Cinco de Mayo Egg Sandwich

Since I was a child, I’ve enjoyed a fried egg sandwich with salt, pepper and a bit of mustard on soft, white Wonder-type bread.  It’s even a good meal when I’m not feeling well if I omit the pepper and mustard.

I wanted to make an egg sandwich that was more substantial and put together a good one with a Mexican flair – just in time for Cinco de Mayo.  The cheese is available in my local grocery …

…and I enjoy the soft pretzel buns that my bakery carries.  Fry the egg the way you like it best – I like mine golden brown with the yolk fried hard.

CINCO DE MAYO EGG SANDWICH (makes one sandwich)

• 1 tsp. olive oil
• ¼ cup sliced red bell pepper
• ¼ cup sliced onion
• Salt/pepper
• 1 large soft bun
• 1 egg
• 1 oz. Mexican cheese in small slices
• Several cilantro leaves

In a small skillet over medium low heat, heat olive oil and add the red pepper and onion slices.

Sprinkle lightly with salt/pepper and cook, stirring frequently, until vegetables are tender.  Remove vegetables from skillet and place on the bottom half of the bun.

In the same skillet, break the egg, stir the yolk with a fork, and cook until yolk is set.

Turn egg and cook on the opposite side until lightly browned.

Place egg on top of vegetables and immediately place cheese slices on top of egg.  Add several cilantro leaves on top of cheese.

Place top of bun on sandwich and serve immediately.  Delicioso!

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Ham Hash Supper

This is an adaptation of a recipe my daughter sent me in 2006.  I changed it to make a smaller casserole and to use convenience foods like dried onions, pimientos and garlic in a jar so the meal could be put together quickly.  It makes  a very tasty and filling plateful of food.   Really good with leftover baked ham.

HAM HASH SUPPER

• 16 oz. frozen hash browns, thawed
• 1 cup cooked ham, chopped
• 2 Tblsp. minced dried onions
• 1 Tblsp. chopped pimiento
• 1 tsp. minced garlic
• 4 oz. cream cheese, cubed
• ¾ cup milk
• 1 Tblsp. spicy brown mustard

In a 9-inch casserole dish, combine hash browns, ham, dried onions, pimiento and garlic.

In a two-cup measure place cream cheese cubes, milk and mustard.  Microwave on high for two minutes until cheese is softened.  Whisk until smooth.

Pour sauce over ingredients in casserole and mix together.

Cover and bake @ 350 degrees F for 45 minutes.  Remove cover for the last 10 minutes to allow the top to brown.

I served some fresh cherry tomatoes with mine.  4-6 servings

Note:  Dish can be made ahead and refrigerated.  Bake for one hour @ 350 degrees F.

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Chicken Imperial

I found this recipe in an old Southern Living Dinner and Supper Cookbook.  I adapted the recipe to make a smaller amount and to omit some items I didn’t have on hand.  A note in my cooking journal says:  “First made 1/9/98 for Nancy and David (daughter and husband) – both loved this.  I especially liked it.”

Allow 2-3 hours to marinate the chicken.

CHICKEN IMPERIAL

• 2 chicken breast halves, boneless, skinless
• 1/4 cup dry sherry
• 1/2 cup breadcrumbs
• Dash of salt
• Grating of black pepper
• 3 Tblsp. grated Parmesan cheese
• ¼ cup slivered almonds
• 1/4 cup melted butter

Place chicken breasts in a glass bowl, pour sherry over, cover and marinate in the refrigerator  for 2-3 hours, turning occasionally.  Remove from marinade and pat dry.

Combine crumbs, salt/pepper, parmesan cheese and almonds.

Dip chicken in melted butter then place in bowl of coating mixture, pressing down on both sides.

Arrange in Pam-sprayed pie plate.

Bake uncovered  @ 350 degrees F for one hour.

2-4 servings

My daughter and I like small servings of meat or chicken, so I divided one breast between us and have one to put in the freezer for another day.  I served it with Yukon Gold potatoes which had been microwaved and then browned in butter along with some mixed vegetables with some added butter and a sprinkle of Goya Sazon seasoning for each dish.  We also had some cherry tomatoes and basil from my garden marinated in Italian dressing.  It was a good meal.

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The Perfect Summer Supper

I was just telling my daughter yesterday that I don’t have much interest in food – nothing tastes really good to me.  We have nice meals here at home and eat out twice a week, but lately nothing seems to appeal to me.

Then, this afternoon, we visited two of our local farm markets (Loveland, Ohio) and came home to a simple supper with no recipes that was the best thing I’ve tasted in months:  Bi-Color corn on the cob (my favorite), a wonderful artisan bread with a tomato and parmesan topping, and my favorite Indiana Melon (canteloupe). The sunflowers just added to the beauty of the meal.

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Cabbage, Noodles and Ham

This is a nice supper dish to make with leftover ham.  The recipe is adapted considerably from one in a cookbook called Quick Dishes for the Woman in a Hurry.

CABBAGE, NOODLES AND HAM

• 1 Tblsp. olive oil
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 4 cups shredded cabbage
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• Grinding of black pepper
• 1 cup chopped cooked ham
• 2 cups dry egg noodles, cooked and drained
• 2 Tblsp. butter
• 2 cups dry bread crumbs
• 1/2 cup sour cream

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Butter a 9×9 pan.

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium low heat; add onion and saute until soft.  Add cabbage and cook until tender, turning periodically.  A small amount of oil may be added if mixture starts to stick to the pan.  The time will depend on the type of cabbage – cook until it is tender.  Stir in the salt and pepper, the ham, and  the drained noodles.

Pour into buttered 9×9 baking dish.

In a small skillet, melt the butter and toss the crumbs lightly.  Sprinkle the crumbs on top of the noodle mixture.

Bake @ 350 degrees F for 20-25 minutes until crumbs are light brown.  Serve with a dollop of sour cream.

4-6 servings

I have a note in my recipe binder, “First made July, 1994.  Excellent.  Adding ham was my idea.  David and I both loved it.”

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Easy Beef, Rice and Beans

This is an easy, satisfying dish that I first put together a few years ago, using a package of flavored rice mix.  This time I used Knorr Cajun Sides Garlic Butter Rice mix, but any kind would do.

EASY BEEF, RICE AND BEANS

• 5-6 oz package of flavored rice mix
• 2 cups water
• 1/2 lb. round or chuck steak, baked, cut into cubes*
• 1/2 cup hominy, drained
• 1/2 cup black beans, drained
• 1/2 cup diced tomatoes with juice
• Grating of black pepper
• 1-1/2 tsp ground cumin

In a large skillet, cook the rice mix and water, bringing to a boil.  Lower heat, cover and simmer from 5-7 minutes according to package directions until rice is tender.

*I had baked the chuck/round steak earlier in the day, covered, for about 2 hours in a 300 degree oven. I used half of the cooked beef in this dish and put the remainder in the freezer for another night’s supper.

Add remaining ingredients, mixing well, and let simmer for 20 minutes until everything is piping hot.

Yield:  4 servings

I have a note in my recipe binder:  “2/18/03 – very good – David (my husband) took seconds.”

For dessert, I fixed an old favorite - Grandma Martha’s Banana Pudding.

It was a nice weekday supper.

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Irish Lemon and Blackberry Sponge Pudding

My oldest daughter made several trips to Ireland and always brought back an Irish cookbook for me.   In May of 1987, she brought home a copy of Irish Country Kitchen and on June 17, I made this wonderful sponge pudding for the first time.  We were living then in rural Blue Jay, Ohio, on the Indiana border, and every day I went to our back yard and picked a big bucket of wild blackberries.  I made several kinds of pie, jam, jelly, preserves and was running out of ideas when I tried this recipe.  It took a little adapting because of conversions and size of baking pans, but became a favorite.

This is a simple, light dessert of blackberries with a light sponge cake on top – just right for a summertime meal.

IRISH LEMON AND BLACKBERRY SPONGE PUDDING

• 2 cups fresh blackberries*
• 2 Tblsp. butter, softened
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar, divided
• 1 Tblsp. fresh lemon juice
• 1 tsp. grated lemon peel
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 eggs, separated
• 1/2 cup milk

Preheat oven @ 350 degrees F

Have at hand 4 individual casserole dishes.  Mine measure 4-1/2″ diameter across the top and are 2″ deep.

Have a large pan with sides in which you can bake the 4 casseroles.

Heat water for the pan in which casseroles are baked.

Place about 1/2 cup of blackberries on the bottom of each of four individual ungreased baking dishes and set aside.

With an electric mixer, cream the butter and 2 tablespoons of granulated sugar.  Add the lemon juice and lemon peel, beating to blend.

In a small bowl, mix together the remaining 2 tablespoons of granulated sugar and the flour.  In another container, mix the two egg yolks and milk.

Add the dry ingredients to the lemon mixture alternately with the egg mixture, beginning and ending with the dry.

In a separate bowl, beat egg whites until stiff but not dry.  Fold into the batter.

Pour the batter over the berries (about 1/2 cup per serving).

Place the puddings in a flat pan with sides holding 1″ of hot water.  Bake the puddings @ 350 degrees F for approximately 30-35 minutes until tops are golden brown and gentle pressure with a finger tip leaves no impression.

Carefully remove pans from hot water and place on a rack to cool.

*I can’t say whether frozen blackberries would work in this dish or not.  The original recipe called for fresh and that’s all I’ve ever used.

We like this dessert slightly warm or at room temperature.

We used to love this as our dessert after having a supper of a serving of meat and multiple servings of vegetables fresh from the garden (like new potatoes, peas, tomatoes, zucchini, green onions, leaf lettuce, radishes, etc.).

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Easy Curried Chicken with Apples

This is a tasty, easy casserole that combines chicken with apples and onions.  The recipe is adapted  from a cookbook called St. Louis Souvenirs.

EASY CURRIED CHICKEN WITH APPLES

• 1 medium tart apple, sliced thin
• 1 medium onion, sliced thin
• 2-3 tsp. olive oil
• 1 can cream of mushroom soup
• 3/4  cup undiluted evaporated milk
• 2 tsp. curry powder
• 2 chicken breast halves, roasted and cut into bite-sized pieces
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1/4 cup slivered almonds, toasted
• 2 cups cooked and seasoned rice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F

Saute apple and onion slices in olive oil in a large skillet until apple and onion are tender.

In a small bowl mix together the soup, evaporated milk and curry powder.  Mix together with the apple/onion slices.

Place cooked chicken in a large casserole dish and add apple/onion mixture, mixing well.

Bake uncovered @ 350 degrees F for 20 minutes until mixture is heated through and bubbling.

Serve over cooked rice and sprinkle with toasted almonds.

Yield:  4 servings

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Creamy Ham Tetrazzini

We had a delicious Honey Baked Spiral Ham for Easter and by the time I sent home slices with each family, I just had scraps to work with for tonight’s supper.  I turned to one of my favorite dishes, Creamy Ham Tetrazzini – easy to make, very tasty and very satisfying.

CREAMY HAM TETRAZZINI

• 1 Tblsp. olive oil
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 1/2 cup chopped sweet pepper (green, red or yellow)
• 3 large cloves of garlic, minced
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1-1/4 cups chicken broth
• 8 oz. pkg. cream cheese, softened
• 1 cup chopped cooked ham
• Grating of black pepper
• 1 oz. grated Parmesan cheese
• 6 oz. dry spaghetti or fettuccine

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F

In a large oven–proof skillet, heat the olive oil.  Add onion, sweet pepper and garlic – cook over medium low heat until vegetables are softened but not browned.  Sprinkle with salt.

In a two-cup glass measure, place 1-1/4 cups chicken broth and the cream cheese, cut into small cubes.  Heat in the microwave (or over low heat in a small saucepan) until broth is hot and cheese is melted.  Whisk mixture until smooth and pour into the skillet with the vegetables.  Add the chopped ham and grate black pepper over the top.  Sprinkle top with Parmesan cheese.

Bake uncovered  in a 350 degree F oven for 30 minutes.

While the ham mixture is baking, cook the pasta in boiling, salted water until al dente.  Serve the ham mixture over the cooked, drained spaghetti or fettuccine.  Makes 6 servings.

The better flavored the ham is, the better this dish will be.

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Beans and Dumplings – A Depression-Era Meal

One of my earliest memories is of sitting at a table with my mother, father and little sister.  We are in a one-room, second-floor flat on Elm Street in downtown Cincinnati in the mid-1930s.  All day, Mother has watched over a simmering pot of beans with a pig hock added for flavor.  My father has come in from his timekeeper job on the WPA and we are having about the cheapest supper possible in the midst of the Great Depression.  I have a plateful of beans and a tiny bit of the small amount of meat that is on a pig hock (my father gets the biggest portion of meat and my mother claims to love chewing around on the bone).  The beans are steaming and the teaspoon or so of meat is flavorful – I love it!  It was said in my family that you weren’t an Applegate if you didn’t love beans, so I guess I qualified as a full-fledged member of my father’s side of the family.

As time went on and my father moved to better jobs with the City of Cincinnati and then Dayton Acme (a World War II defense plant), there was more money in my mother’s food budget and she stopped using the mostly-fat pig hocks and either threw in a pork chop or two to cook with the beans or had crisp bacon or fried ham on the side.  This was the only time my father ate pork … along with his beans topped with chopped onion and a lot of black pepper.

By the time my future husband started coming to the house for meals, Mother had added a big cast iron skillet full of fried potatoes to the menu.  It was his favorite supper.  After we were married, I continued to have this meal one night a week.  Every time I hear the John Denver song, “Back Home Again” and the line about “supper on the stove” and the wife who felt the baby move, I think about my young husband coming home to an expectant wife in our little apartment with the windows all steamed up and a big white and red graniteware pot of beans simmering on the range.

My four children didn’t inherit their parents’ love of a bean supper and I got out of the habit of making it.  But now that I’m alone, I crave the beans of my childhood, especially in the fall and winter.  I make a healthier, easier version with a slow cooker.

GREAT NORTHERN CROCKPOT BEANS

• 1/2 lb. Great Northern dry beans
• 6 cups cold water*
• 1-1/2 tsp. ham flavored soup base (L. B. Jamison’s)
• Salt and pepper to taste

Place the dry beans cold water in the slow cooker.  *I use this amount of water to insure that I’ll have enough broth to make dumplings.  Cook on low overnight – approximately 8 hours.  Add the ham flavoring, then taste before adding salt and pepper.

I was the only one in the family who liked dumplings with my beans and I used to make a one-person serving.  This works very well for me now when I want to make a meal just for myself.

DUMPLINGS FOR ONE

• 1/4 cup of My Biscuit Mix**
• 1-1/2 Tblsp. (approx.) of cold water

In a small bowl, stir the biscuit mix and water together to make a thick, moist dough.

Heat about 1 cup of bean broth and 1 cup of beans in a small pot to boiling.  Drop the dough into the boiling mixture by the tablespoonful, making three dumplings.

Lower the heat to simmering, cover the pot and continue simmering for 10 minutes without lifting the lid.  Note:  The white and red graniteware lid is from my original 1952 set.

Serve immediately with chopped onion and a grating of black pepper.  A small serving of meat is good, but not necessary (to me, at least).  Today, I happened to be browning hot sausage to freeze for my Thanksgiving stuffing and kept back enough to make myself a small grilled patty.  It tasted wonderful.  This is truly my soul food.

**MY BISCUIT MIX

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 Tblsp. baking powder
• 1/3 cup vegetable shortening (Crisco)

Mix together the flour, salt and baking powder.  Cut in the vegetable shortening.  Store in a covered container in the refrigerator until ready to use.

This is good for making individual servings of biscuits, pancakes … and dumplings.

Recipe for Walt’s Polish Stuffing

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