Cooks want recipes for dishes with good taste

smcclanahan

As I recall back to the birth of our daughter, it seems like only yesterday that our family crowded into the room where she was born and Scott announced HER name to everyone. Most of our family just knew we would have a boy and secretly picked names for the boy except for my niece and Scott's mother. Both of them wanted a girl so badly, and they got it. Seven years ago this week she came to our family and our household has not been the same since.

With her birthday comes the annual gathering of our family to help celebrate. She has in mind what she wants on her cake (which she will decorate herself), the food and the long list of family that will be invited. When you turn 7, the party is all that matters.

I received a large white envelope filled with great recipes that a reader wanted to share with you. The writer made mention that he or she is not a fancy cook, but enjoys common foods with good taste. I agree with the writer; that is the way I cook too. These are a few of the recipes that were in the envelope.

Breakfast Coffee Cake

1 (18 1/4-ounce) box yellow or white cake mix

1 (3.4-ounce) box vanilla instant pudding mix

4 eggs

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 cup water

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 cup chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine cake mix, pudding mix, eggs, oil and water in bowl and beat together, as directed on package. Grease and flour a 10-inch tube pan. Pour about 3/4 of the batter into the prepared pan. Combine brown sugar, cinnamon and pecans. Sprinkle over the batter in the pan. Add the remaining batter over the top. Bake for 1 hour. Let cake cool for 15 minutes before turning out onto serving platter.

Country-Style Chicken Chow Mein

3 tablespoons oil

1/2 pound boneless chicken breasts, cut into thin strips

1 medium onion, sliced, then cut in quarters

1 1/2 cups sliced celery

1 cup grated or thinly sliced carrots

2 tablespoons cornstarch

3 tablespoons soy sauce

2 tablespoons molasses

1 cup hot water

4 cups shredded cabbage

In a large pot or electric frying pan, heat the oil until hot. Stir in the chicken. Add the onion, celery and carrots. Cook, stirring often, for about 10 minutes. Stir in the cornstarch and then the soy sauce, molasses and water, mixing well. Add the cabbage and mix well. Cover and let cook slowly for 15 to 20 minutes until vegetables are just tender. Serve on rice.

Seafood Pasta Salad

1 (8-ounce) box small rotini (corkscrew) pasta

1/4 cup shredded carrots

1 medium zucchini, sliced thin and cut up

2 small yellow summer squash, sliced thin and cut up

2 cups broccoli florets

1 medium red bell pepper, seeded and sliced into strips and cut up

16 ounces crab meat or imitation crab meat

3 slices purple onion, cut into quarters

1/2 teaspoon dried dill

1 cup mayonnaise

1 package dry Italian dressing mix

Salt to taste

Cook rotini pasta until just done and drain and rinse. In a large bowl, mix together all of the ingredients until well combined. Refrigerate for 2 to 3 hours before serving.

Everyday Country-Style Steak

4 beef cube steaks

1 teaspoon seasoned salt

Black pepper, to taste

1 cup self-rising flour, for coating steaks

3 tablespoons oil

1 tablespoon flour for gravy

1 1/2 cups water

Dash Kitchen Bouquet browning and gravy sauce

Mix the flour, seasoned salt and pepper in a bowl. Coat both sides of the cube steaks with this mixture, let sit for 15 to 20 minutes. Heat the oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Brown the steaks on both sides, then put them in a baking pan. When all the steaks have been browned, put the water and the 1 tablespoon flour into the pan, mixing well. Add a little Kitchen Bouquet if desired. Pour the gravy over the steaks and bake in the oven at 350 degrees for 1 hour or until tender.

Prime Ribeye Roast

1 ribeye beef loin, about 6 pounds

1 tablespoon seasoned salt

1 tablespoon garlic salt

1 teaspoon black pepper

Mix together the seasonings and sprinkle over the roast, let sit for 20 to 30 minutes. Put into a baking pan and roast in a 325-degree oven for 1 1/2 hours. The meat should be cooked medium. Remove the pan from the oven and cover with foil and let the roast rest for 15 to 30 minutes. Place the roast onto the serving platter. For gravy, use the pan drippings and add 1/4 cup water to them and thicken slightly over heat until gravy boils.

Creamed New Potatoes

2 pounds new potatoes, peeled or scraped

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup milk

1/2 stick butter, cut into pieces

2 teaspoons flour or cornstarch, mixed with a little water to make a paste

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

In a small Dutch oven, combine potatoes, enough water to cover and salt and boil until tender, about 15 minutes. Drain off all water. Add the milk and butter. Let come to a boil over medium heat. Slowly add the flour paste, a bit at a time, and stir, using only as much paste as necessary to make the cooking liquid creamy. Sprinkle with black pepper. Cover and let simmer for 5 minutes, being careful not to let the potatoes stick.

Blueberry Dream

5 cups fresh or frozen blueberries

1/2 cup sugar

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

1/4 teaspoon grated lemon rind

1 cup graham cracker crumbs

1/2 stick margarine, melted

For the topping:

1 cup sour cream

1/4 cup powdered sugar

1 teaspoon lemon juice

Make the topping by stirring the sugar into the sour cream until well combined. Stir in the lemon juice and refrigerate until ready to be used.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Wash and drain the blueberries. In a 1 1/2 quart baking dish or pan, mix together the blueberries, sugar, lemon juice, and lemon rind. Spread them evenly in the dish. Mix together the graham cracker crumbs and butter and spread evenly over the blueberries. Bake on the lower rack of the oven for 35 to 40 minutes, until the buttered crumbs are lightly brown. Serve warm, with the topping. Yields 8 servings.

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Last week we had a request for homemade sausage recipes. I have had one response so far from a Jackson reader.

Country Sausage

1 pound ground pork

1 teaspoon dried sage

1 teaspoon dried thyme

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper

Mix all ingredients together, allow mixture to sit in the refrigerator overnight to season through. Shape the mixture into 8 patties and place in a skillet. Brown both sides over medium heat, about 4 to 5 minutes per side. Add 2 tablespoons water, cover and turn off heat, let sit for 5 minutes before serving.

I am out of space for this week, but hope you enjoyed these recipes shared this week as much as I did. I plan to try a couple of them very soon.

Have a wonderful week and until next time, happy cooking.

Susan McClanahan is administrator at the Cape Girardeau Senior Center. Send recipes to her at smcclanahan@semissourian.com or by mail at P.O. Box 699; Cape Girardeau, Mo. 63701. Recipes published have not been kitchen-tested by the Southeast Missourian staff.