Courtney's Obsession

I love, love, love old cookbooks. There’s something about the nostalgia of it all that makes me all tingly inside. I don’t know when or why the obsession started, but lately, I’ve been raffling through my Nanny’s library of cookbooks. Here’s a picture of one of my favorites:

This particular one is called “Lake Cities Women’s Club” and was printed in 1978. It’s so special because my Nanny has marked her favorite recipes. To me, reading an old cookbook is like going back in time where food was simpler and in turn, more delicious.
From this book, I’ve recently tried the Sourdough Bread. This is not a recipe for those who don’t like to get their hands dirty. The dough is super sticky but certainly worth the inconvenience!

Sourdough Bread

Difficulty: Hard & Messy

Sourdough Culture:
½ cups sugar
1 cup water
1¼ cups flour

5 cups flour
½ cups milk
½ cups water
3 TBSP. sugar
¼ cups melted shortening
2½ tsp. salt
1 package yeast (0.25 oz. package)
½ cups warm water

To feed culture: Place ½ cups sugar, 1 cup water, and 1¼ cups flour in a large bowl, cover, and let sit on the cabinet for 24 hours.
To make sourdough bread: sift 5 cups of flour into another large bowl and make a well in the center. Scald ½ cups milk and ½ cups water (heat until almost boiling). Add 3 TBSP. sugar, ¼ cup melted shortening, and 2½ tsp. salt to scalded mixture. Stir until dissolved and let cool. Dissolve yeast in a small bowl with ½ cups warm water. Add dissolved yeast and 1½ cups of the sourdough culture to flour, then add the milk-water mixture. Stir with a fork then knead for 10-15 minutes. As Hannah from Little Women would say, let your bread “riz” or rise until it’s doubled in size. Work down and make into loaves or rolls. Let rise again until doubled in size. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes.

Savory Zucchini Cakes

When you picture your favorite summer fruit, what do you imagine? I’m guessing the answer is probably watermelon, strawberries, or peaches. Mine is zucchini! And, boy, do I have a lot of them in my garden. So, instead of eating them raw or sautéed with sliced onions, I decided to try Savory Zucchini Cakes.

Savory Zucchini Cakes

Difficulty: Easy

1 medium zucchini
2 eggs
½ cup breadcrumbs
½ cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 TBSP minced garlic
Salt
Pepper
Olive Oil

First, start by cutting off the ends of the zucchini and shredding it. Once it’s shredded, place the zucchini in a cup towel and squeeze to drain all the water out. Ladies, learn from my mistakes, and don’t use your best towel here because it will turn green. Put the almost-dry-zucchini into a mixing bowl big enough to hold the rest of the ingredients. Add in the eggs, breadcrumbs, cheese, garlic, salt & pepper. Mix well to form a dough-like consistency. Heat some olive oil in a skillet (enough to cover the bottom of the pan by about ¼ inch). Shape your cakes into patties and place in the skillet. Cook 2-4 minutes on each side, until golden-brown. The smell of these babies alone will make your mouth water. Yields 5 cakes.

Notes on Savory Zucchini Cakes:
If you don’t have breadcrumbs, I’m sure you could use cornmeal and it would be just as delicious.
Feel free to use whatever kind of cheese you’d like. Cheddar is what I had on hand, but I plan on trying parmesan and mozzarella in the future.
The amount of breadcrumbs and eggs needed may vary depending on the size of your zucchini. You want the mixture to be easily formable, so if it’s thin like pancake batter, add more breadcrumbs. If it’s too dry and crumbles when you shape it, add another egg.

~Courtney

Sopapilla Cheesecake

Ms. Courtney introduced me to this incredible recipe. I've made cheesecake before, but never with crescent roll dough! I was skeptical, but after one bite I was done for...I had to send half of it to work with my husband just to keep myself from eating it all!

3 (8oz) pkg cream cheese, softened
1 1/2c sugar
1 1/2tsp vanilla
2 (8oz) cans crescent roll dough
1/2c melted butter
1/2c sugar
1tsp cinnamon
1/4c sliced almonds

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Beat the cream cheese with 1 1/2c sugar, and the vanilla in a bowl until smooth. Unroll the cans of crescent roll dough, and use a rolling pin to shape each piece into 13x9in rectangles. Press one pice into the bottom of a 13x9 baking dish. Spread cream cheese mix on top. cover with the remaining crescent dough piece. Drizzle melted butter on top of the cheesecake. Stir 1/2c sugar and cinnamon together in small bowl then sprinkle over the cheesecake. Sprinkle the almonds on top. Bake ~ 45min or until the crescent roll dough has puffed up and turned golden brown. Cool completely (in the fridge) before cutting into 12 squares.

*Lum Lum*

Chicken Rice Balls

So while I was looking around for a recipe for Onigiri, I came across this recipe for Chicken Rice Balls on a random website. I decided to try them out and was happily suprised at how great they taste! It was like a tiny thanksgiving dinner all rolled up into a little ball and drizzled with sauce!

1/2c finely chopped celery
1/3c sliced green onions, divided
2T butter
2T flour
1/2c chicken broth
2c cooked rice (white is better in this case; brown seems to make it drier)
1/2c shredded cheddar cheese
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/2tsp salt
1/2tsp chili powder
1/4tsp poultry seasoning
1/2c breadcrumbs
1 can cream of chicken soup
1/4c milk

In a medium saucepan, saute celery and half of the onions in butter until tender. Stir in flour. Add broth; cook and stir for 2 mintues (mixture will be thick). Stir in rice, chicken, cheese, egg, salt, chili powder and poutlry seasoning until well mixed. Shape 1/4 cupfuls into balls. Roll each in breadcrumbs and place in a greased 13x9 dish. Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a saucepan, combine soup, milk and remaining onions.

Cook and stir over medium heat until smooth and heated through; serve over balls.



Big Soft Pretzels

I kept thinking I had already posted this recipe on here, but I guess I haven't. This is my all time favorite snack/appetizer to serve people. :) Probably because I looooove soft pretzels so I assume everyone else does too, haha.

1 1/2c warm water
1pkg yeast
2T brown sugar
1 1/8tsp salt
1c bread flour
3c regular flour
2c warm water
2T baking soda
coarse kosher salt to taste
2-4T melted butter
1egg, slightly beaten

Sprinkle yeast on lukewarm water in mixing bowl; stir to dissolve. Add sugar, salt, and stir to dissovle; add flour and knead dough until smooth and elastic. Let rise 1/2 hour. While dough is rising, prepare a baking soda water bath with 2c warm water and 2T baking soda. Stir often. After dough has risen, pinch off bits of dough and roll into a long rope; shape into a pretzel. Dip pretzel into soda solution and place on *greased* baking sheet. Allow pretzels to rise again. Brush with egg and sprinkle with salt. Bake in a 450 degree oven for 8-10min or until golden brown. Brush with softened butter, and serve!

Sorry the pictures suck!

My camera screen is broken so we'll all just have to deal with it until I get a new one.

:\ *sigh*

New Spin on the Classic BLT

A normal BLT is just fine, but what about the people who can't stand tomatoes? Well here's the answer--apple slices!

What you'll need:

Toasted bread slices

Cooked bacon

Apple slices

Lettuce

Cheddar cheese slices

Turkey lunch meat

Mayo spread:

Mayo

Dijon mustard

pinch of thyme

Construction:

---toasted bread slice---

~smear of mayo spread~

| | |

~bacon slices~

~apple slices~

| | |

~smear of mayo spread~

---toasted bread slice---

| | |

~lettuce~

--turkey slices--

-cheddar cheese-

| | |

~smear of mayo spread~

---toasted bread slice---

Soooo gooooood.



Copycat-ish* Mexican Pizza

So I found this copycat recipe online. Unfortunately, this doesn't taste like the Taco Bell Mexican Pizza, but it still tastes really good and I'll definitely be making it again! However, next time I'm using 1/2lb instead of a whole pound of meat. I'm pretty sure using more meat was making it too dry. Hopefully this alteration will fix the problem... :)

1/2lb ground beef
1/2tsp salt
1/8tsp pepper
1/4tsp minced onion
1/4tsp smoked paprika
1 1/2tsp chili powder
2T water
8 flour tortillas
1c shortening
16oz can refried beans
2/3c mild salsa
1c cheddar, shredded
1c shredded monterey jack
1/4c diced tomato
1/4c chopped green onions

Brown ground beef over medium heat; drain. Add salt, onion, paprika, pepper, chili powder, and water. Then let mixture simmer over medium heat 8-10 min. Stir frequently. Heat shortening in heavy skillet over medium-high heat.
*TIP: If the oil is smoking it's too hot.*
Fry each tortilla for ~45 seconds per side, or until golden brown and let drain on paper towels. Heat up the refried beans in a small saucepan. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. To assemble the pizza, spread about 1/3c refried beans on face of one tortilla. Next spread 1/4 of the meat. Then another tortilla. Coat the tortilla with 2T of salsa, then split up the tomatoes and stack them on top. Next divide the cheese and onions, stacking in that order. Place pizzas in the oven for ~10min or until cheese on top is melted.

This recipe makes 4 big pizzas.

Lummy. :)