WE LOVE TO COOK RECIPES

 

To Season Sausage From: We Love to Cook  

15 pounds meat 2 level dessert spoons pepper 2 level dessert spoons sage 10 level dessert spoons salt (smoked.)  
If the salt used is not smoked, use 3 spoons of pepper and sage and 15 spoons salt.




         

July 4th Baked Beans From: We Love to Cook

Ingredients	Instructions
1 pound navy beans  salt  2 strips bacon  tomato juice  tomato catsup  2-3 tablespoons brown sugar  chopped onion	Soak beans overnight  Add salt and bacon.  Simmer till done (1 hour).  Add tomatoes, sugar, onions.  Bake slowly about 2 hours

 


 

  Magic Noodles From: We Love to Cook 3 minutes to make; 10 minutes to cook!

I'll give you the recipe in the book, and then I'll share with you what it means! This is a very special recipe. On holidays, when everyone collected at the farm, the word would go out that Grandma Jones was about to cut noodles. Kids, grandkids and great-grandkids would drop their quarrels and games and pour into the kitchen to watch. Today, my kids pour in to watch me. It's a good thing, too, because this is a very fast recipe. You make the broth ahead of time, but it's simple, of course, and it freezes well. The actual noodles take 3 minutes to make, 10 minutes to cook.
 

(Here's how it works...)

The broth: Boil some chicken and beef in water. (Use both meats. If you don't use both, you won't get magic noodles). Remove meat from broth. Keep broth in fridge, or freeze until needed. When ready to make Magic Noodles, put broth on to boil.

Flour to mix into ball:  This process takes about a minute. Fill a mixing bowl half full of flour. With a spoon, make a well in the center of the bowl (an indentation in the flour, about the size of a fist) Dump your four ingredients (everything except the broth) in this well. (I substitute evaporated milk for cream.) With a fork, stir gently (don't beat), picking up flour as you go from the outside walls of the well. Keep stirring until you've picked up enough flour to be able to remove the dough, from the well of flour, even though it may be in pieces and still sticky. Drop dough on floured board. (I dump flour on my countertop, and make them there.) Gently knead a few times to add more flour (using the left-over flour from the mixing bowl, if you wish) until you can roll the dough into a ball that doesn't stick to your fingers.

Roll-cut thin: Roll the dough out with a floured rolling pin. Sprinkle flour all over the rolled out dough. Starting at one side, roll up the dough, like a tube. Cut the dough (like cutting bread) into very thin slices with a knife dipped in flour. Shake noodles lightly to remove excess flour. (I put the noodles in a strainer and shake). Dump noodles into boiling broth. (Turn the temperature down a bit, or the broth will boil over.)

This process takes me about two minutes to make enough noodles for 4 people. It took Grandma Jones about 20 seconds to cut enough noodles for 40-50 people, which is why everyone gathered to watch. She would pick up a big knife--there was a blur--and the noodles were cut. Amazing!

Cook ten minutes - and eat. Unless you've made Magic Noodles, you've never tasted anything like this. You can add chicken or beef or vegetables, but Magic Noodles, as directed, really do make a meal.

Why do we call them Magic Noodles? Partly, I suppose, because you watch them being made. But mostly, I think, because eating them makes you feel so good. There is something comforting about Magic Noodles. Perhaps they really are mixed with.....magic!