Chili Beans

 
1 pound dry small red beans (these look a bit like kidney beans but are, well, smaller.  The ones I got at Kroger literally just say "small red beans" on the bag)
4 cups water
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 tablespoon cumin
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 - 1 onion (depends on size; my onion was huge so I only used half)
1 bell pepper

Quick soak the beans in the water: Bring to a boil, boil for a few minutes, then remove from heat, cover, and let sit for about an hour.

Meanwhile, chop and lightly cook the onion and bell pepper.

Transfer the beans and liquid to the slow cooker, stir in seasonings and vegetables, and cook for 6 hours on low (you might want to test them sooner; my slow cooker is old).

Serve with cornbread or rice.

Cabbage Roll Casserole

Tastes like cabbage rolls but is easier.  It can be vegetarian or vegan if you trade out the meat.  You can also top it with cheese before baking even though cabbage rolls don't usually have cheese on them.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Use a 9 x 13 baking dish or deep 2-quart casserole.

Vegetable layer:
1 head cabbage, chopped
1/2 onion, diced (you can saute the whole onion at once and then divide afterward)
Optional: Grated carrot, to taste
 Also optional: Replace some of the cabbage with sauerkraut, well-drained.

Protein layer:
1 pound ground meat
OR 2 cups vegetarian crumbles
OR 2 cups al dente lentils (I like lentils + slightly-mashed chickpeas)
OR combine however much of these things you have on hand.
1/2 onion
1 can or1 1/2 cups tomato puree
1 can or 1 1/2 cups diced tomato
1 1/2 cups or so cooked rice
Seasoning to taste: I used 2 teaspoons sweet paprika, some thyme and parsley, and salt and pepper.

Saute' onion.  Reserve half, then add the cabbage to the pan.  Add carrot if you're using it and cook until they just soften a little bit (it's OK if the edges brown a little but don't let it scorch).  Stir in sauerkraut and spread into the bottom of the baking dish.

Brown the meat lightly and drain thoroughly.  Add the reserved onion and seasoning and cook for a few minutes.  Add the rice, tomato puree, and tomatoes and simmer for 10 minutes, breaking up meat.

Spread protein layer over cabbage layer.  Cover with foil (or a lid, if the dish has one) and bake for 40 minutes.  Uncover and rest for 10 minutes before serving.

This is just not photogenic.  I used black rice here since I had some left over.

Chile cheese rice, 1984

From Suzanne G., a friend of my mother's when we lived in Denver.  --Alethea '00

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Baking time: 45 minutes

Butter a 9 x 13 baking dish

1 cup rice
2 cups water
1 teaspoon salt

Cook rice, rinse, and drain well.  Will make three cups of rice.

1/2 pound Monterey Jack cheese, grated (grating your own from a block will melt better than pre-grated)
2 cups sour cream (16 ounces)
1 cup cottage cheese (8 ounces)
4 ounce can diced green chiles, drained (choose your heat level.  You can also use your fresh chile of choice, chopped and par-cooked)
Salt and pepper to taste

Spread into buttered baking dish.  Top with more cheese or buttered crumbs if you like. 

Party Potatoes

Somebody pilfered this recipe for me from the dining halls.

The original reads:

Nature's Own hash brown potatoes - 7 pounds
Sour cream - 1 pound
Cream of celery soup - 1 pound 8 ounces
Salt - 1 1/2 teaspoons
Ground black pepper - 1 1/2 teaspoons
Chopped yellow onion - 7 ounces
Shredded Cheddar cheese - 8 ounces
Shredded Cheddar cheese - 4 ounces

1. Mix all ingredientes (cheese 1) in a bowl, saving cheese 2 for later.  Place into greased steamable pans.

2. Cover with cheese 2.

3. Bake at 325 degrees for 40 minutes.

I was actually thinking about these the other day and I'm glad to find I was right about the onion and sour cream.  I don't need 7 pounds of potatoes' worth.  Cream of celery soup comes in 10-ounce cans so this seems to be at least three recipes' worth, if not more.  I plan to try making it with white sauce instead of canned soup, in a portion suitable for mere mortals.  I'll let y'all know how it goes.

Celebration BBQ Chicken

This is fusion cooking, neither one thing nor the other. Wherever you live, it's not what they call barbecue around there. But taste it and that won't matter.

Sauce ingredients:
6 oz tomato paste
3/4 c honey
1/2 c ketchup
1/4 c butter
2 T vinegar
4 tsp. Dijon mustard
2 T brown sugar
3 T soy sauce (tamari for the gluten free; most soy sauces have gluten)

Additionally:
1 entire cut up chicken, skin on

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Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Combine sauce ingredients in a pan, stir, and bring to boil.

Simmer five minutes while arranging chicken in casserole dish skin side down.

Spoon 1/3 cup sauce over the chicken then bake 1/2 hour.

Take the casserole dish from the oven and turn the chicken skin side up. Spoon 1/3 cup sauce over the chicken and bake the chicken for 15 minutes.

Spoon the remaining sauce over the chicken and bake for 15 minutes.

Brown the chicken under the broiler.

Servings: Roughly four, but this will depend on the size of the chicken.

Note: Cooking times, like number of servings, are approximate and depend on the size of the chicken. The chicken should reach a temperature of 165 degrees for safety’s sake and the sauce should have started to caramelize before you serve it.

Ice Cream Sundaes

These are hardly recipes, they're so easy, but I might as well share since hot weather is rolling in (or already has rolled in if you're in certain parts of the world).

1. I think of this as the Quad Sundae but I'm sure they ate it in Cowles, too, so call it what you will:

Vanilla ice cream (traditionally soft-serve, but use what you have)
Crushed Golden Grahams cereal
Chocolate syrup

Golden Grahams are drastically underappreciated as an ice-cream topping, by the way.

2. Millionaire Sundae.  This is based on the millionaire pie.

Vanilla ice cream
Pineapple (canned crushed, fresh diced, or good-quality sundae topping)
Chopped pecans
Whipped cream
Maraschino cherry

I was out of cherries.

Ideally, you'd soften the ice cream a bit and mash the pineapple into it, but we're not going to tell you how to live your life. 

Denver Post Oatmeal Muffins

This recipe was published in the Denver Post in 1986.  These are an excellent breakfast muffin with a much better flavor than you'd expect from the list of ingredients.

Yeah, yeah . . . I'm not a food stylist.

1 cup rolled oats
1 cup plain yogurt (very cutting-edge in 1986 . . . )
2 eggs or 4 egg whites
1 cup whole-wheat flour
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Optional: Raisins or fruit chunks.  I like to add diced apple and a pinch of cinnamon and ginger.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and butter the muffin tins.  This makes about 18 muffins.

DO NOT use paper tin liners.  They will stick like nothing you've ever seen and you'll end up either wasting a lot of muffin or eating a lot of paper.  I've already made this mistake for you, so just trust me.

Combine the oats and yogurt and let stand for at least 30 minutes while you assemble the rest of the ingredients. 

Add the eggs and sugar and mix well.  Add the rest of the ingredients until just combined.

Fill tins 2/3 full and bake about 20 minutes.

Jalapeno Jam Chicken Wings

I was happy with how these turned out-- sweet and spicy, and the wings were perfectly cooked through with crispy skin. Heat level was low-medium (I really like spicy though).

The sauce and broiled wings can be prepared ahead of time (we did the night before), and then grilled later. Sauce will need to be reheated, since the butter will harden over night.  

           

Ingredients:

• 30 chicken wings or about 3 lbs
• 3 Tbs butter
• 1/4 cup of jalapeno or pepper jam 
• 2 Tbs honey or agave nectar
• 2 jalapenos (diced)
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp paprika
• 1/2 tsp chili powder
• 1/2 tsp cayenne
• salt and pepper to taste

1. Turn oven broiler on high, line baking sheet with aluminum foil 

2. Melt butter in small sauce pan. Add jalapeno jam, honey, diced jalapenos, and spices until warmed

through.

3. Rinse wings, pat try with paper towel, season w/ salt and pepper, place on prepared baking sheet

4. Stick wings in oven for 10-15 minutes, turning once (may need to do a few batches)

5. Grill on medium-high heat for 5 minutes until both sides are browned. 

6. Toss in sauce and eat up!

German Potato Salad 1974

I'm not sure who Rhoda was; I think maybe a neighbor when my parents lived in Ann Arbor.

6 medium potatoes, boiled in jackets (I used Yukon Gold.  Boil until *just* done.)
6 slices bacon
3/4 cup chopped onion
2 tablespoons flour
1 - 2 tablespoons sugar (I used 1)
1 1/2 teaspoon salt (I used 1)
1/2 teaspoon celery seeds
Dash of pepper
3/4 cup water
1/3 cup vinegar (the plain white stuff)

"Peel potatoes and slice thin.  Fry bacon slowly in skillet, then drain on paper.  Sauté onion in bacon fat until golden brown.  Blend in flour, sugar, salt, celery seeds, and pepper.  Cook over low heat, stirring until smooth and bubbly*.  Remove from heat.  Stir in water and vinegar.  Heat to boil, stirring constantly.  Boil 1 minute.  Stir in carefully the potatoes and the crumbled bacon bits.  Remove from heat, cover, and let stand until ready to serve."

* I don't like greasy texture so I drained all the bacon fat, then reheated about a tablespoon to cook the onions.  When I stirred in the flour, etc., I got onions coated in dry flour and spices, not anything that could bubble, but when I added the water and vinegar, the sauce turned out just fine.  So you don't need to use a ton of bacon grease in this.

I peeled the potatoes because I was serving this to guests but if I were making it for myself, I wouldn't bother, especially with Yukon Golds that have tender skins.  I thought this was plenty sweet with 1 tablespoon of sugar so I would highly recommend you start low and add to taste (you can't make this not-sweet, though, since you need to balance the vinegar).

I overcooked the potatoes.  They should have sliced better and not broken up so much when I folded them into the dressing.  Oops.  Tasted fine, though.

Jake's Stir Fry

There is no picture of this hearty, filling comfort food.

There are reasons for that.

But please be assured that it tastes much better than it looks.

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10 oz sliced mushrooms
1 green pepper cut in small (1 cm) pieces
1 clove garlic (or to taste), pressed or chopped fine
1 lb hamburger

Pinch smoked paprika
Pinch cayenne
Salt & black pepper to taste (fresh ground black pepper recommended if available)
Dash A1
Dash Worcestershire sauce

2 Tbsp cream cheese (about a 1/4" thick slice off a typical block)
¾ cup sour cream

1 tsp “Better than Bouillon”, Marmite, or similar to bring back the umami. (Do not add Vegemite. Vegemite is an abomination.)

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Brown mushrooms over med-high heat to bring out flavor. Flip infrequently to allow browning.

Add green pepper. Stir occasionally.

When the pepper starts to turn brighter green, add the hamburger and garlic. Salt immediately; when the salt is added affects the texture.

Brown the hamburger. Add the spices and sauces, stirring them in.

Stir in the cream cheese and sour cream. Stir in your chosen umami enhancer to taste.

Serve over mashed potatoes.

Banana bread

This has a bit less oil than some banana bread recipes.

Preheat oven to 350.  Butter a loaf pan.  Will bake 55 minutes.

4 overripe bananas
1 1/2 cups flour (I usually use 1 cup all-purpose and 1/2 cup whole-wheat)
1/2 cup sugar, or to taste
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons butter, softened
1 egg
big pinch of allspice

Cream butter and sugar.  Toss dry ingredients together (no need to actually sift).  Add egg and mashed bananas to the butter mixture and combine thoroughly.  Fold dry into wet.  Spread into loaf pan and bake 55 minutes.  Remove from pan and cool on a rack.

Vanilla (or banana or coconut) pudding

You can combine this with coconut, or with bananas and vanilla wafers, if you wish.

2/3 - 1 cup sugar, as you prefer
3 eggs, beaten
dash salt
3 tablespoons cornstarch

2-3 tablespoons flour
2 cups (1 pint) whole milk
1 teaspoon vanilla or almond flavoring

Optional:

Shredded coconut

Slivered, toasted, almonds

Egg whites for meringue topping
3 - 4 ripe bananas, sliced about 1/4-inch thick
1 box of vanilla wafers

This is important: Have everything measured out and ready to go before you start.  The custard will thicken pretty fast once it gets going and you don't want to risk burning it.  I guess you could do this over a double boiler but I never have.

 

Mix sugar, flour, and cornstarch together.  Add the salt and beaten eggs.  Add milk and bring to a boil briefly over medium-high heat, stirring constantly and thoroughly (scrape the bottom of the pan all over).  Cook until thickened.  Remove from heat; add vanilla and mix well. Allow to cool to room temperature and then chill thoroughly.

 

Optional: 

Whip egg whites to stiff peaks, spread over top, and brown in the oven.

 

Top with coconut or almonds if you wish.  

 

For banana pudding:

Line the bottom and sides of a heat-proof casserole dish with some of the vanilla wafers.  Spread a layer of pudding over the wafers.  Dot pudding with banana slices (and wafers, if you have enough).  Repeat pudding and bananas until both are used up.  End with a pudding layer and dot top with the rest of the wafers.  Don't put banana slices on top or they will turn brown with exposure to air.  Top with meringue if you wish, or serve with whipped cream.

 

Picadillo

Latin American seasoned ground beef.  You can use this to fill tacos or serve it over rice, or . . . whatever, really.  It's sort of an exotic sloppy joe.

2 pounds ground beef, mostly-browned and drained well
2 potatoes, diced and browned slightly
1 can diced tomatoes, or about 2 cups fresh
1 onion, diced
1 bell pepper, diced
4 cloves garlic, or more
1/3 cup raisins, rehydrated slightly (pour hot water over them, or microwave with water)
1/4 cup green olives, quartered
2 teaspoons cumin
1/2 teaspoon or more chili powder (this does not need to be spicy)
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon or allspice
1/2-ish teaspoon salt

Optional:
Grated carrot, kernel corn, celery, whatever needs to be used up.

Cook the onion and pepper (carrot, celery, corn, etc.) in a small amount of oil or reserved meat drippings until the onions are clear.  Put the meat and par-cooked potatoes back in the pan.  Add the tomatoes, raisins, olives, and seasonings.  Simmer gently, covered, until the potatoes are cooked through.  Better the second day, as stewed things generally are.

Texas Caviar

The story is that Texas caviar was invented in 1940 by Helen Corbitt, who was from New York and didn't even like black-eyed peas.  There are almost endless recipes for this, and you can add other vegetables as you see fit (a lot of people add kernel corn), but if you want to call it Texas caviar, the bean component has to be black-eyed peas; otherwise, it's just bean salad.  Texas used to be a leading grower of peas.

4 cups black-eyed peas (3 cans, rinsed and drained)
2 large or 4 Roma tomatoes, seeded and chopped
     OR 1 red bell pepper
4 ribs celery, quartered lengthwise and chopped
1 jalapeño, seeded and diced, or to taste
1 tablespoon olive oil
juice and zest of 2 limes
2 tablespoons dry cilantro, or equivalent fresh
1/4 onion, chopped.
Salt to taste

Mix everything and allow to marinate, stirring occasionally, for a few hours or overnight in the refrigerator.

Serve as a salad or with scoop-style corn chips.

Angel Food Cake

Angel food cake is really easy to make. You can eat it straight or with berries or hack it up and make a trifle or you could just EAT IT STRAIGHT. You know, your choice. But eat it straight.

Hardware

An angel food cake pan. Yes, it's basically a single-tasker. Yes, some people fetishize multi-task tools. Yes, you can fake an angel food cake pan using a springform pan. Buy the pan. It's totally worth it. Did I mention that you can eat plain angel food cake? You can!

A large mixing bowl

A medium mixing bowl

A resealable container to keep your egg yolks in

A small bowl or ramekin

A whisk; a French whisk is best, because let's face it, we're making a meringue here and you can get more air into it with a French whisk...but you can also use a regular old balloon whisk

Can I use my stand mixer?

I have read that you should only do this by hand because it's so easy to over-whip your eggs with the mixer. I have only made angel food by hand because I like whipping egg whites. In my opinion, if you don't want to do it by hand, you don't have to. Use the stand mixer if you want to! 

Ingredients

The ingredients for this recipe are listed by volume, but you should measure at least the flour and sugar by weight. I know, you already knew that.

1 cup cake flour 

1 1/2 cup superfine sugar, divided

12 large egg whites

1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

1/2 teaspoon salt

Substitutions

I wouldn't. A lot of times you can get away with cutting together flour and corn starch, but in this case you really, really want the more finely milled flour. And while you can use regular granulated sugar, you're going to be working with egg whites, and a superfine sugar like C&H baker's sugar will have less of a ripping and tearing effect because it dissolves faster. Honest, you'll get better results.

(I use superfine sugar in all of my baking.)

Separating whites

You don't have to be nuts about it. Classic prep says OMFG IF THERE IS EVEN A LITTLE BIT OF YOLK YOU NEED TO START ALL OVER AGAIN, but we're making this to eat. It'll be fine. (Especially if you use a stand mixer.) Use a two-container method to separate the whites, though:

1. Separate a white into your small bowl or ramekin
2. Put the yolk into your resealable container
3. Dump the separated white into the large bowl

That way, if you screw up separating an egg (you will) you only lose one white rather than the whole batch. A little bit of yolk will probably be okay...a total blowout is bad.

Holy cow...twelve whites? What do I do with the yolks?

KEEP THEM! Refrigerate them, or freeze them in an ice cube tray, or do what I do and make yellow cake. You'll need eight of those yolks for that. You can use the others for mayo or something.

Station Prep

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
2. Look at your pan. See that pan? DO NOT DO ANYTHING TO IT. Think about how good the cake will taste when you eat it plain. Think about how fluffy it will be. Think about how angel food cake is light and airy and about how that is mostly achieved by NOT DOING ANYTHING TO YOUR PAN.
3. Seriously. There is no pan prep. If it's clean and dry, that's good enough.

Recipe

1. Sift together the flour and 3/4 cup of sugar in the medium bowl and set it aside.
2. In the large bowl, combine the egg whites, vanilla, cream of tartar, and salt.
3. Either by hand or with the whisk attachment on your stand mixer, whip the egg whites to firm peaks; Google a picture if you need help, but basically when you pull the whisk out, the peaks should hold for a second or so but then deform a bit.
4. Gradually add the remaining 3/4 cup of sugar to the egg white mixture as you continue to whip the whites to stiff peaks; congratulations, it's a meringue.
5. Fold the sifted ingredients into the whites. Don't mix it. Fold it. Your goal here is to integrate the ingredients but not loose all of that precious, precious aeration you worked so hard for.

Bake

40-45 minutes. Use the standard toothpick/skewer method to determine whether you're done.

Cool

Hey, what are those...leg-looking things on the sides of the angel food cake pan?

They're legs!

When the cake is done and you have removed it from the oven, flip it upside down and stand it on those legs. Don't worry--your cake will not fall out. Let it cool completely, then turn it back over. Run a paring knife between the pan and the top of the cake to loosen it, then pull the cake out using the tube. Turn it over again and put the cake on your cake dish or serving plate or what have you. Separate from the tube. Eat.

Did I mention you can eat it plain?

Archaic Aebleskiver

Equipment:

• Whisk or mixer with whisk attachment
• Knife for cutting apple
• Mixing bowls
• Spatula
• Aebleskiver pan 
• Pastry brush
• Skewer (You can use chopsticks if you don’t have a skewer.)

Ingredients:

• 1 apple (preferably tart and flavorful)
• Optional spices, possibly cinnamon and nutmeg
• 2 eggs (yolks and whites separated)
• 2 cups buttermilk
• 2 cups flour
• 2 teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 Tablespoon sugar
• 4 Tablespoons melted butter

Not in the batter:

• Additional melted butter for the pan
• Powdered sugar to top the aebleskiver

Peel and core the apple, then cut it into small pieces. Mix any spices in with the apple pieces. For softer, more cooked apples, heat the apple pieces. Set the apple pieces aside.

Whip the egg whites to stiff peaks. Set them aside.

In a different bowl stir together the rest of the batter ingredients until smooth, then fold in the egg whites.

Heat the pan until a drop of water sizzles on it. Brush melted butter into the pockets then add batter, not quite a pocket full. When the batter is bubbly at the edges, shove in some apple, stick a skewer into the ball, and flip it. Keep flipping periodically. An aebleskive is done when a (wiped off) skewer emerges clean.

Rebutter the pan right before adding more batter.

Serve your aebleskiver with powdered sugar on top. Modern aebleskiver skip putting the apples inside and are served with jam and such.

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JKB