Best Cook

Camilla,
I thought I had a picture on my computer of what you want . Can't find it. I will keep looking at all my discs.

Best Cook

Last week I wanted a picture of Alec for the fab sauce recipes Kathy sent us, so I asked a few people for a picture of the reunion's 'best cook.' (Best cook was one of the picture items on the photo scavenger hunt). I got my picture, taken by Brett:

THIS IS NOT ALEC!

Brett, maybe you should send us one of the recipes that makes you know this woman is the BEST COOK.

Or Terrell, maybe you should send us one of those recipes you get from Gayle. Or any recipe.

Or maybe we should just all come and eat at your house.

Appetizers Courtesy of Pioneer Woman

Wow, two posts in one day, you'd think a law firm would have me busier than this...but today is an especially slow day.

Lately, I've come home from work, and haven't wanted to cook much. Nathan and I just eat bread, cheese, maybe some hummus. But I needed to spice up the routine...thankfully, Donna sent me to my new favorite blog, Thepioneerwoman.com, and she has me cooking up a storm. Here are two of my favorite appetizers from her large collection of easy, down-home recipes.

Jalapeno Poppers, or as Pioneer Woman likes to call them, "Bacon-wrapped jalapeno thingies"

All you need is fresh jalapenos (I made 20 for Nathan and I, and they were gone in the time it took to watch American Idol), cream cheese, bacon, and toothpicks.

Slice the jalapenos lengthwise, and scoop out seeds (unless you like them veery hot) then stuff each half with cream cheese. Then, cut the bacon slices into 1/3rds or 1/2s (I did 1/2s because I do love bacon) Wrap the bacon around the cream cheese stuffed jalapenos (but not too tightly) secure with a toothpick, and place on a baking sheet...preferably with a rack so that they arent sitting in their own grease-I didnt have a rack though, and they turned out just great.

Bake at 375 degrees for 20-25 minutes. When they are done, the jalapenos taste sweet and delicious, like a green or red bell pepper...they don't taste spicy at all. Enjoy!

Onion Strings

Large onion

Buttermilk

Salt

Pepper

Canola Oil

Slice onion very thin. Place in a baking dish and cover with buttermilk for at least one hour. Combine dry ingredients and set aside.Heat oil to 375 degrees. Grab a handful of onions, throw into the flour mixture, tab to shake off excess, and drop into hot oil. Fry for a few minutes and remove as soon as golden brown. Repeat until onions are gone.

This is the easiest recipe, took me only 20 minutes once I had soaked the onions (and I didnt have any buttermilk, so I just squeezed a lemon into regular milk)

Perfect Roast Chicken

As I have been living in New York for a good half a year, I've sadly had to spend my holidays away from the family. This has been sooo hard, because I have very fond memories of being surrounded by great food, and even greater people during the big holidays.

So, in order to satisfy my own cravings for holiday meals, and the cravings of my New York friends (also far away from home) I decided to teach myself to roast. I know that the traditional Easter and Christmas meals include a huge roast turkey, complete with Grandma's giblet gravy (I don't know about you, but those little bags that come inside of birds scare the bejeesus out of me) but a turkey just seemed too big...so I decided to roast a chicken.

My recipe combines lots of recipes I read, I just stole interesting ideas and tips from many great chefs. But I'd have to say, the majority of this recipe is Julia Child's.

1 (3 1/2 to 4 pound) chicken

1 small yellow onion, quartered

1 Lemon, thinly sliced

Butter

Fresh rosemary, thyme, sage

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
Wash the chicken in hot water and dry thoroughly. Season the cavity with salt and black pepper and stuff with the onion and lemon. Make a compound butter by letting the butter soften and then mixing in chopped herbs. Lift up the skin of the bird, and smear half of the butter under the skin (this will make the chicken really moist and tasty). Then, with the rest of the butter, rub the chicken on the outside and season all over with salt and pepper. Tie the drumsticks ends together and set the chicken, breast side up, in an oiled roasting pan in the oven.

Roast for 15 minutes at 425 degrees F, then reduce the heat to 350 degrees, baste the chicken, and roast for 15 minutes. Continue roasting the chicken until the juices run clear, for a total of 45 minutes plus an additional 7 minutes for each pound. (In other words, a 3 1/2 pound chicken would take a basic 45 minutes plus an additional 25 minutes, for a total 70 minutes or 1 hour and 10 minutes of cooking time.)

I have nooo idea how to make good sauces, but the stuff left over in the roasting pan tasted just fine to me! Also, I added a little chicken broth (low sodium) to the drippings, and a little white wine, and I suppose this was our "gravy."

This is totally not a summer recipe, but tastes darn good for any special occasion.

Sauces from the Naman's....

Manager 1 needed a mayo-based spread for po-boys, and who would be the po-boy experts if not the Mobile Naman's? If any of you camera bunnies have a picture, let's post our caterin' cousin here!

I know he brings the remoulade sauce every year, and there is a scramble for it as a meat dip. Kathy is going to send me the reunion goodies Naman's provides for us every year. We're spoiled. I bet you want to be a Vowell, too. Don't blame you.


remoulade sauce:

1 cup creole mustard
3 cup mayonnaise
2 tbsp worcestershire
1 tbsp lemon juice
2 tsp granulated garlic
2 tsp horseradish

mix all ingredients together and wisk until blended smooth.
you can refridgerate for up to 3 or 4 weeks.



rayford sauce:

3 cups mayonnaise
1 cup sour cream
4 oz horseradish
1 bu green onions (chopped fine)
2 tbsp worcesteshire sauce
1 tbsp granulated garlic
1 tsp salt & pepper
2 dashes tobasco


west indian coktail sauce:

2 cups mayonnaise
2 cups ketchup
2 tbsp horseradish
1 med onion ( chopped finely) use food processor if neccessary
1 med bell pepper ( chopped finely) same as above
1 tbsp granulated garlic
1 tbsp worcesteshire
1 tbsp lemon juice
2 dashes tobasco
1 tsp salt & pepper


So how did those po-boy's go, Manager 1?

Foxy G-Maw Presents:

Peachy Glazed Pork Chops

1 envelope Lipton Onion Soup Mix
1 (12oz) jar peach or apricot preserves
1/2 cup water
8 pork chops
2 medium red or green peppers (sliced)

In a small bowl, combine soup mix, preserves and water. Put pork chops in 9x13 baking dish. cover with peppers. Top with soup mixture. Broil, "turning once" until pork chops are done.

Ryan's Wonderful RICH potato soup

4 or 5 medium potatoes-- diced
garlic powder
1 can cream of celery soup
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 3lb. block velvetta cheese

Boil potatoes in enough water to cover potatoes. Add garlic powder to your taste while cooking Do not drain water off. When potatoes get soft, mash with fork leaving some pieces. Add cheese while potatoes are still hot (to melt cheese). Add celery and mushroom soup.

This is so easy and wonderful.

submitted by email from Ryan's Foxy G-Maw

Dill Pickles

10 Cups Water
4 Cups Vinegar
1 Cup Ice Cream Salt

Mix and Boil - pour in jar full of:

1/2 tsp dill seed
1 or 2 bay leaves
1/2 of an onion cut into chunks (yes, that's the technical word)
1 or 2 cloves of garlic cut up some
Cucumbers cut however, I like spears

and you could put a hot pepper in there too, but I don't

Put a top and a ring on it and there you go the best dill pickles EVER!

Easy Cajun White Bean Dip

Easy Cajun White Bean Dip

2 links of sweet Italian sausage

1/4 cup diced onion

1/4 cup diced green pepper

1/4 cup celery, diced finely

3 diced garlic cloves

2 cans great northern beans

2 Tbsp. cajun seasoning (I use Tony's but Slap Ya Mama is good too)

1/2 cup sour cream

couple shakes of Tabasco

In cast iron skillet heat 2 tsb oil over medium high heat, undo the casing on the sausage and cook until done, transfer to paper towels. Leaving a little grease in the skillet, saute onions and pepper, celery and garlic until tender . Add in beans and cook until they soften, as they cook mash them with a potato masher, you can add a splash of chicken broth or water if the mixture is too dry. Next, add in sour cream, crumbled sausage and salt and pepper and cajun seasoning. Add a few dashes of tabasco. Serve warm or cold with tortilla chips. Or you can spoon on top of a soft taco. Enjoy!

Cold Rotel

One of my favorite dips!
1- 8 oz pack of cream cheese
1- can of rotel tomatoes - drain about half of the juice from can.
Mix together, and eat. Sometimes I even use chips

Barbeque Shrimp

Whatever images this title may conjure up in your mind, they are not shellfish slathered with BBQ sauce, and then thrown on a grill. This originated, I think, at Pascal's Manale restaurant on Napoleon Ave. in New Orleans.

This recipe takes me right back to sitting around Grandma and Grandaddy Seghers dinner table. Grandad would make these with so much beer and butter and garlic, and let me tell you, the sauce that resulted was heaven. We'd be served this dish in big soup bowls, and sit around talking, peeling, and eating this shrimp.

(The real key to this dish, is the crusty french bread that you use to sop up all that delicious sauce!)

So, I didn't have Grandaddy's recipe (although I really want it) but one night I was feeling homesick, and I had some frozen shrimp, and I decided to make up my own version. It's not quite up to par with Grandad's, but it is still pretty fantastic.

Barbeque Shrimp

3 lb. Shrimp (heads still on) I would have used Gulf Shrimp, but sadly, they are nowhere to be found in Brooklyn
3 Sticks Butter
½ Large White Onion
4 Cloves Garlic (Peeled and Smashed)
Olive Oil
Couple shakes of Worcestershire Sauce
1 or 2 Bottles Abita Amber Beer (Emeril uses white wine, but thats way too high-brow for me, plus, I remember Grandad using beer, and then he'd have a tall glass of it at dinner)

Juice of one lemon
3 or 4 tsp. Garlic powder
1 tsp. Coarse Kosher Salt (Dont oversalt!!)
2 tsp. Fresh Ground Black Pepper
1 tsp. Cayenne Pepper
2 tbs. Crab/Shrimp Boil (Powdered)
2 Quart Saucepan
Baking dish

( By the way, I am very bad with measurements and I don't bother with them at all, so all spices are just estimates...you should taste the sauce along the way to make sure its shaping up)

Put saucepan on medium heat, drizzle a little olive oil into the saucepan, chop onion, then sauté, then add crushed garlic, then the two sticks of butter. After the butter has completely melted, add each seasoning while stirring – garlic powder, salt, pepper, cayenne, crab boil, and Worcestershire sauce. Add the olive oil, squeeze in the lemon, stir, and then add the whole bottle of beer...the other one will keep you fortified while you make the rest of this dish:-)
When the foam from the beer subsides, pour the sauce over the shrimp in the baking dish.

Place into a 350 degrees oven for about 10 minutes, stir, then another 5 minutes, or until shrimp are pink and cooked.
Remove from oven, serve in a great big bowl (with lots of the sauce), grab the crusty french bread, and dig in!

Shrimp Artichoke Salad

Of course I cannot follow a recipe, and I've read that's a middle child trait, and then there's that thing where my smoking vegetarian cannot eat anything with a brain stem, so when I cooked Shrimp Artichoke Salad for lunch, changes had to to be made.

I used Uncle Ben's Wild and Long Grain Mushroom Rice, and substituted canned artichoke heart quarters for the marinated ones. Also I didn't have curry powder, but I did have Thai red mild curry paste. I would have used red kidney beans, but didn't have any, and I'm glad because for the boy, I sauteed that Morningstar faux chicken strips, but I sauteed shrimp in butter for me. I served frozen green peas as a side.

How is it, I asked the boy like I always ask him.

Good, he said, which is the next to highest food designation, and then he added, it seems to have one flavor, but I don't know what it is.

Curry, I said.

Oh, yeah, he said, it's fine. Fine is the highest quick lunch rating. He mixed his peas with his, and said it was a very good korma curry.

So maybe I was just looking for a vehicle to lap up the Thai red curry paste, but I ate it for lunch, and more for supper, adding a handful of chopped cilantro, and I think I will eat it for lunch and supper for the next five years, with an occasional side of peaches or canteloup.

Thanks for sharing, Manager 1.

Not Green Bean Bundles

Holly made the green beans bundled in bacon for the reunion, and they were gone in a flash. We would would love to post that recipe if Holly would send it on, but in the meantime, back in the Kudzu Kitchen another kind of bundle has found its way on to the grill:




Check it out.

photo by Keetha

Shrimp-Artichoke Salad

2 (6-oz) jars marinated artichoke hearts
1 (6.9 oz) box chicken flavored rice
1 1/2 cups mayonnaise
1/2 teaspoon curry powder
1 pound salad shrimp, boiled and peeled
3 green onions, chopped
4 celery stalks, diced

Drain artichoke hearts, reserving half the liquid from one jar. Prepare rice according to package directions, omitting the butter (Oh - I forgot to do that!). Let cool, and set aside. Combine reserved artichoke liquid, mayo, and curry powder. Stir well. Add shrimp, green onions and celery to mayonnaise mixture. Add artichoke hearts and rice. Serve chilled.

This recipe comes from the A La Carte Alley bistro located in Cleveland across the street from the old "Ellis" Theater!

Chess Squares--Janice and Andrea

When Lady asked for the chess brownie recipe, I gotta admit I thought chocolate. Not so. Janice has fessed up she and Andrea brought the Chess Squares, using a recipe from Any Blonde Can Cook. , a cookbook "written in Blonde ADD form (step by step by step) so anyone can understand and they have no more than 9 ingredients." I couldn't find that particular recipe, so I looked some up on the net, and they were the same as the Chess Squares in the 2003 Kin Cookin--Vowell Style. This recipe was contributed by Beverly Tolbert Terrell in 1979, so this is a genuine, antique Southern recipe, y'all.

1 box yellow cake mix
1 stick oleo
1 egg

Mix together by hand. Press in bottom of 9 X 13 pan. In mixer, mix 8 ounces of cream cheese, one 1 pound box of powdered sugar, and 3 eggs. Pour on top of cake mix mixture. Bake 40-45 minutes at 350 degrees.

variations: may add 1 cup chopped nuts, 1/2 teaspoon each vanilla and lemon flavoring to cream cheese mixture.

Janice thought the reunion Chess Squares were a little undercooked. Andrea, if your recipe isn't the same, let us know.

While we're on sweets,

and just to get this plug in, if you are in a sweet mood, Keetha brought me some of these cupcakes. Banana. Butterfinger. Cupcakes. yummy

Guess Who Found the Beets

Found 'em at Wal-Mart. As I was walking toward hardware, the clothing clerk saw them and said, "Beets?" I said, "Yes." She said, "I love beets."

These were no small beets, Lizzie, but the salad was good! The beets were subtly sweet, and as red as rubies. Kent thought they were bland, but then he used Thousand Island on his salad. What can you expect from a smoking vegetarian? Uh-uh. I didn't have sherry vinegar, but I did have sherry. Nice. I had some beets tonight with grapes and feta and apples, also very nice.

Another salad I'm really fond of right now is this one. If you haven't been cooking with Pioneer Woman, I suggest you check her out and have yourself some fun cooking right now.

And my friend Nicole, she's playing with raw which includes salads, salads, salads, and summer is coming, it's salad time.

Holly's Sugar Cookies

Blend or mix:

2 cups sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 sticks oleo

Add to above:

2 eggs
6 tablespoons milk
2 teaspoons vanilla

Sift and add to above:

4 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

Chill overnight. Roll on floured surface and cut. Bake at 350 degrees for 12 to 13 minutes. Ice while hot.

icing:

Mix powdered sugar, milk and food coloring. Ice while hot and let sit out for icing to harden.

So, Ed, since you make the dough, what's the secret? Why is yours better than Kate's? or is it Holly's decorating? Donna

Sugar Cookies

My mom makes those good sugar cookies. My dad can post the recipe. I never make them right! Ask Kathy she also makes them & when my mom makes them she has to make extra for her:)

from Kylie:

I really want the recipe for those cookies someone makes everyyear.They have really bright colored icing and I think they're just sugar cookies lol.

from Kat:

That would be Holly Seghers! Yummy!

from Ed:

holly and i.

I make the dough and she cooks and decorates.

It is i the family cook book and they are called Holly's sugar cookies

from Sue:

just for the record, i and some of Holly's other sisters all try to sneak some before they are gone and sometimes Holly gives us our own personal stash to keep for ourselves. They are the best!!!! mesue

from Kat:

Holly,
Do you really give EVERYONE their own stash? I thought I was the special one :) !

Hey Terrell! Do you think Kathleen would mind sharing that Oreo Ball recipe again? I forgot to write it down. Thanks! Me-Kat

from Donna:

Hey, I've been missing out.

and stay tuned for the fab Holly Sugar Cookie Recipe...from Kin Cookin'--Vowell Style, 2002 edition. Do you have that cook book, Kylie?

from Greg:
Hey, I think that this is a new revelation to me. I don’t remember getting any special stashes of those cookies. Was this something that only the sisters received?

Cheesecake Cupcakes

This is a Paula Deen recipe but they are WONDERFUL!!

3 8oz packages of softened creamcheese
1 cup sugar
4 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 325 and line 24 regular muffin cups with cupcake liners.

Beat the cream cheese untill very smooth, add sugar and mix well, then add the eggs and vanilla.
Fill the cups about half ful and bake for about 25 min untill cupcakes are set and golden brown.


Topping
1 cup sour cream
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla

Combine and mix with a spoon/spatula. Spoon about a tablespoon on top of each and retrun them to the oven for the glaze

Let them hang out in the fridge untill your ready to serve! I also add whatever flavor canned pie filling to the top and they are sooooooo good!

Sorry they are not very good diet food but they are very easy to make!

Chicken Salad

I'm on a diet so I have to cook healthy food about everysingle day!

I try to change things up a little bit so I don't get sick of it.

Anyways, I kind of picked up the recipe from a dish I always order at a near by restaurant.

It's way easy and mmmmmmmmmmmmmm mmmmmmmm good!

1 can light chicken (like tuna can haha)

3/4 cup of halved purple grapes

3 tbs. fat-free mayo

1/2 cup chopped celery

1 very small bag of cashews

1 fresh pineapple

First, you split the pineapple in half right down the middle. Cut a rectangle out of the middle and cut the rectangle into small peices. Mix the chicken and mayo, then grapes and celery, then throw in the cashews and scoop mixture into the center of the pineapple halves. Use leftover pineapple to decorate!

You don't have to use a pineapple, but it's really yummy when you're done with your chicken salad. My grandma and I are doing weight watchers and we eat lunch together every Wednesday; Wednesday happened to be her birthday so I made this for our lunch. It's perfect for lunch with a friend and way cute!

Beet Salad

What did beets do to deserve such a bad reputation??

Ok, I agree, I didn't like them myself for a long time, but it is only because I associated beets with those slimy, tinned things your elders used to try to get you to eat. But last month everything changed.

I was at brunch with some friends in Brooklyn, and one girl ordered a beet and goat cheese salad. After one bite of tangy cheese combined with the sweetness of the roasted beets, I knew I had to recreate this salad, and here is my version of it:

1 bunch of beets (the smaller they are, the quicker they cook)

About 4 tbs. of olive oil or vegetable oil

Salt and pepper

Balsamic Vinegar (optional)

Plain Goat Cheese (or herbed if you are feeling fancy)

Any kind of Lettuce leaves you like (I prefer arugula or fresh spinach)

Dressing:

1/4 teaspoon honey

1/4 cup sherry vinegar

1/2 cup olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

Start by setting your oven to 400 degrees.

Line a baking sheet with tin foil (cleanup couldn't be easier for this meal)

Prepare your beets by scrubbing them lightly, there is no need to peel them, the peels come off after they are roasted. Also, snip off the leafy greens at the top.

Put all your beets on the sheet, drizzle the olive oil over the top and sprinkle with salt and pepper. (If you opt to use the balsamic vinegar, drizzle that over the top of your beets at this time)

Place beets in oven, and cook for 1hour, turning once at 30 min.

Make your dressing by whisking together all the ingredients and toss with arugula or spinach.

Quarter or slice the beets into rounds and place on top of salad. Crumble or slice the goat cheese and place on top of beets.

If you roast too many beets, you can keep them in tupperware in your fridge for up to a week, they are great warm or cold:-)

The Fabulous Doberge

Nell brought one of New Orleans' famous Doberge Cakes (pronounced Dobage, since it is from New Orleans, you know) to the reunion. She brought it in its own Styrofoam cooler, and said she wasn’t taking it home. Her kids said she was, and they made sure it was repacked and headed for the coast. I regret I only got a slice of the chocolate half. I missed the lemon side all together.

What’s a doberge cake, in addition to being magic?

Gambino’s says it’s “Adapted from a 17th century creation, these scrumptious cakes are crafted of six delicate layers of old-fashioned butter cake, each baked individually, filled with a special recipe of creamy, rich, cooked custard and finished with a homemade icing.”

According to Wikipedia:
The famous cake made of thin layers of cake alternating with pudding and covered with a butter cream and a layer of fondant originated in the New Orleans area when Beulah Ledner opened a bakery in 1933. The doberge cake was adapted from the Hungarian/Austrian Dobos Cake. Beulah Ledner's recipe is available in the cookbook, Let's bake with Beulah Ledner: A legendary New Orleans Lady by Maxine Wolchansky. In 1946 Joe Gambino bought the name, recipe and retail shop, including her recipe for doberge cake. After a couple of years of illness, she reopened in a new location on Metairie Road under the name "Beulah Ledner, Inc." As her business and popularity grew, her son, Albert, designed and built a new building and a new machine to mass produce sheet cakes using his mother's recipes. She opened her new bakery on May 21, 1970; she ran it until the age of 87 when she sold the shop and doberge recipe to Maurice's Bakery, which is still in the business of baking and selling Doberge cakes in Meterie, Louisiana.

Aunt Nell, where did you get your doberge cake?

Glory-ous Greens

What did Jo bring to the reunion?

"I brought a bucket of twice baked potato salad that was never opened--"I threw it in the garbage yesterday"--and turnip greens.

My greens recipe is VERY,VERY, SECRET so don't tell anyone.

I bought 6 cans of "Glory seasoned turnip green" from Wal-Mart, Cooked them on low about an hour with salt meat from Kroger, froze them and took them to the reunion where I defrosted them and left them in a pot. That made it look like I had just cooked them. I think they were a hit. We love them and eat them often."

And I heard more than one person say that was the best greens they had ever eaten. So know you know the secret. Don't tell.

Spinach Artichoke Casserole--Donna

2 (8-ounce) pkgs. Chopped spinach
8 ounces sour cream
½ cup of butter (this seems like a lot, but ask Paula Dean—can you ever have too much butter?)
½ cup chopped green onions
½ teaspoon salt and pepper
1 x 14 ounce can artichoke hears
1 ½ teaspoon lemon or ½ teaspoon Tabasco
½ cup Parmesan cheese

Cook spinach according to pkg. directions. Drain. If artichoke hearts are large, cut them in half. Saute onions in butter. Combine them with the spinach. Mix in sour cream, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Gently fold in artichoke hearts. Put mixture in lightly creased 1 ½ quart baking dish. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Bake at 350̊ for 30 minutes.

Jo, Kin Cookin’, Cleveland, Ms

Variation: Substitute 1 ounce cream cheese for sour cream. Use a dash of nutmeg. Top with butter bread crumbs.

Note: for some reason this seemed dry at the family reunion, so I tried it again before discarding the recipe. I think I overcooked it. Tonight I used the whole ½ cup butter, ½ cup chopped white onions instead of green onions, and that small (3+ oz) package of cream cheese rather than sour cream. I made sure the spinach was well separated, and crumbled the cream cheese and stirred until it melted. It received the Kent FINE designation, the highest rating in our household, though I’ll be cutting back on that butter, I think.

CAKE MIX COOKIES FROM SANDRA

I think I found the recipe I used last time. That is the one I am sending. I knew it was in one of the cookbooks I have here. I just couldn't find it when I was looking this year. I found it in the Dixie Dialing cookbook. It seems to have more liquid in it that what I did. My cookies seemed dry. I think I may try this one again. It is easy enough for Tristan to help me easily.



2 eggs
1 box cake mix, any flavor
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Beat eggs well; add oil and mix well. Stir in cake mix. Add pecans and mix well. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto greased cookie sheet. Bake for 12 minutes.



(I read enough recipes that I think you can substitute almost any add-in for the pecans--M&Ms, coconut, chocolate chips, etc.)

Sandra
Richmond, Texas