Crunchy Nut Cookies

This is another one of grandma's recipes. She has a number of cookies with weird fruits, Jell-O products and the like that I have never tried before, but this one I knew would be great--though I'd never had these cookies growing up because like all kids I hated nuts in my food! I grew up, however, started eating vegetables, and thought I could handle a cookie with a crunch. I could almost smell grandma's kitchen when I made these the other night.

1 c. sugar

1 c. brown sugar

1/2 c. Crisco shortening or softened butter (1 stick)

2 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

3 c. sifted flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1 c. chopped nuts

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a mixer combine sugars and shortening or butter. Mix thoroughly before adding beaten eggs and vanilla.

Sift flour with soda and salt and then pour into mixer at slow speed--I think the trick with these cookies like others is not to over beat the batter while adding flour; you want the batter light and fluffy but thoroughly combined.

Fold in chopped nuts--I used a combination of almonds, cashews and walnuts, but you can use whatever nuts you'd like. I can only imagine pecans, peanuts or pistachios would be great as well.

Roll dough into balls about walnut size and dip top half in sugar before placing on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until light golden brown.

Crepe a la ghetto

Some people might be offended by the term 'ghetto' but I think that is ludicrous. After all, I live in the ghetto and I'm not offended. Instead I'm honored. Only in the ghetto do you have the opportunity to find a perfectly intact crepe maker for $4 and just enough in savings to buy it. You gather a number of your other jobless friends, combine resources and are able to eat in class a meal that comes all the way across yonder from France. Bon a petit.

Come to find out, crepes are from France and blintzes are from the Mediterranean. Both are either folded or rolled. I still don't know what I've made, but it all turned out great. Two nights in a row and then a dessert.

I guess your only problem now is to find a crepe maker for yourself. Or you can come to my house at $3.50 a head.

The basic crepe:

1 c. flour
pinch salt
1 1/4 c. milk
2 eggs, beaten
2 Tbsp canola oil

Slowly whisk milk with flour and salt, then add eggs and oil. Pour mixture into a pie plate or similar and heat skillet or crepe maker; dip. My machine has a light on it that times it perfectly--only takes about 20 seconds for each side.


Once the crepes are made you have your choice of fillings for them. When I worked at farmers' market several years ago, there was a crepe booth that loved trading my tortilla chips for a daily lunch crepe, savory. They folded the crepes with some sort of lunch meat, spinach, tomato, mushroom, cheese, and avocado, or basically whatever they had fresh. I did the same, sauteed the mushrooms first and added a tangy white wine sauce to float over it.


Wine sauce:
1 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp flour
1 c. milk
1/4 c. white wine
salt/pepper/favorite spice

Heat butter and flour over low heat until melted. Slowly whisk in milk then wine and spices. Simmer until thickened.

For DESSERT!!!

Add a little cinnamon or nutmeg to the crepe batter and fill crepes with chopped strawberry, banana, walnuts or pecans, and marscarpone cheese. I didn't have marscarpone so I 'ghetto'-rigged it by mixing some sugar in a container of sour cream and drizzling over the filling. Put in buttered casserole dish (like you would enchiladas) and sprinkle with sugar. Bake at 350 degrees for about 8 minutes. Remove, let cool slightly, and top with Nutella and Cool Whip. That's how I did it at least, and I didn't hear any complaints.

Fricken Chickassee

There's something about this meal that's both all-American and foreign-tasting. Kind of like the Beef Stroganoff I know we all had at least two nights a week as kids, I think it's one we Americans stole from the Axis powers and pretended like it was our own sometime in the early fifties. Chicken Fricassee was one of my family's counterfeited staples, and it is the only one of the two I still enjoy eating. Even though CF's made with cheap, bone-in chicken, there's something about eating those slimy, spiral egg noodles of Beef Stroganoff that make me think even I'm not poverty-stricken enough to eat that kind of cafeteria food.

5-6 boned but skinless chicken thighs (a leg would do)
2 bunches asparagus
8-10 red potatoes (quarter the larger ones)
1/2 c. flour (plus more to dip the chicken)
1/2 c. oil
4 c. chicken broth
dill
paprika
black pepper

Fill a large bowl or dish with flour, paprika, and black pepper. Then, turn stove to near high heat on a large and heavy stock pot with a little oil in the bottom. Dip both sides of thighs in flour and put in pot to brown thigh for about 1 minute each. Set aside. (I was drinking too much to remember to take a picture here for ya, but I'll get one next time)

With all of the thighs browned and set aside, pour together slowly the oil, flour, and chicken broth into the large and heated stock (My mom uses this jar technique to make to keep the gravy from lumping, but I just beat the whisk to death). Put fresh or dried dill then meat then potatoes into gravy, spooning the gravy over each before putting the lid back on to cook at medium heat for about 40 minutes or more. When the potatoes are almost done, throw in the asparagus, spoon gravy over them, and cook for another 5-7 minutes. Serve with dinner rolls.

This Is It!!!

This WAS it, but it's gone now. Chocolate pie is another recipe from grandma's cookbook. In it she was always so nice to credit the chef from which she got the recipe, and sometimes had a helpful parenthetical, too. "This is it!!!" is written below the title of Chocolate Pie on page 47, just underneath her recipe for "fresh fruit cheese pie"--Mmmmm, weird. I haven't tried her Coke salad recipe either. The chocolate pie, however, is truly it. One of a kind.

1 pie crust
1-1/2 c. sugar
3 eggs yolks
4 Tbsp. dry cocoa
3 Tbsp. butter
4 Tbsp. flour
2 c. milk
1-1/2 tsp. vanilla

Meringue:
3 egg whites
6 Tbsp. sugar
1/8 tsp. cream of tartar


Bake a single pie crust in a pie plate according to directions on box. This pie, however, is also great in one of those store-bought graham cracker crusts, which doesn't need to be cooked.

Mix sugar, cocoa, flour, yolks (put whites in fridge until using them for meringue), milk, and butter in top of double boiler turned to medium heat--if you don't have a double boiler just cook in thick saucepan at med-low heat. Cook until thick, stirring constantly. Pour custard into pie crust and let cool.


Beat egg whites with mixer on med-high speed, slowly adding in sugar, then cream of tartar. Beat until whites are stiff and peak (a few minutes at least). Spoon or spatula meringue over pie and bake at 350 degrees until the peaks begin to brown. Cool pie again and serve or refrigerate. This is it!

Carne Guisada

A Texas tail-gating favorite, here it comes!

2 lbs. chuck roast, cubed, or beef stew meat
1 onion, chopped
2 Poblano peppers, sliced
3 cloves garlic
1/2 c. flour
1 can diced tomatoes
1-2 c. beef broth
1 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. chili powder
1/2 tsp. coriander



Brown meat in heavy stock pot until almost all liquid has boiled out--about 20 minutes. Add onions, garlic, and peppers and cook until softened. Stir in flour until evenly coated and quickly add can tomatoes, broth, and seasonings. Should be kind of soupy. Turn heat to low and simmer for another half hour or as long as you can wait so meat will be tender. Serve with flour tortillas.

Pecan Pie

This recipe is coming at you a little late since I made it last Thanksgiving during our usual feast-for-the-misplaced-youths-of-Los Angeles annual potluck. While it may not seem too difficult--and it's not made with pure cane sugar--it should be noted that "the family" complained bitterly when my grandmother switched from Karo to generic-brand corn syrup. You might wanna cough up the extra 49 cents.

1 pie crust, unbaked**
3 eggs
1 c. Karo (dark or white)
1 c. sugar
1 dash salt
1 tsp. vanilla
1 c. pecans (whole or halves)

Beat eggs slightly before mixing with other ingredients. Bake at 325 degrees for about an hour or until filling begins to brown. Cool and serve. Grrreat with vanilla ice cream.

**If you can't find or are to cheap to buy a box of Pillsbury pie crusts from the refrigerated section, follow the following recipe, which makes about three crusts:

3 c. flour
1 c. butter or shortening (Crisco)
1 tsp. salt
Enough ice-cold water to make a stiff dough

Sift salt with flour and put into mixing bowl. Cut shortening into flour and mix until chunks are about the size of a bean. Add a little water at a time, and use as little as possible. Refrigerate before roll out if possible.

Salsa Not Seltzer

My long days working the assembly line at the salsa factory have paid off, and I'm now able to bring to you the tools needed to make your very own! We made mild, habanero, roasted garlic, and a mango/peach/pineapple salsa that's great with fish all based off the following ingredients:

1/2 onion, cubed
2 cloves garlic (roasted or raw)**
1 hand full cilantro, rinsed
1/2 to whole jalapeno, de-seeded
1 TB. lime juice
1 Tsp. vinegar
1 can Rotel diced tomatoes and green chilies
1 can diced tomatoes
salt/pepper to taste

Pile in blender and pulse motor so as not to puree. Best when refrigerated for a few hours. Keeps for about three weeks.

**If you've got the time and inclination to make a tray of roasted garlic, your tongue and your heart will be happy. Here's how to do it:

Preheat oven to 400. Peel garlic if needed. Mix whole garlic cloves with a little bit of oil, salt, black pepper, oregano and slide onto cookie sheet. Roast until garlic starts to brown but not all the way, maybe twenty minutes.