Yankee Pot Roast

A Yankee Pot Roast is a traditional recipe. A pot roast involves first searing the meat, then cooking it slowly in liquid for some time. For a Yankee Pot Roast, vegetables are usually added into the pot towards the end of cooking. When I was a kid, Mom often made roasts on Sundays. Sometimes the roasts were made in the oven and sometimes in a Dutch oven. However Mom prepared them, Sunday roast dinners were always delicious.

In the summertime, making a pot roast is better than an oven roast. Making a pot roast is quite easy, but it does take several hours. This recipe calls for using pearl onions, but I did not have any so I just substituted regular onions chopped in large pieces. Mom's recipe calls for 1 cup water, but you should use enough to mostly cover the meat while it cooks.

Yankee Pot Roast 

• 3-4 pound beef roast
• 2 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. pepper
• 2 Tbsp. oil
• water
• 1 bay leaf
• 8-10 small whole onions
• 8 small carrots, cut in half
• 15 oz. can tomato sauce with tomato bits

Sprinkle meat with salt and pepper. Brown in hot oil in Dutch oven. Add water and bay leaf. Cover and simmer for 1 1/2 hours or until meat is tender. Remove excess fat. Return meat to pot. Add vegetables. Pour tomato sauce over meat. Simmer, covered, for 1 hour. Allow meat to stand a few minutes. Enjoy!

Cheesecake

This recipe is not one of those that can be whipped together quickly. Instead, it is a time-consuming process that is worth it. There are many types of cheesecakes, and this one is a New York style cheesecake. It uses both cream cheese and sour cream and is baked for some time resulting in a fluffy and rich cake.

When you make this cheesecake, you need to use a springform pan. When baking, the cake will rise up and seem to nearly overflow. But, when you leave the cake in the turned-off oven, the cake settles, but is still higher than standard cake pans. So using a standard cake pan will leave you will a mess in your oven. You could top this cake with fruit or whipped cream, but it is so delicious on its own.

Cheesecake 

• Graham Cracker crumbs
• 1 pound small curd cottage cheese
• 2 8 oz. packages cream cheese
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 4 eggs, slightly beaten
• 1/3 cup corn starch
• 2 Tbsp. lemon juice
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 1 pint sour cream

Grease a 9 inch springform pan; dust with graham cracker crumbs. Sieve cottage cheese into a large mixing bowl. Add softened cream cheese. Beat at high speed with an electric mixer until well-blended and creamy. Continue beating at high speed and blend in sugar, then eggs. Reduce speed to low. Add corn starch, lemon juice, and vanilla. Beat until blended. Add melted butter and sour cream. Blend at low speed. Pour into the prepared pan. Bake at 325 for an hour and ten minutes. Turn off oven. Let cake stand in the oven for two hours. Remove and cook completely. Chill. Remove sides of pan. Enjoy!

La Strata

This recipe is easy to make and delicious. I vaguely recall this recipe from when I was a kid because of the cottage cheese, which I did not like on its own then. I do like cottage cheese now, so I like this recipe even more now. This recipe includes the use of many items that you might have around the kitchen, so it should be quick to throw together for a great meal.

Strata is a layered casserole dish. Often strata recipes include eggs and are served as breakfast dishes. Not this one. This dish is a hearty lunch or dinner recipe. When I made this strata, I did not include the mushrooms.

La Strata 

• 1 pound ground beef
• 1/4 cup minced onion
• 1 8 oz. can tomato sauce
• 1 tsp. basil
• 1 tsp. chopped parsley
• 1/4 tsp. oregano
• dash garlic salt
• 1 4 oz. can mushrooms, drained
• 1 10 oz. frozen spinach, thawed and well-drained
• 8 oz. cottage cheese
• 4 oz. shredded mozzarella

Saute ground beef and onions until onions are tender and meat is browned. Add tomato sauce, basil, parsley, oregano, garlic salt, pepper, and mushrooms. In a bowl, combine spinach and cottage cheese. Arrange in layers: spinach mx, meat mix, then mozzarella. Repeat layering, ending with cheese. Bake at 375 for 20 minutes until hot and bubbly. Enjoy!

Committee Cake

Why is this recipe called Committee Cake? I don't know. But the cake is delicious. When I made this cake, Mom tried it and remembered making it but did not remember where she found the recipe. This cake is dense and has a slightly crunchy texture due to the addition of cornmeal.

When I made this cake, it did not rise as much as I expected. And the chopped chocolate seemed to have sunk to the bottom rather than distributed throughout the cake. The recipe calls for chocolate frosting, but does not give the ingredients. So I made a standard chocolate frosting that turned out to nicely complement the cake.

Committee Cake 

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 cup light brown sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 1/2 cup flour
• 1/2 cup corn meal
• 1 tsp. salt
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1 cup milk
• 6 ounces chocolate chips, finely chopped

Chocolate frosting

• 1/2 cup butter
• 2/3 cup cocoa
• 3 cups powdered sugar
• 1/3 cup milk
• 1 tsp. vanilla

Cake: Beat the butter with the sugars until light and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla, beat well. Mix and sift together the corn meal, salt, and baking powder. Add dry ingredients alternately with milk in two additions and mix well after each addition. Stir in chopped chocolate. Pour into a well greased 13x9 pan. Bake at 350 for 40 to 45 minutes. Cool before frosting.

Frosting: Melt butter. Stir in cocoa. Alternate adding powdered sugar and milk. Add in vanilla. Mix until spreading consistency. Add additional milk if needed. Spread the frosting on cake. Enjoy!

Swiss Roll

I enjoy eating Swiss rolls, but I had been a bit intimidated to try making one. I saw this recipe in Mom's recipe box and decided to get over my fear. Yes, the process of rolling up the cake is delicate, but doable. I used parchment paper to line the baking pan, and then used a soft cloth to help roll the cake after putting the filling in. There were a few cracks in the cake, but it mostly survived. This version came out fine, and I expect with more experience I could perfect my skill at rolling the cake.

Swiss rolls come with in all flavors of cake and filling. This version is a basic golden cake with raspberry preserves as filling. It was so delicious. Often Swiss rolls include whipped cream or some other cream filling, which would be good, but just the fruit is enough for this recipe.

Swiss Rolls 

• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup + 3 tbsp. sugar
• 1 cup flour
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tbsp. water
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1 jar (12 oz.) raspberry preserves

Beat the eggs until thick and lemon colored. Gradually beat in 1/2 cup sugar. Sift in flour baking powder. Fold into eggs gradually, mix very lightly. Fold in water and vanilla. Spread in 15x10 pan lined with parchment paper. Bake at 450 for 5 minutes or until delicate brown. Sprinkle remaining 3 tablespoons sugar over cake. Loosen the edges, turn out on waxed paper or a kitchen cloth. Spread cake with preserves. Roll up from wide side while cake is still hot. Wrap in parchment paper. Set aside to cool. Enjoy!

Unstuffed Cabbage

This recipe makes a hearty meal, but is easier to make than stuffed cabbage. Instead of making rolls stuffed with meat, everything cooks together in one pan. Stuffed cabbage is a classic Eastern European recipe that looks much nicer than a pan with everything mixed up, but the taste is the same.

When making stuffed cabbage, the head of cabbage needs to be boiled to soften the leaves. For this recipe, the cabbage is cut and placed in the bottom of the pan to cook with everything else. The rice does not need to be pre-cooked, but is just mixed in with the meat and formed into meatballs.

Unstuffed Cabbage 

• 1 medium head cabbage, cut into wedges
• 2 pounds ground beef
• 1 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/8 tsp. pepper
• 3/4 cup raw rice
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1 Tbsp. butter
• 1 egg, beaten
• 3 (8 oz.) cans tomato sauce
• 3 cups water

Place cabbage wedges in bottom of a large pan. Combine ground beef, salt, pepper, rice, garlic, onion, butter, and egg. Form into medium-sized meatballs. Place on top of cabbage wedges and cover with tomato sauce and water over all. Cover tightly and simmer for 45 minutes. Enjoy!

Confectioners Sugar Pound Cake

This recipe uses simple ingredients that are pantry staples. Originally, pound cake was made from a pound of each of the four main ingredients: flour, sugar, butter, and eggs. The proportions have changed over time, but those four ingredients form the basis of this cake. Pound cake is a classic cake that is so easy to make. The only flaw with the recipe is that it bakes in the oven for 90 minutes. This cake is delicious and well worth the wait.

This recipe uses confectioners sugar instead of granulated sugar, which makes a slightly denser cake. Otherwise, the ingredients used are standard for pound cake. When I made this cake, I dusted it with sugar rather than frosting. But I think this cake would be excellent with chocolate frosting.

Confectioners Sugar Pound Cake 

• 1 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 pound confectioners sugar
• 6 eggs
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 2 1/2 cup flour

Beat the butter until creamy. Gradually beat in the sugar, beating well after each addition until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time, beating well after each. Beat in the vanilla. Gradually stir in the flour, blending until flour is incorporated (do not over beat). Pour into a greased bundt pan. Bake at 300 for 1 1/2 hours. Allow to cool. Enjoy!