Potato Casserole (Gray Box Recipe)

For tonight's Sunday dinner, I felt like I needed a potato of some sort. My first thought was to make potato salad, but there's a BIG difference in how I make it (sweet pickles) and how the crazy people in my family like it (dill pickles) and I wasn't going to cave. 

So I found this recipe in Mom's Gray box of recipes. It sounded perfect. And I hadn't made a gray box recipe for a while. 

The card seems well used. As in there are dribbles all over it. It also has 5 black stars at the top. Those combined tells me it's gonna be good. 

These are basically fully loaded hashbrowns. I did not boil potatoes and grate them. I cheated and bought frozen hashbrowns and let them thaw. I just knew I wasn't going to have enough time, so I took a short cut. I guarantee you if frozen hashbrowns had been around when this recipe first came to life, they would have done that short cut as well.

I'm typing this in AS it shows on the card. As I type this out I am now wondering if I did it wrong. It sounds like you're supposed to melt the cheese and the butter together. I did not do that. I melted the butter, grated the cheese and had a pint of sour cream. I added all those to the potatoes separately, not combined. So we'll see how this goes.

Potato Casserole

Recipe from Pat Terry (from Mom's Gray Box)

Serves 7-9

6 large potatoes; boiled in skins - cool for 30 minutes. 

Grate with the peelings.

Chop 3 or 4 green onions.

Sprinkle over potatoes and mix well with salt and pepper.

Melt 1-2 sticks of butter with 8 oz cheddar cheese grated. Add 1 pt sour cream and mix.

Stir into potatoes.

Bake 350 for 45 minutes.

DON'T OVER COOK.

**Mom's added note "add bacon bits if desired".

Pinquito Beans

In California in the mid 80s my dad discovered Tritip. I don't really know how he discovered it, but it
was an inexpensive hunk of meat that he got really adept at grilling. As Mom and Dad did, they invited a gaggle of friends to dinner one Friday night and a family friend, John Ortiz brough Pinquito beans. 

The story, as I remember it, was they are special beans only found in Santa Maria California. They're small pink beans (thus pinquito). The recipe was one John had found in a newspaper. 

Mom was hooked. We had pinquito beans several times a year when we'd have tritip. So the two became a couple to me. If you have tritip you have pinquito.

When we moved to Washington a sadness fell across the Wraspir house, you couldn't get pinquito beans in Washington state. Mom, ever resourceful though, had a friend in Lancaster send pounds of these beans to us. In one of the bags, Mom was gifted this recipe!

You can tell it was well used. I love finding these type of recipes in the Gray box. It shows it was one of their favorites AND that mom was a messy cook like me. Or, more likely, Dad did the cooking cuz he WAS a messy cook. 

I made these for Sherrie's birthday meal. She requested ribs. I wanted to make some baked beans, but she doesn't like them, so I opted for pinquito. You still can't find them in Wa state, but thank god for Amazon. 

I didn't soak the beans, I boiled them for 2 hours and then followed the rest of the recipe. I did not include MSG. I am not a fan so thought I could easily keep it out. 

Pinquito Beans

Recipe from ?? It was in Mom's Gray Recipe Box

Serves 10 easily

• 2 lbs Pinquito beans
• 1 envelope chili mix
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 lb bacon diced
• 1/2 lb ground beef
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 4 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp oregano
• 1/2 tsp MSG
• 1 1/2 c tomato juice

Cover beans with water, bring to a boil and add salt and pepper. Turn heat to simmer and cook two hours or until tender. 

Sauté bacon, onion, garlic, seasonings, chili mix, tomato juice and ground beef.  Add mixture to beans and simmer one hour and serve. 

Chinese Hamburger

Tonight I'm trying a recipe from Mom's Gray Recipe box. This one I was amused at just based on the spelling of "soup" as "soap". The back of the card Barb White. I have no idea who that is or how long this recipe was in Mom's recipe file. 

The recipe doesn't say what temperature to cook it so I guessed 350F. That turned out ok. It was very done and the rice was cooked through. 

I also realized as I was eating it and looking at the recipe that I completely forgot to put the celery in. I cut it and everything. Sheesh. It would have been way better with celery. 

Chinese Hamburger

Recipe from Mom's Gray Recipe box

Serves - I have no idea

• 1 1/2 lbs hamburger
• 2 onions, diced
• 2 c celery, diced
• 1/2 c uncooked rice
• 1 can Cream of Mushroom soup
• 1 can Cream of Chicken soup
• 1 1/2 soup can water
• 1/4 c soy sauce
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 8 oz Chinese Fried Noodles

Fry burger and onions. Sauté in the celery and cook it slightly. 

Drain off any fat/liquid. Mix in the cans of soup, rice, soy sauce, and water. 

Put in a baking dish and bake at 350F for 1 hour covered.

Uncover it, cover with Chinese fried noodles and bake for another 15 minutes. 

Dad's Spanish Rice (160 of 150)

One of the first meals I remember helping dad make was his Spanish Rice. My young 12 year old self knew nothing about cooking and this was my first lesson (that I remember anyhow). 

I distinctly remember dad having me chop the jalapeno and onion. He showed me how to bend my fingers when holding the lines of jalapeno and how to rock the knife. I sucked at it and the jalapeno bits were all over the place. A lot has changed since then. I can chop like a master. 

Since the first Spanish rice lesson, I've had a LOT of Spanish rice. And I can tell you I've NEVER had it like this. Never had burger in my Spanish rice, and never had bacon or mushrooms in it either. No matter, this is the best Spanish Rice. 

I don't remember Dad using Minute Rice, but I used it tonight because I had it and I was trying hard to follow the recipe. 

Dad's Spanish Rice

Recipe from Dad

Serves 4

• 2 c minute rice
• 1 clove garlic, minced (Right...one clove. Try 3)
• 1/3 c bacon drippings
• 4 slices bacon, chopped
• 2 cans tomato sauce (8 oz each)
• 1 8oz can mushrooms, drained (I used fresh mushrooms)
• 1 small jalapeno, chopped fine
• 1/2 c onion, chopped
• 1 lb ground beef
• Pork Chops

Salt and pepper

Brown pork chops and set aside. 

Brown bacon until crisp. Remove from pan and set aside.  

Brown ground beef, onions, jalapeno, mushrooms and garlic in bacon drippings.

 Add minute rice and cook until absorbed, add tomato sauce. 

Add remaining ingredients, including bacon. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to simmer uncovered for 15 minutes. 

Nestle in pork chops, cover and bake for 1 hour at 350F or until rice is tender. 

Thanksgiving menu

 Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. It is full of traditions to me and I really like the slowing down and taking a moment to think about what I'm grateful for.  I think I'm most grateful for the Parental Units teaching me to cook. If they hadn't then Thanksgiving would just be another day. 

As I sit here this morning making my list for Thanksgiving tomorrow I started thinking about the food I'll prepare. Ok, let's get serious. First, I am not "making a list". The "list" is already done and on a template that I print out and use every year. I mean...

So what was really happening is I was looking over the menu and thinking about how none of my Thanksgiving foods have a real recipe to them. I've made this meal so many times over the year, with Mom and later without her, that I could probably make it in my sleep. 

That thought led me to my legacy. I am not going to say that the Thanksgiving meal is what people will remember most about me, but the recipes are important. I have history with these recipes. And I suddenly feel like documenting them is important. 

Let's start with the appetizer. Clam Dip. This has been the appetizer for every Turkey day I can remember. Mom and I made two of them. One for her and I to much on while making dinner. And a second to share with the guest. We'd never make them together, but two separate ones. And almost always they tasted different. We used to laugh at how making two in a row would taste so different and yet the same. Mom used to say it never turned out right if you doubled the recipe, so we made them separately.

Clam Dip (Recipe to make one)

• 1 pack cream cheese, room temperature. (DO NOT use the whipped cream cheese. We made that mistake once).
• 1 can minced clams in juice
• 1-2 tsp garlic salt
• 1-2 tsp garlic powder
• 2-3 tsp Worcestershire sauce

Open the clams and drain the juice into a cup to keep for later. I tend to not drain them completely. You want a little of the juice in the first mix. 

Add in a bowl, the cream cheese, clams, garlic powder and Worcestershire sauce. Mix to combine. If you use a hand mixer don't over mix. It'll make the dip elastic-y. Add clam juice a little at a time until the consistency is like a thick stew. 

Now here's the important part. You must have Ruffles to use as the chip. Taste the dip. Usually we determine it needs more garlic powder. Add a dash or so. Taste it again. Keep tasting it until it's what you like. This usually meant at least three tastes for mom and I each. 

Next on the list is the actual meal. It ALWAYS consists of Turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, broccoli casserole and stuffing. Mom would make yams, but I hate them so I never make them. Funny tradition is every year dad would tell me to put some on my plate and just "taste" them. And every year I would not. Blech. 

Let's start with the bird. 

We used to get up at the butt crack of dawn and prepare the bird for the oven. Then spend HOURS basting and watching the bird. Then enter turkey bags. 

These little gems cut cooking time in half and always ends up with a juicy turkey. 

It starts with preparing the bag. You put a couple of tablespoons of flour, salt and pepper in the bag. Close it up and shake it to distribute the flour. This part actually makes zero sense to me. The flour always ends up as a clump at the bottom of the bag. 

Once you've done that, the the pair of you try to wrestle this 22lb bird into the bag. Laughter ensues. Giggling next. And before you know it you're on the floor laughing your ass off and the bird is not in the bag. The Niece, who used to help me, can attest to this particular part of the event. Along with tearing the bag and then having to double bag it. 

I don't stuff the cavity of the bird with anything. I usually just salt and pepper the heck out of the bird and call it good. 

I should mention too that you need to get your bird out early to come to room temperature. It's important that you don't put a cold bird in the oven. Like any meat, room temp is what you want. 

Once you get the bird in the bag, put that baby in the oven. The box the bag came in will tell you how long to cook the bird for the size of the bird. 

Next up is preparing the stuffing and the broccoli casserole. Both require sautéed onions and celery so I was usually on the chopping of all these things. We would cook them together and then split them in half. It's just easier. 

JoEllen's Dressing
Serves a small army

2 boxes boxed stuffing

1 quart (or more) chicken or turkey stock

1 can sliced water chestnuts, drained and rough chopped

Sautéed onions and celery (it's a whole onion and about 4 stalks of celery)

Poultry seasoning to taste

Salt and Pepper

I think mom used to put in one egg too. I don't and I can't say I miss it. 

Right, so you saute the onions and celery in butter until they are just soft. 

In a bowl you dump everything in. Start adding turkey stock a cup or so at a time. Stir. Add more. Stir. Taste. Add salt. Taste. Add stock. Taste. Add poultry season. Taste. 

Eventually you get a wet-ish stuffing. Some people like the dressing dry, I like mine kinda wet. 

Pop that bad boy in a 9X13 pan sprayed with Pam and bake for 30 minutes or so. 

(Pro tip: When you take your bird out, put your casseroles in. They will cook in the time the bird is resting).

The Broccoli Casserole side dish morphed through the years. The way I make it today is how I learned to make it. But when mom passed I found the Broccoli Casserole recipe in her Gray Box. That recipe does not have sausage in it, nor does it have cream of mushroom soup. I suspect Dad added the sausage and Mom probably thought cream of mushroom would go well with it. And it does. 

Broccoli Casserole

9X13 pan

1 lb sausage (I use Jimmy Deans regular)

1 cup Minute Rice

1 can Cream of Mushroom soup

1 small jar CheezWhiz

2 bags frozen broccoli pieces

Sauted onions and celery (same amount as the dressing above)

Get yourself a BIG bowl. 

Cook the sausage and then drain. While the sausage is cooking, cook the minute rice in the microwave. Dump that in a big bowl. 

Cook the broccoli in the microwave. Dump it in the bowl. 

When the sausage is done, dump it in the bowl. Dump the onions and celery into a bowl. 

Add the CheezWhiz and cream of mushroom soup. 

Stir it all together. Add pepper. You most likely don't need to add salt. The Cheeze Whiz and sausage usually have plenty. 

The last side dish is mashed potatoes and gravy. I won't go into how to make those cuz I think everyone knows how to do that side dish. Be sure to use your turkey drippings in your gravy though. It makes a world of difference. Mom used to boil up the neck, and innards that come with the turkey. She'd strip the next of it's meat, chop up the innards, add a chopped hard boiled egg and voila, her turkey gravy. Me? I don't want any of that in my gravy. Blech. 

So as you set your table, open the wine, and perhaps cook your Thanksgiving meal, take a moment to think about the recipes you're making. Where did they come from? Have they changed over the years? And most of all, be thankful for the loved ones you have around you. 

John's BBQ Chicken (Recipe 80 of 125)

Welcome to another edition of Recipes from Mom's Gray Tin Box. Today's recipe is from someone...no idea who "John" is. I have a feeling it's John Ortiz who was a good friend when we lived in Lancaster. He frequented our house on Friday nights for dinner. Anyhow, I suspect this might be from him. 

This recipe uses reconstituted lemon juice - which I read as frozen lemonade. I couldn't find anything else that said "reconstituted lemon juice". The frozen lemonade added not only a tart flavor, but a hint of sugar too. It was a nice touch. I took the frozen lemonade out the night before so it would be all liquified by marinade time. 

VERY easy recipe and really good. 

What would I do different: 

1. I wouldn't add 1/2 c vegetable oil. I'd add just 1/4 c instead. The marinade was too greasy. 
2. I took about 1/4 c out and set it aside for the basting. I'm not a fan of basting with marinade that raw chicken was sitting in. 
3. I'd add salt. The recipe calls for garlic salt, but it wasn't salty enough. 

Overall, great recipe. I grilled it - shocking I know. It'd be a good recipe to make and have chicken for salads all week. 

John's BBQ Chicken 
Recipe from Mom's Gray Tin Box

Serves 4

• 1 Fryer chickn (3.5 lbs), cut up
• 1/2 c reconstituted lemon juice
• 1/2 c vegetable oil
• 1 tsp garlic salt
• 1 tsp oregano leaves
• 1/4 tsp pepper

Mix all the ingredients together (except chicken) in a mason jar and shake to combine. 

Put chicken in shallow dish. Pour marinade over it. 

Marinade for 6 hours or overnight. Grill or broil. Turn the chicken and baste with remaining marinade.