Make-Ahead Bean Salad

Make Ahead Bean Salad

After a crazy few weeks, I'm settling in to routine. I think know I do better when I have a routine to follow. Particularly when it comes to choosing my meals. It is so incredibly easy to slip off the healthy food wagon and make less wise choices. Sometimes because I'm tired and I want the quickest food I can grab. Sometimes because I'm lazy and don't want to cook. Sometimes because dessert sounds like the best thing I can think of!

But for one more time I'm trying to do better. That usually means keeping ready to eat things in my refrigerator. Like this bean salad. I love bean salads and there are a few in the recipe index here on the blog. This one is a little different. Most of the ones I make call for sugar in the marinade. Sometimes not much but there is always some. 

Unlike those, this salad has no sugar. Not even sweet pickles! I used dill pickle salad cubes along with some of the pickle juice and vinegar for the marinade. The first taste was good, but I'm sure it well be even better after it sits in the refrigerator for several hours. By dinner time it's going to be the perfect side dish.

Using canned beans makes this so quick to put together. And beans are high in fiber and protein. Both fiber and protein are good for keeping you from getting hungry 20 minutes after you eat—like I do when I've grabbed fast food. 

In keeping with my jazz journey, this recipe also involves improv. There are so many similarities between cooking and playing music. Improv is a big one. I had a recipe as my starting place. Then I changed things around because of when I had (and didn't have) in my kitchen. You have my permission to do the same thing.

Here is the original recipe. My "improv" changes follow.

MAKE-AHEAD BEAN SALAD

1 (15-oz) can chickpeas (garbanzo beans), drained and rinsed

1 (15-oz) can light red kidney beans, drained and rinsed

1 cup chopped cucumber

1 cup diced grape tomatoes

1 cup diced orange bell pepper

1/2 cup scallions

1/2 cup dill pickle salad cubes

1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley

2 tablespoons dill pickle juice

2 tablespoon distilled white vinegar

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Combine all ingredients. Can serve chilled or at room temperature.

How easy is that? Here are my adjustments. 

• I used a red bell pepper because that's what I had. The orange pepper would add another color to the mix. That would be a nice visual, but the taste is the same.
• I didn't have scallions so I added some minced onion. Close enough.
• No fresh parsley here either. I used a good sprinkle of parsley flakes. Fresh would definitely be best, but you do what you have to do.
• How could I be out of white vinegar? I'm never out of that. But I was today. Apple cider vinegar was close enough.

See? No major changes. No need to dash to the store for a missing ingredient. This is close enough.

Same as with recipe variations, the most interesting music is full of variations, too. Learning how to put the pieces together is excellent brain exercise. I'm learning to play Misty right now—and all the fun embellishments and fills that I've always wanted to understand,.

And just to show that I really am getting back to my routine, the knitting has been pulled out, too! You can't play piano and cook all of the time. 

 

Aiming For An Ordinary New Year

Chloe, your comment on my last blog post meant more to me than you'll ever know. 

We all (I think) wonder if people notice us. It's good to be checked on. 

We said "good riddance" to 2022 and welcomed 2023 with our traditional peas and collards. Notice how basic the plate is? It was a very bare bones meal, with three of us eating at lunch time and the rest having the leftovers for dinner—after they got home from the hospital. 2022 seems to be dragging its feet into this new year. 

We are aiming for "ordinary" this year. There is wonder and comfort in the routine and the regular. We look forward to tucking in special bits in here and there.

We have had nothing catastrophic happen, but the last six months have been nothing like we expected.  So many things happened. Our schedule went wonky. Some health issues were ours. Some belonged to others but impacted us, too. Our church pianist fell right before Christmas and broke her arm. That turned into lots and lots of extra time at the piano to prepare music for several services. I'm learning trying to live within my limits. Piano time took priority over cooking, making photos and blog posting. 

Yesterday I was able to spend several minutes in our beautiful historic sanctuary before I sorted out my music and settled in at the piano. I needed the calm and the peace that was there. 

(It was a different story on Christmas Eve when a squirrel got into the sanctuary and raced around during the service.)

These collards were so good yesterday that I'm sharing this recipe again. It takes a whole morning or afternoon to cook them like this—and I put my cooker out on our porch—but it's very easy. Any leftovers can be frozen for a quick vegetable side dish later. 

COLLARD GREENS

1/2 lb. smoked meat (ham hocks, smoked turkey wings or smoked neck bones--I use turkey wings)
2-3 teaspoons House Seasoning*
1-2 teaspoons Lawrys' Seasoning Salt
2 (16- oz) bags frozen chopped collards (or 1 large bunch of fresh collards, cleaned and sliced)
1 tablespoon butter

In a large pot, bring 3 quarts of water to a boil and add smoked meat, house seasoning and seasoned salt. Reduce heat to medium and cook for 1 hour.
Add frozen greens and butter. Cook for 1 to 2 hours, stirring occasionally. Adjust seasoning to taste.

*House Seasoning: 1 cup salt, 1/4  cup black pepper, 1/4 cup garlic powder. Mix together and store in airtight container.

 

How regular will I be posting in 2023? I really have no clue. Maybe not at often as in years past (do I dare admit I have nothing left to say?) but I'm aiming for at least once a month, with extra posts when there is something worth sharing. 

This blog space has become a much used resource for storing my recipes. It's accessible to family and friends. It can be pulled up while standing in the grocery aisle. So you may see and occasional post that is only a recipe. That lets me add it to the index. 

Just a reminder, if you can't find a recipe in the index, you can use the little search box at the top left of the web version of the blog. Type in a key word and it should pull up any posts related to it. I find I use that more often than the index. The trick is to open the web version . 

Teach Them Young – Teach Them Well

Microwave Bread & Butter Pickles

Goodness, it's still at our house this morning. And so quiet, too. Our granddaughters headed back home yesterday afternoon. I don't even remember when they got here. But when they arrived, it felt like there was plenty of time for everything. They had lots of time for bike riding and tree swings and scooters. And there was time at the lake. 

And then very suddenly, it was like we needed to cram in a lot in a very little time. There were things we wanted to do but hadn't even talked about until a few days ago. So for the last couple of days it felt like a circus here as we tried to do it all.

Baby Girl was desperate to learn to sew. So desperate to do it "right now" that I grabbed a clean handkerchief from the laundry basket and we used that for practice. She learned to thread a needle, tie a knot in the thread and she learned how to do a running stitch and a whip stitch. 

At the same time that sewing was happening at the kitchen table, Little Sister was at the kitchen counter making pickles. We have been harvesting cucumbers from the garden faster than we can eat them. Little Sister did all the prep except slicing the cucumbers. She could have done it with a knife, but we needed to work faster, so I did them quickly with the mandolin. (That kitchen tool is SO sharp that I ended up in the ER once myself after I sliced my finger along with the vegetables.) But she measured everything else and mixed it all together and took care of the microwave part. 

The next morning we were back at work. Baby Girl learned about different types of buttons and how to sew them while her sister was putting pickles into jars. All of this was happening while Mommy and J-Daddy were packing their car. A circus, I tell you!

This pickle recipe is so easy. It's so quick. It's so good. And it comes with such special memories attached to it. A dear friend gave me the recipe years ago. I remember reading her directions and not understanding her notes about the microwave part. I called her and asked for clarification. It was one of those things that was so simple–if you knew how to do it. So I rewrote the recipe for the rest of us who hadn't already made these pickles a zillion times. 

My friend Bev was sadly one of the million people that we lost to Covid. But I feel like she is watching from above and smiling that her recipe is being passed down to another generation. She was one of the kindest, most generous people I ever knew. Everyone who knew her loved her. And we all miss her.

It makes me smile to see all of the things these girls have learned to do here at the farm. Little Sister was making muffins last week. She found a recipe online and made them without supervision. I did walk through the kitchen while she was wearing her apron and filling muffin cups. She grinned at me. "Look. I'm Mini Mimi!" 

Before you ask, I don't have a comparable recipe for dill pickles. I just make these sweet pickles.

MICROWAVE BREAD & BUTTER PICKLES

1 cup sugar 

1 cup white vinegar 

2 teaspoon salt 

1 teaspoon dry minced garlic 

1 teaspoon mustard seeds 

1/2 teaspoon celery seeds 

1/2 teaspoon tumeric 

1 medium onion, peeled and sliced thin 

2-3/4 to 3 lbs pickling cucumbers, sliced (about 8 cups)

Mix everything except onion and cukes in a large microwave safe bowl. Stir in onions and cukes. Microwave 9 minutes on high, stopping to stir, as the timer counts down, at 6-1/2 minutes to go and at 4 minutes to go.

Remove and allow to cool. Cover and refrigerate overnight before placing in jars. Store in fridge. 

NOTE: SPICES WILL STAIN A PLASTIC BOWL OR SPOON OR KITCHEN COUNTER!

Yield: 6 to 7 half pint jars  (We got 8 jars this time.)

I used a scale (kitchen scale or postal scale) to weigh the cucumbers. I learned that three cucumbers from the garden weighed roughly one pound. So I sliced nine cucumbers and measured them---just about 8 cups. I used a 2-1/2 quart Corningware casserole for the cooking part. It looked like it was nearly too small when I added cucumbers and the onion (had to leave out a few cukes.) But as they cooked in the microwave, they started to cook down.

I was telling my book club friends about our flurry of activity at the end of our grandchildren time and it prompted those ladies to start talking about learning to embroider and cook from their grandmothers. Besides teaching my grandchildren life skills this week, we made some deep memories. Two extremely valuable things to do.

***The graphic is from a book called The Beauty of What Remains: How Our Greatest Fear Becomes Our Greatest Gift by by Steve Leder. I ordered this last night, so haven't read it yet, but read many excellent reviews.

A Week Of Family And Food

Summer supper—pork tenderloin, orzo spinach salad, grilled corn, sautéed apples.

What a week! We had Little Lady and her mama and daddy in residence here at the farm for a whole week. We had not seen her in far too long. Last time we saw her in person, she barely had hair, she wasn't walking, and she had maybe four teeth. Now you can see the curly hair. And she walking AND talking. (Some words that you could understand, many words that we can understand.) And has too many teeth to count. 

We caught up on things that Mimi does best. Like reading books, snuggling....

...making music, singing songs (Wheels On The Bus is a fav)...

...and spending time on the porch.

Little Lady explored the farm as she waddled over every inch of the front and back yards.

And she got her first tractor ride with Daddy-O.  

That was a big hit! 

Mimi worked a little magic on the christening gown. 

Because of the pandemic, we are having a christening a year later than we planned. 

Thankfully the gown still fit—except around the neck. 

I added ribbon so that we can tie to fit instead of using the traditional gold pins.

It's going to be quiet here this week without those little feet pattering around the house. But we are thankful for the family time we enjoyed. Family time outside around the farm and family time around the table as we shared meals and stories. Here is the menu for one of those meals:

Because my friends have said they liked having recipes for an entire menu in one post, I'm adding another set. I cooked many meals—so many meals—while they were here, but this dinner was the favorite. All recipes we have used before but this combination is worth recording. We grilled the pork tenderloin and the corn, but both of those can be done in the oven. We've done it both ways.

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There are so many good ways to cook pork tenderloin. There are several recipes here on the blog. But hands down, this is our family's favorite. For us, it's one of those never-fail recipes.

BOURBON MARINATED PORK TENDERLOIN

2-1/2 lb. pork tenderloins (usually one package contains 2 tenderloins and is about this weight)
3/4 cup low-sodium soy sauce
1/2 cup bourbon
1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup canola or vegetable oil
4 garlic cloves, minced (I used 2 teaspoons of jarred minced garlic)
3 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon white pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
 

Pat tenderloins dry. Combine soy sauce and remaining ingredients in a gallon ziploc plastic freezer bag or shallow dish. Add tenderloins. Seal bag or cover dish and chill 4-12 hours. Turn once or twice while they marinate. Remove pork from marinade, discarding marinade.

Grill, covered with grill lid, over high heat (400 to 500 degrees) for 30 minutes or until meat thermometer inserted into thickest part of meat reads 155 degrees, turning occasionally. Remove from heat; cover with aluminum foil and let stand 10 minutes or until thermometer reads 160 degrees.
 

It's also good cooked in the oven, if you don't have a grill, or if it's raining, 
Put tenderloins in an oven that has been preheated to 400 degrees for 30-40 minutes, until thermometer reaches 155-160 degrees. Let rest before serving.

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We absolutely love this dish! If there is an issue with feta in your household, you can sub crumbled goat cheese like we did this time.

ORZO SPINACH SALAD

1/2  box (16-oz) orzo, cooked according to package directions
1/2 bag (5-oz) baby spinach, roughly chopped
1/3 cup chopped red onion (use the amount that you want)
4-oz. container crumbled feta cheese (or crumbled goat cheese)
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/4 teaspoon pepper (I used a few grinds of fresh pepper)

While orzo is cooking, mix the dressing--oil, vinegar, basil, pepper. Set aside.
Drain orzo thoroughly when done. Stir in chopped onion, spinach and feta. Whisk dressing again. Pour dressing over the pasta and mix to coat thoroughly. Cover and refrigerate until chilled.

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The corn was perfect with this supper.  Daddy-O started it on the grill about 15 minutes before he put on the tenderloin. It all was done at the same time.

GRILLED CORN

fresh ears of corn, shucked and cleaned

Lawry's seasoning salt (or your favorite seasoning)

black pepper

Place an ear of corn on a sheet of foil. Add a couple of pats of butter, sprinkle with seasoning salt and pepper. Roll it up tightly, twisting the ends so the butter doesn't leak out.

Put corn on medium grill, not directly over the heat, for 30 minutes. Close lid of grill. Turn corn in quarter-turns as it cooks. 

You can also put the wrapped corn in a preheated oven, 350º-ish, for 30 minutes. It won't have the brown color that you get from grilling but it's as delicious. Jessica says that if she also is baking another dish at 375º or 400º, she slides the corn in with it at that temp.

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I just realized I've never put the directions for sautéed apples here on the blog. It's a family favorite. It was one of those things I would make these when I needed one more things on the plate. 

All of these amounts are approximate. Just used the number of apples you have. Or the number you need to feed the crowd around your table. Make the butter and sugar match. Like I said, these are more "directions" instead of a "recipe."

SAUTEED APPLES

6 apples, peeled and sliced

1-2 tablespoons butter

1-2 tablespoons brown sugar

ground cinnamon

a little water

Melt butter in skillet. Add sliced apples and stir to coat. Sprinkle with brown sugar and cinnamon. Add a little water. (The apples will release some liquid as they cook.) Cook over medium low heat, stirring occasionally, until apples are as tender as you like them. I turned them low and put the lid on this time, to cook a little slower. 

The butter and brown sugar cook down to make a nice glaze. I don't use very much of either, although you can make it as buttery and sugary as you want to. 

Twice Baked Sweet Potatoes

Twice Baked Sweet Potatoes

This year's odd Thanksgiving has come and gone. We were home alone but thankful for FaceTime and Zoom so that we could have a little visit with the family. While we certainly missed the big family gathering and the tables loaded with food, we didn't starve. Far from it. And I didn't have to cook for a couple of days. LOTS of leftovers. 

Since I was only cooking for us, it was a good time to try a new recipe. Our Thanksgiving table always includes a sweet potato casserole. I love it. It's topped with brown sugar, nuts and cinnamon. It's sweet enough and rich enough to be a dessert—even after I halved the amount of butter my mother used— but here in the south it totally qualifies as a vegetable. 

A plain baked sweet potato is pretty awesome. If they are really good potatoes, they are sweet enough as is. A sprinkle of cinnamon is all you need. But it was Thanksgiving. I wanted something "special." And I found the perfect recipe. Here is my version of the Food Network recipe from The Neelys. It was an easy make ahead dish that was much lighter on the add-ins than my usual. Adding this to my recipe list. 

TWICE BAKED SWEET POTATOES

3 medium sweet potatoes, similar in size & shape

2 tablespoons brown sugar

2 tablespoons cream cheese, room temperature

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

1/8 teaspoon ground ginger

Salt & pepper

Cinnamon sugar (I keep some mixed up in a shaker bottle)

Preheat oven to 400º. Scrub potatoes well. Place on baking sheet and bake 1 hour, or until tender. 

While potatoes are baking, mix remaining ingredients, except for salt and pepper. 

Let potatoes cool enough to handle. Cut potatoes in half and scoop flesh into a mixing bowl. Mix in the butter/cream cheese mixture completely, adding salt & pepper to taste. (I only added a little.) Spoon potato filling back into potato shells. Sprinkle tops with cinnamon sugar.

Place potatoes in a baking dish. If you are making the day ahead, cover and refrigerate. Before serving, bake at 350º for about 30 minutes. If you aren’t making them ahead, bake after stuffing the potatoes for about 15 minutes.

Serves 6

Today, after making these for our Thanksgiving, I actually watched the video of The Neelys making these. They did it slightly differently so that each person got a whole potato. For our meal which had many side dishes, a half potato was plenty big enough.

 

More No-Recipe "Recipes"

Slow Roasted Tomatoes

I've been cooking forever. It has been over a half century. Isn't that crazy? But with all those years in the kitchen, including food labs in college, there are still things to learn. That's what makes it fun. We have had a crazy abundance of grape tomatoes this summer. The regular ones didn't do as well. But I have been overwhelmed with these little ones.

Then last week I saw somewhere that you could roast them. (You can roast anything, can't you?) I had done every vegetable imaginable but not this. I couldn't remember where I saw the "recipe" but I did remember the main part...200º for 4 hours. I had so many tomatoes that I could try this even though I didn't know what the rest of the directions were. If it was a disaster, so be it. 

I usually toss my roasted vegetable with olive oil and season them for roasting. But this time I spritzed the tomatoes with olive oil spray  because I wanted them all to stay cut side up. I seasoned them with *house seasoning. Then you pop them into the oven and leave them alone for 4 hours. (I did actually pull mine out after 3 hours and 45 minutes because I needed the oven for something else.) Let them cool completely. Then store them, covered, in the refrigerator. I'm sure you could use other seasonings, but this was the most basic way to do them. 

Jessica did some from our garden over the weekend. These are her before & after tomato photos above. She used herbs de provence, along with salt and pepper. Our tomatoes are sturdy little guys. Keep an eye on yours as they slow roast. I would imagine that different tomatoes—yours could be softer and juicier—might require a little different time. At the end they have shrunk by about 1/3. They will be soft, pliable and a little juicy. 

Penne Alfredo w/Roasted Tomatoes, Chicken & Broccoli

I had hoped they might make a healthy snack but we thought the flavor was too intense to eat as is. The roasting process concentrates the flavor. So the next night as I rambled through the pantry in search of supper, I had an idea. Pulled out a jar of Rao's Alfredo sauce, heated it in a large skillet while the whole wheat penne cooked, stirred in my roasted tomatoes, some sliced grilled chicken from the night before and broccoli florets. I had dunked the head of broccoli into the boiling water for a couple of minutes before I cooked the pasta. No extra pan needed.

When the pasta was done, I scooped it out and mixed it into the sauce. (Always save a little pasta water in case the sauce needs to be thinned.) Winner, winner, chicken (and tomato/broccoli/penne/alfredo) dinner! This was delicious. 

I wish I had known about roasting the tomatoes back earlier in the summer when we were drowning in the little guys. Then end result reminded me of sun-dried tomatoes...but fresher. But the directions are safely here so that I can find them next summer.

Pasta Cooked Brown Rice

My other new cooking discovery was finding out a better way to cook brown rice. After seeing the hash tag #pastacookedbrownrice several times on Instagram, I looked it up. The directions (yes, directions...not recipe) were so simple. 

• Bring a big pot of water to a boil.
• Rinse uncooked brown rice. 
• Stir rice into boiling water. 
• Let boil 30-35 minutes. 
• Drain into colander. (Make sure the holes are small enough to not lose the rice.) 
• Put the rice back into the empty hot pot. Put a lid on it, pull off the heat, and let it stand for 10 minutes to steam. 

That's it! It was perfect. The amount of rice is not critical. But I used 1 cup of uncooked rice. That makes about 3 cups cooked. You just need enough water to let it boil, just like you would cook pasta. THAT'S why they call it "pasta cooked brown rice."

As this was cooking I remembered something from my growing up years. This is nearly how my mother cooked white rice. I remember she rinse it, boiled it, drained it. But then she put the colander over a pot of boiling water and let it steam. It was the best rice ever. I wished I had paid better attention...better attention to a lot of things. 

I've only tasted something similar once since then, in a Chinese restaurant. But I was never sure about times and then college classes taught me the "proper" way to cook rice. It did not include rinsing. Now that I've thrown caution to the wind and I'm just cooking, maybe I'll try the white rice version and see if I can recreate my mother's rice. Of course, one reason hers tasted so good was because it usually was under the gravy that she made to go with the fried chicken or fried cubed steak. Ahhh, memories.

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I always keep a jar of house seasoning on the shelf. Sometimes I make a big batch. Most times I make it in this smaller proportion.
 *House Seasoning:  
1/4 cup salt 
1 tbsp. black pepper
1 tbsp. garlic powder
Mix well. Store in an air-tight container, such as an empty spice bottle or small jar. 

Quarantine Cooking Week #6

Oven "Fries"

Way back when I started using this recipe, oven roasted vegetables were not the first vegetable cooking method that came to mind. Now, people roast everything. But this was a magic recipe 20+ years ago. A teaspoon of oil? Yep. That's really all it takes. I love this oven baking grid that I bought at Walmart for $5 about 20 years ago. The potatoes brown on the top and bottom—without turning them over half way through. I have no idea if anything like this still exists, but if you see one, grab it.

Pre-quarantine we would go out sometimes on Sunday nights to a local diner for hamburgers. And we rarely made burgers at home. But now we are at home on Sundays, just like we are every other night of the week. Since I've been doing my grocery shopping online I've been at the mercy of what was available. The first time or two, there was no ground beef to be had. So I ordered frozen hamburger patties. And what a surprise! These have been good. And easy since they go on the grill straight from the freezer. They are ready in about 10 minutes.

I typically keep a pretty well stocked freezer. Stocked with foods I have prepared. Soups and stews. Casseroles. Baked goods. Meats ready to thaw, warm and serve. Hot dog chili. Even cooked dried beans. I have done this for years. But in anticipation of a long stay-at-home, I bought a few convenience freezer foods. (But never did I think the stay-home would be this long, with no clear end in sight.) On the nights when I think I cannot look at my stove again, frozen chicken strips have been better than no supper, and I didn't have to cook. Frozen meatballs are still waiting a desperate night of their own. (And I just read that I am not alone. Evidently the sales of frozen pizza have gone way up.) 

Most prepared frozen foods are in the "just okay" category for us, but I'll be keeping these burger patties in the freezer from now on. FYI, I bought the 80/20 lean-fat version. That could be why we thought these were good. Usually I buy extra-lean ground beef and while that will continue to be my first choice for most things, hamburgers are better with a little more fat. The extra fat drips down in the grill, right? Sure thing.

So I'm wondering, have you had any quarantine food discoveries? Freezer finds. Recipes. Ingredients. Things you might not have tried otherwise. Things you'll keep in your pantry all the time going forward. I'd love to know. 

To make our at-home diner meal complete, I cut up these potatoes for the oven. It's almost as easy as frozen fries. Don't have potatoes? Go ahead and use frozen fries. Don't have a bag of fries in the freezer? Then let's hope you have the potatoes. Or sweet potatoes even. This day and time, it's nice to have a choice.

I cut these fries thinner than the "eight wedges" the directions call for. They cook quicker a good bit quicker. Just keep an eye on them and look for the browning. Friend Kathie told me that sometimes she adds a little garlic powder and chili powder to the oil. Next time....

OVEN "FRIES"

4 baking potatoes

1 teaspoon cooking oil

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Spray baking sheet with PAM. Scrub potatoes, pat dry and slice each potato lengthwise into 8 wedges.

Put potatoes in mixing bowl and drizzle with 1 teaspoon of oil. Toss to coat.

Bake on sheet for 15 minutes. Turn and bake 15 minutes more, or until they begin to brown.

A Carrot By Any Other Name (aka Copper Pennies)

Marinated Carrots (aka Copper Pennies)

In our current world, cooking often means making things with what you have on hand or what shows up in your online grocery order. When I went to the beach with my girl friends last month (seems like a year ago now), we all brought foods to share, to make meals easy. Teresa brought marinated carrots. Carol brought a marinated bean salad. I made chicken salad. The carrot dish is a recipe that I had not thought about in years. It was very popular a few decades ago, gracing the table at many family and church dinners. I had forgotten how good this is. And I wanted to share the recipe here as soon as I got home.

But we came home a half step ahead of the virus. I headed to the grocery store very early morning after we got back thinking I needed to do a big shopping because we were not supposed to go out for two weeks. (Yes, they said two weeks at the beginning. That was 5 weeks ago.) I planned to make these carrots and had tomato soup on my list. Already the shelf was bare where tomato soup should have been. But I did buy carrots. As two weeks turned into three, I finally managed to add a couple of cans of tomato soup to my online order. But by there were no carrots to buy. And we had eaten ours. 

After five weeks and two more online grocery orders, I finally had carrots and tomato soup in my possession at the same time. So yesterday I got to make the marinated carrots (which is often called copper pennies) to have in our refrigerator for the next several days.  

The recipe calls for green pepper as it's pictured at the top. I only had a red pepper here yesterday. It tastes the same. And my onion will soften a little as this dish sits in the refrigerator. I looked the recipe up in our old church cookbook and found three versions. All so much alike. One called for mustard. Another called for Worcestershire sauce. The third used both. They all used sugar and vinegar with slight differences in the amounts. One had onions sliced in rings. One said to dice the onion. It's a flexible recipe.

But before I made it I texted Teresa to ask about the mustard/Worcestershire sauce quandary. She promptly texted back and sent me the recipe she used. That's the one I wanted...the one we ate at the beach.

MARINATED CARROTS (aka Copper Pennies)

2 lb carrots, peeled & sliced
1 can tomato soup
1/2 cup cooking oil
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon dry mustard
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 green bell pepper, diced
1 medium onion, sliced thin (or diced)

Cook carrots in salted water until fork tender. Drain. Add green pepper and onion and set aside too cool.

Combine soup, oil, sugar, vinegar, dry mustard and Worcestershire sauce in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and cook 2-3 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool.

Pour dressing over carrots and stir gently. Marinate 6 hours or overnight. Store covered in refrigerator. Serve cold. Will keep up 2 to 3 weeks in refrigerator.

Some of the old recipes call for 2 cans of sliced carrots, drained, instead of slicing and cooking fresh ones. I've eaten it made that way. Not bad. But it's better made with fresh carrots. In this day and time, you can use what you have.


Daddy-O had these for supper last night. He said, "These are really good." Then today at lunch he pulled the dish out of the refrigerator and spooned out a big helping beside his sandwich. This time he said, "These are good. These are really, REALLY good!" And that's all you need to know.

Busy In Kitchen This Week

We have a new—well, it opened a year ago—local meat market in our tiny town. You can see the beautiful pinwheel steaks stuffed with spinach and provolone that I bought. (They were delicious!) But I also bought a tray of pre-sliced yellow squash and zucchini. I had seen a picture of squash and zucchini cooked like this a few days before. This was a good time to try it.

STAND UP VEGGIES

Arrange thin slices of yellow squash, zucchini and onion in a baking dish. (You can also add slices of tomato and/or eggplant.)

Drizzle with olive oil. Sprinkle with Italian seaoning and House Seasoning, or the seasoning of your choice.

Sprinkle with mozzarella cheese. (I left this off since I'm currently counting WW points, but it could only be better!)

Bake at 375º for 30 minutes, or until you reach desired doneness.

Because I was cooking the pinwheel steaks at 350º for 30 minutes, I just put my veggies in with the steak. I did put the steaks under the broiler in the other oven for a few minutes to brown them a little and let the veggies keep baking a little longer.

The biggest squash hater in the world (Daddy-O) actually said—yes, said it out loud—that this was pretty good. He even ate some the next night. I think what he has not liked about squash for all these years was the squishy texture of cooked squash. This dish was not cooked long enough to reach the squishy stage. Big plus is that it looks pretty standing up in the dish.

My other purchase from the market was the chicken kabobs. I know this isn't a big deal to most of you, but I am delighted to have some pre-prepped foods available locally. I didn't have to make the kabobs. I only mixed the marinade.

I searched for a chicken marinade recipe and found several, all named "best chicken marinade ever." There were slight differences in all of them. I picked the one that contained flavors we all liked...and then made some slight adjustments to suit me. I'll bet one of those "best" recipes was the original one and the others were all riffs on the first one.

Here is what I mixed up. I'll be using this one again, for chicken pieces, chicken strips, etc. It was very good. You can decide about the "best" thing.

CHICKEN MARINADE. (makes about 1 cup)

1/3 cup olive oil

3 tablespoon fresh lemon juice (I got that from 1 large lemon)

3 tablespoons soy sauce

2 tablespoons Balsamic vinegar

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

1/4 cup brown sugar, not packed down

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder (or 3 cloves garlic, minced)

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Mix all ingredients together. Pour over chicken. Let marinade at least 30 minutes. 4-5 hours is better. 

Last night I cooked the kabobs in the oven, in the dish I had used to marinate them in. The plan had been to grill them, but you know how plans go. If you are removing chicken from the marinade to cook, be sure to discard the remaining marinade. It's a big safety thing.

We celebrate Independence Day next week. Whatever your plans are, remember why we celebrate, stay safe and have fun. We are having our annual family week. I'll see you back here the following week.

Hydrangea at our back door planted by my mother-in-law so many years ago,