Recipe #18 Leenie's Refrigerator Rolls

I keep reading this as Lennie's, often people misspell Lenny's name. I am trying to decide whether or not to add some herbs to the dough, just because they don't suggest it doesn't mean. I shouldn't try it right? Or should I just stick to basic rolls 101? This is an undated newspaper clipping, doesn't look too old or used for that matter.

LEENIE'S REFRIGERATOR ROLLS
Makes about 2 1/2 dozen rolls, each about 82 calories with fat calories 37 percent of the total. (before more butter !)
Mixing time: 10 minutes, rising time: 8 hours in refrigerator, shaping time: 5 minutes, baking time: 10 to 12 minutes.

1 stick butter or margarine
3 cups all purpose flour, dipped, leveled
1/4 cup sugar
1 pkg. active dry yeast
1 tsp. salt
1 egg, well beaten
1 cup cold tap water

Melt butter in small saucepan over low heat. While butter melts, stir flour with sugar, yeast and salt in mixing bowl. Combine egg with water, off heat stir into pan with melted butter, then cool or heat to lukewarm. With large spoon, stir lukewarm liquids into dry ingredients until blended. Turn into 2 quart covered container and refrigerate overnight or up to 1 week.

Shape all or any of the dough as suggested below (there is no "below" too much typing), then cover with damp towel and let rise in warm place about 1 hour or until doubled in bulk.

FREEZING: shape in any of suggested ways, freeze in greased pan tightly covered with foil. Thaw at room temperature, let rise in warm place until doubled, then bake.

Bake in 400-degree oven 10 to 12 minutes.

Recipe #17 Pasta Florentine

Why this recipe? Because I had tomato sauce and ricotta on hand and wanted something that I could fix ahead of time or tomorrow's dinner.

Pasta Florentine makes 4 to 6 servings
Judy Lee, Norfolk undated

1/2 lb. ground beef
1 onion, chopped
1 (15 oz) jar spaghetti sauce
6 oz. pasta (ziti, twists, etc.) , cooked and drained
1 (10 oz.) pkg. frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained
1 (12 oz.) container cottage cheese
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/2 to 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Sauté meat with onion until tender, drain well. Combine meat, spaghetti sauce and pasta. In another bowl combine spinach, cottage cheese and Parmesan cheese and egg,blend well. In bottom of 11 by 7 inch baking dish place half the pasta, cover with layer of spinach mixture, top with rest of pasta sprinkle on mozzarella.
Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Recipe #16 Sugar Cookies

These cookies are from a page out of a book. Don't know what book. You will see a reference to "spry pan-coat", don't know what that was, pre-Pam? There is a recipe for it on page 13. The cookies are okay, but they cry out for ice cream, or the mango sorbet I have in the freezer. This is why I don't make sweets the pounds just fall like dominos!

Sugar Cookies

1/2 cup Spry
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. grated lemon rind.
1/2 tsp.nutmeg
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 tbls. Milk
2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda

Combine spry, salt, lemon rind, and nutmeg, and blend. Add sugar gradually and cream well. Add beaten eggs and milk and mixwell. Sift flour with baking powder and soda. Add to creamed mixture and blend well. Drop from teaspoon onto greased with spry pan-coat. Or press through a pastry bag (or cookie press). Let stand for a few minutes then flatten cookies by stamping with a glass covered with a damp cloth. Sprinkle with sugar. Bake 375 for 8 to 12 minutes. (took mine 12 min.) makes 3 1/2 dozen.

Crab Imperial

Take 1 bottle of Laguna Chardonnay because you have it and this month's Food & Wine magazine has a wine dinner hosted by Gina Gallo that paired this wine with her crab imperial. Follow the recipe the best you can, but make substitutions because it is pouring down rain and I am not going out for milk. Start with making a bechamel sauce that used the saved milk of oysters instead of cow's milk. Make Hollandaise sauce and fold into the bechamel. Fold in crab along with diced roasted yellow peppers. The freezer has all sorts of contributions. Pray that the lightening doesn't knock the power out and broil the crab until browned. The wine is a perfect match. Julia was watching over the meal, I think I used a pound of butter in tonight's dinner.

Pickled Chicken?

Maybe it's the name. It's probably the same as Chicken Adobo if I looked. I might make this one, but tweak it a bit based on the recipe for Vinegar Braised Chicken in the Food and Wine April 2012.

Recipe # 15 Chocolate Chip Bars

I chose this recipe because I wanted to take something over to our new neighbors that moved into the Cooper's house. What I know so far is they have twins and the husband just left on the Enterprise for a 6 month cruise. The wife's name is Bree. Has a desperate housewife moved in? I am anxious to talk to her to find out what she knows about the crewman that fell over board shortly after they were underway! She didn't answer the door when I knocked so I ended up leaving them in the door with a note with our phone number. I hope she's opened the door and found them by now. Today, I will try to get over there and introduce myself in person. I also sent the rest of the bars to Lenny's work. He said they scarfed them down in a hurry:)

CHOCOLATE CHIP BARS

1/3 cup shortening
1/3 cup butter or margarine, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups Gold Medal flour
1/2 tsp. soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup chopped nuts
1 pkg. (6 oz.) semi-sweet chocolate pieces

Heat the oven to 375* Mix shortening, butter, sugars, egg and vanilla thoroughly. Stir in remaining ingredients. Spreading ungreased pan, 13x9x2 inches. Bake 20 to 25 minutes. Cool, cut into bars, about 3x1 inch. Makes 32. (I used a pizza cutter)

I lined my pan with Reynolds Wraps new parchment/foil and should have taken pictures. I also had taken this foil to NYC and used it for THE Cat In the Hat - Hat cake. If i had posted the pictures and sent the blog to Reynolds Wrap, who knows maybe I could have become the next hot blog chef. Oh well....

Recipe # 14 Bean Salad

I was looking for a recipe to use some of my green beans that I had frozen from the garden. I used both green and yellow and skipped the kidney beans. I started with them frozen thinking the hot dressing would cook them just enough to keep them crisp but cooked. That didn't work. I drained the beans and steamed them for 6 minutes and put them back in the dressing. That resulted in the dressing being too watery so I added vinegar and oil. Still too watery. Drained it all off and added 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard thinned with oil. Now it is tasting right. I should have steamed the beans first and patted dry and then added the dressing and waited the recommended 24 hours before serving. Or have used canned.

The following delicious Bean Salad, made 24 hours before you intend to use it, will go well with either of these main dishes. (no clues as to what the main dishes were something baked at 350 for 40 minutes.)

2-3 cup salad oil (Mom had slashed thru the dash changing it to 2/3)
1/2 cup vinegar (I used white vinegar because that's what I had, bet it should have been cider)
3/4 cup sugar
Salt (no amt. specified)
1 can green beans drained
1 can yellow beans drained
1 can red kidney beans drained
1 small onion, sliced
Celery and green pepper chopped. (no amt. specified)

Dad had pencilled in additions = 1 TBS MUSTARD SEED & 1 TSP CELERY SEED.

Cook the mixed salad oil, vinegar, salt and sugar together until the sugar is completely dissolved. Pour over drained beans, onion, celery and green pepper. Allow to stand in refrigerator for 24 hours before using.

Recipe #13 Miss Davenport's Easy Real French Bread

Soup and Salad for dinner and I wanted fresh bread. I tried to go to Artisan bread store on Washington St. but they were closed. I could have had Lenny go to Harris Teeter while the soup was cooking, but I was thinking. I have time. I thought I remembered that this was a quick yeast bread to make. Well it's not and we'll find out in 40 minutes if adding extra yeast and skipping the 2nd rise was critical to the taste.

I also don't know who Miss Davenport is. I always that she was a neighbor, but when I pulled mom's recipe out instead of using mine, her recipe is one that was printed in a magazine.

Miss Davenport's Easy Real French Bread

1 pkg quick acting yeast
2 cups lukewarm water
4 cups sifted flour
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons salt

Dissolve yeast in one cup of lukewarm water. While yeast softens sift flour, sugar, and salt together in a large bowl, then stir in the dissolved yeast. Add just enough of the second cup of water to hold dough together. Mix until you have a soft, rather sticky dough. Cover with a clean cloth and let rise until double in size. This takes 2-4 hours depends upon warmth of kitchen.

When dough is high and spongy, punch it down with your fist and give it a good sound beating with your hand. Divide the dough into 2 parts and place each in a greased 6 inch round baking dish (glass casserole is perfect.) cover again with cloth and let rise until it reaches top of the baking dish. Preheat oven to 400, brush the top of the bread with melted butter (gives lovely flavor to the crust) and bake 1 hour.

Mom's notes dated 6/98. Used 3 smaller casserole dishes, cooked for 45 minutes. Yummy good crunchy crust. (couple shakes garlic powder with parsley)

Recipe #12 Pork Chops Leroy

I have typed this twice and somehow deleted it every time. So here's the short version.

Sauté 3 tbl. Diced onion in 2 tbl. Butter. Remove. Brown 6 lean pork chops. Add garlic powder, salt, pepper, paprika 1 can of mushroom soup, 1 can of water (chicken stock). Cook on low 1 1/2 hours and serve on rigatoni or egg noodles. Serves 3.

Recipe # 11 Honey-Mustard Chicken

Dad liked it is the good news, Lenny and I thought it was too sweet and too dilly.

1/3 cup Dijon mustard
1/3 cup honey
2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill or 1 tablespoon dried dill
1 teaspoon freshly grated orange peel (used lemon zest)Or orange marmalade
2 1/2 lb. chicken quartered

Make honey-mustard sauce
Preheat oven to 400
Line a baking sheet with foil. Place chicken skin side down, brush sauce on chicken. Turn the chicken over and work sauce under the skin and then on top of the skin.
Bake until juices run clear, abo it 30 minutes according to the recipe. Mom wrote in 30-40. I used bone-in breasts and one of them was huge and still partially frozen and took another good 20 minutes at 350.
Served with fresh asparagus and boiled potatoes. The potatoes were yummy.

It is 8:45 pm and I really should make Martha Boones chocolate cookies but guess I will wait until tomorrow. I was hoping to find more meat recipes to try before moving into deserts and the ultimate test, the candy recipes!

Filling the Void

I was doing so well with the recipes. Now I am way behind and will need to do several over the next couple of weekends. we have new neighbors in the Coopers house. I was thinking cookies but forgot to buy brown sugar and the flour is getting low too. I need help picking a next recipe.