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.