Friday, December 31, 2010

Good Luck Beans & Other Things - 11 Favorite Recipes For A 2011 New Year Party

Growing up in my Midwestern family, New Year's Day meant party food for watching football and a dinner of beans for good luck. Tradition dictated a big pot of great northern beans with a silver dollar lurking somewhere deep inside. Good luck would come to the one who dished up the silver dollar.

The beans were usually cooked with a ham hock, topped with chopped raw onions and served with coleslaw (because two three gas producing foods are better than one, right?) and cornbread.

In other parts of the country, the type of beans and the preparation vary somewhat, but the intention is the same, whether it is great northern beans, black-eyed peas, black beans or baked beans.

If you want prosperity and good luck to come your way in 2011, grab a heavy pot and choose one of these delicious and nutritious bean recipes. Most of them will make enough to serve a group and freeze some for later. Hey, I always think I'm lucky when I find a ready-made meal in the freezer!







 



Thursday, December 23, 2010

Merry Christmas Cooking and a Happy New Year Kitchen!

SEASON TO TASTE
(my monthly food column for Heartland Women)

December 2010  

‘Tis the season for lists, shopping, parties and special times with family and friends, so that’s exactly what I’ve got for you this month! Lists of … new gift-able cookbooks that have caught my eye … cookbooks my friends and family personally use and recommend … and a few recipes for all those holiday gatherings.

After making my own wish list from this year’s crop of new cookbooks, I asked my brother, Jeff, for his very favorite cookbook. His response says it all about my desire (and his) to read and collect cookbooks. Jeff says ...
“My favorite cookbook is … the next one! That’s why you (he means me) have 5000! (he likes to exaggerate) Food, like wine, is all about the next fantastic flavor, the next thing that you haven’t tried. There are cookbooks that I refer to more than others. But nowadays, with the Internet, I research and refer to the books that I remember best. But mostly, when I read a book, I try to “absorb” the idea of the cooking – UNLESS I see a unique recipe that I just HAVE to try.”

Whether you read them for inspiration or follow each recipe verbatim, cookbooks are as tempting to me, and others, as any dish made from the recipes inside them. Where would most of us be without the go-to cookbooks we rely on when we are first learning our way around the kitchen? Or the specialty books that reflect our passions for baking or grilling or veganism? Or the wonderfully simple books full of fast and easy recipes to feed hungry families? Or exciting new flavors to bring us back to the kitchen to cook for grown children, who bring children of their own, home for the holidays.

Here’s hoping all of your lists are made, your stockings are hung, your shopping is done and your baking is underway. But just in case you’ve got a cook on your list who really needs a new cookbook, or you need a jolly new dish for the holidays, here are some recommendations from my friends who cook enough to know what they like – and what works!

~ from my kitchen to yours ~
Merry Christmas cooking to all ... 
and a Happy New Year in your kitchen!


Cora’s Cookbook Wish List for 2010:

Around My French Table: More Than 300 Recipes From My Home To Yours, by Dorie Greenspan – I love the way Dorie eats!

The Simple Art of Eating Well Cookbook, by Jessie Price and the Eating Well Test Kitchen– a new one from my favorite food magazine!

The Essential New York Times Cookbook, by Amanda Hesser – I have an old, beloved copy of the New York Times Cookbook by Craig Claiborne and The New York Times cookbooks never disappoint.

One Big Table: 600 Recipes From the Nation’s Best Home Cooks, Farmers, Fishermen, Pit-Masters and Chefs, by Molly O’Neill – Ten years of research and 300,000 miles of travel all to give us a good look of contemporary food in America. Let’s eat!


Cookbook Favorites From My Favorite Cooks:

The Splendid Table’s How To Eat Supper, by Lynn Rossetto Kasper and Sally Swift – Some of us want good food at home, even on weeknights. Kasper and Swift are the team that bring us The Splendid Table show every week on Public Radio. Now we have that same experience and great recipes to read – and cook! – anytime we want.

What’s New, Cupcake?: Ingeniously Simple Designs for Every Occasion, by Karen Tack and Alan Richardson – Cupcakes are so cute and so much fun to eat, for people of all ages, and these are some of the cutest I’ve ever seen!

How To Cook Everything, Completely Revised 10th Anniversary Edition: 2,000 Simple Recipes for Great Food, by Mark Bittman – Recommended for anyone who wants to have the ultimate reference for contemporary cooking at home.

Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book, 15th Edition, by Better Homes & Gardens. The hands down favorite and most used cookbook from all the cooks I surveyed. We grew up with this red gingham classic and many of us are still using some version of it today.

Local Community, Church or Organization Cookbooks – You know these books and you probably have one or two that you turn to frequently in your own kitchen. My friend, Kim, says these are her favorites because she knows “real” people make the stuff. My friend, Gayle, still uses her decades old copy of Southern Sideboards, a regional classic from the Jackson, MS Junior Auxiliary. In fact, I still use the copy she gave me for Christmas many, many years ago!

Janet, my sister-in-law, still likes an old family copy of the Mary Margaret McBride Encyclopedia of Cooking, by Mary Margaret McBride, 1959 edition. This is now a very collectible vintage cookbook and is usually priced around $65-200 at Amazon or eBay, but it has 1536 pages and there’s a lot of history in those recipes! Oh what a read that would be!

The Ultimate Southern Living Cookbook, by Julie Fisher Gunter, editor. Mona and Linda both mentioned Southern Living recipes and cookbooks as personal favorites. I’ve got the entire collection of the Southern Living Annual Recipes cookbooks – all 31 years! – but you may want to start with this newer compilation, before you begin to seek out all the annual editions at used bookstores.

From my very organized friend, Crystal, comes the best Personal Cookbook idea for dedicated collectors of recipes – cards, newspaper clippings and printed from the Internet. Her favorite cookbook is a giant binder with plastic sleeve pages. Makes it easy to take out recipes to make copies, rearrange the order, add more – and the plastic sleeves allow her to wipe off spills. The binder also makes it easy to take out a single page to use while cooking.

Books on Specialty Cooking: 

These are favorites among my cooking savvy friends. I share their appreciation of all of these cookbooks and have most of them in my own library.

Lee has a vintage copy of Simca’s Cuisine, by Simone Beck, she enjoys for French cooking, and Carol likes Marcella Hazan’s Essential’s of Classic Italian Cooking.

Wendy shares my enthusiasm for seafood, and The Coastal Living Cookbook: The Ultimate Recipe Collection for People Who Love the Coast, from the editors of Coastal Living magazine is one of her favorites – and mine!

Denise, a food blogger friend from St. Louis - Eat, Laugh, Love - told me she likes Frank Stitt’s Southern Table, by Birmingham chef Frank Stitt. Frank is another of my favorites too, but I didn’t know, until Denise told me, that his brother, David, has a wine bar/restaurant called Veritas, in Chesterfield, MO. Now it’s on my St. Louis restaurant list to try ASAP!

Aptly titled, The Art of Buffet Entertaining, by Diana and Paul von Welanetz is a favorite of Viki’s, and a cookbook I could use!

Sarah’s new favorite for family meals is 5 Ingredient Fix: Easy, Elegant and Irresistible Recipes, by Claire Robinson.

Emily recommends Everyday Food: Great Food Fast, by Martha Stewart, for working couples who like to cook.

Kristen and Shannon both love The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Recipes From An Accidental Country Girl, by my friend and food blogger, Ree Drummond. It has been on Amazon’s Top 100 list for over a year. Ree, aka Pioneer Woman, recently defeated Bobby Flay in a Thanksgiving Throwdown on the Food Network.



Charlie, a former classmate and current drummer with The Ivas John Band, has fond memories of this chilled Christmas pudding recipe of his mother’s.

Sylvia Morrill’s Norwegian Prune Pudding
1/2 lb. prunes
3 cup cold water
1 cup sugar
1/8 tsp. salt
1-inch piece stick cinnamon
1 1/2 cup boiling water
1/2 cup cornstarch
1 tbsp. lemon juice
Soak prunes for one hour in cold water. Boil prunes in same water until soft. Remove the prune pits and add prunes back to cooking water. Add sugar, salt, cinnamon and boiling water; simmer 10 minutes. Dilute cornstarch with just enough cold water to pour easily; add to prune mixture; cook and stir constantly for 5 minutes. Remove cinnamon and add lemon juice. Pour into mold, chill and serve with cream. Serves 6.


Kim likes to make this easy holiday dip to serve with fresh apple slices.

Caramel Apple Dip
1 pkg. cream cheese
1 jar caramel sauce
1 cup chopped pecans
sliced apples
Soften cream cheese and spread in an even layer on a large plate. Cover the cream cheese layer with caramel sauce. Sprinkle the chopped pecans over the caramel layer. Serve with apple slices for dipping.


Lee says this Pennsylvania Dutch candy made by her father’s family during the holidays is surprisingly good and addicting!

Potato Candy
1 large potato
1 tsp. vanilla
1 2-lb. bag powdered sugar
1 jar creamy peanut butter

Boil the potato until it falls apart when stuck with a fork. Remove potato and peel while still hot. Place hot potato in a bowl, add vanilla and mash together with a fork until smooth. Gradually add sugar and mix with hands until sugar melts. Shape potato mixture into four dough balls. Sprinkle powdered sugar onto clean counter and roll dough balls out to about ¼-inch thick. Spread with a thin layer of peanut butter. Carefully roll up like a jelly roll; refrigerate for several hours. Cut each roll into slices about ½-inch thick. Sprinkle with more powdered sugar, if desired.


Reggie makes this candy for a fast and easy holiday party take-along.

Chocolate-Orange Balls
1 12-oz. pkg. semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 ½ cups vanilla wafer crumbs
¾ cup sifted confectioner’s sugar
½ cup sour cream
2 tsp. dried grated orange peel
¼ tsp. salt
10 pieces orange slice gumdrop candy, cut into quarters
Sifted confectioner’s sugar

Stirring constantly, melt chocolate chips in a large saucepan over low heat. Remove from heat; stir in cookie crumbs, sugar, sour cream, orange peel and salt. Cover and chill until firm. Press crumb mixture around each piece of candy, forming 1½-inch balls. Coat with confectioner’s sugar. Store in an airtight container. Yield: 40 candies.


Mona, who likes to say she isn’t a cook, really is! She says this easy dip for holiday parties is always a hit.

Mona Dip
2 pkgs. frozen chopped spinach
2 pkg. blue cheese crumbles
chopped onion
mayonnaise
Triscuit crackers

Thaw the spinach and press the excess water out. Place the spinach in a bowl and add the cheese, onion and enough mayonnaise to give the mixture a spreading consistency. Serve with Triscuits.


Viki makes this dip in multiple batches to take to holiday parties.

Angela’s Hot Crab Dip
½ pint sour cream
16 oz. cream cheese
½ tsp. dry mustard
1 tsp. Old Bay
2 – 3 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
3 shakes garlic powder
juice from ¼ lemon
3 – 4 tbsp. mayonnaise
1 pound crab meat
1 ½ cups shredded cheddar cheese and/or
slivered almonds
(milk to thin, if necessary)
crackers

Mix together first 8 ingredients. Fold crab into mixture. Pour into a flat casserole dish. Sprinkle with cheese and/or slivered almonds. Bake at 300 degrees for 45 minutes. Serve with water crackers or club crackers for maximum crab flavor! Note: To take this dip to a party, place cheese and/or almonds in a separate container. Reheat the dip slowly in the microwave for 30 seconds, then stop to stir; repeat until dip is heated.

Cora is a food writer and author of the food blog Cora Cooks. (www.coracooks.com) She also teaches private and group cooking classes. For more information, contact her at – corasedlacekATgmailDOTcom

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Playing With Thanksgiving Food

SEASON TO TASTE
(this is my monthly food column for Heartland Women)
Note: some of these items have appeared as separate  entries
on Cora Cooks throughout November - they were just too 
good to wait! - but this is the entire column, as published in HW)

November 2010

It has been a very busy week around here! Well, make that a very busy summer and fall, now that I think about it. We’ve had so many visitors and guests – two big family birthday dinners, five of my book club friends from North Carolina, the annual reunion with my best friend’s whole family and mine too, my brother and nephew here from San Diego, more friends from North Carolina, and two months of weekly reunion committee dinner meetings -- that we wore out the front door. Seriously!

The good news … we have chosen a beautiful new door to graciously welcome all who enter here. The bad news … it takes several weeks for the door of my dreams to be delivered. Of course! Until it arrives, we have installed a temporary front door. I know it sounds crazy, but what were we going do? More house guests arrive next week and then Thanksgiving is our big blended family holiday and we’re all booked up for that long weekend too. A boarded up front door just doesn’t say “welcome, we’re so happy to see you” like one that actually opens to let you inside.

A gobblers gaggle of turkey goodies!

As soon as the door was back in working order, my thoughts immediately turned to planning Thanksgiving. After five years of gathering all of our siblings, nieces, nephews, my parents, new in-laws and assorted friends, we have a rather large blended family gathered around our table every year. I have tried to make sure that everyone has a favorite holiday tradition represented at our huge buffet feast. For us that means at least four different cranberry dishes, three savory dressings, two big turkeys – and a partridge in a pair tree. Well, let’s just say that we are blessed with an abundance of savory and sweet dishes and there is simply no need to find one more cranberry recipe or another never-fail method for roasting the juiciest turkey ever. Enough already!

So this year, Thanksgiving is for the kids! No cooking required – no recipes necessary! With a quick trip to the cookie and candy aisle at my local grocery and a dash to the fabric store, I was able to find everything I needed for all of the projects you see here. Most of these were inspired from the holiday craft section of the Disney Family Fun website. I’ve rewritten the instructions here to reflect my own versions shown in the pictures.

The cantaloupe turkey obviously requires some knife work, so is best done with close adult supervision. Everyone can enjoy stuffing the turkey with feather skewers and then snacking on them while waiting for the main meal event.

Most of the cookie turkey projects are easy enough for kids to assemble, with maybe just a little help with cutting and piping the icing – another good project for the family to enjoy. And what cute favors or place card holders they make! Just don’t be surprised if the little turkeys are missing some of the yummy parts before dinner is served! They are simply irresistible!

The chair covers require a little more cutting, sewing two straight seams and some careful gluing. I made two covers in just about three hours – from drawing the pattern to clean up. It was an easy project for an experienced crafter, but set up an assembly line with crafters of varying skill levels and watch those feathers fly. What a cute idea for anyone exiled to the kids table for dinner. Or maybe one to honor the turkey carver in your family. Or even one for everyone at your Thanksgiving table. Yikes! I’d better get busy!

Happy cooking! Happy crafting! Happy Thanksgiving!


Gobble 'em up!
TURKEY FEATHER APPETIZERS
1 cantaloupe (body)
1 red pepper (feet and snood)
1 yellow pepper (head)
1 orange pepper (wings)
2 raisins (eyes)
red seedless grapes (skewers*)
cheese cubes (skewers*)
toothpicks
short bamboo skewers

Wash and dry the cantaloupe, peppers and grapes. Cut a small slice on the bottom of the cantaloupe. Place the cut side down on a serving plate or tray. Wash the peppers and grapes. Cut each of the peppers into the turkey parts and cut the remaining pieces to use for the skewers. Secure each of the turkey parts to the cantaloupe with toothpicks or skewers. Use raisins secured with toothpicks for eyes. Thread red grapes, cheese cubes and pepper pieces onto skewers. Cover and refrigerate skewers and assembled turkey body separately until ready to serve. Place fruit, pepper and cheese skewers around back of cantaloupe for feathers just before serving.
*Note: choose tidbits of food for skewers based on what your guests would like - grapes, cheese, marshmallows, cantaloupe, celery, grape tomatoes, apples, cantaloupe, pineapple, etc. Remember that some cut fruits may need to be dipped in a lemon juice and water mixture to prevent browning.
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Place card holders or yummy treats?
DOUBLE-STUFFED TURKEYS
1 pkg. Double Stuff Oreos
1 bag candy corn
1 bag Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups
1 box Whoppers
1 can white icing
1 can chocolate icing
1 tube Betty Crocker White Decorating Icing
1 tube Betty Crocker Red Decorating Icing
1 tube Betty Crocker Yellow Decorating Icing
1 tube Betty Crocker Black Decorating Gel
small writing tips for icing tubes
2 Ziploc sandwich bags
scissors
toothpicks

Gently pull apart one Oreo – do not break! Place some of the White Icing into a Ziploc bag Spread a generous amount of White Icing on one side of the cookie and replace second side. Carefully press the tips of 6 pieces of candy corn into the icing between the cookies. Place a large amount of the Chocolate Icing in the Ziploc sandwich bag; squeeze the icing into one corner of the bag and cut off the corner of the bag. Squeeze some of the chocolate icing on top of a second Oreo, near the edge. Stand the Oreo with Candy Corn on top of the icing on the second cookie and hold firmly – use more icing if it won’t stand up on its own. Cut a small slice from one side of the Peanut Butter Cup; squeeze some chocolate icing on the top side and the place it cut side down against the standing Oreo to form the body. Squeeze some chocolate icing onto the Whopper and place it on top of the Peanut Butter Cup to make the head. Place one piece of Candy Corn on each side of the body for the wings, using a bit of icing to secure. Cut the tip of one piece of Candy Corn, squeeze icing onto the flat side and place it on the face for a beak. Use the Decorating Icing tubes to pipe on two white eyes with black decorating gel dots in the center. Use the red icing to pipe a snood over the Candy Corn beak. Use the yellow icing to pipe two feet at the base of the body on top of the Oreo. Use toothpicks to shape icing, if necessary. Allow turkeys to dry for and hour or so before moving. Double-Stuffed Turkeys can be used for place card holders or decorative and edible favors at each place at the table.
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Who's a butter ball?
TURKEY SUGAR COOKIES
several large sugar cookies (body)
1 can chocolate icing
1 bag candy corn (feathers)
1 tube Betty Crocker Yellow, Orange or Red Decorating Icing with writing tip (feet and beak)
1 tube Betty Crocker Black Decorating Gel with writing tip
1 bag M&M’s or chocolate chips
1 Ziploc sandwich bag
scissors

Place some Chocolate Icing in the sandwich bag and cut one corner of the bag for a tip. Squeeze some icing on top of the cookie around the edge. Place about 7 pieces into the icing to form feathers. Choose two matching M&M’s for eyes and attach them to the cookie with icing and pipe two black dots in the center of each M&M – or use chocolate chips. Pipe the beak beneath the eyes and the feet at the bottom of the cookie with your choice of yellow, orange or red icing. Allow cookies to dry for about an hour for the icing to set.
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Save a turkey - eat more ham!
TURKEY GOBBLERS
large sugar cookies - homemade or purchased, softer is better
1 pkg. Nabisco Mallomars or Pinwheels
1 can chocolate frosting
1 tube Betty Crocker Yellow Decorating Icing
1 tube Betty Crocker Red Decorating Icing
1 tube Betty Crocker Yellow Decorating Icing
1 tube Betty Crocker White Decorating Icing
1 tube Betty Crocker Black Decorating Gel
1 Ziploc bag
scissors

Cut off about ½-inch piece from one side of a sugar cookie. Place some of the chocolate icing into the Ziploc bag and cut the corner. Pipe some chocolate to the trimmed cookie and stand it up on the edge of a second sugar cookie. Next, cut one Mallomar cookie in half with a sharp knife. Pipe some icing on the cut side and back of the Mallomar and place it against the front of the top cookie. Using a generous amount of chocolate icing, squeeze a mound of icing in front of the Mallomar body to form the head. Allow the icing to dry a bit before continuing. Place cookie on its back and pipe the outline of feathers on the sugar cookie above the body with red and/or yellow icing. With yellow icing, pipe a small beak on face and yellow feet on either side of the head. Using the white icing, pipe two eyes above the beak and then dot the center with black gel. Finally, pipe red icing over the top of the beak and down one side to form the snood.
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Oh goodie! I get to sit at the kid table!
TURKEY CHAIR COVERS
Felt – white, brown, red, yellow, orange and black
Spray Fabric Glue
Straight Pins
Sewing Machine
White Thread

The Disney Family Fun website has templates to print out for the Turkey Chair Cover pattern, if you don’t want to draw your own. Print out the pattern to determine how much colored felt you need, based on the measurements for your chairs.

First, decide how many chairs you want to cover and measure them for size before calculating how much white felt will be needed. Determine how far down the chair you want the cover to hang – to the arms, or to the seat for chairs without arms.

Measure up, over and down to determine the length of the chair back. Next, measure all the way around the chair back at its widest point to get the total for the width and depth of the back, then add 1 inch for the seams – ½-inch on each side.

After you cut the first chair cover, drape it over the chair with the wrong side out, and pin the sides to be sure it fits. Make adjustments before cutting any additional chair covers. Sew the ½-inch side seams on the wrong side of the fabric and turn to the right side when finished.

Cut the pattern pieces from the computer printout templates. Pin the pieces to the felt and cut carefully, keeping the edges smooth. Lay out all the pieces on the right side of the white cover to make sure of the proper placement. Gently lift the edges of each piece and use a pencil to mark small dots on the white cover for exact placement.

Beginning with the feathers, spray glue on the wrong side of each piece and layer according to the pencil dots. Next add the body, followed by the head, face and feet.
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Saturday, November 20, 2010

A Corn Muffin Recipe



I tried something new the other day -- acorns and maple leaves with a big bowl of soup. Just perfect for the first frosty day of autumn.

My favorite easy cornbread recipe baked up perfectly in the muffin pan I got at Williams-Sonoma. Sometimes "cute" food adds a little something special to a one dish meal like chili or a hearty soup.

This recipe makes corn muffins that are so moist and tasty, no butter is necessary. Of course, that didn't stop me for spreading a little on any way. Best acorns and maple leaves I ever tasted!

Wish I still had some of the delicious Raspberry Pepper Jelly my friend Rodney makes. That would have been wonderful on a-corn muffin too. Rodney, are you reading this?


MINI CORN MUFFINS
2 eggs
1/3 cup corn or olive oil
8 oz. sour cream
1 pkg. Jiffy Cornbread Mix

Mix all liquid ingredients; add cornbread mix. Mix well and spoon into mini muffin pans. Bake at 450 degrees for 10 minutes or until golden brown.
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Thursday, November 18, 2010

Everything Tastes Better When ...

Remember the stroke of genius that led me to create Scrambled Eggs à la Quiche Lorraine?

Of course, you do! You've been kicking yourself since then, wondering why you didn't think of it.

OK, all of you egg-haters might not be kicking yourself about such a wonderfully simple and delicious egg dish, but I'm not here to convert you. Feel free to go on about your business.

Now, for the rest of you ... remember the old Ritz cracker commercial ... well, actually two Ritz cracker commercials?

#1
Question:  What are you hungry for, when you don't know what you're hungry for?
Answer:  Something on a Ritz cracker!

#2
Everything tastes better when it sits on a Ritz!

Half the time I can't remember from one minute to the next why on earth I walked into another room, but I can remember old television commercials and jingles. It's a gift!

So right after I finished the last bite of my quiche Lorraine scrambled eggs, it hit me.

A second flash of inspiration! Why not put that delicious culinary creation on a Ritz cracker?

Fast, delicious and ... convenient! And that Ritz cracker is like a little bit of a crust beneath my quiche-like scrambled eggs.

Why not indeed! Another million dollar idea I am sharing with you -- for free!

So that's what I did. Scrambled more eggs with leeks, cream, wine, nutmeg, salt & pepper and Swiss cheese and put them on a Ritz cracker. (BTW - generous amounts of leeks, nutmeg and Swiss cheese really boost the flavor.)

What tasty little morsels they were! Almost quiche Lorraine ... avec une croûte de Ritz! Brilliant!

Puttin' on the Ritz

Mmmm ... Good cracker! (Do you remember who said that? I know, I know!)

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Scrambled Eggs à la Quiche Lorraine

Forehead slap!

Why didn't I think of this before?

I'm sure someone has, but using many different search term combos, I could not find anything in Google. I'm usually a very good Googler!

I am right in the middle of a love affair with leeks. I made a quiche the other day and the first bite reminded how much I love the taste of leeks ... and then there's the whole eggs + cream + nutmeg + Swiss cheese quiche thing too. But mostly I was just struck by the sublime taste of sauteed leeks, so much so, that I have added them to a number of other dishes lately.

Tonight I was craving more of that mellow leek flavor, but not quite enough to take the time and trouble to bake an entire quiche for myself.

After all, it was 9 p.m. -- the hour of weakness in the face of hunger long ignored. And much, much too late to begin making a pie crust.

I wasn't even so sure I could trust myself alone with the whole cheesey-eggy-winey-nutmegy-leeky-baked-in-a-flaky-crust quiche anyway.

Then it hit me. Maybe I didn't want to make a pie crust ... and maybe I didn't want to wait a whole hour for dinner ...but wait a minute ... how about ... a riff ... on the whole Quiche Lorraine thing?

No time consuming crust. Who needs the calories! An no waiting another hour to eat!

I could have my leeks and eat them too! The exact same ingredients in another form simply had to yield the same taste ... didn't they?

Yes. They. Did. And in a flash to boot!

And if I hadn't scarfed them all down so fast, I might have taken a picture. But I suspect it will look a lot like ... scrambled eggs. (Later the same day ... see the picture! Told you! Scrambled eggs!)

The hits just keep on coming! I've already got my next million-dollar idea!

Can you guess? There will be a picture!

Curious?


SCRAMBLED EGGS À LA QUICHE LORRAINE
(measurements are approximate - be generous for full flavor!)
1/4 cups chopped leeks, rinsed
1-2 tbsp. butter
3 extra large eggs
large splash of cream
pinch of kosher salt
pinch of freshly ground pepper
pinch of freshly ground nutmeg
splash of white wine (I used vermouth)
1/2 cup finely shredded Swiss cheese
(1/4 cup crumbled cooked bacon - optional)

Melt butter in a large non-stick skillet. Add chopped leeks and saute until just beginning to brown. Crack eggs into a bowl and beat until well combined. Add salt, pepper, nutmeg, vermouth and finely grated Swiss cheese; stir to combine. Pour egg mixture into skillet with sauteed leeks and cook over medium low heat, stirring gently until eggs are softly cooked. Serve immediately!
Note: Cooked eggs could also be served in blind-baked mini pie shells or puff pastry cups.  
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Sunday, November 14, 2010

Turkey Gobblers

My fascination with turkeys that fly in the face of tradition continues!

The Internet is full of cute, crafty turkeys for Thanksgiving, but I was inspired by variations made with Mallomars (hard to find) or Pinwheels (easier to find.) Chocolate!

The other ingredients were easy to find too -- store-bought sugar cookies, chocolate marshmallow Pinwheels and frosting from tubes or cans. 

If you have the need to make all the ingredients from scratch, all I can say is have fun with those Pinwheels!

I had a delightful afternoon making these all by myself, but this would be a fun activity for a family or a group of (closely supervised) kids. In fact, I think I made something similar with a group of fourth or fifth-graders, back when my son was in elementary school and I was the room mother. Teachers just love moms who are eager to create a holiday activity that involves crafts and sugar, with a little chaos on the side!

Wouldn't these be adorable little place card holders or favors perched on each place at the Thanksgiving table? Of course, the kids will probably want to gobble them up before they dig into all the not so cute, boring food on their plates.

It's a holiday ... and they're so tempting ... and they're chocolate ... just one little piece ...

Let's face it, there is no jiggly jello mold, no soupy green bean casserole with yucky onions on top and no dish full of soggy bread cement that is ever going to taste like a chocolate marshmallow cookie turkey.

But don't run out to the grocery store for ingredients just yet. 

Wait till you see what else I've made. 

Patience.


Turkey Gobblers
large sugar cookies - homemade or purchased, softer is better
1 pkg. Nabisco Mallomars or Pinwheels
1 can chocolate frosting
1 tube Betty Crocker Yellow Decorating Icing
1 tube Betty Crocker Red Decorating Icing
1 tube Betty Crocker Yellow Decorating Icing
1 tube Betty Crocker White Decorating Icing
1 tube Betty Crocker Black Decorating Gel
1 Ziploc bag
scissors

Cut off about ½-inch piece from one side of a sugar cookie. Place some of the chocolate icing into the Ziploc bag and cut the corner. Pipe some chocolate to the trimmed cookie and stand it up on the edge of a second sugar cookie. Next, cut one Mallomar cookie in half with a sharp knife. Pipe some icing on the cut side and back of the Mallomar and place it against the front of the top cookie. Using a generous amount of chocolate icing, squeeze a mound of icing in front of the Mallomar body to form the head. Allow the icing to dry a bit before continuing. Place cookie on its back and pipe the outline of feathers on the sugar cookie above the body with red and/or yellow icing. With yellow icing, pipe a small beak on face and yellow feet on either side of the head. Using the white icing, pipe two eyes above the beak and then dot the center with black gel. Finally, pipe red icing over the top of the beak and down one side to form the snood.
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Friday, November 12, 2010

Crazy for Thanksgiving Turkey - I've Got You Covered

I think I've gone just a little bit crazy.

It was bound to happen sooner or later, I guess ...

... but after months and months of non-stop fun -- reunions, parties, visitors from afar -- I've finally got a little bit of down time before the next big event and another bunch of company arrives.

Not to worry though, I'm staying busy.

For instance, I've finally got some time to blog. And I've got food on my mind for Thanksgiving dinner.

But since it's a little too early to start cooking, I've found other ways to prepare some turkeys for Thanksgiving.

Take a look!

I made them myself with a "recipe" from the Disney Family Fun website (www.disneyfamilyfun.com) which I ever-so-slightly adapted for my own table.
  • I drew my own pattern! 
  • I used a tape measure, felt, scissors, fabric glue and thread
  • I didn't trust the glue to hold the seams (even though the website suggested it would) so I added a sewing machine to the list and made a straight seam down each side.
  • Now that I've worked with the fabric glue, I'm sure it would hold the "seams" under normal wear and tear.
  • If you prefer, use iron-on fusible interfacing to assemble the turkey and attach it to the cover.
The project is fast -- 3 hours, including drawing the pattern, cutting the felt, fitting the cover, sewing the seams and gluing.

The project is easy -- the spray fabric glue dries quickly, so the covers are ready to use immediately.

The project is fun -- especially if you set up an assembly line and get the whole family involved.

I'm just crazy about these jolly turkeys! What a great idea for the kids' table, honored guests, the person who carves the turkey, the vegetarians/vegans -- or maybe everyone at the Thanksgiving table!


TURKEY CHAIR COVERS
Tape measure
Felt – (I chose white, brown, red, yellow, orange and black)
Spray Fabric Glue
Straight Pins
Sewing Machine
White Thread
Scissors

The Disney Family Fun website has templates to print out for the Turkey Chair Cover pattern, if you don’t want to draw your own. Print out the pattern to determine how much colored felt you need, based on the measurements for your chairs.

First, decide how many chairs you want to cover and measure them for size before calculating how much white felt will be needed. Determine how far down the chair you want the cover to hang – to the arms, or to the seat, for chairs without arms.

Measure up, over and down to determine the length of the chair back. Next, measure all the way around the chair back at its widest point to get the total for the width and depth of the back, then add 1 inch for the seams – ½-inch on each side.  

*Note - I used two square back counter chairs for my covers, but if you have Windsor chairs like my black ones in the picture, be sure to keep the opening wide enough to slide past the widest point of the chair back. Then pin the cover to fit the rounded top of the chair.

After you cut the first chair cover, drape it over the chair with the wrong side out, and pin the sides to be sure it fits. Make adjustments before cutting any additional chair covers. Sew the ½-inch side seams on the wrong side of the fabric and turn to the right side when finished.

Cut the pattern pieces from the computer printout templates at www.disneyfamilyfun.com or use your own drawings at the www.disneyfamilyfun.com website. Pin the pattern pieces to the felt and cut carefully, keeping the edges straight and smooth. Lay out all the pieces on the right side of the white cover to make sure of the proper placement. Gently lift the edges of each piece and use a pencil to mark small dots on the white cover for exact placement for gluing.

Beginning with the feathers, spray glue on the wrong side of each piece and layer according to the pencil dots. Next add the body, followed by the head, face and feet.

Presto! Place the covers over the chairs to face either in or out -- your choice. Too cute!

Wonder if I have time to embroider names on them too?

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Indian Trail Cranberry Orange Sauce - Update 2010

Every year about this time I get hundreds of visits from readers frantically searching for Indian Trail Cranberry Orange Sauce. In fact, it is the number one searched recipe on this blog -- all year long!

So this is my annual update for all those who seek that little tub of sweet-tart-citrus deliciousness to use during the holidays. Indian Trail is no more -- sad, but true. I hate to be the one to break it to you, but I do have a simple solution to the problem.

I won't go into details again about my lifelong love affair with the stuff. You can read it here. But I am happy to report there is life after Indian Trail, and if you read all the comments to the linked post, you will see that you are in good company if you are searching for the real stuff or a recipe to make it yourself. The most recent comment is from Peg, who still has a tub or two in her freezer and thoughtfully provided the original jello mold recipe from the carton too -- just in case you didn't ever bother to write it down!

The jello mold still appears every year on our Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner table. I have been eating it for as long as I can remember and have been known to make it when it was just two of us for Thanksgiving dinner. That's how much it is a part of my Thanksgiving tradition and very sweet memories of falling in love with it at my grandmothers table.

My grandmother is gone, but my mother and I always make sure it is a part of our family Thanksgiving dinner to this day. Apparently we are not alone in our sentimental attachment to Indian Trail Cranberry Orange Sauce and the jello mold made from the box.

Here is the recipe I use for my own cranberry orange sauce, with a link to the post and comment with the jello mold recipe from the Indian Trail box.


Cora's Recipe for (Almost Indian Trail) Cranberry Orange Sauce
1 bag of fresh cranberries (frozen fresh whole berries are OK too)
1 whole orange including peel/rind, seeds removed (I quarter the whole orange, remove the seeds and stem end and add the orange quarters to the food processor with the cranberries and sugar - feel free to separate the white pith from the orange peel, if you wish)
1 cup of sugar

Chop all ingredients in a food processor or a food grinder and stir to mix. Refrigerate or freeze until ready to use. (Be sure to let it drain a while to remove the excess liquid before mixing it with Jello, if you are making the Cranberry Orange Holiday Jello Salad recipe from the Indian Trail box.)

Indian Trail Cranberry Orange Jello Mold
(Recipe from the back of the ITCO box)
2 pkgs. (3 oz. each) Cherry* Flavor Gelatin
2-1/2 cups boiling water
1 cup crushed pineapple (juice and all)
1 pkg. (10 oz.) Frozen Indian Trail Cranberry
Orange Sauce - thawed

Dissolve gelatin in boiling water. Stir into it Indian Trail Cranberry Orange Sauce and crushed pineapple. Pour into mold. Refrigerate until time to remove from mold and serve.

* Substitute Raspberry or Strawberry flavor jello for one or both boxes of jello in the recipe.

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Thursday, October 14, 2010

Good Food, Old Friends and Memories

SEASON TO TASTE
(my monthly food column for Heartland Women)
 October 2010

Left to Right - Rodney's Raspberry-Jalapeno Jelly and Homemade Horseradish and Charlie's Chasmo Pesto

For the past year, I’ve had the pleasure of working with a group of my high school classmates to plan our 40th high school reunion for the Carbondale Community High School Class of 1970.

Throughout the process, I’ve rekindled some friendships, made new friends, “friended” 79 classmates on Facebook, cooked dinner for weekly reunion committee meetings, and discovered the guys on the committee read this column!

Our committee started with a small group who began meeting about once a month at a local restaurant. It was convenient for both working and non-working members, but eventually, we had a dozen regular members and needed to be able to spread out and work on projects. Nancy invited everyone to her house for a meeting and our little group seemed to find its momentum.

Since I have a table big enough for twelve, we changed our base of operations to my dining room. I prepared dinner for us every week and the meetings became a lively exchange of ideas. Our hands-on projects were quickly accomplished.

My house. My kitchen. My table. My food! I was in my element and playing to my own personal joy – cooking for hungry people! The greatest pleasure for me was the camaraderie that developed as we talked, laughed and joked with each other over dinner.

Say what you will about simple homemade food, but the children of the 50’s and 60’s still have a place in their hearts for those meals like our mothers made. Give us wholesome ingredients enhanced with a little mid-century, post-war convenience food and we’re happy. Comfort food is a part of who we are. Even if we don’t cook much for ourselves anymore, we still enjoy the comfort of someone serving us a home cooked meal.

The simple act of sharing food at those meetings melted away the years and we were teenagers once again – eating together at our favorite hangouts. Lincoln Junior High School had open lunch back in the late 1960’s – crazy, but true! So long before we could drive, we were frequent diners at places like Moo and Cackle on the island, Spudnuts, Plaza Grill, Crazy Horse, and especially the closest place to the school, good ol’ Italian Village.

For the first dinner meeting at my house, I took the best from both worlds and served up a double dose of homemade comfort and the first taste of freedom we experienced in junior high school – Italian Beef sandwiches. Good idea! Big hit! There were even a few comments made that it was as good as Italian Village was in the “old days.” I’m not sure that’s true, but I accepted the praise anyway!

Every week we met, I tried to create a simple menu with something everyone would like, including a big salad, a vegetable and some sort of bread or roll. I got plenty of help with desserts and expenses. It was so much fun for me to cook for an appreciative crowd, and we all looked forward to the dinner part of our meeting.

It hasn’t been a full week yet since we last met, but I won’t be surprised if some of my friends begin to show up around 5:30 on Thursday, looking for dinner and some envelopes to stuff.

Now back to the guys who read my column. One night, Rodney showed up with a jar of Raspberry-Jalapeno Jelly and another with homemade Horseradish, both of which he prepared and canned himself! Another time, he baked a delicious Carrot Cake from scratch for our dessert. I loved it!

I didn’t know Rodney very well in high school, but we’ve become cooking buddies and I hope we continue to share recipes until we just can’t cook anymore. He gave me the Raspberry-Jalapeno Jelly recipe but, sadly, his Horseradish recipe is a closely held secret that he had promised he would never tell another living soul. That’s OK. I respect special family recipes. But if you’d like to try the horseradish potato recipe below, just use the best horseradish you can find, but not the creamy kind!

And apparently Charlie, whom I’ve known since junior high, knows his way around the kitchen too. He read my recent column about pesto and after some discussion, he declared his intention to make it with a big bunch of basil he had on hand. The following week he brought me a jar of his very first batch, complete with a label that read Chasmo Pesto. Even without a food processor and less basil than he thought he needed for the full recipe, I’m here to tell you that Chasmo knows pesto -- it was excellent!

It took our group a whole year to make our 40th reunion happen, but we wanted it to be special. We even had help from faraway classmates, thanks to computers and email. Charles created awesome designs for t-shirts, a 60’s-style poster and the directory cover. Stan jumped in to design and print a save-the-date mailing. Chanda scanned yearbook pictures for nametags.

Here in town, Nancy turned into a tenacious detective and found all but a few of the 300 people in our graduating class. Nikki worked closely with the Holiday Inn staff to have everything just perfect for the dinner-dance on Saturday. Mike helped us with the supplies and materials for mailings, etc. Janet copied CD’s for everyone with the directory information, Nancy’s incredible list of 60’s music and all the photos from the slide show.

Kathy and Gina saw to it that everyone was warmly greeted with nametags and a personalized bag full of reunion mementos. Karen and Karen managed to squeeze everyone into a packed room for the mixer on Friday night. Bonnie and Steve took us back to the 60’s with a slide show and nostalgic displays of high school memorabilia. Charlie spun the iPod dial and had everyone dancing. And Rodney and Rodney, or Rodney x 2, were the best MC’s any reunion ever had.

In real life, Charlie is the drummer for the Ivas John Band, so we all packed the house at Rustle Hill Winery on Sunday afternoon to hear them play. As a special bonus, two more of our musically talented classmates were able to sit in with the band for a set or two. Chuck and Larry played their guitars as the band played to a standing room only crowd all afternoon and took us out on a high note!

We had the best reunion ever! And what a pleasure and a privilege it has been to work with the entire committee and to make them dinner every week for the last two months. All of our efforts were rewarded x 10 with four days of non-stop fun and merriment. We relived our old memories with old friends and made new memories in the process.

None of us can wait for our next reunion! That won’t be until 2015, but I think it’s going to take something really special to top this one. Not to worry though, the whole committee has promised to meet at least once a month for dinner at my house just to make sure we get it right – so we’ve got five years to think of something!

I am a happy cook, and I am richer for my many friends and wonderful memories of our times together, both then and now. Happy trails to you, Class of ’70, until we meet again!


RODNEY’S RASPBERRY-JALAPENO JELLY
1 cup fresh or frozen raspberries
½ cup chopped green bell pepper
¼ cup chopped jalapeno pepper
3 cups white sugar
¾ cup apple cider vinegar
1/3 container liquid pectin

Sterilize jars and lids by immersing in boiling water for at least 5 minutes. In a saucepan, combine the raspberries, bell pepper, and jalapeno pepper with the sugar and cider vinegar. Bring mixture to a boil over medium-high heat and boil rapidly for 1 minute. Remove from heat and let stand 5 minutes. Stir in liquid pectin, and run the mixture through a strainer to remove bits of peppers. Pour the strained liquid into sterilized jars and refrigerate after opening.
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CHEESY SCALLOPED POTATOES WITH CARAMELIZED ONIONS AND HORSERADISH
3 ½ cups half-and-half
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 3/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. freshly ground pepper
3-4 tbsp. prepared horseradish (more or less to taste)
1 tbsp. butter
3-4 lbs. Idaho potatoes peeled and very thinly sliced
1 cup caramelized sliced onions
2 cups Cheddar cheese, shredded
2 cups Swiss cheese, shredded
1/4 c. freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl, combine the half-and-half, garlic, salt and pepper. Gradually stir in the horseradish, tasting for strength. Butter the bottom and sides of a 13 x 9-inch non-reactive baking dish. Layer the potatoes in rows to cover the bottom of the dish, overlapping them slightly. Pour the horseradish mixture over the potatoes. Place 1/3 of the caramelized onions over the potatoes. Sprinkle 1/3 of the Cheddar cheese and 1/3 of the Swiss cheese over the potatoes and onions. Repeat with another layer of potatoes, more horseradish mixture, caramelized onions, Cheddar cheese and Swiss cheese. Repeat with a third layer in the same order as the first two. Bake in the upper third of the oven for about 30 minutes, or until bubbling. Sprinkle the Parmesan cheese over the top and bake for about 15-20 minutes longer, or until the potatoes are tender and the top is lightly browned. Cover the dish with foil and let stand in a warm place for about 10 minutes before serving.
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CORA’S BEST-EVER ITALIAN BEEF
1 6-7 lb. rump roast (leave fat on for cooking)
Lawry’s Seasoned Salt
14 oz. beef stock
½ can beer
8 oz. jar chopped pepperoncini, with juice
½ pkg. Good Seasons Italian Salad Dressing Mix
2 tbsp. minced garlic
1 tsp. Italian herb blend
Italian Sub Rolls

Place rump roast in slow cooker, fat side up. Sprinkle with Lawry’s Seasoned Salt. Pour beef stock, beer and pepperonicini with juice around the roast. Stir in salad dressing mix, minced garlic and Italian herb blend. Cover and cook on high for 2 hours. Turn slow cooker down to low and cook for 8 hours. At the end of cooking time, turn off slow cooker and allow meat to cool. Remove meat from slow cooker and discard any pieces of fat. Slice meat across the grain into 1 to 2-inch thick slices. Meat should then shred apart with fingers. Strain the meat juices to remove the pepperoncinis and return juices to slow cooker. After all meat is shredded, add it back into stock in the slow cooker and set on low to heat. Serve on lightly toasted Italian sub rolls (I like warmed Cobblestone Mills White Sub Rolls for the slightly crispy crust) with additional meat juices and more pepperoncini on the side. Makes 10 to 12 sandwiches.
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RODNEY’S BLACK-EYED PEA GUMBO
1 tbsp. olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1 medium green bell pepper, chopped
5 stalks celery, chopped
2 cups chicken stock
1 cup brown rice, uncooked
4 (15 oz.) cans black-eyed peas with liquid
1 (10 oz.) can diced tomatoes and green chiles
1 (14.5 oz can diced tomatoes
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 pkg. skinless smoked turkey sausage, sliced - optional
dry red pepper flakes – optional for extra spiciness
2 finely diced fresh jalapeno peppers - optional

Heat olive oil in large saucepan over medium heat. Cook onion, bell pepper and celery until tender. Pour in chicken stock and mix in rice, black-eyed peas with liquid, diced tomatoes and green chiles, diced tomatoes, garlic and sausage slices, if desired. Bring to boil, reduce heat to low and simmer for 45 minutes, or until rice is tender. Add water if soup is too thick. Serve with diced jalapeno peppers on the side, if desired.
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NANCY’S APPLE CAKE
2 eggs, well beaten
2 cups sugar
1 ½ cups vegetable oil
1 tsp. vanilla
3 cups flour
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
3 cups peeled and diced apples
1 cup chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. In a bowl, cream together the eggs, sugar, vegetable oil and vanilla; set aside. In another bowl, mix the flour, cinnamon, salt and baking soda. Stir diced apples and chopped pecans into the bowl with the dry ingredients. Mix contents of both bowls together. Bake in greased 9 x 13-inch baking dish or jellyroll pan for approximately 30 minutes. May take several minutes longer in the jellyroll pan and the texture will be like brownies.
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Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Apple Cake - An Easy A+ for Autumn Baking


The temperatures have taken a dip around here and Autumn is in the air -- a very welcome change of pace from the stifling heat of this summer. Tonight there is even talk of a light frost, which seems a little early for us, but we'll take it. And add some rain to our order please!

Our pond, which we really and truly want to call a lake, is shrinking before our eyes. Definitely a pond now! Not quite down to puddle size yet, but alarmingly low. I don't doubt that the fish are beginning to panic a bit too, as they swim in smaller and deeper circles to find food.

Up here on dry land though, we are thinking about apples. The trees in the orchards of Southern Illinois are loaded with them this year! I have never seen the branches so heavy with fruit as they were when I saw them just as harvesting was beginning.

With our reunions behind us and the next wave of house guests not due until next week, we spent a little time yesterday with friends out at their country cabin. The distinction between country, as in sparsely populated, and "out in the" country, is one appreciated by natives to this area. Out-of-towners would think of this whole area at the bottom of a flyover state as country, and that's OK with us!

But I digress!

We road all around the fields and woods in the golf-carts-on-steroids that so many people with some acreage seem to have. Very handy if you have a few hundred acres and need to survey the land occasionally. Or find the best spots for foraging. Another sure sign that summer is behind us -- gathering nuts and berries for winter.  We scored a big bucket of hickory nuts, so I'll be foraging for recipes next.

In the meantime, my friend Nancy made this delicious and very easy apple cake for the last dinner meeting for our reunion committee. We all hoovered it up and licked the crumbs off the plates, so I thought it would be perfect to bake and share with our friends yesterday. The cool, clear, windy day in the country was just perfect for apple something.

The cake, exactly as Nancy made it, was wonderful, but I added a bit more vanilla and cinnamon -- just because I could, I guess. Bake it in a 13 x 9-in. pan and cut it into generous squares. The texture is kind of like a thick, chewy brownie -- dense and moist and studded with chunks of pecans and apples. Serve it with ice cream or whipped cream. Next time I'm going try it with a dollop of my favorite thick and creamy Greek Gods Honey Yogurt!  

How nice to find a dessert that is simple to make and so perfectly seasonal for this time of year.

I give it an A+ for apple-y autumn-y goodness.

Bonus points for anyone who can identify the variety of apples in the picture! 


APPLE CAKE
(Inspired by a recipe from my friend Nancy)

2 eggs, well beaten
2 cups sugar
1½ cups vegetable oil
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
3 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
3 cups peeled and diced apples
1 cup coarsely chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a bowl, cream together the eggs, sugar, vegetable oil and vanilla; set aside. In another bowl, mix the flour, cinnamon, salt and baking soda. Stir diced apples and chopped pecans into the bowl with the dry ingredients. Mix contents of both bowls together. Bake in greased 9 x 13-inch baking dish or jellyroll pan for approximately 45 minutes. May take several minutes longer in the jellyroll pan and the texture will be like brownies.
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Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Fall Decorating and Homemade Lasagna


Let Fall begin! 

I know it's not supposed to be capitalized, but it just looks better that way.

Big baskets of mums have been installed on the porch, sharing space with the Boston ferns of summer that will continue to hang on until the first frost. I always want to bring them inside to enjoy, at least until the dry indoor heat begins to turn their tender leaves a crackly brown. However, I do not enjoy those greased-lightning lizards that leap out of the ferns the minute I set them inside. When we had cats, they took particular pleasure in slapping a paw down on a lizard's tail, only to find they were more than willing to wiggle free and continue life, sans tail. Sorry ferns - your days are as short as a stump-tailed lizard!


Moving on myself. I've been saving the picture of this gorgeous Fall arrangement my friend, Sally, sent me last year. Simple and elegant, even without the bright oranges and golds we associate with the season, don't you think? When I ran across the picture, I was reminded that it is time to haul out my own box of faux Fall decorations and move the Halloween and Thanksgiving storage boxes to front and center. It won't be long until we'll be needing those pumpkins and Pilgrims!


Here in Southern Illinois, our leaves have been turning brown and falling for a few weeks, due mostly to our bone dry summer, but so far they show no hints of the brilliant red, orange or gold we love so much. I suspect the dry summer may leave us with less-than-spectacular foliage this year. The temperature may have just cooled off this past weekend, but I'm already looking forward to all-out Fall and the joys of the changing seasons -- football games, tailgating, sitting around an outdoor fire and the annual neighborhood block party.


Cooler days mean I can finally be outside without feeling like I'm melting. Of course, this also means it's time to shift gears from light meals with Summer fruits and vegetables to Fall favorites and heartier preparations. Fortunately the growing season around here will stretch out for a few more weeks, so we won't have to give up on the garden or farmers' market just yet. And there are a few bits of color lingering in the garden for some natural arrangements like the bright one above.

I guess I might be rushing the season a bit, but comfort foods are already showing up in my kitchen. Here is the Lasagna I promised a few weeks ago to go with the Homemade Italian Bread. I pulled the recipe out, along with the one for bread, and served it to my reunion committee for one of our working dinner meetings. I made sauce from scratch and used De Cecco thin, no-boil lasagna noodles for the first time. The finished lasagna seemed very authentic and had a nice ratio of noodle to sauce and cheese. The thin, flat noodles were also far easier to handle than the thick, ruffled variety that are oh-so-slippery when wet. Definitely worth trying the next time you make it for yourself.

Lasagna is a true comfort food and actually very easy to prepare. It's also perfect for big-batch cooking and dividing into smaller portions -- bake one for now and freeze some for later. You'll be glad you did!



HOMEMADE LASAGNA
Sauce:
olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
1 1/2 lbs. ground beef
6 cloves garlic, minced
3 28-oz. cans tomato sauce
2 small cans tomato paste
dash of Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp. basil
1 tsp. oregano
2-3 tsp. white or brown sugar
salt and pepper to taste

Pour some olive oil to cover the bottom of a large heavy skillet or Dutch oven. Add onions and saute for 2-3 minutes. Add onion and minced garlic and cook until meat is browned. Drain excess fat  and return cooked meat to pot. Stir in tomato sauce, tomato paste, Worcestershire sauce, basil, oregano and sugar. Simmer over low heat for 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Season with salt and pepper to taste as sauce cooks. Add more basil and oregano, if needed.

Cheese:
1 large carton ricotta cheese
2 eggs
2 tbsp. chopped parsley
4 cups shredded Mozzarella
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese

In a small bowl, stir eggs and parsley into ricotta cheese and set aside.

Noodles:
2 boxes De Cecco No-Boil Lasagna Noodles
or
2 boxes lasagna noodles (boil according to package directions before using)

Assemble:
1 large baking or roasting pan
2 boxes of lasagna noodles
1 recipe of sauce
1 recipe of ricotta cheese mixture
4 cups shredded mozzarella

Spoon sauce to thinly coat bottom of lasagna pan. Make Two Layers using ingredients in the following order and then repeating: lasagna noodles (overlap slightly), sauce, ricotta cheese, shredded mozzarella, grated Parmesan cheese. Finish with a final layer of noodles and sprinkle with a small amount of mozzarella and Parmesan cheese. Cover lightly with foil and bake at 325 degrees for 35 minutes. Remove foil and continue to bake until cheese melts and begins to brown slightly - about 10-15 minutes. Remove from oven and remove foil. Allow to cool for about 10 minutes. Slice and serve.

Lasagna may be baked, cooled, covered and refrigerated. To reheat: cover with foil and place in a preheated 325 degree oven until warmed throughout.

Recipe may be divided into smaller pans and layered in the same order. Wrap tightly with foil and freeze. To bake frozen lasagna, keep covered and bake at 325 degrees until hot in center, then remove foil cover and continue to bake until cheese on top is slightly browned. May take 60-90 minutes to heat completely.
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