2008 March | Cooking With Gogi

If you like cauliflower and want to serve a great and simple dish, try this. I remember when I was a kid I would not touch cauliflower if you paid me. However as time passed and I got older, I began to like it very much. My grandmother was one of those cooks that could work miracles with anything from the garden. Now it has become one of our favorite dishes. She also used to make a cream sauce, add some steamed mushrooms, and toss in some chopped cauliflower. How delicious!!

Take a 13 x 9 pan (or smaller if you so choose). Scatter desired amount of bread crumbs over bottom of pan, usually about ¼ of a cup or more. Next cut a large head of cauliflower up into flowerets. Put half of the cauliflower in the pan. Spread 1 ½ to 2 cups of Mariana sauce over the top along with mozzarella cheese and more bread crumbs. The recipe calls for l cup of cheese and ¼ bread crumbs. I judge the amounts of cheese, sauce, and bread crumbs by the amount of cauliflower I am baking. Add another layer of cauliflower and repeat.

Bake at 375 covered for about 40 minutes. Remove cover and sprinkle with ¼ to ½ cup grated Parmesan cheese. Bake for another 15 minutes until Parmesan cheese is golden brown. Let stand 15 minutes and serve.

Did you know that cauliflower is sweetest during the colder months? Whether it is boiled, steamed, or roasted, it is equally delicious. It is also very high in Vitamin C. For a crisper cauliflower, put it in a plastic bag and store in your crisper drawer for up to one week.

Enjoy,

Gogi

Here is a treat for the family and something you would probably not buy at the bakery because the price is too high. You will be pleased with the end results when you bake these. Take them to a get together with friends and you will win the prize for the evening! We were invited to a weiner roast last week and I took approximately 14 or 15 cream puffs dusted with powdered sugar. Needless to say the plate came home empty. It was a totally different treat for the evening.

Start by greasing and flouring a cookie sheet. For best results, use a spray with flour in it.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

1 cup of water

6 T. butter or margarine

¼ tsp salt

4 large eggs

Put the first 3 ingredients in a 2 or 2 ½ quart pan and bring to a boil.

Remove from heat and vigorously beat in the 1 cup of flour all at once and beat until it leaves the sides of the pan.

Now add the four eggs ONE AT A TIME. Beat well after the addition of each egg. This will make your puffs light and fluffy. Use a ¼ cup measuring cup to dip batter out of pan and make 10 mounds on the cookie sheet. Moisten your finger and run around the top of each one to make a round top. Remember to do it lightly.

Bake 40-45 minutes or until golden brown .Remove from oven and take a sharp knife and poke a whole in the side of each one. PUT BACK IN THE OVEN FOR 10 MINUTES ONLY. Remove from oven and put on a wire rack to cool. After cooling slice each one in half and remove the moist centerpiece of the puff.

Now is the time for you to be creative. Serve them with your favorite ice cream and a chocolate topping, strawberries and whipped cream, cream filling, or whatever suits your fancy. Fill them just before you eat them. Put unused puffs in a covered container.

Enjoy,

Gogi

SOUP MX

This can be a great gift and well as a quick meal to have on hand. Use canning jars of all sizes to store the mix. The large jars can be used for family meals and the pint and ½ pint jars can be used for gifts. Tie them up with festive ribbons and tags and look at what a great gift you have created. The directions for mixing the soup go inside the jar. Make ahead soup in jars have always been a good seller at out church bazzars. This is also something the kids or your husband could cook.

14 oz. pkg dry green split peas

12 oz. pkg pearl barley

1 ½ cups rice, brown preferred

14 oz. pkg alphabet soup

12 oz. lentils

4 cups dried onions (buy in large contained at Sams or Costcos preferably)

After you have mixed all the dry ingredients together, put in jars and store. Make sure the lids are tight. Directions for mixing should be put in the jar with the mix. You will save time doing this so you won’t have to look for the recipe when you make the soup and neither will be person you are giving the soup to as a gift.

Directions:

Measure 2 quarts of water in a large kettle. Add 1 1/3 cup dry soup mix. Add 1 T. plus l tsp. salt and bring mixture to foil. Use Lid. REDUCE HEAT so soup will simmer for 1 to 1 ½ hours.

Next add : 2 carrots, 2 stalks of celery, ¼ head of cabbage, 8 or 15 ounce can of tomato sauce (canned tomatoes can be substituted).

SIMMER 20 MINUTES MORE……ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS!

Enjoy,

Gogi

BEST RUM CAKE EVER!!!!

This is a totally different recipe and you will be totally relaxed when you finish making it. If you are making it for a party, etc., do not take or deliver it the same day. You shouldn’t be at the wheel of a vehicle for about 48 hours. Enjoy!
1 or 2 quarts of rum
L cup butter
Nuts
Lemon juice
2 large eggs
4-6 cups flour??
Brown sugar
1 tsp. soda
1 tsp. sugar
Baking powder
1 cup dried fruit

Before you start, sample the rum to check for quality (good, isn’t it?) Now go ahead. Select a large mixing bowl, measuring cup, etc. Check the rum again. It must be just right. To be sure rum is of the highest quality, pour one level cup of rum into a glass and drink it as fast as you can. REPEAT.

With an electric mixer, beat one cup of butter in a large fluffy bowl. Add one seaspoon of thugar and beat again. Meanwhile, make sure that the rum is of the finest quality. Try another cup. Open the second quart, if necessary. Add 2 large eggs, 2 ups fired druit and beat till high. If druit gets tuck in beaters, just pry it loose with a drewscriver. Sample the rum again, check for tonscisticity. Next, sift 3 cups pepper or salt (it really doesn’t matter which.) Sample the rum again. Sift 1 pint of lemon juice. Fold in chipped butter and strained nuts. Add 1 babblespoon of brown thugar, or whatever color you can find. Wix mell. Grease oven and turn cake pan to 350 gredees. Now pour the whole mess into the oven and ake, Check the rum again and go to bed. Sweet dreams!!!

This was given to me by a friend named Bob Kerr who has since passed. He was quite a comedian in his own way. He was always coming up with something funny. I have made small rum cakes for gifts and put this recipe tied with a ribbon with the cake. It is a great conversation piece.

Enjoy,
Gogi

CHICKEN-NOODLE-CHEESE CASSEROLE

400 degree oven.

1 can mushroom soup
¾ cup milk
¼ tsp. pepper
2 cups frozen veggies
3 cups noodles cooked and drained
¾ cup cheddar cheese
2-3 cups cubed chicken (already cooked)
In a 2 ½ – 3 qt. casserole, add soup, milk, black pepper, cheese, veggies, and noodles. Mix well. Put in oven and heat for 25 minutes or until hot. Top with extra cheddar cheese if you have some.

In less than an hour you can have a very tasty meal for the family. A good way to top this meal off is to serve it with hot French bread. Also a fruit salad made up of whatever you have on hand, apples, bananas, fruit cocktail, canned peaches, etc. for dessert would also be great.

You could make both of these dishes the night before and refrigerate until you get home from work, shopping, church, or whatever. Make it easy on yourself!

Enjoy,
Gogi

Isn’t it amazing how vinegar is used in so many ways? I found this recipe a few years ago. The ingredients are slightly different than your regular basic pie crust but it really works. The crust turns out real flaky and delicious, especially with all that butter!

For a 10 inch pie (double crust):

1 ¼ sifted all purpose flour
1 T cold water
1 T white vinegar
2 sticks of unsalted butter

Using a pastry blender of fork, work butter into flour until dough is size of peas.
Add 1 T cold water and 1 T white vinegar and mix gently until liquid is absorbed. Form dough into slightly flattened ball and place on baking sheet and refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight.

Before you roll out your dough, bring it to room temperature. Make the bottom crust 1 inch larger than the top edge of the pie tin. Make a second one of equal size for the top crust.

Fold one round in half and lift to pie tin and unfold. Gently press bottom and sides into pan and trim the edges with a knife. Fill the shell with your choice of filling. Make an egg wash of 1 whole egg and 2 T water along with a pinch of salt. Brush the rim of bottom crust with this wash. This will help to keep the filling from leaking through the top and bottom crust while baking. Next fold the top round in half and cut about a ½ -3/4 inch circle in the center. This allows steam to escape while pie is baking. Line up the top and bottom crust when placing over the filling. Trim off any excess dough. Press edges of dough together with fork, your thumb, or be creative and do something that says it was you who made this wonderful pie!

Be sure to throw any left-over egg wash away. Do not save.

If you have any dough left, roll it out, spread a little cinnamon and sugar over the top and bake a tasty treat for the kids!

ENJOY!

This recipe makes 10 double crust pies. You mix it up, divide it into 8 to 10 rolls and put it in the refrigerator/ freezer, depending on when you are going to use it. It should be wrapped in plastic wrap first and then in freezer paper if you are going to put it in the freezer. Before using, remove from freezer and let come to room temperature. Then roll it out. Sometimes I take it out the night before and leave it on the counter if I want to get started on baking early in the morning. If you have a heavy duty breadmaker it is best to mix the dough with that because it gets pretty heavy to handle. If you don’t have a breadmaker, you can still do it the old fashioned way and do it by hand.

Recipe:

5 lbs. flour

3 lbs shortening (I prefer Crisco)

1 oz. salt ( approx 5 tsp.)

Mix together with mixer or by hand pastry blender. It will look somewhat like putty.

3 cups water

Add all at once and just mix a few turns until the dough absorbs all the water or mix with your hand until it does the same.

Sprinkle about a ½ cup of lour over the top of dough and just mix until the dough is the right consistency of pie crust dough.

Separate dough into 8-10 roll and wrap well and freeze or refrigerate. At least refrigerate for up to 2 hours before using. This is an important step. This dough will keep for a very long time if wrapped properly.

Enjoy,

Gogi

This was a recipe given to me by my mother-in-law 48 years ago. It is absolutely scrumptious!

I large orange

1 cup raisins

1/3 cup chopped walnuts

2 cups flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

1 cup sugar

½ cup shortening

¾ cup milk

2 eggs

¼ cup milk

Topping:

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/3 cup sugar

¼ cup chopped nuts

Squeeze juice out of the large orange. Set aside. Cut stem off of the end of orange rind and grind. Set aside.

Measure and set aside l cup of raisins and l/3 cup of walnuts.

Sift flour, baking soda, salt and sugar together.

Add ½ cup shortening and ¾ cup milk to flour mixture above. Mix with mixer.

Add 2 eggs and another ¼ cup of milk to the mixture and fold in the orange juice, rind and raisin mixture.

Bake at 350 degrees in a greased 12 x 8 x 2 or a l3 x 9 pan for 40-50 minutes.

While still warm sprinkle with sugar, cinnamon and nut topping.

Serve with a nice cup of coffee or hot tea. Enjoy, Gogi

This is a recipe I use all year around. You can adjust it to the veggies that are in season and create it in such a way that when finished, it will be your recipe!

Crispy veggies and a tasty dip (your selection) along with a beautiful head of red cabbage make a great centerpiece for a party. Try to select a medium size head of cabbage so that it is large enough to fill with your favorite dip.

1 medium to large head of red cabbage

Veggies that have been cleaned and cut up (amount depending on size of your crowd)

Dip (your selection)

Prepare veggies ahead of time. Put in refrigerator to allow them to reach their full potential of crispness. Clean cabbage saving large leaves to spread all over the plate to arrange veggies on. Save center of cabbage. Refrigerate. Before serving hollow out center of cabbage, place dip in hollow and set in middle of plate. Arrange veggies alternating colors so the plate will be attractive. Serve and enjoy. It can be the center of attraction on your table!

This is definitely a winner to take to a picnic and share with the crowd. It also looks extremely beautiful when you are having a buffet. Add mint, parsley, olives, or something of your choice to accent the plate. You will be pleased with what you have done.

Enjoy.

Gogi

It is time to share some of the ideas, tips, or experiences I have had while receiving my degree in “learning by your mistakes cooking class”. First of all lessons are learned by doing whatever it is hands on. If you have never made a cherry pie and failed, how are you going to figure out what it is you have done wrong. Also, practice makes perfect. Many people have said they can’t make a particular thing because they tried ONCE AND FAILED. This should not stop you from trying again. It should make you more determined to try it over and over again until you get it right. I remember my first homemade bread left a lot to be desired. My grandmother used to make her bread in a large white porcelain dish pan. She would just guess at how much of this and how much of that went into the pan. Needless to say that did not work for me. Her bread was absolutely wonderful and as I said mine left a lot to be desired. I had to resort to following a recipe and developing my own kneading technique.

If you put more than one woman in a kitchen side by side and give them the same recipe, the finished product will come out just a little bit different, or in some cases a lot different!! Just remember, when you have a failure that is your incentive to try, try again. Do not let failure win!!

Until later,

Gogi

March 2008

Monthly Archives

Categories

Search: