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".

Mom's BBQ Sauce

Mom's BBQ Sauce is legendary in my childhood. It was what I asked for for my birthday dinners. Grilled drumsticks and Mom's BBQ sauce. She'd used to joke that it was a secret family recipe and I'd only get it on my wedding day. Like a dowry. 

Fast forward to me being an adult. Mom gave me the recipe and told me to not share it with anyone...ever. There was always a "secret" ingredient she'd never tell me about so if I did tell someone it wouldn't be the full recipe. I have no idea where she actually got this recipe or if she just made it up. We'll never know.

So here I am putting it on the blog WITH the secret ingredient. 

Mom's BBQ Sauce

Recipe from Jo (Mom) Wraspir

Makes about a cup of sauce

1 cup ketchup

1 tablespoon vinegar (I ended up using about 1/4 c vinegar. It was too sweet for me).

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

1 tablespoon teriyaki sauce (the secret ingredient)

1 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

1 tsp celery seed

1/4 tsp garlic salt (I ended up using a full tsp)

1/4 c brown sugar

Combine all the ingredients. Microwave for 1 minute or cook it on the stove until it warms. Brush over meat. 

Not too surprisingly I did not cook it in the microwave or the stove. I just brushed the meat with it. 

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. 

Beef Ragout (Recipe 105 of 150)

Every now and then I draw a recipe from Mom's Gray Recipe Box. It's full of recipes from Grandma Spaid, Aunt's on the Spaid side, Mom, Dad, etc. Some of the recipes are, well, interesting. Many have ingredients I don't even know. 

Like this recipe, Beef Ragout. It calls for Oxtail soup mix. What the what? I had to Google it and then I couldn't find it in the store so I had to order it on the All Mighty Amazon. Now I have 3 packets of it. Well, 2 since I used one tonight. 

I expected this "soup" to be soupy, but what happened when I put in the soup mix is it became very gravy esk. More like stew consistency. Which threw me since it would be simmering for an hour and a half. 

Bottom line, this was an ok meal. I am sure it was designed to be an inexpensive meal to feed a ton of kids, with leftovers. It's one of the few that doesn't have a date on it. I'm guessing it's from the 70's. 

Beef Ragout 

Recipe from Mom's Gray Recipe Box

Serves 6

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. 

Mom's Stir Fry

This is by no means a new recipe. This is Mom's Stir Fry recipe that she made at least once a month while I was growing up. It changed over the years as Mom found other things to add to it. But by and large this is what I make now. I haven't made it for over a year. And now as I make it, I think of Mom and this dish feels like a hug from her. 

Mom's Stir Fry
Recipe from Mom

Serves 4

Light oil (not olive oil)

1 round steak or chicken breast, sliced thin

1 c celery, diagonally sliced

1 c carrots, diagonally sliced

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1 can water (I use the soup can)

1 can water chestnuts, sliced, drained, and rough chop

1 can Chinese vegetables, drained (or just bean sprouts)

1 can bamboo shoots, sliced, drained

1 T cornstarch

1 T brown sugar

3 T soy sauce

1 tsp ginger

Slice meat into slim strips and cook. Remove from skillet. 

Stir fry carrots and celery for 3 minutes until tender on high heat in about 1 tsp of oil. I dust them lightly with ground ginger. No salt or pepper is needed. The soy sauce will provide enough salt. Though once you have this whole thing put together, you should taste it and adjust your seasoning accordingly.

In a bowl, mix soup, 1 can water, cornstarch, soy sauce, brown sugar, and 1 tsp ginger. Set aside. 

Add meat to vegetables, add Chinese vegetables, water chestnuts and bamboo shoots. Sauté for 2 - 3 minutes. 

Pour sauce over mixture. Cook for 10 minutes. Serve over rice. 

Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies (Recipe 16 of 125)

One of the goals inside a goal this year is cooking at least 12 recipes from The Gray Tin Box. I'm
calling it the Gray Tin Box Project... clever huh?

The "tin box" is Mom's recipe box. It's full of recipes from friends and family over the years. Some are the craziest recipes - pulled directly out of the 70's. Some recipes aren't complete and you have to kinda guess. And some are family favorites that have been made a thousand times over the years. 

This month my Aunt Imy's Chocolate chip Oatmeal Cookies was selected as the Gray Tin Box recipe.

I didn't know my Aunt Imy very well(She was the wife of one of my mom's brothers) . I was a kid and they lived in Alaska. When we did see them I have fond memories of the fun we had as a family. Watching the siblings get together and laugh and joke was one of my favorite things.

This recipe appears to make a LOT of cookies. I mean 6 cups of oats? I chose to not use shortening, but butter instead. I almost made them with shortening to be legit in following the recipe, but I was reminded how gross cookies with shortening are. How flavorless. So butter it is. 

I also misread it, or forgot, to mix the milk and the flour alternately. I added the milk after all the flour was added. It didn't really make a difference. 

And last, but not least, I forgot the vanilla. I had the bottle out. I had the lid off, and completely forgot it. Also don't think it made a huge difference. The cookies still tasted fine. 

Here's the recipe with my "misses" or my added knowledge on how to bake.

Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies
Recipe from Aunt Imy (Spaid)

• 1 1/2 c shortening (or butter), at room temperature
• 1 c brown sugar
• 1 c sugar
• 4 eggs
• 2 c + 4T flour (ahhh...didn't see the + 4 T when mixing. The dough was already pretty tacky still think the cookies were fine without the 4T)
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2/3 c milk
• 1 tsp vanilla (forgot this)
• 1 c nuts (didn't add these)
• 6 c oats
• 3 c chocolate chips

Cream together shortening (or butter), brown sugar, and sugar. 

Add, one at a time, 4 eggs. Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. Add to creamed mixture alternately with 2/3 c milk. 

Stir in vanilla.

Stir in nuts, oatmeal. Then add the chocolate chips.

Bake at 350 for X number of minutes. 

Broccoli Casserole - Twice

This is going to be the story of the two broccoli casserole recipes found in my mother's recipe box. And how the original recipe had morphed into the recipe we use today. 

This recipe is a tradition in our house for Thanksgiving. Sometimes Christmas. It all depended if Mom decided on doing a turkey or dad talked her into a standing rib roast. It always went with the turkey and never with the roast. 

It's not healthy. And screams 1970's. 

Mom's Broccoli Casserole (the recipe we use today):

• 1 stick of oleo (we use butter actually)
• 1 c celery, diced
• 1 onion, diced
• 1 c minute rice
• 1 package chopped broccoli, thawed (not cooked)
• 1/2 lb burger or sausage (we almost always used a roll of Jimmy Deans original sausage)
• 1 can Cream of Mushroom soup
• 1 jar (8oz) CheezWhiz

Melt the butter in a pan. Add the celery and onion. Cook until translucent. Add it to a big bowl for mixing later.

Cook the sausage (or beef). Drain and put in the large mixing bowl.

Cook minute rice. Add to the large mixing bowl.

Add broccoli, cream of mushroom soup and cheezwhiz to the large bowl. Mix thoroughly. Taste it for seasoning, but it's rare you need to season it because of the salt content in the cheezwhiz and sausage. 

Put into a 9X11 dish. Bake at 350F for 30 minutes or until it's bubbling.

The original recipe...

• 2 packages chopped broccoli, frozen
• 1-2 cups rice (minute rice)
• 1 can Cream of Chicken soup
• 1 small jar CheezWhiz
• 1 onion chopped

Brown onion in butter (note it's not listed in the ingredient list). Add broccoli, soup, cheezwhiz and stir until bubbling. Bake 30 minutes at 350F.

I remember VIVIDLY the year dad added the sausage. It was in the fridge and he wanted to use it up. I have no idea when the celery was added, but it's a nice add. 

Stir Fry Beef & Green Beans

When mom passed I brought home her gray box of recipes. It's full of OLD recipes that are handwritten, some typed, some clippings out of a magazine. You know how they used to store recipes.  I've got a process when it comes to selecting my recipes for the week and I realized a couple of weeks ago, these recipes weren't on the list that I choose from. So I added them. 

Then this week one of them was randomly selected. 

Now as I've read many of the recipes in this gray box I chuckle at the "assumptions" that are made. Or the list of items in the ingredients that never show up in the directions. Or the other way around. Items in the directions that aren't on the ingredients. 

This recipe I thought had an item in the directions that wasn't in the ingredient list - until I realized "red pepper" in the directions meant the red pepper flakes in the ingredients list.  

This is your standard stir-fry recipe. I didn't read the recipe thoroughly enough ahead of time and so started to cook dinner and realized I should have marinated the beef. SOOOO...I choose to not marinate the beef. I do think it would make a difference in the flavor of this dish. So allow yourself an hour to marinate. 

Stir Fry Beef & Green Beans

Recipe from Mom's Gray Box

Serves 4

2 T soy sauce (I used low sodium)

2 T dry sherry

1 clove garlic, crushed (Yah right. I used 3 cloves)

1 tsp sugar

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1/3 c corn oil, divided (I used vegetable oil)

1 lb beef, thinly sliced diagonally (round or flank steak)

1 c thinly sliced onion

1 lb green beans, diagonally sliced in 3/4" pieces

1/4 tsp red pepper flakes

1 1/2 c beef broth

2 T corn starch

In a medium bowl, stir together soy, sherry, sugar and ginger.  Add beef and marinate for 1 hour. 

In a large skillet or wok, heat 3 T of oil over medium-high heat. Add green beans, onions and stir fy for 4 minutes or until tender-crisp. Remove and set aside. 

Add remaining oil and heat over medium-high heat. Add beef and red pepper. Stir regularly for 2 minutes or until browned.  [JW note: I now see that the "red pepper" in the directions may be referring to the red pepper flakes]. 

Return beans and onion to the pan. Stir beef broth into corn starch until smooth. Add to skillet. Stir constantly, bring to a boil over medium heat. Boil for 1 minute. Serve over rice. 

Other ways to make this:

Beef & Cauliflower - Same recipe. Substitute 1 small head of cauliflower for green beans. Stir in 1 jar pimentos. 

Beef & Mushroom - Same recipe. Swap 1 lb sliced mushrooms for beans. 

Beef & Chinese Vegetables: Same Recipe. Substitute green beans with 1 c diagonally sliced celery, 1 c sliced mushrooms, 1 can (8oz) water chestnuts drained and sliced, 1 can (8oz) bamboo shoots drained.

Mom's Stuffed Cabbage Rolls

Yet another recipe from mom's gray tin box. I'd love to cook through this entire box, but it'll take some time. Maybe that could be my goal for next year.

Mom didn't make these cabbage rolls a lot. They were a family favorite, but it does take a bit of effort. I can only imagine she'd come home from work, tired, and the last thing she'd want to do is make cabbage rolls. This would have been a weekend meal for us for sure.

Only a couple of changes that my sister and I remember mom doing, that the recipe doesn't indicate. I'll put those notes below.

Stuffed Cabbage Rolls
Recipe from Mom
Serves 6-10 (It really depends on how many rolls each person eats. 6 for sure.

12 large cabbage leaves
1 1/4 lb hamburger
2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 c cooked rice
1 small onion, chopped
1 egg
1/2 tsp poultry seasoning
2 T wesson oil
2 (8oz) cans tomato sauce (Mom used tomato soup - so I did)
1 T brown sugar
1/4 c water
1 T lemon juice or vinegar

Cover cabbage leaves with boiling water and let stand for 5 minutes, or until limp; drain.

Combine next 7 ingredients (hamb through poultry seasoning). Place equal portions of meat mixture in center of each leaf. Fold sides of each leaf over meat; roll up and fasten with toothpicks or string.

Brown in hot oil in very large skillet. Pour tomato sauce over. Combine sugar, water, and lemon juice. Stir into tomato sauce. Simmer covered on hour, basting occasionally.

JW Note: Okay, I didn't fry them. Mom put them in the oven. She combined the tomato soup, sugar, water and lemon juice and poured it over the rolls in a 9x13 dish. She baked it at 350 for like 45 minutes or so.

Monterrey Chicken-Rice Bake

I pulled out another recipe from Mom's gray tin of recipes. This one sounded interesting and a bit weird all at the same time. I mean who uses cottage cheese in something like this? Gross.

I ultimately decided that I was going to follow the recipe exactly as it says to. The only thing I ultimately forgot to do was season the darn thing. Had I not forgotten that this would have been much better. As it was it was just meh.

I also didn't add the Monterrey grated cheese. I already had some shredded cheese in my drawer and just chose to use it instead. I really think Monterrey shredded cheese would have made this more creamy.

Monterrey Chicken-Rice Bake
Recipe from Mom or Grandma

1/2 c cottage cheese
1/2 c sour cream
3 oz cream cheese
1 can cream of chicken soup (10 3/4 oz)
1 can (4oz) diced green chiles
1 tsp salt
1/8tsp garlic powder
3 c cooked chicken - chopped
3 c cooked rice (cooked in chicken broth)
1 c grated Monterrey Jack cheese
2 tomatoes coarsely chopped
3/4 c coarsely crushed corn chips

Blend cottage cheese, cream cheese and sour cream until smooth. Add mix to remaining ingredients except corn chips. Pour into a shallow 2 qt baking dish. Sprinkle with corn chips.
Bake at 350 for 25-30 Minutes.

Pumpkin Cookies

Sunday dinner is tomorrow night. I've decided to make Mom's Stuffed Cabbage Rolls. More on that later. As I was going through Mom's little, gray, metal box of recipes, I found this gem.

I love pumpkin cookies. Unfortunately, most recipes have them pretty sweet and I like my cookies to not be so sweet.

So, feeling, nostalgic, I decided to make them. I have no idea who's recipe this is. I don't recognize the handwriting. It's so weathered, and used, that you can barely make out the instructions on the right hand side.  I love these types of recipes. The ones that appear to be so loved, and so used. You don't see this much anymore thanks to the Internet.

I forgot the vanilla in this recipe and am wondering if that's why it's not as sweet. These are delicious. I used shortening too. Albeit the butter flavored shortening, but shortening all the same.

That little note about "Do not double" - that's no joke. The recipe made 72 cookies!

Pumpkin Cookies
Recipe from Mom's Gray box
Makes 6 dozen - give or take

2 c shortening
2 c sugar
2 c pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
4 c flour
2 tsp soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp cloves

Mix shortening, sugar, pumpkin eggs and vanilla. Sift other ingredients and add to mixture.
Drop onto greased cookie sheet.
Bake @350 for 10-12 minutes.

DO NOT DOUBLE

Mom's Macaroni Salad

The Niece asked me for my macaroni salad recipe today...and I have to admit, it's actually my Mom's recipe.  Well, "recipe" is loosely what it is. I have never written it down and am sure mom probably hasn't either.

So here it is Niece, but it's a taste and fix type of recipe.

Mom's Macaroni Salad

1 box elbow macaroni
1 can chopped black olives
1 small jar chopped pimientos, drained
4 green onions, chopped
2 hard boiled eggs, chopped
a couple of spoon fulls of mayo

Cook your macaroni, drain it and rinse with cool water. I've found letting the mac dry allows the mayonnaise to stick to it better.

In a bowl, mix cooled/dried mac, olives, pimientos, onions and eggs. Add a couple of spoons of mayo, mix. The end result should be creamy, but not overly creamy.

Salt and pepper to taste. Put in the fridge overnight.

Before you serve, mix it and add some more mayo if necessary.

Hunter's Stew

I can't believe one of my all time favorite family recipes isn't on my food blog. What the heck? I'm fixing that mistake now.

Hunter's Stew is a recipe dad taught me. It's basically a camping/hunting recipe that he's cooked when out with the Buckhorn guys hunting. It's one of the most simple and delicious recipes ever. And comfort food for this girl.

The whole idea here is it's all canned goods. You simply open them and dump it in.

Hunter's Stew

Recipe by Dad Wraspir
Serves 6 ish

• 1 lb ground beef
• 1 can Veg-all (Usually on the bottom shelf of the canned veggies)
• 1 can red kidney beans
• 1 can canned corn
• 1 can canned cut green beans
• 1 jar Pace Picante sauce

Brown the ground beef. When it's done, dump everything in. Bring to a boil. Simmer for 10 minutes - uncovered.

Bisquik dumplings - read the recipe on the side of the box, but I think it's 2 c bisquik mix and 1/3 c or a bit more milk. Make the dumplings.

Spoon them onto the top of the stew. Cook with the lid off for 10 minutes. Then with the lid on for 10 minutes.

Eat immediately. But be careful to not burn your tongue.

Hello Dollies

I have very fond memories of cooking with my mom. Every holiday season we had a list of sweets we'd make. Some turned out, some didn't.  We had a heck of a time ever getting peanut butter fudge to turn out in the Great Northwest...too wet apparently.

One treat we'd make that always turned out was Hello Dollies. Simple and delicious, this has become my favorite holiday treat. I hope they become part of yours.

This year I changed it up a bit and instead of making a 9X13, I made individual Hello Dollies in a mini muffin tin. The up side is they are individual servings. The down side is they are bite size.

Sorry about the photo, it's from the iPhone.

Photo by Jenn Wraspir

Hello Dollies
Makes: a lot. In a 9X13 probably makes 24 servings.

• 2 1/2 c graham cracker crumbs
• 1/2 c melted butter (I use about 3/4 c melted butter with the mini's. I found the crust stayed together better.)
• 1 package chocolate chips
• 1 can Eagle Brand Sweetened Condensed Milk
• 1/2 c chopped nuts (DOH - I forgot the nuts)
• 1 cup shredded coconut

Preheat oven to 350F.
Melt butter and mix it with the graham crackers. Press the graham crackers into a greased 9X13 inch pan.  Top with chocolate chips, then nuts, then coconut.  Pour over the condensed milk, covering every inch of the pan.  Bake for 25 minutes or until the coconut gets golden.

Mom's Enchiladas - Secret Family Recipe

You should feel special. It's not every day I decide to post a super secret family recipe. But after having Mom's Worlds Famous Enchiladas last night I feel obligated to share.

The story goes, that WAY back when, before the dinosaurs, there was a little Mexican restaurant on the corner of my mom's childhood street called El Patio. Mom says, the "mother" or "grandmother" who was the main cook there invited her into the kitchen to witness the miracle of making enchiladas. And thus the recipe was born. Not sure how close this recipe resembles that of El Patio, but I don't really care since it's delicious.

Special note - these are not lo-cal, nor should they be. Period.

Ingredients:

• Corn tortillas (a dozen or two depending on how many you want to make - 20 fit in a 13X9 inch Pyrex)
• 1 lb Ground beef
• 1 T chili powder
• 1 can chopped olives - drained
• 12 c shredded cheese, more if you like cheese.
• 1 can Enchilada sauce (DO NOT use taco sauce/salsa. La Victoria - I think - has Enchilada sauce.)
• 1 chopped onion
• Optional: I can green chili's diced. Mom uses this. I didn't, but do now.
• 1 pint sour cream
• Vegetable oil - about 2 cups

Okay, ready for this.
First - turn on your oven to 350F.
Second - cook your ground beef and season with salt and pepper and about 1 T chili powder

Side bar on the super secret ground beef recipe:
Mom never EVER used the taco seasoning from a packet. Instead, cooking the ground beef using salt and pepper as seasoning, once it's cooked and drained - hit it with chili powder. That's your seasoning. I guarantee you you'll never use taco seasoning again.

Put enough oil in a skillet to submerge a tortilla. It depends on the size of the skillet. I usually use about an 8 in skillet. You'll be using this to "relax" the corn tortillas. See, corn tortillas are not very flexible when you get them out of the bag. This is how they did it at El Patio, so that's how we do it now.

When your oil is hot ( I usually pop in a small piece of a tortilla to see if it'll sizzle.) One at a time, dip the corn tortillas in the oil just long enough to make them flexible. Use tongs to flip it carefully to not break the tortilla.  Less than 3 seconds per side. DO NOT over cook - you're not making tostadas. If your oil is hot enough it is literally put the tortilla in, coat it, flip it, and bring it out. Drain them on paper towels.

Now - set up your assembly line. In this order

• Sour Cream 
• Ground beef 
• Cheese (in a bowl makes it easy to grab)
• Onions chopped
• Open the olives and green chili's if you're using it.

SHAKE the enchilada sauce. I use a can opener to pop a hole in the top to make it easy for pouring. So before you open it, shake it. Put a couple of tablespoons in the dish to coat the bottom. 

Take a tortilla on a flat surface (mom rolls them in the Pyrex she's baking them in - I use a cutting board and move them to the Pyrex).
Slather with sour cream down the middle. Just enough to coat it. A spoon full should do it. Make sure the sour cream extends to both sides. You want to be sure to get sour cream in each bite.
Next - put a spoonful of beef over the sour cream.
Next - cheese, onions, olives and green chili's if you're using them.
Roll the tortilla into a tube. Transfer it to the pyrex with the seam down.
Repeat until all the tortilla's are used.

The key is to not over stuff them. You'll get the hang of it. 

Family tradition, according to mom, is the cook gets to "test" one. So after you roll it and put all the goodies in it, the cook gets to eat it. Her theory was "Just n case, cuz you never know if it'll be good or not."  Plus, there's always one tortilla that gets a hole in it or ripped.

Now that you've got them all in a dish. Pour over the enchiladas covering each one of them, from end to end, completely. Don't just pour it over haphazardly, take your time. Use a small stream of sauce and cover each one lovingly.

Cover with cheese and remaining olives and chili's.

Bake at 350 until the cheese is bubbling. Let stand for as long as you can stand it (5 minutes) and dig in.

Jenn's Kick Ass Stroganoff

So for many years now I've been trying to master THE perfect stroganoff. I think I finally have it. Tonight, I witnessed history as I cooked, what I consider, the most BESTEST stroganoff in all the world.

Jenn's KickAss Stroganoff

• Beef - some type of beef, sirloin or flank or whatever, sliced in thin strips
• 1lb mushrooms, sliced
• 1 med onion, chopped
• 1 can Cream of Mushroom soup
• 1 tsp Ground Mustard
• 1 T Dijon Mustard
• 1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• pinch and a half of Cayenne
• 8 oz sour cream - I used low fat
• Salt and Pepper
• Cornstarch
• Water

If the beef is wet, dab it with paper towels. Slice the beef into thin strips. Sprinkle cornstarch on beef and dust beef.

Heat 1 T vegetable oil in a skillet on high - as if you are going to stirfry the beef. When it's hot, toss in the beef. Salt and pepper to taste.

When beef is just about done, toss in the onions and mushrooms.
Cook for a minute or so on high. Stir constantly so the onion doesn't burn.
Salt and pepper to taste. You should season in layers to make sure its solid flavor.

Lower the heat to medium high, sprinkle beef with ground mustard and cayenne. Stir.
Add Dijon mustard, stir. Cook for 3 minutes or so.
Put in the cream of mushroom soup. Stir.
Put in about 1/2 cup water, to make it the consistency of say chowder.
Cook for a minute or so. If it's too thick, add water to keep the consistency of chowder.
Add Worcestershire sauce and sour cream.

Cook for about 5 minutes.

Add your favorite pasta or rice to the mixture. I assure you, you will not be disappointed. In fact, if you're in town, I'll be glad to cook for you.