The Plucky Housewives

My daughter got married last month.  It was beautiful.  Scottish wedding with Thistle and English Roses, groom and groomesmen in kilts and foods from the British Isles.  One of her requests was Scotch Eggs.  Now, the scotch eggs never did make it to the reception food table.  They ended up on the Sunday morning after-the-wedding brunch table, but they were there.   My kids have been dining on Scotch Eggs for as long as they have been my kids.  As a single mom, they were great school day breakfast food.  I dont even remember when I started making them.  Long before I had kids.  I remember eating them as a wee totter at my Great Aunt's house when I was young.  Here's a little history about those tasty, protein packed breakfast yummies.  They have been claimed to have been invented by Fortnum and Mason department store of London in 1738, as a snack food for coach travelers exciting the city.  There is a more ancient ...

Homemade Soft Pretzels - Easy!! I have always enjoyed a good soft pretzel.   But, then again, I am a nut for bread, period.   Add to that a craving for mustard, and I am drawn into the fresh, hot, soft, warm, delight, smothered with the tang of a good yellow mustard! I am also a pinterest addict.   I think I spend more time on pinterest than on Facebook, which seems to be more productive.   Where is this going, you ask?  While perusing pinterest in search of ideas, I came across a pin for hot soft pretzels.  The picture of the pretzels was great, because a wicked craving for fresh hot soft pretzels ensued and was not satisfied until this morning.  So, all in all, that craving lasted 2 weeks, about? I never really thought that making pretzels would be enjoyable.  I believed they were probably too complicated and the outcome would pale in comparison to those made at the pretzel stand in those rotating ovens.  I think I believed the magi...

This recipe is a favorite and is based on the yummy bread made by Great Harvest.   Its good for eating, toasting, making into french toast and is a super bread if you love bread pudding.  This recipe makes four loaves.  It can be halved to make two, if needed. 3 T yeast 1/2 c sugar 4 eggs 3-3/4 c warm water 4-1/2 t salt 4-5 T vegetable oil 2-1/2 generous cups (use more if you like) cinnamon baking chips 11-12 c all-purpose flour (or can use a bread flour or a mix of bread, all-purpose or white whole wheat). Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a small bowl, combine yeast, 1/4 c warm water and 1 T sugar.  Let sit for 10 minutes.  To a large mixing bowl, add remaining water, eggs, and oil.  Combine.  Add the yeast mixutre to the water, eggs and oil.  To this add salt, 4 cups of flour.  Mix until it resembles a good cake batter.   Add cinnamon chips and 7 more cups of flour, taking care to add them slowly avoiding dou...

A couple of weeks ago, in the throws of school and packing and house hunting, Hawley sent me a bunch of recipes to contribute to the site, cause she knew I was going crazy.  Of course, I didn't get to them right away, but here we are and we are back, at least until I have to unplug in a month and relocate my studio/office.  But until then, the stories and recipes will once again flow.  Thanks for being patient and thanks for continuing to come back to the site! Today's recipe is cornbread... I am putting both Hawley's and my version of this recipe out there.  They are a tad different, but both are delicious and I know everyone usually has a reason why they like their cornbread a certain way. Here's Hawley's: When I got married, my mother-in-law gave me a cast iron frying pan and said that I would use this more than any other pan.  I did and I still do.  I love my black cast-iron pan.  I use it for pancakes, bacon, fried eggs, cornbread and just a...

I would love to be able to tell you that my sweet ol Appalachian granny from West Virginia made this wonderful dish, but that would be lying.  I have no Appalachian grandma.  But we can pretend, right?  I have yet to really determine their origins.  Most of what I am finding is that they are German - but then again, I could claim my wonderful German grandma used to make these.... shoot, can't do that either, unless any of my cousins will back me up???   Anyhow, I made these wonderful things for the first time this morning.   They are sort of a yorkshire pudding but sweet instead of savory.   They were just delicious!  I thought that they would go well for when all the kids are home and we have a house full of company.  Easy to mix up, 20 or so minutes in the oven.  You can be making bacon/sausage and setting a table while it cooks.  Cheap, easy and oh so good.  My kind of food!  SIDE NOTE:  The traditional recipe does...

My mother, dear Arlene, made this chicken and rice casserole often, and I mean often.  I swear we had it once a week, at least.   It wasn't until I was a single parent that I really understood why it was such a staple.  It was easy, it fed a lot of people (and there were a lot of us) and it tasted pretty good.   It was one of her signature dishes - well signature casseroles.  She even included it a family cookbook put together many years ago by my cousin Todd.   However, the recipe in the family cookbook, just never was right.   Something was off.   Night before last, my daughter called and wanted me to remind her how to make the casserole.  I rattled off the process and thought, ya know, I need to work this all out, cause it just doesn't work that way and here I am perpetuating a not so very good recipe.  Last night, I went to work on figuring out what the issue was with this recipe and what I could do to make it really good. Mind you...

Yesterday was one of those days. No, this week has been one of those weeks, where I just haven't had time or energy to cook. I have lots of ideas, lots of recipes out, but I am not even in the mood to go to the grocery store, let alone cook. That being said, I decided to pull some meats out of the freezer.  I had handy a recent delivery of pork products from my favorite local organic farm.  I had grabbed some of his homemade italian sausage and some ground pork.   I let it thaw and in the meantime, was trying to figure out what I should do with it.  I wasn't interested in anything Italian.  We have had too much of that lately.   I had these great farmers market mushrooms I needed to use up as well and then the idea came.  Meatballs - but then I didn't want Italian.  How about Swedish meatballs.  They have that nice creamy mushroom sauce/gravy.   It all clicked.  Now remember, I am still not in the mood to really cook a gravy fro...