Kids' Picks

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Candace’s Oven-Crisp, Sugary, Peppered Bacon (from her Grandmother)

There's no stove-top clean up when the bacon is baked.

It’s a lovely moment when you’re cooking something ordinary and are reminded of the wonderful friend who first taught you the recipe. This secret bacon recipe, so beautifully simple, was shared with me by Candace McMahan, nearly 20 years ago, at her home in northern Colorado. I haven’t seen Candace in years, but I think about her even more often than I cook bacon.

Baked Bacon

Place the slices of bacon on a cookie sheet that is lined with foil. Sprinkle with coarse pepper and some sugar. Bake at 450 degrees. After about 15 minutes take the pan out of the oven, turn over the slices and sprinkle again with pepper and sugar. Return the pan to the oven, checking it every 5 minutes or so. It will take about another 15 minutes of cooking time, or about 30 minutes from start to finish.

To clean up, after the grease has solidified, gather up the foil and throw away the mess.

It's the pepper and sugar that make this bacon taste so delicious.

A BLT with a garden-fresh tomato makes an easy supper. We ate ours tonight along with some watermelon, potato salad and carrot sticks.

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Lemony Rice Pudding

I was planning on gyoza with rice for dinner tonight, but just after I started the pot of rice I noticed the left-over zucchini pancake batter so I changed the menu. Just like that I was left with two cups of cooked rice. The solution, of course, to freshly cooked leftover rice is rice pudding. But I wanted something more refreshing than the usual rice pudding, so I grated in the zest from one whole lemon, added some golden raisins and WOW, it’s really, really good. If you want to impress some fancy company, serve it warm with some freshly whipped cream.

Lemony Rice Pudding

  • 2 c. cooked brown rice
  • 1/2 c. sugar
  • 2 lightly beaten eggs
  • 2 c. milk
  • zest from 1 large lemon
  • 1/3 c. golden raisins
  1. Grease a 1-1/2 quart baking dish.
  2. Put the milk in a medium saucepan, add the raisins, and scald the milk (heat until it just barely begins to bubble at the edges).
  3. Stir the sugar and eggs into the cooked rice.
  4. Slowly stir in the warm milk mixture.
  5. Pour it all into the baking dish. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour and 15 minutes, or until the blade of a knife comes out clean when cut through the center of the pudding.

Serve warm or cold, with milk, cream or whipped cream.

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Another idea for the big harvest: Zucchini Pancakes (off-season latkes)

This batter is so colorful with zucchini, carrots and a small purple potato.

These pancakes are very versatile: zucchini, carrots, potatoes, kale, chard and green onions are just some of the possible list of ingredients. If you have a bountiful harvest of zucchini then you can use 100% zucchini and they will be delicious. The recipe uses 6 cups of vegetables and you can mix and match as you please. Our dinner pancakes were made with 1 onion, 1 carrot, 1 small purple potato and the rest zucchini.

Zucchini-vegetable pancakes (makes about 16 pancakes)

  • 6 c. shredded vegetables (of the six cups, it is best to have about 1 cup of onion)
  • 2 eggs
  • 2/3 c. flour
  • 1/2 tsp. pepper
  • 1 tsp. salt
  • oil for frying

Lightly beat the eggs, mix in the vegetables, and then the flour, salt and pepper. Cover the bottom of a large skillet with a small amount of oil, no more than 1/8″ deep. Heat until very hot, then drop batter by large spoonful. Brown well before turning over. Remove from pan and place on a cookie sheet that is lined with paper towels. Set in warm oven while frying subsequent batches.

Zucchini pancakes, melon, fresh yellow tomatoes and grilled sausage.

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Traditional Cream of Tomato Soup

This soup is a great use for the current abundance of ripe tomatoes.

My mother would make this every summer, preparing the tomato base and freezing it in individual portions to use throughout the winter. She would then add a basic white sauce for a rich and fresh tasting cream of tomato soup. This soup has a very smooth flavor with just a hint of cloves.

Traditional Cream of Tomato Soup

  • 8 c. tomatoes, stems removed, cut in half
  • 1 onion, cut into think slices
  • 3 c. water
  • 10 whole cloves
  • 2 Tbs. sugar
  • 1 tsp. salt

Cook everything until the onions are soft. Strain through a Foley food mill. At this point the tomato base may be frozen—before adding the white sauce.

Everything goes into the pot.

Here's the Foley food mill in action. Using this makes it so the tomatoes do not need to be peeled or seeded. This food mill is also good for apple sauce.

White Sauce (enough for about 4 cups of soup base, or to taste)

  • 2 Tbs. butter
  • 2 Tbs. flour
  • 1 c. milk

Melt butter, whisk in flour. Over a very low heat (or turn off the burner as you do this step), and while constantly stirring, slowly—very slowly—add the milk, stirring with each addition until very smooth. After all of the milk has been added, continue stirring until the sauce thickens. Season with salt and pepper.

Cream of Tomato-Basil (or Rosemary) Soup

To the finished soup, blend in a nice sized bunch of fresh basil or rosemary leaves.

I added fresh basil to this batch.

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The most elegant of desserts: Fresh Blueberries with cream and sugar

Max, Joe and I picked over 11 pounds of blueberries the other day. When we got them home, Joe and I selected a bowl full of only the largest berries. Late the next night he and I surprised the family with this elegant treat. We lined up the bowls on the kitchen counter, and when we each had a bowl full, we sat around on the kitchen floor and had a late night blueberry party.

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Ruth’s Zucchini Soup

Soup and toast were all my dad needed for dinner last night. He loves zucchini soup.

This is a smooth and fresh soup, wonderful hot or cold. It freezes well, and is a terrific use for your bountiful crop of zucchini. I got home late last night but still was able to  have a pot of soup ready for the table in only 30 minutes. The recipe, much like many of my mother’s, is very loose. So here’s the gist of it:

In a big pot, saute one or two onions in just a bit of olive oil. When the onion is soft, throw in a lot of cut up zucchini—for two onions you might use 8-10 cups of zucchini. You can add mushrooms if you like (Maralee always does). Just barely cover the vegetables with water and cook until the zucchini is soft. This should only take 20-30 minutes. My mother would throw in 1 or 2 cubes of beef bouillon, but you don’t have to if you want to keep it vegetarian. The last step is to puree the softened vegetables in a blender. Use a slotted spoon to fish out the vegetables and just enough broth to make the soup liquidy. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

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Monster cookies

Most people won't have a bowl big enough to handle this recipe, so go ahead and divide it by 2, 3 or 4.

A recipe that starts with “12 eggs beaten” and also includes three entire jars of peanut butter, catches my attention. My friend Debi gave me this one, telling me that she made these when her kids were little and that they loved them. I’ve made them before by cutting the recipe into 1/3 or 1/4, but yesterday I decided to get out my BIG bowl and do the full batch. Wow. These are heavy cookies, with no flour (gluten free), and if you can look the other way on the chocolate, the oats and peanut butter make them a fairly healthy cookie.

Monster Cookies (I lost count, but think I came up with about 10 dozen)

  • 12 eggs, beaten
  • 2 pounds brown sugar
  • 2 c. white sugar
  • 1/4 c. vanilla
  • 8 tsp. baking soda
  • 3 pounds peanut butter
  • 18 c. quick oats
  • 1 pound chocolate chips
  • 1 pound M&Ms (optional)
  • 1 pound butter, softened

Add ingredients, in the order given, mixing with each addition. Drop by large spoon, or scoop, onto greased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 14 minutes, or until lightly browned.

Lovely, "healthy" cookies for my little monsters.

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Don’t run to the store, just make them yourself: Homemade Hamburger Rolls (and great burgers)

I had everything I needed for dinner except for the hamburger buns, but I didn’t have it in me to make yet one more trip to the grocery store. Hamburger buns are not something that I think to make myself—but why not? Store bought rolls are fluffy and tasteless, and are merely a holder for the meat so that your hands stay clean. Imagining the ideal taste, I started with a challah dough, dialed down the sweet and boosted the yeast.

Homemade Hamburger Rolls (makes about 1 dozen)

Mix together the following and let sit for 10 minutes:

  • 2 c. warm water
  • 2 Tbs. sugar
  • 1 Tbs. yeast

Stir in:

  • 2 eggs
  • 2 Tbs. oil
  • 1 Tbs. salt
  • 1 c. whole wheat flour
  • 4 c. white flour, and a bit more as you knead the dough

Knead until smooth, 5-10 minutes. Let rise for about 2 hours. Shape into small balls, then gently flatten into the desired diameter—as the rolls rise they will get a little taller, but not wider. Let rise again for 45 minutes. If you want a seeded roll, brush the tops with a beaten egg, and sprinkle on your favorite seeds. Bake at 375 degrees for about 20 minutes, or until they are slightly brown. For softer rolls, loosen them, but leave on the pan, and cover with a towel as they cool. For crisper rolls, remove to a cooling rack.

Ruth’s Hamburger

My mother was the kind of cook who doctored up everything. A frozen pizza wouldn’t recognize itself when she was done with it. And her hamburgers were moist and flavorful. Forget about just seasoning the meat with salt and pepper, try it doctored up, and give those fresh rolls the meat they deserve!

Mix together the following, form into patties and cook as usual:

  • 1 pound ground beef
  • 3 Tbs. ketchup
  • 1 Tbs. Worcestershire sauce
  • 1 tsp. salt
  • 1/2 tsp garlic powder
  • 1 Tbs. minced onion (fresh or dried)