Making Christmas

Christmas Time's a comin' y'all. . . . Time to make Christmas!

Remember the most important thing about this season is the love in your heart. Have fun while you're making Christmas. . . . Use your imagination and a little ribbon. If you have ribbon, you have Christmas!

My family and friends know that most of my shopping, Christmas and otherwise, is done at the thrift store or garage/estate sales. Add in the Everything's A Dollar Store and is this a great country or what?

Today on WIBW, I showed Chris Fisher a cake plate that Woodrow found at a garage sale. . . . It's a beautiful, wintertime cake plate but you can't just give someboday an empty cake plate. So we made a cake. Now the cake I made for this was an expensive, time-consuming cake so only give this to someone special. I made a sugar-free version and with all the folks that have issues with sugar it is a nice thing to have at least one sugar-free dessert on hand. I adapted a peppermint, white chocolate cheesecake recipe I found. It turned out very rich!!! Here, WIBW's Chris Fisher is frosting the cake. We missed Amanda but talked about food and presents and, of course, music.

My musical selection this morning is an awesome jazz CD by my friend Beth Ohse, who is a wonderful vocalist and has some fantastic musicians with her! This is available locally at Warehouse 414, Beauchamps, or Manning Music. You will love it!!! If you are not local, email me and I will hook you up with a copy. dixieleejackson@yahoo.com

Okay, for the cake. This is a combination cheesecake and layer cake recipe. So first the cheesecake:
3 8 oz. cream cheese, softened
2 TB soft butter
1TB flour
2 tsp Vanilla (or more)
1 16 oz sour cream
3 large eggs
1/2 cup Splenda (maybe a tad more)
2/3 cup crushed, sugar free peppermints
(I added a couple of drops of peppermint extract)

Preheat oven to 325. Line 2 cake pans with tinfoil and spray lightly with Pam. Leave enough tinfoil on the sides to lift out of the pan. Cream the ingredients and pour into foil-lined pans, and plac them on a baking sheet in water. Bake for 25 or 30 minutes (mine took at least 30). Allow to cool, then freeze thortoughy.

For cake layers, I took a Pillsbury Sugar Free Yellow cake mix and another package of sour cream, 2 eggs, 1/3 cup vegetable oil, a couple of drops of peppermint oil and mix ingredients. Bake in two cake pans at 350 for 15 or 20 minutes. You know what, since this is a yellow cake mix and we don't really want yellow cake for Christmas, I alo dropped a couple of drops, or maybe half a bottle, of red food coloring--enough to make the batter pink.

Now, for the frosting, I made White Chocolate Instant Sugar Free pudding and mixed it with Sugar Free Cool Whip.You might want to make it with a little less milk, or a little less Cool Whip.

Sprinkle some crushed-up peppermints on top. This is very good, per Chris Fisher!

Potato Soup Days

Here in Topeka, the snow keeps a fallin,' to paraphrase Loretta Lynn. . . .

The temperature last night was 1 degree. Yes, Friends, O-N-E degree. I mean, why bother? It makes us want to crawl into an overstuffed chair with Dixie Lee's potato soup.

I am blessed with an overstuffed chair, given to me by my friend, Marvelous Mona. Marvelous Mona modernized, something that really doesn't happen in my house, so she sent me her overstuffed chair. I curl into it with the cat, my laptop, a pile of cookbooks and correspondence, a cup of potato soup, and the snow piling into the white pines outside my window. It is, altogether, very pleasant.

For potato soup, we start with bacon. Fry you up some bacon, maybe 4 or 5 slices. Depending on how much grease is in the pan, drain off until you just have a skim coat of bacon grease. Add half a stick of butter and brown a whole onion and maybe some chopped celery if you like that. Now, put all this into a soup pot and cube 4 - 6 good-sized potatoes. Cover with water and boil til tender. Then add 1 can evaporated milk, liberal salt and pepper and mix in half a cup to a cup of instant potatoes. This is the ONLY valid use for instant potatoes. They are never to be served as if they were really potatoes, but as a thickening agent for potato soup, they are excellent.

Some folks like to add cheese. If you want, that is fine. This is not a low-calorie food so be sure you shovel some snow after you have curled into your chair and warmed your insides. There are enough calories in this for you to clear the entire neighborhood of snow.

Cowboy Wisdom of the Day from Cowboy Culbertson:
There are two theories to arguin' with a woman. Neither one works.

Photo: My neighbor's yard

Snowed In

I am watching Paula Deen. She and her girlfriend, Edie, are making cinnamon rolls. They just slathered two sticks of butter on the dough, then about ten pounds of brown sugar, half a cup of cinnamon, pee-cans -- this is the most incredible looking cinnamon roll I have ever seen. Paula kept looking over shoulder for the po-lice it is so decadent. I can smell these through the television screen. OMG, now they are deep-frying them. I believe you could get a heart attack walking past the screen.

Am I going to make cinnamon rolls? No, my chickadees. There is a blizzard outside my door and I'm going to make snowcream with 2 percent milk and Splenda and VANILLA. I figure there's about 50 calories to a mixing bowl.

This is my version of eating healthy and living large at the same time.

Oh, wait, what's that I smell? My beloved is in the kitchen making omelettes. . . .

(Moral of the story: Sit on your butt long enough, and your man will cook for you! If you're lucky, you have a man who cooks good like my Woodrow!)

Fried Chicken Wins

You know, this is really funny. Of all the dishes that y'all selected as most Southern, it was the one we least often had at home.

We had fried catfish real often when I was a child. Daddy would go fishing with Cousin Larry over on New River and we'd have trout and catfish like crazy. I can still remember Daddy getting choked on a bone. It was a lot cheaper to kill a fish than a chicken, and way more fun.

Granny made the best pan-fried chicken in the world. This is not the same as Colonel Sanders. It was fried in her cast-iron frying pan and was heavily peppered. The best chicken that is what most people would consider "traditional Southern chicken" was that made by Billie Karns at the truckstop on Sundays. Folks would leave church and head to the truckstop for Billie's fried chicken, chicken gravy and biscuits. And the coffee was incredible. Billie was one of the best cooks I have ever known. And then there cakes, made by Billie's sister, Kathyrn. To die for.

My sister, Berniece Denise, reminded me that Billie's niece, Diana Lowe, owns ASAP Restaurant, back home on South Main Street. ASAP stands for "As Southern As Possible." She makes fried chicken the same way her Aunt Billie did. Y'all stop in!

Since that poll has closed, I'm asking for all y'all to give me your opinion on what the theme song of the South should be. No musicians will be harmed, I promise.

History Lessons

Some of us grow where we're planted; others have to roam. I had to leave my home just to find somebody to kiss outside my gene pool.

My friends, Cally Krallman and Diane Gillenwater, wrote this song, "Prairie Glimpses," for the Kansas Song Project. They are remarkable women, "hearty pioneer stock," as we say. Listen to the words of this song, be courageous and stout of heart. Take out that recipe you clipped from a magazine years ago, that difficult, gourmet recipe that you're not sure if you can handle. If you have a bonnet like Caroline Ingalls would have worn, put that on. Think of our pioneer mothers and fathers who did not have air conditioning or hairspray. It makes me weep!


Now challenge yourself to create something wonderful, beyond what you thought possible.


If you don't have a recipe in mind, I'll share one. Since we had a peach orchard, I'm partial to fresh peaches. If you don't have an orchard go to the farmer's market and get as close as you can to right off the tree.

Peel and slice about 8 good sized peaches. Puree in a food processor. Soak about a tablespoonful of gelatin in 3 tablespoons of lemon juice. Pour into the peaches and stir real good. Then let it chill for a while.


Put a tablespoonful of gelatin into three tablespoonsful of water and let it soak. After it has set a while, you'll want to heat it and make sure it's dissolved. Take off the heat. Take about a cup of cream cheese that has been softening and and beat with until it's light and soft. Then blend in the gelatin/water mixture and blend some more. For good measure and further decadence, whip a cup of cream and then fold it into the cream cheese mixture. Chill for a while.

Now just before the peaches and the cream cheese mixture have set, fold them together into a pretty mold. It may be cheating, but you can spray LIGHTLY with non-stick spray just make sure it slides out real purty. Make sure that it has set up well before taking out of the mold.


Now this dish may sound simple but think about the steps you have taken and the tools you have used: a food processor, a mixer, a stove, a refrigerator -- and the ingredients: cream cheese, gelatin, whipping cream, and FRESH peaches. Even 50 years ago some of these were just not to be had or were difficult to come by.

Serve this on a beautiful dish to someone you love. Hold hands and thank the Good Lord you were not born a day, or a century, before your time.


Visit the kansassongproject.com to get the CD and learn more about the songs and artists. The Georgiabelle peaches are from the actual HCHarold orchard on Willis Gap, Arart, Virginia. Visit them online at hcharoldorchard.com.

French Toast

My favorite part of the month is joining the morning crew on WIBW TV. Even though it requires me to get up before the crack of dawn and Woodrow, being an old-fashioned gentleman, insists that I not go by myself. Thus, he, too, gets before the crack of dawn and we pile up Dixie Lee's dodads and head for the TV station.

The crew there could not be nicer. Of course, since they are all up at just past midnight, I don't think they're quite right.

Just before Christmas, I made French Toast with Dave Johnson. We've been together a while now so I decided he was ready for actual cooking and not just mixing. Since that appearance, I've had lots of requests for the recipe. French Toast is one of those wonderful breakfasts that can be served any time of the day. The aroma whispers of home and sweet memories so for this dish I think we should play "Counting Hills" the title track of Greg Fox's CD. It's a wonderful song about sitting in the back of the station wagon counting the hills on the drive to the family home. It is sweet and uplifting and nostalgic --- just like French Toast.

French Toast, as decadent as it is, is an humble food, too, which is another reason this is the perfect song. On WIBW, I took leftover hotdog buns from the boyscout fundraiser at Auburn and turned them into French Toast. Just trim off the tops (save them to toast for breadcrumbs) and you have the perfect thickness.

In a mixing bowl, beat two to four eggs. They go a long way, actually, so don't get carried away. Add a little cream, a dab of sugar, vanilla, nutmeg, cinnamon, a dash of ginger, a dash of salt, and the juice from one orange. Grate a little orange zest in there, too. This touch of citrus makes all the difference. Drag the bread through this mixture, turn over a time or too, but don't let it soak. I think that just gets the bread too wet. When the butter melts in your pan, carefully lay the egg-laden bread in. Don't cook too quickly; this has to cook all the way through. It may take five minutes for each side. When done, lots of folks sprinkle with powdered sugar and then pour on the syrup. If you're concerned about sugar, leave off the powdered sugar and use sugar-free syrup. Or, serve with fruit and yogurt. Get creative with your toppings. I think this toast is so good it really doesn't need syrup.

Really wonderful if served with some thick bacon. The smells will drive everyone wild.

Booksignings Coming Up

Dixie Lee Jackson's Guide to Cookin' and Kissin' will make its world debut at Lloyd Zimmer's Books and Maps, downtown Topeka, on February 4 at 5:30. The price is $15. Watch for me around 6:40 that morning on WIBW TV with Dave Johnson and Amanda Lanum.

This event coincides with First Friday Artwalk so after visiting Lloyd and me, check out the fabulous venues all over town.

The second booksigning is at the Topeka Shawnee County Public Library at 2 p.m., Sunday, February 6. This will include a presentation by myself. See all y'all there!

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Around eight inches of new snow in Topeka last night. That means "Snow Cream!"

Lots of facebook chatter about snow cream -- unheard of to some and a favorite childhood memory for others. I'm going to lean out the door soon and scoop some up myself. Get a big mixing bowl and get it plumb full of snow. CLEAN snow. Then sprinkle on about 3/4 cup of sugar (if you are accustomed to the taste of Splenda, it will work). Add a tablespoonful of Vanilla Extract. This the flavor of snow cream -- all the other ingredients, including the snow, are just about enhancing the flavor of vanilla. Add your milk very slowly because this mound of snow will just melt before your eyes. Mama used evaporated milk which adds a very rich flavor. Sweet milk will do fine, as long as it's whole milk. I can't imagine making this with skim milk.

Wrap up in a blanket and eat slowly because this will freeze you from the inside out, but it's worth it! I'm listening to B. B. King, "You Know I Love You," perfect snow cream song.

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And who hasn't had a wine emergency?