Chinese Chicken Salad

This recipe came to me in the late 1980's from my good friend Barbara who taught PreK with me for many years.  This recipe is reminiscent of the Asian Chicken Salad from that famous restaurant known for its cheese cakes.

I love this one for so many reasons.  It has a great mix of textures and it can be prepared for a crown ahead of time.  When doing it ahead, I fry the noodles and store them in a large zip loc bag, prepare the chicken, mix the dressing, and I put the green ingredients in a large bag.  I prepare the almonds and sesame seeds and put then aside, adding them when I throw the whole thing together.

Crunch Crunch Crunch!

Chinese Chicken Salad

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Ingredients:

Rice noodles

2 Chicken breasts

1 head of lettuce, shredded (crunchy variety like Iceberg or Romaine)

3 green onions, sliced

1 c. sliced celery

1 cucumber, sliced

3 Tbl. toasted sesame seed

3 Tbl. toasted slivered almonds

Dressing:

6 Tbl. sugar

7 Tbl. rice wine vinegar

2 tsp. Salt

¼ tsp. White pepper

1 tsp. Lemon juice

¼ cup vegetable or canola oil

Break apart ⅓ lb. rice noodles and deep fry in small batches as

They will puff up when fried.  Do not let them brown. Drain and

Put in paper grocery bag.  Store in air tight container if they are

not to be used immediately.

Combine dressing ingredients, shaking to mix. Store in a jar.

Bake or steam 2 chicken breasts.  Cool and shred. Mix with

2 Tbl. of dressing.

Before serving, toss chicken, noodles, and dressing with the

lettuce, green onions, celery, cucumber, sesame seeds and

almonds.

Bailey's Irish Cream Cheese Cake

Need a dessert for St. Patrick's Day?  Here you go!  I got this recipe from our school nurse back in the 80's.  We used to beg her to make it for staff luncheons.

Baileys Irish Cream Cheese Cake

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Ingredients:

8 ½ oz. package chocolate wafers

4 oz. Butter (1 stick)

24 oz. cream cheese at room temperature

¾  cup sugar

4 eggs at room temperature

½ cup Baileys Irish Cream

Cool Whip

Chocolate Shavings

Crush chocolate wafers between wax paper or in a food processor

and use a pastry cutter to blend in butter--the consistency should

hold together.  Use an 11 inch springform pan and spread crust on

bottom and slightly up the sides of the pan.  Chill.

Hand mix cream cheese, sugar, 1 egg and ½ cup Baileys.  

Add 3 more eggs one at a time while mixing.

Pour into pan and cook at 325 degrees for 45 minutes or until firm.

Cool and refrigerate.

Add Cool Whip on top and shavings fron any chocolate bar.  

You can use whipped cream instead of the Cool Whip, if desired.

Buttermilk Pound Cake

This is another recipe that comes from my early teaching years.  I can't remember exactly who gave this one to me but it came from one of several teaching assistants back in the early 1980's.  This is my basic pound cake recipe.  It's a good vanilla pound cake with a tender crumb due to the addition of the buttermilk.  Serve it plain or with fruit and ice cream.

Buttermilk Pound Cake

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1 cup butter

3 cups sugar

4 eggs

3 cups all purpose flour

¼ tsp. Baking soda

1 cup buttermilk

1 tsp. Vanilla

Cream butter and sugar.  Add eggs one at a time beating

well after each addition.  Combine flour and baking soda; add

alternately with buttermilk and beat well.  Stir in vanilla.

Pour into a greased and floured 10 inch fluted tube pan (bundt pan).

Bake at 325 degrees for 1 hour and 10 minutes or until cake tests done.

Cool in pan for 15 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool.  
If desired, dust with confectioner’s sugar.

*Note:  If using a dark coated pan, decrease oven to 300 degrees

and bake for 1 hour and 20 minutes.

German Chocolate Brownies

In my early days of teaching, we did a lot of eating at school.  We had Fat Fridays and afternoon meetings all dripping with goodies.  This recipe was one that one of the 5th grade teachers regularly made back in the mid 1980's.  It's wicked good and super easy!

German Chocolate Brownies

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Ingredients:

German Chocolate Cake Mix (preferably the kind with pudding)

3/4 melted butter

2/3 c. evaporated milk (1/3 c. + 1/3 c.)

1 c. chopped pecans

1 c. (6 oz.) semi sweet chocolate chips

14 oz. bag caramels

Flour and grease a 9 X 13 inch pan.  Combine one package of

German Chocolate cake mix with melted butter, 1/3 cup evaporated

milk and one cup chopped pecans.  Stir all by hand. Put one half

of this dough into the pan and bake at 350 degrees for only 6 minutes.

Sprinkle semi sweet chocolate chips over the baked crust.  Then

combine 1/3 cup evaporated milk with one 14 oz. package of light

caramels and melt together over low heat.  Spread caramel mixture

over the chocolate pieces.  Crumble remaining one half of dough

over caramel mixture.  Return to oven and bake at 350 degrees for

13 – 18 minutes.  Cool completely in pan then cut into bars.

Baked Pineapple Casserole

Who doesn't like pineapple with ham!  I know people who eat that combination on pizza!  This baked pineapple casserole has been a favorite side dish to serve with baked ham at Easter time.  It has a texture similar to those breakfast strata recipes that so may people make and, as a matter of fact, it does make a nice brunch dish.  This is another one from my mother-in-law--though I have no clue as to where she got it.  I hope to make it for Easter dinner tomorrow. 

Baked Pineapple Casserole

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1/2 cup butter or margarine

1 cup sugar

4 eggs

1 can crushed pineapple (20 oz.)

4 slices white bread, cubed

Cream butter and sugar.  Beat in eggs one at a time.  

Stir in drained pineapple, then fold in bread cubes.  

Place in 1 1/2 quart buttered casserole.   

Bake, uncovered for 1 hour at 350 degrees.

Easy Corn Pudding

This is one of those recipes that our family has enjoyed for years.  It's been one of Emily's favorites since we first tried it.  The recipe came from my mother-in-law who got it from a restaurant on the Eastern Shore some time in the early 1990's.   We've enjoyed it at family get togethers ever since.

This is a custard like dish that should be prepared right before serving.

Corn Pudding

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1 can white cream style corn

1 – 12 ounce can evaporated milk

1 cup sugar

3 Tablespoons cornstarch

2 eggs

Use a 1 1/2 quart casserole and put the sugar and cornstarch

in first.  Mix, then add eggs.  Next add the corn and milk.  

Dot with butter and bake at 350 degrees for approximately 1 hour.

Catalina Chicken

This is one of those recipes that is great for company.  First of all, it's deceptively easy yet it seems so elegant.  I literally received this recipe from a teacher colleague of mine in the early 1980's.  She worked for a caterer on the side and frequently served this.  There were so few ingredients that I've just always remembered it and it's always been a family favorite.  I used to chuckle when I'd serve it to company and they would ooh and ah over the sauce!

Catalina Chicken

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Easy and Elegant!

Serves 6

Ingredients:

6- Chicken breast halves

Pepperidge Farm Herb stuffing mix

1 egg

Jar of Kraft Catalina Salad Dressing

Prepare 3- 4 cups stuffing according to the directions on the package

(adding the optional egg).    Pound the breast halves flat. Place about

½ cup of stuffing in the middle of each breast half, roll the breast around

The stuffing and secure with a toothpick.

Place the breasts seam side down in a baking dish and pour the salad

Dressing over them.  Bake in 350 degree oven for 35 - 45 minutes or

until done, basting the chicken with the sauce in the pan..  

You can also cover with wax paper and microwave for 25 - 30 minutes.

Choose Your Filling Quiche

We had a huge vegetable garden when the kids were growing up.  As such, I loved recipes that allowed me to add things from the garden.  Quiche was good for that.  We always had spinach, cherry tomatoes, various peppers, asparagus . . . the list goes on.  I used the same basic quiche recipe with different veggie fillings based on whatever the harvest was.  I found I really liked having bacon or ham along with the veggies.   One thing I did so that I could make this whenever I wanted was to buy a large block of Jarlsburg cheese and shred it with the food processor.  I then bagged 1 1/2 cup portions in ziploc bags in the freezer.  I also made sure to keep a couple of cans of evaporated milk on hand.  That's probably how I ended up using that in lieu of cream or half & half, which I typically didn't keep.  Just pull your cheese out of the freezer a few hours ahead of time and save your trip to the store.  Ready made pie crust sheets also come in handy in the freezer!

Choose Your Filling Quiche

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Adapted from Quiche Pan, Potpourri Press 1976 (out of print)

Filling for 1 ½ inch deep quiche pan

Serves 6 - 8

Using pie crust of your choice, precooked for 10 minutes at 400 degrees and cooled.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Ingredients:

½ lb. bacon, diced and fried until crisp

1 ½ cup shredded Jarlsburg cheese

4 eggs

1 Tablespoon flour

12 oz. can evaporated milk

¼ tsp. Salt

Freshly ground black pepper

⅛ tsp. Nutmeg

2 Tablespoons butter melted

Place the bacon and cheese in the partially baked pastry shell.

Place the eggs in a bowl.  Add the flour and stir with a wire wisk.  It will

Appear lumpy, but do not worry about it.  It will be alright. Stir in all

The remaining ingredients.

Pour the custard into the pastry shell.  Bake for 35 minutes or until the quiche

has puffed slightly and the custard is lightly firm in the center.

Serve hot or cold.  (It is better hot!)

Other fillings:  My favorite is to add sliced cherry tomatoes and scallions to

the bacon.   You can also add cooked spinach, diced ham, asparagus.

Use your imagination!

Kong's Big Toll House Cookie

There are cake people and there are cookie people.  My son was definitely a cookie person and he always requested this big cookie in lieu of a birthday cake.  We experimented with different additions with our absolute favorite being the addition of Butterfinger BB's instead of chocolate chips.  I'm not sure that Butterfinger BB's are still available but I've seen bags of little mini Butterfinger candies that may be similar.  The BB's were ball shaped Butterfingers about the size of Milk Duds or Malted Mill balls.  The sky is the limit with the mini candy bars that are available these days.  If you can't find them, then chop full size candy bars into half inch chunks.

I had looked for this recipe a couple of years ago and couldn't find it.  I was heartsick, thinking that I had lost that little clipping for eternity.  Lo and behold, as often happens in an old cluttered house, it turned up when I was looking for something else!   Enjoy!

Kong’s Big Toll House Cookie

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Clipped from a women’s magazine sometime in the 1980’s

2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp. Baking soda

1 tsp. Salt

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened

¾ cup sugar

¾ cup firmly packed brown sugar

1 tsp. Vanilla extract

2 eggs

1 -- 12 oz. package (2 cups) Nestle Toll House semi-sweet chocolate morels

1 cup chopped nuts

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  In small bowl, combine flour baking soda and salt.  
Set aside. In large mixer bowl, beat butter, sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla extract
until creamy.  Beat in eggs. Gradually add flour mixture. Stir in Nestle Toll House
semi-sweet chocolate morsels and nuts.  Spread in greased 14 or 15 inch round
pizza pan. Bake 20 - 25 minutes. Cool, Cut into wedges.
Makes one 14 - 15 inch round cookie.

Option:  Spread batter in greased 15 ½ X 10 ½  jelly-roll pan. Bake 20 - 25 minutes.  
Cut in 2 inch squares. Makes 35 cookies.

Other additions:  Instead of chocolate chips, we liked Butterfinger BB’s or broken
Butterfinger pieces.  Toffee pieces is another option. Any of the mini candy bars
makes a great addition when broken in small pieces.