From Amanda Thomas-Henke, we have meat loaf that she originally got from Nita Holleman of Food.com and added a little here and subtracted there to get her own recipe. Amanda says she adds some garlic to hers and sautés the sweet onion and garlic prior to mixing it into the meat loaf. I would venture a guess that most of us change recipes a little bit to suit our preferences or simply because we might be out of an ingredient.
Do you love Chicken and Dumplings? We do! Ethyl’s Chicken and Dumplings submitted by Earl King in First Presbyterian Church of Punta Gorda’s A Taste of Heaven will fulfill your wishes.
For the food-lovers among us, we have from The Jones-Morris Family Treasury, Sandra Johansen’s Oven-Fried Potatoes. Enjoy!
From Cooking with Foliage La Sertoma of Apopka, we have Nita Collins’ Shrimp Creole. Add a vegetable, and your meal is complete.
Eva Hall shares her Macaroni Salad with The Apopka Woman’s Club and their What’s Cookin’? book of recipes. We thank that wonderful organization for all they do and for being so generous with the recipes.
Mrs. T. R. Downer shared this recipe for Lazy Gal Cobbler in Plains Pot Pourri. We thank Mrs. Downer for sharing her recipe with us. For our younger readers, the term “sweet milk” is simply plain cow’s milk that is not buttermilk or sour milk.
AMANDA THOMAS-HENKE’S
MEAT LOAF
Reader of The Apopka Chief and The Planter newspapers
Originally from NITA HOLLEMAN
of Food.com
Meat loaf:
1-1/2 pounds ground beef OR ground shoulder roast OR venison or other game meat…
see below for game meat loaf instructions
1 slice bread, broken or chopped finely
1 egg
1 small Vidalia onion or sweet onion, chopped finely
1 teaspoon table salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
4 tablespoons ketchup
1/2 to 2/3 cup whole milk OR Half & Half
Sauce:
4 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
2 to 4 tablespoons dark brown sugar, packed firm (or amount to taste)
1/2 cup ketchup
Sauce instructions:
Combine meat loaf ingredients and place into a loaf baking dish. Smooth out top.
Combine sauce ingredients and pour on top and sides of meat loaf.
Bake at 350 degrees about one hour to an hour and 15 minutes or until done. Nita Holleman, the originator of the dish from Food.com, says the addition of 1 or 2 teaspoons of Kitchen Bouquet makes this recipe very good. Recipe should be ‘plump’ from the addition of the milk or Half & Half. It should not be runny.
If you are using game meat such as deer, which is a very dry meat, add some fat to the deer meat. For instance: for one pound of ground venison, add about 1/2 pound of deer sausage for the fat content. Otherwise, your results will be poor simply for lack of fat.
Preparation time for the meat loaf is 20 minutes; baking takes one hour or a little more.
EARL KING’S
ETHYL’S CHICKEN & DUMPLINGS
Recipe from First Presbyterian Church of Punta Gorda,
A Taste of Heaven
1 chicken
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 quarts water
1 onion, quartered
1 medium carrot, cut in 1/2-inch slices
1 celery stalk, coarsely chopped
1/4 teaspoon thyme
1 bay leaf
Put chicken, salt, and water in Dutch oven. Add onion, carrot, celery, thyme and bay leaf. Bring to boil; reduce heat to low. Cover and simmer gently until chicken is done. Meat will fall from bones in about 1-1/2 hours. Strain, removing veggies; reserve broth. Remove bones and skin from chicken. Cut meat into bite-size pieces. Set aside.
DUMPLINGS:
1 egg
1 cup buttermilk
1 cup chicken broth
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg-size piece of Crisco
Self-rising flour
Mix egg, buttermilk, broth, salt and Crisco. Add flour to liquid mixture until dough is stiff and pulls away from side of bowl without sticking. Turn out dough onto a lightly floured surface or floured wax paper and knead. Pat to 1/8-inch to 1/4-inch thick. Cut in strips 1 x 3 inches. Take a sample of dough and drop into boiling broth to check for firmness. If not firm enough, add a little more flour and knead dough, then recheck. (If you put cut dumplings on a floured cookie sheet, tops dusted with flour, you can stack dumplings so they can be added to the broth faster.) Add dumplings one at a time, keeping apart to avoid sticking together. Add chicken on top of dumplings, cover and turn off heat. Let set for about 20 minutes.
SANDRA JOHANSEN’S
OVEN-FRIED POTATOES
Recipe from
The Jones-Morris Family Treasury
4 baking potatoes
1/2 cup oil
2 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon pepper
Cut potatoes into wedges with SKIN ON. Put into 9 x 13 pan. Mix rest of ingredients together. Pour over potatoes. Bake in 375-degree oven for 45 minutes TURNING AND BASTING OFTEN.
Serves 4.
NITA COLLINS’ SHRIMP CREOLE
Recipe from Cooking with Foliage La Sertoma of Apopka
1 pound raw, peeled and deveined shrimp, fresh or frozen
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup cooking oil
1 cup hot water
1 can (8 ounces) tomato sauce
1/2 cup chopped green onions and tops
1/2 cup choppd parsley
1/4 cup chopped green pepper
4 small cloves garlic, finely chopped
1-1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon crushed whole thyme
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 whole bay leaves
1 lemon slice
2 cups cooked rice
Thaw shrimp if frozen. Cut large shrimp in half. Blend flour into oil and brown, stirring constantly. Add water gradually and cook until thick and smooth, stirring constantly. Add remaining ingredients except rice. Cover and simmer 20 minutes. Remove bay leaves. Serve over hot rice. Makes 6 servings.
EVA HALL’S MACARONI SALAD
Recipe from The Apopka Woman’s Club, What’s Cookin’?
3/4 cup macaroni cooked until tender in salted water
1/2 cup cheese
4 sweet pickles, chopped
1 small onion, cut finely
3 medium-size tomatoes
When macaroni is cool, add cheese, cut in small pieces; sweet pickles, chopped; onion, cut finely, and 3 medium sized tomatoes, cut bite size. Add salad dressing to taste. Sprinkle chopped parsley over the top.
MRS. T. R. DOWNER’S
LAZY GAL COBBLER
Recipe from Food Favorites of Plains, Georgia
Plains Pot Pourri
1 stick (1/4 pound) margarine
1 cup sugar
1 cup self-rising flour
1 cup sweet milk
2 cups sweetened (peaches, berries, or apples)
Melt margarine in baking dish. Mix sugar, flour, milk in bowl. Pour this mixture into melted butter. Into the center of this, pour the 2 cups of fruit with juice. Do not stir. Bake at 400 degrees until crust is brown, about 30 minutes.
