Chicken Noodle Soup

Chicken Noodle Soup

Chicken breast half w/skin (about 3/4 pound)
1/4 cup finely chopped shallots or onions
4 cups water
10 1/2-oz. can condensed chicken broth, reconstituted OR 2 1/2 cups ready to serve
1/2 cup finely diced celery
1 1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon marjoram
1/8 teaspoon thyme
pinch of black pepper
3 oz. medium-width egg noodles

Place chicken skin side down in preheated 3-quart saucepan/ Brown over medium heat long enough to render out some chicken fat (about 5 minutes).
Remove chicken. Reduce heat to low. Add shallots or onion and stir briefly (1 to 2  minutes) DO NOT BROWN. Return chicken to pan and add remaining ingredients EXCEPT noodles. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low simmer and cook 30 minutes or until chicken is tender. Remove chicken. Cool. Discard bones and skin. Dice chicken and return meat to pan. (Soup can be refrigerated for future use at this point). Just before serving, return soup to boil. Add noodles and cook for required time (about 8 minutes). Yield about 6 1/2 cups.

My Mother-in-laws Cornbread dressing

JULIA’S CORNBREAD DRESSING

8 cups Day old cornbread/biscuits/bread crumbled

1.5 cups Celery, chopped

1 cup Onion, Chopped

2 quarts Chicken broth

1 -3 T  Sage, according to your taste preference

Salt/Pepper  To taste

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl.  Add chicken broth to desired consistency.  If baking in a pan add a bit more broth.  For stuffing the bird use less broth.Bake at 400 F for ~30 minutes or until set

My Mother-in-laws Mac n' cheese

Julia L. McAuley’s Macaroni and Cheese

1 cup dry macaroni noodles (cook according to package directions)

1 cup liquid from cooking noodles

1 cup canned milk (whole evaporated)

1 egg

8 oz. extra sharp cheese, grated

Mix together and pour into a greased casserole dish.  Bake at 400 F ~30 minutes.Bake in center of oven until only center remains a little “jiggly”.  It will set up similar to a baked custard.

Pineapple Cheese Ball

Pineapple Cheese Ball
2 (8oz) pkgs. cream cheese, softened
1 (8 1/4 oz) can crushed pineapple, drained
2 cups chopped pecans
1/4 cup finely chopped bell pepper
2 Tbls. finely chopped onion
1 Tbsp. seasoned salt

In a medium bowl with fork, beat cream cheese until smooth ( i used my Kitchen Aide mixer). Gradually stir in pineapple, 1 cup pecans, onion, bell pepper and salt. Shape into a ball. Roll in remaining nuts. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate until chilled. (Best done the day before)

Baked Custard

Baked Custard 

3 slightly beaten eggs 1/4 cup sugar 1/4 teaspoon salt 2 Cups milk, scalded 1/2 to 1 teaspoon vanilla NOW FOR GRANDMAS SECRET EXTRA...... sprinkle top of custard once it's in the custard cups with ground nutmeg. OVEN set to 325*F Combine eggs, sugar and salt. Slowly stir in slightly cooled milk and vanilla. Pout into six 5-ounce custard cups. Set cups in shallow pan. Pour hot water around them 1-inch deep. Bake in slow oven (325*F) 40 to 45 minutes, until knife inserted off-center comes out clean. Serve warm or chilled. Makes 6 servings.

Baked Custard

My Amazing Hot Dog Chili

1 to 2 lbs ground beef ( we usually use about a pound of meat for the 3 of us)

Add 1/2 to 1 cup water. If you put in too much it's OK as you can reduce it by simmering the chili longer...

Place on a medium - high burner and start cooking. You must use a fork to break the meat down into small crumb sized pieces before it browns or you will end up with what I call burger worms... little pieces of meat that look like worms.

Keep smashing it with the fork until it looks like this....

Then continue cooking until the meat is completely brown...

Then add about 1/2 teaspoon of salt and pepper and one to two Tablespoons of chili powder (depending on how spicy you want the chili) These amounts are what we use in our 1 pound of meat so double if you are using closer to two pounds of meat.

After every addition of items stir well. Now add 1/2 to 1 cup of ketchup; again this is a preference and we add about 3/4 cup ketchup to our pound of meat.

Stir it well.

Now cover it and simmer for 30 to 40 minutes. The time will vary depending on how much water you added. If it's too thin you will want to simmer it longer than if it's about right for topping hot dogs at this point.

Now I have also added about 1/4 cup yellow mustard to the mix when I add the ketchup but today we are were out of mustard.

After this has simmered for at least 30 minutes you  can boil some hot dogs; chop up some onion and pull out some chopped pickles or chow chow and prepare to eat some yummy chili-dogs. I'll add some pictures or prepared hot-dogs later when we make some up.

Perfect Brownies!

A "Perfect Brownie" with Cherry Pie Filling on top

Here is the recipe we discovered in a lovely old cookbook put out by Proctor & Gamble in 1956 called Creative Cooking made easy - The Golden Fluffo Cookbook

PERFECT BROWNIES
Chewy Squares For Everyone's Delight

(makes 16 2 1/4 - inch squares)

1/2 cup Fluffo ( I use Crisco shortening)
2 1/2 squares unsweetened chocolate
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 eggs
1 cup sifted enriched floour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chopped nuts
1 teaspoon vanilla

Melt Fluffo and chocolate together.
Blend sugar and eggs and stir into melted chocolate mixture.
Beat in combined dry ingredients.
Stir in nuts and vanilla.
Pour batter into a 9-inch square pan rubbed with Fluffo and bake at 350*F for 30 minutes.
Cut into squares while warm.

If you don't have squares of chocolate in the house you can substitute:
3 Tablespoons Cocoa Powder + 1 Tablespoon butter = 1 square chocolate