My Lime Green Kitchen

My great grandma was Grandma Stroud . . not Grandma Himel.  She always had tea cakes.  I have tried every tea cake recipe I find hoping to duplicate my great grandma’s tea cakes.  I probably don’t even remember at this point what they tasted like but I have this thought in my head about them.  My lovely friend from south Louisiana, Nita, shared a recipe from one of her neighbors from their Grandma Himel.  I immediately made them and they’re very, very close to my great grandma’s . . as close as I’ve come.

When I made them, I halved the recipe.  For three eggs, use either 1 very large or 2 very small eggs and it works.  The recipe calls for vanilla butternut extract.  I’d never heard of that and used clear vanilla.   Nita said she ordered the vanilla butternut extract from Amazon.

Ingredients:

6 cups flour
6 teaspoons baking powder
2 cups sugar
2 sticks butter or margarine
1 cup milk
3 eggs
1 oz. vanilla butternut extract

Directions:

Melt butter.  Add extract, eggs, sugar, and milk. Mix well.  Stir in flour and baking powder.  Roll out, cut with cookie cutter.  Bake on an ungreased cookie sheet at 350° for 13 – 15 minutes.  They will not be brown but a light yellow.

There are as many ways to make meatballs as there are most anything else you might want to do.

For this recipe, there are no specific amounts.  I never measure for meatballs.  I’m just going to tell you step by step what I do and you can take it from there.

When I make meatballs, I make LOTS of meatballs and freeze them.  In the summer, when tomatoes are plentiful, I make and can my spaghetti sauce.  We have spaghetti and meatballs almost every Sunday.  It’s so simple to open a couple of jars of spaghetti sauce, throw in some meatballs and let it all simmer and with little effort, we have a yummy meal.

For this batch of meatballs, I used two bowls and exactly the same ingredients are in each bowl.  I don’t have a bowl large enough to mix up this size batch so that’s why I used two bowls.

Start with bread crumbs (in the lighter blue bowl).  When I see marked down sour dough bread at Wal-Mart, I buy it.  I either cut it into chunks and freeze it for bread pudding or I put it in the food processor and make bread crumbs and put those in the freezer.  These particular bread crumbs came from the freezer.  Pour milk over the bread crumbs til they’re moist — no milk standing but the crumbs are very moist.

The white bowl in front on the left is onions/garlic.  I put that through the food processor and it’s soupy.  That’s how I want it.

In each dark bowl I have 3 pounds of ground beef and 1 pound of ground pork.

To the meat bowl, dump half of each:

• the soaked bread crumbs
• the onion mixture
• 3 eggs

Chop the parsley and add half to each meat mixture bowl.  Season with salt, pepper, basil and oregano.

Add about 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese to each bowl.  Mix thoroughly.

Start out by browning one little patty in hot oil.

This little patty is for you to taste and make sure the seasonings are correct.  If it needs more of anything, fix it up, then cook another little patty and taste it to be sure it’s right.

Once you’re happy with the seasonings, shape the meatballs and brown them.  I don’t cook mine all the way through but just kinda brown them on the outside so they hold their shape and then drop them into simmering sauce to continue cooking.

When freezing them, my preferred method is to flash freeze them (lay them out on a cookie sheet and freeze them, then place them in ziplock bags.  You can then take out as many as you need without them being all stuck together.) but my freezers are so full, I didn’t have room to flash freeze these.

I put 16 meatballs in a vacuum seal type bag, barely vacuum it (too much vacuuming will smash them all flat), seal the bag and freeze them.

From this batch, I got 7 bags, each with 16 meatballs.  When we have spaghetti and meatballs on Sunday, we have meatball sandwiches for lunch on Monday or Tuesday . . that’s why I put 16 meatballs in each bag.

Chad isn’t much of a carrots fan and he loved these.  He even asked for them another night.

Dilly Sweet Carrots

Ingredients:

3 c. sliced carrots
3 T. butter
3 T. brown sugar
2 tsp. dill weed
1 tsp. black pepper

Directions:

Gently boil carrots in salted water til al dente.  Drain.

Add remaining ingredients, simmering slowly til butter and sugar are melted.

Serve them hot (vs. chilled).

Crunch, sweet, sour . . so good!  This keeps for several days in the fridge.  If you’re making more than you’re going to serve right away, keep the crunchies (ramen noodles, sesame seeds, and slivered almonds) separate and add them right before serving.
1 head napa cabbage
1 bunch minced green onions
1/3 cup butter
1 (3 ounce) package ramen noodles, broken
2 tablespoons sesame seeds
1 cup slivered almonds
1/4 cup cider vinegar
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup white sugar
2 tablespoons soy sauce

Shred  the head of cabbage. Combine the green onions and cabbage in a large bowl, cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Make the crunchies: Melt the butter. Mix the ramen noodles, sesame seeds and almonds into the pot with the melted butter. Spoon the mixture onto a baking sheet and bake the crunchies in the preheated 350 degrees, turning often to make sure they do not burn. When they are browned remove them from the oven.  Cool completely

Make the dressing: In a small saucepan, heat vinegar, oil, sugar, and soy sauce. Bring the mixture to a boil, let boil for 1 minute. Remove the pan from heat and let cool. Combine dressing, crunchies, and cabbage immediately before serving. Serve right away or the crunchies will get soggy.

Two things I want you to know about this recipe:

1. If you think you don’t like lamb . . just try this recipe.  It’s so good . . so very good.  I think we’re going to have it every day in 2010! 
2. If it looks hard . . it’s just because it’s long and I took too many pictures.  It’s not hard.  It’s so easy and it sits in the oven forever while you sew or knit or shop online.  And, while it’s cooking, it makes your house smell so good!

I adapted this recipe from a FoodNetwork recipe.  One thing I changed from the original recipe is their recipe calls for lamb shanks and while I generally prefer shanks for soups and stews, for lamb I prefer chops.  The bone is still in there so you get some added flavor, they’re very tender and they don’t have all that connective tissue and fat that has that kinda strange “lamby” taste.  I love lamb chops but do not like leg of lamb at all so maybe it’s just me.

And, in my picture you’ll see that I have whole cloves and the recipe calls for ground cloves.  I ran out of ground cloves!

Ingredients:

3/4 c. flour
Salt & Pepper to taste
8 or 9 lamb chops, trimmed of all visible fat
Olive oil
5 cloves garlic, chopped
1 pound carrots, sliced about 1/2″ thick
1 large onion, coarsely chopped
2 bay leaves
1/2 tsp. dried thyme
1/4 tsp. ground cloves
3 cups red wine
2 quarts beef stock
1 cup barley
6 large russet potatoes

For Topping

12 – 14 cloves garlic, finely chopped
Salt & Pepper
1-1/2 cups chopped fresh parsley
1 stick butter
2 T. olive oil.

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°.

Season flour with salt and pepper . . whatever amount you think you need.  You can adjust seasonings later.  Dredge lamb chops in flour.

Brown the chops in olive oil over medium-high heat.  They do not need to be fully cooked — just nice and brown.

Remove lamb chops to another dish.  If you need a bit more olive oil in the pot, add it.  Add the carrots, onion and 5 cloves chopped garlic.  Cook til onions are clear.

Add thyme, cloves and bay leaf.  Continue to cook for a couple of minutes.  Return lamb chops to pan.  Add wine, beef stock and barley.  Cover and place in oven for 2 hours.

For the Topping:

While the stew is cooking, chop the remaining garlic and parsley.

Melt butter in a pan and add olive oil oil.  Add the garlic and parsley. Season to taste with salt and pepper.  Simmer over low heat for 20 minutes.  Remove from heat and let sit til needed.

After the stew has been cooking for 2 hours, remove from oven.  Peel potatoes and cut into half lengthwise.  Lay on top of stew (like a crust).  You may have to cut some of the potatoes to get all the holes covered and get them to fit.  It doesn’t have to be perfect though.  Put about half of the garlic/parsley mix on top of the potatoes.  Cover the dish and place the dish back in the oven and cook another 45 minutes.

Add the remaining garlic/parsley mix and continue to cook, uncovered for another 15-20 minutes.

Serve, making sure to place a lamb chop or two in every dish.

These rolls are great and the best part is you can make them ahead and keep the dough in the fridge for up to two weeks. The dough can be rolled out (like a biscuit) or shaped into a roll. They don’t rise as much as the typical yeast bread so if you want big, fluffy rolls, roll them out about 1/2″ thick. The story is that they’re called jailhouse rolls because they were rolled out thinner and passed between the bars in the jail. I can’t say from personal experience if that’s true or not.

Jailhouse Rolls

1 c. mashed potatoes
2 sticks butter or margarine
3 whole eggs
7 c. flour (maybe a little more)
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 c. sugar
1 1/2 c. lukewarm water
1 pkg. dry yeast

I make mashed potatoes and use the potato water for the liquid.  Make sure the liquid is cooled down to about 110 – 115° before adding the yeast.  If the water is too hot, it will kill the yeast and dead yeast is not good!    I usually use about 1 cup of the potato water and add enough cold water to get it to 115°.  Make the potatoes as usual.  I use butter and cream.

Mix yeast in the warm water and let sit for 5 – 10 minutes.

Melt the 2 sticks of butter in a large bowl.  Add the sugar, eggs and salt.  Depending on whether you added salt to the potatoes as they were cooking (I do), you may want to add less salt than suggested.

Stir in potatoes.

Stir in flour.  Near the end, it may be easier to dump it all onto a floured countertop and knead it til smooth.

To make the rolls, shape into rolls or roll out and cut.  Place in a buttered baking dish.

Place the leftover dough in a zipper type bag and keep in the fridge til needed.

Let the rolls rise for several hours.

Butter the tops.  Bake at 450° for about 10 minutes.

This is one of the white bread recipes I’ve used for years:

Amish White Bread

2-1/2 cups warm water
1/3 cup granulated white sugar
1-1/2 T. granulated yeast
1 heaping teaspoon salt
1/4 c. oil
6 – 7 cups white flour

Stir granulated sugar into warm water til dissolved. Add yeast. Let sit 5 minutes. Add salt and oil. Stir in 3 cups of flour. Continue adding flour 1 cup and then 1/2 cup at a time til dough is no longer too sticky to work with. Turn onto floured surface and knead until smooth, adding more flour as needed. You want the dough to be just a tad sticky but don’t let it get too dry (by adding too much flour).

Place dough in a greased bowl, cover and let rise for 1 hour or until doubled.

Turn dough onto floured surface, knead a couple of minutes. Shape into 2 loaves. Place in greased loaf pans. Cover with greased plastic wrap and let rise about 30 minutes or til the dough is about 1″ above the sides of the pan.

Bake at 350° for about 30 minutes.

Try adding some herbs, cheeses, sun dried tomatoes, etc. before the final kneading.   Yummy!

6 – 3 oz. boneless, skinless chicken breasts, pounded flat
salt and freshly ground pepper
6 thinly sliced pieces of prosciutto
1 – 10 oz. package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained as much as possible
4 T. olive oil
1/2 c. Parmesan cheese, grated
2 T. fresh lemon juice

Place the cutlets on a flat surface.  Salt and pepper.  Place on piece of prosciutto on top of each breast.

Mash spinach between paper towels to drain as much as possible.  Salt and pepper, toss with 2 T. olive oil.

Arrange a thin layer of spinach on top of the prosciutto.  Sprinkle parmesan cheese on top of the spinach. Beginning at the short end of the chicken, roll up, jelly roll fashion.  Secure with toothpick.

Heat the remaining 2 T. oil in a heavy skillet.  Add the chicken and cook til golden brown, about 2 minutes per side.  Add the chicken broth and lemon juice.  Scrape the bottom of the pan to loosen any drippings.  Cover and simmer about 10 minutes, until chicken is done.  Remove chicken.  Continue simmering liquid in pan until it’s reduced to about 2/3 cup.

Remove toothpicks from chicken.  Pour juice over chicken.  Serve over hot, buttered pasta.

This is one of my favorite cookies.  There are several variations for making these and from what I’ve read, the recipe requiring baker’s ammonia is one of the best, most authentic recipes.  I rarely have baker’s ammonia and we’re perfectly happy with this recipe.

Ingredients:

4 eggs
1 lb. powdered sugar
4 cups flour
1 tsp. baking powder
2 – 4 drops anise oil

Directions:

Beat eggs til thick and lemon colored.  Add powdered sugar one cup at a time, beating well after each addition.  Add flour, one cup at a time, along with baking powder.  Beat well after each cup of flour.  Add anise oil.  If your family isn’t a huge fan of anise, stick with 2 drops.  A little goes a long way!   We love anise and I usually add more than 4 drops.

If the dough seems a little too sticky, add another 1/4 – 1/2 cup flour.

To roll dough, sprinkle surface with flour and flour the top of your dough.  Roll to 1/2″ thick with a regular rolling pin.  Using a springerle pin, roll and cut the cookies.  Place on a parchment lined baking sheet and allow to sit out overnight, uncovered, in a dry place.

Bake at 300 for 20 minutes.  Do not allow to brown.  It is recommended that you put these in an airtight container and store for one week before serving.  That never happens at our house.

Sweet & Sour Meat Loaf
1-1/2 pounds ground beef
1 c. dry bread crumbs
1 teaspoon salt
¼ tsp. black pepper
2 eggs
1 – 15 oz. can tomato sauce
2 T. brown sugar
2 T. cider vinegar
½ c. white sugar
2 tsp. prepared mustard
This is a great recipe for doubling and putting one in the freezer.  Also, the leftovers make fantastic meatloaf sandwiches.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl, combine the ground beef, bread crumbs, salt, ground black pepper, eggs, and 1/2 of the can of tomato sauce. Mix together well and place into a 5×9 inch loaf pan.

Push the meatloaf down into the pan forming a well for the sauce around all the edges.

In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine the remaining tomato sauce, brown sugar, vinegar, white sugar and mustard. Bring to a boil and remove from heat.

After meatloaf has cooked for 40 minutes, remove from oven and pour sauce over the top of the meatloaf.

Return to oven and bake at 350 degrees for 20 more minutes. Let sit 5 minutes before serving.