Try something different, like Lobster and Shrimp Jambalaya, for the holidays

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The recipe below for Lobster and Shrimp Jambalaya also calls for smoked ham as well as a couple of bottles of clam juice. You serve the dish with buttered, seasoned Cuban bread. We thank the Florida Federation of Garden Clubs for their wonderful book titled Paths of Sunshine.

We have a recipe for Beef Tips on Rice for you that comes from Southern Living’s All-Time Favorites as an “Editor’s Choice.” It’s one of those dishes that can become a family favorite for years to come.

Miz Belle Gilliam’s Sweet Potato Casserole is terrific. We like using the fresh sweet potatoes, and you can get them now. We found this recipe in Preserving the Big Potato put out by the Apopka Historical Society.

Neoma Knox’s Broccoli and Cauliflower Salad is one of the tastiest I have ever had the pleasure to sample. Neoma is our General Manager Emeritus, whom we dearly love, and we wish her a wonderful holiday season.

From Cooking with Foliage La Sertoma of Apopka, we have two fruity recipes. The first is Eltha Mark’s White Fruit Cake. The other is Zucchini Nut Muffins. It calls for “4 eggs, out of shell.” I decided to give you credit for knowing you need to discard the shells, so I removed that instruction  from this recipe.

LOBSTER AND SHRIMP

JAMBALAYA

Recipe from Florida Federation of Garden Clubs Inc.,

Paths of Sunshine

1 cup onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, chopped

1 green pepper, chopped

Margarine or butter

2 cups (approximately 1 pound), cooked smoked ham

1 (29-ounce) can tomatoes

2 (7-ounce) bottles clam juice

1 (10-ounce) package yellow Spanish rice

2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

1 tablespoon salt

2-1/4 cups water

1 Maine lobster tail, cut into pieces

2 pounds large shrimp, cooked and cleaned

Saute onions, garlic and pepper in butter. Put all ingredients except shrimp and cooked cut-up lobster tail together in large baking dish. Cover. Bake in pre-heated 400-degree oven for 1 hour, stirring occasionally. When baked, add shrimp and lobster that have been brought to room temperature. Heat slightly in oven for 2 to 3 minutes. Serve with buttered, seasoned Cuban bread. Makes 6 to 8 servings.

BEEF TIPS ON RICE

Recipe from

Southern Living All-Time Favorites

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1/2 teaspoon paprika

2 pounds boneless top sirloin roast, but into 1-inch cubes

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

2 large onions, chopped

1 beef bouillon cube

3/4 cup boiling water

Hot cooked rice

Combine first 4 ingredients in a zip-top plastic freezer bag; shake to mix.

Add beef cubes; seal bag, and shake until meat is coated. Brown beef in hot oil in a Dutch oven, stirring often.

Add onion, and cook until tender. Dissolve bouillon cube in boiling water; add to beef mixture. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 2 hours, stirring occasionally. Serve over rice. Makes 6 servings.

NOTE: Sometimes you can find meat labeled “beef tips” in the grocery. If so, the work of cutting into cubes has already been done for you.

BELLE GILLIAM’S

SWEET POTATOES

AND ORANGE CASSEROLE

Recipe from Apopka Historical

Society Preserving the Big Potato

10 large sweet potatoes

2/3 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup butter (1 stick of butter equals 1/2 cup)

3 oranges, sliced, with peel left on and seeds removed (right from the tree; remove rind if too thick with white pulp)

1 cup orange juice

1/2 cup honey

Topping:

1/2 cup fine bread crumbs

1/3 cup brown sugar

Boil sweet potatoes until almost tender; cool enough to handle; peel and slice. Arrange a layer of sweet potato slices in greased casserole dish, sprinkling with some of the brown sugar and dots of butter. Then cover with a layer of thinly sliced unpeeled oranges. Repeat the layers until ingredients are all used. Mix the orange juice and honey together and pour over the top. Mix 1/2 cup of plain bread crumbs with 1/3 cup brown sugar. Sprinkle this mixture on top of casserole. Cover casserole and bake in 350-degree oven for about one hour. During last 15 minutes of baking, carefully remove the cover from the bubbling casserole. Leave the uncovered casserole baking in the oven to crisp up the top. Delicious served with fowl or ham. Serves 10 to 12.

Note: Miz Belle says store-bought oranges may have rinds too thick to leave on for this casserole.

NEOMA KNOX’S BROCCOLI

AND CAULIFLOWER SALAD,

Recipe from

New Vision Community Church’s

Feeding the Flock

1 bunch cauliflower

1 bunch broccoli

5 strips crisp bacon

1/2 cup medium size red onion

1/2 cup golden raisins

Dressing:

1 cup mayonnaise

1/2 cup sugar

1 tablespoon cider vinegar

Break and cut broccoli and cauliflower into bite-sized pieces. Broccoli stems may be used if peeled to soft center. (Hint: large pieces are easy to strip.) Break bacon into small pieces. Slice the onion into rings. Mix all the ingredients together.

Dressing: Combine mayonnaise, sugar and vinegar; pour over the salad and mix well. Refrigerate in air-tight container. Chill at least four hours; tip container to spread dressing evenly throughout.

ELTHA MARK’S

WHITE FRUIT CAKE

Recipe from Cooking with Foliage La Sertoma of Apopka

2 cups flour

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 pound butter

1-1/2 cups sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 teaspoon almond extract

8 egg whites or 4 whole eggs

1/2 pound shredded coconut

1/2 pound candied cherries

1/2 pound candied pineapple

1/2 pound candied citron

1 quart pecans or walnuts, chopped fine

Sift flour and baking powder together. Roll fruits and nuts in flour mixture. Cream butter and sugar. Add extracts and egg yolks. Beat egg whites stiff. Combine ingredients and bake at 275 degrees for 2 to 2-1/2 hours or until lightly browned. Makes 1 tube cake or 2 loaf cakes.

ZUCCHINI NUT MUFFINS

Recipe from Cooking with Foliage La Sertoma of Apopka

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon cinnamon, ground

3-1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

4 eggs

1-1/2 cups honey

3/4 cup salad oil, soybean

1/2 teasoon vanilla extract

2 cups zucchini, raw, washed and grated

1 cup walnuts, white, chopped

1/2 cup yellow raisins

Mix all dry ingredients together and set aside. In a mixing machine, beat eggs and honey until creamed. Slowly add oil. This should thicken the solution slightly. Add vanilla and zucchini; incorporate well; add walnuts and raisins; mix well. Fold in the dry ingredients.

Once the flour goes in the machine, rotate a few turns only, don’t over-mix. Grease muffin pans well with solid shortening. Fill each muffin 2/3 of the way up.

Place in preheated oven at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. Do not open oven door while muffins are baking. Makes 24 muffins.