Creamed Tuna on Toast

I learned this recipe from watching my mom make it. I remember having this dish after I came home from the hospital after having my tonsils out.

Melt some butter (about 2 to 3 tsps).
Add some flour (about a tablespoon or a bit more).
Cook over low heat, stirring for several minutes.
Add can of drained tuna. Break tuna apart.
Add a cup of milk.
Stir and cook over medium heat until the sauce is thickened. If too thick, add a bit more milk.

This is really a simple white sauce (bechamel) with tuna tossed in so any recipe book would have a more accurate recipe for the sauce.

Spanish Rice

Aunt Mary said that Grandma Lucich learned to make Spanish rice from a woman who ran the boarding house in Montana where Grandpa and Grandma first lived after they were married. I don't have an exact recipe, but you can't really go too wrong. We're not talking "haute cuisine."

Spanish Rice

Into a heavy skillet put 4 to 6 slices of bacon cut into squares. Cook over low heat and when the bason fat has rendered out, add a couple of large onions coarsely chopped and some rice (maybe a cup or bit more). Stir for 3 to 4 minutes. Then pour tomato juice into the pan and cook at low heat until rice in tender. Add more juice as necessary.

Monsieur Bon-Bon's Secret "Fooj"

When I was a kid, my Barnes cousins and I were always trying to make a successful batch of fudge. We used a recipe from a battered black cookbook or from the back of a Hershey's powdered cocoa box but not matter what we did (or didn't do) we always ended up with fudge that was either rock hard or ooey gooey and had to be eaten with a spoon. But now if I made fudge (very very rarely) I use a recipe that I found in the back of Ian Fleming's book, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Mr. Bon-Bon's recipe always turns out well and has a wonderful old fashioned taste (much preferable to fudge made with marshmallow whip and the like.

Fooj

1 pound granulated sugar
1/4 pound finest butter
1 tbsp water
4 tbsp unsweetened chocolate
1 small can of evaporated mild
1 tbps corn syrip

Put all the ingredients into a saucepan. Melt slowly on low gas until mixture thickens slightly and is absolutely smooth. Turn up gas and boil very quickly until it forms into a soft ball when a sample is dropped into cold water. Remove from heat and beat well with a wooden sppon. Pour the whole mixture into a flat, greased pan, mark in squares and leave to set. When cold, DEVOUR!

Butternut Squash and Sweet Potato Soup

Make a day or two or even three days ahead...it tastes even better.

1 tbsp butter
2 tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, peeled and diced
1 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp ground coriander
1 medium to large butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cubed
2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
6 cups chicken or vegetable broth (Swanson's makes a good vegie broth)
1.2 cup heavy cream
salt and pepper to taste
small pinch of cayenne pepper
large pinch of nutmeg

Melt butter with the oil in a large heavy casserole over medium heat.
Add the onion and cook until soft but not brown.
Add the cumin and coriander and stir for 1 minute.
Add the squash, sweet potatoes and broth and bring to a boil.
Reduce head and simmer for half an hour or until the cubes are soft.
Process through blender or food processor in bathces.
Add salt and pepper to taste.
Add cayenne and nutmeg to taste.
Stir in cream.
Makes 4 to 5 servings or more depending on size of serving.