Eggplant Casserole

My Dad's sister was probably the most wonderful cook ever. She could cook virtually anything. A trip to her house was like an awesome adventure. I could eat and eat and eat and never have enough because it all tasted so good. Okay. Maybe not the turnips. I don't like turnips. But everything else was fabulous.

She was raised on a farm with my Dad and two way younger brothers. She could churn her own buttter -- and did -- and make biscuits and cakes and can vegetables and ... Well, you understand. Sadly, she died many years ago from cancer. I still miss her Cornbread Dressing every year at Thanksgiving.

This recipe is one I got from her. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Eggplant Casserole

1 large eggplant
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
grated cheddar cheese
saltine crackers

Wash and peel the eggplant. Cut it into chunks and boil in salty water for about 15 minutes. It will be tender.

Drain the water out and mash the eggplant with a fork or other kitchen tool until it's the consistency of batter.

Stir in egg and milk. Place in an oven-safe container. I usually use a pyrex dish. Sprinkle the cheese and crumble saltines on top.

Bake at 400 degrees for about 25 minutes.

If you're trying to feed a larger crowd, this recipe is easy to enlarge. Just add an extra egg for each eggplant. You don't need to increase the milk by that much. Just stir a little extra in the "batter."

My aunt always sprinkled grated onion on top with the cheese and crackers. I prefer not to do it that way. I guess it's a personal preference type of thing. Much of Southern Cooking is that way.

Sweet Corn

I received a frantic call from my cousin's wife yesterday. I laugh as I write that. She gets upset with me for referring to her as "my cousin's wife." It's a correct description but it doesn't begin to tell others about our relationship. She is my friend who happens to be related to me. God has truly blessed me in that way.

As she called, she was looking at some corn with no idea how to freeze it. For those of you who have never frozen or canned vegetables, you can't just stick something in the freezer and expect to eat it over the winter. It's a little more involved than that.

The first issue is that she didn't know if it was sweet corn or field corn. Sweet corn is wonderful eaten right off the cob. Field corn really needs to be removed from the cob and creamed. She informed me that it didn't really matter. She prefers corn-on-the-cob and that's what she wanted to freeze.

After a quick consultation with my mother (who knows most things about such things), these are the directions.

Freezing Sweet Corn

Remove the husk from the corn and clean it thoroughly. Leave no little hairs to stick in your teeth! I prefer smaller ears of corn so I cut them in half. Either way works.

Place the corn in water. We use big, white enamel pans that my mother has had forever. Normal people probably use large pots. Bring the water to a boil for 5-7 minutes. This is called blanching. I don't even know if I've spelled that right. I do know that pretty much all vegetables that are headed for the freezer must be blanched before said trip.

Remove the corn from the stove and pour out the boiling water. Carefully. Remember that steam burns just as badly as direct hot water. Place the corn in a bowl of ice water until it cools.

Put corn in plastic bags made especially for the freezer. We generally put five per bag. I'm not sure why except that somewhere over the years my mother determined that five ears of corn per bag was the perfect serving size.

When you're really to eat the corn, remove it from the freezer and put it in a boiler or pan. Add water and a little salt. Bring it to a boil. Cook until tender. Serve.

Tuna Salad

One of the great last minute staples in any kitchen is a can of tuna. You can make the Tuna Casserole (see recipe in earlier blog) or a Tuna Salad. What's wonderful about Tuna Salad -- especially this time of year -- is that you don't have to turn the oven on.

You can serve Tuna Salad with fruit for a really light, refreshing meal. This doesn't mean low-calorie. Anything with mayonnaise is not low calorie. But who cares? We're all so active in this 97-plus degree weather that it doesn't matter. Right? Okay. But it's good anyway.

Tuna Salad

1 can of tuna
2 hard-boiled eggs
mayonnaise
sweet pickles

Remove the shell from the eggs. Finally chop the eggs. You can buy sweet pickles already chopped up. Down here in Alabama, we make our own sweet pickles. Then we get to chop them up before putting them in the Tuna Salad.

Drain the water (you do use water-packed tuna?) from the tuna. Combine tuna with eggs and pickles. Add mayonnaise to taste. I don't like a lot of mayo. I prefer just enough to moisten and stick the ingredients together. My mother tends to have the ingredients swimming in mayo. You choose.

Serve the Tuna Salad with saltine crackers.

Tuna Casserole

Many, many years ago a friend shared her Tune Casserole recipe with me. I'd never heard of Tuna Casserole. Shocking, I know. But she explained that it's a wonderful last minute item. The ingredients are items we usually have in our kitchens anyway.

She made one and I learned something else about Tuna Casserole -- it's good! My friend and I lost touch a long time ago. She moved. I moved. Lives that were once parallel went in separate ways. Still, I always think of her with a smile when I make a Tune Casserole. I hope you enjoy it too!

Tuna Casserole

One 5 oz can of tuna
One 10 3/4 oz can of Cream of Mushroom soup
One 8 oz package wide egg noodles
shredded cheddar cheese

Cook egg noodles according to package directions. Drain.

Sir in the tuna and soup. Place in a glass casserole bowl. Top with shredded cheddar cheese. How much depends on your taste buds. I love cheese so I make sure to cover the top. You might prefer a lighter sprinkling.

Cook in a 325 degree oven for about 20 minutes or until heated thoroughly.

Enjoy!

Fried Sweet Potato

Time seems to really get away from me this time of year! Is it the same for you? We have more daylight but far more to do. Snap beans are getting ready in the garden and that means picking, snapping and either cooking or canning. Okay. I don't do the picking or the canning. My job is weed patrol, which is sweaty and dirty. I do enjoy the snapping so it's almost not like a job. It's a wonderful excuse to sit down and watch a movie without feeling guilty. Just don't tell anyone I said that.

A really easy addition to any meal is Fried Sweet Potato. It takes just a small amount of time and then you've got another vegetable to put on the table at dinner. I usually just do one to feed two or three people. If you're cooking for more, obviously cook a few more potatoes.

Fried Sweet Potato

sweet potato
salt
sugar

Wash and peel the sweet potato. Cut it into slices that are about 1/4-inch thick. Thinner is okay. Don't do thicker though. Lightly salt the slices. I don't like a great deal of salt. If you like lots of salt, then go ahead and throw it on. Just don't blame your water retention on me.

Heat cooking grease in a skillet until it's medium hot. If the grease it too hot, the potato slices will burn before they cook. You probably guessed the next step. Put the slices in the grease and cook until they're lightly browned. Do NOT head off and do something else while you're doing this. These slices brown in what seems like seconds.

Put a folded paper towel on a plate. This is the Southern way of soaking up a little grease. Place the cooked sweet potato slices on the paper towel. Lightly sprinkle sugar on the warm slices.

Serve.

Blueberry Coffee Cake

Last week I baked a Blueberry Coffee Cake. It was so yummy! I used to make this -- sort of. I decided to change things around a bit. The result was far better than I expected.

The original recipe was from Bisquick and called Fruit Swirl Coffee Cake. It's wonderful too! I believe that Bisquick is one of those products that should be a staple in every kitchen. There are so many dishes you can throw together at the last minute using this wonderful product.

I halved the original recipe. I also opted to use fresh (well, frozen-fresh) blueberries instead of canned blueberry pie filling. I baked it in a fancy pie dish. It looked so elaborate. I so love to fool people into thinking something took a great deal of time and effort when it really was quite simple. Don't you?

Blueberry Coffee Cake

2 cups Bisquick baking mix
1/4 cup sugar
1/8 cup margarine, melted
1/4 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups blueberries

Glaze

1 cup powdered sugar
1 to 2 tablespoons milk

Grease a pie plate or a square baking pan.

Wash and drain blueberries.

Mix all the ingredients except blueberries and glaze ingredients. I just stir with a fork until completely mixed. It would be okay to use a mixer. That just seems like more trouble than necessary.

Spread 2/3 of the batter into the baking dish. Pour blueberries over this, spreading evenly. Then, using a spoon, drop the remaining batter over the blueberries. It won't completely cover the berries so just get a little artsy with it, putting a little bit here and a little bit there.

Bake 20 to 25 minutes in a 350 degree oven. It should be light brown. Remember that oven cooking times vary.

Just before time to take it from the oven, mix the powdered sugar and milk together until it's smooth.

When you remove the coffee cake from the oven, drizzle the glaze over it. Serve warm. It's also okay to serve it cool. I just prefer it warm. For the leftovers, put servings on a microwavable dish and heat for about 25 seconds each. Yummy!

Taco Salad

Okay. How many folks out there are watching their pennies these days? Yeah. That's what I figured. Most of us are doing that right now. I found the most wonderful site recently. It's kraftfoods.com. It was in an insert in the newspaper. I figured I'd try it out. I didn't have much hope though. Usually those coupon things are for products I don't use and really don't want to try. That was so not the case this time. Lots and lots of coupons for things I actually buy and use. Check it out.

Taco Salad is one of those perfect items to take off from home when the trip calls for a covered dish. Especially this time of year. It's easy to prepare and folks seem to like it. I never get to bring any home.

Taco Salad

1 pound ground beef
1 envelope taco seasoning mix
1 (16-oz) can of red kidney beans, drained
1 (16-oz) can cream-style corn
tortilla chips, crushed.
lettuce, washed and shredded
shredded cheddar cheese
1 medium tomato, peeled and diced

Cook the ground beef in a skillet until it's brown. Stir to crumble. You can add a little water, like maybe a tablespoon or so, to make it less likely to stick while it cooks. When it's brown, drain the fat and water off.

Add the taco seasoning mix, corn and beans. Stir until completely mixed.

Place crushed tortilla chips in the bottom of a serving bowl. I use a glass pie plate or a shallow corningware bowl. Make sure to cover the bottom. Place the meat mixture on top of the chips.
Put lettuce on top of that. Then add the cheese. I always put lots of cheese because I love cheese.
Add the tomato, spreading around on the top to make it look pretty.

This makes a fairly large amount though it won't seem that way when people start eating. It goes fast. One thing I love though is that you can use half the meat mixture and make a smaller taco salad. Refrigerate the other half and make a "fresh" salad another day. That's especially wonderful when you're taking it off from home. You have a Taco Salad to take and a Taco Salad to keep.