Frog-eye Salad

Weird name. Yummy salad.

Start with one cup Acini Di Pepe macaroni: Bring 6 cups water to a rapid boil in 3 quart saucepan. Add 2 teaspoons salt. Slowly add 1 cup Acini Di Pepe. Return to rapid boil, stirring to separate. Boil only 2 minutes. Cover and remove from heat. Let stand 6 to 8 minutes. Drain immediately and rinse with cold water to chill.

3/4 c. sugar
2 tbsp. flour
1/2 tsp. salt
2/3 c. pineapple juice (from canned pineapple shown below)
2 eggs, beaten
1 tsp. lemon juice

In small saucepan, mix sugar, flour and salt; stir in pineapple juice and egg. Cook over moderate heat, stirring constantly until thickened (or cook in microwave). Add lemon juice, set aside and cool.

Combine cooked, cooled mixture with cooled Acini Di Pepe. Cover, place in refrigerator until chilled. Add the following:

2 cans (11 oz. each) mandarin oranges, drained
1 can (20 oz.) pineapple tidbits, drained
1 can crushed pineapple, drained
1 carton (8 oz.) dairy whipped topping
1 c. miniature marshmallows

Stir lightly. Chill at least 1 hour before serving.

Apricot Chicken

This is so easy, and the flavor is delicious.

1 fryer, cut up (or use thighs, boneless breast, whatever)
cooking oil to cover bottom of pan
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
12 oz. jar apricot preserves
2 teaspoons soy sauce
1/4 cup sliced almonds (toasted or not)

Brown chicken pieces in oil; add salt and pepper. Cover and simmer for 30 minutes, turning chicken frequently. Combine soy sauce and preserves; pour over chicken. Continue to simmer for another 5 to 8 minutes. Sprinkle with almonds. Serve with rice. Makes 4 servings.

Reuben Casserole

It's like a big Reuben sandwich in a baking dish. There are never leftovers when I take this dish to a pot-luck.

1 (32oz.) bag sauerkraut, very well drained
1 pound deli-style corned beef, chopped
1/2 (8 oz.) bottle Thousand Island dressing
1 pound shredded Swiss cheese
12 slices buttered rye bread, cut into 1 inch pieces

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In the bottom of a 13 x 9 x 2 inch casserole, layer the sauerkraut (you may need to squeeze it dry with your hands), corned beef, dressing, and cheese. Top with the buttered rye bread cubes. Bake, uncovered, for 45 minutes. Let cool slightly to set before serving. Serve with extra Thousand Island dressing, if preferred. I'm not sure how many servings this makes, because everyone goes back for more.

Lemon Cream Chicken

When you read the list of ingredients for this dish, you may think it seems too rich, with the 4 tablespoons of butter, the cup of heavy cream. Hey, indulge! (Just don't indulge too often.) The sauce you'll create is velvety and decadent. It's so good you'll want to put it on everything - veggies, fish, ice cream... well, maybe not ice cream. This is a simple to prepare, yet elegant meal. It's great to serve when you're wanting to impress someone.

1 cup plus 1 Tablespoon flour, divided
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
6 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
4 Tablespoons butter
1 cup chicken broth
1 cup heavy whipping cream, divided
3 Tablespoons lemon juice
8 oz. mushrooms, sliced

In a large resealable plastic bag, combine 1 cup flour, salt and pepper. Add chicken and shake to coat. (if you'd rather not do the flour thing, just go ahead and brown the naked chicken. It's good that way as well.) In a large skillet, cook chicken in butter for 8-9 minutes on each side or until juices run clear. Remove chicken and keep warm.
Add broth to the drippings. Bring to a boil over medium heat; stir to loosen browned bits from pan. Simmer, uncovered, for 10 minutes or until broth is reduced to 1/3 cup (which will probably actually take more like 20 minutes). Stir in 3/4 cup of the cream, then the lemon juice and mushrooms (feel free to omit the mushrooms if you don't like them - it will taste fabulous anyway). Cook over medium-low heat for 5 minutes.
Combine remaining flour and cream until smooth; stir into skillet. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Return chicken to skillet and heat through. Serve over white rice. Don't count on having leftovers. You'll probably be licking the plate clean at the end of the meal. Yield: 6 servings.

Swedish Meatballs

This is probably not authentic, but it's pretty good anyway.

1 pound ground beef
1 egg
1/2 cup dry bread crumbs
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup chopped onion
2 teaspoons parsley flakes
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1 can condensed cream of mushroom soup

Combine ground beef, egg, onion, bread crumbs, 1/4 cup of the milk, parsley, salt, allspice, and pepper. Shape into about 30 meatballs. Brown meatballs in skillet; add soup and remaining milk, heat through. Serve over buttered noodles sprinkled with parsley. Serves 4 to 6

Hawaiian Ginger Beef

I got this recipe when I lived in Hawaii. You can use a cheaper cut of meat, you'll just need to simmer it longer.

1 1/2 pounds boneless sirloin, sliced into thin strips
1/4 cup beef stock
2 teaspoons dry sherry
1 1/2 Tablespoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon sugar
1 clove garlic, mashed
2 or 3 slices of fresh ginger root
3 green onions, diagonally sliced into 1/2" pieces
2 Tablespoons oil
1 Tablespoon each of cornstarch and water

Combine soy sauce, sherry, beef stock, and sugar; set aside. Heat oil in large frying pan; saute garlic and ginger for 1 minute. Add meat and onions to the pan and stir-fry over high heat. When meat is almost completely browned, pour in the soy sauce mixture; cover and simmer about 3 minutes. Mix cornstarch and water, gradually stir into the liquid in the pan. Cook until slightly thickened, stirring to coat meat. Remove ginger slices before serving. Serve with steamed rice. Makes 4 to 6 servings.

Pasta Carbanara

Pasta Carbanara

This is the French starving-student recipe that I lived on when I was in France. We must have had this at least once a week. It's kind of backwards in the sense that I can usually take a complex, healthy recipe and turn it into a quick, less healthy one; with this one, though, feel free to do the reverse. Use real onion instead of fried or dried. Tomato paste or sauce instead of ketchup. Milk instead of cream? No, maybe not. But really. The possibilities are endless.

Ingredients:

• As much bacon as you want, cut into small pieces.
• About 3/4 cup heavy cream
  
• Ketchup
• Soy sauce
• Cayenne pepper
  
• Onion in some form
• White wine
• Flour for thickening
• Pepper

Cook down the bacon and get rid of most of the grease. If you're using fresh onion, add it now and cook until tender. Dump in the cream, then a few squirts of ketchup, a dash of cayenne pepper, and a splash of soy sauce, as well as the dried or fried onion if you're using that instead. I usually heat the white wine in the microwave and use it to make a paste with a couple tbsp of flour, then dump that in. Season with pepper. You probably won't need salt.

Serve over the pasta that you didn't forget to make (you wouldn't do that, would you?) and enjoy.

Galettes Bretonnes

Okay ladies and gentlemen, in honor of my upcoming séjour in France, here is the recipe for true Brittany crêpes, personally translated (and units converted) from the best and most authentic recipe on the French internets.

Ingredients:

2 eggs
1 1/4 cups buckwheat flour
1 1/4 cups whole milk, cold
2 tbps sunflower oil (it doesn't exist, really. Just use olive oil or whatever.)
1/2 sachet of baking powder. No, I don't know what a sachet is. Just add what seems right.
Salt
Pepper

Add the flour, milk, salt and pepper in a medium or large bowl. Dig a little hole in the middle and break your eggs into it. Carefully mix together with a whisk and add the oil a little at a time, then the cold milk.

Let it sit for at least 30 minutes, unrefrigerated. Or you can leave it your fridge for several hours, whatever works best.

Then, the fun part. Heat up a 12-inch nonstick pan and add some butter or additional oil. Then scoop up a ladle-full of batter and play French chef by gracefully pouring it into the pan with one hand while using the other hand to briskly swirl the pan and distribute the batter. It should coat the entire pan with a very thin layer, and if you do it like I do then it will get splotchy and gunky and you'll freak out and think it's all ruined. It isn't. Just wait and pretty soon you'll start to get really excited when you realize it actually resembles a true Bretagne crêpe. That is, if you've ever seen one.

Lay them out on plates or cooling racks until the last of the batter is used up. Then (the other fun part), add whatever ingredients you want to the middle, fold them over or roll them up, reheat them briefly in the skillet, and serve. This recipe works for both sweet and savory, so feel free to get creative. But don't use American cheese, because that's just sacrilege.

Sweet & Sour Beef Stew

The name is misleading - this dish is not Asian... or even German. The sauce tastes more like a mild barbecue sauce... so I guess it's a dish of the American West! Yeah, lets go with that! It's an old Betty Crocker Recipe and it's definitely worth a try.

1 1/2 pounds beef stew meat, cubed
2 Tablespoons cooking oil
1 cup carrot, thinly sliced or chopped
1 cup onion, thinly sliced
1 (8 oz.) can tomato sauce
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup vinegar
1 Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1/2 cup water
1 teaspoon salt
4 teaspoons corn starch
1/4 cup cold water
hot cooked noodles
Poppy seed (optional)

Brown meat in hot oil. Add next 8 ingredients. Cover and cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, for about two hours, or until meat is tender. (you may need to add a bit of water if it seems to be cooking down too much.) Combine cornstarch with cold water; add to beef mixture. Cook and stir until thickened and bubbly. Serve over noodles garnished with poppy seed. (more often than not, I am out of poppy seed; the dish is fine without them.) This recipe is easy to adapt to the Crock Pot. You'll want to use a bit less carrot and onion. It serves approximately four people.

Butter Pecan Fudge

I have been wanting to share this recipe for quite some time but had misplaced it. I found it today, tucked inside a book! This is delicious. Don't wait until Christmas to make it!

1/2 cup butter (no substitutes)
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups powdered sugar
1 cup pecan halves, toasted and coarsely chopped

In a large, heavy saucepan, combine the butter, sugars, cream, and salt. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Boil for five minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat; stir in vanilla. Stir in powdered sugar until smooth, then fold in pecans. Spread in buttered 8" square pan. Cool to room temperature. Cut into 1" squares. Store in an airtight container in refrigerator.

Potato and Chicken Soup

My friend Barb gave me this little recipe many years ago. It has been a family favorite ever since.


4 slices bacon, diced
1/2 cup chopped fresh onion
1 1/2 cup cubed potatoes
1 cup water
2 cans cream of chicken soup, undiluted
1 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 pat butter

Place bacon in saucepan and cook until crisp. Remove bacon, retain 2 tablespoons bacon fat and pour off remainder. Saute onions in bacon fat until tender. Add potatoes and water. Cook until potatoes are tender. Add soup, milk, bacon, salt, and butter. Heat to blend flavors.

Mexi-corn Dip

This rich, festive dip is sure to become a hit! This recipe comes from Susan. Thanks, sis.


1 can Mexi-corn, drained
1 cup mayonaisse
1 cup sour cream
10 ounces shredded cheddar cheese
1 to 2 cans chopped green chilies (you may use jalapenos)
1 small jar pimentoes, drained and chopped
1/2 to 1 teaspoon garlic powder
salt to taste

Mix and chill. Goes well with tortilla chips.

Ruth's Romaine Salad

I got this recipe from Ruth Clark after she brought it to a luncheon at the library. Everyone liked this salad so well that we always asked her to bring it to library luncheons and pot-lucks. It has wonderful flavor combinations!


1 package romaine lettuce
1 cup shredded swiss cheese
1 cup cashew pieces
1/4 cup dried cranberries
1 pear, cored and cubed
1 apple, cored and cubed

Mix above ingredients together, then add the following dressing just before serving:

2/3 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup lemon juice
2 teaspoons dried onion flakes
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon poppy seed (optional)

Mix or shake well; chill until serving time.

Walnut Chicken

Here's one I cut out of a newspaper years ago. (from the Honolulu Star-Bulletin) It calls for 1/4 cup beer. Just drink the rest, or dump it out. Don't omit the beer, because it will not be the same without it.


1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup beer
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into 1-inch pieces
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup sliced green onions
1 clove garlic, minced
1 cup sliced fresh mushrooms
1 cup broken English walnuts

Combine soy sauce, beer, and ginger. Add chicken and marinate in refrigerator for at least 30 minutes. Heat the oil in a wok or skillet, add chicken and the soy mixture. Stir-fry until chicken is cooked and soy mixture begins to coat chicken (approximately 5 minutes). Add green onions, garlic, mushrooms, and walnuts. cook 3 minutes, tossing mixture with slotted spoon. Serve with rice. Makes about 4 servings.

Strawberry Pretzel Salad

If you haven't tried this, you must! I consider it to be more of a dessert, but it is a fun salad as well.


2 1/4 cups crushed pretzels
1/2 cup sugar, divided
3/4 cup melted butter or margarine
2 cups frozen dessert topping (Cool Whip)
1 (8 oz.) package cream cheese
1 (6 oz.) package strawberry gelatin mix
2 cups boiling water
1 (10 oz.) packages frozen strawberries, partially thawed

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix pretzels with 1/4 cup sugar and melted butter. Press into 13 x 9 inch pan. Bake 10 minutes. Cool; set aside. Beat together 1/4 cup sugar, frozen topping, and cream cheese. Sread over pretzel crust. Cool until firm in refrigerator. Dissolve gelatin in boiling water, add strawberries with juice. Pour over cream cheese mixture. Refrigerate until firm. Cut into squares.

Georgia Cracker Salad

This is another recipe from Paula Deen. It sounded so strange to me that I had to try it. It is best when made with garden-fresh tomatoes, so I only make it in the summertime! It MUST be served immediately after stirring in the crackers, or it becomes soggy.


1 sleeve saltine crackers
1 large tomato, finely chopped
3 green onions, finely chopped
1 1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 hard-boiled egg, finely chopped

Crush crackers. Mix with other ingredients and serve immediately. Serves 6

Ultimate Steakhouse Burger

This really is the ultimate burger! This recipe comes from "Cook's Country" magazine in answer to a reader's request for a burger that is charred and crusty on the outside, moist and juicy on the inside. It will seem like a strange combination of ingredients, but that's what makes these burgers so special. We don't have them often because they are definitely not low-calorie.


grease from 8 strips of crisply fried bacon
1 - 2 slices white sandwich bread, crusts removed and discarded, cubed
1/4 cup milk
1 1/2 pounds ground beef (85-90% lean)
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
2 large garlic cloves, very finely minced

Spoon 3 tablespoons of the bacon fat into a small heatproof bowl and refrigerate while preparing the other ingredients. You may use the cooked bacon in another recipe or serve it atop the burgers. (I usually use the bacon in a salad or something, because the burgers are so good they don't need the bacon.) Place the bread cubes in a small bowl, add the milk, and let mixture sit for about 5 minutes. Using fork, mash bread and milk until it forms a smooth paste. Break up the beef into small pieces in a medium bowl. Season with salt and pepper, then add garlic, bread paste, and reserved bacon fat. Using fork or hands, lightly knead together so that ingredients are well incorporated. Do not overwork the meat or the burgers will be tough. Divide meat into 4 equal portions. Using hands, toss each portion of meat back and forth to form a loose ball, then gently flatten to a 3/4-inch patty. Grill over very hot coals, without pressing down on them, until well seared on both sides and cooked to your preference.

Corn Supreme

This is a great dish to take to a potluck or holiday dinner because it's very rich and makes a lot. I got this recipe from Kathryn Compton after she brought it to a Friends of the Library dinner.

1 can whole kernel corn
2 eggs, beaten
1 pint sour cream
1 can creamed corn, undrained
2 sticks butter or margarine
2 boxes Jiffy cornbread mix

Grease a 10 x 15 inch baking dish. Mix all ingredients, pour into baking dish, and bake 350 degrees for 45 minutes to 1 hour.