Chocolate Crunch

Well, last night I made the Chocolate Crunch desert on page 101.  All-in-all, I would NOT call it a success.  The desert has oats on the bottom layer with melted chocolate chips above and chopped walnuts on top.  The ingredients are; butter, light corn syrup, salt, vanilla, brown sugar, rolled oats, semisweet chocolate pieces, and chopped walnuts.

The desert I made is not very thick. I was expecting consistency closer to a brownie. The oats on the bottom did not hold together very well. So, if you are supposed to be able to eat this like a brownie, mine is something different.  You better use a spoon or eat it with the chocolate side down if expect to get this to your mouth without losing it... So, now I am questioning whether I really put 4 cups of oats in mine or if I only put 3... I doubled checked the size of pan to make this in, and I got that correct.

Oh well, it doesn't taste bad. All the ingredients are in there. It's too rich for my liking.
The plan was to make this for the Zink Hall on Tuesday night, but since that has been canceled due to the coming ice storm, it will now sit in my kitchen. If you want some, come pick it up.

Taco Salad Update: I was able to get through all of the taco salad I made last week. It made for some good lunches. Note: if you are not going to eat it all in one sitting, don't add the chips all at once. They get soggy.

Taco Salad

Tonight's dinner was Taco Salad (pages 196). The salad was easy to make. Simply brown the ground beef and cut up the vegetables.  The recipe only consisted of a list of ingredients, but I am pretty sure I did it correctly by just mixing it all together.  Ingredients are lettuce, tomato, cucumber, green pepper, cheese, ground beef, taco flavored Doritos (I used Ranch flavor), and Ranch Dressing. I cut the recipe in half when I made it.  I think I have a good shot at finsihing the salad before it goes bad.
For those readers that are following my weight gain competition and are concerned about the impact this salad could have my ability to win... I washed this down with part of a Killer Brownie (thanks Matt).

Beef Casserole

Tonight I was back in the kitchen. I made the Beef Casserole (page 151).  This casserole contains ground beef, onion, cream of chicken soup, cream of mushroom soup, mushrooms (which I did not add), almonds, and buttered breadcrumbs. There must be an efficient way to make buttered breadcrumbs which business school must have forgotten to teach me.  I did my best ripping up some bread and sticking it in melted butter, but it just ended up all lumpy. Tonight while I stood there chopping up the onions, I was thinking about the scene in 'Julie & Julia' where Julia Childs was practicing her chopping skills with bags of onions after her first day of cooking class. I was just a little slower than she was...  Grandma's recipe did not say to serve this casserole with anything, but after I made it I felt something was missing. I ending up eating mine over my favorite carbohydrate...noodles.
The dish tasted good to me. However, I got the feeling that this casserole is a glorified Hamberger Helper.  None-the-less, I will likely make it again sometime but not until after the rest of the book has been cooked.

Tonight I took another stab at making the Honey Granola. This time I added more honey, more nuts, and baked it less. I haven't tasted it yet, so I'll have to let you know later how this second take works out.
The Pecan Pie is gone... I am sorry everyone couldn't get a piece, because it was good.

Tunna Casserole & Pecan Pie

It was a big night for me; knocking off three recipes in Grandma's book. Dinner tonight was Tuna Casserole (page 167).  As Grandma noted in the bottom of the recipe, this is a "real quickie."  I used all of the listed ingredients in this recipe, which is four (cracker crumbs, can of tuna, can of cream of celery soup, and 2 eggs).  All you have to do it mix it together and put it in the oven.  The recipe says to bake it in a loaf pan but I don't have one, so I used my casserole dish. All in all, it tastes like the ingredients...simple.  I would make it again sometime.  The cookbook says if you make it with peas and a gelatin salad, you have a complete meal.  If there are any readers out there that still make gelatin salads, feel free to try it out.. I won't.

For desert tonight I made a Pecan Pie (page 180) with a homemade Pie Crust (page 191). I've actually made a pie crust before for my Thanksgiving pumpkin pies, but this recipe was much more simple than the recipe I use. There was no shortening or butter in the crust, only flour, oil, salt, milk and sugar. Simple.  The pie was also simple. Mix eggs, dark corn syrup, sugar, and butter. Put the pecans in the crust and pour the mixture on top.  The only things I would do differently next time would be to watch it closer so the crust doesn't get as brown and remember to serve with whipped cream.  I can't imagine the 1/8th of a teaspoon of salt in the recipe makes a difference in the taste....

Also, if you are looking for Wheat Germ at Wal-Mart, it is located in the cereal isle next to the syrups... Who knew.... I have been typing this post while watching The Music Man, version with Matthew Broderick... He can't sell his role. Kind of painful to watch.

Honey Granola

Honey Granola, page 214.
Well, if this is the same recipe that I remember my mom making.... I must of screwed something up.  It didn't taste horrible, but not great.  It lacked flavor, and I could not taste the honey. It wasn't hard to make. The ingredients are oil, honey, almond extra or vanilla (i used vanilla), rolled oates, wheat germ, nuts (I used almonds), raisin or dried fruit. I followed the recipe except for the wheat germ (I didn't know what it was and couldn't find it :).
I really like granola, so I think I will try this again something. I'll check around to see what else I need to do differently next time.

Hot Chicken Salad

Tonight's dish was page 147, Hot Chicken Salad.  You can tell by the picture that I was so hungry tonight that I dug in before I remembered to take the picture.  At the bottom of my grandma's recipe it says 'very good' and I would have to agree.  The Hot Chicken Salad mostly contains; chicken, mayonnaise, chopped celery, fried eggs, cream of chicken soup topped with cheese, nuts, and potato chips. The recipe also called for pimentos, which I left out. 2 reasons, 1 they did not sound good to me and 2 I could not find them at Aldi.  Tonight I added Pam spray to my kitchen's arsenal and lemon juice. I guess little by little I will make strides toward being more like a normal kitchen during this project.
Next time I make the Hot Chicken Salad, I will probably leave out the chopped nuts. I used peanuts, and it was a little much for my taste. It could be better with a different nut.
Last weeks Chicken Tetrazzini lasted all week for me, so I imagine this casserole will stick around in my fridge this week. If the snow comes and I get snowed in, I'll have more than cereal to eat. I didn't make a big dent in the egg casserole before it got thrown away. That's definitely more of a dish for a group rather than a single guy.
I was originally going to make the Chicken and Rice Casserole tonight, but once i realized it takes 2 hours in the oven instead of 20 to 25 minutes like this dish, i realized that's going to have to wait for a weekend.

Sausage and Egg Casserole

Tonight I made page 144, Sausage and Egg Casserole. I have eaten other egg casseroles made by family members, but I don't remember eating this one. Ingredients are; eggs, milk, shredded cheese, bread, salt, dry mustard, and sausage. My kitchen is not equipped with dry mustard, nor do I know what it is, so I didn't add that. Grandma wants the bread to be cubed, and I interpreted that as ripping the bread into pieces. Also, it calls for Bulk Sausage, which again I do not know what that is. I used regular sausage that I cut into pieces. I think if I were to make this again I would toast the bread before baking to try to make it a little harder and less soggy. My aunt makes an egg casserole each year for Christmas brunch and hers has croûtons instead of bread, which I think has a better texture. The recipe made more than I can handle, as this picture only shows 2/3rds of what I have. I guess I will be sharing... Also, the next page of the cookbook has another sausage and egg casserole. So, for my cholesterol sake I think I will be skipping that page for now and go back to it later.

Chicken Tetrazzini update: I have had it for one dinner and two lunches, 2/3rds of the pan left. Recipe says it can be frozen and used anytime...That sounds good.

Chicken Tetrazzini

Tonight I made Chicken Tetrazzini. For anyone following along, this is page 143 in the cookbook, and is the first recipe in the casserole section.  This is a casserole that I am very familiar with eating, as it is one of my favorites that my mom makes. The dish consists of spaghetti noodles, chicken, cream chicken soup, sour cream, mushrooms (which I did not add, yuk) and parmesan cheese. The recipe called for 4 chicken breasts, but I only used 2 because that is all I could fit on George Foreman. All in all I would call it a success. Nothing got burned and it tasted good going down. Next time I need to get an earlier start, as it was 10pm before I got to eat it.

The Idea

While at a New Year's Eve party discussing what a Tom and Jerry drink is with my cousin Jeff and my brothers, we soon found ourselves flipping through our late Grandma Zink's cookbook which has the recipe.  While flipping through the book of which I have only attempted to make a couple of the recipes, the idea came to me. For my New Year 2011, I will go through my grandma's cookbook and make each of the recipes.  Yes, I know it's the same premise of the movie Julie & Julia. As I go through this journey, I will blog my experience and share pictures. My original idea as I was sharing it at the New Years party was to cook each recipe in order.  After looking closer at the book I realized that it would probably be August before I would get any protein as the cookbook starts with Appetizers, Beverages, Breads & Rolls, Cakes, Candy, Cookies, and Deserts.  So, I have dropped the idea of cooking them in order and will start in the Casserole section. Oh, there is one more thing I should mention to you.... I am not a cook. I have used more than my fair share of the microwave, gone months without use of a stove, and been known for eating quick meals late at night. So, here's to you grandma! I hope you enjoy my blog.