Favorite recipes bring back fond memories

Helen Hunt of Cape Girardeau gave me quite a nice, welcome surprise one day last week. I was sitting at a table at the Senior Center and she walked up to me with a hand-full of recipes. I was so pleased and I immediately started looking through them. I have started from the top of her stack sharing them with you. I have kept the names of special people to her on each recipe that had a name attached to it. We all have friends who love one thing or another that we make, and many times it just starts to become their recipe. So to keep things a little more personal, I am sharing them with you as they were given to me.

This recipe is a delightful blend of vegetables covered in a well-seasoned dressing to add extra zip.

Gazpacho Salad

2 cups cucumbers, peeled

4 diced tomatoes, peeled

2 green peppers, slivered

Green onions, chopped

1 large can black olives, drained and chopped

Salt and pepper

For the dressing:

2 cloves garlic, mashed

1/4 cup cider vinegar

1 tablespoon parsley

1/4 teaspoon cumin

Pinch salt

1/2 cup salad oil

2 green onions, chopped

Mix together and pour over prepared vegetables. Chill at least 2 1/2 hours.

Sprinkle with juice of 1 lemon over top just before serving. Keeps well refrigerated.

Cool Corn Salad Dressing

1/4 cup sour cream

3/4 cup mayonnaise

1 tablespoon prepared mustard

2 tablespoons vinegar

1 teaspoon sugar

Add: 2 cans whole kernel corn

1 (2 ounce) jar pimiento, drained

2 grated carrots

1/2 large onion, diced, or equivalent in green onions

Combine dressing ingredients and set aside. Combine salad ingredients. Pour dressing over vegetables and toss until all vegetables are well coated.

Store refrigerated.

Mary Lou's Dressing for Spinach

1 cup oil

1/3 cup vinegar

1/3 cup sugar

1 teaspoon celery salt

1 teaspoon garlic salt

1 teaspoon onion salt

Pepper, to taste

Blend well; let set to incorporate flavors. Serve over dry fresh spinach, topped with chopped cashews.

Orange and Green Salad

Brown sliced almonds in 2 tablespoons sugar to coat using a nonstick skillet on stove top, stirring often. Drain on waxed paper.

For the dressing:

1/4 cup oil

2 tablespoons vinegar

2 tablespoon sugar

Dash hot sauce

Salt, to taste

Chop green onions and add to torn iceberg and Romaine lettuce. Mix in a can of mandarin oranges. Add dressing just before serving and top with toasted nuts. Note that this dressing can be used for many other salads as well.

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Susan Caselton is a Cape Girardeau native and this recipe bears her name as a favorite of hers.

Salsa Bites by Susan Caselton

1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened

1 (2 ounce) package cream cheese, softened

1/3 cup thick and chunky salsa

2 eggs

1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese

2 tablespoons chopped ripe olives

1 tablespoon chopped green onions

1 clove garlic, pressed

1/4 cup sour cream

2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Whisk ingredients together in order of listing except sour cream and cilantro. Combine the last two ingredients and set aside. Fill well greased mini muffin tins. Bake 15 to 18 minutes or until center is set. Let cool in pan 5 minutes. Remove and cool on wire rack.

Spread tops with sour cream and cilantro mixture.

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I thought this recipe would be nice to serve at a bridal or baby luncheon.

Along with a nice spring blend of greens, this would make a wonderful plate for a special occasion.

Hot Chicken Sandwich

Cook whole chicken with 1 to 2 cups water, salt and pepper. Cool, debone and chop. Or to save time, use the convenient chicken tenderloins in the super markets.

Add:

1 tablespoon minced onion

3/4 cup chopped celery

1 small can sliced ripe olives, drained

Mayonnaise, enough to moisten

Remove 16 slices of sandwich bread from wrapper, and remove crust. Butter insides of slices with soft butter; fill with chicken salad and lay on greased jellyroll pan leaving space between each sandwich.

Combine together:

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 cup mayonnaise or Miracle Whip

1 cup sour cream

Frost top and sides of each sandwich. Sprinkle with paprika. Bake at 325 degrees for 30 minutes.

The sandwiches can be made the day before planning to serve if kept well covered in the refrigerator, then bake just before ready to serve.

Holly's Gazpacho

2 cups beef stock or broth

2 cups tomato juice

1/4 cup lemon juice

2 teaspoon salt

3 dashes Tabasco Sauce

2/3 cup red wine vinegar

1/4 cup olive oil or salad oil

4 teaspoons sugar

Add to the above:

2/3 cup green onions, sliced

1 clove garlic, minced

1/2 celery, minced

1 cup cucumber, chopped and seeded

1 cup green pepper, minced

1 cup tomatoes, finely chopped

Stir gently. Refrigerate till chilled thoroughly. Garnish with thinly sliced lemon or cucumber.

Helen's Chicken Salad

2 cups chopped cooked chicken

1/2 cup Miracle Whip

1/2 cup chopped black olives

1/2 cup shredded sharp Cheddar cheese

1/4 cup chopped green onion

1/4 cup chopped green pepper

Mix together all ingredients and serve on lettuce leaf.

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Ruth Mathienu was Helen Hunt's high school "home ec" teacher. Since 1951 they have corresponded each year at Christmas. This next recipe is a favorite on her cookie tray and she makes then in small cigar shapes rather than the ball, to add variety of sizes to her tray.

I'm with you, Helen, even though the term home ec isn't used any longer, it is still home ec to me. My home ec teacher was Ruth Irwin. We shared many good times together over the many years I had her as a teacher. We made hundreds and hundreds of cream horns and sold them as fund-raisers. I can remember running into the home ec room between classes to get another layer of butter rolled into our dough, and doing that several times. After high school I don't think I have made a cream horn since. But they were so good and we made a lot of money from the sale of them.

Ruth's Pecan Dreams

1 cup Crisco shortening

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon water

1 teaspoon almond extract

1/2 cup powdered sugar

2 cups flour

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup finely chopped pecans

Combine all ingredients. Roll into desired shape. Bake for 25 minutes at 325 degrees. Roll in powdered sugar.

Thank you Helen for taking the time to share some of your favorite recipes with us today. When the weather is so hot and there isn't much to do outside, what a better way to spend an afternoon than going through your recipe file and pulling out some of your favorites. And the good news is, I did not even share them all with you, there are more to come in the weeks ahead.

Please take after Helen's example and share your favorite recipes with us.

It is fun to see where recipes come in from and the interesting comments added to each one.

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.