The Plucky Housewives

My Neice Anne is a fabulous cook and loves to try to take old things and make them new.   She takes combinations that you ordinarily wouldnt think of putting together and turns them into mouth-watering, just got to have more dishes.  This is a great salad that is a great accompaniment to any grill meal, or it can stand alone by adding some of that leftover grilled chicken or beef you had the night before! Annie’s Salad Romaine lettuce, washed, root end removed and rough chopped Grape or cherry tomatoes (I use 1/2 a Costco package of grape tomatoes) 3-4 cobs fresh corn, cooked and cut off the cob 2 avacados cubed 2-3 cans cannellini (white kidney) beans or great white northern beans, drained and rinsed 1 sweet onion, sliced thin Lighthouse brand Creamy Ciltrantro dressing (Taste the dressing and see if it has enough kick, if not, add more cilantro) Combine lettuce, tomatoes, corn, avocados, beans, onion in salad bowl.   Toss.   Add ...

Heritage House Smorgasbord - Madison Wisconsin cir 1960 This recipe started out as a simple bread pudding recipe.  When I was a kid, my parents very rarely took their brood of 10 (7 children, the parents and a crotchety old German grandpa) out to eat, but when they did, they went to a Smorgasbord restaurant.   Now, for those of you who do not know what a smorgasbord is, we now call them all-you-can-eat and buffets.   However, back in the late 60s, early 70s in Wisconsin, the preferred term was Smorgasbord – its that Norwegian heritage infiltrating the local culture.  In Madison, it was Heritage House on the Northeast side of Madison.  It was an iconic place for many years and unfortunately in the late 80s, it saw its demise. Where is this going?   To the dessert table, of course.   There, without fail, was bread pudding.  I tried it once and fell in love with the stuff.  Why, cause I adore and love...

I have always believed that homemade brownies are the best.  My mother made brownies from scratch and I never understood the whole box thing, since it really takes almost very little time extra to just use your own ingredients.   So this is my own recipe.  I have used many a recipe for brownies and have adapted this from all of them.   They are a soft, rich and moist brownie.  The key to a moist brownie……is in how long you bake them.  You will think they are underdone – but that’s when its right!   Here you go! Rich, Moist Brownies 1 c flour ½ t baking powder ¼ t salt 2 c sugar 4 eggs 2 t vanilla 1 c butter (2 sticks) 4 squares semi-sweet chocolate.  You can use unsweetened as well, but I recommend a high-grade chocolate.  1 c chopped pecans – optional Preheat oven to 325 degree.  Prepare a glass 9x13 cake pan.  I use Bakers spray, basically it’s Pam with flour...

Kevin & Amanda's Chess Squares So, I saw this recipe on Pinterest a few weeks ago and thought, hmmm.  I need to try this! With my daughter's open heart surgery, starting my final year of school and then a few major work projects, the blog got lost in the shuffle for a bit.  Last week however, I started on a cooking binge and the first thing on the clip board to try were these chess squares.  I read the blog that posted the recipe and realized they were reminiscent to her of another recipe.  I thought they sounded (and looked) like something I used to have at my grandmas.  So the sleuth in me kicked in, and a hunting I went, trying to find the progression on the variations of  this recipe and ultimately, the origins. Nieman Marcus Buttermilk Pie Paula Deen's Gooey Butter Cake Searching for "Chess Squares" took me to Nieman Marcus Bars, which led me to the Nieman Marcus Website and their Butter Cake . I then found the Paula Deen "Gooey ...

Summers, we grill.  Spring we grill and fall we grill.  My goal - figure out a way to endure the winter and continue to grill.  I grill more now that I live slightly out into the country where the local natural gas companies line stops short of my house by 50 feet. UGH.  So, I grill.  We had been up at the hospital with my daughter for the past two weeks and I wasnt in the mood to prepare anything extensive, so i pulled  out the iPad and searched through my saved Pinterest recipes.  Scoured the fridge and we came up with the following: Grilled Chicken marinated in Sweet Balsamic Vinaigrette with Zucchini and Mushroom Cheesy Rice and a side of grilled cabbage All of these recipes were inspired by Pinterest finds, but they also reminded me of favorites from home and friends.  Of course,  We adapted them and made them our own, as usual.  I think that's what we all sort of do, especially in a pinch.  I will link you the origi...

I have to say that the best success I have had with Strawberry Freezer Jam was this year! I got my hands on a boatload of berries this year and brought them home, with the absolute intention of making enough freezer jam to last us for a few years.  I ran out to get the pectin and containers and the store only had 1 box of the dry pectin but had 5 boxes of the liquid.  I had never used the liquid before, but thought, oh, what the heck.  Lets try it. I am in love.  It was easier and the freezer jam had a softer and more jam-like consistency as it gelled.  I took some out of the freezer today and opened it up for the first time and it was just like my mother's!  All the years before,  I could never get it to be the consistency that hers was.   I just love it.  Now, please note - its the full sugar recipe.   I have tried this year, all variations and this is for me, the better of the bunch!  So I am sharing... Enjoy!!! T...

My sister Charlene emailed the other day.  She wanted my mom's Sour Cream Cucumber Salad recipe.   Its not the first time someone has been asking for that salad lately.  Almost all the kids are home right now and everyone has put in their order for the good stuff!  So, nature is hinting that its a must on the menu tonight or tomorrow (along with a special strawberry cake for a special girl - which we will post as well). Its interesting to me that at times of stress or anxiousness, we long for the things that bring us a sense of home and family - peace and comfort.  I mean it's a duh - that's why they call it comfort food.  It's security, familiarity, all of that.  They also make us feel special.  When someone goes out of their way to make us something that is comforting a a taste of home, it brings us a feeling of being important.    I know that's what cooking with my mother Arlene brought to me.  The kitchen was a pla...