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In the Press
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Member of MHS Class of '61 gets down to cooking basics
By Fraffie Welch / fwelch@cnc.com
Thursday, February 19, 2004
Marblehead Reporter, Community Newspaper Company
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We discovered, by chance, a hot-off-the-press cookbook, "The Frugal Family's Kitchen Book," a good-looking spiral-bound volume, written by Mary Klein Webber, member of Marblehead High School Class of 1961, with the cover and layout designed by a fellow classmate, Suzanne Almy Brown.
Last week there was a book signing up at L.L. Bean for the book, which I am sure can be found soon at your local bookseller. The book's mission is very clear: "To give you ideas and tools for eating well cheaply." It achieves its goal well, and we are happy to say it provides the basics loftier publications sometimes omit, like basic cream sauce and basic gravy. Well done, ladies!
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Basic Muffins I
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1 3/4 cup flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
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1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg, well beaten
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3/4 cup milk
1/3 cup vegetable oil or melted butter
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Mix dry ingredients, making a well in the center. Combine egg, milk and oil, adding all at once to dry ingredients then mixing just to moisten. It will be thick and lumpy, but resist that temptation to smooth it out! Bake in a greased muffin tin at 400, about 20 minutes.
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Baked-Bean Soup
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2 cups leftover baked beans
2 medium onions, chopped
1/2 clove garlic, minced
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4 cups of water
2 cups canned tomatoes
2 tablespoons butter
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2 tablespoons flour
1 cup cooked macaroni
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Simmer beans, onions and garlic in water for a half hour. Whirl the tomatoes in food processor or blender and add to beans. Blend the butter and flour, then add a small amount of hot soup to make a paste, then return it all to the soup. Stir in macaroni and simmer at least a half hour. This is especially good with corn bread.
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Clam Chowder
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3 slices bacon
1 large onion, diced
3 medium potatoes, diced small
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3 cups water
2 10 1/2 ounce clams
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1 bottle clam juice
1 can evaporated milk
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Cook bacon until crisp, remove from drippings and set aside. Pour off about half the bacon drippings, then cook onions in those drippings until soft, add potatoes, water, clams and clam juice and evaporated milk. Simmer at least 1/2 hour, uncovered. You can use the reserved bacon to crumble on top or add it to the chowder.
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A Dilly of a Pot Roast
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3 to 4 pound good pot roast
3 dill pickles, chopped (deli kosher dills are the very best for this)
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2 onions, chopped
10 peppercorns
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1/4 cup water
1 cup yogurty cream cheese, plain yogurt or sour cream
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Sear the roast on all sides in a non-stick pan over medium high heat. If you absolutely must, use a thin skim of oil to keep the roast from sticking. Put the roast, pickles, onions, peppercorns and water in a crock pot and simmer until the roast is nice and tender. Set the roast aside. Mix the yogurty cream cheese (or whatever you're using) into the gravy, cool a bit, then whirl in a blender or food processor until smooth. This gravy is way wicked good!
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Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
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1 cup shortening
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
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1 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
1 1/2 cups flour
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1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
3 cups oats
1 cup raisins
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Cream the shortening and sugars,' add eggs and vanilla, beating well. Whisk together the flour, soda and salt, add to the creamed mixture, then stir in the oats, raisins and nuts if you're using any. You can form this into rolls, chill, slice and bake, or you can drop by quarter cupfuls onto an ungreased cookie sheet, flattening with a greased glass dipped in sugar. Bake at 350 about 10-12 minutes or until nicely browned. You can use dates in place of the raisins, and I made these once with peanuts, which was good.
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| Yarmouth, Maine, January 7, 2004 |
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Both The Frugal Family's Kitchen Book by Mary Webber and The Call of Katahdin by Ed Werler are now available at LL Bean in Freeport, Maine, on amazon. com, in better bookstores everywhere through world-wide distributor Baker and Taylor or from Cranberry Knoll Publishers LLC, P.O. Box 1317, Yarmouth, Maine 04096.
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Check into Mary's blog for more recipes and lots of frugal help!
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