I have to say that the original roasted chicken was absolutely delicious. Moist as could be. And the gravy I made was also excellent, if I say so myself. I have found that even on cruises, most things I ask for, I prefer the way I fix better. I realize I'm not making a dish for 2,000 people so I can take my time and care more about it. No assembly-line food in my house, unless I want it (go out to eat or go on a cruise, or something like that).
Tonight I made something with the left-over chix from yesterday, and it was really, really good. A surprise.
First I made the rice (1 cup water, 1/2 cup rice). I boiled the water, put the rice in, and then simmer it until the water was all used up and the rice was cooked. I did add salt to the water.
While the rice was cooking, I mixed one can of low-sodium/fat cream of chicken soup to 3/4 of a can of Half and half. I stirred that all together to get it ready for the rice.
And while the rice was still cooking, I took 6 slices of American cheese -- which I had in the fridge for Alan's sandwiches -- and cubed it, or cut it into small pieces and set that aside. I put 1/2 cup of parmesan cheese (grated) into the soup mixture.
And while the rice was cooking, I took the left over chicken which I had ripped off the carcus last night and made the pieces a bit smaller.
When the rice was finished cooking, I put it into the soup and stirred it real good, then I added the cheese and the chicken, stirring them into the soup/rice. On top of the whole thing I sprinkled Stove Top Stuffing Mix -- just enough to cover it.
I put it in a pre-heated 350 degree oven for 1/2 hour -- it was really bubbling away when I opened the oven, and the stuffing mix was really crispy.
I dished it up onto a plate, sprinkled some black pepper over it, and dug in. I have to say, it was really yummy and the rice was cooked.
I think I finally learned how to make a rice casserole and the rice gets cooks through. No hard kernels this time!
ttfn
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Onion soup
My mom made onion soup. She opened a package of Lipton's dried onion soup mix, and added the prescribed amount of water, and we had onion soup. I'm not talking about that kind of onion soup. I'm talking about the hearty onion soup that sticks to your innards, the kind they make at Panera's. I told my husband that I was going to go over there today and get us some, but I changed my mind.
I have a really good recipe for onion soup from scratch which isn't too difficult to make. This particular recipe serves 8 if you use onion soup ramekins, or 4-6 if you use the soup bowls that come with your dish sets. Since we like the onion soup, I use the soup bowls, not the ramekins.
Ingredients:
4 large onions, peeled, and sliced into rings
1/2 stick of butter
1/4 C flour
4 bullion cubes
1 tablespoon Worstershire Sauce
6 cups water
Your favorite topping cheese (provolone, swiss, mozzerella, parmasan)
Italian or French bread slices
In a large, deep pan, melt the butter, add the onions and let them cook until they are transluscent. At this point sprinkle the flour over the onion/butter mixture and stir. Slowly add the water, stirring as you're pouring. After the onions, flour, and butter stuff is stirred into the water, add the Worstershire sauce and the 4 bullion (beef) cubes. Stir until the bullion is dissolved. Turn down the heat to low and let simmer for about one hour with the lid on the pot.
Taste it before you serve it. It might need some salt, but I haven't found that to be the case.
I've also made it using beef broth -- 6 cups. Four large onions seems like a lot of onions, but they boil down.
Serve the soup in a bowl with a piece of Italian or French bread in the bottom. Put some kind of cheese on the top of the bowl -- we like parmasan, but mozzerella, sliced very thin, and provolone work well.
ttfn
I have a really good recipe for onion soup from scratch which isn't too difficult to make. This particular recipe serves 8 if you use onion soup ramekins, or 4-6 if you use the soup bowls that come with your dish sets. Since we like the onion soup, I use the soup bowls, not the ramekins.
Ingredients:
4 large onions, peeled, and sliced into rings
1/2 stick of butter
1/4 C flour
4 bullion cubes
1 tablespoon Worstershire Sauce
6 cups water
Your favorite topping cheese (provolone, swiss, mozzerella, parmasan)
Italian or French bread slices
In a large, deep pan, melt the butter, add the onions and let them cook until they are transluscent. At this point sprinkle the flour over the onion/butter mixture and stir. Slowly add the water, stirring as you're pouring. After the onions, flour, and butter stuff is stirred into the water, add the Worstershire sauce and the 4 bullion (beef) cubes. Stir until the bullion is dissolved. Turn down the heat to low and let simmer for about one hour with the lid on the pot.
Taste it before you serve it. It might need some salt, but I haven't found that to be the case.
I've also made it using beef broth -- 6 cups. Four large onions seems like a lot of onions, but they boil down.
Serve the soup in a bowl with a piece of Italian or French bread in the bottom. Put some kind of cheese on the top of the bowl -- we like parmasan, but mozzerella, sliced very thin, and provolone work well.
ttfn
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
New cutting board
I sent my personal shopper on an expedition today to find the biggest cutting board she could find. And find one, she did. It's big, and I love it. My dear mother had only a very small board on which to chop veggies, olives (for cream cheese and olive sandwiches), etc., and I was given a very nice cutting board when I was married. Then, several years later, we were told that wood was not a good thing to make a cutting board from and they came out with those mottled plastic numbers that ruin knives. I have one of those, but I rarely use it. Anyway, I got rid of the wonderful board I had for many years, and from which we never died of salmonella or any other harmful bacteria.
So now, I have a new board and I can't wait to use it. I shall put away the mottled plastic board forever, I think, although it is light weight, and might be good to keep around for a while. And I shall get rid of my small wood board which is almost broken in half, but which I wash every day and bleach often, thus causing it, I'm sure, to have had such a short life span.
Tonight for dinner, I think I'll make -- oh, no, that's right, I have to go to Bible study/prayer group tonight, so we're having Digiorno pepperoni pizza. I'll get to use the board when I cut the pizza! Then it will be christened and I can use it for as long as I am able to use a cutting board.
ttfn
So now, I have a new board and I can't wait to use it. I shall put away the mottled plastic board forever, I think, although it is light weight, and might be good to keep around for a while. And I shall get rid of my small wood board which is almost broken in half, but which I wash every day and bleach often, thus causing it, I'm sure, to have had such a short life span.
Tonight for dinner, I think I'll make -- oh, no, that's right, I have to go to Bible study/prayer group tonight, so we're having Digiorno pepperoni pizza. I'll get to use the board when I cut the pizza! Then it will be christened and I can use it for as long as I am able to use a cutting board.
ttfn
Saturday, September 19, 2009
I can smell it now
I can smell the smells of our house in Runnemede now. It's Saturday afternoon. That means mom has put on the roast for our dinner tonight. We almost always had roast something (lamb, beef, pork, veal) on Saturday night. Leftovers, usually ground up meat made into shepherd's pie, on Sunday. The Sunday meal, was made after dinner on Saturday night.
Yes, mom's roast was something to taste. She had a large, hammered aluminum pan which she used solely for making roasts. She would put an onion, cut up into chunks, into the pot, after she had browned all four sides of the roast. She simply salted and peppered the meat before she browned it. Then she added the onions, and turned down the heat. About half-way through the cooking process, she added two cups of water. This became the gravy.
My dear mother was so strong. She had to have been. She did so much on Saturday night. And as I think of the things she did, I wonder where the energy came from after contending with four children all day. But she did a lot after dinner each Saturday, and one was to get the meal ready for Sunday.
She would get out the grinder, and it came with a "C" clamp, and clamped onto the edge of the kitchen table. She would stuff the left over meat, little bits at a time into the meat grinder while I or my sister held a bowl under the place where the meat came out, and she would add that meat to the left-over gravy from the roast the family had dine on shortly before. Then she would have already cooked extra potatoes at dinner time, and took out enough for mashed potatoes to put on top of the ground up meat/gravy mixture. The mashed potatoes were spread over the ground meat, and she would then wrap the bowl -- an oven proof bowl -- in plastic wrap, and it was ready for Sunday dinner. All she had to do was pop it in the over at 400 degrees for 1/2 hour, and we were set to go.
About 1/2 hour was all my father could wait for dinner. He came home after church every week, hungry, hungry, hungry. But we all were hungry, and were so glad when the "pie" was finished, the peas (we always had peas with shepherd's pie) were cooked, and the salad was fixed. If we were on schedule, dinner was served at 1 PM. It usually took dad about 1/2 hour after he finished preaching to get away from people and get home. Mom got home only about five minutes ahead of him, so the food would be in the oven and he knew it was cooking and would be ready in about 1/2 hour.
Back to Saturday -- I talked about my mom's strength. Well, she also always made a breakfast cake, baking it on Saturday night, so it would be available on Sunday morning. I'm afraid, the Sunday morning thing wasn't such a good idea, as it was usually dried out some, and not very good, but my father liked it, and that's what was important. I never did like those coffee cakes she made.
And then came the scrubbing and cleaning. Everything was moved out of the kitchen (the table mostly) and mom scrubbed the floor, down on her hands and knees, and then wiped it with a clean wet cloth. No one could walk on it until it dried.
Then, and only then, did she head to the bathroom and give my brothers their baths, and make sure my sister and I had taken our baths. After which she scrubbed the bathroom floor.
Finally, after we were in bed, she studied her Sunday School lesson -- the one she had to teach on the morrow.
Now, if you've read this BLOG you will find that there is a recipe embedded in this story. If you find it, and use it, you will enjoy it.
Yes, mom's roast was something to taste. She had a large, hammered aluminum pan which she used solely for making roasts. She would put an onion, cut up into chunks, into the pot, after she had browned all four sides of the roast. She simply salted and peppered the meat before she browned it. Then she added the onions, and turned down the heat. About half-way through the cooking process, she added two cups of water. This became the gravy.
My dear mother was so strong. She had to have been. She did so much on Saturday night. And as I think of the things she did, I wonder where the energy came from after contending with four children all day. But she did a lot after dinner each Saturday, and one was to get the meal ready for Sunday.
She would get out the grinder, and it came with a "C" clamp, and clamped onto the edge of the kitchen table. She would stuff the left over meat, little bits at a time into the meat grinder while I or my sister held a bowl under the place where the meat came out, and she would add that meat to the left-over gravy from the roast the family had dine on shortly before. Then she would have already cooked extra potatoes at dinner time, and took out enough for mashed potatoes to put on top of the ground up meat/gravy mixture. The mashed potatoes were spread over the ground meat, and she would then wrap the bowl -- an oven proof bowl -- in plastic wrap, and it was ready for Sunday dinner. All she had to do was pop it in the over at 400 degrees for 1/2 hour, and we were set to go.
About 1/2 hour was all my father could wait for dinner. He came home after church every week, hungry, hungry, hungry. But we all were hungry, and were so glad when the "pie" was finished, the peas (we always had peas with shepherd's pie) were cooked, and the salad was fixed. If we were on schedule, dinner was served at 1 PM. It usually took dad about 1/2 hour after he finished preaching to get away from people and get home. Mom got home only about five minutes ahead of him, so the food would be in the oven and he knew it was cooking and would be ready in about 1/2 hour.
Back to Saturday -- I talked about my mom's strength. Well, she also always made a breakfast cake, baking it on Saturday night, so it would be available on Sunday morning. I'm afraid, the Sunday morning thing wasn't such a good idea, as it was usually dried out some, and not very good, but my father liked it, and that's what was important. I never did like those coffee cakes she made.
And then came the scrubbing and cleaning. Everything was moved out of the kitchen (the table mostly) and mom scrubbed the floor, down on her hands and knees, and then wiped it with a clean wet cloth. No one could walk on it until it dried.
Then, and only then, did she head to the bathroom and give my brothers their baths, and make sure my sister and I had taken our baths. After which she scrubbed the bathroom floor.
Finally, after we were in bed, she studied her Sunday School lesson -- the one she had to teach on the morrow.
Now, if you've read this BLOG you will find that there is a recipe embedded in this story. If you find it, and use it, you will enjoy it.
Friday, September 11, 2009
Another yummy broccoli dish
This is a made-up -- or from scratch -- type dish.
All you need is a casserole dish and the following ingredients:
broccoli (I'm using 1/3 of a large bag of frozen broccoli, barely cooked and drained)
two chicken breasts, cooked and cut into chunks
two cans of cream of chicken soup
1/2 cup rice
Swiss cheese
Put all ingredients into a casserole dish, stir to mix, and top with the cheese to cover the dish. Put in 350-degree oven for 1-1/2 hours. Test to see if the rice has cooked (I sometimes have trouble getting the rice to be soft rather than crunchy (yuck). If the rice is cooked, then the dish is ready to eat.
As for me: after I take it out of the oven, I grate some fresh parmesan cheese over the top of the already cheese-topped dish. It just adds a little spice to the dish.
ttfn
All you need is a casserole dish and the following ingredients:
broccoli (I'm using 1/3 of a large bag of frozen broccoli, barely cooked and drained)
two chicken breasts, cooked and cut into chunks
two cans of cream of chicken soup
1/2 cup rice
Swiss cheese
Put all ingredients into a casserole dish, stir to mix, and top with the cheese to cover the dish. Put in 350-degree oven for 1-1/2 hours. Test to see if the rice has cooked (I sometimes have trouble getting the rice to be soft rather than crunchy (yuck). If the rice is cooked, then the dish is ready to eat.
As for me: after I take it out of the oven, I grate some fresh parmesan cheese over the top of the already cheese-topped dish. It just adds a little spice to the dish.
ttfn
Monday, September 7, 2009
Potato salad
Today is a holiday. Every warm-weather holiday we had potato salad. I think my mom made the best potato salad ever, and I have faithfully preserved her recipe. No muss, no fuss, just plain potato salad.
I use:
10 medium size potatoes
5 eggs
several stalks of celery
mayonnaise
mustard
vinegar
My mom's potato salad had no sugar, and rarely would she add pickles. If she added pickles, they were of the dill variety. I prefer potato salad straight, no additives.
So I boil the potatoes and eggs in the same pot. I do not peel the potatoes before cooking them. And if they are thin-skinned potatoes such as the red potatoes or Yukon golds, I don't skin them after I cook them either. I leave the skins on and just smash the potatoes with a potato smasher, or I cut the potatoes into small pieces, depending on how pretty I want to make the salad, and how much time I have. The potatoes have been salted when they are cooked. I put a tablespoon of salt in the water.
Then I put into this two cups of chopped celery. And I chop up the eggs (after I peel them).
I add enough mayonnaise to moisten the potatoes, a tablespoon of mustard, and a teaspoon of vinegar.
That's it. Tastes delicious if you like a non-sweet potato salad.
One variation I've tried is to use bottled ranch dressing with the mayonnaise and omit the mustard and vinegar. That tastes good as well.
ttfn
I use:
10 medium size potatoes
5 eggs
several stalks of celery
mayonnaise
mustard
vinegar
My mom's potato salad had no sugar, and rarely would she add pickles. If she added pickles, they were of the dill variety. I prefer potato salad straight, no additives.
So I boil the potatoes and eggs in the same pot. I do not peel the potatoes before cooking them. And if they are thin-skinned potatoes such as the red potatoes or Yukon golds, I don't skin them after I cook them either. I leave the skins on and just smash the potatoes with a potato smasher, or I cut the potatoes into small pieces, depending on how pretty I want to make the salad, and how much time I have. The potatoes have been salted when they are cooked. I put a tablespoon of salt in the water.
Then I put into this two cups of chopped celery. And I chop up the eggs (after I peel them).
I add enough mayonnaise to moisten the potatoes, a tablespoon of mustard, and a teaspoon of vinegar.
That's it. Tastes delicious if you like a non-sweet potato salad.
One variation I've tried is to use bottled ranch dressing with the mayonnaise and omit the mustard and vinegar. That tastes good as well.
ttfn
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Sour kraut
Did I spell that correctly? I don't know. You get the idea.
Sour kraut wasn't popular at our home when I was growing up. It stunk (or is it stank?) up the house. I didn't think it tasted all that good, either. But, my father loved it. So every once in a while my mom would open a can -- yes we had canned SK back then -- and put it in a pot with a small pork roast -- had to stretch that meat to feed a family of six.
Now I know it's not SK season. It's still summer. Oh, really? Well, out here where I live now, it's been like fall, and that is SK season. And I also live in a high-German-content area, so SK is something we eat year round.
I have two favorite SK dishes. One is a Reuben sandwich. Easy to make: rye bread, corned beef sliced super thin and piled high on the bread (the key is the corned beef must be sliced thin), SK, and most people like Russian dressing on the sandwich. I prefer it "dry."
My second favorite is pork and SK.
Last week I gave you all a recipe for pork loin roast. Usually I have some left over, from which I either make soup or pork and SK. You see, I'm all for easy, and left-over pork roast with SK (never canned, always packaged from the butcher) is very easy to make. All I do is put the left-over pork and remaining gravy in a pan, and then pour one quart of SK over that. Simmer it for a few hours, long enough to make the house stink, and you have a great supper.
ttfn
Sour kraut wasn't popular at our home when I was growing up. It stunk (or is it stank?) up the house. I didn't think it tasted all that good, either. But, my father loved it. So every once in a while my mom would open a can -- yes we had canned SK back then -- and put it in a pot with a small pork roast -- had to stretch that meat to feed a family of six.
Now I know it's not SK season. It's still summer. Oh, really? Well, out here where I live now, it's been like fall, and that is SK season. And I also live in a high-German-content area, so SK is something we eat year round.
I have two favorite SK dishes. One is a Reuben sandwich. Easy to make: rye bread, corned beef sliced super thin and piled high on the bread (the key is the corned beef must be sliced thin), SK, and most people like Russian dressing on the sandwich. I prefer it "dry."
My second favorite is pork and SK.
Last week I gave you all a recipe for pork loin roast. Usually I have some left over, from which I either make soup or pork and SK. You see, I'm all for easy, and left-over pork roast with SK (never canned, always packaged from the butcher) is very easy to make. All I do is put the left-over pork and remaining gravy in a pan, and then pour one quart of SK over that. Simmer it for a few hours, long enough to make the house stink, and you have a great supper.
ttfn
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