn’t like things spicy. A generous dollop of sour cream mixed into your bowl will also work to cut the heat from the pepper.

  This chili will hold for hours in a crock-pot and it’s perfect for halftime at football games—just make it the night before and refrigerate it in the crock. Four to five hours before you want to serve it, just put the crock in the slow cooker and turn it to LOW.

  Sally’s Radish Soup

  This is the soup I always order when I go out to the Lake Eden Inn. Sally says you need a blender to make this soup. She also says that if you don’t have one, borrow one.

  4 bunches red radishes (approximately 12 radishes per bunch)

  2 medium onions, cut into large pieces

  42 ounces chicken broth (about 5½ cups)

  6 Tablespoons butter

  6 Tablespoons flour

  4 cups Half & Half (or light cream)

  6 Tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

  1 teaspoon salt

  ½ teaspoon white pepper

  3 Tablespoons horseradish sauce (I used Heinz)***

  *** If you can’t find horseradish sauce, mix 1 Tablespoon ground horseradish with 2 Tablespoons mayonnaise.

  Clean the radishes (cut off the tops and the bottoms and wash them) and place them in a large saucepan. Add the onions. Pour the chicken broth over them and simmer for 35 minutes.

  Let the contents of the saucepan cool slightly and then puree in a blender. (You’ll have to do this in batches—it won’t all fit at once.) Transfer the puree to a large bowl and cover it to keep it warm.

  Put the large saucepan back on the burner. Melt the butter on medium heat and then sprinkle in the flour. Stir until bubbles appear. Keep stirring and cooking for one minute. Add the Half & Half (or light cream) and cook, stirring frequently, until mixture has thickened. This should take about 5 minutes or so.

  Add Worcestershire sauce, salt, white pepper, and horseradish sauce. Then add the radish puree and stir thoroughly. Return to the heat and stir until heated through.

  If you want to get fancy, get a few extra radishes, slice them very thinly, and float them on top of the soup bowls. You can also add fresh, minced parsley for color.

  Sally has a tip for you. If you want to bring this soup to a buffet dinner, don’t return the saucepan to the heat after adding the spices at the end. Instead, transfer the soup to a slow cooker sprayed with Pam or other non-stick cooking spray. When you get to the potluck dinner, plug in the crock-pot, set it on LOW, and go off and enjoy yourself. Sally says to tell you that this soup will hold for at least 3 hours on LOW and maybe even longer.

  Summer Gazpacho

  Vera Olsen contributed this recipe. It’s called “Summer” Gazpacho, because she only makes it when tomatoes are in season.

  1 cucumber, peeled and seeded

  1 medium sweet onion, cut into chunks

  6 medium tomatoes, peeled and seeded

  ½ cup flavorful olive oil

  ¾ teaspoon chili powder

  1 teaspoon garlic powder

  3 Tablespoons wine vinegar or sherry vinegar

  1 teaspoon kosher salt

  2 cans Spicy Hot V-8 Juice (for a total of 23 ounces)***

  *** Vera says if you don’t have Spicy Hot V-8 Juice, you can use Bloody Mary mix, or regular tomato juice spiced up with a little hot sauce.

  Chop the cucumber and onion in small chunks and put them in a blender.

  Peel the tomatoes by dipping them, one at a time, in boiling water for a few seconds until the skin cracks, and then into a bowl of ice water. This will make the peel come right off.

  Seed the tomatoes by cutting them in quarters and poking out the seeds with your finger. Once that’s done, chop the tomatoes up a little and put them in the blender with the onion and cucumber.

  Blend the chopped cucumber, onion, and tomato on the lowest speed as you add the olive oil, chili powder, garlic powder, vinegar, and kosher salt. Pour contents into a large pitcher and add the V-8 Juice. Stir well and refrigerate for at least 6 hours. (Overnight is fine, too.)

  When you’re ready to serve, stir the gazpacho a final time and check for seasoning, adding more salt if needed. Pour the gazpacho into small bowls. Top with a generous dollop of sour cream and sprinkle with minced chives.

  Salads

  Dilly Onion Rings

  This is Ellie Kuehn’s recipe. She tried serving it on a sausage pizza out at Bertanelli’s and it was really good!

  One large mild or sweet onion (a red onion is nice—more colorful)

  1/3 cup white (granulated) sugar

  2 teaspoons salt

  1 teaspoon fresh baby dill (it’s not as good with dried dill weed)

  ½ cup white vinegar

  ¼ cup water

  4 large ripe tomatoes as an accompaniment (optional)

  Cut the onion in thin slices. Separate the slices into rings and put them in a bowl.

  Combine the sugar, salt, dill, white vinegar, and water.

  Pour the liquid over the onion rings.

  Cover the bowl and refrigerate for at least 5 hours, stirring every hour or so.

  Serving suggestions: Slice large ripe tomatoes and arrange on a platter. Lift the onion rings out of the brine and sprinkle them on top of the tomato slices. Garnish with fresh, chopped parsley leaves if desired.

  You can use these onion rings to garnish cooked carrots, cooked green beans, even mashed potatoes. They’re also a wonderful garnish for a mixed green salad.

  Covered tightly and stirred a couple of times a day, these marinated onion rings should last for at least a week in the refrigerator.

  French Dressing

  Claire Rodgers contributed this recipe. She got it from one of her mother’s friends, Mabel Drager.

  1 can (10¾ ounces) condensed tomato soup (Claire used Campbell’s Classic Tomato)

  1/3 cup wine vinegar

  ¾ cup olive oil

  2 Tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

  1 teaspoon paprika

  1 teaspoon salt

  ½ teaspoon garlic powder

  ½ cup brown sugar

  Dump all ingredients in a quart jar. Put on the top and shake vigorously. Refrigerate.

  Use to dress a nice
green salad. You can put a few Dilly Onion Rings on the top, if you like.

  Ginger Ale Jell-O

  From my sister Andrea, the Queen of Jell-O. She got this recipe from Immelda Griese, Father Coultas’ housekeeper. The original recipe used canned green grapes, but Andrea couldn’t find them at the Red Owl unless she bought a huge can of fruit cocktail and picked them out, grape by grape. Since she didn’t want to do that, she substituted pears, and Immelda says she likes it even better this way.

  One 6-ounce package lemon or peach Jell-O

  1 ½ cups boiling water

  ¼ teaspoon salt

  ½ teaspoon paprika

  2 cups cold ginger ale (Andrea uses Vernor’s)

  2 cups sliced canned pears, drained two 8-ounce cans pineapple tidbits, drained

  2/3 cup sliced almonds

  Dissolve Jell-O in boiling water. Add salt and paprika. Let cool to room temperature.

  Add cold ginger ale. Refrigerate until partially set. (Andrea’s instructions are: “It should look like jelly on hot toast.”)

  Stir in sliced pears, pineapple tidbits, and sliced almonds. Pour into a 2-quart mold and refrigerate overnight.

  Dressing:

  1 cup mayonnaise

  ¼ cup heavy cream

  1 Tablespoon honey

  Mix up the mayonnaise, cream, and honey. Put them in a little dish with a spoon next to the Jell-O on the table.

  To serve Jell-O, turn out on a platter and invite people to take a slice and top it with a little dressing.

  Holiday Jell-O Mold

  Andrea’s recipe again. She collects Jell-O recipes.

  Spray a Bundt cake pan (8 cups) or other 2-quart mold with Pam or other non-stick spray. Set aside.

  1 large package (6 ounces) lime Jell-O

  1 cup boiling water

  ¾ cup cold water

  Stir Jell-O powder into boiling water until dissolved. Add cold water and set aside to let cool.

  1 teaspoon salt

  2 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice

  2 medium-sized ripe avocados, mashed

  1/3 cup sour cream

  2 to 3 drops green food coloring

  Combine salt, lemon juice, mashed avocados, and sour cream. Stir until smooth. Add food coloring and mix thoroughly.

  Stir avocado mixture into cooled lime Jell-O and pour into Bundt cake pan. Refrigerate until firm. (2 to 4 hours—overnight is fine, too.)

  1 and 1/3 cups boiling water

  1 large package (8 ounces) cranberry or raspberry Jell-O

  One 8 ½-ounce can crushed pineapple with juice

  Two 16-ounce cans whole-berry cranberry sauce (2 ¼ cups)

  1 Tablespoon prepared horseradish

  Dissolve Jell-O in boiling water. Add pineapple, cranberry sauce, and horseradish. Mix thoroughly. Refrigerate until syrupy. (Approximately one hour.)

  Spoon cranberry mixture carefully over the avocado mixture. Refrigerate until firm. (At least 4 hours—overnight is fine, too.)

  Unmold on a pretty platter to serve.

  Andrea complains that this recipe is too complicated for her, but if we beg, she makes it every year for Thanksgiving and it’s wonderful with turkey. She does the lime Jell-O layer the night before and the cranberry Jell-O layer on Thanksgiving morning.

  Pretty Coleslaw

  This is what Andrea calls “Green Jell-O.” She makes it for special occasions.

  2 large (6 oz.) packages lime Jell-O (we like it with Lemon, too)

  4 cups boiling water

  2 cups mayonnaise

  1 teaspoon salt

  ½ cup vinegar (Andrea uses raspberry vinegar)

  2 cups cold water

  4 cups finely shredded cabbage (Andrea buys it pre-shredded)

  2 cups finely diced celery

  ¼ cup finely diced onion

  In a large bowl, dissolve Jell-O in boiling water. Let cool slightly. Add mayonnaise, salt, and vinegar. Stir until blended. Then add cold water and refrigerate until mixture is syrupy, but not completely set. (This will take an hour to an hour and a half.)

  Spray Jell-O mold(s) with non-stick cooking spray. (Andrea uses one Bundt cake pan that holds 8 cups and one small 2-cup mold.)

  Beat partially set Jell-O mixture until fluffy. Then mix in the shredded cabbage, diced celery and diced onion.

  Pour or ladle the mixture into the molds you’ve chosen and refrigerate them for another 2 hours. Then cover the tops with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least another 4 hours before unmolding.

  To unmold, you have two choices. Andrea sets the molds in the back of her Volvo and drives around town for ten minutes or so to jiggle the Jell-O loose. This works just fine if you’re taking it to a potluck dinner at the Lake Eden Community Center, or to someone’s house for dinner. If you’re not, you can do what I do…

  I pull the Jell-O away from the sides (and from the funnel in the middle, if you’re using the Bundt pan) by putting the pads of my impeccably clean fingers close to the edge and pulling back gently. If that hasn’t loosened it enough, I go to plan B and partially immerse the mold in warm water for a very few seconds, then pull it out and dry the bottom. I place the serving platter upside down over the top of the Jell-O mold and invert the whole thing at once (and over the sink, to avoid spills.)

  Quick Pickle Salad

  This is Reverend Knudson’s recipe. He says to tell you that if you make these pickles in the morning, you can serve them at suppertime. He also says they’re even better the next day, but he bets they won’t last that long.

  2 seventeen-ounce cans sliced beets

  1 cucumber, peeled, seeded, and cut into half-inch slices

  1 small onion, thinly sliced

  2 teaspoons whole pickling spices***

  2/3 cup white vinegar

  2/3 cup sugar

  2/3 cup beet juice (reserved from canned beets)

  *** Pickling spices are a mixture of cinnamon, allspice, mustard seeds, coriander, ginger, chilies, cloves, black pepper, mace, cardamom, and bay leaves. The Reverend says that if you don’t like one of those spices, you can mix your own pickling spices and just leave out the one you don’t care for.

  Drain the beets and reserve 2/3 cup of the liquid. Place the drained beets, sliced cucumbers, and sliced onions in a large saucepan on the stove. Stir them gently with a wooden spoon to mix them.

  Tie the pickling spices in a square of cheesecloth and drop them in on top of the pickles-to-be in the saucepan.

  Measure out 2/3 cup white vinegar and put it in the saucepan.

  Measure out 2/3 cup sugar (white granulated) and put that in the saucepan.

  Add the 2/3 cup beet juice you reserved from the canned beets and stir everything around until it’s mixed.

  Heat over medium heat, stirring often, until the liquid boils. Immediately take off the heat, transfer to a glass or ceramic bowl, cover tightly with a cover or with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 6 hours.

  Remove the pickling spices before serving.

  The Reverend also says to tell you that you can do this whole thing in the microwave if you like. (That’s the way he does it.) Just put everything in a microwave-safe bowl, heat it on FULL power for approximately 12 minutes, or until it boils. Stop the microwave every 4 minutes to stir it. When it’s ready, cover the bowl and refrigerate the pickles, just like you’d do if you made them on top of the stove.

  Waldorf Salad Jell-O

  This is another recipe from my sister Andrea. It’s the last Jell-O mold, and I think it’s the best.

  1 large (6-ounce) package of lemon Jell-O (or other light-colored flavor)

  2 cups boiling water

  1 cup mayonnaise

  1 cup cold water

  2 cups finely diced apple (you can leave the peel on if you wish)

  1 cup finely diced celery

  ½ cup roughly chopped walnuts (some big pieces are okay)

  Dump the Jell-O into a large bowl and dissolve it in the 2 cups of boiling water. Add the mayonnaise and
stir until it’s evenly distributed. Then add the cup of cold water, stir, and refrigerate for 45 minutes, or until it’s partially set.

  Beat the partially set Jell-O with a wire whip to make it fluffy. (You can also do this with a spoon, but it’ll take a bit more effort.)

  Stir in the diced apple, diced celery, and chopped walnuts. Spray a 2-quart Jell-O mold with non-stick cooking spray and pour in the Jell-O mixture.

  Refrigerate for at least 4 hours before serving. Overnight is really best.

  Unmold and serve slices on red or curly lettuce leaves. You can also leave it intact on the platter and let everyone serve themselves.

  This recipe makes approximately 7 cups of really delicious Jell-O.

  Breads

  Aunt Grace’s Breakfast Muffins

  Preheat oven to 400 degrees F., rack in middle position

  This recipe is from my friend, Terry Sommers (no relation to Becky Summers.) These muffins are just incredible. When we tested them at the Christmas potluck, we came very close to putting them on the dessert table.

  1 ½ cups flour

  2 teaspoons baking powder

  ½ teaspoon salt

  ½ teaspoon nutmeg (freshly ground is best)

  ½ cup sugar

  1/3 cup melted butter

  1 beaten egg

  ½ cup milk