Family Recipe | Rosie's Riveting Recipes

Classic Swiss Steak

This is a classic recipe I learned from my mother, and it’s become one of my personal favorites. It’s easy to prepare and tasty. Best of all, it’s delicious, so enjoy.

CLASSIC SWISS STEAK

2 pound round steak, 1 inch thick
¼ cup all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon black pepper
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
¼ cup beef broth or water
1 onion, chopped
½ bell pepper, chopped
1 can diced tomatoes
Salt and pepper to taste

Mix flour, salt and pepper together in a bowl. Cut round steak into 5 or 6 pieces and coat both sides with the flour mixture. Pour oil into skillet, turn on heat to medium, and brown steaks until brown, approximately 7 to 10 minutes per side. Add broth, cover and reduce hit to low. Simmer for 1 hour, adding more broth or water as needed. Turn steaks over, add onions, bell pepper, and canned tomatoes. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Simmer an additional 30 minutes or until vegetables are tender.

Imagine the government telling you how much meat or chicken you could buy, or how much sugar or flour you could have. Strange as it may seem, at one time it actually happened. During WWII, the United States government devised a food rationing program to help insure that every family would have enough to eat. Rosie’s Riveting Recipes gives a glimpse into life on the WW 2 home front. A cookbook and a history lesson in one with more than 180 economical, back-to-basics World WarII ration recipes with short tales of life on the American home front interspersed throughout.

Rosie’s Riveting Recipes is available on Amazon and Barnesandnoble.com.

Chicken Enchilada Casserole

My parents bought an Airstream trailer shortly after my dad retired and they joined an Airstream club. They spent many years going on caravans and attending Airstream rallies where potlucks were the order of the day. It was a wonderful time in their lives. My mother brought this recipe home from one of their Airstream rallies and served it at a family get-together. We all loved it.

Fortunately, she shared the recipe with me. Generally speaking, I’m not a big casserole fan. This recipe, however, is an exception. It’s very tasty and super easy to prepare. You simply add the layers, bake, and go. I’ve taken it to many a potluck dinner, and it’s always been a big hit.

CHICKEN ENCHILADA CASSEROLE

4 to 6 chicken breasts, cooked and chopped*
1 large bag of restaurant style tortilla chips
Diced green chilies (8 ounce can)
1 cup corn
1 15 oz. can of black beans
2 cans cream of chicken soup
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1/2 cup chicken broth or water
2 cups cheddar or Mexican blend cheese
breadcrumbs (optional)

Coat a 9 x 13 inch baking dish with cooking spray. Break the tortilla chips and cover the bottom of the pan, about 1/4 inch thick. Add chopped chicken breasts, green chilies, corn and black beans. Blend the soups and chicken broth together in a medium sized mixing bowl and pour over top. (Add more liquid if thinner sauce is desired.) Cover the top layer with cheese and add the breadcrumbs, if desired. Bake at 350F for 35 to 45 minutes or until sauce is bubbling and the cheese is melted and slightly browned.

Variations: Use jalapeno or chipotle peppers instead of green chili peppers for a spicier casserole. Turkey can be used instead of chicken.

*Two 9.75 ounce cans of chicken may be used instead of fresh chicken.

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Book Cover for Rosies Riveting Recipes — Cover photo by Rob Resetar

Imagine the government telling you how much meat or chicken you could buy, or how much sugar or flour you could have. Strange as it may seem, at one time it actually happened. During WWII, the United States government devised a food rationing program to help insure that every family would have enough to eat. Rosie’s Riveting Recipes gives readers a glimpse into life on the WWII home front. A cookbook and a history lesson in one Rosies’s Riveting Recipes includes more than 180 economical, back-to-basics World War II ration recipes and short tales of life on the American home front interspersed throughout.

Rosie’s Riveting Recipes is available on Amazon and Barnesandnoble.com.

Our Mother’s Recipes — Yellow Cornbread

There’s nothing quite like the taste of fresh baked cornbread made from scratch. This recipe came from a friend’s mother’s recipe box, and no doubt lots of other mothers and grandmothers used the same, or a similar recipe. It’s the perfect side for homemade soups, such as Split Pea Soup, for the Rosie’s Riveting Recipes historic cookbook, and my own Chili con Carne recipe.

Gayle Martin

YELLOW CORNBREAD

1 cup yellow cornmeal
1 cup sifted flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup soft shortening
1 cup milk
1 egg

Sift dry ingredients together into a mixing bowl. Cut in shortening until well blended. Beat milk and egg together in a small mixing bowl and mix with dry ingredients until just blended. Pour into a well-greased 8 x 8 inch baking pan. Bake in a hot (400• F) oven for 25 minutes or until done.

For a sweeter cornbread sift 1/4 cup sugar with the dry ingredients, and cut shortening to 1/4 cup. This batter is also good for baking corn muffins or corn sticks.

Rosie’s Riveting Recipes is available on Amazon and Barnesandnoble.com.

Fresh Fruit Cobbler

The things you will find after your kitchen has been remodeled. This time it was scrap of paper with my mother’s fruit cobbler recipe, written in her own handwriting. I’m so happy to have found it as I thought this was one recipe that was gone for good. Her fruit cobblers were amazing, and she often served them with breakfast. They’re also super easy to make and fabulous for dessert too.

Mom usually made hers with peaches, but other fruits, such as blackberries, blueberries or raspberries, would also work.

Gayle Martin

FRESH FRUIT COBBLER

4 to 6 fresh peaches, peeled and sliced, OR
3 to 4 packages fresh raspberries, blueberries or blackberries
2/3 cup sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons butter
pinch of cinnamon, if desired

Preheat oven to 350F. Mix fresh fruit, sugar and flour in a mixing bowl. Add cinnamon, if desired. Pour into an 8 x 8-inch baking pan. Cut butter into small pieces and sprinkle on top.

Topping

1 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/3 cup vegetable oil
3 tablespoons milk
1 egg

Mix all ingredients together in a medium sized mixing bowl. Drop by spoonful over the fruit mixture. Bake for 30 to 25 minutes or until the topping is brown.

By the way, other delicious cobbler recipes can be found in the Rosie’s Riveting Recipes historic cookbook. Available on Amazon and Barnesandnoble.com.

Cranberry Surprise Muffins

It’s that time of year when we’re haunted by a ghost of holidays past. The leftover cranberry sauce. Well, fear not. Cranberries are a healthy food which they say also helps maintain a healthy bladder, and there are ways to create something delicious with that leftover sauce. This recipe came from a friend’s mother’s recipe box. It’s easy to prepare and a delicious, and similar recipes are available in the Rosie’s Riveting Recipes historic cookbook. So if you love cranberries, you can enjoy them year round.

Gayle Martin

CRANBERRY SURPRISE MUFFINS

1 12 oz package corn muffin mix
1/3 cup canned whole cranberry sauce
1/4 teaspoon grated orange rind

Preheat oven to 400F. Grease muffin tins or use paper baking cups. Prepare muffin mix according to the package directions and, in a separate bowl, combine cranberry sauce and orange rind. Fill each cup about halfway, drop a teaspoonful of cranberry mixture, and top with a small amount of batter. Bake 15 minutes or until muffins are brown. Makes approximately 12 muffins.

Rosie’s Riveting Recipes is available on Amazon and Barnesandnoble.com.

My Grandmother’s Green Beans

I think every family has their favorite recipes which have been passed down generation to generation. One of our favorites was my grandma’s green beans. She served them at family get-togethers for years, as did my mother. I’ve played with the recipe a little over the years, but not too much. It’s an oldie but a goody, and there are probably a lot of other grandmothers out there who made this dish as well. Here is my interpretation. Please consider this recipe a guide as I never make it the quite the same way twice. (I don’t think Grandma ever did either.)

Gayle Martin

GRANDMA’S HOMEMADE GREEN BEANS

1 to 1 1/2 pounds fresh green beans
3 or 4 red potatoes
3 or 4 slices of bacon
1/2 cup chicken broth
water

Wash green beans, snap off ends, snap into bite-sized pieces and drop into a large mixing bowl. Scrub and dice the potatoes and add them to the beans. Cut bacon slices into small pieces and brown in a small stockpot. Once bacon is browned dump in the green beans and potatoes. Add chicken broth, stir, and cover. Reduce heat to low and simmer for approximately 30 to 45 minutes, or until the potatoes are tender and cooked all the way through. Stir occasionally, and, if necessary, add small amounts of water or chicken broth to prevent the beans from scorching. Salt and pepper to taste. Serve as a side dish with pork roast, pork chops or fried chicken.

The Rosie’s Riveting Recipes historic cookbook contains many of the recipes our grandmothers and great-grandmother’s used to make. It’s available on Amazon and Barnesandnoble.com.

Beef Stroganoff

One of my mother’s recipes

Many of the recipes on this blog come straight from my mother’s kitchen. Every night she prepared us an amazing meal from scratch, and every night our family sat down and had dinner together. It was a wonderful family tradition, and one of happiest memories from my childhoo.

The following is one of my mother’s recipes. It’s one of my favorites, and I make it just like she did.

Gayle Martin

MY MOTHER’S CLASSIC BEEF STROGANOFF

1 to 1 1/2 pounds round steak or sirloin tips
2 cans cream of mushroom soup
1/4 cup cooking wine (optional)
1/2 pound sliced fresh mushrooms (optional)
1 small onion, chopped (optional)
2 cups sour cream*
steamed white rice, brown rice, or noodles

Slice beef into small cubes and brown in a sauté pan over medium heat. If desired, add chopped onion, sliced mushrooms, and red wine. Once meat has browned all the way through add cream of mushroom soup. Stir mixture thoroughly and heat to boiling. Reduce heat and simmer on low for about 15 to 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. While meat is simmering cook rice or noodles according to package directions and serve with the meat mixture on top of the rice or noodles. Blend sour cream into meat mixture just prior to serving, or spoon a dollop or two of sour cream on top of the meat mixture immediately after plating. Serve.

* Plain yogurt can be used as a substitute for sour cream.

Imagine the government telling you how much meat or chicken you could buy, or how much sugar or flour you could have. Strange as it may seem, at one time it actually happened. During WWII, the United States government devised a food rationing program to help insure that every family would have enough to eat. Rosie’s Riveting Recipes gives readers a glimpse into life on the WWII home front. A cookbook and a history lesson in one Rosies’s Riveting Recipes includes more than 180 economical, back-to-basics World War II ration recipes and short tales of life on the American home front interspersed throughout.

Rosie’s Riveting Recipes is available on Amazon and Barnesandnoble.com.