Category: Family Recipes

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Ellen’s Hot Rolls for Thanksgiving

Ellen Mills & Aicha Katherine

Notes

I usually halve this recipe unless it’s a huge group.

Ingredients

  • 4 cups warm milk (warmer than room temp, but not so hot that it’s too hot to touch)
  • Add 2 packages of dry yeast
  • 5 – 6 cups of flour
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 cup butter or Crisco cut into small pieces
  • 2 tsp salt

Instructions

  • The basic recipe uses Fleischman’s Active Dry Yeast (original, not the rapid rise, different instructions if using Rapid Rise)
  • Mix together in a warm room
  • 4 cups warm milk (warmer than room temp, but not so hot that it’s too hot to touch)
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 cup butter or Crisco cut into small pieces
  • Add 2 packages of dry yeast. Let it sit for 15 minutes. It should be bubbly and growing. If it’s flat, throw out and start over. If it’s slow to grow, put it in a warmer area like the top of the stove and give it more time.
  • Add 5-6 cups of flour.
  • Knead 10 minutes on a cutting board with more flour added if it gets too sticky.
  • Let it rise in a warm area until it has doubled in size. Punch down. If cooking later, cover dough lightly with oil, cover in plastic or material to prevent it from forming crust, and refrigerate. Can last 48 hours in the fridge.
  • Place dough in round balls touching each other on an ungreased baking sheet. Cook for 14 minutes at 400 degrees (for rolls a bit smaller than a golf ball – more time for larger rolls).
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DAD’S PASTITSIO

This recipe was contributed by Maria Tsagrinos in honor of her father.

Maria Tsagrinos' Dad

Meat Sauce Ingredients

  • ½ stick butter
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 6 cloves garlic
  • 1 lg. yellow onion, finely chopped
  • 2 sticks cinnamon
  • 1 tbsp. oregano
  • salt
  • 1 cup red wine
  • 1 small can tomato paste
  • 1 carton basil
  • 2 lbs. ground beef
  • 1 pkg. sage pork sausage
  • 1 lg. can (1lb.) tomato sauce
  • 2 reg. cans sliced, stewed tomatoes, Italian Style
  • ½ clove nutmeg, grated
  • 2-3 bay leaves

Preparation: Meat Sauce

  • Mix red wine and tomato paste in a small bowl or cup, set aside.
  • In large saucepan, heat oil/butter.
  • Add onions, sauté until translucent.
  • Add garlic, oregano, meat, and salt to taste. Brown the meat, slowly adding small portions of the **tomato paste/wine mixture throughout browning process.
  • **Add SLOWLY so as not to cool temperature of browning ingredients drastically.
  • Add stewed tomatoes, tomato sauce, chopped basil, bay leaves, nutmeg, and cinnamon. Turn down heat, and let sauce simmer for one hour.

Bechamel Sauce

Ingredients:

  • 1 stick unsalted butter
  • ½ cup and 2 tbsp flour
  • 1 qt. whole milk, room temperature
  • 1 pinch fresh nutmeg
  • salt, pepper to taste
  • 1 cup grated parmesan

Bechamel Preparation:

  • In saucepan, melt butter on medium heat.
  • Add flour, whisk until smooth (about 2 minutes).
  • While stirring continuously, add milk **gradually until all gone.
  • Whisk well until smooth.
  • Simmer until mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon (about 10 mins.)
  • Remove from heat.
  • Stir in nutmeg, cheese, salt, and pepper.

Preparing Pastitsio

Additional Ingredients:

  • 1 lb. penne
  • 1 ¼ cup fresh grated parmesan or kefalotiri
  • 1 Pinch each of cinnamon and nutmeg (optional)
  • 2 tbsp. olive oil
  • While the meat sauce is simmering, prepare the pasta. Cook until slightly underdone, remove, drain, toss with a couple of tablespoons of olive oil to prevent sticking, and set aside.
  • Preheat oven to 350 F.
  • In an 11x15x3-inch baking pan, add 1/2 the pasta for the first layer and sprinkle with 1/2 cup of the grated cheese. Add the meat sauce evenly over the pasta, and sprinkle with 1/2 cup of the grated cheese. Add the remaining pasta on top. Carefully pour the béchamel evenly over the top.
  • Bake at 350F (160C) for 30 minutes, then sprinkle the remaining 1/4 cup of grated cheese and nutmeg / cinnamon (optional) on top, and continue to bake for another 15 to 30 minutes until the sauce rises and turns golden brown.
  • Remove from oven, cool for 20 minutes. Cut, and serve.

 

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Tamale Pie

Tamale Pie
Tamale Pie

This is a recipe we grew up with as kids. Our Mom, Ann Barczay Sloan, used to cook this. I went ahead and made my own version but while she was living with me, before she passed away, I asked her for HER recollection of the recipe. I present both, you can try both, hers is probably faster. I think mine is pretty rockin’, too.

Mom’s Tamale Pie

  1. Chili – can or scratch
  2. Layer or two of corn tortillas in casserole
  3. Layer on chili
  4. Layer sharp cheddar
  5. Layer green onions
  6. Keep layering to top
  7. Add water to the last bit of chili so it is like a soup. This will soak the layers
  8. Top w cheese and sliced olives
  9. Bake covered at 350. Uncover last few minutes to crisp.

Sean’s Tamale Pie

Ingredients:

  1. One large yellow or brown onion diced
  2. 2 tbsp. Olive oil (or 1 ea. Olive oil and bacon grease)
  3. 1-½ lbs. Ground turkey
  4. 1 tbsp. Oregano
  5. 1 tsp. Cumin
  6. 4 tbsp. jarred red salsa, medium hot
  7. Black olives
  8. 2 cups 3-cheese shredded Mexican blend cheese
  9. 15 corn tortillas
  10. 1 can of enchilada sauce 19 oz. (example but in a bigger can size)

Cooking:

  • I like to brown the onions in pan, Salt and pepper to taste and then set them aside
  • Now brown turkey in the same pan with a little more olive oil as turkey can be very low fat and stick to the pan. Salt and pepper to taste.
  • Add back the onions and mix well to spread the flavors around
  • I like to grind the Mexican oregano (slightly stronger smelling and more like
  • whole flowers than standard oregano) between my palms and into the pan.
  • Sprinkle cumin on.
  • Add the salsa, not too much, its meant to be edible by kids and people who can’t handle spice
  • In your baking dish: start by pouring out a thin layer of the enchilada sauce then add a layer of tortillas followed by a layer of the spiced meat and onions mix followed by most of the cheese
  • Next layer starts with tortillas then enchilada sauce, spiced meat and onion mix then cheese
  • Final layer, the top most layer, is tortillas, the enchilada sauce then cheese then decorate with a freshly sliced olives placed around evenly. Sometimes it put a sprinkle of chili powder lightly across the top.
  • Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes, remove from oven and let it cool/set up a bit before serving.
  • This dish is even better the next day as all the flavors have melded, the enchilada sauce has been incorporated into the tortillas and it reheats amazingly well in the microwave
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German Hot Potato Salad with plenty of bacon…

German potato salad with a few additions
German potato salad with a few additions. My brother had 4th’s…

This recipe is a combination of one found in Luchow’s German Cookbook, aka Speck Salat, and suggestions from my dear mother from her own recipe. The version in Luchow’s is a bit on the extreme/ridiculous side of things as when scaling up for more than 2 servings (to say enough to feed my family, ie. 5 lbs.) it would require 30 pieces of bacon.

One thing to keep in mind is that this dish is most impressive when served fresh and hot with all the ingredients mixed together at the last minute. That having been said it stores and reheats well.

*read entire recipe including notes before beginning.

Ingredients:

  • 5 lbs. red skinned potatoes (russets won’t retain their firmness)
  • 2 medium onions, diced
  • 1-1/2 lb. bacon ends and pieces
  • 4 cups white vinegar
  • 3 cups beef stock made from bouillon
  • 4 tsp. sugar
  • 4 tsp. salt
  • 1 tsp. black pepper
  • 1-1/2 cup green onions, sliced along length into tiny rings
  • 1/2 parsley

Steps:

  1. Boil potatoes keeping a close eye on them so that they don’t get too soft. The skins splitting is a sign that they need to be checked but I start checking after 20 minutes with a fork just to keep a handle on things. When the potatoes are done drain and set aside to cool. When cool enough to handle the skins will slide off when squeezed with a small amount of clean up here and there with a paring knife.
  2. While the potatoes are cooking render off the bacon draining it periodically to save the bacon grease for future use. Once the bacon is nice and crisp and brown set it aside. Leave the bacon grease in the pan.
  3. Cook off the onions in the bacon grease until they are clear.
  4. Add the vinegar, beef bouillon
  5. Add back bacon grease to get a nice balance between the vinegar, sugar and bacon flavors
  6. Add salt, pepper to taste
  7. All ingredients in the dressing should be done to taste! You’ll want to experiment!
  8. Right before serving mix firs the dressing mixture and lastly the green onions and parsley to the salad and serve.

***NOTE: we ended up with a sizable amount of the dressing left. If we used it all the it would be too much liquid versus the amount of potatoes. We used it for a hot bacon dressing on spinach salad!

Luchow's German Cookbook - © 1952
Luchow’s German Cookbook – © 1952
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Sweet & Sour Potato and Green Bean Salad

Sweet & Sour Green Beans and Potato salad
Sweet & Sour Green Beans and Potato salad

This recipe is still in the refinement phase which means that I may come back and adjust the amounts slightly in order to “perfect” it. Please check back as I like to try things out multiple times before calling them done.

  • 2 lb. red skinned potatoes, cut into quarters lengthwise  and the cut across to make wedges. Don’t over cook, keep them al dente!
  • 2 lb. green beans, ends trimmed, steamed
  • 3 good sized shallots, minced fine
  • 1 lb. bacon (I just tried this new California bacon with no nitrites and was very happy with the flavor and quality)
  • 1/8 cup white vinegar
  • 3 tsp. sugar
  • 3 tbsp. finely chopped parsley
  • 3 tbsp. olive oil
  • Salt and pepper to taste

I cook the bacon, potatoes and green beans ahead. I have them in a large shallow baking dish in the oven to keep them warm while I prepare the dressing. The shallots go in the pan with the olive oil. Once the shallots are cooked clear on a medium heat add the vinegar then sugar. Pull the pan out of the oven add the dressing and mix thoroughly. Salt and pepper to taste. Cut the bacon into good sized chunks so it retains its flavor next to the dressing and only add it just before serving, same with the parsley.

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Garlic Bread

Simple, fast, delicious. Goes great with soups, stews and Italian food.

  • Crusty sourdough bread
  • 1/4 cup butter
  • 1/4 cup parmesan cheese
  • 1 tsp. garlic powder
  • 1 tbsp. heaping) fresh chopped parsley

Either let the butter sit out to soften or cut it up with a knife and cream it with a fork. Add the other ingredients and mix. Spread on crusty sourdough and toast in the toaster oven. Looks and tastes amazing. For a treat add some fresh garlic as well.

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Turkey Bone Broth Soup

turkey-both-broth-soup-2016_picmonkeyedThis batch of soup actually contains bones from chickens and turkeys that I collected over the recent months. I have about two freezer bags full of both bones and vegetable trimmings like celery and carrot ends, green onion ends and parsley stems. I try to squeeze the air out every time I reseal the bag to keep the ice buildup down as the air at the beach is moist.

I put them in a stock pot and cover them with water added very little salt and pepper and cook them for 24 hours. The next step is to pour off the broth through a colander and into a bowl so that all of the bone and vegetable mass is strained out. I do set aside the bone/vegetable leftovers taking out all of the large pieces and picking through the remaining meat to return to the stock.

I bring the stock back up to a boil and add the following chopped vegetables one and 1/2 onions, one bag of carrots, one entire head celery 1/3 of a bunch of parsley, choppped salt and pepper thyme and chicken bouillon to taste. On the side I cook four cups of brown jasmine rice separately and I only added 3 of the cups of cooked rice that at the very end before serving. Careful, the rice will soak up some liquid.

The turkey meat was very lean and there was not much fat so I added a small amount of olive oil. In addition I included 1/4 cup of malt vinegar to extend the flavor pallet. You always have to be careful with the amount of vinegar that you add to recipes, go slowly and taste frequently as you can’t take it back out once its added.

You had better be prepared to either store a large amount of soup , give it away to friends and family, or have a large party.

  • 1-1/2 large yellow onions chopped
  • 1 bag carrots, peeled and cut into coins
  • 1 head celery, sliced thin to cook quickly
  • 3 cups brown jasmine rice, fully cooked
  • 1 tbsp. dried thyme
  • 5 tbsp. (heaping) of Knorr chicken bouillon
  • 1 cup chopped fresh parsely
  • 1/4 cup malt vinegar (could be apple cider vinegar as well)
  • Salt and pepper to taste
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Vegetarian Southwestern Breakfast Pie

Vegetarian Southwestern Breakfast Pie with soyrizo
Vegetarian Southwestern Breakfast Pie with soyrizo

This is delicious and reheats in the microwave for a super-fast, very healthy breakfast, it’s vegetarian!

  • 4 medium potatoes, boiled and sliced into wedges
  • 1/2 large onion diced
  • one package soyrizo
  • 1 tsp. cumin
  • 1 tsp. oregano (finely ground)
  • 12  eggs
  • 1/2 cup flour
  • 1/4 cup milk
  • 1 tsp. baking powder
  • 4 heaping tbsp. chunky salsa (as spicy as you like)
  • 2 tbsp. olive oil
  • 8 oz. package of Mexican cheese blend

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Sautee onion in olive oil until clear then add soyrizo, cumin and oregano and brown, set aside. In a bowl crack 12 eggs and whisk in baking powder, flour, milk and salsa.

Place potatoes evenly spread out in your shallow baking dish. Add chorizo and onion mix evenly across this. Put in 4 oz. of the cheese then add the egg mixture and top with the final 4 oz. of cheese. Bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees.

 

 

 

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Potatoes Au Gratin

I believe I got this recipe from my sister Janeen.
Ingredients:

  • 2 lb. potatoes peeled and sliced thin
  • 2 tblsp. butter
  • 2 tblsp. flour
  • 1 medium shallot
  • 2 cloves garlic
  • Rosemary
  • 1/2 cup heavy cream
  • 1-1/2 cup Gruyere divided into 2 portions
  • 1 tsp. salt
  • 1/2 tsp. black pepper
  • 3/4 cup beef stock

Pre-heat oven to 350. In sauce pan on stove melt butter, add flour, garlic, shallots, rosemary, pepper, stock, salt, cream but do NOT boil. Add the first half of the cheese. Layer potatoes in a greased baking dish. Pour mixture over the potatoes, sprinkle second portion of Gruyere on top. Bake for an hour and 30 minutes or until golden brown in places and the potatoes are done when tested with a fork.

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Transylvanian Goulash

Transylvanian Goulash
Transylvanian Goulash

This recipe was shared with me by my Mom, Ann Barczay Sloan.

Ingredients:

  • Bacon grease
  • 1 lg. yellow onion diced into 3/8″ cubes
  • 1 lg. green bell pepper, de-seeded, cleaned and diced
  • 1-1/2 lb. Pork shoulder cubed
  • 4 cloves garlic, chopped
  • 2 tsp. caraway seeds
  • 3 bay leaves
  • Salt and Pepper to taste
  • Paprika (My Mom recommends Szeged brand, sweet, not hot.)
  • 2 cans sauerkraut, drained
  • 1/2 cup Sour Cream

Preheat oven to 350. Brown the pork in bacon grease, salt and pepper the meat then add in onions and bell peppers until onions are translucent. Add garlic and stir that until it is cooked. Add paprika to cover/color meat, its an eyeball thing. Truth be told its hard to add too much paprika. Add caraway seeds and bay leaves then add the sauerkraut. Bring to a low boil, cover it and cook for 5 minutes. Move to oven for 40 minutes. 10 minutes before the time is up stir in the sour cream. Serve with boiled potatoes.