Beans, beans good for your heart...

how to cook beans

1lb beans
1 onion
spices like bay leaf, dried garlic or garlic clove, salt and pepper.
Optional: celery, carrot  (for soup)

You will need
large 6 qt crock pot for cooking and large stock pot for soaking

1lb bag of beans (any type), pick beans so no rocks, sticks or leaves are left. Rinse beans by placing beans in stock pot and rinsing with warm tap water, fill and swish, drain and repeat until water runs clear. This is important even with pre washed beans.

fill pot with clean water to cover beans by 2" and place on stove, heat to boiling and turn off heat, cover and let sit for a few hours or overnight. Water will be cloudy, Drain and rinse beans a few times again

Transfer beans to crock pot, tuck 2 smoked ham hocks or ham bone or ham trimmings down into beans, add 1 large diced onion or onion powder, 1 tsp black pepper, bay leaf (a few if they are small) about 1 teaspoon salt, and either a clove of crushed garlic or 1/2 tsp garlic granules or powder. Fill with water to second knuckle, about 1 1/2 inch and give a good stir to mix all the ingredients. Set crock pot to high until mixture comes to a simmer then turn down to low. Cook overnight.

By this time the beans will be tender but have a soupy runny consistency and onions will be dissolved and ham hocks will be falling apart or meat will fall off hambones, taste the beans and see if it need any more salt, pepper or garlic. If thicker beans are wanted leave to cook another day on low. Beans do require a lot of salt but most of the flavor and salt will come from the ham, a hambone will probably need more seasoning, ham hocks probably not. Country ham is very salty so no added salt is needed. Unfortunately this varies wildly so I can't give a precise measurement.

From this you have many choices, this mixture freezes well and reheats in the microwave, and can be flavored with BBQ sauce, brown sugar, maple syrup, or eaten as is with some crusty bread to sop up the broth (my favorite).

Avoid mixing or stirring beans other than a few times each day, stirring tends to mush them up and you will end up with refries.

You can also make refried beans with the leftovers of this too, add lard and mushed up beans to cast iron skillet, heat until warm.

To make a bean soup do all the above using great northern beans, cook beans only 8 hours and add carrots, celery, and potatoes at last 3 hours cooking time. (this is also how to make split pea and lentil soups)

Doin' donuts and native fry bread.

So, my dad has gone to his reunion, I think it was his 55th. He stayed at his childhood home on Lake Osakis and I think that made him whack nostalgic, because he sent me a coffee canister full of homemade donuts. No kidding, a bit greasy and they do have more texture than anything store bought so freaking delish and loaded with calories. Now looking at this recipe it seems to have its roots planted firmly in humble frybread beginnings. Legend has it that frybread was what the natives came up with using the government commodities that were given to them after the relocations to the rez, for their vegetables, wild rice, and beans did not like to grow in the deserts and wastelands where they were relocated to.  The US government gave them relief in the form of wheat flour, lard, salt and sugar.

frybread recipes can be found here...  http://www.snowwowl.com/recipes/recfrybread2.html

My mom has collected a couple others and my sis has created her own but that is about the jist of it, dough that is fried. Some crisp, some bread like, some cake like. Never really cared for it so it is not something I collected a recipe for. This donut recipe is the nearest that I have tasted to original frybread... and it is not for everyday consumption. My chairs will never forgive me if it was.

Now to modern times (circa 1960's) donuts. This is my family recipe.

Cake Doughnuts

Makes 30 servings

3 eggs
3/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup crisco
1 cup milk
4 cups sifted flour
5 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla
oil for deep frying

Cream sugar and crisco, add eggs.
In one bowl mix flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg - In second bowl mix milk and vanilla.
Add liquid and dry ingredient mixtures alternately to creamed mixture - stir after each addition only until dough is smooth.
(start and end with dry)
Roll dough to 1/2 thickness on a floured board - dough should be soft- cut with floured doughnut cutter.
Fry doughnuts in oil heated to 375 degrees-turn when brown and fly on both sides until golden brown (1-2 minutes on each side)
drain on paper towel while still warm sprinkle with powdered or granulated sugar. (but I like mine plain)

I know I have mentioned gluten before, less mixing means less gluten will form and result in a softer finished product, so go easy on the stirring. The finished result is firm and slightly chewy enough. Enjoy.

Ceasar Dressing, a Tasty Grilled Chicken Salad, and using fresh raw eggs the safer way.

Before I start here there is something you should know, and this is very important. I know most people can eat raw and undercooked eggs and have absolutely no problem in doing so, but that is not always the case.

The risk of salmonella in the summer months is very high in uncooked egg products, and that is probably why eggnog is a traditional winter beverage. There is an alternative. Pasteurized Eggs. There are the egg beater types that are a liquid in the carton but this will not work as well. You will need to buy fresh pasteurized eggs in the shell for the best results.

No, these are not from pasture raised chickens, the eggs have been pasteurized like pasteurized milk to kill harmful bacteria. I am not that crunchy when it comes to food safety.

So, this is a easy, very quick and refreshing Caesar Salad to serve on hot summer evenings as a full meal.

First component: Caesar Dressing ( this recipe is an old recipe from the Nugget)

whip together
~4 eggs (pasteurized eggs please)
~3t. red wine vinegar

Add very slowly, mixing constantly
~1 cup olive oil

Add:
~1t. fresh minced garlic
~1t. cracked black pepper
~2t. dry mustard
~1/4c. parmesan cheese
~1/4t. salt
~2t. worcestershire sauce
~3t. fresh lemon juice

Grind and add:
~6 fillet anchovies

Chill for 2 hours minimum.

Then the chicken breast filets, boneless, skinless, thawed ... sad really but stick with me here.

Marinade how many breast filets you think you need, be it two, four or a dozen... depends on how hungry you are and how many you are feeding but one filet per person is usually enough. I like to put them in a large zip lock freezer bag then add in enough of the cheapest you can find italian dressing to marinade them in, and toss and turn the bag every 20 minutes or when you remember to so everything stays  nice and coated with the dressing. A half bottle should be plenty for the marinade. Keep this in the fridge while marinating on a deep tray or shallow bowl in case of any leaks. These can marinate overnight so feel free to start this on the night before. When it is just about time to eat just take them out, slap them on a hot bbq grill and cook through. it does not take long so keep an eye on them.

And finally the salad itself. Get a ginormous bowl, rinse, shake dry and slice Hearts of Romaine lettuce into bite sized morsels... or just get a bag of prepared hearts or romaine, I won't judge. Toss the salad with the dressing prepared in step one in your huge bowl.

Plating: place a generous portion of the dressed salad on the plate, slice one grilled chicken breast and lay it over the salad so it looks pretty, top with croutons and parmesan and romano cheese if desired. Toast some garlic bread and enjoy.

But who am I kidding right? most people have never tasted an honest to god authentic caesar salad in their lives, so a commercial prepared dressing will work just fine but why not give it a try?

Bobbie Jo’s Daisy Dew Sipper Melon Daiquiri

Bobbie Jo’s Daisy Dew Sipper Melon Daiquiri 
In memory of Daisy of the Daily Pippin by Bobbie Joe the philosopher kitty.

Ingredients: 
4 Parts Light Rum 
1 Part Lime Juice 
1 Part Melon Liqueur 
Simple Syrup To Taste 
1 Slice Honeydew Melon 
1 Slice Peach 

How to mix: Fill a shaker with ice cubes. Add all ingredients. Shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with honeydew melon and peach.

Another From Kimon, Vintage Dip? hahaha.

(this one sounds delish)

One more "vintage" recipe from Vegas. The alpine Village Restaraunt. This was an icon in Vegas for decades. Fine German dining upstairs and a ruckus downstairs in the Rathskellar.

Alpine Village House Seasoned Cottage Cheese dip

2 lbs cottage cheese, small curd
1⁄2 teaspoon caraway seed
1 1⁄2 teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon Accent seasoning
1⁄2 teaspoon white pepper
1 tablespoon dried chives
1⁄2 teaspoon celery salt

Mix all ingredients together and chill for several hours before serving.

Serve with crackers, or fresh bread, and assorted veggies for dipping.

A Recipe From the Legendary Kimon Brown, Salsa!

For my Vegas and Arizona peeps - These two are a little different than mine. I use tomato sauce, and cayenne, granulated garlic, onion powder, kosher salt, and a little cumin. But these two sound like they are worth a try. Most important is to use real tortilla chips and not the store bought ones. Fresh fried and lightly salted in a brown paper sack.
None of these are salsa recipes that are so popular but for those of us that grew up with Macayo's sauce it is like liquid crack. Bowl of chips two cherry cokes and a TCT perfect high school date night.

Macayo Sauce from the 70’s
(2) 28 oz. can stew tomatoes or (1) 46 oz. can
1 med onion – cut in 4ths
3 small guerro jalapeno peppers hot
Put in sauce pan cook low for 1 ½ hrs covered. Pour mixture in a hand ricer or blender
Chips – use day old corn tortillas cut into 8ths in a regular deep fryer.

Macayo Sauce NOW
1 46 oz. tomato juice
1 1/2 tsp granulated garlic
1 TBSP and 1 ½ tsp cumin
1 tsp salt
For Mild sauce – 1 ½ tsp crushed red chilies
For Hot Sauce – 1 TBSP crushed chilies
Put all in the blender and blend in high for at least one minute. Refrigerate – serve with chips.

3 bean salad

This is one of my Grandma Gert's recipes, and a favorite for picnics. Perfect for keeping on hand during the summer months to serve as a topping for a green salad or alone as it is.

2/3 cup vinegar
1/2 cup good salad oil
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon celery seed.
4 cans of assorted beans-drained ( I know it says 3 beans but... well don't ask)
1 medium onion-sliced thin or Frenched
1/2 cup green pepper-sliced ( for me this is optional, I don't really care for raw green pepper)

Mix all together, chill for 6 hours.

This bean salad lasts a long time in the fridge, because of the vinegar, oil and sugar it has a pickling effect so bacteria or mold will not grow. Sorta like a refrigerator pickle. Double the recipe and add all the beans from the list below to be super festive, remember it keeps very well and just gets better.

Beans I like the best are green (string) beans, black-eyed peas, garbanzos, butter (lima) beans, great northern beans and Kidney beans. beans need to be packed in water so no chili seasoned beans here, and I give the beans a light rinse with cold water when draining.