STRESS CALLS FOR COMFORT FOOD

Have you  noticed that recipes in the media have grown more complicated during this pandemic?  I guess they’re thinking that  people have more time to fiddle around with unusual ingredients and longer prep time.  But now,  you want nostalgic dishes that remind you of happier times.  Pandemic stress calls for comfort food , made without canned soup. 

High on the list of comfort foods in the USA are soups and casseroles.  What’s wrong with that?  Nothing, if you make them with natural ingredients   But here’s a list of additives you get in canned soups that really don’t give you that taste of home:  Sodium phosphate, whey, soy protein concentrate, yeast extract, potassium chloride, lactic acid, disodium inosinate, disodium guanylate and beta carotene. That’s just a few of the ingredients listed on the label of one can of store-bought Cream of Chicken soup.  

Ham Potato Casserole is the Perfect Comfot food
The Pandemic Calls For Comfort Food. This easy Ham Potato Casserole is made with all natural ingredients.

 One of my favorite comfort foods  is Ham Potato Casserole.  Remember when they served it at your school cafeteria?  I can’t think of many restaurants that have  it on their menu.  Your mom may not have made it, but I’ll bet your granny did.  At one time, it was a way of using up the left overs from a baked ham. That was when frugal people didn’t waste a smidgen of meat left on a bone.   Not many of us bake a whole ham nowadays.  But you can buy packaged, diced ham, which greatly simplifies things.  

When you go on the net looking for Ham Potato Casserole recipes, you’ll find that many of them call for canned soup.  But it’s so much easier to make it the old fashioned way, starting with a simple white sauce.  You don’t really have to follow a recipe after that.  Just throw in some cubed, cooked potatoes, cheese, diced ham, and  green beans.  Mix it altogether in a casserole dish, and bake, covered for 30 minutes.  Your family will want seconds, I promise.  So make plenty.  

If you feel more comfortable following a recipe, here’s one that serves 4: 

Milk: 1  1/2 cups

Butter: 3 Tablespoons 

Flour:  3 tablespoons 

Onion finely chopped: 2 tablespoons

Idaho potatoes, boiled for half an hour, then peeled & cubed:    2

Fresh green beans, trimmed and cooked while boiling the potatoes:  1 cup

Packaged diced ham:   1 cup

Shredded Cheddar cheese:  1 cup 

Directions:

In saucepan, saute onion in butter. Stir in the flour, until blended. .  Gradually whisk in milk until mixture has thickened.  Turn off heat. Add cheese.  Arrange potatoes, ham, and green beans in a baking dish and cover with the white sauce/cheese mixture. .  Cover with foil. Heat in 350 oven for half an hour, or until bubbly..  

Notice, I don’t add seasoning  to the white sauce..  The cheese and ham are plenty salty and some people are allergic to pepper.  Provide salt and pepper shakers for those who want it. .  You can leave out the green beans, or serve another vegetable  as a side dish.  

Enjoy!

 

 

AY CARAMBA! Chicken Enchilada Casserole

Do you miss foreign travel during the covid-19 pandemic?   We spent winters in South Texas for many years, and loved taking trips to Mexico.  Most  often to border towns, but also more extended trips . Beautiful, sophisticated Monterrey, and far down to the major port city of  Veracruz.  We loved the food.  Homemade tortilla chips.  Spicy hot salsa. Tacos, enchiladas, and all of the other wonderful dishes.  Always accompanied by Margaritas, no matter what time of day.  Try this Chicken Enchilada Casserole for a taste of Mexico.  Even if you aren’t ready to fly there,  you can close your eyes and dream. Ay Caramba!

Chicken Enchilada Casserole

INGREDIENTS:

3 cups shredded, cooked chicken.

1 package Taco seasoning mix

1 can (4.5 oz.) chopped green chilies

1 cup fresh or canned whole kernel sweet corn

1 can (15.5 oz) black beans, rinsed and drained

1 (10z)  can red enchilada sauce

8 ( 6 inch) corn tortillas cut in half

2 cups shredded Colby-Monterey Jack cheese blend

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees..

In a large bowl, combine chicken,  taco seasoning mix, green chilies, corn, black beans, and enchilada sauce.

Place 8 tortilla halves  in the bottom of a 9X13 Inch baking dish. Top with half of the chicken mixture. Sprinkle with 1 cup of the cheese. Top with remaining tortilla halves. Spoon remaining chicken mixture and remaining cup of cheese.

Bake, covered with foil, for the first 20 minutes. Then uncover and Bake 10 more  minutes or until cheese is melted and sauce is bubbling.

Ay Caramba! This Chicken Enchllada Casserole willl please and surprise your family.
Ay Caramba! Surprise your family with Chicken Enchilada Casserole

Garnish with cilantro,  avocado or sour cream , if desired.

If you don’t care for black beans, you can leave them out of the recipe and increase the corn to 2 cups. For the chicken, you can either use rotisserie chicken or poach some chicken breasts.

Your whole family will love this easy-peasy  Chicken Enchilada Casserole.  Better yet, it makes fantastic leftovers for the next day.  Ay caramba!

STAY AT HOME DIARY: WEEK 4

Are you worried about your children missing a couple months of school?  This week, I downloaded  a great Kindle  book, “Educated.”  The  memoir seems very timely now, with all the school closings due to COVID-19.  Author Tara Westover  never attended elementary school or high school. She wasn’t even home schooled.  And yet, she graduated from Brigham Young University,  and received  a Ph.D from Trinity College in Cambridge, U.K.   Her older brother taught her to read, but she had to teach herself algebra before she could get into college.

Stay At Home diary: week 4 Read Educated
EDUCATED is a book you must read if your child’s school has closed. due to COVID-19.  Stay At Home Diary: Week 4

On Wednesday,  I weeded the flower beds. And tomorrow, if it doesn’t rain, I’m going to transplant some Hosta. It’s great to be out in the fresh air, and digging in the dirt. .

My husband has agreed to let me trim his beard.  I’m letting my own short hair grow longer. I may come out of this with a new hair style.

It’s strange watching TV reporters social distancing and reporting from home.  They look so pale and their features appear distorted without the fancy make up and good lighting.  I bet they hate seeing themselves on TV.  Some of their home environments don’t look very snazzy.   Plain white venetian blinds? A microwave on top of your frig?  If it were me, I think I’d rig up a nicer background.   Some pretty curtains, maybe.  A  plant or two?   Anything but venetian blinds or a microwave oven.

Finally, got out some old cookbooks, looking for  recipes that don’t call for canned soup (Stores are completely out). Made Chicken Tetrazzini using white sauce as a base.  My husband doesn’t like mushrooms, so I substituted green peppers.  It was so good! Also, I didn’t add salt.  You can add salt and pepper to taste.

Now is the time to fix comfort foods like turkey tetrazinni
Stay At Home Diary: Week 4. Made Chicken Tetrazzini without canned soup

CHICKEN TETRAZZINI

1 pound thin spaghetti

½ cup butter or margarine

½ cup  flour

3   cups milk

2 cups chicken broth

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

2  cans (4 oz.) mushrooms, drained ( or a diced green pepper)

2 or 3 cups diced  chicken (or turkey)

½ cup grated parmesan cheese

Reheat oven to 350 degrees .  Lightly grease a baking dish.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add spaghetti, and cook for 10 minutes. Drain, and place in baking dish.

Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir in flour, making a smooth paste. Mix in chicken broth and milk. Cook and stir until mixture comes to a boil and thickens. Mix sauce with spaghetti, cheddar cheese,  chicken, and mushrooms or peppers.. Top with parmesan cheese. Bake about 30 minutes in preheated oven  until temperature reaches 160 degrees or until surface is lightly browned,

It’s easy to cut the recipe in half if you’re  cooking for two.  Or, you can freeze the leftovers to enjoy when everything gets back to normal.  I hope that day is coming soon!

 

STOP! SAVE THAT HAM BONE

Most every holiday buffet includes a beautiful baked ham.  While a boneless ham seems easier to carve, the shape and flavor of a bone-in ham is far more appealing. But let’s face it, you’re probably going to end up with some leftovers.  After you’ve cleaned the ham from the bone to make sandwiches, you might start to throw it in the trash.   Stop! Save  that ham bone.   There are so many ways to use it for economical, heart healthy meals.

Did you know that bone broth is one of the most nutritious foods? In addition to  providing collagen, it is a great source of magnesium, calcium,   and phosphorus. Full of amino acids , it heals the gut, promotes healthier joints, and boosts the immune system.     Simmer a ham bone with peas, beans or legumes, and you have a nutritional powerhouse that’s  insanely easy to prepare.   Beans and legumes are low in calories and fat, and a rich source of protein, fiber and B vitamins.

 And if you’re a frugal cook,  Split Pea Soup is one of the cheapest dishes you can serve.

Stop! Save That Ham Bone.
Trim all the fat from the ham bone before making Split Pea Soup

Before I start making this soup, I carefully scrape the ham bone, removing any visible fat.  This reduces the calories and makes the soup easier to digest for those who can’t handle much animal fat.  Then, I place the  ham bone  in a 4 quart saucepan.

Next, I  I open a bag of split peas, chop up some onion, throw in a couple cloves of garlic.  Now, I fill the pan almost to the brim with water, and add a bay leaf, carrots and celery.  The recipe may call for salt, but I don’t add any because the ham is salty enough to suit my taste. After simmering for a couple hours,  tender bits of ham can be pulled from the bone joint with a fork and mixed in with the soup.  I’ve made this soup  so often that I don’t need a recipe, but here’s one if this is your first time making split pea soup.

Split Pea Soup With Ham Bone

Ingredients:

 1 package (16 ounces) dried green split peas

1 meaty ham bone

½  large onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, chopped.

1 bay leaf

2 carrots, scraped and chopped

1 stalk celery , chopped.

Directions:

Stop@ Save That Ham Bone. Use it for Old Fashioned Split Pea Soup
Old Fashioned Split Pea Soup made with a ham bone is delicious and nutritious

Combine all ingredients in 4 quart stock pot and cover with water up to within an inch of the brim.  Simmer, covered, for 1 ½ hours or until soup reaches desired thickness. When cool enough to handle, remove ham bone and remove meat from bone.  Discard bone, dice meat.  Return meat to soup. Discard bay leaf.  Reheat and serve.

1 cup: 202 calories. Makes about 10 servings.

For an extra treat, buy a box of Jiffy cornbread mix and make some muffins to serve with the soup.

Never underestimate the value of a ham bone!

Family Favorite Holiday Recipes

When your kids have been gone 30 years, and still ask you to make these delicious treats, you know they’re pretty good.  Something about homemade coffee cake and persimmon pudding brings back joyful memories of past holidays.   I’ve posted these traditional recipes before, but am sharing them again in case you missed them.   I hope your guests enjoy these family favorite holiday recipes.

Persimmon pulp is now available in most upscale grocery stores.  You can even order it over the internet.  It’s a bit pricey compared to the good old days, but it sure beats looking for a persimmon tree and spending all day making pulp.

A culinary deight
Rich, Spicy Persimmon Pudding

Not everyone likes persimmon pudding, but for those that do, it’s a rare treat, especially when served with whipped cream.  There are other persimmon recipes that give you a dessert with  the texture of a brownie or cake, so you might look those up on the internet if you think you would like that better.

 

PERSIMMON PUDDING

INGREDIENTS

2 cups persimmon pulp

½  cup melted butter

1 cup milk

1 cup half and half (it’s okay to use milk)

2 eggs

1 cup sugar

1 tsp. baking powder

½ tsp salt

½ tsp nutmeg

1  1/2 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp  allspice

 

Mix pulp, eggs.  sugar, melted butter and milk.  Mix dry ingredients separately.  Then combine both mixtures. Stir well. Pour into greased 9 X 13 inch pan and bake for one hour at 325 degrees.  Stir several times while pudding is baking so that it won’t harden at edges of pan.

*********************************************************************************************

I first tasted this  rich, flaky, coffee cake roll while living in Chicago,  when a German  neighbor brought it to a kaffeeklatsch in our building.    I had always avoided recipes with yeast, because they required a lot of kneading and the problem was, you might either over knead or under knead, and that would ruin the whole thing.

easy coffee cake
YOU DON’T HAVE TO KNEAD THIS RICH, YEASTY, COFFEE CAKE ROLL

But this  was so easy that I made it every year on Christmas and Easter for the next four decades.  Friends and family asked for the recipe, and soon, they were claiming it as their own.

 

 

RICH FLAKY COFFEE CAKE ROLL

INGREDIENTS:

1 package active dry yeast

¼ cup warm water

¾ cup warm milk

3 egg yolks

4 cups flour

2 sticks (1/2 cup) cold margarine

1 teaspoon salt

¼ cup sugar

FILLING:

1 stick margarine

1 cup powdered sugar

½ cup finely chopped walnuts

ICING:

¾ cup powdered sugar

Enough milk to make a thin paste

DIRECTIONS:

In separate bowl: dissolve yeast in warm water according to package directions; add  egg yolks and warm milk.

In a large bowl, mix flour, salt, and sugar.  Using your hands, mix in margarine until you have pea-sized pieces ( as if you are making pie dough),

Combine all ingredients and stir until smooth. Do not knead. Cover dough and refrigerate overnight.

Turn dough onto lightly floured surface. Divide in half. Roll each portion into a 13 X 9 inch rectangle.  Stir filling  ingredients until fluffy.  Spread over rectangles. Roll up jell-roll style, starting with a long side.

Place rolls  seam side down at the edges of a 13 X 9 inch baking pan. Cover and let sit until doubled, about 3 hours. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes or until brown.  Make icing and frost the cakes while they are still warm..

WOW ‘EM WITH MEXICAN LASAGNA

If you have company coming for Thanksgiving, it’s going to be a long holiday.  You can’t eat turkey all weekend.  After the leftovers have been exhausted,  serve this festive  make-ahead recipe on Friday or Saturday night.  Wow ’em with Mexican Lasagna!

It’s going to be a long holiday weekend with company coming. Serve Mexican Lasagna on Saturday after Thanksgiving.

MEXICAN LASAGNA

1 ½ pounds lean ground beef

1 medium onion, chopped

1 (15 oz) can enchilada sauce

1 (15 oz) can diced tomatoes

1  (2 ½ oz) can sliced ripe olives, drained

½ teaspoon salt

1 clove garlic, finely chopped or ¼ teaspoon garlic powder

¼ teaspoon pepper

1 cup small curd cottage cheese

1 egg

½ pound Monterey Jack cheese, thin sliced

8 (8 inch) , corn tortillas, halved

½ cup shredded cheddar cheese

Brown beef and onion in a large skillet. Drain. Stir in enchilada sauce, olives, tomatoes, salt, garlic and pepper. Simmer, uncovered,  for 20 minutes. Combine cottage cheese and egg in a small bowl; set aside. Spread one third of the meat sauce in a greased 13 in X 9 in X 2 in baking dish. Top with half the Monterey Jack cheese, half the cottage cheese mixture and half the tortillas. Repeat layers, ending with meat sauce. Sprinkle with cheddar cheese.  Cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Uncover and bake ten more minutes. Makes 6-8 servings.

This dish is much easier to prepare than Italian Lasagna.  Because you’re using tortillas, there are no noodles to boil and drain separately.  It really cuts down on a lot of time and messy pans.

You might offer to make this dish at home and bring it to an overworked relative or friend who is hosting the big Thanksgiving meal.   It will surely be appreciated!

NOSTALGIC 60’s CHICKEN DIVAN RECIPE

If a woman had small children back  in the 1960’s, she was probably a stay at home mom.  At the time, I lived in a Chicago suburb,  surrounded by women who did not work outside the home.   They had coffee klatches and bridge parties, and entertained  on the weekends.  The mainstay of any dinner party was usually some type of make ahead casserole, never mind the calories. Now that the weather is turning cool,   you might want to try this nostalgic 60’S Chicken Divan recipe.

The recipe for Chicken Divan had two stages:  The day before, you stewed the bird,  cleaned it off the bone, chopped it up, and saved the broth. This procedure was described in the 1942 edition of the Woman’s Home Companion Cook Book:

STEWED CHICKEN:

Wash the the bird and place it whole in a heavy kettle.  Add cleaned giblets if desired. Cover with water (about 6 cups).  For flavor, add a small carrot, an onion, a stalk of celery.  A small amount of thyme or marjoram may be added, along with a bay leaf.

Cover and simmer gently over low heat 2 hours or until the chicken is tender and meat begins to loosen from the bones. Remove from heat & let it cool breast side down in the stock. While still lukewarm,  skim off fat and remove chicken. Discard skin and bones; slice or dice the meat.  StraIn the stock to use in gravy, sauces, etc. Store chicken and stock in the refrigerator until ready for use.

The next morning after stewing the chicken,   the  60’s housewife cleaned her house and polished her good silver.  Now she was ready to prepare the casserole for the dinner party that evening.  It could be made ahead and kept in the frig until baking after the guests arrived.

CHICKEN DIVAN:

1 stewed chicken, cut in slices..

2  10 oz packages frozen broccoli

2  cans condensed cream of chicken soup

1 cup mayonnaise

1 teaspoon  curry powder

1 cup shredded cheese

1 cup bread crumbs

1 tablespoon melted margarine.

Cook and slice chicken. Cook broccoli until tender; drain. Arrange broccoli in 11 ½ X 7 l/2 X l 1/2 inch baking pan; place chicken on broccoli. Combine soup, mayonnaise, curry powder and cheese; pour over chicken. Combine bread crumbs and butter; sprinkle over casserole. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes.  Makes 6 -8 servings.  If desired, a side dish of your favorite  rice makes a good accompaniment.

Or, if you’re planning to do it ahead,  put the casserole in the refrigerator  until ready to bake.. It may take a few minutes longer to cook before it reaches 160  degrees and is ready to serve.

If you’re a  21st century, working mom, you can simplify this recipe by  substituting  4  poached chicken breasts and cutting them into bite sized pieces. Or, you can use 3 cups of diced, leftover turkey or chicken.

Nostalgic Chicken Divan made with stewed chicken is  still one of the tastiest, easiest, least expensive  recipes you will find.  Stewed chicken also makes delicious chicken and noodles.