twice baked potatoes

No Photo. This recipe is posted at Kelly's request.

1 potato per person served
pot of leftover homestyle baked beans
shredded cheddar cheese

Bake the potatoes or microwave until cooked.

Place each potato on a plate.
Slice open.
Ladle hot baked beans over baked potato.
Sprinkle generously with shredded cheddar cheese.

Serve.

tossed salad

Classic tossed salad, full of healthful garden vegetables . . .

Mary's magnificent soup

This is a classic recipe, good as an entree, snack, hot or cold, dip, or topping over rice or noodles.

baked beans

Baked beans are quick to fix and greatly loved by the homeplace diners!

hummus

hummus is quick nd easy to make, if you have a blender at hand.

caramel rolls

Caramel rolls:

Start with one package Rhodes brand frozen caramel rolls . (Check out this link for information about Herbert C. Rhodes, the highly inventive founder of Rhodes Bake N Serv frozen bread.)

Before baking the frozen rolls, remove them from the pan.

Spread the prepackaged caramel on the bottom of the foil pan.

Sprinkle 1/2 cup chopped pecans on top of the caramel.

Arrange frozen rolls on top of the pecans and caramel.

Bake according to package directions.

Enjoy!

sweet potato pie

Sweet potato pie is delightfully easy to make and serves well -- warm or chilled.

Requires no extra sweetening, but . . . if you like sugar . . . maple syrup (or equivalent) can be added as topping.

I started with a recipe memorized from a cooking magazine -- maybe Rachel Ray's?

Ingredients:

4 pounds sweet potatoes
4 cups milk
6 eggs

Bake sweet potatoes in 350 degree Fahrenheit oven for and hour, or until done.

Take baked sweet potatoes out of oven and allow to cool (about 30 minutes).

Remove skins.

Mash the cooled, sweet potato pulp.

Mix in milk and eggs.

Season with cinnamon.

Pour into greased 11 x 17" baking dish

Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit until done -- about an hour.

Optional: After about 35 minutes of baking, place strips of refrigerator pie crust across top of pie. Return to oven and finish baking until pie is done and the crust is browned.

sauteed cucumbers in butter sauce

Cucumber saute ingredients:

oil
1 cucumber, sliced
lemon juice

Slice cucumber.
Saute in oil.
Splash lemon juice across the bottom of the skillet.
Simmer until cucumber slices tender.

Sauce:

Melt 1 and 1/2 sticks butter

Throw in:
2 tablespoons lemon pepper
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
2 teaspoons salt

Stir to mix.

Both the cucumber saute and the butter sauce go well over a pot of cooked pasta!

pickle and relish tray

****THIS IS COOK CREATIVE'S 100TH POST***



Buy pickles, olives, pepperocini -- anything you like from the pickle section of the store!

Add a dish or two of chutney or fruity relish for variety.

Arrange beautifully on a platter.

Serve with a tasty meal and enjoy!

cranberry orange relish

Side dish
Vegetarian

Serves 8-10



Ingredients:



1 bag fresh cranberries
2 tangerines or oranges
2 skinny slices tangerine/orange skin
1/2 cup raw sugar (or nearest equivalent)

In blender, chop all the ingredients.

Pour into attractive serving dish.

Great with roast turkey!

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!

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

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!

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!

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.

party food 1

Informal parties to celebrate small accomplishments make our daily life
incredibly rich.

Some of the items we served at this party included:

Easy sour cream vegetable dip with carrots:

• Mix one package Knorr Vegetable Soup mix with 16 ounces sour cream. Refrigerate overnight.
  

(By the way, Knorr brand is owned by Unilever, which has great recipes online!)

Pepperidge Farm Entertaining Quartet fancy crackers topped with:

• Havarti cheese,
  
• Swiss Lorraine cheese,
  
• dill pickles, and
  
• black olives.

(Pepperidge Farm was started by Margaret Rudkin during the Great Depression in response to her son's asthma and allergies. Pepperidge Farm brand is now owned by Campbell Soup.)

Pineapple slices with:

• a dab of sour cream and
  
• sprinkled with cinnamon.

For dessert, we served Happy Apples brand refrigerated caramel apples.

***
Review

5 forks

The food was great, of course! It was a party!

spaghetti squash veggie bar

A fun variation on the old-fashioned, salad bar theme ---

Four servings:

• Wash, pierce, and bake 2 whole spaghetti squashes on a cookie sheet in 350 degree Fahrenheit oven for 1 and 1/4 hours.

• Carefully remove cookie sheet with squashes from oven. Slice spaghetti squashes in half, lengthwise.

• Remove seeds from center of squash.

• Serve each warm squash half on a plate. Use a fork to turn the spaghetti squash out of the shells to make it look more like strands of spaghetti!
  

• Provide plenty of condiments to season the squash to each diner's taste.

For instance:

grated Parmesan cheese
salt
pepper
hot sauce
butter
cinnamon
raw sugar
grated nutmeg

***

Review:

3 forks for flavor
4 forks for fun

Garden Salad

Garden Salad was just the antidote for our diet on a long car trip! Boo and Guy pulled the dish together, artfully arranging the leaves of lettuce layered with bright, crunchy, fresh vegetables. Topped with a dash of raspberry vinegar, and grated Parmesan cheese, it was delightful to see and surprising to taste!


Recipe:

Shred some lettuce, or pour pre-cut lettuce from the plastic bag onto the salad plates or into a large salad bowl.

Top with a variety of sliced vegetables such as mushrooms, red peppers, cucumbers.

Add a couple of olives or banana peppers for variety.

Sprinkle lightly with raspberry vinegar.

Grate some fresh Parmesan cheese over the salad and serve.

Eat with pleasant conversation.



Review:

5 forks for healthy, colorful, tasty, and timely