Category: HELPFUL HINTS

Potato Salad & Deviled Eggs

There’s nothing better than homemade potato salad and deviled eggs for a picnic. I also just like to have a deviled egg and carrot stick with celery sometimes for lunch. Hubby has friend coming over this week to put new plumbing in this OLD house, so I’ve been making a feast for them (that way they have no excuse to leave in the middle of the day and hopefully this project will take very little time). I also hate doing double duty so I boil the whole dozen eggs at the same time.

One of the best tips I ever learned about boiling eggs was to add a tablespoon of white vinegar to the water, this changes the density to help keep the yolks centered in the eggs. I also bring the water to a boil BEFORE adding the eggs. I use Jumbo eggs, so I boil them for 25 minutes and then immediately pour off the hot water and fill with cold. As soon as the eggs are cool enough, I also peel them under the running water. The vinegar also makes them easier to peel.

POTATO SALAD

3 pounds Yukon potatoes
1 small red onion, chopped
4 hard boiled eggs, chopped
1 good dill pickle, chopped(save the juice)
2 tablespoons mustard
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon celery salt
1 teaspoon white pepper

If time permits, I boil the potatoes the night before and then prep the salad cold.

Wash and peel the potatoes. Boil in salted water until tender. Immediately drain in colander and then put in pyrex to cool in refrigerator.

Cut the potatoes into bite sized pieces and place in a large mixing bowl. Toss together the onion, eggs and pickles and add to the potatoes.

In a small mixing bowl whisk together mayonnaise, sour cream and mustard. Add in the saved pickle juice, salt and pepper. Mix well. Pour over the potato mix and toss well. I like to mix it together at least 24 hours before I want to serve it so the flavors can meld together.

DEVILED EGGS

8 hard boiled Eggs
1 tablespoon mustard
1 teaspoon vinegar
1/4 cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons sour cream
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon white pepper
1/4 teaspoon celery salt
paprika

Cut eggs in half and scoop out yolks. In a mixing bowl mash the yolks to a fine consistency. Add the remaining ingredients except the paprika and mix well until smooth and creamy. Fill egg whites and sprinkle with paprika. I have a Tupperware egg keeper that fits 8 eggs perfectly. I like to do these a day before serving also to allow the flavors to meld.

The Romance of Cookery and Housekeeping



I found this awesome book at a rummage sale a few years ago and it’s just been sitting on the shelf begging to be read, “A Thousand Ways to Please A Husband with Bettina’s Best Recipes”, by Louise Bennett Weaver and Helen Cowles LeCron. This is a 1932 complete revised edition. It was originally written in 1917.

It appears (I have hardly began to read it, only leafed through it so far) to have been written as a novel of Bettina’s life and interjects the recipes as needed to emphasis the points of the message.

By today’s standards it is obviously outdated, but I found it amusingly quaint and it has some awesome recipes. It’s in like new condition. This too I find amazing, it obviously wasn’t well used. Over the next few weeks, on Tuesdays, I will post several of the more appealing recipes that I’ve adapted to today’s ingredients and standards.

Slow Cooking Thursday ~ Sweet & Sour Tangy Chicken

  • 4 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts

  • 2 cups brown sugar
  • 1 cup white vinegar

  • 1/2 cup 7-up or Squirt

  • 4 tabespoons minced garlic from the jar
  • 4 tablespoons apricot pineapple jam
  • 4 tablespoons soy sauce

  • 2 teaspoon white pepper

Place chicken breasts in bottom of the crock pot. Whisk the remaining ingredients together and pour over chicken. Cook 6-8 hours on low. Thicken juice with a bit of cornstarch if you like. Serve over mashed potatoes or egg noodles.

Slow Cooking Thursday is hosted by Diary of a Stay at Home Mom.

2 1/2 Bean Salad

I love 3 bean salad, but I hate kidney beans. So, I developed this recipe to cater to my own likes. If you like kidney beans, add them back in.
  • 2 cans green beans
  • 1 can wax beans
  • 1-2 oz. jar pimentos
  • 1 cup white vinegar
  • 1 1/4 cups sugar
  • 2 teaspoons salt
Drain beans and pimentos and place into a jar with enough room for the liquid. In a sauce pan dissolve the sugar and salt into the vinegar and bring it to a boil. Let it cool. Pour it over the beans. Marinate at least 24-48 hours for the best flavor.

Did I mention we're on diets around here? Easy Diet Cake & YummyToo!

We are on a diet around here, but today was hubby’s birthday and he needed a cake so I made this one. It’s one of our favorites.

PINEAPPLE ANGEL FOOD CAKE
1 box Angel Food Cake Mix
1 large can crushed pineapple with juice

Mix them together, pour into a 13×9 baking dish and bake 30 minutes.

Voile’, a light and fruity dessert. If you want to get fancy spoon Comstock cherries over top before serving.

Food Obsessed? or just a woman? Does anyone remember the Waltons?

So I was blog surfing this morning when I ran across Amy’s latest post at Too Many Recipes. Amy asked if anyone else reads food blogs for fun or if she’s food obsessed. She said her hubby can’t stand to look at recipes and their respective photos when he’s not hungry. He says it makes his stomach turn.

This was my answer: “I think it has a lot to do with the man vs. woman thing. I too love to read food anything. I’ve been known to read, yes actually read cookbooks cover to cover. As a woman who loves to cook, has always been on a tight budget (I’ve always meal planned to save $) and someone who really wants the table to look appetizing when my family sits down to eat, I spend a lot of time ‘preparing’ which includes looking at those pictures of food. I think men only think of food in the sense of instant gratification. I know when I’ve asked hubby what he wants for a specific meal, it takes a lot of brain power to even conjure up the ordinary if he’s not hungry. As a woman I (as I’m sure you and many others do) look at these recipes and pictures and begin to plan how mine will look at least that good or better! So, after all this, am I also food obsessed or is it just part of our nature as homemakers to dream?”

I realized afterward though that maybe this is a generational thing. I personally have composed two cookbooks (the more pictures the better) and am working on a third, but have to ask myself if maybe today’s woman doesn’t put an emphasis and priority on these things. I know many women and families blame their busy lifestyle and can’t think past the next fast food stop. I feel sorry for them. Family life can be so much better when shared around the dinner table. Eventually that lifestyle will catch up with them and then the next generation will follow suit, and so on and so on until no one will be able to remember grandma’s pot roast and devil’s food cake for Sunday dinners. The gap will continue to grow.

RIB STICKING WINTER SOUP

Rib Sticking Winter Soup

2 pounds ground beef
1-6 oz. Contadina Italian tomato paste
1-28 oz. Contadina diced tomatoes with garlic and herbs
1 medium onion, diced
3 teaspoons minced jar garlic
1/2 cup split peas, rinsed
1/2 cup yellow peas, rinsed
1/4 cup barley
1 Tablespoon Paprika
1 teaspoon basil
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon white pepper
2 1/2 quarts water
1 cup pasta, elbow or egg noodle

In a large pot brown hamburger, onion and garlic. Drain fat. Add everything except pasta, mix well and bring to a simmer. Simmer slowly on low heat for 2 hours. Add pasta and simmer another 45 minutes. Serve with fresh baked biscuits, beer bread or crackers.

Save

Favorite Ingredient Friday~Blind Taste Test Success

I’ve been trying to cut back on our food budget by making my own salad dressings & condiments. I recently made this recipe and took a spoon full out for my husband to taste. He willingly tasted it (though he expected something sweet) and asked why I had him tasting A1 sauce?!? Success, a blind taste test. It’s a simple recipe I made from things I already had in the pantry and I figure it saved me about $4. A1 was $4.59 at the market that day and I refused to buy it.

MOCK A1 SAUCE
1/2 cup orange juice
1/2 cup raisins
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup vinegar*
2 Tablespoons Dijon mustard
1 Tablespoon grated orange peel (bottled)
2 Tablespoons ketchup
2 Tablespoons Chili Sauce

  • Mix all together and boil for 2 minutes, stirring to prevent burning.
  • Cool to lukewarm.
  • Puree in food processor.
  • Cap tightly ~ I used a glass salad dressing bottle and a jam label to identify it & refrigerate.


*apple cider or balsamic vinegar works too, but does alter the flavor slightly.

~*~BBQ BEEF or PORK- the easiest and tastiest EVER~*~

Hubby and I are supposed to go out for Valentines, but we’re also supposed to have yet another blizzard on Valentines Day, so I may be making this recipe instead:

BBQ BEEF

3-4 pound chuck roast or boneless beef ribs*
1 large onion, chopped small
1 12 oz. coca-cola
2 cups Sweet Baby Ray’s barbecue sauce
1 cup ketchup OR 1 cup mustard**
1 cup packed brown sugar

  • Put the meat and coca-cola in 6 quart crock pot on low for one hour.
  • Do NOT use high, you can’t cook this recipe fast, it just doesn’t work.
  • After an hour, add the remaining ingredient.
  • Stir well and put the lid on.
  • Cook on low for 5 hours.
  • When done, meat will be in shreds and fat will have all but dissolved into the sauce.
  • Serve over mashed potatoes or on buns.

*You can use stew eat, but it isn’t as good. You need the striation and marbling of fat. The combination of the marbling and the coca-cola tenderizes the meat and makes it yummy.

**Ketchup makes it a little sweeter while mustard makes it more tart.

Favorite Ingredient Friday ~Valentines Chocolate ~ Chocolate Cheesecake

DECADENT CHOCOLATE CHEESECAKE
  • 2 cups ground gingersnap and vanilla wafer mix (I prefer this mix to graham crackers for a little UMPF! in the flavor)
  • 1/2 cup butter, melted
  • 6 squares Baker’s semi-sweet chocolate, melted & cooled
  • 4-8 ounce softened cream cheese
  • 1 1/2 cup sugar
  • 4 eggs
  • 1 teaspoon orange peel
  • 1 teaspoon Madagascar vanilla
  • 1 tablespoon Malibu Rum
  1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
  2. Combine cookie crumbs and melted butter. Press into well greased 9 inch spring form pan. Bake 8-10 minutes. Cool 5 minutes before filling.
  3. Melt chocolate squares in microwave using 20-30 second intervals so it doesn’t burn.
  4. Beat cream cheese until smooth and creamy, but DO NOT over beat. On low speed gradually add sugar, cooled chocolate, vanilla, rum and orange peel. Beat in eggs 1 at a time just until blended.
  5. Spread evenly over cooled crust.
  6. Bake 1 hour 25 minutes or until edges are set but center still jiggles when moved. Turn oven off and open door 4 inches. Leave cheesecake in oven 30 minutes.
  7. Remove from oven. Run knife around edge of an to loosen. Cool on cooling rack for another 30 minutes.
  8. Cover loosely and chill at least 6 hours.
  9. Remove pan sides.
  10. Garnish with whip cream, fresh raspberries and/or shaved chocolate.

Favorite Ingredient Friday ~Valentines Chocolate ~ Chocolate Glazed Cheesecake Ginger Bars

I tried a new cooking method and wasn’t happy with it so these are not great pictures this week, but that sure doesn’t affect the taste. Hubby has already eaten half of them. I wrote the recipe here like I normally do it.

CRUST
2 1/2 cups ginger snap crumbs
2 Tablespoons sugar
1/4 cup butter, melted
PURE
FILLING
2 large eggs
2~8 ounce softened cream cheese
2 envelopes unflavored gelatin
1/3 cup whole milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 can sweetened condensed milk
optional: 3 Tablespoons dutch cocoa~using this makes them very rich!
GLAZE
6 tablespoons butter
1 cup milk chocolate chips

  • Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
  • Generously spray 9×13 pan with PURE
  • Finely grind gingersnaps in food processor. Add melted butter and pulse until evenly mixed. Press into bottom of pan. Bake 1 minutes and then cool 5 minutes before filling.
  • Sprinkle gelatin over milk and mix well. Beat together softened cream cheese, eggs, salt and gelatin mixture at medium speed until smooth.
  • Pour sweetened condensed milk into a tall bowl and microwave for 3 minutes in 3 minute increments. Allow to cool slightly. Fold in sweetened condensed milk until smooth.
  • Pour over cooled crust.
  • Bake 45 minutes or until center is set.
  • Cool on rack 2 hours.
  • After 2 hours, melt butter and chocolate chips together until smooth. Pour over cheesecake layer. Chill overnight before serving.
  • With a thin knife cut into squares. Be sure and wipe knife clean after each cut.


~*~Dinner Challenge Update~*~Stuffed Spinach Manicotti Shells~*~

1 1/2 pound ground beef
1 medium finely chopped onion
2 cloves garlic or 2 teaspoons minced jar garlic
1 box chopped frozen spinach (thawed & drained)
salt & pepper to taste
14.5 ounce can diced tomatoes
1 can Contadina tomato paste
10 ounces beef broth (I use granules and make my own)
2 tablespoons Classico sun-dried tomato peso
1/4 cup butter
2-8ounce shredded mozzarella cheese packages
1 box organic pasta Manicotti Shells, prepared very Al dente
  • Brown hamburger. Add garlic and onion about half way through. When the hamburger is browned, add spinach and heat through. Salt and pepper to taste. Drain off fat.
  • Mix all other ingredients together except the shells and cheese and bring to a simmering boil. Add one third of the sauce to the meat mixture.
  • Stuff the shells with the meat mixture. Continue until all shells are full. This recipe serves 4, but at this point since there are just the 2 of us now, I tend to either A) have leftovers or B) try to think ahead and prep meals to freeze for easy cooking on the nights we’re busy with appointments, but still need a home cooked meal. This Manicotti recipe is great for that. The shells come in a box with 2 layers of plastic protectors. I make sure to save one to protect the shells I’m going to freeze. I prepare the recipe like normal, but split it in half before baking and freeze half. As you can see it all slips easily into a gallon size ziploc bag. After removing everything, I roll the bag up and stick in the freezer door until the next time I prep the whole recipe.
  • In a small greased casserole layer some sauce on bottom. Lay in half the shells, pour more sauce over top reserving half the sauce for the freezer. Put that sauce in a quart size ziploc. Top with the cheese. Cover with foil and bake in preheated 350 degree oven for 30 minutes. Remove fol and return to oven for an additional 20 minutes.
  • In the gallon sized ziploc bag slide the extra tray of shells into it. Slide the bag of sauce on top of that as well as the second bag of mozzarella cheese. Zip shut and freeze. You now have a home cooked meal for another night.