Culinary Feats

Several of the SMLF are members of our local Jr. Service League.  Which means, I'm the proud owner of the Jr. Service League Cookbook.  While browsing through it, I was struck by how many recipes called for canned soup.  Thing is, there are very few applications in which I like canned soup, and Phenom doesn't much care for casseroles. . . so there is rarely canned soup in our house.

As a culinary experiment, I decided that tomorrow night, I will make dinner totally from the Jr. Service League Cookbook.  If you combine my food snobbery and Phenom's "selectiveness" this is a harder project than you might think.

Here's the menu:

Healthy Chicken Nuggets (I'm using tenderloins for ease) with honey mustard or spicy BBQ sauce.  Toss tenderloins in olive oil and press bread crumbs mixed with some Parm into the tenderloins.  Bake at 425, 10 -15 minutes.  I have some left over herbed bread sticks that I dried out in the oven and will make into bread crumbs and of course I have some decent Parm.

Steak Fries.  Peel and cut up several large potatoes, toss in olive oil, seasoning, and bake with tenderloins.

Broccoli Salad (classic southern fare)  Cut up 2-3 crowns of broccoli, chop a red onion, and mix dressing: 1/2 cup mayo, 1/3 cup sugar and mixing in one tablespoon at a time, 3 tablespoons of cider vinegar.  Mix all together and stash in fridge for several hours.  Just before serving, mix in some crumbled bacon and golden raisins.  (You can also add in cauliflower, but I'd let it sit in the fridge over night then.)

Easy Turtles.  Take several pretzel butter snaps (square, crosshatch design) and spread them out on some parchment covered cookie sheet.  Top each snap with an unwrapped rolo candy.  Bake 225 for 5 minutes and then gently press into each one a toasted pecan.  I made a test batch today, and I think I'll sprinkle a little sea salt on them after I put the pecan on.  I think they just need an extra hint of salt.  Let them cool some before eating . . . they will be messy otherwise.