Category: Food and Drink

Even though Thanksgiving is more than three weeks away, I'm already seeing an uptick in searches for related recipes. Thus, I thought it was an appropriate time to share this recipe that was part of my grandmother's collection.

With the current economic downturn in full swing, I'm grateful to my late grandmother for all of the helpful tips she taught me about making do with less. She learned from her own mother's experience of the Great Depression, where the motto of housewives was, "Eat it up, make it last, improvise or do without." My grandmother had just gotten married when World War II began, and she put much of that knowledge to use when rationing began in 1942.

Over the weekend, I delved into that history for a series of meals that I've been making since I first moved out on my own and had no choice but to get by on the princely salary of $14,500 per year. It starts with a single stewing hen and – for my two-person household – ends up making three dinners and two or three lunches' worth of leftovers. Here's how it goes:

Chicken and Dumplings

1 stewing hen
1/2 cup cornstarch

Rinse hen (remove giblets and discard or freeze for later use), place in a large stock pot and add water to cover. Bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat and simmer for four to six hours until tender. Remove chicken from pot, discard skin and bones, and return meat to boiling liquid. It can be difficult to track down all the bones, so don't be surprised if one or two slip past you. Dissolve cornstarch in cool water and add to boiling stock to thicken. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Dumplings:
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/3 cup milk
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 egg, beaten
2 tbsp. oil

Sift flour, baking powder and salt together. Combine egg, milk and oil; add to dry ingredients to make soft dough. Drop by tablespoons into stew. Cover and steam for 15 minutes. Perfectly Good Alternative: Make Bisquik dumplings per package directions.

Serve over boiled potatoes with a vegetable side dish.

* * * * *

Refrigerate the leftover chicken gravy. The next day you can make:

Chicken Pot Pie

2-3 cups chicken gravy
2-3 stalks celery, diced
2 cloves garlic, pressed
1/2 cup fresh or frozen corn
2 carrots, thinly sliced
1/2 medium onion, minced
1/2 cup frozen peas
1/2 cup frozen green beans
1 tbsp. cooking oil
Salt and pepper to taste
2 pastry crusts

Place bottom pastry crust in deep pie plate or casserole dish. Saute carrots, celery, garlic and onions in oil until onions are translucent. Stir in other vegetables and gravy and season to taste. Fill pastry crust with gravy mixture and seal with top crust. Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit until top crust is golden brown, about 30-45 minutes. Alternatives: A small bag of frozen mixed vegetables can be substituted for the separate carrots, corn, peas and green beans. If you're not much for homemade pie crust, I find that Jiffy mix works well for this.

* * * * *

On the third evening, make:

Chicken Noodle Soup

Remaining chicken gravy
3 stalks celery, sliced
1/2 medium onion, chopped
1/2 tsp. basil
1 tbsp. cooking oil
3 carrots, sliced
1 clove garlic, pressed
3/4 tsp. dried parsley
1 small package frozen egg noodles
Salt and pepper to taste

Saute carrots, celery, onion and garlic in a large soup pot with oil. Add chicken gravy and enough water to fill about 3/4 full. Bring to a boil, add seasonings and noodles. Reduce heat to medium and simmer for 25 minutes or until noodles are done.

* * * * *

So that's how I can make an $8 chicken stretch over three dinners. If you think that's more chicken dishes than your household can take in a three-day period, you can always freeze the leftover gravy and make some of the secondary dishes later.

For example, make a chuck roast and you'll be all set for beef hash the next night!

What are your favorite "planned leftovers" meals?

It’s been a long time since I posted a recipe, so I got out my recipe box and started looking through my old family recipes to see what I could share. I ran across a good one that is not only delicious but has an interesting story and a variety of different names.

As a side note: this is the current state of my recipe box. The photo doesn’t even include the big stack of unsorted recipe printouts that sit next to the cookbooks on my baker’s rack. It’s possible I need a new system.

So back to the recipe. Like a lot of the recipes I got from my grandmother, this is from the Depression era. In fact, I remember seeing her original version and it begins, “Take 10 cents’ worth of hamburger…”

My grandmother called the dish “Slumgullion,” although a version of it appears in our family cookbook under the name, “Yummy Yummy Top-of-Stove Casserole.” My mom called it “Goulash,” even though there’s no paprika involved. No matter what you call it, it’s hearty, quick and tasty. I’ll stick with my grandmother’s name for the recipe.

Slumgullion

1 pound of ground beef
1 medium onion, chopped
2 stalks celery, sliced
1 clove garlic, pressed
1 bag frozen mixed vegetables (peas, carrots, corn, green beans)
1 can red beans
1/2 cup small shell noodles
1 tbsp. molasses
1/2 to 1 cup water
Salt and pepper to taste

Brown ground beef in a large skillet, draining fat as needed. Add onion, celery, carrot and garlic, and sauté until onion and celery are golden brown. Add frozen vegetables, red beans (no need to drain), molasses and shell noodles. Stir together and add as much water as you need to be able to cook noodles effectively. Simmer uncovered, stirring occasionally, for 20 minutes or until noodles are soft.

I slept later than I meant to this morning, so I'll publish this post I had in reserve for later this week.

I no longer recall where I got this recipe, but it's been a favorite of mine for years. Unlike a lot of potato soup recipes, it's not heavy. There's no cream or cheese or bacon in it – you just taste the vegetables with a hint of butter. It's just as good re-warmed as it is fresh, too.

Potato Soup

6 medium potatoes, sliced
2 carrots, sliced
6 celery stalks, sliced
2 quarts water
1 onion, chopped
2 tbsp. butter
6 tbsp. flour
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. freshly ground pepper
1 1/2 cups skim milk*

In a large kettle, cook potatoes, carrots and celery in water until tender, about 20 minutes. Drain, reserving liquid and setting vegetables aside. In the same kettle, saute onion in butter until soft. Stir in flour, salt and pepper; gradually add milk, stirring constantly until thickened. Gently stir in cooked vegetables. Add most or all of the reserved cooking liquid and cook until soup is re-thickened to desired consistency. Makes 8-10 servings.

*I no longer consume dairy milk, but I made this with almond milk and it turned out perfectly fine. I imagine soy milk would be fine as well.

As I wrap up another ridiculously busy week, I’ve decided to use today’s blog post to encourage any of you who enjoy cooking to enter Pensieve’s Snackalicious Super Dishes recipe contest.

It’s for any recipe that would be a crowd-pleaser at a Super Bowl party. I entered my Pomegranate Salsa recipe because I love it so, even though it’s already getting a little difficult to find pomegranates at the grocery store. I’ll bet Whole Foods still has ’em, though.

That’s all I’ve got for now. I’m headed out for a coffee-free Coffee Morning, followed by another busy day at work with a welcome break in the middle because it’s our monthly Indian Lunch Club day, in which a group of my coworkers and I visit a delicious Indian restaurant with an extensive buffet. Why am I still sitting at the computer in my freezing home office? This sounds like a day worth starting immediately!

A Cowboy’s Wife is having a contest on her food blog! You can win a Hamilton Beach® Stand Mixer and she’ll ship anywhere so everyone is eligible!

Of course, I’d like to be the one who wins, but I guess you can enter, too.

I almost forgot that the Internets had my family sugar cookie recipe until I saw a link from it in my stats the other day. I entered it in a sugar cookie contest on Velcrometer in 2004 and actually won (although, now that I think about it, I never received my prize).

But anyway, it's a good, basic sugar cookie recipe and worth sharing at this time of year. In fact, I'll probably make some this weekend. If I do, I'll post a photo of my crazy drawer full of cookie cutters. My collection, augmented by a couple of eBay auction wins many years ago, is a bit beyond what most sane people would have.

Average Jane's Sugar Cookies

2 3/4 cups flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup creamed butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Cream butter and sugar together, then add eggs and vanilla, followed by the dry ingredients. Blend well and roll out on floured board. Cut with cookie cutters. Sprinkle with colored sugar, if desired. Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 8 to 10 minutes.

These can be iced (if you skipped the colored sugar), but I like them pretty well just plain. The ones in the photo have been rolled out very thin (I highly recommend the Norpro Pastry Frame), but these are good a little thicker as well.

It feels as though I did almost nothing but cook from Thursday through Sunday. We had bacon and eggs so many times that there’s a lingering bacon smell permeating the entire downstairs. Except for Saturday when I spent the late morning and early afternoon volunteering at a pet adoption event, I cooked three meals every day.

For the first time since I competed in a co-worker’s chili cookoff, I made chili. I took some of what I’d observed about my favorite entries in the competition and modified my own recipe very successfully. Here it is:

Average Jane’s Chili

1 pound ground beef
1 medium onion, chopped
1 jalapeño pepper, chopped fine
1/2 green pepper, chopped
1 clove garlic, pressed
1 can each: red beans, black beans and pinto beans
1 can Ro-Tel tomatoes and green chilis
1 cup frozen corn
1 can tomato paste
1 can tomato sauce
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons chili powder
1/2 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
Few shakes Tabasco sauce
Ground black pepper and cayenne pepper to taste

Begin browning ground beef and add onion, jalapeño, green pepper and garlic. Once beef is fully browned, add beans, corn, Ro-Tel tomatoes, tomato sauce and paste. Stir in brown sugar, spices and Worcestershire sauce; let simmer on low heat, stirring occasionally, for 45 minutes or more to let flavors meld together. Serve garnished with shredded cheese, sour cream and a pickled jalapeño slice.

Because my Thanksgiving recipes are a huge portion of my traffic this time of year, I’ve combined them all into a handy PDF document that you can download and print out to help you through the cooking process.

Download Average_Jane_Thanksgiving.pdf (1502.6K)

Most of the recipes are ones that I already have linked in the right-hand navigation. However, I’ve added some extras for novice cooks, including Turkey & Dressing, Mashed Potatoes, and Turkey Gravy. The document also covers appetizers, dinner rolls, side dishes and desserts.

Enjoy! And if you end up making any of the recipes, let me know how it turned out.

I made a cheesecake this weekend for a progressive dinner and ended up having about three-fourths of it left. This cheesecake is so good, though, that I never mind having leftovers. Here's the recipe:

Best Cheesecake Ever

Crust:
3/4 cup coarsely ground walnuts
3/4 cup crushed graham cracker crumbs
3 tablespoons melted butter

Filling:
4, 8-ounce packages cream cheese (regular, not light!)
4 eggs
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Topping:
2 cups sour cream
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Canned fruit pie filling, if desired

Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Lightly butter 9" springform pan.
For crust: Grind walnuts and graham cracker crumbs in food processor or blender. Mix in melted butter and press onto bottom of pan.

Filling: Blend cream cheese in food processor until smooth. Add eggs, lemon juice and vanilla and process thoroughly, stopping to scrape sides and bottom at least once. Pour over crust. Bake 10" cake 40-45 minutes; 9" cake 50-55 minutes. Remove from oven and let stand 15 minutes.

Topping: Mix sour cream, sugar and vanilla. Cover and refrigerate. When cake is done, spoon over top, return to oven and bake 5 minutes more. Let cool and refrigerate at least 24 hours, or up to 2-3 days before serving.

If you like, you can top with canned fruit pie filling or fresh fruit before serving. I like it with cherry pie filling, but fresh strawberries and fresh raspberries are also particularly good.

Note: When I say to use a food processor for the filling, I really mean it. It makes a huge difference in the texture of the cheesecake. However, if that's not an option for you, a regular mixer will do. Just so you know, I'm using a hand-me-down Cuisinart from the 1970s and it does a fine job. It might be worth keeping an eye out for a used one at garage sales and thrift stores.