Squash Casserole

It took me years to get around to eating squash. I mean, literally, years. I was in my 30s before I tried it. I'm still a little limited in how I eat it. I either like it raw and sliced or this casserole. This casserole is so flavorful. I'm sure you'll enjoy it if you give it a try. I got this recipe from my mom, but I'm not really sure where she found it from all of those years ago.

2.5 to 3 lbs of squash (cubed)
1 large onion (diced)
1 stack saltine crackers (crushed)
3 Tbsps melted butter
1 egg
1 cup milk
add salt and pepper to taste
1 to 2 cup shredded cheddar cheese (save 1/4 cup of cheese for later)

Cut squash and dice onion.

Cover with water and boil squash and onion with salt and pepper until squash is fork tender.

Drain water and mash squash until you reach the texture you prefer - I do not like large chunks of squash, so I mash mine quite a bit.

While squash and onion are cooking, gather remaining ingredients in a large bowl. Start with the crackers - a trick I've learned when you need to crush a whole pack of crackers is to push the crackers down to one end and then force them into a slant with your fingers. Then start crushing. Do this over the bowl you're using to catch any crumbs. When it feels crushed enough, then just open one end and pour the crumbs in the bowl.

 Add the egg, milk, melted butter and most of the cheese to the crackers.

When squash is cooked, drain water and mash squash and onion.

Combine with other ingredients and mix well.

Pour into a greased casserole dish, and bake at 400 degrees about 45 minutes or until top is golden brown.

Sprinkle remaining cheese over hot casserole.

French Toast

I'm not a huge pancake fan. I'm not a huge waffles fan. French toast, however, I can go crazy with some of that! My family is not a big breakfast bunch. We just don't have an organized, cooked breakfast very often. When I do, it's either toast, eggs and bacon; sausage and biscuits; or French toast. Here is my version of French toast. I think it's pretty dang good. I use vanilla and almond extract and cinnamon and nutmeg to liven this recipe up. Hope you enjoy it!

Bread

4 eggs

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp almond extract

1 heaping tsp cinnamon

1/2 heaping tsp nutmeg

splash of milk (I probably used about a 1/4 cup)

Whisk eggs, milk, vanilla extract, almond extract, cinnamon and nutmeg in a bowl. Heat several tablespoons of butter in a skillet over med-high heat. Dip the bread in the whisked egg mixture (I whisk mine several times throughout to ensure the spices are distributed). Then quickly turn it over to coat the other side. Place bread into hot butter, and cook for several minutes on both sides until bread is browned and more firm.

Top French toast with a dash of powdered sugar, and top as desired.

Orange Julius Style Orange Juice

In honor of my daddy for Father's Day, I made some of my his special orange juice. He came up with this recipe in the 1980s when we lived in Germany since we couldn't get an Orange Julius whenever we wanted. This recipe is all his. He would make this on Saturday or Sunday mornings as he was prepping breakfast. These mornings are some of my clearest and fondest memories of my dad. I miss you, Daddy. Happy Father's Day.

1 can frozen concentrated orange juice

2 cans of water

4 Tbsps sugar

3 Tbsps Tang

1 egg

splash of milk (about a 1/4 cup or so)

Put ingredients into blender; blend until smooth and frothy.

This orange juice is best if chilled a bit before serving. An hour or two if you can, but it's not absolutely necessary.

Chocolate Chip Muffins

I'm not what you would call a morning person. I like quiet and no conflict for the first hour or two of the day. I also am not a big breakfast person. Just never have been. I prepare breakfast meals maybe four times a year. We usually eat cereal or oatmeal or Cream of Rice/Wheat or eat oat bars or crackers. I know, it's awful. So, a couple weekends ago after my kiddo woke up, I asked her if she would be interested in some chocolate chip muffins. Not my thing, but I know she likes them, and I had pinned a recipe on Pinterest for them: Chocolate Chip Muffins several months ago. The recipe was very easy to follow, and she liked them a lot and finished off all the muffins for breakfast and snacks during the next week, so all-in-all I consider it a success.

1 1/3 cup butter, softened
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
4 medium eggs
1 cup sugar
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup milk
2 1/2 cups flour
¾ lb chocolate chips



Preheat oven to 400 degrees, and prepare muffin pans with butter - I ended up with 18 muffins. In small bowl combine baking powder, salt, and flour, set aside. In large bowl combine butter and vanilla until light and fluffy. You can use a hand mixer, or like I did, use a stand mixer.

 

Slowly beat in eggs, until combined. Add milk. Slowly add sugar, until completely combined. Mix flour mixture into butter until just combined, but still lumpy. 

Add chocolate chips and combine. Pour mixture into muffin pans, filling each cup two-thirds full. 

Bake for 25 minutes or until muffins turn golden brown, and a toothpick inserted into center of muffin comes out clean.

Meatloaf

Several years ago, I was having a conversation with my best friend, and I mentioned that I really wanted a good meatloaf recipe. She said she had one, and she quickly wrote down the ingredients and directions. I looked at what she had written, and I couldn't believe it could be that easy. When I tried it, I couldn't believe it was that easy AND tasted that good. Thank you, Romayne, for this wonderful recipe!

2 lbs ground beef

1 packet onion soup mix

1 egg

2/3 cup milk

3 Tbsp brown sugar

6 Tbsp ketchup

2 Tbsp mustard

Mix the ground beef, onion soup mix, milk and egg together until combined.

Press the meat mixture into a loaf pan. I bought a meatloaf pan specifically for this purpose, and also bought one for my best friend to thank her for giving me this recipe! The pan has two layers - the normal shape loaf for the meatloaf, but there are holes in the bottom to drain out all of the fat that cooks off, and then there's an outer layer to, of course, catch the grease. They aren't terribly expensive, so if you prepare meatloaf, even occasionally, then this is a great investment for you.

Next, combine the brown sugar, ketchup and mustard in a bowl and stir until smooth. I actually used brown spicy mustard, because I had some open and I rarely use mustard and definitely didn't need two bottles in my fridge. It worked just as well for my taste.

Spoon the mixture on top of the meat mixture. Just to let you know, I was preparing this to cook the next night, so to keep the plastic from sticking, I stuck two toothpicks into the meatloaf - that's what they're doing in this picture.

Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour. Slice, and enjoy!

Fried Chicken Tenders

While I am an Army brat, and did not grow up in the South, both of my parents were from the South, so you could definitely say my roots are Southern. That being said, what is more Southern than fried foods??? My dad always prepared the fried chicken when I was growing up, and I took his recipe and tweaked it a little, and now I use the same batter to make my fried chicken tenders. And they are sooooo good. I guess I'm partial, but I have had plenty of compliments on it, so I'm going with yummy! 

Chicken

Season all salt

Poultry seasoning

Black pepper

Tabasco sauce

Flour

Egg

Milk

I usually buy my chicken in the large bag of frozen breasts from Walmart, and then cut them when I want tenders. However your chicken starts, place the tenders in a Tupperware container side-by-side and evenly lightly coat one side with season all salt, black pepper and poultry seasoning. Take the Tabasco and dash liberally over the chicken ensuring that you hit each piece with a little. Put on the lid and SHAKE so that everything spreads out evenly all over the chicken. I then let mine marinate in the fridge for a couple of hours when possible before I cook them.

Next, prep your flour and egg mixture. I liberally salt and pepper my flour with season all salt and black pepper. Stir the flour to make sure everything disperses. The egg mixture is usually 2-3 eggs and a dash of milk.

Get your oil hot. You can use a deep frying pan or a deep fryer. Just make sure if you use a pan that it has sides high enough so that you don't splash oil and that the oil can be deep enough to reach about halfway up the chicken slices. I start my oil on med-high, and then usually turn it down to close to medium to make sure that the chicken cooks completely but the breading doesn't burn. Take each slice of chicken and dredge in flour. Then cover each slice completely with egg mixture, and then dredge with flour again.

Fry the chicken on each side for several minutes, until a nice golden brown.

Place chicken on paper towel to drain. Serve!