Crab Casserole

It’s been quite some time since I’ve cooked any of Grammers’ recipes. But hey, it’s 2010 and I’m on it now!

The other night Scott and I made Crab Casserole. In true Erin and Scott fashion it was 1 cup craziness, 2 cups multi-tasking. I realized I needed more time if I wanted to go to the gym and avoid eating at 11pm. I did all of the prep work, gave Scott a 20sec lesson and ran out the door to Zumba class. Scott was charged with baking the dish for 15mins, pouring the yumminess on top and putting it back in the oven for another hour. Well about 45mins into the hour our fire alarm goes off and Scott runs in to find the cheese pouring out of the dish and burning on the bottom of the oven. Around that time I opened the door to an apartment that smelled delicious, but was filled with smoke. I assumed the casserole was a goner, but it was fine and SO good! 

Like many of these dishes they are old school, sometimes sound pretty strange and generally not too healthy. Once you read the ingredients you’ll realize there’s no way this one can’t be delicious. Enjoy! 

8 slices of bread cubed (4 bottom, 4 top) 

1 can of mushroom soup

2 cups grated cheese 

1 stick of butter or margarine 

Beat Together: 

4 eggs 

3 cups milk 

1 cup chopped celery 

1/2 cup chopped green pepper 

1/2 cup chopped onion 

2 cups crab meat 

dash of salt & pepper 

Melt butter in a baking pan and pour excess into above mixture. Put half of the bread in the baking pan, pour crab/milk mixure over and top with remaining bread. Bake at 350 for 15mins. 

Mix 2 cups grated cheese, 1 cup cream of mushroom soup and spread over top. Return to oven and bake for 1 hour longer (or until your alarm goes off). 

Guacamole

Went to Knoxville this weekend to visit Jeff, Meredith, Jasper and Ivy and made Grammers’ guacamole as an appetizer! It turned out to be pretty tasty so we proceeded to not only dip tortilla chips in it, but also my favorite- black pepper kettle chips- which ended up being quite the mixture.  ¡Salud!

2 medium, ripe avocados 

1/4 small onion

juice of 1 lemon

1 garlic clove 

1/2 teaspoon salt 

pepper

Mix together. Should have small chunks of avocado and onion in it. 

Veggie Sandwiches

Grammers’ veggie sandwiches were probably her most beloved dish. My mom shared the story of the them with me: 

There was a lady in Charlotte who lived not far from Maw Maw in Dilworth.  She was famous for her vegetable sandwiches. It simply was not a wedding or bridal party in town without Mrs. Pressley’s vegetable sandwiches.  She guarded the recipe with her life.  Through circumstances that were never made public, Grammers got the recipe.  How she obtained it was never made known to us; it was simply never discussed. I did find three handwritten copies in Grammers’s recipe boxes. I guess she didn’t want to lose it and was afraid to try to commit it to memory. 

It was a lot of work to prepare before food processors, and Grammers did hand cut everything until the invention of the processor. The original recipe is included in Grammers’s hand. 

As with most things in my mom marches to a different drummer on recipes and makes stuff up as she goes along so her revised version is below. You will notice that Grammers cautions twice not to use Lite mayo, use only the real stuff.  She’s right and by the way, only use good ole plain white bread.  If you want your vegetable sandwiches to be as beloved as they were in Mrs. Pressley’s day, you just can’t worry about healthy; they just won’t be the same.

This made a pretty big batch:

Two cucumbers, peeled and seeded

3 firm tomatoes, peeled and seeded

1 small onion (I used Vidalia)

1 green pepper, seeded

1 red pepper, seeded

1 orange pepper, seeded

1 carrot

1 packet of dry ranch dressing 

2 packets of Splenda or sugar 

2 packets of plain gelatin 

3/4 to 1 cup mayo

Put all of this through a processor in no particular order and use the grater attachment. It will not go all at once.  You will want to drain everything together in a colander.  DRAIN INTO A BOWL because you want to reserve the vegetable juice.  While it is draining, stir in about 2 tablespoons of dry ranch dressing. I added 2 packets of Splenda, though you could sprinkle a little sugar instead.  Stir well, this needs to drain very, very well about 2 to 3 hours, mix it a few times while it is draining.  Heat about 1 cup of the juice, stir in 2 packets of plain gelatin.  Let it cool and mix with the vegetables.  If you want to make the sandwiches right then, add enough real mayo to mix but not make it too soggy, about ¾’s to 1 cup. If you can wait until the next day, let it all gel over night then add the mayo the next day.  That is the way I did it and I think it makes the filling a little more stable.

This seems complicated, but it’s not. Just picture poor old Mrs. Pressley hand cutting all that stuff for all those years for other people’s parties, only to have Grammers rip her off !

Linguini with Clam Sauce

I tried this recipe one night by myself when Scott was in class. I was really surprised at how easy it was! It needs a little more flavor than the recipe calls for, but overall it’s pretty tasty and takes no time at all. I would probably add some more garlic and maybe sprinkle some parmesan flakes on top.

1/8 cup chopped onion

3 cloves garlic 

1/4 cup olive oil 

1 (6.5 oz) can of minced clams

1/4 cup Chablis 

1/2 teaspoon of basil leaves

1/2 teaspoon of dried whole thyme

1/8 teaspoon of salt 

1/16 teaspoon ground pepper

4oz. linguini, cooked 

1/4 chopped fresh parley 

Saute onion and garlic in olive oil in a medium skillet. Drain clams, reserving 1/4 cup juice. Add juice and wine skillet, bring to a boil. Cook over medium to high heat for 10 minutes or until mixture is reduced by 1/2. Stir in clams, thyme, basil, salt and pepper. Simmer an additional 5 minutes, pour over linguini. Toss well and sprinkle with parsley. 

Cheese Pennies

Grammers used to make cheese pennies every Christmas to have in the morning while we opened presents. I remember she used to put them in a small white scalloped bowl that I have now. We decided to make them for everyone to snack on during inauguration weekend. However, something when wrong when I cooked them. I think I either added too much cheese or didn’t make the slices small enough. Don’t let this deter you from trying these yourself, because when done correctly they are a great snack!

Pickled Oysters

This recipe may have actually been my uncles and my Dad actually made it, but it’s too good to not pass on to you. We enjoyed these on Thanksgiving weekend and they were outstanding.

3 doz med. size oysters

1 medium red onion

2 red cayenne peppers

1/2 Tbl. whole peppercorn

1 whole bay leaf

1/2 cup cider vinegar

1/2 tsp. salt

dash of Tabasco

Shuck about 3 doz. fresh oysters and plunge into 3 to 4 cups rapidly boiling
water. Remove from heat and let sit for about 5 minutes before draining in colander. Thinly slice red onion and separate rings. Cut pepper in half lengthwise, flatten and scrape out seeds and pulp. Cut pepper into long slivers.
Begin layering in a pint jar: oysters – onions and hot peppers along with ½ tlbs. of whole peppercorn. Place a whole bay leaf about half way up. When jar is full pour in mixture of ½ cup vinegar, ½ tsp. salt and dash or two of Tabasco.
Hide jar in refrigerator for 3 days (no less) and get ready for some good eating!

Broccoli Cornbread

I know this sounds kind of strange and where I come from, you don’t mess with cornbread. However, this recipe is fantastic. The broccoli makes the cornbread really moist and delicious. We made this with my Dad over Thanksgiving and it was fantastic. Again, I forgot to take a picture of the dish, but you can see it on our Thanksgiving table here.

Enjoy!

Artichoke and Spinach Dip

This recipe is great! I ended up eating it all week on whatever I could find- pita, pasta, crackers…

1/2 cup green onions chopped

1/2 stick butter

2 packages of spinach, cooked and drained

1 can of artichoke hearts, chopped

1/2 cup of Parmesan cheese

Saute onion and rest, except cheese. Cover with cheese.

Bake at 350 for 20 minutes

Scalloped Eggplant

Scott and I made the Scalloped Eggplant recipe last week. I forgot to take a picture again! I must say I think the picture would have been better than the taste. We didn’t love this one so much. It just seemed to be lacking in flavor. We ended up using it in a stir fry with other veggies, but alone it wasn’t so delightful.

Scalloped Eggplant

2 large eggplants
4 tbsp butter
salt
Freshly ground pepper
2 tbsp Worcestershire
1 egg
11/2 cup milk
11/2 cup breadcrumbs

Peel and slice eggplants. Cover with salted water and simmer until tender. Drain well and cut into cubes.

Place a layer of eggplant in casserole, top with crackers, dot with butter, season with salt and pepper and Worcestershire sauce. Repeat until all ingredients have been used, ending with a layer of eggplant.

Break the egg into milk and beat with a fork. Pour over casserole and top with crumbs.

350 degrees for 30-40min

Apple and Pear Salad

First recipe – Apple and Pear Salad!

Cara was in DC for a conference and stayed the weekend so it was the perfect time to start my new project! It seemed to make sense to start with a fall dish being October and all. The ingredients seemed so strange together- the fruit with hot sauce- but it ended up being very tasty. It was a super easy dish. We basically just chopped up our fruit, mixed our ingredients together and it was done!

Although I’m not typically a white wine drinker, we shared some Chardonnay while preparing it, which ended up being a great pairing. Also, Scott had recently toasted some walnuts which were a great addition!

Recipe:

Dressing for Apple and Pear Salad :
Prepare and blend the following

1/2 cup – sour cream

2 tablespoon- chili sauce 

1 tablespoon – lemon juice 

1 tablespoon- sugar

1/4 tablespoon- salt 

1/8 tablespoon- paprika 

dash of white pepper

Cut unpeeled apples and pears in wedges. Put on lettuce and sprinkle crumbled blue cheese over and pour on dressing.