Recipe Swap: Round-robin provides recipes for those in the loop

I remember when I was a child -- long before Facebook, e-mail and Twitter -- my mom and her siblings had a round-robin letter. The oldest sibling would start the letter and then send it on to the next sibling. That person would write a letter and send it on to the next and so on. There were six children, so it would take about eight weeks for it to get around. I remember reading that letter many times. Jodi Thompson of Jackson takes part in an e-mail round-robin recipe letter. She sent it to me last week for fun so I could see it. I saw several recipes that looked worthy of trying and thought I might print out the round-robin, until I saw that it was 36 pages long. So I saved it and decided to share a few of those recipes with you here today.

Ground Beef Stroganoff

1 pound ground beef

1/2 cup chopped onion

1 (4.5-ounce) can mushrooms, drained

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon mustard powder

1/2 cup sour cream

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1/2 cup beef broth

1 (8-ounce) package wide egg noodles

Break up ground meat into a large skillet and add onion, mushrooms, garlic powder and mustard powder. Cook and stir over medium heat until the meat is browned and onion is tender. Drain off excess fat. In a small bowl, combine sour cream, mayonnaise and beef broth. Stir into beef mixture, and cook over low heat for 10 to 15 minutes. Do not stir too much. Meanwhile, cook pasta in a large pot of boiling water until done. Drain. Serve sauce over hot noodles.

Lemon Rosemary Game Hens

2 small Cornish game hens or 2 large chicken breast halves

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1 teaspoon dried rosemary, crushed or 1 tablespoon fresh rosemary, finely chopped

1 clove garlic, finely chopped

Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Cut the game hens in half, rinse and pat dry. Combine with the remaining ingredients in a nonreactive bowl and toss to coat the hens evenly. Allow to marinate refrigerated for 1 to 2 hours. Roast in a preheated 350 degree oven for 30 to 40 minutes, until lightly browned. Serves 2.

Italian-Style Drumsticks

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 ribs celery, thinly sliced

4 ounces pancetta or bacon, chopped

2 1/2 cups cooked basic tomato sauce

1/2 cup dry white wine or chicken stock

12 chicken drumsticks

1 lemon, cut into wedges

3/4 cup black or green olives

1/3 cup flat-leaf parsley leaves, roughly chopped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add celery and pancetta. Cook, stirring often, for 3 minutes or until celery is tender. Stir in tomato sauce and wine or stock. Bring to the boil. Place chicken into a shallow 6-cup capacity ovenproof dish in a single layer. Pour over hot sauce. Press lemon wedges and olives into sauce. Bake, uncovered, for 30 to 40 minutes or until cooked through. Sprinkle with parsley. Serve.

Chicken with Porcini Mushrooms and Sweet Potato Rounds

3 boneless and skinless chicken breasts, pounded with a meat mallet

1/2 cup dried porcini mushrooms

1 small onion, chopped

1 small red bell pepper, chopped

1 shallot, minced

2 tablespoons grapeseed oil

1/3 cup dry red wine

1/2 cup low-sodium chicken stock

1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves

1 tablespoon honey Dijon mustard

2 teaspoons cornstarch mixed with 2 tablespoons water for thickening sauce

Sprinkle flattened breasts with sea salt and fresh cracked pepper. Put mushrooms in a measuring cup and add 1/2 cup water. Heat on medium in microwave. Allow to cool and save liquid. Heat a skillet or Dutch oven on medium-high heat and add oil till hot but not smoking. Add chicken and brown each side well (2 minutes each side.) Remove chicken from pan and put on a plate. Add more oil if needed, then add onions and peppers and cook, stirring on medium until caramelized and onions are soft. Add shallots and stir, cooking 1 minute. Add red wine and increase to heat to high, boil until liquid is reduced by half. Add chicken stock, mushrooms with their liquid and fresh thyme and continue stirring and scraping pan while boiling, then reduce heat and simmer until sauce is further reduced. Add cornstarch and water mixture and increase to high until sauce thickens. Add honey Dijon mustard and stir. Return chicken breast and any juices to pan. Heat for a few minutes. Taste, add salt and pepper as needed.

Oven-Roasted Caramelized Sweet Potato Rounds

Sweet potatoes

1 tablespoon grapeseed oil

Salt and pepper

Cut sweet potatoes into 1/2-inch rounds. Add 1 tablespoon grapeseed oil, salt and pepper, stir to coat. Place wedges on cookie sheet and top with foil. Start in a cold oven (bottom heat will caramelize the sweet potatoes) and set to 400 degrees for 30 minutes. Turn wedges over, remove foil and bake another 15 minutes until tops are very brown.

Grilled Chicken and Nectarine Salad

This salad combines barbecued chicken, sweet nectarines, tangy goat cheese and toasted pecans in a great entree salad. Prep and cook time: about 25 minutes.

2/3 cup pecan halves

2 quarts salad greens (8 ounces), rinsed and crisped

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1/4 cup walnut oil (or more vegetable oil)

1/4 cup white wine vinegar

4 boned chicken breast halves with skin (2 pounds total), rinsed, patted dry, and fat trimmed

Salt and pepper

2 firm-ripe nectarines (12 ounces total), rinsed, pitted, and thinly sliced

5 ounces fresh chevre (goat cheese), crumbled

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spread pecans in a baking pan and bake until golden under skins, about 10 minutes. Let cool, then coarsely chop. Mound salad greens on four dinner plates. In a small bowl, stir vegetable oil, walnut oil and vinegar to blend. Set aside. Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper. Lay on a lightly oiled barbecue grill over a solid bed of medium-hot coals or medium high heat on a gas grill (you can hold your hand at grill level only 3 to 4 seconds). Close lid on gas grill. Cook chicken, turning occasionally, until meat is no longer pink in center of thickest part, about 15 minutes total. Transfer chicken to a cutting board. Remove skin if desired. Slice chicken across the grain 1/2 inch thick. Arrange over greens. Tuck nectarine around chicken. Scatter goat cheese and pecans over the top. Stir dressing. Pour over salads. Add salt and pepper to taste. A note on nut oils on salads: A drizzle of walnut, hazelnut or almond oil makes a salad dressing, like the one in this salad, rich and interesting. Until recently, though, nut oils have generally been imported and pricey. Now, less expensive oils pressed from Western nuts are joining imports in grocery stores. Nut oils are good for your heart, as well as your salads. Almond and hazelnut oils are rich in monounsaturated fats and walnut oil supplies omega-3 fatty acids. Refrigerate nut oils after opening. They turn rancid quickly at room temperature. Yield: Makes 4 main-dish servings.

Doritos Delight

This is a casserole with all the fixings. Just imagine taking a bite full of hamburger, onion, jalapeno, cheese and Doritos. Delicious!

1 pound lean hamburger meat

1/2 cup chopped onion

1 jalapeno pepper, chopped

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1 can nacho cheese soup

1 can evaporated milk

1 small bag Doritos (not snack size)

8 ounces grated cheddar cheese

Crush Doritos coarsely and place in bottom of a 13-by-9-by-3 pan. Brown hamburger meat with onions and jalapenos until there is no pink in meat. Drain well. Add soups and evaporated milk. Bring to a boil and pour over crushed Doritos. Top with grated cheese. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes at 350 degrees.

I hope these recipes spark a notion within you to cook these recipes and file them away for future use as well. Have a great 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 Southeast Missourian staff.