Cinnamon Bread

Once upon a time I cooked a lot. The kitchen belonged to me. I didn't have to share. I didn't need to work around anyone else's schedule. When I felt like cooking, I cooked.

One thing I loved to do was bake bread. I've spent many afternoons waiting for my dough to rise and pounding out my attitude on a poor piece of dough. But sometimes I did things the easy way. Cinnamon Bread is one of those easy recipes. You don't have to wait for dough to rise. It doesn't take hour upon hour to taste the finished results. It does, however, make your house smell wonderful. Cinnamon always does that.

Cinnamon Bread

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
1 cup milk with 1 tablespoon lemon juice added
1/3 cup corn oil
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 eggs

Combine all ingredients with an electric mixer. I always combine my dry ingredients and stir together before adding to everything else. When measuring the flour, be sure to lightly spoon it into a measuring cup, then level it off with a knife. So many people don't realize this and they use the scoop method. ie. They use the measuring cup to scoop the flour from it's container. That packs the flour in and causes you to use too much. Then the bread or cake or whatever is too dry and you can't figure out why. Now you know.

Beat all the ingredients together until fully mixed. You can substitute one cup of buttermilk for the milk with 1 tablespoon lemon juice if you'd like. I just never have buttermilk in the house so I'm accustomed to using the substitute.

Pour batter into a greased and floured 9 x 5-inch loaf pan.

Streusel

2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 teaspoons margarine or butter, melted

Stir all ingredients together. Pour over batter top. Take a small knife and gently swirl the streusel into the batter.

Bake in a 350 degree oven for 45 to 50 minutes, remembering that oven temperatures vary. In my oven it takes about 50 minutes. You'll know it's done when a wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Remove the bread from the pan as soon as you take it from the oven. Let it cool before slicing. Store leftovers in the refrigerator. I always reheat leftovers in the microwave because I like it just a little warm.

This bread is wonderful to freeze. I simply wrap it in plastic wrap and then put tin foil on top of that. Thaw in the refrigerator.

Baked Beans

It's almost the Fourth of July. Time for barbecues and lots of outdoor fun. That's what the ads say anyway. I'm fairly certain those folks don't live in the Deep South with temperatures near or exceeding 100 every day and lots and lots of humidity. Air conditioning is a wonderful thing.

Still, I couldn't wait to share this Baked Bean recipe with you. My mother uses it to dress up a can of beans. Better make extra!

Baked Beans

1 can baked beans
3 tablespoons brown sugar
onion, finely chopped
sweet pickles, finely chopped
3 tablespoons syrup

Mix all ingredients together. Don't forget this is the South so we all cook according to our individual tastes. Mother really likes onions so she adds a little more than I do. Suit your own taste. Sweet pickles around here are homemade but you can buy them already chopped and in a jar at the supermarket. The syrup is just basic pancake syrup. Nothing fancy.

Place in a rectangle pyrex dish (or something similar) and bake at 350 degrees for one hour.

Serve.

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.