Cowboy Casserole

It's been a long time since I have posted! I am sorry....life gets busy, family gets sick and the computer takes a backseat! So did my family's dinner menu. I realized I was fixing the same thing over and over again. I have heard it said the average family eats the same five things every week. YUCK! I don't want that for my family! BUT I am tired and I don't have very much time or resources for new recipes!

I decided to pull up my big girl panties and try something new. It was mostly made up out of my head after looking at several old cookbooks and not liking what I saw.  I wanted something quick, in the skillet and that ever one would like. This is what I came up with:

Brown the following in a very large skillet:

(2) pounds of ground chuck (poor Chuck)
(1) medium onion, chopped
(1) medium green pepper, diced

Drain fat from the hamburger after it is completely done and put back in skillet. (Your skillet should be on medium heat.)

Drain the following and add to the hamburger:

(1) can of pinto beans
(1) can of black beans (rinse them first)

Stir this into the hamburger and then add the following:
(1) teaspoon garlic salt
(1) teaspoon chipoltle chili powder
(2) teaspoons chili powder (regular kind, nothing fancy)

Next add to regular size cans of diced tomatoes WITH their juice and stir.
Now add the following:

(2) cups of Minute Rice with (2) cups of hot water.

Stir and bring all to a boil.  Cover and reduce heat, stirring occasionally. Cook for approximately 10 minutes or so until rice is cooked and juices have reduced.

Serve on a plate circled with Frito corn chips and sprinkled liberally with shredded sharp cheddar cheese and shredded pepper jack cheese.

 

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. 

The shepherd didn't do this one...

I ripped off the shepherd's pie tonight. No ground meat, no peas.  Tonight was "use what you got" night. What I had was split chicken breast and time on my hands.  It was one of those weird Saturdays where I had a lot of different things to accomplish but still wanted to make a hearty dinner.  Shepherd's pie seemed to be the ticket! It seems more appropriate to call it Farmer's pie since I used a chicken!

I put four split chicken breasts on to boil and ran off to vacuum the husband's truck out. Okay, I don't really recommend you leave your chicken boiling alone. I have a small house. I kept coming back inside to keep an eye on my chicken. I did not want it flying the coop while I was making my husband happy!

Once the chicken was done, I carefully removed it from the bones and skin and shredded it.

Next I chopped about 2 pounds of gold potatoes (left the skin on) and put them to boil in the remaining chicken broth until tender.  While they were boiling I opened two cans of Campbell's Cream of Chicken and Herb soup and mixed it with one soup can of milk. I put this in the bottom of my 13" x 9" glass dish.

I added my shredded chicken to the soup/milk combination. Next I defrosted frozen Lima beans. I was out of peas. I am NEVER out of peas but for the first time, I was out of peas. I had to chose between edamame or Limas. I chose the Limas. I defrosted them to keep them from causing the casserole from taking to long to heat through.  I did this in the microwave.

Next I defrosted some crinkle cut carrots.  I like to keep frozen carrots on hand as I just don't always get to use fresh ones up before they go bad.  Sometimes I feel guilty about this but then I shrug my shoulders and am grateful that I have the modern conveniences of a freezer and frozen vegetables!

By this time, my golden potatoes were tender. I drained them and added one stick of REAL butter and a splash of milk and mashed them with a hand masher.  A liberal dash of salt and heaping dash of pepper was also added.  Spreading them over top the carrots, Limas and chicken mixture, into a 350 degree oven it all went for 25 minutes.  It heated through very well and came out hot and tasty!

So, I don't think the shepherd would have made this pie, but definitely the farmer! Or at least this silly wife and mother who wanted to feed her family!!

Oven Fries

I needed a new way to fix potatoes. I was not in the mood for mashed potatoes. Scalloped potatoes take to long and my new way of living definitely did not support frying them. I figured that baking would be the way to go.  As the main course is big juicy Bacon and Cheddar Hamburger Steaks, oven fries seemed to be a good fit.  Here are the ingredients that I used:

7 russet potatoes, peeled and cut length-wise
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

Dump the seasonings into a large ziploc bag along with the oil.  Add the potato slices and close the bag.  Make sure you have it sealed.  Vigorously shake the bag until the potatoes are well coated with the olive oil and seasonings.

Bake in a 450 degree oven for at least 30 minutes or until potatoes are done. Transfer to a bowl and toss in some shredded Parmesan and parsley if desired. I forgot the parsley at the store but I did add the Parmesan.

It made for a lovely side dish to our hamburger steaks!

Chicken Salad Adventure

No one, and I repeat, no one can make chicken salad like Ms. Stella out at our church. People have been known to volunteer for events just because they know she is making it!  I do not even pretend to think that I could replicate it but I have decided its time to create my own recipe. My mother had her own version. I was not a real big fan as it was heavily laden with Miracle Whip. That stuff makes me shudder. I guess it has its place....just not in my household. A very nice lady at our church named Linda made a chicken salad recipe that had dried cranberries in it that my daughter and I loved. I used that as the basis of inspiration for my first attempt at our salad.

The ingredients I used were as follows:

• 2 stalks celery diced
• 1 medium yellow onion, diced
• 2 chicken breasts, boiled, shredded and cut up
• 1 4 ounce bag of dried cranberries for salad
• Duke's Mayonnaise
• 1 lemon
• Salt and pepper
• dried dill

I found bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts on sale at Kroger. I boiled these and carefully removed the bones. This is a great opportunity to save the chicken stock for later. (I'm going to freeze mine in ice-cube trays!)  Just be very careful to get the bones out of the chicken.  Set the chicken aside to cool while you dice your celery and onions small.  Even my picky oldest daughter will eat this.  She loves chicken salad! She usually does not eat anything with vegetables but as long as the celery and onion are small, she eats!

After dicing the celery and onion, I shredded then cut up my chicken.  I like to shred the chicken with my hands. This way I can feel for any bones I may have missed the first time. After shredding and chopping the chicken, I mix in my celery and onion. I am still using my hands at this point.  I did not use all of the celery and onion.  It is a matter of taste at this point. As I mixed it in, I watched the ratio as I added it.  I really did not want the celery or onion to out-gun my chicken.

After washing my hands I decided it was time to switch to a spoon.  Here is where the measuring goes out the window! Once again it comes down to a matter of taste.  I cut my lemon in half and only squeezed half into my chicken/celery/onion mixture.  I tossed in the bag of dried cranberries and stirred.  Next I added the first of what was to be three large tablespoons of Duke's Mayonnaise.  I kept stirring.  Added salt, pepper and approximately 1/2 teaspoon of dill weed.  I stopped. I tasted. I added more mayo.  More salt. More stirring.  This is where you just have to go with your gut....or more with your taste buds.  I did not want soupy chicken salad.  I did not want salty chicken salad.  I knew if I accidentally added to much dill weed my kids would not eat it.  It was a ballet of chicken salad in the kitchen.  Eventually I stopped adding things and called in the BIG GUNS.  My seventeen year old son has no problems telling me like it is when it comes to my cooking.  He came in.  He took a bite, nudged me out of the way, grabbed the bread and made himself a sandwich.

Later he came into my office and declared it was good.  He thanked me for dinner and asked me to make it again.  He said it needed a little something more.  "Mayonnaise?" I asked.  "No." he said.  "More crunch?" I said. "No, but maybe more of the dill weed next time." Hmm...I was surprised.   Stay tuned for the next chicken salad adventure...

Honey Lime Glazed Chicken Thighs with a Lime Dill Sauce

Tonight's dinner was an experiment for an upcoming event.  I needed to bake chicken. It needed to be easy, juicy and tasty. I think I succeeded with the recipe as evidenced by the way my family fought over the few extra pieces that was left!

For the chicken:
(8) boneless, skinless chicken thighs
(1/3) cup of local honey
(2) tablespoons of lime juice
(1 1/2) tablespoons of soy sauce

For the sauce:
(3) tablespoons of lime juice
(1/2) stick of real butter
(1/2) can of evaporated milk
(1) tablespoon of cornstarch
(2) teaspoons of dill weed

Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees.  Mix the honey, lime juice and soy sauce together.  Dip the chicken thighs into the mixture and place in a glass baking dish and put in the pre-heated oven for 15-minutes. After 15 minutes, spoon remaining sauce over top of chicken and cook additional 15 minutes.  After 15 more minutes, flip chicken over and spoon pan drippings over chicken. Be careful as it is very hot!  Continue to cook until chicken is done.

While chicken finishes to cook, prepare the sauce. Now truthfully, I did not want to use the evaporated milk. I wanted to use chicken stock but I was out and I felt like plain water would just be too tasteless.

Melt the butter in a saucepan.  Sprinkle with the cornstarch. Whisk to combine. Add the milk and lime juice and continue to whisk. Add the dill. Taste to see if more dill and/or lime juice is needed. Be careful at this stage to make sure you do not let your sauce break. It could easily break using milk.  I am anxious to re-make the sauce using chicken stock. I think it will be very smooth with the stock.

When the chicken comes out of the oven serve with the Lime sauce.