Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
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Winter weather and hot meals go together. Meatloaf, casseroles, soups and stews, top the list of requested recipes, whether one is using a conventional range, slow-cooker or insta-pot. Jessica Torres shared the recipe for Mozzarella Stuffed Meatloaf she recently found on www.thestayathomechef.com. The recipe gives instructions for oven baking, but it works equally well in a slow cooker. The mozzarella cheese and seasonings give a pizza like flavor. Mozzarella Stuffed Meatloaf...
December holidays have come and gone, and now we are in the new year 2020. Resolutions have been made and maybe one of yours is to prepare more home cooked meals. My hope in writing this column, is that the recipes and tips shared will help you to this end. March of 2020 will mark 16 years of writing this column, sharing readers’ recipes and cooking tips, as well as recipes from my personal collection. We have searched out recipes for dishes shared at potluck meals and a...
December is the month for stocking up on baking supplies. Stores offer many items on sale for the season. It is the best time to purchase spices, as even on sale they can be quite expensive and unless you do a lot of baking, they get old and flavorless before you can use them up. Consider adopting some Spice Buddies. These would be several of your friends. Share the cost and the spices. For instance, Lebkuchen calls for one teaspoon of ground Anise seed. Three or four bakers...
Thanksgiving Day is one week away. If you are the head cook for your family celebration, you may be planning how you will pull it together. Delegating salads and other side dishes to others in the group takes some of the work load, but there are many dishes needing preparation the day of. For many Thanksgiving diners, gravy is the most important item. Will there be enough and will it be smooth and creamy, seasoned just right? The good news is, you can make gravy ahead. Former...
Fall weather has ended production in most Odessa gardens. Time to use up the last fruits and vegetables you braved the cold wind to rescue before the killing frost. My mother would always make an “End of Season Vegetable Soup”, which is essentially the same as “Sweet Bell Pepper Soup”, the recipe I tried this past weekend. The addition of bacon adds an extra savory flavor. Sweet Bell Pepper Soup 6 large green, red or yellow sweet bell peppers 6 cups grated zucchini or yellow...
Deutschesfest is in the books for another year, and most of us have had our fill of German food for awhile. During all this festivity, the late peaches and tomatoes have ripened, and cucumbers and zucchini are making a last ditch effort at production. Following are recipes to help you take advantage of this early fall bounty. Zucchini have enjoyed the rain and quickly produce huge fruit. Impossible Zucchini Pie can be made with any size zucchini, as it is grated for this...
Deutschesfest is less than a week away. Many have already baked Kuchen, strudel and other German treats in preparation for the Odessa Historical Society Bake Sale and Fest Platz vendor sales. New this year on the outdoor stage is a Kuchen Contest. Kuchen is a relatively easy recipe to start your venture into Deutschesfest food preparation. Kuchen base is a soft yeast dough and the filling usually consists of a cream mixture, plus any fruit you like, but there are many variations. Sugar Kuchen is as basic as it gets and the...
Eat dessert first, save room for dessert. Summer brings an abundance of zucchini, many getting a little large for savory main and side dishes. Just the right size to grind for relish, but how much relish can any family use? Pie, one can not have too much pie. Faux Apple Pie could be the answer to this dilemma. Sampling several recipes, I have come up with a version, not too sweet, nicely spiced with a pleasing texture. Peeled and seeded mature zucchini are sliced like apples...
Mac-n-Cheese, a favorite of most kids and many adults, and a staple side dish on most southern cooking menus, has increased in popularity nation wide. Often, one of the first things kids learn to cook is boxed macaroni and cheese. Easy, salty and addictive. In our last session of Go Odessa Summer Recreation cooking class, we made Macaroni and Cheese. The younger group used a boxed mix with macaroni cooked and chilled ahead of time, so only low-heat, stove-top cooking was...
One thing can be said about Odessa weather of late, it’s changeable. The weather leading up to grain harvest is often like this. Shall I make salad or soup for the days meals? Will it be hot or chilly come meal time? I had a request for baked chimichangas and these easy to eat out of hand crisp burritos are tasty no matter the weather. Some internet searching, came up with two chicken based versions. Chicken and Bean Chimichangas comes from the website, Tastes Better From S...
Vacation Bible School has been happening this week. Some of the program focused on customs of other countries. I have a couple of recipes from countries of my own heritage to share with you. Raisin Tarts, or Fly Pies, as my dad used to call them, come from Inverness, Scotland. Use your favorite pie crust recipe to line the tins. The recipe is so old, it gives wood stove baking instruction (bake slowly) but no given temperature. Inverness Raisin Tarts (Fly Pies) Flakey pastry...
Soup is a good choice for feeding a crowd any time of year, especially when made in a slow-cooker. The ease of putting everything in the crock early in the day, makes hospitality and meal time entertaining stress free. Flylady.com is a website and blog I follow. The tips for easy cleaning and household organization are useful, and recipes for hearty meals on a budget are some of the best offered. Flylady Crockpot Soup is designed to be made from ingredients on hand, so is adju...
Wild weather, wind, a rain storm or two, has our systems confused about the seasons. It looks nice out, but when you open the door a cold wind hits. The world is green but chilly. Ange Hayes posted a picture of Crack Chicken Noodle Soup on Facebook. Her family had enjoyed this recipe and many people asked for the recipe. Creamy broth, savory seasonings and sautéed vegetables added to the chicken make this a hearty meal soup, ideal for these blustery days. Ange found the... Full story
Fresh strawberries and rhubarb has our mouth watering for all things summer. Blueberries and raspberries cannot be far behind. Though berries are available year round, shipped in from southern climates, locally grown is always best, even frozen for later use. Merleen Smith made Baked French Toast for a recent community potluck breakfast and the recipe garnered many requests. Berries, Texas Toast and lots of brown sugar make this a yummy treat anytime. Merleen said she got the... Full story
Lots of recipe requests came in from a recent community potluck meal. Kerry Scheller brought Mexican Corn Bread Salad to the event and she received many requests for the recipe and chose to share it here. The secret to this recipe, I believe, is corn bread muffins. They have more crust surface and this makes the salad more substantial, not soggy as some cornbread salads get when they sit for awhile. This is a layered salad you can make several hours ahead of serving, ideal... Full story
When I asked the “Welcome to My Kitchen” Facebook page followers for favorite spring and Easter recipes, one response I got was ice cream, no recipe, just favorite. Weather is still a bit chilly for the ice and rock salt routine of an ice cream maker, but Rocky Road Freeze, might fit the bill. Frozen in your refrigerator freezer, you can make it several days ahead. This and all the recipes this week are from Taste of Home, Best of Country Cooking, 1999 issue. This volume seems... Full story
Winter is not letting loose of March willingly. Soup on the menu is still in order. Lecia Fink brought Slow Cooker Chicken Enchilada Soup to a recent soup supper. She shared the recipe and some tips on preparing. The recipe comes from “Cinnamon and Spice and Everything Nice” by Reeni Pisano. Slow Cooker Chicken Enchilada Soup 2 Tbsp olive oil 1 large yellow onion, diced 1 small green or red pepper, diced 3 cloves garlic, minced Course salt and fresh ground black pepper 1 can... Full story
Winter isn’t giving up easy this year. Soup season may last through April, and a good thing. A number of Facebook “Welcome to My Kitchen” followers shared yummy soup recipes, and I will never get to try them all before printing in a timely manner. So this week, the recipes are untested, but from known good cooks. Peggy Salo shared a recipe for Sausage-Bean-Barley Soup. She noted several variations in the instructions, making it easy to adjust to ingredients you have on hand....
Soup weather has carried over into February. I asked Welcome to My Kitchen Facebook followers their favorite soup to prepare on cold winter days. Several mentioned taco and potato. Sausage, barley and potato was a yummy sounding combination mentioned and several lamented missing 4B’s tomato bisque. Soup can be as simple as tossing everything loose in the refrigerator in a kettle and simmering several hours, to following a detailed ingredient and instructions list. The amount o... Full story
Welcome to My Kitchen Facebook page has been quite active since launch the end of December. Each week I plan to post pictures from the test drive of column recipes and other kitchen hints. https://www.facebook.com/odessaiscooking/ in your search box, or if already on Facebook, type Welcome to My Kitchen in the search box to get to the page. My friend Kathy Prater Taylor, Redfield, N.D., posted a picture of a Cranberry Orange Bread her son baked while visiting over the holidays... Full story
Happy New Year! At this reading we are three or four days into 2019. School and work schedules have resumed and meals must be prepared to fuel day to day activities. Some folks have made New Years resolutions, and many of those include diet and exercise, eating healthy or eating less processed foods. Adapting recipes to accommodate all the families desires, and the need for easy and quick to fix meals takes a bit on ingenuity. In bygone days grandmothers handed down cooking...
