Honeyed Ham Steak was one of the first recipes I used early in our marriage. It was quick, economical, and easy to prepare after work. Pair with a starch and a vegetable or salad. This time I served with Tangy Cauliflower (recipe to post Friday, April 26).
HONEYED HAM STEAK
Servings: 2-4
2 tablespoons prepared mustard
2 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon butter
1 fully cooked smoked ham center slice, cut 1/2 inch thick (1 pound)
Heat first three ingredients in skillet, over medium heat, until blended.
Add ham; cook 5 minutes on each side or until heated and browned to your liking.
Chicken Divine starts by roasting chicken breasts with savory rosemary making your mouth water, anticipating the great final dish to come. This dish takes a while but you could easily bake the chicken breasts ahead of time.
I do not recall where I found this recipe but it’s been a family favorite for the past 20 years. Pair Chicken Divine with a green salad, crusty bread and a nice glass of white wine. Dinner is served!
CHICKEN DIVINE
3 whole chicken breasts
rosemary to taste
salt and pepper to taste
1 sliced onion
1 pound fresh or frozen broccoli
3/4 cup raw rice, cooked
CHEESE SAUCE:
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup flour
2 cups milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1 cup grated, sharp Cheddar Cheese
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
SAUCE:
Melt butter, add flour and stir until smooth. Cook 2 minutes. Gradually add milk, stirring constantly until thickened. Add cheeses and seasonings.
CASSEROLE:
Sprinkle chicken with rosemary, salt and pepper. Bake chicken at 350 degrees for 1 hour. Cool. Skin, bone and slice.
Cook broccoli in water with salt and onion. Drain.
Layer chicken, then broccoli, then rice in buttered casserole.
Pour cheese sauce over entire dish. Add more grated Parmesan on top if desired.
Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until bubbly.
Pear Cake made with seasonal pears is a true treat. This recipe, from http://www.usapear.com was a great find and delicious as a morning coffee treat or as a seasonal dessert.
PEAR CAKE
10 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
4 pears, peeled, cored and wedged
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup milk
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Grease a round baking pan with 2 tablespoons of butter. Sprinkle with brown sugar.
Brush the pear wedges with lemon juice and arrange in the bottom of the baking pan.
Combine flour with baking powder, salt and cinnamon, Set aside.
Using a mixer, beat the remaining butter with sugar until fluffy. Stir in eggs and vanilla.
Add flour mixture and milk alternating the ingredients slowly. Continue to beat on low-speed after each addition.
Spoon batter evenly over pears in pan.
Bake for 30 minutes OR until toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. (My oven required a longer baking time.)
Cool before inverting onto serving platter. Decorate with walnuts or serve with whipped cream as coffee cake or dessert.
Curry Chicken and Broccoli Casserole is a wonderful winter comfort food and a great way to use chicken or turkey leftovers. This recipe has been with me for years and as good as ever!
CURRY CHICKEN AND BROCCOLI CASSEROLE
Servings: 8
2 10 ounce packages frozen chopped broccoli
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup sliced green onions
1 can cream of mushroom soup
3 tablespoons sherry
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 teaspoon curry powder
1/3 cup milk
1/3 cup mayonnaise
3 tablespoons melted butter
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
4 cups diced cooked chicken
2 cups grated cheddar cheese
3 cups toasted bread crumbs
1 cup toasted sliced almonds
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Cook broccoli 1/2 of the time directed. Mix with celery and onions. Place in buttered casserole 9 x 13″.
To make sauce, combine mushroom soup, sherry, garlic, curry powder, milk and mayonnaise, butter and pepper.
Heat sauce thoroughly. Add chicken to the sauce. Pour sauce mixture over broccoli mixture. Bake for 20 minutes.
Top casserole with toasted bread cubes, cheese and almonds (tossed together). Bake an additional 10 minutes.
Peppermint Buttons are a relatively new family favorite, brought to us by former neighbor. Several years ago Pam shared this recipe with us during one of my Holiday Cookie Exchanges (I must have another one some year soon). It’s easy, refreshing, and soooo yummy.
PEPPERMINT BUTTONS
1/2 cup browned butter or margarine
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 large egg white
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup flour
1/2 cup coarsely crushed hard peppermint candies
To browned butter, place butter in an 8 to 10 inch frying pan over medium heat until lightly browned, 5-10 minutes. Pour into a bowl and cool.
In a bowl with a mixer, beat butter with sugar until well blended. Then beat in egg white and vanilla.
In another bowl, combine flour and baking soda. Add to butter mixture. Stir then beat until well mixed. Stir in crushed peppermint candies.
Drop dough in 1/2 tsp portions 1 inch apart onto buttered cookie sheets.
Bake in 350F oven until tops of cookies begin to look slightly cracked and are deep golden, 8 to 10 minutes. If using more than 1 pan in oven, switch pan positions halfway through baking.
With a wide spatula, transfer cookies to racks to cool. If hot cookies start to break, slide a thin spatula under them to release, let stand on pan to firm, 2-5 minutes, then transfer to racks.
Cranberry Bread was a favorite of mine back in the day. I would make several loaves to give as gifts for the holidays when I young, single and fancy-free in St. Joe, MO. I’m glad to have this recipe back on my radar screen. The kids loved it. The tartness of the cranberries complimented by the sweet dough is wonderfully delicious warm from the oven with butter.
The bread freezes well to make ahead for holiday gifts.
CRANBERRY BREAD
2 cups flour, sifted
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon soda
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons margarine, melted
3/4 cup orange juice
1 beaten egg
1 cup raw cranberries, chopped
1/2 cup chopped nuts (pecans or walnuts)
Sift the flour, baking powder, salt, soda and sugar. Add the orange juice, melted butter, then add beaten egg.
Mix well and add the chopped cranberries. Put into greased loaf pan and fill half full of batter.
Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour. Cool for 10 minutes and then run knife around the pan to remove loaf.
Peanut Brittle was a Christmas tradition for my Mother. As a matter of fact, she would make so many candies to share with the neighbors, family and friends. Her home-made candy traditions included the peanut brittle, divinity, chocolate fudge, peanut butter fudge, and caramels. I’ve gained 10 pounds just thinking about it…and this doesn’t even include the list of cookies and breads she would make! She would decorate a box and include a sampling of all of her wonderful goodies.
While I wish I could do the same, I know that I would be sampling everything a little too much so only make a few of my favorites this year. Peanut Brittle is a favorite and at least it has ‘some’ protein, right?
Whatever your traditions, continue and share the memories or your childhood with your children and encourage them to create their own traditions.
PEANUT BRITTLE
1 cup corn syrup
1 1/2 cups raw peanuts
1 tablespoon butter
1 cup white sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda (added after candy has cooked)
Combine everything but peanuts and baking soda, and cook over medium heat until sugar is dissolved.
Add raw peanuts. Boil and stir constantly with wooden spoon about 15-20 minutes.
Cook to hard crack stage (300 degrees). Remove from heat and add 1 teaspoon baking soda.
Don’t stir much after you add the baking soda.
Pour in large buttered cookie sheet and spread out to corners fast with hands while hot and place quickly on cold table, cement or surface until foam disappears and candy hardens.
Zucchini seems to multiple like rabbits. One day nothing on the vine, the next day a mega-zucchini is staring you in the face. My zucchini, however, produced zilch, nada, nothing. Luckily my buddy, Jan, and daughter, Megan, were anxious to part with their extra zucchini (Megan stooped to begging). Every year I try new recipes, but I always make my tried and true Zucchini Bread, so moist. I love nuts, but make it without since the family isn’t as ‘nutty’ as I am. Enjoy!
ZUCCHINI BREAD
3 eggs
2 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
2 cups grated, peeled raw zucchini
3 teaspoons vanilla
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
3 teaspoons cinnamon
1 cup nuts (optional)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Mix ingredients in order given.
Pour into two greased bread pans. Bake for 1 hour, or until done.
My sister-in-law, Betty, gets all the credit for making my trip to Nicaragua a reality. Betty has kindly shared the following information about her Mother’s (Gamma’s) Fudge Recipe and her introduction of the recipe to Nicaraguan families in San Ramon, using local, ground cocoa beans.
Cocoa Beans in Nicaragua
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My Mother had a way with Hershey’s cocoa powder. It was a cupboard staple, allowing a host of unique concoctions to be served in our family kitchen. There was chocolate gravy, made in a skillet from a roux of flour, sugar, and cocoa powder laced with milk and butter. It had a certain satin sheen when ready to be served for our before-school breakfast. Yikes! There was also an ugly chocolate pie, made with cocoa powder, sugar and butter pats folded simply into pastry and baked. Yum! Nothing, however, competed with her five-ingredient fudge, ready in 20 minutes if one of the family developed an after-dinner sweet tooth. We didn’t often have layered cakes or fruit pies, but we had fudge to die for.
Gamma’s Fudge in Nicaragua
Family legend says that during the Depression and the rationing of sugar, that the prized candy was coveted – so much so that a sad tale is told that while “beating the mixture” the sauce pan capsized into the dirty kitchen sink while Mother attended to a baby’s wailing – only to have the cry equaled by the disappointed older brother, Karl, who awaited the prized fudge.
Most of the family still loves Gamma’s Fudge, especially thinking of it and Buttermilk Fudge at Christmas-time when she carefully rationed it among families. I’ve made it for kids and grandkids. I even made it with Nicaraguan women when we recently visited, with Cathy, in the small town of San Ramon. Processed chocolate candy is not affordable to the locals, so I taught three different households how to make fudge using their own ground cocoa beans, their local sugar and dairy and butter or margarine. Thankfully, vanilla extract was for sale, a spoonful at a time, at one of the many tiny shops lining the four streets of San Ramon. The fudge was a big hit – and I am hoping some were able to make it into a cottage industry – or maybe just into a new family tradition.
Teaching Fudge Making in one Nicarguan home
Teaching Fudge Making in a second Nicaraguan Home
GAMMA’S FUDGE (Spanish)
In a saucepan, combine:
2 C. sugar
1 C. milk
4 T. cocoa
Heat over medium-high heat, stirring to blend until the mixture reaches a boil. Then adjust heat to maintain a low boil. Check mixture frequently until it begins to thicken, but do not stir too vigorously as the mixture will turn grainy. After about 15 minutes, check to see if the mixture forms a ball when a teaspoonful is dropped into a glass or cool water. When you are sure the chocolate ball is forming and there is loss of brightness to the mixture, turn off heat, then add:
4 T. butter or margarine
1 T vanilla or vanilla extract
Hand beat the mixture within the tilted saucepan until it thickens and forms folds when dropped from spoon back into the mixture. When very hard to beat, pour the mixture on a plate that has been greased with a little margarine. Let stand for 30 minutes before cutting into 1-inch squares.
If for some reason the fudge does not harden, use the crumbles as chips in cookies or as sprinkles on top of ice cream. This recipe can also be used to make a fudge sauce when reheated with a little milk or cooking stopped before the mixture is at hard-stage.
Delicious!
DULCE DE AZUCAR DE GAMMA
Simple ingrediente de 5 Fudge
En una cacerola, combine
2 C. azúcar
1 taza de leche
4 T. cacao
Calienta a fuego medio-alto, revolviendo ocasionalmente para mezclar, hasta que la mezcla llegue a hervir. A continuación, ajuste de calor para mantener a fuego bajo, para comprobar si la mezcla de chocolate, cuando cayó en el agua, forma un grupo de bolas. Asegúrese de no mezclar con demasiada frecuencia, sin embargo, como se puede convertir en dulces granulada.
Cuando uno está seguro de que el chocolate es la combinación de una pelota, así como la pérdida de su brillo, apagar el fuego, añadir
4 T. mantequilla o margarina
1 T de vainilla o esencia de vainilla
Mano batir la mezcla hasta que espese y forma pliegues cuando se deja caer por cucharada de nuevo en su mezcla. Cuando muy difícil de batir, vierta la mezcla en una placa que ha sido untada con un poco de margarina.
Deje reposar durante 30 minutos, luego se corta en cuadrados de 1 pulgada.
Si por alguna razón no se endurecen, se derrumba como el uso de las cookies o en helados. También se podría utilizar como una salsa de recalentamiento con un poco de leche.
Sin embargo, esta consta de 5 ingredientes simples y la clave es cómo late el tiempo suficiente que sólo “establece” una vez que se vierte en el plato.
Our Iowa farm was near a large wooded area known as Ferguson’s Timber. This timber was my Mother’s favorite place to hunt those fabulous, spring Morel Mushrooms. She would go to the timber every day she could to hunt and gather the mushrooms to cook, freeze and share with friends and family. My Mother had a keen eye for Morels and taught my sister, brother and I that Morels look like a sponge and are easy to distinguish from other mushrooms; however, she was quick to show us the poisonous ‘false morel’.
1968: I display 2 large morels (love the skinny body and clothes choice!)
Morels are found throughout the Midwest and in parts of eastern Europe. My ancestors, in Bohemia (now the Czech Republic) would have gathered these mushrooms in the old country and were probably thrilled to learn that they also grew in their new home, Iowa.
There were two primary recipes my Mother served for these small gifts from heaven:
Fried Morels: After washing and trimming the mushrooms, Mother would cut the mushrooms in half, dredge in flour and brown them in butter, adding salt and pepper. The result was a wonderful browned, crispy, savory Morel.
Scrambled Eggs with Morels: After washing and trimming the mushrooms, Mother would brown the chopped mushrooms in butter until soft then pour beaten eggs, seasoned with salt and pepper, over the mushrooms and cook until hard. The mushrooms add an earthy, wonderful flavor to ordinary scrambled eggs.
Unfortunately, Colorado is not a natural source for Morels and I have been craving Morels since my Mother became ill in the mid-1990s. She would lovingly gather and freeze Morels to cook when I would come home to visit. I was delighted to find dried Morels in our local Savory Spice Shop, www.savoryspiceshop.com.
Dried Morels from Savory Spice ShopClose up of dried MorelsReconstituting dried Morels
I have saved these earthy morsels for my spring craving. Mother’s Day is approaching and it’s time to honor my Mother and this spring family ritual. Happy Mother’s Day, Mom!
The following recipe is adapted my Mother’s recipe using olive oil instead of butter and adding a pinch of Herbs de Provence. More Morels, please!
SCRAMBLED EGGS WITH MOREL MUSHROOMS
Scrambled Eggs with Morels
1 teaspoon olive oil
1/2-1 ounce dried Morels, reconstitute per directions (or 1-2 cups fresh Morels), chopped
4 beaten eggs
1 teaspoon water
salt & pepper to taste
pinch of Herbs de Provence
Heat olive oil in a non-stick pan. Add chopped morels and brown for 5 minutes or until cooked through/soft.
Saute Morels
Whisk eggs with 1 teaspoon water. Add salt, pepper and herbs. Add eggs to mushrooms and cook until eggs are to your liking.
Fork Lore 