My week has been a busy one as one of our church groups has a fundraiser scheduled for January 27. They ask us to bring at least two cakes one to be served with the meal and another for the “Country Store,” to be sold. On January 19th, we spent the morning making noodles, and used 65 pounds of flour and 35 dozen eggs, which gave us a total of 82 pounds of noodles. On Monday morning several of us met at the church hall and bagged them into one-pound bags. We had close to two dozen ladies working at various jobs while we were making the noodles, but it only required six of us to package them and it only took about 2½ hours! It is a tedious process, as the dough has to be kneaded to a certain consistency, then the ladies at the machines run it through rollers twice into long sheets, which then have to be placed on tables to dry before it goes through the machines again to be sliced into noodles! Tuesday and Wednesday were sort of quiet but the tempo picked up on Thursday and Friday. On Thursday I did the shopping for the ingredients necessary for the cakes I planned to make and on Friday, I literally spend the day baking. As usual, I over did it and actually made two cakes for the Country Store and two to be served, as well as on that I needed on Monday for “Baked Potato” luncheon our library sponsors as a fundraiser. (Yes, I am working at that, I told the lady I would not bake potatoes). The library has been closed since November for the final, permanent repairs that were needed since the hurricane a couple of years ago. Everything was done on a temporary basis, and now, they have finally finished all the work and it is scheduled to re-open the second week in February. Saturday was work day at the venue for the fundraiser and we were asked to be there at 7:30 in the morning to get potatoes cleaned and cut up, onions chopped….and on and on! (This is why I baked my cakes on Friday, as I won’t feel like it by the time I get home on Saturday!).
Here we are back around to Super Bowl Sunday LIII, (53rd, in case you were wondering), which is on February 3rd this year, with the ——- Rams and the —– Patriots doing battle for the title. So far, the few articles I’ve seen, the fans seem divided about equally, and it seems that some of the players on each team at one time played for one or more schools in San Antonio. Now, for more information about the Super Bowl, you will have to check out your local paper or the TV, because if there is one thing I am not, it is a sports writer!
Many times in the past, Sam and I were invited to Super Bowl parties. They were always fun and most times the food was really great. There were various recipes that I would use to have something to take with us.
If you decide to have a get together for Super Bowl watching, be careful of your menu. You really do not want four or five things that need to be baked at three different temperatures all at the same time, right? Most of the time, folks seem to serve finger type foods, such as sandwiches, burgers, potato salad, chips and dips for a Super Bowl Party, however, there are those who serve a complete meal. The complete meal usually consists of barbecue, beans, potato salad, etc. But, have you ever considered having parsley/buttered potatoes instead of potato salad? Another idea is to sauté onions in some butter and pour it over the cooked potatoes, then garnish with parsley. They are simple to make, do not require as many ingredients and do not spoil as quickly as potato salad.. Barbecue served with the above style potatoes and seasoned green beans are really good. All you need is a big bowl of coleslaw and some bread or rolls to finish the meal. For dessert, make something that is simple, see recipe below. You probably will have various types of chips and dips and other snack food set out so people can “graze” during commercials, and I’m including a couple for you to try. The good thing about the stuffed jalapeños is that they can go on the grill either with the chicken or just a few minutes before you put it on.
The following recipe for barbecued chicken is the one my uncles used as I was growing up. At one point in time, they would dig a pit in the ground, cover it with a wire framework and cook the chicken over the pit. As far as I am concerned, chicken or other meat was never better than when cooked over one of these pits!
Frank’s Barbecued Chicken
Chicken halves
Salt and pepper
Sop (this is used to brush over the chicken while it cooks)
1 cup cooking oil
1 cup water
1 lemon
½ cup lemon juice (you can use vinegar, if you like, just be sure to squeeze out at least ½ of a lemon and drop the lemon shell in the pot)
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
Place oil, water and lemon juice or vinegar in a pot; put the lemon shell in the pot also. Add the salt and pepper and bring to a boil, remove from heat and set aside. Season chicken halves with salt and pepper, place on grill and use a brush or a bbq mop to baste the chicken frequently while is cooking. Cook chicken until done. Serve with barbecue sauce if desired.
The following is time consuming, but the results are well worth the work. Anytime I’ve taken this, they were eaten quickly!
Armadillo Eggs
20 large jalapeño peppers
1 pound pan sausage (hot or mild)
1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese
1½ cups (dry) biscuit mix
2 beaten eggs
1 box Shake-n-Bake® for pork
Remove stem and seeds from peppers, without breaking the pepper. Stuff each pepper with cheese. Mix remaining cheese with biscuit mix and sausage. Shape mixture into 20 patties and shape around stuffed jalapeños. Dip in beaten eggs and then roll in the Shake-n-Bake®. Bake at 325ºF for 35 minutes. Makes 20. If you don’t want the servings so large, cut each pepper into two or three pieces after stuffing and shape sausage dough around them, being sure you count your peppers after cutting and measuring out enough sausage mixture to go around. Follow remaining instructions as to dipping in egg and rolling in Shake and Bake, then bake as above for 25 to 30 minutes.
Jalapeños Stuffed w/Chicken Fajitas/Bacon & Cheese
10 to 12 large jalapeño peppers, halved and seeded (leave stems on)
4-oz cream cheese at room temperature (1/2 of 8-oz block)
2 Tbs. shredded Parmesan cheese (not the green canister)
¼ cup shredded Cheddar cheese (sharp cheddar tastes best for this)
1 cup diced fully cooked chicken fajitas
4 strips bacon, crisply fried and drained well
Halve the jalapeño peppers, and using a small spoon (I use a ½ tsp. measuring spoon) and scoop out the seeds. Rinse the peppers and place cut side down on a paper towel to drain.
Gently beat cream cheese until smooth, add Parmesan and cheddar and mix well. Stir in the chicken fajitas and bacon and mix together. Spoon this mixture into the prepared jalapeños and place on preheated, uncovered grill for 12 to 15 minutes or until cheese has melted. If you want to do this in the oven, bake at 400ºF for about10 to 12 minutes and then place under the broiler for 5 to 7 minutes or until lightly browned. (My son and I love these things so much, that we practically grab them off the grill to eat and burn our mouths every single time!).
For dessert, not many things beat the simplicity of a dump cake. The name says it all…you basically ‘dump’ the layers of fruit in a baking pan and then top with the cake mix. At a bunco party, last year, the hostess made this cake and her topping looked different than was usually used. On asking her how to do it, she told me to cut the softened butter into the cake mix, rather than just putting slices on top. This makes a topping almost like streusel, the butter is totally incorporated and was wonderful. She also added about a half cup of finely chopped pecans to the topping and this gave a great taste and texture.
Dump Cake
(Read all instructions before starting)
Preheat oven to 350ºF
1 can cherry or apple or peach or whatever kind of fruit pie filling you like
1 can (20-oz) crushed pineapple in its own juice
1 box yellow cake mix (butter flavor yellow is great)
1 stick butter (do not substitute margarine), sliced into 1/8-inch slices and placed all over the top.
Place the pie filling in the pan, top with the pineapple, then the cake mix and sliced butter.
Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes.
Just recently, when I made this dessert, I followed her instructions, but since one of the members of the group I was serving to does not eat nuts of any kind, I made it with just the coconut. Everyone loved it.
Place the pie filling in the pan, top with the pineapple and set aside.
Place the cake mix in a large mixing bowl, add a stick of room temperature butter to the cake mix, and using your pastry blender or a fork, cut the butter into the cake mix, (just as you would cut in shortening for pie crust), it should resemble coarse crumbs. Spread this on top of the pineapple, top with some chopped pecans and coconut if desired. Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes. Serve warm or cold with whipped topping or ice cream.
Black Forest Dump Cake
(Chocolate Cherry Dump Cake)
1 box regular size chocolate cake mix
1 can cherry pie filling (21-oz)
(My thought for this is dark sweet cherry pie filling-Joyce, did not work well made entire cake too dark)
1 can pitted dark sweet cherries, undrained
1 tsp. almond extract
1 stick butter (room temperature)
½ cup sliced almonds
Preheat oven to 375º. Spread pie filling into a lightly greased 13X9-inch baking dish, stir almond extract into undrained cherries and place on top of cherry pie filling. Set aside. Pour cake mix into a medium mixing bowl and using your pastry blender or two knives, cut the butter into the cake mix, (just as you would cut in shortening for pie crust), it should resemble coarse crumbs, spread this on top of the cherries, top with the sliced almonds and bake in preheated oven for 40 to 50 minutes or until topping is set. Serve warm or at room temperature. (Their directions suggest that if you want to serve this with whipped topping to save a couple of tablespoons of the juice from the cherries and stir it into your whipped topping before serving).