I Love You Grandma!

I apologize for not posting any new recipes lately. My amazing, sweet and beautiful Grandma passed away recently. Although I miss her so much, I'm happy that we have such a wonderful angel watching over us!

It's only fitting that I post a recipe from my Grandma. There's only one problem. She never wrote anything down! If we wanted to know how she made something, we had to write it down while she made it. Trust me, my Grandma was an awesome cook! Tortillas, mole, cornbread dressing, scones, beans, rice, hot sauce. You name it, she made it...and it was good!! I have no idea what to make of hers. I've tried to make her rice many times and still haven't been able to get it right. Even with her standing next to me, I managed to mess it up. The tortillas didn't taste bad but they looked like anything BUT a tortilla! Back in April, I tried to make her dressing. I made the mistake of using sweet cornbread. Oops! The one time I tried making her mole (years ago), the bottom of the blender came off and most of it ended up on the kitchen floor. The little bit that made it into the pot wasn't bad though. What to make? What to make?

I'm sure I'll think of something of hers to make and share on here. Hopefully she'll be watching over me and guiding me so I don't screw it up. Either that or she'll be laughing her head off watching me try to recreate something that came so easy to her.

Whatever I decide to make, no matter how good it might turn out, it won't have that special "Grandma's touch" to it. Anthony says I make a pretty good pot of pinto beans and can re-fry them pretty well, but they're just "not Grandma's" beans.

What can I say? All I can do is try :)

Yo te quiero mucho Grandma! You behave up there in Heaven! :)

Bacon Muffins

Anthony decided that he wanted some bacon this morning for breakfast. I remembered that I had run across an interesting sounding recipe for bacon muffins. Not the healthiest sounding, I know, but I've never had a bacon muffin. So I thought, what the heck. Now, you would think that there's actual bacon in the recipe. There's not. It uses the bacon grease. Oh healthy police, please don't arrest me!

Anthony cooked the entire package of bacon and I used ALL of the grease from it. The dough was kinda thick and stretchy, if that makes sense. To be honest, I wouldn't call these muffins. Yes, I made them in a muffin tin but they're more like biscuits. Very dry and actually kind of hard. They would be perfect smothered in white gravy served with eggs and hashbrowns :) HAHA!

My interpretation of the recipe:

Bacon Muffins

From: Janie or Jamie

2 c. sifted flour

2 Tbs sugar

4 Tbs baking powder

½ tsp salt

⅓ c bacon juice

1 egg, beaten

1 c. milk

Sift into bowl: flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.

Stir into dry ingredients, egg and milk. Add ¼ c. bacon fat melted. Just before completely blended stir in grease (just enough) to mix.

Spoon into greased muffin tin ⅔ full. 

Bake 20-25 min. at 400°

* I was able to get 12 muffins out of this recipe.

* I didn't spray the muffin tin. I just used muffin liners and they worked fine.

* I baked them for 23 minutes. The toothpick came out clean :)

I hope you enjoy and give this recipe a second chance in your kitchen too.

Pineapple Icing

In my latest box of organized treasures, I found an icing recipe. It's a hot Texas summer, so who wouldn't love some pineapple?  To be completely honest, this recipe isn't exactly what I would consider to be pineapple icing. It would, however, be perfect as a filler between cake layers. When done, the consistency was kind of like a pie filling. So unless you're serving a sheet cake still in the pan it was baked in, this isn't a stable icing. I refrigerated it overnight and used it cold. I put the cake together the next day and after sitting out on the counter after about 10-15 minutes, the pineapple started to slide off. That's why there's just a picture of a slice and not the entire "hot mess" of a cake :)

Also, it was too sweet for me. I'd cut it back to probably just a cup of sugar, at the most. Even Anthony, my sweets man, said it was too sweet.

One last thing. It didn't say how big of a tin of pineapple to use. I believe I used Dole's 20oz can of crushed pineapple, juice and all. I forgot to write it down before I threw it out. Sorry!

Here's my interpretation of the recipe:

Yellow Cake with Pineapple Icing
From: Jack Everett

Duncan Hines Golden Butter Cake Mix 

Pineapple Icing

1 - Tin Crushed Pineapple

1½ Cups sugar

½ Stick butter

2 Rounded Tablespoons flour

Cook until it thickens & add 1 teaspoon vanilla.

* I baked the cake mix as directed making 2 - 9"rounds.

I hope you enjoy and give this recipe a second chance in your kitchen too.

So Close

We went to an estate sale this morning not too far from us. The kitchen was an immediate left as soon as you walked in the front door. Anthony pointed out a few cookbooks sitting next to the sink so I started looking through them. At the very bottom was a small red binder. I opened it up and immediately saw handwriting. Lots of it. Jackpot!!! Now, this sale was a family run sale. It wasn't being put on by a company. So, the daughter and son were there trying to get rid of their mother's stuff. I asked the daughter how much it was and as she flipped though it for a second, I knew she wasn't going to let it go. I was right. She got a little emotional and said, "I'm sorry, I can't let this one go. It's got my mother's handwritten recipes in it. I thought we went through everything and I guess we missed this one. I'm so sorry." Dang it! SO close. I told her that I understood. I guess it was bound to happen sooner or later. So, while it sucks that I missed out on such a treasure (and I'm telling you there was A LOT of goodies in there), I'm happy that it's staying in the family.

On to the next sale :)

New Box of Treasures

I'd like to introduce the newest addition to my Second Chance Kitchen! I found this treasure last Thursday (7/19/12) at an estate sale pretty much down the street from my house. Everything in a box? Yes please! Organized? Absolutely! Yay! I can't wait to dig into this gem and see what's inside! I have taken a quick glance and there are some clippings as well as handwritten beauties. Where to start, where to start?!?

Three Bean Salad

Front of card

Back of Card

After trying a few sweet recipes, I thought I'd try a vegetable side. My aunt makes a three bean salad so I thought I'd give it a shot. Although this one was similar, it was a little different. Next time I make it, I will probably cut back on the amount of oil and use whole green beans instead of the french cut style. Also, I couldn't find 1 pound cans of anything. They were all just under a pound. 

If anyone knows who Mari Hooley is, please let me know!

Here's my interpretation of the recipe:

Three Bean Salad

serves 10 

From the Kitchen of Mari Hooley

1 - 1 pound can French cut green beans

1 - 1 pound can yellow wax beans

1 - pound can red kidney beans

½ cup minced green pepper

½ cup minced onion

½ cup cider vinegar

¾ cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon pepper

⅓ cup oil

Day before, if desired: 

Drain beans; place in glass bowl.

Add: green pepper and onion

Mix: oil and vinegar with sugar, salt and pepper.

Pour over bean mixture; toss.

Refrigerate, covered until served.

I hope you enjoy and give this recipe a second chance in your kitchen too.

Coconut Macaroons

This recipe came out of a folder full of handwritten cards and newspaper clippings. It seemed simple enough and I've never had a macaroon with a twist of lemon so I was intrigued. They are actually pretty good. It was a little messy but I managed to spoon out 14 mounds of ooey gooey goodness. I actually baked them for 17 minutes, just because I like the more toasted aspect of a macaroon.

A word of wisdom: let them sit for just a few minutes on the cookie sheet before removing them. Not too long though, because they'll stick. (I even sprayed my cookie sheet before hand) Also, don't be a bonehead like me and place them on top of a paper towel on a wire rack to cool. I don't know what I was thinking! Needless to say, I had to perform paper towel removal surgery from the bottoms of them.

Here's my interpretation of the recipe:

Coconut Macaroons

Bake at 325° 12 to 15 min

2 c. moist coconut (5½ to 6oz)
½ tsp. grated lemon rind (packed)
1 tsp. lemon juice
¼ tsp. salt
½ c. sweetened condensed milk

1. Fluff coconut in a bowl.

2. Mix lemon rind, lemon juice, salt and condensed milk in a bowl. Drizzle over coconut and mix until evenly coated.

I hope you enjoy and give this recipe a second chance in your kitchen too.

** Update **
I've recently made another batch of these chewy Macaroons. Only this time I left out the lemon rind and juice and added 1 tsp of vanilla extract. They came out just as good! Next I think I'll try with lime instead of lemon :)