It's Called The Best Potato Salad - And It Is

Bob will be making his version of The Best Potato Salad today to take to friends Dick & Mary's annual July 4th barbecue, (Dick does authentic barbecue, you know, meat cooked slowly over a wood fire. OMGosh, it has awesome flavor!) The skirt found the original potato salad recipe in Country Living magazine last year. Bob tweaked it just a bit, as he does all recipes, and everyone who tastes it agrees it is the best potato salad.

Try it.

The original recipe

In large pot, cover 3 pounds unpeeled red potatoes with salted cold water and bring to boil over high heat. Cook until they're easily pierced with a skewer, about 40 minutes. Meanwhile, combine 3/4 cup each, chopped white onion, red pepper, and celery, 1/2 cup finely chopped dill pickles, and 3 chopped, hard-boiled large eggs in a large bowl. Drain potatoes and cut into half-inch pieces while still warm. Transfer to the bowl and sprinkle with 2 tablespoons dill pickle juice and 1 tablespoon cider vinegar. Toss salad with 3/4 cup mayo. Season with salt and freshly ground pepper. Chill before serving.

P.S. I am not at liberty to pass along Bob's alterations.

Gotta Have Jello

You have to have some sort of gelatin salad for your Memorial Day picnic.
For fun the skirt will be serving this 1947 dessert using

cherry flavored gelatin and vanilla pudding.

The recipe came out of a vintage

Royal Gelatins and Puddings recipe book.

I know, I know it looks like something you can get at any grocery store deli, but this is made with love.

Hobo Stew

On the menu for this month's employee lunch - Hobo Stew. Now that our government is going to be spending trillions of our future tax dollars we thought it was a fitting choice. Bob's Hobo Stew

2 lbs. beef brisket seared on the barbie then cut into bite size pieces
Bag pearled onions
2 cups beef broth (homemade)
Bottle of stout beer
Cup of fresh mushrooms, 6 carrots, 2 potatoes, peeled and cut into bite size pieces
6 cloves diced garlic
Jar canned tomatoes
1 can white beans
2 tbs. fresh chopped parsley for garnish
Salt, pepper and various Italian spices to taste. (Made 12 servings)

Because we're at the hot rod shop we used the crock pot. The beef went in first and cooked for a total of six hours. We added the veggies and other stuff at 3 1/2 hours into the cooking, keeping the heat high on the whole mess for another 2 1/2 hours. We did add a little corn starch to thicken. Hearty and delicious. We could eat this regularly if we have to.

Good Riddance 2008

Let's raise a glass of eggnog and "grid our loins" for 2009.

New Year's Eggnog

1 qt. ready-made dairy eggnog

12 oz. whiskey

1 1/2 oz. rum

Stir well, sprinkle nutmeg on top and serve in

4 oz. punch cups or glasses.

A greater quantity of liquor may be used, depending on one's preference.

Best results are obtained when all ingredients have been pre-chilled.

Pfeffernusse For Santa

Here at Rod Builders we see beauty in old cars, but today we see beauty in a plate of perfectly baked Christmas cookies. We don't link to blogs very often, but Everybody Likes Sandwiches has pictures of the loveliest holiday treats you'll will ever find on the world wide web! The Skirt has been a lurker for years on this blog and it's time she came clean. We like spicy sweets, so we made the pfeffernusse. Merry Christmas to all!

Bob's Whole Canned Tomatoes

Oh me of little faith. The Skirt was just sure our tomatoes would not ripen before the first hard freeze, but Inland Empire weather during the last two weeks of summer and the first two weeks of fall was warm, in the mid-70's to -mid-80's. Last weekend Bob canned 20 jars of tomatoes enough to last until next year's harvest.

P.S. Don't be a food snob, get yourself a crock-pot.

Pineapple and No Pine Nuts Pie

Episode 7 of Man Men inspired The skirt to make a Pineapple Pie. Sal & Kitty supposedly made a pineapple and pine nut pie for their Sunday dinner with Ken Cosgrove. Looking through my collection of 1960 cookbooks did not yield a single recipe with pineapple and pine nuts, so I settled for this recipe from the 1967 Federation of Women's Club Cookbook. It should have baked longer. Oh well, put a cherry on top and serve it with flair.

Mrs. Stahl's Jam Cake

We are making raspberry jam this weekend and thought now was a good time to use up last year's supply. Nothing uses jam like Bernice Stahl's Old-Fashioned Jam Cake recipe, which calls for two cups. We also spread jam between the layers of this moist, spicy treat. This is the second time we've made this cake. This time we tweaked the recipe by adding ground cardamon to the cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice mixture and topped it with just a thin layer of coconut pecan frosting. It is soooo good. You should try it.