squash sautee

Ingredients:
summer squash
zucchini squash
butter
lemon juice
basil
salt and pepper



Thinly slice squashes.

Sautee in butter.

Add dash of lemon juice, basil, salt, and pepper.

Serve warm.

Yum!

deviled eggs

Ingredients:

1 dozen eggs
sliced dill pickles
mustard
horseradish
bacon (We like turkey bacon!)
pickles, chopped, with juice from jar


Hard boil the eggs. (Gently simmer 20 minutes.)

Shell eggs. (See very awesome oblong egg shelled below.)

















Slice each shelled egg in half lengthwise.

Take out egg yolks and put them in a separate bowl.

In the separate bowl, combine eggs yolks and all the ingredients listed above.

Fill egg white halves with yolk mixture.

Decorate with a bit of pickle, pimento, paprika, or olive.










Chill until time to serve.

Enjoy!

Heddy's frozen pumpkin pie

Delicious! The best tasting (and simplest to throw together) frozen pumpkin pie!

For 1 (* or maybe two) pie(s):

1/2 gallon New York vanilla ice cream
1 can pumpkin (normal size can)
1/2 cup brown sugar (to give that molasses-y flavor)
2 Tablespoons pumpkin pie seasoning
1 purchased graham cracker crust in a foil pan for one mountainous pie (*or divide this recipe between two graham cracker crusts for two prairie-style pies!)

First, take ice cream out of package and soften in a bowl until it can be stirred.

Stir in the canned pumpkin, pumpkin seasoning, and brown sugar.

Mix with a large spoon to the best of your ability without melting the ice cream entirely.

Put mixture in graham cracker crust.

Cover and freeze.

Enjoy!

egg in zucchini nest

Here's a fun dish --

5 servings

In one saucepan,

Hardboil 5 eggs.

• 
  

While the eggs are cooking, combine in a separate saucepan:

2 cups rice
2 zucchini squash, sliced
1 yellow summer squash, sliced
4 cups water
1 cup tomato juice
2 tablespoons butter

Cover and simmer until the liquid in absorbed and the rice is soft.

• 
  

Drain the hard boiled eggs.
Serve the rice and zucchini mixture into plate bowls.
On top of each "nest" of zucchini and rice, place an unshelled hard boiled egg.
(Put dishes for eggshells near diners' plates on the table so each diner can shell their own egg.)

***

Review:

4 forks -- good to eat and to generate conversation

enzymes make the difference

One area of remarkable advancement in the food industry is the use of enzymes to improve manufactures food products. Checking into the use of enzymes in cheddar cheese, one thing led to another and I eventually stumbled over Novozymes, a Danish company that researches, designs, and manufactures almost 50% of the enzymes added to food products worldwide.

In food manufacturing, enzymes are most often added to baked goods.

In the biofuels industry, enzymes are used to improve the efficiency of chemical conversion of raw materials to finished product. Novozymes is engaged in second generation biofuels research and application.

surprise pie

Last summer we put up lots and lots of gallons of sliced, fresh peaches from our peach tree.
Lots.

Today, I pulled the first gallon bag of frozen, sliced peaches from the freezer.
Surprise Pie was in my mind.

First, I peeled off the plastic bag and threw it out. (Microwaving plastic can release harmful chemicals into food, I understand.)

Then, I washed out the largest Pyrex bowl and placed the block of frozen sliced peaches in it.














Next I microwaved the peaches. For several minutes. Then several more minutes. Hmmmmmmm. Still frozen solid.

So I improvised an ice pick with a table knife and drove it with a wooden rolling pin as a mallet. Drove the table knife into the frozen fruit, . . . sort of, not really.

Kelly came to the rescue with a blow dryer.














After about ten minutes of serious blow drying, I could finally break the gallon of frozen peaches into smaller chunks. That was good enough to pile into pie tins lined with frozen pie crust.











After cooking about 14 minutes in the oven, the pie tins looked like they were about to overflow with excess pie liquid.

So we got out a large glass baking dish and turned the Surprise Pies upside down into it.

We made lunch, ate lunch, and cleaned up afterward while waiting for the Surprise Pie to finish cooking. About the time everyone else had forgotten about it, I remembered to glance in the oven. Looks good!











Baked at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 1 hour 40 minutes (or until the crust is brown and juice thickened.)

***

Review:

5 forks -- All the fun is in making the pie (actually, a peach cobbler in the end). Tastes good, too.

definitions: tried and true cooking

Now that plain cooking has a definition, we went back to define "tried and true" recipes.

My diners' definitions of "tried and true":

"Old standby recipe."

• 
  

"Something without salt added."

• 
  

"Something you've done before and everyone likes."

Glad I have the lingo down!

definitions: plain cooking

We had a delightful but oft-repeated entree today -- rice with chili beans. When I called it "plain food", my diners objected. Boo asked me to define "plain".

"Tried and true," I said.
"There is a difference between plain, and tried and true," said Boo.

***

So, what is plain cooking?

My diners said plain cooking is:

"Where the deer and the antelope play."

• 
  

"One vegetable and one salad on the plate."

• 
  

"Anything without salt added."

• 
  

"Something without color."

Do you agree?

deluxe mashed potatoes

Serves 10 people.

Peel and quarter:

• 8 lbs russet potatoes

Boil potatoes in very large pot until soft (at least an hour).

Mash with hand-held potato masher.

Add lots of butter (about two sticks). Or add one package cream cheese.

Add milk to make creamier, if desired.

Whip with hand-held or electric beater to desired consistency.

Fold in 1/3 cup chopped parsley or cilantro.

Season with salt and pepper to taste.

***

Review:

5 forks -- totally delicious!

simple baked squash

Serve 1 fresh acorn squash per every two diners.

• Wash and dry fresh acorn squash.

• Pierce skin of squash with fork.

• Place on foil-covered baking sheet.

• Bake at 350 degrees
  

until thoroughly cooked (at least 1 hour).

• Remove squash and baking sheet from oven.

• Cut each squash in half.

• Scoop out seeds.

• Season each half squash with butter and freshly ground pepper.

• Serve in-the-shell.

***

Review:

4 forks -- fun to eat!

baked salmon with fruit salad

Serves 6:

2 pounds fresh salmon fillets

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit
Place salmon fillets skin-down on foiled-covered baking sheet.
Bake for about 30 minutes, or until salmon fillets are pink and flake easily with a fork.
Remove from oven and serve with lemon wedges.


Fruit salad:

1 can pineapple slices, unsweetened
2 bananas

Layer a slice of canned unsweetened pineapple and fresh banana slices

***

Review:

5 forks for flavor and ease of preparation.

classic artichoke and dip

Serve one artichoke per diner.

Fill large pot with water.

Add artichokes and 1 Tbsp salt

Simmer until artichokes thoroughly cooked (about 1 hour).

Remove artichokes from water. Keep warm, if serving immediately. Otherwise, cover and chill in refrigerator.



Serve one custard cup of dip for every two diners:

In microwave, melt 1 Tbsp butter per custard cup.

Add a splash of lemon juice to each custard cup.


Serve and enjoy!

***

Review:

5 forks -- artichokes are always a hit around here!

pan-fried ham with celery and lime

Serves 6

Ingredients:

Precooked boneless ham, sliced into 6 very thin slices (about 1 ounce per slice)
1 stalk celery
1 fresh lime
vegetable oil to cover bottom of skillet

Chop and saute an entire stalk of celery in enough vegetable oil to cover the bottom of a large skillet.

Pile the sauteed celery on a large plate.

Next, quickly pan fry 6 thin slices of fully-cooked boneless ham.

Place each slice of ham on a dinner plate.

Top each ham slice with several very thin slices of fresh lime.

Serve accompanied by sauteed celery.

***

Review:

4 forks -- enjoyed by diners

mashed sweet carrots with pepper

Serves 6.

Boil in a generous amount of water:
1 lb carrots
2 low-salt beef boullion cubes (optional, may substitute 1 tsp salt)

When carrots are thoroughly cooked (about 40 minutes of simmering), remove from heat. Drain the water from the saucepan.


Mash the carrots with a hand-held potato masher.

Add:
1 Tbsp butter
1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper

***

Review:

4 forks -- tasted good, even to those who don't ordinarily like cooked carrots

**Good reviews for making the plate of food colorful.
(Maybe the bright orange carrot color was the reason every diner chose to eat the mashed sweet carrots first!)

orange rice

Serves 6.

Ingredients:
2 cups rice
4 cups water
1/4 tsp turmeric

Simmer until water completely absorbed and rice cooked thoroughly.

Gently stir in:

1 can mandarin orange slices

Sprinkle with cinnamon.

Bon appetit!

***

Reviews:

4 forks -- consensus after a little discussion among diners

***

Suggested (but untested) variations:

Variation 1:
To the original recipe above, add a zesty flavoring -- maybe cayenne pepper? Or Italian-style hot pepper flakes?

Variation 2:
Omit the cinnamon from original recipe.
Add cheddar cheese to hot, cooked rice and mandarin mixture.
Flavor with finely minced fresh dill

Variation 3:
Cook according to original recipe.
Add 1/2 tsp fresh mint leaves, chopped.
Chill in individual custard cups.
Invert rice from custard cups onto dessert plates.
Serve with dusting of raw sugar.