Cathedral Windows

As my Bloglines blogroll shows, Retro food is all the rage. I found this recipe through Laura Rebecca's Kitchen, she found it on Something So Clever and it's listed on allrecipes. When I saw it, I knew it would be perfect for food day at work. I like sometimes making something very sweet and rich for food day, I can make a big batch, leave a couple servings at home for the boys (two kids who don't need an excess of sugar, and one boyfriend with diabetes), and the work folks can eat the rest.

From AllRecipes:
INGREDIENTS
1/4 cup butter
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
2 eggs, beaten
1 (10.5 ounce) package rainbow colored miniature marshmallows
1 cup chopped pecans
1/3 cup confectioners' sugar for decoration
DIRECTIONS
Melt together the butter and chocolate chips in the top of a double boiler or in the microwave. Stir to blend, then stir in the eggs, colored marshmallows and pecans.
Pour the mixture into a 9x5 inch loaf pan, lined with foil. Dust with powdered sugar and refrigerate until firm.
Remove chilled dough from loaf pan, remove the foil, and slice into 1/4 inch slices.

Sweet Scrambled Eggs

I make "french toast" in the most basic way: eggs, milk, cinnamon, sugar or splenda, a little vanilla. Soak the bread a little or a lot, depending on how soggy you want it, and fry on both sides. There's usually some egg mixture left over, and my mom would scramble that up, and my dad loved it. I didn't really like it, and my kids didn't either, so I'd just try to make the egg mixture work out exactly with the bread when I cooked for them. Cooking for my guy, now, is a whole different story. I made the sweet scrambled eggs for him once after making french toast, and now that's his favorite part. Still seems weird to me.

Meat Wads: My Meatloaf

I didn't make meatloaf my whole adult life until a few years ago when I found this recipe. (come to think of it, I don't think I ever made meatloaf as a kid, either, so I may have actually never made a meatloaf before this) My aversion to meatloaf fell in the category of "Recipes of my Mother's that I didn't like", I never liked my mom's meatloaf. Sorry, Mom!* So I never made meatloaf. (Oh, plus I was vegetarian for many years, and fake-meat doesn't loaf well) When I found this recipe on the back of the Stove Top Stuffing box, and cooking for heavy meat eaters now, I decided to try it. Now I make my modified version at least once a month, either in wad (loaf) form, or as hamburgers or meatballs.

All-American Meat Loaves
Prep: 10 min. Bake: 30 min.
1 pouch (8 oz) Stove Top Stuffing Mix for Chicken
2 lb. ground beef
1 1/2 cups water
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup Kraft Shredded Cheddar Cheese
1/4 cup ketchup

1. Mix all ingredients except ketchup just until blended.
2. Shape into 4 oval loaves on foil-lined baking sheet. Top with ketchup.
3. Bake at 400 F for 30 minutes or until centers are no longer pink.
Makes 8 servings.

My Modifications:
1. I use aprox 2 lbs of ground beef PLUS aprox 1 lb of pork for each set of 4 loaves. (and I usually at least double this recipe, it is awesome for left-overs, and would freeze well, too, if the guys wouldn't eat them all before I could freeze them!)
2. I don't put in any water, but do put in mustard &/or Worcestershire sauce up to aprox 1/2 cup. Also, I'll usually add garlic powder, maybe some mixed spice for steak, and often add mustard seed &/or caraway seeds (like is found in some pork sausage).
3. I always use sharp cheddar
4. I NEVER put ketchup on it. If you want to put ketchup on it on your plate, do it when I'm not looking!
My kids think it's funny that I like to call them meatwads. But that's basically what they are. And wouldn't you love to get that whiney little guy in your oven? ;p

*Since this recipe gets linked to on a regular basis, let me add this caveot: My mother is a wonderful cook! She was my 4-H leader, too, and always served all four food groups (that's all we had back then!) for supper. She liked to try new recipes she found in magazines, which led me to have no fear of trying a new recipe. She also had many great recipes that were family favorites, some were passed down from the previous generation, including her father's mother's potato soup. In addition to the potato soup, which I've always loved, I have many favorites among her recipes, and I learned to love spinach and brussel sprouts too.

Back of the Box Recipes

15 Min Chicken & Rice Dinner

1 tbsp vegetable oil
4 boneless chicken breast halves
1 can (10 3/4 oz.) Campbell's Cream of Chicken or 98% Fat Free Cream of Chicken Soup
1 1/2 cups water
1/4 tsp each paprika and pepper
2 cups Minute White Rice, uncooked*
2 cups fresh or frozen broccoli flowerets


Heat oil in skillet. Add chicken and cook until browned. Remove chicken.

Add soup, water, paprika and pepper; stir. Heat to a boil.

Stir in rice and broccoli. Top with chicken. Season chicken with additional paprika and pepper. Cover and cook over low heat 5 min. or until done.

*For creamier dish, use 1 1/2 cups rice.

Makes 4 servings

This recipe created by Campbell's.

The finished pie

FRESH_GOOSEBERRY_PIE (recipe replay) Crush 1/2 cup gooseberries , combine with 1 1/2 cups sugar, 3 Tbsps. quick-cooking tapioca, and 1/4 tsp. salt. Cook and stir until mixture thickens and boils. Add 2 1/2 cups whole berries. Fill pastry shell. Dot with 2 Tbsps. butter or oleo. Put on top crust, seal, cut slits for steam to escape. Bake in a hot oven (400) for 30-40 minutes or until crust is browned. Serve warm (or cold).

Fourth Food

We celebrated the 4th yesterday, since one of us has to work today, and some more of us have to get up tomorrow. Our 4th celebration was pure geek-heaven: we played an RPG (role playing game) all day yesterday, and some the night before, too. It was fun for everyone! In the planning stages, I had to figure out a menu that would work with gaming, and would not make me, as the cook, have to do any extra work on game day.
Here's our menu:

• Another Dried Beef Cheese Ball like I took to Food Day at work
  
• A seafood cheese ball: cream cheese, fake crab, sundried tomatoes in oil, garlic, Worcester sauce. No official recipe, just thrown together. Added extra tomato oil to balance out adding soooo much fake crab. Needs a little salt.
  
• Three kinds of crackers
  
• A crock pot full of BBQ little smokies. Sauce was just whatever BBQ sauce was in the cupboard, a little plain mustard (I only keep plain mustard for recipes), garlic powder, onion powder, and white pepper.
  
• Make your own sandwiches. I purchased hoagie rolls, two kinds of sliced meat, cheese, and of course, good mustard.
  
• Tons of soda. Cheesh, I think my 15-year-old chain-drank at least 10 of his 24 pack that is supposed to last him a whole week.
  

Everyone could get whatever they wanted throughout the game. And I got out the paper plates, so I don't have much to do today to clean up, except the crockpot of course, better go soak that. I'm hoping to make mom's gooseberry pie recipe today!