Sara Jeanne’s version of the alleged Grandmother Mitchell’s oatmeal cookies

Note: As Sara Jeanne says, this is an “adapted and modified” recipe and she and she alone is responsible for all the trash talk in this recipe

6 sticks of real salted butter (not that fake stuff)
3 cups of firmly packed organic brown sugar
1 1/2 cups granulated organic “kind of white but not real white ’cause it’s organic” sugar
6 brown organically raised range free eggs (the big ones of course)
1/4 cup of Mexican vanilla (it’s a lot but it’s worth it)
4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3 teaspoons of baking soda (not the container from the fridge)
5 teaspoons of cinnamon (a lot but it smells incredible)
2 teaspoons of nutmeg (subtle but sublime)
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt (We’re God’s people for God’s sake)
1 Huge 2 lb. 10 oz. container of Old Fashioned Quaker Oats (not the quick or the insant kind)
1 Big old box of raisins (you know, like 4 inches high) or Crasins are great
As many pecans as you can afford. 4-6 cups of pecans or walnuts (when you use craisins use walnuts for a cleaner, crisper, lighter flair with a sharp after-bite). Politically incorrect comment has been deleted because Sara Jeanne has decided she will not discuss politics any more.

Heat your oven to 400 degrees. Beat the butter and sugars in that huge Kitchenaid mixer until creamy. Add the eggs and vanilla, and mix.

In a separate bowl, mix flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt with a fork until you think it’s incorporated and then mix it some more for about 30 seconds. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the egg/sugar stuff and mix on low. Add raisins or craisins and mix well. Add the oats a little at a time. This is where it gets tricky. Just add enough to mix it in slowly. Stop when your mixing bowl is about to overflow and cause an electric over-load in the West Texas grid. Transfer the cookie mixture to a very large roasting pan and slowly by hand (with gloves or zip lock baggies on your hands) mix in the rest of the oats. Don’t wipe your nose at this point. Add the nuts and mix it together, packing it down and compressing the dough into a big tight mound. You want really stiff dough because the end result will be be a little tiny mound of a cookie that will make you slap your pappy. A flat cookie is your enemy, it lacks soul.

Take a soup spoon and dig enough dough to make a ball in the palm of your hand. Place on a cookie sheet, the heavier the better. I like the Pampered Chef baking stone and a big cast iron pan. That really bakes the bottom well. Bake for ONLY 13-15 minutes (no more!) and remove. They need to be a dark golden brown because the interior dough should be soft and done. Place on a piece of the El Paso Times or Denver City Press to cool. Don’t use the Houston Chronicle because they will instantly develop mold, completely fall apart, and weep without cause. While they are hot coax them back into a little mound. That makes them hold together when times get tough. Cool for about 30 minutes and then flip them over so that the bottoms can dry out a bit. Take a load off and sit down and cool off. You’ve been at it for about 4 hours. Pour yourself a big glass of milk or a glass of wine if you happen to be Mimi.

Chicken and buttermilk dumplings

I love the tang of buttermilk in these rolled dumplings. Since you use self-rising flour, they have some fluffiness to them without being too biscuit-like. Chicken and dumplings have been my favorite comfort food since I was a little kid. There are lots of recipes around to short cut the dumpling preparation but I don’t like any of them. Flour tortillas or canned biscuits don’t cut it as dumplings at the Barron house, we want made from scratch dumplings and a whole chicken cooked until tender. I like to follow Julia Child’s instructions when boiling a chicken–cover with water and bring to a boil. On top of the water will be the scummy stuff you don’t want in the broth, so you pour off all the first boil water, and start all over again with clean water. That way you don’t have to waste a lot of time skimming off the crud and your broth is clear and beautiful.

1 small chicken
Water for boiling the chicken, to cover
Salt to taste
3-4 celery sticks, diced
1/2 onion, diced
1 carrot, peeled and diced
2 cups self rising flour
3 – 4 Tablespoons butter shortening or butter
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 egg
white pepper
Kosher salt
parsley or dried chives

Slowly simmer chicken in soup pot, adding salt to taste. When tender, remove chicken from the broth and remove the meat, cutting into small pieces and returning to the broth.

Pour flour into bowl. Cut in shortening or butter with pastry cutter and stir in parsley or chives if desired. Make a hole in the middle of the flour mixture and add buttermilk with 1 egg gently beaten into it to form a doughy consistency (like biscuit dough). Sprinkle flour on cutting board. Roll dough into a thin sheet and cut into squares. Let rest for 10 minutes. Add celery, onion, and carrot to broth. Simmer on medium heat. Drop dumplings one square at a time into boiling broth. Add salt, white pepper and black pepper to taste and simmer until tender, uncovered and unstirred. If you stir this mixture, your dumplings will disintegrate.

Note: You can stew chicken breasts in chicken broth if you do not wish to cook a whole chicken but the chicken flavor will not be as intense and you won’t have the gelatin from the bones to thicken the broth.

Green Chile Chipotle Rice

While this is not really a Mexican influenced dish, I like to serve it with enchiladas. The green chile and peppers bring the heat and flavor of New Mexico to it, and I will probably continue to tinker with it. I think I’m going to try sprinkling some chili powder on top of the cheese next time, can’t wait to see what that does.

1 cup jasmine rice
2 cups chicken broth, unsalted
1/2 tsp salt (or to taste)

Cook rice in broth for 12-15 minutes. Remove from heat, fluff with a fork. Stir in:

1 cup reduced fat sour cream
1/2 cup roasted green chile
2 chopped chipotle peppers

Place in oven proof glass casserole dish (1.5 to 2 quart) Top with

1 -2 cups Fiesta grated cheese (Mexican blend)

Bake at 325 for 20 minutes or until top is golden brown.

Serve with enchiladas and beans, or any other main dish.

Mema’s Dublin potato salad

This potato salad is a welcome change from potato salads that have the consistency of mashed potatoes. The celery seed and mustard seed give welcome texture and the cabbage adds a flavor I love. In her later years when Jo Ann and I cooked the family dinners and Marguerite asked what she could bring, we often requested this dish because it can be made the day before and gets better with time.

2 Tablespoons vinegar
1 teaspoon celery seed
1 teaspoon mustard seed
3 potatoes, cubed and boiled
2 teaspoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups finely shredded cabbage
1/4 cups chopped pickle
1/4 cup onion
1 cup salad dressing
1/4 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon salt

Combine vinegar, celery seed and mustard seed and set aside.

While potatoes are warm, drizzle with vinegar mixture. Sprinkle with sugar and first 1/2 teaspoon salt. Chill. Before serving, add cabbage, pickle and onion. Combine dressing, milk and second 1/2 teaspoon salt. Pour over mixture and toss.

Hard cooked eggs are good to add.

Egg Salad

Another recipe from Darrell’s Mom. Marguerite used a lot of eggs in her cooking because they had chickens, so this recipe was an old standby for her. In case you haven’t noticed, today ordinary supermarket eggs don’t taste like the eggs from the farm (unless you buy organic or free range eggs). She also cooked scrambled eggs with onions for supper on the farm, wonderful waffles with the egg whites beaten stiff, and plain old fried eggs for supper (the evening meal was never called dinner on the farm). Even her brownie recipe has more eggs than any other recipe I’ve seen. Even with all those eggs, her boys and her husband did not have high cholesterol, contrary to the conventional wisdom of the 70′s and 80′s. She wanted to feed her boys good healthy food and was much more conscious than most people were at that time about raising their own food in order to ensure good nutrition for the family. This egg salad is not chunky, and may be put into the food processor to achieve the creamy texture that she obtained by using a meat grinder. My nutrutionist told me years later that eggs do not make you have high cholesterol, and that he ate eggs every day. He was 85 at the time.

8 hard boiled eggs
1/3 cup sweet pickle relish
4 Tablespoons mayonnaise
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/2 teaspoon salt

Chop eggs very fine. (Mema put them through a grinder). Combine all ingredients, chill. Serve on lettuce leaf or tomato slice. Makes wonderful little finger sandwich on crustless bread. Serves 4 – 5.

Candy Bar Pie

Darrell’s sister Nancy served this to us at her home in Taos. This frozen pie has the crunchy almond pieces complemented with the coffee flavoring and a flaky crust. It tastes much more complex than the recipe looks. Great for summer when it’s too hot to fire up the oven for long, we never have this pie hanging around for very long.

1 8 ounce Hershey bar with almonds, broken
1 teaspoon instant coffee granules
1 Tablespoons hot water
1 13 1/2 ounce Cool Whip
1 8″ baked pie crust

Combine candy bars, coffee, and hot water in small saucepan. Stir over low heat until candy is melted and coffee is dissolved. Cool, and fold into whipped topping until smooth. Spoon filling into crust, then freeze for several hours. One 8-inch pie. Serve with coffee, enjoy!

Chicken Enchilada Casserole

This casserole qualifies as comfort food at my house. One of my “go to” recipes that will serve 4 to 6 guests and may be prepared ahead of time. I like to use the pre-cooked rotisserie chickens that are so readily available and the other ingredients are always in my pantry. The casserole can be prepared in around ten minutes, and you can make it a lower fat version by using Pam on the tortillas and microwaving them instead of frying them in oil. Low fat or no fat cheeses further reduce the calorie and fat content.

1 can cream of mushroom soup, low fat
1 can cream of chicken soup, low fat
1/2 cup reduced fat milk
2 cups cooked, diced chicken
2 cans chopped green chilies, drained
1 clove garlic, minced
1 medium onion, diced
1 cups (1 pint) reduced fat sour cream
1/4 teaspoon cumin
12 corn tortillas
3 cups grated Jack or Cheddar cheese
2 medium tomatoes (do not use canned tomatoes)

Put about 4 tablespoons oil in a skillet; fry tortillas, one at a time, until soft and pliable (about 30 seconds on each side, adding more oil if necessary). Drain tortillas on paper towels. After all are fried, saute onion in skillet until soft and golden; drain off excess oil. In a large bowl, mix together all ingredients, except tortillas and cheese. Spray Pam on 10″ X 14″ casserole; place 4 tortillas on bottom of casserole, tearing as necessary, to fit into a single layer. Spread about one third of mixture from bowl over the tortillas, then spread cup of cheese over the mixture. Repeat layers twice. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes or until cheese browns and bubbles. Remove from oven; let stand for 10 minutes before cutting and serving.

To lower calories, cottage cheese may be substituted for sour cream; blend with 1/2 cup milk called for in recipe until texture is like sour cream.

Mitchell Barbeque Sauce

My Dad loved to barbeque, and one of my favorite childhood meals happened when he barbequed pork chops over charcoal with this sauce sopped on when the chops were nearly done. Since it has a lot of sugar, if you put it on too quickly, the meat will blacken too much and you’ll have blackened pork chops. This recipe came from his family, I understand that Granddad Mitchell brought it from Louisiana. Our family fled Louisiana after the Civil War and came to Texas. Good move!! This sauce because of the high vinegar content will tenderize your meat if you also use it as a marinade before cooking. Forget about bottled sauce, this is the best!!

1 large can tomato juice
1 quart vinegar (preferably apple cider)
2 lb. bag brown sugar
3 -4 onions, peeled and sliced
3-4 lemons, sliced
8-10 cloves garlic, sliced thin
1 bottle worcestershire sauce
1 bottle Tabasco hot sauce
salt
pepper
Optional: 1 can tomato puree to thicken

Combine ingredients in large pot. Bring to a boil then simmer for 30 minutes, or you can reduce this by cooking longer. When the smell of sauce wafts through the air, remember all the joys of barbecues in the past.

Pour into quart canning jars. This does not require refrigeration. Use as a marinade or brush over barbeque in the last few minutes of grilling.

This recipe was from my Dad who got it from his Dad.

Quick Peach Cobbler

Our Aunt Artie made us this cobbler at her home in Lafayette, La, in the 1950′s. It’s a delicious way to have your cobbler without having to roll out the dough. I’ve tried many different versions of this type of cobbler, but I keep returning to this old favorite as the best version I’ve tried. Grue and Blue had this for lunch a lot of days when I had thirty minutes or so to make an entire meal including bread and dessert. A small dish of the cobbler hot out of the oven with ice cream is heavenly. It can also be made with fresh or frozen peaches.

1 cup flour
1 cup sugar for batter
3/4 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
2 cans cherries or one #2 1/2 can peaches
Cube of butter (3 Tablespoons)
3/4 cup sugar for fruit
1 Tablespoon cinnamon

Mix first four ingredients into a batter. Melt butter in 9X9 pan. Pour batter over butter, add fruit. Sprinkle 3/4 cup sugar and cinnamon over top of fruit. Bake at 375 until crust rises and browns.

Top with ice cream or whipped cream as preferred.

Pumpkin Nut Bread

When Fall mornings are crisp and the smell of maturing crops is in the air, I pull out my mixer and make this cake. We used to bake it in one pound coffee cans but alas I have no one pound coffee cans any more. Matt always loved pumpkin bread and would have it for breakfast with spiced tea. Nothing signals fall better than pumpkin *anything*.

1 cup butter
3 cups sugar
3 eggs
1 can (1 lb.) pumpkin
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 cups sifted flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon cloves
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 cup chopped pecans
1 cup dark or golden raisins (optional)

Preheat oven to 350. Cream butter and add sugar gradually; beat in eggs. Add pumpkin and vanilla, mixing to combine. Sift together the flour, salt, soda, baking powder, and spices; blend with pumpkins mixture. Add nuts and raisins.

Grease two loaf pans or one tube pan, and flour lightly. Bake for 60-65 minutes or until bread tests done with a toothpick. Let stand 10 minutes before removing from pans, cool on racks. Wrap and store overnight before slicing.