My grandfathers, uncles, and my Dad were coal miners in the western part of Virginia and southern West Virginia - hard, honest work for minimal pay. The women in our families worked equally as hard in raising children and keeping house - and making the most wonderful meals out of the simplest ingredients! I have learned from my own cooking experience that the best part of preparing something is in sharing it with others who enjoy it, too. That is the purpose behind this blog: not only to preserve our family recipes, but to share them with others who can use and enjoy them as much as we have. Thanks for stopping by! Cris

A Note: I do not condone the use or consumption of beverage alcohol in any form for any reason. Therefore, the recipes posted here on our blog do not contain wine, beer, or liquor in any form.

Friday, April 29, 2016

Hot Dog Chili Sauce



Photos courtesy of Doc Watson

Recipe shared by Chris Watson



This is an easy and very tasty sauce - and it's spicy!  




NOTE:  This is a very easy recipe but it isn't fast.  It takes almost 2 hours of slow simmering to reduce the liquid and make the sauce thick enough for the hot dog.


Ingredients:

1 lb. very lean ground beef or ground turkey
1 15.5 ounce can of beef broth
1 18 ounce can of tomato sauce
1 tablespoon chili powder
½ tablespoon paprika
1 tablespoon grated raw onion OR ½ teaspoon onion power
½ teaspoon garlic powder
1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon ground red peppers (or omit if you don't want it spicy)
½ teaspoon sugar

Directions:

1.  In a large skillet over medium heat, cook ground beef until brown and very crumbly.  To get a finer crumbling, use a hand-held potato masher or wooden spoon and work the cooking ground beef to break it up.  

     When the ground beef is brown, most of the liquid should be cooked away.  If there is any grease in the pan, you can drain it.  If there is only a little bit of grease, you can leave it in for the flavor.

2.  Add beef broth and bring to a boil.  Then reduce heat to medium and simmer until the liquid is almost gone (about 30 minutes).

3.  To the ground beef mixture, add tomato sauce and all of the seasonings.  Simmer, stirring frequently, for about 1 ½ hours until the mixture is very thick.




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Graphic courtesy of all-free-download.com/


Tuesday, April 12, 2016

Campfire Cobbler

Photo shared by Stephanie Hanks.




Shared by our niece, Stephanie Hanks.

Notes from Stephanie:
"We tried this at our Cub Scout Weekend camping retreat.  The boys almost licked the pan!  So good!  Want to try it next time with Apple Pie filling or maybe peaches."



Camp Fire Cobbler


Here's what we did:

Line a dutch oven with Reynolds wrap or a dutch oven liner.

First, pour 2 cans of cherry (or your favorite flavor) pie filling into the dutch oven.

Then mix in slowly about 1/3 can of sprite (you can use 7-up too, or probably most other sodas)

Sprinkle that mix with cinnamon and brown sugar.

Then gently pour a bag of white cake mix on top.

Optional: sprinkle about a half of a bag of Heath Toffee cooking bits into the cake mix.

You can sprinkle again with cinnamon and brown sugar, but that's optional.

On top of the cake mix and toffee bits, lay pats of butter (use one stick of butter)

Cover the dutch oven and put on coals, after about 15-20 mins turn the dutch over half way around and continue cooking about 15-20 more minutes. 

You will be able to see that the top crust is done around this time, if not, leave a few minutes longer.

Image courtesyof PublicDomainclipart