One of the oddest things about living here is the summertime weather switch, from one of those beautiful, sunny warm spells that changes to seemingly endless, beastly stretches when it’s too hot to think, never mind cook — to when, just when we’re on the ropes and nearly at our wit’s end, along com
es the blessing of a nice cool, drizzly day to counter that awful, heat-stroke misery.
Days like that, the kitchen’s a happy place to spend some time, devoid of stifling heat and loaded with possibilities. Here then, are two new recipes good to go any time really, but especially welcome on those sometimes too-rare damp, gray days.
Edmonds cook Jennifer Benson starts us off with a quick-fix, Crockpot take on meatballs, and tells us, “I’ve been recovering from major surgery, so haven’t been able to cook very often for a few months. But, I’ll pass along a Crockpot favorite from a copy of ‘Fix-It and Forget It, 5 Ingredient Favorites,’ that I found to be both easy and tasty!
“I packaged the tangy meatballs with jasmine rice in individual Gladware and froze them, to have for many meals. I’ve used both Kroger and Ikea frozen Swedish meatballs, as well as Trader Joe’s turkey meatballs, and they all taste great. And, using a rice cooker while the slow-cooker’s going equals easy meals!”
Next, referring to Hollis Paul’s request, Jamie Ferrier of Arlington says, “I don’t have any recipes for using the canned brown bread, but I do have a great recipe for making a bread very similar to the canned bread. This is from a 1984 edition of ‘Sunset Bread Cookbook,’ which suggests using thick slices of this dark, rich-tasting bread with baked beans and favorite sausages and also says instead of a regular loaf pan, the dough can be baked in one-pound vegetable or fruit cans.”
Tangy Crockpot meatballs
3 pounds Swedish-style meatballs (frozen are fine)
1 can (16 ounces) whole-berry cranberry sauce
1 bottle (18 ounces) favorite barbecue sauce
½ cup spicy prepared mustard
Hot cooked rice (if serving as main dish)
Place meatballs in Crockpot. In a mixing bowl, combine the cranberry sauce, barbecue sauce and mustard; mix well, then pour over the meatballs. Cover and cook on low 6 to 8 hours. Serve over hot cooked rice as a main dish, or serve meatballs as an appetizer.
Brown bread
3 tablespoons butter or margarine, softened
¼ cup brown sugar
2 cups buttermilk
3 tablespoons light molasses
2 cups whole-wheat flour or graham flour
1 cup all-purpose flour
½ cup wheat germ
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup raisins
1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
In a large bowl, beat butter or margarine and brown sugar together until creamy. Mix in buttermilk and molasses. In a separate bowl, stir together the flours, wheat germ, baking soda and salt, mixing until thoroughly combined. Stir in raisins and nuts. Spoon batter into a well-greased 5-by-9-inch loaf pan, or divide evenly among 4 well-greased and flour-dusted 1-pound cans, filling them no more than 2/3 full.
Bake in a preheated 350-degree oven (325 degrees for glass pan) for 1 hour and 20 minutes, OR 45 minutes for 1-pound cans, or until bread begins to pull away from sides of pan and a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Let cool in pan or cans for 10 minutes, then turn out onto rack to cool completely.
The next Forum will appear in Friday’s comics pages.
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