Best Recipes From The Prairie

Erlene's Flaky Pastries

2015-05-08T11:20:00.004-07:00

Erlene’s Flaky Pastries 3/4 c. scalded milk 1/4 c. water 1 stick butter or margarine 2 egg yolks 1/4 c. sugar 3 c. flour 1/4 t. salt 1 t. vanilla 1 pkg yeast Crumb mixture: 1/4 c. flour and 3/4 c. butter or margarine Melt margarine in warm milk, then pour over sugar and salt in large bowl. Add 1/4 c. water and let cool until cool. Stir in yeast. Add egg yolks & flour and beat well. Cover and put in refrigerator overnight. Mix crumb mixture until crumbly. Roll out dough, like for cinnamon rolls and put 1/3 of crumb mix onto half of the dough, fold plain dough half over crumb half and roll out . Put another 1/3 of crumb mix on half of dough, fold and roll. Repeat with last 1/3 of dough, fold over and roll. Cut into strips, about 1 1/4 inch wide, them cut strips diagonally into 5 or 6 inch pieces. Place on greased baking sheet, cover and let rise. Then bake like cinn. rolls. Ice with thin powdered sugar icing and serve. Yummy!

Coming soon, Erlene's Flaky Pastries and Bierocks!

2011-04-22T21:21:00.000-07:00

Erlene's flaky pastries are unlike anything you have ever seen and out-of-this-world delicious.
Bierocks are another Mennonite specialty in this rural farming area and are bread dough with browned ground beef, chopped cabbage, diced onions, salt and plenty of pepper as a filling. They are wonderful. A meal in a bun.

Poppy Seed Rolls-a Mennonite Tradition

2011-04-22T20:40:00.000-07:00

Gotta find the recipe! Really unique, Mennonite dessert from the Kansas heartland. Mennonite families use so many poppy seeds for these and other items, that they grow their own, a tradition for many years, I am sure, going back to when they farmed in Russia, Prussia, Poland, Holland and other countries that they immigrated from. These rolls use a sweet dough that is rolled out as if making cinnamon rolls. A cooked, sweet mixture of poppy seeds and sugar is spread over the dough, then it is rolled up like a jelly roll. Let it rise like this, then bake. It can be baked and frozen until needed for special occasions. When done, just slice off pieces of the roll. It is sooooooo good!

Poppy Seed Bundt Cake-The Original!

2011-04-22T20:31:00.000-07:00

I was so lucky to have a great friend who lived in the country and let me hang out at her home all the time and eat all the fabulous food her Russian/(maybe some German, too) mother made. This was about 1969-1970, before all the other goofy recipes for poppy seed things came out, I think, and this is the best one I have ever tasted, out of all the poppy seed breads and cakes to come. I was over there one weekend and there was this really high, light, bundt cake for us to snack on. I couldn't stop sneaking pieces of it, it was so light and delicious. She gave me the recipe and a couple other great recipes of hers and I and all the women in my family have been making it ever since for every family holiday or special occasion.

Her recipe was based on using a Betty Crocker Yellow Cake Mix, long before they started putting pudding in the mix, so, I have had to adjust the recipe to make up for the change in cake mixes. I burnt out a couple of mixers trying to follow Erlene's directions to beat it 8 minutes and have since given up on ever having one as tall and light as hers was. I have had them fall time and time again when I have beat them a long time, so, I just use a Betty Crocker Yellow Cake mix (my favorite, too) and add about half a package of vanilla instant pudding and follow the directions on the cake mix box, then add the 1/4 cup of poppy seed and butter extract and vanilla. Erlene's original recipe said add 3/4 cup water and 3/4 cup corn oil, plus a whole package of vanilla instant pudding to the cake mix and beat until well incorporated, then add 4 eggs, one at a time, beating one minute after each one. Then beat 8 minutes, adding 1 teaspoon of vanilla and 1 teaspoon of butter extract and 1/4 cup of poppy seeds during last minute. Poppy seeds bought from a grocery store are usually very stale and expensive-get fresher, cheaper poppy seeds at a health food store, preferably in the refrigerated section, unless you know a nice Mennonite family who grows their own and will share!

Here is my recipe adapted to the modern cake mixes with pudding already in them:

ERLENE'S POPPY SEED BUNDT CAKE

1 Betty Crocker Yellow Cake Mix
1/2 to 3/4 package vanilla instant pudding
corn oil-whatever amount the cake mix calls for plus a little extra
water-whatever the cake mix calls for
4 eggs-beat well after each one
1/4 cup poppy seed
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon butter extract

Glaze
1 cup Powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon butter extract
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
3 or more Tablespoons water or milk to make a thin glaze, but, I make mine a little thicker to stick better and make the cake pretty

As I said, add the pudding, oil and water to the cake mix in a large bowl and mix well. Add each egg, one at a time, beating well after each. Beat batter well, 2 minutes or more as you prefer. Add in the vanilla, butter extract and poppy seeds and mix well.

Spray or grease well a regular metal bundt pan. Pour batter in and bake about 350 degrees until knife inserted near center comes out clean (see times on cake mix for bundt cake) or until pressing lightly on the top of the cake causes it to spring back. If the cake is rising on the sides too fast or burning on top, turn oven down to 325 or so.

Remove from oven and place cake plate or serving plate on top of bundt cake, hold it on as you turn the pan over and then pull the cake pan off leaving the cake on the plate to cool. Erlene said to cool it in the cake pan but it always fell for me so I have better luck turning it out right away. She was like a master cook, like other older, farm wives I have known, who could just do amazing things that take years to master, like mixing pie dough with the fingertips and having it still come out impossibly light.

Her recipe said to spread a little icing on the cake using your fingertips! I use a pastry brush. Sometimes, she didn't put any icing on it and it was still great, but, I usually cover the whole cake (excessive!) and then drizzle a little over the top to make it pretty.

Everyone always loves this cake. Erlene's was even better, of course! Remember to tell them what you had if you have to get a UA, lol!

Note: Around here, the Mennonites grow their own poppy seeds because they taste better and are cheaper. I thought that was illegal, but apparently not! They are really much tastier. They make poppy seed rolls which are also addictive and like a long cinnamon roll before it is cut, only filled with a sweetened poppy seed mixture and baked like that. Then, you cut it into slices. So delicious!

Old Fashioned Potato Salad

2011-04-20T11:08:00.000-07:00

While we are on deviled and boiled eggs, I might as well give an idea of how to make my favorite kind of potato salad. Again, I am from Midwest farm country and I like my potato salad on the sweet side and not too goopy! I can never find a ready-made potato salad at the store that I like.

Mine is simple, also learned from my mother. She liked to boil the potatoes with the skins on so I do too.

Red potatoes, about 6 to 8 large potatoes, or more, depending on how much you want to make, boiled until tender with skins on, then cooled, peeled and chopped into bite-size pieces and lightly salted. You can add a little pepper if you like.

1/2 a medium white or yellow onion, diced--I think the onion is the most important thing for really making the potato salad pop

2 or so boiled eggs, chopped, to taste

1/4 cup or so, sweet pickle relish, as much as you like

Mustard to taste, about 1 tablespoon or so

Miracle Whip dressing, to taste, about 1/2 to 1 cup so that potatoes are coated but not overly goopy!

Sugar to taste, start with about 2 or 3 tablespoons

2 teaspoons vinegar, or more, to taste

I never measure, I just add and taste until it tastes right, so, these measurements are all flexible. Mix well, cover and refrigerate. The flavors improve with time in the refrigerator.

This is my favorite, but, I have tasted some that were of the non-sweet variety and had mayonaise and dill weed (fresh is best and easy to grow!) for a light, savory flavor. If you have left-over deviled eggs, they can be chopped and added for a deviled egg potato salad.

Deviled Eggs (Sweet style)

2011-04-20T10:36:00.000-07:00

Now I made some deviled eggs yesterday and everyone who ever tries them, including me, can't help eating several because that combination of flavors is just addictive. Once, I used them to get me through the first day of phase one of the Atkins diet so that I could easily stay on the low carb regimen and enjoy it, too. I just had another egg whenever I wanted anything! Worked great! I have tasted all kinds of deviled eggs, finding most of them downright awful-tasting, due usually, to a misguided idea that they need a bunch of mustard in them. No, they do not. They will taste fine with no mustard at all, but, I like to add a little to jazz them up some.

First of all, hard boil however many eggs you want. Let's say, 1 dozen eggs. There are different ways to hard boil an egg, use what works for you. Paula Deen had a great tip: put a 1/4 cup or more of cheap salt in the water you boil the eggs in and they peel very easily for me. These days, I think the egg shells are just not healthy enough to be easy to peel. When I use organic, free-range eggs, they are pretty easy to peel. Also, I find that they are easy to peel if not super fresh and if you run cold water over them immediately after the cooking time ends, then tap them and peel them under cool, running water right away. That quick transition from hot to cold seems to help the peel slip right off. Tap it and carefully begin breaking off pieces of the peel. If you leave them soaking in cold water as I had to do yesterday, they become very difficult to peel without taking half the cooked egg white off. How you boil them is important to the ease with which they peel. Martha Stewart advises you place eggs in a saucepan and cover with cold water. Bring to a boil, then cover pan and remove from heat. Let set for 15 minutes, then rinse with cold water and peel. I used that method yesterday and as usually happens, the yolks did not get really hard cooked, but they still blended "pretty" well with the Miracle Whip, etc. and tasted great so it was ok. I have since used that method, but, I cover the eggs and leave them on the hot burner and just turn the burner off and let them set a little longer, maybe. I found they peel even better if I add a lot of ice to the cold water I set them in after rinsing in cold water.

I have been boiling and eating hard-boiled eggs since childhood and they always tasted pretty good. I have always just put the eggs in a saucepan, covered them with cold water, brought them to a boil, turned the heat down just a little and let them continue boiling 8 to 12 minutes depending on how hard I wanted them. This works fine, but, they tend to get overcooked more easily. The other way of cooking them does produce a more tender egg, though, with no greenish discoloring due to over-cooking. See what works best for you.

When the eggs are peeled and cooled a little, cut them in half with a sharp knife. Pop the yolk out into a bowl. Place the egg half on a plate. When all the yolks are in the bowl, mash them with a fork until evenly mashed. I suspect you could use a blender or food processor to get them really smooth, but I never have. Stir in just enough Miracle Whip or Mayonaise (start with a 1/3 cup) to make a smooth mixture. Add about a 1/4 or 1/2 teaspoon of mustard, to taste and add some sugar (start with 1 tablespoon) or Sweet N Low (about 1/4 teaspoon or a little more) to sweeten a little. You can add 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon or so of apple cider vinegar if you want to add a little zip, but, I don't usually. Mix until smooth and until the mixture tastes the way you want it, then spoon or pipe about 3/4 of a tablespoon into each egg half. They keep 2-3 days in the fridge. My mother taught me to make these and she always sprinkled a little bit of paprika on top of each egg. I seldom bother, but, it does look nice.

As I said, these are great for getting started on a low-carb diet because you can eat as many as you want and stay full without thinking about what to eat. The low carb way to make these is the same, just use Mayonaise instead of Miracle Whip and Sweet N Low instead of sugar. Or, you can make more savory (non-sweet) deviled eggs by just adding Mayonaise, no sweetner, and maybe a little mustard, also good. I like both kinds. You can also put the yolk mixture into a small ziplock bag and snip the point off to pipe the yolk mixture into the eggs if you want a fancier-looking egg and even add little flags or other decorations, for holidays like July 4th, etc. I entered a deviled egg contest once and the variety of deviled eggs was unbelievable! All kinds, some really super decorated and professional-looking, with all kinds of ingredients and flavors. Really, they were all good, so get creative!

Some people like to add diced dill pickle, or sweet pickle, onion, fresh dill weed, chives, etc. Try what sounds good to you. I like my recipe best but also enjoy the other types of deviled eggs.

Go Grillin' Low Carb and Delicious with Grilled Red Peppers and Chicken!

2011-04-20T10:00:00.000-07:00

Thank goodness the weather is warming up and we can get outside or to the lake and do some grilling! My partner and I have lost weight eating low carb and one of the many meals we love is Grilled Red Peppers and Chicken. This is also good with shrimp or other meats. A favorite variation on this is to just kind of stir-fry boneless, skinless chicken tenders and red peppers in oil and butter in a skillet when you want to stay inside. This is really good with just the chicken and peppers, especially a lot of red peppers, but, we like to add the onions, mushrooms and zucchini when grilling it because that grilling color and flavor makes them all taste wonderful. My meat-eating partner says it is his favorite meal.

1 or 2 green bell peppers cut into chunks
2 red bell peppers also cut into chunks (you can mix in other colors, too or use only red peppers as you like)
1 sweet white or red onion, cut into chunks
1 zucchini or yellow squash cut into about 1/4 inch slices (optional)
1 pound sliced button or portabello mushrooms, or other mushrooms
chicken tenders, boneless, skinless, 2 pounds or so, cut into chunks
or, 2 pounds shelled and deveined shrimp
1 stick butter or margarine (about a 1/4 pound or more if you like it!)

I like to give the vegies and chicken a headstart on cooking and coat them with butter by kind of stir-frying the vegies in butter in a large skillet just to get them a little tender and coated with the butter, then finish cooking them on the grill. I do the same with the chicken, cooking it until almost done, then cook the vegies and chicken together on the grill in a grilling pan that has holes in it to allow grilling without losing the smaller pieces. You can skip this step and just cook it all out on the grill. I stay with it and use a spatula to keep turning the food so it all gets nice carmelization from the heat. I like to cook everything on high when I grill to be sure it gets good color and flavor. Cook only until meat is cooked and vegies are still colorful and tender. Serve hot.

Note: A great low-carb way to enjoy crispy burgers, fried or grilled, is to cook them on high heat to get great browning and get them crispy on the outside and tender on the inside. Then serve them with a mound of sweet, crunchy lettuce, plenty of chopped, sweet onion and a good mound of real mayonaise. Now, eat a little of each item with every bite! This is now my favorite way to eat a burger, even when not eating low carb! It is yummy!

Happy Pi Day, March 14th, 2010!

2010-03-14T19:48:00.000-07:00

That cracks me up! Pi Day! I love a world that can be so awful one minute and celebrating Happy Pi Day the next. Guess I better share my old friend, Virginia's fabulous Apple Pie recipe in honor of Pi Day!

Virginia is Mennonite from the heart of Kansas farm country and used to sell me the most delicious, rich, Guernsey milk and cream from their farm. We became friends and she taught me how to make the best apple pie and Mennonite dill pickles I have ever tasted. She didn't use exact measurements so you will have to make some of the amounts according to your tastes. She had a jillion ways to use cream in her recipes, like creamed cucumbers over boiled potatoes. She put cream in everything, it seemed. It was luscious-the thickest, yellowest cream I have ever seen. I bought raw milk from several farms over the years, including some Jersey milk, but none was as rich and flavorful as that Guernsey milk! I remember those cows were a beautiful cream and warm brown color and looked to be about 7 feet tall! Virginia and her family ate well from the garden as well as, all that rich milk and cream, and not one person in the family was ever overweight! Goes along with what I have found since doing the Atkins way of eating-I don't think fat is the villain, sugar is.

First of all, she used lard in the pie crust and mixed the crust with her finger tips. This takes practice and I never did get it, but, it is worth it if you can do it! (or, try the food processor). Then she sliced the apples, which she said MUST be JONATHAN apples-on a mandoline type of metal slicer she said was Mennonite and hard to find. It sliced the apples thinner than most slicers and helped make the pie extra good. She also used her rich cream in her pie which is no longer available, so I substitute whipping cream.

Virginia's Apple Pie

Lard Pie Crust

1 1/2 cups flour
scant 1/2 cup lard
little bit of salt (pinch or two)
ice cold water as needed just to make dough stick together

Cut lard into flour with fingers or pastry cutter using very light touch so as not to make it tough, or pulse in food processor. Work water in with fingers very quickly-lightly until can press dough together. Can chill dough before rolling out. Roll out on lightly floured surface to desired thickness. Fold dough in half and place on one half of pie pan then open dough to cover all of pie plate. Tap down all around and use knife against edge of pie pan to cut off excess dough. Roll out the top piece of dough and cover with plastic wrap til ready to place on the pie.

Filling:

approximately 6 cups Jonathan apples, peeled and cored, quartered and sliced thin (1/16 inch, maybe)
1/2 cup Brown sugar or so
1/4 cup white sugar or all brown sugar
about 2 T. flour
pinch of salt
1 teas. or more to taste, of cinnamon
2-3 T. cream
2 T. butter

From what I remember, you just fill the pie crust with the apples and evenly sprinkly the rest of the ingredients over the apples then dot the apples with a few pieces of butter. Lay out the top crust on lightly floured surface and cut some vent slits in the crust, in a design like a stem with leaves on it or whatever you like. For further decoration, you can cut out a few leaf shapes and wet the back of them, then stick them on the top crust for decoration. Wet the top rim of the bottom pie crust and place the top crust over the pie, pressing down on the edge to stick them together. Cut excess edges off and crimp edge between two fingers. Lightly brush top of crust with cream and bake. You can also sprinkle little sugar on top of the pie before baking. I don't think Virginia did this but, she did brush the crust with cream.

I don't remember the temperature she used to bake her pie but, most apple pies are baked at about 425 for 40-45 minutes, on a sheet of foil or cookie sheet until filling is bubbling and crust is golden brown.

Cream Meatballs

2010-03-13T20:59:00.000-08:00

These are so tasty and easy to make and they are different than the usual meatball recipes floating around. They are meaty and delicious just as meatballs, and even better with the cream sauce and mushrooms over them. I have heard a German friend talk of using pretty much the same ingredients to make their "German" hamburgers, so maybe that is the origin of this type of meatball. While doing the Atkins diet, I found it very handy to take to work for my lunch. I would just throw the ground beef, seasonings, an egg, and a little bread crumbs, not really measuring anything, into a zipper bag and take to work where I would later mish the ingredients in the bag then put mini hamburgers on a small electric grill like a George Foreman grill and cook for a few minutes and have a really delicious and filling, low carb lunch.

Cream Meatballs

2 lb. ground beef
½ lb. ground veal (too mean, I use all gr. Beef)
1 ½ cup soft bread crumbs (my easy way is to kind of wad the soft bread slices up and run them over the hand grater-they come out perfect.
½ cup minced onion
1 egg
¼ cup chopped parsley, less if dried, or to taste
1 ½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon ginger or little more
Dash of pepper and nutmeg
Mix thoroughly and shape into small balls-brown in small amount of oil or fat. Drain on paper towels.

(They are good just like this or you can make small burgers. I often threw ground Beef into a ziplock bag along with some salt, pepper, ginger, egg, onion, or, onion powder and a little bit of bread crumbs and took it to work, mixed it up in the bag, made mini burgers and cooked them on a little foreman grill right at my desk! But, be sure and should try the cream sauce on the meatballs. Really good, like a nice stroganoff).

Cream sauce

Add to meat drippings in skillet:
1 can condensed cream of mushroom soup
1 cup sour cream
1 can (3 oz.) chopped mushrooms
2 Tablespoons catsup
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

Heat through-add meatballs and serve. You can also serve with or over boiled potatoes or noodles or rice if you wish. Yummy!

2009-12-25T21:57:00.000-08:00

LONELY, UNDERAPPRECIATED BLACK WALNUTS!

2009-12-17T10:54:00.000-08:00

I have been watching cooks on the tv cooking shows make holiday cookie recipes when I see a Biscotti recipe being made with the advice that any nuts can be used. I notice, once again, no mention of one of the best nuts for flavoring crunchy cookies, Black Walnuts. Maybe it is because they don't grow locally in some parts of the country. They grow along creeks and in towns all over this area of Kansas and other parts of the South and Midwest. A sweet girl of Swedish background that I went to school with once brought us a plate of Swedish Rusks made with black walnuts. Yum, yum, yum! I have fondly remembered those light, crunchy cookies all my life and looked everywhere for a recipe. The closest recipe I had found, until recently, was a hazelnut biscotti cookie recipe in which I substituted black walnuts. They were good but not as light and crunchy as the Swedish Rusks. A lady in Lindsborg, Kansas, (Little Sweden, USA) gave me a recipe for Swedish Rusks that I haven't tried yet, so, I hope it will be more like the ones my friend made. When I made the black walnut biscotti and took it to work, a co-worker told me they were the wierdest-looking cookies but she couldn't stop eating them. She asked for the recipe every time I saw her.

This is a recipe that I haven't tried that sounds authentic. But, it calls for almonds and cardamon seeds. Might skip cardamon and substitute black walnuts for the almonds. I think the Swedish settlers in Kansas used black walnuts because they were readily available and honestly they have so much delicious flavor, anything else is just too blah and boring by comparison.

Swedish Rusks

From the Recipe Book:
Var Så God
Heritage and Favorite Recipes; Handbook of Swedish Traditions

2 C sugar
1 C butter
2 eggs
3 1/2 C flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 C cream
20 cardamom seeds, crushed
1 C chopped almonds

Combine all ingredients and mix well. Put into a 9 x 13 pan which has been greased and lined with wax paper. Bake at 350 degrees F for 45 minutes until lightly browned. Turn pan upside down onto foil lined cookie sheet. Cool and cut in thin slices - divide pan into fourths and then cut each strip into slices about 1/4 inch to 1/2 inch thick. Toast in 250 degree F oven about 3 hours. Watch carefully. Store in tightly covered container. Keep a long time if they last that long!

I also used to make a recipe called "Shirley's Speedy Oatmeal Cookies." I found it in my grandma's recipe collection so assumed it was my Aunt Shirley's recipe. Back in the70's, I fancied myself a hippie and back-to-nature kind of girl, so I was always substituting brown sugar for white and whole wheat flour for white flour. I did this with Shirley's Speedy Oatmeal Cookies and used black walnuts with them and it made a delicious, crunchy, black walnut-flavored oatmeal cookie that, again, has stayed in my memory all these years. It was just addictive.

Another great taste combination using black walnuts is using them in a white butter cream frosting on a chocolate cake. My grandmother, Stella Irene, who was a cook most of her life in a large bus depot restaurant called the Casa Bonita, always made our birthday cakes like that. My mother believes that she also put a little black walnut flavoring in the frosting, but I don't think so. Either way, it is a delicious, one-of-a-kind combination. It makes chocolate cake a completely different treat. I am sure all the great home cooks out there could think of more great ways to use black walnuts. I collect recipe books and the best recipes for anything that I can find, and have always wondered why there are almost no recipes around calling for delicious black walnuts. They are a little different for eating straight, but, still good, but when added to baked foods, they are amazing.

I will add the recipes as soon as I dig them out of the various recipe boxes I have!