Eliza's Corner

I’ve spent the better part of 2009 reading both cooking and health blogs. During that time I realized that I didn’t have the equipment to try a lot of the recipes that appealed to me. Chris took matters into his own hands this Christmas and updated my cookware and part of my goal for January is to get the kitchen up to par. Anything that I find that is broken or has been replaced is going out to either goodwill or the dumpster.

I’m not planning on making Eliza’s Corner a permanent cooking blog but I decided I tend to get writers block or didn’t feel anything happened that was worth posting or wouldn’t have been smart to post so instead I decided to start focusing on year long projects to expand my talents in both cooking and some of my other hobbies in the coming years. I’ll continue to have an occasional post about other things going on outside the kitchen when the urge hits me but I’m hoping this stops my posting for a week or two and then disappearing for months on end.

I’m not a bad cook or even a complete novice but over the years I’ve mainly cooked from box meals and easy skillet meals with an occasional family recipe thrown in so my skills haven’t developed as well as some. So this year I’d like to change that by starting to cook more meals from scratch and try some more complicated recipes that I wouldn’t have braved in the past. 

Right now I’m starting out with a few cookbooks and magazines:

1. Better Homes & Gardens New Cookbook ( the soft cover red plaid cover)
2. Make it Fast, Cook it Slow by Stephanie O’Dea (Christmas Gift from my awesome husband)
3. Gooseberry One Pot Meals (another Christmas gift from Chris)
4. and a few Food Network Magazines, some old Reiman publication magazines (Quick Cooking, Simple & Delicious, & a couple Taste of Home)

I have a few other cookbooks I want to pick up over the course of the year and I also want to try recipes found on some of my favorite cooking and health blogs.

Thanks 2009  for the inspiration and kick to make 2010 a year of cooking!

Our New Years Meal.

Ingredients:

1 pkg smoked sausage ( this year I picked up some Hillshire farm smoked sausage but in the past I have used other brands)

2 cans black eyed peas – drain 1 can

1 cup rice

Tabasco green pepper sauce

Directions:

In a small pan start your rice cooking ( let 2 cups of water come to a boil, add 1 cup of rice, cover and cook 15 minutes. Remove from heat and let sit for 5 minutes).

Pour 1 teaspoon of olive oil in your skillet and then add your sausage and cook over medium high heat until the sausage is lightly browned. While the sausage is cooking season with Tabasco green pepper sauce (this is up to you so add enough to taste – more if you like heat ) Add 2 cans of black eyed peas and let heat while the rice sits.

Once rice is done add to skillet and let the entire skillet simmer for 5 – 10 minutes to give everything time to heat entirely.

Chris and I have had this for years as our New years meal. I’m considering adding green chilies or green pepper to it next year because Chris likes a little heat in his food. It depends on the dish on whether or not I like it spicy or not.

One of my favorite dishes growing up was my Grandmother’s Chicken and Dumplings. This recipe has evolved since I got married into a combination of that recipe and my father-in-law’s recipe that C loves so much. C likes it more of a soup variety and I like it when the sauce is a little thicker so this recipe seems to do both because the day it’s made the sauce is a little bit more of a soup and it thickens up overnight in the fridge in time for leftovers a few days later. C asked me to write the recipe down for a friend of his so I thought I’d post it as a way for me to keep track of it. The amounts are approximate since this is one of the few recipes I can do with out actual measurements.

Chicken and Dumplings

Ingredients:

1 whole Chicken (3 – 3 1/2 lbs)
2 cups of flour
1 tsp of salt
1 tsp baking powder
2 cups chicken broth

Directions:
Boil chicken until it’s ready to fall off the bone (usually about hour to an hour and a half)

In a medium bowl (about 15-20 before the chicken is done) combine flour, salt, baking powder, and broth from the boiling chicken. Mix together until you have a sticky dough (in some cases you may need to add more broth if dough isn’t sticky).

Flour counter surface and roll out dough. It doesn’t have to be perfect just make sure it isn’t very thin or extremely thick. Cut dough into squares using a pizza cutter or knife.

Remove chicken from broth, add about two cups of water if there isn’t a lot of liquid left in the pot, and place on plate. Let the liquid come to a simmering boil and drop the dumplings in the water. Stir occasionally so the water doesn’t boil over. While the dumplings are cooking shred the chicken into small pieces, toss the bones and skin, and add the shredded chicken back into the pot. Let simmer for about 15 to 20 minutes to let the sauce thicken and everything mix together.

Thickening Tip: add a spoonful of flour to a small (1/8 cup) amount of milk and stir until flour is dissolved and add to pot to thicken sauce.

Quick Cooking Tip: add two cans of refrigerated biscuits cut into four pieces each and add to water instead of homemade dumplings.

I love to cook but I never have the time so I have had a subscription to Simple & Delicious (formerly Quick Cooking) for several years. The past year or so a lot of the recipes really haven’t been anything C and I would eat but I discovered this one in March of 2006 and both of us really enjoyed it. It seems to be a versatile dish that can be served with just about anything. The recipe called for fat-free milk and saltines but I just used the 2% that I usually buy and I picked up the whole wheat saltines that I found at the store. The gravy I substituted the jar I found at the store of beef gravy and I don’t think it was fat-free either.

Prep: 15 minutes
Bake: 50 minutes

Ingredients:
1/2 cup milk
14 saltines, crushed
2 tablespoons dried minced onion
2 teaspoons dried parsley flakes
1 pound lean ground beef
1 jar (12 oz) beef gravy
2 tablespoons ketchup
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1/4 teaspoon pepper

In large bowl, combine milk, saltines, onion, parsley. Crumble beef over mixture and mix well. Shape into four patties. Place in an baking dish coated with nonstick cooking spray.

In small bowl, combine the gravy, ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, and pepper; pour over patties. Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees for 50-55 minutes or until meat is no longer pink.

Yield: 4 Servings
Source: Simple & Delicious (Mar-Apr 2006)

A family recipe from my grandmother. I keep misplacing it so now that shouldn’t be a problem.

1 cup corn meal
1/2 cup flour
1 T baking powder
1 t salt
1 egg
milk to the right consistency.

Heat oven to 425 degrees and bake for 25 minutes

This originally came from the usa weekend insert in the Sunday paper back in 2001. I usually follow the recipe pretty closely but I have added a full can of evaporated milk a few times, added or didn’t add enough spices, and a couple of other goofs but it always comes out tasting really good!

This recipe calls for a prebaked pie shell so be sure and follow the directions on the back of the pie shell before you start cooking the filling!

1 can (15 ounces) 100% pure pumpkin
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. ground ginger
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. allspice
2 large eggs, plus 2 yolks
1 cup canned evaporated milk
1 can (14 ounces) sweetened condensed milk
9-inch pie shell, baked

Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position. Heat oven to 300 degrees. In a saucepan, heat pumpkin, salt and spices to blend flavors, about 5 minutes. Add milks; cook until heated through. Purée eggs and yolks in a blender. With blender running, add pumpkin filling a spoonful at a time at first, then faster as eggs heat up; blend to form a silky texture. Pour warm filling into prebaked pie shell. Bake until a thin-bladed knife inserted near center of pie comes out clean, about 45 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool on a wire rack.

Well the holidays must be just around the corner because C and I made our first batch of Sausage balls this evening and had then we had some eggs with them for dinner. Yeah sure we have made a batch or two in the summer or spring but it’s very rarely. This breakfast/snack/small dinner option really doesn’t show itself in our household until Halloween or shortly afterwards in November. It’s also been our holiday breakfast with some hot chocolate the few times we couldn’t go see family and celebrated at home.

3 cups Bisquick (low-fat variety is fine)
1 lb of sausage
3 jars of Old English Cheese (or) 1 1/2 cups grated cheddar cheese (don’t get low-fat because the sausage balls won’t be moist enough)

Mix all ingredients using your hands (though on occasion I’ve used the standing mixer with the dough hooks before and it does a good job). Roll into walnut-sized balls and bake at 325 degrees until lightly brown. No need to grease the pan.