Today I find myself in an emotional turmoil with my literary productive functions in lockdown. This just proves the folly of me not carrying out one of my original plans. I was always going to have at least two columns done ahead of time so I would have a back up on days like today. As of Sunday, I find myself one of two siblings left out of an original very closely knit family of seven siblings. Since I am dealing with the very recent death of my youngest sister, I am really struggling with this today. The best solution I have mustered is to just go quickly to food for those of you who look for recipes. Rest in peace, Till.
I am giving you two entrees. One of the problems in providing food for a family is often, “What in the world will I prepare for today’s meals?” If you really appreciate Reuben sandwiches, here is a very easy to prepare recipe, and you can say, “I did this myself.”
FAVORITE REUBENS
8 rye bread slices
2 packages (8 oz.) corned beef slices
1 can (8 oz.) sauerkraut, drained
8 slices process cheese spread
½ cup Thousand Island dressing
Butter
For each sandwich, cover one bread slice with I ½ ounces of meat, approximately ¼ cup sauerkraut, 1 ½ ounces of meat, 2 slices of cheese, 1 tablespoon of dressing and a second slice of bread. Spread sandwich with butter and grill in skillet until lightly browned on both sides.
If you need a hearty casserole entrée , try this chicken based pasta one. You can bake it in 2 small containers and freeze one, or bake it one large one if needed. It is similar to one I use a lot , only mine uses noodles and this one has a few extra ingredients. I think you will like it.
CHICKEN & CHEESE PASTA BAKE
1 package ( 16 oz.) spaghetti, broken
2 medium onions
I medium green pepper, chopped
1 medium sweet red pepper, chopped
½ cup butter
6 tablespoons flour
2 cups milk
4 cups cubed cooked chicken
1 can (10 ¾ oz.) cream of chicken soup
1 can (10 ¾ oz. ) cream of mushroom soup
1 cup sour cream
Salt and pepper to taste
2 cups (8 oz.) shredded mozzarella cheese
1 cup (4 oz.) shredded cheddar cheese
Cook spaghetti according to package directions. Meanwhile, sauté onions and pepper in butter in a Dutch oven, until tender. Stir in flour until blended. Gradually add milk. Bring to a boil, cook and stir until thickened. Stir in the chicken, soups, sour cream, salt and pepper. Drain spaghetti, add to sauce mixture. Transfer to two 11 x 7 inch, or one large, casserole baking dishes. Sprinkle with cheeses. Cover and bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Uncover and bake for 10 minutes longer.
Can be frozen for up to three months.
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
4/19/12
I hope you saved the recipe for the no-bake cookies from last week. Even though my daughter told me they looked like raw meat balls, and several Easter guests said they were afraid to try them, I have a good report from an unexpected source. My sister-in-law said she took one just to see what they tasted like. On Tuesdays one daughter always visits me on her lunch hour. I told her to take the leftover ones home with her to keep me from eating them because of the excess sugar. She could throw them out if no one wanted to eat them. She said she would just take them back to work with her. An hour or so later, she sent me an email stating that one co-worker said that they were “so good” that she bet that I made them! Later that day she asked me for the recipe so she could make them for something special at their church next Sunday! They were better a day or so after I made them.
Why do I keep doing stupid things just so I have something to write about the next week? My latest caper came from a bad decision to clean my refrigerator. I turned it to the off position and apparently did not set it cold enough because my milk soured way before the expiration date. From my upbringing to not throw out anything that could possibly be used, I decided to use some of the milk for a batch of sugar cookies. They turned out to be some of the best ones I have ever made. So I joyfully started to make my own frosting which calls for a stick of butter, an 8 ounce package of cream cheese, powdered sugar and lemon flavoring. All went well as I reached for my powdered sugar in a Tupper Ware container stored above my microwave oven. As I started to blend it with my hand mixer, I thought something was amiss, but decided that I had put in too much powdered sugar. To remedy this I added three tablespoons of milk. This improved the situation until I started frosting cookies and it did not spread right. I have done this for years, so why was it acting like this? Oh, oh, I have two identical containers and I had used corn starch!! There is a very legible label on the side of the container but did I read it? NO. As I have said before, the person who does not read is no better off than the person who can’t read. There is a dear lesson in here somewhere. To save a cup of sour milk, I had to throw out a stick of butter, 8 ounces of cream cheese and several cups of corn starch! Please do not tell my kids because I was chipping away at their inheritance.
To help restore my creditability, I will give you a salad dressing recipe that even I cannot mess up.
PEANUT SALAD DRESSING
2 tablespoons chunky peanut butter
2 tablespoons honey
½ cup salad dressing
Blend peanut butter and honey. Stir in salad dressing. This is perfect for banana or apple salads. I would like it on apple slices for a snack or for a fruit dip.
POTATO EGG SUPPER
3 cups sliced cooked potatoes
6 hard boiled eggs
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 cup milk
Salt and pepper to taste
1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
Plan ahead to have potatoes already cooked. Sometimes a whole bag of potatoes need to be used and will make too many for that day’s meal. It can be a quick meal for lunch after church. Place potatoes and eggs in a 2 quart casserole. Blend milk, soup and seasonings. Pour over potatoes. Top with shredded cheese. Bake at 375 for about 25 minutes. If you like onions, I think they would be a good addition. Be creative.
Why do I keep doing stupid things just so I have something to write about the next week? My latest caper came from a bad decision to clean my refrigerator. I turned it to the off position and apparently did not set it cold enough because my milk soured way before the expiration date. From my upbringing to not throw out anything that could possibly be used, I decided to use some of the milk for a batch of sugar cookies. They turned out to be some of the best ones I have ever made. So I joyfully started to make my own frosting which calls for a stick of butter, an 8 ounce package of cream cheese, powdered sugar and lemon flavoring. All went well as I reached for my powdered sugar in a Tupper Ware container stored above my microwave oven. As I started to blend it with my hand mixer, I thought something was amiss, but decided that I had put in too much powdered sugar. To remedy this I added three tablespoons of milk. This improved the situation until I started frosting cookies and it did not spread right. I have done this for years, so why was it acting like this? Oh, oh, I have two identical containers and I had used corn starch!! There is a very legible label on the side of the container but did I read it? NO. As I have said before, the person who does not read is no better off than the person who can’t read. There is a dear lesson in here somewhere. To save a cup of sour milk, I had to throw out a stick of butter, 8 ounces of cream cheese and several cups of corn starch! Please do not tell my kids because I was chipping away at their inheritance.
To help restore my creditability, I will give you a salad dressing recipe that even I cannot mess up.
PEANUT SALAD DRESSING
2 tablespoons chunky peanut butter
2 tablespoons honey
½ cup salad dressing
Blend peanut butter and honey. Stir in salad dressing. This is perfect for banana or apple salads. I would like it on apple slices for a snack or for a fruit dip.
POTATO EGG SUPPER
3 cups sliced cooked potatoes
6 hard boiled eggs
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 cup milk
Salt and pepper to taste
1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
Plan ahead to have potatoes already cooked. Sometimes a whole bag of potatoes need to be used and will make too many for that day’s meal. It can be a quick meal for lunch after church. Place potatoes and eggs in a 2 quart casserole. Blend milk, soup and seasonings. Pour over potatoes. Top with shredded cheese. Bake at 375 for about 25 minutes. If you like onions, I think they would be a good addition. Be creative.
Friday, April 13, 2012
4/12/12
Hope Easter blessings were showered on each of you and those dearest to your heart. My day was as magic as the weather was beautiful. We had a smaller group than usual for the noon meal, but totaled a nice number with those who dropped in later; There were 27 of us at lunch time with a grand total of 57. If anyone wants to dispute my calculations we will start with the statement “This is my story and I am sticking to it”!!!
When we were peeling potatoes for scalloped potatoes with ham bits in them, I was concerned if we had enough. Apparently my statement of “what you do not bring, we won’t eat, worried them again and we had more food than we could possibly sample. Whatever you may think our shortcomings are, we can sure cook well. I decided to use up the variety of paper plates in the cupboard. As we were eating I noticed a number of Christmas ones. I justified this with the comment. “Well, without Christmas, we couldn’t have EASTER.
Talking about shortcomings, I did a doozy on Saturday morning. Someone ignored the threat of frost and did not put my car away. I have a standing appointment at 8 every Saturday morning. When I looked out my back door, all I could see was my frost laden car windows. When you live alone you soon learn that the problem is yours to solve so I quickly decided to just go out and start the car and it would melt by the time I had to go. Sounds simple enough, doesn’t it? Everything went well as I started the car, turn on the button to defrost the rear window, turned on the heater fan and went back into the house, feeling quite proud of myself. I was ready to go a little early but decided that early is better than late so went out knowing that all was under control. Imagine my startled demeanor when I noticed that the back window was cleared but the rest of the windows were still icy. Everything turned to panic as I found the car was locked and I had not seen my second set of car keys since I came home from church on Good Friday afternoon.
Now what is a little old lady who lives alone supposed to do under such dramatic events. I went back into the house for one more desperate search. The gas gauge was down to a quarter full. My intentions were to go fill it on that trip out. I thought about bugging the man across the street, but he already had a full day scheduled and he would probably kill me for being so inept. Well maybe not, because it would have come under the scenario of conflict of interest! So I sent up a plea for heavenly help to locate my extra keys hoping for a quick solution. As I made my last trip through the dining room, there right out in plain sight were my keys, hanging on the back of a dining room chair. I think my guardian angel was on duty and put them there so I could find them quickly. As I unlocked the door and got inside my car , I discovered that I had the air conditioner on instead of the heater. No wonder my windows were still frosty!! I still had 2 minutes when I arrived at my destination. Wouldn’t it be simpler to always put them on the hook especially reserved inside the kitchen door when I come home?
I am not a bit hungry. Maybe that is why no recipe has challenged me tonight. Guess I will tell you about one that I tried for Easter! You are on your own with it. One of my daughters told me it looked like raw meat balls. After I told them what was in it several were brave enough to try it and said with a surprised look on their faces, “Mmmm. Not bad.” Will that be enough of a testimony for you to try it? I tried it because I had saved the recipe for a long, long time and had a half box of Vanilla Wafers in my cupboard that I wanted to get rid of. I would eat the whole batch myself if I dared risk the sugar.
NO BAKE WALNUT BARS
2 cups crushed vanilla wafers
½ cup sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon cinnamon
½ cup maraschino cherries, drained and chopped
1 cup chopped English walnuts
2/3 cup sweetened condensed milk
Combine all ingredients, Form into balls and roll in extra sugar. The batter will be sticky, so I chilled mine. Let’s try another simple four ingredient entrée.
POTATO HONEY MUSTARD CHICKEN
4 chicken breasts, dark meat if you prefer, or mixture
2 cups potatoes, shredded
1 onion sliced
½ cup Honey Mustard Prepared salad Dressing. (I like KEN’s)
Spread shredded potatoes in bottom of 9x 13 inch lightly greased baking dish. Place sliced onion on top of potatoes. Place pieces of chicken on top of onions and drizzle salad dressing over chicken. Bake for 45 minutes at 375 degrees. Season to taste.
When we were peeling potatoes for scalloped potatoes with ham bits in them, I was concerned if we had enough. Apparently my statement of “what you do not bring, we won’t eat, worried them again and we had more food than we could possibly sample. Whatever you may think our shortcomings are, we can sure cook well. I decided to use up the variety of paper plates in the cupboard. As we were eating I noticed a number of Christmas ones. I justified this with the comment. “Well, without Christmas, we couldn’t have EASTER.
Talking about shortcomings, I did a doozy on Saturday morning. Someone ignored the threat of frost and did not put my car away. I have a standing appointment at 8 every Saturday morning. When I looked out my back door, all I could see was my frost laden car windows. When you live alone you soon learn that the problem is yours to solve so I quickly decided to just go out and start the car and it would melt by the time I had to go. Sounds simple enough, doesn’t it? Everything went well as I started the car, turn on the button to defrost the rear window, turned on the heater fan and went back into the house, feeling quite proud of myself. I was ready to go a little early but decided that early is better than late so went out knowing that all was under control. Imagine my startled demeanor when I noticed that the back window was cleared but the rest of the windows were still icy. Everything turned to panic as I found the car was locked and I had not seen my second set of car keys since I came home from church on Good Friday afternoon.
Now what is a little old lady who lives alone supposed to do under such dramatic events. I went back into the house for one more desperate search. The gas gauge was down to a quarter full. My intentions were to go fill it on that trip out. I thought about bugging the man across the street, but he already had a full day scheduled and he would probably kill me for being so inept. Well maybe not, because it would have come under the scenario of conflict of interest! So I sent up a plea for heavenly help to locate my extra keys hoping for a quick solution. As I made my last trip through the dining room, there right out in plain sight were my keys, hanging on the back of a dining room chair. I think my guardian angel was on duty and put them there so I could find them quickly. As I unlocked the door and got inside my car , I discovered that I had the air conditioner on instead of the heater. No wonder my windows were still frosty!! I still had 2 minutes when I arrived at my destination. Wouldn’t it be simpler to always put them on the hook especially reserved inside the kitchen door when I come home?
I am not a bit hungry. Maybe that is why no recipe has challenged me tonight. Guess I will tell you about one that I tried for Easter! You are on your own with it. One of my daughters told me it looked like raw meat balls. After I told them what was in it several were brave enough to try it and said with a surprised look on their faces, “Mmmm. Not bad.” Will that be enough of a testimony for you to try it? I tried it because I had saved the recipe for a long, long time and had a half box of Vanilla Wafers in my cupboard that I wanted to get rid of. I would eat the whole batch myself if I dared risk the sugar.
NO BAKE WALNUT BARS
2 cups crushed vanilla wafers
½ cup sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon cinnamon
½ cup maraschino cherries, drained and chopped
1 cup chopped English walnuts
2/3 cup sweetened condensed milk
Combine all ingredients, Form into balls and roll in extra sugar. The batter will be sticky, so I chilled mine. Let’s try another simple four ingredient entrée.
POTATO HONEY MUSTARD CHICKEN
4 chicken breasts, dark meat if you prefer, or mixture
2 cups potatoes, shredded
1 onion sliced
½ cup Honey Mustard Prepared salad Dressing. (I like KEN’s)
Spread shredded potatoes in bottom of 9x 13 inch lightly greased baking dish. Place sliced onion on top of potatoes. Place pieces of chicken on top of onions and drizzle salad dressing over chicken. Bake for 45 minutes at 375 degrees. Season to taste.
4/5/12
We just finished a 5 day mission at our church. Hope you used the Lenten season to update and polish your spiritual life. I had one major difficulty with deciphering a strong Irish accent. I multiplied the problem one evening by leaving my hearing aids on the vanity in the bathroom! That diminished the positive results from the evening one hundred fold. I remembered them the rest of the week! May each of you have a Blessed and Happy Easter.
This week I have been pondering the changes that occur from one generation to the next. One family just returned from a Florida vacation. One son and his wife chaperoned a group of youth from their church on a five day volunteer visit to the tornado area of Henryville, Indiana. They asked for donations of food and cash to help with the expenses of the week. They were overwhelmed with the response of their families and the local area. One business donated wheelbarrows, tools, etc. for them to use while they were there working and told them to leave them for the tornado victims when they left.
My son , who was a Viet Nam veteran, joined a group of veterans who had spent a number of months together constantly during the Viet Nam War. They bonded like brothers and had discussed what it might be like to come back during peacetime and enjoy the natural beauty of the area, even if it took them 40 years to do it. We can only imagine what their life was like during the wartime. Most of them do not talk about it, but they fulfilled that far off dream these past two weeks when 6 of them planned a return trip even if it were 42 years later. Just received an email from him that he is back home. It is a third world country and quite poor. He bonded with old friends, was glad he went but does not want to go back again. An unimaginable journey. The possibility of these experiences would have been more than magic in my younger years when going to Ft. Wayne was a big deal, let alone jet travel.
It is a long way from these experiences to the kitchen to prepare my suggestions for something to challenge your taste buds. I always look for something new to do to vegetables besides cooking to crisp tender and adding butter. When preparing cabbage, the original thought is slaw. I do like cooked cabbage, but a lot of people do not. If you are one of those, here is an idea that might change your mind.
CABBAGE CASSEROLE
1 medium head of cabbage, shredded
2 cups diced ham
1 can condensed cream of mushroom soup
½ cup milk
½ to 1 cup buttered bread or cracker crumbs
Steam cabbage in a covered sauce pan with a small amount of water until tender crisp. Drain if necessary. Arrange ham and cabbage in alternating layers in a two quart casserole dish. Blend soup and milk and pour over cabbage mixture. Top with buttered crumbs. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. My elderly friend at the nursing home gave me a new idea from a relative of hers. The recipe was written on a piece of scrap paper and was so unusual I wanted to experiment with it before I passed it on to you. You can believe what it says but it makes a lot for one little old lady to use up.
3-2-1
1 Angel Food cake mix, one step
1 cake mix of your choice
Mix both together in a zip lock bag. Take 3 tablespoons of the
mixture. Blend with 2 tablespoons water and cook 1 minute on
high in the microwave. She said she cooks hers in a coffee cup!
This can be stored in the pantry cupboard.
I chose a butter pecan cake mix and thought it was a bit bland so I added chopped pecans. I used my Corelle Ware coffee mug. Let it cool a few minutes then remove from cup. It made a nice cone
shaped dessert. Then I covered it with whipped topping and put a strawberry on top. It was quite pretty but I wouldn’t recommend it as a good combination. Be creative with chocolate cake and maybe coconut, maraschino cherries or orange cake with mandarin oranges. The ideas are limitless. This would be a nice project to let your kids do on a rainy day. Experimenting with different containers can make it interesting.
This week I have been pondering the changes that occur from one generation to the next. One family just returned from a Florida vacation. One son and his wife chaperoned a group of youth from their church on a five day volunteer visit to the tornado area of Henryville, Indiana. They asked for donations of food and cash to help with the expenses of the week. They were overwhelmed with the response of their families and the local area. One business donated wheelbarrows, tools, etc. for them to use while they were there working and told them to leave them for the tornado victims when they left.
My son , who was a Viet Nam veteran, joined a group of veterans who had spent a number of months together constantly during the Viet Nam War. They bonded like brothers and had discussed what it might be like to come back during peacetime and enjoy the natural beauty of the area, even if it took them 40 years to do it. We can only imagine what their life was like during the wartime. Most of them do not talk about it, but they fulfilled that far off dream these past two weeks when 6 of them planned a return trip even if it were 42 years later. Just received an email from him that he is back home. It is a third world country and quite poor. He bonded with old friends, was glad he went but does not want to go back again. An unimaginable journey. The possibility of these experiences would have been more than magic in my younger years when going to Ft. Wayne was a big deal, let alone jet travel.
It is a long way from these experiences to the kitchen to prepare my suggestions for something to challenge your taste buds. I always look for something new to do to vegetables besides cooking to crisp tender and adding butter. When preparing cabbage, the original thought is slaw. I do like cooked cabbage, but a lot of people do not. If you are one of those, here is an idea that might change your mind.
CABBAGE CASSEROLE
1 medium head of cabbage, shredded
2 cups diced ham
1 can condensed cream of mushroom soup
½ cup milk
½ to 1 cup buttered bread or cracker crumbs
Steam cabbage in a covered sauce pan with a small amount of water until tender crisp. Drain if necessary. Arrange ham and cabbage in alternating layers in a two quart casserole dish. Blend soup and milk and pour over cabbage mixture. Top with buttered crumbs. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. My elderly friend at the nursing home gave me a new idea from a relative of hers. The recipe was written on a piece of scrap paper and was so unusual I wanted to experiment with it before I passed it on to you. You can believe what it says but it makes a lot for one little old lady to use up.
3-2-1
1 Angel Food cake mix, one step
1 cake mix of your choice
Mix both together in a zip lock bag. Take 3 tablespoons of the
mixture. Blend with 2 tablespoons water and cook 1 minute on
high in the microwave. She said she cooks hers in a coffee cup!
This can be stored in the pantry cupboard.
I chose a butter pecan cake mix and thought it was a bit bland so I added chopped pecans. I used my Corelle Ware coffee mug. Let it cool a few minutes then remove from cup. It made a nice cone
shaped dessert. Then I covered it with whipped topping and put a strawberry on top. It was quite pretty but I wouldn’t recommend it as a good combination. Be creative with chocolate cake and maybe coconut, maraschino cherries or orange cake with mandarin oranges. The ideas are limitless. This would be a nice project to let your kids do on a rainy day. Experimenting with different containers can make it interesting.
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