Monday, September 14, 2009

WHITNEY'S NOODLES

This is a cheap, filling meal. It's named after my nephew, Whitney, who served his mission in Taiwan and learned to cook inexpensive meals. Eggs.
Bacon.
Onions and garlic.
Veggies--this is the crookneck squash. Add half of the seasoning pkgs. to the veggies as they are cooking. Boil the noodles with the other half of the seasoning pkgs. Mix everything together and serve. Delicious. Thanks, Whitney. WHITNEY'S NOODLES--Whitney Peterson

Some kind of meat. I have only ever used bacon but other meats could be used or if you're a vegetarian just leave the meat out.
Eggs
Onions and garlic
Mushrooms--I didn't have any but usually always use them.
Veggies--I used two good sized crookneck squash and one good sized zucchini
Other veggies--lots of things could be used.
Ramen noodles, one pkg for each person

Boil ramen noodles with one half of the seasoning pkg. Boil only 1 1/2 to 2 minutes. Drain. Use the remaining seasoning pkg. in the veggies.

Cook bacon, drain well. Set aside. I add everything to an oven proof bowl in a 200 degree oven to keep things warm while I sauté the remaining ingredients.

Sauté one veggie at a time and add to bowl in the oven--or you could steam them with a bit of water. I used some of the bacon grease and it was too greasy. I couldn't find my original recipe so I sautéed the veggies for too long. You want the veggies to have a bit of crunch.

Cook the eggs and then cut them into chunks.

Add everything together and serve.

I made extra as I want to send them some to my neighbor. I told her about the recipe but she looked at me a little oddly so I want her to taste it. Her daughter has gone away to college and needs cheap, filling meals.

Saturday, September 5, 2009

BUTTERMILK PIE

This doesn't look like pie, does it. It's the "for the masses" version. I took one of these cookie sheets of pie to a funeral luncheon and one to my grandson's baptism luncheon. Here's what the regular size looks like.It's delicious. Maybe you should make some. Here is the recipe for a pie size. The recipe for a cookie sheet size--which serves 20 with nice generous squares follows.

BUTTERMILK PIE--This is a very old Bisquick recipe

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Spray pie plate with vegetable spray.

In a blender, mix the following (this isn't in order of quantities, but the order I put things into the blender):

1 cup buttermilk
3 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1/3 cup melted butter, cooled to luke warm
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup Bisquick ( I always use pancake mix because I don't ever have Bisquick in the house. I do have a recipe for homemade Bisquick. If anyone wants it leave a message in the comments section and I'll post it.)

Blend one minute. Pour into greased pie plate and bake for 30-35 minutes.

BUTTERMILK PIE FOR THE MASSES--Makes a cookie sheet full--17x12 inches.

This is tricky in a blender. If your blender won't handle this much liquid make halfish of it and pour it into a bowl and then make the remaining halfish, mix them together and pour into greased cookie sheet.

2 2/3 cups buttermilk
8 eggs
2 1/2 tsp. vanilla
3/4 cup melted butter--I only use 1/2 cup and it turns out fine
4 cups sugar
1 1/4 cups Bisquick--I use pancake mix because I never have Bisquick in the house.

Blend really well in blender--maybe in two batches--and pour into greased cookie sheet. Bake 35 minutes.

Monday, August 3, 2009

CHOCOLATE ZUCCHINI CAKE

Delicious.

Self – Frosting Chocolate Zucchini Cake--Muum’s Musings blog

½ c. butter
½ c. oil
1 ½ cups sugar
2 eggs
1 t vanilla

2 ½ c flour
4-6 T cocoa
1 tsp. soda
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking powder (Oops! I used a Tbs. of baking powder and it worked fine--maybe with one teaspoon it would have been a more dense cake, but it was delicious)
½ t cinnamon (optional--I didn't use this)

1/2 c sour cream or buttermilk (I used sour cream because that's what I had)

2 c finely grated zucchini

Mix oil, butter, sugar and vanilla. Add eggs. Mix well. (I did all the mixing by hand)

Sift the dry ingredients together, including the cocoa. Add the dry ingredients alternately with the milk or sour cream .

Add the zucchini by hand. Pour the batter into a greased 9x13 pan

Mix the following and crumble on top of the cake:

¾ c chocolate chips
¾ c chopped nuts
¾ c brown sugar

Bake @ 350º for 35-45 minutes or until done. Serves 12 (I cut the cake into 15 pieces and they were large.)

Note: Omit cinnamon to bring out better chocolate taste.

Note two: Next time I am going to replace half the oil and half the butter with applesauce and see how it turns out.


Thursday, June 25, 2009

TASTES-BETTER-THAN-IT-LOOKS PASTA SALAD


I'm calling this salad '"Tastes-Better-Than-It-Looks Pasta Salad because it's so plain--kind of like a girl with a face that doesn't stop traffic. Perhaps I should change the noodles, but the family knows this salad with macaroni noodles so I probably won't. Besides that, my daughter-in-law told Phil this was the best pasta salad she's ever eaten. What better praise could you have?

This photo was taken two full days after I made the salad so it's looking a little weary. I usually forget to take food photos until we've either gobbled everything up or almost gobbled it up. This time, because I made a double batch we still had some. The peas were bright green the first day--not so much today, when I took the photo.


TASTES-BETTER-THAN-IT-LOOKS PASTA SALAD--Lynne Snyder

1 part Miracle Whip Salad Dressing
1 to 3 parts sweet cucumber chip’s pickle juice (taste and decide how much pickle juice you want to use)
chopped sweet pickles
canned tuna
shredded carrots
finely diced celery
frozen peas
finely minced green onions
salt and pepper to taste
cayenne pepper
Elbow macaroni, cooked, rinsed and drained.

I used a one pound pkg. of pasta to one can of tuna, about 1 1/4 (or more) cups Miracle Whip, a pint of home canned sweet pickles and all the juice, 2 medium carrots, 8 oz. frozen peas, 3 stalks of celery, one bunch of green onions and then seasoned it with salt, pepper and cayenne.

Monday, June 22, 2009

MEXICAN CASSEROLE


Mmm, good. This was served at our Enrichment dinner last Tuesday. Our theme was, "What Can't You Do Without?" We had everyone bring what they couldn't do without--family and scriptures didn't count so it had to be something else. I took three things but which are all part of my one thing I can't do without. My little desk lamp which shines on my magnifying mirror which I use to pluck my chin hairs--which are actually stray eyebrows (according to Janette Barber: “I refuse to think of them as chin hairs. I think of them as stray eyebrows”). I pluck every single night, whether I need to or not. That is one of my pet peeves, women with moustaches or chin hairs. Pluck Lynne, pluck. So my one thing I can't do without were tweezers.

MEXICAN CASSEROLE--Carolyn Heaton

1 box Spanish Rice mix (Rice a Roni®)

1 (15 oz.) can chopped tomatoes—to use in Rice a Roni
½ pkg Doritos Tortilla chips
1 can kidney beans
1 can pinto beans
1 can black beans
1 can chopped tomatoes with green chilies
1 can Hatch’s green enchilada sauce
2 cups grated cheese, a mixture of mozzarella and cheddar

Make rice dish as directed, using the one can of chopped tomatoes. Put rice in 9x13 pan, top with 1 can diced tomatoes with chilies. Layer Doritos, crushed a bit. Top with beans, drained and rinsed. Top with enchilada sauce and cheese. Bake in 350 for 35 minutes.

Serve with shredded lettuce, chopped tomatoes, dollop of sour cream and chopped avocado. Can add olives if desired.


OKAY, I DIDN'T EXACTLY MAKE IT LIKE THAT. THIS IS WHAT I DID.


Made the Rice a Roni as pkg. directions. I used a little more than half of a quart of diced, home-canned tomatoes in the Rice a Roni. Didn't put the extra can of canned tomatoes on top--saved it for later. Topped with a bunch of tortilla chips from Costco. Drained a can of pinto beans and black beans and mixed with one can--NOT drained--of S&W Caribbean beans--I buy them to make Cafe Rio salad so I have a bunch in my food storage--plus two Tbs. of Red Hot liquid seasoning. (I dislike kidney beans so I rarely buy them.) Topped them with the rest of the quart of tomatoes, drained. topped that with a can of green enchilada sauce--I would have made my own--I'm a home-made type girl but I'm all out of green chilies. Topped with Mozzarella cheese only as I was too lazy to hunt up any cheddar cheese in the freezer. Baked loosely covered--kind of tented so the aluminum foil didn't touch the cheese--for 45 minutes at 350°. Uncovered the casserole, turned the oven to 400° until it was a little brown on top and bubbling.

For the salad I mixed tomatoes, chopped multi-colored peppers, pepperoncini--also known as pickled banana peppers, and lettuce. I made guacamole, had sour cream and ranch dressing on the side.

Of course, I forgot to take photos until everyone was finished so no photo of the salad and guacamole and sour cream but everyone knows what salad and guacamole and sour cream looks like anyway.

It was very good. Lord Bumhampton had several servings and really liked it. We all really liked it. Go forth and bake some.

Saturday, June 13, 2009

RHUBARB FRUIT LEATHER

Grow it. Wash it. Cut it.
Sugar it.
Cook it.
Blend it.
Flavor it.
Blend it some more.
Spray a cookie sheet with vegetable spray. Smooth it out.Pour the hot mixture on a cookie sheet.

Make sure it's evenly spread. Put it in the oven. Make sure the door is cracked so the moisture can escape. I use a wooden spoon.
The finished product. Peel it off the cookie sheet, cut it into rolls and eat. It's delicious. No one can tell it is not normal fruit leather and it's practically free.
The light colored one is watermelon kiwi, the red is cherry and the dark is orange with some dried cherries blended in.


RHUBARB FRUIT LEATHER –Lynne Snyder

4 cups rhubarb, cut into ½ inch pieces
1 1/3 cups sugar
¼ cup water
1 pkg unsweetened Kool Aid®

Wash rhubarb and cut into ½ inch pieces. Put rhubarb, sugar and water into a pot and bring to a boil. I cover it at first and then uncover it to boil as much liquid off as possible.

As soon as the rhubarb is soft you can blend it—I use an immersion blender—also called a “stick” or “hand held” blender. If you use a normal blender be extremely careful as hot liquids will “pop” the lid. You may want to let it cool some before blending and then hold the lid on with a kitchen towel folded to make many layers. Add pkg. of Kool Aid, blend again. Pour onto greased cookie sheet—I spray with “Pam” and then smooth it out with my hands. Try to get the rhubarb mixture as evenly spread as possible—maybe even a little thicker on the edges as they dry faster. Put in a dehydrator or an oven set to a low temperature—my oven has a dehydrator feature on it and I can get it to a low temperature and a fan continually runs so it is a more even heat. I even make yogurt in the oven which takes a 110° temperature. For the rhubarb leather I dry it at 140°. This takes at least a day.

Dehydrate until almost dry. Let cool, peel off cookie sheet, roll and cut.

Sometimes I peel off the cookie sheet and put the leather, top side down, right on the oven rack and let it dry for another hour or so. You can lightly dust with cornstarch if desired.

Years and years ago I dried the leather in a car, with a window cracked. The car smelled divine! Just make sure the cookie sheet is perfectly level. And don’t drive off when the leather is in a liquid state. You will be cleaning up a mess. I called this my redneck dehydrator.

Our favorite flavors are grape and cherry but they are all good...except lemonaid. That flavor was so sour.

If you have some fresh fruit you can blend it in the the liquid rhubarb. If you have enough you don't need the Kool Aid as your leather will take on the flavor of the fruit. Taste it before pouring it on the cookie sheet to see if it has enough flavor.

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

ZIPPY SALAD


This is probably Phil's favorite "raw" recipe. I love it too but not like he does. He will eat it for days so I always make a lot. Zippy Salad—Lynne Snyder


3-4 diced tomatoes (I used roma)
3 cups frozen corn OR fresh corn, cut off the cob
1 cup chopped celery
1 chopped red bell pepper
1 large cucumber, peeled and chopped OR 1 small jicama, peeled and diced
¼ cup chopped onion or 1 Tbs. dried onion

Dressing:
¼ cup (total) mixture of Olive oil
and Safflower oil
1/3 cup lime juice
8 sundried tomatoes (in oil), chopped
1 garlic clove, pressed
¼ to ½ tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1½ tsp. salt
½ tsp. cumin
1 tsp. dry basil OR use fresh basil, julienned
¼ tsp Italian seasoning or oregano
¼ tsp. dill weed

Mix salad ingredients together set aside. Mix dressing ingredients together, pour over salad, mix well.

CRUNCHY, SWEET AND SAVORY SALAD

This was adapted from a recipe from Juliano, (THE UNCOOK BOOK). He owns a raw restaurant called "Juliano's Raw" in Santa Monica, California.

NOTE: It makes a LOT, way too much for normal consumption. Cut it in half or even in fourth.
1 red bell pepper, julienned
1 yellow or orange bell pepper, julienned
1 large carrot, julienned
1 large yam or 2 medium, sliced and julienned
1/2 cup quartered walnuts
1/2 cup cashews
2 large apples, peeled, sliced thin and cut in half--I used Fuji
1 cup dried cranberries
1 bunch chopped green onions, including most of the tops
1/2-1 jalapeno, minced--I forgot to do this

1 cup--or to taste--fresh squeezed orange juice
1/4 to 1/2 cup--or to taste--maple syrup--start with lower measurement
1/4 cup--or to taste--fresh squeezed lemon juice
4-6 cloves garlic, pressed
2-3 Tbs. olive oil
2-3 Tbs. balsamic vinegar
2-3 Tbs. Nama Shoyu OR soy sauce
1 tsp-1 Tbs. freshly grated ginger--more if you are crazy about ginger.

Mix the first set of ingredients together. Mix the second set of ingredients together and taste, adjust to suit your taste. Pour over fruit and veggies and mix well.


Thursday, May 14, 2009

CHICKEN TACOS

Start with corn tortillas, fried in a little oil.Top it with sour cream.
Add hot sauce.
Pile on the chicken mixture,
and spinach.
Fold over and eat.
Yummy.
If you want to save calories just pile everything on spinach leaves. Delicious.
And soon this was all that was left. These are our favorite hot sauces, both are mild and I love them both.



CHICKEN TACOS—Good things Utah—original recipe here.

2 tablespoons butter
Canola oil, for frying I never use Canola oil! It does bad stuff to me.
2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces I used already cooked chicken
3 tablespoons chopped onion
(I used ½ red onion, next time will use a whole one, I think)
I added one chopped jalapeno but will use 2 or 3 next time
2 to 3 garlic cloves, minced
2 vine-ripened tomatoes, chopped
(I used one –15 oz.—can diced tomatoes, drained, because I was out of tomatoes)
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
Salt
Black pepper
Garlic salt I used garlic powder

12 corn tortillas


TOPPINGS:
Shredded Cheddar cheese, pepper Jack cheese, or a combination
Sour cream
Fresh spinach, thinly sliced I didn't slice it, just piled it on
Fresh Salsa or Tabasco sauce
Lime wedges.


6 servings--Ha! We each ate four. But we didn't eat any Mexican rice or refried beans. Does that make us less piggy?

Thanks to Aunt Sue, (this was the Aunt Sue from whoever gave the recipe on Good Things Utah) we have been making these tacos for over 30 years. This is an original Mexican recipe and is one of our family favorites. You may skip frying the tortillas and simply make soft tacos with heated tortillas.


1. Heat the butter and 2 tablespoons of oil in a medium skillet over medium high heat. Add the chicken and onions and cook and stir until the onions are soft and the chicken is tender and no longer pink. Add the garlic and cook about 1 minute more. Decrease the heat to low and stir in the tomato and cilantro. Add water (or chicken broth) if the mixture seems too dry. Season generously with salt, pepper, and garlic salt. Continue cooking about 2 minutes. Cover and turn off the heat. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees.

2. Heat 3/4 cup of canola oil (I only used a couple of tablespoons of expeller pressed safflower oil) in a small skillet over medium-high heat. Fry one tortilla: With tongs turn it once to cook both sides, then quickly fold halfway over and cook for a few more seconds to make the taco shape I just left it flat. Drain on paper towels. Place the tortilla in the oven to keep warm. Repeat with the remaining tortillas, putting each one into the oven to keep warm. (If the taco shells cool, they lose their crispness and become tough and chewy.) For soft tacos, simply heat the tortillas one at a time in a dry skillet over high heat for a few seconds on each side. (Or wrap tortillas in aluminum foil and heat in the oven at 275 degrees for 20 minutes.)

3. To serve, place a small amount of the chicken mixture in each taco shell. Put the filled tacos on a platter and serve. Pass the cheese, sour cream, spinach, salsa or hot sauce and lime.

Serve with Mexican Rice with Fresh Tomatoes and refried beans with a little shredded cheese on top. We didn't do any of that and it was a great dinner.

Monday, April 20, 2009

Do NOT make this!

Do NOT put equal parts of honey and mustard over chicken and put in the crockpot and then have your husband's assistant ward clerk over to dinner--because the ward clerk got his patriarchal blessing from the patriarch who lives just down the street (Phil was driving him from BYU to the patriarch's house and back to BYU when he was finished because the assistant ward clerk doesn't have a car) and you just could NOT not have him to dinner, even though you got out of church an hour after they were home so the minute you came in the door you ran...okay, this hypothetical person didn't run...to the kitchen and started cooking rice and making salad and other things and then this person tasted the chicken and about died because it was not good but what could she do, having the clerk to dinner and all, so she served it--with apologies--and it was not her favorite but it IS on the top of her not-favorite list. So, don't do that.

But the cute ward clerk ate at least two pieces and said his mom didn't cook Sunday dinner--they only ate cereal--so maybe he was semi-impressed. Not with the chicken but because we had a tablecloth and rice and salad--with my totally wonderful lemon/garlic salad dressing--and other tasty offerings. For dessert I served him my divine homemade yogurt over strawberries.

I'll post how to make the yogurt soon. It is strawberry season, you know, the perfect reason to make yogurt.

And about the chicken? You have been warned. Trust me.

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

LEMON LAYER DESSERT


LEMON LAYER DESSERT--Joan Sorensen gave me this recipe years and years ago. I have yet to find a lemon dessert as good.


When this dessert first came out about twenty-five years ago Robert Redford said it was his favorite. That Robert, he's a smart man.

Crust:
1 cup flour
1 square butter
½ cup nuts
Mix together. Press in 9x13 pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Cool

Layer One:
1 (8 ounce) pkg. cream cheese
1 cup powdered sugar
1 cup cool whip (from an 8 ounce tub.)
Mix together and spread on top of cooled crust.

Layer Two:
Mix 2 small pkg. lemon pudding (instant) with 3 cups milk.
Put on top of cream cheese layer.

Layer three: Put remaining whipped topping on the top. Keep in the refrigerator until served.

You can use chocolate pudding in place of lemon pudding. Put chocolate shavings on top of the cool whip. Joan says the chocolate is good but nothing like the lemon.

Thursday, April 2, 2009

RASPBERRY DELIGHT--I CALL IT "RASPBERRY FOOL" BECAUSE PEOPLE TEND TO MAKE FOOLS OF THEMSELVES OVER IT

I really wanted my daughter-in-laws recipe for this but she wasn't home when I called. While I was waiting for her to get back to me I did an Internet search and found this recipe. I was half finished before she got back to me so it's a bit different, but everyone at the dinner party liked it and so did Phil.


RASPBERRY DELITE or RASPBERRY FOOL

Crust
2 cups Flour
1 cup butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup chopped nuts

Layer 1
2 cups powdered sugar
2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese
4 (1 1/3 ounce) envelopes Dream Whip (prepared)
Note: I used half again as much of everything--3 cups powdered sugar, 3 pkgs. cream cheese, I didn't have any more Dream Whip so I used 2 cups Cool Whip--I might not do that again as it made this layer very thick but...very good.

layer 2
2 (4 3/4 ounce) packages junket danish dessert mix (raspberry flavored, prepared minus 1/2 c water for each pkg.) --
I forgot to leave out the 1 cup water and it was okay, I think it would be too thick the way the directions say. Maybe leave out 1/4 cup water per recipe would be okay or even 2 tablespoons.
2 (12 ounce) packages frozen raspberries


Mix ingredients for crust and press into a cookie sheet Bake 375° for 20 minutes or till golden brown. (Cool completely--I put mine in the cold garage for a half hour.)
I put the flour, butter and brown sugar in the food processor, mixed until butter was in tiny pieces. I added the nuts and pulsed the machine until they were in tiny pieces.

For layer one: Mix powdered sugar and cream cheese until smooth and fold in dream whip (set aside).

For layer 2 Mix prepared danish dessert w/ frozen raspberries--while it is still warm.

Spread cream cheese mixture carefully over cooled crust and then spread raspberries on top.

Refrigerate several hours. Cut and serve. Serves 24 but sometimes there is a fool or two in the audience and it only serves 22. Or even 20! This has been known to happen at our house when Sharee brings this dessert. We find sneaky people in the kitchen--with forks and a guilty face.

Saturday, February 14, 2009

GINGER COOKIES

This is a most unusual recipe. The cookies are delicious but leave you wondering, "What on EARTH is that taste I can't identify." It's a mystery ingredient and the first time I read the recipe I thought, "There is no way I am making those." But the second year they showed up at my door for Christmas--and I hid them so no one else would know they were there--I decided maybe the mystery ingredient was okay. So today I made them for Valentine's Day and delivered them to the sisters I visit teach. Not a heart shaped cookie for my friends but an interesting one. I'd probably rather be interesting than traditional. Well, it depends, I guess but today I went for interesting.



GINGER COOKIES—Tamalin Christen*

¼ cup strained bacon fat--this is the mystery ingredient
½ cup butter
1 cup sugar
¼ cup dark molasses
1 large egg
2 cups all-purpose flour
¾ teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon ginger
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon cloves
½ teaspoon nutmeg


Cream fat and butter with sugar. Beat in molasses and egg. Add dry ingredients and combine. Shape dough into walnut-size balls, roll in sugar and bake on ungreased cookie sheet at 350 for 10-12 minutes until cookies are golden and cracked on top. Cook on wire racks. Store in airtight container.

*Tamalin is a caterer who makes divine food. She helped cater Lord Bumhampton and Nurse Giggleswith's wedding reception. The food was beautiful and delicious.

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

ORANGE SAUCE FOR CHICKEN

Original recipe here. I tweaked it and thought it was perfect. Even Her Excellency of Mousehole said it was perfect. Then she threatened me. "Don't do anything more to it. You'll ruin it!" She knows me well. I'm a fiddler, can't resist the urge to just add one more thing. So I didn't fiddle and it was a good thing.

ORANGE SAUCE FOR CHICKEN


1 cup water
1 cup orange juice, fresh squeezed if possible
¾ cup packed brown sugar
½ cup rice vinegar
¼ cup lemon juice
3 Tbs. soy sauce
2 to 3 Tbs. chopped green onion
1 Tbs. grated orange zest
½ to 1 tsp. grated ginger
½ to 1 tsp. pressed or grated garlic
¼ tsp. red pepper flakes or a healthy pinch of cayenne pepper--be careful. I put too much in my last batch!

2 Tbs. cornstarch
2 Tbs. water


Mix everything but cornstarch and 2 tablespoons water together and bring to a boil. Mix cornstarch and water together and stir into orange mixture. Boil one minute, stirring constantly. Serve over chicken fingers and rice or noodles.

THE MEATBALL THAT FELL OFF THE TABLE

The Meatball that Fell off the Table. This is where I got this meatball recipe.
This is the way I served them, with Barbecue sauce and egg noodles. Recipe for the barbecue sauce here.I don't cook with beef. Never. Well, now I will have to say almost never because the other day I picked up a four pound--yes four-pound--package of ground beef, put it in my cart and when I got home--I paid for it first--I said to Phil, "I don't know what possessed me to do this." He didn't know either.

So I went online and looked for recipes to use the stuff. If nothing else, I thought, I could make meatballs and take them to people who were sick. (I actually did this last night along with a batch of homemade barbecue sauce--I could see they didn't have any dinner started so it was a good decision.) I also served it Sunday with the barbecue sauce and it was good. I haven't tried the "soup" gravy recipe yet but will as I still have three packages of frozen meatballs in the freezer
THE MEATBALL THAT FELL OFF THE TABLE

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 egg
1 pound ground beef chuck
1 cup plain dry bread crumbs (I used Italian)
1 teaspoon garlic salt (I used ½ tsp. garlic powder and ½ tsp. salt)
1 teaspoon ground coriander (I left this out)
1 tsp. Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley or 1 tsp. dried
ground black pepper to taste
2 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of mushroom soup
2 tablespoons water, or as needed

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add onions; cook and stir until tender and lightly browned.

Whisk the egg in a large bowl. Add the onion, ground beef, bread crumbs, garlic salt (or garlic powder and salt), coriander, nutmeg, parsley and pepper; mix well using your hands. Shape into meatballs using your hands or an ice cream scoop. (I made tiny meatballs and liked them that size)

Place the meatballs into the skillet, and set over medium-high heat. Cover, and cook until browned on the bottom. Turn, and continue cooking covered, until meatballs are browned on all sides and no longer pink in the center, about 20 minutes. (I cooked mine in the oven. The beef I used was so very lean I didn't even put them on a rack but would have, otherwise. I baked them at 350° for 25 minutes.)

Drain on a paper towel, and pour excess grease out of the skillet. Pour the cream of mushroom soup into the skillet, and stir in enough water so that it is still a fairly thick gravy. Return the meatballs to the skillet, and stir until coated. Serve over potatoes or egg noodles. (I had made them the day before and refrigerated them so I added them to the barbecue sauce and simmered until they were hot.)

Saturday, January 17, 2009

STUFFED POTATOES

These are wonderful. Also good the next day, reheated. Probably my favorite ways to serve potatoes.

6 to 8 large potatoes
1 (8 oz.) pkg. cream cheese
cheddar cheese, I used about 1 1/2 cups, shredded
4 Tbs. butter
onion powder
garlic powder
salt
pepper


Milk or water to thin.

Bake potatoes, slice off top 1/8th. Scoop out potato, leaving the skin intact. You will want to leave the merest bit of potato on the skin.

Put potato pulp and all other ingredients except milk or water in a large bowl and mash. Taste and adjust seasonings. Thin with milk if needed--we don't ever have milk so I use water--stuff back into potato shells and reheat.

Delicious!