Orange Salad Gramma’s Between Course Palate Cleanser

Gramma Rinaldi’s holiday dinners were more like attending an event than just a family gathering. Being together during the holiday was an important part of her meal planning. Everyone looked forward to the traditional dishes she served at every holiday. We each had a favorite dish that we couldn’t wait to savor.

Gramma’s meals usually consisted of four main courses; soup, several entrees, salad, and dessert. However, in between each course she believed in serving what she termed a palate cleanser. Soup was served with homemade bread, appetizers before entrees, salad was served after the main course, and then another palate cleanser before dessert. Sometimes it was celery stalks soaked in anisette, or my favorite, orange salad.

After dessert, the women and girls cleared off the tables, cleaned the dishes and kitchen. Finally, we all sat around the table with bowls filled with mixed nuts. Nutcrackers and picks in hand we got down to cracking open those nuts, picking out the tasty morsels, and enjoying the last palate cleanser of the meal. While nibbling on the nuts, some of us played cards or took out Gramma’s Pokeno game to play. The men sat around smoking cigars, sipping glasses of red wine, and talking. Neighbors and family members drifted in and out throughout the day picking at the leftovers until it was time to head home to bed. If you were lucky, you got to take home a piece of your favorite part of the meal to enjoy again the next day.

Gramma’s Orange Salad

• 3 peeled and sectioned navel oranges

• 1 can of drained large black olives

Drizzle with olive oil and toss. Sprinkle with black pepper.

Side notes:
For a light lunch add shrimp, red onion, baby spinach, and a splash of balsamic vinegar to the above. Or, go crazy and add a bit of sliced fennel. Experiment with different flavor combinations to make it your own.

Easy Strawberry Cookies

I have been searching for a recipe to clone the strawberry cookies from a local strawberry farm store. After perusing several websites, I decided to try one that I found on allrecipes.com. It sounded way too easy to be very tasty, but since I had most of the ingredients I gave it a shot anyway. As usual being too lazy to go to the store, I had to “Mommy MacGyver” but the cookies still turned out great. (I did not have the regular type of non dairy whipped topping; so I used the canned spray whipped cream.) I think that trial and error is a great way to learn how to cook. It makes for a very creative cook. If the recipe doesn’t turn out right, make improvements for the next time or just don’t make it again.


Strawberry Cookies

Ingredients:

• 1 (18.25 ounce) package strawberry cake mix

• 1 egg, lightly beaten

• 1 (8 ounce) carton frozen whipped topping , thawed

• 2 cups confectioners' sugar

Directions:

1. In a mixing bowl, combine the cake mix, egg and whipped topping until well combined.

2. Place confectioners' sugar in a shallow dish.

3. Drop dough by tablespoonfuls into sugar; turn to coat.

4. Place 2 in. apart on greased baking sheets.

Bake at 350 degrees F for 10-12 minutes or until lightly browned around the edges

This recipe made me think of another way that I think I’ll try to post recipes: Twitter. My new project is going to be trying to post quick, simple, recipes on Twitter.  So keep following!

Comfort Food on a Cold Winter Day

It’s a very cold day in what is supposed to be sunny Florida. I need something hot and hearty for dinner tonight, especially after all the party food we ate during the Christmas holiday. To me, comfort food has to be easy to make, inexpensive, and involve cheese. I decided upon my favorite crock pot concoction; ham and au gratin potatoes.

I’m always trying to come up with inexpensive, hearty meals particularly dishes that my daughter, as a small child, would eat. Potatoes, cheese, and ham were foods that both she and I agreed were acceptable ingredients for dinner. Coupled with a salad, my ham and potatoes au gratin proved to fall into the “make again mommy” category. I hope you like it too.

Ham and Au Gratin Potatoes

Ingredients:

• 5lbs potatoes

• 1 medium onion

• 1 thick sliced pre cooked Ham

• 2 cans Cheddar Cheese Soup

• 1 Cup Milk

Directions:

1. Peel and thickly slice 5 lbs of potatoes and one medium onion.

2. Dice one thick slice of pre-cooked ham.

3. Mix potatoes, onion, and ham together in crock pot.

4. Mix together Cheddar Cheese Soup and Milk.

5. Pour sauce over potatoes; stir a bit to combine.

6. Cook on low in crock pot for 8 hours.

Ever Have One of Those Crazy Days?

Did you ever have one of those days when you are wishing for something, you don’t have all the ingredients necessary, and you’re too lazy to go to the store? Well, I’m having that kind of day today. I think I’m having a chocolate cake craving today. My birthday is coming up and I think I need to make myself a birthday cake; a moist, dark, chocolate birthday cake. But, dang I do not have any eggs!

The light bulb went off in my head when my friend Laura Brundage called today to invite me out for a birthday dinner. Laura gave me a great chocolate cake recipe. She is one of my crazier girlfriends and appropriately enough she called this recipe Crazy Cake. I guess the recipe got its name because the recipe does not need eggs; not because Laura is so lovably crazy. Crazy Cake has become my go to chocolate cake recipe for any occasion when I need to make a quick and easy from scratch cake. I usually have all the ingredients on hand in my pantry too. Kudos to Laura for giving me this really good and easy, one pan, cake recipe. I ice this cake with my favorite white, fluffy boiled icing.

 Crazy Cake

 Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 cups Flour

• 2 cups Sugar
• 2 tsp Baking Soda
• 6 heaping Tblsp. Cocoa
• 1 tsp Salt
• 2 tsp Vanilla
• 2 Tblsp. Vinegar
• 10 Tblsp. Vegetable Oil

• 2 cups Cold Water

Directions:

1. Right in a 9 x 12 pan, mix together all the dry ingredients (Flour, Sugar, Baking Soda, Cocoa, Salt)

Stir well with wire wisp.

 2. Make 3 holes in dry ingredients.

 3. Pour vanilla in one hole, vinegar in another, and oil in the last hole.

 4. Pour water over the entire mixture,

 5. Stir with wire wisp very, very well until mixture is smooth.

 6. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes.

 7. Cool and ice with your favorite icing.

 White Boiled Icing:

 Mix 5 Tblsp. Flour and 1 Cup Milk, heat to boiling while stirring with wire whisk. Cool thoroughly!

 In a separate bowl, mix;

•  1/2 Lb. Butter
• 1 Cup Sugar
• 1 Tsp. Vanilla

Beat butter mixture until fluffy, then add cooled flour mixture. Beat well.

Keep iced cake in refrigerator since icing tends to melt when left out at room temperature.

Feels Like Halloween

It’s Halloween today. After a night of watching scary movies, I decided to give my flight or fright instinct a break before my heart pops right out of my chest. I wracked what is left of my brain to come up a family Halloween recipe. All I could remember is that my cousin, Carole, used to decorate sugar cookies to look like pumpkins. I got a kick out of how she thought people would allow their kids to eat her cookies if she put her address label on the baggies of cookies she passed out to the Halloweeners that came to her door. Somehow, a sugar cookie recipe wasn’t working for me today. So, I guess I’ll post what I would bring to a Halloween party.

My favorite website to find festive recipes is Better Homes and Gardens. For the last few Halloween parties we attended, I baked something similar to what our family called pepperoni bread. When I saw this recipe on BHG, I had to try it. It was a big hit at every party.

Constricting Snake Bites

Makes: 24 slices

Prep: 45 minutes Rise: 20 minutes Bake: 25 mintues

Ingredients

• 3 16-ounce loaves frozen white bread dough, thawed

• 6 tablespoons brown mustard
• 16 ounces thinly sliced ham

• 12 ounces thinly sliced salami

• 6 ounces provolone cheese, shredded

• 6 ounces mozzarella cheese, shredded

• tablespoon water

• Green, red, and yellow liquid food coloring

• egg yolks

• whole cloves
• tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese, optional
• 2 small pimiento-stuffed olives
• Bottled roasted red sweet pepper strip (6x1-inch)

Directions

1. Line 3 cookie sheets with foil, grease the foil and set aside. Roll one of the loaves of dough on a lightly floured surface to a 26 x 6-inch rectangle. May need to allow dough to rest a few minutes occasionally while rolling out. Lightly brush 2 tablespoons mustard to within 1 inch of the sides of dough. Layer one third of the ham and salami over mustard. Mix together cheeses. Sprinkle one third of the cheese mixture over ham and salami. Brush edges of dough with water. Roll up into a spiral, tightly, starting with one of the long sides. Pinch all edges to seal. Shape dough on baking sheet in an "S" shape.

2. Combine one of the egg yolks, one teaspoon water, and several drops of desired food coloring. Repeat making green, red, and yellow egg wash. Using a small brush paint stripes crosswise over loaf, allowing wash to drizzle down the sides.

3. Let loaf rise in a warm place for about 20 minutes. Sprinkle top of loaf with 1 tablespoon of the Parmesan cheese, if desired.

4. While one section of the "snake " rises, repeat with remaining bread dough and ingredients. Taper one end of each of these loaves to a rounded point making a head and tail. Insert 2 whole cloves at one of these ends making nostrils of the "snake". Place on remaining prepared cookie sheets. Paint and let rise as above.



5. Bake snake sections in a 375 degree F oven for 25 to 30 minutes or until bottoms of loaves are golden. Insert olives with toothpicks above the cloves, to form eyes. Place red pepper strip in front of snake's mouth. Assemble snake portions on bamboo leaves, if desired. Slice and serve warm. Makes 24 slices.

The Manilla Recipe Connection

I haven’t felt like myself at all lately. I lost another job! What are the odds of losing two jobs in a one year time period? My ego has definitely been deflated. But, I have a great family and several good friends that have been very supportive. I’ve made a decision to work as a temp; that way if I do not like the job assignment I know that it won’t last forever and something new is just around the corner. This new endeavor has caused my creative juices to flow again. I’ve vowed to try new things, meet new people, experience new eateries, and experiment with new recipes.

My cousin Greg met a lovely young woman from Manilla named Jyrene. Since I had so much time on my hands, I started playing Café World on Facebook and discovered that Jyrene plays the game too. We took our Facebook gaming one step further and began to e mail one another too. Jyrene mentioned that she was interested in cooking. We began swapping messages on our likes and dislikes about food. I told her about my blog and promised to send her some family recipes. In turn, she promised to send me some of her favorite recipes too. So in keeping with experiencing new things and meeting new people, I am posting Jyrene’s recipe for Pork Sinigang. Enjoy!

Pork Sinigang Ingredients

• 3/4 kilo Pork, cut into chunks

• 3 tomatoes, sliced

• 2 onions, diced

• 5 cloves of garlic, minced

• 100 grams Kangkong (river spinach)

• 100 grams String beans

• 2 pieces horse radishes, sliced

• 3 pieces gabi (taro), pealed

• 2 pieces sili pag sigang (green finger pepper)

• 200 grams sampalok (tamarind)

• 3 tablespoons of patis (fish sauce)

Directions

• Boil sampalok in water until the shell shows cracks. Let cool then peel off the shells and with a strainer, pour samplalok (including water) into a bowl. Gently massage the sampalok meat off the seeds, strain again.

• In a pot, sauté garlic and onion then add the tomatoes. Let simmer for 5 minutes.

• Add pork and fish sauce . Bring to a boil then simmer for 15 minutes then add the gabi. Continue to simmer for another 15 minutes or until the pork is tender.

• Add the horse radish and simmer for 10 minutes then add the string beans, kangkong and sili (for spice-optional). Let boil for 2 minutes.

• Serve piping hot.

Peanut Butter and Chocolate: The Best Flavor Combination

I needed to tame a craving today but my taste buds couldn’t decide between sweet or salty. As I thumbed through my recipes, I thought, yum, peanut butter and chocolate is really the best combination of flavors when the craving requires both sweet and salty tastes. I searched though all my recipe books and could not find anything that was easy to make. Then, remembered that my Grandmother- in-law, Goo Goo, used to make candy. I dug out one of her candy recipes for Peanut Butter and Pretzel Truffles.



Gwen Hopkins was called Goo Goo by all of her grandchildren. She was a kind, most generous person that anyone would love to have as a grandmother. She was a classic. Her long, thick, gray hair was always perfectly piled on top of her head surrounded by a crown of braided hair. I very rarely, if ever, remember Goo Goo when she wasn’t in a dress, hose, and chunky heeled pumps on her little feet. Everybody just loved Goo Goo.



When Goo Goo was a working woman, she handmade chocolates at the Williams Candy Company in Scranton, Pennsylvania. I guess she would be called a chocolatier. I now wish I took more interest in her craft and copied down more of her candy recipes. She made absolutely wonderful cold fudge, which was a favorite of mine and is now lost forever. However, I did find her recipe for Peanut Butter and Pretzel Truffles. Since I could not actually make chocolate, she said I could melt my favorite chocolate instead.



Peanut Butter and Pretzel Truffles

Ingredients:

• ½ cup crunchy peanut butter

• ¼ cup of chopped salted pretzels

• ½ cup melted chocolate

• Cocoa Powder

Combine peanut butter and pretzels. Chill in freezer about 15 minutes.

Scoop out one teaspoon of mixtures and roll into balls.

Place on cookie sheet and freeze. Approx. 1 hour.

Dip frozen balls in melted chocolate.

Put dipped balls in refrigerator until almost set. Approx. 10 min.

Roll in cocoa powder. (If desired) Chill until firm.