Community cookery & feedback

I hope I'm not the first to actually make use of this blog in the kitchen, but if I am, what is everyone else waiting for (other than for Joy to get back...diana...)?!

I must confess to having sinned slightly. I got sick of having meat-centric meals everynight, so I went quasi-vegetarian for a week. Consequently, Claire's chicken enchiladas were filled with sauteed zuccini, red peppers, corn (canned), and black beans (also canned). But, as you can see, I didn't skimp on the cheese, so this dish still belongs here. The cream of chicken soup and salsa mixture is delicious and ingenious. I love it when my only dishes leftover from preparation are a line of empty cans/jars, and one giant mixing bowl.

taking it there

rice crispy treats:

one box kellogg's rice krispies, or off brand crispy rice cereal
two 10 oz. bags mini marshmallows
two sticks butter or margarine

melt margarine in a large saucepan, add marshmallows and stir until completely melted
remove from heat, add rice krispies, press into a 9x13 pan, let cool, cut into treat-sized squares

the best part about making this recipe as an adult is that you have complete control over how much of the melted marshmallow/rice mixture you actually pour into the pan as directed, and how much you leave in the saucepan to be eaten directly off the spatula. you're also free to bring the saucepan with you out of the kitchen and into the living room, eating the unformed rice cripsy mix off your lap while you watch reruns of the wonder years

I like to keep my menu depression-era.

"This rich, spicy cheese spread appeared in some fashion in JofC from 1931 until the 1960s. The 1936 edition declared it 'a grand cheese spread for hot or cold sandwiches.'

Combine in a medium bowl:

One 4 oz. jar chopped pimientos, drained
1 cup mayonaisse
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp dry mustard
1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1/4 tsp ground red pepper

Beat with a wooden spoon or an electric mixer at medium speed until blended. Add:
2 cups grated Cheddar (8 oz.)
2 cups grated Colby (8 oz.)
Beat until the consistency of cottage cheese.

Taking my cue from the 1936 edition of JofC, I served this cheese spread on a sandwich with roast beef, after frying all of it up, grilled cheese style, in a frying pan. An excellent use for those pimientos leftover from making "Build-a-Mountain".

Missing in action.

My eternal favorite Jell-O product has always been "Americana" custard. In high school I could eat half a serving bowl of it, especially if it had been dusted with nutmeg (always) and had developed a layer of skin from sitting in the fridge. Delicious. However, those days are over. They don't carry it at my grocery store here, and I haven't been able to find it anywhere. I've resorted to the flan sold in the "mexican" aisle, but I think it's time to rely on that trusty old tome, JofC.

Rich Custard
6-8 servings

Combine in a medium saucepan:
3/4 cup sugar
2 tbsp cornstarch
1/8 tsp. salt

Gradually whisk in:
2 cups half and half
4 large egg yolks, well beaten
2 tbsp unsalted butter, cut into pieces

Whisking constantly, bring to a boil over medium-low heat, and boil for 1 minute. Remove from the heat and immediately stir in:
1.5 tsp vanilla

Pour into a bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and chill.

Whip 1/2 cup cold heavy cream until firm peaks form. Fold into the chilled custard.

I haven't tried this yet. Frankly nothing compares to a packet of power combine with milk and stirred to deliciousness. Kraft Foods, Inc., what have you done?!?

Sophisticated in appearance, not in ingredients.

Pears with Chantilly Cream

Ingredients: Canned pear halves, Cool Whip, vanilla pudding, almond extract.

I will leave it up to you to decide how much of this dessert to make, but think along the lines of three pear halves per person. Drain the pears, and arrange them in a pretty dish. The chantilly cream is really easy....your vanilla pudding (get a 4 pack...it works better than making the instant pudding yourself) to Cool Whip ratio should be 7:4 (example = 14 ounces of pudding, 8 ounces of Cool Whip) and
add almond extract to taste (with 14 oz. of vanilla pudding, you should add about 1 tsp. almond extract).

Dollop cream onto pears, and GARNISH with slivered almonds and fresh raspberries. This is important, because it takes the dessert from drab to fab. Other seasonal berries are acceptable, but not preferred.

This dessert impresses everyone and it takes about 5 minutes to concoct.

"Build-a-mountain"

This is one of my family classics that I recently dug out of the recesses of my memory and plopped onto our dinner plates. It seems like a really gross combination of ingredients until you try it. Trust me. Note, however, that it is essential to include as many of the ingredients as possible to achieve the desired taste chemistry. The way my family set up the "buffet" was to put bowls of each ingredient in a row on the counter. Each one had a piece of paper with a rhyme to go along, explaining which part of the "mountain" the topping was to represent. Example: coconut is the snow, chow-mein noodles are...trees? okay it made sense when I was a kid, but the most important part is that you end up with a delicious mountain of food on your plate. My sister and I would be in charge of putting easy things in bowls and writing the directions (in crayon), complete with illustrations and arrows so as to keep any diners (our grandparents) from wandering the wrong way around the buffet and ending up with an inverted mountain. This is an essential recipe for this site, since it includes both cream of mushroom AND cream of chicken...in their purest form!

INGREDIENTS (recipe serves 8-ish)
2 cups uncooked long-grain rice
1 can condensed cream of chicken soup
1 can condensed cream of mushroom soup
some milk (about a cup?)
chow mein noodles
3 tomatoes, sliced
1 cup chopped celery
(1/2 cup chopped green bell pepperl)
(1/2 cup chopped green onions)
1 (20 ounce) can pineapple chunks, drained
1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
(1/2 cup slivered almonds)
1/2 cup shredded coconut
1 tbsp diced pimentos, drained

DIRECTIONS

Make rice. It might be prudent to have all your toppings chopped or set out beforehand if you don't have a family of helpers to do it for you.

In a medium saucepan over medium heat, combine chicken and mushroom soup concentrates with pimentos. Mix well and heat a little, then add enough milk to not make it totally disgusting that you're eating condensed soup. Basically you want it to have the consistency of pudding, not soup. Stir until heated through.

On each plate layer cooked rice, sauce, tomato, (other optional vegetables), pineapple, celery, cheese, chow mein noodles, and coconut. Every bite tastes different!

(The picture comes from a site with a recipe that is inferior to mine, as it has the pimentos on top instead of doing their proper job flavoring the sauce)

the "family party" at grandma and grandpa's

the following three recipes were served to me at least once a month from the time i could eat solid foods until i was 11, always on sunday afternoons, always on a plastic cafeteria tray, sometimes followed by store brand vanilla ice cream in a cake-cone, and always followed by at least one grandchild being checked for a concussion after falling down the basement stairs


potato salad:

five large boiled potatoes
one cucumber
radishes
green onions

cut above ingredients into potato salad sized pieces, sprinkle with pickle juice then mix together with mayonnaise, celery salt, mustard (if you like that), milk, regular salt, etc, etc

marshmallow salad:

prepare 1 small package jello lemon pudding mix (not instant and leave out the egg yolks), then add:
2 cans fruit cocktail (drained)
2 cans mandarin oranges (drained)
1 largish package miniature marshmallows
mix well and chill in refrigerator

before serving add sliced bananas and 1/2 pint whipping cream, whipped plain (no sugar added)

ham rolls:

one bag of small white rolls
ham
iceberg lettuce (optional)
mustard and/or mayonnaise

guests assemble sandwiches at their leisure. serve with potato/marshmallow salads, on cafeteria trays if possible

Potato Insanity

This family recipe was contributed by Nicole:

1 bag (thawed in refrigerator) Ore-Ida diced hash browns (I think they are called "Southern Style Potatoes").
8 oz. Sour Cream
1 can Cream of Chicken Soup
1/2 Onion, diced
8 oz shredded cheddar cheese (or more)
1/2 stick of Butter
Potato Chips (plain)

Preheat oven to 375. In a bowl, mix the potatoes, sour cream, soup, cheese, onion, salt & pepper. Glop into pan. Roughly crush potato chips, sprinkle liberally on top. Melt the butter, drizzle over potato chip crust. Bake 30-35 min, until crust is golden and crunchy, underlayer is bubbly.

My family's version of this has corn flakes on top, but potato chips are obviously the better choice. I can't believe I've been putting them on tuna casserole all this time and never extended the deliciousness to other recipes! Also, I suggest we talk meatloaf on this blog because I made mine last week and DAMN is it good. It's been posted on someone else's blog somewhere but I think it's time to bring it up here, since there's bound to be some discord about where the ketchup goes.

Compost is for Weenies

You know how sometimes you lose track of your fruits and vegetables, only to find them in the dark corner of the crisper three months later, now with a gelatinous consistency and the pungent odor of death?

Fear no more. You can resurrect any seed or bulb-bearing food with some soil, water, and a little know-how.

Take this, for example. A nine week old onion, discovered in the potato cupboard, has been converted into a daring centerpiece:


(Sidenote: Do you like my new bonsai tree?)

Or perhaps my all time favorite, my amazing avocado tree, which is now growing bark.







It's so easy. The secret is rotting organic matter. Don't be afraid of it, and don't chuck it off your apartment balcony into the parking lot below!