Honey Ham Slice

This is hands down the easiest, yet tastiest weekday dinner you will ever make.  The ham takes at most 10 minutes to make.  My mom would always make this and serve it with mac and cheese.  I find this to be the best side for it because the sauce for the ham goes great with the cheese.  It is also a great meal if you are cooking for 2 for a holiday meal like Christmas. You get a great flavorful ham, without having to eat ham leftovers for the next month. 

Honey Ham Slice

From the Kitchen of: Lisa Murphy

Makes: 2-3 servings    Start to finish: 10 minutes

 

1 one lb ham steak with center bone

2 Tablespoons honey, divided

2 Tablespoons brown sugar, divided

1 tsp ground mustard powder, divided

 

When cutting open the ham package make sure to pure the juice from the ham into a   10 inch non stick pan.  Cut the ham steak into the portion sizes you would like.  Using kitchen shears works best I find.  Place half of the honey, sugar, and ground mustard  the pan followed by the ham pieces. cook on medium heat for about 5 mins, then turn and cook another 5.  Make sure not to cook too long or the ham will dry out.  If making mac and cheese with this, I find it best to be cooking the ham by the time the pasta goes in the water.  There should be some juice left in the pan.  Place the ham pieces on the plate you are serving them then crank the heat for the pan up to high and cook off some of the moisture in the juice to make a nice sauce to put over the ham. 

Mom's Meatloaf

What says home more than meat loaf just like mom use to make?  Not many things can compare.  If you had to ask my what meal says US more than anything, it would be my mom's meatloaf, with my neenaws green beans and mashed potatoes.  Spoiler alert, this recipe does use Accent, which is msg, as you might know. If you are one of those people who is convinced msg is the devil itself, feel free to sub for regular salt.  I have done my own research and personally I don't think msg is as bad as they like to say, but I won't get on that soap box.  I have used it in small doses and I don't notice anything weird side effects.  Anywho, enjoy moms recipe, unaltered by my creative whims :)

Mom's Meatloaf

From the Kitchen of: Lisa Murphy

Makes: 6-8 servings    Start to finish: 1 hour 15 minutes

2 lbs ground beef (93/7)
1 1/2 cup bread crumbs
1 tsp accent (a.k.a. msg *gasp*)
1 pkg Lipton Onion Soup Mix
2 eggs
3/4 cup ketchup
1/3 cup warm water
1 Tbl Worcestershire sauce
2 slices bacon
1 (8 oz) can tomato sauce

Pre heat oven to 350 degree. Mix all ingredients in a large bowl, with your hands is easiest.  Place in a loaf pan and cover with bacon strips and tomato sauce.  Bake for 1 hour. If you like your meat loaf to be less juicy use a meatloaf pan that allows juices to go to the bottom of the pan.

Freezer meal option:  If you don't want to make a whole loaf, you can also place half of the meat in the pan and top with 1 slice bacon cut in half and half a can of tomato sauce. Then form the rest into another loaf and wrap in plastic wrap and then foil.  When you are ready to eat it, take it out and thaw in the fridge over night. Place in a baking pan and then top with bacon and 4 oz tomato sauce. Bake as directed above.

Chicken and Sausage Jambalaya

My mom always made this jambalaya when I was younger when she wanted a quick weekday meal.  Her version really only used cayenne pepper in the recipe, so I jazzed it up a bit and got a recipe for creole seasoning from Emeril. I also find it works best to wash the rice before to keep things from getting too goopy.  Andouille sausage is the traditional one to use, but for the longest time I always used smoked sausage like Kielbasa, as did my mom. It wasn't until I found a local place in Kansas City called Fritz' (103rd and Stateline) that makes their own sausage that I started using the real deal.

Chicken and Sausage Jambalaya

From the Kitchen of: Mary Holfelner/Lisa Murphy

Makes: 8 servings    Start to finish: 45 minutes

1 lb chicken breast, cubed
1 lb andouille sausage (can sub with smoked kielbasa), sliced
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
3 stalk celery, chopped
2 tsp each paprika, seasoned salt, garlic powder
1 tsp each onion powder, cayenne pepper, chili pepper
1/4 tsp fresh black pepper
pinch oregano
4 cups chicken broth
2 cups uncooked rice, washed and soaked for 30 mins

Saute chicken and sausage in olive oil until chicken is cooked, then add onion, green pepper, and celery and cook until tender.  Add all spices and cook a couple minutes.  Add broth and rice and cook for 20 mins or until rice is tender and liquid is absorbed.

My Favorite Things: Apple Dumplings

So for those who don't know one of the jobs I had before I started college was working at Cracker Barrel.  I have actually worked at 3 different locations, in Danville, KY; Evansville, IN; and Bloomington, IN.  I can say a lot of things about Cracker Barrel.  Their managers are mostly assholes and they don't care about employees that much.  Tips are shit there since they cater to mostly old people who still think $1 is a good tip and they don't serve alcohol to maintain their "family" feeling (must be a baptist family).  But one thing I will never say about them is anything bad about the food.

I am a weird person in the fact that even after I have worked at a restaurant I still tend to love the food they make.  I worked for a cafe called Three Babes and a Monkey for over a year and to this day I still crave the chocolate muffins and tuna salad.  I worked at McDonalds for a summer and I still love me some chicken McNuggets.  And I worked at Cracker Barrel for a combined time of over 2 years and to this day I still love things like their grilled chicken tenders and pecan pancakes.  But one of my all time favorite things from there is their Apple Dumpling.

I was not a fan of desserts involving baked fruit until I had this dumpling. It.Is.Awesome.  I am especially a fan of the pecan streusal on top. The best part about all this you can get the stuff from Cracker Barrel to make this dessert at home.  Though I like to doctor it up a little by adding pecans to the topping.  To make the apple dumpling, though really it becomes an apple crumble when you make it at home all you need is...

And

Just place the apples in an 8x8 pan.  Mix the topping mix with cold butter until it looks crumbly.  Fold in pecans if you like them, I go with pecan halves and crush them a little. then just serve with ice cream!

Grilled Chicken Fajitas

This is one of those recipes I have had around for so long I can't even remember where it came from.  More than likely it came from Taste of Home, but which issue it was in I have no clue.  And of course I have tweaked it here and there to cater to my own tastes.  The key I find is to grill the chicken instead of pan frying it like some recipes do, and to not over cook the peppers and onions.  No one likes a soggy bell pepper.  If you like a bit more spice you might add some jalapeno peppers as well.




Grilled Chicken Fajitas

From the Kitchen of: Mary Holfelner

Makes: 4-5 servings    Start to finish: marinade+30 mins

1 Tbl Worcestershire sauce
1 Tbl soy sauce
1 Tbl cider vinegar
1 Tbl lime juice
1 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp onion powder
2 cloves garlic powder
1/4 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1 lb chicken breast, pounded 1/4 inch thick
2 Tbl butter
1 small onion, sliced into wedges
1 bell pepper, sliced into strips
flour tortillas

Combine first 9 ingredients and toss with chicken in a food storage bag.  Marinade for at least 1 hour, but longer is better  Grill chicken over medium high heat. Meanwhile use butter to saute onions and peppers in a skillet for 4-5 minutes until tender crisp. Let chicken sit for a few minutes before slicing it to strips. Serve with the peppers and onions on the flour tortilla and other topping like sour cream and cheese.

What's in my Garden? Clematis

I grew up watching my mom garden all the time, and one of my favorite things that came up each spring was per giant Clematis vine.  She had a beautiful plant growing right by the door.  It is a vineing plant with traditionally single blooms,usually in purple, though now you can fine double bloom varieties as well as other colors like white and red.  The kind I have is called Barbara Jackman.

Common Name: Barbara Jackman Clematis
Scientific Name: Clematide Barbara Jackman
Bought From: Lowes

Sun
Part to full sun.  6 hours is ideal, but they can grow with less.  They like to have their feet covered to help upward growth, so planting other things at the base is a good thing to do.  Here is a good example of how different sun causes different growth.  I have 2 plants growing on either side of a window.  One gets more sun than the other, since the one of the left starts getting covered by the shade of the deck.

The one that gets tons of sun really grew more like a bush, as you can see above.  I don't have any plants in front of the clematis so the feet are not covered like they usually prefer.  I'm thinking this contributed to the weird growth this year.  

The other one had less shade and grew up more on the trellis and had nice evenly spread blooms.

Soil
Prefers neutral to slightly alkali soil.  If you have acidic soil you can sweeten it by adding some limestone of a little wood ash at the start of spring.

Size
As tall your trellis will go :) Usually no more than 6-8 ft

Water
I always water them about twice a week when there is no rain

Fertilize
Use compost and a general 10-10-10 granular fertilizer when you first plant.  After it's first season put compost around the base each spring with granular fertilizer, and then water twice more with fertilizer during the growing season with a water soluble fertilizer like Miracle Grow.  I also like to hit all of my garden with some Super Thrive every so often, maybe about once a month at most, usually at the same time as fertilizing.

Pruning
There are 3 groups of Clematis that determine some of their characteristics like pruning rules. The Barbara Jackman variety is a part of group 2, meaning it is a repeat bloomer.  It blooms a lot in late spring or early summer, then sporadically throughout the summer on new shoots and old stems. since this clematis can grow on old growth so there is no need to prune unless you think it getting too tall or vines get too thick and tangled.  If you do need to prune it is best to do light pruning in late winter before blooming starts.  You can also cut back back half every other year, or cut down fully to within one foot the ground every few years.

Wintertizing: lightly mulching is fine, bit keep mulch away from crown of the plant.

Ceasar Dressing

This recipe comes straight from our wonderful neighbors, Mark and Linda.  Every time we have dinner with them I end up wanting to steal a recipe to add to my collect.  First it was a recipe for Apple Bunt Cake, then one for a Strawberry Cake, now I can finally say I have a homemade amazing Caesar salad recipe.  I tried making Caesar dressing a while back when I watched an episode of Good Eat all about eggs, but it just did not work out, and was nothing compared to this one. So I hope you enjoy this recipe too!  Tell me what you think in the comments, and please, don't let the anchovies or egg scare you into not trying it.

Caesar Dressing

From the Kitchen of: Mark and Linda Bureman
Serves 3-4 people on a salad

1 egg at room temp
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup white or red wine vinegar
3 anchovies
3 large cloves garlic
1/2 tsp Worcestershire
1/4 tsp Tabasco sauce
juice of 1 lemon
1/4 tsp Dijon mustard (or other, just not regular yellow kind)
1/4 cup Parmesan/Reggiano cheese
salt and pepper to taste

First, How to Coddle and Egg

1. Start with a very fresh egg that is room temperature (you can place in warm water to warm if needed).
2. Fill a small saucepan (deep enough to cover the egg) with water and bring to a boil.
3. Using a spoon, carefully lower the egg into the boiling water.
4. Remove from heat, cover, and let sit for 2 minutes.
5. Remove from the water and immediately run under cold water.
6. Crack the egg over a small bowl – you may notice that some of the white has begun to cook (that is a-okay).
7. Pour the egg into the container you plan to use to make your dressing.

Once the egg is coddled place it in the food processor.  Add all other ingredients, but salt and pepper. blend everything together, add salt and pepper to taste on top of salad. Garnish with whatever like such as more anchovies, croutons, or extra parm cheese (I prefer fresh grated for this part).