Grandpa's Home Cooking

Cream Cheese, Cucumber, & Red Bell Pepper on Pecan Raisin Bread

Goodness, how delicious!

Get inventive. This sandwich idea popped into my head today as I thought about all of the possible sandwich ingredients in our kitchen. I could eat like this all of the time. And I now do, since I put away the habit of eating greasy burgers and picked up on the idea of eating foods that are both healthy and delicious.

Just look in your fridge and bread box and bring together the best ingredients!

Ingredients:

• Raisin & pecan bread (you can find it, but if not, bake your own. It's worth it!)
• Cream cheese
• Cucumber slices 
• Red bell pepper slices

This sandwich is so delicious you do not need a dressing.

Note: Out of Bell pepper? Got some nice fresh peaches? Slice 'em and use them. Try a big slice of a beautiful tomato from your garden.

Instructions:

Just make one of these great sandwiches and enjoy! Spread the cheese thickly on the bread. Add the cucumber slices, and bell pepper slices, and top it off!

 

 

 

 

Grandpa's Winery Bruschetta

Simple and loaded with flavor, Grandpa's Winery Bruschetta is the perfect accompaniment to a glass of Italian wine. I love wine and this appetizer is a perfect match.  Don't forget to eat the fresh basil while your at it. It's all good!

This appetizer and a glass or two of Italian red will set you free. You better make a large tray of this appetizer because they'll disappear in a hurry. (This little plate was for the photograph.) Then I'd bring on a large tray of Grandpa's French appetizer. (This will be my next post!)

Ingredients:

• Jar of Sun-Dried  Tomatoes (packed in extra virgin olive oil and herbs)*
• Best Italian Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• Baguette or 2, sliced **
• Fresh basil leaves
• Sea salt for the table

* You'll find jars of sun-dried tomatoes packed in olive oil in the produce department of a Harris Teeter; on the grocery isle at a Whole Foods; at A Southern Season (call them toll-free); and who knows where at your local giant supermarket. Ask the store manager to walk you to the product.

** Ask the bakery to slice and bag the baguette for you.

Instructions:

Toast both sides of the slices of baguettes in your toaster oven or range oven. Brush one side of the baguette slices with your best extra virgin olive oil and plate the slices. Some may then choose to lightly salt the toast with fine sea salt. Use a fork to set slices of sun-dried tomatoes on each slice of toast. Garnish the plate with fresh basil (and expect it to be eaten too).

Once upon a time, before I was a grandpa and Nancy was a grandma, we did an 8-day walking tour of Tuscany. Our little group walked 8 to 10 miles a day through vineyards, forests, and farms in Chianti. We had picnics under the shade of glimmering olive trees. Sometimes we had lunch in a village home, and another time in a farm yard. We enjoyed several late afternoon wine tastings at vineyards along the walk. One vineyard offered a tray of sun-dried tomatoes on toast points to eat while sampling their wine.  We stayed at quaint inns, including a  150 year-old farmhouse that served sumptuous 7-course dinners and wine from pitchers filled from their barrels. Am I serious? I am.  We did our walking tour many years ago and it is one of the most memorable vacations we've had. Nowadays you'll find these walking tours provided by a Vermont company, www.vbt.com/.

Here is a still picture I took as we approached a vineyard in Tuscany.

 

Southern Buttermilk Biscuits For 1 or More

Aren't they pretty! Split and dressed with pure butter and fruit preserves while they are HOT, these biscuits were out of this world delicious. But the best news yet is that you can make these biscuits for just you ... for two ... or for whatever number of people you want to serve.  No fuss, no muss, and no waste ... and they taste like the biscuits grandma used to make when I was a boy.

Nowadays, you can go to the frozen food department of your supermarket and pick up a bag of ready made Southern Buttermilk biscuits ...just  like the ones in my picture. I buy a bag of 20 frozen biscuits and toss them into our freezer. When I want a couple of biscuits, I preheat our oven to 375 degrees. I take the number biscuits I need from the freezer, put them in a dark metal non-stick pan, and bake the biscuits according to directions on the back of the bag.  (You might find the biscuits take 2-3 more minutes to bake than indicated on the bag.)

You can choose the ready to bake biscuits or put your apron on at 6:00 a.m., grab the bag of White Lily Flour (still the best) from the pantry, and go to work. Meanwhile, about 9:00 a.m., I'll be eating hot biscuits. Here's all you have to do to fix them. 

Ingredients:

• Oven preheated to 375 degrees
• Your morning newspaper
• Hot coffee or tea
• A bag of frozen Southern Buttermilk biscuits*
• A dark metal teflon cake pan or cookie sheet
• Pure butter or margerine, soft and ready to spread**
• Preserves or honey

* I've tested 3 brands of biscuits. Mary Jo, Alexia, and Pillsbury Grand. All 3 were good, but I like the Pillsbury Grand the best. They rise, look, and taste as I expect.

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Go to the freezer and pull out as many biscuits as folks will eat. Follow the directions on the back of the bag. Put the biscuits in the pan with the sides touching.  Put the pan in the preheated oven and set the timer for 15 minutes. I've added one more step to the directions. When the biscuits start to brown, about 2 minutes before they are done, I brush the top of the biscuits with butter and finish baking them. This step improves the browning of the biscuits. 

While the biscuits are baking, put the butter, preserves, plates, butter knives, and whatever else you want on the table. Use a hot pad to pull the pan of biscuits out of the oven. Use a spatula to move the biscuits to a serving plate and enjoy eating the hot biscuits!

**How many of you remember, back to the war years in the 1940's, when grandma mixed lard with an orange coloring pellet to make oleo margarine? The product came in a kit which contained the lard and a plastic packet with the coloring pellet. You put the fat in a bowl, opened the plastic button, dropped it in the bowl, and then used a big spoon to knead the coloring into the fat until you had smooth yellow margarine. I can picture Great Grandma See sitting on a chair mixing the margarine. 

Overnight Breakfast Coffee Cake

Here's a mighty tasty coffee cake to serve family or guests. You can make it. It's easy. Put this cake together the night before so the rolls can thaw and rise before you bake the cake just before breakfast in the morning. You'll need a Bundt cake pan to turn out a beautiful cake. I got this recipe from my daughter, Stephanie, who is an excellent baker. 

Ingredients:

• 15-18 frozen white yeast dinner rolls (such as Rhodes Rolls)
• 1, 3.5 oz box of instant butterscotch pudding
• 1 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
• 1 Tablespoon cinnamon
• 1 stick butter, melted
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

1. Layer all ingredients in the order present in a greased deep Bundt pan. Spray the pan with cooking oil. Add the ingredients, Cover the pan with foil (spray the foil with cooking oil). Top with a clean dish drying towel and allow the cake to sit overnight.

2. In the morning, remove the towel and foil and bake the coffee cake at 325 degrees for 30 minutes. (Some people bake this coffee cake at 350 degrees, but we think 325 degrees works better).

3. Let the cake cool for 5 minutes. Put a platter on top of the cake pan and flip the coffee cake out onto the platter. Each person can use a fork to pull off the rolls as shown in the picture. (We didn't have the pecans for this baking, but I highly recommend that you use them.)

This is a rich and delicious coffee cake!  

English Muffin Bread

English Muffin Bread

Here's a delicious bread that's really easy to make and tastes so much better than rack factory English muffins found at supermarkets. By the way, it is fabulous toasted. I could eat toasted English muffin bread every morning.

Ingredients:

• 1 package of dry yeast
• 1/2 cup nonfat dry milk
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 4 cups bread flour (2+2)
• 2 cups of hot water (120 to 130 degrees; use a kitchen thermometer)
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda dissolved in a tablespoon of warm water

Instructions:

Combine the yeast, dry milk, salt and 2 cups of flour. (Do not add the baking soda until after the first rise.) Pour in 2 cups of hot water and mix by hand or mixer to blend thoroughly. Stir in the remaining flour 1/2 cup at a time until the batter is thick. Stir the batter in the mixer with a flat beater for about three minutes (or by hand about 200 strokes). The dough will pull away from the sides of the bowl.

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and put the bowl in a warm place (80-100 degrees) for up to an hour until the batter has doubled in volume.

Afterward, stir down the dough and mix in the baking soda that's been dissolved in a tablespoon of warm water. Blend well! Spoon the dough into two 7 1/2 " x 3 1/2" greased loaf pans (you can use cooking spray).

Put plastic wrap or waxed paper over the pans and put them in a warm place. The dough will rise to the edge of the pans in about one hour. 

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Bake the bread for 45 minutes to an hour. (In my oven it's done in 45 minutes but it may take up to an hour in yours.) 

Banana, Walnut, and Apricot Sweet Bread

I immediately ate the big warm slice you don't see in the photo:-) YUM!

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Ingredients:

• 6 tablespoons (3/4th stick) butter, room temperature
• 1/3rd cup sugar
• 2 eggs, room temperature
• 1 1/2 cup mashed bananas
• 1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour (1 cup and 1/2 cup)
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup English walnuts, chopped
• 1/2 cup California* dried apricots, chopped (or try dried cherries and/or cranberries). The bread is also very good with only nuts added.

Mix by hand. (If you must, use the flat beater of your mixer, but don't jack the speed up to 25:-()

In a mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar together and then mix in the eggs, one at a time. Mix in the banana puree. Now take your wooden spoon and gently mix in one cup of flour. Add the baking soda, baking powder, salt, and vanilla extract (or a good bourbon if you prefer:-). Stir in the remaining 1/2 cup of flour. Gently. Don't beat or overwork the dough or your bread will be tough! Add the chopped walnuts and chopped California* dried apricots.

Spray a 8" X 4" baking pan with cooking oil. Use a paddle to transfer the batter to the baking pan and work the paddle to even up the top of the loaf. Bake the bread on the medium rack of your oven for no more than 1 hour. Start looking in on the bread in about 45 minutes. Oven temperatures and baking time may vary. When it is dark brown and firm to the touch, the bread can come out of the oven. Thump, thump. If the loaf is firm, it's done. Use a cake tester if you like to make sure it is done. If the tester comes out clean, the bread is done.

* California Dried Apricots. Look ... bigger and prettier is not necessarily better. Put a big, pretty Mediterranean dried apricot in one cup and a smaller and sometimes not as pretty California dried apricot in another. Take a bite of the Mediterranean apricot, chew it up, and swallow it. Wash your mouth out! Take a bite of a California dried apricot. Chew it up. Swallow it. I'll be astonished if you don't have a big grin on your face after you've eaten the California dried apricot. They are tangy and much sweeter than the imported apricots. Oddly enough, you'll have trouble finding California dried apricots. As of this writing, you won't find them at Whole Foods. Everyone sells the Mediterranean dried apricots. My hint: Go to a big supermarket and carefully peruse the dried fruit selection. You'll often find a row or two rows of dried apricots plainly marked "Mediterranean Dried Apricots." Next to them, you MAY find a row of dried apricots ... either marked California Dried Apricots ... or not marked. If the label does not specify the origin, read the back of the package. "Sun-Maid" will usually be the brand that offers California dried apricots. I don't know if this is true or not, but my father use to tell me the reason we have trouble finding California dried apricots is because they are so superior in taste that the Japanese buy them up. A lot of west coast agriculture products are shipped to Japan.