Category: Main Dishes

A recipe from our archives. Can substitute other kinds of sausage or meat as you like.

Sweet and Sour Kielbasa

1/2 green pepper (slices)
1/4-1/2 onion (chopped)
1 pound (or less) kielbasa (sliced into coins)

Saute’ these five ingredients for five minutes or until the onions become translucent.

1 T. cornstarch
1 T. lemon juice
1 T. soy sauce
1/2 t. ground ginger
1/2 c. apricot preserves

Combine these ingredients and add to sausage mixture. Heat to thicken. Add one can of drained pineapple chunks. Heat. Serve over one to two cups prepared rice. This make four to five servings

This is the recipe my German-heritage mother always worked from.

Saurbraten Recipe

1 beef round roast
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
4 onions, sliced
2 carrots, sliced
2 ribs of celery, sliced
4 whole cloves
4 black peppercorns
2 bay leaves
4 cups red wine vinegar
6 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup flour
2 tablespoons sugar
8 gingersnaps, crushed

Wipe roast with a damp cloth, season with salt and pepper, and then place in very large pot.

In a medium bowl, combine the onions, carrot, celery, cloves, peppercorns, bay leaves, vinegar, and 5 cups water and sugar. Pour mixture over meat – add water if mixture doesn’t cover meat completely. Cover and refrigerate for 4 days, turning daily. On the 5th day, remove meat with slotted spoons and reserve the marinade.

Brown meat in convection oven (fi you have one – if not, your regular oven will do).  (I think this is where the butter comes in, but the recipe never said. Rub it on the meat to encourage browning.) Then place in deep roasting pan with marinade and cook, covered, until done, about 3 hours.

Remove the meat from the oven and crush ginger snaps into marinade, thicken with flour. Pour gravy over saurbraten. (Or, slice saurbraten and then serve in gravy.)

Excellent served over fried egg noodles or mashed potatoes.

This is a great recipe when you have leftovers in the fridge – meat, veggies, whatever! Also, you can make a homemade pie crust recipe if you don’t have the pre-made ones on hand.

Homemade Pot Pie

1 (15 oz.) package refrigerated pie crusts
1/3 cup margarine or butter
1/3 cup chopped onion
1/3 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 1/2 cup chicken broth
2/3 cup milk
2 1/2 to 3 cups COOKED meat – chopped chicken, turkey breast, etc.
2 cups frozen mixed vegetables, thawed, or canned will do too.

Heat oven to 425 degrees. Prepare pie crusts according to directions – place one crust in bottom of 9 inch pie pan.

In medium saucepan, melt margarine over medium heat. Add onion; cook 2 minutes or until tender. Stir in flour, salt, and pepper until well blended. Gradually stir in broth and milk; cook, stirring constantly, until bubbly and thickened.

Add meat and mixed vegetables; remove from heat. Spoon meat mixture into crust-lined pie pan. Top with second crust and flute; cut slits in several places.

Bake 425 degrees for 30-40 minutes or until crust is golden brown. Let stand 5 minutes before serving. (6 servings) Can also be adapted to make individual mini-pies.

A recipe from our archives.

Pacific Rim Beef

8 lb. Tri Tip Steak
4 cups soy sauce
2/3 cup sesame oil
4 tablespoons sugar
4 tablespoons chopped ginger
16 cloves of garlic, crushed
4 teaspoons toasted sesame seeds

Trim excess fat from meat. In a large bowl, combine remaining ingredients excluding sesame seeds. Place meat and marinade in covered dish – refrigerate overnight. Broil, slice thin, sprinkle on sesame seeds.

A recipe from our archives.

Oven Fried Chicken

3 cups bread crumbs
1 cup Parmesan cheese
6 tbsp parsley, chopped
4 tsp onion powder
1 tbsp sweet paprika
1 tbsp dried oregano
3 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp pepper
1 cup butter
9 tbsp Dijon mustard
8 chicken breasts

Thaw chicken under constant refrigeration, if frozen.

Combine all dry ingredients in a large bowl and set aside. Melt butter and add Dijon mustard and stir to blend. Brush pieces of chicken with butter mixture. Roll in bread crumb mixture. Place on baking sheet.

Bake at 350 degrees until golden brown (or inside temperature is at least 150) – about 1 hour.

A recipe from our archive.

Cornish Game Hens with Honey

1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 cup sherry
1/2 cup honey
1 tblsp. cumin, ground
1 1/2 tsp. anise seed
3/4 tsp. cinnamon, ground
8 Cornish game hens
salt and pepper

Combine olive oil, vinegar, sherry, cumin, anise seed and cinnamon in a small heavy saucepan. While stirring constantly, simmer until mixture thickens slightly, about three minutes. Remove glaze from heat. Brush hens with glaze. Salt and pepper hens generously. Roast in oven at 400 degrees until thigh juices run clear when pierced, about 45 to 50 minutes. Baste every 10 minutes. Serves 8.

This is the original recipe we had for White Chicken Enchiladas. In later revisions, we used our own homemade white cheese sauce instead of the canned soups, simple because we wanted to make a version without MSG, which canned soups have in spades. (And in high enough quantity, makes our hands itch!)

White Chicken Enchiladas

Microwave 1 minute on high:
1 chopped onion
2 tablespoons butter

Add:
4 cups chopped cooked chicken
1 can (4 oz.) chopped green chilies
1 can cream of chicken soup

Microwave 1 minute on high, again.

Fill 12 small flour tortillas with the chicken mixture. Arrange in a 9×13 pan.

Combine:
1 1/2 cups sour cream
1 can cream of celery soup

Pour over filled tortillas. Sprinkle with 1 lb. grated cheddar and/or monterey jack cheese. Cover with aluminum foil. Bake at 350 degrees, covered, for 10-15 minutes, then uncovered for 5-10 minutes more. (This is also microwavable – don’t cover it with aluminum foil, and add the cheese AFTER you microwave it and then let it melt.)

Note: First time we made this we forget to get chilies and made due with some dried red pepper we had – that worked too – a bit hotter perhaps though. Tasted good topped with more sour cream.

Sometimes you’re inspired to try something new, and sometimes you’ve just run out of the instant stuff. This is definitely the latter case.  We had looked up a recipe from allrecipes.com a while ago, and decided to give it a try.

There are two main differences between the homemade and commercial versions (not counting the various “enriched flour” ingredients). The first is the use of butter instead of hydrogenated cottonseed or soybean oil, and the second was that the homemade recipe used only one egg instead of two.

The pancakes themselves came out lighter and softer than their commercial counterparts. The taste was good, but it felt a little like something was missing. We’re thinking of trying a second egg in mix next time to see how that tastes.

Overall it was a fairly easy process, and I liked removing the hydrogenated oils from the mix.

Now, after many iterations and recipe tweaks from ourselves and others, we’ve posted the recipe we use, below.

Homemade Pancake Recipe

• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 4 tablespoons white vinegar
• 2 cups flour
• 4 tablespoons white sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 4 tablespoons melted butter

1. Combine milk with vinegar in a medium bowl and set aside for 5 minutes to “sour”. (If you have buttermilk, you can use that instead of the regular milk and vinegar.)

2. Combine dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl.

3. Whisk egg and melted butter into “soured” milk.

4. Pour flour mixture into wet ingredients and whisk until lumps are gone.

5. Heat nonstick large skillet or griddle over medium heat and coat with cooking spray or light oil/butter. Pour 1/4 cupfuls of batter onto griddle. Cook until many bubbles appear on the surface of the pancakes. Flip with a spatula and cook until browned on the other side.

Makes about 20 good sized pancakes.