Peppery Bean Salad

From the Best Ever Indian Cookbook by Baljekar et al.

Ingredients:

15 oz. can red kidney beans
15 oz. can black-eyed peas
15 oz. can chickpeas
1/4 red bell pepper
1/4 green bell pepper
6 radishes
1 T. chopped scallion

1 tsp. ground cumin
1 T. ketchup
2 T. olive oil
1 T. white wine vinegar
1 garlic clove, crushed
1/2 tsp. hot pepper sauce

Directions:

1) Drain the red kidney beans, black-eyed peas, and chickpeas and rinse under cold running water. Shake off the excess water and put them in a large bowl.

2) Core, seed, and chop the bell peppers. Trim the radishes and slice thinly. Add the bell peppers, radishes, and scallion in the bowl.

3) Make the dressing. Mix together the cumin, ketchup, oil, vinegar, and garlic in a small bowl. Add a little salt and hot pepper sauce to taste and stir again thoroughly.

4) Pour the dressing over the salad and mix. Cover the salad and chill for at least 1 hour before serving garnished with the sliced scallion.


Notes:

For the salad I used 1 15 oz. can black beans instead of black eyed peas, used 1 whole red and 1 whole green pepper for extra vegetables and omitted the radishes.

For the dressing I omitted the ketchip and hot pepper sauce and added in chili powder and lemon juice to taste.

Robber and I both agree this would be delicious when served along with some hot cornbread.

Mom's Homemade Pizza

Even better than the biscuits, this sent Robber off into his own kind of Robber-land. On my pizza I had pepperoni and pepper and onion, but Robber had pepperoni and pepper and onion and ham and pineapple and mushroom and everything. He was so happy. He raved on and on about the crust. I guess we'll be doing this one again...

To make 2 14-inch pizzas:

Ingredients (crust):

1 T. sugar
1 T. yeast
1 C. very warm water
1/4 powdered milk
2 eggs
3 C. flour
1 tsp. salt
2 T. olive oil

(Can also make a simpler dough just using flour, salt, yeast, water, oil)

Directions:

1) Pour water over sugar. Dissolve yeast. When foamy, add milk. Alternate 1/2 c additions of flour with salt, eggs, fat. Knead 10 minutes. Allow to rise until dough has doubled. At this point you can punch it down and put it in the fridge overnight to use the next day or move forward.

2) Divide the dough in two and pat it out into greased 14-inch pizza pans. Brush them with olive oil and sprinkle them with parmesan cheese.

3) Put the pizzas in an oven preheated to 400F. Bake them for 10 minutes, switching their positions halfway through. During that time, mix:

8 oz can tomato sauce
salt
pepper
herbs of your choice: Mom uses thyme, oregano (sometimes marjoram instead), basil, and sometimes parsley.

4) When the crusts are out, spread the sauce evenly over the two of them. Sprinkle on grated cheese (1 pound of mozzerella, 1/4 pound cheddar, mixed). Put on pepperonis or peppers and onions or whatnot.

5) Put them back in the oven for about 15 minutes. Switch their positions halfway through. Remove and eat after they have cooled just a little bit!

Cajun Chicken

Another recipe from kt-recipe-box.blogspot.com. This recipe is one her father, the illustrious D.T., uses and as he is a fine cook, I decided to invest in this recipe for lunchtime eating at school when the Robber is here which proved to be a wise choice.

The recipe is solidly good and appropriate for many occasions, especially if you are feeding a crowd, but it wasn't-- in the end-- exciting for me. Hmmmm. I wonder why. I didn't use lemon pepper or black pepper, so maybe it had less zing? Maybe I expect too much zing out of everything?

I ended up with one big container that we ate and one that I froze for later. You could easily half it and end up with enough.

Ingredients:

16 ounces linguine pasta
4 green onion, chopped
4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - cubed
3 cups sour cream
1 teaspoon dried basil
4 teaspoons Cajun seasoning
1 teaspoon lemon pepper
8 tablespoons butter
2 red bell peppers, sliced
2 tablespoons crushed garlic
2 green bell peppers, sliced
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
16 fresh mushrooms, sliced
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Directions:

Note from D.T.: I have to do the final cooking in two batches as my skillet is not large enough to hold all of it...

1. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente; drain.

2. Place the chicken and the Cajun seasoning in bowl-toss to coat. In a large skillet over medium heat, saute the chicken in butter until almost tender (5 to 7 minutes).

3. Add the red bell pepper, green bell pepper, mushrooms and green onion. Saute and stir for 2 to 3 minutes. Reduce heat.

4 Add the sour cream, basil, lemon pepper, garlic and ground black pepper. Heat through. Add the cooked linguine, toss and heat through. Sprinkle with grated Parmesan cheese and serve.

Buttermilk Biscuits

From The Joy. The Robber loved loved loved these. We used them to make BAT (bacon, avocado, tomato) sandwiches. So good! My favorite. Mmmmm.

Ingredients:

1 3/4 cup sifted all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. double-acting baking powder
1 tsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 C. lard or 5 T. butter
3/4 C. buttermilk

Directions:

1) In medium mixing bowl, combine flour, salt, baking powder, sugar, and baking soda. Cut in lard/butter.

2) Add buttermilk and mix only as necessary with minimum number of strokes.

3) Turn the dough onto a floured board. Knead it gently for 1/2 minute. Pat the dough to the thickness of 1/4 inch. Cut with a biscuit cutter.

4) Bake 10 to 12 minutes at 450F.

Note: The Joy says this recipe make 24 1 1/2 inch biscuits. I find that it only makes 11 biscuits worthy of BAT sandwiches. Who wants to eat that tiny of a biscuit? I suggest doubling the recipe if you are feeding a crowd, or making just one for yourself so you can have leftovers as they are delicious after a few days in the fridge as well.

Drop Biscuits

I taught the Robber to make these on the last night of his stay and they were, as always, delicious with creamy tomato soup for dinner one day and re-warmed for breakfast the next. We used half milk/half buttermilk for a little extra flavor and because I had buttermilk left over from the baked biscuits I had made for the beginning of his stay. These are a staple from the past, and I'm unsure of their origin. Probably from one of the cookbooks in my mother's collection.

Ingredients:

3 C. flour
4 1/2 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. salt
1/2 C. yellow shortening
1 1/2 C. milk

Directions:

1) Grease each cup in a 12-cup muffin tin. Preheat the oven to 450F.

2) In a medium size mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. Cut in the shortening.

3) Stirring minimally, pour in the milk and combine with flour/shortening mixture until just moistened evenly. Divide into 12 cups of muffin tin. Bake 15 minutes at 450F until tops are golden brown.

Mom's Chocolate Chip Cookies

I'm never quite happy with these when I make them, but somehow when Mom makes them they come out as the perfectest cookie ever. Hmmmmm.

Ingredients:

1 c yellow shortening
3/4 c brown sugar
3/4 c white sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 t vanilla
2 1/2 c flour
1 t baking soda
1 t salt
12 oz (2 c) chocolate chips
1 c chopped nuts (optional)

Directions:

1. Sift together flour, soda, salt.

2. In separate bowl, cream shortening with sugars (brown and white). Mix in eggs, vanilla with beaters.

3. Fold dries into wets by hand; stir in chocolate chips.

4. Line outside of cookie sheets with foil. Bake at 350 F, on the upper shelf.

Squash Fries with Chili Cumin Salt and Maple Sour Cream

Here's another recipe I made from RebEatWorld. We ate these fries with homemade pizza and the Robber just about died and went to heaven. He loved them and the sauce, which is a perfect counter-point to the salty seasoned fries. He downed a boatload of them, so the next time I am willing to wrestle with a butternut squash I think I will make these again.

Ingredients:

2 lbs butternut squash, halved, seeded, and peeled
2 T olive oil
1/2 c sour cream
2 T maple syrup
salt
cumin
chili
2 limes, wedged

Directions:

1) Preheat oven to 425. Cut squash to half-inch wide fries. Coat with olive oil. Spread in a single layer on a foil-lined baking sheet. Roast until tender and crispy at the edges. I even like them quite brown at the edges, about 35 or 40 minutes.

2) Meanwhile, stir some maple syrup into sour cream to make a dipping sauce, and mix the salt with the spices. Sprinkle some of the spiced salt over the squash fries and squeeze some lime juice over them, pretty liberally.