Sweet and Sour Pineapple Meatballs

 

These were always a favorite of mine growing up in Winnipeg. As usual it contains lots of dry and canned foods. We used ground pork but you can use meat of your choice. Turkey works well and on the prairies we would have used what ever ground meat was available. The meat balls consist of 2 pounds of ground pork, 1/2 a cup of crushed saltine crackers. I used the unsalted kind. One egg, one medium onion cut very fine, Worcester sauce one table spoon, one tea spoon of garlic powder and a healthy measure of fresh ground pepper. Mix all this together in a big bowl. Use a table spoon sized scoops of meat and form into balls. Place them on a cookie sheet covered in parchment paper cook in the oven at 375f till brown and cooked through. Our oven took 30 to 35 min. Set these aside. Do not use lean pork as you need the fat. 

The sauce is as follows.

1/2 a cup brown sugar.

1/4 Cup Vinegar

1 Cup water

2/3 Cup ketchup 

DOUBLE THIS 

Add one 20oz can of drained pineapple chunks drained. Keep the juice for a healthy drink :-)

Bring sauce to a boil.

Mix a table spoon of corn starch to a 1/4 cup of warm water, mix this and add to sauce.

Once sauce has boiled and thickened add meat balls and bring to a boil. 

Serve over long grain rice with a side of boiled green beans and your transported to Nicol Ave 1974 ! 

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

My mom used to make these by the tub. They were always cooked to be crispy and my favorites were slightly brown on the bottoms. These days cookies seem more like an individual pan pizza in size, these were the size of a silver dollar pancake or similar in size to a small orange...

This is the original recipie. I will try to get a picture if I don't eat all the cookies first :-) 

1/2 cup (1 stick or 4 ounces) butter, softened
2/3 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt (I often use a half teaspoon, but I like more salt in my baked goods)
1 1/2 cups rolled oats
3/4 cup raisins
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped (optional)
Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C). 

Takes 10-15 min to get them crunchy depending on oven 

BW

Boston Baked Beans DMG Style

BOSTON BAKED BEANS

2 Cups Navy Beans ( or Great Northern )
8 Cups Water
1/2 Lb Salt Pork ( 1/2 inch pieces of bacon or ham
1/2 Cup Dark Molasses
1/4 Cup chopped onion  
2 Tsp dry mustard , or Dijon/ hot mustard
1/2 Tsp salt
2 Tbl spoons brown sugar

Bake at 300' for 6-7 hrs feeds 6-8 persons

Method

Sort dry beans on a plate remove any broken beans , rocks and debris
add 4 cups of cold water to a soup pan and cover let stand overnight
( in a cool location but not refrigerated) don't let ferment

Next Day

After 8 hrs drain beans and keep the water to the side
Top up water to 4 cups bring to a boil and simmer for 1 hr

Drain water and water and put water to the side

Combine beans and salt pork in bean pot
Combine Molasses onion mustard, salt, and brown sugar pour over beans.
Stir with a blunt spoon and don't mash the beans  
add enough water to cover beans plus 1/4 inch, don't over do the water as you have to boil it off

Cover and bake for 6-8 hrs at 300'

stir occasionally and add water if necessary, don't stir in last 1/2 hr 

A hearty treat that will feed 6 for $4.99 or the price of one moca-chino 

BW

Broccoli Salad

This is a old recipe that was always at seasonal events like Easter Dinner, Thanksgiving, or Christmas and even New Years.

Make it ahead and keep it for a few days as it improved in the fridge.

Broccoli Salad

1 medium head of broccoli
1/2 cup of dried cranberries/ or raisins
2 tb mayonnaise
2 tb pure maple syrup
1 green onion  - chopped
3 strips of bacon crisp, shopped in to 1/4 inch bits
2 tb seasoned rice vinegar ( or regular white )
1/3 tb roasted almonds - dry toasted, slivered almonds
salt pinch


Cut broccoli into small florets and set aside.
Make salad dressing with mayonnaise, maple syrup, and rice vinegar (white vinegar is readily available at most grocery stores)
Add bacon 

Pour over broccoli florets. Stir in cranberries or raisins, slivered almonds and chopped green onion .
Make this salad at least 6 hours ahead. Makes 4-5 servings.

BW 

Traditional Scones

This recipe was a weekly if not daily staple at my Nana's house and was made often at my moms.
It would basically substitute for bread as a sandwich or breakfast " biscuit". Although we never called them biscuits they were just scones. Another thing to be avoided was putting raisins in as a substitute for currants.
Proper scones had to have currants as raisins were not traditional and were probably expensive and didn't grow in Ireland or Scotland where their mother's mother's had  made these and passed the recipe along for generations. Mostly with out writing it down, so these written versions can be approximate and leave out lots of " everybody knows" Looking at various recipes from cook books there is a lot of variation. This is the one handed down to me so I will make notes on any issues there are with the ingredients, amounts or techniques.
It will keep for a few days with out refrigeration but are fragile and turn to crumbs if bounced around in a lunch box or pack for hours. One frequent lunch serving was with margarine, and mayo with a sliced tomato and Velveeta processed cheese cut on it. The cheese was cut with a wire chese cutter that was " the bee's knees"
I remember eating this at a roadside campground " Buffalo Pound " just outside of Regina, Saskatchewan. This was in the kitchen of our tent trailer that we had set up to eat lunch on our way west.  

The actual recipe is in a coil book that my Mom gave to me Christmas 87' some of the recipes are typed in with an electric typewriter based on the looks of the type. That's another thing that's gone the way of the wagon.

Scones, Makes 12-16 Mom & Nana
2 1/2 cups flour
3 tsp baking powder
2/3 cup brown sugar
2/3 cup currants
2/3 cup margarine
smidge salt
*---- egg seperated

Mix flour, baking soda, brown sugar, currants, salt & marg with hands to form fine crumbs.
* place egg yolk in cup set aside
* place egg white in 8oz cup, whip then bring to full 8 oz with milk - add to above mixing well.
This amount of milk will result in  a batter that is pancake like... add only enough milk to make a stiff dough BW
Divide and half-pat out on a lightly floured board to form a circle.
Smear with egg yolk- cut into shape with wet knife - lift onto greased sheet- Bake at 400' for 10 mins then lower to 350' for 15 to 20 mins
( depending on size & how close together .
Remove to rack to cool.
Watch this temperature and time it seems a bit too much  BW
This bear has been seen in my neighbor hood quite a lot lately.

Battered Sausage

 

 What can you say that this picture doesn't?

When I was a boy back on the prairies one of our favorite treats was to have Dad cook dinner.

Mom worked and some times she would have evening shifts at Safeway or be out at a Historical Society meeting.

This would sometimes  mean breakfast for dinner or just about anything he could put together after a hard day in the field or in the shop.

One of my favorites was battered Bologna or any other type of meat like salami or kielbasa.

I had a roll of turkey summer sausage given to me as a stocking stuffer over the holidays. Get your minds out of the gutter it was Pepper Ridge Farm!

So one night in a fit of desperation, or was it culinary boredom and nostalgia, I grabbed a box of pancake batter and my sausage and heated up the fry pan.

Cut  the sausage as thin as you can and dip it into the batter, it should be think enough to stick to the meat but not so think as to fall off when it's cooked.

Fry until golden brown, and enjoy... with catsup or spicy pepper sauce.

BW

Christmas Breakfast Pizza

 Christmas mornings meant a few special treats beyond the obvious stocking stuffers. We would be allowed to dig in to our own stockings which contained mandarin oranges, chocolates and other goodies. Small gifts from Santa (Lego) would keep us busy until the adults were up and ready for the formal gift distribution. This was done by Grampa or Dad under the strict supervision of Grama or Mom. " Not that one, do this one next". Each tag and card was read before the gift was ripped open and the wrapping paper tossed in to the fire for an extra pyrotechnic punch. Although at Grama's house we were encouraged to unwrap carefully and keep the bows and paper for reuse. We had some fancy cards that were reused year to year with extra verses added on paper. I remember some that were exchanged year after year between my Mom and Dad. After the mornings drama played out and before relatives from afar arrive, mom would take her signature breakfast pizza out and pop it in the oven. It was a welcome somewhat balanced meal after the mornings sugar rush. This is the original recipe as transcribed by my mom, possibly from Canadian Living or BH and G, or more likely off the back of the crescent roll package.

I hope you enjoy this as much as we did when we were children. Ps It's also easy to make on a hectic day.