WORLD'S EASIEST SALAD

I’ve always had a hard time getting excited about making a salad because of all the washing of lettuces and vegetables, the chopping, peeling, slicing, dicing and tossing involved, not to mention the dressing that has to be something that everyone likes and doesn’t detract from the salad itself. I love going out to dinner where they have a good salad bar and picking and choosing from all the wonderful array of choices to put on the salad, but doing the same thing at home always seems like way too much trouble for something as mundane as lettuce. Salad-making is just something you have to ease into and become converted to like classical music or Zane Grey westerns. So here is a recipe I invented for a simple salad that I guarantee you will find easy, fun to make and possibly as good as it gets when it comes to salads.

1 bag of fancy mixed salad greens, washed and ready to use.

I know it will be tempting for you to start adding on a lot of other stuff like onions, tomatoes, cucumbers, mushrooms, etc. that you might have lying around, but this is not the salad for those vegetables, as lovely and delicious as they are.

Simply put the lettuce on some very fancy plates. If you feel you must, you can sprinkle on some dried cranberries, sliced almonds* and croutons, but that’s as far as you should go. You then drizzle your favorite salad dressing on top (sparingly) or if you don’t have one, here is a recipe for one that will do the job for you:

WORLD’S EASIEST SALAD DRESSING FOR WORLD’S EASIEST SALAD

½ C. vegetable oil

½ C. cider vinegar

4 t. sugar or equivalent amount of sugar substitute

2 t. dried tarragon

1 t. salt

½ t. black pepper

Blend all the ingredients in a blender or whisk together the oil, vinegar, sugar (or substitute), tarragon, salt and pepper until sugar is dissolved and dressing is creamy. Serve immediately over salad greens of your choice. Serves 4. Enjoy!

*Sliced almonds are such a handy thing to keep in your kitchen pantry because they can make so many otherwise lackluster things look like you brought it home from a gourmet cookery somewhere. You have to be judicious, though, and not overdo it with them because then they get to be same old, same old. But once in a while you can whip them out and sprinkle them on something and then stand back and watch it go from from ordinary to extraordinary. Whipped cream on top of puddings, pies, cakes or whatever always looks fancier with a few sliced almonds sprinkled around on it.

MINI MOUSSE CHOCOLATE PIES

It is such a nice and handy thing to have a dessert that you can whip up in a matter of minutes (really!) and serve to your guests or your family knowing that it will wow them every time which is exactly what these little mini mousse pies will do. They are rich and chocolaty and will satisfy the chocolaholic’s craving for real chocolate that tastes rich but is also light and easy to eat. Because it’s so small, it won’t inspire as much guilt as, say, a big piece of chocolate cake or a brownie sundae, but it’s enough to satisfy a dessert lover’s sweet tooth while looking beautiful at the same time. I ask you, what more could you ask of a dessert than that?

And so, here is what it takes to create these marvelous, magical mini mousses:

1 package of Keebler’s small graham cracker pie shells (6)

1 large Hershey’s chocolate candy bar, melted and cooled

1 pint of heavy whipping cream, whipped

¼ C. powdered sugar

Chocolate candy sprinkles

1. Melt the Hershey’s chocolate bar in the microwave oven at medium power for 1 minute.

2. Whip the cream, adding the powdered sugar when it forms stiff peaks. Save some for topping.

3. Slowly add the melted chocolate to the whipped cream.

4. Spoon it into the graham cracker pie shells

5. Garnish the pies with whipped cream and sprinkle with the candy sprinkles or whatever you would like as a garnish.

I need to add a word of warning here, though: Because these are SO good, it’s easy to overdo on them so make sure you limit yourself to only one. They’re not only good, they’re TOO good. Also, it’s not a good idea to leave them sitting in the refrigerator at eye level where they are irresistible to even the most strong-willed dessert resister.

These are also so easy to make that you can turn the job over to a willing helper such as a husband, child or grandchild who would like to do something fun in the kitchen that will make them proud of themselves when you can say, “And guess who made the dessert for us tonight?” And he or she will say with a great big smile, “I did!”

SOUPER SIMPLE SOUP

Sometimes you just need something good, easy and in a hurry. Life gets complicated and you don’t always have time to do things the way your Mom used to. Throwing together a pot of soup without having to cook it for a few hours is not a bad idea when you’re stressed-out, in a hurry and want something that will soothe, comfort, warm and satisfy all at the same time. What could be better than soup unless it’s this recipe for Super Simple Soup? I don’t know anyone who doesn’t like soup and I haven’t found anyone yet who has objected to this particular soup because it’s got lots of good vegetables in it without any of the ‘weird stuff’ that kids, and even some adults, find objectionable in soup. (For example, I can’t get away with putting okra into anything. It just isn’t something we’re used to here in the West where I live. I have nothing against it personally, but I haven’t yet found a way to disguise it. Okra is just okra no matter how you slice it.)

SUPER SIMPLE SOUP

1 Can (24 oz.) beef stew

1 can (14 ½ ounces) stewed tomatoes, cut up

1 can (10-3/4 ounces) condensed vegetable beef soup, undiluted

1 can (8-3/4 ounces) whole kernel corn, drained

1/8 teaspoon hot pepper sauce (optional)

Combine all ingredients in a microwave-safe bowl. Cover and microwave on high

for 2-3 minutes or until heated through, stirring once.

Serves 6.

I hesitate putting the hot pepper sauce into the recipe because some people might go by the old adage of ‘if a little is good, then a lot must be better’. This might be true of chocolate, but hot sauce is another thing entirely and so don’t get too heavy-handed with the hot sauce bottle when you start adding it to the soup. In fact, you might be better off just leaving it out entirely and simply putting the hot sauce bottle on the table and let your nearest and dearest sauce it up for themselves. That way they can’t blame you if it ends up being a little too spicy for their tastes. It’s all a matter of degree, anyway. Enjoy!

STAY ABED STEW

STAY ABED STEW

I once spent an entire day in bed reading a book. I sent husband off to work and children off to school, put a pot of stew in the oven and crawled back into bed. The book happened to be “The Firm” by John Grisham and I was firmly glued to it from start to finish.

When I finally turned the last page, the children were coming home from school and wondering why their mother was still in her nightgown and the bed was still unmade. But not to worry, dinner was in the oven and a good one it was, too. With a quick salad, a few slices of bread spread with garlic butter and set under the broiler for a minute and some stale cookies to round things out it wasn’t a bad dinner, after all. A quick sweep through the house and washing up of the breakfast dishes and it was all well and good. The original recipe for this stew was from an old cookbook called “The I Hate To Cook Book” by Peg Bracken. I have made a few changes to make it bit easier and, I think, improve the flavor. Give it a try.

STAYABED STEW

2 lbs. stew meat cut into small chunks

2 C. frozen peas

1 pkg. frozen sliced carrots

2 large potatoes, peeled and diced

1 pkg. dry onion soup

1 C. Heinz Ketchup *

1 pkg. Au Jus gravy mix

2 C. water

*I say Heinz Ketchup because my father worked for the H.J. Heinz Company for nearly 40 years and it was against the law in our house to use any other brand of ketchup. This law has carried over to my own home and I still buy nothing else but. I always buy the very largest size bottle that will fit in the fridge so I will have enough on hand to use in recipes like this one.

Just put everything together in a pot with a tight-fitting lid , put it in the oven on a low heat (275 degrees will work nicely) and leave it alone for 5 or 6 hours. All the vegetables will stew around in there together until they become very good friends and the flavors will all melt together until it becomes an incredibly beautiful brown color. I purposely left out the salt because there is plenty of salt in the dry onion soup and the gravy mix. You can salt it to taste after it finishes cooking, if you think it needs it.

Now a word here about stew meat: make sure you always have enough meat in a stew. Don’t scrimp and cut it back to a pound and a half or even a pound. Most men (and possibly even a few women) feel cheated when they eat a stew, anyway. They would much rather have a steak, a meatloaf or a pot roast for dinner. So as long as there is plenty of meat, they will tolerate it and sometimes will even request it on some cold winter nights. I like to serve stew with a dollop of sour cream on the top, but that is just my preference. It gives it a slight stroganoff-like taste. You can eat it plain or dress it up any way you like. Enjoy!

POLISH KRAUTWICHES

WEEK ONE: RECIPES FOR DAYS WHEN YOU DON'T FEEL LIKE DOING A DARNED THING--ZERO, ZIP, ZILCH, NADA

It seems to me that there are two kinds of people in the world: those who love sauerkraut and can’t seem to get enough of it and those who think all sauerkraut should be drowned in the depths of the sea or at least thrown out on the nearest land-fill. If you are one of the former whose mouth waters at the very thought of sauerkraut, then this recipe is for you. If not, you can skip it and move on to something else. Sauerkraut is exactly what it says it is—sour. That’s because, as shredded cabbage, it has been fermenting in salt in a big vat for heaven only knows how long until it has reached the desired sourness and is ready to be devoured by sauerkraut-loving people who understand the mouth-watering capability a good sauerkraut dish can have. My Polish step-mother-in-law used to make the most heavenly sauerkraut and Polish sausage dish that ever was, but unfortunately I didn’t watch her make it or get her recipe before she passed away a few years ago.So this is my own creation which is similar to hers, but not quite the same. Also, I turned it into a sandwich to make it a bit easier to eat.

POLISH KRAUTWICHES

4 long Polish sausages cut into 1” diagonal slices

1 can sauerkraut, drained

¼ C. dill pickle relish

1 medium onion, chopped

1 C. shredded Swiss cheese

4 hard deli rolls

¼ C. Thousand Island salad dressing

Put the sausages, sauerkraut, pickle relish and onion into an oven-proof casserole dish and bake at 275̊ for 3 hours.

Spread the deli rolls with the salad dressing, pile with sausages and sauerkraut mixture and top with Swiss cheese. Or, if you prefer, you can spread garlic butter on the rolls and toast them face-down on a griddle before putting on the sausage/sauerkraut mixture. Either way is good. You can try it both ways and decide which one you and your family like the best.Serve with potato chips or potato salad and, of course, a big dill pickle on the side. Enjoy!