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

by Joanne Fluke

  2 cans Cream of Mushroom soup undiluted (one can is 10 ¾ ounce net weight)

  1 can Cream of Chicken soup undiluted (10 ¾ ounces net weight)

  1 cup sour cream

  2 Tablespoons paprika

  ¼ teaspoon ground red pepper (cayenne)

  ½ teaspoon onion powder

  salt to taste

  one-pound package wide egg noodles, cooked

  ***You can also use boneless skinless thighs, chicken tenders, or a combination of the three.

  Spray the inside of a 5-quart slow cooker or a large roasting pan with non-stick cooking spray. Put the soups, the sour cream and the seasonings in the pan and stir them around to combine them. Add the chicken and make sure it’s covered with the soup mixture.

  For the slow cooker: Cook on LOW for 5 to 6 hours. If you’re in a hurry, cook on HIGH for 4 hours.

  In the oven: Bake in a tightly covered roaster for 4 hours at 325 degrees F. Then take off the cover and bake for an additional 30 minutes or so.

  Serve over cooked egg noodles.

  Yield: Feeds at least 8, unless you’re talking about a threshing crew that’s been working the fields all day.

  Country Ham Casserole

  Preheat oven to 325 degrees F., rack in the middle position

  This is Loretta Richardson’s recipe. Her daughter, Carly, makes it every time she gets together with her old high school friends.

  4 slices of bread, cut into one-inch cubes

  1 pound leftover ham, cut into small pieces (or thinly sliced deli ham)

  24 spinach leaves, roughly chopped

  12 eggs (that’s a dozen, not a misprint)

  1 cup sour cream (or ½ cup sour cream and ½ cup cream cheese)

  1 cup Half & Half (light cream)

  1 teaspoon ground pepper

  ½ teaspoon onion powder

  ½ teaspoon garlic powder

  ½ cup chopped green onion

  1 cup grated Swiss cheese (or Cheddar, or Monterey Jack)

  Grease a 9 x 13 inch cake pan. Sprinkle bread cubes over the bottom. Cover the bread cubes with the ham. Cover the ham with the spinach leaves.

  Whisk together eggs, sour cream, Half & Half, pepper, onion powder, and garlic powder in a large bowl. Set aside.

  Sprinkle the chopped green onions in the casserole. Add the cheese on top. Pour the egg mixture on top of that, cover the pan with foil, and let it sit in the refrigerator for 20 minutes.

  Take off the foil and bake, uncovered, at 325 degrees F. for approximately one hour or until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean.

  Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

  Yield: Serves 6 to 8 people for brunch.

  E-Z Lasagna

  Mother says to tell you she has to give credit where credit is due. She got this recipe years ago from her friend Lois Meister.

  8-ounce package lasagna noodles (NOT cooked!)

  32-ounce jar plain spaghetti sauce (approx. 3 ½ cups) (Mother uses Ragu)

  1 cup milk

  1 pound ground beef

  2 Tablespoons dried chopped onion (or one small onion, finely chopped)

  1 teaspoon salt

  ½ teaspoon pepper

  6 ounces sliced mozzarella cheese

  2 cups cottage cheese

  ½ cup grated Parmesan cheese

  2 beaten eggs (just mix them up with a fork)

  1 teaspoon garlic powder

  2 teaspoons freshly ground rosemary (or oregano if you can’t get rosemary)

  Fry the ground beef until it’s brown and drain it. (If you’re using the small chopped onion instead of the dried onion, you can fry that in the same pan and drain it with the ground beef.)

  Dump the drained ground beef into a large bowl. Add the onions, spaghetti sauce, milk, salt and pepper. Mix it all together.

  Grease (or spray with non-stick cooking spray) a 9-inch by 13-inch rectangular cake pan. Layer half of the dry uncooked noodles in the bottom of the pan. Cover with one-half of the sauce mixture. Top that with one-half of the mozzarella.

  In a separate bowl, mix together the cottage cheese, grated Parmesan, eggs, garlic powder, and rosemary. Fresh herbs are best, but if you can’t get fresh rosemary in your area, you can use dried.

  Spread the cottage cheese mixture in the pan next, put the rest of the dry noodles on top of that, cover with the remainder of the sauce mixture, and spread out the rest of the cheese slices on top.

  Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees F. for one hour.

  Mother sometimes puts this together in advance. She covers it and refrigerates it for six to eight hours before baking. If it’s chilled, allow an extra 20 to 30 minutes of baking time.

  Festive Baked Sandwich

  Luanne Hanks made this for the last potluck, and we all fell in love with it. It would be perfect for one of Mayor Bascomb’s tailgate parties.

  3 packages cold cuts, 10 or 12 slices per package (ham, turkey, roast beef, pastrami, whatever)

  3 packages sliced cheese, 8-10 slices per package (Cheddar, mozzarella, Swiss, whatever)

  2 cups loosely packed fresh spinach leaves (rinsed and blotted dry with a paper towel)

  2 teaspoons prepared mustard (stone ground Dijon, honey mustard or whatever)

  ½ cup dried chopped onions

  1 loaf frozen bread dough (or mix up your own if you want)

  8-inch round pan with 3-inch tall sides (you can get by with 2-inch tall sides, but it’s trickier)

  9-inch glass pie plate

  cookie sheet with sides (this can be a disposable if you like)

  Let the bread dough rise according to package directions, but do it in a greased bowl instead of a bread pan.

  When the dough has doubled in bulk, fold it in half and roll it out like a piecrust on a floured board. Spray the 8-inch round pan with non-stick cooking spray, set it on the cookie sheet, and drape the bread dough over it with the sides hanging down on the outside.

  Put a layer of cheese in the bottom of the pan. Follow that with a layer of dried onions (the onions soak up the moisture from the meats). Put a layer of meat on top of the onions and brush it lightly with mustard. Follow this with a layer of fresh spinach leaves. Keep layering cheese, meat, onions and spinach leaves until your layers reach the top of the pan. End with a layer of cheese if you can, so it’s slightly rounded on top.

  Bring up the bread dough that’s draped over the sides and carefully stretch it to cover your layers. Work from opposite sides, pinching it together so it doesn’t pull back. Think of a clock—pull 12 and 6 together and pinch them, then do 2 and 8, and finally 4 and 10. It doesn’t matter if the dough separates and there are some holes on the top. The bread dough will rise slightly during the baking, and all will be forgiven.

  Spray the inside of your glass pie plate with non-stick cooking spray and invert it over the top of your pan like a little hat. This will help keep your dough from pulling apart and also provide weight so the dough doesn’t rise too much at the top and leave a hollow. Let the sandwich rest while you pre-heat your oven.

  Make sure your rack is in the middle position and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Bake your sandwich for 50 minutes, and then take off the pie pan hat. Bake it for an additional 15 minutes, or until it’s nicely browned on top.

  Let your sandwich cool in the pan for at least 45 minutes to an hour before serving. It has to set so the cheese is no longer runny. Tip it out of the pan by placing your hand on the top with your fingers spread out to hold it and then inverting it. Place the sandwich on a cutting board or a large serving plate. Cut a pie-shaped wedge to start and then let your guests cut the size of wedge they want to eat. You can serve it with ketchup, horseradish sauce, pickles, coleslaw, and potato salad on the side.

  This sandwich is wonderful cold or warm and it’s great for picnics. Just leave it in the pan until you’re ready to serve it. The wedges can also be heated in the microwave for those who like things hot. It sounds like a lot of work, but it’s not, and it’s definitely
worth it.

  Hawaiian Pot Roast

  Spray the inside of a 4-quart slow cooker with non-stick cooking spray

  OR

  Preheat oven to 325 degrees F., rack in the middle position

  1/3 cup cornstarch

  2 cups firmly packed brown sugar

  ½ teaspoon powdered ginger (or 2 teaspoons finely diced fresh ginger)

  ½ cup red wine vinegar

  20-ounce can drained pineapple chunks (reserve the liquid for later)

  1/3 cup soy sauce

  2 cups chopped green bell pepper (or one 16-ounce package frozen tri-colored bell peppers)

  1/3 cup dried minced onions

  4 to 5 pound boneless chuck roast (or any similar cut of boneless beef)

  4-ounce can of mushrooms (stems and pieces are fine) OR 1 cup fresh, sliced mushrooms from the grocery store

  1 or 2 packets (.88 ounces per packet) beef gravy mix (Mother uses Lawry’s Brown Gravy mix)

  Mix the cornstarch, brown sugar, and ginger in a bowl. Stir in the pineapple liquid. Add the vinegar and soy sauce, and stir until smooth. Add the pineapple chunks, onions, and the finely diced green pepper. (If you decided to use the tri-colored bell peppers, just cut open the bag and dump them in still frozen.)

  Prepare your slow cooker by spraying it with Pam or another non-stick cooking spray. Put a bit of the mixture in the bottom and then set the meat on top. Pour the rest of the mixture over the top, put on the lid, turn the control to LOW, and let it cook for eight to ten hours.

  One hour before you’re ready to serve, add the mushrooms.

  (Mother puts this in the crock-pot before she goes to work and when she comes home, it’s ready.)

  If you’re late putting this up in the slow cooker, you can cook it at HIGH for the first two hours and then switch it to LOW. Using this method, it should take only six hours or so.

  If you choose to do this in the oven: Grease the inside of a roasting pan. Follow the directions above and once your pot roast is in the pan, cover it tightly with heavy-duty foil.

  Bake at 325 degrees F. for five to six hours, or until the meat is easily pierced with a fork. (I don’t think you can over-bake this—if it falls apart, that’s good, too.) Then take off the foil and let it brown in the oven for another 45 minutes to an hour.

  Once the meat is ready, take it out of the pan or crock-pot and let it cool for fifteen minutes.

  Sprinkle one packet of gravy mix in the liquid and stir until it’s thickened. Add another packet if the sauce isn’t thick enough. Keep the sauce warm in the oven or the slow cooker.

  Slice the meat, transfer the slices to a deep platter, pour the thickened liquid over the top artistically (Mother’s description, not mine,) and serve.

  Hot German Potato Salad with Bratwurst

  This is Trudi Schumann’s recipe. She says to tell you that “hot” means heated, not spicy. If you do want it spicier, use a spicier sausage and that should do it.

  4 large potatoes (or 6 medium)

  6 slices of bacon, diced

  ¼ cup flour

  2 Tablespoons brown sugar

  2 teaspoons salt

  2 teaspoons dry mustard

  2 teaspoons black pepper

  2/3 cup vinegar (white, red wine, or even balsamic)

  2/3 cup water

  2 teaspoons celery seed

  2 teaspoons onion powder

  2 teaspoons garlic powder

  1 large onion, chopped

  6 to 10 large bratwurst (or dinner franks, or Polish sausage, whatever)

  Grease (or spray with non-stick cooking spray) the inside of a 4-quart slow cooker.

  Wash the potatoes, pierce them with a knife, and cook them on HIGH in a microwave for 15 minutes. You should be able to pierce the cooked potatoes with a fork, but the inside should be just a little too raw to eat at this point. (You can do this step the night before and refrigerate the potatoes.)

  Let the potatoes cool, peel them and slice them. Put them in the bottom of the greased crock-pot.

  Chop up the bacon and put it in a one-quart microwave-safe measuring cup. Microwave it on HIGH for 3 minutes, stirring midway through. Fish out the bacon with a slotted spoon and add it to the potatoes in the crock-pot. Pour off all but approximately 2 Tablespoons of the bacon grease.

  Mix the reserved bacon fat, flour, brown sugar, salt, dry mustard, black pepper, vinegar, water, celery seed, onion powder, and garlic powder in the same container you used to microwave the bacon. Stir it thoroughly and heat for one minute in the microwave on HIGH. Add the chopped onion, stir it around and heat for an additional minute on HIGH.

  Add this to the potatoes and bacon in the crock-pot. Cook for one hour on LOW.

  Stir the warm potato salad, top it with the bratwurst you’ve pierced with a fork, (so they won’t explode,) and cover.

  Turn the crock-pot to HIGH and cook for an additional hour or two, or until the potato salad and the bratwurst are hot.

  Hunter’s Stew

  Grease or spray the inside of a 5-quart slow cooker with Pam

  This recipe is from Winnie Henderson. She says her second husband was a hunter and she used to make this for him all the time.

  2 pounds cubed beef (cut into roughly one-inch cubes)

  1 pound other cubed meat (venison, pork, turkey, chicken, more beef, even sausage as long as it’s not too fatty)

  2 medium onions, roughly chopped

  4 stalks celery, cut in ½-inch pieces

  2 cups baby carrots (or one-inch chunks of carrot)

  1 teaspoon garlic powder

  1 teaspoon onion powder

  1 teaspoon paprika

  1 teaspoon pepper (freshly ground is best)

  ¼ cup brown sugar (that’s 4 Tablespoons)

  14-ounce can stewed tomatoes (with peppers, with garlic, plain, any type is fine)

  three 7-ounce cans mushroom stems and pieces (NOT drained!)

  2 medium-size potatoes, peeled and cut into one-inch cubes

  two .88-ounce packets beef gravy mix (I used Lawry’s Brown Gravy Mix)

  Put the chopped onions in the bottom of the slow cooker. Lay the chunks of meat on top of that. (If you plan to use sausage and it’s pre-cooked, don’t add it at this point—Wait until an hour or so before serving.)

  Put the carrots and celery on top of the meat, and cook on HIGH for 5 hours.

  Add the garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, and ground pepper. Then add the brown sugar, the tomatoes, and the mushrooms with the mushroom liquid. Stir it all up and add the cubed potatoes.

  Pour in enough water to almost cover the meat and vegetables, but not quite. Then add ONE packet of gravy mix and stir again. (Reserve the second package of gravy mix for the gravy itself.)

  Cover and cook on LOW for an additional 6 to 7 hours. If you start this late and don’t have the required 11 to 12 hours of cooking time, you can leave the crock-pot on HIGH for the entire time, and it should be ready in 8 to 9 hours.

  If there’s too much liquid when you’re ready to serve, sprinkle in the second gravy packet and stir it in until it’s thick.

  Serve in big bowls with hot crusty bread. It’s a perfect winter’s evening meal. (If you use venison as the second meat, don’t tell Andrea. She has real reservations about eating the star of a classic Disney movie.)

  Irish Roast Beast

  Grease or spray inside of 4-quart slow cooker with non-stick cooking spray

  OR

  Preheat oven to 325 degrees F., rack in the middle position

  This recipe is from Barbara Donnelly, who got it from her mother.

  16-ounce can whole berry cranberry sauce

  6-ounce can tomato sauce

  12-ounce bottle stout beer (Barbara uses Guinness Stout)

  2 teaspoons freshly ground rosemary (it’s so much better fresh!)

  1 teaspoon thyme

  1 teaspoon sage

  1 teaspoon sweet basil

  1 teaspoon oregano

  1 teaspoon ground bla
ck pepper (again, freshly ground is much better)

  1 teaspoon salt

  boneless chuck or rump roast, four to five pounds in weight (or any similar cut of boneless beef)

  .88-ounce packet beef gravy mix.

  Mix all ingredients except the meat and the gravy mix in a bowl. Put a half-cup of the mixture in the bottom of the slow cooker. Set in the meat and pour the rest of the sauce over the top.

  Turn the slow cooker to LOW and cook for 8 to 10 hours. (If you’re late putting this up in the slow cooker, you can cook it at HIGH for the entire time. Using this method, it should take only six to seven hours.)

  When the meat is easily pierced by a fork, (Barbara likes hers practically falling apart,) remove it from the sauce, cut it in chunks and put it on a platter. Cover the platter with foil so it will stay warm.

  Turn the slow cooker to HIGH and sprinkle in the packet of beef gravy mix. Stir until the sauce has thickened. To serve, drizzle some of the sauce over the meat on the platter. Put the rest in a gravy boat or small pitcher for the table.

  If you choose to do this in the oven: Grease or spray the inside of a roasting pan with non-stick cooking spray. Follow the directions above and once your Irish Roast Beast is in the pan, cover it tightly with heavy-duty foil.

  Bake at 325 degrees F. for five to six hours, or until it’s easily pierced by a fork. Then take off the foil and let it brown in the oven for another 45 minutes. When it’s time to make the gravy, transfer the meat to a platter and pour the liquid into a saucepan over medium heat. Sprinkle the gravy packet over the sauce and stir until it thickens.