My favorite cornbread

My family loves cornbread. I know every family has their own version. This is the way that I like to make it.
I start with three boxes of Jiffy corn muffin mix.

Next I add two tablespoons of granulated sugar. This recipe is definitely  not one for diabetics.

Three eggs go in next. Please, for the sake of all things, crack your eggs in a separate bowl! I know when you watch these fancy chefs on TV they crack their eggs right in the bowl they are mixing in, but they have the benefit of RE-TAKES! You, on the other hand, do not.  You might drop a piece of shell into the mix, or you might crack open a bloody egg. So you have to wash one extra dish? Just do it!!

Next add one cup of evaporated milk. You could use regular 2% milk. It does not have to be evaporated. It is just what I like to use.

Next drain one regular sized can of corn and add.

Give it a good stir. Now is NOT the time to break out the Kitchen Aid or the mixer. A good wooden spoon and some elbow grease are all that is needed.  Stir until the corn meal is mixed and set it aside.

Get a stick of butter and place in a 9" x 13" pan and put in your 400 degree oven to melt.

Carefully remove from the oven and pour the corn bread mixture over the top of the melted butter.

Place back into the oven at 400 degrees for approximately 20 - 25 minutes until golden brown and cooked through. You can stick a knife in the center and it comes out clean.

It is my favorite. I serve it quite often with the usual chili or pinto beans but sometimes I make it just for the simple pleasure of it. It is one of my "go-to" comfort foods that my family loves.

Momma's Potato Salad - Step by Step for the Future Generations

My mother's potato salad. It is legendary. I kid you not. Her recipe is well known in our church and there are people that still request I make it.  It is not a complicated one. No fancy ingredients or special equipment. I feel the need to record it, however, because no one else makes it anymore. I am sure one day, one of my kids will be sitting around saying, "You remember when mom used to make that potato salad?" So what is going to follow is a very basic, step by step direction.  There are not a lot of measurements as this is a taste as you go sort of deal. You just have to know what it tastes like to get it right.  Let's begin with the potato:

I use your basic Russet potato.  They work the best for this type of potato salad. It is what my mom used and it is what I use.  Peel them with a good potato peeler and not a knife so that you minimize potato waste.  Get them on your cutting board and cut into chunks like so:

I believe (and you can call me crazy....because I am) that the chunk of the potato is important. You don't want to big or too small.  They need to pretty uniform so they cook at the same rate. You don't want some of them getting done before the others or you will end up with half mashed potato salad! Not cool.

Rinse your potatoes in COLD water, drain, then fill your pot with COLD water and set to boil on the stove. Yes I am emphasizing the COLD part. Sometimes people think they can speed this process up by using hot water but that is wrong. It messes things up. I am not sure why, I am not a professional chef so I don't know all the reasons....I just know that you must, must, must start with cold water.

While the potatoes are boiling, chop one medium size yellow onion and set aside in a bowl until later.

My onion chopper broke so I had to chop this beauty by hand. I was really starting to cry from the onion when I discovered something interesting! I let the cold water run in the sink (conservationists, look away) while I finished chopping the onion and I stopped crying. Running the water seemed to help dispel the "onion effect"

Next, while the potatoes are boiling, put on 8 eggs to boil.  

Now, here is where controversy sets in. You can hard boil your eggs anyway you please. I am going to tell you how I hard boil mine.  I bring the water to a full boil.  No lid.  I set the timer for 12 minutes and let them boil and a full boil for 12 minutes. OH, and YES, I start out with COLD water.  After 12 minutes I turn the stove off and immediately poured out the hot water and then ran cold water over the eggs until they cooled down.

By now, my potatoes were done. Drain the potatoes in a colander in the sink. Put the chopped onions in the bottom of the large bowl the potato salad is being made in first. I like to start with my onions on the bottom first.

Next, add the steaming hot potatoes.

Now, this is where everything gets a little tricky.  There are no exact measurements. It's time to travel back. Remember the days of sitting around the table at Thanksgiving or Easter or even Christmas when Mom made this and remember what it tasted like.  That will guide you through these next steps.  Open the refrigerator and take out the following:

Yes, it has to be Duke's mayo.  Nothing else will do.  Do not even consider anything else.

Yes, it has to be Sauer's Mustard. Nothing else will do. It is wonderful. No, neither Duke's or Sauer's paid to put this here. They don't even know about it.

Now, for the sweet relish....I am not picky about.  Generic brand, or whatever, it makes no never mind. Shocking, huh?

Add a couple of heavy spoonfuls of mayo to the potatoes.

Next add a couple of heavy spoonfuls of mustard to the potatoes.

Next add a spoonful of the sweet pickle relish.

Start stirring the potato, mayo, mustard, relish and onion together.  Don't forget to stir up from the bottom to pull the onion up.  Don't mash. You don't wan't mashed potato salad. STIR gently but firmly.

If it looks like this, it is telling you it needs more mayo or mustard or relish. So give it some more.

Start with a little mayo and then TASTE it.

Mine needed a little more mustard....but something was still missing....

It needed more punch from relish so I added more. Be careful adding relish as it has a lot of liquid. And now that I have it right, it was time to peel the eggs and add them in!

No fancy chopping method here either. I chopped them right over the bowl and let them fall on top.

Stir them gently in and you are done. Most people refrigerate before eating. I like it warm and cold!

Ta-da! The finished salad.  You know it is right when you close your eyes and see Momma's smile when you taste it. I know I can. I hope at least one of my daughter's learns how to make this. Or maybe Nick will surprise me and he will. I miss you Momma. I love you. 

Smoked Ham and Potato Soup

The weather has begun to change. Its time to roll out the soup recipes. What better time for a hearty soup when my two favorite men at home are sick?  I think a good strong soup always makes a body feel better!

The main ingredients in this soup are as follows:

Back to my favorite Cumberland Gap smoked ham, cut into small to medium dice
(1) 3 pound bag of golden potatoes, cut into even small chunks - try to keep as close to the same size as possible so the cooking time will be the same
(2) medium onions, diced
(6) cloves of garlic, smashed and chopped
olive oil
butter
(3) cans of Campbell's Cream of Chicken and Herb soup
(4) soup cans full of water
(1) cup of heavy cream

Chop your onions and put in the bottom of your soup pot with a turn or two of olive oil and two tablespoons of butter on medium low heat.  Dice the ham and add in.  Next add your smashed garlic.

While your ham and onions sizzle and marry, dice potatoes.  It is not necessary to peel the potatoes when using golden potatoes. The peel adds a nice texture.  Dicing them to even slices allows for even cooking time.  When they are all sliced, dump them all on top of the ham with the garlic and onions.  Next add the three cans of Campbell's Cream of Chicken and Herb soup and the (4) soup cans full of water.  Allow this to come to a boil and then reduce heat and cover and let simmer for at least 20 minutes.

Check the potatoes to see if they are done.  When the potatoes are tender, add (1) tablespoon of butter and (1) cup of heavy cream.  Allow the butter to melt and stir in the heavy cream.  Allow to heat through for about 10 minutes and then serve.

This was a thick, hearty soup that was warm and comforting. It was very easy to make and made my two men feel better. I hope you try it!

It was a comfort food kind of night

Today was a sad day for my children and their biological father. His mother passed away last night and I pray that she is resting in peace.  Tonight was not a night to try something new and fancy so I did what any good Italian momma would do and busted out the pasta, the butter, the garlic and the bacon!

I put some garlic bread in the oven to bake while I made the rest of this quick and comforting dish.  One pound of bacon was put into a pan to fry into crispy goodness. One pound of pasta went into salted water to boil.  One and a half sticks of butter went into a pan so that I could clarify it into a wonderful sauce.  I smashed and minced 10 cloves of garlic.  While the pasta boiled and the bacon fried, I put the garlic into the clarified butter to marry and meld into garlicky goodness.

When the pasta was finished it was drained and put into a large bowl. The bacon was crumbled over top and I poured on the clarified butter and garlic. It was tossed together and served with the garlic bread.

Overall it was a very comforting meal that everyone enjoyed. It has been a sad day and bacon and pasta generally make things better. Maybe not the healthiest of meals but since we don't use bacon very often, I think it was okay.

Don't forget to tell the ones you love that you do love them. Also do not forget to share your faith with them as well. You never know when it will be too late.

Sausage Gravy over biscuits

Yep....you read it right. I flew right off the handle and straight into the loving land of Comfort Food. I guess I am stressing about a few things and just needed the comfort of my mother's cooking. Sausage gravy was something my mother made frequently. Sometimes she even made it with plain old hamburger. It depended only on what was on sale or how much money she had for groceries that week.

Sausage gravy:

(2) rolls of mild sausage gravy (the kind you slice into patties)
Fresh ground black pepper
Almost room temperature whole milk (if you are going to cheat, do it right!)
Flour


Instead of cutting the sausage into patties, I just squeezed the tubes out into a large, deep pan and crumbled and fried it until nice and done and lightly brown. Liberally pepper the sausage as you fry it. When it is done move it out of the pan to a plate.  The remaining drippings left in the pan - you decide how much you want to use.  I did not drain any of it as I wanted all the flavor. I added approximately 1/2 cup of flour into the drippings and stirred well to make a light brown roux.  Slowly stir in the milk.  I used almost 2/3rd's of the gallon of whole milk. I keep it over medium heat and keep stirring until it starts to thicken up. At this point I add my cooked sausage back into the pan.

As I am standing in my kitchen and stirring I start to get rather melancholy.  I realize as I stand here by myself that my children won't really know how to make these recipes that are so dear to my heart.  They won't know what it is like to stand in the kitchen with my mother and learn the old ways. Sometimes I think this blog will end up being the only way they will ever know how to make the comfort food that I used to make for them after I am gone.  But then in walks a hungry teenager asking if dinner is almost ready and I snap out of my sorrowful state and get back to the business at hand!

The gravy thickens up nicely and I call everyone to the table.  Nothing like breakfast for dinner! We pour our sweet, milky comforting sausage gravy over flaky biscuits and enjoy.

 I love sit-down dinners with my husband and my kids.  I hope some day they do the same thing with their families, whether they have children or not.  Dinner should be eaten together, at the table, thanks given to God and laughs and stories of the day shared.  Reminds me of the words that I try very hard to live by:  In ALL things give thanks.  Thank you Jesus for my family and my life.

Old Fashioned Chicken & Dumplings

Talk about an epic fail! I had planned to make my sweet husband some Healing Chicken Soup tonight and did not realize I was out of most of the ingredients! I guess I need to make a trip to the Farmer's Market!

Instead of the soup, I am making old fashioned chicken and  dumplings.  My husband generally prefers the flat dumpling but I do not have any.  And, as I am OUT of all the ingredients for the soup, I am making the old fashioned biscuit type dumplings.

Of course, I generally use Bisquick to make the dumplings but I have not bought any Bisquick in a while.  I opened up my old Pillsbury cookbook and used the baking powder biscuit recipe.  I did look at their dumpling recipe but did not like it.  It is all bubbling away on the stove right now.  Hopefully it will turn out nice and fluffy and yummy.

My sweetheart had outpatient surgery today to remove two areas that were determined to be possible skin cancer.  The one on the front of his chest is most likely a squamus cell cancer and the one on the back (and the bigger of the two) is not determined yet. 

This pot of chicken and dumplings will hopefully be just the comfort food he needs.  I am thankful for church family members and friends who were kind enough to pick up my kids for church and understand that I did not want to leave my baby alone. 

I hope you are all doing well.  Never forget to tell those you love that you do love them.  Our time on this earth is short, live it well, with love and in Jesus' name.

Comfort food

This past Easter Sunday was tough for me.  I won't go into all the reasons, it just was.

So tonight, standing in the kitchen making dinner, I decide to make an old family recipe.  Did this recipe originate with my family? Probably not.  Nevertheless, it is an old favorite of many members of the Gillespie clan.  It is called Tuna Macaroni Salad. 

I start with half a large sweet onion and chop it up, and toss it into the bottom of a rather large bowl.  Next I drain two small cans of water-packed tuna and add to the onion.  Then in goes three very large tablespoons of sweet pickle relish.

In the meantime, hard boil some eggs.  I usually add about six chopped up hard boiled eggs to this mixture.  Also boil at least a pound and a half to two pounds of shell shaped macaroni.  When the macaroni is done, drain and drop on top of the above mixture.  Chop eggs and add.  Then add mustard and Duke's mayo to desired creaminess and taste.  Some days I like a lot of mayo and only a little mustard.  Other days I like a lot of mustard and not much mayo.  One day (I think I was pregnant) I skipped both mayo and mustard and used 1000 Island dressing! My sister in law also adds cubes of cheddar cheese.  I never do that because tuna and cheese just freaks me out.

I am waiting now on my eggs.  On smart days when I am not sad, I typically plan ahead and have my eggs ready.  Not today.  Oh! And be sure not to boil your macaroni too soft.  You definately need "al-dente" for this recipe.

It must be my mood....I was heavy handed on the mayo and mustard and just added three more large tablespoons of relish.

It is yummy and comforting.....enjoy (dont forget salt and pepper!)