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Archive for January, 2007

lunchroom rolls

Sunday, January 28th, 2007

4 cups all purpose flour
¼ cup shortening (Granny Lettie used oil)
3 tablespoons sugar
1 package dry yeast (Granny used two packages of yeast)
½ cup dried milk
½ teaspoon salt
1 ½ cup water
1 egg

Dissolve yeast in lukewarm water. Mix flour, sugar, salt and dried milk together. Add to water and yeast mixture. Shortening and beaten egg. Add flour mixture to yeast mix, a little flour at a time until you get a stiff dough. Leave in large bowl and cover with melted butter. Let rise until double. About 1 – 1 ½ hours.

Work dought down and pinch out. Makes about fifteen to twenty rolls. Let rise and double again. Bake in prreheated oven at 450° F.

Recipe courtesy of Laura’s maternal grandmother, Nana.

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pumpkin roll

Sunday, January 28th, 2007

Beat three eggs on high speed for five minutes. Gradually beat in one cup of granulated sugar. Stir in 2/3 cup of pumpkin, a teaspoon of lemon juice and stir together.

¾ cup of flour
2 teaspoons of baking powder
3 teaspoons of cinnamon
1 teaspoon of ginger
1 ½ teaspoon of nutmeg
½ teaspoon of salt

Use 15 x 10 x 1 greased and floured pan. Pour above in pan. Bake at 375° F for fifteen minutes. Turn out on towel. Sprinkle with powdered sugar. Roll towel and cake together. Cool, then fill with

2 cups of powdered sugar
6 oz. of cream cheese
4 tablespoons of butter
1 teaspoon of vanilla

Spread on cake. Roll and chill. Can be frozen. Cut into slices and serve.

Recipe courtesy of Laura’s maternal grandmother, Nana.

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vegetable salad

Sunday, January 28th, 2007

1 small can french green beans
1 small cal green peas
1 small can whole kernel corn
2 or three stalks celery (chopped)
1 diced onion
1 small can pimentos
green pepper to taste
1/4 head cabbage (shredded)
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup salad oil
1/2 cup vinegar

Drain canned vegetables, combine with celery, onion, pimentos, green pepper and cabbage – combine sugar, vinegar and oil – pour over salad – toss

Note: The longer this is made the better it tastes – let stand in refrigerator at least overnight before eating.

Recipe courtesy of Matt’s mom, Margie.

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inspection report

Friday, January 26th, 2007

So, what’s the big deal? What’s wrong with the house? Take a look…

Above are the last two pages of our inspection report. Yes, there are 27 items of concern on the list. Repeat: 27. Of 27 items, we asked for only five be addressed. Items #1, #2, #7, #9 and #26. Basically, we asked that the seller credit us some money to go towards major repairs (which added up to $20K), and they refused. They didn’t even come halfway. These aren’t little problems, they are serious concerns, known hazards. See below:

- water leaking from the lead pan in the bathroom (water rained into the garage if you took a long shower. I guess they could have advertised it as a THREE bath house!
- a support beam improperly installed (and to top it off he just removed the middle support beam!)
- “heated” garage (heated, if you take into account the gas heater for the garage had a leak, a crack in the ceramic AND was improperly vented. Yeah, it would heat alright, so much you might catch FIRE!)
- the hot water heater needed to be vented correctly
- the electrical box was older than dirt and needed to be replaced.

This isn’t even taking into account that windows were broken, locks were missing, well, you can read the entire report if you like. SO, we walked. I went house hunting again yesterday, but everything was postage sized lots, no room to build on, no space to play with the dogs, and sometimes, no place to even park a car in a driveway. We really want to stay within walking distance of public transportation, so it might be a long, long wait to find a house. I’m personally, a little burnt out on house hunting right now. I’m hoping the weekend rejuvenates me.

Posted in house and home | 1 Comment »

three-potato soup

Thursday, January 25th, 2007

3 medium potatoes, cubed
2 green onions, sliced
1 stalk of celery, chopped
1 cup of water
1/4 teaspoon of salt
1 (12 ounce) can of evaporated milk
1/4 cup of butter or margarine
1 teaspoon of parsley flakes
freshly ground pepper to taste.

Combine first five ingredients in a saucepan. Cover and cook for ten minutes or until potatoes are tender. Do not drain. Mash vegetables slightly. Stir in milk, butter, parsley and if desired, pepper. Heat thoroughly. Garnish with green onions, if desired. Yields 3 1/2 cups.

Recipe courtesy of Laura’s maternal grandmother, Nana.

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hamburger soup

Thursday, January 25th, 2007

4 tablespoons of Wesson oil
1 pound of hamburger
4 potatoes
1 can of corn
2 cups of pinto beans
2 cups of stewed tomatoes
1 onion
2 or three tablespoons of salt
1 or two tablespoons of flour

Put oil in large stock pot. Add meat and cook until brown, add salt, stir in flour. Add two cups of water. If you like, use stew beef instead of hamburger. Add onions and potatoes and cook. Add corn, pinto beans, and tomatoes. Add additional seasoning if needed. Simmer until vegetables are tender. Serve with shredded cheese, sour cream and saltine crackers.

Recipe courtesy of Laura’s maternal grandmother, Nana.

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tuscan minestrone soup

Thursday, January 25th, 2007

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup sliced carrots
1 cup chopped onions
1/2 cup chopped celery
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 (15-oz.) can Cannellini Beans, drained, rinsed
1 (15-oz.) can Black Beans, drained, rinsed
1 (14.5-oz.) can ready-to-serve chicken broth
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme leaves

In 5-quart Dutch oven, heat oil over medium-high heat until hot. Add carrot, onions, celery and garlic; cook 4 to 5 minutes or until onions are tender, stirring occasionally. Stir in all remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium; simmer 10 to 12 minutes.

4 (1-cup) servings.

Recipe courtesy of Progresso Cannellini Bean can.

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chicken soup

Thursday, January 25th, 2007

Skin and cut up a whole chicken. Place parts in about 2 quarts of water with:
1 medium to large onion, chopped
4 large celery stalks, washed and chopped

Simmer ’til done (30 minutes or so)

Remove chicken and allow to cool. Remove meat from bones and cut into pieces. Meanwhile, add about 1 cup rice and 1 T of dill and salt (DON’T OVERDO HERE) to taste and sprinkle of pepper.

Simmer another 20 minutes or so, ’til rice is done. OOPS! Also, when you add the rice, add about 1 1/2 cups of carrot slices (scrape and slice fairly thin). Towards the end, add chicken back in and “correct” the seasoning.

Can substitute thin egg noodles for rice.

Recipe courtesy of Matt’s mom, Margie.

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pizza dough

Wednesday, January 24th, 2007

All ingredients at room temperature (70-80° F)

Water 3/4 cup + 2 tablespoons
Salt 3/4 teaspoon [I use coarse kosher salt]
Olive Oil 2 tablespoons [Don't use Virgin Olive Oil]
All-Purpose Flour 2 1/2 cups
Sugar 2 teaspoons
Active Dry Yeast 2 teaspoons [I buy my yeast in the jars, not the packets]

Press Stop to clear display. Press Select until 8 appears on the display for dough setting. [Just check out your dough setting on your own bread maker to see if it is similar to this one.] Press Start. When unit signals and display reads 0:00, press Stop and remove dough.

Pat dough into 12 x 15-inch jelly roll pan or greased 12-inch round pizza pan. [I roll mine out on a cutting board - sometimes using a little flour or cornmeal, depending on how sticky the dough is. You can also use olive oil. Put it onto a Pampered Chef stone. The small one is the one I have, I believe. I also poke holes in the dough with my fingertips - otherwise it gets too poofy. If you want to make a thin crust pizza, you can divide in two so that you make two pizzas instead of one. To make Calzones, this recipe makes two large ones or four small ones.] Let stand for 10 minutes. [I rarely do this - it has always worked out fine for me] Preheat oven to 400° F. Spread pizza sauce over dough. Sprinkle toppings over sauce. Bake 15-20 minutes, or until crust is golden brown.

Recipe from Regal Kitchen Pro Breadmaker Guide and Cookbook.

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yaki soba

Wednesday, January 24th, 2007

1 1/2 teaspoon of crushed garlic (approximately 3 cloves – just chop up finely)
1 tablespoon of grated ginger root (can be chopped up finely)
1/2 cup of water
1 cup of soy sauce
1/4 cup of sugar (I usually use a little less)
2 tablespoons of lemon juice

Use some of this sauce to stir fry chicken, shrimp, tofu, cabbage, onions, green onions, peppers, water chestnuts, carrots (basically anything you want to throw in there) Boil 2-3 packets of soba noodles, drain and stir fry in the remaining sauce. Be careful not to let the noodles sit too long, or they will get sticky. Place the noodles on a plate with the meat and vegetable mixture on top. Eat with chopsticks and enjoy!

Recipe from the test kitchen of Matt and Laura.

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Archive for January, 2007

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