Roast Beef Hash

We always had this the day after Christmas. It is made from the leftovers, so is a little different each time but was always delicious. A variation of this was made after the St. Patrick's Day corned beef.

Leftover roast beef, cut into bite-size pieces to equal about 2 cups
Leftover Yorkshire pudding, cut into bite-size pieces
Onion, chopped (I used about a 1/2 an onion)
4 or 5 potatoes, peeled and boiled, cut into bite-size pieces
Salt, pepper, and garlic powder to taste
Olive oil

Heat nonstick griddle to about 350 degrees. Heat about 4 tablespoons of olive oil, then add the onions and saute until translucent. Add the potatoes and bits of Yorkshire puddings, and keep stirring and browning the mixture, adding more oil if needed. The beef is added last so it is not overcooked. Cook until heated. Season to taste.

Serve with a vegetable and some bread for a hearty dinner, or with eggs and fruit for breakfast or brunch.

Rainy Day Stew

On cold or rainy days, Mom would make stew to feed a crowd. She often made this in a crock pot, but would sometimes bake for an hour or two in the oven.

Put a few tablespoons of oil in a skillet and heat.
Cut meat (lamb or beef) into bite-size pieces.
Dredge in flour and brown in the hot oil.
Transfer to crock pot.
Add potatoes, carrots, and onions.
Stir in a can or two of Campbell's Golden Mushroom Soup and a can or two of tomato sauce or diced tomato.
Season with salt and pepper, and a little red wine if available.

Cook on low for 7-8 hours. Serve over buttered noodles.

 

Turkey Tettrazini

A standard after-Thanksgiving use-up-the-leftovers meal. The base of this dish is a standard roux.

1 small onion, finely chopped
4 T butter
2 T turkey drippings
4 T flour
4 cups chicken broth
2 cups of cubed leftover turkey
Salt and pepper to taste
Cooked spaghetti

Melt the butter in a large skillet. Add turkey drippings. Heat. Add onions and saute until translucent. Turn the heat to low. Add flour one tablespoon at a time, stirring after each addition. Once all the flour has been, turn heat up a bit until flour/butter mixture bubbles, then slowly add chicken broth (amount of broth can be adjusted to make sauce thicker or thinner). Once all the broth has been added, allow to come to bubble and stir until any lumps disappear. Add turkey and heat on medium until turkey is heated. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Serve over cooked spaghetti.

Or, mix with spaghetti, pour into greased casserole, cover with bread crumbs and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Chicken Quarantine

This started out as a recipe called "Chicken Florentine" but one of my brothers misunderstood what my mother had said, and with great indignation exclaimed, "you are feeding us something called Chicken Quarantine??"

The name stuck.

This is not quite a true Florentine, since broccoli (more palatable to us when we were children but still a green vegetable) was used. This is a great way to use up leftover chicken. This was a favorite of all six kids.

Spread about 2 cups of diced cooked chicken and bag of frozen broccoli florets in a 9x13 baking dish.

In a separate bowl, mix 2 cans of Campbells soup (cream of chicken and/or cream of celery work well) with about one cup of mayonnaise or sour cream. Mix in 1-1/2 cups of shredded cheddar cheese. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Spread soup mixture over chicken and broccoli. Sprinkle with about 1/2 cup of shredded cheddar cheese.

Bake for about 30 minutes at 350 degrees.

diet Coke Chicken

I got this recipe from my friend Dot years ago. She was born and raised in Mississippi and her "mama" made this for her. My mother met Dot on her trips to Hawaii, and Dot made this for her once. I think her mother probably used regular Coke, but Dot adjusted it to diet Coke because that's what she had on hand, and so that's how I make this too. This is good, ol' fashioned Southern white trash food at its finest... Diet Coke Chicken Spray a 8" square glass baking dish with Pam. Arrange boneless, skinless chicken breasts in pan (4 fit nicely, or use bigger dish for more). Squirt a blob of ketchup on each chicken breast, then top with a thin slice of onion. Pour about 1/2 can of diet Coke on top, about 1/2 inch in pan. Bake at about 350 for 30-40 minutes, basting with a spoon occasionally, until chicken is done and sauce is a little bubbly. Pour remainder of diet Coke over ice, splash with rum and garnish with lemon. Drink while waiting for chicken. Mmmm Mmmm Good.

Pasta Skillet with Ham and Broccoli

Mom made this dinner often -- it had all the food groups in one meal, and was great for making a little bit of meat stretch to feed a lot of people. She would ask for the "ham ends" at the deli, and get a great reduced price on those. Its a great mid-week dinner because it cooks up fast and requires very little prep work. Serve with a crusty bread and a salad if you wish.



Ingredients

2-3 T of oil

1 small onion, diced

1 box of pasta (such as rotini), prepared according to package directions

1 bag of frozen broccoli florets

1 cup of diced ham

1 cup grated parmesan cheese

salt and pepper to taste

Preparation

In large skillet, heat the oil. Saute onions until translucent. Add ham and broccoli, then turn heat to low, cover, and let heat for about 10 minutes, or until broccoli is heated through. Add pasta and toss (you may need to add a little extra oil if needed.) Mix half the parmesan cheese into the pasta mixture, and salt and pepper to taste. Sprinkle remaining cheese on top.

Tuna Noodle Casserole

This was usually served on Fridays during lent, but also anytime Mom needed a quick, stick-to-your-ribs, inexpensive meal.

In a big pot, bring some water to boil. Add some salt, then cook a package of Muellers wide egg noodles to the water. Bring back to boil and cook for another 8 minutes or so.

Drain noodles and set aside in the collander.

Make a roux: In the now empty pot, melt 4 tablespoons of butter. Once hot, add one small finely chopped onion in the butter until transparent. Drain one big can of tuna (Mom used chunk light; I prefer albacore). Chop up the tuna a little and then add to the butter and onion and heat through. Sprinkle with 4 tablespoons of flour. You could also add a cup of green peas here.

Little by little, each time allowing the mixture to heat, add 2 cups of milk to the roux mixture. As the mixture heats, it will begin to thicken and bubble. When its the perfect thickness for your tuna noodle casserole, remove from heat and stir in cooked noodles.

Take about 2 cups of potato chips and crunch them up into crumbs (the odds and ends at the bottom of the bags are good for this purpose.) Stir half of the potato chip crumbs into the noodle mixture., then poor into an ovenproof casserole. Cover the top with the remaining potato chips and dot with butter.

Bake for about 30 minutes at 350 degrees.

Serve with a salad and some good bread with butter.

Impossible Pie

These were fairly common in the 70's. The one I remember Mom making most was Impossible Lasagna Pie.

Roast Beef and Yorkshire Pudding

Every year at Christmas, Mom usually made Roast Beef and Yorkshire Pudding. Sometimes she'd do a Beef Wellington, but we all loved Yorkshire Pudding so much (and weren't fans of pate) and you need to make a roast to make Yorkshire Pudding, so that was the standard. When I moved away from home, I looked in my cookbook to find a recipe for Yorkshire Pudding but there wasn't one. I called Mom, and she gave me instructions over the phone which I scribbled in the front cover of my cook book. To this day, these scribbled instructions are what I follow each Christmas as I make my own Yorkshire Pudding.
















Mom's Standing Rib Roast:
Don't bother getting a roast less than 5 lbs.
Figure 1 lb. per person but get a big one because you can do a lot with the leftovers.
Set oven to 300 degrees.
Set roast in a roasting pan with a rack, season with salt and pepper
Figure 20 minutes per pound, or until the roast reaches 145 degrees.
Remove roast from oven, cover with aluminum foil and let "rest".

While the roast is "resting", do the following:

Mom's Yorkshire Pudding:
Reset the temperature of the oven to 350 degrees.
Beat 3 eggs "to death"
Beat in 1 cup of milk (don't use skim)
Mix 1 cup of flour with 1/2 tsp salt, then beat into milk mixture
Put 1/4 cup roast dripping in a 13 x 9 Pyrex dish, the pour batter on top
Put in the oven for 30 minutes
(If conditions are right, the pudding will rise from pan as above.)

Serve with aspargus and Hollandaise Sauce, red and green pepper jellies, and horseradish cream.

*Dad stepped in to make the asparagus. He didn't cook often but he had a few specialties and he took asparagus very seriously. He used an old coffee perculator because he said the asparagus needed to stand while steaming for best effect.

Ma's Stir Fry Chicken

This was a meal that "Ma" used for family dinner or to feed a crowd. It was quick and easy and used up the vegetables in the refrigerator. She wasn't much on measurements--she preferred cooking to taste. So use your personal taste on this one. She sometimes substituted beef for the chicken.

Macaroni & Cheese

This is a very easy version of Mac & Cheese. No measurements, just use your judgment and your personal taste.

Chicken Pie

One from my sister:

Wetback's Delite

I apologize up front for the terribly un-PC name of this recipe. This is in my teenage handwriting, but I don't remember writing it.

Mom got it from a neighbor lady (I don't remember who exactly anymore) and made it when Dad was out of town on business. He was the meat-and-potatoes sort. When he was gone we got "fun" food. We loved it.

Like many of Mom's recipes, this has been adjusted to feed an army (there were 6 kids in the house). You could cut this in half easily, as I think its really been doubled from the original. Also, I think I would omit the Accent. We didn't know how bad that was for us 25 years ago.