Susan recently asked a few questions about cooking styles, and I thought this might be fun to explore. Feel free to answer these questions also, either here or on your own blog.

So what kind of cook are you? Meat-and-potatoes? Gourmet? Or somewhere in between?

More “meat and potatoes” than gourmet, though my family likes a lot of casseroles, too. My husband and I have commented that the more “gourmet” a meal is at a restaurant or banquet, the more the salad looks like someone went out into the back yard and picked weeds. 🙂

What’s your favorite cookbook/cooking magazine?

Some of my favorite cookbooks are ones put together by churches or groups — real tried and true recipes from people I know. I’ve worn out my 1979 edition of the Betty Crocker cookbook. I’ve thought about replacing it, but I don’t know if the newer versions would have the recipes I most use. I guess I could cut them out of the old one, though. I also loved Better Homes and Gardens Complete Step By Step Cookbook. It was a lifesaver those early years — had pictures and explanations for the basic steps for several techniques and procedures.

I love Taste of Home magazine and it’s spin-offs: Cooking for 2 (I started getting this when my older kids started being away so much with youth group and work and then college. My husband and I found ourselves alone for dinner except for Jesse, who doesn’t eat much at one sitting, and I had forgotten how to cook for just two or three) and Simple and Delicious (used to be called Quick Cooking — I liked that better).

What is usually in your pantry, your staple ingredients that you can’t do without?

Well, all the usuals: flour, sugar, brown sugar, powdered sugar, baking soda and powder, vanilla, cinnamon and other baking spices, oregano, basil, minced onion, garlic powder, chili powder, Pam spray, tomato sauce, cream of chicken soup, cream of mushroom soup, ramen noodles, tomato and other soups, canned green beans, Veg-all, canned spaghetti and meatballs (I often have that for a quick lunch if we don’t have any left-overs that I like), canned chili, tuna, “lite” canned peaches and pears, oatmeal, cream of wheat, granola bars, Corn Chex (my cereal) and Reese’s Peanut Butter cereal (Jim’s), decaf tea bags, coffee, boxed mac and cheese, Rice-a-roni (I could do without the last two, but they do come in handy for quick side dishes). In the frig: milk, OJ, apple juice, margarine, cinnamon butter, Miracle Whip, honey mustard, sliced ham, various cheeses (we’re a cheesy family 😀 ), ranch dressing (Jesse lives on this stuff — uses it on most everything, even scrambled eggs), Catalina, Thousand Island, and Italian salad dressings, ketchup, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, eggs, fruits and veggies, hot dogs. In the freezer: ground turkey, chicken, frozen corn, Hot Pocket subs (kids like those for Saturday lunches or Sunday evenings), ice cream, hash browns.

What is your favorite type of dish to cook: main dish, sides, breads, desserts?

It kind of depends on the day and event, but probably mostly desserts.

Do you have a signature recipe, one that everyone knows you for?

Probably Veggie Pizza (an appetizer or munchie, not really a meal pizza) or Pudding Chip cookies or Double Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip cookies. I bring these most often to pot-lucks or get-togethers. I’ve posted the Pudding Chip recipe before, but it is buried at the end of a longer post, so I’ll put it and the other two at the end.

What’s your favorite appliance or gadget that you couldn’t get along without?

Probably my microwave. I depend on it a lot. I’m also partial to my little hand mixer and Salad Shooter.

And finally, what is your husband’s favorite recipe that you fix? You know, the one that says “I love you – this is especially for you!”

I just asked him. 🙂 He said spaghetti, homemade lasagna, and hamburger stroganoff. Over all he’s pretty easy to please. He likes a lot of things and is just as happy with tuna sandwiches and soup (last night’s meal) as something fancier. Sometimes I feel like I am cheating or wimping out or failing my family when I just throw together sandwiches for dinner, and I’m surprised when they walk in and say, “Oh, sandwiches! Good!” I do know that, though he appreciates my efforts at fancy or specialized meals, he’d rather have something simple and good than something that’s going to leave me stressed and frazzled and wiped out.

Here are those recipes:

Pudding Chip Cookies

2 1/4 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 cup butter or margarine, softened
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 pkg. (4 serving size) instant vanilla pudding
1 tsp. vanilla
2 eggs
1 pkg (12 oz) semi-sweet chocolate chips

Combine butter, sugars, pudding mix, and vanilla; beat until smooth and creamy. Beat in eggs. Mix flour with baking soda. and gradually add flour mixture. Stir in chips. Drop from teaspoon onto ungreased baking sheets, about 2 inches apart. Bake at 375 for 8 to 10 minutes (mine usually take 10-12 minutes). I used to add chocolate chunks or miniature Hershey’s kisses just for something different, but I haven’t been able to find those lately.

Double Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

I kind of adapted this when I was trying to find a recipe that came close to the peanut butter cookies at the Great American Cookie Company place at the mall. This is basically a peanut butter cookie recipe, but it’s not mashed down with a fork and it has peanut butter chips added. Because I love chocolate and peanut butter together, I also added chocolate chips

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 c. margarine, softened
1 c. peanut butter
1/2 c. light brown sugar, packed
1/2 c. granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp. vanilla
1 c. or more semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup or more peanut butter chips

Preheat oven to 375. Mix flour and baking soda. Beat margarine and peanut butter in a large bowl until creamy. Add sugars and beat until fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla until well-blended. On low speed or by hand gradually add flour mixture. Beat just until blended. Add chips and mix well. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls about 1 1/2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 10-12 minutes or until browned. Cool on cookie sheet 1 minute before removing to cool completely.

Veggie Pizza

2 8-oz. packages refrigerated crescent rolls
2 8-oz. packages cream cheese, softened
2/3 c. mayonnaise or Miracle Whip
1 tsp. dill weed
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. minced onion
1 1/2 c. each fresh chopped cauliflower, broccoli, and carrots
1 1/2 c. grated mild cheddar cheese

Roll out crescents rolls onto a 15 x 10 inch baking sheet; seal seams. Bake 15 minutes at 375 or until browned. Cool. Mix cream cheese, mayo or Miracle Whip, dill, garlic powder, onion. Spread over crust; sprinkle with vegetables and cheese and press down slightly. Refrigerate for two hours before serving. Cut into small squares.

The vegetables listed are my favorites to use, but others could be substituted or added, such as sprouts, celery, radishes, peas, etc.

When I posted about my latest cooking fiasco, my friend Carol asked for the recipe — the correct one, not my altered version. 🙂 I am glad to oblige.

This comes from a 1979 Betty Crocker cookbook and is originally for beef teriyaki.  It called for 1 1/2 lbs. beef boneless top loin or sirloin steak, but I used this recipe a lot for cubed steak when I found it on sale. Then one day I decided to try it with chicken, and my husband liked it a lot better with chicken than steak. I like it with either.

The measurements for the sauce here are twice what they are in the book because we like some of the sauce over the rice. I like to use chicken tenderloin for this. I have made this for Sunday dinner before, leaving the meat in the refrigerator to marinate, even though it is more than the required hour. I like it that way, but Jim feels the flavor is too strong. I have also made it without letting it marinate — Jim likes it better that way. Probably the one hour time recommended is best, but you can experiment and see what you like.

Chicken Teriyaki 

1 1/2 to 2 lbs. or so of boneless, skinless chicken
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon ginger
1 teaspoon garlic powder (original recipe calls for 1 clove garlic, crushed)
2 tablespoons cornstarch
Rice

Cut chicken into 1/8 inch or so slices (easiest done when it is still partially frozen). Mix soy sauce, oil, sugar, ginger, and garlic. Stir in chicken, coating each slice thoroughly. Cover and refrigerate 1 hour.

The original recipe says to drain the marinade from the chicken, but I usually just pour it all into a skillet. Cook and stir frequently over medium heat until chicken is done.

Then the original recipe says to add water to the reserved marinade to mix the cornstarch into, but since my marinade is already in the pan, I just take a small cup with a little water and stir in the cornstarch. Pour the cornstarch and water mixture gradually into the chicken. Heat to boiling, stirring constantly; reduce heat. Simmer uncovered about 5 minutes until sauce thickens to desired consistency. Serve over hot cooked rice.

I didn’t plan this meal very well…Let me back up to say that I’ve been spending some time in the evenings when we’re watching what little there is to watch on TV (summer TV is an even more barren place in the vast TV wasteland!) or listening to music (now that I can get to my records) going through recipe magazines like Taste of Home and its affiliates that have stacked up over the last several months while I have been doing other things. Meal planning is not my favorite thing to do anyway, and I sometimes cringe at having just the same old stuff I’ve been making for years to choose from. So going through magazines and getting ideas sometimes revives the culinary aspect of my homemaking occupation.

I had found a couple of recipes for ham steaks that sounded really good. I had only made ham steaks maybe once or twice in 27+ years of marriage. I don’t remember that my mom ever made them. I thought they’d be a good addition to my repertoire because, as the boys get older and get involved in youth group activities and jobs and such, we frequently find only 2 or 3 of us at home at dinnertime. A ham steak would be a good way to make a dish with ham without having to roast a whole big one.

So I clipped the two recipes I found and put them in my folder for new recipes. The next few times I was at the grocery store I looked for ham steaks, but I couldn’t find them. Then one day at another store that I use just for quick pick-ups (it doesn’t have many of the regular things I buy and its layout doesn’t make sense to me, so I don’t do the biggest part of my shopping there), I suddenly remembered ham steaks and swung by their meat department to see if they had any — and they did! I got two to have enough for all four of us (the fifth family member is still working at a camp in CA for the summer for a few more weeks). I put them in the freezer when I got home.

Last Saturday night I decided to try the ham steaks for dinner the next day, so I pulled them out of the freezer to thaw. I got out my new-recipe folder to dig out the ham steak recipe to see what I needed to do the next day. That was when I discovered it called for fully-cooked ham steaks (mine weren’t), pineapple juice (which I didn’t have on hand and wouldn’t unless I bought it for a special recipe) and ground mustard (I only had prepared).

Hmmm.

Off and on through the rest of the evening and the next morning I pondered what to do with them. I thought through my other ham recipes and wasn’t inspired. I had really wanted to make something new. After breakfast I looked at the recipe again. I decided to use apple juice instead of the pineapple and prepared mustard instead of the ground. As I mixed up the ingredients for the marinade, it looked pretty good until the mustard — that made it look too yellowish. As I put the ham and marinade into a ziploc bag and put it in the refirgerator, I hoped I didn’t just ruin two perfectly good pieces of meat and tried to think of another quick-fix meal I could have on standby if this failed.

When we came home from church I asked my husband if he would grill the ham, to which he readily agreed. Since the recipe had called for already cooked ham and since he had never grilled hams steaks before, he used a meat thermometer just to make sure it was done. But it was sliced thinly enough that getting cooked through was no problem.

When he brought in the platter of grilled meat he said, “You’re going to wish you had more of this.” I said, “Why? Is it good?” He said, “Yeah!”

And it was! Really good! It didn’t have the type of flavor that just bowls you over when you put it in your mouth, but as you begin eating it, the delicious flavor comes through.

So I’m delighted to have a new great recipe on hand. And since it marinates for a couple of hours, it works really well for an after-church meal if you have time to make up the marinade beforehand. I thought about trying it to make it the way it was originally written next time just to compare — but I think I will stick with what works.

I didn’t take a picture, though I thought about it (in fact, I was thinking “You know you’re a blogger when you want to take pictures of a new dinner before letting anyone eat”). Just think dark pink meat with grill stripes.

Here’s my revised version, which I doubled for us:

Marinated Ham Steak

1/2 cup apple juice
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon margarine, melted
1 to 2 teaspoons mustard
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
1/8 teaspoon paprika
1 ham steak

Combine first six ingredients and pour into a resealable plastic bag. Add ham; seal bag and turn to coat. Refrigerate at least two hours, turning occasionally.

Drain marinade and grill ham, uncovered, over medium heat. If the ham is fully cooked beforehand, grill only 3-4 minutes on each side; if the ham is raw, plan on 10-15 minutes or until meat thermometer reaches 140-160 degrees.

The original recipe says to baste the steak frequently with the reserved marinade, but that’s best only if the ham is fully cooked before it marinates. If the meat is raw when it marinates, you don’t want to use that marinade for basting and end up with residuals from raw meat on your cooked steak — only baste with that marinade if you allow time for the added basting to get fully heated: don’t baste with it just before serving or in the last few of minutes of grilling.

The original recipe also said to cut the steak in half before serving, but I cut it up into smaller pieces before marinating in order to get it to fit in the bag plus to let the marinade get to more surfaces of the meat.

If you ever try this, let me know what you think.

My husband grilled pork chops yesterday, and I thought I’d share with you his mouth-watering recipe. 🙂 I don’t remember quite how we stumbled across this stuff, but it’s wonderful. He just sprays the pork chops with spray-on margarine for a little flavor and for something for the spices to stick to, then sprinkles them with McCormick’s Garlic Season-all Seasoning Salt, then grills them. That’s it!

No, this is not a paid advertisement — just sharing a good find. 🙂

I was in the middle of making this dessert this afternoon when it occurred to me to take a picture of it and post the recipe, a la Barb. 🙂

Four Layer Dessert

2/3 cup butter or margarine
2 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
3 tablespoons sugar
8-ounce container whipped topping
1 8-ounce package cream cheese, softened
1 cup powdered sugar
3 cups milk
2 3-ounce packages any instant pudding mix

Turn oven to 350 degrees. Place margarine in a 9 x13 baking pan and place in oven until margarine is melted. Remove pan; add graham cracker crumbs and sugar; mix well, spread evenly over bottom of pan and bake for 7-8 minutes. Let cool.

Mix the cream cheese, powdered sugar, and 1 cup of the whipped topping and spread mixture evenly over the graham cracker crust. Mix the instant pudding mixes and milk and spread over the filling. At this point you can refrigerate the dessert for 15 minutes, if you’d like, so it congeals a bit. Spread the remaining whipped topping over the top and refrigerate 2 hours.

You can make up the graham cracker mixture in a separate bowl and then put it in the pan: I’d just rather do all of that in the same place.

We usually make this with chocolate pudding, and, if you’d like, you can take a Hershey’s candy bar and vegetable peeler and shave little chocolate curls over the whipped topping. But another variation we like involves fruit. I use banana pudding and, in between the cream cheese layer and pudding layer, I add strawberries cut into bite-sized pieces and banana slices (in which case I guess it should be called Five Layer Dessert). Here is a picture of the layer with the fruit. I didn’t take a picture of the completed dessert because it just would have looked like whipped topping.

Our church has “family camp” on Wednesday nights during the summer with different men in the church or guests speaking on some topic relating to the family, then we have a fellowship afterward, usually with some theme involved. Tonight it is supposed to be “Fruit Filled Desserts.” I don’t make pies very well. They taste ok, but they’re not very “pretty.” So I went with this dessert instead.

You may notice the little bowl above the pan. Well….whenever I make this, I always want some right then. There is always a chance that it might be gone before I get to it at the fellowship, right? And if I take a scoop out of the finished product, it will be really obvious (though I have thought of doing so and leaving a little paper that says “Inspected by #12” in the empty spot. 🙂 ). So today I thought of putting a spoonful of each layer in a different bowl for me to…ah….taste-test. 🙂 😳

I mentioned in my Tuesday Tackle post below that I tackled a couple of things while making Stuffing Burgers, and I decided to share the recipe here.

1 cup packaged herb stuffing mix (I use Stove Top, chicken flavor)
3/4 cup milk
1 teaspoon minced onion (more or less to taste)
1 pound ground turkey or ground beef (I use ground turkey which comes in about 1.25 lb. packages)
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
Margarine
Hamburger buns
Condiments

Combine stuffing mix, milk, and onion: let stand about 5 minutes until mix is moistened. Add meat, salt, and pepper: mix well. Melt a little margarine in a non-stick skillet between medium and medium-high. Cook patties until brown, then flip them over and cook til done. Serve warm on hamburger buns with favorite condiments. Makes 8-10 patties.

These can also be grilled, but the ground beef would probably work better for that than the ground turkey.

This has a really savory flavor and is a family favorite. I like to take one of the leftover patties and make a grilled cheese sandwich with it for lunch the next day.