50+ Lifestyles

Ella’s Kitchen

Summer is here, the days are long and cooking should be easy! Here’s a hint for that left over juice in the cans from canned fruit. Put in ice-cube trays and freeze. Then you can add a cube or two to iced tea or lemonade for a little added flavor.
Ella

[Ella can be contacted at ellaweeza@yahoo.com or Ella – 50+ Lifestyles, 804 W Lombard Street, Davenport, IA, 52804]

OUTDOOR COOKING
Summertime is camp cookout time. This can differ from the backyard grill. Camp cookouts usually need campfires made of briquettes or a good supply of wood coals. The best camp Dutch oven is cast iron. It cooks more evenly and keeps food hot longer than an aluminum oven. Camp Dutch ovens also differ from the kitchen Dutch oven, but the recipe below could be done stovetop or in the kitchen oven.

Sausage Ham Jambalaya

6 oz hot smoked sausage, cubed
6 oz ham, diced
1 Cup uncooked rice
2 cans (14.5 oz ea) Del Monte Cajun style stewed tomatoes
1 large clove garlic, minced
I Tbs. chopped parsley
1 bay leaf

Brown sausage and ham in Dutch oven. Add remaining ingredients.
Cook, UNCOVERED, 20 min stirring occasionally.
Cover and continue cooking for 45 minutes over medium coals. Easy camp recipe. Yield 4 – 6 servings

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Vegetable Side Dish

1 box frozen lima beans
1 can green beans
1 can large dark red kidney beans
Cheese sauce (Velveta or Tostitos Queso dip for a spicier dish)

Pour liquid from green beans into a sauce pan heat, add green beans and lima beans. Add red kidney beans that have been drained. Bring to slow boil. Pour cheese sauce over and heat through on low-med heat. Serve.

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No Pan Cooking

Campfire Breakfast: Dice ham or precooked sausage. Mix w/ eggs (Use plastic bag if you don’t want to have dishes. Knead the mixture in the bag ) Put meat/egg mixture in hollowed out bell peppers. Cook over coals until egg is done.

Ground Beef in Onion Peel: Cut large onions in half and remove all but 2 or 3 layers of onions. Roll ground meat (seasoned if you like) into balls that will fit into the onion peel. Cook over coals, perhaps turning from side to side to cook meat evenly and not burn onion. (But if you do burn onion, just peel and discard after meat is done.

Orange Flavored Cake: Mix a boxed white cake mix with water. Can be placed in large plastic bag and kneaded. No bowl necessary. Cut 8 oranges in half. Scoop out insides. Pour batter into orange peels. Use inside of oranges for fruit garnishes. Bake over coals.

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Shoestring Salad

1 Cup diced celery
1 Cup mayonnaise
1 Cup finely grated carrots
1 small grated onon
3 Cups diced chicken or 1 can tuna fish
3/4 Cup cream, whipped but not sweetened
2 small cans shoestring potatoes

Fold together celery, carrots, onion, cream, mayonnaise and chicken or tuna in medium bowl. Just before serving,
add potatoes.

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Flag Dessert

2 pints fresh strawberries
1 package (12 ounces) pound cake,
cut into 16 slices
1 1/3 cups blueberries
1 tub (12 ounces) COOL WHIP® Whipped topping, thawed

Slice 1 cup of the strawberries; set aside. Halve remaining strawberries; set aside. Line bottom of 12×8-inch glass baking dish with 8 cake slices. top with 1 cup sliced strawberries, 1 cup of blueberries and 1/2 of the whipped topping. Plce remaining cake slices over whipped topping. Spread remaining whipped topping over cake. Arrange strawberry halves and remaining 1/3 cup blueberries over whipped topping to create a flag design. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Makes 15 servings