In the Kitchen: Christmas Eve Cake

     When I was young, we always spent Christmas Eve with my dad's side of the family.  The evening revolved around the potluck supper which, of course, ended in delicious dessert.  I recently had a craving for the chocolate cake we had, and asked my aunts for the recipe.  Turns out it was a basic Texas Sheet Cake with homemade frosting.  Here's the recipe:

Cake Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
4 tbs cocoa
1 cup water

2 eggs
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup shortening

Cake Directions:
Pre-heat oven to 400°.  Mix sugar and flour together.  In a pan, heat cocoa, water and shortening and bring to a boil.  Mix in sugar/flour, then add buttermilk, vanilla and eggs.  Bake in a 13x9 pan for 20-25 minutes.

Frosting Ingredients:
1 stick butter
4 tbs cocoa
5 tbs buttermilk
1 box powdered sugar

Frosting Ingredients:
Melt butter in a pan then add cocoa.  Sift in powdered sugar gradually and mix until smooth then add 1 tbs vanilla.  Pour the frosting over the still-warm cake.

I made the cake for the first time today and couldn't resist licking the frosting spoon when I was done.  Yum!

In the Kitchen: Apple Cobbler

     This is my Dad's super simple recipe for Apple Cobbler. You can pretty much make any kind of fruit cobbler with this recipe.

Ingredients:
1 cup sugar
1 cup flour
1 cup milk
1 can pie filling
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 stick butter/margarine
sprinkle of cinnamon-sugar

Directions:
Pre-heat the oven to 375º. Melt a stick a butter or margarine in a casserole dish. Mix flour in sugar into a bowl and then mix in the milk, finally mix in the vanilla extract. Pour the batter into the casserole dish. Spoon the pie filling evenly on top of the batter. Don't spread or compress. Bake for 35 or 40 minutes. Sprinkle cinnamon sugar on top. Serve and eat with vanilla ice cream.

In The Kitchen: Chicken and Rice

     Dad made up this recipe, inspired by other recipes that combine chicken and rice. It's kind of a simple Chicken á la King, but he came up with the ingredient measurement himself through trial and error.  In part, it was created to feed picky young eaters.  If you recreate this recipe, you can add in anything you want: peas, carrots, mushrooms, etc. But I like it how it is.

Ingredients:
2 14.5 can of chicken broth
1 and 1/3 cups rice
2 cans of Campbell's cream of chicken soup
1 and 1/2 tbs sugar
4.5 oz Swanson premium chicken breast

Directions:
Cook rice in the 2 and 2/3 cup of chicken broth for 20 minutes.  Pour remaining broth in another large pot with cream of chicken, sugar and salt and pepper to taste, heat until hot. Drain the cans of chicken, the put the chicken on a plate and mash it with the flat of a knife to break up chunks. When rice is finished cooking, add half and one can of chicken and mix. Add remaining rice and chicken and mix. Sit for five minutes and done.

In The Kitchen - Carrot Cake

For the three major holidays (Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter) there were certain dishes that each family member was responsible for. For my mom, one of those was Carrot Cake. This recipe comes from a bag of Colonial Sugar. My grandmama found it after trying many recipes. She said that it was the cake closest to what she was looking for.

For me, the making of this cake is required for the holidays - even though I don't hardly eat it. If we didn't have this cake on the table, it wouldn't be the holidays.

Here's the recipe, on the cards my Grandmama originally wrote them on:

In The Kitchen - Salmon Patties

This is one of my absolute favorites! And it's easy.

Ingredients:
3 cans of Salmon (boneless & skinless)
3 eggs
2 heaping soup spoons of sea food flour
1 heaping tsp cornmeal

Instructions:
Mix it all (not too dry!) and fry it in a pan of veggie or canola oil.

Try putting a pattie between a biscuit and have a salmon pattie sandwich - yum!

In The Kitchen - Holiday Macaroni

For the three big family holidays (Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter) mom always made this baked macaroni. It's straight off the back of the Mueller's noodle box and it's sooo yummy! My sister and I started helping mom make this when we were kids and now often make it on our own.

Ingredients:

2 tbs Margarine

1/4 cup unsifted flour

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp mustard

1/4 tsp pepper

2 & 1/2 cups milk

2 cups grated cheese

8oz elbow macaroni
1/4 cup breadcrumbs

Directions:

"In 2-quart saucepan melt margarine over low heat. Stir in flour, salt, mustard and pepper until smooth. Remove from heat. Gradually stir in milk until smooth. Stirring constantly, cook over medium heat about 10 minutes or until thickened. Remove from heat. Stir in 1 & 1/2 cups of the cheese until melted. Turn macaroni into greased 2-quart casserole. Pour cheese mixture of macaroni; mix well. Mix remaining cheese and bread crumbs; sprinkle over top of casserole. Bake in 375°F oven 25 minutes or until topping is lightly browned. Makes 6 servings."

When we make it, we double the reciepe and leave out the breadcrumbs.

In the Kitchen - Chicken Fried Steak (Cube Steak)

In our house, my Dad was the cook. One of my favorite dinners was always Chicken Fried Steak. We called it Cube Steak, after the type of meat used. My sister, Sarah, never like Cube Steak though, so Dad made her a hamburger. You would not be wrong to call us spoiled where Daddy's cooking was concerned. Anyway, here's his recipe:

Ingredients:

Cube Steak

1 Egg

2 1/2 cups milk

1 Pound Flour

Salt & Pepper

Paper towls

Directions:

In a large bowl, beat the egg and add the milk. Mix this together. Pour flour into a zip-lock bag and add salt & pepper. Dunk cube steak in eggs/milk and then put it into the flour bag. Shake! You are now very messy, 'cause you've done all of this with your hands. Clean up with paper towels. Heat a pan and add 1/2 inch deep oil. Test heat with water and check for sizzle. Place steak in pan. Cook 5 minutes, flip. Repeat twice and cover. Flip again, cook 5 minutes, uncovered. (20 or so minutes total). Eat and enjoy. Add biscuit gravy if desired.

In the Kitchen - Cornbread (two ways)

My Dad is a great cook.  I can't get many family stories out of him, but I can always get a recipe.  Here's his cornbread recipe, followed by my maternal grandmother's recipe. 

Dad's:

Ingredients:

2 cups corn meal (three rivers)

1 egg, slightly beaten

1 1/s cup milk

1 or 2 tbs sugar

2 tbs veggie oil

Directions:

Heat oven to 425˚ with skillet in the oven.  After heated, add 2 tbs of veggie oil to coat the pan. Add pre-mixed ingredients.  Cook for abt 22 minutes until golden.  Let sit 5 minutes before cutting.

Grandmama's:

Ingredients:

pretty much the same, no sugar.

Directions:

Heat oven to 425˚ with skillet in the oven with 2 tbs crisco shortening in pan.  Add heated grease to ingredient mix and cook.