RECIPE SWAP: READERS SUGGEST BEEF STROGANOFF AND BUTTERMILK PIE FOR DINNER

No matter how hard I try, I still am not perfect and make mistakes! I know that comes as no surprise to some of you. My latest blunder was in last week's Recipe Swap. I included a recipe for Garlic Mashed Potatoes that a reader sent in from a request from Diane Sides.

Well, Diane had requested horseradish mashed potatoes, not garlic. You can consider the printed recipe a bonus. Tracey Tripp of Cape Girardeau comes to the rescue with Mashed Potatoes with a Kick. They sound very interesting and this will make Diane very happy. Thank you, Tracey for keeping me in line.

Mashed Potatoes with a Kick

1 1/2 pounds potatoes (about 5 medium)

1/2 tablespoon salt

2 tablespoons butter

1/2 cup cream

1 tablespoon white horseradish

white pepper, to taste

Rinse and peel the potatoes. Place in a medium-size saucepan and cover with water. Add salt to the water. Bring to a boil and cook until potatoes are tender when forked, about 15 to 20 minutes. Place butter, cream, and horseradish in a saucepan, heat to a simmer, then set aside. Drain liquid and place potatoes back on the stove on low heat for one minute to dry them out. Remove from heat and mash with a potato masher or fork, while adding warm cream mixture to potatoes. Season with salt and pepper to taste, serve immediately. Serves 4.

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Juanita Moore of Cape Girardeau shares her chicken and dumplings recipe with us. It sounds delicious and I'm sure you will enjoy this wonderful comfort food.

Chicken and Dumplings

1 chicken, 3 to 4 pounds. Cook until tender.

She cooks hers in a pressure cooker for 30 minutes. Remove chicken from bones. In a large bowl, put 5 cups flour making a hole in the middle of the flour.

Add 2 teaspoons salt, 1 egg and 1 cup boiling broth. Make sure it is boiling. Mix with fork, then your fingers until not sticky to the hands. Work this up and roll out as thin or as thick as you like.

Make sure not to get too much flour or they will be tough. Put the cut dumplings in boiling broth in pan, turn heat down to a simmer and cook 45 minutes stirring often. If you don't cook them 45 minutes they will be doughy and sticky. Enjoy!

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Jodi Thompson of Jackson sent a few recipes by way of e-mail. Her first is a response from a reader a few weeks ago regarding pot roast.

Pot Roast in Fine Sauce

2 pounds beef, cut into bite-sized pieces

10 whole small onions, or several large onions, cut into chunks

1 1/2 cups beef or chicken stock

6 tablespoons wine (experiment with different kinds)

2 1/2 teaspoons wine vinegar (stick to red or white)

1/3 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon each ground clove and tumeric

Simplest version: throw everything together in a large pot and simmer on stove until meat is tender. It can also be put into oven and baked, layering meat and onions. You can also dredge the meat in flour and brown, then simmering everything on the stove. Dredging the meat will result in the dish creating its own gravy.

With the easier versions, gravy can be made by adding thickeners like flour to the broth after the onions and beef are removed. Dish will have a yellowish color from the tumeric. Serve with mashed potatoes, rice or noodles. Serves 4 hearty appetites.

Jodi also responded to a recent request for Beef Stroganoff. She says her recipe is the easiest Stroganoff recipe she has ever found and is absolutely delicious. The recipe calls for round steak, but she suggests substituting ground beef, browned and drained for the steak.

Quick Beef Stroganoff

1 pound round steak, sliced diagonally as thin as possible into 1/8-inch by 2-inch strips

1/4 cup margarine

1/2 cup chopped onion

1 (4 ounce) can sliced mushrooms, drained

1 can condensed beef broth

1 cup dairy sour cream

2 1/2 tablespoons flour

Trim fat from meat. Cut into strips diagonally across the grain. Brown meat and onions quickly in margarine. Push meat to one side of skillet and add mushrooms. Cook 1 minute. Add broth and heat just to boiling. Blend sour cream and flour together in separate bowl. Gradually blend sour cream/flour mixture into skillet, stirring until mixture thickens. Season to taste. Serve over hot buttered noodles or rice. Serves 4.

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C. Miller of Jackson also shares her easy recipe for Simple Stroganoff. She writes that she loves this recipe because it is very good as well as easy.

Simple Stroganoff

4 tablespoons butter

1/2 onion, chopped

1 pound ground beef

1 small can mushrooms, drained

1 can cream of mushroom soup

Melt butter, add onion, cook 5 minutes. Add ground beef and cook till brown. Drain, add mushrooms and soup. Cook 15 minutes. Serve over rice or noodles.

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Tracey Tripp also shares a good recipe for Hamburger Stroganoff.

She originally found the recipe in a compilation cookbook.

Ground Beef Stroganoff

1 pound ground beef

1 small onion, chopped

1 (4 ounce) can mushrooms, drained

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1/4 cup water, red wine or beef broth

1/2 cup sour cream or yogurt

In skillet, brown ground beef and onion, drain fat. Stir in the mushrooms, soup and liquid. Cover and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes. Stir in the sour cream and heat through, but do not boil. Serve over rice, noodles, or chow mein noodles. Makes 4 to 5 servings.

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I'm sure when Amber Larson sent in her request for Buttermilk Pie she never anticipated the outstanding response she would get. Again this week we have more recipes to share.

Ruth Hughes from Olmsted, Ill., sent in a recipe she uses out of an old United Methodist cookbook. It must be wonderful because we United Methodists love good food.

Buttermilk Pie

1/2 cup butter or margarine

2 cups sugar

3 tablespoons flour

3 eggs, beaten

1 cup buttermilk

1 teaspoon vanilla

dash of nutmeg (optional)

Cream butter and sugar. Add flour and eggs. Beat well. Add buttermilk and vanilla. Pour into 9-inch unbaked pie shell. Bake at 325 to 350 degree oven for 45 to 50 minutes until browned. Cool before serving.

Our next pie recipe comes from Marilyn Weber of Frohna. She adds to her comments that this pie was really delicious when she could get the sweet buttermilk from the creamery where her Dad worked.

Buttermilk Pie

Cream together:

1/2 stick soft butter

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup flour

Add:

3 beaten eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla

1 1/4 cups sweet buttermilk

Pour into a prepared crust. Bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes, reduce oven heat to 375 degrees, bake 20 minutes longer.

Carolyn Thomas of East Cape, Ill., sent in the recipe she found in the Cairo Business and Professional Women's Club cookbook. Cairo is Carolyn's home town so she is very confident the recipe is excellent.

Buttermilk Pie

1 cup butter

1 teaspoon salt

6 whole eggs

1/2 cup flour

3 1/2 cups sugar

1 cup buttermilk

1 teaspoon vanilla

Melt butter, then add eggs. Mix flour, sugar and salt; add to egg mixture. Add buttermilk and vanilla. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 to 40 minutes.

C. Miller of Jackson shares a different recipe. Although all of these are similar, there is just enough variance to keep them interesting.

Buttermilk Chess Pie

2 cups sugar

2 tablespoons flour

5 large eggs, lightly beaten

2/3 cup buttermilk

1/2 cup butter, melted

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 9-inch unbaked pie shell

Combine sugar and flour in a large bowl; add eggs and buttermilk, stir till blended. Stir in buttermilk and vanilla, pour into pie shell. Bake 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until set. Cool on wire rack. Yield: 1 9-inch pie. Enjoy!

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A few weeks ago, Jewell DeWalt requested a recipe for fried corn on the cob. Interestingly enough, a chef from Nashville, Tenn., responded to her request. He has used Jiffy corn muffin mix, prepared to package instructions, adding a small amount of sugar, to taste.

Roll the corn on the cob in the batter and deep fry in hot oil. Do not use frozen corn, fresh works much better.

Jewell, let me know how it works, OK?

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A Cape Girardeau reader is requesting a recipe for fried pickles. She has never eaten them, but has heard about them and would like to give them a try.

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Another Cape Girardeau cook would like recipes for quick breads and muffins of all types. Banana is the old standby, but she would like different ones to try. I know this will be a popular request, so get your favorites in early.

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Tami Bernhardt of Cape Girardeau is requesting a recipe for Baby Ruth Cookies that she had at a local church bazaar.

Thanks to many of you for your sweet cards and notes you have written in the past months. There have been so many I have not been able to answer each one. But please know that your kind words are very much appreciated. Keep up the great work sending in recipes and requests and I'll see you next week.