Hot Sam Twists

Pretzel in boiling water.

Pretzels ready to put in the oven.

Hot Sam Twists!


These big soft pretzels are soooo good served warm from the oven. My daughter Cara and I made up a batch last time she was home and every last one was eaten almost as fast as they came out of the oven. I don't remember where I got this recipe, but when the kids were little, it was a fun family project to make (and eat) these pretzels.

Ingredients:

1/8 cup hot water
1 pkg. active dry yeast
1 1/3 cups warm water
1/3 cup brown sugar
5 cups flour (4 cups for mixture - 1 cup for kneading)
1/4 cup Kosher salt
1 Tablespoon baking soda

Instructions:

In a large mixing bowl, mix hot water and yeast and stir until yeast is dissolved. Stir in warm water and brown sugar. Slowly add flour to the mixture, stirring constantly. Continue stirring until mixture is smooth and does not stick to the sides of the bowl.

Place dough on a lightly floured board. Dip hands into flour and knead dough until smooth and stretchy. Push dough away from you with palms of your hands, turning dough as you knead. Don't let dough get too stiff.

Grease two cookie sheets well and sprinkle with Kosher salt.

Pinch off dough about the size of a golf ball and shape into a pretzel. Repeat until all the dough is formed. Fill a 10 inch frying pan with water, add baking soda and bring water to a gentle boil.

Using a spatula, gently lower each pretzel, one at a time, into the frying pan. Count very slowly to 30, then lift the pretzel onto the greased and salted cookie sheet. Sprinkle Kosher salt on the pretzels and bake at 475 degrees for 8 minutes. Remove from pan immediately so they don't stick. Makes 15 - 20 pretzels.

Note: As you can probably tell, this is a very old-fashioned recipe. I do use an electric mixer with the dough hook to knead and need to do very little kneading by hand. Just long enough to work a little more flour into the dough so there is no stickiness to it.

Green Pepper Steak

This is a great dish to prepare late in the summer when you have lots of tomatoes and green peppers from your garden! This recipe should make 6 - 8 servings.

Ingredients:

2 lbs. round steak, fat trimmed
1/2 cup soy sauce
1-2 cloves garlic
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 cup salad oil
1 cup green onion, thinly sliced
2 cups red and/or green peppers, cut into 1 inch squares
4 ribs celery, thinly sliced
2 Tablespoons cornstarch
1 3/4 cups water
4 tomatoes, cut into wedges

Instructions:

With a very sharp knife cut beef across the grain into thin strips, 1/8 inch thick.

Combine soy sauce, garlic and ginger in a bowl. Add beef. Toss and
set aside while preparing vegetables.

Heat oil in a large frying pan or wok. I use my electric skillet. Add beef and toss over high heat until browned. Cover and simmer over low heat until meat is tender, probably about 45 - 60 minutes. Feel free to add some water and soy sauce at this point to keep some liquid in the pan.

When meat is tender, turn heat up and add all vegetables except the tomatoes. Toss until vegetable are tender crisp, about 10 minutes.

Mix cornstarch with water. Add to pan: stir and cook until thickened.

Add tomatoes and heat through.

Note: I serve this over a bed of rice and topped with chow mien noodles and more soy sauce. Delicious!

Chili

Chili is most definitely one of my husband's favorite meals. Here is my version of Chili. It isn't real spicy, but I suppose you could remedy that if you prefer by adding more of the hot stuff!

Ingredients:

2 lbs Ground Sirloin

1 onion, chopped

2 green peppers, cut in 1 inch pieces

6 ribs celery, sliced thinly

1-2 15 oz. cans red kidney beans

3-4 28 oz. cans whole tomatoes

2 Tablespoons chili powder

2 Tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon pepper

1 teaspoon Accent

Instructions:

Brown ground sirloin and onions in dutch oven. Stir occasionally, making sure meat is breaking up into small chunks. Drain grease from meat in a strainer and set aside.

Pour tomatoes into dutch oven and break into chunks. Add the celery, green peppers, kidney beans and all the seasonings. Add meat and onions. Cook covered, on low to medium heat, stirring occasionally, for at least a couple of hours. Simmer for a while with the lid removed to thicken the Chili.

Note: The measurements on the seasonings can be adjusted to your taste. These amounts are just guidelines.

Potatoes au Gratin

This recipe come from my Good Housekeeping Cookbook. I have adapted it to my family's tastes. This is a favorite of my youngest daughter, Cara. It is easy to make and very good! I have been making it for many years.

Ingredients

1/2 stick butter or margarine
6 - 8 medium potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced (about 6 cups)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp onion salt
1cup (or more) shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 - 1 cup fresh bread crumbs (I cut up a few slices of bread in small cubes)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. In 12" by 8" baking pan in oven, melt butter. Remove from oven. Add potatoes and both salts; toss together and arrange potatoes in even layer in baking pan.

Sprinkle with cheese and bread crumbs. Cover pan with foil. Bake 25 - 30 minutes; uncover and bake 20 minutes more until potatoes are tender.

Breaded Boneless Pork Chops

These are the instructions for the way I make breaded pork chops. We don't have these very often. My husband isn't crazy about breaded meat, but I like them.

Ingredients

6 - 8 boneless pork loin chops

1 cup cracker crumbs ( approx. 20 saltines)

2 cups flour

2 eggs

1/4 cup milk

salt

pepper

Accent

Cooking oil for frying

Instructions

Trim fat from pork chops. Season to taste with salt, pepper and Accent. Pound with meat mallet to tenderize.

Crush approx. 20 saltine crackers. Mix with one cup of the flour.

Beat the eggs and milk lightly.

Dredge the pork chops in the remaining cup of flour. Dip in egg and milk mixture. Then dredge in the cracker and flour mixture.

Preheat about an inch of oil in an electric skillet to 375 degrees. When hot, place pork chops in pan and turn occasionally. Cook until done, approx 40 minutes. Drain on paper towel lined plate and serve.