#68 Misty Graveyard Chowder

This recipe comes from "Little Monsters Cookbook" by Zac Williams. It has a bunch of kid-friendly Halloween recipes. I just finished dinner and it was delicious!

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon butter
1/2 cup coarsely chopped onion
1 1/2 cups water
2 cups chopped red potatoes, with skins
1 cup sliced carrots
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 (15 ounce) can of kernel corn (I used frozen corn)
1/2 cup diced ham (I cut it in big chunks)
1 cup cream (I used half and half)
1 tablespoon flour

Directions:

In a medium saucepan ( I used my dutch oven) over medium heat, add the butter and onions. Cook, stirring frequently, until the onions are soft but not brown. Add water, potatoes, carrots, pepper, and salt.

Cover and simmer for about 15 minutes or until the potatoes are tender.

Drain the can of corn. Add corn and ham to the chowder.

In a separate bowl, mix the flour into the cream and then slowly pour the mixture into the chowder while stirring. Continue to simmer, stirring frequently. When the chowder is thickened and bubbly, it is ready to serve.

They gave an option of garnishing with grated cheese and sour cream but I didn't and I don't think I would in the future either. It just didn't need anything added.

#67 Split Pea Soup

8 cups water
1 pound dried split peas (about 2-1/4 cups)
Ham bone with some meat on it, or some smoked ham hocks
1 medium onion, chopped
1 t salt (be careful, some of the smoked meats have a lot of salt, so sometimes I wait til the end to add salt if needed)
1/4 t pepper
2 medium carrots, sliced
2 medium stalks celery, sliced

Heat water and peas to boiling in Dutch oven. Turn off heat and let stand 1 hour
Stir in ham, onion, salt and pepper. Heat to boiling, reduce heat. Cover and simmer about an hour.

Remove ham and cut up the meat. Stir in ham, carrots and celery into soup. Heat to boiloing and reduce heat. Cover and simmer until vegetables are tender, about 45 min.

This is another from the BC early 80's version.

#66 Coconut Custard

5 eggs
3/4 cup sugar
2 cups milk
1/2 cup half and half
1 t vanilla
1 cup shredded, sweetened coconut

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. I like toasting the coconut, so I put it in a pie tin and let it toast as the oven is warming up. You want it to start to brown a bit. Stir it a bit as it is toasting.

Beat eggs well., then add sugar, milk, half and half, and the vanilla. Stir in coconut. Pour custard into a 2 quart glass casserole dish and bake for 35-45 minutes until center is set. (mine took 45 minutes and the center wobbled quite a bit, but firmed up as it cooled down) Serve warm.

#65 Date-Nut Muffins

1 egg
3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup cut up pitted dates
1/3 cup chopped nuts
1/2 cup oil
1 cup flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/3 cup sugar
1 T baking powder
1 t salt

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease bottoms only of a muffin tin. Beat egg; stir in milk, oil, dates and nuts. Stir in remaining ingredients all at once just until flour is moistened (batter will be lumpy). Fill muffin cups about 3/4 full. Bake until golden brown, about 290 minutes. Immediately remove from pan. One dozen muffins.

This also came from my favorite early 80's Betty Crocker cookbook!

#64 Cranberry Orange Scones

2 cups flour
2 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
1/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup butter, chilled
3/4 cup fresh cranberries, coarsely chopped
1 T orange peel
1 egg, beaten
3/4 cup buttermilk

Combine flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Cut in butter. Mix in orange peel and cranberries. Combine buttermilk and egg and then mix into dry until dough sticks together. Drop onto parchment covered baking sheet. Bake 400 degrees. Cool slightly and drizzle with glaze.

Glaze

3/4 cup powdered sugar
1 t orange peel
3 T orange juice

Mix together until smooth