Pepper Steak

1 lb beef strips
1 large onion, sliced into rings
1 large green bell pepper, cut into long strips
2 cans Campbell's beef gravy
Olive oil
2 beef bouillon cubes
Salt and pepper

Place tbsp oil in large pan on medium heat.  Sprinkle salt and pepper on the beef, add to hot oil. Let cook through,stirring while it cooks. Usually a few minutes. Remove beef from pan.
Add pepper and onions. Sauté.
Replace beef with vegetables and stir.
Add two cans of gravy. Fill one can 3/4 full of water and stir in. Add two beef bouillon cubes and salt and pepper. Stir. Let simmer til heated through.
Serve over rice.

Marmee's Chicken and Rice

1 small fryer chicken, about 3-4 lbs
2 cups rice, dry
Salt and pepper

Rinse chicken and remove all giblets. Place in large pot. Fill with water almost to top of pot. Make sure the cavity of the bird is filled with water. Add salt and pepper. Start with about 1/2 tsp of salt and add more if needed.
Bring pot to a boil, then turn down to a low boil for 25 minutes. Flip the bird over carefully and boil an additional 20 minutes.
Very carefully remove chicken from the pot, allowing groth to escapee the cavity. Set aside and let cool.
Defat the broth.  Place in a heat resistant bowl and use defatting cup. Then pour broth through strainer bac into the pot. Bring to a good boil.
Add rice. Cook 25 minutes, uncovered. Stir continually. Add water if it becomes too thick.
While the rice cooks, pull chicken off the bone and add back into the pot dring last five minutes of rice cooking time.

Marmee always serves this with cranberry sauce.

Stew Meat and Rice

This is a Marmee classic. It is just what it sounds like: stew meat and rice. And potatoes. It is definitely comfort food. These amounts were used to make dinner for two with leftovers. Marmee said she doubles it when cooking for the whole family.

1 lb of stew meat
1 large onion
4 large potatoes
1 cup dry rice
salt and pepper water

1. Rinse the meat and place in a large pot. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
2. Add water to the pot about an inch over the meat.
3. Turn on high heat and bring to a boil. While it is heating, dice up the onion and add to the pot.
4. Add about 1/2 tsp of salt. May want to add more later.
5. Add two beef bouillion cubes.
6. Let cook for 1 1/2 hours at a low boil.
7. While it is cooking, peel and cut up potatoes into about 1 inch cubes. Add after it has boiled for 1 1/2 hours.
8. Turn up the heat and continue to boil about 30 minutes to cook potatoes. You may need to add warm water if it starts to get too thick.
9.Start the rice in a separate pot when you add the potatoes.

Enjoy! It's so simple yet so tasty!

Marmee's Macaroni and Cheese

This was most often a holiday specialty while I was growing up although we did occasionally get it on a regular night.

1 12 oz can of evaporated milk
1 lb block of sharp cheddar cheese (you may not use the full block)
2 eggs, beaten
Butter
2 cups macaroni
Salt and pepper

1. Cook the macaroni according to package directions. Drain and set aside.
2. While noodles cook, beat the eggs in a large bowl.  Add evaporated milk. Fill can with water and shake to get remaining milk out. Add to egg mixture. Add salt and pepper.
3. Take half the block of cheese and cut into 1 inch cubes. Shred the remaining half.
4. Spray a 9 x 13 pan with Pam and spread cubed cheese in bottom. Pour the noodles over the cheese. Pour the milk solution over this. You may need to take a fork and push the noodles down so they are mostly covered with liquid. They won't be entirely. Sprinkle with salt and pepper followed by the shredded cheese.
5. Bake in a 350 degree over for 45 minutes until cheese is brown and bubbly and a knife comes out relatively clean.

Italian Pesto Crock Pot Chicken

I got this recipe from a sister-in-law and every time I make it I get rave reviews.  So I figured it was time it went up on the blog.

4 large chicken breasts
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 small container of pesto sauce
1/2 stick of butter
8 oz cream cheese, softened and cubed
1 pkg dry Italian dressing
1 1/2 tbsp dry onions

Add everything to the crock pot.  Cook on high 4 hours.  Once it's done I take a couple forks and shred the chicken and stir everything together.  Cook an additional 20 minutes.  I serve it over rice.  Couldn't get any easier!

**Ninety-two years old and she never tried pesto!**

The Bishop's Zucchini Muffins

Last night, some kind and generous person(s) left an enormous zucchini on Julie's doorstep. Since I was in charge of bread for Sunday dinner today, I decided to use it to make zucchini bread muffins. I found a recipe online and set to work. I chose to double the recipe as we usually have a fairly large group of people over for dinner and the recipe was vague as to how many muffins it would yield. Well, 24 giant muffins, 24 mini muffins, and one mini loaf of zucchini bread later, we decided we had way more than we needed...

I've included the original recipe here. So you'll probably get about 2.5 dozen, depending on how full you fill the cups.

3 cups grated zucchini

2/3 cup melted unsalted butter

1 & 1/3 cup sugar

2 eggs, beaten

2 tsp vanilla

2 tsp baking soda

pinch salt

3 cups all purpose flour

2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Stir in zucchini and then the melted butter. Sprinkle baking soda and salt over zucchini mixture and mix in.

In a separate bowl, mix flour, nutmeg, and cinnamon. Stir into zucchini mixture.

Coat each muffin tin with butter or nonstick cooking spray. Use a spoon to distribute batter, filling the cups completely. (This is where you can make it go further if you don't want giant muffins. They will rise up quite a bit.) Bake on middle rack for 25-30 minutes, til golden brown and bounce back when lightly touched. Test with a toothpick to ensure they are done through. Let cool in pan for 5 minutes, then on a cooling rack for another 20 minutes.

Attempt to determine, via social media, who donated the zucchini that inspired your baking venture. Get suckered by your former bishop into taking him a batch only to discover he was lying about giving you the vegetable... Continue to wonder... and laugh.

Cinnamon Rolls!

During my last visit to Mass, Mom Cox taught me how to make cinnamon rolls.  My first and only attempt to make them from scratch prior to these lessons had resulted in something more akin to Chinese fighting stars than a sweet breakfast treat.  Twice while I was there she showed me how to make them, each time listing off about a dozen different variations she sometimes uses.  How could I help getting a little confused?

Well, a few weeks ago, I decided to try my hand at her recipe.  It was a Sunday evening, I had plenty of time.  I tossed the ingredients in the bread machine and worked on cleaning up while the machine kneaded the dough.  Desiring the lightest, fluffiest rolls possible, I elected not to add any extra flour like the recipe suggests.  Mistake number 1.

Once the dough had time to rise, I turned it out onto the counter and began rolling the dough out, all the while chatting with Matt about who knows what.  I mixed up the filling and spread it on the dough.  Next, I went to roll up the dough and discovered I had rolled it out so flat, it was practically transparent in some places.  Guess I was too engrossed in conversation to notice.  Mistake number 2.

Chris came to the rescue with some interesting ideas on how to cut the dough into individual rolls.  I think the pizza cutter did the least damage to the shape of the extremely delicate dough.

More like cinnamon globs than rolls.  :(

The recipe says to line the pan with parchment paper.  Well, when you discover you have no parchment paper on a Sunday evening, you use the next best thing: wax paper!  Mistake number 3.  The rolls had been baking only two minutes when I noticed a burning smell and opened the oven to check on the rolls, only to release a cloud of smoke into the air, caused by melting wax on a very hot oven.  Just open some windows and let in some fresh air...

They don't look too bad...

Once smothered in icing, the rolls don't look half bad.  You can't see how misshapen they are underneath that layer of sugar.

Growing fed up with the slow and messy process of slicing off individual rolls, 

Chris decided to make half the dough into one giant cinnamon roll.  

To my utter surprise and great satisfaction, the cinnamon rolls turned out to taste delicious.  So either I'm really good at saving a lost cause or Mom's recipe is idiot-proof.  I'm betting on the latter!