Tag: recipes

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Doan Family Holiday Recipes

Family time is the best time, and it’s only better when delicious food and snacks are added! The Doans love family get togethers and there’s nothing more special than dusting off those old family recipe cards and sharing a taste of generations past. If you’re looking for some holiday inspiration this year, try out one our own family recipes and start your own traditions today!

Pumpkin Rolls

Perfect for the fall season, Pumpkin Rolls are a delicious treat that can be served anytime between Halloween and Thanksgiving (really any time of the year is fine, they’re just that good).

Beat 3 eggs for 5 minutes. Gradually add 1 cup sugar. Stir in ⅔ cup pumpkin and 1 tsp lemon juice. 

Sift together: 

¾ C Flour

2 Tsp Cinnamon

½ Tsp Nutmeg

1 Tsp Baking Powder

1 Tsp Ginger

½ Tsp Salt

Fold into pumpkin mixture. Spread into a greased and floured jelly roll pan. Top with 1 cup chopped walnuts and bake at 375 for 15 minutes only. Turn out onto a towel and sprinkle with powdered sugar. Roll together and cool. Then unroll spread with 1 cup powdered sugar and 6 oz of cream cheese, 4 tsp of butter or margarine, 1 tsp vanilla. Beat together and spread over the roll. Roll and chill.

Caramel Popcorn Balls

Just because Halloween is over doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy this INCREDIBLY simple treat! If you’ve never had a popcorn ball before you absolutely have to try this recipe, they’re just so good!

1 Package Brown Sugar

1 Cup White Karo Syrup

1 Stick of Butter

1 Can Evaporated Milk

3 Gallons of Popped Corn

Combine brown sugar and syrup and cook stirring constantly until boiling. Add butter and stir until melted. Add evaporated milk and bring to a boil again over medium heat, cooking until it forms a softball (between 235 and 245 degrees Fahrenheit). Pour over popcorn to form balls and let cool.

Chocolate Pecan Pie

How do you make a pecan pie even better? Add a little chocolate of course! This fall classic with just a little twist is perfect for any family gathering you’ve got coming this year – or just make it for yourself, we won’t judge!

½ Cup Sugar

1 Cup light corn syrup

½ to ¼ cup butter – marg ok

4 eggs – beaten

1 tsp vanilla 

⅛ tsp salt

1 cup broken pecans

8-9” pie shell unbaked

Combine sugar, corn syrup, and butter in a pan – cook on low heat until butter melts. Remove from heat, pour VERY slowly into beaten eggs. Add vanilla, salt, and nuts. Add chocolate chips into the bottom of the pie shell. Pour mixture into pie shell, bake at 350 for 50 mins. Pecan Pie Recipe but sprinkle some chocolate chips on the crust before adding the rest of the filling.

Pepparkakor

Here’s one you may have never heard of! Pepparkakor is a traditional Swedish cookie that’s very similar to a gingerbread cookie and is a traditional favorite of the Doans. You won’t believe how delicious these thin, crispy cookies are!

¾ Cup Shortening

1 Cup Sugar

1 tbsp Molasses

1 Egg Beaten

2 Cups Flour

2 Tsp Baking Soda

1 Tsp each of Cloves, Cinnamon, and Ginger

Cream sugar and shortening together, add egg and molasses, blend well. Add the spices to the flour and sift, then add it to the creamed mixture. Let cool for 1 hour in the refrigerator covered with saran wrap. Then roll into balls the size of walnuts, put onto a cookie sheet, then with glass covered with saran wrap, roll each ball in sugar then flatten with the glass. Put nuts or raisins on them in the middle and bake at 350 for 5-10 minutes or until golden brown.

Pumpkin Joy

Who doesn’t love a little pumpkin? This super simple recipe is so easy, you might just have everything you need in your pantry today!

1 yellow cake mix – put in bowl (remove 1 cup)

Mix w 1 egg and 1 stick butter

Press in a greased and floured 9×13 pan 

Mix together 1 16oz can of pumpkin and 2 eggs 

Pour over

Take the reserved cup of cake mix –

1 tsp cinnamon

3 tbsp butter 

½ cup sugar 

Mix together and sprinkle over top 

Bake in 350 oven for 45 mins 

Top w a dollop of whipped cream

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Doan Family Halloween Traditions (Plus: Snack Ideas!)

The 2020 Doan Family Halloween Party

Every year for Halloween, we have big, themed parties. We love any reason to get together, but Halloween is one of our favorites! As many of you know, and for those of you who didn’t know, Jenny started her sewing journey as a costume sewist for the theater. She’s always been a whiz at whipping up costumes! Besides being passionate about dressing up, she loves a reason to decorate the house and always goes all out during the holidays! 

Leading up to Halloween, we pick a family theme (last year was Harry Potter and this year is Disney) and then often search Pinterest to find wacky and spooky food inspiration to bring to our party. We keep it easy, but fun! 

Besides bowls of candy, here are a few Doan family Halloween snacks that have shown up in recent years.

Past Halloween snack spreads:

Wafer cookie “Band-Aids”, marshmallow and caramel “Cotton Swabs”, finger shaped breadsticks, and more.
Fruit “pizza”, layered dip, chocolate cake, Feet Loaf, cookies, and more!

“Feet” Loaf:

Meatloaf, with a sinister twist.

One year, Sarah was inspired to shape some meatloaf into . . . you guessed it, a foot. To make this, take your family favorite meatloaf recipe and get to cooking! All you need to do is shape up your meatloaf into a foot shape, add an onion ankle bone and some onion toe nails, and you’ve got yourself a spooky but tasty treat!

Mummy and Monster Cookies:

Oreo Monsters and Nutter Butter Mummies. Yum!

For these easy treats, just take some white melting chocolate, melt it, and for the Nutter Butter Mummies, drape and drizzle it over the cookies. For the Oreo Monsters, add some green food coloring and dip the cookies into it! Add some eyeball sprinkles before the chocolate sets and you’re good to go!

Happy Halloween! Do you have any family Halloween traditions? What are some of your favorite Halloween candies or treats?

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Summer Family Fun! with 3 BBQ Side Dish Recipes

The Doan family loves getting together and throwing a party! Especially in the summertime, we gather at one of our houses to be together outside and eat good food. 

Summer Fun! The kids race around playing soccer.

Sometimes we swim, sometimes we camp, sometimes we bring out the dirt bikes and ride around playing dirt bike soccer, but no matter what we do, we always have good food and good company! 

The Doan boys gearing up for a round of dirt bike soccer!

Accompanying our hamburgers and hotdogs and varieties of chips, here are a few of our favorite family barbeque side dishes!

Potato Salad 

A family barbeque classic — we love our potato salad! 

  • 6  medium potatoes (2 pounds)
  • 1 Tablespoon minced dried onion
  • 1⁄3 cup dill pickle relish
  • 2 Tablespoons dill pickle juice
  • 1 1⁄4 cups mayonnaise 
  • 2  Tablespoons mustard 
  • 1 teaspoon garlic salt (to taste)
  • 4 hardboiled eggs – cooked, peeled and grated. 
  1. Cook potatoes in boiling, salted water until tender.
  2. Drain well, and let cool. 
  3. Peel potatoes. 
  4. Cube potatoes into a large bowl. 
  5. Add onion, relish and grated eggs to bowl.
  6. Combine mayo, mustard, garlic salt, and pickle juice. 
  7. Add mayo mixture to bowl.
  8. Mix well to coat potatoes and combine all ingredients. 
  9. Cover and chill thoroughly. Enjoy! 

Cowboy Beans

The perfect barbeque side to compliment your spread!

  • 1 lb hamburger
  • 1/2 onion, chopped
  • 5-6 cans of beans, drained (red, black, and pinto) mix em’ up!
  • 1 green pepper, chopped
  • 1 lb. bacon, cooked and crumbled
  • 2 cans chopped tomatoes, drained
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 1 cup of your favorite BBQ sauce

Brown the hamburger and cook the onions, then mix it all together in a crock-pot and cook on low for 8 hours or on high for 4 hours!

Strawberry Pie

Jenny’s favorite is the strawberry pie. We never have a summer party without it! 

  • 1 9″ frozen pie crust, baked
  • 1 cup of sugar
  • 1 1/2 cups of water
  • 1/4 cup of cornstarch
  • 1 lb of sliced strawberries
  • 1 (3oz) package of strawberry jello
  1. Bake pie crust according to package directions, remove and then let cool.
  2. While the crust is in the oven, add sugar and water to a large saucepan over medium heat, whisk the cornstarch in slowly and make sure there are no leftover lumps. Stir continuously for about 4-5 minutes until the mixture is thickened and turns a little clear.
  3. Remove from heat and whisk in the strawberry jello mix until completely dissolved. Let this mixture cool to room temperature.
  4. Once cooled, toss in the strawberries and make sure they are evenly distributed. Pour into pie crust.
  5. Place in the refrigerator to set for about 2-3 hours and then serve! (Add whipped cream if desired!)
The Doan Family gather together outside. Picture by Hannah Earnheart.

Do you have some fun family and friend traditions? What are some of your favorite barbeque side dishes?

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It’s Jenny’s Birthday! And She Wants to Share Fun Ways to Celebrate Your Summer Birthday Too! Let’s Party!

Happy Birthday Jenny!

Happy Birthday Jenny and to all of you who share in the summer birthday season! Start planning your next party as Jenny shares her favorite birthday foods along with some fun, summer recipes from our Missouri Star employees! Find quick and easy sewing projects to decorate your party, and don’t forget to download some of our printable photo booth props to make your summer celebration a blast! Grab your friends and let’s party!

Jenny’s Favorite Summer Recipes!

Jenny’s absolute favorite is a Strawberry Pie that she makes on her birthday year after year to treat herself to something yummy!

Here’s how she makes it:

  • 1 9″ frozen pie crust, baked
  • 1 cup of sugar
  • 1 1/2 cups of water
  • 1/4 cup of cornstarch
  • 1 lb of sliced strawberries
  • 1 (3oz) package of strawberry jello
  1. Bake pie crust according to package directions, remove and then let cool.
  2. While the crust is in the oven, add sugar and water to a large saucepan over medium heat, whisk the cornstarch in slowly and make sure there are no leftover lumps. Stir continuously for about 4-5 minutes until the mixture is thickened and turns a little clear.
  3. Remove from heat and whisk in the strawberry jello mix until completely dissolved. Let this mixture cool to room temperature.
  4. Once cooled, toss in the strawberries and make sure they are evenly distributed. Pour into pie crust.
  5. Place in the refrigerator to set for about 2-3 hours and then serve! (Add whipped cream if desired!)

Jenny loves a good summer barbecue and for her, the must-have at any BBQ is the beans! Cowboy Beans is her go-to and here’s how it’s done:

  • 1 lb hamburger
  • 1/2 onion, chopped
  • 5-6 cans of beans, drained (red, black, and pinto) mix em’ up!
  • 1 green pepper, chopped
  • 1 lb. bacon, cooked and crumbled
  • 2 cans chopped tomatoes, drained
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 1 cup of your favorite BBQ sauce

Brown the hamburger and cook the onions, then mix it all together in a crock-pot and cook on low for 8 hours or on high for 4 hours!

Captain Dwayne’s Jambalaya

  • 3 pounds peeled shrimp
  • 1 pound crab meat
  • 1 dozen oysters
  • 1 pound smoked sausage, sliced
  • 3 cups rice
  • 1 small can tomato sauce
  • 1 large onion, chopped
  • 2/3 cup chopped parsley
  • 2/3 cup chopped shallots (cross between onion and garlic)
  • 2/3 cup bell pepper chopped
  • 2/3 cup cooking oil
  • 1/2 tbsp garlic powder salt, black pepper and red pepper
  • 3 cups water
  • 4oz. Tabasco

Set the rice to cook and set aside. Sauté the onion over medium low heat in oil until almost brown. Add shallots and bell pepper, garlic powder and sauté for 10 minutes. Add smoked sausage and tomato sauce cooking for another 10 minutes. Add 3 cups water and cook for 30 minutes over medium heat. Add parsley, shrimp, oysters and crab meat and cook for 15 minutes. Mixture should have a creamy texture and not to watery. Add the salt and pepper to taste. Add rice a little at a time, stirring until all the rice is mixed in. Heat over medium heat for 15 minutes stirring occasionally.
-Dwayne Stice

Pink Lemonade Pie

  • 1 (14 oz.) can sweetened condensed milk
  • 1 (16 oz.) can pink lemonade concentrate, thawed
  • 1 (8 oz.) container Cool Whip, thawed
  • 2 (6 oz.) prepared graham cracker crusts

In a large mixing bowl, mix together pink lemonade concentrate and sweetened condensed milk. Fold in Cool Whip. Pour mixture into graham cracker crusts. Put in the freezer for 6 hours or until stiff.
– Lauren Dalton

Birthday Party Sewing Projects!

Make a Pennant Banner or Quilt!
Pennants are crazy fun! Now, you can make some that can be used year after year! Personalize them in any way! To add some birthday charm, apply wooly cupcake buttons or these “happy birthday” appliqué pieces!

Make a 3D Pinwheel Table Runner!
A three dimensional table piece helps to create the a fun/creative environment that all birthday parties deserve!

Fabriflair Centerpiece
These joyful centerpieces really bring the party to life! Make several colors or mix and match to go with any theme!

Micro-safe Hot Holders
2 (8 ounce) packages of softened cream cheese,
2 jars of pineapple cheese and 2 jars of old English cheese all mixed together makes the perfect dip for any gathering!
*Recipe by Tammy Baker
Make this yummy dip using stylish hot holders!

Printable Photo Booth Props!

  • Printable Photo Booth Prop
  • Printable Photo Booth Prop

Download the props, print them, cut them out, and then come back here to post all your fun pictures so we can see!

Do you have a June or summer birthday? What is your favorite way to celebrate?