Archive for November, 2009

Friday Recipe: Pennsylvania Dutch Potato Filling

Friday, November 20th, 2009

Ah, here we are in Michigan, just in time for today’s Friday Recipe. In honor of Thanksgiving next week, I am posting three recipes for my favorite Thanksgiving dish– Potato Filling. But, I must confess, that I have only made my own filling a few times, and I can’t remember which recipe I used! I’m not cooking for Thanksgiving, but I will have to make some soon– the problem is, I like it sooooo much that I tend to eat WAY too much. What is your favorite Thanksgiving dish?

This recipe came from Grandmother, via my sister:

Grammom’s Potato Filling Recipe
6 lbs potatoes
3 stalks celery
3 onions (what she had written down. She told me 1 large or 2 med for 5 lbs)
dried parsley (lots — I have written down)
pinch of sage (no more than 1/4 t)
1/4 t onion powder
1 t seasoned salt
1/4 t celery salt
3 slices bread – toast it and cut up
2 eggs

cook celery and onion in 1/4 C butter (she did these separately.. don’t brown)

add seasonings.. parsley can be added now or to the potatoes.

add the bread crumbs.

Can maybe use 1/2 C Milk (depends on potato consistency)

Cook potatoes in salt water. Mash. Add eggs. Then add other stuff.
Grease pan with oil (butter will brown)
Put small pats of butter on top of potatoes stuff
Cook at 350
If you refrigerate let it warm up a bit before cooking

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Here is another recipe that comes from my Grandmother:
Grammom’s Potato Filling Recipe, Version 2
(using 8-10 Med. Potatoes)

Cook in Salted Water 8-10 Med. Potatoes or 6 large potatoes
Cut up 1 large onion and 4 med. ribs of celery
Saute onions in 3 tbs Butter (actually, Grammom said NO, use more like an entire STICK)
Push to back side of pan and Saute Celery
Mix Celery and Onion together
Add:
1 tsp Seasoned Salt (lawry’s)
1/8 tsp. Pepper
1/4 tsp. Onion Salt (well… she ammended this to say POWDER)
1/4 tsp. Celery Salt (again, powder… maybe Garlic Powder)
1 tsp. Parsley
Turn heat to Simmer
Toast a slice of bread, break it up and add to celery/onion mixture
Put aside

Mash Potatoes, add 2 eggs
Add Celery & Onion mixture and a Pinch of Sage

If it seems dry, add a little milk or Potato water
Put in a buttered Casserole Pan
Dot top with Butter
Bake at 350 ° till lightly browned– Approximately 45 minutes.

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And here is a third recipe, this one comes from Joan.

Potato Filling
Serves 6
8 medium to large white potatoes, died in small pieces
2 eggs, well beaten
1 cup of celery, diced
1 cup of onion, diced
5 pieces of white bread, crust removed
1-cup warm milk
1 stick (1/2 cup) butter
1-teaspoon salt
Pinch of pepper

Cook the diced potatoes and while they are boiling melt the butter and add the diced celery and onion. Saute until very tender.

When potatoes are soft, drain bread in cold water and squeeze dry. Break apart bread into pieces and add to potato mixture.

Add warm milk, the mixture of celery, onions and butter, salt and pinch of pepper and vigorously mash the entire mixture for several minutes (use a
hand potato masher if possible) until smooth.
Note: You may have to add a little more milk or butter to make the consistency thinner. You want the mixture to be a little thin, not dry.

Put in buttered casserole and bake at 350 degrees for an hour.
The top should have a light crust, but the filling should be creamy and smooth.

Note: You can prepare this the day before. Keep refrigerated.
The baking time could increase because the mixture is cold.

Note from Joan: I used 1/2 n 1/2 , when I cooked the onions and celery , I let it cool, added eggs to this mixture before adding it to the potatoes. I also used a half can of celery soup.

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Enjoy!

Goin’ for a ride in the car car

Thursday, November 19th, 2009

We are headed to Michigan tonight– which means I have to pack! When Joe gets home from work, we’ll hit the road, stopping somewhere in Central or Western PA, and then we’ll finish the journey tomorrow. We’re heading home Monday and plan to make the drive back in one day. I’ve heard a rumor (hopefully not a rumor!) that we will be getting a Christmas tree and having a Thanksgiving dinner while there! Which makes me pretty lucky, since I will also have Thanksgiving dinner at my dad and Joan’s house on actual Thanksgiving. The Thanksgiving meal is just about my favorite food of all time. I love it so much, if a diner has a Hot Open Faced Turkey Sandwich on the menu, I have to order it. HAVE TO. Some places are better than others. My recent favorite is at Saville’s Diner in Boyertown. Oh look, that’s actually Joe’s review. I’d probably have given it a 5 star review! I hear that Wawa has something called a Turkey Bowl– I guess like this? I really want to try one. I wonder if we will drive by a Wawa on our trip tonight. Although a turkey meal while we are trying to stay awake to drive might not be a good idea… but then on the other hand… Wawa does have coffee!

Well, like I said, I MUST pack, do dishes, and do my exercises. If I don’t do my exercises before sitting in the car for 600 miles, I will regret it!

Tomorrow… Friday Recipe! Once we make it to Michigan.

Forgotten books

Wednesday, November 18th, 2009

Whoa, I almost went to bed without posting today.
I found this book tonight at the library and had an instant flashback. I didn’t remember the story (which is super cute!) but I definitely remember the pictures.
humbug

Do you remember this book? Do you have any favorite childhood books that no one has ever heard of?
Off the top of my head, here are two that I still have and LOVE:
Sloth’s Birthday Party by Diane Redfield Massie
and
How Joe the Bear and Sam the Mouse Got Together by Beatrice Schenk De Regniers.

Rarity

Tuesday, November 17th, 2009

During dinner tonight, I mentioned to Joe that I needed to go to Kohl’s tomorrow to get some female undergarments. And then it dawned on me that I could go right then and there… and not have to bore Lilia to tears while trying things on. Besides my weekly volunteer gig at the library, I haven’t left the house without Lilia in quite a while. I can’t remember the last time. I might have done an errand one weekend morning in spring without her. It was a real rarity. And since Lilia is in a Pete Seeger ONLY phase, I grabbed Paul’s Boutique from the CD rack and headed out the door. Like the old days, I blared it as I drove up Henry Ave. Unlike the old days, I was only driving 35 MPH.

As I was just about to the entrance, I saw something fall from the sky and land with a plop on the curb. It was a little sparrow, who had been living in the O in the Kohl’s sign. He was still breathing, but not doing well at all. I debated what to do. Others had seen it too, but no one else was going to do anything. I knew we were right near the wildlife rehab center, and I couldn’t bear to just leave him if maybe he was going to be okay. I went back to the car, found a shopping bag, and picked him up with it and talked sweetly to him. He was still warm, but barely breathing, when I put him on the passenger seat. I drove to the wildlife rehab (about 5 minutes away), and was disappointed to see that are only open M-F 10-4. The sign said you could leave animals in a sturdy cage in the lobby if needed. I checked on my little birdie, and I am pretty sure he was no longer breathing. He wasn’t in a cage, but I didn’t want to leave him outside, just in case there was some chance he was still breathing, so I put him (and the shopping bag) on the lobby floor.

I shopped a bit (ugh, I hate female undergarment shopping), and came home, still listening to the Beastie Boys, but at a lower volume.

Grammom the Chocolate Pusher

Monday, November 16th, 2009

Today is my grandmother’s 88th birthday. We visited on Saturday. She made us dinner for her birthday. And got me hooked on Mini 3 Musketeers Mint with Dark Chocolate. Just what you need 2 weeks after Halloween (when you still have a huge bag of Halloween candy that you didn’t give out, plus your daughter’s loot)… more candy. But yum, have you tried them? I am normally anti-mint chocolate flavor (which can be traced back to when I was ten years old and had to ingest some kind of mint flavored liquid so I could have a medical test, yuck!), but these are yummy. Actually, I never gave up York Peppermint Patties after that, it was just Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream or Choco-Mint cookies. And I guess these Minty 3 Musketeers taste more like a Peppermint Patty, but with that airy 3 Musketeers texture.

Just look at her… she’s an enabler… getting me hooked on more candy! Happy Birthday, Grammom!