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.  

Grape-nuts Bread

 Grape-nuts Bread

    I did it! I made the Grape-Nuts Bread. What a success!!!! In my last post (Orange Bread) I talked about having had a poll to decide what I would make and Orange Bread won over the Grape-Nuts Bread. I had decided that I would make the Grape-Nuts Bread the week after the Orange Bread, because I was intrigued by it.  

    Just like a lot of the other old recipes, there was no measurement given for at least one ingredient. Salt. I guessed 1 tsp. This recipe called for 3x7 loaf pans and baking at 350 degrees for one hour and the recipe makes two loaves. So, what did I do first? You have to soak the Grape-Nuts in two cups of sour milk "for a few minutes", so I needed to start that before gathering the other ingredients. But first, sour milk? I googled sour milk and found out how to make sour milk for baking.  Once I made the sour milk, I stirred in 1 cup of Grape-Nuts cereal. Next up I sifted 3 cups flour with 1 tsp baking soda and 2 tsp baking powder. I mixed 1 tsp salt, 2 eggs, and sugar with the sour milk & Grape-Nuts mixture and mixed the dry ingredients about a cup at a time.  It seemed a little lumpy, so I actually used a whisk for most of the mixing and my favorite wooden spoon for some.  The batter seemed fairly thin, but I had to try it exactly like the recipe.  

    I poured half of the batter into a greased and floured loaf pan.  Into the other half of batter, I added half a cup of chopped honey roasted pecans & cranberries and poured that batter into my second greased and floured loaf pan.  I placed both loaf pans into my wonky, old oven which I had pre-heated to 350 degrees, set the timer and went and kept myself occupied. I was ready to go when the timer went off.  I removed both pans and set them on cooling racks.  After they had cooled for a while, I loosened the edges with a knife and removed them from the pans to continue cooling on the rack and a little while later, I cut myself a slice of the loaf to which I added the pecans & cranberries.

    The result? Like I said above, this recipe was a success.  I'm not sure I would do the nuts in this bread again, but dried cranberries or cherries even would be okay. It is wonderful without any additions.  I really liked the flavor of the bread and the texture was good.  I thought the crust was fine.  Nice and brown, but I would have liked it a tiny bit less "crusty", so maybe a few minutes less baking time would be fine.  I will 100% make this again.  Thank you to, Mrs. Ralph M. Wilson, who submitted this recipe to the church community cookbook, aka the cookbook that started me on this cooking/baking adventure.      

    Also, I made French toast with the bread this morning and it was so good, so try that also.  It's just me, so I decided to freeze most of what I made using my FoodSaver vacuum sealer.  We will see in several weeks/months, how well this bread keeps in the freezer.  I am betting it will be just fine. 

*The below instructions for making sour milk were found with a google search and are from Atco Blue Flame Kitchen*

*The Cranberry & Pecan mix is from Fresh Gourmet*

    

Orange Bread

 Orange Bread

    I ran a poll on Twitter last week, to determine what I would make next for my blog. The four choices were Raisin Bread, Orange Bread, Nut Bread and Grapenuts Bread (Yes, that Grapenuts).  In a stunning result, there was a tie between Orange Bread and Grapenuts Bread!! I ran a tie-breaker poll and Orange Bread won. I decided though that I would bake the runner-up next week.  So now we'll talk about Orange Bread. 

    Like I've said before, a lot of these old community cookbooks do not include pan sizes, oven temps and measurements are not always given.  The Orange Bread recipe did not give a measurement for salt, called for 4 teaspoons of baking powder (what???), did not say what size pan (I used a regular loaf pan) and again, no oven temp (I used 350 degrees).  I had fun making this, even though I was worried about how it would turn out with so much baking power and having to guess at how much salt to use.  I decided to "split the difference" and do two teaspoons of salt.  It was a little bit of a pain to prepare the orange peel.  I used a zester and then still tried to grind the pieces.  I was pleased with how the pieces of peel turned out.  Sifting the flour, baking powder and salt not one, but four times, was a pain also, but I did it.  I cooked the orange peel with sugar, which made a bit of an orange syrup and set it aside to cool.  After letting the syrup cool for awhile, I sifted those ingredients and set them aside. Then I combined the milk with the egg and added the orange syrup before slowly adding the liquid mixture to the dry ingredients.  I lightly greased and floured the loaf pan and I was ready to go.  

    So, I had decided to bake the bread for 35 minutes at 350 degrees.  When I checked it, it had spilled outside one side of the pan. I pulled the pan out, scraped off the bit which had overflowed and shoved it back in there, because it wasn't done.  I think (I'm clearly so well-organized that I don't remember how much longer I baked it; so helpful!) that I baked it for another 15-20 minutes and took it out to cool.  

Once it was cool, I cut into it and surprisingly, I really liked how the texture looked. I cut a slice and put a bit of butter on it and nervously tried it.  The verdict?? Definitely a bit too salty.  One teaspoon may work well.  It wasn't super orange-y flavored, but it was good (other than tasting too salty) and the texture was good.  It wasn't dessert bread texture (soft like banana bread), but definitely like regular bread.  

The next day I thought I'd try to make French toast with it and that turned out really well.  It was yummy enough, that I'm going to slice the rest of the loaf, to freeze and make French toast with when I want it.

Will I make this again? Yes, because I am determined to get the baking powder & salt combination right; along with the baking time and a stronger orange flavor.  Like I said, I think I will try less salt and maybe less baking powder. 

Anyhow, pictures below.  Thank you to Mrs. B. Christerson who submitted this recipe to the church community cookbook which started this all. 

1) The Recipe

2) The orange syrup

3) The "Disaster" (It spilled into the bottom of my oven)

4) The good and bad sides of the loaf after it was cooled

5) The view of what the bread actually looked like; I was trying to show the little speckles of orange peel in there as well as the texture

    

Colorado Cream Pie

 COLORADO CREAM PIE

        So, here's the second recipe I've tried from the cookbook which started this all.  Colorado Cream Pie; recipe submitted by Mrs. Oliver Grimes.  It feels like pie crust has been the bane of my existence.  I've had crust not turn out well. Partly, I think because I'm not good at rolling it out; I've been scared to even try.  This time I used a recipe for a 9 or 10 inch double crust; I only needed one crust but the recipe for the single crust said that if you were doing a 9 inch pie, you should use the bigger recipe.  The pie crust recipe is on page 70 of my copy of the 1960 (1965 5th edition) Better Homes & Gardens "Dessert Cook Book".  I have a zillion dessert books in my cookbook collection, but I bought this particular cookbook, solely because it is exactly like the one my mom had. On a side note, my dad did most of the cooking when we were growing up and mom cooked on her days off. Sometimes she made chocolate cream pie with merengue for my dad (his favorite) and that recipe is in this cookbook.  I haven't been brave enough to make the chocolate pie, because when I make it, it will probably taste like her pie and that will make me cry buckets.  I've only had chocolate cream pie with merengue once in the almost 30 years she's been gone, where it tasted like her pie.  And that was at the old Stone's Restaurant in Marshalltown, Iowa, where some of my family is from.  

    Anyhow, back to my Colorado Cream Pie.  The ingredients are sugar, flour, butter, milk, vanilla, salt and two eggs (separated).  You cream the sugar, flour and butter, add the egg yolks, milk, vanilla and salt; mixing well. The recipe directs you to stiffly beat the egg whites and fold them into the other mixture.  Once that's done, you pour the filling (it was very, thin) into the unbaked crust.  It was the perfect amount for my 9 inch pie pan (Pyrex glass), so if you try this recipe, use a 9 inch pie dish. Much like a lot of recipes in these old cookbooks, pan size, no oven temperature was given and no baking time was given.  It only says "bake in a moderate oven, until inserted knife comes out clean. I used 350 degrees and started with 35 minutes. At 35 minutes, the filling didn't seem anywhere near being set, so I didn't even check it with a knife. I did another 10-15 minutes baking time.  I set the pie pan on a slightly elevated cookie rack, did the knife check and it was perfect.  I used an elevated cookie rack to cool, because I figured it would help it cool faster.   

    I probably could have let it cool a little longer and I don't remember how long I did, except I think it was about 1 1/2 hours or so. When I cut into the pie, I was able to easily remove a slice. The filling was "soft" if that makes sense, but it did not run all over the place, so I consider that a success! The pie crust was the only thing I wasn't super happy with.  It was not 100% cooked all the way through.  Close.  I think if I'd rolled the crust thinner, the crust would have turned out better.  Even with that, I was pretty proud of that crust.  It didn't bubble up anywhere and I thought the texture was fine.  

    Overall, I was really happy with this pie.  It tasted really good. Sweet, but not too sweet and it had a nice, not overpowering vanilla flavor  And, it was good today (of course I had to test that out). I just covered the pie pan and put it in the fridge.  Will I make this again? Another 100%, "Yes"!!!! And, let me know if you try it.  

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.  

    

Lemonchick's Blackbean-Corn Salad

Lemonchick's Blackbean-Corn Salad

    I wanted to do something simple for healthy lunches/dinners this weekend and remembered a salad I used to make.  This recipe is totally adjustable dependent on your tastes; add more or less of something or substitute a different kind of bean even.  Using canned beans & corn and prepared pico de gallo instead of all fresh ingredients is way less time consuming (there's no shame in using canned ingredients).  To start, I gathered all of my ingredients together and washed and chopped half of a bunch of cilantro (stems and all). I drained and rinsed one can of black beans (I used a low-sodium variety, but I like to rinse them anyhow) and then scooped the beans into my mixing bowl. Next up was draining and rinsing a can of corn and you guessed it, scooping that into my bowl. I let that sit while I cubed up 5oz queso fresco cheese.  After putting the cubed cheese into the bowl, I added about 1 cup of prepared pico de gallo (finely diced tomato, onion, jalapano and cilantro) to my bowl. Using my favorite wooden spoon (Yes, I have one), I tossed the ingredients together, before adding the extra cilantro I had chopped.  I added the juice of one small lime, poured my concoction into an airtight container and then placed it in my refrigerator. 

    When I was ready for lunch today, I washed a bit of regular, plain ol' iceberg lettuce garden salad mix and put it in a bowl.  I scooped about 1/2 cup  of my blackbean-corn salad mixture onto the garden salad (I'm not sure; it  may have been more; I didn't use a measuring cup). I sprinkled some black pepper on the salad and drizzled buttermilk ranch dressing over top. I also added a little drizzle of hot sauce. If I had had tortilla strips, I would have added some for a little crunch.

    How'd it turn out you ask? Good.  I enjoyed it.  The only major thing I would have done differently, would be to have used the whole 10oz of queso cheese, because I love cheese and would have liked cheese in more bites. 

    So, if you decide you want to try this salad, remember like I said, you can adjust ingredients as you like. Do you like pinto beans better? Use pinto beans. If you don't like onion or cilantro, you could leave those out as well, but I definitely  suggest adding diced tomato.  Don't like tomato? Leave tomato out. Do you like spicy?  Add extra, diced jalapeno. Don't like queso fresco? Use shredded Monterrey Jack or Cheddar. And, you can use a different salad dressing if you like.  I should add that although this recipe is vegetarian, shredded chicken or carnitas (shredded roasted pork) would be delicious on this. You could even use sliced steak.  This salad is also good as a side dish if you don't like lettuce.  

*I present to you Lemonchick's Blackbean-Corn Salad*

Ingredients:

1 can black beans (rinsed) or about 1 1/2 cups cooked (dried) beans

1 can corn (rinsed) or about 1 1/2 cups cooked corn off the cob

1 cup pico de gallo

1/2 bunch of cilantro (rinsed and chopped)

5oz or more of queso fresco cheese

As much of your favorite lettuce/salad mix/spinach that you like

Ranch dressing to taste or try another flavor, because it is your salad after all

Optional: 

Pepper to taste

Hot sauce (I used Tapatio) to taste

Shredded chicken/pork 

Sliced steak

Boneless Pork Ribs & Basil Garlic Spread

 Boneless Pork Ribs & Basil Garlic Spread

    This isn't a recipe, it's just something I made. These two items do not go together; I just wanted to talk about the boneless pork ribs I cooked last night in my large, cast iron skillet. This story starts with some seasoning I bought at the Dallas Farmer's Market on Saturday. I didn't realize it, but I heard someone say it was "Small Business Saturday", so I'm happy that I was supporting some small businesses which operate at the market. 

    First up, I was happy to find that a small business, Brother's Products had a booth there.  Brother's Products used to have a booth at my local farmer's market and I have enjoyed the products I have purchased from them. They have feta cheese, flavored olives, hummus (flavored & plain) and my favorite product, is their Basil Garlic Spread.  The spread contains fresh garlic, fresh basil, lemon, olive oil & salt. The 8oz container was $6 and will last a month in the refrigerator. If you love garlic, you would love this.  This time around, I spread it on toast, because that's what I had on hand, but you could put it on anything you wanted. 

    Second, I taste tested some "Spice & Chili Mix" seasoning from Arial's Spices, a business new to me. It had a really good kick, so I bought a 4.8oz jar for $7.  The Spice & Chili Mix has ghost pepper, cayenne pepper, red chili pepper, paprika, onion, garlic, salt and select natural herbs. And then, this is now where the boneless pork ribs come in.  Last night I sprinkled the seasoning on the boneless pork meat which I had thawed out. I browned all sides in my pre-heated cast iron skillet. I didn't measure the seasoning because I wasn't sure how spicy it would be with what I had put on.  It is easier to add flavor after the fact and pretty impossible to remove it, so I was being sensible. After I had browned all sides of the meat, I covered the pan with a lid and turned the heat to low.  I've no idea how long I cooked it (I'm kind of "loosey goosey" if I'm not using a recipe), but when I was sure it was thoroughly cooked, I poured some Aldi store brand, barbecue sauce on it.  I'd thought the barbecue sauce would go well with the seasoning. I maintained the low temperature and just heated the barbecue sauce.  

    The verdict? The meat was good, but I'd hoped for a little more 'spicy'. So, when I ate my leftovers today, I added a little extra seasoning.  No biggie.  Am I excited to use this seasoning on more things? Yes.  Would I also be interested in checking out their other seasonings? Also, yes.  

    Lastly, please support your local, small businesses and if you ever get the chance to go to the Dallas Farmer's Market (mostly market right now, not so much veggies/fruit) or if you happen to see them at another Dallas area market, I highly recommend Brother's Products and Arial's Spices.