My Lime Green Kitchen

This is really a no fail strawberry pie and so very yummy.

1 c. boiling water
1 c. sugar
3 T. cornstarch
3 T. light Karo
3 T. strawberry jello powder
1 quart strawberries
1 baked and cooled pie shell

Stir sugar and cornstarch into boiling water and stir til sugar is dissolved. Add Karo and continue stirring til thick. Remove from heat and stir in jello powder.

Set aside to cool and continue stirring every 10 minutes or so or it may tend to get lumpy or have a thicker layer on top.

Half strawberries and spread into pie shell. Pour cooled glaze over strawberries. Refrigerate for at least a couple of hours.

My Notes:

1. You can get two pies from 1 small box of strawberry jello if you use barely 3 tablespoons (as opposed to heaping tablespoons).
2. Some add red food coloring to the glaze but since I don’t care what color mine is and it looks plenty red to me, I don’ see the need to add extra dye to my food.  I’m sure there’s plenty in the strawberry jello.
3. You can whip a container of heavy cream, sweeten it a bit and cover the pie once it’s cooled but I’ve found that if you don’t eat the whole pie in one day (personal restraint it’s called!), the whipped cream may get runny or discolored from the strawberries so I make it easy on myself and use whipped cream in a squirt can.  Vince doesn’t like as much as I do so it’s easy to get the right amount per serving .. spoonfuls for him . . cupfuls for me!
4. Some recipes call for a tablespoon or two of butter in the glaze and I’ve never added that either.

This combination of flavors isn’t one we have often and it was very tasty!  This can be made in one pot and since it has potatoes, meat and green peas, add a salad and bread and you have a meal!  We had a bottle of homemade blueberry/fig wine and it was a great combination!

Ingredients:

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, pounded thin
1 cup plain yogurt
1 tsp. ground turmeric
1 tsp. ground cumin
1 tsp. powdered mustard
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. fresh ground pepper
2-3 large Russet potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
1-1/2 cups frozen green peas
1/3 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
olive oil or butter

Directions:

Mix the yogurt, turmeric, cumin, mustard, salt and pepper.

Spread the yogurt mixture on both sides of the chicken breasts.  Refrigerate at least 2 hours.

Heat the oil or butter.  Brown the potatoes, cooking them til they’re completely done.

Remove the potatoes.  Add more oil if needed.  Without removing any of the yogurt mixture, add the chicken pieces to the hot oil and cook til done.

Add the peas and return the potatoes to the pot.  Continue to cook until the peas are hot.

Add the cilantro, continuing to cook for another 2 or 3 minutes, til everything is completely heated.

These could be my favorite cookies my mom has ever made but I probably say that about all cookies.

Ingredients:

1 c. butter
1 c. sugar
2 egg yolks, slightly beaten
2 egg whites
2c. flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1-1/2 tsp. vanilla
About 1 c.  finely chopped nuts
Jelly, jam or candied cherries, cut in half

Directions:

Cream butter and sugar.  Add 2 beaten egg yolks.

Mix the flour and salt.  Add to the creamed mixture.  Add vanilla.  Mix well.  Chill for a couple of hours.

Preheat oven to 350°.

Roll into small balls.  Roll in egg white (do not beat egg whites).  Roll in chopped nuts.

Place on baking sheet.

Bake for 5 minutes.  Using a thimble, press a hole in the center.

Continue baking for 10 -15 minutes.  Press hole in center again.

Cool completely.  Fill hole with jam or jelly.

If you do not want to use jam, press half of a maraschino cherry in the center before baking and bake 15-20 minutes.

Green Bean Bundles

2 cans whole green beans
1 stick butter
1/2 lb. bacon
1/4 c. brown sugar
1 tsp. garlic salt
Toothpicks

Cut bacon slices in halves. Take 3-4 whole green beans and wrap with bacon. Insert toothpick to hold bacon around green beans.

Make glaze of brown sugar, garlic salt, butter, and pepper to taste. Pour glaze over green bean bundles in baking dish.

Bake in oven until bacon is done at 350 degrees.

This is an easy meat dish that tastes like something found in a nice restaurant.  If you don’t like artichokes or just don’t want to pay the price for them, it hardly affects this dish at all to leave them out.  When I don’t use the artichokes, I had a tablespoon of lemon juice just to give it a different flavor.

Ingredients:

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
Seasoned Salt (I use Slap Ya Mama or Ball’s Cajun Seasoning)
1/2 stick butter, melted
1/4 c. olive oil
1 can artichoke hearts (or bottoms)
8 oz. mushrooms, sliced
1/3 c. brandy or sherry
1 c. chicken broth
3 T. flour

Directions:

Pound chicken breasts to about half their original thickness.  Sprinkle chicken with seasoned salt.

Melt butter, along with olive oil.  Brown chicken.

Transfer chicken to baking dish.

Drain artichokes and spread on top of chicken breasts.

Saute mushrooms in oil and butter left in pan.

Sprinkle flour over mushrooms.  Stir til blended, breaking up any lumps.

Gradually add chicken broth and brandy or sherry, stirring and simmering about 5 minutes.

Pour over chicken, bake uncovered at 375° for 45 minutes.

Serve over buttered pasta.

By adding beaten egg whites, these pancakes are thick and fluffy.  Adding the blueberries to the pancakes, rather than mixing them into the batter causes them to stay whole and burst with flavor when cutting into the pancakes.

Ingredients:

1 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
2 large eggs, separated
1-1/2 tablespoon butter, melted
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup blueberries

Directions:

Melt butter.  Set aside.

Stir flour, baking powder and salt together in mixing bowl.

Whisk milk and egg yolks together.

With mixer, beat egg whites til soft peaks form.  Beat in sugar.

Stir milk/egg yolk mixture into flour mixture.

Stir in melted butter.

Stir in egg white/sugar mixture.

Stir in the vanilla.

Butter a warm pan.  Spoon batter onto pan to form pancakes.  Drop a few blueberries onto each pancake.

When bubbles form at the top, flip it and cook the other side.
Serve with warm maple syrup.

This recipe is not low fat, nor is it low cal, though you could probably make some adjustments.  But, it’s very good, very easy and leftovers are even better!

Ingredients:

2 cans Veg-all
1 can Cream of Mushroom Soup
1 can sliced Water Chestnuts
1 cup Mayonnaise
2 cups shredded Cheddar Cheese
1 med. onion, chopped
1/2 stick butter
1 pkg. of Ritz Crackers

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350.

Saute onion in butter. Mix all ingredients except butter and Ritz Crackers. Crush crackers and brown in butter. Sprinkle on top of casserole. Bake at 350° for 30 minutes.

For the cake portion, you can use any brioche type recipe. The “cake” is more like a slightly sweet bread.

Ingredients:

1 envelope Active Dry Yeast
2 T. warm water
1 tsp. salt
4 T. granulated sugar
1/4 c. milk
2 c. all purpose flour
1/2 tsp. cardamom (If you don’t have cardamon, use 1 tsp. cinnamon. Cardomom is a bit less common for most of us and seems a bit “mystical” but cinnamon will certainly work too.)
2 eggs, beaten
1 – 1/4 sticks cold unsalted butter, cut into very small pieces.

Dissolve the yeast in the water and let stand til frothy.

Dissolve the salt and sugar in the milk. When dissolved combine the milk mixture with the yeast mixture.

Mix the cardamom with the flour.

Add the eggs to the yeast/milk mixture. Gradually add the flour. Knead for about 10 minutes until smooth and elastic. Add a little more flour if needed but leave the dough slightly on the sticky side. Just as the dough is almost ready, add the chopped butter and knead only until the butter is incorporated into the dough.

Turn the dough into an oiled bowl, loosely cover with plastic wrap and let rise for 1 hour in a warm spot.

When the dough has doubled in bulk punch it down, cover and place in the refrigerator overnight.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Roll the dough out to a 8 x 20 inch rectangle. Spread the almond filling(recipe below) out in the middle of the rectangle along the whole length, leaving about 1 inch on each side. Fold the length of the dough over the filling and roll up tightly, leaving the seam side down. Turn the roll into a circle, seam side down and put one end inside of the other to hide the seam, and seal the circle. Place the cake on a baking sheet and let rise, loosely covered with plastic wrap, for 45 minutes or until doubled in bulk.

Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes, or until golden brown (seems to only take about 20 minutes for me).

When the cake cools, spread on some of the glaze (recipe below). Decorate with the colored sugars and drizzle some of the thicker glaze onto the cake.

For the Almond filling:

1 can almond paste
1/2 stick butter
2 c. dry bread crumbs
1/3 c. sugar
1 tsp. almond extract

This gets real thick and it is better to use as stand mixer.

Mix the almond paste and butter. When totally mixed, add the bread crumbs, sugar and almond extract.

Glaze:

1 c. powdered sugar
1 tsp. melted butter
Half & Half to make the glaze the consistency desired
1/2 tsp. almond extract

NOTE: Because I love lots of icing/glaze, I double this recipe.

Last year I stayed with a fellow quilter, Darlene, while in St. Louis.  She had made this soup and it was so good.  I asked for the recipe, which she gave me and she also gave me permission to share it here.

This soup is hearty and so good.  I do believe Chad could eat the entire batch by himself!

Iowa Chowder

Ingredients:

1 cup onions, diced
1 cup celery, diced
1/4 cup butter
2 T. flour
2 cups water
3 cups potatoes, diced and cooked
1 – 17 oz. can whole kernel corn, drained
1/8 tsp. ginger
salt & pepper to taste
2 bay leaves
2 cups ham, diced
1-1/2 cups evaporated milk
8 oz. cream cheese

For the ginger, I don’t always have fresh ginger around and I like it so much better than powdered ginger.  This is what I use.  I can keep it in the fridge much longer than fresh ginger would keep.

Directions:

Saute onions and celery in butter.  Mix flour with water.  You can use the cooking water from the potatoes, or liquid from the corn.  Stir until flour is completely mixed and lumps are gone.  Add to onion and celery mixture.  Stir until thickened.  Add potatoes, corn, bay leaves, ginger, salt, pepper and ham.  Stir in milk and cream cheese.  Heat until cream cheese is melted.

Darlene’s hints:

I dice the potato before cooking and cook until just tender – do not overcook.
Sometimes I add more corn than is called for.
Do not over salt as the ham adds saltiness.
Keeps well for several days in the fridge or can be frozen.
Serves 6 – 10 depending on serving size.

My Hint:

Do not try to feed 6 – 10 people if Chad is eating at your house!

One night on TV I saw this dish being made but there was no recipe.  I’ve searched and tried a couple of versions and came up with this one that we loved.  Feel free to add more or less of the spices — build it to suit your own tastes.  Many of the recipes I found showed serving this over noodles so if you don’t want to make the potato dumplings, just boil a package of noodles!

This recipe looks a lot harder than it is. It was harder for me to take all the pictures and write all these words than it is to make the darned recipe!

Chicken Preparation:

1 whole chicken, cut up
1 small onion, sliced

The night before you plan to serve:
Season chicken with salt, pepper, garlic powder (anything else you want to add). Pour 1/4 cup oil over the chicken. Refrigerate overnight.

The day of serving:
Slice onion and place in 9″ x 13″ baking pan. Place chicken on top of onions.

Bake uncovered at 350° for 1 hour.

Ingredients for Potato Dumplings:

1-1/2 c. mashed potatoes – make sure there are no lumps or use instant mashed potatoes
2 eggs
1/2 c. sour cream
Flour
2 cups bread crumbs
1/2 stick butter

Directions for Potato Dumplings

Make the mashed potatoes and season them with salt and pepper. You may want to add just a little more salt than you would for regular mashed potatoes. By the time you add in the flour, they end up needing a bit more salt.

Stir in the eggs and sour cream. Turn out onto a floured surface, adding flour and kneading til the dough is just a bit sticky but can be worked with.

Pinch off little marble sized balls. Roll in the palm of your hand almost like a tootsie roll. Drop into boiling salted water and gently boil until the float. Remove from water as soon as they float. Drain on paper towels. Place in buttered casserole dish.

Melt the butter. Stir in bread crumbs. Spread over dumplings. Set aside for now.

Ingredients for Sauce:

¼ c. olive oil
1 chopped onion
1 chopped green pepper
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 can tomato paste (I used about 1/2 cup of double strength tomato paste in a tube)
2 cans chicken broth (I used one quart of home canned smoked chicken broth)
1 tsp. black pepper
½ tsp. marjoram
1 tsp. paprika
½ tsp. red pepper flakes
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 T. beef boullion granules
1 T. chicken boullion granules
2 bay leaves
3 T. flour
1 c. sour cream

Directions for Sauce:

Saute onion, garlic and bell pepper in olive oil. Add tomato paste, chicken broth, boullion and spices.

Simmer slowly for about  an hour. If too much of your liquid cooks out, add 1 cup (or more if needed) of water.

NOTE:  Stick the potato dumplings in the oven at 350º for 30 minutes.

Add cooked chicken to sauce and simmer for another half an hour.

Remove chicken.

Mix flour with 1 cup cold water. Stir into sauce and continue simmering and stirring til sauce thickens.  Stir in sour cream and continue stirring til dissolved.  Return chicken to sauce. Serve immediately or keep warm til time to serve.

To serve, place potato dumplings in bowl. Spoon meat and sauce over dumplings.