All posts by scootergin

Delicious Dishes, Vegetarian

Vegetarians Must East Too – Spinach and Black Bean Lasagna

1 Comment

How a vegetarian got her wish:

As our customer base grew, so did our menu. We made chicken dishes in every way possible, mouth-watering roasts with potatoes and carrots, slow-cooked prime rib, oven roasted turkey, brown sugar ham, and a plethora of ground beef dishes. This is when a customer brought it to our attention that vegetarians like to eat too. She bought a lot of our meaty meals for her husband, a big fan of all things meat.
I told her jokingly, “We have all kinds of salads and vegetable sides. Grab a head of lettuce out there.”
She had a sense of humor and responded, “Just because I don’t eat meat doesn’t mean I wanna live on lettuce every day.”
Point taken.
She added, “There are a lot of us ‘crazy’ (she used air quotes) vegetarians who want an actual main dish to eat. Can’t you cater to us. You are a ‘catering company’ (she used air quotes again) after all.”
Funny girl. And another point well made.
So JoAnn dug through her own recipes and came up with this little gem. It’s so good, our vegetarian requester’s husband even loved it. And he didn’t seem to mind that it was actually pretty good for him too. … or maybe she never told him.

Spinach and Black Bean Lasagna

Wait, stay with me. Don’t let the name turn you off! I know, I know … it sounds slightly too healthy? yuck? (insert your adjective here.) But take it from me, an admitted picky eater who used to hate to try new things, it’s delicious.

Get a large pot of water and set on high heat to boil the water.

Salt that water! (A couple teaspoons should do it.)

Once boiling, add pasta.

Boil for eight minutes and remove to towel to drain when done.

Drain spinach, but also …

place in towel and squeeze. Take your aggression out on it. Really get in there. Get all the water out. We don’t want soupy spinach.

See? Nice and dry. And clumpy, but don’t worry. It’ll break up in the stirring process.

Mix ricotta, spinach, egg, and cilantro

See? Spinach all mixed in and well hidden behind delicious cheesy flavors.

Now, drain your black beans in a colander ….

and rinse them too.

Pour into food processor and process until relatively smooth. Then …

add pasta sauce and process a bit smoother.

Add cumin and mix.

Get ready to layer. Layering is in, after all.

Scoop in some black bean mixture and smooth,

Layer on noodles and ricotta mixture,

And smooth. Add cheese and keep layering.

Cover this with foil and place in 350 degree oven for 25-30 minutes. Uncover and bake 5-10 minutes more (just to melt that cheesy goodness on top).

Eat. Like I had to tell you the final step.

Spinach and Black Bean Lasagna

Ingredients:
29 oz. black beans, drained, rinsed and mashed
26 oz. pasta sauce
1/2 tsp. cumin
15 oz. container ricotta cheese
10-12 oz. (whatever size bag you get) frozen chopped spinach, thawed and well drained
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
9 lasagna noodles
2 cups shredded pepper jack cheese

Directions:
Boil noodles (unless using the non-boil type) for 8 minutes in salted water.
Drain on towel when done.
Combine mashed beans, pasta sauce and cumin.
Combine ricotta, spinach, eggs and cilantro.
Spoon 1/3 of bean mixture into bottom of pan.
Arrange 3 noodles over beans.
Spoon 1/2 spinach mixture over noodles.
Scatter 1 cup cheese over spinach mixture.
Spread remaining spinach mixture over cheese.
Layer 3 more noodles.
Spread half the remaining bean mixture over noodles.
Layer 3 more noodles.
Top with remaining bean mixture.
Top with remaining cheese.
Bake covered at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes.
Uncover, bake an additional 5 minutes.

Make 9×13 dish

For catering:
Double or triple recipe depending on which size aluminum food service pan you’re using.
Increase baking time to 40-50 minutes so that the center gets good and melty!

Sit back and wait for compliments.

Basic Cooking Skills

Basic skills – Cooking and Shredding Chicken

Video 3 Comments

Cooking and Shredding Chicken

1-2 lb. chicken (breast, bone-in split breasts, boneless breasts, thighs)
Water
Large stew pot
Salt
Pepper
Lawry’s Garlic Salt
Wawatusa Village Seasoning (or celery seed or celery salt)
Heat source – duh!

Turn heat to low-medium heat.
Add water to stew pot and lay chicken in.
Add more water to cover and sprinkle on spices.
Cover and let slow cook for an hour to and hour and a half.
Remove chicken from broth and let cool for 10 min. Shred for recipes.
Strain broth for recipes.

Note: You can add taco, fajita, or barbecue seasonings into the pot depending on the use of the shredded chicken.

It was always amazing to me how a lot of our customers didn’t know how to do basic things in the kitchen. I even had a friend who messed up jello. Jello!!! She made one batch that remained water, essentially; and one batch that set up like concrete. …. She did the same thing both times. Go figure.
Then I think, wait a minute, I didn’t know how to do a few basic things before beginning this catering adventure. And I promptly stopped laughing at everyone else – mostly.
For example: cooking chicken. Not baking or grilling, but cooking to shred for recipes. Easy, yes. But my family had never eaten much chicken and we didn’t make casseroles and such so this was largely uncharted territory for me. And cooking it so that it remained tender and not rubbery – that’s the key.
Cook it slow. There’s the secret. If you don’t have time to let a few pounds of chicken cook overnight or all day in a crockpot or slow cooker, you can boil it rather quickly (about an hour for a couple pounds). But even then, cook on lower heat so that the meat doesn’t get tough. If you are cooking more than a pound or two, up your time a little bit. You’ll know when it’s done. Poke a knife or fork in after about and hour and if it falls apart or the implement of choice slices in super easy, it’s done. (Or just cut it and make sure there’s no pink.)

Delicious Dishes

Gravy is Tops – Poppy Seed Chicken

1 Comment

Poppy Seed Chicken

2 (10-oz. cans) cream of chicken soup
8 oz. cream cheese
1/3 cup chicken broth
6 cups chicken, chopped or shredded
3/4 tsp. black pepper
3 Tbs. poppy seeds
1 stick (1/2 cup) butter, melted
1 1/2 sleeves Ritz crackers, crushed

Heat cream of chicken soup, cream cheese and chicken broth in large saucepan over medium heat, whisking to prevent sticking.
Mix melted butter with crackers.
Place rice in 9×13 greased pan.
Put 3 cups cooked rice in bottom of pan (If using rice instead of noodles. If using noodles, bake the chicken and layer on cooked noodles.)
Layer chicken onto rice.
Pour gravy over chicken.
Top with cracker mixture.
Sprinkle with poppy seeds.
Bake at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes.

 

How we got so poppy:
The previous owner did have some excellent recipes. Some of which had come about from trial and error; and some from a sweet lady that had worked for him. She’d formerly worked in some facet for the test kitchens of a major magazine.
So, as we kept churning out new recipes, new requests, new mistakes …. we kept steady with the old tried and true favorites. Several customers had been asking about a chicken dish with gravy. You just can’t go wrong with gravy. I believe it is a Southern staple. You could serve stale bread or some meat surprise, and as long as gravy sits atop, folks would lap it up. … Well, maybe not. But gravy is a dish picker-upper.
JoAnne knew they must be talking about Poppy Seed Chicken. So the very day we made this and e-mailed it to our customers on the daily menu, we sold out within the hour.
Added bonus: This dish has no onion chunks in it, so I liked it too.

Salad Bowl

Lotsa Pasta – Cold pasta salad in demand

Leave a comment

Super Easy Pasta Salad
12 oz. pasta
1/3 cup chopped olives with a little juice
3/4 cup Zesty Italian dressing
1/4 cup roasted red peppers
crumbled feta
cherry tomatoes

Boil pasta in salted water according to directions on package.

Add Italian dressing (I like the zesty kind the best.)


Chop olives and add to bowl along with about a Tablespoon of olive juice.


Add salt and pepper to taste.
Chop roasted red pepper and add to bowl along with a little juice from the jar.


(You can use fresh bell pepper if you like a little crunch.)
Mix well.
Add crumbled feta to taste and a few tomatoes to round it out.

This recipe is easly doubled, tripled, quadrupled:)

The story behind the recipe:

As spring came on and a promise of warmer (scorching hot) days, new ideas … and demands … continued to come in.
We made lots of pasta dishes for main entrees – lasagna, baked ziti, chicken spaghetti, spaghetti and meatballs, and the list goes on. We were so wrapped up in keeping our customers stocked with their favorites, that we barely had time to add new dishes or even think of what to add. Fortunately, there was never an end to suggestions.
Rebecca answered the phone to a customer in “desperate need of a cold side dish to feed a crowd.” She was having a gathering at her home and needed a large portion of a hearty side, but not potato salad, or green salad or a corn dish, or beans, or a bean salad, or …. Everything Rebecca suggested was met with a “No, not that.”
Finally, Rebecca was at the end of her rope. Long days made our ropes shorter.
She said, “How about a pasta salad. That would be perfect.”
Customer, “I don’t really like feta cheese.”
Rebecca, “Excuse me?”
Customer, “Feta cheese is always in pasta salad. I don’t like that.”
Rebecca, “We don’t have to put feta cheese in there.”
Customer, “Oh, good. I don’t like green onions either. Or celery. Or tomatoes. Or artichokes. ……”
The list went on.
Rebecca began to take notes. When the call was complete, she turned and crossed her eyes as she read off the list of what could not be included in the one side that was agreed to.
I’d never made pasta salad before. My family just never ate it.
JoAnne and Rebecca both gave their recipes, both of which had some forbidden items.
“When does she need it?” I asked as I looked in the ingredient refrigerator.
“Tomorrow morning.” Rebecca said. Then added, “And she needs a gallon of it.”
“Of course she does,” I snipped. “Last minute picky demands are the absolute best.”
I opened the refrigerator and grabbed a jug of Italian dressing. It had tomato bits in it, but not enough to notice. She was picky, not allergic to them.
I grabbed a couple cans of black olives off the shelf – something salty and with a bite to it. It wasn’t on the forbidden list.
It was late and I was tired. I wasn’t running to the store for the fourth time that day.
I boiled the bowtie pasta we had an abundance of and shot the salt to it.
After draining and dumping into a large mixing bowl, I added Italian dressing while the pasta was still warm. How much I don’t know, I just eyeballed it until it all looked coated. Taste test verified it was.

I chopped olives and added that along with some of the juice from the can.

A touch of ground black pepper and it was done. But it looked bland and needed another flavor. I looked in the fridge and saw a jar of roasted red pepper.

A quick glance of our ingredients not allowed verified that it was okay to add. I chopped that up and added a bit of the juice to the bowl. Taste test confirmed a winner.
I packaged it up and had it ready and waiting for our picky customer the next morning. Verdict? She loved it. Her friends loved it. It became a much-requested salad.

Two lessons learned.
One: Picky eaters rule. Sometimes they forced us to concoct something great.
And: Quite often, simple is best.

To make this even better, add cherry tomatoes and feta cheese, if you like that kinda thing:)

 

Sweet Tooth

Recipe Failure! It happens

Image 27 Comments

Almond Roca

1 lb. butter (4 sticks)
2 cups sugar (all granulated or 1 cup white, 1 cup brown)
2 Tbs. light corn syrup
6 Tbs. water
1 cups almonds, finely chopped
12 oz. bag of semi-sweet morsels (or half a bag and 6 Hershey bars)

Melt butter over medium-high heat.
Add sugar, corn syrup, and water. Stir to incorporate
Bring to light boil over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally.
Put that candy thermometer in and stir it until it reaches 290 degrees.
Remove from heat.
Stir in 1/2 cup almonds.
Pour mixture onto parchment-lined pan. Allow to cool completely.
Melt chocolate in microwave at 20-second intervals, stirring every 20 seconds.
When bottom layer is cool, spread chocolate on top and sprinkle with almonds.
Allow to cool and break into candy pieces.

Honorable mentions and better candy makers:
http://www.chef-in-training.com/2014/04/homemade-almond-roca/#comment-63384

Copycat Almond Roca


To make the cookie version without the extra drama:
1 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups white sugar (or mix of white and brown)
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup cocoa powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup almonds, finely chopped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Whip softened butter with sugar.
Add eggs and vanilla.
In separate bowl, mix together dry ingredients.
Add dry ingredients to mixer a little at a time until completely mixed.
Add almonds.
Scoop onto parchment-lined cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes.

How the candy-making experience was not so sweet

Our customers continued to …. challenge us.
Not only were we asked to alter ingredients, which in some cases worked out marvelously, but we were asked to add dishes. Everyday. All day. Now this is a good thing, actually. It means people liked what we made and trusted us to make things their mamas used to make.
In the first few weeks of these requests, we got a tad aggravated. This was because we were just barely keeping ahead of the overwhelming task of keeping the place stocked with food. But as we practiced our patient smiles and long-suffering response of, “Yes, that’s a good idea,” because you can’t say, “I’ve been here 14 hours already and it’s noon and you’re crazy,” we realized that a lot of requests were actually good ideas.
Enter yet another “helpful” customer who only occasionally stopped by to purchase a $3.00 item. I mention this because when a customer is “good” or “great,” they stop by often or purchase lots of something, or both. These customers are often the ones we would work harder to please or for whom we’d go the extra mile. That’s just the way it is. So, we listened with half an ear to all the suggestions of those who rarely came in. Before this seems totally unfair and awful, let me explain that in the very beginning, we didn’t know who our best customers would be; and so we tried hard, basically bent over backwards, to please everyone and try everything everyone told us. After about a month of putting these “ideas” on our shelves with no one purchasing them and the suggestor never returning (or reading their daily e-mail update) to see that we had taken their advice, we stopped trying every. new. idea.
Now this lovely lady who waltzed in with her $3.00 asked us to make a candy her mom used to buy.
“What was it?” I asked as I gave her the change from her $5.00.
“It was called almond roca,” as she went on to explain how much she and her mom loved it.
“Do they not make it anymore?” I’d never heard of it and I wondered why she didn’t just buy some.
“I can’t find it around here. But it’s so delicious. The ingredients seem so simple. I bet it’d be super easy to make,” she said helpfully.
For those who don’t cook or bake or ever even enter a kitchen to tell others what’s easy is, well, ridiculous.
I took a deep breath, forced a smile and said, “I’ll have to look that up.”
She smiled sweetly and left.
That evening, as I was preparing our schedule for the following day, I decided I might just see what that candy was all about. I do love a challenge. And I do love candy.
Almond Roca, according to Wikipedia, is “a brand of chocolate-covered, almond butter crunch, hard toffee with a coating of ground almonds. It is similar to chocolate-covered English toffee. The candy is manufactured by the Brown & Haley Co. of Tacoma, Washington, founded in 1914 by Harry Brown and J.C. Haley.”
I googled how to make it and found a recipe I decided to try the next day. Why not? It would give us something extra for our shelves and a nice draw as the candy was unavailable in our town. I knew I had an extra 15 minutes somewhere in the day. The recipe seemed straightforward and not complicated. Maybe that chick was right, it’d be easy.
So I combined two recipes I found, with ingredients that were almost identical. One required a candy thermometer and one did not. I did not have a candy thermometer because we were not candy makers. JoAnn, Rebecca, and Sue all thought I might need that thermometer, but I figured winging it would work.
After I followed directions from the second recipe and boiled the mixture to a constant bubble, but not a rolling boil ( I know, what?), I poured it into a parchment-lined pan and set it aside to work on the chocolate topping. I started pouring the chocolate onto the toffee mixture, and watched it sink. Glancing up, I saw all three of my cohorts furrow their brows and button their lips.
I put the mixture in the fridge and waited about an hour to try again. This time the chocolate stayed on top of the toffee, and so I let it cool in the fridge for another hour. I began cutting it into bars and watched the toffee mixture ooze all over the place as the weight of the chocolate squished it down. I glanced up to see if anyone else saw this. Of course they did. We were all working at our central tables mixing and packaging. They all half-grinned. JoAnn offered helpfully, “Looks like we could’ve used a candy thermometer.”
I nodded. Yes, yes, it does.
The ingredients used for this failure were costly and I’d used them in abundance. So I couldn’t just let it go to waste. And eating all of that yummy oozing goodness myself was an delicious but unreasonable option, so I decided to make the proverbial lemonade from lemons.
The ingredients were similar to those in a cookie. So I added flour and baking soda and a bit of salt along with eggs.
That lovely customer did have a helpful suggestion. And though she never called or checked her e-mail update or came back to see if we tried her idea, she was a “good” customer. She had prompted the birth of the almond roca cookie.

Delicious Dishes, Very Appetizing

Healthy Option – Chicken Salad

2 Comments

Chicken Salad
3 cups chopped cooked chicken
1 cup mayo
1 cup chopped celery
1/4 cup sweet relish
1 cup sliced grapes
1/2 cup toasted sliced almonds
1/4 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper

Mix together and keep refrigerated.

How chicken salad worked us to death

We could not make enough chicken salad!
We slow-roasted 40-80 pounds of chicken breast overnight, every night. And we used about 20-40 pounds of that in our chicken salad each day. It was good, delicious in fact, don’t get me wrong. But we made the stuff twice a day at least and it still wasn’t enough. And yes, we did increase our roasting and making of chicken salad as demand grew. All 4 of us – Rebecca, Joanne, Sue, and myself – could make a quadruple batch of the stuff in our sleep.
The recipe came about due to some customers of the former owner requesting healthier options. Seeing as how a lot of his recipes and ours contained cream and butter and cheese and creamy soups, I can understand why folks started putting on a little weight eating with us.
So JoAnne, a healthy eater herself, formulated the concoction on the fly one day, just remembering how she’d whipped up some for her family; and using what the owner had on hand.
We had this in our refrigerator from the first day we opened due to how “easy” it was to whip up and how much a quadruple batch would make for the case. We’d make half with celery. We’d fill at least 2 shelves with one-pound packages and it’d be gone before noon, either from customers stopping by to grab it on their way to work or people e-mailing a request that we save them a pound or two for when they could stop by. We had a dedicated refrigetor bay for “holds”. I’d begun typing up a daily offering of what we had and e-mailing that each morning to all our customers who requested to be on the list. They’d then e-mail or call with requests to hold a certain dish or two. It was simple and worked well, except for the times I forgot to check the e-mail around 4 (super busy time of day). Those who’d waited until later to let us know to hold food thought I was to check it routinely so their food would be ready and waiting. (Yes, I should’ve.) They’d arrive to pick up their dish and it wouldn’t be there as we sold out of things pretty quickly. But being the awesome group of customers they typically were, they’d find something else to grab for dinner.
One day, a new customer came in and walked right to the chicken salad without even looking at anything else. Rebecca happened to be out front arranging shelves and said hello to the lady, asking if she could help her.
They lady replied, (I must say in a condescending, smirky way), “ Oh no. I’ve just been hearing about how good your chicken salad is.”
Rebecca smiled and said, “It is good. We sell out every day.”
The lady was eyeing the package and said, “Well, it doesn’t look that special.”
Rebecca blinked and her smile grew tighter. I mean, what a thing to say!
Rebecca replied, “Well, it’s our most popular item.”
And walked to the counter to check the lady out.
She set the package on the counter and said, “Oh, I’m just buying it so I can figure out how to make it myself. This is expensive.”
We sold a full pound (yes, we weighed every package) for $3.99. And that wasn’t leaving much room for profit because we used quality ingredients and a lot of them.
Now, Rebecca was a super nice person. Very calm and forgiving and very rarely had any showing of a temper of any kind. She always went out of her way to make others feel comfortable and was never argumentative or aiming to have the last word. She wasn’t a confrontational person. But this lady had just hit one of her last frazzled nerves from a long week of aggravation.
She picked up the salad and didn’t ring the lady up. As she held the pound of deliciousness, she smiled sweetly and said, “Well, let me just tell you how to make it.”
The lady looked super surprised.
Rebecca continued, “You slow cook your chicken for 6-8 hours. That’s important because you want it to be easy to shred and that’s what makes it just melt in your mouth. Each pound of chicken salad has 1.5-2 chicken breasts in it. And while you’re chopping or shredding it, make sure you get out any of those gross grisly or fatty chicken pieces that are on the chicken breast. You get high quality mayonaise, you’ll need a half-cup of that, and sweet relish, about 1/8 cup. It just tastes better. Buy sliced almonds. Not whole ones because just chopping them is harder and just doesn’t give the right bite. You’ll need 1/4 cup of those and then toast those in a single layer on about 325-350 degrees for 4-5 minutes. Then shake them around so they evenly toast on the ends and other side. Continue toasting another 4-5 minutues. Chop up 1 cup of celery if you like it in there. Buy seedless red grapes and hand slice 1/2 cup of those in half. Now, don’t chop those or they get all squishy in the salad and it does affect the taste. Add salt and pepper and you’re done. Now, I’m guesstimating on those amounts because we make those big silver bowls (she was pointing) full of it about 3 times a day and package those 15 pounds up in single pounds so our customers can just enjoy it without all that hassle.” Then she smiled sweetly.
JoAnne, Sue, and I downed our heads and tried not to laugh. That’s as sarcastic and “mean” as Rebecca ever got.
The lady was standing and blinking, literally with her mouth open. She opened her purse and said, “Go ahead and ring me up. I think it might be easier just to buy it.”
Rebecca rang her up and wished her a good day.
That lady also became a regular customer. The thing she bought most? Chicken salad.

 

For a crowd: (Makes 15 pounds)
30 cups chopped cooked chicken
6 cups mayo
12 cups chopped celery
2 1/2 cup sweet relish
9 cups sliced grapes
5 cup toasted sliced almonds
2 1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/4 tsp. pepper

Soup's On

Feelin’ the Heat: Creamy Baked Potato Corn Chowder

Leave a comment

Makes 10 cups

1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup chopped onion
4 Tbs. flour
4 cups chicken broth
1 (4 oz.) can chopped green chilies
4 cups diced baked potatoes
2 (14.5 oz.) cans cream style corn
1 Tbs. dried parsley
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. black pepper
3 Tbs. cooked bacon bits
1 1/2 cups half&half (or heavy cream to make it extra creamy)

Saute onion in butter until tender.
Stir in flour and chilies, cook about 1 minute.
Using an immersion blender, blend this mixture smooth.
Add chicken broth and whisk smooth.
Stir in green chilies, baked potatoes, cream style corn, parsley, cheddar cheese, salt, pepper, and bacon bits.
Heat to boiling, stirring constantly or it will stick.
Reduce heat and simmer 5-10 min.
Add half&half. Heat about 10 min.

How we got soupy

Customers began to demand more. We were changing our entrees daily, but still keeping the favorites because we knew we’d be drawn and quartered if we didn’t.
We had awesome loyal customers that shopped with us weekly, sometimes daily. They began asking so nicely if we might add some breads and salads to our refrigerators so the meal would be complete for them when they got off work. They truly appreciated not having to cook something from scratch after a long day at work, but still having a homemade meal, and for just a little more than the ingredients alone would’ve cost them.
We also had some demanding customers that only came in occasionally to tell us what we were doing wrong and to remind us that our prices were too high. Apparently, we were supposed to be selling a freshly-made meal for 4 at a price lower than just the pan we served it in cost. No … not possible. Yes … we actually had this said to us.
One such “demanding” customer, a brand new one, came in with a sour expression. After reading our prominent, brightly lit signage stating that we were a “ready-made meal company,” a “take and bake” establishment, a “prepackaged product” kinda place, she approached the counter, and lucky me was the one standing there. She asked if she could order lunch. I explained that we made meals and packaged them for customers to take with them. I showed her the salads in the case as a lunch option. She squinted her eyes and looked confused as she surveyed the open kitchen behind me.
“So I can’t just order some food to eat here?”
We had one beautiful little table with 4 chairs around it that my parents had bought me to put in the storefront. It was well covered with our products. It was obviously not a place to sit and eat. Or so I thought.
I responded, with forced smile, “No. We aren’t equipped to serve here. We don’t have the seating or the ability to cook for individuals as they come in.”
She cocked her head, “You have an oven right there and a stovetop. You can’t cook me something from the fridge?”
Now, it had been a long week/couple of months worth of demanding people asking seemingly impossible things. Can you make me a special meatloaf with no meat? Could you leave the onions out of the soup but make it taste like the onions are in there? (I actually liked this suggestion, as I hate biting into onions.) Could you package this chicken and rice in single-serve freeze-wrapped bags for me?
I blinked and took a deep breath, “We do have an oven and stovetop but they are full right now with baked goods and things simmering for the dinner meal packages. We stay pretty busy just trying to keep the refrigerators full for meals that can be taken home and baked fresh there. Someday, maybe we’ll add a fresh lunch.”
She looked over at the fridge and began to move toward it.
JoAnne, who was busy making a batch of chicken and dumplings, came forward and offered, “I just got a batch of chicken and dumplings ready for the case, if you’d like a bowl of that, I can package that for you.”
The customer brightened, “Yes, please.”
JoAnne grabbed a styrofoam bowl from the back shelf where we kept the things we used for ourselves, and Rebecca wrapped up a piece of cornbread fresh from the oven. She then cleared the lady a place to sit at the table and offered her some sweet tea.
I was aggravated that she’d gotten her way. But I soon realized Rebecca and JoAnne had a good read on her.
That lady left happy and became one of our best customers, telling others about us and generating quite a bit of business.
After she left, I thanked them for taking over and handling her.
Rebecca said, “She was a little difficult. But she’s not totally wrong. We could keep some bread and lunchmeat here for people who want that.”
JoAnne added, “And we could offer a soup of the day. We’d just have to get styrofoam packaging for it.”
Good ideas sometimes come to us, and sometimes good ideas are forced upon us.

This soup was developed as a way to offer a hearty twist on a potato soup and to incorporate the aforementioned request to leave pesky, chunky onions out, but make it taste like it has onions in it. Not impossible ….

For a crowd:

Makes 2.5 gallons

2 cups butter (8 sticks)
3 cups chopped onion
1 cup flour
16 cups chicken broth (1 gallon)
4 (4 oz.) can chopped green chilies
16 cups diced baked potatoes
8 (14.5 oz.) cans cream style corn
4 Tbs. dried parsley
4 cups shredded cheddar cheese
4 tsp. salt
4 tsp. black pepper
3/4-1  cup cooked bacon bits
6 cups half&half (or heavy cream to make it extra creamy)

Saute onion in butter until tender.
Stir in flour and chilies, cook about 1 minute.
Using an immersion blender, blend this mixture smooth.
Add chicken broth and whisk smooth.
Stir in green chilies, baked potatoes, cream style corn, parsley, cheddar cheese, salt, pepper, and bacon bits.
Heat to boiling, stirring constantly or it will stick.
Reduce heat and simmer 5-10 min.
Add half&half. Heat about 10 min.

Very Appetizing

Spicing Things Up – Raspberry Hot Pepper Jelly

Leave a comment

Raspberry (or any fruit) Hot Pepper Jelly
2 cups hot peppers (jalapeno, cayenne, chili), chopped fine
1 1/2 cups bell peppers, chopped fine
1 cup white vinegar
1 cup fruit juice (or water)
1 box pectin (Sure-Jell)
5 cups sugar

jelly jars and lids

Wash jelly jars in hot soapy water and rinse well
Chop peppers very fine (I use a food processor)
Put in large, heavy bottom pot
Add vinegar, fruit juice (or water), and pectin
Put jar lids in pan of water on stove
Place on medium-high to high heat and bring to boil, stirring constantly.
When it boils, add sugar and return to boil.
Turn jar lids on high to allow to come to a boil
Maintain rolling boil of pepper mixture for 5 minutes, stirring constantly.
Remove from heat and stir until foam is reabsorbed.
Pour liquid into clean jars. Wipe rims with clean, wet cloth to remove stickiness. Place hot lids on and screw tightly.
(You can process the jars in a hot water bath or pressure cooker to ensure sealing.)

How we came to spice things up:

As days wore on with the three of us, Rebecca, Joanne and Me, just doing our best to keep dishes in our 2 three-bay refrigerated cases in the storefront, it became apparent we needed more help. Making everything from scratch proved to be a pretty big task. After seeing we were indeed going to be busy, we decided to hire back another employee, Sue,  of the former caterer to handle the front and pitch in for dish washing and cooking. With that settled, I turned to our food vendors to make use of some of their frozen items and baked goods to fill up our shelves.
It was somewhat embarrassing to have folks come in and only have a couple things left in the refrigerator to choose from. Now this was a good problem, in a way. It meant people liked our food and that what we were making was delicious. We knew this, because as any cook knows, you must taste your own food to ensure quality. And I was quickly gaining weight “testing” our food.
It was somewhat crushing to work all day making huge pots of spaghetti and meatballs, or baked ziti; or trays and trays of meatloaf or roast and veggies; or pounds upon pounds of chicken salad and fruit salad; or huge convection ovens full of freshly-baked breads and cookies and cakes – only to have them all gone within a couple hours of placing them in the refrigerator.
Having frozen pecan-crusted tilapia, seasoned vegetables, baby potatoes, various appetizers, and breads from our food vendors ready and waiting in our freezer case was most helpful and our customers loved it.
I never knew so many things were available to buy ready-made. I realized a lot of what restaurants sell as homemade is purchased and heated or thawed or finished baking on site, thus “homemade.” But it was eye-opening to see a large portion of the food I’d believed to be special to a restaurant, simply a purchased item.
We still wanted to make as much as possible from scratch, and we did. But we did buy a few types of cookies and breads to bake and package for our shelves. It proved helpful, tasty and no one seemed to mind that it wasn’t from scratch.
We also became a vendor for a salad dressing company, a pre-packaged soup mix company and an enamelware company. These things help fill up our empty walls and shelving.
However, we wanted to offer unique items our customers could only get from us. So I looked through my recipe collection. I have a great pool of great cooks in my family going back generations and still have their recipes I use regularly. I decided to jar and sell raspberry and peach hot pepper jelly. I used to think this sounded gross. But I was wrong. It is delicious! On a cracker or crostini with cream cheese or manchego cheese, it is the bomb! You can also use this as a glaze for chicken or pork chops.
Bonus: It looks beautiful filling up a shelf!

 

Delicious Dishes

Now We’re Cookin’ – Beans and Cornbread

Leave a comment

Pinto Beans and Cornbread
Beans: (feeds 8-10)
8 cups water
1 lb dry beans
1/2 Tbs. Salt
1/2 Tbs. chili powder
1/2 Tbs. garlic (paste or minced)
1 Tbs. olive, canola or vegetable oil (bacon grease if you have it)
Optional: 1/2 onion or 1 jalapeno, slit
Directions:
Look through beans and cull out any small rocks or bad-looking beans
Put into stock pot with 8 cups water (enough to cover with about 2” above top of beans)
Bring to boil on medium heat.
Remove from heat and rinse.
Refill pot with another 8 cups water and place on low-medium heat.
Add seasoning and oil.
Simmer 1-1 1/2 hours.
Check to see if more water needed so no scorching occurs or if more seasoning is needed.
Turn heat lower and simmer another hour or two.

Buttermilk Cornbread: (feeds 10-12, 9×13 pan)
1/4 cup oil
2 cups cornmeal
2 cup AP flour
1/4 cup sugar
2 Tbs. baking powder
2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
3 cups buttermilk (3 Tbs. lemon juice and add milk to 3 cup mark)
2 eggs
Directions:
Preheat oven to 425 degrees
Pour oil on 9×13 pan to coat and heat in oven.
Combine dry ingredients and mix well.
Add eggs and buttermilk.
Mix well.
Pour into hot pan, spreading evenly.
Bake 20-30 min., until golden brown.

Story behind this dish

Our first day of official work (but the day before our official opening) began at 6:30 a.m. with a quick trip to the grocery store to purchase forgotten items needed for the catering gig we’d landed. Yes, I’d gone the night before (after I’d left “work” at 6:30), purchased a shopping cart full of stuff, and brought it back for the next morning. But, of course, I’d forgotten one or two things.
Anywho, JoAnne was already hard at work on the carrot cake. She routinely got up at 5 a.m. to run 5 miles and would then go on into work. She really was a godsend.
Rebecca arrived as I did and we both rolled up our sleeves and got to work.
Now, I’ll tell ya, making anything at home doesn’t seem to take all that long. But when cooking for a crowd of 45, it seemed to take forever. And we weren’t dilly-dallying. All 3 of us were hurrying.
We had beans simmering, salad and dressings made, cornbread cut and packaged, paper goods boxed and ready, and the cake iced, cut and packaged.
Rebecca was making 4 gallons of tea and JoAnne was finishing the chicken n dumplins as our state health department inspector waltzed in. She was supposed to come in the afternoon. But here she was, catching us cooking for a luncheon in our uninspected kitchen.
I recognized her. She’d taken the ServSafe course with me. (A course that certifies you know kitchen requirements). This could go either way. Either she’d know I knew what I was doing and go easy or she’d know I was supposed to know better and write us up.
She asked when we were opening and I answered honestly. Rebecca and JoAnne were both friendly but kept their heads in their jobs and let me do the answering. She then asked if we were just doing prep work for it, although she could see we were full-blown cooking. Again, honesty:  I smiled, “Well, we had a pharmaceutical rep call and request a lunch for today. So we went ahead and did it. I hope that’s okay.”
She was checking our temperatures in cold storage. She just smiled. I followed her around our small kitchen checking our oven and stove temperatures, since we had them going. She observed our washing and sanitizing stations and checked our grease trap (glad we’d cleaned that out!).
“You are cleared to cook,” she said as she handed me a copy of the report she’d turn in. She smiled and wished us luck.
“Thank you,” I said as she left.
I turned to Rebecca and JoAnne.
“Glad that’s over. I was afraid she’d shut us down just for getting our cart before our horse,” I said.
Rebecca looked up from packaging the tea in our carrier, “Me too. I was nervous about that….”
As we launched into a conversation about that big stress being past us, JoAnne reminded us, “Yes, but right now we need to get this meal to 45 people on the other side of town and we are 10 minutes late.”
JoAnne would prove to be our much-needed time keeper and “reminderer”.
Cooking on a schedule was proving harder than it looked.

For a crowd: (feeds 32-40 as main dish)
Beans
1.5-2 gallons water
4 lb dry beans
2 Tbs. Salt
2 Tbs. chili powder
2 Tbs. garlic (paste or minced)
4 Tbs. olive, canola or vegetable oil (bacon grease if you have it)
Optional: 2 onions or 3 jalapenos, slit
Directions:
Look through beans and cull out any small rocks or bad-looking beans
Put into large stock pot with water (enough to cover with about 2” above top of beans)
Bring to boil on medium heat.
Remove from heat and rinse.
Refill pot with more water and place on low-medium heat.
Add seasoning and oil.
Simmer 1 1/2 – 2 hours.
Check to see if more water needed so no scorching occurs or if more seasoning is needed.
Turn heat lower and simmer another hour or two.

Buttermilk Cornbread: (feeds 40-48, 2 large steam trays)
1 cup oil
8 cups cornmeal
8 cup AP flour
1 cup sugar
8 Tbs. baking powder
8 tsp. salt
6 tsp. baking soda
12 cups buttermilk (3 Tbs. lemon juice and add milk to 3 cup mark)
8 eggs
Directions:
Preheat oven to 425 degrees
Pour 1/2 cup oil into each 9×13 pan to coat and heat in oven.
Combine dry ingredients and mix well.
Add eggs and buttermilk.
Mix well.
Pour into hot pans, spreading evenly.
Bake 30-45 min., until golden brown.

Delicious Dishes

A Comforting Kick-off – Chicken’n’dumplins

Leave a comment

Chicken and Dumplins

2 cans (10.5 oz.) cream of chicken soup
3 cups chicken broth
4 cups chicken
5 oz. evaporated milk
1/4 Tbs. Cornstarch
1 (24 oz.) pkg. frozen dumplings (or see recipe below)

Directions
In large stock pot, mix cream of chicken soup and chicken broth with whisk.
Taste for salt and pepper and add accordingly.
Bring to rolling boil.
In small bowl, whisk together evaporated milk and cornstarch until smooth.
Slowly pour into pot and stir well.
(If using frozen dumplings, add now. Break in half and add a few at a time so they don’t stick together.)
Add chicken. Reduce heat to low and cover.
Simmer 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
(If using fresh dumplings, add now.)
Cover and let simmer.

Dumplins:
1 cup AP flour
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup ice water

Directions:
In small bowl, mix flour with salt.
Drizzle half of water into bowl and mix with fork. (You can use your hands if you prefer)
Add water as needed until dough begins to form pea-size chunks and form ball.
Let sit 5 minutes.
Roll dough on floured surface (will be firm) until 1/4- 1/8” thick.
Cut into pieces and drop into simmering broth. Stir occasionally to keep dumplins from sticking.

Story behind the dumplins

Two days before opening day: Rebecca, Joanne and I had been working the few groceries I had purchased into a few offerings for the front cases. We’d been at is since 7 a.m. and it was approaching 3 p.m. In the home stretch leading up to our first day of business, I was  super tired and super excited.

The phone rang and I answered all professional-like with our business name.
We had our first customer.  Someone needed a lunch taken to a medical office-45 people! The former caterer often catered lunches and told us not to turn down a lunch catering job or we might not be called the next time. We had not changed the number of the business, so here we were getting our first catering gig! Yay!
I asked when he needs the meal. He said tomorrow.
Problem 1: We were just setting up the kitchen and getting it stocked with food. (You know, for the mad rush of people who would be demanding our food though we are unknown and just starting out. Do you see how clueless I am?)
Problem 2: Our state health department inspector had not cleared us to cook in the kitchen. The former caterer had kept a great reputation with the local health inspectors, but as a new company, we need to be assessed prior to opening. She was set to come the next morning, right when we should be cooking for this potential lunch.
I put my hand on the receiver and said in a perfectly panicked voice to Rebecca and Joanne, “Hey, we have a catering job!!!! (excited voice) He wants a luncheon tomorrow for 45!!!! (excited voice).”
They both stopped what they were doing and looked at me like I’d lost my mind. (They were just figuring that out?)
“We can do it, right?” (worried voice)
We went back and forth for a couple seconds about not being inspected yet and having to run get groceries and so forth. I got back on the line and the customer said, “I’ll call back another time if you can’t do this for me. I understand you aren’t really …. Open.” He’d heard the conversation! Turns out a hand on the receiver doesn’t mask all noise like it does in the movies. Good to know.
“No, no. We can do this for you,” I said.
He sounded a little worried. “Really, I’ll call with another lunch.”
See, you don’t want to get in the habit of turning business away.
I summoned some bravado and said, “Just tell me what you want and which office you need it taken to and I’ll have it there.” (Totally false confidence in my voice, but it worked.)
He said, “Okay, this office likes comfort food so I need chicken and dumplins, beans and cornbread, and a carrot cake for 45 delivered by 11:15 tomorrow morning.”
I read the order back to him and as my eyes bugged out, I replied, “No problem. I’ll take care of it.”
I hung up the phone and turned to see 2 mouths open in disbelief.
Rebecca: “ Did you just get us a catering job?”
I read the tone as disbelief and happiness.
Joanne: “Feeding 45 tomorrow morning? ….  Not one but 2 main dishes, salad, drinks, paper goods, and a homemade carrot cake?”
I read the tone wrong. The feeling was more disbelief on the verge of “are you stupid?”
Yes, yes, I am.
I was also determined. “Yes. I’ll go to the store and get what we need and make the cake tonight and get here extra early and get it done!”
They both blinked several times and took deep breaths and went back to work.
Sheer will and utter stupidity are sometimes all you need to give a little comfort to others.

 

For a crowd: (feeding about 15-20 as main dish)
4 (10.5 oz.) cans or 1 (50 oz.) can cream of chicken soup
6 cups chicken broth
8 cups chicken, cubed or shredded
10 oz. (12 oz. can fine to use) evaporated milk
1/2 Tbs. cornstarch
2 (24 oz.) pkg. frozen dumplings (or see recipe below)
Directions
In large stock pot, mix cream of chicken soup and chicken broth with whisk.
Taste for salt and pepper and add accordingly.
Bring to rolling boil.
In small bowl, whisk together evaporated milk and cornstarch until smooth.
Slowly pour into pot and stir well.
(If using frozen dumplings, add now. Break in half and add a few at a time so they don’t stick together.)
Add chicken. Reduce heat to low and cover.
Simmer 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
(If using fresh dumplings, add now.)
Cover and let simmer.
Dumplins:
2 cups AP flour
2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup ice water
Directions:
In bowl, mix flour with salt.
Drizzle half of water into bowl and mix with fork. (You can use your hands if you prefer)
Add water as needed until dough begins to form pea-size chunks and form ball.
Let sit 5 minutes.
Roll dough on floured surface (will be firm) until 1/4- 1/8” thick.
Cut into pieces and drop into simmering broth. Stir occasionally to keep dumplins from sticking.