Cinnamon Squares

A long time ago, my sister worked at the Twin Lights in Highlands, New Jersey. The lighthouse had a nice, little gift section. One of the books for sale was The Williamsburg Cookbook. My sister gave me that cookbook for my birthday. The recipe for Cinnamon Squares turned out to be my favorite. If you like cinnamon, you'll love these sweet treats.

Cinnamon Squares

1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg, separated
2 cups flour
1 1/2 tablespoons cinnamon
1 1/2 cups nuts, chopped

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.
Grease a large 9 x13 pan.
Cream the butter and sugar. Add the egg yolk and then the dry ingredients.
Press the batter into the pan.
Beat the egg white until foamy and spread it over the batter.
Press on the nuts.
Bake at 325 degrees for 30 minutes. Cut into squares.

Yummy!

Recipe for SMOTHERED CHICKEN

 I found this recipe in a community cookbook, which I bought at a flea market. It's simple but a true treat for the tastebuds. I always serve it with brown rice.

SMOTHERED CHICKEN

1 8 ounce bottle of red Russian dressing
1 8 ounce jar of apricot preserves
1 package of onion soup mix
8 chicken breast cutlets, thick sliced

Mix dressing, preserves and soup mix. Pour over chicken in a glass baking dish. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.

(Hint: I usually double the sauce because it's so scrumptious.)

Enjoy!

Chicken Italiano

My niece and her fiancé visited today. They'll be getting married soon. My southern sister gave them a cookbook as a shower gift. My niece said her fiancé has a lot of cookbooks. She usually pulls recipes off the internet--and I admitted I do as well sometimes, but there's nothing like an old-fashioned cookbook. I've got a nice collection and I dragged out some of my favorites. My new nephew-in-law was appreciative and took snapshots with his cellphone of several recipes I pointed out that everyone in the family loves.

One of my favorite cookbooks is The Texas Experience. Hubby brought it home from one of his business trips many, many years ago. (It's a 1983 edition.) 

After my niece and her fiancé left I glanced at one recipe I hadn't tried, Chicken Italiano. It was simple--my favorite kind of recipe! I doubled the sauce as I usually do because I love saucy recipes and I used only chicken breasts instead of cutting up a chicken.

Hubby really enjoyed it. I did, too. 

Give it a try! 

Chicken Italiano

1 (16 ounce) bottle of Kraft's Creamy Italian Dressing
2 packages onion soup mix
2 (4 ounce) cans of mushrooms, drained
2 bay leaves
1 teaspoon oregano
2 pounds of chicken breasts, cut into chunks

Combine the Creamy Italian Dressing, onion soup mix, mushrooms, bay leaf and oregano. Pour over chicken. Bake covered at 350 degrees for 1 hour and 10 minutes. 

Yummy! 

Great Speckled Pancakes

I always make pancakes from scratch--no mix for me. I have a favorite recipe for oatmeal flour pancakes and another one for buttermilk pancakes. However, my top pick for the heartiest, tastiest pancake of all is the one for the recipe I found in The New York Times Natural Foods Cookbook by Jean Hewitt. (1971)

The original recipe calls for dry milk, which I never have on hand. It also lists brown sugar as optional, but I love brown sugar, so for me it's not optional.

Give these a try next time you make pancakes. I'm sure you will enjoy them, too.

GREAT SPECKLED PANCAKES

1 cup unbleached white flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 yellow cornmeal
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 tablespoon brown sugar
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/4 cup oil
2 cups milk

1. Sift the dry ingredients together.

2. Beat in the eggs, milk, and oil.

3. Ladle the mixture onto a hot, oiled griddle. Cook until bubbles form on the top side, which indicates that the bottom is browned. Then flip the pancake and cook the other side.

Yield: About one dozen pancakes.

Chocolate Cherry Cake

I have too many cookbooks. When I first buy one, I study all the recipes, try a few, find a couple favorites, and then move on to another cookbook. I recently rediscovered an interesting cookbook, The RV & Camping Gourmet, from U-Haul. I bought the book because we used to go camping when our daughters were young.

We haven't gone camping in a long, long time. However, recently Daughter #1 bought her boyfriend a set of camping recipe cards. It was then I remembered my own camping cookbook. I took it off the shelf and started browsing through it. Many of the one-pot meals would have been handy when we had no electricity for eight days after Hurricane Sandy hit. At that time, since we had no refrigeration, I cooked up many meals using canned meat. The RV & Camping Gourmet has several one-pot recipes which used canned meat.

But there are desserts, too. :-)

Daughter #1 tried one the other day. It's not too sweet, but quite a pleasant end to a meal. It uses no eggs or milk. It's quick, simple, and good.

CHOCOLATE CHERRY CAKE

1  21-ounce can cherry pie filling
2 1/4  cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2  cups sugar
3/4  cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2  teaspoons baking soda
3/4  teaspoon salt
1 1/2  cups water
1/2  cup cooking oil
1/4  cup vinegar
1 1/2  teaspoons vanilla

Spread the cherry pie filling evenly over the bottom of a greased 13x9x2-inch baking pan. In a large bowl stir together flour, sugar, cocoa, soda, and salt. In another bowl combine water, oil, vinegar, and vanilla. Add liquid ingredients to flour mixture all at once; stir just to moisten. Pour batter evenly over cherry pie filling. Bake in 350 degree oven for 30 to 35 minutes or till cake tests done. Cool 10 minutes in pan; invert and cool

Makes 12 to 16 servings.

It's rather nice with whipped cream, too.

Irish Soda Bread

I love St. Patrick's Day. I love corned beef, cabbage, potatoes, and carrots all boiled together in one pot--and not just because it's easy. :^) As a writer, I love quick and easy meals, but I am fussy. The food has to taste good.

I always serve my corned beef with Irish Soda Bread. I especially love soda bread fresh from the oven and slathered with butter.

At an Irish festival many, many years ago I got this recipe from two, sweet Irish ladies--so you know it's genuine. Try it. It is so easy and much, much better than anything you can buy in the store.

Irish Soda Bread


4 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon butter
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
1 cup raisins
1 tablespoon caraway seeds

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Mix dry ingredients together. Rub in butter with fingers. Make a well in center and add enough buttermilk to make a soft but firm dough. Knead on a floured surface for 2 to 3 minutes until dough is smooth. Form into a round loaf. Cut a deep cross in the center of the loaf.
Put into a cake tin that has been sprayed with no-stick cooking spray.
Bake at 375 degrees for 50 minutes.
YUM!

Chicken With Mustard

Many years ago, when I was visiting my northern sister, I saw a recipe for Chicken with Mustard in the Hartford Courant. I tried the recipe. There was too much mustard and it wasn't saucy enough for hubby or me. It also involved too much preparatory work. I fiddled with the recipe and now have a version more suited to my family's taste (and mine).

Also, it's a lot less time consuming because I use frozen carrots and canned onions.

Give it a try. :-)

• 4 chicken breasts skin removed (about 2 pounds)
• 1 tablespoon oil
• 8 ounces dry white wine
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 can (14.5 ounces) chicken broth
• 1 - 15 ounce jar baby onions
• 1 pound frozen whole baby carrots
• 1/2 cup Dijon mustard
• Black pepper to taste
• 3 tablespoons cornstarch mixed into 1/3 cup of water

Over medium heat, brown the chicken on all sides in a big skillet with the oil.
Sprinkle with the pepper, add the wine, thyme, garlic, and chicken broth. Cook for 35 minutes over low heat, covered.

Add the onions and carrots. Simmer, covered for another 10 minutes.

Stir in the mustard and bring to a boil. Add the cornstarch and water. Stir until mixture thickens.

I always serve this with brown rice since it's so saucy.

Carrot Crunchies Cookie Recipe

This cookie recipe is an old favorite. There's some real good nutritious stuff in these cookies so I think it is perfectly acceptable to eat them for breakfast. Everyone in my family agrees. :^)

2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 cup butter
1 cup light brown sugar
1/3 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
1 cup finely shredded carrots (about 2 small carrots)
1 cup raisins
1 cup chopped walnuts
2 cups toasted rice cereal

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Prepare 2 large cookie sheets with parchment paper. (Or you can grease them, but the parchment paper makes cookie baking easy.)

In a bowl, combine first 5 ingredients; set aside. In large mixer bowl with electric mixer at medium speed, cream butter, sugar, milk and vanilla. Beat in eggs until light and fluffy. Add flour mixture. Stir in remaining ingredients. Drop batter by tablespoonfuls onto cookie sheets. Bake about 15 minutes. Remove from sheets, cool completely on wire rack.

The original recipe called for pecans, but I like walnuts. I also substitute a small amount of shredded coconut for some of the carrots--if I happen to have the coconut. The original recipe called for dropping teaspoonfuls of batter onto the cookie sheets and baking the dough for 10 minutes. However, the cookies came out puny. I like big cookies so I use a tablespoon.

Enjoy!

Peanut Chicken

This is delicious, quick and easy. The perfect dish for a busy writer to prepare.

1 onion, chopped
1 clover garlic, chopped
1/4 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup chicken stock
1/4 cup honey
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon curry powder
a pinch of cardamom
a dash of Tabasco sauce
4 chicken breasts, cut into bite-sized pieces

Combine the onion and garlic, cook on high in the microwave for 2 minutes.

Stir in the peanut butter, chicken stock, honey, mustard, curry powder, cardamom, and Tasbasco. Add chicken. Cook, uncovered, on high for 6 minutes. Stir. Cook on high for 6 more minutes.

Serve over rice. (You should have a rice cooker for that!)