Salisbury Steak

It was always special when my mom made Salisbury Steak. So yummy!

Salisbury Steak

for patties:

• 1-1/2 lb. ground beef
• 1 med. onion, chopped
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 cup oatmeal
• 1 cup cracker crumbs
• 1-8 oz. can tomato sauce
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp. chili powder

Mix well, and form into patties.  For uniform patties, I use a 1/3 cup measuring cup - fill measuring cup with meat mixture, then form into patty.  Brown patties in skillet (both sides) and place in a 13x9 inch baking dish.

for gravy:

• 2 cups beef broth
• 1 T. cornstarch
• 1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
• 2 cans cream of mushroom soup

Mix gravy ingredients well using wire whisk. 
Pour gravy over patties in baking dish.  Bake @ 350° for 45 minutes.

Serve with mashed potatoes and a vegetable.

Enjoy!
 

Step by step directions with pictures - created on Tabblo.

Fudgsicles

I found this recipe on Baking Bites a while back, but I couldn't make them because I was almost out of cocoa. And then I forgot - and couldn't find the link I'd shared on facebook. I went searching tonight and found the recipe again. I'm not trusting facebook this time.

Homemade Fudgsicles

• 2 cups low fat or skim milk
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 2 tbsp corn syrup or agave syrup
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

In a medium saucepan, combine milk, cocoa powder, sugar, corn syrup (or agave syrup) and vanilla extract. Bring to a simmer, stirring frequently, and cook just until all of the sugar and cocoa powder is dissolved. Pour hot mixture into popsicle molds and freeze overnight, or until solid.

Makes 6-8 large popsicles (depending on the size of your molds)

I have cocoa now.  Time to dig out the Tupperware popsicle molds - even if it's not summer yet.
 

Tomato Vegetable Stew with Cheddar Dumplings

Here's another recipe I cut from the newspaper. This is so good!  My husband says he doesn't like tomatoes, so he's not super excited when I make this, but he will eat it without complaining too much, especially if I serve him some kind of meat on the side.  Me, I love it.  I think the flavors are so perfect together.

Tomato Vegetable Stew with Cheddar Dumplings

Stew:

• 1 T. olive oil
• 2 large onions, coarsely chopped
• 2 ribs celery, coarsely chopped
• 1 can (28 oz.) diced tomatoes, undrained
• 1 can (14.5 oz.) chicken broth
• 2 cups frozen green beans
• 1 tsp. dried basil
• 1/4 tsp. pepper or hot sauce to taste

Dumplings:

• 1-1/2 cup flour
• 1-1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. dry mustard
• 1/4 cup solid vegetable shortening
• 1/2 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
• 2/3 cup milk

Directions:

1. In Dutch oven with lid, heat oil over medium-high heat.  Add onions and celery.  Cook and stir until celery is tender.  Add remaining stew ingredients: diced tomatoes with juice, chicken broth, green beans, basil and hot sauce.  Bring to boil.  Reduce heat; simmer 15 to 20 minutes or until beans are tender.  Taste and adjust seasoning; add salt if canned tomatoes and broth were not salty.
2. For dumplings, put flour, baking powder, salt and dry mustard in medium mixing bowl and stir well.  Using pastry blender, two table knives, or fork, cut shortening into flour mixture until it resembles coarse crumbs.  Stir in shredded cheddar.  Add milk and stir just until dry ingredients are moistened.
3. Drop by tablespoonfuls over the simmering stew.  Cover and cook over medium-low heat 10 to 15 minutes or until dumplings are firm. 

Makes 6 to 8 servings.

I get a lot of recipes from the newspaper and from magazines. If a recipe looks good, I clip it. Unfortunately, I have yet to find the perfect way to organize them so that I can find them later and actually try them. If only my clippings could at least be in a regular consistent size, like notebook paper size or even postcards, then I could sort and store them in a binder or a box or something. And if only two recipes I want didn't always seem to be printed on opposite sides of the same page!  I'm really going to have to buckle down and post more of the recipes I really like or really want to try - or figure out if I can find them on the magazine or newspaper websites and save them from there, instead of trying to keep track of so many newspaper clippings!

I like the idea of posting the recipes, because then I'm sharing, too - but it just takes time.  Anyway, try this.  It's yummy!

Tex-Mex Chicken Soup Bar

I cut this recipe out of the newspaper ages ago. It's so good! And really very easy to make.

Tex-Mex Chicken Soup

Ingredients:

• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, fresh or frozen
• 2 tsp. olive oil
• 2 medium onions (for 1-1/2 cups chopped)
• 2 tsp. minced garlic
• 3 cans (14-1/2 oz.) chicken broth
• 2 cans (14-1/2 oz.) Mexican-style stewed tomatoes
• 1-1/2 cups frozen corn kernels
• 1-1/2 cups black beans (1 can)
• 1/2 tsp. ground cumin
• juice of 1/2 of a lime

Toppings:
grated cheeses, sliced black olives, crushed tortilla chips, sour cream, chopped green onions, dice avocado, cilantro

Directions:

1. Heat oil over medium heat in a 4-1/2 to 5 quart Dutch oven or soup pot.  Peel onions and coarsely chop them, adding them to pot as you chop.  Cut chicken into bite-size chunks, adding them to the pot as you cut.  After first breast is in the pot, raise heat to medium-high.  Continue until all chicken is added.  Add garlic.  Cook chicken, stirring from time to time, until it is no longer pink outside, about 4 minutes.
2. Add broth, tomatoes, corn, and beans.  Raise heat to high, cover and bring pot to a boil.  Uncover, reduce heat to low and add cumin and juice from lime.  Continue to simmer 5 minutes to let flavors develop.
3. While soup simmers, prepare toppings of choice.  Serve at once or remove from heat and cover until ready to serve.  Reheat as necessary.  Arrange toppings salad-bar style, or pass them around the table, and let everyone add their own.

Note: This soup is only mildly spicy.  Be sure to put out a bottle of hot pepper sauce, such as Tabasco, for guest who like to breathe fire.

The original recipe didn't call for black beans, but I think there's something special about the flavors of chicken, corn, black beans, lime, and cumin (and cilantro, the toppings didn't list cilantro, either) together, and this soup didn't seem complete without them.  Also, I don't usually have Mexican-style tomatoes, so I just use a couple cans of diced tomatoes.  As with all soups, the measurements here are really just guidelines - adjust as needed or to suit your preferences.
 

Related articles

• Buffalo Chicken Soup (cookingwithwillinghands.wordpress.com)
• Tex Mex Lasagna (belowblueskies.wordpress.com)

Mexican Pizza

Image by Kodamakitty via FlickrI got this recipe from my mother-in-law, and we really like it. I haven't made it in a while, but a friend's pizza crust the other night reminded me - so I had to share, because I think this pizza would be great with her crust.

Mexican Pizza
 
for each pizza crust:

• 1 pkg. pizza crust mix
• 1/2 cup cornmeal
• 1/2 cup plus 2 T. water

toppings:

• 1 can refried beans
• chopped onions
• chopped green pepper
• sliced mushrooms - fresh or 4 oz. can
• black olives, sliced
• tomato, chopped (or use well drained, canned)
• Colby/Jack cheese, shredded 

Directions:

1. Mix pizza crust mix and cornmeal for 1 pizza crust.  Add water and mix according to package directions.  Let sit 5 minutes, then press onto pizza pan. 
2. Bake 10 minutes @ 450°. 
3. Remove crust from oven, and spread 1/2 can refried beans on top. 
4. Add remaining ingredients, saving some for the second pizza, and return pizza to oven.  Bake until cheese is melted and slightly browned (or however you like your pizza). 
5. Repeat with remaining ingredients to make the second pizza. 

 Serve with some crushed red pepper to sprinkle on top.  Makes 2 pizzas.

You can use any pizza crust.  When I first started making this, I had some packages of pizza crust mix I had gotten really cheap, so that's what I used.  The added cornmeal is absolutely perfect with the toppings on this pizza.  I really need to make this soon! (and maybe this one, too)

Sweet Potato Fries

Image via Wikipedia
I had sweet potato fries with my chicken sandwich the other day at TGIFridays, and they were so good, I want to make some of my own.  I found this recipe today, and it sounds pretty easy - and yummy.

Sweet Potato Fries

Ingredients:

• 1 large sweet potato
• 1 Tbs olive oil
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 gallon zip top bag

Directions:

1. Cut sweet potatoes into sticks that are fry sized making sure that no stick is more than about 1/4 inch thick in either direction.
2. Put fries into zip top bag then add oil and salt. Squeeze out all the air and zip the bag. Squish potatoes around until they are well coated with oil and salt.
3. Pour potato sticks onto a cookie sheet or baking dish in a single layer then roast for about 30 minutes at 350° turning sticks over half way through cooking.

ETA 3/15: The original recipe called for 1 tsp. of salt, but when I used that much, they just seemed too salty.  So I'm reducing the salt to 1/2 tsp.  Hopefully that will be better.  Otherwise, these were really yummy.  I did have to cook them longer, but that might be because my sticks were bigger than they should have been.  Just check them often and judge for yourself.
 

Related articles

• Sweet Potato Fries (cookingwithkatie.wordpress.com)
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Sourdough Bread

I've been making my Whole Wheat (or whole grain) Sourdough Bread most of the time anymore.  Once in a while I just want regular old sourdough bread with white flour - for instance, when I want spaghetti.  A while back I created a tabblo (see bottom of post) with my recipe.  Every time I want to make it, I go to tabblo and look it up.  I figured it was high time I posted it here, too.

Sourdough Bread

The night before you want bread:

• bring starter to room temperature
• measure 1 cup starter
• in large bowl, mix starter with 1-1/2 cups lukewarm water, then stir in 2-1/2 cups bread flour.
• mix well, cover, and let sit out overnight

The next morning:

• your mixture should be all bubbly
• mix in: 3 T sugar, 1 t. salt and 3 T olive oil
• add 3 to 3-1/2 cups bread flour, mixing in as much as you can with a spoon and then kneading the rest in
• knead on a floured surface until you have a smooth, elastic dough
• put into greased bowl, cover and set in warm place to rise
• When it has doubled, punch it down. Put the dough on a floured surface and divide into two parts. Cover these two lumps for about 10 minutes and let them rest. 
• Then make them into two round loaves. Put the two loaves on a greased baking sheet, and cover again to let them rise until they are about double in size (about 30 minutes). 
• Then it's time to bake the loaves, in a 375° oven for about 30 to 35 minutes.

I always take a sharp knife and cut a criss cross pattern into the top of the loaves before putting them into the oven. When they come out, I brush butter onto the hot loaves.

Allow them to cool, slice, and enjoy.

This is great bread with a spaghetti dinner, and it makes wonderful French toast for breakfast.

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