Use It Up - Quick and Easy Summer Dessert

This isn't really a recipe, but I'll name it for you. :-D

Fruit and Cake Jumble

As I recall, we had had some friends to dinner some years back and she brought this yummy fruit mixture, among other things. She left the remnants with us afterwards and I had some cake on hand so I crumbled the cake and mixed the fruit with it. Then I put a few scoops of ice cream on top and it looks like I put some strawberry freezer jam over that. It was really good! 

This is a very simple way to use up stale-ish or leftover cake and chopped fruit. If you don't have enough liquid from the fruit, you can sprinkle it with bottled fruit juice of your choice or even soda. 

Whipped cream or vanilla pudding could substitute for the ice cream.

You could also make this with canned of frozen fruit if you don't have fresh. You might want to thaw the frozen fruit at least partially.

It's really just about being a little inventive with what you have. :-) Be creative and adventurous! And Enjoy!

Mummy Dash's Gumbo

I'm not sure where this traditional Southern recipe came from. It was contributed to The Home Maker's Corner years back. It may have been something my dad found somewhere, or it could have come from a reader. You will note that some of the ingredients don't have amounts. You will have to use your own judgement on that. :-)  It's adventure cooking. ;-)

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Mummy Dash's Gumbo

Mummy Dash celebrated her
100th birthday on August 23rd,1995.

I was raised on gumbo; in my house we also called it Okra Soup. Gumbo has been described as the "poor man's meal," or a "Saturday dish," prepared when you emptied your refrigerator at the end of the week. As far as I'm concerned, Gumbo is a luxury. It takes all day to prepare (to do it right) and the fresh Okra required to make it can be difficult to locate and expensive. As with many gourmets, Mummy Dash doesn't use precise measurements. For best results, rely on your own sense of taste.

2 lbs. of fresh short-stemmed Okra
3 medium Ham Hocks (or use smoked turkey)
Chicken
Beef
Shrimp
Tomato Sauce
Whole stewed tomatoes
2 medium onions
Fresh cut corn (or baby ears)
1/2 cup (cooked) lima beans
1 sliced green pepper
Sweet red peppers
Dash of sugar
2-3 cloves of garlic(diced)
Celery (instead of salt)
Parsley
Crushed Tomatoes

Cook ham hocks or smoked turkey with water in a very deep pot. Cook on low flame, keep adding water. Cook until the meat is falling off the bone (the bone sweetens the soup).

While the meat is still cooking, cut the tips and heads off the okra. Finely slice the okra: don't dice it! Chop your onions, pepper, garlic, celery and parsley.
Add the chicken and the beef to the pot when the meat is almost off the bone. Add tomatoes, onions, green and red peppers, celery and garlic. Continue to cook slowly.

When it's almost ready, add cut corn and crushed tomatoes. Add okra and shrimp in the last ten minutes of cooking. If the shrimp cook too long they will be tough.


 This soup should be eaten with white rice.

Editor: I recommend putting a scoop of cooked white rice in the bottom of each bowl before adding the gumbo on top.

Pretty Edible - Cauliflower with Cheese

 

This is so easy to make. Simply cook your cauliflower whole. Make sure it will sit flat by checking it on the counter/bench. Trim the stem if necessary. Place in a pan big enough to hold it without crowding it in tightly. Add enough water to come up about half way. Add salt to taste.

After it is cooked, carefully remove it to a bowl where it will look pretty and immediately sprinkle generously with grated cheese. You may also sprinkle it with paprika or black pepper if desired. Serve hot. 

This is obviously a great side dish for a meal, but it could also be a meal for a few by itself with maybe some crackers or chips to accompany it.

Aged Hot Pepper Sauce Recipe from Sister in the Mid-west

Peppers grown by my dad in Tennessee.

 
Sister in the Mid-west at Simple Inspirations posted a recipe recently for aged or fermented hot pepper sauce. My dad loves this kind of sauce and he recently figured out how to make his own using Tabasco peppers that he grew. I don't know if he has a recipe or not as he tends to "fly by the seat of his pants" when cooking. (Yeah, that's partly where I got it.) This recipe sounds similar to what my dad probably did, so I thought it would be interesting to share it. I'll ask my dad about his recipe later, if I remember. :-)

My Aged Pepper Hot Sauce "Recipe"

Please let her know if you try her recipe. :-)

Turkey Ham Special

This is an original recipe of my own as far as I know. I started making it years ago. You can make changes according to your preferences as it's very easy to make and switch up for variety or personal taste. You could use avocado or pickled beetroot in place of the tomato. You could also pop it into a bun or pita bread and eat it as a sandwich. 

This dish can be used for a quick lunch or for the meat dish of the main meal. If you use it for the main meal, you could slice the turkey ham a little thicker than you would for a lunch. Also feel free to change up the meat. It could also be made with sliced turkey or ham or roast beef or chicken breast. Just be sure it is fully cooked before hand. (Maybe a new use for leftovers?)

You will need:

Sliced turkey ham (or other meat)

Sliced tomatoes 

Sliced cheddar or cheese of your choice
Onion and garlic powder (optional).

Place a slice of turkey ham on a microwave-safe plate. Sprinkle lightly with the onion and garlic powder if you are using them. Place slices of tomato on top of this, and top with slices of cheese. Cook in microwave till the cheese is melted to your satisfaction. This is one serving. Repeat until you have a serving for each person being served.

If you don't use a microwave this could be done in a frying pan on the stovetop with just a little water and oil in the pan and a close fitting lid to hold in the steam. It will take a little longer than the microwave. 

If you are making this for a larger family you may want to try laying the turkey ham slices, etc. in a greased baking dish or pan, and baking it in a conventional oven. I have not tried this so, you will have to experiment. You probably should put the cheese on after the turkey ham and tomatoes are partially cooked.

Lil Hunsaker's White Beans

Lil Hunsaker's White Beans

From my dad, Steve Van Nattan who spent years tuning pianos. He got some great food from his customers sometimes: "I found this exceptional bean soup at a customer's home in Tubac, Arizona."

• White Northern beans or lima beans (In the words of Country Bevins, "Them greezy Michigan beans")
• Red Onion
• Garlic
• Olive Oil
• Lemon Juice
• Salt and Pepper  
• Cilantro
• Parsley

Cook the beans as you usually would. For a clear soup broth, cook beans and drain before adding water, onion, garlic, oil, lemon, and salt. If you drain off the first water, save it for later use since it is full of food value. For a clear broth, clear beef broth could be used to add flavor. After the top six ingredients are cooked and ready to eat, shred the cilantro and parsley into the soup and serve.

For the chili lovers, red pepper could be shaken on, or a few drops of Tabasco added. Habanero in moderation would also add a real special touch to this dish.

A garnish of the cilantro, parsley, as well as green onion tops could be served in a side dish to be added at the table.
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Editor's Note: Cilantro is already growing in the southern parts of the US at this time of year. In areas with more winter it won't be long before you can plant it. Fresh cilantro is one of my favorite herbs. :-)

Loaded Chips and Cheese

You can make chips and cheese into a fully balanced meal! This is one of the great things about it – that and melted cheese. What cheese lover can resist that? :-)  (Note of our foreign friends – the kind of chips used for this are corn tortilla chips, just in case you don’t know that.)

To make the loaded chips and cheese pictured above I fully cooked some chicken breast strips and seasoned them with Mexican type seasoning (garlic, onion, red pepper, cumin, oregano) and salt.

Then, after spreading the corn chips on a baking sheet, I added the chicken, sliced black olives and grated cheese.  I added some more spices to make the entire batch more flavorful. I baked it in the oven (350F-375F)  just till the cheese melted and then sprinkled it with fresh, diced tomatoes before serving it. Supper in one pan! :-)

Pinto or black beans from a can or precooked (rinsed and well drained) could be used here in place of the chicken meat, or added to it to “stretch” it. You could also use cooked, drained ground beef.

Other toppings you could use to make a complete meal of it:

- mozzarella; pepperoni; fully cooked, crumbled sausage (drained and patted dry with paper towel); mushrooms; olives and other pizza toppings (use the sauce for dip if you want it, or sprinkle basil, garlic and oregano on top of the cheese before baking).

- good melting cheese of your choice, thin sliced steak (fully cooked); chopped, canned artichoke hearts (well drained and patted dry); and sautéed garlic cloves (drained). Add fresh chopped tomatoes after removing it from the oven. Season with herbs of your choice – maybe fresh, chopped basil? Mmmm.

- fully cooked, drained ground beef (drain on paper towel); garbanzo beans; pitted kalamata olives; lightly sautéed garlic; crumbled feta cheese.  (You could use mozzarella with this as well.)  Top this with fresh, shredded lettuce, chopped cucumber, and/or tomatoes.  You could also spray the top lightly with olive oil before to add flavor.

- cheddar cheese; cooked, drained ground beef; and finely chopped dill pickles. Add chopped, diced tomatoes; shredded lettuce; and diced onion or chopped green onions after it is finished baking. "Sprinkle" ketchup and mustard over it. (This is for a cheese burger type taste.) :-)

Notes:

Obviously all the cheese needs to be grated, or in the case of feta crumbled, before use.

You could use leftover meat for this such as shredded chicken, turkey, beef, or pork.

Anything you want fresh needs to be added after removing from the oven.

I have not tried all these toppings. I’m just thinking these through as I write. Be adventuresome and think up some of your own that sound good to you. Just remember not to use anything very wet or oily or the chips may get soggy.

Also, using safe cheese and other ingredients, this recipe can be made gluten free.

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First published here 1/2011. Edited.

Fresh from the Garden – Squash and Ham Skillet

I originally published this in August 2010. I thought it would be nice to re-post it. :-)

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Recently my dad handed me a couple of yellow summer squashes fresh from our garden. I didn’t have a plan for supper yet that night, but the squash gave me an idea and I came up with this super simple, quick and tasty dish. Serve it with your choice or a carbohydrate – bread, chips, noodles, rice, potatoes, etc. A salad might be nice as well, but we didn’t have one as we usually eat fairly simple meals.

I am sharing this recipe in it’s rough form. It will be an opportunity to “cook by the seat of your pants” or for “adventure cooking,” as we might call it. :-) You can adjust the amounts to suit your tastes and for the number of servings you need for your family.
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Yellow summer squash, sliced
Sliced ham, fully cooked
Butter
Onion powder 
Pepper to taste
Grated cheddar cheese
Water

Saute yellow squash in butter and a little water in a large frying pan. Sprinkle with ground pepper. Cook till almost done, stirring occasionally. (Add water as needed, but not too much – just enough to keep it juicy.) Meanwhile, chop or tear the ham into bite size pieces. Add ham when squash is almost done and sprinkle with onion powder. When the squash is cooked to your taste and the ham is heated through, remove from heat and top with grated cheese. Cover and allow cheese to melt. Serve.

Note: I do not recommend adding salt while cooking as the ham and cheese make it quite salty. If you want extra salt I suggest adding it at the table. You could also use cooked bacon or some other fully cooked, flavorful meat to make this dish.

Monthly Challenge – August

 

August is a hot month in Texas.  This summer has been milder than any we’ve experienced since we moved here, but we are now hitting the three digit temperatures.  A lot of places in the northern hemisphere are hot this time of year, or at least as hot they are likely to get.  (“Hot” is relative.)  :-)  The southern hemisphere is still having some winter from what I hear.  These challenges will let you stay inside for the most part.

Last month’s challenge was about things we are familiar with – places we like and things we wanted to do.  This month we’re going to try another challenge about pushing ourselves out of our boxes.

So, here it is!

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Try a food you’ve never eaten before.

And/Or

Read up on a country that is unfamiliar to you – one about which you know little or nothing.

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Crawfish Etouffee (I made this batch years ago.  My family still likes it.)

First of all, I don’t just mean trying a new recipe.  We’ll cover that in another challenge, maybe.  What I’m talking about is trying some specific food item you’ve never eaten before to your knowledge.  This could be an herb or spice, meat, vegetable, fruit, grain, etc. 

There are so many different foods available these days; it shouldn’t be hard to find something new to try.  If octopus, scorpions or snake aren’t going to work for you, try something tamer. :-)  Maybe some new-to-you fruit or vegetable would be appropriate.  This is a good time of year to look for different vegetables in the north because harvesting of these things is in progress now.  Maybe visit a farmer’s market and look for something interesting – a new kind of cheese, bread seasoned with flavors you’ve never tried, etc.

Red lentils purchased at an Indian store.

Also, don’t forget the multitude of ethnic foods that are now available.  My personal favorite is Ethiopian food.  (If you find an Ethiopian restaurant near you please be aware that some of the food is very spicy.  Ask for advice if you need “mild” food. :-)  )  Visit an ethnic market and look for something interesting, but be aware that you may find a lot of “strange” things, and be sure you buy something with English instructions or that you can guess how it should be prepared. :-)

My family has had a lot of adventures in this line because my dad is famous for bringing home unusual foods.  I’d have to say that we’d probably have to go to an ethnic shop to find a food he hasn’t tried before.  He’s introduced us to a lot of really good things, but he’s also had some real “duds”.  We remind him about his horrible tasting shark stew (his own concoction), and also the “jelly grass” which basically had no flavor to speak of. :-)  At the very least, trying new foods gives us fun memories to laugh about later.

Nairobi, Kenya.  Taken by my Grandpa Hoover in the 1960s.

Learning about a new country should be pretty straightforward.  If you have no idea just look up a world map and pick a place about which you know little to nothing.  Then begin your search.  Google, Wikipedia, an encyclopedia, and your local library are good places to start.

Need some ideas?

Eritrea – formerly a part of Ethiopia.
Lichtenstein – a city-state in Europe with a famous bank.
Tonga – an Island kingdom in the south Pacific that crowned a “new” king this year.
Andorra  - a tiny country with one of the highest literacy rates in the world.
Belize – the only country in Central America whose official language is English.    [Photo: King Tupou VI]

Nope, I didn’t give any links.  The point is to find the information yourself. :-) 

Enjoy the challenge!  (And hopefully the food you try. ;-)  )

Red Noodle Beans and An Idea that Failed

 

Last year my dad grew these beautiful Chinese red noodle beans (Baker Creek Seeds).  They were really beautiful to look at, and when cooked from fresh they were quite good – definitely good enough to grow again.  The down side was that they did not can or freeze well.  Perhaps we didn’t know the right trick, but they became very soft and mushy when we tried to process them for longer term storage.  Of course, canning beans required pressure cooking, which was more than these could stand up to.  The take away for us was that they are good for producing a large amount of summer food, but not so great for long term storage.

The flowers on them were pretty and looked like a typical bean blossom, only these grew on vines so they were more reminiscent of sweet peas.

I had cooked them before, I think, and knew that the gorgeous red would fade some when they were cooked, but one day I got the idea that since they were “noodle beans”, maybe I should just cook them whole like noodles.  Bad idea.  This is what they looked like on the plate:

Yeah.  Any gardener will know what those look like – earth worms.  Yuck!  :-)

Another reminder that presentation IS an important part of good food. :-)

Easy Cheesy Crackers

 

Here’s a simple Hors d'oeuvres to make for a special meal or just for a snack.  They present very nicely on a special occasion but are easy enough to make for a family movie night or even lunch.  They would also be nice for tea.

Triscuits (or other cracker of choice)
Cheese (I think used something like Jarlsburg or Edam, but many types would work fine with this as long as they don’t melt into a goopy mess.)
Sun dried tomatoes in flavored oil
Garlic powder (optional)

Lay the Triscuits or crackers out on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.  (You can skip the paper if you don’t mind the clean up. In either case, I recommend you use a cookie sheet with sides to keep them from sliding off when you’re moving the trays.)

Cut cheese into slices in a size that will fit on the crackers and add.

Using kitchen scissors, snip sun dried tomatoes into small strips putting 2-3 strips on each cracker.

You may sprinkle lightly with garlic powder if you wish.

Bake at 450F just till the cheese melts to your preferred point.  Keep a close eye on it!  I think mine was a little overdone.

You can make this in any size batch.  I suppose you could heat them in the microwave, but pay close attention so that your cheese isn’t ruined.

Biscuit Cinnamon Sticky Buns

 

Some time ago my husband made these cinnamon sticky rolls at my request.  He used his usual biscuit recipe, made them into cinnamon rolls and we put them in a pan that had melted butter, brown sugar and pecans in the bottom to bake.  (We used a 9X9 pan, but a 9X13 would have worked much better.  More below on that.)  We used them for a brunch, but they would be great for breakfast, tea or coffee time.

First he rolled the biscuit dough out in a rectangle.  (I suppose you could do this with canned biscuits too.)

He buttered the top surface, sprinkled it with cinnamon and sugar, rolled it up and cut it into enough biscuits to fit into the pan. 

We put them in a pan which had melted butter, brown sugar and nuts sprinkled in the bottom (which becomes the topping when you take them out of the pan).  You could do some variations on this.  Add some dried fruits of your choice.  Add coconut or use it instead of the nuts.  It might even be possible to use some apple pie filling mixed into the topping!  Yum.

NOTE:  We had them too thick because we used a 9X9 pan.  He should have cut them thinner and we should have put them in a 9X13 pan because the outsides got done before the insides, so we couldn’t get them fully done.

I don’t know how long we baked them as we were having a little trouble getting them done.  When you remove them from the oven invert the pan onto a heat proof plate or platter.

They were delicious!  Sometime we need to try them again in a larger pan. :-)

Random Acts of Blogging – (Sort of) Food Related Links

 

Here is a very interesting food chart that shows which herbs and spices go best with various foods, such as breads, poultry, vegetable, pasta, sauces, etc.  It looks like a good place to start for anyone wanting to add more herbs and spices to their cooking but who isn’t sure what to use with which foods.  Herbs and spices have many and varied health benefits.

Do you have a lot of trouble with stomach bugs?  Milk fat may be your best solution!  Yes, there’s a good reason why God refers to milk as good food for humans – including butter!  Isaiah 7:14-15  Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.  Butter and honey shall he eat, that he may know to refuse the evil, and choose the good.

And, in case you decided not to use paper coffee filters any more and don’t know what to do with all the leftovers – here’s an easy craft project to do with kids:  Coffee Filter Flowers.

You can do a lot with mason jars.  I still think the best use for them is to fill them with tasty, homegrown goodness. :-)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dumplings for Soup

 

I was inspired awhile back to make chicken soup with dumplings. I looked up some recipes for dumplings and ended up combining two – one from the internet and one from my Mennonite cookbook. :-)  You may use these on your favorite chicken soup recipe or on some other type of soup.  Please see the note at the end, though, as there are some soups and stews that probably would not work well with dumplings.

Dumplings

1 1/2 C. flour (I used white whole wheat)
1/2 tsp. salt
2 1/2 tsp. baking powder
2 Tbl. parsley flakes (optional)
1/4 C. milk (enough to make a sticky dough)
3 Tbl. butter
1 egg

Measure dry ingredients and mix in a medium size bowl.  In a measuring cup stir egg and milk together.  Add milk mixture and butter to flour mixture and stir till blended.  (Add milk if more moisture is needed.)

Drop onto top of boiling soup with a spoon, or roll with hands if dough is stiff enough. Cover and cook for 12 minutes at a medium boil without removing the lid.

Note: It’s important to have enough liquid in your soup when you add the dumplings. If there is too little it might cook away and burn on the bottom before the dumplings are done.  Also, I wouldn’t recommend them for thickened stews or heavy soups that require regular stirring to keep them from scorching or burning. Twelve minutes would probably be too long to not stir such dishes.

Curing Olives

 

 

Fresh olives are available to people living in parts of Europe, the Middle East, the southern USA and probably other places.  If you are in the southern US where olive trees are used in landscaping watch for them and ask the owners if you can have the olives when they are ripe.  They'll probably be happy to have them removed so they won’t litter the ground. Keep a record of where you get your olives so that you can go back to the trees that have the best olives.  Some are decidedly better than others!  In some places you can plant your own trees, but be sure to find out about local regulations, as in some places planting is now banned due to the allergy problems.

Sorry to say, I don’t know the source for all of these recipes.  My dad has cured his own olives on numerous occasions and has canned them to make them last longer (see photo).  Some batches have been very good while others were more than some of us could tolerate (usually bitter).  My dad always used a salt brine method for curing.  He may have used vinegar on them when canning.

Method 1

Collect the olives as ripe as possible.  Slash or stamp each olive with the side of a knife or board to make an opening, then soak in cold water in earthenware or glass containers for 10 days, changing the water daily. Soak in a brine solution for 24 hours, then wash off the brine and soak for 24 hours in vinegar. Drain. Store in jars in olive oil. This method will preserve olives indefinitely. (If sourer olives are preferred, add a little vinegar to the oil).

Method 2

Choose red to dark red olives, slash them on one side with a very sharp stainless knife to reduce bruising. Place the olives in any non-metallic container. Make a solution of 1/4 cup salt dissolved in 1 quart water (you will need to increase this for large amounts of olives), and pour enough over the olives to immerse them. Make sure the olives are completely submerged in the solution. Store in a cool place, changing the solution once a week, for three weeks. Any scum that forms on the surface is harmless, just rinse the container and the olives in fresh water if some forms.

Taste one of the largest at the end of three weeks. If only slightly bitter (should still be a bit tangy), pour off the brine and rinse the olives. If still quite bitter, re-brine for another week.

Marinade for Olives (use same container)

1 1/2 cups white vinegar
1 tbs salt dissolved in 2 cups water
1/2 tsp dried oregano
3 lemon wedges
2 cloves garlic

Pour marinade over the olives and float enough olive oil to form a layer 1/4 inch on top. The olives will be ready to eat after sitting in the marinade for a few days. Store in a cool place or in fridge. (Warning:  if kept too long, the lemon and vinegar flavors will predominate, so eat within a month after ready.)

“Dry” Salting Method

Place washed olives in a wicker basket or a plastic container with holes. Cover with medium-coarse salt. Set basket in sun and protect with a cheesecloth cover. Twice a day for a week, toss olives to redistribute them, until the bitter fluid is drawn from them. Bring olives in at night to prevent mold.

Water Method

Cover washed olives with a solution of salt water - 1 cup salt to each quart water - in a crock or glass jar. Place a weight, such as a small plate or washed rock, to keep olives submerged. Olives may remain in this brine for months. Marinate in Olive Marinade before serving.

[editors note: not slashing the olives can result in a strong flavor.]

Strongly Salted Olives

Wash and dry the olives. Place in a container in layers, alternating with dry rock or sea salt, using about 300 grams of salt per kilo of olives. Cover and leave for six months. The salt will extract liquid from the olives, leaving them shriveled. Before eating the olives, rinse in plain water, or soak for a few hours. These olives have a much stronger taste than the first ones.

Quick Meals - Black Beans and Hominy

 

What do you do when you need a fast meal but you don’t eat “prefabricated food” much (if at all)?  Most of us in Western culture have been trained by experience and advertising to think that in order to get a really fast home cooked meal we have to buy something that we simply pop in the oven, wait and eat.  If your family, like ours, are trying to get away from this type of meal, you may wonder how you can make a good, quick meal without eating out or using a lot of frozen dinners and meals in a can.  I’d like to share some simple recipes and methods with you that I’ve found useful.  These mostly have evolved out the fact that I have had health issues in the recent past that tended to make me abnormally weak and tired and also dietary needs that made it impossible for me to rely on those frozen meals that make home cooking abnormally easy.

I do use canned foods, but not much of the sort that comes with seasonings and goos and gunks in it – supposedly to make it taste “just like homemade” (which it never does).  We also use plain frozen vegetables.  (Our “indiscretions” in the line of pre-made meals mostly runs towards one particular kind of frozen pizza to which I still add things to make it more nourishing).

Most or many of these recipes may be so simple that I don’t have any measurements for them.  You will have to take the challenge of learning to cook by the seat of your pants.  And, after all, this is the first step to learning to make quick and easy home cooked meals.  You need to learn to take a few ingredients and just fly with it. :-)  Once you’ve done a bit it will start to come naturally and you will start to invent your own, if you don’t already.

Today’s recipe is super simple, but my husband and I both find it very tasty and filling.
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Black Beans and Hominy

One can black beans and
One can hominy in the same size.  (I like golden hominy the best.)
Garlic powder
Onion powder  -- both to taste
Bacon or ham bits (optional – but it does improve the taste)

Heat all together in a medium to large sauce pan (depending on the size cans you use).  Serve with sour cream or grated cheese on top if desired.

For a spicier taste add red pepper flakes when cooking.

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That’s it!  How easy is that?  I suggest serving it with a simple side salad, but even that is not particularly necessary.  :-)

(And, yes, that is a paper bowl. :-)  I’d gotten away from paper quite a bit at one point.  Then last year we had a sever drought here in Texas.  I realized that I might as well go back to using some paper plates/bowls and all paper napkins at that time because it actually saved on water use.  The paper “dishes” also save me extra work when it’s necessary that I save my energy or strength for something more important.  You may not agree, but this is what is best for us now.) :-)

Mango Salsa

 

Recently I bought some mangoes for a treat for us, but to my disappointment, I discovered they were too sour to eat by themselves.  I recalled the fact that I’d seen a recipe at some point for mango salsa and thought I’d look it up online.  I found several recipes, but thought the combination of ingredients sounded a bit weird.  My husband, however, thought I should at least give it a try.  I picked one recipe that seemed the closest to what I wanted and then made it up to my own needs and tastes.  So, here’s the basic “plan”:

Finely chopped mango (1 and half small mangos made about 2 servings.)
Snipped green onion
Red pepper flakes
A little snipped cilantro
Salt
(Add a little sugar if the mango is still too sour – but – add it only a tiny bit at a time or you may get too much.  If your mangos seem too sweet, you may want to add a touch of lemon juice to add tartness.)

This salsa is good served with meat.  I think it would be especially good with pork.  It would be a zippy sauce to make a non-traditional hamburger topping. :-)  And, an added perk is the lovely color this adds to a meal!

Elephant Stew for 3600

 

Elephant Stew for 3600
Contributed by Steve Van Nattan

Dress one elephant and tenderize it with a four wheel drive Land Rover.

Soak the elephant in salt water for two days.

Kill and dress two rabbits (Not absolutely essential).

Cut the elephant in bite size pieces.

Add ten gunny sacks of onions and a pick up truck load of potatoes.

Cover with water and simmer over low heat for two weeks.

Serve with all the zinc tubs you can borrow.

Garnish with half an acre of parsley.

Serves 3600 guests

If unexpected people show up, add the two rabbits.

Dad In the Kitchen – A Tribute… More or Less :-)

My dad with a jar of beet pickles he concocted when we lived in Tennessee.

When I was a kid, Daddy’s cooking always seemed a little like Russian roulette.  Sometimes you got something really good, sometimes you got something really awful; and there was usually nothing that was in between – certainly nothing ordinary.  He was a “fly-by-the-seat-of-his-pants” cook, so he never, or seldom, had a recipe for what he made.  Sometimes he could remember how he made it, sort of; but other times he could not.  If it was really good we were usually pretty sorry about this.  If it was really awful we were glad. :-)  But, either way, it was always an adventure to eat what he made.

His green herb sauce was one of his all time successes.  It was excellent.  It was one of those things that, if he had had the money and desire, he probably could have marketed it.  It was delicious served with meat, and I’m sure it would have made an excellent creamy dressing mixed with mayonnaise and sour cream.  He did write down what he put in it, but not how much, and since he gleaned a lot of random things from the interesting garden we had that year, we’ve probably never had quite that same mixture since.

He has also made some very notable lime marmalade, some tasty “stir-fried” vegetables, quite good pickles, deep fried goodies of various types, and so forth.  He was famous (to us) for his seasoned salt, which he did manage to make write down, and make more than. :-)  His all time “interesting” dish, in my opinion, was probably his wild day lily soup.  It tasted pretty good, but it was just plain weird, especially if one of the ants he missed while cleaning the flowers ended up in your bowl!

Daddy’s shark stew, however, would have destroyed the reputation of any chef. ;-)  If I remember correctly, the shark actually started its culinary career in the form of baked steaks, which were less than popular. This was due to the weird taste which may have been mostly the shark; though I at that age I was also suspicious of the curious sauce he put on it.  In an effort to make it into something more palatable, my dad converted the leftovers into stew, which was even less popular!  In fact, it was so awful that even he didn’t want to finish it. That’s saying something since he’s enjoyed some pretty weird stuff in his time!  The stew was put in the freezer “for future reference” and it stayed there until it was later removed and buried under the roses! :-)

Another of his noted failures was the time he decided to make “bologna sandwich spread” with hot dogs instead of the pickled ring bologna it’s usually made with.  Well, hot dogs don’t have the flavor of ring bologna, as he discovered.  That sandwich spread pretty much tasted like mayonnaise and pickle relish and whatever else he put in it for seasoning. :-)

I have to give my dad credit, though.  He did teach me some things about cooking.  Mom always called on him to finish spicing the curry because he has a knack for that type of thing.  So, I learned to use herbs and spices in my cooking more from him than from Mom.   In fact, not long ago I managed to rescue a failure of my own in the line of a chicken and pasta dish by using some of the seasoning ideas he taught me.

Daddy has always been inclined to garnish dishes too, even dishes that Mom prepared.  His colorful additions to everything from salads to desserts were an inspiration.  Sometimes I remember thinking he’d gone too far, but after all, he had fun doing it.  And, we usually weren’t forced to eat the garnishments if we didn’t want to (as in the case of wild day lilies, though they are actually edible). [Photo: A salad my dad helped make and garnish with pickled beets or turnips and artichoke hearts.]

Some dads solve the problem of needing to cook by making a telephone call for delivery or take out.  But, Daddy wasn’t inclined to resort to “take out”, especially pizza delivery, since we had plenty of ingredients in the freezer, fridge, pantry and cupboards.  Sometimes we did go out to eat in an extremity, but I don’t remember ever having pizza delivered when I was growing up, unless it was at the instigation of a guest who was also paying. ;-)  It was not considered a good option on our budget, plus Daddy wasn’t much impressed with the quality of that type of pizza.  I suppose he figured he could make something more nourishing himself.   Maybe not tastier, but definitely more nourishing.  :-)

Before I was old enough to “man” the kitchen in an emergency, if Mom couldn’t cook, Daddy “came up with something”.  Usually, though, his cooking adventures were just that – adventures for the sheer fun of it!  He seemed to really enjoy just inventing something and then watching us eat it, whether we wanted to or not. :-)

This is another photo of the salad pictured above along with some absolutely delicious grilled chicken that he made. The chicken was marinated and it was superb.

In recent years Daddy has become very adept at grilling, but he hasn’t been so inclined to cook.  He has roasted coffee, made a few salads and refrigerator pickles, helped with the grunt work for our canning, and prepared a few sauces and dressings, but the larger than life items have fallen by the wayside.  The demands of running his own business, his interest in writing, and more recently his yard and gardening projects have overshadowed his occasional adventures in the kitchen.  We’ve probably missed out on some great things because of that, but we’ve lost some great family legends too.  You know…, the kind that begin, “Do you remember that awful ____________ that Daddy made…” :-)

Pickled beets and eggs that my dad and mom made together.  They were delicious! :-)

Barbecue Sauce Sweet Potato Chicken

I discovered that sweet potatoes taste very good cooked with meat.  I have cooked them with pieces of beef roast or steak, but here I cooked them with chicken breast.
This is one of those seat of pants recipes where I don’t have an exact recipe.  But, here’s the basic idea.
I cut the chicken breast in chunks, and probably cooked it by itself in oil a few minutes before adding the sweet potato chunks, adding water as needed to keep it moist and not burning.  I sprinkled them with onion powder and maybe a little garlic powder too, and added salt to my taste.  Then I covered them with barbecue sauce (and maybe added a teaspoon or so of brown sugar to sweeten it up if it was too sour) and cooked till done.  (This would also be good with pork, I think.)
I hope you try this out and enjoy it.  It was delicious! :-)  Try cooking sweet potatoes with beef too.  I suggest adding the sweet potato chunks a little after the meat has started cooking.  You don’t have to use the barbecue sauce with beef as it has a good flavor with just the sweet potatoes and some garlic and onion.