Cooking with Ellen

Progressive Farmer (Dowdell) Feb 1954

Gran’s Dream Kitchen ~ 1953

My dad recently found the article reference below at my grandparents’ house. This article was written in the 1950’s about my great grandmother and great grandfather. My great grandmother renovated the kitchen at the house where my dad grew up and speaks of her “dream kitchen” that had modern conveniences.

Of course, the moment I got to the end of the article, I decided to try out her recipe for Chocolate Macaroons. The recipe calls for 1 Sweet Chocolate Cake and I wasn’t real sure what that meant. So, I decided to substitute 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips and melted those down. It turned out great. The cookies had a crusty top and were absolutely delicious.

Chocolate Macaroons
from “Gran” – my Great Grandmother

1 tablespoon butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 cake sweet chocolate (or 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips)
1 cup flour
1 cup chopped pecans

Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs and beat well. Melt chocolate and let it cook a bit before adding to mixture. Add flour and chopped pecans. Bake at 300 degrees F for about 20 minutes, cool, and serve.

1 1/2 pounds beef

1 onion

2 (28-ounce) cans tomatoes

1 (8-ounce) cans tomato sauce

1 (4-ounce) can chopped green chilies

1/4 teaspoon Tabasco sauce

1 chopped jalapeno pepper

1 teaspoon chili powder

1 teaspoon oregano

1 teaspoon garlic salt

1 teaspoon basil

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1/8 teaspoon Cayenne pepper

Brown beef in skillet with onion. Drain and rinse beef with hot water. In medium saucepan, mix together all ingredients. Simmer on low-medium heat for 1 hour before serving.

This recipe comes directly from my husband:

——

Hey everyone! I fixed this recipe for my wife (Ellen), one morning as “breakfast in bed.” She loved it.

Guys, take note. This is super easy and will only cost about 30-40 minutes of your time in the morning. Here it goes:

Ingredients:

• 1/2 lb ground pork sausage (I used Jimmy’s Deans 1lb-er, split in half)
• 4 large eggs
• 1/4 of 1 Red Bell Pepper
• 2 burrito-sized flour tortillas
• 1 cup Sharp Cheddar Cheese (or whatever cheese you like)

Directions:

1. Get out a cutting board, knife, large skillet, two bowls, and a baking dish.
2. Place sausage in the large skillet and cook on low-medium heat until sausage is lightly brown. Make sure the meat is cooked thoroughly (no red spots). Take sausage out and place aside in a bowl for later. If you’re trying to cut back on the grease, just strain the sausage or use paper towels to blot the grease off.
3. Chop the bell pepper into tiny square bits. Crack the eggs into the skillet and mix in the bell pepper bits.  Cook the eggs until they are “set” (not runny/uncooked).
4. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
5. Take the eggs out and place them into the other bowl.  Get the tortilla shells out. Halving the eggs, sausage, and cheese, place an even portion into each tortilla, and wrap into a roll (burrito).
6. Put the burritos onto the baking dish and place them into the oven for about 10 to 15 minutes, until the cheese has firmly melted and the burritos are a tad hardened.

Take them out of the oven and serve to your wife (or spouse) in bed. I promise you it will be good!