Cooking with Hope

Winter Comfort Dishes

Creamed Corn and Bacon Chowder

2          cans creamed corn

8          slices fresh smoked bacon, chopped

3          cups half and half or milk

½         cup white wine like Pinot Grigio

            Salt and Pepper to taste

1 to 2            tablespoons Worcestershire sauce (optional for added flavor))

Fresh parsley, chopped

In a frying pan cook bacon, drain and set aside, save smidgens of bacon and flavoring in bottom of frying pan. With a tiny bit of water simmer smidgens. Set aside. Chop bacon into coarse pieces after it’s cooled.

In a large saucepan place smidgen juice, canned creamed corn, salt and pepper, half and half and wine, stir till well mixed. Simmer on medium low heat for half an hour. Do not boil. Let sit for an hour to mellow the flavors. Warm again and serve with sprinkled chopped fresh parsley.

Cream of Mushroom Soup

1          pound fresh white button mushrooms cut into one-inch pieces

3            tablespoons butter

4 to 6            tablespoons white flour

Pinch of salt and pepper

2            teaspoons onion powder

1          cup white wine

2          cups half and half

2          beef bouillon cubes, dissolved in ¼ cup of water

In a frying pan sauté sliced mushroom pieces until just glazed. Reserve juices from mushrooms. Set aside. In a large saucepan on low heat melt butter. Add flour slowly mixing thoroughly over low heat till mixture forms a solid. Gradually add one cup half and half whisking continuously to avoid having any lumps. Stir in onion powder, mix thoroughly. Add wine, dissolved beef bouillon, reserved mushroom pan juices and the rest of half and half, stir. Add sautéed mushrooms. Cover and let simmer on low for 20 minutes, do not boil. Stir before serving. Let soup sit for an hour or two for best flavor.

Flax Seed Muffins with Apples

Helpful Hint: Grind flax seeds with coffee grinder.

2          cups unbleached flour

1/3       cup freshly ground flax seeds

1            teaspoon baking soda

½         cup granulated sugar

¼            teaspoon salt

2          eggs

¼         cup canola oil

1          cup low fat milk

1            tablespoon white vinegar

1          cup chopped fresh apple

½            teaspoon cinnamon

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Blend all the dry ingredients: flour, baking soda, cinnamon, sugar and salt in a large bowl. In a separate bowl whisk together milk and white vinegar, add eggs and oil and whisk thoroughly until light and frothy. Blend liquid ingredients into flour mixture for just a few seconds just to moisten. Fold in chopped apples. In a greased muffin pan fill cups 2/3 full with batter. Reduce heat to 400 degrees and bake muffins for about 15 to 20 minutes or until tops spring back when pressed lightly. Makes approximately one dozen muffins. These may be frozen.

Quick and Easy Blender Coconut Custard Pie

2          cups milk

½         cup Bisquick Mix or Flako pie crust mix

¼         cup butter

1          cup coconut, flaked, reserve ¼ cup

½         cup sugar

4          eggs

1            teaspoon vanilla

In a 350-degree oven toast ¼ cup reserved coconut for 5 to 7 minutes, remove and set aside. 

Combine all the ingredients except the coconut in a blender on medium speed. Add the ¾ cup coconut and stir in gently mixing evenly. Pour into a 9-inch deep pie plate, which has been cooking oil sprayed. Let stand for 5 to 8 minutes then sprinkle with the toasted coconut. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 to 50 minutes, until golden on top and when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. May be served warm or cold.

Special Note: To turn this into a chocolate-coconut pie add three ounces unsweetened baking chocolate, by heating milk, butter and chocolate in a saucepan then add remaining ingredients and whisk thoroughly. Pour into a pie plate and bake.

Hope is a retired professor from North Carolina. She resides in Hampstead for the past 13 years, with her husband Vincent, a retired New York City Police Detective. She enjoys cooking and has been awarded numerous ribbons for her breads and has a Blueberry Festival prize for her blueberry cheesecake, which is presently being enjoyed by cruise ship tourists in New Zealand.