Recipe Wednesday #17

This week I am taking another recipe from Creative Cooking. Follow this link for the whole story concerning this Recipe Booklet:

First Recipe Wednesday for Wednesday, April 30, 2008

You may also find this page by going into the Blog Archives for 2008. Look for the Wednesday, April 30th Blog post.

Now for this weeks recipe:

Guacamole

Bobbie Horst

2 medium very ripe avocados
2 medium ripe tomatoes
1 small onion, finely grated
2 small Serrano or any hot chiles, chopped, or 2 Tbsp. chili powder
1 Tbsp. olive oil
2 tsp. lime juice
2 tsp. lemon juice
Dash paprika
2 tsp. salt (more or less)
Pepper to taste
1/2 tsp. coriander

Mash avocados with fork. Add the other ingredients and stir into paste that is not too smooth. Note: This dish is best if made immediately before serving, but if made ahead of time put avocado seed in the spread and cover tightly to prevent darkening.

This recipe was submitted to the recipe book by my mother, Bobbie Horst. Please see the Archive post for Wednesday April 30, 2008 for the story behind the cook book.

Recipe Wednesday #15

I was looking through Pam's recipes for this week. I found an old loose leaf type notebook with pages for copying recipes, tabs for separating the meal types, and envelopes for cutting and inserting recipes from magazines or newspapers. Here follows one of the recipes I found copied in Pam's handwriting onto one of the loose leaf pages in the recipe book:


Cool Tuna Noodle Salad


Ingredients:

1 Can Cream of Celery Soup
1/2 Cup mayonnaise
2 Tbsp. Cider Vinegar
2 Tbsp. chopped pimento stuffed olives
2 Tbsp. grated onion
8 Oz. corkscrew macaroni, cooked
1 Can tuna (6 oz.)
1 Pkg. frozen mixed vegetables (10 oz.)

Directions:

Mix first 5 ingredients
Add macaroni
Add tuna and vegetables
Mix, cover, and refrigerate


She confirms that it is written in her handwriting, but she does not remember where she got the recipe. Try it out and enjoy! This sounds like a great spring or summer time salad or perhaps even a light dinner or supper meal.

Recipe Wednesday: # 14

Pam's Favorite Breakfast

This is the recipe for French Toast which I believe may be Pam's favorite breakfast. I'm not really sure why! She is not French and as far as I know her primary heritage is Italian and American Indian. We have never been to France and she has never really expressed much interest in going there. I found a possible clue as I was researching a possible recipe for this week. I was looking through the Recipe Book she had as a child, Betty Crocker's Cook Book for Boys and Girls, and I found the following recipe for:


French Toast

With beater blend -----------2 eggs, beaten, 1/2 cup milk, 1/4 teaspoon salt

Cut in half -------------------6 slices stale bread

Heat frying pan or griddle moderately hot. Grease with butter or bacon fat.

Pick up bread on fork, by half-slices. Dip both sides into egg mixture and put on hot frying pan or griddle.

Brown on both sides, turning with pancake turner.

Serve hot with syrup or jelly.



I believe I have used this little Recipe Book on previous posts as it was the Cook Book my wife had when she was very young. I don't have any publication information like date and publishing house for the book since it is missing the first few pages. I would surely give that gredit to the original publisher if I knew. I suspect the book was printed some time in the early or mid 1950's. Pam may have had the French Toast from the Cook Book and it is now one of those "fond childhood memories". I do know that she uses a variation of this recipe and no longer uses the butter or bacon fat and now uses olive oil (that shows her Italian heritage) for greasing the pan. She doesn't use the salt in the egg and now substitutes cinamon instead. She usually uses the whole piece of bread without cutting it in half and I don't believe she is likely to use "stale" bread. She is more likely to throw that away and get the fresh stuff. I'm not so sure about the "stale" part either. I'm not sure if that would be advisable today. What if someone got sick from your French Toast. I don't suppose we could just blame it on France. That might not be politically correct. Oh well, that could be another whole story.

I hope you enjoy the French Toast!

Recipe Wednesday #6

This week I’m going to give a recipe for another one of my all time favorites, a Grilled Cheese Sandwich. Rather than give the simple and quick version of this all time favorite, I decided to look at some of my recipe books and see what kind of recipes might be suggested for the plain and simple Grilled Cheese Sandwich. This recipe is taken from the following source: The Modern Family Cook Book, by Meta Given. The copyright date is 1953 and it was previously published in 1942. The recipe is for ‘Cheese Toasties’ on page 175. I believe we got this book from my wife’s mother after she passed away. As you can see by the date it is no longer so “modern” but I’m sure it was for my mother-in-law when she first got the cook book. I found the recipe to be an interesting variation on one of my own personal favorites, the grilled cheese. Here follows the recipe for “Cheese Toasties” which you may share with your family and friends for a delightful summer snack.

Cheese Toasties

½ pound American cheese, grated
1 teaspoon prepared mustard
2 to 4 tablespoons milk
Dash salt
6 hamburger buns
Butter

Mix grated cheese with mustard, milk and salt. Split buns in half, toast or not as desired, and spread cut surfaces with butter and cheese mixture. Place under the broiler and toast until cheese is puffy and golden brown. Serve hot. 5 or 6 servings.

Recipe Wednesday #5

This week I would like to share one of my favorite recipes with you. This recipe is found in one of my recipe books. The recipe book is America's Best Recipes: A 1994 Hometown Collection, published by Oxmoor House, Inc. Book Division of Southern Progress Corporation.

These recipes are submitted by different clubs, groups, and organization from across the country. This recipe is found in a section of the book entitled 'Quick and Easy Recipes' on page 13. I hope you and your family enjoy this recipe as much as I do. Here is one of my favorite recipes for:

Breakfast

1 pound mild bulk pork sausage

1 (8-ounce) can refrigerated crescent dinner rolls
2 cups (8 ounces) shredded mozzarella or Monterey Jack cheese
4 large eggs, beaten

3/4 cup milk
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper


Brown sausage in a skillet, stirring until it crumbles; drain. Place crescent roll dough in bottom of a greased 13- x 9- x 2-inch baking dish; press perforations and pinch seams to seal. Sprinkle reserved sausage and cheese over dough. Combine eggs and remaining ingredients; pour over mixture in dish. Bake, uncovered, at 425 degrees for 15 minutes or until set. Let stand 5 minutes before serving. Yield: 8 servings.

Roaring Springs Recipes & Memories

Roaring Springs Volunteer Organization

Roaring Springs, Texas

Generations

This weekend I was listening to Coast to Coast AM with Ian Punnett, the weekend host, interviewing Neil Howe. While most of the interview concerned the book, The Fourth Turning: An American Prophecy by William Strauss and Neil Howe, one topic of discussion which arose was the topic of 'Generations'. At first I listened only in passing, as I had never really paid much attention to the topic of 'Generations'. Sure I had heard of the 'Boomers', 'Gen-X'ers, and more recently 'The Millennials'. I had never really paid much attention to the whole topic and it had never really caught my interest. I knew that it generally dealt with the history of the culture and events which were popularly associated with the groups of people who were born, raised, and came of age during an extended period of time in history. As a former History teacher this sounded fascinating and it aroused my interest. As I listened to some of the explanation about the different 'Generations' and the contrasts and comparisons between the different groups of people the whole topic began to become more intriguing. I determined I should do a little research, see if I could get more information, and try to ascertain if there was indeed anything to this 'Generations' thing. I found the topic to be very broad and there is a vast amount of information available. I also determined that there was more information than I could cover in one writing. I will try to break it down into a few interesting topics and give some explanation and insight into what I have learned about the topic of 'Generations'.

I will first focus on identifying three 'Generations' or distinct groups of people during the last century of U. S. History:

1. The Silent Generation: Members of this group were born between World War I and World War II and they were too young to have served during WW II, although many of them may have had fathers who served in WW I.
2. The Baby Boomers: This group is constituted of members who were born shortly after World War II. This period of time in U. S. History is distinguished by a general increase in the overall birthrate. This population explosion was also taking place in many countries around the world and there was generally a world wide "Baby Boom".
3. Generation X: This group consists of those who were born between about 1964 and 1981. Most members of this generation are the children of either the 'Baby Boomers' or the 'Silent Generation' and they came of age with such things as MTV, Cable TV, and Video Games.

One fact became immediately evident about the whole topic of 'Generations'. There is a variety of sub-groups within many of the groups and there is a bit of variation about the topics most influential and considered most important in determining the characteristics of each group. Sometimes popular culture and social trends seem most important while at other times politics and economic trends become more important in determining the specific period in history and the predominate characteristics of a particular 'Generation'. I will continue with this topic in a series of future Blog Posts and I will try to make some observations about some of our current affairs as affected by these 'Generations'.

Recipe Sunday! Or is it Mothers Day Sunday?

Recipe Sunday? Wait a minute, I think I have something wrong here. Recipe day in this Blog is supposed to be Wednesday. Well this will be a variation on that weekly Blog Post to commemorate my sister, Michal, and Mothers Day Sunday. As previously mentioned Michal passed away after a brief battle with cancer. This was also after she gave birth to her first and only child, Meredith. As I explained earlier I am getting some of my recipes from the cookbook, "Creative Cooking" published for a young women's group from her church, West University Baptist Church. Instead of a recipe I have chosen to take an excerpt from a page entitled

"FOOD FOR THOUGHT"

"(Some of Michal's favorite scriptures)"

"You are the world's seasoning, to make it tolerable. If you lose your flavor, what will happen to the world? And you yourselves will be thrown out and trampled underfoot as worthless. You are the world's light - a city set on a hill, glowing in the night for all to see. Don't hide your light! Let it shine for all; let your good deeds glow for all to see, so that they will praise your heavenly Father."

Matthew 5:13-16

Please note the obvious reference to flavoring or seasoning - that is the recipe connection. What I noted was the positive message and thoughts of praise. That was my sister, Michal. Positive and thoughtful for all of those around her, even in her most trying of times.

You may see a picture of my sister, Michal, on my Second Recipe Wednesday.

Here is a picture of my daughters, Janna and Kari, with Michal's daughter, Meredith.

Here we have my wife, Pam, and my daughters, Kari and Janna.

Happy Mothers Day! (Pam, Kari, Meredith, and Michal)

and also to Britt, Thomas' mother (Kari's mother-in-law)

Recipe Wednesday #3

We need to get a main course meal for the weekly recipe.

The recipe this week came from a cook book we got from my wife's parents house after her mother passed away. The copyright date for this cook book is 1953. The recipe itself was not one of the recipes from the book. Instead, it was a recipe clipping from a newspaper or magazine which I found in the book with some other handwritten recipes and other papers. The date on one of these papers was May 11, 1965. I believe the following recipe was a clipping from the late fifties or early sixties which may have been found and cut out to be kept in the cook book for later use. I don't know if this recipe has ever been used by my wife or her mother. Pam did not remember the recipe either. Please try this recipe and see if it is right for you and your family. Enjoy!

Swiss Steak – Hunt Style

1 ½ lbs. round, chuck, or rump; Flour
1 medium sized onion, sliced; 3 tbsp. chopped green pepper
3 tbsp. fat; 1 can Hunt’s Tomato Sauce
1 cup water; 1 ½ tsp. salt; ¼ tsp. pepper
1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce

Pour flour into steak and pound it in with edge of plate. Cook onion and green pepper in fat until tender. Brown meat on both sides in fat. Add delicious, spicy hunt’s Tomato Sauce, water, salt, Worcestershire sauce, and pepper. Cover and simmer about 1 ½ hours or until meat is tender. Your family will rave . . . and you will save!

The following is a scan of that original newspaper or magazine clipping:

Recipe Wednesday

As I mentioned last Wednesday, I will endeavor to bring you a new recipe every Wednesday on the HORST ONLINE Blog. This week I will again take the recipe from the 'Creative Cooking' cookbook published by the West University Baptist Young Women in 1978. This week I will use one of the recipes submitted by my sister, Michal Cook. She was a member of West University Baptist Church and part of the W. U. B. Young Women group. My sister passed away in March of 1977 after a brief battle with cancer and this cook book was dedicated to her. The dedication began with:


"This book is dedicated to Michal Cook, whose Christian spirit and faith under severe trial deeply affected our lives for our eternal good."


Please try, and enjoy the following recipe from Michal. This sounds like another good recipe for some summertime enjoyment.






CREAM OF CUCUMBER SOUP


Michal Cook


In the container of a blender combine:


2 c. peeled cucumbers, coarsely chopped
1 c. chicken broth
1 c. light cream
¼ c. chopped chives
¼ c. chopped celery leaves
3 sprigs of parsley
3 Tbsp. soft butter
2 Tbsp. flour



Cover the container and blend the mixture until smooth. Season with salt and pepper. Serve either hot or cold. If served hot garnish with a very small amount of dill weed. If served cold, garnish with finely chopped cucumbers and a bit of grated lemon rind.

Recipe Wednesday

New Feature!

Recipe Wednesday: I was looking through an old recipe book and I got the idea for a regular feature for my HORST ONLINE Blog. Every Wednesday I will endeavor to share a recipe from one of my numerous recipe sources with my Blog readers. The first recipe I share with you comes from 'Creative Cooking' a recipe booklet published by the West University Baptist Young Women. This was a social group at the Church my sister, Michal, attended when she first moved to Houston and after she was married. I will share several recipes by family and friends from this book and I will have more information about the recipe book in later blog posts. Let's get started with the recipe for now. The following recipe was submitted to the book by my mother, Bobbie Horst. I don't really ever remember her making this recipe, but I did find it in the recipe book. It sounds like it might be a good recipe for summer. Here we go with:

PICKLE SCRAMBLE
Bobbie Horst

1 (16 oz. ) bottle whole dill pickles
1 (16 oz. ) bottle whole sweet pickles
1 (16 oz. ) bottle whole sour pickles
1 cup brown sugar

Reserving juice from each jar, slice all pickles into strips. combine juice from each jar and add sugar. Stir well. Mix pickles together and add pickle liquid and sugar. Let stand in a large jar (or return mixed pickles to indivudual jars) for 12 hours or more. The longer their their flavors mix together, the better and crisper they are. For those who like pickles, this is a super recipe.



Please note: I have not personally tried this recipe as I just recently found it in the book. I do hope to try it soon. As already mentioned I don't remember my mother making Pickle Scramble for our family. If any of you Horst family members remember this recipe please leave me a comment to let me know. You are all invited to try it out and enjoy! Please come back for more recipes in future posts.

Egg Hunt

Here is one for the books: An Easter Egg Hunt in a wading pool.

Since Kira is so young Kari was concerned about having the Egg Hunt outside. As it turns out she and her dad, Thomas, were both a little 'under the weather' so the Egg Hunt inside turned out quite alright. Check out the following family photos for the Easter Egg Hunt in a wading pool.

Relatively speaking it all went real well with all of the Houston family together for Easter.

Egg Hunt in a wading pool. Wasn't that an ingenious idea!

Janna watches on for all the festivities. Grandparents are in their usual place behind the camera.