My son requested this today. It’s the recipe my mom has been using forever. It’s from a set of Women’s Day cookbooks from the late 60’s? Anyway, thought you might enjoy (I’ve tried other recipes but still go back to this one).
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour 1 loaf pan. In a large bowl, mix the dry ingredients together. In a separate bowl, mix the wet ingredients. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix thoroughly.
Pour into loaf pan. Bake for about 60 minutes (until a toothpick inserted comes out clean). Let cool for about 5 minutes then remove from pan. Try to let cool, though this never happens in my house.
I usually double the recipe because I actually have people give me bananas just to make them some of this bread.
Since this pretty much goes along with the gravy thread, this is my favorite SOS recipe I have found. I have tried a lot but this one is a hit! Even the picky teenagers scarf this down!
And I ALWAYS serve this with Buttermilk Biscuits (recipe below)
Brown beef in a large skillet over medium high heat. Stir in flour, bouillon, salt and pepper. Sauté all together for about 5 minutes or until flour is absorbed.
Gradually whisk in milk and Worcestershire sauce. Bring all to a simmer, whisking constantly.
Cook until thickened, about 5 to 10 minutes. Serve hot!
Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, mix the dry ingredients. Grate the frozen butter into the flour and, using a fork, coat the butter with the flour. Add the buttermilk and mix until almost all of the flour in incorporated (do not mix too much or the biscuits will be dense).
Sprinkle flour on your countertop and scoop out the biscuit dough. Gently fold the dough until it becomes more solid (roughly 20 times), only adding flour to prevent it sticking to your hands or countertop. Pat flat so the dough is at least 1/2 inch thick.
If you want circles, cut with any item that is at least 2 inches round (a biscuit cutter, a drinking glass, an empty food can, etc.). If you want squares, just cut with a knife. Place biscuits on the parchment-lined baking sheet an bake for 8 to 12 minutes (until the edges start to brown). Let cool a few minutes, then split with a fork (use the tines of a fork to split the biscuit instead of a knife). Serve.
Place a large skillet on medium heat. Fry your sausage until brown.
Add the flour to sausage and mix together. Once the flour is lightly browned, whisk in the milk. Continue to whisk until you have scraped up all of the flour from the bottom of the pan and your gravy is beginning to thicken.
Add salt, and pepper and continue whisking until your gravy is at your desired thickness. If it is too thick, add 1/4 cup more of milk. Reduce heat after bringing to a boil and cook for 5 minutes.
This is excellent served over chicken fried steak, biscuits, or potatoes.
I love this recipe! It’s very basic and easy to adjust to whatever you feel like adding. Now, what I do is use 2 cups hot water mixed with 2 teaspoons chicken soup base (not the dry bouillon … that was nasty. The paste you buy in jars). Turns out better than the instant chicken gravy packets and is much cheaper, especially if you are like us and want more than just a cup of gravy.
We had an inexpensive Christmas dinner this year. I made this recipe, then added about 2 cups of mashed beans to thicken. Put in a bowl, sprinkle with cheese, use as a dip, and you almost have a complete meal! We also had beans and home made rotisserie chicken.
Add about 2 cups of mashed beans to thicken, sprinkle with cheese, use as a dip, and you almost have a complete meal!
Ingredients
Instructions
Heat the oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Stir in the flour and continue stirring for 3 to 4 minutes, or until it makes a light brown roux.
Add all the dry ingredients and continue to cook for 1 minute, constantly stirring and blending ingredients. Add chicken broth or water, mixing and stirring until the sauce thickens.
Turn heat to low and let sauce simmer for 15 minutes. Add water to adjust the thickness.
I have been so busy with playing Call of Duty Black Ops that I keep forgetting to post some of my latest concoctions! 🙂
While I love specialty breads (I still haven’t found a good-enough-for-me recipe for jalapeño cheese bread) I have been wanting to find a good every day bread and I think I found it! Why do I like this recipe so much? Well, this is the first one I found without brown sugar, honey, or molasses. Also, it’s not too dense but heavy enough to not break apart when spreading natural peanut butter on it. This makes fantastic sandwiches, toast, french toast, etc.
Combine 3 cups flour, oats, sugar, salt, and yeast in a large bowl and mix well.
In a small saucepan, heat milk, water, and butter until very warm (just until butter is melted). Add to flour mixture and blend on low speed of mixer until dry ingredients are moistened. Increase the medium speed and beat for 3 minutes (I did this by hand and it was not fun).
By hand, stir in enough flour to make a stiff dough. Turn out onto floured surface and knead in the rest of the flour for about 5 to 8 minutes.
Shape into ball, cover with bowl (or in an oiled bowl covered with plastic wrap) and let rise until doubled (about an hour). Punch down and let rest for 10 minutes.
Divide dough in half and shape into loaves. Place in greased bread pans. Cover and let rise until almost doubled (recipe said 15 minutes but I let it go for 30).
Heat oven to 375 degrees F. Bake for 45 – 50 minutes, or until dark golden brown. Remove from pans and let cool before slicing (which I can never do!).
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Last (but not least) was dinner last night. I found a recipe in another cookbook (The Border Cookbook) that was similar to this one but I did it the lazy way. I just added a 28 ounce can of diced tomatoes and a 28 ounce can of diced Ortega chiles. I also let it cook for 6 hours. Served with rice and heated flour tortillas, this was a fantastic meal!
Toast chiles in a cast-iron skillet (griddle, or over an open flame) until blackened. Wrap in damp paper towel and place in plastic bag for about 20 minutes to steam. Peel off blackened skin (with a spoon or the flat side of a knife) and remove stems and seeds. Chop all chiles.
If using pork shoulder, remove fat from shoulder and chop into small pieces. Render fat in large pot and then remove fat pieces. If you don’t use the pork fat, use 2 tablespoons oil or lard. Heat over medium-high heat and brown pork pieces well. Don’t crowd pot; brown in batches, if needed.
Add the onions and garlic and stir well, cooking until onions are soft. Add the chopped chiles, spices (if using) and crushed tomatoes. Stir well and cook for about 2 minutes until well-blended. Add water or broth and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to simmer and cook for about 1-½ to 2 hours until pork is very tender. Taste for seasoning, and adjust as necessary.
Serve with rice and beans, and warm soft tortillas.
Here’s my recipe for Fish-Free Worcestershire Sauce. I hadn’t realized there were anchovies in Worcestershire sauce until I developed my seafood allergy, so I scoured the internet to find replacements. I’m sure there are some commercially available ones out there now but I’m telling you, this tastes EXACTLY like Worcestershire sauce!
I found the tamarind paste at an Indian (Asia) grocery store locally. I had eaten some Mexican tamarind candy before, looked at many Mexican grocers and no one knew what I was talking about. I walk into the Indian grocer, ask for tamarind paste, he says, “Sure! Right over here.” I could have hugged him! The amount of ingredients can be played with but the most important are the tamarind and vinegar. Tamarind is what gives Worcestershire sauce it’s unique flavor and color.
The amount of ingredients can be played with but the most important are the tamarind and vinegar. Tamarind is what gives Worcestershire sauce it’s unique flavor and color.
Ingredients
Instructions
Place the onion, the garlic, the mustard seeds, the red pepper flakes, the peppercorns, the ginger, the cinnamon, the cloves and the cardamom on a large piece of cheesecloth and tie in a little bag.
In a large saucepan, combine the spice bag with the vinegar, the molasses, the soy sauce and the tamarind. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and let simmer for 45 minutes.
Mix together the salt, the curry powder, the kalamata olives with the water. Add to the liquid in the saucepan. Remove from heat. Pour the contents of the saucepan (including the spice bag) into a quart jar. Cover with plastic wrap (to prevent the vinegar from degrading the lid), lid and ring.
Place in the refrigerator for two months, shaking occasionally. Place a small holed strainer over a bowl and strain the liquid. Squeeze the spice bag over the strainer and discard. Bottle the sauce. Keep in the refrigerator and shake well before use.
Look! I discovered an easy method to can milk at home. We never have straight-up milk, unless we plan on eating cereal or need it for some other “only milk will do” reason. So, I used this method on half and half. As a test, I let a pint jar sit for 3 years. It became solid as it sat but retained a seal and, when I opened it, there was no smell, no strange colors, it just looked like it had separated into curds and whey. Needless to say, I didn’t consume it but I don’t see why this will not keep for at least a year on the shelf.
Fill your pressure canner with about 2 inches of room temperature water. Do not turn on your burner yet.
Fill your clean and sterilized room temperature jars with just about room temperature milk, leaving an inch of head space (usually just below the threads of the jar). Wipe the rim of the jars with vinegar (to eliminate any possible fats or liquids). Place your lid, then ring on the jar, hand tighten, then place in your pressure canner.
Once the canner is filled, put your lid on and turn the burner on medium-high to high. Once a steady stream of steam is shooting through the vent, set your timer for 10 minutes. Place your weight on the vent, then when it gets up to pressure (sea level is 10 pounds), turn off the burner (if you have an electric cook top, move the canner to a cold burner) and let the pressure canner sit until the pressure gauge reads zero.
Remove the weight, the lid, and place the jars on a towel covered rack to cool. After 24 hours, remove the rings, wash the jars, label and store in a cool, dark place. These should be good for 1 year.
For years, I have been told that the perfect replacement for buttermilk is milk with 1 teaspoon of lemon juice or vinegar added to it. That’s all I had been using in recipes that require buttermilk. I never knew there was a difference because I did not have anything to compare it to. The first time I tasted buttermilk was when I was 4 years old (the flavor left that large of an impression). I decided from that day on I would never have buttermilk in my house.
So, 37 years later I’m surfing the internet looking for the “perfect” pancake recipe. I found this one:
Heat electric griddle to 375° (or medium heat for a non-electric griddle). Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar in a medium bowl. Add eggs, buttermilk, and 4 tablespoons butter; whisk to combine. Batter should have small to medium lumps.
Test griddle by sprinkling a few drops of water on it. If water bounces and spatters off griddle, it is hot enough. Using a pastry brush, brush remaining 1/2 teaspoon of butter or reserved bacon fat onto griddle. Wipe off excess.
Using a 4-ounce ladle, about 1/2 cup, pour pancake batter, in pools 2 inches away from one other. When pancakes have bubbles on top and are slightly dry around edges, about 2 1/2 minutes, flip over. Cook until golden on bottom, about 1 minute.
Repeat with remaining batter, keeping finished pancakes on a heatproof plate in oven. Serve warm.
How could I go wrong with a recipe from a website called “Perfect Pancake”? So, I made the recipe with my tried and (what I thought was) true buttermilk replacement. The batter was so thin I ended up adding at least one more cup of flour and the resulting pancakes were too ‘flour-y’. I thought I was just doomed to not have good pancakes (since I refuse to buy pancake mix).
Then, my husband broke down and bought some buttermilk. His mother always cooked with buttermilk but I can be one stubborn woman. I hate buying one item (or ingredient) that will only be used for one recipe.
So, we made the recipe as written and wouldn’t you know these were/are the best pancakes I have ever made! They also make the best waffles! So, I have been on a buttermilk kick!
I had never understood what buttermilk was. I know traditionally it was the milk left over from the process of making butter but also knew that is not what we buy in the store. That’s when I found this web page:
Thanks to this web page, I have made one and a half gallons (it would have been even more but we needed to have waffles last night before the latest batch was finished … had to use 3 cups of the store bought buttermilk for the recipe) from a half gallon container.
So now I am hunting around for recipes that call for buttermilk. I found one that I just had to try:
From “Betty Crocker’s Picture Cook Book – Revised and Enlarged” circa 1958:
“Delicately soft and cake-like” is the perfect description for these cookies. They are VERY soft and have the consistency of a flattened cupcake. They are also very mildly flavored. I’m not sure what I expected prior to making this recipe but know I did not get what I wanted. I did not like the cinnamon on top but I’m not sure what I could have replaced it with so I would really like these cookies. I will not make this recipe again but thought I would share … I’m sure some will like this recipe.
I will not give up my search for buttermilk recipes! I’ll share more as I find them!
I am finally, after 4 months, starting to really feel better. I want to thank everyone for their thoughts, energy, and prayers. It is very difficult to not over-do it but today I have a craving. I made these a few weeks ago before I relapsed and they were phenomenal. Perfect for those who are not looking to cut fat from their diet!
Rinse the chicken thighs, then pat dry. Sprinkle with as much as you want: Savory, Salt, and Pepper. Wrap each thigh with two pieces of bacon, ensuring the entire thigh is covered. Place the racks on the cookie sheets then place the bacon wrapped chicken thighs on the racks. Bake for about an hour, until the bacon is crispy and the juices of the chicken thighs runs clear.
That’s it! I will serve these tonight with homemade rice-a-roni and steamed veggies. I figure it will make everyone feel better if there is at least one healthy item on the menu! LOL!
