Hot Mini Sandwiches

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My neighbor Kate brought this to the block party and it was so good.  I’ve taken it for staff appreciation snacks and other events and it’s always demolished.

2 Tbsp butter
1 onion, diced up
1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
2 Tbsp Dijon mustard
Bread or rolls (I often buy whole wheat dinner rolls which come joined together.)
Brie or Swiss cheese
Turkey ham or real ham

Heat butter in a skillet. Add onions and saute until onion is soft and brown. Add mustard and Worcestershire sauce. Stir

Carefully cut the entire package of rolls in half horizontally. Try not to pull the individual rolls apart. It’s okay if some break apart, but easier to reassemble if they’re together. Slide the bottoms into a 9 x 12 baking dish.

Spread half the mustard mixture on the bottom section of rolls, then layer sliced cheese and turkey ham slices over the top. Spread the rest of the mustard on the top half of the rolls, and carefully place them back on the turkey ham. Cover tightly with aluminum foil. Bake sandwiches at 350 for 10-15 minutes until the bread is nice and toasty, and the cheese is melted. Serve warm with a sharp knife to cut through the sandwiches.

Thai Coconut Chicken Casserole

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This is a great quick supper. It’s delicious and so colorful. Red Curry Paste is available at Asian Markets, and online. It may even be in some regular grocery stores.

1 Tbsp Olive Oil
4-5 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
salt and pepper
1 can light coconut milk
1 1/2 cups chicken broth, heated in a small pan or a microwave until just boiling.
1 – 2 tsp Thai Red Curry Paste. (I use Mae Ploy.)
1 cup jasmine rice (regular rice is fine, too.)
2 red bell peppers, chopped and sauteed
8 oz. green beans, trimmed and sauteed

Season chicken with salt and pepper. Add oil to a saute pan and saute chicken until browned on both sides. Cut into smaller pieces and place in an oven proof pot. Add all other ingredients except for peppers and beans. Cover and cook 25 minutes at low heat.

While chicken and rice are cooking, add more oil to the saute pan and cook veggies for a few minutes until soft, but not mushy.

Remove chicken and rice from oven, top with peppers and beans, and serve.

Kumy’s Spicy Rustic Spaghetti Sauce

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Kumy first made this Spaghetti sauce in August of 2011 and he’s made variations ever since.  It’s a spicy, rustic sauce that’s delicious on pasta.

1/2 to 3/4 cup olive oil
5 small tomatoes, chopped
1 jalapeno pepper seeded, and cut into four pieces
pinch of Sage
1/4 tsp Rosemary
1/4 tsp Thyme
3/4 tsp Basil
1/4 tsp Oregano
1/4 tsp Parsley

Heat oil, and add garlic in. Saute garlic for a couple minutes and add the chopped tomatoes and all the rest of the spices. Cook for another 10-15 minutes.

Serve over pasta sauce with Parmesan cheese.

Ronneburg Cottage Cheese

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A surprisingly tasty variation of cottage cheese from a restaurant in Iowa.

1 16-ounce container of cottage cheese
1 green onion, thinly sliced
2 Tbsp buttermilk
1/4 tsp salt
dash pepper

Blend all ingredients. Yum.

Bean, Corn & Tortilla Salad

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A great vegetarian main dish salad with the crunch of Doritos, sweet bite of lettuce and veggies and a warm element of beans and corn. On July 12, 2011 Kumy rated this an A+!

1 can pinto beans, rinsed and drained
2 cups frozen corn (I love Trader Joe’s Roasted Corn)
1/4 cup medium salsa

Heat in a small saucepan until corn is softened. Remove from heat.

1 cup chopped scallions
1 ripe avocado, diced
3 plum tomatoes, cut in chunks
1/2 tsp Kosher Salt
1/8 tsp Black pepper

Toss together gently in a big bowl.

12 oz romaine or iceberg letter, cut for salad
3 cups broken “cool ranch” Doritos
3/4 cup grated pepper-jack cheese

Add lettuce to the big bowl, along with the pinto bean mixture. Top with Doritos and cheese, and toss gently. Serve with extra salsa.

Jen’s French Toast Casserole

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My neighbor Jen made this unusual breakfast casserole for a potluck. There’s no added sugar, so it’s not overly sweet – but perfect served with a sprinkle of powdered sugar or a little drizzle of maple syrup.

I’ve made it tons of times since – and it’s a great brunch dish. I’ve never made it with regular bread, but you could easily add a tsp of cinnamon to the eggs if you did.

6 eggs
1 1/2 cup half n half
1 1/2 cup whole milk
1 tsp vanilla
1 loaf Pepperidge Farm cinnamon swirl bread
3/4 cup chopped pecans or walnuts
5 Tbsp butter, melted

Blend eggs, half n half, milk and vanilla.

Remove “heels” of the loaf of bread (the outer, all crust slices), dice them fairly finely and mix them with the nuts and butter.

In a 9 x 13 baking dish pour a little egg mixture. Lay the first two slices of bread at one end, in the corner. Pour a little egg mixture over them, and layer the next slice halfway down and add a little more egg mixture. Repeat until all the slices have been used up. You should end up with two rows of bread slices fanned out. Pour all the egg mixture on and gently lift the slices of bread to be sure the egg is really soaked in. At this point, you can let it soak for 20 minutes or as long as overnight in the fridge. Before baking, sprinkle the top with the nut, crumb and butter mixture. Bake at 375 for 45- 50 minutes.

Serve with powdered sugar or maple syrup.

Cowboy Coffee

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blue coffee potIf there’s one thing I really appreciate,  it’s big old coffee pots – the kind you use on a campfire.

I’ve got a couple of my grandparents old coffee pots, and one of my mother’s and they’re a very quick and easy way to make good coffee for a crowd!

My note on the recipe says:  Full TTT group  – use big pot.  We drink a lot of coffee!

1 gallon water
1 1/2 cups fresh ground coffee
1 egg shell
1/2 cup ice water

Bring water to the boil in the coffee pot. Add coffee and eggshell, and bring back to full boil. Take off heat, cover and let sit for 2-3 minutes.  Stir coffee gently once to get the thickest grounds off the sides. Add 1/2 cup ice water and serve. (The eggshells help take away any bitterness, and the cold water pulls the grounds to the bottom of the pot.)

Tex-Mex Pot Roast

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This is a delicious version of pot roast, and made super easy by using a taco seasoning mix.  I like McCormicks.

2 carrots, sliced
1 green pepper, chopped into large chunks
1 onion, chopped into large chunks
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbsp tapioca
2 1/2 lb chuck roast
1 package taco seasoning mix
1 can Mexican-style diced tomatoes
1 medium-sized jar of salsa

Mix veggies, and tapioca in a crock pot. Add beef and sprinkle with taco seasoning. Mix tomatoes and salsa and pour over everything.

Cook on low heat for 6-8 hours, or high heat for 4-5 hours.

Chokecherry Jelly

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Choke_Cherry_01Chokecherries grow wild in Nebraska, sprouting a spike of white flowers in the spring and deep purple/black berries in the fall. They are blisteringly sour, but make delicious jelly or wine.

In 2011, Maya and I were driving along the main road at Niobrara State Park, and saw a large shrub/tree bobbing and swaying in a dozen different directions.

Slightly freaked out, we slowed down and realized that there were actually a flock of wild baby turkeys (poults) on a chokecherry feeding frenzy.

Since we love chokecherry jelly, we stopped at the park office and asked if it was okay to pick chokecherries. Reassured, we headed back into town and picked up sugar, pectin,  mason jars and an empty box to hold our berries at Farnik’s Market.

We found a chokecherry bush that was loaded with berries and started picking.  Just as we were finishing, calamity!  Maya slid down the hill, badly scraping her arm on the way.  We took our berries back to the cabin and washed and bandaged the worst of her scrapes.  Poor kid! She was a real trouper (as always) and still pitched in.

3 lbs. chokecherries to yield 3 1/2 cups of juice
4 cups sugar
1 box powdered Sure-Jell
1 cup mason jars (7 or 8) washed in hot soapy water, and rinsed with boiling water. (Leave the jars in the hot water until you’re ready to fill them.)

In a large pot, wash and remove berries from stems. Drain well. Add a cup of water to the berries, and cook on medium/low heat, stirring to break the berries open.

Lay a piece of thin fabric (we improvised with a cotton bandanna) in a colander with a bowl underneath and pour the berries in. Tie the corners together and let the juice drip out for a couple of hours. Then gently squeeze the berries to get out any remaining juice.

Add the juice and Sure-jell to a pot and bring to a boil. Add sugar and bring back to the boil for one more minute. Pour into mason jars, cover and lower them into a gently boiling pot of water. Keep the water simmering for 10 minutes. Remove and let cool.

Baby Kale & Carrot Salad with Citrus Dressing

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baby kale and carrot saladThis one hasn’t made it into the book yet, but I’m skipping that since it was so good. Le Quartier Bakery in Omaha sells sandwiches and a side salad with Kale and carrots in a citrus dressing. I’ve been hungry for that salad for days, and bought some baby kale, and a bottle of fresh orange juice to concoct something similar.

I was thinking of making it for supper tonight. And I started to pull it together, when the usual happened. Someone drank the orange juice and I can’t really remember what else was in the salad. No matter, I googled Citrus Salad Dressing and found Ree Drummond’s recipe. I punted and made something similar and it was amazing!!!  We have had this three nights in a row, since we had lots of leftover dressing.

1 box baby kale
1 carrot, grated

Salad Dressing:

In a mason jar, add

1/8 cup water
1 1/2 Tbsp marmalade (I used Orange-Apricot Marmalade)
1/8 cup olive oil
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 clove of garlic, grated
Splash of white wine vinegar. (Cider vinegar would be fine, too.)
2 Tbsp sour cream.

Close with a lid and shake well (violently, according to Ree.) 🙂

Dump baby kale into a nice bowl, add the grated carrot on top, and add some of the salad dressing. It was actually amazing. We practically licked the bowl!