Casserole #17 - Lemonchick's Broccoli Rice Casserole

 The Year of Casseroles

Casserole #17 - Lemonchick's Broccoli Rice Casserole

    I made up this recipe myself, and I hope you like it. It is simple and I thought pretty tasty. I used a 1 1/2 quart casserole dish. You may want to use a 2 quart dish, as the 1 1/2 quart dish was really, full. I give a 30-45 minute window for cooking time; you'll want to keep an eye on the casserole. You want it golden brown on top, not burned!

Ingredients:

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1 can cream of chicken soup

1/2 - 3/4 cup chicken broth

1 cup Stove Top stuffing mix, crushed or bread crumbs

salt to taste

pepper to taste

1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar or Monterrey Jack cheese

2 cups cooked white rice

12 oz frozen broccoli, cooked

chili pepper flakes, optional

Directions:

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Cook broccoli. Combine rice, broccoli, chicken broth and soups in a large mixing bowl. Stir in seasoning, followed by 1 cup of the shredded cheese. Spray your casserole dish with cooking spray and pour the broccoli and rice mixture into dish. Top casserole with remaining half cup of cheese. Sprinkle with bread crumbs/crushed stuffing mix. Bake for 30-45 minutes. Remove from oven and cool slightly before serving. Serve with baked chicken or pork. 

Lemonchick's Broccoli Rice Casserole

Lemonchick's Broccoli Rice Casserole

Lemonchick's Broccoli Rice Casserole

Youvarlakia (Meat Balls with Lemon Sauce)

Youvarlakia (Meat Balls with Lemon Sauce)

    I recently made Beef in Wine Gravy (delicious) from the same cookbook this recipe is from. That cookbook is Hellenic Cuisine copyrighted in 1957 by St. Helen's Philoptochos Society and Sts Constantine and Helen Parent-Teacher Association. I wasn't sure about the texture of the sauce, because it came out pretty foamy (not sure if it was supposed to be so foamy), but it tasted good. I had to buy mint, but the parsley I used was from my garden.  Yay!

Ingredients:

2lbs ground beef or veal (I used ground turkey)

2 small onions, chopped finely (I used one large)

3 tbsps chopped parsley and mint leaves (This is for sprinkling over the dish when serving, so you can actually use more)

1/2 cup rice, cooked

2 tbsps butter or oil

1 tsp vegetable salt (I used a salt free table seasoning)

2 cups water

1/2 cup flour

salt and pepper, to taste

plus

2 eggs 

1 lemon, juiced

Directions:

in a large bowl, thoroughly mix the meat, onion, salt, pepper, rice and vegetable salt. Form into small meatballs (I laid out my meatballs in a 9x13 pan and it was completely filled when I was done making the balls). Sprinkle with flour. Bring a saucepan with water and a little salt, to boil. Add meat balls and butter or oil and simmer for 40 minutes.  When you have about ten minutes of cooking time left, make your sauce by separating eggs and beating the whites until they form soft peaks. Beat yolks with lemon juice and fold into the egg whites. Remove the pan from heat and drain any leftover water. Pour the sauce on top and stir to coat meat balls. Sprinkle with chopped mint and parsley. Serve over rice or even noodles if you'd like that better.  Serving size depends on how many meatballs each person gets.  

Youvarlakia (Meat Balls with Lemon Sauce

Lemonchick's Fried Rice

 Lemonchick's Fried Rice

    I created this healthier fried rice because I'm doing Weight Watchers and wanted to have a side to go with a tuna steak.  It turned out really good and the Weight Watchers app calculated it at only three Weight Watchers points. Add more or less of any veggie or seasoning/sauce, as you desire. 

Ingredients:

2 eggs, whisked 

2 tsp low sodium soy sauce

1 tsp rice wine vinegar

1 cup uncooked carrots, shredded

2 stalks of green onions, sliced finely

1/2 cup cooked green peas (I used frozen, because the texture of canned wouldn't be right)

2 cups cooked white rice

3 tsp Sriracha hot sauce (optional)

Directions:

Cook snow peas in a small amount of boiling water until softened and remove to a plate. Drain excess water. Pour whisked eggs into pan. Tilt the pan around, so the egg spreads out and use a large spoon to break up the egg into smaller bits. Add snow peas and other veggies one at a time and mix well. Mix in rice wine vinegar, soy sauce and sriracha. Stir in cooked rice and stir until all ingredients are thoroughly combined. Cook over low heat until all ingredients are heated through. Eat just the rice or add as a side to chicken or fish. Mixing in cooked chunks of chicken, fish, tofu or shrimp is also a great option! Makes approximately 5 to 6 1 cup servings.

Lemonchick's Fried Rice and Seared Tuna

Week 36 - Barley, Black Bean and Corn Burritos

 Barley, Black Bean and Corn Burritos

Week 36 of 52

Vegetarian Entree #5

    Let me start with the fact that you can make this Barley, Black Bean and Corn mix and make a burrito bowl like I did, or you can make burritos. Depending on your serving sizes, you could get at least 8 or 9  servings of two burritos each. With a couple of good sized scoops on bowl of rice, you could probably get about 8 bowls. I liked this recipe, as it was fairly easy to put together and it is a slow-cooker recipe.  The recipe comes from the Southern Living - Slow Cooker Cookbook published in 2002. Notes/Modifications in italics.

Ingredients:

1 15 oz can black beans, rinsed and drained

1 10 oz can diced tomatoes with green chilis (not drained)

1 cup uncooked fine barley 

2 cups vegetable broth (the recipe calls for chicken broth, but, um, that doesn't make it vegetarian)

3/4 cups frozen corn (whole kernel)

1/4 cup chopped green onions

1 tablespoon fresh lime juice (I used bottled lime juice)

1 teaspoon ground cumin (I didn't have cumin, so I used extra chili powder)

1 teaspoon chili powder

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 garlic clove, minced

1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro (Plus extra for decoration)

shredded cheddar or monterrey jack (Optional)

shredded lettuce (optional)

salsa (Optional; I used medium heat)

sour cream (Optional)

18 tortillas if you are making burritos

2 cups cooked white rice if you are making bowls

Directions:

Add the first eleven ingredients to a 3 to 4 quart slow cooker and combine thoroughly. Cover and cook on low for 4 to 5 hrs or until the barley is tender. I cooked the full five hours. Stir in cilantro. 

Bowls: Place a couple of scoops of cooked rice into a bowl and top with the Barley, Black Bean and Corn mixture. Add spoonfuls of sour cream and salsa. Sprinkle cheese over top, followed by a sprinkle of chopped cilantro. 

Burritos: Heat tortillas evenly on both sides on low to medium heat on a cast-iron comal, griddle or skillet. Basically, whatever you use to cook pancakes, you can use to heat tortillas. You want the tortillas to be warm and flexible. If you overcook them, they'll get too crispy to roll. Heat tortillas one at a time. In the center of each tortilla, spoon some of the Barley, Black Bean and Corn mixture. Sprinkle with cheese and roll up. The recipe in the book says to make a bed of lettuce and lay the burritos on the lettuce, but nope, that is not for me. Top with salsa, sour cream and chopped cilantro. 

Barley, Black Bean and Corn Bowl

     

Week 21 - Green Rice Casserole

 Green Rice Casserole

Recipe 21 of 52

Vegetarian Entree #3

This recipe is based on a recipe for a side dish called Green Rice in The Cookbook LIbrary's Casserole Cookbook published in 1962. I used riced cauliflower in lieu of rice. You could try it with brown rice or maybe even couscous. To make this more substantial, add one cup cubed, cooked tofu or paneer cheese. If you add the tofu/paneer cheese, you'll definitely want to use the larger 2-quart casserole dish, as the recipe below fits perfectly in the 1 1/2 quart casserole dish. I was rather surprised how much I liked this made with the cauliflower and would make this again. It would be easy to make this vegan, by using plant based cheese and vegan milk replacement. If you are a meat eater, add 1 cup cubed, cooked chicken and use that larger dish. 

Ingredients:

2 cups cooked rice (I used a 12oz bag frozen, riced cauliflower; cooked )

1 1/2 cups grated cheddar (I used shredded colby-jack)

1 cup milk (I would use 1/2 cup if making this with riced cauliflower)

3/4 cup mixture of minced parsley/spinach/chives (I used a 12oz bag frozen, spinach; cooked and 1/4 cup chives)

1 egg, beaten

1/4 cup butter, melted

1/2 onion chopped

salt to taste (I used 1/2 teaspoon salt-free seasoning)

red chili flakes (optional)

Directions:

Combine all ingredients, except 1/2 cup of cheese, in a large bowl. Pour mixture into a buttered 1 1/2 to 2 quart casserole dish. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes. Remove and sprinkle the remaining 1/2 cup cheese over the casserole. Return to oven and bake an additional 5 minutes. Cool and serve with additional parsley as garnish if desired. Sprinkle with red chili flakes if desired. 

Green Rice Casserole

Tuna, Rice & Peas

 Tuna, Rice & Peas

    I wanted some 'comfort' food. This very, simple dish is one my father used to make when I was growing  up.  I haven't had it in decades, but felt like making it recently.  It is a dish with few ingredients and is inexpensive to make. Growing up,I think we probably also had bread or something with it.  It's been so long, I don't really recall, but I know we had lots of starch-y foods growing up. Rice is in the title, but you can definitely make the sauce and serve it over hot,buttered toast or biscuits. Let me know if you have ever heard of this and/or if you try it and like it.  

Ingredients:

One can tun fish (in water/drained)

One can green peas (drained

1 cup rice (cooked)

White sauce 

    1/4 Cup butter (melted) 

    2 cups milk

    1/4 cup flour 

    1/2 teaspoon salt

    1/8 teaspoon pepper 

• Make a medium white sauce by melting butter in a saucepan over low heat. Stir in flour and once it is bubbling, slowly pour in milk. Cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture is thickened. Season with salt and pepper. 
• One trick I've used for white sauce, is to heat the milk in the microwave for a one to two minutes before adding. It has helped it to thicken quicker in the past. 

Directions:

    Leaving your pan of white sauce on low heat, stir in the tuna, followed by the peas. Simply serve your tuna and peas sauce over rice (or toast) or you can mix the sauce and rice together.  Either way, this is a simple, comfort food and I hope you try it. 

Tuna, Rice and Peas

I made a batch of my Cheesy Garlic Butter Balls to go with leftovers the day after. What was it I was saying about lots of starches growing up?

 

Beef In Guinness

 Beef In Guinness

    I know, I know. It's been awhile since I've written.  Life has been a lot lately and I just haven't been cooking much from my cookbooks.  I also had considered discontinuing my blog, but I have decided to keep it going and just cook and write.  Even if it is just for me.  

    This recipe is from a recipe in "Irish Country Cooking - Traditional and modern recipes from the Emerald Isle", published in 1995.  First off, this was pretty much my single most expensive recipe to make. The cost of the skirt steak I bought almost deterred me, but I'd had my mind set on making this, as it was the winner of a poll I ran on what I should make next.  Some of the directions did not make any sense and that was partly due to directions like "Bring to the boil....", but I made it work.  

    The bad grammar and nonsensical, incomplete instructions (I'm not perfect myself, but this was bad) were distracting, but like I said, I made it work.  That is kind of the cool thing about cooking.  The recipe can be modified as necessary and sometimes it still turns out good. This would be perfect with chunked or mashed potatoes (Hello! It's in an Irish cookbook), which I somehow had neglected to buy, so I served with rice and a slice of toasted sourdough bread.   I thought the dish turned out pretty good and I would think about making it again, when beef is less expensive.  

Ingredients:

2-3lbs Beef Skirt Steak

Seasoned Flour (It doesn't say what to season it with, so I used a little pepper and some crushed Italian seasoning)

Oil or "dripping" (I guess that's supposed to be "drippings"; I used a bit of oil in my pan)

2 Onions, sliced (I used sweet onions)

3 Carrots, sliced (I used 2 carrots, because I simply did not buy the correct amount)

4 Garlic, 4 whole cloves (I left them whole, but I don't see why you couldn't slice the garlic)

1 Large bunch of herbs (Unspecified; I used the crushed Italian seasoning)

Salt to taste (I didn't add salt)

Pepper to taste 

2 1/2 Cups Beef Stock

2 Bottles of Guinness beer (I used extra stout)

1 Oyster per person, optional (I don't eat oysters and I don't understand why this is an optional ingredient; like why put an oyster on top of each serving?)

Directions:

Season your flour in a small bowl. Cut up your skirt steak into small pieces, about 2 to 3 inches and dip into your seasoned flour. Fry in hot oil. The recipe does not specify how long to cook it.  I cooked for several minutes to ensure it was fairly well browned. No need to thoroughly cook, since there is another 2 hours of cooking time. I removed the browned meat to a platter and cooked the onions and garlic in the oil. The recipe says to add the meat, onions and "other vegetables" (there's only one other vegetable {the carrots}) to a casserole dish, followed by the herbs and seasoning (the salt and pepper, I guess). I used a cast iron dutch oven for the whole recipe, because the recipe itself calls for bringing the ingredients to a boil, turning to low and cooking for 1 1/2 hours, before adding the Guinness beer. And to me, that means keeping it on the stove and a casserole dish is for putting in an oven.  So, getting back to it, after adding the beer, bring it back to a boil and then turn to low and simmer for another 30 minutes.  

The recipe instructions in the cookbook call for removing the meat with a slotted spoon and serving,  then reducing the liquid to half for the sauce. Then, it says to pour the sauce over the beef again, season to taste and then add the oysters if you are using oysters and serve with hot, crusty bread.  What I did, was remove the meat, carrots and onions and make a light gravy with the liquid, before re-combining everything in a large casserole dish for serving. This helped make sure all of the ingredients were hot.

If you try this, feel free to comment. 

Guinness Extra Stout

Browning the skirt steak

Skirt steak, onion, carrots, garlic and seasoning ready for the beef stock

My finished product! Beef in Guinness

    

Lemonchick's Dr. Pepper Rice Casserole

Lemonchick's Dr. Pepper Rice Casserole

 

     Okay, so this is a recipe which I created.  Years ago I found a recipe for rice using Dr. Pepper.  You replace all or part of the cooking water for the rice, with Dr. Pepper.  I can't remember which one of my books the recipe was in, so I couldn't use the actual recipe. I know the recipe does call for adding curry powder and since I couldn't remember the exact amount, I just used about 2 teaspoons.   You can use have water and half Dr. Pepper and you could also use Diet Dr. Pepper, to cut down the sugar.  The rice does have a sweet taste, because of the sugar in the soda. 

    I had thought about incorporating chicken into the rice to make a casserole and decided golden raisins and almonds would go well with the Dr. Pepper rice and chicken. I used a Garam Masala curry seasoning from Penzey's Spices in Dallas and I very, rarely drink soda, but I had some knock-off Dr. Pepper (a generic store brand), so I used that.  

    

Ingredients:

4 chicken thighs

1 cup rice

2 cups Dr. Pepper (or generic brand)

1 tsp or more of curry powder (use more if you like)

1/3 cup sliced almonds, blanched

1/3 cup golden raisins

    Start by cutting your chicken into small chunks.  You can use smaller pieces or larger.  This is totally your preference. Heat your pan, add a little bit of oil or cooking spray. Give it another couple minutes to heat up with the oil and then add your chicken.  Cook until there is no longer any pink showing. 

   Once you've started your chicken, go ahead and pre-heat your oven to 350 degress and make your rice. Cook your rice as you would normally, simply substitute Dr. Pepper (or generic brand) soda for water and stir in your curry powder.  I cooked mine in the  microwave (3 minutes on high and 17 minutes on 50% power). Blanch your almonds while your rice and chicken are cooking. Your chicken should be ready by the time the rice is done. Transfer your rice to a large casserole dish.  Mix in the raisins and chicken and sprinkle the blanched almonds on top. You can also transfer the rice to a large mixing bowl, add everything in there and then transfer to a casserole dish (I just wanted to eliminate one more dish to wash). Place your casserole in your oven and bake for 15-20 minutes.  

    Remove from the oven, cool slightly and serve with salad and rolls if you like.  Let me know what you think, if you try this. 

The finished product, Dr. Pepper Rice Casserole

Cook your chicken until there is no pink showing

Blanched almonds

Golden Raisins

Dr. Pepper Rice

Dr. Pepper Rice Casserole (just out of the oven)

   *I served with a salad of mixed greens with mozzarella pearls, pepper, a cranberry-pecan salad topper and croutons. I used a Maple-Bacon vinaigrette dressing.*

Lemonchick's Turkey & Vegetable Soup

 Lemonchick's Turkey & Vegetable Soup

    Well, I had a little bit of an unplanned hiatus. I had planned to make fudge the week February 14th and then we had a major ice/snow storm (It snowed twice that week) which knocked out power for millions of Texans, all over the state. Some had no power for 5 days or more. Some like me, had multiple power outages, which in some cases lasted hours at a time and others for short periods.  My longest outage was about 18 hrs. Some had power on and off constantly the whole time and some never lost any power at all. I won't go into any more of that, but I will say the fact that we had the weather wasn't the issue, it was the power outages causing no heat in freezing temps. So, that is one of the reasons for the delay in another post. 

    Anyhow, back to the business at hand. When I went shopping the other day, I picked up a package of soup vegetables at a Fiesta grocery store, for just over $4.00. Most Hispanic grocery stores will have these packs of soup vegetables.  All you have to do is chop up the veggies, add them to broth, add seasonings and meat if you like. There was plenty of chopped vegetables and it would have been just fine without meat. The pack I got came with onion, a type of Mexican squash that I don't know, a small bit of corn, cilantro, carrot, a small red-skinned potato, cabbage and a piece of celery.  

    I prepped my veggies by washing them first and then chopping them into small pieces. You can chop them as small as you like. I put my carrot, potato and corn into the soup pot which I had poured two 32oz containers of chicken broth and 3 cups of water (I'd turned the pot on to start heating while I was chopping the vegetables) into. I added the cabbage, squash and celery, followed by two cubes of Knorr tomato bouillon with chicken flavor and about 5 cloves of garlic (finely diced). I added a little more than two cups of cooked, chopped turkey meat and 1/4 cup of quick cooking brown rice and boiled everything until my harder vegetables were soft. Honestly I didn't time it. Just cook until your vegetables are as tender as you like. I added chopped cilantro and 1/4 teaspoon and cooked it just a little bit longer, before serving myself a bowl with a sprinkle of sriracha sauce. The verdict? Yummmmmmmmmm.  And, now I have food for the whole week, because it was a huge pot of soup! 

Options: Use vegetable stock and leave out turkey for a vegetarian version.  Change it up and add different seasonings.  I did not use salt in mine, but you can salt to taste. Use beef broth and use chopped beef. Use chicken, instead of turkey. Sprinkle queso fresco or a bit of your favorite cheese on top when you serve. Make it your own!

Ingredients:

1 pack of soup vegetables (Mine had a wedge of a small cabbage, 1 small red-skinned potato, 1 small Mexican squash, 1 piece of celery, 1 piece of corn-on-the-cob, cilantro and about 4 or so good sized pieces of a giant carrot)

2 32oz containers of chicken broth

3 cups water (I used straight from the faucet, because I'm fancy)

5 cloves garlic (or to taste)

1/4 teaspoon pepper

2 tomato bouillon cubes with chicken flavor (or plain ol' chicken bouillon cubes)

1/4 cup quick cooking brown rice

Sriracha or your favorite hot sauce for extra flavor in your bowl

Lemonchick's Cheesy Turkey Rice Casserole

 Lemonchick's Cheesy Turkey Rice Casserole

    Wow! Yes, this is the third recipe I've posted this weekend.  This one is special, because it is my own creation. I created it using ingredients I had at home. Turkey is in the title, but you could substitute chicken or tofu/paneer cheese if you're vegetarian.  I am so excited by how this turned out.  Try it and let me know how you like it.  

2 cups cooked turkey (cut into chunks)

2 cups cooked brown rice

1 can diced tomatoes

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 packet dry onion soup mix

1 teaspoon Italian seasoning

1 cup shredded cheese 

Sour cream

    Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Cook your rice according to directions and set aside in a good-sized mixing bowl. Add the tomatoes (do not drain), cream of chicken soup, onion soup mix, and the Italian seasoning, stirring after each addition. Cut 2 cups of cooked turkey into chunks and stir into the rice mixture. Stir in half of the shredded cheese. Make sure all ingredients are thoroughly incorporated and spread into a 9x13 pan (spray with cooking spray or lightly oil) and sprinkle the remaining half cup of shredded cheese. Bake in your oven uncovered for 30 minutes. Remove and cool slightly (or as long as you can wait). Serve with a dollop of sour cream.  You could get at least 6 - 8 servings or maybe more, depending on how big everyone's appetites are.  

    Variations: Use chicken or if you are vegetarian, use tofu or paneer cheese cubed and cooked; white rice instead of brown, cream of celery soup instead of cream of chicken; if you're watching your sodium intake, try using low sodium version of the soups; try diced tomatoes withe chilis; chipotle seasoning instead of Italian seasoning. 

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. 

Farmer Jones' Special

 Farmer Jones' Special

    Farmer Jones' Special is a recipe I found in my copy of the 1959 Farm Journal's Country Cookbook. It's towards the back in a section called "Exciting Rice Dishes". This is pretty much a casserole. The recipe calls for putting the mixture into a 12" ovenware pie plate and I ended up using a 9"x13" baking dish. One, all of my pie dishes are not that big and there was so much, that I knew it would do just fine in a 9"x13" dish. 

    So, the first thing you do is pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees. Then you chop up your celery and onion.  The recipe calls for 1 cup chopped celery and I used a little more. I'd cut up 4 stalks and didn't want to waste it. You cook the celery and onion in butter/margarine until golden brown, cover and cook until tender. The recipe says to add the tomato juice, tomato paste and ground beef, cover and simmer for 10 minutes.  The recipe did not say to brown the ground beef first, but I did.  It just wasn't going to be cooked thoroughly unless you cooked it before adding to the vegetables. I cooked my rice in the microwave while I was doing all this. Once everything was done, I mixed it all together and spooned it into my baking dish, which I had sprayed with a bit of cooking spray. The recipe calls for 1/3 cup Parmesan cheese.  One, I used the powdered in a jar kind and two, I used way more than 1/3 cup. It is cheese and cheese is awesome, so do to your taste. I used the powdered kind, because I forgot to buy fresh Parmesan. The powdered kind was just fine.  Switch it up and use an entirely different kind of cheese, like shredded mozzarella or monterey jack if you wish. I like to salt and pepper on my plate sometimes, rather than adding during cooking, but feel free to add your 1 teaspoon of salt during cooking (you add that when you add the meat to the vegetables. 

    This recipe was good as is and I would definitely make it again. You can get at least 8 servings out of this recipe. The ingredients cost less than $10 and the most expensive ingredient was the ground beef, which was $5.79.  The rice I got for $1 and the tomato paste was under $1. The tomato juice I got (a pack of mini V-8 juice cans) was about $2.50. I only used two cans, but I am happy to have the extras in my pantry. And something I like, is that you can easily make this spicy by using spicy tomato juice, adding chili powder or maybe even finely diced jalapeno. I love garlic, but wanted to make it without this time.  I will sprinkle some garlic powder on what I have for lunch today and see how I like it. You could also add diced tomatoes if you like. If you don't like hamburger, use ground turkey. *If you are vegetarian, I think this could be made with diced tofu or paneer cheese. Just cook it before adding to the vegetables.*

      A nice garden salad and rolls or cornbread would round out this meal nicely. As always, if you make this, let me know how you like it. 

    The last picture below is a before/after photo of the filled baking dish.  :)

Porcupine Balls

 Porcupine Balls

        So, I finally made something from the cookbook which got me to start this blog. I made  Porcupine Balls.  I think I'd heard of these before, but hadn't ever considered making them.  This recipe calls only five ingredients: 1 1/2 lbs sausage, 1/2 cup uncooked rice, 1/2 cup milk, onion and sage. Including tomato sauce to pour over top, there's six and there is a note to 'flour' them, so if you want to do that, it's seven ingredients.  I somehow missed that part and didn't flour mine and they turned out fine.  

    The directions are to mix in the order they are listed, make small balls, flour and pour the sauce over them.  Bake slowly for 2 hours.  The recipe doesn't give a pan size or an oven temperature, which I've found in old, cookbooks like this one, there isn't always a pan size and directions are sometimes really unclear. But, I decades ago (like this cookbook is approximately 80 years old), so many more women regularly cooked every single meal, twenty-four/seven and they probably just knew what to do.  

    I used regular sausage that comes in the little tubes, white rice, 1/2 of a medium onion (diced) and I didn't have sage, so I used Italian seasoning mix (2 teaspoons in the mixture and sprinkled some on top). I didn't flour the balls and I used a tiny can of tomato paste, which I thinned out with water to about 2 cups and added a small can of tomato sauce. 

   A small ice cream scoop was used to make the balls and I really liked the size they ended up being. I didn't use any cooking spray on the pan, but I guess you could. It turned out fine without it.  I had the common sense to use the largest baking dish I had (11"x14", I believe) and I still had to squeeze them in there.   After I'd placed all of the balls in the baking dish, I poured the tomato sauce I mixed up over top and placed the pan in a pre-heated oven at 325 degrees.  I ended up taking them out about 12 minutes early.  They were perfect and my house smelled really good! 

    What would I do different? I would try using minute/quick rice or maybe even pre-cooked rice and I would play around with using a hotter oven and cooking for a shorter length of time. I think you could absolutely make these ahead of time and store them without the sauce, refrigerated or even freeze them. Obviously if you freeze them, you'd need to ensure you thawed them out before baking with the sauce.  There's definitely some possibilities for changing things up a bit.  Like, my using the Italian seasoning, not just sage, was an excellent decision.  And, I sprinkled a little bit of parmesan on top when I was ready to eat. I made brown rice to go with mine, but you could easily to some kind of pasta or mashed potatoes. I think you could also make some delicious hot subs with these.  Just add some extra sauce and cheese. 

    I ended up with 20 sausage balls. For me I had 4 in a serving with a side of brown rice. You could have 4 - 5 servings, depending on whether or not you want 4 pieces of 5 pieces. 

    Would I make this again? Oh my gosh, 100%, yes!!!! It tasted really good and wasn't greasy at all, which I'd kind of been expecting.  

    A huge "thank you" to Mrs. Ray Sheeley, who submitted this recipe back in the early 1940s.