Cheese Frenchies, just like Kings used to serve.

In high school my friends and I would head for the local Kings restaurant to hang out and eat. This restaurant was unique because it was set up with booths and a phone to call in your order. The one food item I remember most was a fried cheese sandwich that was called a Cheese Frenchee. Years later I was looking through a cookbook and came across a recipe that claimed to be the Kings sandwich. I copied it down and have made it occasionally for my family.

At my 35th (oh brother!) class reunion I reminisced with some of the girls and they wanted this recipe so I decided to post this for all my Heelan High school pals.

Kings Cheese Frenchees

6 slices of sandwich bread

6 slices of American cheese

mayonaise

1 well beaten egg

1/2 c. milk

3/4 c. flour

1/2 tsp. salt

finely crushed corn flakes

oil

Make 3 sandwiches using mayonaise.

Cut off the crusts (These go to my chickens)

cut diagonally into quarters

Beat together egg,milk,flour and salt.

I found this a tad thick so I added a bit more milk.

Dip sandwich triangles into batter and roll in crushed corn flakes.

Put some parchment or wax paper on a cookie sheet and lay the sandwiches on the cookie sheet and stick in the freezer for a while to stiffen up .

Bring a couple of inches of oil in a pan to 375 degrees and cook till golden. this will not take long and turn to get the other side. Great with ketchup.

Almond Flour to the Rescue

I like fish and so does my husband but he always requests that it be fried. I usually do because it tastes so good. Nowadays I stumble around in food blog world always on the look out for different healthy ways to cook the everyday homecooked stuff that makes us happy. I stumbled upon a recipe for baked Tilapia using almond flour as the breading. I have had a bag just hanging out in the pantry waiting for such an occasion. We were not dissappointed! This is very good and so easy and guess what ...lo carb. The web site i found this on is one of my favs and I go to it a lot. Kalyn knows her lo carb stuff. She follows the South Beach diet and gives tons of info. Its worth becoming a follower and keeping up with all her recipes. http://kalynskitchen.blogspot.com/2005/09/almond-and-parmesan-baked-tilapia.html
I started out with thawed Tilapia filets. Dipped them in melted butter. After I made this I think I will try buttermilk next time and see how that goes.

I put about 2 cups of almond flour 1/2 cup of grated parmesan cheese and because I didnt have all the spices called for in Kaylns recipe I used what I had. Lemon pepper, sea salt, and Mrs Dash's southwest chipotle. This tasted great by itself but I put the spoon away and got back to the task at hand. So after dipping the filets in butter I layed each filet in the coating and carefully placed them on a Sprayed pan. Dont forget this step. I baked them for 20 min at 350 then carefully turned them over and continued baking for about 10 minutes more. They turned out lovely and tasted awsome. Even my husband liked them. I will even do this method for my famous fish tacos. I served it with a coleslaw salad and took some to my dads that night and he really liked it. But then hes the one who always told me that black bottom cookies were his favorite! Just to make me feel good when I was a kid.

I did not make a tartar sauce with this because i am trying to limit calories and it was not even noticed because these filets had so much flavor.

I am so excited about finding almond flour and actually using it that I intend to go further. Maybe I will do up an almond flour chocolate torte that I have saved to my favorites. What do you do with almond flour?

Taking care of your greens

I feel as if a switch as been turned on in my head. It's March the days are longer and I feel energized and so excited for spring and green. It is still very white here in N.W. Nebraska but the temps have been in the mid 30's for a couple of days so I expect the snow to shrink quite a bit. I was so desperate that I walked my new bike (xmas gift from daughter) down my slushy lane to the gravel road which was nice and dry and road from one hill to the next. I live in a valley on the bottom so I have 1/4 mile of fairly flat ground to ride before the grade rises. I did try the first smaller rise to the east. Lets just say I need more practice! I have not been on a bike in 20 yrs plus! Living on a gravel road will do that.

This has been a truly long winter and one thing I do to break up the monotony I grow my greens indoors on a steel rack with flourescent lighting. Flourescent lighting is perfect for greens and herbs that grow quickly.

This year I even tried a cherry tomato plant and have harvested cherry tomatos 3 times already and now there are about 10 clusters on the three plants in the pot. It sits in front of a huge window facing the south and is 5 feet tall. Nice conversation piece.

I treat all greens the same way. Even the store bought ones. First I give them a good rinse.
Then I spin them around in my spinner. Dont have one? Five bucks at Wal-Mart. Makes a great gift.

After the big spin lay the leaves on a couple sections of very absorbant paper towel and roll gently. Then place the rolls of paper towel and voile' you have greens that stay fresh and nice for up to 2 weeks.

I shop every 2 weeks so I need to have my greens last. Ya at the end the lettuce might be a bit rusty but I just pitch those parts.

Home Made V 8 Juice

My daughters are currently on the HGC diet and one of the afternoon snacks is a can of lo sodium V-8 and an apple. Well you know me, I think I can make it better. Low sodium v-8 is an aquired taste at best so I figured I would just boost the flavors while keeping the sodium low.

I started out with a stock pot of cut up veggies carrot, celery, onion and garlic. Just stuff I had on hand. Cooked it covered most of the afternoon. My blender died so all I have is a stick blender and it worked great. I blended all the veggies and there was enough broth to make the cooked veggies float before they were blended. I am out of my own canned tomatoes ( crap year) so I used 2 big (32 oz.) cans of crushed tomatoes. But any kind will do. I blended them all up and added spices. Use your favorite. i put in some fresh thyme and basil and cilantro that I have growing inside. Then I dug in the cupboard and added oregano about 1/2 tsp salt and a shake of pepper and 1/2 lime juiced. At this point it was a nice sauce so to give the grandaughters something for diner I took a couple of cups of this sauce and added some fat free cream cheese to it and blended it up added it to some whole wheat penne topped off with a little parmegiano cheese and we had a healthy meal that they loved.

With the rest of the V-8 sauce I poured into a sieve and extracted the juice while leaving me with a very versitile sauce/paste. I'm thinking pizza sauce here.

This all excites me so because the whole thing can be jacked up everytime you make a batch. I forgot to put zuccini in it and that would have been a great addition too. Use what you have keeping in mind to keep the flavors high and the salt down.

While the daughters are taking the HCG drops and eating very few calories a day they are doing well and seeing results. My oldest daughter weighs less than me now! So I have devised a diet for myself. Here it is;

Dr. Oz says to use repitition when planning meals I now get that so that said for breakfast I will make a smoothie with a banana, spinach and my homemade grape juice or soy milk. Its a pretty color of green and very tasty and satisfying. I never usually eat brakfast because on week days we have our big meal at noon before my husband ( sometimes referred to as Mr. fast and crappy or pa) goes to work. So now I make the smoothie by 9 a.m.. For the noon meal I plan 3oz. of meat and big servings of veggies keeping it low fat. Afternoon snack is apple and v-8 juice. Evening meal is veggies , rye crisp cracker, soup along that line. I also make popcorn for my weak moments when I want to mindlessly shove something in my face. I also have unsalted walnuts and almonds available to munch on. The popcorn I cook up with minimal canola oil then after its popped I spray with a butter flavor pam and sprinkle with a popcorn seasoning that is pretty low in sodium but read the labels. On Monday morning I weighed 189 on Wed I weigh 185! And I am not hungry all the time I am just adding more fruits and veggies trying to use as many raw foods as possible.

I know its been awhile since youve heard from me. Its been a long winter!

Happy Holidays

Christmas 2009 sure brought a doozy of a blizzard! Snowed in for 2 days with all my children and most of their children. What a very good time we had. This being our last Christmas in this house it turned out perfect that we should all be together like this. We had lots of food. Santa knew all about the kids being at my house instead of theirs and everyone got what they wanted. Uncle Tommy took the kids out sledding while us ladies made a delicous seafood burrito that was the brainchild of one sons girlfriend. Kudos to her it was very yummy. Now I am sitting in my comfy chair and Pa is taking a nap. I think I will plan my menu for the next 2 weeks I need to grocery shop. I am thinking lots of veggies after the last few days.

Hope you Holiday was good for you as well.

Banana Bread

Banana Bread
In my quest to put all my recipes in one place I cannot forget my famous banana bread. It comes from an old Roberts Dairy Cookbook. Roberts Dairy is a Midwest thing I think. They produced all kinds of milk products and eggs. My mom bought me this cook book. the page that has the recipe is dirty and stained. I have been making this bread for more than 30 years and it has served me well. Freezes good too.

2 bananas, mashed
3 T. milk
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 c. butter, melted
2 c. flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 c. sugar
1 c. chopped walnuts



Combine mashed bananas, milk, eggs, vanilla and melted butter. Sift dry ingredients together; add sugar and banana mixture and beat until smooth and well blended. Stir in nuts. Pour into a greased 8x4x3 loaf pan or 3 smaller pans. Bake at 350 for about one hour, 30-40 minutes for smaller pans.
note: I used the oldest yuckiest bananas I have.

English Toffee

English Toffee

I originally started to blog in order to collect all my recipes so my children could have them in one spot. My candy recipes were the ones I really needed to get together in a form that would last. The picture of these recipes is 33 years old. The paper is so tattered and worn that even I have trouble discerning what is what.

English Toffee is a real favorite. It uses very few ingredients and is very simple to make if you pay attention. Its one of those recipes that is hard to describe because every ones stove and pans are different. I use the clock, my nose , and my eyes to tell if its just right. And yes I have thrown out a batch or two.I also find that I do better alone with no distractions.
I use Mexican vanilla. Its very cheap and comes in big bottles that last awhile. I got mine from snow bird family members who lived in Mission Tx. Years ago there was a concern about vanilla containing cumarin ( cancer causing agent) so I have my peeps make sure that the bottle claims it does not contain cumarin and this has never been an issue for me so I bet none of it contains it anymore but better safe than sorry!

I use a copper bottom pan for all my candy. 3 quart Revere Ware makes a nice pan.

In that pan put in

1 c. sugar

1/2 lb butter ( 2 sticks) must be butter.
3 T water

1 tsp vanilla

Cook on medium high stirring constantly.The cooking time is about 8 minutes. As you stir you will notice that the texture changes and thickens and as you stir through it you will see the bottom of the pan . This is where you will notice it scorching a bit. This is good because the scorching is what makes it darker. About halfway through the cooking you will need to turn the heat down to medium. Keep stirring from the bottom. At about the 8 min mark the color will be a carmel brown and bubbly and the smell will have changed to a very yummy aroma. If it begins to smell burnt you have gone too far. Don't throw it out yet. It could be ok.

Pour this mixture into foil lined pans. I use 8 or 9 in. round cake pans but anything that size will do.

When the surface has hardened somewhat lay out broken pieces of a Hershey bar. If they sink in too much hold off a few minutes. The heat from the candy will melt the chocolate and they will get real shiny.

Spread the chocolate around and let the chocolate harden completely which takes awhile.

Take a sharp knife and break into pieces.
Let me know how you come out. Good luck.