My Corn Pudding Recipe

Do you have a recipe that you have to make EVERY holiday without fail?  This recipe is tradition in our household.  My mother-in-law, I guess, started the tradition and I now follow in her footsteps.  This is her recipe.  I have to make this every Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter.  And I used to make extra for my Father to take back home with him to his apartment.

It really isn't a pudding more like a souffle.  It is adapted from the Joy of Cooking Cookbook, the 1953 version.  I think the current Anniversary edition has a completely different recipe.

Corn Pudding

Ingredients
2 cans of whole corn drained (save the liquid)
2 T butter
2 T flour
1/2 cup half n half cream
2 T white sugar
2 eggs (separate yolks from whites)
1/4 tsp paprika

Directions

Drain the contents of the 2 cans of cors saving 1/2 cup of the liquid
Melt the 2 T of butter and stir in the 2 T of flour
Combine 1/2 cup of the half cream with the 1/2 cup of corn liquid
Stir in slowly to the butter/flour mixture to create a sauce
When the sauce is smooth and boiling, stir in the drained corn and add 2 T sugar.
Bring to a boil, then reduce heat,
Add two egg yolks. (whip the egg whites separately until they form stiff peaks)
Stir and cook until the corn mixture thickens.
Add the paprika
Remove from heat.
Fold in  the whipped eggs whites

Bake the pudding in an ungreased casserole dish in a 325 oven for 10 minutes.
Increase the oven to 350 and bake for an additional 20 minutes.

Enjoy!!

My Candied Sweet Potato Recipe

For some reason, everybody has been asking for my Candied Sweet Potato recipe lately.  It is such a simple and easy recipe to do and it tastes so delicious!  So here it is:

Candied Sweet Potatoes

Ingredients:

3 to 4 medium sized sweet potatoes

½ cup butter (I used unsalted butter)

1 cup packed brown sugar

½ cup water

Directions

I steamed the whole sweet potatoes in a pan with a steamer with a few inches of boiling water and cover.  Steam until the potatoes are tender - about 20 to 30 minutes.  Drain and cool.

Peel and slice the sweet potatoes into ½ inch slices.  Place in a 9 x 13 inch baking dish.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a small saucepan over medium heat, melt butter, brown sugar, and wter.  When the sauce is bubbly and sugar is dissolved, brush over the sweet potatoes.

Bake in a preheated oven for 1 hours, occasionally basting the sweet potatoes with the brown sugar sauce.

Ground Beef Pot

I found this recipe in the Authentic German Homestyle Recipes by Gini Youngkrantz.  Do you ever have one of those days where you have no idea what you are going to make for dinner.  You are in such a rut and nothing sounds any good.  I just bought this book and it was sitting on my kitchen counter.  So I opened up the book and this was the recipe that "miraculously" appeared.  Obviously, it was meant to be!!  AND, as luck would have it, I had all the ingredients except the thyme, so I substitute some basil.

I did change a few of her quantities and I will note them below with an **

Ground Beef Pot

Ingredients:

**1/2 pound ground beef (I used 1 pound of ground beef)

1 medium onion diced

3 T tomato paste

** 3/4 c red wine (I used 1 cup of Pinot Noir red wine)

2 c cooked white rice

1 can drained peas (8 oz)

**3 T parmesan cheese (not really a change - I had the shredded parmesan cheese, not the powdered)

4 T whipping cream

3 T butter

salt, pepper and thyme to taste

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375

Brown the beef and drain off the fat.

Add the onion and saute until brown, add the tomato paste, red wine, salt, pepper and a dash of thyme.  Stir until mixed.

Remove pan from heat.  Add the cooked rice and drained peas, mix thoroughly.

Pour into a casserole dish.  Drizzle with the whipping cream.  Dot with the butter and sprinkle the parmesan cheese over it.

Bake for 20 to 30 minutes.

VERDICT:

OH MY was this good!!!  I was a little skeptical with the whipping cream being drizzled over the whole mixture, that just didn't seem to fit.  But this is definitely a keeper recipe.  My husband loved it.

Sweet Potato Pie

Much to my amazement, I don't think I have ever had Sweet Potato Pie!  In all my years on this earth, that is one thing I have never had.  If I did, it didn't make a lasting impression!  I found this recipe on the Just  A Pinch website and this is Cherie Hammond's recipe - thank you Cherie for the great recipe!!

It is so easy to make!!

Sweet Potato Pie

Ingredients

2 cups sweet potatoes, cooked and mashed (about 3 medium sized potatoes)
1 1/2 cup white sugar
2 T flour
1 can evaporated milk (5 ox.), divided
1 egg, slighly beaten
1 tsp vanilla
1 9" pie crust, unbaked.

Glzse
1/2 c white sugar
1 1/4 t flour
2 T butter, melted (I used unsalted)
2 T evaporated milk (from the can above)
**1/4 c pecan halves - this is optional - I did not use them

Directions

I steamed the sweet potatoes in a large pot with a steamer;  Add about 2 inches of water and cover.  Steam over medium heat for 20 to 30 minutes until the potatoes are tender.

Let the potatoes cool.  Peel, slice and mash in a bowl.

In another bowl, combine the sugar, flour, milk (be sure to set aside the 2 T of milk for the glaze), egg and vanilla.

Mix in the mashed sweet potatoes and pour into the pie shell.

For the glaze, combine the sugar, flour, melted butter and 2 T milk.  Drizzle over the sweet potato pie.  If desire, you can garnish with the pecan halves - I omitted this - my family is not a huge nut fan.

Bake for 1 hour or until crust is golden brown.  I probably should have baked my pie for about 50 to 55 minutes because it looks like my crust got a little too brown!!  The glaze looked like it cracked a bit, too.

VERDICT:

It was really good!!  Will I make this again?  Definitely - YES!!  The glaze does add a lot to the pie.  My top judge - my husband - loved it too.  So we have another winner!

Sauerkraut Quiche Revisited

If you remember I made a really good Sauerkraut quiche not too long ago. Here is the link:

Sauerkraut Quiche

And if you remember, I wasn't too thrilled about using the puff pastry.  Well, last night I made the quiche again but this time I used a regular Pillsbury pie crust

Be sure to prick a few holes in the bottom of the crust.

I followed the recipe (see link above).  Spread the sauerkraut, leeks and ham into the pie crust.

Pour the egg/whipping cream mixture over the sauerkraut/leek/ham . . .

And baked it for 35 minutes.

I have to say I do like it better with the pie crust than the puff pastry.  Try it both ways and you decided.  Let me know what you think!

Fudgy Frosted Brownies

This recipe comes from The Recipe Girl website.  Today I am celebrating and what better way to celebrate than with chocolate!!!  Why am I celebrating??  I found out that my son is coming home from the Navy for Christmas!!!  I haven't seen him since the first weekend in August and I miss him terribly.  He wasn't sure if he could get leave but I got an email this morning saying that he was coming home.  So this Proud Navy Mom is baking brownies!!

I made a few small changes to her recipe because I didn't have all the ingredients and I really didn't feel like running to the store for salted butter, semi-sweet chocolate chips and toffee bits.  I will put ** to signify that I omitted or changed those because I didn't have the ingredient.

Brownies:

2/3 cup salted butter, melted**(I used unsalted butter because that is what I had)
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups white granulated sugar
1 1/3 cup all purpose flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup water
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips ** (I had the mini chocolate chips - so I used those)
1/2 cup toffee bits ** (I didn't have any so I omitted )

Frosting

3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips ** (again - I only had the mini chocolate chips)
1/4 cup milk
2 T salted butter ** (I used unsalted butter)
1 1/4 cup powedered sugar - measure, then sift
1 tsp vanilla extract.

Preheat oven to 350.  Spray a 13 x 9 x 2 baking pan with Pam or something similar.

Using an electric mixer, combine the melted butter, eggs and vanilla.  In a separate bowl, whisk together all the dry ingredients and add to the butter mixture.  Mix well.  Add the water, chocolate chips and toffee bits (if you are using them).

Pour into the prepared pan and smooth evenly out.

Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until brownies start to pull away from the side of the pan.  Cool on a wire rack.

Frosting:  

In a saucepan, add the chips, milk and butter over medium heat, while stirring, until the chips and butter are melted and smooth.  Remove from heat, whisk in the sifted powdered sugar and vanilla extract until smooth

Spread the frosting over the brownies.  Let the brownies cool completely before cutting them into bars.

VERDICT:

My husband loved these!!  Well, I confess . . . so did I!  This is DEFINITELY a keeper recipe.

Apple Crisp

I have no idea where I found this recipe.  I am guessing somewhere on one of my vast searches on the Internet.  If I find the source, I will give them due credit.  All I can tell you is that my house smells WONDERFUL!!!  So if this tastes as good as it smells, it is definitely a keeper recipe!!  And it is so easy to make.  The hardest part is peeling and chopping the apples - any one can do that - right!!

Apple Crisp

Ingredients

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup rolled oats (I used Quaker's Old Fashioned Oats - not the Instant or Quick oats)

1 cups all purpose flour

1/2 cup butter - melted (1 stick butter  I used unsalted)

3 cups apples - peeled , cored and chopped

1/2 cup white sugar

2 tsp ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Lightly grease an 8 inch square pan.

In a bowl, mix together the brown sugar, oats, flour and melted butter.  It should be very crumbly.

Place half of the crumb mixture in the greased pan.

Spread the apples (that have been peeled and chopped) evenly over the crumb mixture.  Mix the sugar and cinnamon together and sprinkle over the apples.

Top with remaining crumb mix.  Bake in a preheated oven for 40 to 45 minutes until golden brown.

I bet this would be excellent with ice cream!!  

Now the hard part, waiting for my husband to come home to test taste it!!  If it tastes as good as it smells, it should be delicious!!

VERDICT:

Oh yes, this is a winner!!  I am definitely going to make this again.  My husband loved it (and so did I).  And it was really good with ice cream (or just plain!).

Sauerkraut Soup

Not sure how I stumbled upon this recipe but is sounded interesting.  It is a Taste of Home recipe.  My husband loves sauerkraut so I knew this would be a winner and it was.  He had two bowlfuls last night for dinner.

I did modify the recipe a little.  I will make my notes below:

Ingredients

1 ld Polish sausage, cut into 1/2 inch slice
5 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into cubes (I used the new or red potatoes, so I didn't peel them)
2 medium onions, chopped
2 carrots, peeled and sliced
3 cans (14 1/2 oz each) chicken broth**
1 32 oz can of sauerkraut, drained and rinsed
1 can (6 oz.) tomato paste

In a large pan, add the sausage, potatoes, onions, carrots and chicken broth.  Bring to a boil, then reduce heat.  Cover and simmer for about 30 minutes until potatoes are tender (it took mine about 20 minutes)

Add the rinsed and drained sauerkraut and tomato paste.

**This makes a fairly thick soup.  So I added another can of chicken broth.

Cover and simmer for another 20 to 25 minutes.  It still seemed thick, I almost added a 5th can of chicken broth.  When I make this next time, I am going to add 5 cans of chicken broth.

As I said above, my husband LOVED this soup.  So this is definitely a keeper recipe.

Pumpkin Pickles?

Ok - I know this is not a "baking" sort of thing, but I thought it sounded interesting and YES, I know Halloween has already passed.  BUT, I was at the farmer's market this weekend and a couple of the farmers still had several small "pie" pumpkins that didn't sell and they gave me several.  What's a person to do???  Of course, there is pumpkin pie, pumpkin bread, I've seen pumpkin muffins, etc., etc., etc.

I just happened to have borrow a book from the library called Grandma's German Cookbook  by Birgit Hamm and Linn Schmidt.  Lo and behold, in the back of the book is a recipe . . .  Sweet and Sour Pumpkin Pickles TADA!! (I added the TADA!).  I knew right then and there what I was going to do with those pumpkins and a new adventure was born!!

You will probably need to run to the store to get the White Wine Vinegar and a Ginger Root (Walmart does carry Ginger Root - that is where I bought mine).

Ingredients

4 1/2 pound pumpkin (these two weighed about that - give or take a couple of ounces)
3 cups of white wine vinegar
2.2 lbs of sugar  - about 4 1/4 cups
10 cloves
1 piece of fresh ginger root

Cut the pumpkins in half.

Scrape out seeds with a spoon, chop the pumpkin into manageable slices, peel the skin and cut the pumpkin flesh into small cubes.  I removed any of the strings that remained after scooping out the seeds.

Place the cubes in a large bowl.

Add 2 cups of the white wine vinegar and 4 1/4 cups of water.  Let the pumpkin marinate, uncovered over night.  Stay tuned . . . the adventure continues tomorrow!!

We're back!!  And the adventure continues . . .

The next day you will place a colander over a nice size pot and drain the pumpkin, reserving the vinegar/water mixture.

Peel the ginger root and chop it.

Add the ginger root, the sugar, the remaining 1 cup of vinegar, cloves and sugar to the vinegar/water mixture.  Bring to a boil and add the pumpkin in batches.  Boil the pumpkin for 5 minutes.

Remove with slotted spoon and fill sterilized canning jars.

Once you have all the jars filled with pumpkin, ladle enough hot cooking liquid into each jar so that the pumpkin is completely covered.  Seal the jars with lids and rings.  Process in a water bath canner for 5 minutes.

Makes 8 8 ounces jars.  Will keep for 6 months.

NOTES:  If I make these again (which I probably will), I think I will tie the spices (cloves and ginger) in a piece of cheesecloth instead of letting them float freeform through the syrup.  I did taste one of the "pickles."  It sort of reminded me of a watermelon rind pickle if you have ever had one.  The picture above doesn't do the pickle justice - it looks a lot prettier.  These might make a really nice Christmas gift!

Sauerkraut Quiche

Trust me . . . this is really good - I know it doesn't sound like it would be good, but it is!!   It isn't sour at all. Even if you are not a huge fan of sauerkraut, I think you will like this.  And you don't need any special equipment.  The recipe calls for a quiche pan, I don't have one and just used a regular pie pan which worked out just fine.

I found this recipe on the website www.germancookbooks.com.  I have been on a mission to learn how to master german cooking - long story - I won't bore you.  I stumbled upon this recipe and thought I would give it a try because my husband loves sauerkraut.


Sauerkraut Quiche

Ingredients

1 sheet frozen puff pastry (see note below)
3/4 pound leeks
1 14 oz. can sauerkraut
1 1/2 T vegetable or olive oil
8 oz. diced ham
1 cup whipping cream (not HEAVY - just regular whipping cream)
2 1/2 T sour cream
3 eggs
nutmeg, salt and pepper to season

Preheat oven to 400
Flour a counter top and place the puff pastry on the counter to let is thaw.
Stir the sour cream into the whipping cream and set it aside.
Drain the sauerkraut in a colander and slice the leeks into 1/2 inch slices.
After about 30 minutes, pour the oil into a frying pan and saute the sauerkraut and leeks for about 8 to 10 minutes.  Add the ham. (this makes your house smell WONDERFUL!!)
Meanwhile, unfold the thawed puff pastry and roll it out to fit your pie pan (or quiche pan, if using one).  Line the pan with the dough.
Pour the sauerkraut mixture into the pan, spreading it evenly.

Add the 3 eggs to the whipping cream mixture, beat to mix.  Season with salt, pepper and the nutmeg.
Pour evenly over the sauerkraut mixture.

NOTE:  I put the pie pan on a baking sheet in case any of the quiche spilled over while baking so it won't make a mess in the oven.

Bake for 30 to 40 minutes.

This is definitely a keeper recipe!  I served a small salad with this.  My husband loved it!!  Of course, he loves anything with sauerkraut.

NOTES:  A couple of things I am going to do differently the next time I make the recipe.  First, I think I will use a regular pie crust.  The puff pastry did not add much taste to the quiche.  Also, I thought adding a 1/2 cup of cooked potatoes might be nice - not necessary, but I might give that a try next time.  Overall, it was really good and I am definitely going to make this again.