dinner

Suffering Succotash!

~ nancyruth ~ Leave a comment

Lima beans and corn. My Mom was a good baker. She could make candy, cookies, cakes and pies, even biscuits! Dinner food, not so much. She burned canned green beans once. She made regular food in her regular kitchen. I think she enjoyed the advent of convenience foods. She gardened but also bought lots of canned vegetables. She used to can her own vegetables. And she made pickles and jelly. I did not learn how to make pickles and jelly nor to can. Even now the canning process seems overwhelming to me. Then came the chest freezer. This was put in the basement with an adapter for the plug to a non-grounded outlet! This was just the way things were done: (Think about the overplugged electrical outlet featured in the movie A Christmas Story from 1983). With the freezer Mom could now “preserve” fruits and vegetables much more conveniently. She even got recipes for Freezer Jelly. A fond memory I have is that she used to put chocolate chips in a mayonnaise jar in the freezer to keep longer and/or to keep away from us kids. We kids, well me, would sneak handfuls of chocolate. When finally we confessed this Mom confessed that she thought it had something to do with the deep freeze. This new technology of home food storage was new to her!

For dinner she would always serve a vegetable or two. These would either be from the farm stand, her garden, out of the freezer, or from cans in the pantry. For succotash she would open a can of corn and a can of lima beans, pour them in a pot, and heat them.

I have always thought of succotash as a southern dish. I grew up in Missouri and my Dad’s family is from Arkansas/Oklahoma. So when I opened up my  Better Homes and Gardens Heritage of America Cookbook, I was surprised to find it in the New England section, from Maine! Then I looked up succotash on the internet and this makes sense, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Succotash, since the word is Narragansett in origin. The dish apparently became popular during the Great Depression here in the United States and that was the era of my Mom’s growing up years. Some recipes call for creaming the dish with butter and milk. I don’t remember ever having it that way.

A few years ago I decided to resurrect succotash and serve it to my family. My hubby taught me that any frozen vegetable tastes better dry roasted in a skillet with a bit of sautéed onion. I figured this would make succotash taste better too. And it did. I have since begun adding a bit of fried bacon and a few red pepper flakes. And this is what I made for a side dish for dinner after the Christmas holiday.

  • frozen corn
  • frozen lima beans
  • bits of bacon
  • bits of chopped onion
  • a shake of red pepper flakes
  • bit of broth, or water

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The amount of corn and lima beans is subjective. Use whatever is on hand or what seems like the amount to feed whomever you are feeding at the meal. I usually use a half bag of corn and 1/4 bag of lima beans. This time I had more beans than corn and it worked out just fine. A few strips of bacon and half an onion, even a quarter onion, should be adequate. I used about 1/4 cup of the bits and ends of the uncured bacon I store in my freezer. (It is almost time to traipse up to Trader Joe’s to get some more.) Oh and then there is the cube of frozen broth. This particular cube is 1/4 cup of chicken broth. You can just add a bit of water if you don’t have broth.

First fry up the bacon until brown and then add the onion for a few minutes. Sprinkle on a few red pepper flakes. Then add the rest of the ingredients.

The water in the frozen vegetables and the broth will steam the beans so they become tender. Mix that around in the pan and then cover with a lid and let steam on low-medium heat for about 8-10 minutes. Stir this occasionally and add a bit more liquid as needed. When done it will be moist but not have much liquid remaining in the pan.

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This made a nice side dish for three to four people.

Making Do! A lesson in humility

~ nancyruth ~ 3 Comments

I interrupt my next planned blog on birthday cake to write about unplanned, unwanted events. First of all “It could be worse.” I am on the first full day of hobbling around on crutches with an air-boot on my right foot. afterThanksgivingCakeHumility 020This is my driving foot so I am housebound and dependent on others to get out of the house. I am very blessed to have the world’s best hubby to watch over and take care of me. However I am not used to relying on others and this is an ongoing life lesson for me.

I am not feeling sorry for myself. People have much worse events and conditions to live with, some for all their lives. So, I have to harness my Mom’s “make do” spirit and make do!

To explain, I fell. I busted (is that the proper word?) my upper lip and chin and broke my ankle. It happened very quickly and I was not able to catch myself before hitting my face.

So now I have learned what a fat lip looks and feels like. When my coworkers looked at my face they saw what I only saw looking in the mirror, which I don’t do often. Went and got the medical care needed and here I sit. When the pain lessens I hobble around the house on crutches; I go up and down the stairs on my butt like a two year old, and I wheel myself around the house on my sewing machine chair which has wheels. I am grateful that I have hardwood floors as maneuvering in the chair would be much harder on carpet.

I am supposed to be making a birthday cake for granddaughter’s birthday party this weekend. My kitchen is not scaled to chair level but I can stand with the crutches. Maybe I’ll tackle that tomorrow.

Hubby set out chicken thighs to thaw for dinner tonight. I saw a chicken recipe on the Food Network site, http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/melissa-darabian/roasted-garlic-clove-chicken-recipe.html ,that looked tasty as well as on another blogger’s site. https://cookingforthetimechallenged.wordpress.com/2015/12/03/grilled-chicken-cutlets/

This is my adaptation/combination/inspiration from these two recipes.

I’ve got 6 chicken thighs, mostly without skin. I juice and zest ½ lemon. This is my favorite old time citrus juicer. It is from my Mom. It is a WearEver Aluminum, made in the U.S.A.

I use ¼ cup canola oil, and about a teaspoon of Herbs de Provence. Oh, and a clove of garlic. Swirl that all together with ¼ chopped onion and pour in the Ziploc bag with the chicken. Fiddle around with it to get the marinade all around the chicken.afterThanksgivingCakeHumility 026 Place back in fridge and wait for dinner time. I will cook these in my 10 inch cast iron skillet. The rest of dinner will be baked sweet potatoes, and green beans.

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And dinner is served.

 

I can do all of this from my “wheeled” chair and crutches! That’s called Making Do!

Steak and Cake

~ nancyruth ~ 1 Comment

Somehow over the past 10 or so years our Thanksgiving meal became the pre-Thanksgiving feast for family to gather around. This is the result of blending families and the kids growing up and becoming adults. And when the son-in-law entered the family his birthday needed to be celebrated and then the grandchild was born all around the Thanksgiving holiday. So we don’t cook a turkey until Christmas because everyone will go to families with turkey feasts the next day.

So it is steak and cake…and pumpkin pie!

This year we bought a top butt uncut for $4.59 a pound. Hubby cuts it into the steaks for the Family Feast with plenty of meat to spare. This was a family time so I forgot to take a picture of the cooked steaks. And there were no leftovers!

The cake will be a rainbow sprinkle cake made from scratch. I do not yet have a “go to” plain cake recipe. The first year I bought the cake mix and pre-made frosting. My step daughters and hubby came home and caught me making a cake from a box!!! Horror of horrors! They thought they were in the wrong kitchen or possibly aliens had taken over my body! I did this for a couple of years so they got used to it and son-in-law got the birthday cake he requested. So this year it is made from scratch. I found a nice yellow cake recipe that I had made for our Easter meal this past spring. I figure I can just add rainbow sprinkles. Homemade cakes tend to be denser than cake-mix cakes, at least the way I make them. This particular cake is dense and moist. I am pleased that it came out so well because I had my granddaughter helping measure and add the ingredients. She is almost two so the exact amount of baking soda and salt are questionable.

What to do to frost the cake? The son-in-law announced that he too is lactose intolerant or sensitive. So no cream cheese or dairy, except butter, will be required. I do not like to make marshmallow frosting because I do not do it well. So I get out a standard Buttercream frosting recipe from my 1950 Rumford Cookbook. This is a book that my grandmother used. There are notations in her handwriting and a draft of Grandpa King’s obituary on lined writing paper as well. I substitute soymilk in the ingredient list.

Butter Cream Frosting: Cream 6 Tab butter until very soft; gradually add 3 cups sifted confectioner’s sugar; mix in 2 teas vanilla extract;  add 5 Tab cream or evaporated milk; beat until very light and fluffy and of good spreading consistency.

Thanksgiving2015 018Buttercream is very sweet but seems to mellow some after being placed on the cake and left to sit for a few hours. Decorations are courtesy of the granddaughter.

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And there is pie! A few years ago my son and I made two pies to determine if the Cook’s Illustrated magazine “improved” pumpkin pie was truly an improved pie. The crusts were store bought refrigerated crusts that you unroll. We used the Pillsbury brand crust for the “improved” pie and the store brand one for the other. The standard pie recipe that I had used was from my Betty Crockers’ Cookbook (1978). This is a basic cookbook found in ordinary kitchens all over America, nothing fancy or special about it. For Cook’s we ground fresh spices and it has sour cream added. It came out looking smoother and the aroma was better than Betty’s .

We had blind taste testing after the meal. Betty Crocker won hands down for best tasting! The lesson here is that those basic standard recipes can often be the best. I suppose that is why they become the standards and the basics.

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I had posted the Steak and Cake feast menu and recipes in sleeve protectors and hung it on the kitchen cabinet. I figured folks could take a look and help out with things.

Son cooked the Brussels sprouts. These were wonderful! And to think the recipe came from the local grocery store coupon flyer. Basically skillet roast the sprouts with bacon, onion, garlic, and whole cranberries.

I made the sour dough rolls and these were nice and light and buttery.Thank you KAF!

Daughter made the green salad. Stepdaughters worked on the mashed potatoes and the baked sweet potatoes. And the sauteed mushrooms.

Hubby and son-in-law supervised the grilling of the steaks.

All in all it was hectic and fun and crowded and I would not have it any other way.

Building a Home

~ nancyruth ~ Leave a comment

I wore myself out this weekend so leftovers go into the crock pot for Monday’s dinner. It will be chicken soup. I have put in here a frozen bit of cooked chicken, frozen stew vegetables from a previous meal, chicken or turkey broth (not sure which this is) and a can of white beans. This will blend nicely all day and I can make quick rolls, popovers, or might I even try for biscuits?!

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If you ever have the opportunity to work on a Habitat for Humanity house building project, please do. This is what I did this past Saturday. The weather held, not too warm, not too cold, and not rainy even though the clouds and wind moved in a bit. I signed up with my church to do this. I have always believed in this cause and admire former President Jimmy Carter immensely for his involvement.

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I do not tell you all this for my own aggrandizement. I have plenty of selfish reasons to be involved and this is only my second time. First of all I do not want to think of myself as old and unable. Second, if a man can do these tasks, so can I. I admit that is a personal untruth. I do not have the upper body strength that some construction work requires but I love power tools! And that can make a big difference in strength. Thirdly, it is “refreshing” to do physical work after spending all my working days using my brain instead of brawn. And it builds a home for a family that will never know my part in this. Anonymous giving. Except now I have told all of you. Oops!

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Now it is off to work to use my brain! Have a fabulous Monday!

Miscellaneous Food Stuffs

~ nancyruth ~ Leave a comment

The frost is coming so I must harvest the mint leaves. What am I going to do with all of these? I made a pot of mint tea but now what? What about putting some in vodka and making mint extract? I read somewhere about making one’s own vanilla extract by putting a vanilla bean into vodka…

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What to do with broken eggs? Went to the grocery store for a few items mostly for baking and when bringing the bags back to the car one dropped. The egg carton popped open and a few eggs rolled onto the parking lot. Oh no! Not the eggs! Well, one was lost completely as it had spilled its guts all over the ground. Three others had cracked their shells but the membrane was intact. Still I felt these needed to be used this same day. Scrambled eggs for supper maybe?

Made a frittata instead. Shredded four small potatoes in my Cuisinart food processor. I only remembered this summer that it has a shredder attachment. Finely diced one onion. Sautéed the onion for five minutes in oil then added the potatoes. I should have squeezed the potatoes drier and coated them with a little oil prior to putting them in the frying pan. I have to stir them and scrape them off the bottom of the pan frequently. I also dice up ½ green bell pepper a small chunk of ham and about 2 ounces of cheese. Crack four eggs into a bowl, pour in ¼ cup milk and whisk. Add a little salt, if you use salt, and some black pepper. When you think the potatoes look brown enough pour all the ingredients together in the fry pan and mix well. I use a cast iron skillet so I can put this directly into the oven, 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Turns out to be tasty and filling.

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I did not look at a recipe for the above but was trying to put together something from memory from cookbooks. I think I had the notion that the potatoes would be crispier like a hash brown. Perhaps if I had lined the cast iron skillet with the potato mixture, baked until crisp, and then added the egg and ham mixture? Sort of like a quiche with a potato crust? I think I saw something like that on a Facebook post from a food/cooking site using muffin tins. So not an original idea of mine.

Speaking of Facebook I find it is a fabulous place to get recipes that one wants to try. Then one can monkey around with the idea and personalize it. I bet women have been doing that in their kitchens since the dawn of time.

Dinners for the rest of the week have not been “recipe” dinners.

blogfoodpics 001Burgeblogfoodpics 002rs: add your own toppings. Hubby added Roquefort or Camembert or other smelly cheese; I added avocado, tomato, and salsa. One night we cut up a kielbasa, smashed potatoes and cooked frozen peas. And tonight is baked fish fillets sprinkled with lemon juice and dill weed, leftover smashed potatoes, and frozen veg.

Here’s dessert! This is from  http://www.dessertfortwo.com/2015/10/caramel-banana-pudding-2/

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Leftovers/a novel bread baking experience/pictures of food

~ nancyruth ~ 2 Comments

As the title suggests this will be a stream of consciousness blog about food …

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Leftovers from dinner

First: I miss having the kids around to eat all this food. Sometimes I like to set a table with a well-rounded meal: meat, veggie, bread, dessert, etc. My step-daughters are good eaters. They always seemed to rave about my cooking and baking. I miss having them around the dinner table. My son became a foodie and likes good tasting food of good quality. There came a time when he stopped eating packaged bread so I had to make bread or have bakery bread on hand, along with plain yogurt, fruit, carrots and the like. Hummus was very popular with him. My daughter eats well of the basic foods minus cheese and milk products. Now these family dinner tables are reserved for an occasional weekend visit or holiday meals. The wee ones are growing up and going out on their own, establishing families and lives of their own, as it should be. But I miss them.

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Leftovers are not always a problem. Sometimes leftover bread becomes a problem. Especially should I get the notion to make a new loaf or muffins when the first batch has not been completely consumed. Like this evening. I was reading the KAF 200th Anniversary Cookbook again and looking at batter breads. I have half a loaf of pumpkin bread and a few pieces of Artisan bread left here!

Second: I decided to make a yeast pumpkin bread off the KAF website. It was a cool fall day and we were hanging around the living room parallel playing on our computers in between the hubby sleeping off and on due to having come down with a cold. You must understand that there are members of my family that think I am a fabulous baker. I am mediocre at best but I do bake which makes me unlike other people who do not bake or obsessively think about baking. Actually I must correct this thought. I am not mediocre; I am pretty darn good, just not always creative, or that knowledgeable about the science of baking. Mind you I have several books in my repertoire/collection that could teach me about the science but I have not memorized the information. I can tell you bits and pieces only.

That said, the bread dough is stiff and I set it out to rise. The recipe said this would take 45 minutes. So after an hour and a half I “call up” the KAF baker for a live chat about this issue. I have never called a baking or recipe hotline! I was not sure what to expect. It turns out that trying to rise bread dough in a 65 degree kitchen is going to take quite some time especially since I used the scoop and sweep method of measuring the flour instead of the proper method: http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipe/measuring-flour.html

So the KAF on-line baker told me to boil water in the microwave, remove the boiling water, and put the dough in there to rise. This creates a warm moist environment that the yeast will like. It worked!

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So after the second rise I baked the bread in the oven and voila! pumpkin bread 004

This was fabulous.

Tastes good too!

Third: Since blogging about food I have been taking pictures of dinners and what I have made. I have not always written about a specific dinner but have enjoyed looking at the photos. Here are some in no particular order:

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Cole slaw made in my food processor when I just realized that it had a shredder attachment. Served with ribs.

Chili a la Aldi: on how to assemble a meal

~ nancyruth ~ Leave a comment

Aldi is one of my discount grocery stores that I like to shop. Their prices are fantastic and I find their brands to be good. But like all groceries with prepared/processed foods one must look at labels to avoid ingredients like high fructose corn syrup and the like. I did find HFCS in their pickle relish! I do stock my pantry with the canned goods and have not been too disappointed by their produce. In fact that was where we bought the absolute best tasting honeydew melon this summer. And the cantaloupe was fabulous too. I don’t know where they get them. Could be USA, could be somewhere else. I admit I do not always pay attention.

It is autumn and the weather is cooling down. Chili is a good meal to prepare early in the week as its flavors get better with the leftovers. October is apparently National Chili Month. Who knew? Check out the following website for daily food holidays: http://foodimentary.com/

One can make chili any number of ways. I use ground turkey and beans. In my pantry I have chili flavored beans, regular pinto beans, canned tomatoes with chili, canned corn with red and green bell peppers, and chili powder.

chili 001You could  just put the content of the cans in a pot to simmer and have a quick chili. This might come in handy for camping or road trips or if the power is out and you need to cook your dinner on the grill or camp stove.

First dice the onion. I do not cut onion in a professional manner. Julia Child would be appalled! But I get the job done. Then dice the green pepper. While this is sautéing in the bit of cooking oil, I just then remember to put in a garlic clove. I watched a TV show in which Jacques Pepin diced a garlic clove. For a while I could do that just like him but now I have forgotten how. So I just do my best and throw that in the pan too.

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When hubby watches me cut up vegetables he yells  at me to “curl your fingers”!  I find this the most awkward way to hold the vegetable but I do try.

I read somewhere that fat enhances flavors so I put the chili powder in at this time. I then brown the turkey in this mixture before adding all the canned ingredients. I need a lot of practice to be a recipe blogger because I forget to take step by step pictures. But here are a few:

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Not having any cheddar cheese we serve this in bowls with a slice of American Cheese on top. I toast up some ends of leftover sourdough bread on the griddle and serve these toastettes along side.

Dinner is served.