Baked Chicken Nuggets (Southern Living 1981)

Lindy assigned me this recipe. It was one I had scoped out and planned to make if no one assigned it to me. Chicken Nuggets? Win! 

Here's the original:

 

I used a mixture of panko and Italian seasoned breadcrumbs. It was simply what I had on hand. Because I used the Italian breadcrumbs, I left out the thyme and basil. It was good! I'm sure there would be no harm in doing both, but we're a family who likes to dip our chicken, and the light Italian-y flavor was good for those who like to dip. I also tried dipping half in milk and half in butter (like the recipe instructed).

 

On the pan ready to be cooked.

But no picture of already cooked. Sorry! I'm 0-2 or 3 this month. eck. 

The Hubs loved these. He preferred the dipped in butter ones, while the boys preferred dipped in milk. The ones dipped in butter were crispier, but I thought both were very good. The Hubs said they were way better than the kind you buy in the freezer section at the store (man, does this guy know who makes his dinner or what?!?).

We'll definitely have these again. Easy, tasty, and bake up quickly. It would probably be a good one to make and freeze either baked or unbaked!

~Audry

Blueberry Crumble (Southern Living 1981)

 This is actually a recipe from April, but I had to go back in time for it, y'all! 

I took the kiddos to pick blueberries at a local you-pick farm. It is too fun! So we went back! Really, have you ever been to a you-pick farm? We loved it - I couldn't recommend it more! Freshly picked blueberries are SO MUCH better than the kind you get at the store. WOW! I want to grow some at home! Except...I'd kill them. Or they just wouldn't grow from the seed. It's a wonder I manage to keep these kids alive and healthy because I promptly kill every plant that enters our home (or yard). Sigh.

So, the first time we went blueberry picking, I asked the boys what they wanted to make. Junior wanted to make a cobbler and J-Boy wanted to make a pie. (Of course. Does anyone else's kids do this? If we have more than one choice, it's like a law of nature that they  MUST pick opposites. If you know how to change this, let me know!) 

So, we went pie the first time. The second time I knew we'd need to make a cobbler. I couldn't resist trying out this recipe, even though it wasn't in the right month!

 Here's the original recipe:

I made a few modifications. Fresh blueberries (of course), about 1/4 cup sugar, and I also used about 2T of flour to keep the juice thick. I used the juice of 1/2 a lemon. 

I followed the topping directions pretty closely, except I went a little light on the brown sugar. I try to leave out some sugar whenever possible.

So, here's the haul that went in to the crumble. 

 

Notice the blackberries? The boys found a wild blackberry bush entwined with one of the blueberry bushes. They were pumped and went to town picking. Junior asked me to include them in the crumble.

The berries with the sugar, but before the flour got involved. I think.

Here's the topping ready to go.

Action shot. Maybe I was also falling? Not sure.

Y'all. This. Was. Fantastic. We had it for dessert when some dear friends of ours were over for dinner. It was 100% approved by all.  It even got "2 kicks" of approval from our friends' in utero little one! :)

Well, Junior didn't like it, but I'm attributing that to the fact that 1. He doesn't like fruit, and 2. He put chocolate ice cream with it. Not a good combination in my opinion.

There was only one teeny serving left. I accidentally had it for breakfast the next morning. Yum! I was so into it, I forgot to take an after picture! This is a winner recipe. Go pick some blueberries. Eat some. Make some crumble. It's a win.

~Audry

Chops in Sherry (Southern Living 1979)

Very good and very easy.  That about sums up this recipe.  The picture I took of it wasn't very good, but this is something that's definitely worth trying.  Tweaks included choosing thin sliced pork chops, which allowed the cooking time to decrease.  The major tweaks were that I skipped the mushrooms and used white cooking wine instead of sherry. 

Chops in Sherry
6 thin sliced loin pork chops
Salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup white cooking wine
1 cup carton low-fat sour cream

Sprinkle chops with salt and pepper; brown on both sides in well-sprayed skillet.  Remove chops, and place in shallow casserole dish.  Combine sherry and sour cream.  Cover and bake at 375F for 35 to 40 minutes, or until done.

This main dish was a big hit with K-man and the kids.

Lindy

Savory Beef and Vegetables (Southern Living 1979)

For some reason this recipe caught my eye in the July section of the 1979 Southern Living cookbook.  Not sure why, because I knew that I wouldn't be able to cook it like it prescribed.  Mushrooms?  A jar of onions?  Pepper strips?  No, I knew none of those things would work for my (picky) husband or even for my not-so-picky children.  Did I mention that I don't like mushrooms either?  Despite these "minor" issues, I wanted to give it a go.  And with all my tweaks this was a huge success for my family.  When I asked K-man what I could do to make it better, his response was "nothing."  :-)

Savory Beef (adapted from Savory Beef and Vegetables (Southern Living 1979))
1/2 cup tomato sauce
1-2 t brown sugar (I used closer to 1 t)
1/2 t salt
1/8 t pepper
1-1/2 T Worcestershire sauce
1 T apple cider vinegar
2 T white cooking wine
1 pound steak (I used sirloin), cut into 1-inch cubes
1 T cornstarch
Noodles (I used whole-wheat rotini)

Combine tomato sauce, brown sugar, salt, pepper, Worcestershire sauce, vinegar, and wine into a gallon size ziploc bag; mix well.  Add steak; make sure the steak is well coated with the liquid mixture.  Marinate overnight in refrigerator.  Mine marinated about 19-20 hours.
Remove steak from marinade.  Add cornstarch to marinade, stir well, and pour into a skillet.  Add steak to skillet; simmer 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Meanwhile, cook noodles.
Serve over noodles.

Lindy

Banana Breakfast Bars (Southern Living 1979)

These were from the June section of the 1979 cookbook.  I only changed a couple of things to make them more kid-friendly, and they turned out really well.  Little Man and Little Miss also helped me with the baking - taking turns pouring in ingredients.  Only one crying incident that I can remember, because she stirred "some" of the oatmeal right out of the bowl.  She helped clean up the mess, and we just continued right along with the baking.  I really enjoy having them helping me.

Banana Breakfast Bars (Southern Living 1979)
3/4 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 egg
4 cups quick-cooking oats
3 mashed ripe bananas
1/2 t salt
1/2 t cinnamon
1/2 cup raisins

Combine butter and sugar; cream until light and fluffy.  Add egg, beating well.  Stir in oats, banana, salt, and cinnamon; mix well.  Add raisins, stirring well.

Spoon batter into a sprayed 13- x 9- x 2-inch baking pan.  Bake at 350F for 45 minutes; allow to cool in pan.  Cut into 2-inch bars.  Yield: about 2 dozen.

I cut them small as directed above, but that made them more like cookies instead of breakfast bars, at least for my kids.  :-)

Lindy

Creamy Beets (Southern Living, 1980)

Yes... before we go any further, I made a recipe entitled "Creamy Beets".  A couple of take aways - I like beets.  I did not, however, love this presentation of beets.  It was good enough to determine I would like to try beets again, though, so it wasn't too bad.

On page 136 in Southern Living, 1980; Creamy Beets are as follows:

I truly didn't change too much.

Creamy Beets

1 1/4 lbs. fresh beets

1 tbls lemon juice

1 tsp sugar

1/4 tsp salt

5 drops hot sauce

1/2 cup sour cream

- Peel & cut beets, steam

- Add remaining ingredients to cooked beets, except sour cream, over medium heat until warm.  Remove from heat and add sour cream, stirring constantly.  Serve warm.

The Steamed beets, ready for the remaining ingredients.

The final product.  I don't think this picture does the PINK color justice.  I'm really surprised Chris ate this... I guess after all of these years he does love me ;0)

I think my downfall in the looks was peeling the beets prior to cooking them...  As this was the first time I have ever made beets, I was in a time pinch and wanted to skip the cook, cool, then peel steps.  Seeing my hands dyed red while peeling/cutting the beets I kept thinking this would be a disaster and my white steaming basket would never be the same again.  I am happy to say, the red stain washed off easily.  From the steam basket and my hands.  What a relief.

Until next time,

Chery

Good Old Southern Popovers (Southern Living 1979)

Well, when I saw the recipe for Good Old Southern Popovers, it intrigued me.  A roll - with no yeast.  I am not a yeast bread maker.  I want to be, but I'm just not daring enough I guess.  I tried one yeast bread recipe from Southern Living 1979 while we were at the beach.  I didn't even report out on it, because I just wasn't impressed.  I know I shouldn't give up so easily, but I'm always worried that I'll get distracted and forget to take care of the dough.  Maybe one day life will settle down a little, and I'll have time to devote to a yeast bread...  Nah. 

Back to the popovers.  Little Miss helped me with this recipe.  She wanted to wear her apron and thought I needed to wear mine, too.  No pictures of that, sorry!  Little Miss really loved being a "cooker".  Anyway, this recipe was quite easy. But, I was very concerned over the temperature of and length of time in the oven.  However, not being a popover expert, I decided I'd stick to the recipe.

I wish I'd listened to my little inner voice on this one.  The popovers were WAY over done, as you can see, and I even took them out of the oven a little early.

I'd like to try it again, just because the recipe was easy, but I will definitely decrease the time in the oven to closer to 20 minutes for the first bake with the oven down to 400F.  If / when I do that, I'll let you know the results.

Lindy