You Asked For It

I have added a button at the bottom of each post so that the receipes are now able to be printed. Leave me feedback as how this works for you, just keep in mind that your printer settings can affect the way that the receipes print out.

White Gravy

When I was a kid growing up we knew white gravy as cream gravy.  I ask for cream gravy in a restaurant now and they look at me like I’m crazy and don’t know what I’m talking about.  I think it has something to do with being raised by my single parent dad who was old enough to be my grandfather when I was born (he was 42).  He lived on a farm as a young man raising his first family (in the 1930’s) and I think back then they called it cream gravy because they used fresh milk straight out of the cow.

I’ve experimented with different types of milk and the type of milk you use does indeed make a difference flavor wise.  It also makes a difference calorie wise too.  My late husband and I preferred our white gravy made with half and half.  It’s just richer tasting than gravy made with whole or any other reduced fat milk.  I never tried to make it with cream, we like gravy but at $4 a half-pint for cream we just weren’t willing to try it.  Also, half and half gives it a richer taste and smoother texture.

A good rule of thumb for making white gravy is for every cup of liquid you use 1 tablespoons of flour and 1 tablespoon of oil.  If you like your gravy thicker increase your flour slightly, if you like your gravy thinner increase you milk slightly.  This is the recipe for how we preferred our gravy, some people like it on the thin side but we preferred a gravy that was “gonna stick to your ribs”.

Some so called experts say that you have to use a whisk to keep gravy from forming lumps.  I’ve never used a whisk to make gravy, I was taught to use a tablespoon and to make sure that I kept stirring.  The only time my gravy comes out lumpy is if I have to walk off from stirring it while I’m cooking it.  So, I say just use what you are comfortable using.  Hubby used a fork, his mother used a slotted spoon.  There isn’t one way that is absolutely better than the other.  What is best is whatever works for you.

WHITE GRAVY

2 cups half and half

3 tablespoons flour

2 tablespoons oil

Salt to taste

Black Pepper

Measure oil into cold skillet (sauce pans can be used but take longer due to the increased depth).  Add flour and stir until completely dissolved (flour not being completely dissolved can cause lumps), add salt.   You can add a tab bit more oil if you need to do so to dissolve your flour, just go easy as you do it because a little drip goes a long ways.  Pour milk into flour/oil mixture and place skillet onto stove burner.  Cook over medium heat making sure you continue to stir until gravy boils into bubbles that you can’t stir out.  Failure to constantly stir will cause lumps.  Remove from heat and pour up into serving bowl and serve.  Adding pepper after your gravy is done cooking helps from turning the gravy an off white or grayish color. Gravy will thicken upon standing so you might want to take that into consideration too.

Homemade Baking Powder

Homemade Baking Powder

2 teaspoons cream of tartar

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon cornstarch

Mix together, store in refrigerator. Can be multiplied to make larger quantity.

Makes 4 teaspoons of baking powder.

Printing Recipes From This Site

I had a comment the other day from a man who suggested that I make this site where you could just click and print the recipe without having to get the pages of comments along with it.  Sounds like a good idea but not possible and I’ll explain why.

First of all this is a recreational recipe site not a professional recipe website that has money backing it and everything it does.  It is hosted on WordPress.com which hosts the site for free and which I use their free blogging soft ware to publish my recipes and pictures.  The key word to all of this is free.  It would be nice if I had the money to make the site easier to use but since my husband passed away from Lung Cancer in August I have no income and am existing by the benevolence of my son and daughter-in-law.   I live with them and my 5 year old grandson.  I earn my keep by doing the housework, cooking, cleaning, laundry and babysitting my grandson while they work. 

I do however have a suggestion that could eliminate the problem with printing the recipe without having to print the comments.  I use this solution all the time on websites that I can actually print from but prefer to do it this way because it eliminates some of the garbage that I don’t want to waste ink and paper on. 

Simply copy and paste to a document in a word processing program.  There is a free program available if you do not have a word processing program, in fact I use it all the time.  It is Open Office and you can obtain it here or you can visit http://www.openoffice.org if you don’t want to click on the link.  Not only will that solve the problem but you can adjust the font type and size more to your liking which is especially nice if you prefer to have larger print.

So Jim I hope that solves the problem for you.  I appreciate every one who takes the time to leave a comment, especially after you’ve tried one of my recipes (whether you like the recipe or not).  I realize that not everyone is going to like my recipes, but that is alright, that is why God made us all different. 

Tuna Noodle Casserole

Tuna casserole gets a bad rap, hardly anyone likes it, except at our house we love it. 

Tuna Noodle Casserole

1 1/2 cups wide egg noodles
1 can cream of celery soup
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can mixed vegetables
2 can tuna (drain off water or oil)
12 saltine crackers
1/2 stick melted margarine

Cook noodles until not quite done.  In 1 1/2 quart casserole dish mix tuna, mixed vegetables, both soups and cooked noodles.  Crush crackers and mix with melted margarine; sprinkle on top of casserole.  Place in preheated 350 degree oven and bake for 40-45 minutes.  When casserole is finished remove from oven and let stand for 5 minutes and serve. 

Feeds 4 healthy appetites or 6 normal appetites.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

I’ve always hated making chocolate chip cookies until I got the idea to use pre-creamed shortening.  It just makes putting the recipe together so much easier and you don’t have to use a mixer.  I usually just use a fork to mix it all up.  This recipe works well for other types of baking chips such as butterscotch, chocolate mint, etc.  This is what the finished product should look like using mint chocolate chips:

Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 c. pre-creamed shortening
1/2 c. white sugar
1 c. (packed) brown sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
2 eggs
2 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 bag chocolate chips

Preheat over to 350 degree’s fahrenheit.  Cream together shortening, white sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla.  Add eggs and blend well then set aside.  In large mixing bowl add flour, baking powder, and salt.  Whisk dry ingredients until well blended; add cream mixture and blend well.  Add chocolate chips and mix well.  Drop by teaspoon full on ungreased cookie sheet.  Bake for 14 minutes.  Remove from oven and let cool for a few minutes then remove from cookie sheet and place on cooling racks and cool completely.  Once completely cooled store in air tight container.

Back To Business

It’s been a while since I’ve updated this here old recipe blog.  It’s been a busy year this past year and although that might just sound like an excuse to some, it’s been more in depth than just busy.

From January 4, 2009 to August 26, 2009 I was my husbands caregiver while he put up the fight of his life battling lung cancer.  Sadly he lost his battle on August 26, 2009.  While I haven’t been busy for the last seven months, I just haven’t had the, for lack of a better word, gumption to even mess with recipes to post here. 

Grief is a very subjective thing.  Everyone handles it differently.  In reality I started grieving the day that my husband was diagnosed.  His doctor was very upfront with us and let us know what to expect and just how much time he had left.  The prognosis was not at all good.  The reality of the situation was that with or without treatment he was looking at six to nine months and in the end he lived for seven months and 22 days.  Pretty much in the middle of the prognosis.  He had always said that he would NEVER do chemo but when it came down to it and with reality hitting him in the face, he chose to do chemo.  He was not a candidate for radiation because his cancer was so extensive that they would have to radiate nearly all of his body. 

Anyway, got a little off track there.  The gist of what I’m trying to say is that I’m back and I hope to be posting more entries on a more regular basis.

Texas Chocolate Sheet Cake and Icing

When my kids were little this way their favorite cake.  I one point in my life I could make it from memory I had made it so many times.  The babies will be 30 in 20 more days and I have to admit that I can’t make it from memory any longer.

Since it’s made in a jelly roll pan it makes a fairly large cake.  It’s thin and almost brownie like but not as heavy or dense.  Once the icing is set, it almost tastes like chocolate fudge…yum yum!

Cake:
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup buttermilk
1 cup water
4 tablespoons cocoa
1 stick oleo (do not use tub spread as it contains too much water)
1/2 cup shortening
1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Grease and flour jelly roll pan  (approx. 17″ X 13″) thoroughly.
In a sauce pan, combine water, oleo and shortening.  Place on very low heat to melt.  When melted, add cocoa and vanilla and stir with whisk or fork to blend well.
In a medium bowl combine flour, sugar, baking soda, & cinnamon and blend with dry whisk.  Pour chocolate liquid mixture and buttermilk into dry ingredients; mix on medium speed with electric mixer just until blended.
Pour into prepared jelly roll pan and bake for 20 minutes.  Remove from oven and let cool for 15-20 minutes then ice with following icing recipe.

Icing:
1 stick oleo
4 tablespoons milk
4 tablespoons cocoa
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 box powdered sugar
Melt oleo and cocoa together; add milk.  Remove from heat and add vanilla.  Add sugar and mix on high speed until well blended.  Ice cake while still warm but not hot.

Lemon Meringue Pie

I made this pie this past weekend. It was delicious and we ate the whole thing in just a couple of days which is pretty unheard of around here. This recipe is only for the pie filling and I’ve got a link to my Meringue recipe at the end of the pie recipe.

Lemon Meringue Pie

1 1/4 cups sugar
1/3 cup cornstarch
1/8 teaspoon salt (omit if using butter with salt in it)
1 1/4 cups cold water
6 large egg yolks
3/4 cup lemon juice
2-3 teaspoons grated lemon zest (this is optional)
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 9″ deep dish pie crust, pre-baked and cooled. Whisk all ingredients, except butter in a small bowl. Transfer to a non-reactive sauce pan (no aluminum or copper). Bring mixture to a simmer over medium heat. Whisk constantly as thickens. Once thick, continue to stir and cook for about 3 more minutes. Remove from heat; add butter. Mix well and pour into cooled, baked crust.

Top with meringue and bake per meringue recipe instructions.

Meringue

Meringue has been one of the hardest things for me to learn how to make. One thing that I learned from personal experience is that the electric mixer does make a difference. I’m not talking brand of mixer but type. It has been my experience that a hand mixer did not have enough speed to whip the egg whites. You also do not want to use plastic or copper bowls for making meringue. Plastic holds oils which will cause your eggs whites to not whip up. Copper will turn your egg whites a yucky gray color because of the chemical reaction between the egg whites and the copper. A glass bowl is best and a stainless steal bowl is next best.

Since there as so many different types of pie requiring meringue, I’m going to post my meringue recipe first and will link back to it with each meringue pie I post there after. This meringue recipe is not a really sweet meringue and when whipped & browned just right makes a very beautiful pie topping.

Meringue

5 egg whites at room temperature-very important that they are at room temperature
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/4 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place eggs in bowl & beat on low until soft peaks form. Increase speed to medium & add tartar & salt. Add sugar a tablespoon at a time; beat just until stiff peaks form. Do not over beat. Spoon meringue over filling and spoon to edges making sure that it touches the crust all away around the pie. Place pie on rack in center of oven and bake until meringue is lightly browned; about 5-7 minutes. Do not allow meringue to over brown.