Not your mother's coleslaw

I got a couple of cabbages and this recipe from a friend about 15 years ago. It was a gift that lasted far longer than that first salad.


Asian Slaw

6 cups thinly sliced cabbage
6 thinly sliced green onions
6 oz snow peas - stringed and thinly sliced
1 large sweet red pepper thinly sliced
1/2 cup peanuts

Asian Dressing

whisk or shake together:

1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup rice vinegar
2 Tbsp toasted sesame oil
1 1/2 Tbsp soy sauce
salt and pepper to taste

Toss all vegetables and salad dressing together, top with chopped roasted peanuts


Notes and modifications:

I make a batch of this dressing and keep it around for putting on our everyday lettuce salads.

Leave off the peanuts if you're feeding someone with a peanut allergy.

You can substitute olive oil or peanut oil for vegetable oil, but the sesame oil really boosts the flavor, so I've never left it out.

I have made this with many different raw veggies when I don't have the right ingredients. I've subbed red onion for green onion, julienne raw carrots for red pepper or peas, etc. The key is to keep the volume of the salad about the same, and always have the cabbage and something onion like.

Pocket Sandwiches

Frozen pocket sandwiches were all the rage when I was in college and flat broke. No worries, I had my secret weapon - the ability to cook. These are great for a quick meal or hearty snack.

Krautburgers and Pasties

Use your favorite bread recipe. After the first rise roll it out flat in batches.
Slice into rectangles. (twice as large as you'd like the finished pocket to be)
Put your favorite filling in and pinch the bread closed with your fingers. Use water to dampen if necessary. Bake at 350 for ~20 min, or until bread is done and filling is warm.

Fillings:
I've always made these with precooked meat and veggies.

Use any left over meat and veggies, chop into smallish bite sized pieces. Add left over gravy, or cheese to add moisture. Mix together in big bowl and then spoon onto prepared dough.

Examples:
Chopped leftover turkey, peas, mashed potatoes and leftover turkey gravy

Chopped steak, mushrooms, peas, fried onions and a bit of beef gravy

Chopped broccoli, cheddar cheese, cubed left over baked potato, and a bit of pepper

Cooked and drained spinach, feta cheese, fried onions, spiced with a bit of dill



Krautburgers
(I remember eating these as a kid, and even now a local fast food place sells something like them)

1 lb ground beef
1/2 head of cabbage, sliced
1 large onion, sliced
salt and pepper to taste

Fry up all together until browned and yummy. Eat up all on it's own or make into a pocket sandwich.

Notes and modifications:

There is no limit to what you can put in a bit of bread and call food. Taste as you go and you're not likely to go too far wrong.

These freeze and reheat well. To freeze put in freezer on a baking sheet. When hard wrap in plastic wrap, bag together and put back in the freezer. To reheat, microwave for ~2 minutes. I like to put them in the toaster oven for just a little bit when they come out of the microwave, just to make the bread toasty.

Comfort food

Here's something I make that I have never had a recipe for. My mom made it, and who knows where she learned it? Still it's cheap, hearty, and delicious. If you've never had scallop potatoes you're in for home-style a treat.


Scallop Potatoes

~ 5 lbs Potatoes, sliced, or enough to fill your casserole dish
~ 1 lb grated cheddar cheese
4-6 eggs
~3 cups milk
3 Tbs flour
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic pealed
1 tsp pepper
ham (optional)

Put milk, eggs, flour, onion, garlic, pepper, and handful of cheese in blender, blend until smooth.

Grease casserole dish.
Layer potatoes and cheese (and ham if you want it) in casserole dish. Leave out one handful of cheese.

Pour milk/egg mixture over potato/cheese in casserole dish. Add more milk if it doesn't come to the top layer of potatoes.
Sprinkle cheese over the top of the whole thing and bake for 1 hr. in 350 degree oven.

It's done when the potatoes are just tender.


Notes and modifications:

You can use up whatever extra cheese you have around, I've even been known to throw sour cream or yogurt in the blender with this.

Ham is what I've always added, but you could add just about any leftover you had around that appealed.

This freezes fine. I put it in the fridge to firm it up, then cut into chunks that look like about a meals worth, wrap with plastic wrap, and freeze. Then just microwave it for a few minutes to heat. You could also take it out in the morning to thaw and warm it in the oven. I just never think that far ahead.

Chicken Frangelico

This is another often requested recipe. It has a heavenly fragrance. It's not too spicy for kids, but has enough flavor to endear itself to the grown ups.


Chicken Frangelico (as modified from Colorado Collage)

1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp curry powder
3 Tbs flour
1 1/2 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts cut in 1" cubes
1/4 cup butter or olive oil
1/2 lb mushrooms, sliced
1/4 + cup Frangelico (hazelnut liqueur)
3 Tbs lemon juice
1 tsp grated lemon zest (~ 1 lemon's zest)
1 Tbs cornstarch
1 1/2 cups chicken broth

In pie dish mix spices and flour.
Coat cut chicken in flour mixture.
Brown on all sides in skillet with oil or butter coated chicken.
Add mushrooms, Frangelico, lemon juice, and zest.
Simmer 5 minutes.
In a small bowl combine cornstarch and chicken broth.
Stir into chicken mixture.
Cook over low heat until mixture bubbles and thickens.

Serve over pasta.


Notes and modifications:

This doubles and triples well. I will often thicken a large batch in a casserole dish in the oven as my skillet isn't big enough for a triple batch.

This freezes and reheats well.

If you like extra sauce, add more chicken broth and Frangelico.

I've never been told I added to much garlic or Frangelico.

This is another dish we made on the boat, modifying it with turkey, dehydrated mushrooms, and chicken bullion. Hunger makes the best sauce, and we enjoyed it just as much there as here.

Warm chili for cool nights

My husband cooks. He even cooks really well. Here's one of his recipes that all the kids like. This is one we keep in the freezer for busy days, or to take to a family when they're needing someone else to feed them.

Steve's Turkey Chili (makes 17 cups)

3 lbs ground Turkey
1 + large onion, chopped or diced
1 1/2 red bell pepper, chopped or diced
4 cloves of garlic, crushed
2 Tbs oil
1 1/2 Tbs ground cumin
1 Tbs chili powder
1/4 tsp chipolte chili powder
2 28 oz cans diced tomatoes
1 Tbs mole paste (from Mexican section of the grocery)
2 15 oz cans kidney beans
1 15 oz can pinto beans
salt and pepper to taste

Saute onions, bell pepper and garlic in oil.
Add turkey and brown.
Add cumin, chili powders, salt and pepper while browning.
Add tomatoes, mole paste, beans and about 4 pints of water.
Cook down until flavors blend and pot thickens. (2-3 hours on med/low heat)


Notes and modifications:

This is not spicy chili. It's suitable for children and gringos. It doesn't have a bite, it has a nibble, a love bite perhaps.

I've successfully doubled this recipe. I can't imagine I have a pot big enough to triple it.

It freezes and reheats really well. Many the busy day has ended with me taking a tub of this out of the freezer and heating in on the stove while I put out bowls, bread, and salad.

I've used both ground chicken and ground beef in this, both worked, but turkey tastes better somehow.

A husband who cooks

I'm part Italian, my husband is not. Ironically he's the one who makes this dish at our house. No matter how I try to doctor it up, his is better, so here it is.


Steve's Chicken Marsala

1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/4 large onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1/2 lb mushrooms, slices
3 Tbs flour
1/2 tsp pepper
3/4 tsp salt
1 Tbs olive oil
2 Tbs olive oil + 2 Tbs butter
1/4 + cup Marsala wine
1/2 + cup chicken broth
dash of thyme
salt to taste

Slice chicken into cutlets and pound flat.
Mix flour, pepper and salt together in a pie plate.
Saute onions and garlic in 1 Tsp olive oil, remove.
Add 2 Tbs butter and 2 Tbs olive oil to skillet.
Dredge chicken in flour mixture and brown in oil and butter, remove.
Saute mushrooms in remaining oil, remove.
Add Marsala to skillet, scraping skillet.
Add broth and cook a couple of minutes.
Return onions and mushrooms and cook 1-2 minutes.
Return chicken, add thyme and salt and cook until sauce thickens.

Serve over pasta

Notes and modifications:

This recipe can be successfully doubled or tripled. To do so I use a casserole dish placed in a warm oven to collect all the bits as they are removed, and thicken the whole lot in the oven.

If you like extra sauce for the pasta, use extra chicken broth and marsala.

No one has ever complained if I add extra garlic.

When we lived on a boat and had limited supplies we successfully made this using a turkey breast, dehydrated mushrooms, and chicken bullion. It probably didn't taste as good as the regular recipe, but was damn good boat food.

A quick meal

There are plenty of times in family life when you want a quick, inexpensive, but healthy, meal or snack. I especially appreciate food that my kids can heat up and serve themselves. This recipe fits all the way around.

Twice Baked Potatoes

Bake a lot of potatoes. (Specifics? Really? Sigh. Fine.)

Bake 5 lbs of potatoes at 350 for 1 hr. (Satisfied?)

Eat any you want with some grilled meat and a salad, or make a potato bar and call it dinner.

Let cool. You can even stick the potatoes in the fridge and get to them tomorrow or the day after.

Cut potatoes in half lengthwise, so that it easily lays with cut side up.

Scoop out potato with a spoon leaving skins and a thin layer of potato behind for structural support.

Put potato guts in a large mixing bowl, mash with milk/cream and large amount of butter (as if for dry mashed potatoes). Now add cheese, eggs, veggies, garlic, spices, salt, pepper, and/or meat to the mix. How much is up to you, as a minimum I would add 1 cup cheese and 2 eggs to 5 cups potato, with veggies and meat being optional. Taste as you go to get something you like. (Yes, I know about not eating raw eggs, but it hasn't killed me yet, and I'm not going to worry about it!)

Now you just scoop the mashed potato mix back into the shells, lay face up on a baking sheet, sprinkle with cheese and bake the stuffed potatoes again. (usually just enough to heat, ~ 20 min @350)

If any survive you can freeze the extras on the baking sheets, transferring to a freezer bag when they're hard. They only take a couple of minutes in the microwave to be toasty and yummy again.

If all the twice backed potatoes got eaten then next time try starting with 10 lbs of potatoes.

Notes and modifications:

I usually start with at least 7 lbs of potatoes.

My kids favorite twice baked potato is cheddar cheese, cream cheese, garlic, salt and pepper.
I like to add broccoli to this, and it's pretty good with ham and broccoli.

We've also made pizza potatoes using dried tomatoes, pepperoni, and mozzerella.
I'd like to try spinach and feta.

The sky is the limit when filling these, change the cheese type and the extras to make your favorite flavor.


A link to this post is also at Food Renegade "Fight Back Friday" for April 30 2010