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
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
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
If 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
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
Chokecherries 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
This 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!
Jeane’s Praline Apple Bread
Just stop what you’re doing and make this right now. I am serious. My T.T.T. sister Jeane made this for a meeting one Saturday morning and it is the very best quick bread I have ever had. I’ve made it lots of times and the response is always the same. Make it. Now. You won’t regret it.
1 1/2 cups chopped pecans, divided
8 oz. sour cream
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 Tbsp Vanilla
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups copped apples
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
Take 1/2 cup pecans and bake them for 6 minutes at 350.
Mix the sour cream, sugar, eggs, and vanilla. In a separate bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, soda and salt. Gently blend the flour mix to the sour cream mix – just until blended. Do not overmix. Fold in the apples and toasted pecans.
Pour the batter into a greased loaf pan. Sprinkle remaining chopped pecans on top and bake the bread at 350 for one hour. Cool for 10 minutes, and turn out onto a serving platter.
In a saucepan, bring the butter and brown sugar to the boil and boil it for one minute stirring constantly. Pour over the bread. Let the bread cool and keep it covered.
It’s apple praline paradise.
Quick & Yummy Pasta Bake
Tammy made a version of this for us the first time in Niobrara and for Kumy it was love at first bite. It’s perfect for cooking at a cabin, because it literally only takes one pot. For a vegetarian version, just leave out the sausage. (You may want to add a pinch of red pepper flakes if you leave out the sausage.)
1 1/4 lb. spicy bulk Italian sausage
1 24 oz. jar good spaghetti sauce
hot water
1 package rotini
1/2 cup parmesan
2 cups mozzarella
Brown meat in a dutch oven or large pot.
Add spaghetti sauce. Fill the spaghetti sauce jar with hot water, and add to the pot, along with the rotini and parmesan. Stir well, cover and bake at 400 for 30 minutes.
Remove from oven, sprinkle Mozzarella on top, and return to oven for 10 more minutes without a cover.
Spanish Tortilla with Bell Pepper
First made this on March 27, 2010 and noted that it was great for a Sunday brunch.
1/3 package of turkey or real bacon, sliced into 1″ pieces
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 red bell pepper
1 onions
1 lb. yukon gold potatoes
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp tabasco or other hot sauce
8 eggs
2 tsp fresh parsley, chopped
Preheat oven to 375. Slice pepper, onion and potatoes into 1/2″ thick slices.
Heat oil in a large oven proof frying pan. Add bacon, peppers and onion and saute for several minutes until the bacon is cooked and the onions are soft and translucent. Add potatoes,cover and cook on low heat for 15 minutes, stirring every now and then. Remove from heat.
Beat eggs with salt, pepper and hot sauce. Pour eggs over potatoes and sprinkle with parsley. Bake 15 minutes and serve warm. Delish.
Little Brown Cookbook 