5 posts tagged “cooking”
Brownies are one of those baked goods that for years I preferred the box mix version over those made from scratch. The recipes that I tried always seemed to lack the strong chocolate flavor that the box mix versions had. Then a few years ago, I bought a cookbook of recipes from the members of the church across the street from our home. I haven't gotten much out of the cookbook except a good deal of amusement at the church cookbook that has three, count them three, different recipes for "Better than Sex Cake" and this brownie recipe:
Chocolate Brownies
2 eggs
1 C. sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 C butter, melted
1/2 C flour
1/3 C Cocoa powder
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
Preheat oven to 350 and grease an 8" square baking pan. Combine flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt. Set aside. Beat eggs in medium bowl. Gradually add sugar and vanilla. Beat well. Blend in Melted butter. Gradually add flour mixture to egg mixture, blending well. Pour into prepared pan and bake for 30-35 minutes.
This recipe is easy to whip up and yeilds brownies that are rich and chocolately. I almost never buy the box mix now.
My mom's favorite holiday is Thanksgiving. When I was growing up she cooked the same meal every year, all from scratch. The big dish though, the one that it just wouldn't have been Thanksgiving without was oyster dressing. I hated this stuff when I was growing up, but now I really like it. Apparently the family oyster dressing tradition dates back to my great grandmother, but as far as I know no one in our family has the recipe written down. I tried to find the recipe on google, but they were all much fancier than what we eat in our house, so I asked mom to show me how to make hers while I was at home for Christmas break.
Oyster Dressing (all quantities are approximate, just mix until it looks about right)
1 box saltine crackers, roughly crunched up
5 cans oysters
1 can chicken broth
1/2 cup evaporated milk
1/2 stick butter melted
Mix all ingredients together, pour into a 9x13 inch pan, bake at 350 degrees until done to your liking (the longer in the oven, the drier the dressing will be).
I made biscuits with sausage gravy for dinner tonight. I love biscuits and gravy, but will only eat my home cooked biscuits and gravy. Restaurant sausage gravy tends to be a tastless, floury mess with a couple of sausage patties cut-up and stirred into it. We used to eat biscuits and gravy all the time because they were a popular request for our Thursday night game parties when we lived in Springfield, but I hadn't made them since we moved, which is probably a good thing heathwise. I used to try to make my own biscuits because I hate the ones that come in the tubes in the refrigerated section of the grocery store, but I just use the Pilsbury frozen biscuits now. The method for the gravy is as follows:
Brown 1 lb of ground sausage, preferably a sausage with sage in it, in a large non-stick skillet. When the sausage is cooked add in 2-3 rounded spoonfuls of flour, stir this in and let cook for another minute or so. Add in enough milk, preferably whole milk, to cover the sausage and give you the gravy to sausage ratio that you prefer. Add salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a bubble and stir until the gravy starts to thicken. Remove from heat and let cool. The gravy will thicken up more as it cools. Pour over halved biscuits and enjoy!
I tend to get on kicks where I'll use one particular type of herb or spice in almost all of my cooking. For a long time it was rosemary, but lately it has been dill. When I was flipping through my family reunion cookbook recently I noticed that my grandmother's dill dip recipe was included. I loved this dip as a kid. Grandma would make it in the summer and take it to the lake and my cousin and I would eat it on chips or raw vegetables. She would also make it in the winter and put it in a hollowed out bread round with cubes of different varieties of bread to dip in it. I haven't had grandma's dill dip in years, so this afternoon I made up a half batch of it and have been dipping triscuts in it. It's definitely as good as I remember it being.
Dill Dip:
2 C. Mayo
2 C. Sour Cream
2 Tbsp dill weed
2 Tbsp parsley flakes
2 Tbsp chopped dehydrated onions
2 tsp seasoned salt
Mix well. Refrigerate at least 2 hours before serving.
I am not in any way, shape, or form a food snob. I like good food. I like fancy food, but I also eat velveeta cheese, put ketchup on my hot dogs, and eat at national chain restaurants. When it comes to brisket, however, I am the ultimate food snob. And by that I mean that if the brisket wasn't prepared using my Grandma Lois's recipe, I question its edibility. I have seen many brisket recipes that are real similar to Grandma's, but it seems that no one can resist dumping a bottle of bbq sauce over a brisket after it's cooked. I want to hunt down these people and dump a bottle of bbq sauce over them. You don't spend all day cooking a tender brisket with fabulous flavor and then dump a bottle of store bought bbq sauce on it! THAT'S JUST WRONG!!!
Since we have been getting lots of fresh veggies at the farmer's market, I have been making easy and quick meat dishes to go along with them. I decided I would cook a brisket tomorow because it makes a lot and is still great when reheated. Everytime I make brisket I lament how no one outside of my family cooks brisket correctly. So here is my Grandma's recipe:
The night before:
Trim (or buy a pre-trimmed) 5 to 6 pound beef brisket. Sprinkle the meat with meat tenderizer and rub on 4 tablespoons liquid smoke, Wrap in heavy foil and refrigerate overnight.
The next morning:
Mix together: 1-2 teaspoons each - celery salt, onion salt, nutmeg, garlic salt, paprika and 1 cup dark brown sugar.
Open foil and spread mixture over brisket. Close foil tightly and bake 1 hour at 300 degrees. Loosen foil and cook brisket another 5-6 hours at 200 degrees or until brisket is nice and tender. Slice brisket and serve.
Grandma would sometimes make a gravy out of the pan drippings to drizzle over the brisket and the potatoes that should be served along with it, but that is the only sauce that should come near this meat. The hardest part about the recipe is the 5 or 6 hours you will sit around salivating from the awesome smell coming from the oven. I realize that the majority of my vox neighbors are vegitarians, but for you few meat eaters out there, try this recipe sometime. I promise you won't be disapponted. The only risk you'll take is that you'll become a brisket snob like me.
Edited 8/7/06:
Here's the final product, waiting in the oven for the potatoes and green beans to finish cooking on the stove top:
