Friday's Menu

Breakfast: Pancakes
Bacon
Cook the bacon the way you like it. Keep warm til serving time.
Pancakes: In a 4 or 8 cup bowl with a spout, mix 1 cup flour, 2 tblsp sugar, 1 tsp baking powder, ½ tsp each baking soda and salt. In a liquid measuring cup, mix 1 ¼ to 1 1/3 cup buttermilk, 1 egg, 1 tblsp oil. Pour buttermilk mixture into dry ingredients and whisk until smooth. Pour batter onto hot griddle, ½ cup or so at a time – depending on the size you like – and bake until top begins to bubble. Turn and finish baking until bottom is nicely brown. Serve warm with bacon, softened butter and syrup. Makes about twelve 4-5 inch pancakes.

Dinner: Creamed Dried Beef on Toast or Biscuits
Mashed Potatoes
Green Beans

Bake 1 tube biscuits, if using, according to directions. Keep warm until serving time.

Peel, cook and mash the potatoes.

Heat canned or frozen green beans in covered pot. Keep warm until serving time.

In a heavy skillet, heat 2 tblsp butter over low to medium heat. Add ½ - ¾ cup chopped onion and cook until limp. Tear or coarsely chop 1 pound dried beef and add to sautéed onion. Stir-fry until beef turns a deep red. Pour in 2 cups milk and heat almost to boiling. While milk is heating, stir together 2 tblsp water with 2 tblsp corn starch. When milk is hot, stir corn starch mixture into it and cook and stir until thick. Serve over hot biscuits.

Lunch: Leftover biscuits, spread with softened cream cheese; add thinly sliced cucumber and sprinkle with dill weed. Add a few crumbles of bacon if there’s any left over from breakfast.

Supper:
Orange Salad
Roast Chicken and vegetables

Orange Salad (Needs about 4 hours to chill and set):
Dissolve 2 boxes orange Jell-O in 1 cup boiling water. Add 2 cups cold water, one 8-oz. can frozen orange juice concentrate (thawed), one 8 oz. can crushed pineapple and 1 or 2 cans mandarin oranges. Mix well and pour into pan to set firmly.
Topping: Beat one 8 oz package cream cheese, softened with ½ cup sour cream and ½ cup sugar. Beat together until smooth and spread on Jell-O when Jell-O is firm.

Roast Chicken & Veg:
Thoroughly rinse 1 whole chicken (fresh, never frozen, is best), inside and out. Sprinkle inside and out with salt and pepper. Stuff cavity with 1 quartered lemon, a tablespoon or so of chopped onion and 2 whole cloves garlic. Rub outside with oil. Place in roasting pan and surround with quartered and scrubbed potatoes, peeled carrots cut into 4-5 inch lengths, or other vegetables scrubbed and cut into desired lengths. Pour 1 cup chicken broth over all. Roast, uncovered in 400 degree oven until chicken joints are loose, juices run clear, and vegetables are soft; 1-1 ½ hour. Carve chicken, discarding bones, and arrange on serving platter, surrounding with vegetables. Keep warm until ready to serve. A garnish of parsley is nice, if company is coming.
Place the roasting pan on stove top burner on low heat. Pour in 1 cup chicken broth and scrape up any bits stuck to the pan (professional chefs call this ‘deglazing.’ They usually use wine. I love cooking with wine. Sometimes I even put it in the food.) Serve this warm sauce in a gravy boat alongside the chicken & vegetables.
Pickled beets go well with this.



Weekend: Nelli’s is closed on Saturday and Sunday. However, we darn near had a frost a couple nights ago, so Saturday is probably a good time to clean out the garden and make a batch of End of the Garden Relish.

End of the Garden Relish: Grind together and place in a nonreactive container: 4 onions, 1 medium head cabbage, 12 green peppers, 6 red peppers (or any combination of peppers available),10 green tomatoes. Sprinkle ground vegetables with ½ cup caning salt and let stand overnight. Rinse thoroughly, transfer to large cooking pot and add: 6 cups sugar, 4 cups cider vinegar, 1 Tblsp celery seed, 2 cups water, 1 ½ tsp turmeric. Heat all to boiling and simmer 3 minutes. Fill hot jars, seal and process in water bath 10 minutes. Makes 8 pints. (Two batches is about a year’s supply for a family of 4.)

Here’s how we make our Beet Relish:

Combine 4 cups cooked beets, grated with 4 cups grated cabbage, ½ cup horseradish and 2 tsp canning salt. Bring 2 cups cider vinegar and 1 cup sugar to boil and add to beet/cabbage mixture. Cook over medium heat until cabbage is tender. Pack into hot pint jars and seal. Process 20 minutes in water bath. 5 pints.