John Steinbeck's Birthday

This week we honored John Steinbeck's birthday on February 27th. If you're not aware, John Steinbeck was the author of works such as Grapes of Wrath and Of Mice and Men. I read Grapes of Wrath several years ago, what do I remember about it? It took place during the Great Depression and it was quite depressing. Sorry, about the pun. It is a great learning opportunity to teach about great literature and a very difficult time of our history.


I found some great web sites discussing the life of those during that time period from the Business Insider, Great Depression Cooking, the Survival Mom. So, what did I gain? Based on the Business Insider's article, my mom still cooks in the same way as her parents did during the Depression. We ate cheap meals during the week, breakfast meals, tuna fish with cream of mushroom soup and peas over toast? Then we had the big roast beef and potatoes meal on Sunday. I also decided that I wouldn't subject my family to ketchup sandwiches.


I struggled with the menu until Thursday, when my oldest said, hobo pies. OK, not very politically correct. But regardless, this was the time of Hoovervilles and great homelessness. For the main course, I made Hobo Sacks and baked apples for dessert. 

The Hobo Sacks were OK, I made some with red potatoes, some with sweet potato, and some with french fries. They were OK. I seasoned the hamburgs, but could have added more seasoning. As with many foods that are cooked together, it all seemed to have the same flavor. On the plus side, it was easy both cooking and cleanup.


The baked apples, have a lot of recipes out there. It can be more updated with the things that you put in it. It's basically a cored apple, stuffed with yummy stuff and baked in the oven. I put brown sugar, cinnamon, and butter; some had raisins in it. I used two types of apples, Fiji and Macintosh. I'm not sure these were the best choices. The Fiji apples were cooked a little less at the end on 20 minutes at 350 degrees. The Macintosh apples just fell apart. I'm not sure about the bottom of the core. If I completely cored it, it made it a hole through the apple. If you don't go all the way through, then there is still some core you need to deal with when you're eating it. I guess that is why when I fake them in the microwave, I just peel it and cut it up, add the toppings, nuke it, and call it a day. Modern toppings can be marshmallows, other dried fruit, caramel, oatmeal, granola, and nutmeg.

With that being said, movie choice any John Steinbeck film. The most popular, Grapes of Wrath.

Presidents Day

Finally getting to the end of the days and events backlog. So, I'm a few days late. Anyways, I found a great website that talks about foods that past presidents like to eat. There some that are pretty common knowledge or foods that we just relate to different presidents. These are cherries for Washington, peanuts for Carter, jelly beans for Regan, and definitely not broccoli for Bush Senior. But, we don't know much more beyond that so this website was pretty helpful.

The food I chose to make for this meal represent the first three presidents (George Washington, John Adams, and Thomas Jefferson) and Abraham Lincoln. It was his birthday this month.  John Adams tastes were really quite simple and was known for serving veal, bacon, and neck of mutton. So, we have bacon and why wouldn't one serve bacon if he had a chance. Did you know that Thomas Jefferson liked to travel and try new things? In fact, while in Holland, he had waffles for the first time. He liked them so much he bought a waffle maker and brought waffles to the U.S. Thanks Tom! What goes great with bacon? Waffles. Then we add some cherry sauce on top and now the first three presidents are represented. For dessert, find that Lincoln had fond memories of gingerbread. Now, the story refers to gingerbread men, but I can not bring myself to make them in February. So, I made a spicy gingerbread to try something new.

Let's talk the recipes. Bacon is bacon. I did follow the advice on one web page for making the perfect bacon in the oven. I am picky about my bacon, crisp but not burnt. I baked it on a sheet at 375, turning at 15 minutes and leaving it for another 15 as instructed. It took longer for my liking. I do NOT like undercooked bacon.

For the waffles, I had some expired half and half in the fridge and decided to try a Classic Buttermilk Waffle. As a disclaimer, I must add that I do have issues with waffle makers. My first waffle in any batch always turns out as a scrambled waffle sticking to the iron. Not sure if it's not hot enough, greased enough, or just not cooked long enough. Suggestions? The recipe turned out tasting good. I did add additional flour, because it seemed thin. I really need to spend sometime analyzing the flavor and texture while I'm eating it to give a better review. Please forgive me. I'm new at this.

Tart Cherry Sauce

I tried two cherry sauce recipes, one using tart cherry and the other using sweet. I must say the Tart Cherry Sauce did taste better to me than the Sweet Cherry Sauce. In the end my family was in different to both saying that they were OK. It had either to do with the brandy that was added or that were just used to what came in a can. But hey, I'm stretching my skill base either way. The sauce using the tart cherries, I didn't have any orange liquor; I used some zest of orange and brandy. The sauce thickened up nicely and was fairly easy. The sauce using the sweet cherries didn't go as well. The directions were not clear as to when to add ingredients. It included salt, which I skipped, because I really didn't see the need. It said to toss cherries in salt and then cook down. It didn't tell me when to add anything else until a small amount of cornstarch which I increased when the mixture wasn't thickening, because the directions weren't complete, this is what I recommend:



Sweet Cherry Sauce

I left out the salt and added the sugar tossing the cherries in that. I would add a tablespoon of water and the brandy, then cook it down until cherries are soft and liquid. Mix a tablespoon of cornstarch and two tablespoons of water until the cornstarch is dissolved and add to the sauce for thickening purposes. Bring it to a boil and then simmer until thickened. You can add more brandy and the lemon juice if you feel it is needed.

As I said previously, I made Spicy Gingerbread for dessert. I have never made one before, so for my recipe I went into my archives of cookbooks. I don't know about you, but I love cookbooks. Not that I make every recipe in them, but I just love to look at them and imagine. I might even get this from my mom. My mom loves to go to this thrift shop called Bibles for Mexico. I think that is where she picked this one up that she gave to me. It's The Good Housekeeping Cookbook, published in 1962 by the Harvest Corporation. I like old cookbooks, because they don't try to be highbrow. No strange ingredients that you can't find at the local grocery store. The Spicy Gingerbread recipe can be found on page 535, if you have the book in your possession. The recipe follows:

Spicy Gingerbread

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour1 cup molasses
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup shortening
1 egg
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon ginger
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cloves
1 cup boiling water


Early in the day (I love it, every recipe in this book starts this way.) Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour one 9-inch square cake pan. Into a large bowl, measure all ingredients; with mixer at low speed, beat until well mixed, constantly scraping bowl with rubber spatula. Beat at medium speed 3 minute, occasionally scraping bowl. Pour batter into pan and bake 55 to 60 minutes until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool cake in pan on wire rack. Makes 1 small cake.

The recipe goes on to recommends some frosting recipes, but I just sifted some powdered sugar on top and added whipped cream. This was different. It is NOT a sweet cake. It's not like any cake that I've made before. It has a very strong flavor, you can taste the molasses, ginger, and cloves. You definitely need the whipped topping on it. It was good and I may make it again. The thing is, if I made all of the desserts that I have in my dessert rotation, I would be making desserts more times a week than I care to count. Who's going to eat it all? I wouldn't be able to get out of the house due to the size of waste. I don't have time to workout to burn all the calories and make them.

Well, that's it for this week. I'm still thinking about next week. It's John Steinbeck's birthday and the foods from the Great Depression aren't all that inspiring. Mayonnaise sandwiches?

Oh hey, movie recommends: Lincoln, JFK, John Adams HBO miniseries, or All the Presidents Men. Less serious? Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Slayer, Air Force 1, Murder At 1600, or The American President just to name a few.

Mardi Gras runs into Valentines Day

Another busy weekend last weekend. With Mardi Gras and Valentines Day. I could not choose. So, I did another two theme weekend. For Mardi Gras, I made one of my favorites, Blackened Chicken (Yum!) with Butter Steamed Potatoes. I added a side salad to it. For dessert, I made Chocolate-filled Beignets.

"Blackened" refers to seasoning and a cooking process. I first had it while working at the Radisson in Kalamazoo, Michigan. I believe it was on Prime Rib. To blacken the chicken, I first dipped the chicken breast in melted in butter, then dipped in Cajun Blackening Seasoning. I make it in my cast iron skillet. Make sure it is really hot. Keep in mind that it is going to create a lot of smoke. I told my husband this to prepare him for the smoke and I obviously I didn't stress this fact enough. Just be prepared for the smoke alarms to go off. You're going to sear the chicken. If the chicken is thin enough it should only have to cook a few minutes on each side to cook. If the smoke alarms are driving you nuts with the smoke, you can sear it on all sides and finish cooking it in the oven.

For my side, I made Butter Steamed Potatoes. I've never made these before. They tasted really good, but I had to cook them for an hour instead of the 30 minutes the recipe called for. I thought that I cut them small enough, but apparently not.

For dessert, I made another new recipe, Chocolate-filled Beignets. My daughter loved these and probably had about a half dozen of them. My husband just said, ehh. You do want to make sure you cook them thoroughly. A few came out slightly doughy. The directions recommends using a candy thermometer to maintain at temp of 360 to 370 degrees. I used an electric deep fryer and new oil, but had some unpleasant surprise when biting in.

Movie choice: The Frog Princess

For Valentines Day, I went with a French theme. Chicken Cordon Bleu, with wild rice, a side salad and White Chocolate Mousse for dessert. I tried a new recipe for the chicken. I used my meat tenderizer to make the chicken thinner, put a slice of thinly sliced swiss cheese and lunch meat in the middle. I had two large chicken breasts that I cut up and got eight servings out of it. The recipe states to cook it for 30 minutes, but due to the thinner pieces of chicken I only needed to cook it for about 15 minutes. In the end it was moist and tasted fantastic.

The White Chocolate Mousse recipe is one that I have tried before. It has a very light flavor. I used Ghiradelli white chocolate chips and didn't have to chop up the white chocolate. I topped mine with some Godiva Chocolate liqueur. The recipe says six servings, I filled my ramekins a little fuller and made it four servings.

The movie we watched, a Meg Ryan classic, French Kiss.

Super Bowl

Sweet Potato Skins

Potato Skins

Nachos

Cocktail Weiners

The Super Bowl theme is the second theme for this weekend. It's one of my family's favorite because of the cocktail weiners and it's basically a junk food meal. I made the for mentioned cocktail weiners, potato skins and sweet potato skins (because I only had two potatoes left in the house), nachos and Hershey's Easy Pizza Brownie for dessert.

For the potato skins, I pre-baked the potatoes at 400 for an hour, cut them in quarters, coated them with olive oil, put them back in the oven for another 15 minutes, covered them with bacon and cheese and put them back in the oven to melt the cheese. With the sweet potatoes, I used butter, brown sugar, marshmallows.

The Cocktail Weiners are the very generic jar of grape jelly and bbq sauce with two packages of little smokies. I placed it all in the pot under medium heat for about a half hour.

Now the Nachos, I decided to try seasoning the ground beef from scratch instead of buying package seasoning. The Mexican seasoning that I used, was a little spicier than my wimpy taste buds are used to. It seemed a little dry (possibly because I used 96% fat free ground beef), so I added a can of diced tomatoes to the meet. I would have added some kidney beans to add some extra protein without the extra fat, but the fam isn't a fan of beans. The cheese sauce I made was also uninspired Valveeta cheese and salsa.

My favorite part of the meal is always dessert. I pulled one of my favorites, I think I pulled it from Hershey's web page years ago. I haven't been able to find it anywhere since.

Hershey's Easy Pizza Brownie

3/4 cup Butter or Margarine melted
1 1/2 cup Sugar
1 1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
3 eggs
1/2 cup Hershey's Cocoa
3/4 cup All-Purpose Flour
1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1/4 tsp Salt

Hershey's Pizza Brownie

1. Heat oven to 350 F. Grease 12" pizza pan or 13" x 9" baking pan. Make sure the pan has a lip or the dough ends up dripping all over the bottom of the oven (been there, done that).

2. Beat melted butter, sugar, vanilla, and eggs by hand. Add and mix in the dry ingredients. Spread into prepared pan.

3. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until the top springs back at touch. You can serve plain or sprinkle the hot brownie with topping of your choice. Nuts, Carmel, mini marshmallow bits, chocolate chips, candy bar bits, and the options go on and on.

I used, marshmallow bits, chocolate chips, and chocolate frosting. Then I turned it into a Sundae with ice cream and chocolate topping. Yum!

So, if you're not watching the Super Bowl, but feel like you should do football movie at least here are some football movie options: Wildcats (with Goldie Hawn), Blindside, or Remember the Titans. I'm sure there are many more.

Chinese New Year, Year of the Monkey

Lettuce Wraps, Beef Broccoli Stir Fry, and Egg Rolls

It was one of those weekends were there are two obvious themes. Both of which my husband claims as his favorite. Chinese New Year and Super Bowl. I think it is because it is one of the few times I'll go into all of the work and make egg rolls.

This years menu included, the before mentioned egg rolls, lettuce wraps, and a Beef Broccoli Stir Fry with rice. For dessert, bought fortune cookies. Someday, I may try to make my own, but with egg rolls, I wasn't feeling it. I did make Banana Monkey Bread for dessert also. Yes, I know not very Chinese, but hey it's the Year of the Monkey. So, what the heck, I went with it.

The Egg Roll recipe comes from my Better Homes and Garden cookbook 1989 edition (held together with a rubber band) pages 18 and 19. I've replaced the pork and shrimp with chicken, (I'm allergic shrimp and had some left over chicken that needed to be used up).

8 egg roll skins
1 1/2 cup finely chopped chicken
1/2 cup finely chopped sprouts
1/2 cup finely chopped fresh mushrooms
1/4 cup finely chopped green onion
2 Tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp of ground ginger

Mix it together, place a 1/4 cup in each egg roll skin just below the center of the skin. fold the nearest corner over the filling and tuck corner under the filling. Fold in the side corners over the top just as you would making an envelope. Roll up toward the remaining corner. Add a little moister to the corner to seal.  Deep fry for 2 - 3 minutes until golden and drain on paper towels. You can keep them warm in a 300 degree oven. Enjoy warm dipping them in your favorite sauce.

Wrap Sauce

For the Lettuce Wraps, I purchased Lee Kum Kee Sauce for Lettuce Wraps, adding the 1 1b of ground chicken, 1/4 cup chopped peanuts, 1/2 cup chopped carrots, and 4 sliced scallions recommended on the back. I used regular iceberg lettuce leaves to wrap it in. I know it's cheating, but when I looked at the from scratch ingredients, it included items that I wasn't even sure where to find and probably wouldn't ever use otherwise. So, hey.

I tried new recipe for the Beef Broccoli Stir Fry. It was alright. I used Sherry instead of the water and marinated the beef for most of the day with the rest of the ingredients. I did this, because I have been having the hardest time with the beef in the stir fry being tough. I also, tenderized the beef before marinating it. It seemed to help.

Banana Monkey Bread

Now for the Banana Monkey Bread, this turned out really well. We pretty much finished it off between the three of us in three days. I chose banana for selfish reasons, I have too many of them in my freezer. I didn't do the Nutella, it's just not something I keep on hand. I used chocolate frosting on top instead and added chocolate chips in the layers of dough in the bunt pan. Also, added more butter and brown sugar to it also. I hate dry cinnamon rolls. I really didn't need to because in the end they were almost too moist. My daughter did ask me if I was going to make them again. It would have gone much easier, if I hadn't had to stop in the middle of doing the dough balls to clean up all of the sugar I dumped when the sugar contain slipped out of my fingers and went EVERYWHERE.

As for your family movie, these are easy, Mulan, or any of the Kung Fu Panda movies. 

January 30th, Feast of the Three Holy Fathers. Greece

Greek Salad, Greek Chicken, Baked Greek Fries, and Greek Saganaki

A Greek holiday, also called Feast of the Three Holy Fathers. The link below can give you more information.
 http://www.goarch.org/special/threehierarchs/index_html

Since, I was unable to find anything to show foods for this holiday, I just made a Greek menu of Greek Chicken, Baked Greek Fries, Greek Salad, Greek Saganaki, and Greek Lemon Cake.

The Greek Chicken was OK, but probably not the recipes fault. I only marinated it for seven hours instead of eight and I think I over cooked it. With all of the juices around it in the pan, one would not think it would be dry. The recipe stated to grill it, but winter in Michigan not prime grilling. Several reviews said to bake it which I did, but probably too long.

 Greek Salad,  you can't really mess up. It was fine, we didn't add the olives. Just not olive eaters.

The Baked Greek Fries, were good. Basically roasted potatoes, so again, how can I go wrong.

The truly new food for me in this endeavor was the Greek Sanganaki. This is basically like fried cheese using Feta. The recipe has you dipping it in egg and flour and then frying in olive oil. If I were to do it again, I would use some bread crumbs instead of the flour. The breading didn't stick to the cheese very well. 

Greek Lemon Cake

As for dessert, Greek Lemon Cake is a bunt cake. It had good flavor; but as many of the reviews stated it could have used more lemon flavor. It probably could have used some sort of lemon or sauce on it.

I would love to hear your thoughts and inputs. Your own Greek recipes.

Recommended movie, "My Big Fat Greek Wedding," "My Life in Ruins," or "Hercules."