Author: Cathy Horst

Custard Pie

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For our recipe this month, I’m going to give you a special family recipe that capitalizes on eggs. No, it’s not a favorite breakfast dish, but rather a favorite dessert of mine – custard pie. Whenever I make this custard pie, it reminds me of wonderful Thanksgiving and Christmas feasts with my kin. Especially on my father’s side of the family, custard pie was a must! I have always been very picky about custard pie. I never cared much for most recipes. However, this one I love! I hope you enjoy it, too.

Custard Pie
1 9-inch pie crust
4 eggs
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
3 1/2 cups milk
Note: I don’t use any white sugar. Instead, I just use approx. 3/4 cup brown sugar or sucanat for the total amount of sugar.

Beat the eggs and sugar until frothy. Add the milk. Pour into pie crust. Bake at 400 degrees 10 minutes. Turn down to 250 degrees. Bake 1 hour or until the center of the pie jiggles like jello instead of sloshing like liquid. You can cut the baking time in half by scalding the milk before adding it to the eggs and sugar. (Be sure you don’t overbake this pie. Custard becomes watery when it’s baked too long.)

Do you need a delicious, super easy pie crust? Try this push pastry. You mix it in your pie pan.

Pie Crust
1 cup flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter, melted
3 tablespoons milk

Mix the flour and salt together in your pie pan. Mix the butter and milk together. Add to your flour mixture. Mix it with your hands until all the flour is moist. Form into a pie crust by forming it to the pan. Flute the edge if you desire.

Cathy’s Cooking Tips

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I often roast chickens by adding vegetables and plenty of water to make lots of broth. However, I found out that there’s another great way to roast whole chickens. Add no water, but instead brush plenty of butter all over the birds. Then salt them and roast them as usual. It will still make rich broth, but the skin is crispier. Yes, go ahead and eat that skin. You miss a lot of nutrition from the Omega 3’s of grassfed poultry if you don’t.

The next morning you can take the broth from your roasted chicken and poach some organic grassfed eggs in it. This is definitely a favorite way for our family to eat eggs.

Have you ever hardboiled eggs, but when you went to peel them, the shells came off in little pieces with bits of eggs adhering to them? This happens because your eggs are too fresh. For the shell to come off easily, the eggs should be at least two weeks old. That is unless you cook them a different way than usual. Instead of adding your cold eggs to the water at the beginning and boiling them, bring the water to a boil first and then add your eggs with a slotted spoon. Bring to a boil again. Then proceed as usual by cooking them on lowest heat for 8 to 10 minutes and then cooling them quickly in ice water. Very fresh eggs will come out much better by using this method.

Egg burritos are a great breakfast food. To fill your tortillas, scramble some eggs and add some leftovers such as diced potato, chicken or sausage, rice and beans or any number of vegetables. Top with sautéed onions and sour cream, salsa or mayonnaise. Try mixing a little mustard into your scrambled eggs before they’re cooked. It gives an extra, wonderful little zip.

Oriental Hot and Spicy Chicken

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Our family really enjoys a recipe called Oriental Hot and Spicy Chicken. You can brush this sauce on chicken pieces or on a whole bird.

2 Tbsp. toasted sesame oil
2 Tbsp. soy sauce
4 Tbsp. vinegar
2 tsp. hot sauce
2 Tbsp. mustard

If you are baking chicken pieces, bake them uncovered for 1 1/2 hrs. at 350 degrees. If you are baking a whole chicken, cover your roaster and bake the chicken 2 to 3 hours at 350 degrees till the juices run clear and the leg joint is loose.

Chicken Salad

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This is a great way to use leftover chicken.

(All measurements are approximate.)

1 chicken, cooked and deboned and cut up
1/2 c.mayonnaise
1/2 c. sour cream
1 tablespoon dill weed
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 tablespoons tamari sauce
1 tablespoon minced onion or 1 teaspoon onion powder
One stalk celery, cut up fine, optional
Unrefined sea salt, to taste

Mix all ingredients.

To be honest, I never measure the ingredients and I don’t follow a recipe. I just mix it together until it tastes like I want it. For variation, you can add some dried cranberries and/or chopped walnuts. Or add grape halves and some tarragon. Or put in a little curry powder and some frozen peas, thawed. For an oriental flare, add a little ginger and toasted sesame oil. In addition to the usual sandwich, you can serve the chicken salad in pita bread or rolled up in a tortilla. Or use it for the filling of your breakfast omelet. Or add some sliced hardboiled eggs, top it with buttered bread cubes and bake it in the oven. Have fun being creative! The best rule to remember is to start with a little of this and a little of that. You can always add more, but you can’t take it out.

Turkey Recipes

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My favorite way to roast a turkey:

Sprinkle salt all over the turkey. Lay into roaster breast side down. Add 2 inches of water. Cover. Roast turkey at 400 degrees for one hour. Turn the heat to 250 degrees and bake till it falls off the bone. I do a large turkey all night. The turkey is so tender and full of flavor. The breast which is drier is moist. You will need to carve the turkey and put the meat slices on a platter. It is not a picture perfect whole browned turkey, but the flavor is tops!

Another favorite way to roast turkey:

Cut off the leg quarters,breast pieces and wings. (Save the carcass for a delicious soup.) Sprinkle the undersides of each piece with salt. Lay in roaster or pan. Pour 1/2 cup butter over all. Sprinkle with salt. Bake at 350 degrees till tender. This is super delicious! The butter gives the turkey a wonderfully rich flavor.

Recipes for November – Big Breakfast Ideas

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Eggs must be one of the easiest foods to fix. We eat them almost every morning. So, of course, my family likes some variation on how they are cooked.

Eggs With Salsa

Melt some butter in your skillet. Crack your eggs into the skillet as you would to fry them. Spoon salsa over the eggs and let them cook for one to two minutes. Flip the eggs and cook till they are done as you like them. If you desire, top with some shredded cheese.

Flipped Omelet

8 eggs
1 Tbsp mustard
1/4 tsp. salt

Toppings such as cheese, leftover meat, chopped onion and bell pepper, shredded zucchini, mushrooms, avocado slices, etc.

Beat the eggs, mustard and salt together. In a medium-sized skillet on medium heat, melt 2 tsp. butter. Add 1/4 of the eggs. Immediately add desired toppings. When the underside is deliciously browned, flip the omelet. It will immediately puff. Finish cooking to your liking. Repeat with remaining eggs. Makes 4 servings. Keep your eyes on these eggs. They cook quickly.

Panfried Potates

4 large potatoes
2 tbsp. butter
salt to taste

Wash or peel the potatoes. Slice them thinly. Melt the butter in your skillet. Add the raw potatoes. Stir to distribute the butter. Sprinkle with salt. Cover. When the undersides are browned, turn the potatoes. Cover. Continue this until the potatoes are soft. Because these potatoes are covered, they not only fry, but they also steam. This causes them to soften quickly, even though they’re raw. Our family loves these.

Beef Sausage

1 lb. ground beef
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. sage
A pinch of thyme, garlic powder and cloves
(Or add whatever spices you want)
1/2 cup water

Mix together. Shape into 8 small patties and fry. Makes 4 servings.

Recipes: Chinese Chicken Noodle Salad and Escabeche

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Our family enjoys eating foods from other cultures.  I encourage you to try these delicious recipes. First, though, you must cook a four to five pound chicken until it is tender. Or if you’re like me (Cathy) you prefer the roasted chicken flavor. Put a chicken in your roaster. Add water to almost cover the chicken and roast it in a 350 degree oven until it is fall-off-the-bone tender. Remove the chicken from the broth, cool it, and debone it. Save the broth.

Chinese Chicken Noodle Salad

8 oz. rice noodles or thin spaghetti
Cook in water until tender. Drain in a colander and rinse with cold water. Set aside.

1/4 c. toasted sesame oil
1/2 c. soy sauce
6 T. rice or apple cider vinegar
1 t. ground ginger
1 clove garlic, crushed
Combine in small bowl. Add to noodles.

1 whole chicken breast, cut into small chunks
Your choice of vegetables, chopped or shredded:
scallions, sweet red pepper, celery, carrot, tomatoes, cucumber, squash, bean sprouts, broccoli
Add to noodles and sauce and toss. Best chilled overnight to integrate the flavor. Garnish with cilantro if desired.

For breakfast the next morning, poach your eggs in some of the leftover broth. The broth gives the eggs a delicious flavor. We love eggs cooked this way! After serving the eggs, strain the broth. It is now ready for escabeche for lunch. Escabeche (chicken onion soup) is a special dish served by Maya Indian descendents in the country of Belize.

Escabeche

4 c. chicken broth
2 c. cooked chicken (or the rest of the chicken you cooked up)
2 c. sliced onions
2 T vinegar
1 clove garlic, minced
1/8 tsp. ground cloves
1 tsp. crushed oregano
hot pepper sauce or jalapenos to taste

Bring to a boil and simmer for 30 minutes. This is important as it intensifies the flavors. Serve with warmed tortillas. Our family loves to spread the tortillas with peanut butter, roll them up and dip them in the soup.