Curry Barley Salad

This recipe is one of my own. I came across a dish like this salad in the basement cafeteria at Macy's on State Street in Chicago (formerly known as Marshall Fields). This cafeteria has been serving lunch for years to many downtown workers and tourists alike. It is a bit of a hidden gem in the Loop. One day, I was getting lunch with some co-workers and I came across this salad from the many options at the salad bar. I loved it and decided that I had to recreate it. I first made it for an Easter celebration a few years back, and I have made it several times since then.

The nice thing about this recipe is that the amount of the various ingredients you use is very flexible. MDS does not like cheese, so I always set aside some with the feta for him. When I made this batch, I had forgotten to add the raisins. I was able to add them into the leftovers, but I love the raisins, so don't make the same mistake that I did. I highly recommend making this dish a day in advance and allowing it to chill in the refrigerator so the flavors can blend. I get the barley and the curry sauce  from Trader Joe's and they come in the approximate sizes noted below. You could also make your own curry sauce, using plain greek yogurt and curry powder or some other variation. Because it is a salad, there is no need to worry about precise measurements, just add to taste.

Curry Barley Salad 

• 1 cup barley, uncooked 
• 11 ounces curry sauce
• 15 ounce can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 red onion, finely chopped
• 1 pound broccoli, chopped
• 6 ounces feta cheese
• 1 cup raisins
• Ground black pepper, to taste

Cook the barley based on the package directions. After draining excess water from the barley, add in the curry sauce, garbanzo beans, red onion, broccoli, feta cheese, raisins and pepper. Stir until the ingredients are mixed well. Refrigerate for a few hours or overnight. Enjoy!

Sunny Pizza Snacks

When I found this among Grandma's recipes, I did not recall it, but with the use of hard-boiled eggs, I am not surprised to find it. As I've mentioned before, many of our family's Italian-American recipes include the use of hard-boiled eggs. I loved seeing my Grandma's handwriting on this recipe card. It reminded me of the letters that she used to write to me when I was in college.

This recipe is very easy. Grandma's recipe states that it makes 8 snacks or 4 main dishes. But, it can be scaled up or down with ease. In some ways, it is an Italian variation on the Egg McMuffin. But, I like that this recipe uses the broiler to melt and brown the cheese, rather than the microwave. MDS was skeptical, but he liked these sunny pizza snacks. Pizza sauce is simply tomato sauce with a few herbs and spices, such as garlic, oregano and basil, added in.

Sunny Pizza Snacks 

• 4 English muffins, split
• 8 oz. pizza sauce
• 8 hard-boiled eggs, sliced
• 1 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded

Place the muffin halves on a baking sheet. Spread each with one tablespoon pizza sauce. Arrange the sliced eggs on each half muffin. Spread each with one tablespoon of pizza sauce. Sprinkle each muffin with mozzarella cheese. Place the baking sheet under the broiler, about six inches away, until cheese is melted and just starting to brown. Enjoy!

Pasta with Broccoli

Mom's recipe box is filled with recipes that I do not specifically recall, but that sound good. This recipe is one example. When we were kids, we often resisted eating vegetables. Mom would try to find different ways to make vegetables that we would eat. If I did not like it when I was I kid, I was a silly kid. It is an excellent side dish. It could also be turned into a main dish by adding some protein, like beans or chicken.

When I made this dish, I mostly followed the recipe. However, I used elbow macaroni instead of cavatelli pasta, which is a small shell shape. You could use just about any type of pasta. I did not have any crushed red pepper, so I just used more black pepper. I also used more garlic than the recipes calls for, but I really like garlic. This recipe is easy to make and tolerates modifications. The next time that I make it, I will double the amount of broccoli. I modified Mom's recipe by sauteing the broccoli in the oil and garlic, rather than separately cooking it.

Pasta with Broccoli 

• 1 clove garlic, diced
• 6 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1 tsp. pepper
• crushed red pepper to taste
• 1/2 pound pasta, cooked
• 1 pound broccoli

Cut the broccoli to bite sized pieces. Brown the garlic in olive oil in a large skillet. Add the pepper and broccoli and cook until tender. Add the pasta and cook until the flavors blend, stirring frequently. Enjoy!

Gooey Butter Cake

Every June, Mom and I go to St. Louis for opera weekend at Opera Theater of St. Louis. While in St. Louis, we are sure to sample some local St. Louis foods, and Gooey Butter Cake is legendary in St. Louis. The most common story is that it originated in the 1930s at a St. Louis bakery when a new baker made a mistake when making a coffee cake, but the result was so popular that it became a standard St. Louis specialty. Gooey Butter Cake is a dense cake that is similar in texture to brownies. When I brought the cake to Mom's on a recent Saturday night, my nieces and nephews loved it, and all the adults loved it too.

Mom and I have gotten gooey butter cake at Missouri Baking Company. This recipe is the standard vanilla flavor. But we have gotten other flavors, including tuxedo, which is a vanilla and chocolate marble version. The next time I make this cake, I might try to make another flavor but mixing the flavoring into the topping. I think chocolate, almond or strawberry would be delicious. The recipe below is adopted from Smitten Kitchen. It uses yeast, so it does require some rise time. But don't let that prevent you from trying out this excellent cake.

Gooey Butter Cake 

Base layer

• 5 Tbsp. milk
• 1 3/4 tsp. active dry yeast
• 6 Tbsp. butter, softened
• 3 Tbsp. sugar
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 egg
• 1 3/4 cup flour

Top layer

• 12 Tbsp. butter, salted
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 egg
• 3 tsp. vanilla
• 4 Tbsp. light corn syrup
• 1 1/4 cup flour
• Powdered sugar for dusting

Make the base layer: In a small bowl, warm the milk to about 120 degrees. Add the yeast to the milk and allow it to dissolve and foam. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, sugar and salt until fluffy. Beat in the egg. Alternately add in the yeast and the flour, blending completely. Grease a 13X9 glass pan. Press the dough into the pan. Cover the pan and put in a warm place to allow the dough to rise until doubled, about three hours.

Make the topping: In a bowl, blend the sugar and butter until fluffy. Beat in the egg and vanilla. Alternately add in the corn syrup and the flour and mix until smooth.

Spoon the topping over the risen cake and use an offset spatula to form an even layer. Bake at 350 for 30 to 45 minutes, until golden brown. Allow to cool. Sprinkle with powdered sugar. Enjoy!

Pumpkin Granola

As you may know, I really like food made with pumpkin. So, when I saw a version of this pumpkin granola recipe a number of years ago, I knew I had to try it. This granola is now a household standard. We often have some on hand for snacking. It keeps for weeks in the refrigerator. We most often just eat it plain, but it is also terrific on yogurt or eaten with milk in a cereal bowl.

I don't recall where I found the recipe, and my recipe card does not give any clues. I have adjusted the recipe over time and I often do not precisely measure the ingredients that I add. So sometimes, a particular batch might have more nutmeg than most batches or other variations. Usually the resulting granola is in cluster form, rather than bars, but the clusters vary quite a bit in size. If you wanted to, you could add some nuts or dried fruit to the granola about halfway through the baking process. I think hazelnuts and dried cranberries could be a good addition to this granola.

Pumpkin Granola 

• 3 1/2 cups rolled oats
• 2 1/2 cups puffed rice cereal
• 1/2 tsp. ginger
• 1/2 tsp. nutmeg
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp. cardamon
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup pureed pumpkin
• 1/4 cup applesauce
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 325 and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. In a large bowl, combine the oats and puffed rice. In a medium bowl, whisk together the spices, sugar, applesauce, pumpkin, syrup and vanilla. Pour wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir. Spread in an even layer on the baking sheet. Bake for 30 minutes, then carefully turn over granola with large spatula. Bake for an additional 15 to 20 minutes. Allow to cool. Store in an air tight container and refrigerate. Enjoy!

Applesauce Brownies

Mom's recipe box has many brownie recipes. I have made Brownies Americana, Best-Ever Brownies, and Double Fudge Brownies. Like the Brownies Americana and Best-Ever Brownies, these Applesauce Brownies are cake-like brownies. So far, all the brownie recipes have been delicious. It seems that the only way that I would be able to determine which brownie recipe is my favorite is to make them all at once and do a side-by-side taste testing. Instead, I think I will just keep trying out new brownie recipes from Mom's recipe box. It will take some time to get through all the recipes.

Perhaps the use of applesauce is intended to make these brownies a little healthier. But these brownies are too delicious to be considered healthy in any way. So if you are looking for a tasty treat, give these brownies a try. I especially like to eat them when they are cold from being in the refrigerator. And, I think that they would be delicious with ice cream. As with any brownie recipe, you could add some chopped nuts to the recipe, but I usually leave them out.

Applesauce Brownies 

• 1 cup flour
• 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/2 cup butter
• 2 squares unsweetened chocolate
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs, well beaten
• 1/2 cup applesauce
• 1 tsp. vanilla

Stir together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt; set aside. Melt butter and chocolate in a heavy saucepan over low heat; remove from heat and beat in the sugar, eggs, applesauce and vanilla. Add in flour mixture and mix well. Pour into a greased 13x9x2 pan. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes. Enjoy!

Banana Bread with Chocolate Chips

MDS does not like bananas. In fact, he refuses to eat anything with bananas. Or, I should say that he used to refuse to eat anything with bananas. But I got him to eat banana bread by spiking the bread with chocolate chips. Now, he will eat banana bread even if the bread does not have chocolate chips. Maybe I will eventually get MDS to eat actual bananas. When I brought some of the bread to a Saturday night at Mom's, it was a hit with all of the nieces and nephews there.

This recipe is just a basic banana bread recipe. You could use any recipe that you would like and just add chocolate chips.  When baking, I prefer to use Ghirardelli milk chocolate chips. You could also add nuts, if you want. I like making a cinnamon banana bread, which can be done by just adding some cinnamon to the batter or swirling it into the batter as you pour it into the pan. Next time I make banana bread, I might try cinnamon banana bread with chocolate chips.

Banana Bread with Chocolate Chips 

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup mashed banana (2-3 bananas)
• 2 Tbsp. milk
• 2 eggs
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1 3/4 cup flour

In a large bowl, mix the butter, bananas, eggs, and milk. Blend in the sugar, baking powder, and baking soda. Blend in the flour. Pour batter into a greased loaf pan. Bake at 350 for 55 to 60 minutes. Allow to thoroughly cool before cutting. Enjoy!