Green Bean Casserole

Can you have Thanksgiving dinner without green bean casserole? Some families do it, but in our family something would be missing from Thanksgiving if green bean casserole wasn't on the menu. Mom's recipe for this casserole is fairly standard. And, of course it is very easy to make. I could not find this recipe among Mom's written recipe, but she was able to rattle off the ingredients without even pausing. You could use fresh green beans, if you want. But this recipe was perfectly designed for canned green beans.

What truly makes this dish special is the french fried onions. Some get mixed into the casserole and some are left on top to get super crunchy. I know this recipe calls for 2 cups, but I actually used more than two cups when I made this recipe. This dish could be made anytime of year, but for whatever reason it has become a Thanksgiving classic, that, in my family is saved for that one time each year.

Green Bean Casserole

• 1 can (10 3/4 oz.) condensed cream of mushroom soup
• 1/2 cup milk
• dash of salt and pepper (to taste)
• 2 cans (14 1/2 oz.) canned green beans, drained
• 2 cups french fried onions

Heat oven to 350. In a bowl, mix together the soup, milk, salt, pepper, green beans and 1 cup french fried onions in a 1.5 quart casserole dish. Bake for 25 minutes, until the mixture is hot and bubbling. Stir the mixture. Then, top with the remaining french fried onions. Bake 5 more minutes. Enjoy!

Pastitsio

My mother-in-law recently shared with me a favorite recipe: Pastitsio. Patti explained that they had first tried the dish at a church fair at a Greek Orthodox Church in Urbana, Illinois in the late 1960s. And, as it happens, the local newspaper published the recipe a week later. Lucky for us that Patti found that recipe and shared it.

Pastitsio is a baked pasta dish. As Patti explained, it is very easy to make, but the downside is that it uses every pan in the kitchen. To me, all that cleanup is worth it for this tasty meal.

This recipe is the standard Greek version of the dish. Other variations might use lamb or veal instead of beef, or, other spices, such as allspice. But, I stuck to Patti's recipe here. You cannot go wrong with this recipe, and do not skip the cinnamon or nutmeg. As Patti says, they make the recipe. Patti also suggested that the dish can be prepared in advanced, and even frozen, just to be defrosted and baked when you are ready to serve it.

Pastitsio 

Meat Filling:
1 lb. ground beef
1 small onion, chopped
8 oz. tomato sauce
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1/4 tsp. cinnamon

 Cream sauce:
2 Tbsp. butter
2 1/2 Tbsp. flour
1 1/2 cups milk
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
3 eggs

8 oz. elbow macaroni (about 2 cups raw), cooked according to package directions. Do not overcook. Drain and add 3 oz. grated Romano cheese.

For topping: 1/4 tsp. nutmeg

In a large skillet, brown beef with onion until no longer pink. Drain fat. Add salt, pepper, tomato sauce and cinnamon. Simmer until quite dry. Remove from heat and set aside.

In a saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter and stir in flour. Stir in the milk gradually and heat to boiling. Add the seasonings. Beat the eggs in a bowl. Gradually add a bit of the hot cream sauce, then return eggs to to the remaining sauce in the pan, and stir thoroughly. Stir 1/4 of the cream sauce into the macaroni/cheese mixture.

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Spray an 8" square baking pan and spread half of the macaroni mixture into the bottom. Top with all of the meat sauce, then all of the remaining macaroni. Pour the remaining white sauce over all and sprinkle with the nutmeg. Bake uncovered for 1 hour. Let stand 15 minutes before cutting into squares and serving. Serves 4 - 6. Enjoy!

Toasted Pumpkin Seeds

Every Halloween when we were kids, we would carve pumpkins. Each of us would have our own pumpkin, so we could design our individual jack-o-lantern. Carving a pumpkin is actually hard work. This year, MDS had carving duty. And each time a knife is stuck into a pumpkin, I am reminded of the Peanuts' character, Linus, as he cries out to Lucy, "You didn't tell me you were going to kill it!" in the Halloween classic, It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.

As a result of all the pumpkin carving, there were loads pumpkin seeds that Mom would collect, clean and toast in the oven. Mom usually just sprinkled a little salt on them. This year, I got a little more adventurous and sprinkled the seeds with sugar and cinnamon. I must admit that I left them in the oven just a little too long, such that the seeds became a bit too caramelized, but they were still tasty.

Toasted Pumpkin Seeds 

• Seeds from one pumpkin
• 2 Tbsp. butter, melted
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• Any seasoning, if desired

Clean the pumpkin seeds. Spread the seeds on a cookie sheet. Drizzle with the melted butter. Sprinkle on the seasoning. (Note: for the cinnamon sugar seeds, I blended 1/2 tsp. cinnamon and 1 Tbsp. sugar with the butter before drizzling).

Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes. About halfway through the cooking time, stir the seeds to allow even toasting. Enjoy!

Above is MDS carving a pumpkin this year; below is MDS and his sister and dad carving a pumpkin in 1978:

Popcorn Balls

Every Halloween, MDS's Grandma made popcorn balls that she put into special treat bags for MDS, his sister Stephanie, and cousins Zach and Chrissy. The treat bags also included full-size Snickers and Milky Ways, jawbreakers, Nerds, and loads of other candy.

I wish I had known Grandma Holmes. She was a pioneering woman in politics in Michigan. When her husband died, Grandma Holmes, with two young kids to care for, took over her husband's position as Plymouth Township Treasurer. Thus, began her twenty year political career. She was well-known and well-liked throughout her community. But, the stories about Grandma Holmes that make me laugh are the stories about her sweet tooth. I can certainty relate to her love of cookies, cake and ice cream.

MDS was not there when Grandma Holmes made the popcorn balls, but Patti remembers her Mom making these when she was a kid. The difficulty in making these popcorn balls is just how hot the sugar mix will get. There is a very short time window when the sugar-coated popcorn is cool enough to handle, but not yet set. I managed to make this recipe without burning my hands with the sugar mixture, but I did have close calls.

Popcorn Balls 

• 9 cups plain popped popcorn
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup light corn syrup
• 1/3 cup water
• 1 tsp. distilled white vinegar
• 1 tsp. salt
• 4 Tbsp. unsalted butter
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla

Coat a large heat-proof bowl with cooking spray and place popcorn in the bowl.

In a medium saucepan, combine sugar, corn syrup, water, vinegar, and salt over high heat. Stir until sugar is dissolved, about 2 minutes. Bring to a boil and cook until the mixture registers 260 F on a candy thermometer, about 7 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in the butter and vanilla until the sugar mixture is smooth. 

Immediately drizzle the sugar mixture over the popcorn, stirring continuously with a rubber spatula. Be sure to scrape the bottom of the bowl, where the sugar mixture may tend to pool. With buttered hands, tightly press the popcorn mixture into balls. Place on wax paper to cool, about 15 minutes. This recipe will yield about 18 small popcorn balls or 8 medium popcorn balls. Enjoy!

Pizza Bread

Here is another recipe that uses the gravy from this blog's name, the namesake recipe, spaghetti pie, and lasagna. Mom usually made this pizza bread when there was leftover gravy from a Saturday night dinner. In my house, we never have any gravy because it is a certain someone's favorite dish. So I when I made the gravy for this recipe, I had to keep that someone away until after I used what was needed in the pizza bread. Depending upon the size of the bread loaf that you use, you will probably need about 1/3 of the gravy recipe here.

For the loaf of bread, Mom would often just use a standard french loaf. For this recipe, I prefer a chewier bread instead of a crusty bread. Mom usually bought a block of mozzarella and sliced it. You could use shredded mozzarella, but by slicing the mozzarella by hand, the slices are typically thicker. When using leftover gravy, this recipe makes an easy weeknight dinner. Now, if only I ever had leftover gravy.

Pizza Bread 

• Gravy
• Loaf of bread, sliced cross-wise
• 8 oz. mozzarella cheese
• grated parmesan 

Prepare the gravy using the standard recipe. You can make the gravy in advance, if needed. Spread the gravy on the open face of the bread. Top with mozzarella cheese. Sprinkle with grated parmesan. Bake in an oven preheated to 350 for about 20-25 minutes, or until cheese is melted. If you prefer, use the broiler function for about five minutes to brown the cheese. Enjoy! 

Homemade Wine

The title of this post is real--this recipe is for homemade wine. Mom told me that when all us kids were young, Mom and Dad did not keep alcohol around the house, except for an occasional batch of this wine. I am sure that all my siblings remember the Dad making this wine. It is hard to forget the gallon jug with a balloon on top sitting around for weeks. When we lived on Lincoln, Dad would usually put the jug in the basement near the washer and dryer.

This wine takes time to make, about three weeks. When I made a batch for this post, I used a half-gallon jug because I wanted to use a glass jug and that size is what I had on hand. I simply halved the recipe. You could use any type of jug, such as a milk jug. The wine itself was not bad, and maybe even good. MDS asked me whether it was a merlot or a cabernet, but I told him it was concord. As in concord frozen grape juice concentrate. There is no French appellation for this wine. In researching tips on homemade wine, I read that any flavor frozen juice concentrate could be used. Next time, I will try peach juice frozen concentrate. Also, I used just regular yeast and it turned out fine. But, there are different types of yeast meant for winemaking that allegedly yield better wine. The wine tasted fine to me and was pretty sweet, so I did not need to add extra sugar. All in all, homemade wine was a success.

Homemade Wine

• 2 12-oz. cans of frozen grape juice concentrate, thawed
• 3 cups sugar
• 1 tsp. dry yeast dissolved 
• water
• gallon jug
• balloon

Pour the juice concentrate and sugar into a gallon jug. Add the yeast to one cup warm water (about 115 degrees) with a spoonful of sugar. After the yeast has foamed, add the yeast mix to the gallon jug. Fill the jug with water. Make a pinhole in the tip of a balloon and place the balloon over the spout of the jug. The balloon will inflate a bit as the yeast works. When the balloon deflates (about three weeks), the wine is ready.

The sediment will sink to the bottom. Pour the clear wine out and remove the sediment. You could also pour the wine through a filter (I used a coffee filter and sieve). You may add an additional cup of sugar to sweeten to taste. Enjoy!

Egg Foo Young

Growing up, ordering in Chinese food or actually going to our favorite place, Golden Wok, was a special treat. Perhaps because it was what I grew up with, the Golden Wok is still my gold standard for Chinese food. While I have since learned that Golden Wok serves the typical Americanized Chinese food, I still love it.

Every now and then, Mom would actually make homemade Egg Foo Young. Until now, I had never tried to make it myself. Of course, it is essentially an omelet, so it is quite simple. Egg Foo Young is easy to adjust to whatever ingredients you have handy. You can use any cooked meat, such as pork, beef, or chicken. Mom usually added mini-shrimp. The other classic ingredients include sliced water chestnuts, bamboo shoots, bean sprouts, sliced cabbage, mushrooms, and garlic.

Of course, what makes Egg Foo Young special is the brown sauce that is typically served with the dish. I recall that the Egg Foo Young from Golden Wok came drenched in the brown sauce. I served this Egg Foo Young on a bed of brown rice to help soak up the brown sauce. Egg Foo Young can be served with or without rice or noodles, or other accompaniment, but don't serve it without the brown sauce.

Egg Foo Young 

• 6 eggs, beaten
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 8 oz. can water chestnuts, drained and sliced
• 8 oz. can bamboo shoots, drained and chopped
• 1 Tbsp. chopped garlic
• salt and pepper to taste

In a bowl, mix together the ingredients. Spray a frying pan with cooking spray or coat with oil. Heat the pan on medium. Spoon about 1/2 cup of the egg mixture onto the frying pan. Cook until brown and then flip and cook the second side until brown. Repeat until all the egg mixture is used.

Egg Foo Young Brown Sauce

• 1 Tbsp. butter
• 2 Tbsp. cornstarch
• 1 tsp. sugar
• 1 1/2 cups cold water
• 2 Tbsp. soy sauce

Melt the butter in a small sauce pan over low heat. Then, blend in the cornstarch and sugar. Gradually stir in the cold water and soy sauce. Cook and stir until thickened.

Serve the Egg Foo Young with the brown sauce. Enjoy!