Sometimes you feel like a nut...

These don't take long to make and they're really wonderful!! A couple of years ago, I made 6 pounds--I put them in small glass jars (the kind with the glass lid and metal wire hinges like canning jars from World Market) and they made great holiday gifts!

Spiced Pecans

✔ 1 pound pecan halves
✔ 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
✔ 1 teaspoon salt
✔ 2 teaspoons sugar
✔ 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
✔ 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
✔ 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander seed
✔ 1/2 teaspoon dry mustard

Preheat oven to 300°. Place pecans in a mixing bowl. Drizzle oil around sides of bowl and toss thoroughly to coat the nuts evenly. Mix salt, sugar, and spices in a small bowl and sprinkle the mixture over the nuts, stirring constantly. Spread nuts in a single layer on a baking sheet and place in oven.

Bake 10 minutes, or until well-toasted. Allow nuts to cool completely. Spiced nuts will keep for over a week in a sealed container.

Buon appetito!

it's late, but still--for breakfast...

What a rough evening. Mom's back in the hospital as those of you who are on Facebook already know. And as I look at the clock, I realize that morning *is* here. Thus, my thoughts turn to breakfast. Here's a recipe I received from someone...oh, nevermind the story--I don't need to go there.

This takes a "minute" but it's certainly worth it. Also, the dough triangles freeze well and can be defrosted and baked as needed if you want to plan ahead.

Star's Scone Recipe

✔ 2 cups flour
✔ 1-1/2 tablespoons baking powder
✔ 1/2 cup sugar
✔ 1 teaspoon salt
✔ 1 stick + 2 tablespoons butter, chilled
✔ 1/2 to 1 cup of whatever you want to put in (I add cinnamon and plumped raisins--other fruits work, too, including dried)
✔ 1 4-to-6 oz. yogurt (I use vanilla) *or* 1/2 cup buttermilk

In a food processor mix flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Cut in butter until it resembles meal. Place in a bowl and add raisins (+cinnamon) or apricots, cranberries, blueberries...whatever...and mix again.

Add yogurt or buttermilk and mix only until you can form a ball with the dough. Shape the dough into a disc and put on a floured board. Cut the disc into 8 pie-shaped pieces.

Put on greased+floured pan; bake at 350° for 10 minutes. Turn pan and bake another 6-10 minutes until lightly browned. Let cool on pan.

(Hmmm, maybe I'll have to include a recipe for McNab's Lemon Curd to go with the scones...I've never made it but I *have* tried it when we visited a great tea house in Boothbay Maine with Kay!)

If a tree falls in the forest...

I think you're out there...yes? I'm back in Okeechobee FL, visiting with my parents.

If I could fix everything, I would...but I can't...so for now, I'm happy to just be here. Mom is fighting very hard to get healthy enough to have radiation for esophageal cancer. Dad is doing all he can to support her, including taking care of their dog Molly and things at the house.

But right now, you're here and I promised you a recipe. My "day" is not quite over so I think I'm still keeping to my one-recipe-per-day mantra. True to my nature, this one's a goody and its aroma while baking makes the whole house smell wonderful. Slightly adapted from simplyrecipes.com, this banana bread is dark, moist and delicious.

I keep overripe bananas in the freezer, either in their skins (that become unappealingly blackened but are still ok to use), or peeled and bagged--3 to 4 in a bag to defrost for use in this particular recipe. Don't be surprised if the peeled bananas get watery after defrosting--just mash it all together anyway!

Banana Nut Bread

✔ 3 to 4 ripe bananas, smashed
✔ 1/3 cup melted butter
✔ 3/4 cup sugar
✔ 1 egg, beaten
✔ 1 teaspoon vanilla
✔ 1 teaspoon baking soda
✔ pinch of sea salt
✔ 1-1/2 cups flour
✔ 1 cup walnuts, chopped (optional--but really, this is banana NUT bread!)

Preheat oven to 350°. In a large bowl, mix butter into the mashed bananas with a wooden spoon. Mix in sugar, egg and vanilla. Sprinkle the baking soda and salt over the batter and mix. Mix in the flour, then fold in the walnuts. Pour into a buttered 4"x8" loaf pan and bake for 1 hour. Cool on a rack; slice and serve with butter, cream cheese, or by itself. Leftover slices are nice toasted, too!

Buon appetito!

What a day for cake!

With tears of joy welling up in our eyes, today we witnessed the wedding ceremony of our dear friends, Debbie and Andy. May they have many happy and healthy years ahead--they deserve everything this life has to give.

So again, no stories today--just shared deliciousness--today, in the form of a wonderful cake/icing recipe I received in the late 1970s when I was involved with Akron's Childbirth Education Association. And again, a recipe that I would be sad to lose, thus worthy of posting here.

Lynn's Moist Pineapple Cake

Cake:
✔ 2 eggs, beaten
✔ 1-3/4 cups sugar
✔ 2 cups flour
✔ 2 teaspoons baking soda
✔ 1 13.5 oz. can crushed pineapple (in juice is best)
✔ 1 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350°. Mix above ingredients together with a spoon or mixer and bake in 9"x13" pan for 45 minutes at 350°. Cool.

Icing:
✔ 8 oz. cream cheese, softened to room temperature
✔ 1 stick butter or margarine, softened to room temperature
✔ 1-1/2 cups powdered sugar
✔ 1 teaspoon vanilla

Beat together with mixer, adding more powdered sugar if necessary for proper consistency. Spread on cooled cake.

Mazel Tov, Debbie and Andy!! xoxo

Jamaican Wings--the best wings everrrrr

Sorry, no backstory today: Debbie Smith is getting married tomorrow and we need to get some sleep before the glorious event. We are surrounded by happiness and love!!!

Speaking of love, Harvey loves wings. And this recipe went straight to his heart...but not in a bad way. With some planning ahead and very little effort, you, too, can make the best wings ever...perfect for football season!

Jamaican Wings

Combine:
✔ 1 cup fresh lime juice (bottled, if you have to)
✔ 1 cup soy sauce
✔ 1 cup rum, heated in a skillet and flambéd so all the alcohol is burned off (volume will decrease by at least 1/2)

Marinate a large pack of chicken wings in the above ingredients for 1-2 days (2 days is best). To prepare the wings for serving, first drain them in a large colander. Dredge wings in flour and then deep fry in oil until crispy-done. My favorite dipping sauce is a dish of soy sauce enhanced with fresh grated ginger and a few drops of garlic hot sauce to add a little spice. Yummmmm...!

(Note: you can adjust the volume of marinade according to the amount of wings you'd like to make, keeping the ratio 1:1:1.)

Voila!

...and she told 2 people and he told 2 people...and so on and so on...

I think most people who like to cook will agree that we get some of our best recipes from friends. We try something they make, beg for the recipe, and then pass it on (but not without giving due credit, of course!). That happened with the recipe Faith Orley gave Harvey for her White Chicken Chili. I'm not sure where Faith found this recipe but as far as we're concerned, it originated with her and we have since passed it ourselves--it's THAT good and EASY. See for yourselves:

White Chicken Chili

✔ 1 tablespoon olive oil
✔ 1 medium onion, chopped
✔ 1 - 4 oz. can chopped green chilis
✔ 3 tablespoons flour
✔ 1-1/2 cups cooked chicken, chopped
✔ 2 teaspoons cumin
✔ 2 cans white beans (Navy or Northern)
✔ 1 - 14-1/2 oz. can chicken broth

In a large skillet, cook onion in oil for 4 minutes or until transparent. Add chilis, flour and cumin; cook and stir for 2 minutes. Add beans and chicken broth; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, simmer for 10 minutes or until thickened. Add chicken; cook until hot.

Garnish with cheese, sour cream and salsa, if desired.

Buon appetito!

"...rolly-polly fish heads..."

Disclaimer and Spoiler Alert: okay, today it's gross but it ends with a nice glazed salmon.

I should eat more fish and I know that. But I'm not a fan. It probably comes from spending 2 weeks in Canada on Devil's Lake for the Quattrocchi + Gillis families summer vacation from about the time I was in 6th grade through a couple of early college years. Oh, the vacations were FABULOUS--sun, boating, skiing, bonfires at night--it was the Fish Nights with which I had a hard time dealing.

About 2 times per week, the menfolk would behead, gut and scale the fish that had been caught up to that point, usually large-mouth bass and pike--delivering them to my mom who would hold the raw white fillets up to the kitchen window so she could meticulously cut out the grubs. Yeah, not cool. I guess it didn't help matters that we were kind of gruesome kids and would often line up the newly-removed fish hearts on the cement fish cleaning slab and make bets on which one would beat the longest. PETA, come get me.

Pan-fried to perfection, I'm sure those fishies made for lovely dinners but I opted for peanut butter and jelly sandwiches on those nights. So for decades, I said "No, thanks, I don't eat fish." And that was true until we started taking my own children to the Outer Banks for vacations and I began trying things like swordfish, sea bass, halibut, and salmon with varied success since I turn on a dime if something seems even a little bit "fishy." Now I pretty much just stick to salmon if I'm feeling the need for some fish. If I see it on a menu and it sounds like it's prepared in a particularly appealing way, I usually order it.

One evening, when cooking at home for guests who are pescetarians (will eat fish but no meat nor fowl), I decided to glaze and broil some beautiful looking salmon purchased from Sam's Club. I have to admit, Harvey and I thought it was the BEST salmon we'd ever had!! I adapted a turkey-glazing recipe (yes, I'll be posting it as we get closer to Thanksgiving)--adjusting amounts and ingredients by instinct--and came up with the following.

Pomegranate-Honey Glaze for Broiled Salmon

✔ 1/4 cup pomegranate juice
✔ 1/4 cup honey
✔ 2 tablespoons orange juice
✔ 1 tablespoon soy sauce
✔ 1 tablespoon honey mustard or similar (raspberry mustard works, too)

Boil all in a saucepan until the volume is reduced to half (mixture will thicken), about 10-15 minutes. Baste salmon fillet with the syrup a number of times during the broiling process.

(And thanks for sticking with this to the end--sometimes too much information is just that...! LOL)

Buon appetito!

"I'm gonna give ya till the morning comes..."

Thanks, Neil Young. Love the song.

Those who know me are keenly aware that I'm not a morning person. For me, most mornings are like snow: best seen in lovely photographs. But there are times when being prepared for a morning comes in handy, like when you have a Family Sleepover, overnight guests, or an impromptu breakfast with friends like the Orleys to follow up a New Year's Eve party.

So, how do I pretend to be prepared? I make something in advance that sits in the refrigerator and then pop it in the oven upon awakening. I found this recipe in a magazine ad for Pepperidge Farm® Cinnamon Swirl Bread and it seemed perfect for that purpose. So, when I made it for Mike and Faith, they loved it--and because it's an excellent vehicle for maple syrup, I did, too.

Baked French Swirl Toast
(prep time: 15 min.; chill time: 1 hr. or overnight; cook time: 45 min.)

✔ 1 16 oz. loaf of cinnamon swirl bread, cut into cubes
✔ 3/4 cup dried cranberries or raisins (I chose raisins)
✔ 6 eggs, beaten
✔ 3 cups half-and-half or milk (I used milk because I usually don't have H+H in the 'frig)
✔ 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
✔ cinnamon-sugar or confectioner's sugar (If you've read a couple of my other recipes, guess which one I used. Hint: it's a callback. ☺)

Night before: Place bread cubes and raisins in greased 3-quart shallow baking dish. Mix eggs, milk and vanilla; pour over all. Cover and refrigerate 1 hour or overnight.

Morning: Uncover. Bake at 350° for 45 minutes or until golden brown and set in center. Sprinkle with cinnamon-sugar and serve with butter and maple syrup. Serves 8.

Buon appetito!

"RIPPED FROM THE PAGES..."

This one recipe a keeper and speaks to my daughters' claims that I am a hoarder. But my real or exaggerated character flaw is not without good reason. You may weigh in...

I pulled this recipe from a Better Homes & Gardens Magazine in April 1980. Yep...kept it all these years. There was something about the ingredients (after all, cinnamon AND garlic salt in a beef dish?!?) that made me want to try this as soon as I found it. Lucky for me--the girls loved it and so did I. Over the next 20 years, this was one of my "go to" casserole dishes--paired with a salad: *VOILA* dinner was served!

Then, there was about a 10 year dry spell where I just didn't even think about making it since I wasn't spending much time in the kitchen except for party prep...until last month when I ran across this yellowed page once again. And still, 30 years later, this recipe stands up to the test of time. Recently resurrected, and reprinted here for posterity, may I present (drum roll, please)...

CORN MOUSSAKA
(thanks to BH&G 5th prize winner, Jane Marasco of Hendersonville TN)

✔ 1 - 17 oz. can of whole kernel corn, drained (I use one bag of frozen corn, slightly defrosted)
✔ 1-1/2 pounds of ground beef (I have switched to ground turkey with little difference)
✔ 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
✔ 1 - 8 oz. can tomato sauce
✔ 1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
✔ 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
✔ 2 slightly beaten eggs
✔ 1-1/2 cups cream-style cottage cheese with chives, drained (I use small curd/no chives and rarely think to drain it!)
✔ 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
✔ 1 - 4 oz. package (1 cup) shredded mozzarella cheese
✔ slivered almonds (optional--and I never add them)

Spread corn in an ungreased shallow 1-1/2 quart casserole or a 10x6x2-inch baking dish. In medium skilled brown ground beef/turkey; drain off excess fat. Add flour; cook and stir for 1 minute. Stir in tomato sauce, garlic salt, and cinnamon; pour over corn in dish. Bake in 350° oven for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, combine eggs and cottage cheese; spread over meat mixture. Top with both cheeses; sprinkle nuts over if desired. Bake 10-15 minutes more (until top is "toasty"). Makes 6 servings.

Buon appetito!

Something to "go with"...

Jerk chicken is spicy and I have a slight tolerance for hot spice. But this mango salsa is a perfect complement to jerk spice! I got this recipe from the Akron Beacon Journal food section more than a decade ago and have made it quite a few times (not sure if I have the corresponding recipe for the jerk marinade but there are good jerk sauces/rubs to be found on grocers' shelves). Try it with any spicy marinated meat...I think you'll like it!

Mango Salsa

✔ 1 mango, peeled and finely diced
✔ 2 green onions, chopped
✔ 1/2 fresh jalapeno pepper, minced
✔ 1/4 cup diced red bell pepper
✔ 1 tablespoon olive oil
✔ 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
✔ fresh ground black pepper

Combine all ingredients in a bowl. Chill. I always make tons--at least doubling the recipe and using the mango slices from a jar from Sam's Club...no peeling and tastes virtually the same!

Buon appetito!

Sweet Treats: Snickerdoodles!

I've gotten quite a few recipes from my Mom that I cherish, especially sweet treats: nut rolls; boiled chocolate, peanut butter and horseshoe cookies (actually, I think the horseshoe recipe came to Mom from Aunt Helen); pineapple upside-down cake, etc. But this one is special--snickerdoodles. When she made them, we ate a many as we could get, still warm from the oven, until she realized we were being pigs and we got cut off. Dad likes them without the cinnamon-sugar coating; we wouldn't have them without! (Plus, you have a second use for the cinnamon-sugar mix you used for yesterday's Cable Cars. That's a "callback"!)

So here, for posterity, is Mom's time-honored recipe. (I'll take a pic the next time I make them.) xoxo

SNICKERDOODLES
(from Eileen Quattrocchi)

Mix:
✔ 1 cup shortening (not butter flavored)
✔ 1-1/2 cups sugar
✔ 2 eggs

Add:
✔ 2-3/4 cups flour
✔ 2 teaspoons cream of tarter
✔ 1 teaspoon baking soda
✔ 1/2 teaspoon salt

Roll in balls and then into a cinnamon/sugar mixture. Bake at 400° until tops are cracked. Do not let the bottoms brown--the cookies will get hard too fast if you do.

Buon appetito!

It's Saturday: CHEERS!

On a trip to California to visit family a number of years ago, Lauri R. served up a batch of these drinks (along with her famous Lemondrops) and woweezowee--I LOVED them! She kindly shared the recipe with me and since then, they've been a staple at many of our own parties.

Cable Cars are sweet, a little tart, cold, and delicious. But be warned--they'll sneak up and slam you into silly before you know it. (Hmmm, I should check the cupboard to see if I have the fixin's so I can make a batch this weekend!)

Cable Car

✔ 1 oz. Captain Morgan's Spiced Rum
✔ 1/2 oz. Orange Curacao (or similar orange-based liquor)
✔ 1/2 oz. lime juice (I use Rose's Lime Juice--I think it makes a better drink than unsweetened lime juice)
✔ 1/2 oz. sweet & sour mix

For the glass:
✔ cinnamon/sugar
✔ lime wedge to wet rim of glass

Prepare glass(es) by running a lime wedge around the edge of a martini glass and then dipping the rim into a cinnamon/sugar mixture (like a margarita glass prep but using cinn/sugar instead of salt).

Combine liquids in a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake well and strain into the prepared glass. You can also make a pitcher of the stuff for parties and then shake them over ice as they are needed...that way you're not mixing/measuring all night.

(Original recipe from The Bellagio Hotel, Las Vegas, NV)

Bere felice!

You're old if you remember The Flag Pole!

Grilling season is slowly winding down and it's kinda sad. So I'm going to pretend it's still summer and archive a seasonal recipe that I can't bear to lose!

When we were kids, one of our big summer treats was a family ride to Wooster-Hawkins Shopping Center so we could go to The Flag Pole for foot-long hot dogs with coney sauce and soft serve ice cream. I really LOVED their coney sauce so when the Flag Pole stopped being a "restaurant" (yes, those are Air Quotes), I hoped that I'd find that sauce again someday. And if you're from Akron and you don't know what I'm talking about, go ask your parents.

Then, one day (maybe in the late 1980s? the clipping has yellowed with age but has no date), I saw a tiny recipe in the food section of the Akron Beacon Journal -- Coney Island Hot Dog Sauce! Submitted by Patricia Carleton of Akron, it gave me hope that I could recreate the Flag Pole experience. Once I tried it, I felt I'd found something that equaled the Flag Pole coney sauce.

Amended a little over the years (I now use ground turkey instead of ground beef), this is now a family-favorite recipe. I always make tons more than I need for a cookout because the sauce freezes so well and I have to be sure that there's plenty of extra for Kirk to take home!

Coney Island Hot Dog Sauce
(amended from the original recipe printed in the Akron Beacon Journal)

✔ 1/2 lb. ground beef or turkey
✔ 1 6-oz. can tomato paste
✔ 1-1/2 cups water
✔ 1/4 cup relish
✔ 1 tablespoon instant minced onion
✔ 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
✔ 1 tablespoon chili powder (you may add up to 3 T. if you like it hotter)
✔ 1-1/2 teaspoon salt
✔ 1 teaspoon sugar

Brown meat, stirring to break up pieces. Add remaining ingredients and simmer 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Makes about 2 cups, enough for 12 hot dogs. Be sure to have lots of fresh chopped onion to sprinkle on top.

Buon appetito!

You put WHAT in it???

Okay, this one's a little crazy. But once you try it, you'll realize it's crazy GOOD! I found this recipe by following Lexi's Twitter link to thepioneerwoman.com. Intrigued by the oddity of one of the ingredients, I made it about a week ago during a cooking frenzy. Soon after the dish began baking, the aroma of buttery-sweet-cinnamon-goodness spread through the house. So, here's the recipe and I dare you to make it only once!

Apple Dumplings

✔ 2 whole Granny Smith apples, cored+peeled
✔ 2 cans refrigerator crescent rolls (I use "low fat")
✔ 2 sticks butter (to complement the low fat roll dough!)
✔ 1½ cup white sugar
✔ 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
✔ 1 can (12 oz.) Mountain Dew (YES!)
✔ ground cinnamon (I'm pretty liberal with my "sprinkling")

Preheat oven to 350°. Cut apples into 8 slices each. Roll each apple slice in a crescent roll. Place in a 9 x 13 buttered pan. Melt butter, then add sugar and barely stir. Add vanilla, stir, and pour over apples. Pour Mountain Dew around the edges of the pan. Sprinkle with cinnamon and bake for 40 minutes.

Spoon some of the sauce from the pan over the top of the dumplings and serve with whipped cream (my fave) or ice cream.

Buon appetito!

New place to store recipes. First up: corn chowder!

I hate it when I can't find an old tried-and-true recipe. I have stacks of clippings, magazines, and handwritten recipe cards that haven't yet been filed away properly. Not quite a "hoarder" but in this regard, it sure seems like I have those tendencies.

Anyway, I've decided to begin storing some of my favorite recipes here for safekeeping. If you try anything and have a comment, please let me know...I'd love to hear about it.

I received this recipe from an old friend, Lucille Zarouk, who was my sister-in-law's neighbor. I remember her as being a FABULOUS cook and I've used many of her recipes over the years! I particularly love this one because I'm a fan of corn chowder--actually, corn anything! So after hours of searching for this last month, it's my first for archiving.

Lucille's Corn Chowder

✔ 4 slices of thick bacon--pan-fried, then crumbled (or "grilled+cut" as Lucille said)

In a skillet with some of the bacon grease (your choice--your heart!), add and simmer for 10 minutes:
✔ 4 cups of potatoes, cubed small
✔ 1 medium onion, sliced thin
✔ 1 cup of water

In another large pan, combine and simmer for 10 minutes:
✔ 1 package of frozen corn
✔ 1 stick of margarine (I use butter--hey, fat is fat!)
✔ 1 cup of cream
✔ 1 teaspoon sugar

Combine all in the pan; add:
✔ 2 cups of milk
✔ salt+pepper to taste.
Heat through but do not boil. Feel free to sprinkle some sweet paprika on top when serving.

Buon appetito!