Tea Time!

When Mother knew we would be home for a visit, she would start brewing jars and jars of tea. She had developed a method that seemed unbeatable, and pretty much unreproducible to us all. Finally, one visit Evan asked her for her recipe. She laughed and said there was none, but then went on to explain her, by now, deeply ingrained procedure.
Using two 6 cup Corningware teapots she would bring water to a strong boil. Turning off the heat, she immediately added the equivalent of five tea bags to each pot, putting the lids back on the pots and setting the timer for fifteen minutes. After the time had elapsed, she would pour the brew into sparkling clean glass quart jars, each of which had a scant third cup of sugar in the bottom. If poured while still hot, the tea would easily melt the sugar. She would pour tea not quite to the top, and then finish out each jar with cold water. The tea was allowed to cool to room temperature before the lid was placed on and the jars set into the refrigerator to finish cooling.

On a Chilly Night in Autumn...

Chili nights of my childhood, always included an extra, smaller boiler on the stove; one with tomato soup for me because back then, though difficult to imagine now, I was a picky eater. Mother said she would not force the issue with chili, though she would with, for instance, vegetable soup or scrambled eggs. Chili was different somehow. And, somehow, I did, by early marriage, develop a taste for it. Maybe all those, "You don't know what you're missing," comments by everyone in the family kept nudging me toward the chili bowl for a taste from time to time.
The chili I make is essentially the same as Mother's chili decidedly minus the extra boiler of soup for dissenters  and often plus an optional assembly line for a stacked version whereby a bowl of rice is topped with the chili, then some shredded cheddar, snipped spring onions, a dollop of sour cream, and a circling of crushed corn chips. But these days, stacked or straight up, chili is a staple.

Mom's Chili

This is more or less as written in the Let's Cooking with Mom cookbook I prepared for each of my  children as they  headed to college . Mother never went by a "recipe" for chili, and by now each child has come up with their own signature spin, as well. Sounds like the recipe for an event: The Great Chili Cook off of 2010!



1 tsp. sugar                                1 tsp. salt
1 T. (+ or -) chili powder           one clover garlic, minced
1 bay leaf                                   1 lb. ground beef
1/8 tsp. paprika                         16 oz. can diced tomatoes
1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper            16 oz. can chili beans
                        about half an onion, chopped

Sauté onions and garlic in small amount of oil. Brown ground beef, draining before adding to the onion mixture. Add spices, tomatoes and beans. (For a bigger pot of chili, just double amount of tomatoes and beans...adding seasonings to taste.) If you need to cook for a crowd, you could stretch the chili by cooking chunks of potatoes (added whenever you add tomatoes and beans) OR serve over rice with shredded cheese, chopped green onions, tortila chips, and sour cream available as toppings. The longer you let the chilli simmer over low heat, the better the flavors mix. Be sure there is enough liquid to keep the beans from scorching on the bottom of the pot. Stir from time to time.

If you want to make an omelette...

I went through a phase in my adult life, of not being able to make a clean break of it...where raw eggs were concerned, anyway. I either would not strike the egg hard enough against the bowl's or counter's edge, or I would strike it too sharply and wind up with a crackly mess dripping down my palm. Finally I developed a "Rap. Tap! Crack!!!" approach that over time has become second nature.The other day I decided to try to break an egg without all the fan fare of the contrived running start. Could not do it. It's back to timidity or tyranny. Third option? "Rap. Tap! Crack!!!"

Mother's Chicken Tetrazzini

Mother kept three special occasion menus in her recipe file, listing everything that should be brought to the table, right down to the pickles and olives. Her Chicken Tetrazzini was on the card entitled "Preacher Menu". The two other menu cards? One was Thanksgiving and the other Christmas. These two cards were nearly identical in their offerings, probably because the family became more vocal in what was most anticipated during the holidays, and as her children scattered, the holidays at her table became "either/or" affairs ... either Thanksgiving, or Christmas; hence the twin cards.

Chicken Tetrazzini

Ingredients:

4 lb. hen, cooked and chopped**

1 pkg. egg noodles [size unspecified], cooked

2 bell peppers, chopped
1 cup chopped celery
1 can pimentoes (size not specified... but quite small, as I remember)
1 can mushroom soup
1 large (or 2 small) can(s) button mushrooms
1 and 1/2 pints chicken broth
salt & pepper to tatste
bread crumbs, for topping

Instructions:
Place all in greased casserole dishes. Cover with bread crumbs and bake 30 minutes to an hour. Makes quite a bit and freezes well.

**[Alternately, you could use de-boned chicken breasts for the meat. Mother got to where she would do that rather than using a whole hen. The results were essentially the same. Though if you want dark meat, you should get some thigh meat.]

You Can Even Eat the Dishes!

Pita bread stuffed with bits of seasoned stir fried meat and veggies, slathered with your favorite salad dressing or sauce and topped with perhaps a few chunks of tomato, or pineapple, or shredded cabbage, becomes the longed for dishes you can eat.

Lunch today will be a bit of leftover chicken, heated with quickly stir-fried red pepper, celery, red onion, mushroom, and green pepper, placed on small bed of shredded cabbage/lettuce/carrot. Topping it off will be a few raisins for a sweet touch, and about a tablespoon of Caesar dressing. Might even throw a few tomato wedges on top...if I get the notion. SooOooooOO very versatile, and soOOOooooOooo very yummy. (How can something this tasty also be healthy?) Anyway, that's what we've been doing with pitas.