Makin' Bacon!

Got this little tip from Pinterest, and then saw it done on the Travel Channel's Drive-in's, Diners, and Dives. They were doing a special on the best Bacon places in the U.S. It's so easy, I will always make my bacon this way. Great if you are doing bacon for a large crowd. Do ahead and put it in roasters to keep warm.

The one I saw on Pinterest said to put foil in a half-sheetcake pan and lay the bacon on top of the foil. Oven is at 400º. Cook for about 15 minutes, or until it is like you like it. The restaurant put a cooling rack on top of the foil in the half sheetcake pan and laid the bacon on that. The fat drips away onto the foil for a less greasy piece of bacon. They cooked it at 375º for 20 minutes or until it is like you like it. It always gets a little crispier after it has been taken out and cooled.

So easy and the bacon doesn't shrink as much. It is crispy (depending on how long you cook it) but not brittle. Great when you need to do a lot of bacon. You can do it ahead and put it in a roaster to keep warm. This will be my method of choice, no more getting grease popped on me when cooking bacon. Yay.

Try it, you'll like it!

Nana's Sunday Roast

Sunday roast dinner. Growing up I remember this most often on Sunday. I would see Nana in the kitchen before church browning the roast to put in the black roaster pan she got in germany. She had two sizes of that pan. One big and one little. She used the big one most of the time. The inside of that pan was blue I think. Great pans. Her meat choice was a rump roast or a sirloin tip roast. I don't think I ever saw her cook a chuck roast. Most of the time they were rolled up and tied with string. Not so much anymore.

The first time I tried to do a roast for dinner was in Provo, UT my freshman year at BYU. Nana got the phone call (back when it was long distance and expensive). "Mom, how do I start a roast?" She walked me through it and I hung up convinced it would be easy. It was, but I let the oil get too hot and we had a little fire in the pan. Glad my roommate knew to put a lid on it to smother it. Wonder how she knew that? LOL. After the fire drama was over I managed to get the roast in the oven.

Nana's method:
First, salt, pepper a little granulated garlic is nice and rub seasonings into the roast on all sides.



In a frying pan big enough for your roast to sit in, put about 1/4 C. of whatever cooking oil you like. Turn on medium/high heat. Doesn't take long to heat up.



Now brown the roast on all sides. It only needs 30 seconds to a minute,(no more) on each side. This process simply seals in the juices for a more moist roast. Crock pot roasts don't usually need this step but I do it anyway. It seems like it just tastes better.



Place the roast in your pan. Nana always used a little round or oval raised rack to set the roast on in the roaster. This allows the liquid in the pan to get under the roast and keeps it from burning on the bottom. Add a cup or so of water or beef stock or just throw in some bouillon cubes with your water. She always put a peeled onion in at the side of the roast to add flavor. In later years she would add a couple sections of garlic also. Papa likes to eat a little of the roast onion.



Nana would now add a number of peeled carrots around the roast. Carrots take longer than potatoes to cook, so she put them in on the bottom and then after about an hour she would add in peeled potatoes. Just writing this makes me hungry for her tender roast, with roast potatoes and carrots. Such memories.

Set the oven to 325º and roast for 4-6 hours. If you have a meat thermometer the internal temperature should be 160ºF for medium/well. 170ºF for well done.
If you are using the crockpot allow about 8 hours on high for a medium to large roast.
I cut my carrots in half lengthwise for cooking in the crock pot since they have a harder time getting done.

Strawberries, Sour Cream and Brown Sugar

The title says it all, almost. First of all, don't knock it till you've tried it. It has become a family favorite. Thanks to Aunt Charleen for the sweet lady that she was. Without her, we would never have known how good this dessert is. And oh, so simple.

Recently, while on my new obsession Pinterest, I saw where someone had sliced through the strawberries from tip, but not through the stem and filled them with whipped cream. I'm sure they used a bag and cake tip. If you put a little gelatin in with the sour cream you could do the same and stand them up with stems down for a great presentation. They could then be dipped in the brown sugar. This would eliminate the sour cream dish for serving.

Any way you do them, they are wonderful. Enjoy.

The Actual File

Just a little post about Nana's actual recipe file. I know we all have memories of going over to visit and finding her seated at her round table in her little corner working on her recipes. I can even admit that I am guilty of thinking "Oh no, not more recipe talk" as I came in to visit her. I have since repented of such unkind thoughts and have come to appreciate the time she put into making wonderful things for her family, etc. She truly was a perfectionist when it came to the kitchen. She loved researching, developing and perfecting the things she made. The file is enormous as mentioned before. In the effort to put into this blog the things she wanted us to have I, and everyone contributing are striving to put down the things we most remember her for. Obviously, some editing is involved. I don't always include the recipes that seem to be strictly off the food network. They are good recipes, but not the things we remember about Nana. On many, she had notations and had added her input. Those I do include if they are things she made often.




I have since moved her file to a nice wooden box with a drawer in it that came with my desk. It just fits and is a little more sturdy than the cardboard box. I pore over it often to try and find the things we loved from her kitchen.

She was also always open to new recipes from in-laws, friends and extended family. There are recipes from the many cooks in our family that include recipes from other sources. It's all good. I hope this year we can all make an effort to put some more of our favorites, and share some of our memories on this blog. I also hope that if you are looking for a certain recipe, or need to do something special you will call or email me to see if there is something she has in her file that can help. She loved those phone calls and I do too.

Perfect Hard Boiled Eggs

One would not think that making hard boiled eggs was especially difficult, and it's not unless you don't like the ugly gray ring outside the pretty yellow yolk when you don't do it right. I know, because I've had ugly gray rings for many years and never thought about a different way to the method of boiling eggs. Lo and behold, there is a way to have boiled eggs without the gray ring and they are so easy. Nana was making deviled eggs for Easter one year and I noticed how nice the yolks looked. Just yellow in the white. No gray. Since deviled eggs, eggs in potato salad, golden rod eggs and just boiled eggs for eating are such favorites it is nice to know how to do them correctly.


PLACE eggs in saucepan large enough to hold them in single layer. ADD cold water to cover eggs by 1 inch. HEAT over high heat just to boiling. REMOVE from burner. COVER pan.



LET EGGS STAND in hot water about 12 minutes for large eggs (9 minutes for medium eggs; 15 minutes for extra large).

DRAIN immediately and serve warm. OR, cool completely under cold running water or in bowl of ice water, then REFRIGERATE.





I pulled these next directions off Pinterest. They are pretty much the same as Nana's way, but I liked the way she gets the shells off her eggs:

• 1. Fill a pot with water and set the temp to high. Add desired amount of eggs making sure the water covers the entire egg. Bring it to a boil. DON”T CONTINUE TO BOIL. Once it begins, remove it from the heat and put a lid on it. Set your timer for 15 minutes.
• 2. Ding! Pour the hot water off and immediately fill your pot with cold water. Add as much ice as you can to this water. If it melts in a few minutes, add more. The water should be icy cold when you put your hand in it. If not, continue adding ice.
• 3. After about 10-15 minutes (no set time), pour NEARLY all of the water off reserving about an inch.
• 4. Put the lid on and now it’s time to play bumper cars. You heard me, shake those babies bumping them together back and forth. You’ll look ridiculous, but I promise it’s worth the goofy look so you’re not peeling each one under cold running water. Just continue to shake, shake, shake for about a minute and voila! When you remove the lid nearly all of your shell has fallen off the egg and they EASILY peel off without peeling the egg off.

There you have it. Easy to make, easy to peel.