“One of our big Christmas traditions is getting together with my sisters and nieces. We always do sugar cookies, peanut blossoms and fudge, but we make new cookie recipes, too,” she says. “We find a day that is good for all 10 or 12 of us and I usually bring plastic storage containers and we separate them. We used to leave them at one house, but my brother and brother-in-law got into them, so now we all take some home and then take them back for Christmas.”

“I think it started when on the first day of deer season I was the only one home that didn’t hunt, so I’d bake all day. One year when I was in college my younger sister and I baked all day and we decided we should do that every year. We do a lot of random baking at Christmastime. We do a little too much baking so we hand them out to people.”

Aside from cooking and baking during the Christmas season, she does other activities with her family with more planned for the future. She sends Christmas cards every year and collects snow globes and Santa Clauses having recently down-sized to buying small Santas due to having a large collection of bigger ones. She enjoys setting up her Christmas Village each year, as well.

“We used to go to the Vikings Club to have breakfast with Santa on a Sunday in early December. The girls are usually in the Living Nativity, but were not able to be this year. They always get a present on Christmas Eve, which was started with my family. We try to do something homemade with the girls every year and used to make homemade wrapping paper with them,” she says. “One of these years we are going to volunteer at a soup kitchen.”

Joan Waterman makes Black Bean Salsa and Shrimp-Stuffed Puffs as her contribution to holiday gatherings.

She talks about the traditional big breakfast they have at their home on Christmas morning which includes her husband’s mother and how his brothers’ families come from Erie and Warren for dinner later that day. They try to find a random day in December to get together with her side of the family.

“We always buy a new game every year to play on Christmas Day and buy new ornaments for the girls with their initial or name on them. I have mine from when I was a kid.”

She doesn’t remember being taught to cook and considers herself self-taught. She also taught herself how to quilt. While laid up with a broken ankle she started a quilt from her grandmother’s clothes and her niece’s baby clothes, quilting both by hand. She has been known to make wedding, graduation and birthday cakes on occasion and has even made a tie-dyed cake.

“I wanted to make a wedding cake and always thought I should take a class, then thought ‘I’ll just do it myself.'”

She is a softball coach and enjoys sewing, reading, especially Dean Koontz novels, and art and crafts projects. Along with her husband, Chuck, she likes to make wine and to go on wine tours.

“Five years ago Chuck said he’d like to make his own wine, so I bought him a winemaking kit.”

Chuck Waterman is a Special Education teacher for Cattaraugus-Allegany BOCES currently working in Cuba, New York. They have two daughters. Miranda, a 13-year-old eighth-grader, takes voice lessons at Infinity Visual Performing Arts Center, plays soccer and softball and takes dance lessons. She loves to sing and perform while participating in school plays. She is a member of East Randolph United Methodist Church Youth Group.

Eleven-year-old Renee is in sixth grade, swims with Jets Swim Team at the Jamestown YMCA and plays softball and soccer. She takes dance lessons and is a Girl Scout. She loves to buy fabric and makes quilts.

The family attends East Randolph United Methodist Church, where Mrs.Waterman teaches a nursery level Sunday School class. Cocoa, their Lab-Pit mix, came into the family when she was four months old.

Today’s cook/baker shares many of her family’s favorite recipes including her father’s donut recipe.

“This was the one my Dad would make when we were younger. I remember he would cover the whole table with dough and then cut them out. He would do the same with sugar cookies. The table was literally covered with dough and we would all cut them,” she recalls. “My Dad was a big baker, especially around the holidays. He loved to bake.”

“Puffernutters is a cookie my Mom always made. I believe that was her grandmother’s recipe.”

She tells about recipes she has added to her collection since becoming a wife and mother.

“When I do a cookie exchange, I do Chocolate-Covered Rum Balls and make them with Kahlua and cover them with white chocolate.”

When she needs a last minute dish to pass, she makes Black Bean Salsa, Fruit Salsa or Shrimp Stuffing.

“They are my last minute dishes, are easy to make and everybody seems to like them.”

She confesses that the Cheeseburger Meatloaf was a recipe she “stole” from Paula Dean.

“I was working out at the Y and saw this on TV and thought this would be a way to get the girls to eat meatloaf.”

She also tells about making Chicken Fingers with her daughters.

“They like making them and like to bake and cook.”

See CHRISTMAS,

Sweet Potatoes and Apples

™ c butter

3 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and sliced 1/4 inch thick

¢ c packed brown sugar

™ c chopped pecans

™ tsp cinnamon

1/8 tsp salt

2 apples, peeled, cored, and sliced

In 10 inch skillet, melt butter over medium heat. Add sweet potatoes: cover and cook over medium heat 5 minutes. Turn slices over, reduce heat: cover and cook 5 minutes longer. Remove potatoes from skillet, stir in sugar, pecans, cinnamon, and salt. Return potatoes to skillet with apples: mix lightly to coat. Cook, stirring occasionally, 5 minutes or until potatoes and apples are glazed and tender. 4 servings.

Black Bean and Corn Salsa

1 can of black beans, drained

2 c frozen corn or one can whole kernel corn, drained

1 red pepper, diced

¢ red onion, diced

1 ¢ tsp ground cumin

2 tsp hot sauce

juice from ¢ lime

2 T olive or vegetable oil

dash of salt and pepper

Mix all ingredients together (if using frozen corn, thaw for 15 minutes before serving). Keep refrigerated until serving. May be served with crackers or chips.

Doughnuts

3 ¢ c flour

4 tsp baking powder

1 tsp soda

¢ tsp salt

™ tsp nutmeg

2 T shortening

1 c sugar

2 eggs, beaten

¢ tsp vanilla

1 c buttermilk

Mix flour with baking powder, soda, salt and nutmeg. Set aside. Cream shortening and sugar. Add eggs and vanilla to shortening mixture. Add dry ingredients alternately with buttermilk to the creamed mixture. Chill dough for at least an hour before rolling. Roll on floured surface. Cut out doughnut shapes and fry in a pan of oil. Can roll doughnuts in any mixture you want, powdered sugar or cinnamon and sugar or glaze.

Puffernutters

1 c shortening

1 c sugar

1 egg

™ c molasses

3¢ c flour

1 tsp soda

1 tsp ginger

1/2 tsp cardamom

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp cloves

1/4 tsp each pepper, nutmeg, and allspice

Mix all ingredients together. Roll into 1 to 2 inch balls and bake at 375 degrees. Make a glaze with confectionery sugar and milk. Tint half of glaze red and green. Drizzle over cookies when cooled.

Monster Cookies

1 c butter

1 c shortening

2 c sugar

2 c brown sugar

4 eggs beaten

2 T vanilla

4 c flour

2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp baking soda

2 c oatmeal

2 c crisp rice cereal

1 c coconut

1 c chopped nuts

1 c chocolate chips

1 c raisins

1 c peanut butter

Cream butter, shortening, sugars and peanut butter. Add eggs, vanilla, flour, baking powder and soda. Stir in oatmeal, cereal, coconut, chopped nuts, chocolate chips and raisins. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes. You can substitute coconut, nuts, chips and raisins with other ingredients to make your own monster cookies.

Shrimp Stuffing

1 lb precooked peeled and deveined frozen shrimp

1-8oz pkg cream cheese, softened

1 tsp grated onion or ¢ tsp. onion powder

¢ tsp dry mustard

™ ts. salt

™ tsp Worcestershire sauce

1/8 tsp black pepper

3 hard-boiled eggs, finely chopped

¢ c celery or green pepper, finely chopped

Rinse shrimp in cold water to thaw, then pat dry. Finely chop shrimp.

In a large bowl combine cream cheese, onion, dry mustard, salt, Worcestershire sauce and pepper. Stir in shrimp, eggs and celery or green pepper. Serve with favorite crackers or use as a sandwich filling with mini cream puffs.

Mini Cream Puffs

1 c water

¢ c butter

¢ tsp salt

1 c flour

4 eggs

Grease baking sheets. Set aside. In a medium saucepan, combine water, butter and salt. Bring to boil. Add flour all at once, stirring vigorously. Cook and stir until mixture forms a ball that doesn’t separate. Remove from heat; cool for 10 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well with wooden spoon after each addition. Drop dough from a teaspoon onto prepared baking sheets, forming mounds ¢-inch in diameter and spacing mounds about 1¢ inches apart. Bake in a 400 degree oven about 30 minutes or golden brown. Cool on a wire rack. Cut tops from puffs; remove soft dough from inside. Fill with shrimp stuffing.

Fruit Salsa and Cinnamon Chips

2 kiwis, peeled and diced

2 apples, your favorite kind, peeled, cored and diced

8 oz raspberries

1 lb strawberries

2 T sugar

1 T brown sugar

3 T fruit preserves, any flavor

10-10″ flour tortillas

butter flavored cooking spray

2 T cinnamon sugar

In a large bowl, thoroughly mix kiwis, apples, raspberries, strawberries, white sugar, brown sugar and fruit preserves. Cover and chill in the refrigerator at least 15 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Coat one side of each flour tortilla with butter flavored cooking spray. Cut into wedges and arrange in a single layer on a large baking sheet. Sprinkle wedges with desired amount of cinnamon sugar. Spray again with cooking spray. Bake 8 to 10 minutes. Repeat with any remaining tortilla wedges. Allow to cool approximately 15 minutes. Serve with chilled fruit mixture.

Bacon Cheeseburger Meatloaf

1 lb ground chuck

10 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled

1 (8-ounce) package sharp Cheddar, grated

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

™ c bread crumbs, toasted

™ c mayonnaise

1 T Worcestershire sauce

™ teaspoon salt

™ teaspoon ground black pepper

1/3 c ketchup

2 T prepared mustard

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a large bowl, combine the ground chuck and next 8 ingredients, mixing well. In a small bowl, combine the ketchup and mustard. Stir ™ cup ketchup mixture into meat mixture, reserving remaining ketchup mixture. Press meat mixture into a 9″ x 5″ by 3″ loaf pan, or shape into a loaf and place on a rack in a broiler pan. Spread remaining ketchup mixture over loaf. Bake 50 to 55 minutes

Chocolate-Covered Rum Balls

3™ c crushed vanilla wafers

§ c confectioners’ sugar

™ c unsweetened cocoa powder

1¢ c chopped walnuts

3 T light corn syrup

¢ c rum

chocolate melting wafers

In a large bowl, stir together the crushed vanilla wafers, § cup confectioners’ sugar, cocoa and nuts. Blend in corn syrup and rum. Shape into 1 inch balls, and roll in additional confectioners’ sugar. Put in freezer for at least 30 minutes. Melt chocolate and dip frozen rum balls into chocolate. Store in an air tight container for 3 to 4 days before serving. Can be stored in the freezer for several months. May substitute Kalua for rum and dip in white chocolate.

Homemade chicken fingers

1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, cut into bite size pieces

4 T butter, melted

favorite potato chips crushed

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Roll chicken pieces in the melted butter or margarine, then roll in crushed chips. Bake for about 10 minutes. Turn over and cook for another 10 minutes or until brown and pierce easily with a fork.