Thursday, March 6, 2014

Me and Lady Mary and Chef Teresa

Did you watch Season 4 of Downton Abbey?  Did you see the pig watering episode?  I just loved seeing that side of Lady Mary.  And then to see her so at home in the kitchen making eggs for Charles Blake.  WELL... she used an egg holder and I fell in love with it.  It was wood and just the most wonderful thing.  So, I looked on eBay and there was one.. just one.. of the same kind of egg rack and ::BOINK:: my finger went on the button and nobody else bid on it and soon it came winging it's way to me.  It also came with a wooden springerle rolling pin.


This is a poor photo, but it's my grandparents kitchen queen which I quite literally rescued from their old farmhouse in Oklahoma that was falling in on itself.  My dad had inherited 80 acres of his dad's farm and his section had the house on it.  After a lot of research in a book about kitchen queens I deduced that this was made by the Boone company.  It was painted a hideous green and the inside a horrific acid yellow.  So, I had it restored by my friend Gary Law.  He even made a new sliding wooden door (like in a roll top desk). There were only a few of the slats left in the cabinet and he made an all new door using the clues from the cabinet.  I love this thing dearly.


I love old aqua Ball and Mason jars.  The little ones are a salt and pepper and the medium sized one is a vintage bank!


I want to make some cookies and use this pin to decorate them, but I'll have to grease it up as it's not very smooth.


I love the old rough stained enamel sliding out work surface on this.  This is where my grandmother taught MY mother how to cook and roll out pie dough and make home made noodles and all manner of good old fashioned things.  


Old jars.


The wood grain in this egg holder is just beautiful.



Now... my sister Denise and I spent quite a bit of time on our trip talking about cooking.. she has become an excellent cook over the years.  So, I got the urge to do some culinary efforts for the family.  I saw this recipe on of all places.. Facebook.. and thought it might be good.  It's Lemon Garlic Chicken.  It turned out pretty good, but if I make it again I will not use 3 lemons!  It was VERY lemony! (I made 1 1/2 recipe for 6 people)



GARLIC & LEMON CHICKEN WITH RED POTATOES & GREEN BEANS

INGREDIENTS
6 tablespoons olive oil
1 lemon thinly sliced, 1 juiced (or leave the extra juice out)
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3/4 pound trimmed green beans
8 small red potatoes, quartered
4 chicken breasts 

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 400°F (180). Coat a large baking dish or cast-iron skillet with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil. Arrange the lemon slices in a single layer in the bottom of the dish or skillet.

In a large bowl, combine the remaining oil, lemon juice, garlic, salt, and pepper; add the chicken, green beans and potatoes and toss to coat. Pour this mix into the pan and spread around evenly.

Roast for 50 minutes or until cooked through. Serve warm. 


And then I made dinner last night too!  This is the bread we had, take 1 loaf of artisan bread, cut it lengthwise, liberally butter each side and sprinkle with McCormick Garlic Bread Sprinkle.  Wrap with foil and heat in the oven for 1/2 hour or until heated through.


Now, I served everyone this before I took the photo, but this recipe is of my own invention and I hadn't made it in a long time.  I made it last night and everyone loved it!  It's a creamy flavorful lasagna-ish pasta bake.  I wrote up the recipe last night and you should try it.  I do have a caveat - I had to estimate the ingredients so if you make it and find something you'd change, please let me know.  You can all be my recipe testers!! :-)


This is good!


Teresa’s Creamy Pasta Lasagna-style Casserole

16 oz curly edged mini lasagna noodles (Mafalda) or wide egg noodles 
2 lbs lean ground beef
3 Italian sausage links, med
½ onion, chopped 
Mushrooms, sliced 
1 67 oz. large jar of Prego pasta sauce, Traditional flavor
1 8 oz brick of cream cheese 
1 cup milk 
2 TBS Worcestershire 
2 lb grated mozzarella
1 1/2 cup of grated Parmesan or a mixture of Parmesan/Romano

Put a big pot of water on high and bring to a boil, add salt.  Begin sautéing ground beef, remove sausage from casing and cook with beef, chopping meat as it cooks.  Add chopped onion.  When meat is done, drain grease off.  Add mushrooms and cook with meat.  When mushrooms are done, add Prego sauce and stir and simmer.

When the water comes to a boil, add pasta and cook just until al dente as it will cook more while this is in the oven.

When the pasta is done, drain, put cream cheese, milk and Worcestershire in glass bowl and put in microwave for 1 minute, remove and stir until it becomes a smooth sauce.  Put hot pasta, well drained, into a bowl and pour sauce over it and toss the pasta until coated.

Oil a baking pan with olive oil and then spoon or pour in half the meat sauce.  Put half the saucy pasta over meat sauce.  Put half the grated mozzarella on top, then half the Parmesan. Add other half of meat sauce, other half of the pasta, the rest of the mozzarella and top off with the parmesan.

Bake 45 minutes at 375 degrees covered with foil, uncover for 15 more minutes until the cheese is bubbled and slightly browned.  Enjoy!


When I was shopping for the ingredients in the pasta bake, I got Dayle his favorite Easter goodie which are marshmallow eggs.  We gave one each to the boys for dessert and they were yummy!  Have you been cooking fun things lately?  ((hugs)), Teresa :-) 

23 comments:

  1. I love this post, it's full of wonderful things. The egg holder is really cool and I love that it came with the springerle rolling pin. I've never made those but I've seen recipes for them in old cookbooks and always wondered what the pin might look like. I don't think I've ever seen one before now, so thank you for sharing. The kitchen furniture is beautiful, and what a great history it has! I'm so glad you were able to rescue it for your home. Both of these recipes sound great and I appreciate you sharing them. We love Peeps around here too, I almost bought some yesterday when I shopped but I forced myself (just barely) to wait a little longer. :)

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  2. That lemon chicken looks delicious, and I like your wooden treasures including the egg holder.

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  3. Hi Teresa! Oh my, you made my mouth water with this post! The lemon chicken....mmmm, and the lasagna...oh my goodness! I have NOT been cooking lately, and I miss it. Life has been very hectic and our schedules are crazy lately. Not much cooking going on here. I did make some granola yesterday though. But nothing savory going on here in my house.
    Love the egg thingie. I love DA and am sad that it has already ended!
    Seeing your lovely hoosier, made me sad. I had one. It was lovely. And I foolishly got rid of it. I have regretted it every single day since!
    xo Kris

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  4. What a neat post, Teresa! Your new kitchen tools are both beautiful, and I love seeing the cupboard you had restored and reading about its history. [It reminds me of my Nanna Bradstreet's house in Danvers, Massachusetts...her pantry always had the delicious smell of ginger cookies wafting from a big glass jar that was opened frequently :) ] The recipes you shared look yummy! Today I toasted two [from a package of frozen gluten free] waffles, spread almond butter on one, sprinkled it with salt and pepper, spread a layer of spring-mix greens and a slice of tomato and topped it with the other waffle...does that count for cooking? :) I'm all packed to head out for the beach retreat tomorrow at 8am! Woohoo!!! xx

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  5. I sure enjoyed this post Teresa. I absolutely adore your Grandma's cupboard. It reminds me so much of my Grandma's house. She had the blue mason jars and old time utensils too. I really wish I knew what happened to most of her kitchen tools. I would have loved to have them. I saw that episode of Downton Abbey but didn't notice the egg holder. It's really neat though. I keep our eggs in a basket in the refrigerator because, unlike you, I don't have fresh eggs. I'm jealous, just in case you didn't know. :-) I haven't made anything special for dinner. Just the same old, same old, although I did bake banana bread a couple of days ago using my Mom's recipe. That recipe has never failed me. I have found some good recipes on facebook too.
    Blessings,
    Betsy

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  6. Hi Teresa. Great post. I love Downtown and definitely remember that episode. Made me smile when you wrote about looking for and purchasing the egg holder. Loving all your 'old' things. Hugs Anne x

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  7. The kitchen queen is wonderful, how lovely that it found its way to you. A great egg holder and rolling pin as well. It all looks fantastic together. I really love old kitchenalia. I have just one or two older things, and I love to think about all of the food they have been used for, all of the meals that have been prepared with them, the conversations, the tears, the laughter. What a lovely post Teresa.

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  8. You certainly have an eye for the unusual Teresa. Your new egg holder and rolling pin are real treasures. I could almost taste those yummy looking foods you've cooked. Wish I lived closer - I'd invite myself to dinner :) Have a good weekend. xox

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  9. I love all your wonderful treasures Teresa. I can almost smell those yummy dinners all the way over here. I made lemon chicken once and it did not taste all that hot. I am not the best cook, it sure did look pretty.
    Hugs to you,
    Meredith

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  10. Hi there Teresa, Yummy post Chef Teresa! Love your eBay found and I LOVED Lady Mary in the last episode! I'm sooooo sad it's the last for the season, I don't know if I can wait. I looked forward to it every Sunday night and HB too. Oh well, guess I have too wait. Love the photo of "the boys and their Marshmallow Bunnies🐰.
    Hope you have a terrific day M'Lady, xoRobin

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  11. You really really are making me hungry!
    I just adore your sweet jars ...especially the one with the little cover on it.
    Your goodies are in the mail TODAY! sorry it took me so long. This was one busy busy week at school. Love to you. xoxo

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  12. Food again! Nom nom. I LOVE Downton Abbey, it is my pre-Christmas love. Those egg holders are quite common place over here and I am really pleased that you found one and that gorgeous rolling pin. Imagine the fun...I can see some baking on the horizon with me drooling again over your lovely food pictures.
    That kitchen queen is great, so glad you could get it restored and keep a piece that represents memories xxx

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  13. I love that egg holder! I wonder if they are more common in the UK? They tend to not refrigerate eggs like we do. And I also love that kitchen cupboard - well done!

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  14. Oh my my!!! Look at all this delious food~ I always get so hungry when you post about "what's for dinner" Thanks for sharing all your recipes. I will save them for sure. I really haven't been making anything special lately. Just the same old things really, like soups and gumbos and occasionally a shrimp casserole. I'll have to share that one~ one day!
    Hugs
    Shari

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  15. Isn't it amazing what some thing of as junk? That kitchen queen is wonderful - so great that you were able to save it. I have my grandparent's copper Savage washer that we use as a stand for our TV (they were going to sell it scrap metal years ago). We heat with Tramp 1's grandparent's wood cook stove that we rescued and restored. Our family room is where we have all our special old things including my great grandmother's Waterbury kitchen clock that no one in the family wanted but me. It was broken and I had it repaired - I remember the chimes bonging in the night when I was a child.

    You are such a wonderful grandmother, making marvelous memories for all the little ones!!

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  16. What a fab egg holder - useful and looks great.

    I purchased a Springerle rolling pin last year and used it to make cookies for gifts. I was really pleased with how they turned out.

    Have a wonderful weekend!

    Helenxx

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  17. I love Downton Abbey and miss it already. That Lemon Chicken looks very good and I think I'll make it this weekend.

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  18. Yum! Gosh, all that food looks so yummy! I'm heading to your house for dinner! :)

    ((hugs))

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  19. I loved that episode of Downton Teresa but then as you well know I just love pigs! What a treasure your kitchen queen is, so many memories there. Enjoy the weekend x

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  20. I completely missed this post somehow, but it's a goodie! All the food looks delish. Wish I had someone like you to cook for me once in a while. Wouldn't that be nice. Are you spoiling Dayle with his bum leg? Hee-hee. I know he's lovin' it!

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  21. I have a rolling pin like that too, but have never used it. I bought mine because of my mom and I being from Germany and had hoped to one day surprise her with some homemade cookies. I have a smaller Hoosier cabinet. They are so easy to love, but mine is not as old as yours. Yours is a family heirloom, mine is a newbie and just getting started. Believe me, I am sure mine is not as well made as yours and when Roger was alive and told me to go ahead and buy it, he was not so thrilled with the workmanship. He told me Hoosier should be ashamed to put their name on it and that he could make one 10 times better. I know he could of, but when was that suppose to happen? I do love it though. I think they give a kitchen that homey feeling.
    (((HUGS))) Susanne :)

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  22. What a beautiful cabinet restoration! I LOVE the work done on it. Mmm...marshmallow candy! Now you have me craving some:)
    Blessings, Aimee

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