Pres. Obama's Inaugural Luncheon Menu and Recipes

Today, Barrack Hussein Obama became our 44th President.  It would have been awesome to be in Washington D.C. to participate.  I was able to watch this with my parents in their home and my husband was able to watch it with his parents in their home by chance as he's there on business. What an historic day for our country!  We've recorded it to watch with our children. They have watched this process with us this last year or so.  Although our nation didn't choose Mitt Romney as we'd hoped, today I watch two LDS politicians intimately involved in the inauguration, one Bob Bennett (R-UT) co-chairing the inauguration and Harry Reid (D-NV) toasting the President as the Senate Majority Leader. 

I just heard that the page that has gotten the most hits on the inauguration website is the one with menus and recipes for today's luncheon sharing what our new President and the First Lady and guests ate.  I would have enjoyed everything except the duck.  

Hubby makes Prime Rib

After I cooked (yet had lots of help from all of the family) several traditional Finnish Christmas dishes on Christmas Eve, my hubby decided he'd make the dinner on Christmas. He chose prime rib.

Here are some pictures he took while he was making it. I know he packed it with just the right granulation and amount of salt and tested the temperature often.

When it came out of the oven, we put *yesterday's casseroles back in cooling oven to reheat as we'd opted to just have left overs for the rest of the meal:)

Wonderful Roasted Prime Rib

The recipe my hubby used says "This method makes the BEST roasted prime rib. It never fails to produce a tender/juicy prime rib for me. Don't worry, the salt mixture will not affect the taste. It's purpose is to seal in all the flavor and juices".

SERVES 10

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Ingredients

• 1 (3 lb) box of morton kosher salt
• 4-6 lbs prime rib roast

Directions

1. Slowly add a little of the water to the Kosher salt and stir; then add a little more water and stir. Continue until the salt becomes the consistency of "snow" so that you can "pack" it on the roast and it sticks like snow (Sometimes you may need a little more or less of the water) -- YOU DO NOT WANT TO DISSOLVE THE SALT.
2. Pat some of the salt mixture in a foil-lined pan in a rectangle big enough to put the roast on.
3. Place the roast on the salt and pat the remaining salt mixture on the roast, covering completely.
4. Inset a meat thermometer.
5. Bake at 425 degrees for about 2 hours.
6. (140 degrees for rare, 160 for medium).
7. Remove the roast when the thermometer registers 5 degrees BELOW desired doneness.
8. CRACK AND REMOVE ALL OF THE SALT CRUST.

*Christmas Eve Dinner included:
smoked salmon
rye bread
havarti cheese
rye and rice pastries (karjalan piirakka)
egg butter
ham
sauerkraut salad
rutabaga casserole (my Dad made this:)
carrot and rice casserole
potato casserole
strawberry rhubarb kisseli
pulla
lingonberry juice

Sunday Dinner

It's so nice to have help with the Sunday meal by everyone in the family.  Today I had help with the Pork Roast and gravy by my hubby.  When I was eating it I suddenly realized it tasted so familar. It was!  He'd snuck onto our RS Blog to get the recipe used for Kahlua Pork. 

Dessert, fruit salad, veggies, and biscuits were made by our kids and I did the mashed potatoes.  Our guests set the table.  

Since it was "Fast Sunday", where we fast for 2 meals and give the money we would have used for those meals to the Bishop, who gives it to those who need it as a "Fast Offering".   I didn't want to make rolls, because of the smells, before church, so we tried Drop Biscuits. Here is the recipe we used.    

Drop Biscuits<-----click here to go to the link

2 cups All-purpose flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup shortening
1 cup milk
Preparation:

Combine flour, baking powder, and salt; cut in shortening with a pastry blender until mixture is course. Add milk, stirring until dry ingredients are moistened. Drop dough by heaping tablespoonfuls onto a lightly greased baking sheet. Bake at 425 degrees for 12 minutes or until lightly browned. Makes 1 dozen.

Our  youngest did a great job making his 1st fruit salad all by himself, as neither I nor Dad had much extra time to do much other than answer questions like, "Do we have more pears?" or "Can I add another banana?"  He was so proud of his combine fresh and canned salad of whatever we had on hand.  It was so worth the stickiness and peels on the table and floor:)

Casserole of Rice and Beef

I had a pound of hamburger thawing out in the refrigerator and with a green pepper from my neighbor's garden, and some food storage, I made a casserole dish my Mother often made us growing up. 

She got it from Joyce, her neighbor during their Army days, and it's one I've always liked and that kids usually like as well.  

Casserole of Rice and Beef

1/2 cup dry rice

2 cups tomatoes or tomato sauce

3/4 to 1 lb. ground beef

1/2 green pepper, diced

1 medium onion, chopped

dash of pepper

1 tsp. salt

2 cups water from tomato sauce 

Sort rice, but do not wash.  (I love these older directions).  Melt butter (I still use this even in this Pam or EEOV era) in frying pan.  Add dry rice, chopped onion, diced green pepper, salt, pepper and hamburger.  Brown to a rich golden brown.  Add tomatoes and water.  Let simmer in the covered frying pan (I only use cast iron nowadays) for 30 minutes.  Watch it so it doesn't dry out.  Serve with a dollop of sour cream.  

It also goes nicely with corn I think and/or green salad.

I given this recipe with canned goods when it is "food storage" bridal shower.  I give rice, canned tomatoes or tomato sauce with the recipe for their food storage.  Often I buy tomatoes that have diced green peppers in them so I can make it without buying a fresh green pepper. I've even given them canned corn too, so they'll have a side.  

Earliest Easter for the rest of our lives

Easter Menu March 23, 2008

Appetizer -- Veggie Rabbit (see recipe in previous post)

Leg of Lamb -- I fixed lamb for my Mother.  I found this recipe at http://www.recipezaar.com/55600 and like it much better than what I tried on my Easter 2007 post.  If I didn't cook last year's so long, it would have been much better.  

Spiral Ham (our kids haven't grown lamb tastebuds yet)

Small yellow potatoes with drippings from lamb

Karelian Rice Pastries (see recipe below)

Egg butter

Broccoflower and Carrots, steamed
Jello Eggs on bed of lettuce

Blueberry muffin bunnies

Peeps tulips
Dessert -- Strawberry Shortcake

Title: Karjalan Piirakka (Karelian Rice Pasties)

Description:
Comes from the Eastern part of Finland, Karjala, where Mummo was born. Nowadays they are popular all over Finland. Served often at our Finnish dinners. Always a part of our Christmas Eve dinner.

Ingredients:
For the Rice Filling, use the recipe for Rice porridge on this site (Dec. 2006).   Just omit the sugar.

For the crust:
1 c water
1 1/2 t salt
1 2/3 c rye flour
2/3 c all purpose white flour
Mix water in bowl, salt, stir, add flours slowly. It will be a sticky messy job. If too sticky to roll, just add a little more flour. Can make ahead and put in a ziploc bag and roll out when ready.

For egg butter:
1 cube slightly softened margarine or butter
2 hard boiled eggs, chopped,
a tiny bit of salt since butter already has salt
Mash and mix together.

Directions:
Roll out crust in a thin oval shape. Place rice porridge in the middle. 

Pinch sides of crust up around the filling. 

Place on cookie sheets close together. 

Bake at 375 or 400 depending on your ov

en, until light brown. When light brown, open 

your oven and lift up one to make sure the bottom isn't brown. They do not taste good if they are. One the stove top, melt a stick of margarine and some water in a kettle. Use tongs to remove each pastry and dunk it completely in the mixture. Prepare a couple of old towels laid out with wax paper on them. Place the dunked pastries on the wax paper and then wrap the wax paper and towel combination up over them to keep them warm. This process softens them. Mummo says to keep them under the towel as long as you can stand it. She samples them at many stages.

Serve with egg butter, or cheese or lunchmeat or plain butter on top of the rice part.

Peter Rabbit in Mr. McGregor's Lettuce Bed

Our youngest saw this "Veggie Rabbit" on Studio 5 http://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=204&sid=2882245
earlier this week and wants to help me make this Rhodes Rolls Veggie Rabbit for Easter, so we'll do just that!

My Mother often served veggie baskets. Her comment is, the bunny will be easy, it's all the time to prep the veggies. I think that's because her veggies were an art form unto themselves.

Veggie Rabbit

Ingredients:
2 Loaves Rhodes™ Bread Dough, thawed but still cold
sliced almonds
2 large raisins
1 egg, beaten

Cut one loaf of bread into 1/4 and 3/4 portions. Shape 3/4 portion into egg shape for body and place on a large sprayed baking sheet. Shape 1/4 portion into pear shape and place above body for head. Clip side whiskers with scissors. Cut second loaf in half. Cut one half in half again for ears and roll into two 16-inch ropes. Fold together and place on top of head. With remaining half of loaf, divide dough in half. Take one half and cut into two pieces. Shape into 2 large thumper feet and place under bunny. Clip toes. Divide last piece of dough into 1/3 and 2/3 portions. Divide 2/3 portion into two hands and place on side of body and clip fingers. Divide remaining 1/3 dough into two large balls and one small ball. Place two large balls on face for cheeks and one small ball for nose. Place 2 raisins on face for eyes and 2 almonds for teeth. Brush everything with beaten egg, even the teeth. Cover with sprayed plastic wrap. Let rise 15-30 minutes. Remove wrap and bake at 350°F 30 minutes or until browned. Let cool. Hollow out tummy and fill with your favorite dip.

White Taco from Arizona's Salt River Valley

Title: White Taco

Description:
White Taco originated in the Salt River Valley of Arizona and has been handed down from my husband's Mothers line. My Mother-in-law serves it, as does her sister-in-law and several aunts and their daughters too. Now it's my turn to start making it. I'm making it for the Recipe Exchange -- themed "our very BEST no fail recipes/crowd pleasers". Since most of mine are desserts, I asked my husband and he suggested this one, without hesitation.

Ingredients:
1.5 lb hamburger
1 onion
1 can green chiles
2 cans cream of chicken soup
1 can evaporated milk
grated cheese
1 pkg. of 12 corn tortillas

Directions:
In a large skillet, saute 1 to 1.5 lbs. ground hamburger or
ground turkey and a chopped onion. Drain the grease and
add a 4 oz. or 7 oz. can of mild, fire roasted, peeled and
diced, green chiles. Use the bigger can if serving adults only
and the smaller amount for kids. Remember jalapenos come
in the same size can, so avoid grabbing them, as they will
make it too hot. Now stir in 2 cans of cream of chicken soup
and 1 can evaporated milk. If it's a little bit thick, add a little bit
of regular milk. You want it a little bit soupy, but not too soupy.
Mix this altogether in the skillet. You may try diced, cooked
chicken, if you desire.

Spray your 9x13 glass pyrex with Pam and set aside. Slice 1
pkg. (12) corn tortillas down the middle, then slice each half
again lengthwise for a total of 3 times. Then line up like
noodles and cut into strips.

Put half of the tortillas strips in the bottom of the 9x13 and then
pour the filling from the skillet in. Sprinkle with Mexican mix or
cheddar cheese. Now add the rest of the tortillas. Bake for
30 min at 325 degrees (glass) until it looks bubbly all over.

Serve with salsa and a green salad.

"Stone" soup and soda bread

Do you remember the story of Stone Soup? Well, after church, I made "stone" soup and soda bread. At least I felt like I was making "Stone" soup, since I was just using what was on hand, without going to the store on Sunday. I started with a frozen ham bone (my stone) and started throwing in stuff. My neighbors in the story were the freezer and the cupboard, etc. My neighbor "food storage" added dehydrated onions, peas, carrots and corn, since they rehydrate nicely. My neighbor "canned goods" brought canned white beans and kidney beans since I didn't have time to soak beans. My neighbor "dried goods" added soup pasta, those tiny sized pasta bits used for soup. My neighbor "seasonings" garlic salt, paprika, pepper. My neighbor "refrigerator" add hot sauce. Sounds funny, but I like hot sauce in my soup. "Canned goods" also threw in some instant potato buds to thicken it from soup to stoup -- thicker than soup, but thinner than stew. I'm probably forgetting something, but since I had no recipe, just watching my Mother and others in the past, I concocted it from what my "neighbors" had on hand. We enjoyed it. Hope you do too. If you have a variation of "Stone Soup", please share it here.

I wanted hot home made bread to go with it, but didn't want to wait for bread to raise, so I remembered I had a recipe for Irish Soda Bread, which has no yeast. It makes one round loaf and we ate all but four slices of it in that sitting. The recipe:

4 c whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. cream of tartar
1/2 C butter
3 T honey
1 1/2 - 1 3/4 c buttermilk

1. Blend together flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, and cream of tartar.
2. Cut in butter with pastry blender.
3. Make a well in center of flour mixture; add honey and buttermilk. Add enough buttermilk to make a soft dough.
4. Form with floured fingers into a round shape and place smooth side up on lightly foured baking sheet. Cut an X on top. This keeps the crust from splitting.
5. Bake at 350 degrees for 35-45 minutes until a rich brown. Tap bottom of loaf. If it sounds hollow, the bread is done.

First frost calls for soup for dinner

Have you eaten Taco Soup? With our first frost on the windshield this morning and giving in to the need to turn the heater on last night, tonight seems like a great night for soup, so I'm fixing TACO SOUP and decided to share the recipe while it's cooking. My husband's cousin got me hooked on this. My Mother used to make it too, so I'll post hers below as well. I'll be trying a few different soups out the next 3 weeks trying to decide what "soup/stew" to take to a potluck with some girlfriends in October.

Also, I love the tortilla soup served at Robert Redford's Sundance Tree Restaurant.

Boy, I wish I had the recipe for the chicken, rice and salsa soup I had in the Phoenix airport a few years back when leaving a business trip with a nasty cold. It was so good and cleared my sinuses right up.

I enjoy Southwest and Mexican foods and flavors. Please share your recipes here from this genre.

Categories: Soups and Stews
Title: Taco Soup

Ingredients:
1 lb. cooked hamburger
onion
1 (l6 oz.) can chopped tomatoes
1 (l6 oz.) can red kidney beans
1 (17 oz.) can whole kernel corn
1 (8 oz. ) can tomato sauce
1/2 pkg. or 1 T taco seasoning

Directions:
In a kettle, brown 1 lb hamburger (1/2 lb meat will do) with 1 chopped onion and drain fat if necessary.
Add: 1 (l6 oz.) can chopped tomatoes
1 (l6 oz.) can red kidney beans
1 (17 oz.) can whole kernel corn
1 (8 oz. ) can tomato sauce
1/2 pkg. or 1 T taco seasoning
Do NOT drain any of the above!!

Stir and simmer for 15 minutes or longer. Serve in a bowl over Fritos corn chips. Top with cheddar cheese and sour cream, if desired. Very good and satisfying. I serve this plain as is, or with a green salad and sometimes also with potato salad. Corn bread or sour dough bread is very good with it. I ALWAYS double this recipe. If there is some leftovers, it keep well for days. You can even freeze it.

Number Of Servings:4-6 servings

Taco Soup

1 1/2 lbs ground beef
1 sliced or chopped onion
2 cloves, minced garlic
Brown together and drain.
1-2 Tbs. ground cumin
2-3 tsp. chili powder
salt and pepper to taste
1 large cans chopped tomatoes with green chilies
2 cups salsa
1 can whole kernel c orn, drain
2 Tbs. fresh cilantro

Can add fresh avocado cubes in soup just before serving. Also a dollop of sour cream. Serve with tortilla chips of your choice.

Our Version of Taco Salad

On Friday we had overnight guests. A childhood friend of mine, with his wife and children, stopped to visit us. Our Mother's, both from Finland, both living state side, both great cooks of especially Finnish Fair, used to visit each others' homes four times a year at least. We loved our trips back and forth and are more like cousins. Each now married with children and not living nearby each other, have not kept this tradition up, so it was delightful to have this chance to reconnect and reminisce. We were in the middle of a project, so I didn't take the time to make anything from scratch or prepare any Finnish specialties, so I needed something quick and easy. I chose our version of Taco Salad for dinner. Our good vegetarian friend introduced us to it. We've modified it some, but I credit Susan A. for the idea.

Taco Salad
I prepare all the makings and place them on the table for everyone to assemble themselves per their liking. My preference is this order:
First place a handful or two of Doritos. Some like to keep them whole and others like to crumble them up into small pieces. Nacho cheese is the favorite, yet we've tried Salsa Verde, Ranch and many flavors. The latest ones were Chipotle and Taco. We also serve plain tortilla chips for those who don't care for the flavors or MSG headache.
Instead of hamburger, my vegetarian friend uses beans with taco seasoning. I like red kidney beans and use about 1/2 of a regular sized can per person. I dump them into a pot with their liquid and stir in a pack of taco salad seasoning and heat until hot or barely boiling.
If you prefer, cook ground hamburger, ground turkey or I've even found already ground chicken, and add the taco seasoning. I often serve both options and let folks choose or even use both, if they prefer. Not only do I have vegetarian friends, but also high protein consuming friends and low fat consuming ones.
At this point I add my cheddar or other taco, jalapeno, or mexican flavored cheese. For convenience I love the already grated and prefer the finely grated cheese.
Now add your shredded lettuce. My vegetarian friend's husband grows his own lettuce and it tastes so fresh, cool and crisp, except the one time a spider was still in it! I buy red and green leaf or grab the already chopped romaine bags. Use whatever is handy, but I agree with him that iceberg lettuce has no nutritional value or taste!
Fresh, diced tomatoes are best, especially if they are vine ripened. One year we grew about 12 varieties of tomatoes, so this was heavenly, but
I have used canned tomatoes when I've had to in the winter.
Even most of our kids like onions. I usually have yellow ones on hand, but even green or purple onions taste great.
One of our children really likes olives, so I offer sliced olives too.
Personally I like to add salsa and ranch dressing on top, with some salt and pepper, but my friend dresses it with Italian dressing and she also assembles it ALL in a large bowl and serves it.
One of our children loves sour dough bread, so we serve this with it, although the chips provide plenty of carbs already. And low carb eaters, can just omit both.

I served strawberry shortcake for dessert this time, but when I made it for our extended family earlier in July, I just served chocolate and banana "creamies". It was a hot day and there were more kids than adults.

So, if you want a quick, light, refreshing, somewhat Mexican fair, try our version of Taco Salad.

Calculate your own family size's food storage needs

Prompted by Sunday's RS lesson on self-reliance, here is a link to a calculatorhttp://lds.about.com/library/bl/faq/blcalculator.htm where you can instantly calculate your own family size's food storage needs.

Another good site is http://www.providentliving.org/content/list/0,11664,2003-1,00.html where you can learn about Three-Month Supply, Drinking Water,Financial Reserve and Longer-Term Supply.

Are we prepared? The blessing of a supply of food, drinking water, money, clothing, etc. comes in handy not only in a disaster (unless it's destroyed), but in times of illness or unemployment, in otherwards when cash flow is interrupted, but needs to eat drink and pay bills are not.

Easter Dinner Menu

This year for Easter we combined some Finnish and American traditions. Our Easter Dinner Menu included:
Spinach Soup with half of a boiled egg on top of it. It's the appetizer my Grandmother (Mummo) served at Easter time in Finland. The recipe is:
Melt 3 tbp. margarine in a sauce pan and add 5-6 tbp. flour. Bring to a boil and simmer gently for a few minutes, but do not let it brown. Add 8 cups milk or meat stock and 1 1/4 cups frozen finely chopped spinach. Simmer for about 15 minutes and season with salt and a little sugar. If you want a richer soup, beat 2 egg yolks and 1/2 c cream in a bowl and slowly stir into the soup.


Leg of lamb with Garlic Yukon Gold Potatoes with drippings from lamb which my Grandmother (Mummo) used to serve each Easter in Finland.
Steamed carrots and Asparagus
Cucumber Salad 1 large cucumber, 1/4 cup sugar, 1 tsp salt, some fresh or dried dill, 1 cup vinegar, 1/4 c water. Wash the English cucumber, leave the peel on, take a fork and break the skin of the cucumber all the way down with it. Slice the cucumber thinly and place in a container. Cover it with the sugar, salt and dill. Put the lid on tightly and shake it vigourously for a couple of minutes until the sugar has dissolved. Leave it marinate. Add the vinegar and water to taste. Garnish with dill when you serve it. Keeps for days in the refrigerator.
Jello Eggs on a bed of jello grass that the kids helped Dad make from a variety of flavors you can probably guess from the colors and pureed fruits.
Crescent Rolls
White grape juice with ginger ale and cherries
and an Easter Bonnet Cake my Mother used to make most Easters. It's 2 angel food cakes with a whipped cream topping and a heath bar grated on top and decorated with feathers.