Even though the days are still warm here, the evening has started cooling down pretty rapidly. I’ve started making some of our favorite cool weather meals. Last night I made what I call Tin Can Stew, aptly named by the fact that it uses vegetable from tin cans. For working women and busy mom’s, this is something that can be assembled in a hurry and left to simmer on the stove while their attention is diverted to the many other details that kids’ and the end of the day bring.
Tin Can Stew
1 pound of browned ground beef
1 29 oz. can of Veg-All Homestyle Large Cut vegetables
1 14 1/2 oz. can pea’s
1 14 1/2 oz. can green bean’s
1 15 oz. can whole corn
1 15 oz. can stewed tomatoes
1 8 oz. can tomato sauce
1 cup water
4 tablespoons Better Than Bullion Beef Base
In 4 quart dutch oven combine all ingredients except Better Than Bullion Beef Base. Bring to a simmer and add the Better Than Bullion Beef Base stirring until thoroughly dissolved. Let simmer uncovered for about 30 minutes. Makes approximately 4 quarts of soup.
Ground turkey can be substituted for the ground beef.
If fresh vegetable are substituted for the canned vegetables, allow for a long simmer time of about 1 hour.
Happy Eatin’ Y’all!
This is probably by far my favorite kitchen gadget. I’ve had it for 20+ years now and it still works great. If it ever wears out and I have to go back to boiling eggs the old fashioned way I’d be lost. Good thing I have the directions wrote down on how to boil them in a pan on the stove top.
It’s probably saved me from having to clean up exploded eggs several times because I have a tendency to forget about something boiling on the stove. With the egg cooker I fill it with water to the appropriate line, set in the rack, puncture the ends of my egg with the pin thingy that used to be a knob in the center of the rack, set the egg in the slot punctured side up, put the lid on, push the button to start it and wait for it to shut itself off when it’s done.
I don’t know what I’m going to do when it wears out because I haven’t seen one in any store in the last 10 years or so.
This recipe is one that I’ve used since my children were very small. Now that they are grown, any time we have a special occasion and I ask them if there is any thing specific they would like me to cook, this is what they ask for. It’s super easy and doesn’t take much effort or time but the results are oh so yummy.
Monkey Rolls
24 frozen dough balls (I use Rhodes)
shortening to grease bundt pan (non-stick sprays do not work as well and rolls will stick)
1 stick butter or margarine, melted (tub spreads have too much water and do not work well)
Grease bundt pan thoroughly. Place frozen dough balls in pan in layers. Place pan in warm spot covered with a dish towel and let sit until dough has risen to nearly the top of the pan.
Once dough has risen nearly to the top of the pan, place pan in preheated 350 degree oven for 15-20 minutes. Once rolls are browned to your liking, remove pan from oven and brush melted butter across tops of rolls then pour remaining butter on top of rolls so that it rolls down between the rolls and the inside of the bundt pan.
Place dinner plate on top of bundt pan, invert and shake rolls onto plate. Rolls will tear of in chunks. Lather with your favorite topping and enjoy.
Happy eatin’!
I’m sure you’ve seen the commercial for the Pasta Express. They really make it look easy to use on the commercial. I couldn’t wait to get my hands on one of these. I was able to find it at our local Wal-Mart for half the price as on TV. The only thing different was that the one sold on TV included a smaller version too.
You are suppose to be able to put your pasta in it, add boiling water and let it set for about 15 minutes. It’s suppose to save water and energy (whatever source for boiling water to cook the pasta) and time. What I found was that it took just about as much water, energy and time. By the time all was said and done, it was a just pain because of all the steps involved. Also another negative was that it is too tall to fit in the dishwasher.
In the end I’m just glad that I didn’t order the pricier version off TV. At least I saved half the cost plus the shipping and handling charge.
This is one of my favorite quick fix, dinner all in one dish meals. When my kids were young and I was working I could throw this together, put it in the oven and have almost an hour to get other things done.
Chicken, Broccoli & Rice Casserole
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 1/2 cups Minute rice (uncooked)
1 small can cream of chicken soup
1 small can cream of celery soup
1 #1 package frozen broccoli florets (broccoli cuts work well too)
2 cups water
Mortin’s Nature’s Seasoning to taste (Salt & pepper can be substituted)
In a 13″ x 9″ cake pan or casserole dish add rice & water. Stir in both cans of soup until smooth and no longer lumpy; stir in broccoli. Sprinkle both sides of each chicken breast with Nature’s Seasoning and place on top of broccoli/rice mixture. Put into preheated 350 degree oven for 45-60 minutes.
Happy eatin’!
Being down in my back and Hubby working out of town, I needed some comfort food today. Not just any comfort food, my favorite comfort food…German Chocolate cake.
I’ve found that the box cakes are usually just about as good as home made and oh so much easier and cheaper in the long run. With a German Chocolate cake the best part in my opinion is the icing and that’s where today recipe comes into play.
Granny’s Coconut Pecan Icing
1-14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk
3 egg yolks
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 cup butter or stick margarine
2 cups flaked coconut
1 cup chopped pecans or pecan halves (your preference)
In a heavy 2 qt. sauce pan combine milk, butter and egg yolks. Cook stirring constantly over medium heat until bubbly, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat, stir in vanilla, coconut and pecans. Allow to cool for 15 minutes before spreading on complete cooled cake.
I prefer to store my cake in the refrigerator but that’s just me; I like it cold but it isn’t necessary to do so.
Happy eatin’!
When Hubby and I first got married one of the things that he wanted me to cook for him was homemade biscuits. I had never made biscuits before, as far as I was concerned biscuits were something that you bought at the store in a can. However that just wasn’t the same for Hubby. In fact he told me that he knew how to make biscuits and when I learned how to make biscuits for him then he would make his biscuits for me.
Learning how to make biscuits from scratch was a struggle for me. I used Bisquick and several package mixes but they always came out heavy and hard as rocks. I got really discouraged and gave up, Hubby had to settle for 2nd best with frozen biscuits.
Then in early 2002 I was able to quit work and become a stay at home wife. With the realization that I had way to much time on my hands; I found that I needed to find something to do to occupy not only my hands but my mind too. That’s when I discovered that I really didn’t hate cooking as much as I always had thought I had.
One of the first things that I “tackled” was once again trying to learn how to make biscuits. I had the internet as a resource for finding the perfect recipe. What I discovered was that there wasn’t a perfect recipe, at least not one that was exactly what I was looking for. It did however give me a starting point to refine and define my own recipe. It’s taken me several years of trial and error but I finally came up with what Hubby and my grandchildren think are biscuits as good as any they have ever eaten. Oh, and as for Hubby making me biscuits, he didn’t know how to make them, that was just the ploy he used to goad me into learning how to make them….men, you can’t live with them and you can’t cut them up and use them as fish bait.
This recipe can be doubled but it is really hard to work with when doubled because of the size of the dough ball is really hard to knead; but it does freeze well. I’ve added the directions for freezing at the end of the recipe.
Granny’s Homemade Biscuits
2 cups all purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons sugar
1/4 cup butter or margarine
3/4 cup milk
Combine all dry ingredient and blend well with whisk. Cut in butter until resembles coarse bread crumbs. Stir in milk until all comes together to form a dough ball. Turn out dough ball onto a heavily floured surface (I use wax paper). Let set for a couple of minutes and then knead for about a minute and then re-flour surface and pat out to about 1/2″ thick. Cut biscuits with floured biscuit cutter and place into ungreased baking pan. Form remaining dough into ball and repeat until all dough made into biscuits. This recipe will make approximately 12 biscuits. Bake in 425-450 degree oven for 12-15 minutes. This recipe freeze well too. Just place your cut biscuits onto a cookie sheet lined with wax paper or parchment paper and place cookie sheet into freeze making sure to keep level. Once frozen remove and place into a freezer bag and place into freezer. When ready to use just follow baking directions and bake only the amount that you need, you do not have to bake all of them at one time.
Happy eatin’!
