Family Recipe: Baked Cheese and Hominy Loaf

One of the family favorites I remember when I was a kid was my mom's baked hominy casserole. I loved hominy, and this cheesy combination with green peppers and onions was like the epitome of comfort food. Unfortunately, when I was in high school, I had some hominy casserole in the midst of one of the most terrible illnesses I had experience, and I forever associated hominy casserole with a terrible headache after that.

Last week, when I was looking through Mom's recipe box, I came across her much-used recipe for hominy casserole and decided it was time for me to get over my long rest from this tasty meal! Of course, when I mentioned it to David, it did not have the requisite "something-must-have-died" component, so we decided to try it with diced ham - it just sounded like it should match up well with hominy and cheese.

This recipe is a great option, though, for vegetarians (not vegans, I guess, because it has milk and cheese, although you could easily substitute). It is hearty without meat - totally worthy of being a main dish or it can be used as a potluck-style side dish.

It is super easy to make. It has some strange ingredients - scalded milk? We read up on scalded milk in recipes and apparently, this was an ingredient that was a reflection of a time when milk was not pasteurized - scalding the milk before using it destroyed the bacteria that resided in fresh milk. It also called for 1 tablespoon of green pepper - that is not much green pepper!

The concoction is combined, then cooked slowly in a 275 degree oven for an hour. I would not suggest changing this - the time slow-cooking it gives time for all of the ingredients to really mesh together.

For our attempt, we used one small green pepper and one green onion. We also added a package of diced ham.

The verdict? It was super tasty! David thought that it was a little bland, so if you are a person who needs more seasoning, you may want to experiment a little. Still, it was a nice blast from my past!

Ingredients (as we made it):

1 c. milk
1 c. bread crumbs
1 c. grated cheese
2 eggs, beaten
2 cans hominy
1 small green pepper, diced
1 large green onion, sliced
8 oz. cubed ham
salt & pepper to taste

In a large bowl, combine milk, bread crumbs, and cheese. Add remaining ingredients in the order they are listed. Put in a greased casserole dish in a 275 degree oven for one hour.

Family Recipe: Chicken on a Sunday

This week, the recipe I chose to try out from my mother's recipe box is Chicken on a Sunday. The name of the recipe is what caught my eye first. The thing that cinched it was when I saw the small note in the top right of the card "good-best" and an X on the upper left side. You see, there were about five recipes with the same title. Some said "good", others said "good-better." This told me that my mom was on a search for the best Chicken on a Sunday recipe, and when she found it, she wanted to be sure to remember which one she liked!

Chicken on a Sunday originated as a way for busy moms to ensure that their family had a hot meal ready for them when the family returned home from church. It's a super simple recipe that only uses a few ingredients (I had all of them in my pantry).

Mom's recipe called for cooking in a baking pan in the over at 250 degrees for 2 1/2 to 3 hours "During S.S. and church." I decided to change it up a bit - I cooked mine on high in the crock pot for about 3 hours. I also used chicken thighs instead of a full frying chicken cut into pieces (I still have no idea how to cut up a chicken).

The result? It was super tasty! The chicken was very tender. The only thing I would change (and I'm changing it in the recipe below) would be to put the chicken in the crockpot first, THEN the rice. When I did it the way it was supposed to be layered in the baking pan, i found some of the rice had not cooked after the time was up, so I had to stir everything up and let it continue to cook until the rice had cooked. Other than that, the transition from oven to crockpot was a breeze!

INGREDIENTS

1 c. milk
1 c. rice (uncooked)
6 chicken thighs (recipe calls for 1 frying chicken cut in pieces)
1 envelope onion soup mix
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can cream of celery soup

1. Sprinkle raw rice on bottom of baking dish (if using crockpot, you'll want to put the rice on top of the chicken).
2. Put chicken pieces on rice (again, place this first if using a crockpot)
3. Sprinkle dry onion soup mix over chicken.
4. Mix mushroom and celery soup with milk, then pour over chicken.
5. Cover with foil and bake in 250 degree oven 2 1/2 to 3 hours (or in a crockpot on high for 2 1/2 to 3 hours).

The recipe gives you your protein and carbs - you'll want to serve with a vegetable on the side.

Note: Nutrition facts assume the use of chicken thighs rather than a frying chicken.

Family Recipe: Pork Chops in Celery Cream Gravy

I've been sorting through boxes and boxes of recipes that I got from my mom. She had recipe boxes full of recipes in her handwriting, her mother's handwriting, and from my grandmother on my dad's side (who typed all of her recipes). There are recipes that mean nothing to me - clearly never made, only written on cards in my mother's neat handwriting. Recipes that she intended to make someday, but never did. There are recipes I remember well - family favorites that I already know how to make and others I never did. There are recipes that she notated the name of the person who gave her the recipe in the corner of the card, which makes that one mean more because clearly she did taste that one and liked it enough to get the recipe. Then there are those that are dark from food stains and age, bent and smeared from sitting on a kitchen counter while ingredients were measured, beaten, poured, and mixed.

Once I sorted out the ones that my mother never had, I decided that I was going to start trying to make some of the recipes that I was unfamiliar with, so that I could learn more about my family through the foods they ate. My mom is still with us, but she can't cook anymore, my grandmothers are long gone. Doing this makes me feel somehow connected to all of the strong women in my family.

So here is my first attempt! Pork Chops with Celery Cream Gravy. I chose this one because it was the one that my husband sounded interested in when I read the choices off - this could be due to the fact that we discovered a package of pork chops in our freezer when we did a quarantine food inventory.

Anyway, we thawed out the pork chops and found the rest of the ingredients in the pantry. The instructions were easy, the ingredients were things that we normally have in our pantry, and the family verdict: they loved it! Nathan said his favorite part was the "sopping" sauce - the celery cream gravy that the pork chops have been baked in. We used bone-in pork chops but they were cut thick like boneless normally are, so it was important to have the sauce to add moisture into the meat.

We served it with a side of broccoli, a salad mix of cucumbers and zucchini, and some yeast rolls we also found in the freezer. We will definitely add this to our collection of "tried and true"!

Here's the recipe:

Ingredients

6 pork chops
salt and pepper
1 medium onion, diced
3/4 tsp. sage
3/4 c. milk
1 can cream of celery soup

1. Trim most of fat from chops and sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper.
2. Rub skillet with fat (instead, I drizzled olive oil in the pan) and brown chops on both sides. Remove from pan and place in baking dish (I sprayed the baking dish with olive oil).
3. In the skillet, cook the onions in drippings (the fancy word is fond) until tender.
4. Stir in sage, soup, and milk, mixing to loosen all browned particles (a/k/a fond!) from skillet.
5. Pour mixture over chops and bake in 350 degree oven about 1 hour until chops are tender.

After the fact bucket list

On Monday, I did something I never thought I would do. It wasn't something that was even ever on a list of things I wish I had done. I did a stand-up routine at a local theater.

Now that I've done my first stand-up comedy, I am adding it to my bucket list (so that I can check it off!). There are some things I learned.

1. Not every audience is going to connect with the material you have. A seasoned comic can change their path, but one that is doing this for the first time has to keep on trudging through.

2. Stand up comedy is super vulnerable. You walk up to that mic and you are putting all your faith in that your audience will connect with what you are saying and find it funny. This is the most courageous thing I have ever done in my life.

3. I also realized that I have some funny things to say, but I don't know if I have enough to do stand up comedy. I'm thinking I could MC, where I have to say one or two funny things as I'm introducing the next act. However, because of the second sentence in number 1, I do think I could move into stand-up if I had enough material.

4. An act of courage can be inspiring to others. I have received several emails and messages from people who have felt empowered by my courage to get up there and try stand-up. We'll see whether all of these people actually do the things they say they feel empowered to do.

All in all, I'm very happy that I found my courage to do this. Let me tell you, it really took a lot - my introverted self would normally have backed out of this, but I purposefully told people I was doing this so that I couldn't back out.

My message in all of this? Don't let your own personal fears keep you from giving your dreams a try. The worst case scenario is that you completely bomb and nobody remembers you.

Low Carb High Protein Chicken Cordon Bleu Casserole

I've been working on converting family favorite meals to be more friendly to my choice to maintain a high protein, low carb diet. Chicken Cordon Bleu Casserole has been a big hit with my family every time I make it. It combines very flavorful, yet distinct foods and is definitely a comfort food staple.

The main things I changed were to use crushed pork rinds (I like the Bakenets brand for this) instead of crushed crackers for the topping and boneless, skinless chicken thighs instead of chicken breasts. As a result, this recipe is very low carb and very high protein, but still has all the great taste. I would even say the crust is tastier when made from pork rinds.







Here's my recipe:

8 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
1 lb. sliced deli ham
8 oz. swiss cheese
3 oz. pork rinds
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 jar four cheese alfredo sauce
1/2 T. dijon mustard
1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
Cooking spray (original)
Cooking spray (butter)

Before Assembly:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Flatten the chicken thighs with a meat tenderizer
3. Shred the swiss cheese
4. Crush the pork rinds.
5. In a small bowl, combine the grated parmesan with the pork rinds.

Preparation:

1. Spray a 9x13 baking dish with the original cooking spray.
2. Layer the chicken thighs in the bottom of the dish.
3. Cover the chicken thighs with ham slices. You may end up with enough for a double layer and that is okay.
4. Cover the ham with shredded swiss cheese.
5. Cover the swiss cheese with the pork rind/parmesan cheese mixture.
6. Spray the topping with butter cooking spray.
7. Place in preheated oven for 30-35 minutes until juice runs clear and crust is browned.

Angst

There has been something about having a 5 at the start of my age that has sent me into a perpetual state of reflection, anticipation, and pondering. The result of all of this is a deep understanding of, and perhaps even welcoming of, the condition of angst.

Human beings, as far as we know, are the only living creatures who ponder their own death before it happens. Yay, humans!

I always knew, of course, that I would die someday, but the angst is recent. I can't say that the pondering is entirely recent. You may recall that I previously confessed in a blog post to contemplating suicide as a teenager, but this pondering that is linked with a complete understanding of the complete and utter erasure of my being is certainly recent.

In a conversation with my son, Tony, one day, we talked about a church member and mother of one of his friends who was battling cancer and had very little time left in this world. We contemplated how we might feel if we were faced with this certain end. He said something that was so profound to me that it was possibly the catalyst for my angst. He said,

"I'm not afraid of dying, I'm afraid of not being here."

Now that, my friends, is exactly where I'm at. I've never been afraid of dying. My dark teenage thoughts were encouraged to linger because of that. My family raised us in an atmosphere of open discussion about the realities of death. We contemplated it whenever a relative would die. We all thought we were so enlightened because we were not afraid. I truly wasn't afraid of death, I was more often afraid of the process of dying - how hard would it be, would it be painful, etc.

Once Tony voiced the more terrifying state - of not being here - I haven't been able to shake it. I sit in my house now, typing this, and looking around at the life that I have and how precious it is, and how beautiful my children and grandchild are, and all that I have to look forward to and then it rushes at me. The angst. The sheer meaningless reality of human existence.

I photograph headstones as a volunteer for Find A Grave and sometimes when I'm standing over that stone, I try to imagine the person interred there. What did they sound like? What was their favorite thing to do? What foods did they hate? The stone doesn't tell me. The dates tell me whether there is likely to be anyone alive still who could know, but in the end, enough time will pass for all of us that nobody will still be around who really remembers us.

Ecclesiastes 1:2 (NIV)

Angst.

The writer of Ecclesiastes had it. We don't even know for sure who he was. Even if we do think we know who he was, we don't know what he sounded like. We don't know what his favorite thing to do was. We don't know what foods he hated.

Angst.

It can either paralyze you or empower you. When we are truly aware of the limited days we have, we can become depressed and fearful or we can feel a drive toward making our lives count for something.

I'm choosing the latter. While I can get teary-eyed when I'm filled with angst like I am today, the condition itself calls for action. I begin making plans. I start thinking about goals. I cheer myself toward making a difference in the world (and by world I generally mean my corner of it).

And I write.

Because, that is one thing that could tell somebody 200 years from now who I was, what I found to be most important . . .

and maybe even what foods I hated.

Memories: Re-Imagining the Rain

A very large part of the person I am today originated in the year 2002. In January, my baby who was just over a year old, was diagnosed with cancer. I had separated from my husband a few months before, I was unemployed and attending university, and I had two other children at home, ages 5 and 3.

Through that year, I encountered more challenges than I ever had before, or ever have since. Struggling through the end of an 18-year marriage, dealing with the realities of poverty and single parenting, and existing as a person whose child was battling a life-threatening illness was daunting and difficult. If I ever say anything that makes it sound like it was easy, I'm covering for you so that you don't have to feel bad about it. It was hard. Add to that an ex-husband who didn't help, a church family who deserted me eventually for whatever reason (I'm told that my ex was telling them stories that made them not want to be there for me), and my own father dealing with a heart attack and subsequent bypass surgery, which left my own family barely able to be present for me, and you have the very definition of hardship.

The good thing about hardship, though, is that when we endure it, when we focus on positives, set goals, and pull ourselves out of it, we have embedded a certain trait into our psyche - one that will define how we approach every single challenge from then on. This little thing is called grit.

At the time, though, grit was the last thing on my mind. Often, I would come home at night from school or the hospital feeling alone. Many times, while my children slept in their beds, I searched, begged and pleaded for strength. Sometimes this was in silent prayer, but often it was in the form of song.

Music is a big part of my life. I mentioned another song in the blog post "Amazing Grace" which has profound meaning to me, and for sure, that song was sung often while I rocked my son to sleep in those hospital rooms. However, when I was at home in those moments when I was barely hanging on, there were two songs that I would sometimes play over and over, singing as loudly as I could without waking up the children. After two or three repeats, I would move from my deepest desperation into a complete sense of empowerment.

The songs were "I Can Only Imagine" by Mercy Me and "Bring on the Rain" by Jo Dee Messina. The combination of these songs reminded me of the two powers I have within myself to encounter and defeat any difficulty that comes my way.

"Bring on the Rain" reminded me that my life was going to be experienced in the way I chose to experience it. Whether I decided to focus on the negatives and have a negative life or whether I chose to embrace the positives and know that negatives are just another part of the whole adventure, was entirely up to me.

"I Can Only Imagine" invoked a power beyond myself. The power that God provides and which always has been and always will be there for me. The power that has overcome the world. My God has my back. He always has and always will. Sometimes outcomes are not what I want them to be, but I can always know that whatever those outcomes are, God will have my back. He had it in 2002 and revealed himself to me in so many minute and infinite ways.

Still today, the sound of those songs brings back memories, tears, and a renewed sense of empowerment. They are a reminder that rain can be seen as a storm or as a giver of life.

The choice is yours.