Roast Chicken

 Roast Chicken 

    This recipe comes to us from Rufus Estes' Good Things To Eat. Rufus Estes was born into slavery in 1857. In about 1867, he attended "one term" of school and then left to go to work and help his mother.  At sixteen, he was employed by a restaurant keeper in Nashville. In 1881, at the age of twenty-one, Mr. Estes got a position at "77 Clark Street" in Chicago. In 1883, he entered the Pullman (railway) service.  Until 1897, he traveled, met and worked (in the railway service,) with many VIPs of the day. In 1894 he traveled to the Cherry Blossom Festival in Tokyo, Japan. The couple he traveled with on the Empress of China ship, I assume must have been some of those VIPs he'd met in the Pullman service. In 1897, he became employed by the president (at the time) of the Kansas City, Pittsburg, & Gould Railroad, and was  placed in charge of the company president's private rail car. He'd been hired by the company president and was well liked by the president.  In 1907, when new management took over, Mr. Estes left and was employed as a chef in subsidiary companies of the US Steel Corporation in Chicago.  This version of Mr. Estes' cookbook was printed in 2009.

    I've adapted the recipe a bit, but followed Mr. Estes' directions as closely as possible.  

Ingredients:

1 Chicken (Mine was about 4 lbs; I meant to write that down, but neglected to)

Bacon (I used about 1/2 pound)

Optional:

Garlic Salt 

Pepper

Paprika

    Back in Mr. Estes' time, fresh chickens were easy to come by and you didn't go to a store for your poultry and other  meats, so it should come as no surprise, that my chicken was store bought.  After removing the chicken from it's packaging, I rinsed it off and placed it on my large cutting board. I spread a mixture of Jane's Krazy Garlic Salt, Pepper and Paprika all over the top and bottom of my chicken and used a bit of white string to tie (truss) the legs. I placed the chicken in a deep casserole dish, which was miraculously large enough.  I laid strips of bacon all over the top of the chicken and placed a piece of buttered parchment paper on top, tucking it into the dish. Mr. Estes' directions say to cover the chicken and bacon with buttered paper and I wanted to do that part, because it was in his directions. The part I was confused about, was the bacon. Did he mean bacon like we would have as part of bacon & eggs or in a BLT or did he mean a meatier kind, like Canadian bacon? Personally I figured he used the latter, so that's what I used.  I placed the dish into my pre-heated oven. I started checking what it looked like at 50 minutes, which I knew wouldn't be enough time, but I wanted to see. Ten minutes later I took the paper off and basted with the chicken's own juices. Mr. Estes says to take the paper off five minutes before cooking time is finished. Your bacon is supposed to brown up after you take the paper off. I actually ended up cooking the chicken for one and a half hours, taking it out and basting every ten minutes. 

    So, I set the pan on top of a pot holder on my counter to let it cool. I think I waited about fifteen minutes and had removed as much of the juices I could suck up with the baster, and placed the chicken on my cutting board (which I had washed immediately after having the raw chicken on it). I let it cool a tiny bit longer and then served myself a leg and a small slice of breast. I'm not including a picture of my plate like I normally do, because it just was not a cute photo. 

    The verdict? Would I make a roast chicken this way again? Yes. I would do a couple things differently though. I would cook the chicken either longer or at a higher temp, because it could have gone another 15 minutes at least and I would use more seasoning. It did come out juicy (awesome!), but I like the skin to be crisper.  I would also want the bacon to be way crisper, although it wasn't bad. 

The cookbook

The finished chicken. 

Cackleberry Casserole

 Cackleberry Casserole

    This oddly named recipe comes to us from the April 1981 edition of the Laurel (Iowa) Centennial Cookbook 1881-1981. It was submitted by Donna Hughes. I liked this dish, but I would either not add salt and I would use low-sodium pork sausage if I could find it. I adapted the recipe a bit, but will attach a picture of the original recipe, so you can see that. If I made this again, I might also consider using less of the sausage; maybe 1/2 pound to 3/4 of a pound. The original recipe calls for 1 pound. The original recipe also calls for shredded cheddar. I used a finely shredded Cheddar-Jack mix and I used a spicy mustard seasoning rather than plain dry mustard. I used wheat bread instead of the white that the original recipe calls for and, I also used the two butt ends of the loaf in addition to the two slices called for. I really liked the texture of the bread and the nice, crusty top of the casserole. 

Ingredients:

1 pound pork sausage browned

6 eggs, beaten

2 to 3 slices of white or wheat bread, cubed

1 tsp salt

1 tsp dry mustard

1 cup shredded cheese (cheddar or use cheddar/jack mix like I did)

Directions:

    Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Spray the bottom and sides of your casserole dish with cooking spray or grease with butter. Cut your bread slices into cubes. Brown your sausage in a skillet, drain and place in the bottom of your casserole dish. Spread the bread cubes over the sausage. Crack your eggs into a large, mixing bowl. Add your salt and dry mustard and beat well. Stir your cup of shredded cheese into your eggs and pour this mixture over your bread cubes.  Make sure you get egg mixture on all of the bread.  Place in your oven and bake for 45 minutes. The original recipe says 45 minutes to an hour, but 45 minutes was perfect for my oven.  Serve this with a side of fruit salad. Makes 4 to 5 adult sized servings, 

    The verdict? It was good, but like I said, I would cut how much salt I used and would probably not add salt separately. I liked this also, because it has only six ingredients and was really easy to make. Like I also said, I liked the texture of the bread and the crustiness of the top. Let me know if you try it. 

**I think you could totally make this as a vegetarian or vegan dish. I know you can get faux sausage crumbles and someone who is knowledgeable, could likely find vegan egg and cheese substitutes. I'm neither vegetarian or vegan, but I know there are cheese substitutes; I'm not sure if there are vegan egg substitutes. 

Cackleberry Casserole

Crumbled Sausage

Bread Cubes Covering Sausage

Casserole Topped Off With Egg and Cheese Mixture

Done! Side View To Show You This Casserole Dish. 

Top View of Casserole

Donna Hughes' Original Cackleberry Casserole Recipe

    

Capellini d'angelo al Limone

 Capellini d'angelo al Limone

    This recipe is adapted from Sophia Loren's recipe for Spaghetti al Limone in her 1998 Sophia Loren's Recipes & Memories cookbook. The most obvious change I made, was that I used angel hair (capellini d'angelo) pasta. The rest of the ingredients I used were the same as the recipe, but modified to use what I had. I also used a sprinkle of red chili pepper flakes when I served and gasp! I used jarred Parmesan cheese instead of fresh Parmesan (The recipe calls for Parmigiano cheese). I used 8 small lemons instead of 2 to 3 lemons, and I used a zester instead of mincing the lemon zest. I also used 3 cloves of garlic, instead of 2 cloves. You can Google "Sophia Loren's Spaghetti al Limone" and find other versions of her recipe. 

    I have the actual cookbook, but due copyright matters, I am not going to be copying her recipe or directions, word for word. I like the book and want to try some other recipes. Search estate sales, flea markets, antique stores, used book stores for her book, so you can enjoy her recipes, personal photos and stories.  I got my copy for $2.50 at an estate sale/antique store/flea market years ago (I left the tag on it) and this is the first time I've actually used it. 

Ingredients:

1 1/2 pounds Angel hair pasta (Capellini d'angelo) or you can use Spaghetti or Fettuccine (I actually used a little more than 1 pound; the original recipe calls for 1 1/2 pounds)

3 cloves garlic, chopped or minced 

3 tablespoons unsalted butter

8 small or two to three lemons, zested

1/2 cup heavy cream

Salt

Pepper

Parmesan/Parmigiano cheese (Fresh would be best; but if you have the powdered kind like I do, it was fine)

Red chili pepper flakes

Parsley flakes

    

    Melt the butter in a large skillet or saucepan on medium heat.  Add your garlic and saute until golden (this does not take very, long at all), add your lemon zest and stir. Salt and pepper to taste. Turn to low heat. While you are making your sauce, cook your pasta to al dente in boiling water. Drain your pasta and add  to your skillet/saucepan. Toss the pasta to coat with the sauce.  The sauce was not "saucy", if that makes sense (picture below).  I like more sauce, so if/when I make this again, I would double the sauce recipe. Remove from heat, transfer the pasta in a serving dish and pass the Parmesan/Parmigiano cheese at the table. Sprinkle with red chili pepper flakes or parsley if desired.

Capellini d'angelo al Limone with asparagus and sourdough bread

Chopped Garlic

Lemon zest

Butter and garlic (mmmmmm)

The finished sauce

Capellini d'angelo al Limone

Lemonchick's Cheesy Garlic Biscuit Balls

 Lemonchick's Cheesy Garlic Biscuit Balls

    This is my recipe. I created it and they turned out exactly how I'd hoped they would.  They really aren't "balls" when they're baked, but I like the name, so that is what I'm calling them. I had bought ingredients to make a recipe called "Cheese Biscuit Loaf" from the 1972 printing of my Better Homes and Gardens "Jiffy Cooking" cookbook. This cookbook was originally printed in 1967. Anyhow,  on the way to work this morning, I was thinking about making the Cheese Biscuit Loaf on page 67 for dinner and was thinking about how I could maybe change it up a bit. I was specifically thinking about adding garlic, but wasn't sure what I would do.  And then, I remembered I had an unopened package of cheese curds, which I'd bought at Aldi. My a-ha moment was realizing I could probably stuff biscuits with cheese, dip them in butter and then parmesan cheese.  I love garlic and decided to add garlic to the mix and it was a good decision.  

 Ingredients:

1 can of refrigerated biscuits (8 large biscuits)

8 good pieces/chunks of cheese curds, or cheddar, or monterey jack (It's okay to add a little more or a little less)

6 tablespoons butter, melted

1/2 cup parmesan cheese (I used the powdered kind, but I bet fresh, grated Parmesan would be amazing)

1 tbsp garlic powder

1/2 tbsp garlic salt

Directions:

    Pre-heat your oven to 350 and spray an 8x8 baking dish with cooking spray. Melt butter in a small pan and put on your work space, where you'll be forming the balls. Mix parmesan cheese, garlic powder and garlic salt in a small bowl and set next to the butter. I used my trusty, cutting board as my work space to form the biscuit balls on.   Open your can of refrigerated biscuits and one at a time, flatten each biscuit into a round piece. Make sure you flatten them out enough, so you can add a piece or two of cheese curd or chunk(s) of cheese. Wrap the biscuit dough around the cheese. With the seam side up, dip and roll the biscuit ball in the melted butter, give it a little shake and dip it into the parmesan/garlic mix. Roll it around in there, pushing down firmly, but not too firmly. You don't want to flatten it, you just want to coat the biscuit ball with the parmesan/garlic mix. Place your biscuit balls seam side down in your baking dish. I put three on each side and two in the middle and it worked perfectly. I also drizzled a little of the melted butter on top before placing in my oven.  

    Since I was making this up as I went along, I wasn't sure how long I should bake these. I checked how they were looking at 10 minutes. I knew 10 minutes would be too short, but I wanted to see how they looked. I checked at 20 minutes; at 25 minutes and then took them out at 27 minutes. They looked a little soft, but I let them cool a little and figured there was no way to find out how down they were exactly w/o cutting into one. I served myself one of the corner biscuit balls and cut into it with a sharp knife. And, it was perfect!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thirty minutes bake time might be best, but just keep an eye on them, as you don't want them to burn or be hard on the outside.  

    This recipe makes eight biscuit balls, so it could serve 4 - 8 people. They're so good though (If I do say and I do), so if you have eight people, you may want to double the recipe, so everyone can have two. You just have to find a bigger pan or use two 8x8 pans. I liked the shape of the finished biscuit balls, using the 8x8 pan. You could try a larger baking dish and my guess is that they would turn out fine, but will likely just look a little different.  Literally the only thing I would do differently, would be to use 1 1/2 tbsp of garlic powder. I had both butter and parmesan/garlic mix leftover, so I saved them for future use. Try using the leftover parmesan/garlic mix sprinkled over mashed potatoes or rice.  Or, just mix it right into your mashed potatoes or rice. 

Variations:

Dried red chili flakes (to taste) added to the parmesan/garlic mix

Italian Seasoning (to taste) in place of or in addition to the garlic (I'm guessing this would go really well served with a red-sauced pasta dish)

Parmesan can be used without any extra seasoning. 

    As always, feel free to let me know what you think.  I'm really, proud of this recipe and I hope you like it also. 

The finished product served with chicken breast and asparagus.

This is what I used for the cheese 'middle'. 

Parmesan & Garlic mixture

This is what you want to do.

Biscuit balls, ready to bake.

Success!!! (That dent is in that one piece, because I wanted to see how soft/done it felt)

Fried Guacamole

 Fried Guacamole

    This is adapted from a recipe which was posted recently on Delish.com.  If you'd like to see there version or for other recipes, check them out. For a short cut, use pre-made guacamole in a spiciness level you prefer. Store bought should work just the same. If you make your guacamole from scratch, like I did, you can add spicier jalapeno if you like and more or less, tomato, onion, jalapeno, cilantro. 

    To make your guacamole homemade, mash together avocados with a tablespoon of lime juice, using a fork or pastry cutter/butter creamer tool (it should be mostly creamy, some little chunks are totally fine). My pastry cutter/butter creamer tool worked perfectly for me, because my avocados were really nice ripe (soft). Add chopped tomato, onion, cilantro and jalapeno to taste, followed by salt, pepper and minced garlic. Use a spoon or cookie scoop (this is what I used) to form balls of guacamole, placing them on a plate and freezing them for 20 minutes. While your balls are in the freezer, crush tortilla chips to a powdery consistency and set aside in a bowl. Some larger pieces are okay, but you're not going to want those pieces on your balls. I just mean "don't beat yourself up making your crumbs perfect". Heat your oil to I don't know what temperature exactly it was, but when I tested a little bit of tortilla chip to see if the oil was hot enough, it fried right up. Not an official method by any stretch of he imagination, but you use what you have to make sure the oil gets all bubbly when you drop whatever it is you're frying into it. Also make an egg wash in a separate bowl. I used two eggs and a little bit of water. Set your egg wash next to your dish of tortilla crumbs/powder.

    Remove your guacamole balls from the freezer. Roll your balls one at a time in the tortilla chip powder/crumbs, then the egg wash and then the tortilla chip powder/crumbs again. Place each ball on a plate. Repeat the process until you either run out of guacamole or you've made as many as you want to make (like I did). Use a large, slotted, metal spoon to lower two balls at a time into your hot oil  (I only had four balls in my hot oil at any one time.  You don't want to crowd them.).  Fry until crispy on the outside and as golden as you'd like and remove to a plate with paper towels to cool and sprinkle with a little bit of salt (I used Chipotle sea salt). Sprinkle with lime juice if you like. 

    At the end, I decided to fry up hush-puppy style, the rest of the tortilla powder/crumbs. I just mixed the rest of the egg wash into the powder/crumbs and fried them just like I had the guacamole balls. These would be fabulous dipped in queso. 

    The verdict? I liked these guacamole balls.  They'll be best fresh, as most fried foods are best, fresh. I put several in an airtight container in my fridge after taste testing a few, because I just can't eat all of them. The balls are crispy on the outside and soft/creamy on the inside, because remember, it is guacamole. Serving suggestion: Serve in a bowl drizzled with salsa as I did or a side of salsa. I actually used green sriracha sauce and really liked it. Would I make these again? Yes, but I would definitely make less if it was just myself. I used 8 avocados and addition to leftover balls, I have a ton of guacamole left. 

Ingredients:

Guacamole (Recipe below)

Tortilla chips

Egg

Oil

Guacamole Ingredients:

8 Avocados (ripe) mashed

1 cup Pico de Gallo (diced tomato, jalapeno, onion and cilantro)

1 tbsp Lime Juice

1/4 tsp Salt

1/4 tsp Pepper

1/2 tsp Garlic, minced

Mmmm. Guacamole Balls with green sriracha drizzle. 

Mash avocado with lime juice.

Stir in pico de gallo. 

Shaped balls, ready to freeze.

Shaped and coated balls, ready to fry.

Cooling fried guacamole balls.

Plain tortilla balls, which would be fab dipped in salsa or queso. 

Pineapple Pecan Pudding

 Pineapple Pecan Pudding

    Okay, so I was super excited to make this. The original recipe is in the 1972, 6th printing of Better Homes & Gardens Jiffy Cooking cookbook. I've made minor adaptations, including using pancake/waffle mix, but followed the directions in the original recipe (see photo). 

    Pre-heat your oven to 375 degrees and grease a 10x6x1 1/2 inch pan. Drain your pineapple and reserve the liquid (syrup). Mix your pineapple and biscuit mix/pancake mix; add the chopped pecans and milk, stirring until all ingredients are combined. Spread this mix in your greased pan. Make a syrup by adding water to your reserved pineapple liquid, to make 1 1/2 cups. Combine your liquid with 1/2 cup brown sugar, 2 tablespoons butter or margarine, a dash of ground cinnamon and a dash of nutmeg. I used a couple dashes of cinnamon. Stir this mix in a saucepan until boiling and pour it over the batter mix in your pan. Transfer your pan to your oven, carefully (mine came very close to the cop and I was glad I didn't spell any) and bake for 35 to 40 minutes.  I baked mine for 35 minutes. 

    The recipe suggests serving warm with vanilla ice cream, which I did, but you could use whipped cream and that would be just as good. The verdict? This was good. I really liked it. The "pudding" was a nice cake-y consistency and didn't taste overly sweet.  You could easily get 6 to 8 servings as the recipe suggests. 

Let me know if you try this and how you like it.  

Ingredients:

2 1/2 (20 1/2 oz) cups pineapple tidbits (I used crushed)

1 1/2 cups packaged biscuit mix (I used pancake/waffle mix)

1/2 cup chopped pecans

1/3 cup milk

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 tablespoons butter

Dash nutmeg

Dash cinnamon (I used 3 dashes)

The finished product. Yummy!

The original recipe directions.

The batter part; I wanted to show what it should look like. 

In the oven!

Out of the oven! I love this little pan.

A close up of the top.

Close up of the pudding. You can see the lovely texture, pecans and pineapple. I was really happy with the texture of this. 

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)