Fancy Brussel Sprouts

I love Brussels sprouts, but most of my family doesn't so I usually make them for company.  I adapted this dish from a Guy Fieri Recipe for Christmas dinner last year.  His recipe calls for currents and raisins and pine nuts, but I am not crazy about pine nuts and tend not to like sweet raisins and currents mixed into vegetables, especially when the savory flavors of bacon and capers are supposed to be there.  So, I chose red peppers and added sesame seeds for a little extra texture.

• 2 16 oz. bags fresh Brussels sprouts
• 6 oz diced pancetta
• 3 oz. jar capers, drained
• 6 tbsp. olive oil
• 3 tbsp. balsamic vinegar
• 1-2 red peppers, diced
• salt to taste
• sesame seeds

Wash Brussels sprouts and cut in half.  Saute pancetta and capers in skillet, remove and set aside.  Cook sprouts in pancetta fat until slightly brown, transfer to casserole.  Mix in oil, vinegar, peppers and season with salt, roast in 350 oven for 20-30 min. or until nicely browned and tender.  Mix in pancetta and capers, transfer to serving dish and sprinkle with sesame seeds.

Sweet potato casserole

My adaptation of the Southern Living classic, with less butter, maple syrup and orange juice instead of the sugar and milk and no pecans. I also bake the potatoes in the oven instead of boiling...  more carmelizaed potato sweetness!

• 6 medium sweet potatoes*
• 1/2 cup maple syrup
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/3 cup orange juice (fresh squeezed, if possible)

Scrub potatoes, rub skins with oil and prick with fork.  Bake  at 400 degrees for about an hour, or until soft.  Cool; skins will loosen and peel off easily. Mash in a large mixing bowl.
Beat eggs and stir into potatoes.  Add syrup, vanilla and orange juice and mash until smooth.  Pour into greased casserole dish.

Topping: (if you family doesn't insist on marshmallows)
Cut 2 tablespoons butter into 2 tablespoons flour until crumbly; mix with 1/3 cup brown sugar. Sprinkle over top.  Bake at 350 for 30 minutes or until hot and bubbly.

*"Medium" must have meant something much smaller than today's typical sweet potato when this recipe was written.  Usually I need no more than 3-4 of today's size potatoes, and that's with saving a cup for muffins.

Hash Brown Soup

My daughter is a potato snob. She loves potatoes, but typically insists they be prepared from scratch and turns up her nose at instant or frozen products (though she makes an exception for KFC mashed potatoes and gravy, for some reason.)

For that reason, she was skeptical about this soup, but wound up really liking it, especially when I explained that, given the reduced prep and cooking time, it was likely to appear far more often potato soup from scratch.

• 1 chopped onion


• 1 tablespoon olive oil


• 3 cans chicken broth


• 1 large bag Southern style hash browns, frozen


• 1 can cream of celery soup


• 1 can cream of chicken soup


• 1.5 cups skim milk


• 1 pound shredded cheddar

Saute onion in oil. Add to broth in saucepan, bring to boil. Add hash browns and boil again. Add soups and milk, boil again. Stir in cheese until melted.

Squash and pear soup

A recipe from an August 96 Mom friend. Delicious and great-smelling; I may serve it for Thanksgiving. I think it would be good with nutmeg instead of thyme

• 1 lg. butternut squash, peeled and cubed.
• 1 lg. onion, chopped
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 3 pears, peeled and cubed
• 32 oz. chicken or vegetable stock
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh thyme
• salt and pepper to taste

Heat oil in Dutch oven over medium heat. Add onion and squash, cook covered for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add pears and chicken stock, heat to boiling. Reduce heat and simmer 25 minutes. Add thyme. Puree in blender, two cups at a time, then return to stove. Serve hot.

Chilled cucumber soup

I don't really like cucumbers. But, all my friends with gardens have raised bumper crops this year and given me lots. Since I had a cucumber gazpacho in Spain a view years ago that was pretty good, I decided to try a chilled soup. It is good, and unlike most where you just grind up the cukes, cooking them cuts the cucumber-y taste. It's almost like a potato soup.

• 1 large onion, chopped
• 5 cucumbers, peeled, seeded and chopped
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/4 cup flour
• several sprigs flat leaf parsley
• several sprigs fresh dill
• 5 cups chicken broth, hot (I used turkey broth from a recent breast I roasted... it worked great!)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1/2 cup skim milk
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice

Melt butter in skillet, saute onions and cucumbers with pepper until tender and onions are translucent. Sprinkle with flour and cook for 1 minute. Transfer to soup pan and add broth, salt and spices. Heat until boiling, then cover, reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes.

Cool in pan, then puree in blender with sour cream, lemon juice and milk. Chill several hours.

Green Tomato Pasta with Bacon

I made this for dinner tonight; a nice change from regular spaghetti. You have to love the split-personality nature of a recipe that has you frying things in a combination of olive oil and bacon grease.

• 6 slices thick cut bacon
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 3 cloves pressed garlic
• 3-4 medium green tomatoes, diced
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon red pepper
• 1/2 cup white wine
• 1/2 yellow sweet pepper, chopped
• 2/3 cup grated cheese (Romano, parmesan or mozzarella)
• 1/2 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley
• 1/2 pound spaghetti

Fry bacon in skillet. Remove and drain on paper towels. Pour off all but 1 tablespoon bacon grease, mix in olive olive. Saute garlic for 1 minute, then add tomatoes, salt, and pepper. Cook for 7-10 minutes. Add wine and chopped peppers. Cook for about 10 minutes, until sauce thickens. Add parsley and crumbled bacon; stir in just before removing from heat.

While sauce thickens, cook pasta to al dente stage. Drain, reserving some of the hot pasta water. Add cheese and sauce to pasta along with 1/2-1 cup of the water. Stir thoroughly and serve. Serves 3-4.

Vidalia Onion Casserole

This recipe I got from my Sister-in-law. She served it for Thanksgiving dinner and my daughter (the pickiest eater in our household) loved it. I'm not sure why, since she's not particularly fond of onions, cornbread, sour cream or creamed corn, but she asked I make it again at our first Christmas potluck.

• 1/2 cup butter
• 2 large Vidalia or other sweet onions
• 8 oz sour cream
• 2 tsp dill weed
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 cup grated cheddar or jack cheese, divided
• 15 oz can creamed corn
• 4 dashes hot sauce
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1/3 cup milk
• 1 box Jiffy cornbread mix

Saute onions in butter until soft, not brown. Add sour cream, dill, salt and 1/2 cup cheese to skillet, stir and set aside. Combine cream corn, hot sauce, egg, milk and cornbread mix in separate bowl, stir to combine. Add onion mixture to cornbread mixture, combine and pour into greased 9 X 13 casserole dish. Top with remaining cheese. Bake 40 minutes at 425 degrees.

Sausage and white bean soup

A hearty bean soup for winter. I recently made this with the vegetable stock and the sausage cooked separately when taking a meal to a family of mixed vegetarian/omnivores.

• 1.5 pounds dried navy beans
  
• 1.5 tablespoons olive oil
  
• 1.5 pounds smoked sausage
  
• 1 large onion, chopped
  
• 3 stalks celery, chopped
  
• 1.5 tablespoons minced garlic
  
• 12 cups vegetable or chicken stock
  
• 5 cups water
  
• 3 bay leaves
  
• 1 teaspoon thyme
  
• 1 tablespoon salt
  
• 1 tablespoon black pepper
  
• 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
  

Soak beans overnight. Cook and slice sausage, set aside.  In bottom of soup pot, heat oil, then saute onion, celery and garlic.  Add beans, stock, water, salt and spices.  Bring to boil, cover partially, reduce heat and simmer 3 hours. Mash about half the beans with potato masher. Add sausage and heat through.  Top with shredded cheese, if desired and serve with bread.

Squash Casserole

The same prep school dietician who supplied the wonderful Turkey Divan used this recipe for squash. For you, Pop-tart.

• 1 pound squash
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 1/4 cup chopped green pepper
• 1/2 cup chopped nuts
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup grated cheese
• 1 cup bread crumbs
• 1/2 stick butter
• 1/2 cup chopped pimento
• salt and pepper to taste

Topping:

• 1 cup bread crumbs
• 1/2 stick melted butter

Cook, drain and mash squash, add rest of ingredients. Mix bread crumbs and butter for topping, sprinkle over all. Cook in casserole dish for 40 minutes at 350 degrees.

Zucchini Bread

A recipe from my daughter's Sunday school teacher.  My daughter loved this and it was the first indication I had that she would eat zucchini. This, plus the zucchini parmesan muffins below were two ways I partially disposed of Zucchini-Zilla.

• 1 1/2 cups flour
  
• 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
  
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
  
• 1 teaspoon salt
  
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
  
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
  
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  
• 2 eggs, beaten
  
• 2 cups sugar
  
• 2 cups shredded zucchini
  
• 1/2 cup oil
  

Combine dry ingredients in large bowl.  Make a well in the center. Combine eggs, sugar, zucchini, and oil, mix thoroughly. Add to dry ingredients all at once; stir all just until moistened. pour into two greased loaf pans, bake 40-50 minutes at 350 degrees. Let sit overnight.

Zucchini Parmesan Muffins

A friend from church gave me a huge zucchini from her garden. This is one of the uses I put it to.

• 2 eggs
  
• 3/4 cup milk
  
• 2/3 cup oil
  
• 2 1/2 cups flour
  
• 1/4 cup sugar
  
• 2 teaspoons salt
  
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
  
• 2 cups shredded zucchini
  
• 2 tablespoons ground fresh basil
  
• 1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
  

Grease 24 muffin tins.  Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Beat eggs, then stir in oil and milk.  Mix all dry ingredients, then add gradually to egg mixture, mixing until almost smooth.  Fold in zucchini and basil. Fill muffin tins half full, top with a pinch of cheese.  Bake for 15-20 minutes until golden brown. 

Greek Lemon Roasted Potatoes

In Cyprus last year we had the most delicious oven-roasted potatoes, apparently the secret recipe of our hotel owner George's mother. I haven't been able to duplicate them yet but this recipe comes the closest so far. I made them this week for a friend on a gluten-free diet who just had a baby; my family loved them, too.

• 4-5 pounds baking potatoes, quartered
• 1 cup water
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1/2 cup lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon oregano, Greek if you can find it.
• 1 tablespoon salt
• Pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 500 degrees. Mix liquids and spices together. Place potatoes in roasting pan, pour oil and juice mixture over them, use hands to toss until coated. Bake uncovered for 30 minutes, turn potatoes and bake for another 30 minutes until tender and brown. If they dry out, add some more water midway through baking.