Soda Crackers, Those Ubiquitous Squares

Last night we had Trappey’s Navy Beans for supper. I don’t know if I could make a better tasting white bean soup, for sure not so fast. Two cans and some butter in a dish and microwave, serve with soda crackers. My husband likes to crush soda crackers in his soup. I like to butter some and eat them on the side.

Growing up in the 1950’s and 60’s soda crackers always seemed to be in the cupboard. Both my Dad and my husband’s Dad ate them crushed up in milk. Our Mom’s put them on top of scalloped corn and always crushed them up in meatloaf. I remember my Grandma loved to eat them with butter. I remember sitting with her in a Chinese Restaurant, where she buttered some of those crackers as an hors d oeuvre telling me how much she loved the taste. They were always around and must have been in my parent’s, and possibly my grandparent’s, cupboards when they were growing up. They must have been cheap. It seems they were one of the few store bought items in poorer homes. I just read The Glass Castle, a biography of a gal who grew up really poor. She mentioned having only soda crackers in the cupboard.

I put them in meatloaf, and crush them on top of scalloped dishes like my mom. I love them with butter like my Grandma and have been known to eat them topped with peanut butter and, once in a while, tuna fish. That, though, seems to be the extent of soda crackers for me. My husband won’t eat soup without them, though, so, as in the cupboards of my parent’s and grandparent’s, they are always there.

Hm, kind of a food heritage. I’ll have to think of other things that have been passed from generation to generation. That reminds me of the story of the newly married guy who asked his wife why she cut the ends off the ham when she baked one. “Because that’s the way my mother did it,” she replied. When inquiring of his mother-in-law as to why she cooked ham that way she replied, “That’s the way my mother baked hams.” When he finally had the opportunity to query his new grandmother-in-law about cutting the ends off hams she replied, “I didn’t have a pan large enough to hold a whole ham.”

Yes, Spray Cheese Has A Role In Modern Society

“Ladies from the church were visiting”, my husband remembers, “my Mom came out of the kitchen with a tray. It held a plate of crackers and two cans of aerosol cheese; one was bacon flavored and the other regular. It was fascinating watching them chat away while spraying cheese onto those crackers.”

I have to say that more than one can of spray cheese crossed the threshold of my folk’s home as I grew up. Those cans with the plastic tube on top were a novelty--fun; my Mom saw that. My husband’s Mom and her friends probably saw that too. Oh, I’m sure there were ladies (alas, mostly ladies back then) who pulled off some beautiful cracker creations to impress and no one knew it was spray cheese.

My husband’s memories did pull up another time when his mother had carefully sprayed the cheese onto crackers and then topped each with either an olive, a pimento, a pickle slice or a slice of hard boiled egg. It looked pretty exotic to him and, he remembers, very tasty. What really stood out in that memory were some little cherry tomatoes on which she had made a criss cross with a knife and topped with a dab of Miracle Whip. Strange, he thinks he doesn’t really care for fresh tomatoes, yet, if they are served as hors d oeuvres they are some of his best food memories. I think the reason Miracle Whip sticks out in both our minds is that it was a “different taste”. Folks with chefs had the pleasure of tasty sauces and spreads made form scratch. Middle class folks loved the different tastes like Miracle Whip when they emerged. Today, we often have a small jar of Miracle Whip in the refrigerator but it seems only used on bologna sandwiches made with white bread and dill pickles. Yes, white bread. We were both raised intimately entwining our memories of bread with red and blue balloons.

Another different taste was those small juice glasses filled with a cheese pimento spread. My husband and I looked at ourselves, neither of us likes pimentos, but we have fond memories of that spread. Though not a favorite food, it was different tasting-interesting. I can say for certain that my mother never bought or cooked with one pimento in her life. I never had a bell pepper, fresh or roasted.

Our Moms wanted to have fancy looking tasty treats at times and they didn’t have a chef who would whip up a cheese spread and pipe it out of a pasty bag or whip out the double boiler to endlessly stir a creamy Hollandaise sauce. Plus, they realized how fun those cans of cheese were for their kids and they weren't so health conscious to deny that fun. So, any spray cheese snobs out there, my husband is an amazing gourmet cook, who’s written food columns for two print magazines. His exposure to spray cheese did not stunt his culinary maturing. We both retain an appreciation for the emergence of creative, easy to use and fun food items in the 50’s and 60’s.

More Tacos - Quick & Delicious

I’ve been on a roll lately fixing tacos (see Tacos Extraordinaire post). Tonight I came up with a winning and very easy taco filling and have found some tantalizing new tortillas.

Fred Meyer is selling a delicious tortilla hybrid, a blend of corn and wheat. They are La Tortilla Factory Hand Made Style Corn Tortillas. They give you a corn tortilla taste with a texture of a flour tortilla and they are yummy.

Trader Joes sells chunks of ready-cooked pork called Carnitas that we love and keep on hand. For tacos tonight I fried up a package of it with onion, green pepper and some Mexican seasoning. Wow, a great taste.

Fast & Easy Pork Tacos

Ingredients:
1 package Trader Joes Pork Carnitas
1 med. sweet onion
1 green bell pepper
2 teaspoons Mexican Seasoning
Tortillas

Instructions:
Chop the onion and green pepper and fry in some oil until nearly caramelized. Stir in Mexican seasonings. Roughly cut up the pork and add to the seasoned onion and pepper; heat through.

Fry or microwave the tortillas and top with meat filling, fresh cilantro leaves, salsa and some sour cream.

(I even had some filling, cilantro, salsa and sour cream with out a tortilla and it was yummy.)

Cranberry Carrot Slaw

I’ve made this salad often lately. I’ve discovered my “not so fond of vegetables” husband loves it and can’t stop taking bites of it. We don’t care for raisins so I use cranberries. I’ve made it with a chopped apple added and chopped nuts are a nice addition.

Cranberry Carrot Slaw
This slaw is so easy. What improves it is pickling the carrots “Vietnamese style” before adding the dressing. It adds and sustains a nice tang.

5 medium carrots, peeled and grated
¼ cup dried cranberries

Pickling step:
½ cup cider vinegar
1 Tablespoon sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
Stir until sugar and salt are dissolved.
Soak grated carrots in pickling brine for ½ hour then drain well.

Dressing step:
4 heaping Tablespoons Best Foods Mayonnaise
1 Tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons cider vinegar
Stir together until the sugar is dissolved.
Add the dressing and dried cranberries to the drained carrots. Mix thoroughly.

Salad Finger Food

Vietnamese spring rolls are certainly more complex but they do often use pickled carrots so I had some tapioca sheets and made some rolls.

Soak the tapioca sheet in a dish of water until it is soft. Lay on cutting board and put a tablespoon of the salad in the middle. Fold the sides up roll it. Makes the salad finger food.

Tacos Extraordinaire

We were doing some shopping and came upon one of those "taco buses". The food was really tasty. We each had three tacos made with lightly fried corn tortillas filled with an option of fillings. I liked the lengua (tongue) tacos best. (I grew up with a family that made pickled tongue as a treat.) They had spicy shredded pork, ground beef, shredded beef, and a couple other options.

Across the street we saw Lupe's Tienda a great shop of ingredients for making dishes of Hispanic origin. Browsing it I came across the 4" corn tortillas that had been used for tacos on the bus. Buying a package of alot of them for under $1.50, I decided to make some tacos at home. What a great idea it was.

I went home and used a pound of hamburger to make some filling with onions, green pepper, Mexican Seasoning (there's a recipe on this blog with the Mexican Black Bean Stew & it can be purchased at most supermarkets.) and fresh cilantro. Keeping it in the refrigerator, for the next three nights we loved having "three-taco dinners". I fried up six of the corn tortillas in just a little oil and topped with fresh cilantro some filling, salsa and sour cream. Yum City! And, it was a meal my husband, who wants diversity and hates left overs, will eat every night of the week!

With plenty of tortillas in the refrigerator, the other night, we took a New York steak out of the freezer and defrosted it. My husband broiled it to medium rare and, after letting it sit to collect juices, chopped it into rough chunks. I chopped and fried up a large sweet onion and a green pepper and adding 2 teaspoons of Mexican seasoning to them, letting them caramelize. After frying the tortillas we topped them with fresh cilantro leaves, caramelized onion and green pepper, New York steak chunks, salsa and sour cream. Unbelievable! They looked so great and were so yummy that I forgot to take pictures before eating them.

They are not only tasty but what a ingredient stretcher these tacos are. One pound of hamburger lasted for more than three meals. It was such a delicious way to enjoy the steak, I look forward to doing it again (and I'll take pictures next time.)

Update: Whole chickens were on sale the other day so I bought and boiled one. I added a bunch of stir fried vegetables to the broth for some great vegetable soup and set about skinning and debonning the cooked chicken. I packed two Ziplock Brand freezer bags of meat and froze for later. That night I fried up an onion and green bell pepper adding chicken meat and Mexican seasoning. The taco shells filled with fresh cilantro, my chicken filling, plus a little salsa and sour cream were soooo delicious.

And...today I had a good sized chunk of left over lamb so I very coarsely chopped it in the food processor, fried up an onion and green bell pepper till they were soft then adding the lamb and three teaspoons of Mexican seasoning . Frying a bit to mix flavors I then cooled it and froze two bags of taco filling mix for later. After, of course, trying a couple tacos made with lamb filling, fresh cilantro and salsa. So good!

Gift Basket Fun

I’ve often made gift baskets on the theme of the Indian cooking hobby I enjoy. I’ve called them Beginner’s Indian Cooking Baskets. They’ve been exceptionally popular at fundraising auctions to which I’ve donated them, always garnering the top suggested bid. They’ve included basic spices, the small recipe book that I’ve created with my friends, a larger, commercially published Indian cookbook, and varying other basics and items necessary for making some of the recipes in the book and “garnished with fresh cilantro” and a bag of fresh Nan bread.

I was reading online about creating gift baskets and came across a gal wanting ideas for creating gift baskets for family members on her list. The idea of a Generational Gift Basket occurred to me as a fun idea.

You could include:
A taste of things that were old family favorites.
· A favorite family snack wrapped in a cellophane bag with ribbon (Nut’s and Bolts, a savory snack, was always served at my family’s parties. Cellophane bags can be had at craft stores.)
· A special unusual treat enjoyed by older family members. (My grandma loved gooseberry jam; some gourmet food shops have small “taster” jars.)
· An unusual family favorite sweet treat (Divinity, an older candy, was always made by my Mom and Grandma at holiday time.)
· An unusual item that had appeared at family meals. (My family’s big gathering always featured Jell-O with small marshmallows. A box of Jell-O and the marshmallows would be fun.)
· Huckleberries played a special role in my family. Maybe something Huckleberry, a candle or food or candy item.
· A cellophane bag tied with a ribbon filled with some cookies made from a favorite family recipe. (In my family it would be my Dad’s Mom’s Oatmeal Cookies, in my husband’s family it would be his Mom’s Mint Hideaways.)

A few or more family recipes hand written, typed or photocopied a into a little booklet or hole-punched and tied with ribbon or put in a cute recipe box. (I photocopied the actual pages of a “steno notebook” that was filled with family recipes and had the copy center "bind" them with plastic binding.)

A special photo/s of older family members (the recipient may not have) in frames. (Nice frames can be bought inexpensively throughout the year at yard and estate sales).

A membership to Ancestory.com.

A book to write in "family tree" info.

Please share any ideas you may have, I’d love to hear them.

From Turkey To Chutney With Loving Grandparents And Huckleberries Along The Way

We are going to my sister-in-law's for Thanksgiving and she wants to do all the cooking. From me she wants hors d oeuvres including the family fav - deviled eggs. I think I'll do a platter of eggs, exotic olives and other unusual things for light and interesting munching. (Any ideas out there? Comment away!) I've never cooked an entire Thanksgiving meal in my life and have never cooked a turkey. That could be a sad commentary on a deprived upbringing but no, it was just being around people all my life who loved to cook and, most likely, not having children. I think I might try to see if sis-in-law would like me to bring a dessert like an old family recipe of Pineapple Ice Box Cake (vanilla wafer crumbs topped with a butter/powdered sugar/egg mixture topped with whip cream and crushed pineapple mixture and topped with more crumbs).

The Pineapple Ice Box Cake goes way back in my family and is purported to have been created by my Grandma Allen. The town newspaper even interviewed her once about her cooking and published the recipe. Funny--local fame. She and my grandfather (LD we called him, short for Lorenzo Dow) were such good folks; I don't remember anything negative related to them. Grandma's thing was cooking. During the war years, when ingredients were rationed, people would save their ration coupons and give them to her and she would make wedding cakes. Growing up, I lived in walking distance from my grandparents. She had one of those white enameled "baking centers" where flour, sugar, etc were in built-in bins that pivoted forward. They had a root cellar, entered by a trap door from the kitchen, lined with shelves of goodies that were "put up" when in season, mostly fruit and jams and jellies. I remember my mother telling me about her brothers being able to eat a whole quart of peaches in one sitting. I remember Grandma lamenting how hard it was to get gooseberries like she used to pick in the back woods of Idaho. Of course, Huckleberry Jam (made from Idaho's Blue Mountain Huckleberries picked on family excursions) was "gold standard". Huckleberry pies were featured at all big gatherings and a slice of huckleberry pie was a common daily offering to friends who stopped by for pie and coffee (something that happened often). Apricot jam was a favorite of my Grandma and lots of pickled beets (yum-I still love them and they bring back fond memories.) They always had a huge garden and I remember her loving beet greens. I didn't appreciate them at the time and have been meaning to make some to try. I don't remember her or my folks making relish but I bet if they had known of the Indian concept of Chutney (combining fruit with onions and ginger - a sweet/savory mix) they would have liked it. Spices, though, didn't go beyond salt, pepper, (and maybe onion powder later on) and the "holiday spices" of cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves - ah, they did use cloves in the pickled beets).

To my Indian friends, American middle class folks seem so spice-deprived. It’s true, and our family certainly never "developed a taste" for them. My husband still has trouble getting his taste buds to "embrace" a lot of the Indian spices. I've evolved and love a lot of the more "exotic" tastes. I was reading a cookbook last night featuring Ayurvedic (eye-your-vay-dick) recipes (it's a "healing regimen" originating in ancient India still practiced today that centers around food and different spices or ingredients for different constitutions and different conditions.) Spices are a prime component and tied to health. I wonder how Americans got so bland, maybe it was our roots in England - a cuisine I hear is pretty bland. (How did British cuisine not get influenced by Indian cuisine with all their occupying of the country? I do hear, from friends who hang out in Britain, though, that Indian restaurants are more prolific than others and have fabulous Indian dishes. So they must have developed a taste for it.) If I would have walked into a house as a kid and smelled the concoctions I now make, I don't know what I would have thought; I would certainly have been intrigued.

Well, food stream-of-consciousness this morning. I do, now, finally get the thing about reading cookbooks like novels. So much culture, history, etc is reflected through food.