. . . . . . . Let's Make Cooking Easy & Fun

Even though this soup is similar to the Taco Soup recently published, there are some differences that really make it a unique taste of its own.

SANTA FE SOUP by Carol Tanner, class of  ‘79  

This is a favorite of my whole family and is my uncle’s favorite to make.

1 lb hamburger meat

1 medium onion, chopped
1 can rotel tomatoes
1 can diced tomatoes
2 cans pinto beans
1 can kidney beans
1 can corn
1 pkg taco seasoning
1 pkg ranch dressing mix
1/2 cup water

Brown the hamburger meat with the onions. In large pot combine hamburger/onion mixture and all other ingredients. Simmer for about 20 minutes.

Serve with grated cheese, sour cream and avocado slices, as desired

Another huge winter storm hit Oklahoma and seemed to bring out those favorite recipes for soup. Below is the first soup recipe and the second in my series of favorites from my former students from Catoosa High School.

This is the second major winter storm. Under all that snow is about 1″ of ice which makes the next few days “stay off the roads” days.  The picture on the left is a rose bush but this is how major trees look. One small town south of us is completely without electricity.

1lb. Hamburger (browned and drained)
1 small onion chopped (saute w/hamburger)
1 pkg. taco seasoning
1 pkg. Ranch dressing mix
1 can Ro-tel
1 can Mexican stewed tomatoes.
1 can whole kernel corn
1 can black beans (drained)
enough liquid to make “soupy”

Simmer for 15-20 minutes. Serve with shredded cheese, avocado slices, and tortilla chips.

I love this soup because it’s a “no-brainer”. Just open the cans, dump it all in a pot and it’s ready in no time. It’s a belly warmer and full of spicy flavor.

by Cheryl Conner   Graduated 1981   Catoosa High

This casserole combines a variety of vegetables into a tasty side dish for any meal. Very easy to make since it is made in a slow coker.

INGREDIENTS

2 cups carrots, cut in strips, cooked & drained
2 cups celery, diced
1 onion, diced
1/4 cup green pepper, diced
1 pint tomato juice
4 cups green beans, drained (I use whole green beans — not French style.)
1 teaspoon salt
dash of pepper
3 tablespoons tapioca
1 tablespoon sugar
2 tablespoons margarine

Prepare the carrots and cook them until they are just barely fork tender. They should still be somewhat firm. Drain well.

Combine all the ingredients in a slow cooker. The sugar is optional and you should leave it out if you prefer your vegetables not sweet.  I substitute garlic salt for the salt and from time to time add minced garlic to the mixture.

Dot the top with margarine and cook on a low setting for 8 to 10 hours or on high for 4 to 5 hours.

German Pancakes

by Lisa Davis Todd, Catoosa class of ‘79  

”As a little one, I have vivid memories of my mom and her friend, Mena (from Germany, hence the name) standing at our stove, each with an iron skillet and a tub of Crisco, frying up these thin pancakes.

Mena had 4 kids and Mom had 3, so I’m sure the plan was to stuff us and get us out of the house ’til dark. They continuously turned out these crepe-like things that, when poured into the middle of hot Crisco, feathered out in all kinds of beautiful patterns, getting brown and crispy on the edges.”

Here’s the recipe as I fix it now.

1 cup flour

¼ cup sugar

1 tsp salt

6 eggs (fewer eggs if you like them fluffy)

Milk to thin

Mix the above.  Add enough milk to make the batter the consistency of  a melted malt.

Now to cook.  I use a nonstick skillet and smart balance cooking oil (darn that heart health stuff).  Get the oil so hot that when you put a drop of batter in, it sizzles.

Pour about ½ cup batter in and let it flow to the edges of the skillet.  If it is too thick, you might have to give the skillet a little tilt to help it get to the edge. Add more milk to the batter if too thick. It will brown quickly so be prepared to flip it and watch closely. When the other side is lightly brown – usually in spots – flip it out on a plate.

The first one always turns out crappy – no matter what – so it is called “Mom’s pancake” at our house.

I recently found one of Mena’s sons on Facebook. Fritzi says he still makes them for his family just like I do. Although both he and I have dropped the Crisco, he goes even further, he has dropped the sugar, salt and uses only 2 eggs.

Now for the good part.  Slather, yes, I said slather, it with real butter and shake cinnamon and sugar on top.  Roll it up and let it sit for just a minute to let the sugar melt. It always manages to roll down your wrists and get on your clothes – and not wash out – but  ”them’s the breaks, right?” Oh what you sacrifice for a tasty treat.

Fritzi tops his with applesauce and maple syrup so you can see there are endless possibilities.”

Go try the recipe and let us know how you topped yours.

In case you didn’t know, I am a retired teacher and am lucky enough to have had hundreds of wonderful students through the years. None are more special than those from Catoosa High School where I taught for 19 years.

Since I taught nontraditional classes — Journalism, Newspaper, Yearbook, Photography and Graphic Arts (our name for Offset Printing) — very unusual relationships developed  quickly. If you were truly going to be dedicated to my classes, it took a lot of work both in class and after.

I have been “found” on Facebook by many of these students recently and decided to start a section on here for their favorite recipes. So keep your eyes out for those recipes from the best.

During the “winter blues” I am going to be talking about cooking vegetables. The recipes posted during the next few issues will not feature fresh vegetables.  I live in Oklahoma and those are not plentiful now. Plenty of time to talk about those locally grown veggies in the summer.

Vegetables provide a major part of our daily vitamin content and should be  essential to our diet. The method of preparation determines how much vitamin content is retained. It also accounts for the taste and eye appeal.

It is very easy to over cook vegetables. This results in them being bland and soggy.  Boling not only robs us of vitamin content, it is the main culprit in turning vegetables to a lifeless, tasteless form.  My belief is that there are very few vegetables that should be boiled.

OK — so we aren’t going to boil. What are we going to do?

First option, steaming vegetables is always a good choice. This will leave vegetables full of life. They will be crisp and colorful. It will also not deplete the vegetables of their vitamin content.

By rule of thumb, vegetables will only need a few minutes in the steam.

For those who do not have official vegetable steamers, an easy steamer can be fashioned out a of pot, a metal colander, and a pot lid. Place a small amount of water in the bottom of a given pot. Fit the metal colander into the pot. Start to boil the water. You will begin the see the steam rise. Place your vegetables into the metal colander and place the pot lid over the metal colander and pot. This collection of kitchen items will allow you to steam vegetables as good as any fancy store bought steamer.

There is also a small steamer basket available at most stores that carry any type of kitchen utensils including discount stores.

Another good option is to cook your vegetables in a wok. The secret to the wok is that it cooks quickly at a very high temperature. Vegetables retain their flavors, textures, and colors with small amount of nutrient loss.

My favorite wok recipe for vegetables is to cook broccoli, carrots, bok choy, and snow peas in a very light garlic sauce. The vegetables remain crisp and the garlic adds just the right amount of flavoring. This combination can be served with any cut of meat.

I hope you will see that secret to cooking vegetables is not to over cook. Vegetables need to remain crisp, full of color. It’s all about flavoring and proper cooking methods. As you learn different tricks as to how to bring your vegetables to life, these will become the most requested dishes on your dinner table.

How many days this past week did you serve vegetables for at least one meal?  What is your favorite vegetable recipe?

METRIC CONVERSION OF MEASUREMENTS

When you are cooking it is sometimes necessary for you measure an ingredient in an equivalent manner. These might be helpful to you the next time you are cooking. While exact measurements may not be necessary for some dishes, remember that when baking you should endeavor to follow the recipe completely.

This receipe for sugar cookies has definitely become the most requested item when I bake. They truly do melt in your mouth. I have no idea where I got the recipe. that is the case with most of my recipes. I have had them for years and they have been passed down and passed down again.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup butter
• 1 cup oil
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
• 4 cups flour
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. soda
• 1 tsp.cream of tartar

Soften the butter and cream with both sugars. Yes, you read correctly. There is powdered sugar in these cookies as well as regular granulated sugar. I am convinced that this is what makes the cookie so outstanding.

As a general rule, even if the recipe calls for butter I use margarine but not in this cookie. No substitutions here.  And this coming from someone who can’t tell the difference between margarine and butter. Family and friends love to give me a hard time about this.

Add oil and mix well. The batter will be very runny.  Add the 2 eggs and the vanilla. Again, mix well.

Sift all of the dry ingredients together and add to batter.

Chilling the batter will make the cookies easier to handle. I usually chill mine over night but you probably could get away with and hour or two.

Form into balls about 1″ in size. I use a cookie ball scooper rather like an ice cream scooper. Believe me, if you are a cookie maker, you need one in your kitchen. It makes the task of forming the cookie balls much faster and and is much less messy than trying to get them to come off a teaspoon and rolling them by hand.

Flatten with the bottom of a glass or jar that has been dipped into sugar. 

Bake on ungreased cookie sheet at 375 for 10 minutes or until golden brown. Delicious anytime but oh my goodness when they are warm!!!!

Let me know how you like them.

The weather people started warning us on December 22 that a storm was on the way and we would probably have snow on Christmas Eve or Day. By the next day (December 23, Wednesday), they were saying blizzard. Now, blizzard is not a word used in Oklahoma.

Most of us “old-timers” were saying, “Yeah sure. We haven’t even had two days of below freezing weather. The ground is still warm.” Boy did they prove us wrong.

Bright and early Christmas Eve it started sleeting. To complicate things the wind was blowing with gusts up to 56 mph. Within a couple of hours, the sleet turned to snow and the wind was at it all day.

This is a view out my patio door. We decided to put a Christmas tree outside this year. Tied down real solid because it stood up under the wind even if the fence didn’t. You can even see the snow banked on the panes of the French door. Just like a Christmas card. Many of these would turn me into a Bah Humbug.

We open presents on Christmas Eve and had a get-together planned with my son and a few friends. He was determined to get here so we moved the time up to 3:00. One of my friends came with him and another lives about 10 blocks away and brought her dog and braved it.

Snow was still falling when my son left to make the 30 minute trip back home. The friend that lives close decided to spend the night. But part of Christmas Day dinner had to be postponed. My son just couldn’t get here.

I went ahead and cooked the Prime Rib and my friend, my sister and I ate our fill of Prime Rib and my special potatoes that I will tell you about at another time.

We postponed the salmon until the next day since that was a special treat planned for my son.

All in all, you will never hear me wishing for a “white Christmas”.

Oh yeah, we got 12 inches of snow and still aren’t plowed out. It thaws some during the day and freezes during the night to cover all the roads and parking lots into solid ice.

You are right in the middle of preparing a recipe and suddenly discover you are missing an ingredient.  Yes, you know you should have checked on this before you began but that does not help now.

The following substitutions might help you finish your dish.

A friend sent me the article below because she thought I would like to share it here. She was right. I’d say that friend knows me very well.

This is my favorite time of the year and I am a devoted follower of family traditions at this wonderful time of the year.

Check out my new guide on creating fun snacks with children.  It can quickly become a tradition at your house also. There is nothing like watching the little ones as they squeal in delight when they see what they have created. The next great excitement comes when they show off their creations with pride to other members of the family.

Check out the book just in time for Christmas: Friendly Christmas Monsters And A Mouse

Go have a blast with your children or borrow some from a friend. Be sure to let me know what they created. Send me a photo at carol@casuesmith.com and I will be glad to post it for all to see.