Grandma's Potato Salad

I am taking a main dish break and putting this up. This is my grandmother's wonderful potato salad and really the only potato salad that I like. It is rich and creamy and amazing. Come by some time, I will make it for you, and you will see just how good it is.

6 medium potatoes, cooked, peeled and cubed
2 stalks celery, chopped
4 bacon slices
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup vinegar
3 large eggs
1 tea. dry mustard
1/2 tea. salt
2 tea. celery seed
1/2 tea. black pepper
2 large eggs, hard boiled, peeled and sliced

Place potatoes and celery in a large serving bowl.

Fry bacon in a medium frying pan until crisp. Remove, drain and crumble bacon then add to bowl with potatoes. Leave 1 - 1 1/2 T. bacon drippings in pan.

Combine well sugar, vinegar, 3 eggs, dry mustard, salt, celery seed and black pepper in a medium bowl. Pour into pan with bacon grease and heat over low medium heat. Stir and scrape frequently until sauce thickens and just barely begins to boil. Sauce will be very thick.

Pour sauce over potatoes and stir gently to combine.

Garish with sliced eggs.

Edamame Succotash with Shrimp

Another Cooking Light recipe that is perfect just the way it is!

Edamame Succotash with Shrimp

Edamame stand in for lima beans in this one-dish meal. If you like your food spicy, use 2 jalapeño peppers.

Yield

4 servings (serving size: 1 1/4 cups)

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups frozen blanched shelled edamame (green soybeans)
• 3 bacon slices
• 1/2 cup chopped celery
• 1/4 cup chopped red onion
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 to 2 jalapeño peppers, split lengthwise and cut crosswise into thin strips
• 2 cups fresh corn kernels (about 2 ears)
• 3 tablespoons white wine
• 1 pound medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

Preparation

Prepare edamame according to package directions, omitting salt. Drain.

Cook bacon in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until crisp. Remove from pan, reserving 1 tablespoon drippings in pan; crumble bacon.

Reduce heat to medium; add celery, onion, garlic, and jalapeño to pan; cook 2 minutes, stirring frequently. Stir in edamame, corn, and wine; cook 4 minutes, stirring frequently. Add shrimp; cook 5 minutes or until shrimp are done, stirring frequently. Remove from heat. Stir in salt and pepper; sprinkle with crumbled bacon and parsley. Serve immediately.

Nutritional Information

Calories:

292 (28% from fat)

Fat:

11.2g (sat 2.9g,mono 4g,poly 3.7g)

Protein:

365g

Carbohydrate:

31.7g

Fiber:

6.2g

Cholesterol:

180mg

Iron:

5.4mg

Sodium:

599mg

Calcium:

118mg

Cooking Light, JANUARY 2003

Beef Strogonoff

This is mine, but one I am constantly tweaking, it seems a little different every time I make it.

1 pound of beef rib eye or other good cut of beef, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1 8 ounce package sliced mushrooms
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 1/2 tea. beef bouillon granules
1 T. of onion powder
1 tea. minced garlic
1/2 tea. garlic salt
1/4 tea. black pepper
2 T. Worcestershire sauce
2/3 c. sour cream
2 c. egg noodles, prepared. Add parsley and butter to noodles if desired.

Brown beef in a small amount of olive oil for 7 minutes. Add mushrooms and saute for 4 minutes, then add mushroom soup through Worcestershire sauce. Simmer 15 - 20 minutes.

Just before serving, stir in sour cream. Serve over noodles.

Cinnamon-Beef Noodles

This is not mine at all - it is from Cooking Light Magazine, Jan/Feb 2001 and is just so delicious!

Cinnamon-Beef Noodles

In this classic version of red-cooking, the meat is simmered in a soy sauce-based mixture for a long time until tender. Seasonings such as ginger, garlic, and cinnamon provide extra flavor. This method can be used to cook a variety of meats, including pork, lamb, chicken, and duck.

Yield

8 servings (serving size: 1 cup beef mixture and 1/2 cup noodles)

Ingredients

• 5 cups water
• 1 1/2 cups rice wine or sake
• 3/4 cup low-sodium soy sauce
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons vegetable oil
• 2 pounds beef stew meat, cut into 1 1/2-inch cubes
• 8 green onions, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 6 garlic cloves, crushed
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• 1 (1-inch) piece peeled fresh ginger, thinly sliced
• 1 (10-ounce) package fresh spinach, chopped
• 4 cups hot cooked wide lo mein noodles or vermicelli (about 8 ounces uncooked pasta)

Preparation

Combine first 4 ingredients in a large bowl; stir with a whisk. Set aside.

Heat 1 teaspoon oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat; add half of the beef, browning on all sides. Remove from pan. Repeat procedure with remaining oil and beef. Return beef to pan; add water mixture, onions, garlic, cinnamon, and ginger. Bring to a boil; cover, reduce heat, and simmer 2 hours or until beef is tender. Discard ginger slices and cinnamon. Stir in spinach; cook 3 minutes or until wilted. Serve over noodles.

Nutritional Information

Calories:

403 (14% from fat)

Fat:

6.2g (sat 2.3g,mono 3.3g,poly 1.3g)

Protein:

30.5g

Carbohydrate:

50.4g

Fiber:

2.9g

Cholesterol:

44mg

Iron:

5.2mg

Sodium:

1080mg

Calcium:

80mg

Nina Simonds, Cooking Light, JANUARY 2001

Chicken and Dumplings

This one started out as something that I coworker brought in to work and I asked for her recipe. Mine is significantly different, so I can't even say it is a version of the original recipe!

(you can substitute 4 cups of cooked chicken and 8 2/3 cups of broth if you do not want to make your own broth - but be warned that it may be a bit salty)


1 whole chicken
4 stalks of celery, roughly chopped
1 medium onion, chunked
6 carrots, peeled and sliced 1/4 inch thick
2 chicken bouillon cubes (or equivalent of the granular)
2 cans cream of chicken soup (or one chicken and 1 celery)
1 can cream of potato soup
1 egg
1 tea. baking powder
2 1/2 c. flour

Cook chicken in water with celery and onion until done. Cool chicken and removed bones and skin and tear into bite sized pieces. Chop and reserve celery and onion if desired. Reserve 8 2/3 cups of broth.

In a dutch oven, combine the 8 cups of chicken broth and carrots and heat to boiling. Add soups and bouillon cubes.

While this is heating, make the dumplings by combining the remaining 2/3 cup of chicken broth and the egg. Add the flour and baking powder and stir to a stiff dough. Add more flour or broth if needed.

Roll dough thin on a flour coated surface and cut into dumplings. The get quite a bit bigger when they are cooked, so I keep mine someone where in the 1 - 1 1/2 inch by 1/2 - 3/4 inch range. Drop dumplings into boiling broth. Simmer for 30-40 minutes until dumpling are done. Add chicken, celery and onions and cook for 5 minutes more.

Notes:
This is one of my favorite fall/winter dishes. It is hardy and very warming. Great with some cinnamon applesauce on the side.

It keeps very well in the refrigerator and can be frozen.

I've Had a Request....

actually several weeks ago, for main dish items. So, over the next few weeks, I plan to tweak some of my tried and true recipes and get them up here. For a few, that work is done, so they will be coming up in the next posts.

Chex Mix in the Crockpot

I haven't tried this yet - once I do, I will go back and add my notes. Click on the title link for notes from the Year of Crockpotting.

Crockpot Chex Party Mix - from the Year of Crockpotting blog

--5 Cups General Mills Rice Chex Cereal
--1-2 cups of dry roasted peanuts (salted or not, your choice)
--2 cups pretzel sticks
--1/2 t onion powder
--1/2 t seasoned salt
--3 T butter
--1 1/2 T Worcestershire Sauce


The Directions.

--put the butter into the bottom of your crockpot
--turn it on low
--add the onion powder and seasoned salt
--add the Worcestershire sauce
--add dry ingredients
--stir. if the butter is still clumpy, it's okay
--cover and cook on low for 2-3 hours, stirring every 45 min or so

Dump out onto a cookie sheet to cool.

Serve and enjoy.

Lo Mein

Olivia loves lo mein. This recipe is adapted from the Yan Can Cook by Martin Yan cookbook. It does not seem to have a lot of flavor to me, despite some additions that I made.

Lo Mein

1 1/4 pounds of pork loin, sliced in 2 by 1/4 inch pieces

5 T. Oyster sauce

2 tea. sesame oil

2 T. rice wine

black pepper

Combine all of the above and marinade 30-60 minutes (while preparing the other ingredients).

3 - 6 T. oil

1 large carrot, cut into match sticks

2 cans bamboo shoots, roughly chopped

5 cups chopped cabbage

1/2 ounce package dried woodear mushrooms, reconstituted according to package and chopped

4 cups fresh bean sprouts

2 cups snow peas, halved

1 and 1/2 packages of rice noodles (14 ounce packages) prepared according to package directions, rinsed then tossed with:

3 tea. sesame oil

2/3 cup light soy sauce (or more to taste)

1/3 cup oyster sauce

3 T. sugar

2 tea. sesame oil

fresh or ground ginger (optional)

2 tea. garlic

2/3 cup chicken broth

black pepper

After marinating the pork, and preparing all of the other ingredients, heat a wok on high and add the oil. When the oil is hot, add the pork and stir fry for 2 minutes. Remove from wok and add carrots and snow peas. Stir fry for 2 minutes, then add the pork, bamboo shoots, cabbage and mushrooms. Heat all of it through - 5 - 7 minutes.

Combine the last eight ingredients (light soy sauce through black pepper) and add to the wok along with the bean sprouts. Heat to boiling and cover and cook for 5 minutes. Uncover and add the noodles. Cook until the noodles have absorbed most of the remaining moisture.

Notes: This makes a huge amount - at least 10-12 servings.

Spicy Chicken Soup

Michael found the basis for this soup in the current Penzey's catalog. The original recipe is here: Spicy Hot Chicken Soup

I made a few changes, so here is my version.

2 large chicken breasts, bone and skin removed, cut into chucks
2 T. olive oil
1 medium onion, minced
2 large carrots, chopped into small pieces
5 tea. minced garlic
1/3 tea. cayenne pepper
3 tea. powdered ginger
8 cups chicken broth
1/2 pound egg noodles

Heat oil in dutch oven, add chicken and saute for 5 minutes. Add minced onion and garlic and saute until the juices evaporate and the mixture begins to brown slightly. Then add the pepper and ginger and saute for 1 minute more. Add the carrots and chicken broth and simmer, covered for 45 minutes.

Uncover, bring the mixture to a hard boil, add the noodles and cook until done.

Notes: This soup has a nice kick to it, and the garlic and ginger give it Asian undertones. Very good with a side salad and some bread.

Zion Church Slaw Dressing

submitted by Harriet Zuroweste

2 c. sugar
1 c. cider vinegar
1/2 c. oil
1 package Good Seasons Italian dressing mix
1/2 tea. celery seed
1/4 tea. salt
1/4 tea. black pepper

Combine all ingredients in a small mixing bowl (I use a quart jar). Whisk or shake to combine well.
Let stand one hours for flavors to blend. Pour over fresh cabbage slaw, shredded carrots, bell peppers diced and onion. Mix and serve.

I keep this in the quart jar in the fridge for a month or more and just use it as I need it, pouring over the bagged slaw mix.

English Toffee Day

How is this for another yummy treat!?!

Tip Junkie: Happy National English Toffee Day

Oven-Roasted Broccoli

I made this for a couple parties this Christmas season and it was a big hit. Very good and very easy:

Rachel Ray's Oven Roasted Broccoli

Almond Toffee

Yes, this is really the recipe, along with all of my tips and tricks. I originally found this recipe on the Cooking Light Community bulletin board, but have tweaked it some since then. The author, Anna, has her own blog - Cookie Madness and she has scaled down the recipe in this post. Michael and I make several batches of this at Christmas to give as gifts. It will make between 2 1/2 and 3 pounds.


Almond Roca

2 Cups Sugar

1 Pound (4 sticks) unsalted butter

1 Cup Water

1/2 tsp. Salt

2 Cups Almonds -- the "shaved" kind, not slivers or whole

1 tsp. Baking Soda

1 pound of milk chocolate chips (about 1 1/3 bags

Reserve 1-2 tablespoons of the almonds and set aside.

Mix sugar, butter, water, and salt in large, heavy saucepan and heat to boiling over medium to medium high heat. Make sure there's room in the saucepan for the mixture to foam up and boil. Heat mixture over medium to medium high until it foams and reaches 240 degrees on a candy thermometer, stirring occasionally.

When temp reaches 240, stir in 2 cups of almonds. Stir mixture constantly and watch temp carefully until temp reaches 290 - 292.

Remove from heat, stir in soda and QUICKLY pour onto a cookie sheet covered with buttered or greased wax paper. Mixture should start to harden immediately.

As mixture hardens, sprinkle chocolate over hardening mixture and spread the chocolate around until they melt.

Sprinkle melted chocolate with reserved almonds. Crushing them as you sprinkle them on.

Let sit until toffee hardens and chocolate sets.

NOTES:

For this recipe to turn out perfect, you have to watch temperatures CAREFULLY. Don't let the almonds burn (so use medium to medium high heat) and don't remove the mixture from the stove before temp reaches 290. If you do, you'll get chewy almond roca.

I use a Silpat instead of the waxed paper and it works wonderfully. I had problems with the waxed paper sticking.

A digital thermometer works very well with this because getting the temperature right is so important.

It will start getting dark and smoke as it is approaching 290.

You can use milk, semi-sweet or dark chocolate to your preference.

Joanie's Pork Roast

This rocks!!! It is amazing!!!

3-4 pounds pork roast
1 onion, roughly chopped
8 ounces sliced mushrooms (optional)
3/4 can or bottle of beer
1 T. garlic salt or more to taste
black pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients in a Crockpot and cook 8-10 hours. Shred with a fork before serving.

Notes: I made this a few weeks ago for Bunko and nearly every person asked for the recipe. It is great served with bread or buns and your favorite sauce. You could also use the drippings to make gravy.

Marilu's Hash Brown Casserole

This is one of those easy, yummy recipes that is always a hit. It is also one of Marilu's (Michael's sister) "signature" dishes. And by signature dishes, I mean, well, let's just say that she freely admits that she is not famous for the wide and varied things that she fixes. They may not be numerous, but man are they good!

So, to prevent myself from having to ask her for this recipe yet again, I am posting it here!

2 bags of frozen hash brown potatoes (the little square chucks, not the shredded ones)
1 stick butter
4 cups shredded cheese
8 ounces sour cream
1 can cream of mushroom soup.
Salt (or garlic salt) and pepper to taste

Combine all of the above ingredients and bake at 375 for 45 minutes.

Note: you can also top with corn flakes, but I have never bothered with this, but it is certainly good with them.

Crockpot Brown Sugar Chicken

Since we last spoke, I have done some more cooking! Yipee!

Yesterday, I put the Crockpot Brown Sugar Chicken in. The link is from the A Year of CrockPotting blog. Kiy first pointed me to this blog - I hope to find lots of inspiration from it and use the Crockpot more.

Maybe I was expecting too much. Michael and I both though it was okay, but not fabulous. I will try it again someday, with no soda, less sugar, more garlic and more soy sauce. And maybe a pinch of red or black pepper. It is certainly not bad, and the leftovers today at lunch were better than last night's dinner, but it was just not quite there.

On Friday, I stopped for groceries after work and found the deal of the day - the small clamshells (maybe 6 ounces) of blackberries for a dollar!!! I bought every one that they had - they were super fresh and Olivia was eating them like crazy. Last night I made a blackberry cobbler - I used Bisquick and it was was just okay. I seriously need a good cobbler recipe - anyone???? Then today, Michael and I used the rest of them and made 8 1/2 pints of blackberry jam!

Bacon Wrapped Water Chestnuts

1 pound bacon
2 cans whole water chestnuts
1/2 brown sugar
1 cup catsup
2 T. Worcestershire sauce

Cut bacon slices into thirds. Wrap each water chestnut with bacon and secure with a toothpick.

Place on a cookie sheet with a rim (jellyroll pan) and back at 375 for 30 minutes. Combine catsup, brown sugar and Worcestershire sauce. Check for browning and crispness at 30 minutes, if crisp, cover with catsup mixture, stirring to cover completely and bake for an additional 30 minutes. If they are not quite crisp yet, bake until crisp then continue with catsup mixture.

Serve warm.

Notes:

• The original recipe had double the amount of catsup and brown sugar. They seemed way to saucy, so I cut it back.
• It may take longer than 30 minutes to get the bacon crisp. It depends upon the thickness of the bacon. If they are not crispying up good, don't be afraid to turn the heat up a little, just watch them carefully.

Pasta, Bean and Sausage Soup

Pasta Bean and Sausage Soup

6 cups chicken broth
2 T. minced garlic
1 tea. ground rosemary
1/4 tea. Penzey's Black and Red (could substitute 1/8 tea red pepper flakes and black pepper to taste)
1 15 ounce can white beans (navy, cannellini, etc) rinsed and divided
16 ounces canned diced tomatoes and juice
1 cup small dried pasta
2-3 cups fresh baby spinach
1 pound hot Italian sausage crumbled, cooked and drained
Freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Combine the chicken broth, garlic, rosemary and Black and Red in a stock pot. Bring to a boil and cook for 2-3 minutes. Mash 1/2 the beans and add to the pot with the tomatoes and pasta. Cook until the pasta is just done, then add the remaining beans, spinach and sausage. Cooked 5 minutes longer.

Serve topped with Parmesan cheese.

Notes:

• Adapted from EatingWell's Pasta and Bean soup
• I used our fresh canned tomatoes, yum.
• Don't skimp on the spinach, I only had about two cups, so that is what I used but it could have used more
• For the pasta, I used what I had: elbow macaroni, which worked fine. The original recipe says to use medium pasta shells or orecchiette
• I made this New Year's Day 2009 as a way to try our new Italian sausage that Micheal had made and was inspired by the Today show talking about beans! I had all of the ingredients to make it on hand.
  
• I served this with a salad, garlic cheese bread and pinot grigio.
• It was delicious, the only change I would make is to add more spinach.
  

Introduction

I am starting this blog as a way to keep track of recipes and food sites and encourage myself to cook more often. I have always loved to cook but have really gotten away from it in the past few years.

I am copying the idea and format from my friend Kiy who has been my inspiration for this. She is an organized, meal planning mommy who is always making new, fabulous dishes. I hope to be half as organized and motivated as she is!

I also need to mention my dear friend D who is an absolutely amazing cook. I have learned so much about food from my time spent with her: cooking, shopping, touring a cooking institute and going out to eat. Her blog is beautiful and delicious!