Scrapple

This is a food that came down from my grandma, who serves it as breakfast. When I first saw it I was a little scared of it, it just seemed weird. But I tried it, and you know, it is pretty awesome. I swear it's southern, though my family isn't from the south so I don't know how we got it. But it's yummy!

1 c yellow cornmeal
1 1/2 c water
1 1/2 tsp salt
pepper
1 lb pork sausage (can be raw, or cooked to drain the grease off--I always cook it)
1 can evaporated milk
1 onion chopped up fine
1 carrot chopped up fine

(Cook and drain sausage. Set aside.) Put cornmeal in a saucepan. Pour water over cornmeal, mix, and cook over medium heat until thickened, stirring constantly. Add milk, meat, and veggies. Add salt and pepper. Cook slowly until really thick, stir often or constantly to prevent burning.

Pour into loaf pan that's been rinsed in cold water (glass pan is best). Don't grease the pan, just get it very cold in the water. Then chill the scrapple in the pan for 2 or more hours (overnight is best).

Slice off pieces about 3/4-1" thick, dip in flour, and fry until golden brown.

Serve and enjoy!

Potato Soup (Zuppa de Toscana)

In its original incarnation this recipe was chopped potatoes with some hot dogs thrown in, but after an inspiring visit to Olive Garden my husband suggested putting in pork sausage instead of hot dogs, and the rest is history... I'm pretty sure that everyone who has tried this soup loves it.
Don't scrimp on the salt. It needs it. Potatoes absorb a lot of salt. Using sausage helps, but you'll still need more.



serves about 6

6 large potatoes, cut into 1/2in cubes (peel them first if you use russets, but you can leave part or all of the skins on if you use reds or golds)
1/2-1 onion, chopped little
1 lb ground pork sausage (actually 3/4 is plenty, but they come in 1lb portions usually...and it works)
salt and pepper
parsley (fresh is good in little sprigs, or use about 1Tbs of dried flakes)

Put the cut up potatoes and onions in a large saucepan, with just enough water to cover them. Boil them until they are soft (adding water as needed).
Meanwhile, cook up the pork sausage. When it is cooked through, set aside on a paper towel to let some of the grease come off (it's good if it's still a bit greasy though).
Return to the potatoes etc and drain off some of the water (leaving just a cup or so in the pan). Put in the sausage. Add milk to cover, and warm it on low or med-low heat but don't allow it to boil (milk gets ikky if it's boiled). Add salt (start with at least 2 tsp) and pepper. Use a potato masher to smash around in there until about half of the potato chunks are pulverized. That will give a nice thick consistency to the soup, while still having good chunks to chew on.
Add parsley.

Serve with a garnish of fresh parsley if you like.

Homemade Oreos

I got this recipe from a friend, and the frosting was great but the cookie part came out really dry and hard when I made it. So I'll include that original cookie recipe at the bottom (in case you like hard/dry oreos), but the main recipe here is adapted from a different recipe I had before. 

Makes about 32-36 cookies (so 16-18 finished oreos)

Chocolate cookies:
3/4 c butter
1 c + 2 Tbs sugar
2 regular eggs (only 1 if extra large)
1 t vanilla
2 c flour
1/2 c cocoa powder (add with sugar or flour)
Whip butter, add sugar gradually, whipping frequently. Add eggs and vanilla and mix well. Add flour and cocoa and mix well. It will probably seem a bit dry, but keep mixing and it should moisten up. Dough will probably be a bit sticky. You can chill it, but it will probably be firm enough to just roll out right away. Use plenty of flour (I use a pastry brush to brush off excess flour so the cookies stay brown rather than white). Roll 1/4 inch thick and cut into 2 inch rounds. Bake at 350 for 10ish minutes.


Cream filling:
1/2 c butter, softened
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 1/4 c powdered sugar
Whip together until light and very fluffy. Pipe onto one cookie and put another on top.
Alternately, use a little cream cheese in place of (or in addition to) the butter. The batch in the photo I made part plain frosting, then added some strawberry cream cheese to the other half and made strawberry oreos, which is why the ones on the left are pink. They were fantastic. ☺



~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Original chocolate cookies:
1/2 c soft butter
1/2 c confectioners sugar
1/2 c cocoa powder (dark is best)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp vanilla
2/3 c flour
Cream butter until fluffy, add the sugar and mix well. Add the cocoa and vanilla and mix well.
Work in the flour until dough is soft but not too sticky. Knead lightly and chill for 40 minutes.
Dust chilled dough lightly with flour, then roll out 1/4 inch thick between two pieces of wax paper. Cut into 2 inch rounds. Bake at 350 for 10-12 min. Cool.

Fish (or Chicken) with Veggies & Green Sauce

I couldn't decide what to call this so I enlisted the help of some facebook friends. They suggested "Halibut Fishatore," "Pesce Verde" and, inevitably, we wound up at "Green Fish." Call it what you like, it's yummy!
I had thawed some halibut to make another dish, but when I got ready to begin cooking I realized I had forgotten one of the parts of the recipe (which involved marinating the fish for two hours prior to cooking!). So I had to scrap that recipe and just threw this together on the spot. It may look a little complicated because it has several parts, but really they are all pretty simple. The only thing that's complicated is the sauce (which can burn), but so long as you keep an eye on it and stir it a lot you should be fine.
For those of you who for whom halibut isn't your 'cheap, always-on-hand' meat, you can use tilapia or another white fish, or chicken will also work nicely.

Serves about 6
Prep time--about 30-60 min, depending on whether you use canned/frozen veggies, and whether your meat is thawed.

MEAT

• About 2-3lbs thawed halibut (or chicken breasts/tenders/pieces)
• olive oil
• Salt and pepper
• Breadcrumbs

Put about 1/4inch of water in the bottom of a baking dish (1/2" if using chicken since it will cook longer). Put the fish in the dish and shake a little olive oil onto the fish. Sprinkle with salt, pepper and breadcrumbs. Put in the oven to bake (about 15-20 min for halibut, 30-45 for chicken, depending on size of pieces...just check it periodically)
Once the meat is in, start on the veggies.

VEGGIES

• 2 potatoes, chopped into 1/2in cubes (peel first if they have tough skins)
  
• 3/4 c peas
• 3/4 c chopped carrots (I used a frozen pea/carrot mix)
• other veggies if you prefer (asparagus, bell peppers, broccoli, etc)

Put everything in a little water and steam it until soft/warm. (About 7-10 min should be plenty.) Once that's in, make the sauce. 

SAUCE (this is a homemade version of Costco's spinach-artichoke-parmesan dip, so you could use theirs, just warm it up and thin it with a little milk...but of course homemade always tastes better)

• 4Tbs butter
• 4Tbs flour
• salt, pepper, garlic powder (I did about 1/2tsp salt and 1 Tbs garlic powder...I don't measure.)
• 1 1/2-2 cups of milk (whole is best of course, or cream would be good...)
• 3/4-1 cup of grated cheese (parmisan is ideal, but I didn't have any so I used monterey jack and it was good)
• 2/3-3/4c chopped spinach (I used frozen)
• 1/2-2/3c chopped artichokes (I used canned)

Mix the butter and flour in a saucepan over medium heat to make a rue. Be careful not to let it burn! Mix in spices. Slowly add about 1/4c of milk at a time, mixing after each addition. Add the cheese a little at a time, mixing often. Reduce heat to med-low. Add the chopped veggies and mix well. Let it sit on low heat if the other parts are not ready yet, otherwise bring it all to the table and serve immediately.

Serve the meat and veggies side by side, with the sauce poured over the top of everything.
It's pretty much awesome. All my kids liked it and the four-year-old asked for thirds.

Crockpot Omelet Casserole

I got this from a cookbook compiled from ladies at church, but I've modified it quite a bit since then. The original recipe was huge, so I've adapted it to serve about 6 people.
This has some 'western' ingredients, and we like them so we just do it this way...however I'm sure it would be good with olives, diced tomatoes, mushrooms, or whatever you like best in an omelet.
I didn't include a photo because the truth is this one isn't very pretty...the eggs especially end up looking quite weird. But it tastes great! It's convenient to be able to put it in before we go to bed, and then have a hearty breakfast waiting for us when we get up. We like to do it for Christmas morning.

• 2 cups of cubed potatoes (I like using red or gold, with the thin skins, or else peel them. Cut to about 1cm cubes. The original recipe called for using a bag of hash browns, if you do, we like 'country style' best)
• 1/2-3/4 lb pre-cooked meat (cubed leftover ham, sausage, etc)*
• 1 medium onion (about 1/2-3/4 c) chopped 
• 1 medium bell pepper, chopped (about 3/4-1c, I often use frozen strips chopped up)
• 1-1 1/2 c grated monterey jack cheese
• 8 eggs
• 2/3 c milk
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper

*the original recipe calls for ham. This last time we didn't have any though, so I used sausage and it was really good. The spiciness did permeate all the other foods, so the other flavors were not as clear...but it was still good!

I used a 4 qt crockpot

Chop all the ingredients. Place a layer of potatoes on the bottom of the crockpot, followed by a layer of meat then onions, peppers, and cheese. Repeat the layering process two or three more times, ending with a layer of cheese.
In a separate container, beat the eggs, add the milk, salt, and pepper. Pour the mixture around over everything in the crockpot, cover, and turn on low. Cook about 8-10 hours (we find it always gets done in the lesser time).

Risgrot

"reese-grit"
Rice cereal, a recipe my husband brought home from Norway. I admit I wasn't thinking it sounded very appetizing, but it's really quite good.
It's traditionally served with butter and cardamom, but cinnamon or cinnamon-sugar is good too and may be a more familiar taste for some.



1 cup short grain rice (other white rice will do, but short grain is best)
1 1/2-2 cups water
1 cup milk
butter
cardamom, cinnamon, or cinnamon-sugar

Put water and rice in a saucepan and simmer until water is dissolved (or nearly so). Add milk and keep simmering until all is soft and liquid is gone. Keep a good eye on it so that it doesn't boil over or burn to the bottom of the pan!
Serve hot with butter and cardamom or cinnamon.

Grandma B's Buttermilk Scones

Grandma likes to make these for the family for Pioneer Day (the day when the Mormon Pioneers came into the Salt Lake valley...it's a big deal in SLC which is where she lives...it also happens to be today, July 24). She always insists on doing them in a dutch oven in the back yard, but you can fry them in a regular pan on the stove or in an electric frypan on the counter just as easily.
Yes, they are deep fried. Geeze, how could they be scones otherwise?!


1 qt. buttermilk warmed (you can also use regular milk with a couple Tbs of lemon juice to give the tartness
2 T. yeast
2 T. sugar
2 eggs beaten
2 T. oil
1-1/2 t. salt
3 t. baking powder
1/2 t. soda
8 C. flour

In a large bowl, soften the yeast in 3/4 cup of the warmed buttermilk. Add next six ingredients and stir. Add flour stirring to make a soft dough. (Dough will be sticky.) Allow to rise until double. Punch down, place lid on bowl, and refrigerate overnight.

Put a small bit of test dough into the oil as it begins heating--that will keep things from exploding on you (so says Grandma at least!) and also you can look at it to see if your oil is the right temperature for cooking. Gently lower little blobs of dough into the hot oil. As they get golden, turn them over with a long-handled something. When they are golden on both sides, take them out.
Serve with honey, butter, honey-butter, or jam...

Sweetened Condensed Milk

yup, you can make your own. It's not even hard!

1 cup sugar
4 Tbs butter
3/8 cup water
1 1/2 cup instant dry milk or heaping 1/2 cup non-instant

Combine sugar, water, and butter in a small saucepan and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. Cool slightly, then mix in dry milk (using beaters or a blender to make sure it's thoroughly mixed).
Refrigerate, covered, until needed

Cauliflower Soup

This recipe can be made with other veggies, such as Asparagus or Broccoli...but Hubby says the Norwegians usually do it with Cauliflower (and that's what we like best, although I've been known to toss a little broccoli in with it if I have extra or want to stretch the soup a bit.)

1 head of cauliflower
around 1 quart of milk
3-4 Tbs butter
flour
salt
pepper

Break up the cauliflower into smallish pieces (bite size). Put them in a largish saucepan with about an inch of water in the bottom, and steam them until soft.
Add the butter and let it melt in. In a small container, mix flour with cold water to create a thickener, and add that (approx 1/4- 1/3 c total). Add milk until all cauliflower is covered. Stir gently until all is well mixed. Add salt and pepper to taste (it needs a healthy dose of salt, as it is a bland soup without it--I am a very light salter, and I still use at least two teaspoons).

Swedish Meatballs

I got this recipe here, from Epicurean.com (one of my favorite sites). I had to give credit, since it's not my original recipe...but we sure love it! The recipe makes 2 9x13 pans, so there's LOTS of food. It usually lasts us two dinners plus a couple of lunches. Cook once, eat four times...I like that kind of recipe!

We have tried several swedish meatball recipes, and we like this one best because it doesn't skimp on the gravy!

Meatballs:
4 eggs
1c.milk
8 slices bread, torn
2 pounds ground beef
1/3 c. finely chopped onion (don't do more or the balls will fall apart)
4 tsp. baking power
1 to 2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. pepper

Sauce:
2 cans (10-3/4 oz)condensed cream of chicken soup
2 cans (10-3/4 oz)condensed cream of mushroon soup
1 can (12 oz) evaporated milk

In large bowl, beat eggs and milk. Add bread; mix gently and let stand for 5 minutes. Add beef , onion, baking power, salt and pepper; mix well (mixture will be soft). Shape into 1-in. balls. In a large skillet, brown meatballs, a few at a time, in afew Tbs shortening or oil. Place in two ungreased 9x13 baking dishes.
In a bowl, stir soups and milk until smooth; pour over meatballs. Bake, uncovered, at 350 for 1 hour.

Yeild: 8-10 servings