Brenda's Caesar Salad

When I was living in Nova Scotia, I had many food get-togethers. 

Family and friends would come over for a feed of spaghetti with 

my spaghetti sauce (recipe to come later) and my Godmother Brenda was always gracious in sharing her awesome Caesar salad.  We enjoyed it very much. I just had to share it with you guys. Thank you, Brenda, for sending it to me (and for making it for me, too!). When I make this to bring for potlucks or friends, I make the dressing in a jar and take it along and mix it all when it's time to serve the salad. Enjoy!

Brenda's Caesar Salad

Makes 8 to 10 servings

Ingredients: 

2 heads Romaine Lettuce
1/2 lb bacon
1 cup bread croutons
6 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 tablespoons vinegar
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon salt (optional )
Pinch each of sugar, pepper, dry mustard and tarragon

Few dashes of Tabasco Sauce ( to your taste )
Few dashes of Worcestershire sauce ( to your taste)
1 teaspoon finely chopped parsley
1 teaspoon finely chopped garlic
1  fresh raw egg
3/4 cup grated fresh Parmesan cheese.
1/2 cup fresh parsley

Separate and wash each leaf of the romaine lettuce, then dry both sides with adsorbent paper. In a frying pan, cook diced bacon until crisp . When bacon is cooked, remove and set aside. Fry in bacon juice until golden: one cup bread croutons. Set aside.

In bottom of a large wooden bowl (or into a Mason jar if you need to travel with it to a dinner out) combine:  Vegetable oil, vinegar, olive oil,  lemon juice and salt ( optional ). Season with a pinch each of: sugar, pepper, dry mustard and tarragon. Add: To your taste: Dash of tabasco Sauce, dash of Worcestershire sauce. Add:  finely chopped parsley, finely chopped garlic and fresh raw egg.

Stir with a wooden spoon until blended.  

Break lettuce leaves  into small  pieces and arrange over dressing . Sprinkle with grated fresh Parmesan cheese.
Add bacon, croutons and sprinkle with fresh parsley.  DO NOT MIX. 

Cover and refrigerate until serving time. Toss a few minutes before serving.

Mocha-Chocolate cupcakes

These delicious cupcakes get a 12 out of 10 on the yummy and chocolate scale with my husband, Dave. They are very good and very easy to make. No mixer needed.  You would probably have all the ingredients in your cupboards, too. I like recipes like that. Actually, I prefer recipes like that. So, stock up your larder and let's get baking some cupcakes! Enjoy!

Frosted Mocha-Chocolate cupcakes
Makes 12 cupcakes


1/2 cup Fry's Cocoa powder (or your favourite brand)
1 teaspoon instant coffee granules
3/4 cup boiling water
1 and 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup white sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract


1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
candy sprinkles, optional


Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.


Blend freshly boiled water with the cocoa powder and instant coffee granules. Set aside to cool a little bit.


In a large bowl, mix together the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt and baking powder. In another bowl, mix together the vegetable oil, egg, vanilla and cooled cocoa/coffee mixture.  Blend well. Pour this liquid mixture into the dry mixture and whisk until smooth. 


Pour batter evenly into a prepared muffin tin (either sprayed with non-stick spray or lined with muffin cups). Bake at 350 F for 25 to 30 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in the centre of the muffins comes out with only a few moist crumbs attached. 


Let muffins cool in pan for about 10 mins and remove onto a 
cooling rack. 


Once the muffins are only a little warm, make the frosting as follows: 


Mix the dark chocolate chips with the vegetable oil and heat in 
the microwave, 15 seconds at a time, until melted and blend well. 
Pour onto the muffins (it will be runny and gooey) and decorate with 
sprinkles, if desired.  At this point, I put the muffins (on the cooling 
rack or back in a muffin tin) into the fridge to set the frosting. Other-
wise, it'll take a couple of hours for it to harden, and I just can't wait 
that long! 


These are very rich and full of chocolate flavour.  Enjoy!! 

Pam's Breakfast Casserole

This is a wonderful recipe that I got from my friend Pam in Washington state. Around there, they call this Endicott's Favorite Breakfast Casserole. There are many versions of breakfast casseroles online but this one is, by far, the best. Honest! I made this recipe one New Year's eve, to have for breakfast the next morning, when we had our niece Laura and her husband Matt visiting with us. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did! 

Breakfast Casserole

8-10 large eggs

2 cups milk

1 can of cream of mushroom soup

3/4 lb cheddar, grated

8 slices of white bread, cubed

1/2 medium onion, chopped

20 link sausages, browned and set aside or:

   1 lb cooked crumbled bacon, bulk pork sausage, cubed ham or any kind of local sausages, such as German.

Mix together the eggs, milk and cream of mushroom soup.  Stir in the cheese, cubed bread and onion.  At this point, you can add the meat of your choice and stir it in or you can wait until you have it in a greased 9" x 13" baking dish/pan and arrange the sausage links on top.  Push them down into the egg/bread mixture a little bit. 

At this point, you can either store in the fridge overnight or, if you're in a hurry, let it sit for a bit to "let the bread and eggs shake hands".  Place in a 350 F oven and bake for 1 and 1/2 hours. Watch closely after an hour to check for doneness and to make sure it gets nicely browned. The leftovers are great, too! 

Enjoy! 

Nova Scotia Fishcakes

When I was growing up, I loved it when someone served these for a meal. We'd have them mostly when we visited our relatives in Nova Scotia over the holidays (Christmas and summer vacations). The salt fish (cod) to make these can be found in our local grocery stores in the Maritimes. I'm not sure about other areas. These are very good! They bring back some lovely memories of Nova Scotia. 

Nova Scotia Fishcakes

1 lb salt fish*, freshened (soaked in water overnight, then rinsed) and flaked

3 cups mashed potatoes

1 onion, finely chopped 

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1 egg

Vegetable oil or butter for frying

* For those of us who cannot have the amount of salt in this fish (and there is a lot but it is so good!), an equal amount of poached haddock will do just fine and just add a bit of salt for flavouring. They are very good this way, too! 

Combine first 5 ingredients and mix well. Form into 12 patties. Heat oil, or butter, and fry patties until heated through and golden browned on both sides.  Serves 6. 

Dad's Chicken a la King

I bet you guys thought I had forgotten about you, huh?  I have been busy going through all of my recipes and memories to try and find the ones that really stand out.  Here is one that my father used to make a lot. My Dad was in the Canadian Air Force (RCAF it was called back then) and he told me that they used to serve this chicken a la king often on base. He got the recipe from one of the cooks at one of the bases where we were stationed. As he was making it once, while visiting with us, I copied down the directions as he went along. My father never cooked with a recipe and his food always came out the same.  Down right yummy! This recipe feeds an army, so you might want to downsize the ingredients and make a smaller batch. Enjoy! 


Chicken a la King


Meat from one large cooked chicken, diced
1 package of mixed vegetables, or 4 cups or so
1 quart cream sauce (below) 


Cream sauce:
1/4 lb butter
Flour to soak up butter (about 4-6 tablespoons)
1 quart milk (use as much as you need to thicken up the sauce)
3 tablespoons chicken soup base (powder), or to taste
Pepper to taste


Make cream sauce and combine all ingredients together in a large casserole dish or dutch oven.  Cover with foil and bake at 350 F for 1 hour.  Serve over sliced toast. 

Mom's Chicken Fricot

When my three brothers were gone from home and it was just Mom, Dad and me, Mom and I compared and tried out new recipes. When I moved out, the comparing continued and we were always calling each other and sharing recipes. Once, when Mom and Dad were on a visit to our home, Dad took to making this as Mom wrote down the recipe for me. As she used to say, when it comes to a homemade recipe, it's made by taste and using your eye for measure, so recipes for these treasures weren't always written down anywhere. This is quite funny, actually. I am going to write this word for word (quotes and all). I hope you enjoy it. Some call this chicken stew. This is so good!

You can measure ingredients to your own specifications, but usually a large potato per person is used. Poutines are dumplings and the ones made here are potato dumplings.

------

Mom's Fricot aux Poutine Râpé

1 Chicken (small, medium or large) "peeled" and boiled with lots of onions (3 big ones).

Add salt and pepper

Add salted green onions* to your tasted and at least 2 chicken OXO cubes.

After the chicken is cooked, peel it off the bones.

Peel and cube potatoes. Cook in the broth. After it's almost cooked, add chicken and prepare your "Poutines".

(Pour 1 glass of wine, club soda, juice of any kind or any of your favourite drink. Drink the above (if you want)).

Proceed with your poutines.

Add enough broth to rapure blocks** to make soft balls, about 1 big tablespoon.  Drop in the above "mess", not too close together and watch the "DANG" thing cook. It should be fit to eat.

PS - Poutines should be about the size of a medium egg.

Love,

Mom

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* Salted green onions (an Acadian staple in Nova Scotia). Just use more salt and onions if you don't have these around.

** Rapure blocks are found in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick and are used, these days, to make an Acadian dish called Rapure (Rappie Pie).

Delicious Cinnamon Bread

Here is another recipe that I got from my sister-in-law, Mary. I've made this quite a few times and it's never failed me. I got a lot of recipes from her that I've made over the years. I do love to spend a lot of time in the kitchen and intend on doing more of that upon retirement. That's probably not a good thing. ;) This recipe smells so nice when it's baking.  It tastes even better! 


Cinnamon Bread


1/4 cup butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup sour milk*


* To sour the milk, add 1 tablespoon of white vinegar to a measuring cup and fill to correct measurement with milk and then stir to mix it well. It sours upon standing. 


Preheat oven to 350 F. 


Cream butter and sugar then add eggs and vanilla.  Mix dry ingredients in a separate bowl. To the butter mixture, add the sour milk and the dry ingredients alternately, until just mixed.


In a small dish, blend:


3 tablespoons of brown sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon. 


Spread 1/3 of the batter in a greased loaf pan.  Cover with half of the cinnamon mixture. Cover that with another 1/3 of the batter, then the last part of the cinnamon mixture.  Finish with the last 1/3 of batter mixture. Cut through the batter with a knife (to swirl the cinnamon around a bit). 


Bake at 350 F for one hour. 

Tante Louise's Pumpkin Bread

In keeping with the fall season, here's something pumpkin-y for you. This is another one of my Tante Louise's yummy recipes. It really is good and I would recommend you make a couple of batches, when it's pumpkin season, and freeze some loaves for Christmastime. :) It's yummy enough to make anytime, really, as canned pumpkin is usually available at the grocery store year round. Enjoy! 

Pumpkin Bread
Makes 2 - 3 loaves


2 cups canned or cooked pumpkin
4 eggs
3 and 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons cinnamon (I use 1 tbsp pumpkin pie spice)
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
1 cup vegetable oil
2/3 cups water
3 cups sugar (I only use 2)
2 and 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Mix ingredients in order given*. Pour into 2 well-greased 9 x 5 or 3 of the 8 x 4 loaf pans. Bake at 350 F for 40-50 minutes or until a toothpick, inserted in the centre of the loaf, comes out clean. Larger loaves will take longer. 

*I usually mix my wet and dry ingredients separately and mix the dry into the wet until just combined. 

Cabbage Casserole

I've got my Pike Place Market apron on again today. Here is a recipe for Cabbage Casserole, otherwise known as "Lazy Cabbage Rolls".  It has all the same ingredients as cabbage rolls only you shred the cabbage instead of rolling the filling inside the cabbage leaves. I have made this numerous times.  It always comes out delicious, even if I make some changes, depending on what I have on hand. Thank you, Pam, for inadvertently reminding me this morning that I have been wanting to put this recipe up here with the rest of them. Enjoy this one.  We're having it for supper tonight! :) 


Cabbage Casserole


1 medium head of  cabbage
1 pound ground beef
1 medium onion, chopped
Salt and pepper to your taste
1 10 oz can tomato soup *
1 soup can of water
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce (optional, but I use it)
1/2 cup long grain rice (Minute Rice is okay, too, but long grain goes further)


* I sometimes use tomato sauce, canned diced tomatoes or spaghetti sauce, same measures, instead of tomato soup.


Shred cabbage and place into a well greased, large casserole dish (depending on the size of your cabbage) or dutch oven. Set aside. 


Saute the ground beef with onions and seasonings, breaking it up as it cooks. Add the tomato soup, water, Worcestershire sauce and rice and stir together.


Pour this mixture on top of the shredded cabbage and cover casserole dish with lid or foil (otherwise, the top and rice may become too dry).  Bake in a 350 F oven for one hour (a little longer if you have shredded your cabbage coarsely). 


Serves 4 people quite well. 

Yummy Cherry Bread

As you can see, there is neither rhyme nor reason for the order of the recipes I post. And... there never will be.  These just pop into my head as the most memorable recipes I have made and they are the ones I want to share the most with you folks.  Here is another yummy recipe that comesfrom my sister-in-law Mary.  It is really good! It's best to make two loaves at a time and freeze one for when you're craving something sweet. Oops.  Did I say that out loud? Enjoy! 

Cherry Bread

3/4 cup white sugar

1 egg, well beaten

1 small bottle of maraschino cherries

1/2 to 2/3 cup milk

2 cups all purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

dash of salt

1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional)

butter, size of an egg, melted (or 1 tbsp oil)

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Beat egg with sugar well.  Drain cherries (save juice) and dust cherries with 1/4 cup flour.  To juice of cherries, add enough milk to make one cup.  Mix dry ingredients alternately with wet ingredients.  Add melted butter, nuts and cherries.  

Pour into a loaf pan and bake at 350 F for one hour or until a toothpick, poked in the middle, comes out clean. 

Onion Ring Special

I'm not sure who I got this recipe from.  It was on a recipe card, in their own handwriting, which I don't recognize.  But, I make this onion/pepper mix in the summertime to add to the cold plates during hot weather dinners.  It's always a hit.  I know it sounds like a lot of sugar (especially for those of you who might be diabetic, like me, or have to cook for a diabetic) but you don't actually "use" the brine.  It just pickles the onions and peppers.  The longer it sits in the fridge, the stronger and lovelier the taste.  We really love it.  Enjoy! 

Onion Ring Special

1 large sweet onion, sliced in very thin (slices) rings

Cold water to cover

1 red pepper, sliced in rings

1 green pepper, sliced in rings

1 yellow pepper, sliced in rings

1 and 1/3 cups sugar

1 and 1/3 cups water

1 and 1/3 cups vinegar

2 tablespoons olive oil

Separate onion slices into rings.  Soak in cold water for one hour.  Drain.  Add peppers to the onions.  Mix sugar, water, vinegar and oil in a saucepan. Bring to a boil.  Stir until sugar dissolves.  Pour over onion/pepper mixture and cover.  Chill for 24 hours before serving. 

This will keep, in the fridge, for quite a while.  If you can wait that long. :) 

Mom's Nut Bread

This is another one of my Mom's delicious recipes.  It filled the house with such a yummy smell when it was baking in the oven. She always made this around the holidays. I have made this nut bread many times since leaving home.  It's like Mom's squares.  It didn't last long. It was gone in a flash. Give it a try. You won't be disappointed!

Nut Bread

1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon butter
1 egg
1 cup milk
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt (1/2 teaspoon is fine, too)
1 cup walnuts, chopped

Cream together sugar and butter.  Add egg and mix well.  Add milk and combine.

In a bowl, mix flour, baking powder, salt and walnuts.  Add to wet ingredients and mix until just combined.  Do not overmix.

Pour into a greased loaf pan and let stand 10-20 minutes.  Bake at 350 F for one hour or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Mary's Gingersnap Cookies

This is an awesome recipe for gingersnap cookies. It comes from my sister-in-law Mary who is an awesome cook.  I'm not the only one who can vouch for that. She was always making cookies when our nieces were growing up and I was able to sample a few batches myself, when I was visiting. Lucky me! I've tried a few gingersnap and soft molasses cookie recipes but this one has got to be the easiest and, by far, the tastiest. I'm sure you will agree. You might just want to double the batch. Seriously! 


Gingersnap Cookies


3/4 cup shortening (or half margarine, half shortening)
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1/4 cup molasses
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cloves
2 teaspoons (at least) ground ginger (I use 3)
granulated sugar to coat


Preheat oven to 375 F.


Cream together shortening/margarine and sugar. Add egg and molasses and beat well. Combine flour, baking soda and spices in a bowl. Add to creamed mixture and combine until smooth. Dough should be a bit stiff to roll. 


Roll dough into 1 inch balls and dip into sugar to coat. Place on a greased baking sheet and flatten slightly with a fork.  


Bake at 375 F for 10-12 minutes, or until tops are slightly cracked and cookies are nearly firm. 


Makes about 40 cookies. 

Tante Louise's Pumpkin Cookies

This is a recipe that is requested a lot. My Tante Louise gave me this recipe back in the early 1990s and I have made plenty of batches since and shared the recipe with family and friends. They're different from other pumpkin cookies because they contain chocolate chips. Yum! I like to use the mini chocolate chips as they go further. I seriously don't think you can eat just one. Enjoy!

PUMPKIN CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

1/2 cup butter or margarine

1 and 1/2 cups sugar

1 egg

1 cup cooked or canned pureed pumpkin

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 and 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp cinnamon

1 cup chocolate chips (more or less, as desired)

Preheat oven to 350 F. 

Cream butter and sugar.  Beat in egg, pumpkin and vanilla.  Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, nutmeg and cinnamon.  Add to butter mixture.  Mix well.  Add chocolate chips.  





Drop by tablespoonfuls, on a greased cookie sheet.

Bake at 350 degrees F for about 15 minutes, until just turning golden brown.  Remove from cookie sheet and cool on a rack until you can't wait any longer to dig into them. Makes about 3 - 4 dozen cookies (depending on how big you like them). 

Grandmere's Banana Bread

My Dad's Mother was such a good cook. Both of my Grandmothers were. I have many great memories of traveling across Canada to Nova Scotia to visit with my relatives and eating copious amounts of food. What is it with Grandmothers wanting to make sure you ate enough, huh? LOL My Dad's Mom, Leah, always had a boiled haddock dinner for us for a meal, an Acadian Rapure for another and always had some of her banana bread on the counter. I even remember her always making tea. "Remember", she'd say "always make sure to heat your teapot with boiling water before you add the teabags and then you add the water".. "Oh, and don't forget to run boiling water in your teacup, too, before adding your tea".  Always smiling, always stuffing our faces. Aaaah... such memories. This recipe is basic and I show my exchanges along with it. It can very easily be doubled. Bet you can't eat just one slice! 


Grandmere's Banana Bread

Preheat oven to 300 F


Cream together: 
1 cup of sugar (I only use 1/2 cup and it's more than enough)
1/2 cup shortening (I use soft margarine)
dash of salt
3 medium, ripe bananas, mashed


Add 2 beaten eggs to the above mixture. 


In a separate bowl, mix:


2 cups all-purpose flour (I use whole wheat or half and half)
1 teaspoon baking soda 


Mix all together until just blended.  Pour into a greased loaf pan. Bake in a 300 F oven for one hour. 


* For 4 mini-loaves, bake for 40 mins. 
   For 12 muffins, bake at 400 F for 16-18 minutes.

Mom's famous squares

I remember these squares quite fondly from when I was growing up.  My brother Andy says that, whenever there was a bake sale for school or for Cubs and Scouts, my brothers would bring a batch of these to sell. They would watch them like hawks, hoping no one would buy them so they could have the leftovers. They are that good! There were never any leftovers of these at the bake sales. Mom still made them after we were grown up and gone from home, for special occasions. Mostly at Christmastime.  Unfortunately, Alzheimer's has robbed her of the ability to make them anymore.  I would love to share them with you. They are also known as Blondies. I hope they become a family tradition in your house! 

Mom's Butterscotch Brownies

1/4 cup butter or margarine, room temperature

1 cup brown sugar

1 egg, unbeaten

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 cup chopped walnuts

1/4 teaspoon salt

Melt butter in a saucepan and mix in the brown sugar.  Blend well and cool slightly.  Add egg and stir.  Add vanilla extract and mix again. 

In a bowl,  mix flour, baking powder, chopped walnuts and salt.  Add brown sugar mixture to this and stir. 

Pour into a greased 8" square pan and bake at 350 F for 20 minutes, or until firm in the middle.  Let cool completely.

Frosting

1 teaspoon butter or margarine

1 cup icing sugar

milk

walnuts, finely chopped

Blend butter/margarine and icing sugar into a paste, if you can, and add a little milk at a time, mixing until the right consistency to frost the squares.  When the squares are iced, sprinkle with finely chopped walnuts.  Cut and serve. 

They go fast! You might want to make a double batch. 

Bran, glorious bran.

We like to start our mornings off with some home-baked bran muffins. I have tried many different recipes, some of which make very large batches to freeze for later.  We found that this was a good thing to do, especially when traveling. Mind you, we have since come to prefer having them freshly made, in smaller batches.  Keeps them moist yet dry and these muffins are great zapped in the microwave for 15 seconds and smothered ..well, topped with butter or margarine.

Banana Bran Muffins                                                  
Makes 12 muffins

1 cup all-purpose flour (I use whole wheat)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
Pinch of salt

1 cup of milk (I use soy milk and it works just fine)
3 eggs
1/2 cup packed brown sugar (sometimes I use Splenda)
1/4 cup molasses (I use light molasses)
1/4 cup canola or vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon banana extract (found in baking sections of grocery stores)
1 and 1/2 cups natural wheat bran cereal (not All-Bran)
1/2 cup raisins (optional)

Preheat oven to 400 F. Line a large muffin tin with 12 paper muffin cups.

Mix first 4 ingredients and set aside.

In a large bowl, beat the eggs.  Add the milk, brown sugar, molasses, vegetable oil, banana extract and the wheat bran cereal. Mix it all well and let it sit for about 5 minutes for the bran to absorb a bit of liquid.

The way I do things (and I know it's not the proper way... but, hey) is to pour the dry ingredients (with the raisins tossed in, if using, to be coated with the flour mixture) into the wet ingredients and mix, only until blended.  Do not over-mix. The batter will be a bit runny. This is normal. Let this stand for about 5 minutes or so.

Pour the batter into the 12 muffin cups, evenly, and let stand for about 5 more minutes.

Bake in a 400 F oven for 18-20 minutes, or until the tops of the muffins bounce back when you push on them. There you go! A good breakfast while at home with your favourite coffee or on the go.

Enjoy!

Welcome to my kitchen sync!

Well now.  Hello! Welcome to what I hope will be a long and fruitful blog friendship. :) I hope you enjoy the recipes I will share along with the stories that might go along with some special ones. I can't promise you "chef quality" cooking or baking, but I can promise you that all of the recipes I share are tried and true... by me and my husband Dave!  Let's get started, okay?

Blessings