hondo corn casserole
Posted: November 17, 2019 Filed under: sides | Tags: butter, cheddar cheese, corn, cream style corn, egg, green chilies, onion, pepper, ritz crackers, salt, sugar, unsweetened condensed milk Leave a comment
Thanksgiving Spectacular
In uncommon fashion I’m pre-posting some recipes that are on deck and ready for the upcoming foodie festival!
Scroll down below and you’ll find three recipes that hail to my kitchen from my Cousin Julie – Hondo Corn Casserole (thank you, carbs), Madeira Turkey, and Wild Mushroom and Pecan Stuffing! These are on deck and coming out of the oven soon!
For you new-comers out there if you missed it make sure and check out the latest posts perfect for Thanksgiving – Pumpkin Bread, Sour Cream Apple Pie plus Brandied Pumpkin Flan which is a family Thanksgiving staple. On our sister site Home Style Austin you can score our newest recipe Honey+Rosemary Roasted Cashews which are great for gift giving. Enjoy our 2019 fall “flavorites” from us to you!
This is surely going to be a Thanksgiving to remember. Photos and my usual rambling on about the good ol’ days to follow!
HONDO CORN CASSEROLE
This recipe sat in my cookbook likely since the 1990s. This year I was searching for the best sides to make for Thanksgiving and dived in. I couldn’t remember the origin of the recipe but when I read the ending of the recipe “If guests arrive, give them a drink and regale with stories of Texas Gulf Coast wonders” I knew this recipe hailed from someone special.
One phone conversation with Cousin Jennifer and it was confirmed – this recipe was from my dear Cousin Julie Sutton Mueller. Jennifer said this was one of Julie’s long-standing recipes at the holidays and as the recipe indicates – it’s a crowd favorite and people always ask for this recipe. That certainly proved true this Thanksgiving when I made it for our annual gathering at Canyon Lake!
Foodie Tips
❤ All about the corn: You can use a box of frozen corn – the instructions below presume you’ll use canned corn. If you’d like to increase the serving sizes to 8-10 you can add a can of the whole kernel corn.
❤ “Unsweetened condensed milk” – you’ll likely not find this in your store… but never fear – it’s the same thing as evaporated milk. Who knew?!? I didn’t until I researched it!
i. Time
Total prep: About 75 minutes
ii. Ingredients
16 ounce can | cream style corn
16 ounce can | whole kernel corn
1 cup | cheddar cheese, grated
1 cup | Ritz crackers, crushed
1 small | onion, chopped (or several green onions, chopped)
1 | cage free egg
3 tablespoons (or less) | sugar
⅔ cup | unsweetened condensed milk (see foodie tip above)
1 stick | unsalted butter, melted (tip: my Grandmother “Nanny” insisted on Falfurrias brand butter)
1 small can (4.5 ounces) | chopped green chilis
to taste | salt and fresh cracked pepper
iii. What to do
0. Preheat your oven to 350°F. Meanwhile…
1. In a medium-sized mixing bowl combine all the ingredients together and set aside.
2. Grease or spray an oven casserole dish and fill it with your casserole mixture. You can either refrigerate this overnight until ready to bake or you can simply jump to step 3!
3. Bake for 50-60 minutes until the top is golden brown. Recommended step: If you’d like to make a pretty top crust, 10 minutes before the casserole is done baking sprinkle more cheese or crushed Ritz crackers on top. Deeeee-licious!
Serves: 6-10 (see recipe expansion tip above)
Betty’s Son
Founder and “Nostalgic Food Blogger” of Betty’s Cook Nook
A Scan Of Cousin Julie’s Hondo Corn Casserole
Enjoy your preview of what’s to come for Thanksgiving 2019!
chocolate pecan ritz pie
Posted: January 17, 2016 Filed under: desserts | Tags: baking powder, butter, egg white, hershey chocolate bar, nuts, pecans, ritz crackers, sugar, whipping cream 2 Comments
Sweet Formations
In honor of my brother’s birthday today (Betty’s son Tim), I’m making pie.
I broke away from my recent sequence of making recipes in the order I find them in Mom’s two cookbooks by skipping right to the dessert section of the green index card file that has about 100 recipes in it. A funny little recipe (see below) caught my eye because it had no name. So I chose it without doubt.
I almost named this “no name pie,” but I thought I could do better than that so “Chocolate Pecan Ritz Pie” seemed suitable enough.
Tim is the oldest of 3 of Louis and Betty’s kids. I’ve known him to be a fan of hunting and fishing, sports and good Tex Mex. Shown here is a picture of Tim as a yell leader at MacArthur High School from the 1970s – a time when our family was eating many of the recipes here at Betty’s Cook Nook.
I hope you enjoy this pie as much as I did. Hats off to you on your sweet day, big bro!
Here’s a pic of my brother Tim when he was a Yell Leader at MacArthur High School. He’s the 3rd Yell Leader from left to right. #PerfectPosture
foodie tips ~
❤ Whipping cream or whipped cream? So whipped cream is whipping cream after it has been whipped. I’m not sure if this recipe really called for whipping cream to be poured on top, so I whipped mine. I prefer my whipped cream with tall, thick peaks – not flimsy and runny rivers which is what I associate with canned whipped cream.
I suppose I’m a bit of a whipped cream snob as I have a gourmet whipper that I, ahem, whip out when it’s time for the best. It only takes a few moments to make fresh whipped cream and I can sweeten and flavor the cream to my liking. Chocolate whipped cream? I’ve done it, and so can you!
❤ Here in Texas “nuts” is an abbreviation for “Texas Pecans.” Giddy up!
❤ If you also top the pie with more chopped pecans, I’m likely to high five you. #ThisIsTexas!
i. ingredients
3 | egg whites
1 cup | sugar
1 teaspoon | baking powder
1 cup | nuts, chopped (see above for cooking tip)
21 | Ritz brand crackers, crushed
to line pie plate | butter – better make it Falfurrias (my Grandmother’s favorite)
1 cup | whipped cream
to top | hershey chocolate bar, shaved
ii. what to do
0. Preheat oven to 350°F.
1. Beat the egg whites until stiff.
2. Stir together the sugar and baking powder and add to the egg whites and gently fold in.
3. Add the pecans and the Ritz crackers and fold in.
4. Pour your mix into a buttered pie plate and bake in your preheated oven for about 25 minutes. Nobody likes charred pie so please watch carefully so that you don’t overcook this sweet dish!
5. Remove the pie from the oven and let it cool thoroughly. Use a cooling rack if you’re in somewhat of a hurry.
6. Top the pie with some fresh whipped cream and chocolate shavings and chill in the fridge for 1-2 hours. Serve chilled.
Yields about 6 – 8 servings
~ Patrick
Betty’s Son
Founder and “Nostalgic Food Blogger” of Betty’s Cook Nook
A scan of Mom’s pie recipe. It was penned without a name so I coined it “Chocolate Pecan Ritz Pie.”
Flashback 1970s
I thought it would be fun to have a look at some vintage 60s and 70s whipped cream advertising.
While we often had Reddi-wip at the ready in our fridge, it looks like they didn’t run commercials in the good ol’ days (just print). Here’s one of the most peculiar print ads I found which seems to promise that serving Reddi-Wip will get you a man or sex. Or both. (Sous Chef‘s Note: We all know sex is really guaranteed after serving the Pineapple Cheese Salad recipe cleverly included in the ad. Um, NO thank you!
Since my family also enjoyed the fresh non-dairyness of Cool Whip Whipped Topping, here are some of their funny commercials:
I don’t have the heart to tell Little Susie that with Cool Whip “Swiggle” she really CAN keep her cake forever – that stuff surely lasts the test of time! #cardboard. Enjoy this 1970s spot:
Gomer Pyle and Cool Whip make for the perfect promotion for all Americans*. *Except those in Wisconsin.
artichoke spread
Posted: August 30, 2015 Filed under: appetizers, The Best Of The Best Recipes | Tags: artichoke, artichoke hearts, garlic powder, mayonnaise, parmesan cheese, parmigiano-reggiano, pepper, ritz crackers, salt, tabasco sauce Leave a comment
A Hearty Artichoke Dish
Each time I dive into Mom’s cookbooks to select a recipe it usually winds up being a journey in time picking out the chosen one.
- With more than 125 recipes under my belt since 2011 it’s becoming difficult to remember which ones Joe and I have already made.
- With hundreds more recipes to choose from it can be hard to pick the next recipe.
This week I landed on a new strategy – to simply pick the next recipe in order from front to back in Mom’s index card holder or her recipe book. This makes choosing super simple.
As luck would have it the very first recipe chosen under this new form of culinary law and order was this amazing artichoke spread. This recipe quietly sat at the front of Mom’s appetizer section like a wallflower – probably because I had already made this artichoke dip … in the process this spread recipe had been passed over for more than 4 years.
Turns out this spread beats the pants off the dip recipe. Which just goes to show to never underestimate the power of a wallflower.
foodie tips ~
❤ Surely Parmesan Cheese isn’t the same thing as Parmigiano-Reggiano Cheese, right!? What you find when you click this link may surprise you!
❤ Whatever you do please don’t use “shaker cheese” for this recipe. Go fresh. I used my hand grater and made a coarse shred that melted into perfection.
❤ Love artichokes? Click here to peruse other artichoke recipes here at Betty’s Cook Nook.
❤ This recipe inspired me to create a new category for connecting you to my favorite Betty’s Cook Nook dishes. Just click on “The Best Of The Best” category link at right!
i. ingredients
2 cans | artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
2 cups | mayonnaise
2 cups | parmesan cheese, grated
to taste | salt and pepper
7 shakes | tabasco brand pepper sauce
to taste | garlic powder
to serve | ritz brand crackers
ii. what to do
0. Preheat oven to 350°F. Whew, that was easy!
1. Drain the artichoke hearts and chop them up. Place the artichokes into a casserole dish. Add the mayo, cheese, salt, pepper, Tabasco sauce, and garlic powder and mix everything together.
2. Bake in your preheated oven for 30 minutes. My spread got warm and bubbly with a little bit of browned cheese on top. #yum!
3. Remove the warm spread from the oven and let it rest a few minutes. If you add more parmesan on top we won’t be surprised. That’s what we did!
Enjoy by topping on Ritz crackers, tortilla chips, Naan bread, tortilla roll-ups … the list is never-ending. It’s that good.
Best served warm. Leftovers refrigerate well and they did not last long!
~ Patrick
Betty’s Son
Founder and “Nostalgic Food Blogger” of Betty’s Cook Nook
Mom’s original recipe gifted to us from our next door neighbor Mary Stephenson. :)
Who is “Mary Stephenson”?
We Kikers lived at 2927 Trailend Drive and Mary was the Mother of the Stephenson family living next door to us.
Mary was a fabulous foodie friend of ours and you’ll see a few recipes from Mary’s kitchen here at Betty’s Cook Nook.
Our two families spent many shared dinners and laughs together so I was happy to find some of Mary’s recipes tucked in Mom’s cookbook since the Stephensons were a magnificent and memorable part of my wonder years.
texas artichoke dip
Posted: September 14, 2012 Filed under: appetizers | Tags: artichoke hearts, green onions, mayonnaise, mushrooms, parmesan cheese, ritz crackers Leave a comment
Knock? Knock?
“Who’s there?”
“Artichoke!”
“Artichoke, who?”
“Arti chokes when he eats too fast!”
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
That was one of the most memorable “knock-knock jokes” that I can remember from my favorite childhood “pop-up” book. That book is resting in storage, I’m sure.
The interesting part is that growing up, I wasn’t a total fan of the artichoke, outside of the above joke. But now that I’m a well-seasoned eater, I love ’em.
One of mom’s signature dishes was her steamed artichokes. She’d put two in a pressure cooker and when tender, she’d serve them centered on her white, round ceramic artichoke plates. Partnered with melted butter mixed with seasoned salt, we knew meal-time was a very special time when the artichoke made an appearance at the party.
I found this artichoke dip recipe in mom’s green index recipe card file. It’s super-easy to make and super-great tasting. Makes me think that the artichoke may be one of the most under-appreciated veggies on the planet.
Until now. 
Let’s Eat
i. ingredients
1 can (12 oz.) | artichoke hearts, drained
3 heaping tablespoons | mayonnaise
3 tablespoons | canned parmesan cheese
½ cup | green onions, chopped
1 cup | fresh mushrooms, chopped
to taste | salt
ii. what to do
1. Break apart the artichoke hearts and set aside.
2. Mix together all ingredients and transfer/pour into an 8″ x 8″ baking dish.
3. Bake at 350°F for about 20 minutes, until bubbly and beginning to turn brown along the sides.
Serve Warm: With chips or crackers
Foodie Tips ~
♥ Substitute canned parmesan cheese with freshly grated cheese, if you’re not in a hurry.
♥ I found another recipe in Mom’s cookbook from our neighbor Mary Stephenson for a artichoke spread (coming soon) which calls for Ritz crackers. I’m probably one of the few people who can find their happy place eating an entire sleeve of Ritz crackers in one sitting!
Betty's Cook Nook 