Mini Sardine Muffins

To me a muffin needs to be a sweet one. I especially like the cake-like ones and even cornmeal muffins need to be on the sweet side. There are those that like savory muffins and recipes for that style are ever where. But I have never seen a muffin with sardines! Until today that is. I have picked on the poor innocent sardine several times before. But I can hardly think of any dish where I would find it less welcome than in a muffin.

Mini Sardine Muffins
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 tablespoon lemon thyme
pinch paprika
1 egg
1/4 cup canola oil
3/4 cup milk
1 (4 oz.) can sardines in tomato sauce, mashed

Combine flour, lemon thyme and paprika in a bowl. In a separate dish mix, together the egg, oil and milk. Quickly and lightly combine the dry and liquid ingredients. Fold in the sardines. Spoon mixture into lightly greased small muffin pans. Bake in an 400 degree oven for 12 to 14 minutes or until golden. Serve warm. Makes 24.

Source: The Ultimate Recipe Collection

Fish Chili

Two food words I would not expect to see together are fish and chili. Yet there they were when I flipped through a cookbook I received today. After reading the recipe I am still of the opinion that they do not belong together! And what is with the dill? In chili, gross!

Fish Chili
1-1/2 cups finely chopped onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 diced roasted bell pepper
2 tablespoons chili powder
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoons crushed red pepper flakes
1-1/2 tablespoons ground cumin
2 cups fish stock or clam juice
4 cups cooked, drained kidney beans
1-1/2 pounds fish fillet
1 lemon, zested
2 tablespoons fresh dill, chopped

In a large pan cook the onion and garlic in oil until softened. Add the pepper and spices except for dill and lemon zest. Cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Add stock or juice and bring to a boil. Add beans and the fish which has been cut into large chunks and simmered 5 minutes. Add the zest and juice of the lemon and dill, simmer 1 minute more.

Recipe from: Fifty Ways To Cook Most Everything

Baked Bean Salad

A bowl full of beans is not a salad to me. I have seen many recipes for kidney bean salads and even green pea salads but never before have I seen canned pork and beans in a salad recipe. The cookbook I found it in is Pillsbury's Money Saving Meals. I know canned pork and beans are inexpensive but putting them in a bowl with a few other things and calling it a salad is too frugal for me.

Baked Bean Salad

2 cups (1-lb. can) pork and beans, chilled
1/4 cup chopped or sliced celery
1/4 cup chopped onion or sliced green onion or 1 tablespoon instant minced onion
1 teaspoon vinegar or lemon juice
1 to 2 teaspoons prepared mustard or 1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
1/2 cup cubed American or Cheddar cheese

In medium mixing bowl, combine all ingredients except cheese; blend just until well combined. Stir in cheese. Serve from bowl or on lettuce leaves, if desired.

Crunchy Chicken-Cheesies- not fabulous

This recipe is from The 1,000 Fabulous Sandwiches Cookbook by Doris McFerran Townsend. This book was published in 1965 but I can not imagine this recipe being popular in any era. It is the second recipe in the book, so if a prospective buyer picked up the book and opened it to the front to check it out it would have been right there in their face. The book would have been quickly slammed back on the counter I think. My husband would often buy cookbooks without even looking at them so that is how I got it. No way would I have bought a cookbook with this mess right up front.

Crunchy Chicken-Cheesies
12 slices Russian rye bread
3/8 cup soft butter
2 5-oz. cans cooked chicken, drained
1 cup applesauce
1-1/2 cups chopped raw cauliflower
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons prepared mustard
1/2 cup chopped parsley
6 thin slices Swiss cheese
Butter each slice of bread. Combine chicken, applesauce, chopped cauliflower, salt, and mustard. Divide chicken mixture over 6 slices of the buttered bread, spreading to corners of each slice. Top with parsley and a slice of Swiss cheese. Cover cheese with remaining bread slices.

There are two things in this that are just wrong. Why would anyone put raw cauliflower in a sandwich? Wouldn't it fall out of the sandwich and make a mess? They needed something to bind the chicken and cauliflower into a spread so why didn't they use mayonnaise instead of applesauce. The combination of chicken, applesauce and cauliflower is totally weird.

Lemon Cream Dessert

I forgot to rotate the photo, that might have made it look better but I don't think anything would make it taste better. It contains a nasty secret: Miracle Whip Salad Dressing. Obviously Miracle Whip can sub for mayo in savory dishes but not in a sweet dessert. This recipe is from Kraft Miracle Whip Cookbook and is another "trying to hard to find a use for your product" recipe. I think this would just have a weird "off" taste.

Lemon Cream Dessert

2 cups vanilla wafer crumbs

1 cup Miracle Whip Salad Dressing

1 12 oz. container frozen whipped topping, thawed

1 6-oz. can frozen lemonade or limeade concentrate, softened
Combine crumbs and 1/2 cup salad dressing; mix well. Press mixture onto bottom of 8-inch square baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees, 10 minutes. Cool. Combine remaining ingredients, mixing until well blended. Spoon over crust; cover tightly. Freeze until firm. Place in refrigerator 10 minutes before cutting into squares to serve. Garnish as desired. Makes 9 to 12 servings.

Chicken-Cheese Ravioli Casserole

There are so many things just plain wrong about this recipe I hardly know where to start. 1. Any casserole that starts with canned ravioli is suspect. I will admit eating it occasionally when I need a very quick meal at work, but it doesn't belong in a casserole. 2. Chicken- how in the world does that go with cheese ravioli? 3. Chinese pea pods, this is where the recipe truly goes astray. How they decided to add these is beyond me. 4. Pimientos, cream and slivered almonds, enough said!

Chicken-Cheese Ravioli Casserole

3 tablespoon cooking oil
1 tablespoon butter
1 broiler-fryer chicken, cut into serving pieces
1/4 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup chopped green pepper
1 can (6 0z) sliced mushrooms, drained
2 cans (15 oz. each) Chef Boy-Ar-Dee Cheese Ravioli in Beef and Tomato Sauce
1/4 cup chopped pimiento
1 cup light cream
Hot pepper sauce
1 package (10 oz.) Chinese pea pods
3 tablespoon toasted slivered almonds
Combine cooking oil and butter. Heat in medium sized skillet. Fry chicken parts until lightly browned. Remove browned parts to warm platter. Saute onion and pepper in remaining butter. Add drained sliced mushrooms and ravioli. Cover; simmer for 5 minutes. Add pimiento, light cream and pepper sauce. Stir gently. Cook pea pods according to package direction. Add to ravioli mixture. Arrange chicken on top; cover. Bake for 45 minutes in 350 degree oven. Garnish with toasted almonds. Serves 4 generously.

From: Favorite Casseroles & Other Exciting Recipes, 1986. All the recipes feature name brand ingredients.

Sausageburgers

Tonight I was going through one of my boxes of old recipe clippings and came across this oddity. I used to save any recipe I came across regardless of whether it sounded good or I would be likely to make it. This one is neither, it sounds weird and would probably taste weird too. I can kind of understand the breakfast sausage in the hamburger bun part, there are all types of breakfast sandwiches out there. The small amount of barbecue sauce is ok but I draw the line at the bean sprouts. What possessed some magazine food editor to include them in this recipe? I can not think of one reason to add them except if La Choy was sponsoring the recipe and this isn't an ad it is just a recipe from an article.

Sausageburgers
1/4 cup softened butter or margarine

2 tablespoons bottled barbecue sauce

5 hamburger buns, split

1 8-oz. package brown and serve sausage links

1 1-pounds can bean sprouts, drained

Blend butter and barbecue sauce together; spread over cut surfaces of the buns. Split sausages in half lengthwise. Arrange over bottom halves of buns. Top each with 1/2 cup bean sprouts; cover with other half of bun. Wrap in aluminum foil. Buns may be prepared ahead of time and stored in refrigerator. To serve, heat oven to 400 degrees. Bake 10 to 15 minutes. Makes 5 burgers.

Chicken Adobo- with dill?

I don't know how I missed this recipe. It was actually in the same special issue magazine as the Chicken Pickletelli. In that post I commented that I didn't think adobo had pickle juice in it. Either I am wrong or this is a really weird version of Chicken Adobo.



Chicken Adobo

2-1/2 broiler chicken, cut up

3 tablespoons oil

1/2 cup dill pickle juice

1/2 cup water

1 clove garlic

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

Dash pepper

1 medium dill pickle, diced

2 cups hot cooked rice



In large skillet brown chicken in oil. Drain chicken on paper towels and discard fat. Combine pickle liquid, water and seasonings in same skillet and add chicken. Cover and simmer 15 minutes. Add pickle and cook 5 minutes longer or until chicken is tender. Serve over rice.

Orange Glow Bundt Cake

I have seen quite a few cake recipes featuring unusual ingredients such as sauerkraut, mayonnaise, tomato soup etc. This recipe is a new one to me, it has Tabasco Sauce! I found it in a little supermarket booklet titled Grandma's Baking and more. About half of the recipes call for name brand ingredients so this one was obviously developed by the McIlhenny company. I don't know if one tablespoon of sauce is enough to really taste but it sure sounds weird to me!

Orange Glow Bundt Cake

1 (18.25-ounce) package moist yellow cake mix

1 tablespoon grated orange peel

1 cup orange juice

1/4 cup sugar

1 tablespoon Tabasco brand Pepper Sauce

1-3/4 cups confectioners' sugar

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease 12-cup Bundt pan. Prepare cake mix according to package directions, adding orange peel to batter. Bake 35 to 40 minutes or until tooth pick inserted in center of cake comes out clean.

Meanwhile, heat orange juice, sugar and Tabasco sauce to boiling in 1-quart saucepan. Reduce heat to low; simmer, uncovered 5 minutes. Remove from heat. Reserve 1/4 cup orange juice mixture for glaze. Remove cake from oven. With wooden skewer, poke hoes in cake (in pan) in several places. Spoon remaining orange juice mixture over cake. Cool cake in pan 10 minutes. Carefully invert cake onto wire rack to cool completely.

Combine reserved -1/4 cup orange juice mixture and confectioners' sugar in small bowl until smooth. Place cake on platter; spoon glaze over cake. Garnish as desired.

Fresh Fruit Salad with a bonus

At first glance this looks like a lovely fresh fruit cup. It is up to the point that they added the canned tuna. Yummy slices and wedges of fresh fruit with a refreshing yogurt fruit dressing. Why did they ruin it with tuna? The fact that it is from the Starkist Sensational Tuna book is a clue. Another example of trying too hard to find a use for your product.

Tuna & Fresh Fruit Salad

Lettuce leaves (optional)

1 can (12-1/2 ounces) StarKist Tuna, drained and broken into chunks

4 cups slices or wedges fresh fruit

1/4 cup slivered almonds (optional)

Fruit Dressing

1 container (8 ounces) lemon, mandarin orange or vanilla low-fat yogurt

2 tablespoons orange juice

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Line a large platter or 4 individual plates with lettuce leaves if desired. Arrange tuna and desired fruit in a decorative design over lettuce. Sprinkle almonds over salad if desired.

For Fruit Dressing, in a small bowl stir together yogurt, orange juice and cinnamon until well blended. Serve dressing with salad. Makes 4 servings.