by jphilo | Oct 21, 2010 | Recipes
If you need to use some of the zucchini you shredded and froze last summer, take a look at this recipe. My friend Barb created the dessert more than 25 years ago – for a neighbor who was allergic to eggs. It’s been Hiram’s fave ever since. Serve the brownies warm with vanilla ice cream and see if they become one of your family’s faves, too.
Barb’s Eggless Zucchini Brownies
1 cup butter 3/4 cup milk
2 cups sugar 1 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/2 cups flour 2 cups peeled, grated zucchini
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder 1 cup chopped nuts, optional
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup cocoa
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream butter and sugar. Add dry ingredients. Stir in zucchini, milk and vanilla. Pour into a greased 10 x 15 or 12 x 17 inch pan. Bake for 20 – 25 minutes. Frost immediately with buttermilk frosting.
Buttermilk Frosting:
In a saucepan, mix ¼ cup butter, 3 tablespoons cocoa and ¼ cup buttermilk. Cook and stir until boiling. Remove from heat. Beat in 2 cups powdered sugar and ½ teaspoon vanilla. Pour frosting over warm brownies or cake and spread evenly with a knife. Sprinkle with nuts if desired.
These brownies keep best stored in the refrigerator. If you pour the batter into a greased 9 x 13 inch cake pan and bake it for 30 – 35 minutes, it makes a great chocolate cake.
by jphilo | Oct 14, 2010 | Recipes
The longer nights and cooler days have put a damper on my spirits lately. The cooler days and long nights are an in-my-face reminder that winter’s around the corner. The silver lining on the oncoming blizzard cloud is the return to cold weather cooking which – call me fickle – I abandoned with glee once grilling season arrived last spring.
One of our favorite winter meals is pork steak with apples. It’s tasty and inexpensive and easy, so it wins the coveted Philo triple crown. When port steak goes on sale for $.99 a pound at our local market, I buy enough to last until grilling season returns.
Pork Steak and Apples
2 pounds pork steak
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 apple
Heat olive oil in a hot skillet. Brown steaks in hot oil, about 3 minutes on each side. Turn down heat and add 1 cup of water. Bring to a boil, then adjust heat so water bubbles gently. Cut apple into 4 thick slices. Place the slices on top of the meat. Cover skillet and simmer meat for 1 1/2 – hours. Check water level occasionally and add more if needed.
Slide meat and apples onto a platter. Add a few spoonfuls of baked apple to pan juices. Then make gravy. Serve with mashed potatoes and green salad.
by jphilo | Oct 6, 2010 | Recipes
Apple season is in full swing, and I’m loving it. Honey Crisps for eating, cider for drinking, Jonathans and Haroldsons for baking, discounted bags of seconds for applesauce. Life is good!
Apple crisp is one of the oldest and most popular apple desserts around. And why shouldn’t it be? It’s easy, quick, and not as loaded with sugar and fat as other desserts. Plus, it perfumes the house while it bakes and tastes heavenly. This recipe comes from my Betty Crocker Cookbook, a wedding shower from Grandma Josie in 1977. It still holds up, though I use less sugar and more oatmeal and apples than the original recipe required.
Apple Crisp
6 cups sliced pared tart* apples (about six medium)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup flour
1 cup oatmeal
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/3 cup softened butter
Heat oven to 375 degrees. Grease a square, nine inch pan. Place apple slices in pan. Mix remaining ingredients thoroughly. Sprinkle over apples. Bake 30 – 45 minutes, until apples are tender and bubbly. Topping should be golden brown. Serve warm with milk, light cream or ice cream.
*Jonathans, JonaGolds, Haroldsons or Granny Smiths are tart baking apples.
by jphilo | Sep 28, 2010 | Recipes
The weather’s getting cooler in these parts, but being a cheapskate, I don’t want to turn on the furnace any too soon. Which means now’s the time to pull out recipes that require a heated oven. This recipe for butterhorns, another family camp favorite, fits the bill. Not only will the kitchen warm up while they bake, the aroma will make the house smell so warm and homey, you’ll think the temperature is warmer than it really is.
Of all my favorite family camp recipes, this is one of my favorite favorites. There’s only one word to describe eating them in an open air pavilion, surrounded by loving family and spectacular mountain vistas: divine!
Butterhorns
In a small bowl, combine:
1 pkg dry yeast
1/4 cup warm water
1 tsp. sugar
Set aside.
Scald 1 cup milk and add to it:
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp salt
Stir until butter is melted.
Add 3 eggs, slightly beaten
Stir in yeast mixture. Stir in 4 1/2 cups flour and mix until smooth. Let rise for 40-60 minutes. Knead.
Divide dough into thirds and roll each third into a circle. Brush with melted butter and cut into 12 pizza slices. Roll from fat end. Let rise about 60 minutes.
Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes. Makes 36 rolls.
by jphilo | Sep 24, 2010 | Recipes
Whoever gave this recipe to Mom way back in the 1960s did our family a great favor. When we did the kid thing – you know, coming home after school and announced we needed to take treats somewhere after supper – this was the fall back recipe. Because these bars call for melted butter and are mixed in a sauce pan, they are quick and easy to make.
I’ve contributed the recipe to numerous church and organization cookbooks and never seen another one like it. If anyone knows why they’re called “Congo Squares” please enlighten the rest of us!
Congo Squares
2/3 cups butter 2 1/2 cups brown sugar
3 eggs 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt 2 1/2 cups flour
1 cup chocolate chips 1 cup chopped nuts (optional)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Melt butter in a large saucepan. Add brown sugar and stir well. Cool for 10 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, stirring well after adding each one. Stir in dry ingredients until well mixed. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts. Spread batter in well-greased cookie sheet. Bake for 20 – 25 minutes. Cut into bars immediately and let cool before serving.
*It’s better to under-bake than over-bake these. Under-baked, they’re chewy and caramelly. Over-baked, they’re dry and crumbly.
by jphilo | Sep 16, 2010 | Recipes
Lately, our CSA weekly share has been overflowing with squash: summer, zucchini, acorn and butternut. You name it, we’ve got it. That means my husband, an avid squash lover, is a happy man.
My best squash recipe is below. It’s also my only recipe. Hiram doesn’t mind eating it over and over. But, I don’t love squash as much as he does and need some new ways to prepare this fall vegetable. So if you have some good recipes, please leave them in the comment section. Thanks!
Baked Squash
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cut squash into halves and scoop seeds out of the interior cavity. Fill a 9 x 13 pan with about two inches of wanter. Place squash halves upside down in pan. Bake for 30 – 45 minutes until it starts to get soft. Turn squash over. (Careful, the hot steam can burn you!)
Place a small pat of butter, a tablespoon of brown sugar and a pinch of salt in each cavity. Add water until cavity is almost full. Bake for 15 – 20 more minutes and serve.
