I still have the progressing cold. Unfortunately. I fed mama zapped pattypan squash sprinkled with oregano and frozen lasagna for dinner. The rest will have to fend for themselves.
In the meantime, in a topic closely related to food, I did see this nifty old Seed Catalogs site from the Smithsonian. (one of my favorite places in the world. Maybe my favorite)
I have a cold. Why yes, I am leaving for BlogHer Food on Thu. You all are going to make sure my cold is gone by then, right?
While I can’t swallow that well today I have considered this coffee cake and this spiced pear cake.
My daughter expressed an interest in a chocolate pie recently. I thought no problem, I will get one of those No-bake kits next time I was at the store. Sadly, our commissary seems not to carry them. I wonder if they exist elsewhere-likely I imagine.
When this recipe showed up in my rummage through Nini’s recipe box-I thought Aha! I A perfect substitute. Ok, we leave the nuts out.
From a Parade recipe sponsored by General Foods Kitchens in 1965….Whip’n Chill Dessert Mix can be subbed with 2 boxes chocolate instant pudding with 2 cups Cool Whip or prepared Dream Whip mixed in or with the Chocolate Mousse mix.
1 package Chocolate Jell-o Whip’n Chill Dessert mix
1 tablespoon Instant Maxwell House Coffee
1 baked 8″ pie shell, cooled
1/4 cup chopped nuts
Prepare Whip’n chill as directed on the package, adding instant coffee to the mix. Add nuts. Chill in pie shell 2 hours. Top with Dream Whip Whipped topping mix and chocolate curls.
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Grandparents day is here and I feel a bit off…as I always do when this “holiday” comes up. My kids weren’t here for me to have them fuss over their grandmother for the holiday either. Oh well.
Here is a recipe from my Great-grandmother to sweeten the day though. It is a baked lemon pudding that has a bit of a “crust” on top when done–just the merest crackle. The rest is a hot lemony delight.
Juice of 2 lemons
1 cup sugar
3 tbs butter
3 eggs, separated
2 tbs flour or cornstarch
1 cup milk
Cream together butter, sugar, flour, lemon juice, egg yolks. Add milk. Then add well beaten egg whites. Bake at 350 until set.
Ooo Bologna is the new Bacon says Slashfood! Now this is based on the fact that Hardee’s has a new fried bologna biscuit on their breakfast menu and there is talk of artisanal bacon elsewhere in the post. hmm. Now, I know about fried bologna. Mama made many a breakfasts with fried bologna. And I liked it…sometimes…particularly when she bought the artisan bologna of the time…Oscar Mayer.
Last year, youngest child went through a bologna phase. It didn’t last long. I didn’t get too creative with the bologna. She was happy with her own creations.
But…I did fry some up one morning. Grease your skillet. Add slices of bologna. When they puff and brown on one side, flip to the other side. All done. Now serve with some eggs or slid between some white bread with a bit of mustard. (though if you are going to do that…melt some American cheese on top of the bologna while cooking the second side.
Cheese Cracker Chicken
Well, after last night’s winning dinner, I had to falter a bit. I knew that one girl child would probably not eat it though. You see, she is really a changeling child who doesn’t eat Cheese Nips (or any other cheese cracker or cheese dusted snack food). Ok, she isn’t a changeling but it is one of the few foods she really dislikes. I had hope though. After all, she loves my meatloaf made with Cheese Nip crumbs. This didn’t make her cut but the other two children were fighting over their sister’s piece (even though it had cooties from being on her plate-and the fact that her fork had TOUCHED it where she took an experimental bite-you know how those can prevent people from generally sharing their siblings untouched food) and the pieces left in the kitchen. My mother probably would have had another piece as well. Denise was off at the store-so no idea on her feedback yet-but I did manage to save her a piece. The kids let me know that should she not be interested in it-they would like it.
This recipe comes courtesy of the Bland but Grand cookbook by Edith M Peltz. It is a retro cookbook (this edition 1969) for people with gastrointestinal disorders like Celiac (note: there is a code that tells you whether a recipe is ok for which diet and the following not a gluten free friendly one but there are others that are), Crohn’s, Ulcers, colitis of various sort. The sorts of diseases that call for a bland diet or did “back in the day.”
I do not own this cookbook. It was borrowed from the library–inter-library loan actually-from Northbrook, IL where the author resided. How did we happen to get this cookbook? Denise recently read G.I. Joe which is about a GI doctor. In it he mentions this cookbook (He wrote a preface to this book and the book itself was the Women’s Auxiliary’s project). She was fascinated.
When the book came in we were both fascinated. Men don’t eat casseroles, but should, is one of the more interesting assertions. Also, no seasoning but salt is used in any recipe. (unless you count Ac’cent)
In any case, last night she was flipping through the recipes and mentioned this one for “Simply Baked Chicken.” Hmmm…I could do that.
So, for dinner tonight I did.
(is the title in the book where a plainer version is called Golden Chicken American just above it-maybe a mix up because this is very golden)
1 package (6 oz) cheese crackers, crushed fine (We used half of a 12 oz box)-far fewer crumbs would do
2 teaspoons salt (we left this out)
1/2 cup salad oil
2 broiler-fryers (about 3 pounds each) cut in pieces (We used ~ 3lbs boneless tenderloins)
Preheat oven to 375. Pour cracker crumbs in pie plate. Pour salad oil in another pie plate. Dip chicken pieces first in the oil. Then in the crumbs. Place in a single layer in shallow pan. Bake in moderate oven for 1 hour or until tender and golden brown. May be served cold or warm. Note-since I used boneless tenderloins-bake time was about half.
I made a dinner the whole family enjoyed. This is a red letter day! No “eww” or “I am not hungry.” There was a lot of complaining from the clean up but none from the dinner. What is this amazing dinner? A meal I have no recipe for, sorry. Ok, I don’t have a recipe but I can tell you how to make Chicken Fried Steak with Cream Gravy.
Take a package of cube steaks out of the fridge. Find your flat bowls or a pie plate. In one mix two eggs and about 2 cups of milk. In the other mix about 1 1/2 cups of flour, a few teaspoons of salt and pepper. You know how salty/peppery your family likes things. Experiment. They can always salt more at the table.
Heat a skillet with a generous amount of cooking oil, crisco, or if you are the type-bacon drippings. Dredge steaks in egg/milk mixture, then in flour mixture-coating all sides. Fry up in your skillet until done-this doesn’t take very long. Flip halfway through. Take the steaks out of the pan. Scrape the pan a bit and leave the drippings in the pan. Stir in remaining flour mixture. Add a bit of milk and make a paste. Continue to add milk until thin. Cook until bubbly and thick. Serve gravy over steaks…and potatoes.
That is all there is to it. Serve with mashed potatoes and green beans. In this house, some people also must have a slice of Wonder bread to go with.
So quick and famously successful, you have time to run over to Retro-Food Reviews and enter to win a $200.00 Visa (ooo just like cash but more fun) gift card from BlogHer. Contest closes tomorrow! (9/4)
