Mennonite Monday - Frozen "Pink Champagne" Salad

Mennonite Monday started because I wanted to make recipes from the Bethesda Mennonite Church Cookbooks (both the yellow and the white cookbook for those of you who own them). I also wanted to take pictures of each recipe that I made, so I would know for future reference what the recipe should look like. I am by no means a great cook, but I think it will be fun to try new and different recipes each week. Not all of these recipes are for ethnic Mennonite food, but the women from Henderson know how to cook, so I can safely say that these recipes will be good. Check back each Monday for a new recipe and feel free to leave a comment if you have a favorite recipe from these cookbooks, or if you have some tips on what I should make and how I should make it.

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Sorry for the delay and the late posting of Mennonite Monday, but I have a great recipe for you this week called Frozen "Pink Champagne" Salad (pg 187W).  This went together very easily and was a hit at a meal we went to last week.  One thing I noticed is that cans of pineapple and cartons of strawberries don't come in the same sizes as the recipe wants, so I just guessed here and there to make it come out close.  Also, I skipped the freezing part, since I didn't have time and it turned out just fine.  

Frozen "Pink Champagne" Salad

8 oz. pkg cream cheese

3/4 cup sugar

15 oz. can crushed pineapple, drained

10 oz. box frozen strawberries, partially thawed

12 oz. carton Cool Whip

2 bananas, sliced

Cream sugar and cheese.  Stir in rest of the ingredients.  Freeze until firm.  Take out 1 hour before serving.  

 Cream cheese and sugar mixed together. 

 Adding the fruit.  

All mixed together and ready to eat.  

Mennonite Monday - Cinnamon Salad

Mennonite Monday started because I wanted to make recipes from the Bethesda Mennonite Church Cookbooks (both the yellow and the white cookbook for those of you who own them). I also wanted to take pictures of each recipe that I made, so I would know for future reference what the recipe should look like. I am by no means a great cook, but I think it will be fun to try new and different recipes each week. Not all of these recipes are for ethnic Mennonite food, but the women from Henderson know how to cook, so I can safely say that these recipes will be good. Check back each Monday for a new recipe and feel free to leave a comment if you have a favorite recipe from these cookbooks, or if you have some tips on what I should make and how I should make it.

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Here is a quick side recipe that is great for this time of year for a spin on your normal jello salad it is Cinnamon Salad (pg 116 Y).

Cinnamon Salad 

1 pkg cherry jello (I used black cherry because I had it on hand) 

1 cup applesauce

1/4 cup red hots

1 1/2 cup boiling water

Dissolve candy in boiling water.  Add Jello, stirring until dissolved.  Chill until partially set.  Fold in applesauce.

 Boiling water 

 Adding the red hots.  I have been told that Brach's candy dissolves the best. 

 Adding the jello. 

 The jello was set after an hour and a half in the refrigerator. 

 Adding the applesauce. 

 All mixed up. 

Changes I will make next time: 1) I will stick with regular cherry jello.  The black cherry gave it a different color and you expect cinnamon food to be red not purple.  2) I will mix the applesauce in sooner. Letting it set created lumps of jello and I like it when it looks smooth.  

NEXT WEEK: Chocolate-Marshmallow Pie

  

Mennonite Monday - Tapioca Salad

Mennonite Monday started because I wanted to make recipes from the Bethesda Mennonite Church Cookbooks (both the yellow and the white cookbook for those of you who own them). I also wanted to take pictures of each recipe that I made, so I would know for future reference what the recipe should look like. I am by no means a great cook, but I think it will be fun to try new and different recipes each week. Not all of these recipes are for ethnic Mennonite food, but the women from Henderson know how to cook, so I can safely say that these recipes will be good. Check back each Monday for a new recipe and feel free to leave a comment if you have a favorite recipe from these cookbooks, or if you have some tips on what I should make and how I should make it.

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This week for Mennonite Monday I am featuring a recipe that I made during harvest. To be honest, the guys I fed did not get excited about the salad. Okay, they barely even touched it.  I however did like the salad and if I ever make it again I will have a better handle on how to work with tapioca better.  Hopefully your Tapioca Salad (pg 195W) is received a little better than mine was. 

Tapioca Salad 

3 1/2 cups boiling water

1/2 cup baby pearl tapioca

8 oz. crushed pineapple with juice

3 oz. pkg strawberry gelatin 

1/2 tsp salt

3/4 cup sugar

Add the tapioca to the boiling water, cover and let stand until cool.  Bring to boil again and add the gelatin and stir until dissolved.  Let stand again until cool.  Add salt, sugar and pineapple.  Refrigerate until set.  Serve with whipped topping.  (Any flavor gelatin may be used). 

I was able to find small pearl tapioca just fine, but it wasn't very friendly to me.  

I added it to the boiling water.

Then I let it set.

I think I should have stirred the tapioca while it set because I had big chunks of goo stuck to the bottom of my pot.  I'm guessing this was because of something I did, but I was not exactly sure how to fix it.  I basically fished out all of the clumps and there was still some tapioca balls left, so I figured it wasn't too big of a deal. 

Adding sugar

Salt

Pineapple

Transferring to the serving bowl.

  I did not serve this with whipped topping on top because I thought it would get watery and gross. However if I had put whipped topping on it, I think it would have been more popular.

Mennonite Monday - Salad Dressing

Mennonite Monday started because I wanted to make recipes from the Bethesda Mennonite Church Cookbooks (both the yellow and the white cookbook for those of you who own them). I also wanted to take pictures of each recipe that I made, so I would know for future reference what the recipe should look like. I am by no means a great cook, but I think it will be fun to try new and different recipes each week. Not all of these recipes are for ethnic Mennonite food, but the women from Henderson know how to cook, so I can safely say that these recipes will be good. Check back each Monday for a new recipe and feel free to leave a comment if you have a favorite recipe from these cookbooks, or if you have some tips on what I should make and how I should make it.

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I'm not going to lie, I had no plan for Mennonite Monday this week.  Last week was a busy week, so I didn't take the time to plan out my Mennonite Monday recipe, so I chose this one because I had all the ingredients on hand and it was something I could quickly make at 9:30 p.m. on Sunday evening.  However, I have very glad I chose to make the Salad Dressing recipe (pg 128Y).  I have been looking for a sweet savory salad dressing all summer, and this was exactly what I was wanting.  

Salad Dressing

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup salad oil

1/4 cup vinegar

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

Shake and store in refrigerator. 

 Sugar and oil 

 vinegar

 Salt

 Pepper

 Mixing

 Unfortunately my lettuce was getting a little old, so this may not be the most appetizing, but trust me it is a nice dressing to use when you need a little bit of a change.  

  

Mennonite Monday - Cherry Cola Sald

Mennonite Monday started because I wanted to make recipes from the Bethesda Mennonite Church Cookbooks (both the yellow and the white cookbook for those of you who own them). I also wanted to take pictures of each recipe that I made, so I would know for future reference what the recipe should look like. I am by no means a great cook, but I think it will be fun to try new and different recipes each week. Not all of these recipes are for ethnic Mennonite food, but the women from Henderson know how to cook, so I can safely say that these recipes will be good. Check back each Monday for a new recipe and feel free to leave a comment if you have a favorite recipe from these cookbooks, or if you have some tips on what I should make and how I should make it.

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I know that Cherry Cola Salad did not win the vote this week, but I didn't have a reason to make Enchiladas, so that will be the recipe for next week.  I made Cherry Cola Salad (pg 190W) for a Sunday School potluck meal and was very impressed with it.  It was a quick recipe that went together in 15 minutes or so, and tasted very good.  I didn't think it tasted like cola at all, but others may have felt differently.  I will also say that I'm not a huge fan of cherries from pie filling because they are kind of mushing, but these plumped up with the other ingredients. 

Cherry Cola Salad

3/4 cup water

1 can cherry pie filling

1 6 oz box cherry gelatin

1 #2 can crushed pineapple with juice

3/4 cup sugar

1 Tbl lemon juice

1 cup Pepsi

1/2 cup chopped nuts (I did not use the chopped nuts)

Combine water and sugar and bring to a boil.  Add pie filling and return to a boil.  Pour boiling mixture over gelatin, stirring to dissolve.  Add the pineapple and juice, lemon juice, Pepsi and nuts.  Pour into a 9x13"pan and chill.  

 Sugar and water boiling 

 Adding the pie filling. 

 I took the pan off the burner and mixed the jello into the same pan to save on dishes.

 Adding pineapple (with juice) and lemon juice.  I don't know what a #2 can of pineapple is, so I just picked one and it worked out fine. 

 My pan got too full, so I moved everything to the 9 x 13" pan and then mixed in the cola.  Since I didn't have any Pepsi, so I just used some off brand cola. 

 

Mennonite Monday - Dressing for Fresh Cucumbers

Mennonite Monday started because I wanted to make recipes from the Bethesda Mennonite Church Cookbooks (both the yellow and the white cookbook for those of you who own them). I also wanted to take pictures of each recipe that I made, so I would know for future reference what the recipe should look like. I am by no means a great cook, but I think it will be fun to try new and different recipes each week. Not all of these recipes are for ethnic Mennonite food, but the women from Henderson know how to cook, so I can safely say that these recipes will be good. Check back each Monday for a new recipe and feel free to leave a comment if you have a favorite recipe from these cookbooks, or if you have some tips on what I should make and how I should make it.

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This week I am sharing one of my all time favorite summer recipes! It is so simple and perfect for meals right out of the garden. This weeks recipe is Dressing for Fresh Cucumbers (pg 185 W).  I will make this almost every week this summer because it is the best with cucumbers right out of the garden. 

Dressing for Fresh Cucumbers

2 Tbl mayonnaise

1 Tbl vinegar

dill fern (chopped up really fine)

2 Tbl oil

1 tsp salt

Blend and serve over sliced cucumbers. 

 I like my cucumbers peeled and sliced, but you can cut them anyway you like. 

 Mayonnaise. 

 Oil

 Vinegar

 Salt.  If you want to make the dressing really good, use Natures Seasoning, instead of salt.

 Dried Dill, I didn't have any fresh dill otherwise I would chopped it up and used that. 

 Mix it together.

 Pour over cucumbers. 

I like to add red onion, which is really good.

I could eat these cucumbers, watermelon and corn on the cob all summer and be happy.  If you want to share with your friends, it is easy to make a bigger batch. Just remember 1 part vinegar, 2 parts oil and mayonnaise with salt and dill to taste.The best part is that you only need to get one measuring spoon or cup dirty. 

Another bit of advice. If you mix this up ahead of time and expect to eat it later, your cucumbers will be flimsy and watery.  If you like them that way, good for you, but if you are like me and want crisp cucumbers, eat it right after mixing in the dressing.  

As you can tell I have only made this recipe a few times ;)

Mennonite Monday - Potato Salad

Mennonite Monday started because I wanted to make recipes from the Bethesda Mennonite Church Cookbooks (both the yellow and the white cookbook for those of you who own them). I also wanted to take pictures of each recipe that I made, so I would know for future reference what the recipe should look like. I am by no means a great cook, but I think it will be fun to try new and different recipes each week. Not all of these recipes are for ethnic Mennonite food, but the women from Henderson know how to cook, so I can safely say that these recipes will be good. Check back each Monday for a new recipe and feel free to leave a comment if you have a favorite recipe from these cookbooks, or if you have some tips on what I should make and how I should make it.

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This week the winner was Potato Salad, so I chose the recipe on page 200 of the white church cookbook. Since there are three different recipes, I chose the middle one, which I have made before.

Potato Salad

10 red medium potatoes - boiled
6 hard boiled eggs
1 pint mayonnaise
salt and pepper
4 Tbls mustard
4 dill pickles, chopped
2 Tbls oil
celery salt to taste
chives, optional
2 medium onions, chopped

Peel and slice the potatoes; when warm add 6 hard boiled eggs, sliced; mix lightly with the remaining ingredients. Add 4 Tbls mustard.

I have tried several different ways to make hard boiled eggs. Okay I know it is easy to hard boil eggs because all you need is eggs and water, but I have found it is hard to not under cook or over cook the eggs. This time I used some instructions from the Mennonite Country-Style Recipes, which worked very well.

Place eggs in pan and cover with cold water. Cover pan and heat just to the boiling point. Reduce heat to keep eggs just simmering - not a rolling boil. (Bubbles should just break the surface of the water.) Simmer for 18 minutes. Immediately pour off hot water and run cold water over eggs. Peel in just a few minutes for easier peeling. If eggs are cooked at too high a temperature, are cooked too long, or are not cooled immediately, a dark greenish or grayish coating may form on the outside of the yolk. This is not harmful to eat, but spoils the appearance. Overcooking also toughens the white.

I boiled my potatoes with the skin on. Then when the potatoes are done cooking, the peel just falls off.

This is easier than peeling each potato in my opinion, but you do have to work with hot potatoes.

After the potatoes are peeled, I diced them into small pieces.

Dice the eggs.

I almost never cut onions by hand anymore. Chopping onions in a small food processor is so easy, quick and the onions don't burn your eyes, so you don't even cry.

This recipe uses a full pint of mayo. That is a lot, but that is why it is so creamy.

I also use plain dill relish because it is easier to use than to chop my own pickles.

This recipe makes a big batch, so make sure you are planning to feed a good number of people when you make it or be prepared to eat it for a week.