What's for dinner?
Seems most nights begin with the question: What do you want for dinner tonight?
I need some help trying to develop some good, healthy (home cooked helps) meals. If you can do this without throwing mexican recipes in the mix, please help...tonight would be great, but comment away for the future.
Add your favorite recipe, something you tried and loved, something you've been dying to try and want a guinea pig to do a run through. Post it here.
For the record my current favorites:
Chicken Tortilla Casserole (without the salsa and onions)
Homemade pizza (my wife loves the Hamburger, Mushroom and Pineapple variety)
Please comment away with your contributions
posted by David @ 3/14/2008
4 comments
4 Comments:
ummm....there are lots. you could do ravioli with roasted vegetables. Fish (grilled, simmered in white wine, baked), hmmm....kilbasa with veggies and french bread. eggplant in curry with white rice. Jambalaya. Chicken pot pie. Chicken noodle soup. Greek food (falafel and chicken with veggies and pita), Black bean soup, carrot and ginger soup. pork tenderloin. pork chops. some of these recipes are on my blog, others I assume you can do on a whim...
Stir fry anything with a special sauce: 1/3 peanut butter, 1/3 honey, 1/3 soy sauce. I like celery, carrots, leeks, and some kind of meat. Any kind. Mostly venison at our house, but I'm guessing you don't have half a deer in your freezer...
OR, cut a bunch of vegetables into thick slices or nice chunks and roast them drizzled with olive oil (eggplant, carrots, zucchini, etc). Cover them with a sauce made of soy sauce, lime juice, serrano pepper and chives (or something similar with what you've got!). Serve with couscous that you've added peanuts or pine nuts into for protein. You can invite vegan friends over for this one, too!
Ahhh...cooking...a nice activity. Both my wife and I do well cooking. Here are some useful recipes if you'd like to try 'em:
ANNE'S POPPY SEED CHICKEN
4 chicken breasts, cooked and deboned
1 pt. sour cream
1 pkg. slivered almonds
1 stick melted oleo
3 tablespoons poppy seeds
1 can celery soup
1 can mushroom soup
1 roll Ritz cracker crumbs
Cook and debone chicken breasts and place in casserole dish. Mix
together the sour cream, almonds and celery and mushroom soup.
Pour over the chicken. Mix together the melted oleo, cracker
crumbs and poppy seeds; pour this over the casserole. Bake at 350
degrees until bubbly, about 25 minutes.
[Anne Armstrong]
[Source: "Old And New, Tried and True Recipes" by the Lynn Haven
United Methodist Women, First United Methodist Church (Lynn
Haven, Florida)]
BTW, Anne Armstrong was my maternal Grandmother.
---
CHICKEN ALMONDlNE
1 small can blanched chopped almonds
1/4 cup sherry
8 tablespoons margarine
1 small can mushrooms
8 boned chicken breasts
1/4 cup breakfast cream
Salt and pepper
Salt, pepper and dust chicken with flour. Saute chicken in melted
margarine about 20 minutes. Add chopped almonds and saute 5
minutes more, stirring to brown evenly. Add mushrooms and their
water and the sherry. Turn heat low and slowly add cream. Remove
from heat as soon as cream is well mixed. Place in flat casserole
and bake at 300 degrees F for 45 minutes. Can be frozen before
baking. Serves four.
[Source: "Recipes and Reminiscences of New Orleans" by the Parents Club of Ursuline Academy Inc.; ISBN 0-9604718-0-4]
Tasty recipe
---
WEST INDIES SALAD
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 lb. fresh lump crabmeat
4 oz. salad oil
3 oz. cider vinegar
4 oz. ice water
Salt and pepper
Place half of the chopped onion in bottom of bowl; separate crab.
Place on top of onion. Spread remaining onion over crab, salt and
pepper to taste. Pour oil, then vinegar and lastly ice water over
crab-onion. Cover and refrigerate from 2 until 12 hours. Toss
lightly before serving.
Nerva McCaskey
[Source: "Archusa Creek Cookbook" -- The Parents Auxiliary of Clarke Academy {Pachuta, Ms.}]
And Nerva McCaskey is my paternal Grandmother.
---
FISH FILET DISH
2 lb. fish filet
2 slices bacon cut in small pieces
1 Tbsp. mustard
2 med. onions, cut fine
2 med. pickles, cut fine
2 Tbsp. butter
2 Tbsp. flour
1 c. water
1 c. white wine
pinch of celery salt and parsley
pinch of pepper and salt
Fry the bacon. Mix onions and pickles and put them on the middle
of each fish filet. Roll together and put toothpick through it
(to hold it together). Smear with mustard.
Put flour in hot grease and brown. Add 1 cup of hot water and 1
cup of white wine. Add salt, pepper, celery salt and parsley.
Then put the fish rolls in the sauce and cook it until done, over
low heat.
[Source: "What's Cookin'? In Buckatunna, Mississippi" -- compiled by the Buckatunna Methodist Church; 1966]
I "inherited" this cookbook when my paternal Grandmother had to move into a nursing home and no longer cooked for herself. Although this isn't one of her personal recipes, she did contribute to the cookbook. I've make this dish personally in the past.
---
OYSTERS MILGEN
(also known as "O.O.S." {Oysters On A Shingle})
2 dozen large oysters
flour
1-1/2 sticks of butter (or margarine)
1 tablespoon green onions, chopped
1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
1 (8 oz.) can whole mushrooms (drained and chopped finely)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
3/4 cup white wine
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
4 slices lightly buttered toast
2 tablespoons chopped parsley (optional)
paprika (optional)
Drain and dry oysters (leave just enough dampness to cause the
flour to stick), then lightly coat each with flour. In a heavy
frying pan, heat 1/2 stick butter until bubbling. Quickly brown
oysters in the butter until edges curl (do not overcook). Place
oysters when finished cooking on a paper towel lined baking pan
and keep warm in an oven set at about 200 degrees Fahrenheit. In
another pan, saute' onions, garlic and mushrooms in remaining
butter; then add salt, pepper, sherry and Worcestershire sauce.
Combine flour with hot water (stirring constantly to avoid
lumping) to make thickening agent called a roux. Slowly pour (stirring constantly) into pan until desired thickening is achieved. Stir until well blended. Place oysters on toast and pour sauce over them. Garnish with chopped parsley and a sprinkling of paprika for color if desired. Serves four.
I came up with this recipe while living in Columbus, Georgia. I never really had a formal name for it and came up with the name "Oysters Milgen" for this cookbook {we lived in an
apartment complex on Milgen Road}. The idea for the toast was by
accident since I had originally wanted to serve it on pasta, but
didn't have any at the time. The only thing I had to serve it
over was leftover toast from that morning's breakfast. It turned
out so well that I decided to leave it in the recipe. However the
secondary name "O.O.S." derived from the fact that it somewhat
resembles the "S.O.S." that I had for some meals at Boy Scout
summer camp many years ago. And if you don't know what "S.O.S."
stands for in this regard, ask anyone who's been in the Boy
Scouts or the military.
---
SAUSAGE CASSEROLE
1 pound ground sausage (mild)
1 medium bell pepper, chopped
1 cup onions, chopped
1 cup celery, chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped finely or crushed
1 cup uncooked rice
2 cans Campbell's cream of chicken soup
1 can Campbell's cream of mushroom soup
1/2 cup water
Cook sausage and drain. Add bell pepper, onions, celery and
garlic. Cook together until transparent, then add raw rice, cream of chicken soup, cream of mushroom soup and water. Stir until
thoroughly mixed and transfer to casserole dish and bake 1-1/2
hours at 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Stir occasionally and add water
when necessary.
Nerva McCaskey
[Source: "Archusa Creek Cookbook" -- The Parents Auxiliary of
Clarke Academy {Pachuta, Ms.}]
When cooking this in the oven, keep an eye on the top level of rice. Try not to let the top layer of rice dry out or you'll get the "crunchy rice" effect. If the top layer does get somewhat dried out, use a spoon to stir or press the rice back down into the moist section and put it back in oven for about 5 to 10 additional minutes or until the rice regains its moisture. I've also made this dish with excellent results using spicy ground sausage. Also adding an extra can of mushrooms (drained)
doesn't hurt if you like more mushrooms. Garnish with a bit of
paprika for color and some parsley and serve directly from the
casserole dish.
---
MCCASKEY SHRIMP CASSEROLE
3 cups small to medium uncooked shrimp (peeled)
1 cup celery, diced
1/2 cups chopped onion
1/4 cup chopped green pepper
3/4 cup butter
1/2 cup green onion tops (coarsely chopped)
1 can (10-1/2 oz.) cream of mushroom soup
2 small cloves garlic (chopped fine or crushed)
6 sprigs chopped parsley
3 slices moistened bread
2 cups cooked rice
1/2 cup sauterne wine
1 cup water
bread crumbs or croutons
paprika
Saute' Bell pepper, celery and onions in 1/2 cup butter until
tender. Add green onion tops, soup, garlic, parsley, and shrimp.
Heat slowly until hot.
Add bread, rice, wine, and water and cook 15 minutes longer.
Season to taste.
Spread mixture into a 2-quart casserole dish. Place small dabs of
remaining butter on top. Sprinkle with bread crumbs and paprika.
Cover and bake in a 375-degree oven for 30 minutes. Serves eight.
This dish is quite rich and very flavorful. I suggest serving this with fresh, hot French bread and garlic butter.
---
BRUNSWICK STEW
2 large fryers (3 pounds each)
3 to 4 pounds fresh pork
4 cans tomatoes
3 cans corn
3 pounds onion, diced
3 pounds potatoes, diced
small bottle ketchup
small bottle Worcestershire sauce
1 stick butter
salt
black pepper
red pepper
3 tablespoons sugar
1 or 2 lemons
1/4 cups vinegar (suggestion: use vinegar poured off sweet pickle
juice)
Boil chicken and pork until tender and allow to cool. Remove meat
from bones. Cook diced potatoes and onions in the broth. Once
cooked drain the potatoes and onions, saving the broth (you may
need to add some to the stew as it cooks).
Put all ingredients except corn into stew pot. Cook slowly for two
hours. After that, add corn and cook slowly for about 3 hours
longer.
[If stew is not thick enough, cornstarch dissolved in cold water
may be added the last 30 minutes.]
Source: Anne Armstrong & Maxine Patel
This was the OFFICIAL recipe for the Lynn Haven UMC that my Grandmother (Anne Armstrong) was a member. Every year, the church held a fish fry and the UM Women made Brunswick Stew using this recipe. I loved it!
---
I hope these are useful for you. They're all family recipes.
Thanks for all the ideas and recipes folks. Good stuff through and through.
Blessings,
David
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