Stir Fry with Chicken - Easy and Very Good

I was wanting stir fry, and it's a half hour to get to town, so I decided to make some. It was delicious, and I don't even want to go to town now. 

rice cooked earlier or the day before and refrigerated- makes it stay separated better

chicken breast cut in one bite sized chunks 

egg or eggs

vegetables - frozen peas and corn and scallions

seasonings

teriyaki sauce

It's best to cut the chicken into inch chunks and have the vegetables cut and ready to go. This recipe makes up fast once you get going.

First, put a little oil in the skillet. I used a 12 inch cast iron pan. Let the oil heat up in medium to med high heat.

Season chicken and put in skillet. Brown quickly until cooked. Then take chicken out of skillet and set to side

Pour in frozen peas, carrots and fresh cut scallions and stir them around until warm.

Sprinkle some seasonings. You can just do salt and pepper or other flavors you like.

Move veggies to side of pan and then scramble an egg or two on the other side.

Pour in cooked rice from fridge and stir that good.

Sprinkle with teriyaki sauce - low sodium

Add chicken in and stir.

Do all this quick.

Ready to serve. 

 

Pumpkin Bread - one loaf

Ruby got sick, and the vet suggested bland foods with pumpkin. Since Ruby is tiny, I had pumpkin left over and decided to make a pumpkin loaf of bread. I looked at a variety of recipes and combined some and came up with this bread which tastes a lot like applesauce cake that Grandma used to make.

• 1 cup raisins and 1/2 cup water
• 2 cups flour
• ▢ 1 ½ cups sugar
  
• ▢ 1 teaspoon baking soda
  
• ▢ ½ teaspoon baking powder
• ▢ ¾ teaspoon salt
  
• ▢ ½ teaspoon cinnamon
  
• ▢ ½ teaspoon nutmeg
  
• ▢ ½ teaspoon allspice
  
• ▢ ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/2 cup nuts - pecans or walnuts are good
  
• ▢ ½ cup  canned pumpkin - not pumpkin pie filling
  
• ▢ ½ cup vegetable oil
• ▢ ⅓ cup cold water
• ▢ 2 large eggs
• 
  
• Simmer the raisins in a small pan to plump up the raisins. Drain off the water and save it for the liquid step. You may need to add a little water to get it back to 1/2 cup.
• 
  
• Combine all the dry ingredients and stir them well. If you don't have all the spices, you can use the ones you have. It's really good with all of them if you do have spices at home. Cinnamon alone would be okay though.
• 
  
• Make a hole in the center of the dry ingredients and pour in nuts and raisins and stir just a bit to get a little flour on the nuts, so they don't sink to the bottom.
• 
  
• Fix the hole in the center again and add oil, water, pumpkin, and eggs. Then mix in gently with a spatula etc. You don't want to over beat a quick bread.
• 
  
• Prepare the bread loaf pan  with a little veg spray and then put parchment paper in the bottom to prevent sticking. It should hang out over the sides. 
• 
  
• Pour batter in pan and tap pan to spread it out.
• 
  
• Bake in preheated oven 350 F for 50 minute or until a toothpick comes out clean when put in the center of the loaf.  
• 
  
• Let cool a little and lift out with the parchment paper.
• 
  
• Slice and serve.
  

How to Make Parmesan Potatoes

 Mrs. Ratledge made the best Parmesan potatoes when I was growing up. She made those and oven roasted pork chops many nights when I was over at their house.

I tried and tried to make the potatoes over the years. She wrote down the recipe, and she told me and gave tips. No  cigar. Mine never turned out right. Turned out that she used shredded Parmesan cheese, and I used the shake cheese in a container, because that's the only kind of Parmesan I had heard about back in the day.

So, now I know the problem, and I can make those delicious potatoes any time I want.

Parmesan Potatoes (like Mrs. Ratledge used to make)

potatoes

olive oil

salt pepper

Parmesan cheese (shredded in a bag at the store)

That's the basics, and I also add garlic, parsley flakes, and other seasonings like Lowry's seasoning salt.  

Wash and cut the potatoes in chunks with some skin on if the potatoes are newer with soft skins. You casn peel them if the skins are thick and tough. Chunks should be an inch by inch or close.

Get a plastic bag, or you can use a bowl. Put in potatoes and oil and shake or stir until potatoes are coated. You don't need a lot of oil. Maybe a tablespoon for 4 or 5 medium sized potatoes.

Shake seasonings in bag and massage the plastic bag to get them evenly distributed.

Add about cheese to the plastic bag and again shake and massage.

Put tin foil on a baking sheet with small sides. Pour potatoes out on the pan. Don't overcrowd.

Add a little cheese in bare spots with your hands until everything is coated.

Bake at 400 for around 30 minutes or until outside is brown and crispy.

 

How to Make a Chocolate Zucchini Cake

 

 

 

 

Caleb and Eli always loved this chocolate cake. The zucchini makes it extra dense and moist.

Chocolate Zucchini Cake

1 cup softened butter

2.5 cups sugar

3 cups plain flour

½ cup baking cocoa

2 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

¾ teaspoon salt

4 eggs

2 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup milk

3 cups shredded zucchini squash

Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs and beat. Combine all dry ingredients. Rotate dry and milk and mix. Add vanilla and mix. Fold in zucchini and mix.

Bake at 350 F for around 40 minutes in a sheet cake pan like 9 x 12 inches.

Good plain or add frosting.

Chocolate Frosting

½ cup butter

3 tablespoons baking cocoa powder

3 tablespoons Coke or Pepsi

1 box of powdered sugar – one pound size

1 cup nuts

1 teaspoon vanilla

Bring butter, cocoa and soda to a boil. Take off heat.  Mix in nuts and vanilla. Pour over cake while it’s still warm.

You may want to hold out a 1/4  cup or so of the powdered sugar to start with, because it can be too thick some days. You can add more powdered sugar if it’s thinner than you like. But, you want the frosting to run and spread and to look smooth and shiny. 

Fantasy Fudge - original recipe used by Grandma

 

•  
•  
• 3 cups granulated sugar
• ¾ cups butter
• ⅔ cups evaporated milk
•  1 package (12 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips
•  1  jar marshmallow cream 7 oz.
  
•  1 cup (117 g) walnuts, chopped 
•  1 teaspoon vanilla

Instructions

• Grease or spray a 9x13 pan or similar size so the fudge comes out easily.
  
• In a large saucepan over medium heat mix  sugar, butter, and evaporated milk.
• Bring the mixture to a steady rolling boil and boil for 5 minutes. If you have a candy thermometer, the temp should be. 234 F.
  
• Remove from heat and stir in chocolate chips and marshmallow cream until smooth and evenly colored.
• Stir in the nuts and vanilla.
  
• Pour mixture in pan and make even with a spoon and holding pan and shaking lightly.
  
• Wait three or four hours (if you can) for the fudge to set up and then cut in small squares and put in a Tupperware container or similar.   
   Grandma Allene Myer used to make Fantasy Fudge at the holidays. She used black walnuts in hers, because they had black walnut trees on their land. 
  We started making a similar recipe with peanut butter chips for a different flavor fudge.
  These quick-to-make fudges are  very creamy and delicious. 
  My son, Eli Wittum, made the fudge in the photo.
  

Black Walnut Cake from Appalachian Mountains

 This recipe was in the comments on Facebook and sounds very good. I'll post after I make one. I'd like to get fresh black walnuts.

 

Calvin Gross

Mom McGee's Black Walnut Pound Cake

• 1 c butter, room temperature

• 1/3 c shortening (I use coconut oil)

• 3 c sugar

• 5 eggs

• 3 c all purpose flour

• 1/2 tsp baking powder

• 1 c milk (I use heavy whipping cream)

• 1/2 tsp vanilla

• 1/2 - 3/4 cup black walnuts, finely chopped

1. Do NOT preheat oven.

2. Beat butter and shortening until smooth and creamy. Add sugar and beat at medium speed for 5 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time and beat until well blended.

3. In a small bowl combine the flour with the baking powder. Add slowly into the butter/sugar mixture, alternately with the milk until just blended.

4. Stir in vanilla. Fold in the chopped walnuts and pour into a greased, floured 10-inch tube pan or bundt pan.

5. Place in a cold oven and bake at 325 degrees for 1 1/4 or 1 1/2 hours until done. Test for doneness with a toothpick. Cool in pan for 30 minutes. Remove from pan and continue to cool on a rack or turn out on a cake plate. Glaze if desired.

 

Betty Feezor Brownies retro WBTV Charlotte

Betty Feezor Brownies

By Cyndi Allison

1 cup butter

2 cups sugar

1 tsp vanilla

2 eggs

½ cup cocoa

2 cups plain flour

1 cup pecans or walnuts (we used pecans, because we had a pecan tree)

Mix together butter sugar, vanilla, eggs. Add cocoa and flour. Fold in nuts.

Bake in preheated 350 F oven for 18-20 minutes.

Makes two 8x8 square cake pans.

Betty Feezor had a cooking show out of Charlotte. She was on TV in the afternoons and was very popular in this area. She made these brownies when I was in middle school. I got paper and a pencil and wrote the recipe down. My brothers and I made these brownies for years, and they were family favorites. You can find Betty Feezor cookbooks in the reference room at Rowan Public Library headquarters, Salisbury, NC and sometimes you can find copies at ReStore Rowan. 

I like these, because they are very rich and chocolatey. The edges are especially good.