Sweet Potato Apple Casserole

I prefer this sweet potato dish to the traditional marshmallow topped dish for the holidays. The natural sweetness of the potatoes is contrasted with the tartness of the apples, and honey or brown sugar further sweeten just as far as you want to go with sweetness. Toasted pecans on top add to the fall harvest flavors and add some needed texture.

8 large sweet potatoes
large pot for boiling
water to cover

Cook sweet potatoes until nearly done. They will be cooked two more times so don’t overcook at this stage. Pour out water, and run cold water over them to cool. When cool, remove from pan, and peel and slice the potatoes in about 1/4 inch slices.

3 – 4 Sliced Granny Smith Apples, peeled
Butter as needed
Large saute skillet

Saute sliced potatoes in butter. Saute apple slices. Layer in large oiled casserole (9X12).

Top with:

Chopped nuts, toasted (pecans preferred)
brown sugar and/or honey
Cinnamon

Cover with foil and bake at 325 for 45-50 minutes.

Southwestern Deviled Eggs

I developed this recipe in an effort to bring a different flavor to deviled eggs. Every recipe I found seemed to have the same bland ingredients, and the eggs were so stinky that you didn’t really get a lot of sensory pleasure from them. Thus the technique to boil the eggs perfectly was added to my repertoire, and to season with the southwest flavors we love. (Hint: green chile is good in this, too!)

10-12 uncooked eggs (enough to cover bottom of saucepan before adding water for boiling)
3-4 tablespoons mayonnaise, reduced fat
1 tablespoon sour cream, reduced fat
1/2 teaspoon sugar
2 tablespoons salsa
1/3 cup shredded cheese (fat free or regular)
1 – 2 tablespoons chopped onion
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
salt and pepper to taste
paprika to sprinkle
sliced olives, optional

Place eggs in saucepan, cover with water, and place on burner. Add one teaspoon salt to water. Bring to a rolling boil, cover pan with tight fitting lid and turn off burner but keep pot on the warm burner. After 17 minutes, eggs are hard-cooked. This method results in a perfect egg with no dark smelly stuff around the yolk.

Drain hot water from pan, fill with cold running water to quickly cool the eggs. After cool, crack the eggs on the flat top of the counter (not the edge), rolling them to break the shell into small segments. Beginning at the bigger end of the egg, slowly peel off the shell, rinsing any tiny shell pieces off the eggs.

Cut peeled eggs longwise into halves, removing the yolk to a small mixing bowl. Mash the yolks with a fork until yolks are mealy and completely broken up. Add mayonnaise, salsa, sour cream, onion, sugar and garlic, and mix with fork until creamy and smooth. Hint: add the mayonnaise and sour cream a tablespoon at a time until you reach the creamy consistency you prefer. Add cheese, salsa, and salt and pepper to taste, mixing throughly with fork.

Place yolks mixture into a small baggy, sealing at the top. Cut out a small opening on one corner of the baggy. Squeeze the bag and direct the filling into the egg white holes where the yolks originally rested. Top with a slice of olive, sprinkle with paprika, and arrange on an egg plate. Lettuce leaves may be used as a base to cover a plate and to garnish the dish.

Variations: add green chilis, chopped jalapeno, or chipotle pepper to your liking

Mema’s Oatmeal Cookies

1 cup brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
1 cup shortening
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup coconut
3 cups quick cooking rolled oats
1 cup chopped nuts

Blend sugars and shortening. Add beaten eggs. Sift dry ingredients together and add to first mixture. Stir in vanilla, coconut, oats and nuts. Mix well and drop by teaspoonfuls on greased cookie sheet. Flatten with bottom of glass. Bake in 350 oven until light brown.

Recommended: lightly toast the oats in the oven, and toast the nuts before adding to the dough.

Chicken Bake

My sister Rose gave me this recipe. In our many years of recipe exchanges, this is my favorite. Rose lived in Syracuse, New York, for a few years and she brought this dish back with her from Syracuse. I’ve carried it to many friends when they lost a loved one and served it as a special meal for special guests (we call it a company meal in West Texas). While the ingredients list is not long, it has a complexity of flavors that I love. Of course, anything that contains the words “chicken” and “bake” that uses a stick of butter is going to be good.

1 chicken, cut up (do yourself a favor and buy a kosher chicken)
1 cup long grain rice
4 chicken bouillion cubes
1 can mushroom pieces (or splurge and have mushroom caps!)
1/4 cup pimientos
1 1/2 cups water
1 stick butter
1 medium green pepper, diced
1 medium onion, diced
1 teaspoon salt

Salt & pepper chicken pieces. Brown in butter in a dutch oven. Remove chicken and saute pepper and onion until tender. Add pimientos, mushrooms, salt, mashed bouillion cubes, rice, and water. Mix well. Place chicken pieces on top, and bake in 325 oven for 1 1/2 hour.

Old Fashioned Potato Soup

Aunt Teenie’s version of potato soup, this is one of those comfort food dishes great when the winter wind is howling outside and you need to warm yourself from the inside out.

8 slices bacon, cooked and diced
4 medium potatoes, diced
1 large onion, diced
1/2 cup celery, diced
1 Tablespoons minced parsley
1 1/4 cup water
3 cups milk
1 Tablespoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper

Combine diced vegetables and water. Cover and simmer 45 minutes or until done. Rice vegetables or put through a coarse sieve, and return to the water in which they were cooked. Add milk, salt and pepper, and reheat. Cook bacon until crisp. Just before serving, float parsley and crisp bacon on soup. Serves 6.

Lord Charley’s Corn Chowder

This recipe is a Barron family favorite. Cousin David Corey brought it to the family and his Aunt Marguerite (our Mema) would serve it to us often. While it’s not a diet food, it definitely is a comfort food!

Brown in pan with 2 Tablespoons oil:

1/2 cup chopped onions
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/4 cup chopped green pepper
1/3 cup chopped bacon

Add:
1 1/4 cup chicken stock
1 tsp salt
1/4 teaspoon white pepper
1/2 teaspoon thyme

Peel, Dice, and Add

1 pound potatoes (4 cups)
15 ounces Frozen Cut corn

Simmer 1/2 hour.

In a separate pan, melt butter and mix:

4 Tablespoons butter
2 Tablespoons flour,

add

1 quart half and half

Whip smooth.

Add to soup, cook 10 minutes to blend. Do not boil.

Grandmother Mitchell’s Tamale Pie

My Grandmother Mitchell is a legendary cook in my family. She made blackberry cobblers I still dream about, and her turkey and dressing set the standard for holiday fare for us. Grandmother taught my Mom most of what she knew about cooking, and most of the things that Mom did really well were a product of this training. Tamale pies came on the scene during the depression. Using only 3/4 pounds of hamburger, this dish will feed a lot of people! I must confess I usually splurge and use a whole pound of hamburger. We love tamale pie for Christmas Eve dinners, and serve it with beans and rice and salsa. It’s a good way to prepare for the holiday season and a nice change from the usual holiday fare. The cornmeal mush that is the base for this recipe is a “polenta” and we love it! Thanks, Grandmother, now if you had only left us the recipe for your cobbler.

1 cup cornmeal
3 cups water (or chicken broth for extra flavor)
1 teaspoon salt

Place three ingredients in a large sauce pan. Cook over medium heat until you have a stiff cornmeal mush. Line a greased large baking dish with the mush, reserving enough to drop by teaspoons on top of casserole before baking the pie.

Filling:
1 large onion
3/4 pounds hamburger
1 cup tomatoes
3 teaspoons chili powder
2 chopped green peppers
salt and pepper to taste

Saute onions and meat in skillet; add remaining ingredients and pour over the mush. Drop remaining mush over the casserole, top with grated cheese if desired, and bake at 400 degrees until browned. Slice into squares, and serve with fresh salsa and beans. Serves 5 or 6 people.

Hint: I like to add crushed red pepper flakes to this filling . I also like to use chicken broth for the mush instead of water, and moisten it with some butter stirred into the mush to make a richer taste. I think Grandmother would approve.

Mississippi Mudder Pie

This recipe has a luscious chocolate crust, creamy two chocolate filling, with a whipped cream top garnished with chocolate curls. If you are a chocolate lover this is your dish.

Pie crust:
1 5/8 cups all purpose flour, plus extra for rolling out
2 Tablespoons unsweetened cocoa (dark preferably)
5 1/2 ounces butter (11 Tablespoons)
2 Tablespoons superfine bakers sugar
1-2 Tablespoons cold water

Sift the flour and cocoa into a mixing bowl. Cut the butter into little chunks, then put in bowl with the flour mixture. Rub in the butter with the fingertips until the mixture resembles fine crumbs. (The warmth of your fingers will aid in this). Stir in the sugar, then add enough cold water to make a soft dough. Form into a ball, wrap in plastic and chill for at least 30 minutes. While this is chilling, relax and have a glass of mint iced tea.

Filling:
6 ounces butter (1 1/2 sticks)
1 3/4 cups packed dark brown sugar
4 organic eggs, lightly beaten
4 Tablespoons unsweetened cocoa, preferably dark
5 1/2 ounces semisweet chocolate (preferably Callebaut)
1 1/4 cups light cream
1 tsp vanilla

When the dough is chilled, roll out on a lightly floured counter and use it to line a 9 inch pie pan. Line with parchment paper and fill with dried beans. Bake in preheated 375 degree oven for 15 minutes, remove from the oven and take out the paper and beans. Put crust back in the oven and bake for another 10 minutes.

To prepare the filling, beat the butter and sugar together in a deep mixing bowl then gradually beat in the eggs with the cocoa. Melt the chocolate (I like to do this in a double boiler) and beat it into the mixture with the cream and vanilla.

Reduce the oven temperature to 325. Pour the filling into the pie shell and bake for 45 minutes, until the filling has set but don’t overbake.

Let the pie cool completely. Top with whipped cream and milk chocolate curls. Chill until ready to serve. Serves eight. May garnish with sprigs of mint. I believe a glass of red wine would go great with this dessert but you may just want more mint tea.

This pie is rich, so you may want to slice into more than 8 pieces.

Yo Mama’s Banana Pudding

Paula Deen says this is “Not Yo Mama’s Banana Pudding”.  But if you’re Mitchell (who requested that I post this recipe) or Tommy,  it IS yo mama’s banana pudding.  And so it’s thusly named by me.  It’s an amazing low calorie recipe!  NOT.  Still it’s delicious and worth trying, it is Mitchell and Tommy’s favorite banana pudding, and Mitchell’s sweet friend Amelia enjoyed it immensely!  Amelia, I’ll make it for you every time you come see us, and that’s a promise.

Ingredients:

2 bags Pepperidge Farm Chessmen cookies OR 1 box vanilla wafers (or substitute any cookies that you think would be fabulous, here is an opportunity to get creative with this recipe)
6 to 8 bananas, sliced
2 cups milk
1 (5-ounce) box instant French vanilla pudding
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened (leave on counter for a couple of hours to soften)
1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk (e.g. Eagle Brand sweetened condensed milk)
1 (12-ounce) container frozen whipped topping, thawed (Cool Whip), or equal amount sweetened whipped cream

Directions:

Line the bottom of a 13 by 9 by 2-inch dish with about 1/2 of the cookies and layer the sliced bananas on top.

In a bowl, combine the milk and pudding mix and blend well using a handheld electric mixer. Using another bowl, combine the softened cream cheese and condensed milk together and mix until smooth. Fold the whipped topping into the cream cheese mixture. Add the cream cheese mixture to the pudding mixture and stir until well blended. Pour the mixture over the cookies and bananas and cover with the remaining cookies (I usually crush the cookies for the top layer but this is optional). Refrigerate until ready to serve unless you just can’t stand not having some IMMEDIATELY.  I do think this pudding is better after sitting in the fridge at least a couple of hours.