I love the Spinach Salad at Delices, a local restaurant. Here is my version of that salad.
baby spinach leaves
pecan pieces, toasted for a few minutes in the oven
green onions, sliced thinly
orange slices
Brie cheese 1/4″ x 2″ slices
Mix with a light creamy dressing, or vinaigrette.
This is a really simple casserole that works great when you’re cooking in a place with limited supplies, like a cabin.
I like to make this when we stay at Niobrara State Park, and it’s easy to bring most of the pantry ingredients along. I usually just pick up the meat at Farnik’s Market in Niobrara. It’s a hearty dish that makes a good dinner with a nice salad and hot rolls.
1 pkg spaghetti or fettucine, broken up
1 lb. hamburger
1 jar of your favorite spaghetti sauce
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp basil
1/4 tsp oregano
1 tsp brown sugar
salt to taste
Parmesan
Cook spaghetti and set aside. Brown meat and add spices, brown sugar and spaghetti sauce. Blend sauce and pasta, cover and let sit a few minutes. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese and serve.
2 Tbsp Olive oil
2 onions, chopped
1 lb. stew meat
2 carrots, diced
1 parsnip, diced
1/2 tsp brown sugar
12 small potatoes, scrubbed and quartered
red wine or beef stock
salt & pepper
1 bay leaf
1 tsp basil
Heat oil in a dutch oven and saute onions until translucent. Remove and add in stew meat, letting it brown and turning occasionally. Remove the meat and add a little more oil, adding carrots and parsnips. Saute for a few minutes and then add the brown sugar. Stir in salt and pepper to taste (1 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper?) a bay leaf and basil.
Deglaze the pan with a little wine or beef stock and put everything including the potatoes into a casserole dish with the potatoes. Pour red wine or beef stock to cover. Bake at 350 for 1 1/2 hours. Check seasonings and serve.
Note: sometimes I buy a roast and cut it into chunks for stew. Seems to work just fine. Stew meat tends to be expensive – not sure why – and roast is often cheaper per pound.
2 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp flour
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp mustard
little black pepper
1/4 cup onion fried very brown (Barista in Urdu)
3/4 cup milk
4 cups fresh corn or a bag of frozen corn
1 egg, beaten
bread crumbs
Melt butter in a sauce pan, and stir in the flour, salt, paprika, mustard and black pepper. Add the fried onion and the milk and stir until it becomes a nice creamy gravy. Remove from the heat, and stir in the corn and egg. Turn out into a baking dish, and sprinkle with bread crumbs. Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes.
From the Betty Crocker Picture Cookbook – go Betty! Snickerdoodles remain my very favorite cookie.
1 cup butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
Blend very thoroughly.
2 3/4 cups flour
2 tsp cream of tartar
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
Blend and stir into butter mixture until smooth.
Roll into small balls and tumble in a mix of:
2 Tbsp sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
Place about 2″ apart and bake at 400 for 8-10 minutes. Be careful not to burn your mouth when you devour them the moment they leave the oven.
Mom and I went to Germany and Austria and one of the dishes we just fell in love with was simple Potato Soup. This recipe is very reminiscent of the soup we ate.
7-8 New Potatoes, scrubbed well and cubed
4 cups water or chicken broth
2 carrots, cubed
1 onion, chopped
2 celery sticks, chopped
2 cups corn (frozen or fresh – optional)
1 Tbsp Chicken base, or veggie base (can omit if using chicken broth)
1/2 tsp garlic
1/2 tsp dill weed
1/4 tsp dill seed
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 cup milk
2 tsp cornstarch
1 Tbsp butter
In a large pot, add everything but milk, cornstarch and butter. Bring just to a boil, and reduce heat to medium/low. Simmer for 40 minutes. Then mix milk and cornstarch together and pour into soup, stirring constantly. Top with the butter and stir one final time.
Omit butter and chicken base or broth if making vegan.
Updated August, 2019. This recipe comes courtesy of Stephenson’s Apple Farm, a wonderful restaurant in Kansas City that no longer exists. It’s a sweet, spicy jam that I’ve never had anywhere else. Make it without pectin for a wonderful, bright sauce for bread pudding, pancakes or ice cream.
Ingredients:
5 cups of unpeeled peaches (3 lbs. – can cut into chunks and buzz them gently in a food processor, or just cut into small pieces and use as is.)
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cloves
1/4 tsp ginger powder
Scant 6 Tbsp Pectin (I used Ball Classic Pectin)
5 cups sugar
Should fill 9- 10 half pint mason jars.
Sterilize jars in oven (see note below). Boil lids for 5 minutes and remove from heat. Create a water bath by filling a large stock pot halfway with water and bring to a boil. Turn down to a simmer.
Put everything but sugar into a large kettle. Stir over high heat to a full rolling boil, stirring constantly. (If using fruit in chunks, you may want to reduce heat and continue cooking until fruit is all soft.) Be careful to keep stirring the bottom – where the pectin can tend to clump.
Add all sugar and bring back to a full rolling boil. Cook for one minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and skim off any foam that rises to the top. Stir and skim for 5 minutes. (The foam is edible, just doesn’t look nice in the jar.)
Ladle into clean mason jars, and follow regular canning procedures. Read more here about how to make jams and jellies.
Note: My dear friend Donna got two lugs of beautiful Colorado peaches and we made Peach Jam and Rhubarb Ginger jam yesterday. She showed me an easy way to sterilize jars in the oven, saving stovetop space. Here’s how to do it:
Preheat oven to 225 degrees. Wash jars in hot soapy water and rinse, but do not dry. Place them upside down in a roasting pan and place in the oven. Bake 20 minutes. Remove and let cool slightly so you can handle them for filling. You’ll still sterilize the lids in boiling water, but can use a much smaller pan for that.
If you don’t have time to make the jam right when peaches are really good, either buzz them in the food processor or cut them into chunks and freeze 5 cups in a freezer bag, laying the bags as flat as possible in the freezer. Then when you’re ready, just add them frozen to the pot and make the jam as usual.
Irish Soda Bread is a treat I have always looked forward to on St Patrick’s Day – since my friend Cathy is Irish and makes the most exquisite Soda Bread.
But I’ve now made this bread so many times and in so many places it’s kind of my signature dish. You’d think I’d be sick of it, but there is something about that first bite of warm bread with a little butter melting on it that is indescribable.
For me, the interesting thing about this recipe was a note that it was from Rania Bratberg (from the Internet). I was so thrilled to find a recipe on the Internet – what an astonishing idea – but of course that was long, long ago!
4 cups flour
2/3 cup sugar
1 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
2 Tbsp caraway seeds
Blend in a large bowl.
1/4 cup softened butter
Cut butter into the flour mixture with a fork or knead it in gently with your hands.
1 box currants (about 1 1/2 to 2 cups)
1 1/2 cup buttermilk
1 egg
Add the currants to the flour mixture, and stir to break up any clumps. Blend the buttermilk and egg well. Add the buttermilk mixture to the flour mixture and blend oh so gently until everything is moist. Do not overmix this!
Turn out the dough onto a floured tray, and knead gently adding flour as needed for 30-60 seconds. (Or you can just flour your hand and gently knead the bread right in the bowl.) Form an oval on a baking pan and flatten it to no more than about 2″ thick. Slather the loaf with buttermilk and cut a couple of shallow horizontal slashes with a sharp knife.
Bake at 350 for 40-45 minutes. Remove from the oven and cover with a clean, dry towel. Serve with lots of fresh butter.
Note: if you want, you can make two loaves – just bake them for 30 minutes.
Great for picnics, potlucks and block parties – this salad is delicious at room temperature, and it makes a lot. I used to make this often for the 58th Street Block Party – which has been an annual event since the early 1940s!
Making this for the Fourth of July with one variation: I’m sauteeing the onions in a little olive oil because neither Kumy or Maya like the flavor of raw onions. It’s still a good flavor in the salad and then nobody has to pick bits out
2 cups boiling water
3/4 tsp turmeric
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 1/2 cup couscous
Blend together in a large bowl, cover and let sit for 5 minutes.
1 can 16 oz. chickpeas, washed and drained
1-2 cups mandarin oranges
drained
1/2 cup diced red onions
1/2 cup golden raisins
Add to the couscous.
1/4 cup lemon juice
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbs orange zest (grated orange peel – just the orange part)
1/8 cup orange juice (I add the juice of one whole orange)
1 Tbsp minced fresh chives
1 tsp salt
Blend in a little bowl and pour over the couscous mixture. Blend gently and refrigerate for an hour. Can be served cold or at room temperature and tastes even better the next day.
I made this for Kumy’s 45th Birthday, but the ones who really loved it were my son Ali and me!
3 cups french bread, cut in chunks
3 cups milk
3 eggs
3/4 cup sugar
1/8 cup butter
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla
dusting of fresh nutmeg
Put bread cubes in a casserole dish. Heat milk and butter just until bubbles come up the side of the pan. Mix eggs and the rest in a bowl and add warm milk. Stir and pour over bread. Use a fork to press the bread cubes into the custard mixture. Put the casserole in a larger pan with about an inch of water. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes, or until a bread knife comes out clean.
You can add a cup of blueberries, or other fresh fruit diced up, or a cup of raisins or currants. You can even add a cup of chocolate chips. It’s delicious warm or cold.
Update: to make this dessert for a large group, simply double the recipe and bake it in a 1/2 catering tray. Serve with Warm Bourbon Sauce, or Peach Sauce.
Up-Update: Cranberry Walnut Version. Using part of a stale loaf of Cranberry Walnut bread from a great french bakery in town that we love, I thought, why not make a Cranberry Walnut Bread Pudding.?
Used the same recipe as above, but added a handful of Craisins and a handful of chopped walnuts. It was lovely – tangy and sweet with the added crunch of the walnuts now and then.
Little Brown Cookbook 