Spotlight on Summer: Picnic Fare and Quick Cooking

Last week, I posted links to previous blogs that contained recipes for cool and creamy foods.  Today, in part two of the series, I'm doing the same thing, but with foods that are good to take on a picnic or can be prepared on busy summer days with very little effort.  Click the words in bold to go to the page with the recipe.

Picnic Fare:

What better way to celebrate summer than with a picnic?  Picnics are fun, but be sure to keep food safety in mind:  keep hot foods hot and cold foods cold!

Chicken Salad:  This has been my favorite chicken salad recipe for over 20 years!  When I take it on picnics, I serve it just like I do at home:  on a plate with croissants on the side.  If you want to use it for sandwiches, keep the chicken salad in the cooler and assemble the sandwiches when you're ready to eat.  This will keep the sandwiches from getting soggy.

Deviled Eggs:  I like to take chicken salad on a picnic, but my mother liked to take fried chicken.  To accompany the chicken, she always took a batch of deviled eggs.  They're better made the day before so you can pack and go the day of the picnic.  Make sure to leave them in the cooler until you're ready to eat.

Fruit Salad:  My grandmother made this simple salad -- apples, bananas, crushed pineapple and orange juice -- for my mom and her siblings; my mom made it for her kids and now I make it for my family.  It's ideal for a picnic because it doesn't contain mayonnaise, sour cream or Cool Whip. Serve it straight from the cooler as a refreshing fruit salad or as dessert.

Peanut Butter Cookies:  No one will ever guess these cookies only use three ingredients.  They bake in just minutes so you can whip up a batch at the spur of the moment.  They're also easy to pack and mess free since they're not frosted.

Mini Mason Jar Cakes:  Mason jars aren't just for canning anymore.  You can use the four ounce jars to make cute desserts -- cakes, cobblers, pies and crisps -- that are wonderful for a picnic or casual get together.  Don't forget to pack spoons!

Fruit Tea:  Soft drinks and Kool-Aid might be easy to pack for a picnic, but they're not as refreshing as an ice cold glass of fruit tea.  This dressed up sweet tea uses lemon juice, pineapple juice and, the secret ingredient, ginger ale!

Quick Cooking:

Life tends to move a little slower in the summer.  The weather is warmer, days are longer and there's more to do outside.  Who wants to be stuck inside cooking?  These recipes let you put dinner on the table without having to do a lot of work or get the kitchen too hot.

Sauteed Pork Chops:  You won't heat up the kitchen when you cook these pork chops.  They cook in just 11 minutes!  The only thing you need other than the ingredients is a skillet with a lid.

Easy Pork Chops and Apples:  This dish is as easy as they come.  You don't even have to brown the pork chops or cut and peel the apples.  Cook a vegetable separately and you've got a meal that's very easy to prepare.  

Hamburger Macaroni Casserole:  A reader once described this dish as homemade Hamburger Helper, but better.  The macaroni doesn't even have to be cooked separately.  Everything is cooked in the same pan and, from start to finish, takes less than 45 minutes to cook.

Marinated Baked Chicken:  This dish takes very little work, but you do need to plan ahead since the chicken has to be marinated overnight.  The marinade is super easy to mix up:  you use equal parts of Italian salad dressing and soy sauce.  The recipe can easily be doubled or, if necessary, halved.

Broccoli with Lemon:  This recipe starts with fresh steamed broccoli.  If you don't have time to steam the broccoli, microwave a package of fresh broccoli florets that's sold in a microwave-safe bag.  You can mix up the rest of the ingredients while the broccoli is in the microwave.

Potato Salad:  You might not think of this dish as quick, but it can be when you don't have to peel, cut and boil potatoes.  Ore-Ida Steam 'n Mash cut Russet potatoes -- which cook in only 10 minutes in the microwave -- can be substituted for fresh potatoes.  No one will ever taste the difference.

Check back next week for this series finale:  foods that won't heat up the kitchen.

© Margaret's Morsels

Thanksgiving Traditions

When it comes to cooking, I'm a creature of habit.  When I find culinary combinations that work well, I tend to stick with them.  For instance, I always serve Marinated Baked Chicken with Mushroom Rice Casserole

and Baked Ziti with salad and garlic bread.

This habit comes in handy at Thanksgiving, especially when the fourth Thursday in November falls early like it does this year.  My Thanksgiving menu will be reminiscent of years past which, in reality, is almost identical to what my mother served every year at Thanksgiving.

There will be slices of roast turkey on a colorful turkey serving platter and a big bowl of Cornbread Dressing.  To save time, I bake the frozen biscuits and packaged cornbread mix the day before.  The recipe makes a lot -- 8 to 12 servings -- so if there's any left, you can freeze it and use it later.

A lot of people serve mashed potatoes on Thanksgiving, but my mother always served Potato Salad and so do I.  In fact, it's the only Thanksgiving recipe I use that came from my mother.  This tasty side dish can be made one or two days ahead of time.  You can substitute a 24 ounce package of Ore-Ida Steam 'n Mash cut Russet potatoes and avoid peeling, dicing and cooking the potatoes.

If you prefer sweet potatoes, I've got two recipes to share.  Sweet Potato Souffle, a fancy name for sweet potato casserole, can be made with three pounds of sweet potatoes or a package of Ore-Ida Steam 'n Mash cut sweet potatoes.  It can be made a day or two ahead of time and reheated in the oven or microwave.  If you leave it in the dish you baked it in, no one will even know it was made ahead of time.

Quick and Easy Candied Sweet Potatoes are a nice alternative to the traditional casserole.  You don't have to peel potatoes because this recipe uses canned sweet potatoes.  Unlike the sweet potato souffle that can be made ahead of time, this is best made right before serving.  It only takes a few minutes and is cooked on the stove top, which is helpful when the oven is already being used.

If you're a cranberry lover like me, I've got three tasty recipes that share some of the same ingredients, but with completely different textures.  The first one, Cranberry Orange Relish, is a sweet-tart combination made with fresh cranberries, apple, orange, pineapple and sugar.  It can be made up to two weeks ahead of time and stored in the freezer.

Southern Cranberry Salad is a congealed salad that combines whole berry cranberry sauce, mandarin oranges and pineapple with cherry gelatin. It can be made a couple of days ahead of time.

Cranberry Orange Casserole also uses whole berry cranberry sauce and mandarin oranges, but not pineapple.  The sauce and oranges are combined with lemon juice and sugar and baked in the oven.  Unlike the other two cranberry recipes that can be made ahead of time and served cold, this one is best served hot from the oven.  The recipe can easily be doubled or tripled.

My mother made homemade rolls from scratch, but I use a bread machine to make One Hour Buttermilk Rolls, which means they take longer than an hour to make.  If you don't have a bread machine, the recipe includes directions for making the rolls by hand.  The rolls can be made a month ahead of time, stored in the freezer and reheated in the oven or microwave.

To quench everyone's thirst, I serve Fruit Tea.  This sweet tea is combined with pineapple juice, lemon juice and, the secret ingredient, ginger ale.  It's best made the day it's served.

I'll be posting some new Thanksgiving recipes next week, including a dessert that combines two traditional Thanksgiving flavors.

© Margaret's Morsels

                                                     

Cooking Q & A

I'm sorry my posts have been so sparse lately.  I've been really busy the last few weeks.  Things are beginning to settle down and I'm hoping to post a new blog next week.  In the meantime, I wanted to answer some questions readers have emailed me recently.

"What does it mean to steep tea and how do I do that?"  Zoe

Steep means to put an ingredient in a liquid so the flavor is infused into the liquid.  The longer something steeps, the stronger the flavor.  To steep tea, bring the water to a boil.  Pour it over the tea bags; cover and let sit -- steep -- 5 minutes.  Remove the tea bags and you've got steeped tea.

"What is an offset spatula?"  Rita

Unlike a regular spatula that is straight, an offset spatula has a bend in the blade.  This bend makes it ideal for smoothing batter or icing. 

"Everytime I boil eggs, they end up with a green tinge.  What am I doing wrong?"  Elliot

The green band around the yolk is a telltale sign that the eggs are overcooked.  The best way I've found to boil eggs is the way my mother taught me.   Put the eggs in a saucepan -- make sure you use a pan size appropriate for the number of eggs you're boiling -- and cover the eggs with cold water.  Put the pan on the stove and turn the burner to high. When the water comes to a boil, put the lid on the pan and remove the pan from the burner.  Let the eggs sit undisturbed for 15 minutes.  Drain the water and cover the eggs with cold water and ice cubes.  When the ice cubes melt, peel the eggs.

"Is 1/2 cup chopped pecans the same thing as 1/2 cup pecans, chopped?"  Meredith

No, it's not.  If a recipe calls for 1/2 cup chopped pecans, chop the pecans before measuring them.  If it calls for 1/2 cup pecans, chopped, measure out 1/2 cup pecans and chop them into smaller pieces.

"I don't have disposable pastry bags.  Can I use a resealable plastic bag instead?"  Courtney

Absolutely!  If you want to use a tip or coupler, snip a small hole in the corner of the bag and insert it before adding the filling.  Otherwise, fill the bag, squeeze out any air and close the bag.  Snip a hole in the bottom and it's ready to use.

If you've got cooking questions, email them to me and I'll try to answer them in an upcoming post.

© Margaret's Morsels

Confessions of a Tea Drinker

My Southern roots run deep.  When my ancestors immigrated to America, they settled in the South.  My parents were born and bred in the South. Except for the 10 years I lived overseas when my dad was in the service and the year I lived in New York City as an adult, the rest of my life has been spent South of the Mason Dixon line.  Given my Southern heritage, it's surprising I didn't like the most quintessential Southern beverage, iced tea, until a few years ago.

Like most Southerners, my mom served ice tea at lunch and supper.  Even with this early exposure to tea, I never could acquire a taste for the beverage.  As I got older and attended more functions where tea was being served, I had opportunities to try the beverage in various forms:  sun tea, sweetened tea, unsweetened tea, tea with lemon juice, tea without lemon juice, hot tea and even instant tea.  No matter how it was prepared, I just didn't like it.

Ten years ago, I was at a function and Fruit Tea was being served.  It was a typical sultry Southern day and the tea looked inviting so I tried a glass. Much to my surprise, I absolutely loved it.  The hostess graciously shared the recipe with me and I've been making it ever since.

Why am I talking about tea now that the weather's cooler?  Two reasons. First, Southerners drink tea year round.  Second, the holidays are rapidly approaching and no family function would be complete if I didn't make Fruit Tea.

The recipe for Fruit Tea is nothing more than sweet tea with a couple of extra ingredients.  It's the addition of pineapple juice, lemon juice and ginger ale that turned me into a tea drinker!  When someone drinks the tea for the first time, I'm always asked what makes it so effervescent.  There's been a lot of guesses, but no one has ever guessed ginger ale.

One batch of Fruit Tea makes eight servings.  If I'm making tea for a crowd, I make several batches, but I make them one at a time.  The tea is best made the day it's being served because the pineapple pulp settles at the bottom after a day or two.  If there's any leftover tea, I strain it to remove the pulp before I drink it.  

Although I love Fruit Tea, I don't fix it on a regular basis.  I fix it several times during the year, especially in the summer, and I always make it for holiday functions.   Although I still don't drink sweet tea, I am experimenting and recently enjoyed a glass of peach tea.  Maybe I'll be adding that recipe to my collection too.

Fruit Tea

8 Servings

2 1/2 cups water

2 family size tea bags

1 cup sugar

2 (6 oz.) cans pineapple juice

1/4 cup lemon juice

3 (12 oz.) cans ginger ale

Bring water to a boil.  Pour over tea bags; cover and steep 5 minutes. Pour tea over sugar, stirring until sugar is dissolved.  Add remaining ingredients; stir well. Refrigerate.

© Margaret's Morsels