Casserole #18 - Barley Casserole

 The Year of Casseroles

Casserole #18 - Barley Casserole

    This recipe is in my 1990 edition of The Fannie Farmer Cookbook. The Fannie Farmer Cookbook was first published in 1896, titled The Boston Cooking School Cook Book, by Fannie Merritt Farmer. I wanted to try something different and this fit the bill. I liked this casserole; it felt pretty healthy with the use of barley. Serve it as a side dish, or add chunks of chicken to make it a main dish. I did make some modifications, which I will show in italics. Try it and let me know what you think. 

Ingredients:

3 tbs butter

1 cup barley

1 small onion, chopped

1/4 cup finely chopped green pepper (I used a whole, small green pepper)

1/2 cup cashews, chopped (I used cashews, but leave them out if you like)

3 cups chicken broth, boiling

salt (to taste)

pepper (to taste)

paprika seasoning to taste

3 slices thick cut bacon, diced (optional)

1/2 cup Kerrygold blarney cheese, shredded (this is a creamy Gouda style cheese) (optional)

toasted breadcrumbs (optional)

cornstarch to thicken the sauce, because my dish was very, soup-y when I placed it in a casserole (if desired)

 

Directions:

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F. Melt butter in a large skillet. Stir in barley and onion. Cook, stirring often, until the onion is slightly cooked. Add the green pepper and cook for two minutes more. Add cashews, followed by the broth and seasonings. Cover and simmer for 25 minutes. Thicken sauce with cornstarch by mixing together a little water with cornstarch and pouring, while stirring, into the sauce. At this point, you can simply serve from the skillet. Pour into a lightly greased 2-qt casserole dish. Sprinkle with cheese, followed by toasted breadcrumbs. Bake for 30 minutes. Remove from oven, cool slightly and serve. 

Barley Casserole

Barley Casserole

Casserole #14 - Meat-Noodle Casserole

 The Year of Casseroles

Casserole #14 - Meat-Noodle Casserole

    This recipe was submitted to the Favorite Recipes From Southern Kitchens - Meats: Favorite Recipes From Progressive Farmer Readers cookbook by Janet Lynn Wilson of Jacksboro, Tennessee, and the cookbook was published in 1967. This recipe is in the Ground Pork section and calls for lean ground pork. I modified and used ground turkey. You could use ground beef as well.  It was good, but could use more seasoning; consider adding chili powder to taste and/or garlic (powder or minced fresh). My friend who was my taste tester liked it and had a second helping! My modifications to the recipe are in italics. Also note that I re-wrote the directions. 

Ingredients:

8 oz noodles (Use your favorite: macaroni, egg noodles, dumpling style, bow-tie, etc)

3/4 lb ground meat (lean pork, hamburger or turkey) *Ms. Wilson used lean ground pork

2 small onions, chopped

2 cups diced celery

1 small green pepper, shopped

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

1 tbsp minced garlic (optional)

1 10oz can condensed tomato soup

1/4 tsp Worcestershire sauce

1 cup grated cheese *Ms. Wilson used American cheese and only 1/2 cup

Directions:

Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees. Cook noodles in boiling, salted water until al dente. Drain and rinse with cool water. In a large skillet, brown meat, drain and add onions, celery and green pepper. Add minced garlic if using. Cook until vegetables are tender. Season with salt and pepper and additional seasoning if you are using.  Spray a large casserole dish with cooking spray.  Mix together tomato soup and Worcestershire sauce in a small bowl. Alternate layers of meat and noodles in the casserole dish, starting with meat mixture. Over the first layer of noodles sprinkle 1/2 cup of shredded cheese. Finish with a layer of noodles, and pour the tomato soup over top. Sprinkle the last 1/2 cup of cheese on top. Bake for 45 minutes. *The original recipe gives the yield of 6 servings. 

Meat-Noodle Casserole

Casserole #12 - Ham and Noodle Casserole

 The Year of Casseroles

Casserole #12 - Ham and Noodle Casserole

    I really loved this casserole from Treasured Southern Family Recipes, published in 1966.  I added garlic powder, a sprinkle of parsley flakes and had to use cream of chicken soup in lieu of cream of mushroom soup. I'm happy to say that the cream of chicken soup worked really well with this.  I used macaroni noodles, but you could use rigatoni, bow-tie, or egg noodles. My modifications will be in italics. 

Ingredients:

2 tsps salt

4 oz noodles (macaroni, egg, bow-tie or try your favorite)

water

2 tbsps butter

1/4 cup chopped onion (I used closer to 1/2 cup, because I wanted to)

1/4 cup chopped green pepper

1 1/4 cups diced, cooked ham

1 can condensed cream of mushroom soup (I used cream of chicken and it was good)

1/2 cup milk

1 tbsp chopped pimento

1/4 tsp pepper

1/2 tsp garlic powder

parsley for decoration, if desired

1/2 cup grated cheese (the original recipe says American cheese; I used Monterrey Jack)

Directions:

Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees. Fill a large pot about half full with water. Bring to a boil and add salt and noodles. Boil rapidly until al dente. Remove from heat and let stand for a few minutes while you finish with the other ingredients. While heating water to boil, melt butter in a saucepan. Add onion and green pepper and cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the ham and cook for 5 more minutes, stirring occasionally. Heat soup with milk, ensuing they are well combined. Stir in pepper, pimento and garlic powder. Thoroughly drain noodles and return to saucepan. Pour soup mixture over noodles, add ham and veggie mixture and stir until well combined. Pour mixture into lightly greased 1 1/2 quart casserole dish. Sprinkle with grated cheese, place in oven and bake for 20 minutes. Remove from oven and cool for 20 minutes or so. Serves 4 - 6.

Ham and Noodle Casserole

Ham and Noodle Casserole

Charley The Muffin Man is so jealous!

Casserole #10 - Shipwreck Casserole

 The Year of Casseroles

Casserole #10 - Shipwreck Casserole

    I wanted to be adventurous, so tried this recipe from the Classic Cooking with Coca Cola cookbook. Published in 1994 and 1998, all of the recipes include a Coca Cola product. I write about recipes whether or not I liked them and this was a recipe I did not like. I think if I were to make this again, I would use undiluted tomato paste, not undiluted soup. Along with the Coke Zero (It's what I had on hand and was an appropriate substitute), the finished casserole was way too soup-y. This recipe also did not say to cook the ground beef and I did not want to put raw meat into the casserole, so I browned the ground beef. I would also figure out seasonings to add, because the recipe only had salt and pepper to taste. I sprinkled Italian seasoning when I tested the recipe. Although I did not like the finished recipe, it was pretty easy to make and you might like it. Play around with seasonings and try chili or chipotle powder, Italian or add chopped garlic or garlic powder. 

Ingredients:

1 1/2 tbsp oil

1 large onion, sliced

1 lb ground beef, browned

2-3 stalks celery, chopped

1 green pepper, chopped or 6 mini sweet orange/red/yellow peppers chopped

1 large potato, sliced

1 can red kidney beans

1 can tomato soup (undiluted) or small can of undiluted tomato paste

salt to taste

pepper to taste

10 oz Coca Cola

sprinkle Italian seasoning

Directions:

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Spread oil in bottom of 9x13 baking dish. Layer ingredients in order listed, finishing by pouring the Coca Cola on top. Bake for one hour. Remove from oven and allow to cool for a few minutes. Sprinkle Italian seasoning over casserole when plated. 

Shipwreck Casserole 

Easy Potato Soup

 Easy Potato Soup

    This recipe is based off of a recipe from a former co-worker. This soup is easy to put together. You can adjust seasonings and add ingredients as you like. This recipe is easily made vegetarian/vegan, by using all vegetable broth and vegan gravy packet. Alternatively, you could use all chicken broth and/or add diced ham or bacon.  If you don't like onion or peppers, you can leave out those ingredients. This makes a large a big pot of soup and you'll get numerous servings out of it. Actual servings depend on how large you make them! I really enjoyed this soup and I hope you do as well. 

Ingredients: 

32 oz bag frozen diced (hash brown) potatoes (For extra variety, use the O'Brien styled hash browns)

48 oz chicken or vegetable broth, or a combination of the two

1 packet white, country gravy mix

1/3 - 1/2 cup diced onion (cook in butter/margarine, in the microwave for one minute)

1 tsp butter or margarine

1/2 cup diced green/red/yellow/orange peppers 

salt to taste

1/4 tsp pepper

1/2 tsp or to taste, chili powder seasoning

1 cup diced ham, optional

Optional Toppings: shredded cheese, finely sliced green onion, crumbled cooked bacon

Directions:

Empty the potatoes into a large cooking pot. Pour vegetable/chicken broth into the pot. Add onion, peppers and seasoning. Add ham if using. Cook on medium to medium-high heat until gently boiling. Ladle soup into bowls and serve with a side salad if desired. 

Easy Potato Soup

Charley the Muffin Man was interested in my Easy Potato Soup

Casserole #6 - Lemonchick's Cheesy Sausage & Potato Casserole

 The Year of Casseroles

Casserole #6 - Lemonchick's Cheesy Sausage & Potato Casserole

This recipe is a creation of mine. You can substitute your favorite spicy seasoning in place of Penzey's Arizona Dreaming salt free seasoning if you like. Or even try your favorite seasoning. I hope you like it. 

Ingredients:

3 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks

1 medium onion or 1/2 of a large onion, peeled and diced

1 green pepper, cored and cut into chunks

8oz andouli or Kielbasa sausage, sliced into about 1/4-1/2 inch slices

1 cup Monterrey Jack or Cheddar cheese, shredded, plus more to sprinkle on top

1 tsp or more to taste of Penzey Spice's Arizona Dreaming salt free seasoning

1 tsp Penzey Spice's dried minced garlic or fresh minced garlic

1/4 tsp pepper

2 cups white sauce:

  1/4 cup butter

  1/4 cup flour

  2 cups milk, heated 

  1/2 tsp salt

  1/8 tsp pepper

Directions:

Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees. Bring a large pot of water to boiling and cook the chunks of potato until they are fork soft (You don't want them mushy and you don't want them hard). Drain the potatoes and pour chunks into a large bowl. Cool while you prepare the rest of the ingredients. Stir in sausage, green pepper and onion. Mix shredded cheese into white sauce, pour over the sausage & potato mixture and store to combine. Pour mixture into a greased, 3-qt casserole. Sprinkle with additional cheese and bake for 30 minutes. 

White Sauce: Melt butter on low. Blend in flour. Slowly stir heated milk. Add salt and pepper and stir. 

Lemonchick's Cheesy Sausage & Potato Casserole
Picture being supervised by Charley The Muffin Man

Casserole #1 - Fiesta Tamale Bake

 The Year of Casseroles

Casserole #1 - Fiesta Tamale Bake

    This recipe comes to us from 1988's Better Homes and Gardens - New Casserole Cook Book. The original recipe calls for canned tamales, which I know are maybe all that some people might be able to find. I however live in Texas, where fresh tamales are usually pretty easy to find. I decided to buy fresh. I liked the tamales and the meat sauce from the recipe. However, I liked them better separately than together. The meat sauce was really good; I decided to freeze the leftover sauce and will enjoy it with macaroni or rice.  I'm glad I made this recipe. The original recipe says four or five servings. While I didn't count how many servings, there was a lot of food. I am confident you could definitely serve at least six. 

Ingredients:

1/2 lb bulk pork sausage

1/2 lb ground beef

1/2 cup onion, chopped (about 1 medium)

1/2 cup green pepper, chopped

16 oz can tomatoes, chopped (or buy diced tomatoes); do not drain

6 oz tomato paste

1/4 cup sliced, pitted ripe olives (I didn't use these)

1 tbsp chili powder

15 oz canned pork or beef tamales (I used 6 fresh tamales)

1/2 cup cheddar cheese, shredded (I used my favorite cheddar jack)

Directions:

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. In a large skillet cook sausage, hamburger, onion and green pepper until the meat is browned and the vegetables are tender. You could cook these separately if you like and then combine them. Drain grease from skillet. Stir in the tomatoes, tomato paste, olives (if using) and chili powder. Pour meat mixture into a 2-quart casserole dish. Arrange the canned/fresh tamales on top of the meat mixture. Bake uncovered for 25 minutes. Remove and sprinkle with cheese. Return to the oven and bake for 5 to 10 more minutes. 

Fiesta Tamale Bake

Appetizer #24 - Pineapple-Cheese Ball

 The Year of Appetizers

Appetizer #24 - Pineapple-Cheese Ball

    This is it! Appetizer #24, the last in the Year of Appetizers. This recipe is in the First Baptist Church - Chandler, Texas cookbook. I do not see a published date, but I'd guess late 1980s/early 1990s. The recipe suggests chilling this overnight, but eight hours is just fine. Less than eight hours would probably be fine as well; you just want the ball to be solid. I also cut the recipe in half and it still turned out a pretty good size. To make the original recipe size, simply double the ingredients. I really liked this appetizer and I think you will also. Try it!

Ingredients: 

1 8oz pkg cream cheese, softened

4 1/4 oz crushed pineapple, drained

1 cup chopped pecans, divided use

1 1/2 tbsp green pepper, finely chopped

1 tbsp onion, finely chopped

1 1/2 tsp seasoned salt (I used Jane's Krazy Mixed-Up Salt)

Directions: 

In a medium bowl, stir softened cream cheese with a fork until smooth. Mix in crushed pineapple, 1/2 cup pecans, green pepper, onion and seasoned salt. Shape into a ball. Spread the last 1/2 cup pecans onto a plate. Roll the cheese ball in the pecans, covering the entire surface of the cheese ball. Chop more pecans if you need or want more.  Wrap in plastic wrap or place into an airtight container and refrigerate for several hours (I chilled the ball for eight hours and it was perfect) or overnight. Serve on a large platter surrounded by crackers. If desired, garnish with pineapple slices, maraschino cherries or parsley. Refrigerate leftovers in an airtight container. 

Pineapple-Cheese Ball

Pineapple-Cheese Ball on Crackers

First Baptist Church - Chandler, Texas Cookbook

Week 47 - Pepper Cabbage

 Pepper Cabbage

Week 47 of 52

Side Dish #7

    Side Dish number 7 comes to us from Amish Dutch Cookbook, copyrighted in 1960 and I believe the copy I have was printed in 1971. I'm guessing that the year copy is, is 1971, as the last year listed is 1971. The recipes in this recipe booklet are from restaurants and hotels in the Pennsylvania Dutch/Amish region of Pennsylvania. In the introduction of the booklet, some of the history and traditions of the Amish are explained. It's pretty interesting and I feel a connection to the region, as the first of my ancestors who immigrated to America, came over in 1727 on a ship called "Friendship" and settled in this area.  While this ancestor was not Mennonite or Amish or German (he came from Switzerland), I am kinda fascinated with this region. 

    This recipe is from Haag's Hotel in Shartlesville, Pennsylvania. At first when I finished this recipe, I wasn't super happy with how it turned out. The sweet/sour/tangy flavor wasn't as strong as I'd hoped. I thought the cabbage I had selected for this recipe was "medium" sized, but maybe it was too big? Could that be one reason that it wasn't as tangy as I'd hoped, since there was maybe too much cabbage for the amount of liquid? After chilling in my refrigerator for a couple days or so though, the flavor is stronger. I do like this recipe. I like the crunch and the tangy-ness and it makes me feel healthy. Although I prefer a hot German slaw, I would try this cold cabbage slaw like dish again.

Ingredients:

1 medium green pepper, shredded (I chopped finely)

1 medium green cabbage, chopped finely (or diced)

3 stalks of celery, thinly sliced

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup apple cider vinegar 

1/2 cup water

poppy seed (optional)

Directions:

Combine vegetables in a large bowl. In a small bowl, combine the apple cider vinegar, water, salt and sugar. Pour over vegetables and combine thoroughly. Refrigerate to blend flavors and to cool. Serve cold with poppy seed sprinkled on top, if desired. 

Pepper Cabbage

Week 31 - Macaroni Salad

 Macaroni Salad

Week 31 of 52

Salad #5

This macaroni salad recipe comes from "Cheese and Ways to Serve It". Published in 1931 by the Kraft-Phenix Cheese Corporation of Chicago. The copy I have belonged to a lady named Thelma Clark. This cute, tiny cookbook has a number of things I like. One, it is really old, literally. It is 89 years old. It's artwork reflects the dress of the early 1930s. It has pictures of products from the Kraft-Phenix Cheese line. And I also like the font it is printed in.  I liked this macaroni salad and even better, after it had chilled overnight. It's pretty perfect for a hot Summer day. There is no added salt or seasoning, so season to taste with your favorite seasoning, if you like. I thought it was nice though without any added seasoning. Use less or more of the celery or green pepper if you like. Make this and enjoy! 

Ingredients:

2 cups cooked macaroni

1 cup chopped celery (I used two stalks)

1 green pepper, chopped

2 pimentos, choppped (I used 1 tablespoon from a jar of diced pimentoes)

6 sweet pickles, chopped (I used 1 tablespoon of sweet relish)

1 cup grated Kraft cheese (The original says you could use Velveeta and I'm sure you could, but that's not for me. I used 1 cup finely shredded Monterrey-Jack cheese)

Kraft Kitchen Fresh Mayonnaise or French Dressing (I used 1 cup mayonnaise)

Directions:

Boil macaroni to desired 'doneness'. While your macaroni is cooking, wash and chop your veggies.  Add each veggie ingredient to a large bowl. Add in your mayonnaise. Stir completely, so that all ingredients are coated with mayonnaise. Drain and rinse your cooked macaroni with cold water. Drain again, making sure to completely drain excess water.  Serve immediately, or chill for two or more hours.  The original recipe says you can serve this salad over lettuce, so feel free to do that. 

Green Pepper, Celery, Pimento, Sweet Pickle Relish

Celery, Green Pepper, Pimento, Sweet Pickle Relish, Cheese

Macaroni Salad

Week 24 - Mexi-Bean Ensalada (Bean Salad)

 Mexi-Bean Ensalada (Bean Salad)

Week 24 of 52

Salad #3

This recipe is from the Pace Picante Sauce - 40th Anniversary Recipe Collection - A Treasury of Tex-Mex Cooking cookbook, published in 1987. One big difference in my recipe, is that it turned out I didn't have cumin in my kitchen, so I substituted chipotle powder. I also believe I should have used less of the chipotle seasoning; I think I doubled it and it was a little overpowering. The green beans were perfectly cooked (if I may say so) and I would make this again, but would try it with cumin as suggested. 

Ingredients:

1lb fresh green beans, cut into 1-inch pieces (I "guesstimated" mine)

1/2 cup diced red onion (I used 1/2 of a red onion)

1 medium red or green pepper, diced (I used green, because the store I shopped at didn't have red)

1/2 cup picante sauce (Pace is suggested and is what I used, but it does not have to be Pace)

2 tablespoons vegetable oil (I used canola oil)

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground cumin (I used 1/2 teaspoon chipotle powder)

1 clove garlic, minced (I used 1 teaspoon minced garlic from a jar)

Directions:

In boiling water, cook green beans about 8-10 minutes, until they are crisp-tender (I cooked them for 10 minutes). In a large bowl, combine your diced onion and dice pepper. Add beans. Mix and add picante sauce, oil, salt, cumin and garlic. Stir until well combined. Chill for several hours, stirring every so often. Toss salad again before serving. Makes 6 to 8 servings. 

Mexi-Bean Ensalada

Sweet & Sour Carrots

 Sweet & Sour Carrots

    Today's lunch was another recipe from the Highland Park United Methodist Church (Dallas, Texas) Jubilee of our Many Blessings Cookbook. Printed 30 years ago this year. This is a vegetarian dish. If there is a substitute you can find for soy sauce, it could also be vegan. You could also add chunks of boneless chicken breast or pork loin if you have to have meat. That would be a good way to stretch this to more servings. 

    I adapted the recipe, by adding an extra tablespoon of vinegar. The original uses 2 tablespoons of vinegar and 1/3 cup vinegar. It was pretty easy to make. The recipe calls for "scraping" the carrots which I thought was a cute way of saying "peel the carrots", before cutting them in 1 inch diagonals.   Cook the carrots in water until just tender before adding the green pepper, which is cut into 1 inch squares, and cooking another 3 minutes. I didn't cut 1 inch squares, I did small, but chunky (like me) pieces.  Set aside your cooked vegetables and make a sauce out of 1/2 cup of pineapple juice (reserved when you drain your pineapple chunks), sugar, cornstarch, vinegar, soy sauce and salt. Cook the sauce until it boils, stirring constantly. Stir in the pineapple chunks and add your vegetables; stir to coat the vegetables and pineapple with the sauce and heat through. Serve with cooked rice (I used brown rice) and sprinkle with red pepper chili flakes if desired. This serves between 4 and 6 people.  The original recipe was submitted by Gerty Keim McKelvy (Mrs. George McKelvy). 

    The verdict?  I'm glad I added the extra vinegar, because I liked that little, extra kick of "sour". The sugar was fine; it wasn't super sweet, which I liked.  The recipe calls for 2 teaspoons of soy sauce.  I used a packet of soy sauce I had gotten with some Chinese food recently.  It was about 2 teaspoons.  Feel free to use low-sodium soy sauce and/or use a salt substitute if you are watching your sodium intake. Would I make this again?  Yes, I would. It was good and filling with the brown rice I made. 

Let me know what you think. 

Ingredients:

1 pound carrots

1 large green pepper 

1 8oz can pineapple chunks

1/3 cup sugar

1 tablespoon cornstarch

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons vinegar ( (Again, I adapted and used 3 tablespoons)

2 teaspoons (or 1 packet of Chinese take-out soy sauce)

Red pepper chili flakes (optional)

"Philly" Sloppy Joes

 "Philly" Sloppy Joes

    This recipe comes to us from the Philadelphia Brand Cream Cheese Cookbook published in 1981. I was intrigued by the idea of a Sloppy Joe that had cream cheese in it. The recipe was quick and easy to prepare. Start by browning the hamburger meat and while browning the meat (make sure you cook thoroughly and cannot see any pink), you can chop the green pepper and onion. The recipe calls for 1/2 cup each of green pepper and onion. I used a little more than that; it worked out to half of a green pepper and half of a medium sized onion. Drain the hamburger grease and add the chopped green pepper and onion.  Cook until the green pepper and onion are tender. Stir in the barbecue sauce and the salt. Simmer for 15 minutes and add the cream cheese, stirring until the cream cheese is melted.  

    The interesting thing about this dish, is it is served "open-faced" on cornbread. You could surely serve it on rice, potatoes or on burger buns.  What I did was pre-heat my oven, before browning my hamburger meat and mixing up my corn bread and putting it in the oven to bake while cooking the meat mixture. 

    I would definitely make this dish again. Like I said, it was super easy and it was tasty.  You could get six to eight servings with this dish.  Also, I have a friend who really doesn't like vegetables and I'm sure would not eat this. For people who don't like those vegetables, you can leave them out. Are you vegetarian? Use a combination of beans (lentils, red, navy, black, lima, etc) or even crumbled tofu or paneer cheese. Staying away from carbs? Try riced cauliflower in the sauce instead of meat. Substitute other veggies, like zucchini or spaghetti squash. 

     Let me know if you try it and what you think!

*I tried to add a video of my stirring the meat sauce, but due to technical error, or possibly user error, I am unable to add it.*

   

Stuffed Cabbage Leaves

 Stuffed Cabbage Leaves

    So today is Sunday, and I made this recipe yesterday.  It was good! Not super complicated, but it seemed like a lot of prep work.  This recipes came from the same cookbook as the last recipe, this 1959 Farm Journal's Country Cookbook.  

    One curious thing about this recipe was that it doesn't say to cook the sausage that goes in the filling and the second thing is that the recipe calls for you to put a whole, small onion in the baking dish with the rolls.  I didn't understand the onion thing, so I ended up doing some onion slices with what was left from the onion is used for part of the filling. The recipe called for seasoned rice and I chose to use  one cube of Knorr's "Caldo de Tomate", which is tomato bouillon with chicken flavor. 

    The first step was I browned the sausage and while that was working, I started chopping up the green pepper, onion and celery.  Next I put the cabbage which I had removed the core/heart from on a large pan and poured boiling water over it, covering with the lid. The hot water wilts the leaves and makes them easier to remove. I also cooked the rice in the microwave while all this was going on. Once the sausage was browned, I drained the grease and put the sausage in my mixing bowl.  I added butter to the skillet and cooked the onion, celery and green pepper, which I cooked for 2 minutes, stirring frequently. When the rice was done, I added that to my mixing bowl and then added the veggies, mixing it all up.  

    Now, one thing I changed was the recipe called for 'thyme', which I thought I had and didn't, so I modified the seasoning (Sometimes you have to use what you have on hand and that's okay).  Instead of one 1/2 teaspoon of thyme, I used 1/2 teaspoon of  Trader Joe's "Italian Style Sofrito" mix, which has onion, tomato, sea salt, garlic, chili pepper, parsley flakes, crushed red pepper, rosemary and sage; one 1/2 teaspoon of parsley flakes and one 1/2 teaspoon of Penzey's Spices "Ozark Seasoning", which has salt, black pepper, garlic, paprika, mustard, ancho, celery seed, caraway, allspice, ginger, cardamom and cloves. The recipe also calls for 1/2 teaspoon of salt. I mixed the seasoning in with the rice and sausage mix.  

    Once my filling was all ready, I took the cabbage and pealed leaves off, laying them on paper towels to dry off a bit. I sprayed a 9x13 baking dish with cooking spray and used a spoon to scoop some of the filling onto leaves, one at a time. I rolled up the leaves with the filling into little "packages", placed them in my dish and secured them with toothpicks. The recipe calls for using a 1/4 cup of filling for each leaf, but I "eyeballed' it and it worked out fine.  I made 12 rolls aka "packages".  Once the pan was full, I poured the tomato juice and water over the rolls and added the rest of the onion, which I had sliced. I baked in a 350 degree pre-heated oven for one hour (my house smelled good). 

    I was hungry, so didn't let it cool for very, long, before I served myself a roll with a piece of buttered sour-dough bread.  I rather enjoyed this dish and plan to make it again. I proclaim it a success!! I am however plotting to try an all veggie and sausage (or without) version. You could easily leave out the sausage and season without the chicken and tomato bouillon, for a vegetarian dish and just do what I want to try, all veggies.  Maybe even crumbled tofu or paneer cheese would work.      

    So, as always, if you try this, let me know what you think. 

Spanish Limas

 Spanish Limas

    So, I ran a poll to find out what I should make this weekend? The choices were vegetable dish, meat dish or another dessert.  I pre-selected recipes for each category (Spanish Limas, Salisbury Steak and Goody Pie) and the winner of the poll was "vegetable dish". I was kind of excited to try this. I've not had lima beans that often and definitely cannot remember ever buying them.  At the store yesterday, I almost couldn't find lima beans and when I did, I had to ask another customer to reach them for me.  I had chosen to use canned (couldn't find dry anyhow) and the cans were double stacked on the top shelf and I am 4'8", so that wasn't happening. Sometimes I climb on shelves to get things, but I knew it wouldn't end well this time if I had tried to get the beans.  Anyhow, lets get back to it. 

    The first step was to wash my veggies, tomato and green pepper (1 medium) and seed the pepper.  Next up was the onion (1 medium-ish) which I peeled and chopped.  I put the green pepper and onion into my large cast iron skillet, in which I had melted 2 tablespoons of butter. Instructions are to brown the onion and green pepper and then add the diced tomato. While the onion and green pepper were doing their thing, I seeded and diced the tomato.  Two and a half Roma tomatoes equaled the 1 cup of tomato called for in the recipe. You could use a little more or less if you like. I set the diced tomato aside and drained my& rinsed my lima beans. 

    Once the onion and green pepper mixture was ready, I added the diced tomato and cooked it on Low for 10 minutes, stirring often. I also prepared my other ingredients aka the seasonings: chili powder (in lieu of straight up chili power, I used my Arial's Spices "Spice & Chili Mix" which I found at the Dallas Farmer's Market), salt  and pepper. After 10 minutes, I added the seasonings and Worcester sauce and made sure to combine thoroughly. Finally, it was time to add the lima beans.  Once I'd stirred everything together, I simmered the mixture for 20 minutes on Low, stirring often. While this was working, I measured out 1 1/2 cups of shredded cheese. I used Monterrey-Jack, pre-heated my oven to 350 degrees and buttered a casserole dish (I used one of my favorite retro Anchor-Hocking FireKing dishes) on the bottom and sides.  

    After 20 minutes, I layered the lima bean/onion/tomato mixture with my shredded cheese in the casserole dish. I ended with a layer of cheese and because I love cheese, I ended up using about 3/4 to a 1/2 cup of extra cheese on top. The casserole went in the oven for 30 minutes.  It looked pretty good when I took it out at the end of the cooking time.  I let the dish cool for about 10 minutes and served myself a portion and added a side salad of mixed baby greens. 

    The verdict? I liked this dish. Seasonings are easily adjustable to taste.  I'd maybe add a little more chili powder next time. You could easily add in diced chicken, ham, bacon or even cubed and cooked tofu.  If you don't like lima beans, you could substitute butter beans and it would work.  Would I make this again? Yes. Would I try it with chicken or bacon? Yes. And finally, I've been recognizing the ladies who submitted recipes to the community cookbook which inspired me to start this blog, so "Thank You" to Ethelyn Downing.