Lemon Chicken

This is one of the simplest ways I know to cook chicken. I learned to make it many years ago when some friends and I rented a house on Martha's Vineyard. We took turns cooking; on my night to cook, my cooking partner showed me how to make this very simple and very delicious recipe.

Earlier this week, we were having dinner with family (a mixed grill of steak and chicken, roasted peppers and onions, and corn on the cob).  I was asked for a suggestion for cooking boneless chicken breasts. Wanting something easy and quick, and not having an outdoor grill or my recipe collection at hand, I was stumped until this recipe popped into my head. I hadn't made it in years, and found that it still is extremely simple, quick, and melt-in-your mouth delicious.

Ingredients

• One boneless chicken breast per person
• Lemon, sliced thin
• Mix of dried herbs (optional)
• Butter (I generally start with a tablespoon and then add as needed so that pan stays moist)
• Small amount of flour
• Wax paper 

Directions

• Place chicken breasts between two pieces of wax paper on cutting board or other solid surface. Using the flat edge of a butcher's knife, or a meat mallet, pound the chicken breasts to an even thinness.
• Melt butter in cast iron or other heavy frying pan. While butter is melting, lightly coat chicken breasts with flour. Add chicken to frying pan, turn heat to medium, and place lemon slices on top of chicken.  Add dried herb mix if desired.
• Let chicken cook for a minute or two before turning over. Keep lemon slices on top. Cook until chicken is cooked all the way through, adding butter as needed. The outside of the chicken should have a slight golden color.
• While chicken is cooking, take out a plate and then put a smaller plate, upside down, on the larger plate. When chicken is done, place the chicken on the smaller plate and cover with foil. Let sit for approximately two minutes; this helps seal the juices inside of the cooked chicken.

Cooking the perfect steak

The Mouse House is on vacation. In the past three days we slept in Arlington, window shopped in Mississippi, biked in the Providence Bridge Pedal, and had the perfect steak in Portland. Where are we?

Click here to learn how to cook a perfect steak in a cast iron pan.

Black Bean Salsa/Salad

This is one of my favorite summer recipes. I often make it to take to summer parties as it is easy and it gets better (spicier) the longer it sits.

The recipe evolved from two sources: a Goya ad in a magazine and a recipe in a cookbook I use frequently. The cookbook version recommended sauteing the frozen corn and the spices before mixing with other ingredients; what I learned after discovering the Goya recipe is that sauteing didn't enhance the flavor all that much. So, in the interest of simplicity (and keeping the stove off on a hot day), I eliminated that step from my version of this recipe.

What I like about this recipe is the seasoning; the chili powder and cumin give it a nice heat, which increases the longer the salsa sits. I’m known in my family as the one who makes the ‘spicy’ dishes, even thought I cut back on the cumin and chili powder when I bring this to a family gathering…    

In a large bowl combine:

2 can (about 15 oz) black beans, rinsed

3 tbsp chopped jalapeno slices

2 tsp minced garlic

3 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp Adobo with pepper

1 pkg (10 oz) frozen corn, thawed

1 cup diced onion

½ cup diced red bell pepper

1 large tomato, diced

3 tbsp chopped cilantro

3 tbsp lime juice

1 tbsp chili powder

2 tsp ground cumin

Serve with tortilla chips or as a side dish.

Easy Chicken Salad

Chicken salad brings memories of graduation parties and bridal showers; I remember trays of egg, pickled ham, and chicken salad sandwiches on tiny rolls.  Not being a pickled ham fan, I always wondered who ate those sandwiches.....

Having cooked chicken on hand provides a base for a number of easy summer meals. When it is too hot to even think about cooking on the grill, let alone in the oven, I cook my chicken in my crock pot. The recipe book that came with my Rival Crock-Pot (which may have been a gift at a bridal shower where chicken salad sandwiches were served....) has the following recipe for roast chicken :

Roast Chicken or Hen
3-4 pound roasting chicken (I often use chicken breasts, either with the bone or boneless, of various weights)
Salt and pepper
Parsley
Basil or tarragon (optional)
Butter

Thoroughly wash chicken and pat dry (patting dry assures good browning). Sprinkle cavity (or pieces) generously with salt, butter, pepper, and parsley. Place in crockpot; dot chicken breast with butter. Sprinkle with parsley and basil or tarragon if using. Cover and cook on High 1 hour then turn to Low for 8-10 hours.


Let chicken cool. Cut into slices (for chicken sandwiches) or chunks (for chicken salad). Store in refrigerator. Chunked chicken can be frozen for use in salad.

Easy Chicken Salad
Mix chicken chunks with mayonaise, using the amount your family prefers. (I prefer my chicken salad with only enough mayo to hold everything together.) If desired, mix in:

• celery
• grapes
• walnuts
• dried cranberries
• onion

It’s too hot to cook…. Davidge Fruit Frappe

When it is hot and humid I don’t want to move, let alone prepare food. Yet, I get grouchy if I don’t eat – and even more grouchy when I am hot and hungry.  My hot weather strategy?  Easy, prepare ahead items that can be stored in the refrigerator and eaten cold. With another hot week ahead of us, over the next few days The Mouse House will feature several ‘it’s too hot to cook’ recipes.

This first recipe is from my husband. When we first met, he made this protein shake weekly; all I needed to do was grab a glass and pour. Since we’ve been married, I've become the shake maker.  In the summer I use whatever local fruit I find in my weekly CSA share (community supported agriculture) or at the local farmers’ market. Other seasons, I reach for the fruit I’ve cut up and frozen during the local growing season, frozen berries, or the apples, pears, and bananas from the local grocery store.

The best thing about this recipe? You can add or subtract ingredients based on what you have in the house. No banana? Skip it. A pineapple that needs to be used today? Toss it in. Experiment until you find the combinations that you and your family prefer. (I always add cranberries: fresh in the fall and the ones I freeze to have on hand all year.)

Davidge Fruit Frappe

Mix in blender (in order shown)

Banana

3-4 Tbsp. yogurt, any flavor, or plain

2 scoops protein powder

1 small container yogurt, different flavor or plain

Assorted fruit (handful of each – fresh or frozen)

Pear (peeled)

Apple (peeled)

Peach (peeled)

Blueberries

Raspberries

Strawberries

Cranberries

Kiwi

  Watermelon or other melon

Or your choice

¼ cup flaxseed oil

¼ cup wheat germ

Sprinkle of Quaker Oats oatmeal flakes (regular, not instant)

Orange and/or cranberry juice to fill container

Keeps for up to one week in refrigerator.

How to peel a banana

Do you know the easiest way to peel a banana?

Rhubarb

Rhubarb: one of those funny 'old fashioned' fruits/vegetables (in the USA it is a fruit thanks to a New York state court ruling...) that seems to have become popular again with the increase in farmers markets, community supported agriculture, and eating locally/seasonally. I always thought it was a New England plant - maybe native - who knew it is originally from China where it had a medicinal use. According to Wikipedia, the expense of transporting it across Asia caused rhubarb to be very expensive in medieval Europe where it was several times the price of other valuable herbs and spices such as cinnamon, opium, and saffron.

The question I faced earlier this week after making a strawberry rhubarb pie was: What do you do with the rhubarb that is left over? Here are two suggestions from the Mouse House:

1. You can freeze it (who knew?). Cut the rhubarb into small (1/2” to 1” pieces), place in airtight container, and freeze. I like to freeze rhubarb in two cup portions – perfect for the next strawberry rhubarb pie.

2. Stewed Rhubarb: enjoy this easy dish over ice cream, plain yogurt, as filling for pies and tarts, or mixed with granola. Here’s what you do:

1 bunch rhubarb, washed and trimmed*

½ cup honey

1 Tbsp lemon juice

Cut the rhubarb into ½” slices and place in a saucepan. Drizzle honey over the rhubarb and sprinkle with lemon juice. It is not necessary to add water as the water in the rhubarb will seep out as it cooks.

Cover the saucepan and bring mixture to a boil. Reduce heat immediately and simmer, covered, for 10 minutes.

If not using immediately, cool mixture then place in covered container and store in refrigerator for up to one week.

*If I only have one or two pieces of rhubarb, I reduce the amount of honey and lemon juice, usually by ‘eyeballing’ it. I have to resist the temptation to add  water as it makes the stewed rhubarb too wet.

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

To me, June is strawberries and rhubarb. Growing up, June was strawberries and roses: the red ones outside our back door that always bloomed at graduation time and for my sister Ellen’s birthday. The roses were a true red; for years I grew Mr. Lincoln roses at the Mouse House as they were the closest I could find to the rose bush of my childhood. Eventually, my Mr. Lincoln roses gave out: too little pampering on my part and too much winter road salt; today they have been replaced by white rosa rugosa.

June became strawberries and rhubarb the year I joined the Farm Direct Co-op. There were no problems finding uses for the strawberries in my share; the rhubarb was a bit more challenging. I remembered my grandmother making strawberry rhubarb pie; I don’t remember liking it a lot, my preferred strawberry dessert was strawberry shortcake. Not finding a lot of recipes for rhubarb, I made my first pie and found I loved it. Today, strawberry rhubarb pie signals the beginning of the Farm Direct Co-op season as well as our local farmers market.

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

I prefer a tart pie so my recipe has less sugar than most.

Ingredients:

• Dough for a 9” double crust pie (I use the rolled, refrigerated Pillsbury dough)
• 2 cups unpeeled, diced young rhubarb stalks
• 2 cups sliced strawberries, tops removed
• 2 2/3 tbsp quick-cooking tapioca
• ½ cup sugar (add up to 1 cup for sweeter pie)

Directions:

• Line an 8” or 9” pie plate loosely with pie dough, pressing dough against bottom of pie plate. To keep bottom crust from getting soggy, brush lightly with egg white, melted butter, or a light sprinkling of flour. Do not prick bottom crust.
• Combine remaining ingredients, stirring gently until well blended. Let stand for 15 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Turn fruit into pie shell.
• Cover pie with lattice crust:
• Roll out top crust, then cut into ½” wide strips
• To weave, place one strip in center of pie, then lay second strip across center, perpendicular to first strip.
• Continue to alternate strips vertically and horizontally, folding back strips as needed to create an under/over weave.
• When the whole pie is latticed, loosely attach the strips to the pie edge, moistening ends to make them stick.
• Give the pie a decorative edge by rolling the dough hanging over the edge as well as the ends of the lattice pieces up into a ‘rim’ above the edge of the pie plate. Press edge with fork or pinch between fingers to secure edges to each other and to pan.

Bake in a 450 degree oven 10 minutes.
Reduce heat to 350 degrees, cover edge of crust to prevent over browning (use a pie crust ring or make one from strips of tinfoil) then bake 35 to 40 minutes more or until golden brown.
Cool on rack before serving.

Strawberry rhubarb pie is really good with a scoop of vanilla ice cream! (Of course, Coffey ice cream is the best.)

Spinach Strawberry Salad

June = strawberries + strawberry picking. Sun-ripened fruit, warm to the touch. Small sweet berries, ready to pop in your mouth. Juice dribbling down fingers and onto shirts. Images of my daughter and friends eagerly searching for perfect berries to pluck and put into their cartons or buckets. More recently, my father-in-law, wide brimmed hat on his head, sitting amidst the rows at the Thompson-Finch Farm in Ancram, NY, smiling broadly as he picked berry after berry, filling the cardboard tray to overflowing. My husband, Bill, moving randomly from row to row, searching for the smallest of the berries, also the sweetest.

Abundance. Three 11 x 17" cardboard trays filled with berries. The crazed search for recipes. Strawberry shortcake. Strawberry rubarb pie. Strawberry smoothies. Cut up on cereal or vanilla ice cream. Freezing berries on cookie sheets, then storing in bags for later in the season. And, calling my sister Ellen for her spinach strawberry salad recipe. Easy to make. Delicious to eat.

Spinach Strawberry Salad

Ingredients
2 bunches spinach
4 cups sliced strawberries
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup white wine vinegar
1/2 cup white sugar
1/4 teaspoon paprika
2 tablespoons sesame seeds
1 tablespoon poppy seeds

Directions
Rinse spinach and tear into bite-size pieces. In a large bowl, toss together the spinach and strawberries. In a small bowl, mix oil, vinegar, sugar, paprika, sesame seeds, and poppy seeds for dressing. Pour over the spinach and strawberries, just before serving.

Blueberry Strawberry Trifle

Greetings from a Mouse House pal! I too enjoy playing in the kitchen and entertaining my friends. I’m always on the lookout for recipes which I can make ahead of time. I like to be with my friends and not holed up in the kitchen..

Here’s a nice dessert that can be made the day before. Its red, white and blue theme makes it perfect for Memorial Day or Fourth of July gatherings.

Submitted by Mara Lynch
Marblehead

BLUEBERRY STRAWBERRY TRIFLE
Yield 8-10 servings

INGREDIENTS
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup cold water
1/2 tsp. grated lemon rind
1 3 oz. package vanilla instant pudding
2 cups whipped cream
1 pound cake cut into 1 inch cubes (I use Sara Lee)
1 pint strawberries-sliced
1 pint blueberries

METHOD
Beat together condensed milk, water, lemon rind and pudding until well blended. Refrigerate until thick (about 15 minutes)
Fold in whipped cream
In a large bowl layer 1/3 of the cake, 1/3 strawberries, 1/3 blueberries. Repeat for two more layers
Pour pudding on top and refrigerate. Garnish with a few strawberries and Enjoy!

Davidge Eggs

This is Bill’s breakfast specialty. When we first met, he would serve me Davidge eggs with fresh squeezed orange juice and coffee. Yum.

This is often our Sunday morning breakfast. Or brunch, if we have a slow start to our morning.

Sunday usually begins with coffee and newspapers in bed: Bill has the New York Times, I have Sunday’s Boston Globe and also any editions of the Globe or the Salem Evening News that I didn’t get to during the week. Not sure why I feel that I have to read the newspapers in order or, why I can’t just recycle the old ones without reading… guess I’m afraid I might miss something. Spending two hours daily in the car traveling to and from work, I hear the news and commentary – WBZ in the morning (for the traffic reports) and WBUR/NPR at night – I know what is going on in my community and the world.

Last week I heard a program on NPR about hoarders. The guest quoted research that suggested people who saved newspapers and magazines were afraid they might miss something - an opportunity or important information – so they keep things, just in case. That resonated with me: I save clippings (not whole issues) of things that interest me. When I go back and look at them, they often go right into the recycling bin: I’ve missed the event or I make a note in my reference notebook, knowing I can retrieve the information on the Internet.

My take-away from the NPR program? A resolve to read the paper each day and on Sunday evening, toss any unread papers from the previous week into the recycling bin, ready to put on the curb Monday morning. So, once I finish this post, it’s back to my basket of papers: Everything except today’s paper goes in the bin. I’ve heard it takes two weeks to establish a new habit…wish me luck.

1 ½ eggs per person
½ eggshell full of milk per person, or half and half (cream) for a creamer texture
Freshly ground black pepper
Cheddar cheese, diced
Butter
English muffin, 1 per person

Heat butter in frying pan over medium heat.
Mix eggs, milk, and pepper in bowl.
Add egg mixture to hot pan; reduce heat to medium-low.
Add diced cheese to eggs once they begin to set.
Scramble with spoon, not fork (Bill Davidge ‘secret’).
Cook to taste.

Serve with English muffins, on side or as a sandwich.

Deviled Eggs

Lately, my contribution to Easter dinner is deviled eggs. In my extended family deviled eggs are served three times a year without fail: Easter, the 4th of July, and Labor Day. Looking back into my childhood, there have always been deviled eggs. Perhaps I remember this because of the dishes.

My grandmother, my mother, my aunts, my sisters, and I all have special dishes to serve deviled eggs; usually a round glass or china platter with egg shaped depressions to hold the eggs. Mine is round and glass, discovered years ago by one of my aunts in an antique or second hand store and given to me as a Christmas present. My Aunt Nancy, who makes the eggs for our family 4th of July and Labor Day cookouts, has a Tupperware-type container made especially for deviled eggs.

My childhood Easters always began with an early morning Easter egg hunt. The first hunts I remember were for jelly beans wrapped in foil that were ‘hidden’ around the house: in our slippers, on our bureaus, on the edges of the bookshelves, and lined up on all the windowsills of the house. It wasn’t until I was much older that I realized that my parents, most likely my mother, must have wrapped jelly beans in foil before placing them throughout the house. Later, the ‘tin’ foiled jelly beans were replaced with the small foil wrapped chocolate eggs. When my sisters and I were grown with children of our own, the Easter egg hunt moved outdoors, after dinner, with the foil wrapped eggs ‘hidden’ on the car bumpers, in the grass, on the front steps, and on low lying horizontal branches. Kids of all ages, with plastic bags in hand, took part in these hunts.

Earlier tonight, I made time for two other Easter rituals: first I checked the time for the sunrise service at Old Burial Hill in Marblehead. Bill and I will get up early and walk down to participate in this simple Easter service overlooking the magnificence of Marblehead Harbor and the ocean beyond. Next, I carefully prepared Easter baskets and gifts for Bill, Allison, our houseguest Jen, Al’s boyfriend Shaun, and my two nieces who we will see at Easter dinner. Rituals complete, I finish my writing, post this blog entry, then off to (a short) sleep as sunrise will come early.

Deviled Eggs: 12 stuffed egg halves

6 eggs
¼ cup mayonnaise
¼ tsp salt
pepper
paprika

To hard boil eggs:

Eggs in the shell must be cooked at the right temperature for the correct amount of time. While the recipe is rather simple, the actual cooking of the eggs requires the cook to pay close attention to saucepan of eggs: turn off the heat too soon and the eggs will not be hard boiled; let the eggs come to a full boil and the yolks become hard and turn greenish-grey. For best results, buy eggs for hard-cooking several days ahead, as storage allows the air space at the large end of the egg to expand, making peeling easier.

1. Place eggs in a saucepan wide enough to accommodate them without crowding and deep enough so that tops of eggs are covered by at least 1” of water.

2. Over high heat, heat water and eggs just to a full boil.

3. Immediately remove saucepan from heat and cover tightly. Let eggs stand in hot water for 15 minutes.

4. Pour off hot water and run cold water over the eggs to stop them from cooking. This also makes peeling easier if peeling immediately.

5. To peel eggs, gently tap entire surface of shell against a flat surface, taking care not to break the egg itself. Under cold running water (or in a large bowl of cold water) peel egg, starting at large end as the air space in the large end makes it easier to start peeling.

Stuffing:

1. Slice 6 hard-cooked eggs in half lengthwise.

2. Gently remove yolks and place in small bowl; with fork, crumble yolks into fine pieces.

3. Stir in ¼ mayonnaise, ¼ tsp. salt, and dash pepper until smooth; with spoon, pile into egg centers. Refrigerate, covered until ready to serve.

4. Before serving, dust yolk mixture with paprika.

Mimi's Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

This recipe comes from my former mother-in-law who was a fantastic cook. I made this cake for my daughter’s first birthday party: I was into healthy eating long before it was popular and wanted my daughter to only have healthy food until she was at least two years old. Given the amount of sugar and oil in this recipe, I am not convinced this really was a ‘healthy’ choice. It does remain one of my favorite cakes.

When I presented 1-year old Allison with the cake so she could blow out her first birthday candle, she just looked at the cake, not knowing what was expected of her (after all, it was her first birthday party…). My sister Ellen, who was still young, was disappointed that Allison did not put her fingers into the frosting as she expected. Family history was made when Ellen stuck Allison's fingers into the frosting and made Allison cry… thus creating a family story often repeated at birthday parties.

Mimi’s Carrot Cake

Pans: three 9” layers or one sheet cake pan

2 cups flour
2cups sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
4 eggs
1 ½ cups oil
1 8 ½ ounce can drained crushed pineapple
1 can coconut (6 or 8 ounces?)
½ cup nuts
2 cups grated carrots

1. Mix all dry ingredients then add wet ones.
2. Pour into greased pans or sheet.
3. Bake at 350° for 30 minutes (layers) or 40 minutes for sheet cake.
4. Cool for 10 minutes then remove from pans and cool completely.
5. Frost with cream cheese frosting when completely cooled.

Cream Cheese Frosting

¾ cup confectioners’ sugar
3 oz cream cheese
1 ½ Tbsp cream or milk
1 ½ tsp grated lemon or orange rind

1. Sift confectioners’ sugar; set aside
2. Mix cream cheese and milk until soft and fluffy.
3. Gradually beat sugar into mixture of cream cheese and milk.
4. Add lemon or orange rind.

Makes approximately ¾ cup frosting.

Slow Cooker: Chicken Parmesan over Whole Wheat Pasta

When my daughter was little she liked to go to Rinaldo’s, an Italian restaurant in Marblehead on the top level of Village Plaza. Classic red sauce Italian with the red and white checked tablecloths, a garlic cheese spread and packaged crackers on the table as soon as you sat down, and standard dishes like chicken, veal, or eggplant parmigiana. And, spaghetti with butter for children. Allison especially liked their fried mozzarella sticks; when she was sick they were often the only thing she wanted to eat…

I made this recipe on Palm Sunday for dinner, serving it over whole wheat pasta. I tossed a cup of frozen peas into the Crock Pot about 10 minutes before I added the cheese to make this a one- pot meal. Fed the two of us, with leftovers for lunch or dinner during the week. It was quick and easy and used ingredients I had on hand. A great addition to my selection of easy recipes for Holy Week, or any other busy time of year.

Slow Cooker: Chicken Parmesan over Whole Wheat Pasta

Makes 4 servings.

Medium Crock Pot

2 tsp olive oil
4 skinless chicken breasts (or thighs), about 3 oz each
½ of a 26 oz jar of your favorite tomato sauce
1 cup frozen peas (optional)
½ cup shredded mozzarella cheese
¼ cup grated parmesan cheese
whole wheat pasta for 4 servings

1. Heat the oil in frying pan over medium high heat. Add the chicken and saute’, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned, about 10 minutes.
2. Combine chicken and tomato sauce in the Crock Pot. Cover and cook on low until chicken is cooked through and a meat thermometer registers 175 degrees, 6 to 8 hours.
3. If using frozen peas, add 25 minutes before you plan to eat.
4. Heat water for pasta, following package directions.
5. Combine the cheeses in a small bowl and sprinkle them over the chicken. Don’t stir. Cook until the cheese is melted, about 15 minutes.
6. Put pasta on plate and top with chicken parmesan.

Slow Cooker Recipe: Pork and Apricot with Mashed Sweet Potatoes

Here’s the second offering of easy, make ahead meals for Holy Week. I first made this dish the Christmas Bill and I spent with our daughter in New York. Her work schedule precluded traveling for Christmas so we loaded up the Prius with gifts and goodies for holiday meals, including Christmas table clothes and napkins.

Our Christmas breakfast included our traditional Danish, quiche, and French toast (watch for these recipes in December). For dinner I chose this recipe, preparing the ingredients on Christmas Eve afternoon, refrigerating the Crockpot insert overnight, and then cooking it on Christmas Day. Our plan was to eat dinner around 6:00 pm. Great plan except: I put the insert into the Crockpot, turned it on, and, as I discovered a few hours later, neglected to plug in the Crockpot. On to Plan B: putting everything in a roasting pan in the oven and eating dinner later than originally planned.

I’ve since made this many times (in the Crock Pot). It is great for dinner with lots of leftovers for lunch during the week.

Pork and Apricot with Mashed Sweet Potatoes

Makes 8 servings
Prep: 35 minutes
Cook: 7 to 9 hours on low; 3 ½ to 4 ½ hours on high

Ingredients
2 ½ lb sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1 ½” chunks
3 ½ to 4 lb boneless pork shoulder roast
1 tsp dried tarragon, crushed
1 ½ tsp fennel seed, crushed (if I don’t have this on hand, I omit it)
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 ½ tsp salt
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
2 Tbsp cooking oil (I use olive oil)
1 14-oz can chicken broth (or equivalent homemade)
¾ apricot nectar (I use apple juice, or if I don’t have any, I omit this and add equivalent in water)
½ cup dried apricots
4 tsp cornstarch

1. Place sweet potatoes in the bottom of a 6-quart slow cooker.
2. Trim fat from pork roast.
3. Combine the tarragon, fennel seed, garlic, salt, and pepper in small bowl; rub onto pork roast.
4. In a very large skillet, brown roast on all sides in hot oil. Drain off fat. Place meat on top of sweet potatoes in cooker.
5. Pour broth and ½ cup of the apricot nectar over all.
6. Cover and cook for on low-heat setting for 7 to 9 hours or on high heat setting for 3 ½ to 4 ½ hours, adding the dried apricots for the last 30 minutes of cooking.
7. With a slotted spoon, transfer pork and apricots to serving platter. Transfer sweet potatoes to a large bowl; mash with a potato masher.
8. Strain cooking liquid into a glass-measuring cup. Skim fat from liquid; discard fat. Reserve 2 cups liquid (if necessary add chicken broth to equal 2 cups).
9. In a small bowl, whisk together the remaining ¼ cup apricot nectar and the cornstarch. In a medium saucepan, combine cooking liquid and the cornstarch mixture. Cook and stir over medium heat until thickened and bubbly; cook 2 minutes longer. *
10. Serve with pork and mashed sweet potatoes.

*Omit this step if you are too tired or too busy. The pork, apricots, and sweet potatoes taste fine without it.

Soup Week Continues: Vegetable Stock

Let's start with the basics: Nancy’s Vegetable Stock


I’ve made soup for a long time. I have memories of my mother and grandmother making soup, using chicken carcasses, ham bones, or vegetable peelings and scraps to make a rich stock. For me, making stock is a way to transform things that are easily thrown away into something rich and flavorful.

I don’t ever remember following a recipe: I use what I have on hand, or collect over a period of days or weeks, and use them to make a rich, flavor-filled broth with little bits of stuff that makes a great base for vegetables, beans, pasta, rice, or whatever else you want to add to your soup.

Vegetable Stock

1. Collect clean peelings, ends, and other pieces of vegetables that you usually discard or compost in a covered container in the freezer. I use peelings from potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, parsnips, onions, and garlic; the pieces you cut off from celery, leeks, and scallions; the end bits from onions, carrots, parsnips, and garlic. Basically any part of a vegetable that I might use in a soup or a salad gets saved in the freezer until I have approximately 2 cups of ‘stuff’ for my stock.

2. During the good weather when I compost most of my fruit and vegetable waste, I may not have a stash of vegetable peelings in the freezer. If I want to make a soup with summer vegetables, I’ll prepare all the vegetables I plan to use in my soup, store them in the refrigerator for a day and use the peelings, ends, and other bits to make stock.

3. Fill a big pot with water and add the vegetables. Bring the liquid to a boil, then reduce the heat to simmer and cook for an hour or so. The liquid will be a light amber color.

3. I use a combination of a ladle and a slotted spoon to transfer the stock to one bowl (or another pot) and the vegetable matter to a second bowl. This takes a bit of time and, as I get close to the bottom of the pot, I pour the last bit of liquid through a fine mesh sieve (or colander) into the bowl holding the rest of the stock.

4. If I am freezing the stock for future use, I measure out either 1 or 2 cups at a time and place in a Tupperware or RubberMade container, or a freezer bag, marking the quantity on the container.

For those of you who prefer to work with specific ingredient lists and measures, I am sharing this recipe for Vegetable Stock that I found in my collection – reading the ingredient list (Turkish bay leaves? Purified water?) I imagine I found this recipe on a gourmet magazine or website…. And I will bet money (something I rarely do) that I have never made this recipe…

Vegetable Stock

20 Cups
This is an excellent vegetable stock - freeze what you don't use for next time.

Ingredients:
1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
2 leeks, white and light green parts only, well washed and chopped
4 medium onions, chopped
6 large carrots, peeled and chopped
3 stalks celery, chopped
1 small bunch parsley stems
2 teaspoons dried whole marjoram
1/2 teaspoon dried whole thyme
3 Turkish bay leaves or 1/2 California bay leaf
1 1/2 gallons cold purified water

Instructions:
Heat the olive oil over medium heat in a large pot. Add the vegetables and stir-fry to brown lightly. Add the marjoram, thyme, bay leaves, and cold water. Bring the pot to a boil, reduce the heat, cover, and simmer for one hour.
Strain the stock through a fine sieve or a cheesecloth-lined colander.
Press or squeeze the vegetables to extract their liquid. Discard the vegetables.

It's Soup Week: Rustic Chicken Stew

Rustic Chicken Stew: make it in your crock pot.

With so many of my friends and co-workers reporting that they are sick, I’m declaring this week ‘Soup Week.’ Chicken soup is a universal remedy for many ailments; unless you live with someone willing to make you homemade soup or make a run to the nearest deli, often your only option is canned soup.

This week’s soup recipes are simple to make. On Sundays I often make soup, keeping half of it to eat during the week and freezing the other half as individual portions. This habit ‘saves’ me from eating peanut butter and crackers on those nights when I arrive home from work hungry and don’t feel like cooking. It also lets me share my homemade soup with sick friends, new mothers, or others who may not be up for cooking, yet want to eat healthy. Enjoy!

Makes 8 servings

2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch cubes
3 medium onions, quartered
2 carrots, cut into 1-inch thick slices
2 potatoes, cut into 1-inch cubes
2 cans (14 ounces each) fat free chicken broth
1 tsp celery seed
1 tsp dried thyme leaves (or powder)
½ tsp black pepper

Optional:
1 cup frozen corn
1 cup frozen peas
Any other root vegetables such as turnip, parsnip
1 14-ounce can white beans
8 ounces mushrooms, halved

1. Combine the chicken, onions, carrots, potatoes, and broth in the crock pot (if using other fresh vegetables, add at this time).
2. Stir in the celery seed, thyme, pepper, mushrooms, and corn.
3. Cover and cook on low until the chicken is done and the vegetables are tender, 7 to 9 hours or on high, 4 to 6 hours.
4. Stir in the peas and cook until they are done, 15 to 30 minutes.

Cupcake Week Continues: Deep Chocolate Cupcakes

Final entry for cupcake week!

My family celebrates birthdays. Everyone gets a birthday party: even the adults. When you were a child, you had two parties: the ‘kid’ party for your friends on a Saturday and the family party, usually on the Sunday closest to your birthday.

My mother bakes so we always had a homemade cake. I remember being envious of my friends who had a cake from the grocery store or the bakery. As an adult, I went through a period where I only served Merrill’s cakes (their bakery was in Newburyport, Mass. – anyone else remember their yummy chocolate, lemon, and carrot cakes??). When we moved from Beverly, Mass. to South Dartmouth, I bought half a dozen cakes for my freezer.

When Allison was born I started baking cakes again, serving them at both her kids and family birthday parties. It was then I discovered that some of her friends had never had a homemade birthday cake… how times change.

I now often make birthday cakes or cupcakes for my friends. I enjoy the act of baking (the frosting part, not so much). And, when you give the cake away it isn’t sitting in your house, calling out for you to eat it!

Deep Dark Chocolate Cake or Cupcakes
From the Hershey’s cocoa box

1 ¾” cup flour
2 cups sugar
¾ cup Hershey’s cocoa
1 ½ tsp baking soda
1 ½ tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
½ cup vegetable oil
2 tsp vanilla
1 cup boiling water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

1. Combine dry ingredients.
2. Add remaining ingredients except boiling water.
3. Beat at medium speed for 2 minutes.
4. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin).
5. Pour into 2 greased and floured 9” or 3, 8” layer pans, or 1, 13” x 9” pan.
6. Bake at 350 degrees, 30-35 minutes for layers, 35-40 minutes for pan
7. If making cupcakes, spoon ¼ cup batter into cupcake tins.
8. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes.
9. Remove from oven, cool 10 minutes on wire rack.
10. Remove from pan, let cool completely before frosting.

One Bowl Buttercream Frosting

6 Tbsp butter
Hershey’s Cocoa – 1/3 cup for light flavor
½ cup for medium flavor
¾ cup for dark flavor
2 2/3 cups unsifted confectioners’ sugar
1/3 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla

1. Cream butter in small mixer bowl.
2. Add cocoa and confectioners’ sugar alternately with milk; beat to spreading consistency (additional tablespoon milk may be needed).
3. Blend in vanilla.
4. Makes about 2 cups frosting.

Queen Cake Cupcakes

Cupcake week continues....

I discovered this recipe in my grandmother’s recipe box after offering to bake a birthday cake for a close friend. The request was for a yellow cake; at the time my repertoire did not include a favorite yellow cake recipe. Finding this recipe was a happy accident; it is now one of my favorites.

The first time I baked this cake brought back memories of birthday parties at my grandmother’s house. Lots of kids from the neighborhood sitting around the table for the ‘kid’ party, and aunts, uncles, and cousins for the family party. A favorite tradition was baking foil wrapped coins in the cake. This lasted for a time, until family members started fighting for pieces with dimes instead of nickels or pennies….

I made this recipe as cupcakes this past weekend. Bill and I were going to a birthday party and he has given up chocolate for Lent. It makes a great cupcake; nice texture and good with or without frosting.

Makes approximately 20 cupcakes.

½ cup shortening (I use butter)
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs unbeaten
2 cups flour
2 ½ tsp baking powder
¾ cup milk

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin tins with paper liners.
2. Cream butter, sugar, salt, and vanilla in mixer.
3. Add eggs, beat until well mixed in.
4. Add flour, baking powder, and milk; mix well.
5. Fill muffin cups with scant ¼ cup batter.
6. Bake for 20-25 minutes until a wooden pick inserted in the center of cupcakes comes out clean.
7. Cool in pan on wire rack for 5-10 minutes, then remove from pan and cool completely.
8. Frost with favorite frosting.

Red Velvet Cupcakes

February brings Valentine’s Day and birthdays, and often Mardi Gras. This past Valentine’s Day Bill and I had the honor of watching the Pass Christian, Mississippi Mardi Gras parade with family and our new friend Sandra, whose home was on the parade route. It was also Sandra’s birthday, and one of her friends sent the most delicious Red Velvet Cake with cream cheese frosting.

Last night, Bill and I celebrated the birthdays of three friends who are more like family to me. To honor their special days I made red velvet cupcakes and Queen cake cupcakes. Check this blog later in the week for the Queen cake recipe.

Makes: 24
Active: 40 minutes/Total: 2 ½ hr includes cooling

Batter
1 ½ sticks (3/4 cup) butter, softened
1 ½ cups granulated sugar
¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1 cup buttermilk or sour milk*
2 Tbsp (1 oz) liquid red food coloring
2 tsp white vinegar
2 ½ cups flour (not self-rising)

* to make sour milk, add 1 Tbsp lemon juice or vinegar in a 1 cup measuring cup; fill with milk and stir. Let set 5 minutes before using.

Frosting
2 8 oz bricks cream cheese, softened
1 stick (1/2 cup) butter, softened
1 ½ cups confectioners’ sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
Garnish: colored sugar or heart or flower shaped decors

Cupcakes
1. Heat oven to 350 F.
2. Place 24 regular size (2 ½” diameter) muffin cups in cupcake pans.
3. In large bowl with mixer on medium-high speed, beat butter, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, salt, and vanilla 2 minutes until creamy.
4. Beat in eggs, 1 at a time.
5. Stir buttermilk, food coloring, and vinegar in a 2 cup measure until well blended.
6. With mixer on low speed, beat in flour in 3 additions, alternating with milk mixture in 2 additions, beating until just blended.
7. Spoon a scant ¼ cup batter in each cup.
8. Bake 20-25 minutes until a wood pick in the center of cupcakes comes out clean.
9. Cool in pan on wire rack for 5-10 minutes, then remove from pan to rack.
10. Cool completely.

Frosting**
1. Beat cream cheese and butter in a medium bowl with mixer on medium speed until smooth and creamy.
2. On low speed, add confectioners’ sugar and vanilla. Increase speed to high and beat until smooth and fluffy.
3. Frost cupcakes and sprinkle with decorations.
4. Refrigerate until serving
** Short on time? Use your favorite store bought frosting.

Vegetarian Chili

This is my favorite fall/winter ‘party’ recipe. Whether it is our annual Thanksgiving Turkey Lope* or a Christmas or Super Bowl party, this easy recipe is on the menu. Sometimes I make it the day of the party; othertimes I'll make it the day before. I usually serve it with cornbread and a green salad flavored with citrus fruit, dried cranberries, and nuts.

Modified from a recipe in Molly Katzen’s Moosewood Cookbook, I add or subtract vegetables based on what I have on hand. I often cook it in my grandmother’s cast iron dutch oven or, if I want to be less hands on, I dump all the ingredients in my 1970s crockpot.

6-8 Servings (This recipe can easily be doubled or tripled to feed a crowd.)

2 ½ cups kidney beans
1 cup raw bulgher
1 cup tomato juice
4 cloves crushed garlic

1 cup each, chopped:

Celery

Carrots

Green peppers

2 cups chopped fresh tomatoes
Juice of ½ lemon
1 tsp. ground cumin
1 tsp. basil
1 tsp. chili powder (more, to taste)
Salt and pepper
3 Tbsp. tomato paste
3 Tbsp. dry red wine
Dash of cayenne (more, to taste)
Olive oil for sauté (about 3 Tbsp.)

Heat tomato juice to a boil. Pour over raw bulgher. Cover and let stand for at least 15 minutes. (It will be crunchy, so it can absorb more later.)

Sauté onions and garlic in olive oil. Add carrots, celery, and spices. When vegetables are almost done, add peppers. Cook until tender.

Combine all ingredients and heat together gently – either in pan on stove top or covered, in a moderate oven.

Serve topped with cheese, parsley, and sour cream.

*What's a Turkey Lope? It’s the Davidge’s annual three to five mile run with Bill or a two mile walk with Nancy to enjoy the beauty of Marblehead before a casual dinner with family and friends.

SpaghettiOs and other food from the 60s & 70s...

Listening to NPR while driving to work last week I learned that Donald Goerke, the Campbell Soup executive who created SpaghettiOs (and Campbell's Chunky Soup line) had died. I flashed back to Girl Scout camping trips, when SpaghettiOs offered an easy way to 'cook' dinner over a campfire. Add some ground beef, serve with a salad and garlic bread: Dinner.

SpaghettiOs, Instant Breakfast, Pop-tarts, Dinty Moore Beef Stew, Tang, Jiffy Pop: none of these have been in my consciousness for years. Since my mother didn't buy these foods, of course we wanted them. Growing up, we ate fresh or frozen food prepared by my mother. TV dinners, bakery cakes, deli meat, processed food, and white bread were not on our table. Nor was anything that would have been considered ethnic food, except for spaghetti: Prince from the box and homemade meat sauce. It wasn't until my senior year in high school that my mother finally had enough of preparing hot breakfasts and offered us Instant Breakfast and Pop-tarts. My sisters and I were thrilled.

After college, when I had the choice to eat whatever I wanted, I found that aside from the occasional Dinty Moore Beef Stew, I continued to eat fresh, rather than processed food. I still do.

In honor of Donald Goerke and all the other executives who created the processed food from the last half of the 20th century, here is my favorite SpaghettiO recipe:

Girl Scout Camp SpaghettiOs with Garlic Bread
Serves 2
Can of SpaghettiOs
1/2 pound ground beef
1/2 onion, chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 clove garlic pressed or mashed garlic in a tube
butter
2 Italian rolls

SpaghettiOs
In large cast iron skillet, heat olive oil, add onions and saute.
Add ground beef, cook until browned.
Open can of SpaghettiOs, add to onion and ground beef mixture; heat thoroughly.

Garlic Bread
Cut Italian rolls in half as if for sandwich, separate halves.
In small cast iron skillet, melt butter and garlic over low heat.
With small brush, spread garlic and butter mixture on rolls.
Toast rolls in toaster oven until browned to desired crispness.

Serving suggestion
Add a simple green salad (lettuce, carrots, cucumbers, tomatoes) and you have recreated the simple supper made on many camping trips in my youth.