A FRIDGE FULL OF FOOD...

Nieces and Nephew Summer Slumber Party: Easy Cheesy Mac for a Crowd

 

Once a year or so we try to have a big slumber party with all three of our nieces and our nephew.  Two of them live here in town but the other two live about an hour away with their mom. Just because of work, school, life in general, we don't get to see them as much as we would like but we all know how it is, right? But we do try to have an overnighter when we can so that we can do an Aunt Gonnie and Uncle Gene and the kids thing where it's more about hanging out and catching up with what's going on in their lives.

One of the things I've learned over the years is to try to put aside the OCD "party" definition in my brain that tends to make all things including food and house cleaning into a spectacle so big that by the time my guests/friends/family arrive I'm so tired from over-working myself that I didn't use to enjoy the "together" part of getting together as much as I should have.  These guys are my nieces and nephews. They know I'm not a perfect housekeeper and they don't want a meticulously Martha Stewart set table or gourmet food so this family casserole my brothers and sisters and I were raised on is perfect fare for the occasion: quick and easy to make and yummy to eat. I even made it up the day before so that all I had to do was slip it in the oven when I went to pick up the kids at my brother's and then my sister's house.  We grew up with Mom (Karen) calling it "goulash" but it's not the traditional Hungarian dish of chunked meat with vegetables, it's an Americanized version from the 50's, I believe, that's made with hamburger, macaroni, and a tomato sauce.  Gene's mom had a recipe for it in her recipe box called "Chuckwagon Macaroni". The recipes follows the jump, along with lots of fun dorky pics.

Chris's White Trash Shepherd's Pie Lives Again! The Redux

 

Chris gave me the original recipe for this as "tater tot casserole" but we renamed it White Trash Shepherd's Pie. However, that being named, don't dismiss it.  This is quick, comforting food at it's best and the kids will eat the vegetables to get to the tater tots!

Why the redux?  Not only did I substitute more veggies instead of just the green beans from the first go 'round, I played with the meat as well, using ground deer meat (it's not high falutin' venison if the deer is shot by you or yours), sausage, and bacon.  The difference is a good thing, Martha would say.  More nutrition plus more flavor.

Big kisses to my brother, Hal, for sharing the deer meat!

Another thing I like about this dish, besides the down home country goodness, is that it's a pantry dish. Everything you need is in the pantry and the freezer so not only do you not have to run out to buy ingredients, it's perfect for nights when you have no plan, don't want to cook (quick to put together), and just want something that isn't high brow. I know Gene and I can't be the only ones who crave a church basement-type casserole now and then!

Southern Green Beans: More Than Just Bacon

I know it sounds like a misnomer but southern-style green beans really don't have to turn out like gray lumpy mush.  You can actually have green beans prepared in the southern style that are still recognizable and full of flavor.

I've taken a few tips from the cooks in my family along with my own twist to come up with a good southern-style green bean recipe that compliments other southern standards like meatloaf, ham, fried chicken, etc., that at the same time do not break the calorie bank or clog arteries with bacon grease.  It's like having one of my childhood memories in an adult form and with no bacon guilt.

Quick & Painless Meals: Crockpot Chicken & Dressing

My new favorite meal for a busy day is to throw chicken breasts or thighs and dressing into the crockpot. I don't know why I didn't think of it sooner.  There's no reason that stuffing has to be baked.  Granted it doesn't look as pretty in the crockpot but it's delicious and hearty and good for you if you take the extra 10 minutes to add veggies and nuts into the dressing mix.

Spaghetti Squash Casserole

 

A little something I took to work last week as a vegetarian (not vegan) recipe.  The protein comes from the dairy and I loaded it with a mix of mushrooms.  Like any casserole, it was creamy, but this was also deeply mushroomy with a little crunch from the buttered bread crumbs on top. Of course it would normally be a side dish but it's exaclty the kind of thing that lays gently on my stomach for the middle of the night lunches and makes a wonderful entree on its own.

Colleen, I thought of you when I made this:  no rind to peel or not peel!

Great Potluck Recipe: Cream Cheese Brownies

 

(For you, Barb!)

This is one of those great potluck recipes where you can keep the main ingredients in the pantry on hand for any time you need it.  It's basically Chocolate Ooey Gooey Butter Cake, a church basement recipe made from a cake mix and a few things from the fridge, quick and easy. I took it last night to work for our going away party for Tom and ended up not only sharing it with the dept but we had one mom in Peds who'd had a really looooooong week with her sick child so after he went to sleep I snuck her in a small plate with a large square of this and whispered "Better than valium" as I handed it to her.

Voice of America Embraces Springfield-Style Cashew Chicken

 

Due to the recent New York Times food section article about David Leong and Springfield-style Cashew Chicken, we're a hot commodity these days.  This past weekend, a reporter with Voice of America,  Suli Yi (my apologies if I have the first and surname backwards!), contacted me through the blog after reading my posts "Springfield-style Cashew Chicken"  and "Let Me Introduce Wing Yee Leong" for my reactions to cashew chicken  from the viewpoint of a writer, blogger, and local.  After a few emails, on a whim I volunteered to make my own personal take on the dish, Heart-healthy Cashew Chicken and volunteered my own Glenna's Cashew Chicken Casserole, a short cut version that's easy to prepare in advance of entertaining that also contains lots of veggies.

I Must Confess to Cleanse My Soul (Banana Cake Recipe)

I, Glenna Muse, confess that I baked a cake and it wasn't from scratch.  OH NO! I can hear the screams now...but before you run off to crazytown and vow to never read me again, at least listen to my excuse: I was siiiiiiiiiiiiick.  I'm always sick these days. It's been a rough winter.  But that's not the point. The point is the cake was gooooooooood.  Very good according to the folks at Prime--a big howdy to the parts and shop folks!  My favorite quote Kenneth sent back to me was the person who said about the cake "Not big enough.  Need more."  Now THAT'S a review I'll listen to.

There are two punchlines. I forgot to take pictures and Gene and I didn't get to taste it so all I know is Kenneth was happy with his cake and he was asked by a few people for the recipe. (I'm making it again for the family Easter party so I'll have pics in a few weeks.)

Let me back up and tell the tale.  My little brother (who's now 36 but will forever be 12 in my mind) had a friend named Mark who passed away recently in a motorcycle accident. Mark was a great guy and everyone has a friend like him.  He's that daring fool stuffed full of fun that everyone adores and doesn't want to live without  but you wanted to smack him sometimes and say "Dude, what were you thinking?!" That's Mark, and he will be greatly missed.

When Mark died, Kenneth took some days off work to help Mark's family with the arrangements and he asked me to bake a cake as a way to say thank you to his co-workers for their support. I liked both Mark and Kenneth's friends at work so I wanted to do something special but I wasn't physically up to a big cake decorating marathon or a long day in the kitchen. 

Hmmmmm....I needed something that would be very yummy without being super labor-intensive.  I thought of Paula Deen and her Ooey Gooey Butter Cakes, always a hit at my house and the chocolate version is my favorite brownie recipe.  And hey, I don't even like chocolate that much so you know it's good!

I went to the internet and found Paula's basic recipe and a few hints on how to dress it up in different flavors.  Taking that base, and what I rummaged through my pantry and the fresh fruit I had on hand, I created my own version which I'm calling: Sandra Lee Does Paula Deen Banana Cake.  (Wonder if either one of them will come after me for that one? hehehe)

Sandra Lee Does Paula Deen Banana Cake

recipe by Paula Deen, perverted by Glenna Anderson Muse

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix with a hand mixer and pat into the bottom of a oiled 9"x13" baking pan:

1 box yellow cake mix (I use Betty Crocker mixes when I use mixes)

1 Martha White Banana Nut muffin mix

2 egg

1/2 cup melted butter (1 stick)

(Mix will be very thick)

On top of cake layer, mix filling with a hand mixer and spread on top:

1 8oz pkg cream cheese

1 overripe banana

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

16 oz box powdered sugar

1/2 cup melted butter (1 stick--hey, it's Paula Deen!)

Bake for 45-50 minutes or until top is lightly browned and internal temp of filling is 140 degrees (eggs set at 140 degrees) with a meat thermometer.  Top will still be jiggly but not runny.  The cream cheese/ egg layer will thicken as the cake cools. 

Halushki

 

Gene and I were watching Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives a few days ago on Food Network and we were both struck by this dish served at a diner owned by a Polish family.  We both kept trying to get the name of it so I could Google it but the best we could come up with was that it rhymed with "push-key".  So instead I Googled "egg noodle and cabbage recipe" and Halushki popped up. Damn, I love the internet!

I ran to the store to get the ingredients, popped out an email to Auntie Miranda inviting her over for an "experiment" supper on her way from work, and it's now become a regular addition to our dinner repertoire.

I researched several versions of the recipe and found that the four common ingredients in all of the recipes are:  butter, onion, cabbage, and egg noodles.  You can make it from that simple vegetarian one pot meal (vegan if you sub out the butter), or you can add a few simple things to jazz it up a bit, like potatoes and/or bacon, thin-sliced cooked pork loin, chop, or ham.  I happened to have some proscuitto that needed to be used so that's what I picked and it was lovely.  Gene's comment was "Wow! I can't even taste the cabbage! I was a little worried about that!"  Okay, that made me laugh but he was right. It doesn't have an overwhelmingly cabbage-y taste.  The cabbage mixed nicely with the onions to create a simple sweetness to the noodles. Very comforting and homey.

It's also the perfect dish for my new quest for simplicity:  it's easy, quick, yummy, healthy, and cheap.  It doesn't get much cheaper than a $ .59 in cabbage, $ .25 egg noodles, $ .10 onion, and a few strips of bacon or in my case, some leftover proscuitto and the entire cooking time was maybe a half hour and most of that was cooking down the onion and cabbage.  The finished one pot meal fed the three of us and Gene and I had leftovers for lunch the next day.

Hot Chicken Salad stuffed Puff Pastry

 

I served this the other night to friends and while they oohed and ahhhed, I quietly laughed into my sleeve.  It's so simple. Really.  The presentation is much more impressive than the time required to make it and it's yummy so that's a win-win.