Thursday, September 28, 2006

Can a taste for certain foods be genetic?

There are some foods that I enjoy eating, but because they don't appeal to Steve I don't buy them, or prepare them unless he won't be eating the meal with me. This has been my pattern ever since we married. I've also learned to prepare certain foods that he likes the way his mother used to do it.

As the children have grown, I have found that they like a lot of the same food I like, even though they haven't eaten them with any kind of regularity. They certainly haven't been trained to eat these foods.

Here are two recipes that the children often ask me to make when Steve is out of town on a business trip:


Chicken Pie

1 whole chicken, cooked and deboned
chicken broth (about 3 cups)
6 eggs, hardboiled, peeled & sliced
Pastry for a double-crust pie (if bought, use two deep-dish piecrusts)
1/2 c. butter
1 c. milk

While chicken is cooking I make the pastry:
2 c. all-purpose flour
1 t. salt
2/3 c. shortening
6 to 7 T. cold water
Mix flour and salt in mixing bowl. Cut in shortening until pieces are about pea-sized. Add water slowly by tablespoon, mixing with other ingredients until all is moistened. Divide dough in half. Roll into two balls.

Roll out one ball to fit dimensions of casserole dish (I usually use a 9x12 dish). Roll other ball thinly, but cut it into strips. Butter or grease casserole pan, then put a few strips of pastry in bottom of pan. Layer cooked chicken, sliced eggs, butter pats, and more pastry strips until ingredients are used up. Add salt and pepper and enough chicken broth to cover ingredients about 2/3 the depth of casserole dish. Cover all with the other pastry and put in 350-degree oven to cook for 45 minutes. When casserole is done, set on trivet to cool slightly and thicken. With spoon, lift up each corner of pastry and pour about 1/4 c. milk into each corner. After 10 minutes, serve. It's even better the next day as leftovers, cold.


Pasties

1 round steak, cut into small cubes
6 potatoes, peeled and sliced thinly
2 onions, sliced thinly and separated into rings
1/2 c. butter
salt
pepper
2 pastries for double-crust pies, (or 4 pie crusts)

In greased pie pan set one pie crust. Layer meat, potatoes, onion rings. Dot with butter. Sprinkle salt and pepper. Cover with another pie crust. Do the same with second pie pan. Seal edges of pie crusts, then make a few vents in top of pie with fork or knife. Bake 45 minutes at 350 degrees. This is also even better the next day as leftovers, cold!

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3 Comments:

Blogger Jeannine said...

What great recipes, Laura! I will have to try them.

There are foods I like that Vince just can't stand. When he's out of town I almost always make tuna casserole. That is something he would never eat but all of the rest of us like it.

4:20 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hi Laura!

Amanda showed me your blog and I think I could sit down all day reading all of your entries! Hey, your recipes look great, by the way.

Isn't that funny that both Bryan and Steve are fishing in Florida? I haven't yet gotten as much done today as I hoped, but we will keep persevering! It is amazing how much your children have grown. I am like you - still remembering your girls and Tom as little children - like they were in New York. I can't believe how time flies and how they grow up so quickly. It is, as you say, a bit disconcerting. I took little Ben for his 3 month checkup yesterday (I guess it was supposed to be the 2 month one). We enjoy him so much, but I keep wanting to tell him not to grow up too fast.

I am impressed at your knitting! What lovely things you have made. One can tell "you work with your hands with delight." We have been talking of getting angora rabbits and cashmere goats so we can collect their fleece (just by combing them) and then spin it. Now I find out you spin, so maybe if we can ever get these animals, you can take their fleece and spin it and then use it! Wouldn't that be cool? :)

I do hope that somehow we can get together before too long. Until then, I guess we can stay in touch through blogs! I didn't know how much fun they were! Take care friend and have a blessed day!

4:37 PM  
Blogger Lady of the house said...

Hello, Laura! Those recipes sure look good. Husband will be out of town next week and all this week I've been dreaming of what to cook. So far I've decided on Black Eye Peas 'n Ham and Salmon Patties!

I've found too that when I get the recipe for something from his mother, he always likes it! This was a little disappointing to me in the beginning, as I wanted to reinvent the wheel myself, but after almost 10 years, I've grown to accept it. His mother thinks I'm a great cook, too.

5:46 AM  

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