Ah, it’s that time of year when Mona Faye’s Kitchen is busier than ever. We’ve actually packed up our computer for a few days because there just wasn’t enough room for old-fashioned food and new-fangled falderall! We’ll be having the usual wild turkey (the real free range) and, of course, cranberry salad.

But before we put the laptop away, we wanted to share a recipe. When Mona Faye’s youngest brings his brood to Mona Faye’s Kitchen, he always stops first at Pasta House Company to get their house salad. Now we do have salad here with a lovely Fat-Free French dressing or a tasty Fat-Free Ranch dressing or yummy Fat-Free Raspberry Vinaigrette to go on your iceberg. What more do you want? But these youngsters insist that this one’s better than any other.
So for the sake of family, which is always our top priority here at Mona Faye’s Kitchen, we shall publish this recipe too. It does have all the features we like here in a dish. It’s simple, tasty, and homemade.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Pasta House Company House Salad

Ingredients:

• 1 head iceberg lettuce
• 1/2 head romaine lettuce
• 1 can quartered artichoke heart, drained
• 1/2 medium red onion, sliced thin
• 1 small jar pimientos
• 2/3 cup olive oil
• 1/3 cup red wine vinegar
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2/3 cup Parmesan cheese

Directions:

• Toss together the lettuce, artichoke hearts, onion, and pimento in a large salad bowl and set aside.
• Combine remaining ingredients in a container with a tight lid.
• Shake container vigorously until well-blended.
• Pour dressing onto salad and toss until well covered.
• Refrigerate for about 30 minutes prior to serving to marinate.

We here at Mona Faye’s Kitchen have had such a busy few months. We’ve moved! From our large farm kitchen in Festus to our newfangled modern condo kitchen in the booming metropolis of Hillsboro. We had to get rid of our jelly strainer, but carry on we must!

Even in our new duds, however, Tradition is important in Mona Faye’s Kitchen. You peel potatoes with a knife not a gadgety potato peeler. You are supposed to use three scoops of Folgers to make a pot of coffee and. nothing. less. Christmas isn’t Christmas without applesauce cookies.

And everything tastes better with black walnuts.

Any good salad or cookie or quick bread that comes from Mona Faye’s Kitchen must have a healthy portion of homegrown black walnuts. They are right from Grandpa’s “farm” so they must be good! And we’ve always put them in!!

And they taste, oh, so good!! Mmmm. . . . just like a big crunchy moth ball.

Now Mona Faye’s brood is not so thrilled. This younger generation! The first-born insists that he has to lay out his tongue on my clean counter top and scrape it with a fork after eating them. The second-born will discretely but politely mine for each nut crumb in any slice of date-walnut bread.

Yet we will keep including them.

These silly kids love this salad they found up the road. It’s at a restaurant that is simply a Mona Faye’s Kitchen wannabe. As if!! So I’ll include this recipe here because it does taste quite good. But it would be better if it were served at home instead of an unfriendly restaurant with too-strong coffee and over-sized portions.

And with real black walnuts.

Panera’s Mona Faye’s Fuji Apple Walnut Chicken Salad

6 cups romaine lettuce

1-1/2 cup grilled and sliced chicken breast

1/4 cup red onion, sliced thin

1/3 cup Gorgonzola cheese, crumbled

1/4 cup chopped candied walnuts or pecans

2 oz. apple chips

Apple White Balsamic Vinaigrette

2 Tbsp. apple juice concentrate

1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar

1 Tbsp. white balsamic vinegar

1 tsp. Dijon mustard

1/4 tsp. garlic powder

1/3 cup olive oil

Now, Mona Faye’s grandsons are big connoisseurs of hot dogs. Yes, their mother tries to slip them a chicken dog now and then since when she serves the all-beef, kosher franks they eat four each!

But there are limits. We all need limits, you know. We can’t do too much with wienies. Society will crumble.

On July 29, 1969, when Mona Faye’s youngest boy was just 2.5, Hunter Weiners went too far.

We here at Mona Faye’s Kitchen rarely discuss politics. It is so gauche. Such conversations just might upset your digestion! Thus, we remain completely nonpartisan. We prefer to keep a sunny outlook all the while secretly hoping for the best for our candidate of choice, never entertaining a negative thought about his temper, his declining health, or his flashy trophy wife. Even though she couldn’t fix a platter of squirrel and dumplin’s if her country’s security depended on it, that’s for sure!

So just to remind our staff of our real purpose, we like to pull out a recipe every four years that points to what really matters in America. It’s not about scandals or elections. No, it’s about manufactured hydrogenated oils and powdered milk and artificial food dyes and processed flour that’s as white and pure as the freshly driven Alaskan snow! In sum, it’s about cake.

No one knows where this lovely green slice of heaven acquired its infamous name. We don’t like to think about it. On February 26, 1976, the Washington Post reported that it had become quite a craze — probably due to the pistachio shortage that year. A few weeks later a reader surmised that the name came from President Nixon’s love of the little green nuts that inspired the dessert. The recipe first appeared in that paper the previous November:

Watergate Cake
1 box white cake mix
1 box pistachio instant pudding
1 cup vegetable oil
1 cup club soda
3 eggs
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Mix all ingredients well (4 to 4 minutes). Bake in 12-by-9-inch greased pan for 45 minutes at 350 degrees.

Topping for Cake
1 box pistachio instant pudding
1/4 cup cold milk
1 (9-ounce) box whipped topping mix
Nut meats and maraschino cherries

Beat milk into instant pudding mix. Prepare topping mix according to instructions on box. Fold into pudding mixture. Spread oncake and top with nuts and cherries.

So forget the debates and the polls. Ignore the pundits and those irritating phone calls. Just eat cake and insist that life was better back in 1971, when Watergate was just a lovely confection among friends.

We here at Mona Faye’s Kitchen have brought you third-place winners of Knox gelatin competition in 1905. We have brought you presidential favs.

And now we bring you another taste of history from . . . well, A Taste of History in Greenfield Village in Dearborn, Michigan. Serve this bread with smoked turkey, cheddar cheese, red onion, and brown mustard.

Greenfield Village Hobo Bread

2 C. raisins
1 1/2 C. boiling water
4 t. baking soda
4 t. butter, softened
1/2 C. granulated sugar
1/2 C. brown sugar
2 eggs
1 t. salt
1 t. vanilla
1 3/4 C. walnuts
4 C. flour

Pour boiling water over raisins; let cool. Stir in soda and other ingredients. Fill 6 or 7 greased and floured large soup cans to half full.

Bake at 350°F. for 45 minutes to an hour. Cool and remove from cans.

Makes 6 or 7 large loaves or 24 servings.

Technorati Tags: Greenfield Village, Railroaders’ Lunch, Hobo Bread

That ol’ Mattie Kostrya. She’s so uppity. Pies and cobblers aren’t supposed to be fussy. That’s why men like them. Save the cream of tartar for homemade playdoh, Martie, not for desserts. And keep the baked fruit and dough recognizable to our men on this their special day.

Here’s Mona Faye’s favorite and very old-fashioned berry cobbler recipe written in her own hand. It’s originally from her other daughter-in-law and from Arkansas — Missouri’s less sophisticated neighbor. That Arkansas is the exact opposite to everything uppity makes it the perfect place to discover the best cobbler recipe.

Now, if you mention berries to Mona Faye, she will tell you that her favorite are blackberries or “maybe dewberries, but I don’t get many of those. . . . if you’re going to go pick them, you have to wear long sleeves because there are stickers and long blue jeans because there are chiggers and a big straw hat because you don’t want a sunburn. You just don’t!!”

Yes, good, old-fashioned cooking has to hurt just a little bit. This daughter-in-law has made two cobblers to honor the men in her life today — blueberry and cherry. And she risked life and limb by wearing only short sleeves and capris as she picked those berries . . . right out of the freezer case.

Technorati Tags: Berry Cobbler, Vintage Recipes, Martha Stewart

Only the Joys of Jello would dare to pair the cheapest and flimsiest of desserts with the finest of crystal. And not only that! Jello’s Joys flaunt the sanctity of all that is good and decent by asking a mere housewife to slant her best stemware in the darkest recesses of her kitchen.

We at Mona Faye’s Kitchen have tried to impress with Jello before. We ask you, Gentle Reader, do remember that no matter what you do to the Jello — no matter how joyful and no matter even how “perfect” — it still tastes just. like. Jello. Is it worth the risk for nothing more than red-flavored cow bones?

Now. Now I understand why my husband cringes at anything coconut, claiming that it feels like he’s eating hair. It’s Mrs. Laflin’s fault.

Technorati Tags: Clown Cake, Coconut Hair, G. T. Laflin

The best place to talk recipes is at a picnic. It’s usually potluck. We all stand around waiting for the main course to cook. We’re hungry. So we talk food.

Last week it was salads. I heard that I make the best cole slaw ever. But Mona Faye’s deviled eggs can’t be beat. And Mona Faye’s youngest wondered where we could find that salad they make at Ruby Tuesday’s. “You know, the one with the bacon and broccoli?”

Here ya go, hon’! All for you.

BROCCOLI, BACON & CHEESE SALAD

3 c. broccoli florets
2 oz. (1/2 c.) shredded cheddar cheese
1/3 c. raisins
1/4 c. chopped red onion
8 slices bacon, cooked & crumbled
1/3 c. sunflower seeds
1/2 c. mayonnaise
2 tbsp. sugar
2 tsp. lemon juice

In a large bowl, combine broccoli, cheese, raisins, onion, bacon and sunflower seeds. In a small bowl, combine mayonnaise, sugar and lemon juice. Mix dressing well and allow it to stand refrigerated for an hour or so. Just before serving, stir dressing well and pour over salad ingredients. Toss to coat. Makes 9 (1/2 cup) servings.

If your first name is Lettice, your life’s plan is already mapped out for you. You will write a cookbook.

Mrs. Lettice Bryan wrote The Kentucky Housewife in 1839 with recipes adapted to the Southern climate. And for our family’s celebration of President’s Day, we had to fix Abe Lincoln’s fav, Chicken Fricassee from Lettice herself — the source that was probably kicking around Abe’s boyhood home back in the day.

When it all comes out on the dish, I really think that Fricassee is chicken-n-dumplin’s without the dumplin’s. My better half disagrees. And he would know since he grew up in Mona Faye’s Kitchen where chicken-n-dumplin’s are the comfort food of choice. I’ve yet to corner Mona Faye for her recipe, but I’ve concluded that the exact recipe is a bit of a secret (although I do know that it decisively contains no eggs).

Everybody has a Fricasee. The Italians have Fricassea di Pollastri with basil and prosciutto. The Germans have Huhnerfrikassee with nutmeg and Worcestershire. The Cubans have Fricasé de Pollo with lime and cumin. And the French have . . . well, Fricassee.

So we made our homage to Lincoln and Lettice and discovered a new family favorite. I adapted the “how to fricassee a chicken white” up above (the main difference between “white” and “brown” is the former is cooked with no skin). This dish is good enough to satisfy both Mona Faye’s son and grandsons although the younger you are the more ketchup you prefer.

Lincoln & Lettice Chicken Fricassee

Ingredients:

1 chicken cut-up
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon paprika
3 tablespoons all purpose flour
2 cups water
3 tablespoons butter
1 onion, chopped
5-6 carrots, sliced
2 stalks celery, sliced
2 cups fresh small mushrooms
1 tablespoon sage
1 tablespoon parsley
1 cup milk
1 tablespoon of flour

Directions:

Wash and dry the chicken pieces. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, nutmeg and paprika.

Brown the chicken in hot oil over high heat in a Dutch oven turning once. Add water and cover, simmering until chicken is cooked — 20-30 minutes.

Remove chicken. When cool enough, pick chicken off the bones and set meat aside.

Add onions back into the pot and cook until translucent. Add carrots and celery. Add mushrooms, sage and parsley. Whisk together milk and flour and add to the pot. Add chicken. Cook over medium heat, stirring until thoroughly heated.

Rice or noodles are optional but yummy.

Technorati Tags: Abraham Lincoln, Chicken Fricassee, Vintage Recipes, The Kentucky Housewife, Lettice Bryan, President’s Day