WTF Cookbook

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Middle Eastern Lamb Slow Cooker Soup from AdagioM

soups | Looking for something more exotic? Add a pinch of saffron threads, available in gourmet food stores and some supermarkets, to tint this stew gold.

Ingredients
• 1 pound lean leg of lamb, stew meat, cut into 1-inch chunks
• 1/2 cup canned beef broth
• 1 large onion(s), chopped
• 1 large garlic clove(s), minced
• 14 1/2 oz canned diced tomatoes, undrained
• 15 oz canned garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
• 2 tsp ginger root, freshly grated
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp table salt
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
Instructions
• Place lamb in a 5-quart slow cooker. Add remaining ingredients, except lemon juice; stir well. Cover and cook on LOW setting for 7 to 8 hours.
• Stir in lemon juice and let stand for 5 minutes for flavors to blend. Yields about 1 1/2 cups per serving. (Note: Serve this stew in bowls.)

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We had our first 90 degree day a couple of days ago, and I made one of my favorite Lithuanian dishes.

It's a cold soup called Šaltibarščiai (cold beet soup). It's very refreshing on a hot summer day.

Cold Beet Soup

(chilling the ingredients means you can eat the soup right away or after a short chill in the frig)

1 jar Manischewitz Borscht, chilled
2 cups buttermilk
2 cans small whole beets, chilled
4 Persian cucumbers (miniature version of those English hothouse cucumbers that come wrapped in plastic and that you don't have to peel. Use the greenhouse cukes if you can't find the Persians)
1/2 cup sour cream
3 tablespoons chopped fresh dill

In a large bowl, whisk together the borscht, buttermilk, the liquid drained from the canned beets and the sour cream.

Coarsely shred the beets and stir them into the soup.

Quarter the cukes lengthwise (don't peel) and cut into slices (medium thickness). Add to soup.

Season with salt to taste (I never add any). Add dill.

Chill (especially if individual ingredients weren't chilled).

The soup is usually served with boiled potatoes on the side, and some people like to chop or quarter a hard boiled egg into the soup when it's served. I like the spuds as a side, but don't usually go for the egg.

Of course you can prepare your own beets at home, but during the summer when it is hot, I usually don't feel like heating up the kitchen, and beets can take a while to cook, so I cheat and use canned.

Not surprisingly, it's very pink.

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QuirtEvans' Cheesy Potatoes

1 lb. shredded potatoes
1 can cream of potato soup (or cream of chicken soup)
2 cups (8 oz.) shredded cheese ... the recipe calls for cheddar, I use a blend of cheddar and monterey jack
3/4 cup sour cream
1/4 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup butter, melted

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Combine all ingredients; spread into 2 quart glass baking dish. (It says to use nonstick cooking spray, but I never do.) Bake 45 minutes or until tender.

That's it!

The recipe also calls for a topping ... 1-1/2 cups of coarsely crushed corn flakes, and 2 tablespoons of butter ... but I've never done that.

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markb's potato onion frittata

3 medium-large potatoes
2 tablespoons light olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
4 eggs, beaten

Nuke or bake the taters in their skins until done but still firm. When cool enough to handle, peel and slice 1/4-inch thick.

Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a large skillet. Add the onion and sauté over medium heat until lightly browned.

Combine beaten eggs with the potatoes and onions in a mixing bowl. Season with salt and pepper.

Heat the remaining tablespoon of oil in the same skillet. Pour in the potato mixture. Cover and cook over medium heat until the bottom is golden brown and the top is fairly set, about 5 minutes.

Slide the frittata out onto a plate. Invert the skillet over the plate and quickly flip over so that the frittata goes back into the skillet, uncooked side down. Remove the plate, return the skillet to the heat, and cook the second side, uncovered, until golden brown.

Slide the frittata back onto the plate and let cool for a few minutes. The recipe says it can be topped with salsa, but we haven't done that.

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rustyfingers' strata

Strata's Fare

6 large eggs
1 C 2% Milk
1/16 tsp cayenne
1/2 tsp salt
1 oz horseradish
1/4 tsp ground thyme
4 oz grated parmesan
8 oz cheddar cheese, cubed
8 slices Velveeta, cubed
12 slices French bread, cubed
1/2 lb sausage

Beat liquids with flavorings and parmesan in large bowl. Toss bread, cheddar, and Velveeta with liquid. Line 8" square pan with sausage. Pour liquid mixture into pan. Bake in 350 oven 45 minutes until done.

Mom was ill at the time she put her recipe book together for me, so sometimes she left things out. I think if you use bulk sausage and precook it, crumbled, not in slices, that this works best.

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Dan's Breakfast Burritos

Breakfast burritos

Peel however many potatoes you need, cube 'em
Place in Pyrex mixing bowl.
Dot liberally with butter.
Cover with plastic wrap and shove it in the fridge.
On the day, put potatoes, still covered into microwave and nuke 'em

Scramble however many eggs you need.
When the 'taters are done, mix in the eggs.

Serve with a bag of shredded cheese for people to help themselves, tortillas, and several varieties of salsa.

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Steve Miller's Mother's Breakfast dish a la Spice Islands

This recipe comes from a Spice Islands cookbook dated 1961...

3 slices bacon
2T Instant Minced Onion (Mom noted "1/2 c fresh")
2T water
1t parsley
1/2 t salt
1/8 t Spice Parisienne (doubling it doesn't hurt)
4 eggs
1/8 t fine grind black pepper
1/2 c shredded swiss cheese

Cut bacon into pieces with kitchen scissors. Fry until brown, but not crisp. Pour off all but 1T of fat. Meanwhile, rehydrate onions in water. Add to bacon along with parsley and saute until onions are browned. Season with 1/4 t salt and Spice Parisienne. Spread out evenly in frying pan. Break eggs into pan. Season with remaining salt and pepper. Sprinkle with cheese. Cover and cook slowly until eggs are set and cheese is melted. serve at once. Makes 2 servings.

Sandy and I go a bit simpler... and with more abundance! No recipe needed, really. Just fry bacon and onions, put eggs in , season, cover with cheese, cover and cook... or more specifically:

1/2 # of bacon
1/2 an onion chopped
fry together. Drain some fat off, if desired.
spread out and make wells...as many as you want eggs.
6- 8 eggs
put eggs in wells
sprinkle with Beau Monde ( yes, they still make it. I think Mom did not have the Spice Parisienne on hand)
1 c shredded american cheese ( Mom's thing)
Sprinkle with cheese.
Cover and cook untill eggs are set... 4 - 6 minutes for soft eggs.
Serve at once.

Remember, they are a spice company and use as many of their products as possible. Mom simplified it...
Enjoy!

Mom left the pepper out - she hated pepper. I'd probably double the amount called for.

Jodi

I still make Cindy’s bourbon cranberry sauce. Fun to see the old member names. I still see a lot of them on Facebook.

Steve Miller

We make Cindy’s cranberry sauce too. Everyone has come to expect it.

Mik

Wanted something easy, healthy and used a lot of broccoli. This fit the bill and is quite delicious.

https://www.foodnetwork.com/fnk/recipes/sicilian-pasta-and-broccoli-8312243#reviewsTop

Mik

Made this cheeseburger soup at the request of my bride. Simple but very tasty homespun grub. I did put a third cup of stock in it.

https://allrecipes.familyfreshrecipes.com/?p=5036

wtg

Soup season is upon us. Temps barely touched 50 here today and the first frost will hit us tonight.

@Mik - Have been looking for a recipe for cheeseburger soup. Will give that one a try!

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Mexican Sweet Corn Cake. I saw it on Christopher Kimball's Milk Street a few days ago; it was an episode featuring blender cakes. I bought a new blender earlier this week and had to test it out.

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It's quite good. Not nearly as sweet as I thought it would be with the condensed milk in it. I didn't do the powdered sugar on top for the whole cake because it gets gluey when it sits on the cake for a day or two.

Recipe here on a PBS website, though it was part of a Mexican foods episode rather than blender cakes.

https://wskg.org/episodes/2020-09-21/milk-street-mexican-favorites-ep-402

And here is a video of Kimball making the cake at home in an episode of the COVID-era Milk Street at Home.

Link to video

Steve Miller

All of the recipes on that page look fantastic!

Off to buy cranberry beans because I finally used up the 10# bag of them I bought at a restaurant supply place just as the Covid lockdown began.

Steve Miller

Turns out that none of the 4 grocery stores around me carry cranberry beans. I ended up buying them from Amazon and they’ll be here tomorrow.

When I came home and read up on them, however, I learned that two of the stores do sell them, one as “Roman Beans” and the other as “Borlotti Beans”.

Learn something every day!

wtg

@Steve-Miller said in WTF Cookbook:

“Roman Beans” and the other as “Borlotti Beans”.

The PBS link with the recipes mentioned that. I hadn't looked at the recipes other than the sweet corn cake one, so I went back after your first post and read the whole article and saw the bit about the beans; I didn't know they went by all of those different names either.

Are you doing the pork part of that recipe?

Steve Miller

No pork this time although I’m sure it would be delicious. I’m on a high fiber weight loss kick and beans get the job done. I have ham broth in the freezer that I made from the Easter ham (It’s crazy good with anything bean) and it should provide the pork kick I want.

I think a teaspoon of Mexican Oregano is going to bring that recipe over the top!

If you haven’t sampled Cranberry beans I highly recommend you do. I like all beans but Cranberries are my favorite.

Steve Miller

The beans are delicious!

wtg

From rustyfingers:

Slow Cooker Chicken Mole

We've been experimenting a lot with the slow cooker this year, and this is one of my favorites so far. Adapted from allrecipes.com

Ingredients

1 large onion, chopped (lazy cooks can substitute equivalent chopped frozen onion)
1/2 cup raisins
3 cloves garlic, chopped (I actually used 3 tsp jarred minced garlic)
2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds
1 small can chipotle chiles in adobo sauce (I didn't see that it was supposed to be chopped and actually cooked the chiles whole--the immersion blender chopped it up nicely--some commenters on allrecipes think this is too spicy and just use one chile, but we liked it with more punch)
scant 3 tablespoons old fashioned peanut butter
1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes (I substituted 2 14 oz cans of diced tomatoes)
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
4 teaspoons chili powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1 whole roasting chicken

Directions

Place onion, raisins, garlic, sesame seeds, chipotle pepper, peanut butter and crushed tomatoes in large slow cooker. Stir in sugar, cinnamon, chili powder, cumin, coriander, nutmeg, and cocoa powder. Place chicken breast side down on top of, not covered by, the other ingredients.

Cover; cook on high until chicken is done (use a meat thermometer) and tender, about 4-5 hours.

Remove chicken gently from slow cooker, trying not to lose the bones.

Use an immersion blender to make the sauce smooth and creamy.

If the chicken is done enough you can basically peel off the skin and then carve it with a soup spoon. Put the meat back in the pot in large pieces without the bones and without the skin. Let it simmer while you make a pot of rice. Or shred it, add it back to the sauce and use for tacos.

It tastes even better the next day.

You may have more sauce than you need for the chicken. You can freeze it for the next time to put over leftover chicken. Or at this time of year, it would be good on leftover Thanksgiving turkey.

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RED LENTIL DAL WITH AROMATICS
(Cindy simplified version)

1 c. lentils
1 large onion, chopped
3 large garlic cloves, sliced
1-2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and chopped
Olive oil
1 tsp or more turmeric
1 15-ounce can unsweetened coconut milk minus cream (or low-fat version)
3 shallots, sliced
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
3 bay leaves
1 tsp or more mustard seeds

Wash lentils. Saute onions, garlic, jalapeno in some olive oil for one minute. Add turmeric, lentils and about 2 c. water. Boil, then lower heat and simmer covered until lentils are soft, maybe 30 minutes. (Add more water if you need it -- the recipe calls for 3 cups but that is way too much).

Add coconut milk and simmer 5 minutes. Correct for salt.

Heat some olive oil in small skillet over high heat. Add shallots, red chile, bay and mustard seeds. Fry until mustard seeds begin to turn gray. Stir mixture into lentils and serve over rice.

[As with all vegetarian recipes, be prepared to increase the spices. Also, this recipe tastes like newspaper until you add the salt, so don't freak out. And don't oversalt!]

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