Evelyn’s Home Grown Collard Greens Recipe

 Hello, Darlings

Who doesn’t love a big pot of fresh cooked greens especially on the holidays, be they collard, mustard and turnip greens.  In our family, we are big green lovers and today I want to share my recipe for collard greens. This recipe is also great with store bought and frozen greens. As this is a family recipe there is no skipping on fat content. 

 

Evelyn’s Home Grown Collard Greens Recipe

Ingredients

2 bunches fresh cut collard greens

One medium to large piece of smoke meat

1 ½ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon black pepper

¼ crush red pepper

1 tablespoon of bacon grease, or lacking bacon grease substitute it with 1 tablespoon olive oil and a half packet of ham flavoring.

Directions

1.      Wash, rinse and drain greens. Set aside

1.       In a 5 – 6 quart Dutch oven add enough water to cover the smoke meat
2.       Add the salt, black pepper, crush red peppers, and bacon grease.
3.     Cover Dutch oven and on a medium heat cook meat with other ingredients to a rolling boil for 20 minutes. This will make getting the flavors into the greens easier.
4.       Add greens a little at a time until Dutch oven is full
5.     Cover and cook over medium until greens begin to boil; then reduce heat to a simmer and cook for about 30 minutes.
6. If desired, serve with fresh baked cornbread, thin slices of onion, tomatoes and a drizzle of your choice of vinegar, 

 Enjoy!

Download the PDF.

 

Until next time,

       Happy, Thanksgiving!

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In the Army!

Hello, Darlings

While checking on what one of my favorites chefs was doing, I came across an old army recipe for what my father called, ‘Chip Beef on Toast’. I am sure he was aware of the more fragrant names the WW2 soldiers may have called the meal, but showing a preteen Catholic girl how it was made, which he did often, he kept it clean.

Back in the day, it was also known by military soldiers as Creamed Dried Beef, Shit on a Shingle, and as my husband, Stanley said with a laugh, SOS . Below is the Original Army recipe.  To hear the scale down version of this recipe, click the image for the video. Farther down this post is the link to the YouTuber’s book, Tasting History: Explore the Past through 4,000 Years of Recipes (A Cookbook), which will be coming out in May of 2023.

 Here is my break down of the recipe with a few substitutions. It is not my father’s recipe but it is close enough.

Chip Beef on Toast

Ingredients

An eight-ounce jar of dried beef, or depending on how you often frequent the dentist, ‘Budding’ beef

2 tablespoons olive oil, melted butter or bacon grease

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 ¼ cup evaporated milk

¼  cup water

1 or 2 pinches cayenne pepper (optional)

Salt and pepper to taste

Buttery skillet fried store bought white bread, or even better thick slices of homemade white bread

 

Chipped Beef on Toast Generic Image

Directions

1.      Add olive oil, melted butter or bacon grease in a medium saucepan over low heat.

2.      Add flour and whisk until smooth.

3.      Mix evaporated milk and water, then add a little at a time to flour mixture; stir together often using a whisk

4.      Bring to a boil over medium-high heat and cook, stirring, until thickened.

5.      Stir in beef and if using, add cayenne pepper

6.      Cook until warmed.

7.      Serve over buttery toast.

For butter fried toast  

8.      Heat a cast iron skillet to medium heat.

9.      Spread a generous amount of butter on two to four slices of the bread, but not thick enough to tear or make the bread soggy and greasy when done.

10.  Add bread to hot skillet, fry and flip over once when medium golden brown.

Note: You can also get a jump on the game by toasting the bread in an oven on the broiler setting, or by using a toaster oven while the chip beef is boiling. However, I like my toast warm, so I fix it last.

 

Download the 'Chip Beef on Toast, a Variation on the Original US Army Recipe' pdf.

In addition, I will try out the recipes in Tasting History: Explore the Past through 4,000 Years of Recipes (A Cookbook) when it comes out next year.

Until, next time,

    Chow, Darlings

Evelyn’s Skillet Cooked Spring Mix

Hello, Darlings

Today I found myself with two containers of Spring Mix. My husband bought a container last week, which got lost in the refrigerator, so I bought a container today. Well after checking the first container for freshness and finding it okay, I decided to come up with a new recipe. Having cooked iceberg and romaine lettuce with mustard and turnip greens, I decided to cook the extra container of Spring Mix alone.

They turned out yummy!

Below is my simple recipe for a cooked lettuce side dish.

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Evelyn’s Skillet Cooked Spring Mix

Ingredients

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 tablespoon minced garlic

1/2 cup vegetable broth

Sprinkle salt and butcher grade black pepper to taste

1to 2 pinches crushed red pepper

Slash of rice vinegar

1- 16 oz container of Spring Mix

Directions

1.      Wash Spring Mix under cold tap water, drain and place in large mixing bowl.

2.      Add other ingredients, except only add ¼ of vegetable broth to bowl.

3.      Hand mix well (a real woman’s cooking method).

4.      Heat a large skillet on medium low heat, setting 4 ½

5.      Add ingredients from the bowl to skillet. Cook and stir for about 5 minutes, then stir in remaining vegetable broth

6.      Cover skillet; stirring occasionally cook from 15 to 20 minutes, or until the Spring Mix look like cooked greens

7.      Turn off stove and let Spring Mix set in the flavors

8.      Serve as side dish

 

Enjoy!

 

Created by Widescreen Online Review Plus

 Download the PDF.

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Until next time,

          Chow, Darlings

Waste Not, What Not: Graham Cracker Crust Biscuits

Hello, Darlings

I don’t know about you, but I am not a great fan of the graham cracker crust mix that comes with some frozen pies. It is much too sweet. In the past I would just toss the packet, and then make an old fashion homemade crust or use a store bought ready to use crust to cover the top of the pie, either a single layer or latticed. That was then, but today, I changed things around.

I love brewing and drinking tea, so instead of just tossing the graham cracker crust packet, I used it the make tea biscuits. 

My husband ate them ... ALL! Sooo, I added this generic photo, which looks like them. The recipe is fool proof.

All you need to do is the following:

1.      Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

2.      Add a single homemade crust or a store bought crust with ½ cup of the graham cracker crust mix to a large bowl.

3.      Knead the two together until mixed well. Don’t worry that some pieces of the graham mix are not completely blended in the dough. Those pieces add to the texture of the biscuits. Remember, you will want the dough thin but not holey thin.  

4.      Next cut out enough squares or use a small biscuit cutter to cut out at least 12 to 14 biscuits.

5.      Then, place the biscuits on an ungreased cookie sheet, about a half inch apart and bake for 5 to 6 minutes, or until lightly golden.

6.      Cool about 3 minutes.

7.      Finally, sit back with a saucer full of the biscuits to dunk in an aromas cup of your favorite morning or evening tea.

That’s it! Too simple, right? I hope you’ll enjoy them.

P.S. These tea biscuits remind me of Snickerdoodles.

Until next time,

          Chow, Darlings

 

Download the PDF,

Widescreen Online Review

Did You Know That You Can Nuke Your Potatoes?

 Hello, Darlings

About four decades ago, I got in a pinch for time while making dinner. I intended to bake a few potatoes in the oven as part of the main course, and I had wash them, and set them aside, but I went to prep something else, and  promptly forgot to put the potatoes in the oven. Drats!

It was about 20 minutes before everyone arrived home expecting a hot meal before settling down for the evening.  

So what did I do with those prepped potatoes?

Yes, I nuked them! But you guessed that from the title of this article.

Anyway, since potatoes come in difference sizes, below is my list for nuking your own hot potatoes in as little as possible. Don’t forget to puncture the potatoes with a fork on all four sides 2 to 3 times to vent and avoid exploring; also turn each potato once. Microwave the small potatoes on setting 7, and the larger ones on high.

As potatoes comes different sizes, so do microwave. Therefore, this tip is for microwaves in range of 900 to 1200 watts.

• Jumbo/King - microwave for 10 to 12 minutes
• Large - microwave for 8 ½ - 9 1/2 minutes
• Medium - 8 -9 minutes
• Small - 6 -71/2 minutes. You know that these are the runts in the bag.
  

For steaming smaller potatoes, like golden butter or small simply red potatoes

• Wash the potatoes
  
• 
  
• Place in a microwave streaming pan, like the one pictured below for 15-20 minutes, or use your steamer pot – electric or stovetop.   

Additional tip: The great thing about microwaving potatoes is that you can make quick and easy twice baked potatoes by nuking them.  First preheat the oven or toaster oven on broil. Then nuke the potatoes. While the oven is still heating, spoon out the potatoes meat from it skin into a mixing bowl. Mix in your ingredients, and transfer back into the skins. Place potatoes on a cookie sheet or baking rack and brown for 2 to 3 minutes or until desire brownness is reached.

Also, try a little pizza seasonings on your baked potatoes.

And, that’s it! An easy way to have your baked potatoes in no time.

Enjoy.

Until next time,

Chow,

Darlings