Gingerbread Babies

Ingredients

2 cups sugar

½ cup shortening

½ cup [that's1 stick] butter

2 eggs [room temperature] [Put them in a little bowl of warm water if they're too cold. It does make a difference.]

½ C. dark molasses [I use Grandma's Molasses in the yellow jar.]

4 C. flour

2 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. ginger

1 tsp. cloves

1 tsp. nutmeg

1 tsp. soda

¼ tsp. salt

In electric mixer, cream sugar and shortening until light and fluffy. Your Grandma Snider was very serious about getting it very light and fluffy. Stir in eggs, one at a time, blending well. Stir in molasses. Sift together dry ingredients (I just measure the flour and the spices into a sieve over a large bowl and use a spoon to rub them through); stir into sugar and egg mixture. Roll into ball; wrap in waxed paper. Chill at least three hours. Cut off about a quarter at a time and re-refrigerate the rest so it'll stay cold and workable.) Roll out to thickness of about ¼" (could be thicker, depending on how chewy you like your cookies.) Cut into shapes. Bake on greased cookie sheet in 325 degree oven for 10-12 minutes. Store in covered jar.

I used the little gingerbread boy and girl cutters. I get red drops for belly buttons -- in the baking section where you'll find the flour and stuff. I use one of those corn holders to poke both eyes at once and the "arm" of the cutter to make the mouth.

Your Dad's Corn Bread

Now you have the required skillet, this should be easy.

1 egg
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
1/4 cup melted butter
1/2 cup sifted all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon sugar
1 1/2 cups regular, cornmeal (unsifted). You can use regular cornmeal. But I bet you could also score some stone ground cornmeal at that fancy Whole Foods across the street. Either way, it'll be good.

Directions:

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Gather flour, soda, baking powder, sugar and cornmeal in a medium bowl. In a large bowl, beat egg with fork ; stir in the buttermilk and butter. Stir in remaining ingredients until well-blended. Don't beat 'em to death. Pour immediately into a hot pan. See Note. Bake 20-25 minutes. Serve piping hot. (You could probably also get some very passable apple butter at Whole Foods, too. )

NOTE: One of the secrets of good crusty corn bread is to melt some butter -- I'd say a couple of tablespoons -- (until it sizzles) in the pan in which the corn bread is to be baked. This also greases the pan. Your dad always sticks the pan into the hot oven while he does the mixing. Then when you bring it back out and throw the butter in it melts right away. Be careful. Duh. Pan will be super hot. Duh Duh.

The Simple Bean

First, my philosophy about green beans. If they look good in the store, they usually disappoint. The really velvety beautiful ones always seem to me to be tough and not so great. But that wouldn't be common wisdom. It's just me. So, look for pretty, unspotted, nice green ones. What else can you do?

Prepare: Using a paring knife cut the ends off. Your dad uses scissors. Some folks line them up on a cutting board and chop off a whole line of ends at once. I favor my great grandmother Chapman's method which is to dump them into the skirt of your apron and take them, and a bowl to put them in, out onto your rocking chair on the front porch. I figure the apron/porch thing isn't going to work for you -- or for me anymore as far as that goes. So just cut the ends off. At this stage you can rinse them, throw them in a plastic bag with a paper towel to absorb moisture and toss them into the fridge for a couple of hours until you're ready for them.

Boil water. You can steam them or boil them like spaghetti. The time -- 8-10-12 minutes or so -- depends on the beans and how you like them. Avoid cooking them until they're yellowish green. That's too long. Test as you go.

Get them out of the water however you do. But very carefully. One trick is to drain them and then return them to the pan over a medium flame very briefly to dry them off. Careful with that. Just a few seconds. And kind of move the pan around.

Toss on any additions. Butter. Not too much. 1/2 tablespoon or so. (I use Smart Balance Spray.) Lemon juice. Just a squeeze. Salt, pepper to taste.

If you want to, add sliced or slivered almonds, pine nuts, etc. Have them ready to toss in when the beans are done and the butter or whatever is on. A quarter cup is probably plenty. You can toast almonds or pine nuts in a skillet over a medium high flame. Watch them constantly. (They'll be white ... and then burnt. Just like that. ) And have a plate to turn them out on as soon as they start to brown. Dump them over the beans and toss around.

Yum. I wish I were going to be having Olympic Chicken with you tonight!

Breakfast by John

Looks deluxe! And delish! Way to go, John!

Olympic Chicken

The idea of this recipe is to replace the skin with crunchy cornflake crumbs and then bake it instead of frying. You need to have bone-in, skinless chicken. It's easy to skin a chicken breast. And not bad to do thighs. Legs are a little more work. Some stores offer skinless chicken with the bones still in. I'd say it's worth paying a little extra for the saved time and effort. Otherwise, you may want to do breasts and thighs only. It's still delicious.


The recipe calls for a 2-1/2 - 3 pound frying chicken cut into serving pieces, but you can do 4 chicken breasts and/or six thighs. That'll give you leftovers for another time. And obviously this recipe is totally extendable. Just use more milk, cornflakes, seasoning and chicken. But see note below and don't crowd the chicken on the pan.

1 cup skim milk (any milk will do actually.)
1 cup cornflake crumbs
1 teaspoon dried rosemary (optional -- you could use any seasoning you like, including Emeril's)
Pepper to taste

Remove all skin from chicken, see note above. Rinse and dry the pieces. Combine cornflake crumbs and seasoning in a large zip lock bag. Dip the chicken in the milk and then shake in bag until covered with crumbs. Then, let the chicken pieces stand and dry for a bit so that the crumbs will stick on better.

Line a rimmed cookie sheet with aluminum foil (saves clean-up.) Put chicken on pan -- don't let the pieces touch (Remember my beef stew browning lecture. Moisture is the enemy of crispness. Fight sog.) Bake at 400 degrees for 45 minutes. Play the national anthems of as many competing countries as you desire. Test everyone -- everyone -- for steroids.

Grandma Hogsett's Baked Beans

Happy Memorial Day!


Here's the bean recipe. It's not wildly specific, some of it you just have to wing. I'll tell you how I wing it:

2-3 cans pork and beans. Yesterday I used two of the really big cans of Campbells. That's a decent measure, but if you like you can stir in another medium-sized can or so when they start to cook down -- makes it more beany.

1/2 - 1 small bottle of ketchup. I usually just dump in the whole thing. Probably a couple of cups at least.

1 handful of brown sugar. I just reach in and grab some -- I'm guessing 1/3 - 1/2 cup, packed

1/2 cup pancake syrup. Really, don't use good maple syrup; it's not the right taste. Mrs. Butterworth's or Log Cabin or whatever works fine for this.

1 TBS. ground pepper (really.)

1/2 pound bacon, cut up.

A pinch salt. (That's just ludicrous. I never put any salt in. See bacon, above.... There is nothing in this recipe except the onion and the pepper that doesn't contain salt. Well, maybe the brown sugar. Maybe)

This calls for 3 medium onions. I used just one of those really big white ones. The recipe doesn't say diced, but duh. Dice them.

Bake at 350 until done. Oh, that's helpful. I bake them with the lid on until they start to really bubble and then I take the lid off and let them cook down. Around five hours, I'd say. Stir every half hour. Be careful. This is about a gallon of burn unit in a big heavy, steamy pan. And you can hurt your back, no lie.

Oven fried potatoes

You could do these with the fish if you do the potatoes first and set them aside while you heat the oven on up to 500 (shouldn't take long) and bake the fish for 10 minutes. Awesome with a burger, too.

Ingredients

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 large baking potatoes [Cut in half lengthwise – be very careful, no kidding; knives can jump all over the place when your cutting something hard – and then lay halves face down and cut each half in half and then one more time. You’ll have eight pieces total.]

2 teaspoons seasoning blend (such as Emeril’s)

1/4 teaspoon salt

Preparation

Preheat oven to 400°.

Spread oil on a pan with a raised edge. Place potato wedges on pan. Sprinkle with seasoning; toss gently to coat. Bake at 400° for 40 minutes or until tender. Sprinkle with salt.

4 servings [you can do one potato if you don’t want leftovers, but if you cut these up, they make great little hash browns for breakfast or lunch.]

Just in case.

Here's what everyone should know about putting out a cooking fire. Don't feed it air. Drop a lid on it. Do not use water. At the very least it will cause a skillet to flame up big before it goes out. [Your Grandmother Snider and I melted the kitchen curtains doing that, back in the day. We were lucky that's all that happened.] A fire inside the oven will generally go out if you turn off the oven and keep the door closed. Opening the door will feed it air. Also. Buy a box of baking soda and keep it in the cupboard close to (but not above) your stove. If you catch something on fire, rip the top off the box and dump the soda on it. And never hesitate to call 911 if you don't get it on absolutely the first try. I believe you have a fire extinguisher that's certified for oil and electrical fires. It'll say on the label. Keep it in the kitchen. Know how to use it.

Fish Crispies

This is not only incredibly easy; it's incredibly fast.

1 pound fish fillets [I suggest you get orange roughy. And don't buy more than two pieces. It's expensive and leftovers won't be very good. So pick out a piece that will be a meal for you and get that.
Olive oil
1/3 cup cornflake crumbs

The roughy will be frozen. Probably will thaw before you get it home. If not. Stick it in a plastic bag and float it in a couple of inches of cold water. (Not warm.) It should thaw in fifteen minutes or so.

Preheat your oven to 500˚
Rinse off the fish, cut it into serving-size pieces. Two pieces roughy would probably cut into four. Use your fingers and spread some olive oil all over each piece of fish to give the crumbs something to stick to. Just a light coating of oil is fine.

Put some cornflake crumbs in a flat dish and dip the fish in. Get them nicely coated with crumbs.

Use Pam to spray a pan that will hold the fish without them touching each other.

Bake for 10 minutes without turning.

NOTE: It's possible that your range may not heat all the way to 500˚. Don't worry, just bake at 450 and allow a minute or so extra. That's a really hot oven so be careful.

Grandma Ada Bea's Pancakes

This is the recipe your great grandmother wheedled out of a short order cook somewhere in the great American South, circa 1955. The key is to gather all your ingredients before you start putting it together. The buttermilk interacts with the baking powder and soda to make fluffy bubbles. Protect the bubbles! Don't beat them to death.

1 cup flour
1 rounded teaspoon baking powder -- that means heap it up a bit.
1/2 teaspoon soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon butter, melted
1 tablespoon pancake syrup (I use about 3 -- can't hurt.)
1 cup buttermilk
1 well beaten egg

The basic instructions are "combine all at once. Beat just as little as possible."

Here's how I do it. I've highlighted the items you may need to buy

I sift the dry ingredients together -- just to get rid of any lumps. The original recipe didn't require that. (Do you have a sieve? You can get one at the grocery store. Question #2: Do you have a whisk?) Anyway, I put the sieve over the bowl I'm going to mix in and just measure the dry ingredients into it -- anything that doesn't just fall through, you can stir through with a spoon.

* Put the syrup (a little less than a quarter cup) into a little bowl with the two tablespoons butter and mike it for about 40 seconds. (Don't let it boil over.)

* Measure the buttermilk into a microwave safe bowl big enough to hold all the dry ingredients, too and break the egg in on it, beat the egg in. Pour the syrup and butter mixture into that bowl.

* Pour the dry ingredients into the bowl.

* Use a spoon or a whisk (whisk works best) and beat the ingredients together -- about five to ten strokes. Just combine. You can throw in a cup of fresh (rinsed and shaken dry) blueberries, if you like. Do not overmix. Really. Protect the bubbles.

* Use the griddle on your George to bake them I think. Just leave the lid open. Or use a non-stick fry pan. Control the heat if you do it on the stove. Practice.

NOTES: Two things. If you used dry buttermilk you just add enough to make a cup to the dry ingredients and then add a cup of water to the wet ingredients. That way you always have it on hand. Buttermilk keeps quite a while -- week, week and a half or so, but the dry stuff is great.

This recipe can be doubled. Just use twice as much of everything. Also, you can put the dry ingredients together in a plastic bag and keep it in your cupboard and then just warm up the butter & syrup and throw in the buttermilk and egg. That makes it really quick.

Remember: Only Mom can make the bears.

Yes! You have a waffle iron!

NOTE: I may be skating on thin ice here, regarding copyrights, but I give all the glory to the Food Networks. As noted below.

I have no idea why the type face changes, but remember, I'm a novice blogger. Expect improvement.



So, I just figured out that the George Foreman Grill makes stellar waffles. The recipe I use is from the South Beach cookbook, but it calls for whole wheat flour and needs an awful lot of baking powder to make it fluff up. This is the easiest sounding recipe I could find online. [If you have your George cookbook, check out the recipe in there. I've lost mine.] Get all your ingredients and your measuring stuff out on the counter and just put it together. When you start to open up the waffle iron see if it resists opening. That may mean it hasn't cooked long enough. Be sure to spray between waffles -- and, of course, the waffle irons go right in the dishwasher. You'll probably have leftover waffles. Let them cool on your counter or a rack if you have one.] Separate them with a sheet of waxed paper and freeze them in a freezer bag. Toaster oven. No problem. Quick. I made two batches today for when I don't feel like making breakfast, but feel like having breakfast. Someday very soon, I'll send you the pancake recipe. It's a no-brainer and can also be frozen and warmed in the microwave.

Very Easy Waffles From Food Network Kitchens

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup rolled oats [That's regular oatmeal. Not quick cooking. It's easy to fix as just oatmeal, too, takes five minutes, and delicious with brown sugar, maybe a dash of cinnamon, too.]
1/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
2 tablespoons wheat germ
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Pinch fine salt
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups milk
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
1/4 cup peanut or walnut oil
Maple syrup

Preheat the George with waffle irons in place, top & bottom, to high. Spray with PAM each time you make a waffle.

Whisk the flour with the oats, sugar, wheat germ, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt in a medium bowl. In another medium bowl, lightly whisk the eggs, then add the milk, butter, and oil.

Gently stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients with a wooden spoon [or whatever], to make a batter. Take care not to over work the batter, [this is important. If you bludgeon the baking powder it loses its oomph. And you need that oomph.] it's fine if there are a few lumps. Pour 1/2 cup of batter per waffle on left and right sides, and cook until the outside of the waffle is crisp and inside is cooked through, 3 to 5 minutes. (The time varies depending on the size and spread of a waffle iron. I think 5. Don't peek too soon or the waffles will rip apart in the middle. I've had no problem at all with sticking.) Repeat with remaining batter. Serve warm with with maple syrup. Copyright 2005 Television Food Network, G.P. All rights reserved
Shopping List:

All purpose flour
Regular Quaker's Oats A jar of wheat germ [keep it in the fridge.] It should be close to the oatmeal.
Light Brown sugar
Baking powder
A can of original flavor PAM. Butter flavor would be good, too.
Pancake syrup
Canola oil.
Cinnamon, if you don't have it.
Waxed paper

Except for the wheat germ, this is stuff you'll use up on other things. Canola oil is a good, neutral-flavored oil to use when olive oil would had too much olive oily taste. And except for the waxed paper which is with the sandwich bags and stuff, all this should be located kind of in the same general area of your store.

Beef Stew

This basic recipe is from the South Beach diet. It’s not very different from other Beef Burgundy recipes I’ve made. HINT: I find it to be really time- and effort-consuming to brown three pounds of beef. It always seems to require at least two batches at 7 or 8 minutes each. (If it's three batches and it takes eight minutes, each ... you get the picture. So, when I make this for your dad and me I use a pound or a little more. And keep the rest of the recipe the same. The meat gets really nicely browned in one batch. You get rich broth and great carrots & mushrooms and tomatoes in a delicious sauce. It should feed you three or four times.

Here’s the skinny on browning stuff: The bad thing that can happen is that whatever you’re browning – beef, chicken, fish, veggies, like mushrooms – doesn’t brown. It boils. It steams. If there’s too much oil...if the meat gives up too much juice...if the pieces are too close together so that moisture builds up, you don’t get seared, caramelized crusts. You get soggy. Bleah. So always, always make sure whatever you’re browning is nice and dry, the pan is heated, not too much oil (you can always add more if things start to stick.) Don’t let stuff touch each other. That’s how things start to steam.

Beef Burgundy Serves 8 to 10 Ingredients 3 pounds lean top-round steak trimmed of all visible fat, cut into 1 to 2-inch chunks Salt and black pepper 3 tablespoons canola oil [I use olive oil], divided [Beware the dread divided.] 1 cup dry red wine 2 medium white or yellow onions, chopped [I use one large] 2 1/2 cups reduced-sodium beef broth [I use one can and make up the difference with water.] 1 can (14.5 ounces) diced tomatoes 1 dried bay leaf 5 large carrots, peeled, halved length-wise and cut into 1/2-inch pieces 1 carton (8 ounces) small white button mushrooms, halved or quartered if large Fresh parsley leaves, minced Instructions Pat beef cubes dry with paper towel. (I put a couple of tablespoons of flour in a Ziploc bag and shake the meat in there until it’s coated. Then you know it’s dry! ) In large bowl, toss cubes with salt and pepper. Warm 1 tablespoon of the oil in large Dutch oven or heavy soup kettle over medium-high heat. Add half [ or all if you don’t have so much] of the beef in a single layer; brown on all sides, about 5 minutes. Transfer seared beef to platter. Stir wine into empty pot, scraping up any browned bits that have stuck to pan. Pour off any remaining wine and beef bits into beef platter. Stir remaining 1 tablespoon oil and onions into pot. Cook 5 minutes, until onions are golden, stirring often. Return seared beef and any accumulated cooking liquid to pot. Stir in broth, tomatoes, and bay leaf. Bring to a boil; reduce heat, cover and cook for 1 hour 20 minutes. Add carrots, mushrooms and up to 1/2 cup water if liquid is not covering ingredients. Cover, cook 45 minutes, until meat and vegetables are tender. Ladle hot soup into serving bowls; garnish with parsley. Tip from the South Beach Cookbook: Adding wine after searing the beef loosens the browned bits of meat stuck to the bottom of the pan. This technique, called deglazing, further increases the rich flavor of the stew.

That's it! The first recipe.

As I go along, I'll add some pictures and some more interesting stuff. I think this will work. You'll be able to access recipes easily and I can make changes if we find mistakes.

Insanely Simple Chili

This is the part where you find out it's just a mix. Buy a packet of chili seasoning. I usually go for the spicy ones. Texas in the name is a good bet. Follow the ingredient list. (The packet can be your shopping list if you get to the store without one.] You'll most likely need:

1 lb. ground chuck
1 can kidney beans [Substitute canned black beans or pinto beans if you like.]
1 can (14 1/2 oz. or so) diced tomatoes

Ignore the instructions on the packet. Just do this. It works fine.

Brown the ground chuck. I usually let the big hunk get nice and brown before I break it up in the pan. I also throw in a paper towel for a minute at the end of browning or so to soak up the extra fat. (Take it out when you're done. Don't laugh. I served paper towels to John and Karan on one occasion. Your guests will mock you for it. For years.)

Add the contents of the seasoning packet and let it get warm and toasted for just minute. Don't scorch it. Have the beans and the tomatoes open and ready to go before you add the seasoning. Throw them in. Stir. Bring back to boil. Put lid on; lower heat and simmer at least 10 and as much as 20 minutes. Add hot pepper flakes or Tabasco if you want it hotter. Done.

To double recipe: Double the ingredients.

Lately, as you know, I've been making my own chili from the South Beach Diet Cookbook. It's really delicious. And it's easy. The hardest part is slicing the small onion and mincing the garlic. You can use a better quality chili seasoning -- like the ones you got me at Legacy.

Beef and Bean Chili

Top this hearty chili with chopped scallions, reduced-fat sour cream, or grated low-fat cheddar cheese.

Prep time: 5 minutes Start to finish: 25minutes

Ingredients

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 pound lean ground beef
11/2 teaspoons chili powder, divided [This means don't throw it all in at once. Can trip you up.]
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 small onion, thinly sliced
1 garlic clove
28-ounce) can diced tomatoes
(15-ounce) can kidney beans, rinsed and drained [I've been adding two cans of beans. It tastes great and you get more chili!]
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Instructions

Heat oil in a large heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium-high heat. Add beef, 1/2 teaspoon of the chili powder, and cumin; sauté until browned, about 5 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer beef to a plate. Add onion, garlic, and remaining chili powder to the same saucepan; cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 3 minutes. Add tomatoes with juice and beans; cover and simmer 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Uncover, add cooked beef, and cook an additional 5 minutes, until liquid thickens slightly. Season to taste with salt and pepper and serve hot.

Recipe from The South Beach Diet Quick & Easy Cookbook. For information on the book, click here.