I'm a mom, but you wouldn't know it.

Yes, I'm the mom of an adopted son from El Salvador.  He was two years old when this tiny little person came off a plane, and into our arms.  Adorable was the word to describe him, sweet was another.  I, the woman who never wanted to have children, was now a mother...a mom...and I didn't have an instruction manual, so I winged it.  Every day, I let William know how much I wanted and loved him; gave up working outside the home for eight years to be a stay-at-home-mom.  I only went back to work when he started going to school full-time, and being at home was no longer beneficial to anyone.

We weren't rich, but did better than most of our friends.  We provided him the best we could afford, and refused to buy those expensive trendy clothes and toys.  The most important thing is that we taught him values, manners and morals; not something a lot of parents do anymore.  So many times I was stopped by a person and told, "He is such a well mannered boy; you don't see that much nowadays".

My first husband wasn't in the picture much; he loved having the title of "father", but that's where it ended.  He was mentally, emotionally, and many times, physically abusive to us both.  I filed for divorce the day after he tried to strangle William with his bare hands.  Instead of growing up and older with his son, he felt he had been replaced as the center of attention, and that was too much for this man to handle.

William had many goals as he grew older, but his main ones were to be an architect and an artist; when it came to artwork, he was very good.  So enters Roy, a graphic artist, and he was able to help William with his artwork.  Unfortunately, a young girl with severe personal problems came into William's life also.  Drinking, drugs and sex were her lifestyle, and endorsed by her own mother...like mother, like daughter.

But she wasn't the only cause of William's downfall; he had established many a friendship with boys who lived on "The Hill".

Living in half million dollar homes, parents making six figure salaries, country club memberships, housekeepers and cooks...how were we middle class parents to compete?

And so, all the values, morals and manners taught to William went out the window, and were replaced with lying, stealing, staying out all the time, and making sure he couldn't be reached.  His goal to go to college was replaced with, "you have to finance an apartment for me, buy me a $30,000 car, and give me free access to your money."  He wanted to party all the time, and be bankrolled by us.  Surprise!!!, ain't gonna happen little boy.

I haven't really had much contact with William since I've moved to Utah.  We asked him to move with us, start a new life out West, but he stayed in Pennsylvania to be near his friends and girlfriend.  The girlfriend?  She moved to Michigan, got herself a new boyfriend, of course, after cleaning out William's bank account.  His friends?  They all went to college, didn't have much to do with William, except if he had booze and pot to share. 

Now William works two food industry jobs, shares a house with three other young men, and is basically learning how tough it is in the real world.  He'll be 21 on February 9th, and be considered an adult in every way, shape and form.  Now the question is, will he really become an adult, take responsibility for his own actions, and stop blaming his family for "all his problems and losses"?  Good question, wonder if I'll ever find out the answer?

I still love my son, am sad for him, but am sadder still that what was allowed to take place was the death of a close and loving mother-son relationship.

Which brings me to today's recipe, "Funeral Potatoes"; "say what?!?", you might ask. I received the recipe from a friend and coworker named Heidi, who explained that it's a dish that usually shows up at any meal related to a funeral, hence the name.  It's a Utah thing.

Funeral Potatoes – It’s a Utah thing

Ingredients:

7 medium potatoes (Yukon Gold or Russet)

½ cup butter, plus 8 additional ½ Tbsp pieces

1 can Cream of Chicken soup, family size

½ can milk

1/3 cup onion, minced

1 ½ cups cheddar cheese, grated

1 pint sour cream

¼ tsp salt

½ tsp ground black pepper

Corn flakes

*optional: real bacon bits

Preparation:

Boil potatoes, skin on, till fork tender (slightly firm); let cook, peel off skin and grate.

In a large saucepan, combine cup of butter, soup and milk, on medium heat, till hot; do not bring to boil.  Whish in onion, cheese, sour cream, salt and pepper till smooth.

In a 9 x 13 baking dish (spray with non-stick spray), layer potatoes then sauce (there will be 3 layers of each).  Top with an even layer of corn flakes; dot with the 8-1/2 Tbsp of butter.  Cover with plastic wrap; refrigerate overnight.

Next day, preheat oven to 350F.  Bake, covered with foil, for 45 minutes; uncover and bake an additional 15 minutes.  Let rest for 15 minutes before serving.

Makes 8-10 servings.

Life is like a quiche.

We all start out life as a simple, basic human being.  As we grow and learn, little facets of the world around us, and other people, add to our own lives.  We accept or reject what we want to, and allow ourselves to be molded into an independent individual, or we just become one of the crowd.  Everyday we learn something new; that is, if we have open minds and want to see beyond our own little worlds.

Personally, I enjoy traveling down the road less taken.  That poem, by Robert Frost, has much meaning, if one cares to really read it and understand the concept of being an individual, not just a clone.

"The Road Not Taken"

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

...and that is what makes life like a quiche. 

Quiche

A quiche is egg custard with savory additions like meat, cheese or vegetables, baked in an open pastry shell. The quiche is a favorite and traditional dish, as it is usually served at room temperature or chilled, so the custard has time to set up; but it makes a simple dinner also. It is quite simple to make, and additions of savory ingredients can vary: cheese (Swiss, Gruyere, Cheddar, Goat), meat (bacon, ham, sausage) and vegetables (raw or cooked).  Quiche is a versatile meal, and can be adjusted to suit any taste.

Basic Quiche

Ingredients:

1 ½ cups half n’ half

4 eggs, beaten

1/8 tsp salt (can be adjusted up or down dependent on ingredients added in)

1/8 tsp ground black pepper

 1 – 9” unbaked deep dish pastry shell

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350F.  Combine half n’ half, eggs, salt and pepper.  Pour into pastry shell; bake for 45-50 minutes, or until egg mixture is golden brown and set.

Notes: The above is the simple egg custard; the adventure is what is added.  Add 2 cups shredded cheese (your choice) to the bottom of the pastry shell, before pouring in the egg mixture, for a simple cheese quiche.  Reduce the cheese to 1 cup if adding meat and/or vegetables to not overwhelm them.

For meats, distribute a ½ cup of cooked meat (crumbled bacon, diced ham, crumbled ground sausage) with the cheese.

For vegetables, ½ cup of sautéed onion, peppers, leeks, zucchini or yellow squash distributed with cheese, or cheese and meat.  If using a root vegetable (potato, sweet potato, Jerusalem artichoke), peel, dice and boil in water till tender before adding inside the pastry shell. A raw vegetable, such as spinach, should be chopped before adding.

Depending on the salt content of the cheese and meat, it can be adjusted prior to adding to the egg mixture.  Herbs, fresh or dried, can be incorporated into the egg mixture. 

Mary Cokenour       January 18, 2011

There's more than one way to make a stew...soup...what is it really?

I enjoy cookbooks, enjoy reading the recipes, picking out which ones I want to try, simple really.  Well, not really, fore I have the habit of not following them word for word; always changing ingredients or directions.  Most of the time it works out very well; sometimes...not so much.  That's when I go back, retry the recipe, as it was written, to find out where I went wrong.  The sad thing is, I didn't, the recipe sucked from the get-go.

I love when a recipe I've created turns out to have more versatility to it then planned.  A stew can be made into its original concept, a stew; but the possibilities for more abounds.  A pot pie, casserole or soup can be created with the leftover of that simple stew.

So, I give to you.....

Steak Two Ways

This recipe can be used in two ways, as a stew served with noodles, potatoes or rice; or as a soup served with warm, crusty bread.

Ingredients:

3 lbs sirloin steak, cut into 1 inch pieces

2 medium onions, slivered

¾ lb mushrooms, cut into ¼ inch slices

2 (14 ½ oz) cans diced tomatoes

2 (10 ¾ oz) cans cream of mushroom soup

1 (10 ¾ oz) can beef broth

2 tsp ground black pepper

 ¼ tsp cayenne pepper flakes

1 tsp each sea salt, garlic powder, thyme and marjoram

Preparation:

Spray a 6 qt crock pot with non-stick spray.  Place meat, onions, mushrooms and tomatoes into pot.  In a large bowl, mix together, soup, broth and seasoning; pour over ingredients in pot.  Set on low and cook for 8-10 hours; mix ingredients together after 3 hours.  Serve as desired; as a stew, soup or both.

Mary Cokenour

January 18, 2011

The Many Ways of a Traditional Comfort Food – Chicken Pot Pie

For generations, the pot pie has been a comfort food staple for many a family.  Whether it was made with chicken, beef, pork, seafood or simply vegetarian; the family ate well on a cold winter’s night.  Made from scratch, fresh or leftover meats, and vegetables, were encased in a crust, and then baked in an oven with a hearty simmering sauce.

The typical crust is the pie crust, browned and flaky with sauce oozing from slits made in the crust to help release steam.  However, many a recipe will replace the pie crust with biscuit dough, cornbread, or dumplings.  I, myself, experiment with various forms of dough, and have found that French bread dough gives the pot pie a very rustic flavor.

The Amish and Mennonite of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania have a recipe for chicken pot pie which is not baked, but made in, as the name suggests, a pot.  Instead of a pie or bread topping, thick pasta squares are cooked in the sauce with the chicken and vegetables.  While these can be freshly homemade, they can also be purchased pre-made and dried; both methods work just as well.

Traditional Baked Chicken Pot Pie

Ingredients:

1 pound skinless, boneless chicken

breast halves - cubed

1 cup diced carrots

1 cup frozen green peas

1 cup potatoes, peeled and cubed

2 Tbsp cup butter

1/2 cup diced onion

1/2 cup diced celery

4 Tbsp all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp black pepper

1/4 tsp paprika

1/2 tsp dried thyme

1 3/4 cups chicken broth

2/3 cup milk

1 (9 inch) unbaked pie crust

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C.)

In a saucepan, combine chicken, carrots and peas.  Add water to cover and boil for 15 minutes. Remove from heat, drain and set aside.  In a separate saucepan, cook potatoes until fork tender, drain; add to drained chicken and vegetables.

In the saucepan over medium heat, sauté’ onions and celery in butter until soft and translucent. Stir in flour, salt, pepper, paprika and thyme.  Slowly stir in chicken broth and milk. Simmer over medium-low heat until thick. Remove from heat and set aside.

Place the chicken/veggie mixture in bottom of a 1 ½ quart baking dish. Pour hot liquid mixture over. Cover with pie crust; crimp edge around dish.  Make several small slits in the top to allow steam to escape.

Bake in the preheated oven for 30 to 35 minutes, or until pastry is golden brown and filling is

bubbly. Cool for 10 minutes before serving.

Mary Cokenour

January 17, 2011

Amish Chicken Pot Pie

(Source:Home Cooking at BellaOnline; http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art6854.asp )

Pot Pie Squares ( the noodles )

·  3 cups flour

·  1 large egg

·  1 T. vegetable shortening (such as Crisco)

·  1/2 to 3/4 cup water

Preparation -
Mix the flour, egg, and shortening together. Knead this dough mixture, while alternately adding small amounts of water until the dough holds together well. Divide the dough into two or three pieces. Roll each piece to about 1/8" thick on a floured board. Cut the rolled out dough into squares - about 2 inches to 2-1/2 inches wide. Allow the freshly made pot pie noodle squares to dry for about 30 minutes or more before cooking.

The Stew
Three to four cups of shredded chicken or turkey leftovers can be used instead of a whole stewing chicken for this recipe. When using leftovers, use chicken broth instead of the 2 quarts water. With leftover chicken or turkey. I use about 4 cans of chicken broth, such as College Inn® Broth.

·  1 - 3 lb. stewing chicken

·  2 quarts water

·  5 medium potatoes - peeled and cut into bite size chunks

·  2 cups chopped celery

·  1 small onion - chopped

·  1/2 cup finely diced carrots

·  1 T. dried parsley

·  1 tsp. salt

·  1/2 tsp. pepper

Preparation -
Cook the chicken in water until tender. Remove the chicken from the broth and separate the meat from the bones and skin. Cut or shred the cooked chicken into bite size pieces. Meanwhile, add the vegetables and seasonings to the simmering broth. Cook for about 15 to 20 minutes, then add the pot pie squares to the broth mixture, a few at a time, stirring frequently so they don't stick together. After all have been added, cook gently for about 6 to 8 minutes or until the noodles are tender.

Add the cut up chicken and cook over low heat, stirring occasionally for 10 to 15 minutes longer. Cover, and let stand for a few minutes before serving.

If cooking were a religion, Bobby Flay would be a god.

He's an Iron Chef, owner of several restaurants, appears on countless cooking shows and specials, and his books are like bibles.  Bobby Flay ( http://www.bobbyflay.com/ ) is a born New Yorker who specializes in Southwestern cuisine.  He's personable, handsome, intelligent, and just an overall good guy; so what else would you want in a food god?

I'd love to meet him someday.  I'd be too scared to do a throwdown with him, but I'd love to just shake his hand and tell him what an inspiration he is to us foodies.

Well, I'm a born New Yorker, and since moving out West, have become quite adept at Southwestern cuisine, but that's about where the similarity ends.  I can live with that.  Since moving out to Utah, I have learned that the restaurants out East, that advertise Southwestern cuisine, don't have a real clue; except those chefs that have bothered to learn it and get the real training to excel in it.  The tastes and flavors not only explode your taste buds, but give you a "feel good" feeling...nothing like fresh chiles to get the blood flowing.

It's also healthy for you.  When I moved to Utah, my A1c (I'm a type 2 diabetic) was 11, had been on insulin for about 3 years, and just was having a heck of a time getting myself in control.  But there was something about the area that changed my whole life.  The air was the coolest and cleanest I've ever inhaled.  Where I could only walk for 15-20 minutes in Pennsylvania before getting tired and weak; here I could walk the trails for hours, and still feel energized.  The spirit of the mountain goat entered me, and my husband could only say, "She's going to f***ing kill herself", as he watched me climb the red rock formations, and jump from outcropping to outcropping.  I lost weight, and am keeping it off...still have a long way to go, but I'm not so cranky about it.  My blood sugar numbers are improving, and in 1 1/2 yrs, my A1c is now down to 6.5, the recommended number.  My insulin intake has decreased, and my blood pressure is always normal.

Yep, I'd say that moving out West was one of the best things I've ever done in my life, besides marrying Roy that is.

Southwestern Chicken Stew
(for a slow cooker)

Ingredients:

2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1 inch pieces
1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes
1 jar (16 oz) chipotle salsa (if not available, use medium salsa), chunky style
1 can (15 oz.) black beans, drained
1 bag (16 oz) frozen red/green pepper with onion mix (sometimes listed as stir-fry mix)
1 bag (16 oz) frozen shoepeg (white) corn
1 Tbsp. chili powder
Corn bread

Preparation:

Spray slow cooker dish with cooking spray. Add all ingredients and mix thoroughly. Set cooker on low, cook for 5-6 hours; stir occasionally. Place corn bread in soup bowl, ladle stew over bread. Makes 8 servings.

Mary Cokenour

May 21, 2008

A salad isn't a salad...yes it is.

If you've glanced at my profile, you've seen that one of my interests, a passion really, is cooking.  It's something I've been interested in since I was a little girl.  It began via necessity, but has turned into something more.  The idea of, one day, owning one of those old fashioned roadside diners, and serving up a variety of comfort foods to traveling motorists, truckers, or folks just out for an adventure, is always on my mind.  Roy loves the idea, but finances are not our friend when it comes to the idea of starting, owning and maintaining a business.  So, I'll just dream on for now.

Ah, the purpose of this post today, Miracle Whip.  It's called a salad dressing, but basically it is mayonnaise with sugar (and lots of preservatives) added in.  Personally, the taste of it is quite nasty, but then again, I wouldn't eat plain mayonnaise either.  Roy loves it on sandwiches, and I don't know how many times I have felt insulted by his putting a blob of it upon my luscious....yes, luscious, meatloaf, or freshly roasted beef.  I do use the product in my macaroni salad, coleslaw and deviled eggs.  Why are deviled eggs called deviled in the first place?  I mean, if you really look at them, they should be called "bloody, mutilated chicken fetuses" with all that red paprika sprinkled over the yellow gob.  So, I make mine really "deviled" by adding ground cayenne pepper to the mixture, but this post is not supposed to be about all that.

If something is a salad dressing, then stick to the game plan; otherwise, don't just change the picture on the label, change the concept too.  Say what you mean, and mean what you say.  Make a decision, and stick to it.  There I go running off again......

Ok, so I'm being stubborn and saying that Miracle Whip should stick to salad enhancing, and mayonnaise should be, as it has always been, versatile.....all purpose.  That being said, here's my recipe for "Amish Macaroni Salad":

Amish Macaroni Salad

Ingredients:

1 lb elbow macaroni

½ cup each carrots, onions, red bell peppers, finely diced

5 hard boiled eggs, diced

2 cups Miracle Whip salad dressing

¼ cup white vinegar

½ cup sugar

2 Tbsp yellow mustard

Preparation:

Cook macaroni; drain, let cool in a large bowl.  Gently mix in the carrots, onions, peppers and eggs.

Whisk together Miracle Whip, vinegar, sugar and mustard to make the dressing; gently fold into the macaroni mixture, making sure all macaroni is covered by dressing.  Cover and let sit overnight.

Makes 10 – 1 cup servings.

Mary Cokenour 

May 29, 2007

Enjoy!!!

...and so the adventure into blogging begins.

Yesterday, I finally saw a movie, "Julie and Julia", that I've been wanting to see for a long while.  I was impressed by the story itself, the characters, and it moved me to start a blog of my own.  I've never kept a diary, didn't really see a point to it.  My life was not the happiest as I grew up, so why would I want to read about it, and relive those heartbreaking days.  Unfortunately, I have a minor type of autobiographical memory, and all the traumas from childhood into adulthood keep bursting in on my mind, whether I wanted them to or not.

So, with this blog, I'm hoping to recreate memories that mean more to me than those lousy ones.  Maybe I'll finally be able to suppress those bad memories to the point that they will stop inflicting themselves upon me.  Above all else, I believe that my life with my husband, Roy, will be the biggest inspiration overall.  He has been my rock, my soulmate, my everything, since we first met in December of 2003.  Before then, we had been conversing via email, IMs and on the phone since September 2003.  We met on a Dungeons and Dragons gaming site, found we had much in common, besides roleplaying, and just kept getting closer and closer till we finally had to meet. 

Roy arrived in Pennsylvania, where I was living then, at the bus station in Harrisburg.  At first sight, we hugged, and hugged, and hugged, and we didn't want to let go.  We had discovered that we had a deep empathy between us, and knew this was it...this first physical meeting was the beginning of forever for us.

Throughout the years, we have supported each other in all ways...spiritually, emotionally, mentally, physically, financially.  Together we made life one big adventure for us.  After we were both laid off in 2008, we made the decision to sell the house I owned, and move to Utah.  Originally we had hoped to buy a home in Moab, but the prices were ridiculous for the real estate market at the time.  We ended up with a fixer-upper in Monticello, and while it wasn't our dream home, we made it our own in so many ways. 

We'd been together since 2003, and finally decided to tie the knot in 2010, so on October 8th, we legally became husband and wife.  Surprisingly, we didn't feel different at all.  We'd always considered that we were married to each other, conducted ourselves as a married couple; friends even stated that we were more married to each other than any married couple they knew.  Guess you could say we did it just to make the lovers of legal documents and red tape happy.  We loved, and were in love with, each other, and didn't care what anyone else thought about our arrangement.  But being legally married sure did make getting insurance easier.

So, where will I be going with this blog, no idea, and I'm just looking at it as a new adventure.