#6 Mary Ellen's Recipes - Pound Cake

2 sticks butter
5 large eggs
1 cup solid shortening
1/2 tsp. baking powder
3 cups flour - sifted
3 cups sugar
1 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla or lemon flavoring
1 tsp almond extract
Grated rind of 1 fresh orange

Cream butter, shortening and sugar.  Add eggs one at a time.

Sift flour if you haven't already (I also added the baking powder in)

Add flour, a little at a time so that it won't explode all over the place

Add the milk and flavorings.  Scrape down the sides every now and then so that all the ingredients mix thoroughly

Pour into well greased tube pan.  Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes

What's this you ask?  It's my "clean as you go" method.  Never done it?  You should try, it will make life easier

Don't forget to wipe down the mixer, it'll give it a longer life.

WOW!!  Do you think I may have filled the pan up too much?

Unfortunately, it was a little too much that I had to end up trimming off the excess.  I realized that it was because I used a Bundt pan and not a tube pan which I believe holds more.  Oh well.

and as you can see, I didn't grease the pan enough so some of the cake stuck to the pan.  I could say this cake was a flop only by the way that it looks but once you tasted it, it was thick, moist and deeeelicious.  No complaints from anyone :)

I love a thick moist cake.  Yum!!

Schnitzel und Spaetzle

SCHNITZEL
6-8 pork loin cutlets
1 1/2 cups flour
2-3 eggs beaten
1 1/2 cups bread crumbs
3 sheets of wax paper (about 2 ft. long)
Salt
Lemon
Peanut oil

Take one slice of pork meat at a time

and place it on one side of a sheet of wax paper.  Fold over the wax paper other side onto the top of the meat.  With a meat pounder, pound the meat until it's very thin (about 1/8" thick)

Gently remove the top wax sheet and set meat aside 

until they're all done

Heat about 1/2 - 3/4 cup oil until hot

In the meantime, prepare the flour, eggs and bread crumbs.  Place them each in their own container.  I find that pie plates are a perfect size and height for dredging.  Dredge each slice one at a time into the flour, egg, bread crumbs and

then carefully add to hot oil.  Fry both sides for about 5 minutes.

Place the cooked pork on a platter with paper towels to drain excess oil

Once all the frying is done, place the platter of Schnitzel in a warm oven (about 175 degrees F).  Reserve the drippings for later.

SPAETZLE (German Noodles)

2 1/4 cup sifted all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp salt

2 eggs

1 cup milk

Mix flour and salt, add eggs and milk.  I made a mistake by trying to use this handheld mixer.  It didn't work as the mixture was too tough for it.  I used my faithful rubber spatula instead and it worked a whole lot better.

Stir until smooth.  This can be a little tough and difficult to stir because it's so thick and pasty but that's okay.  It's supposed to be like that.

This folks, is an authentic, Spaetzle maker.  I've had it for over 20 years.  We bought it while living in Germany when my husband was stationed there.  Nifty gadget, wouldn't you say??

It fit's perfectly on my pot.  It's like they were made for each other :)  If you don't have a Spaetzle maker, I'm told you can use a colander along with a rubber spatula (google it and you'll find an array of updated makers)

Over boiling water, squeeze mixture through Spaetzle maker

Carefully hold red handle with one hand and with the other hand hold onto the cupbox that holds the mixture and slide back and forth.  Mixture will squeeze through the holes and fall into the boiling water.  (My one hand wasn't holding onto the handle only because I was taking the picture).

Allow noodles to boil for 2 1/2 minutes until they float to the top

With a large slotted spoon,  scoop out the noodles that have floated to the top.  Shake of excess water and place in a large bowl.

SPAEZTLE SAUCE

16 oz. Sour cream

2-3 tsp onion powder

Drippings from the cooked Schnitzel

Drain all but about a 1/4 cup of the drippings.  Heat to med-low and pour in the whole container of sour cream, add the onion powder.  Stir and warm thoroughly.  Salt to taste.

Serve the sauce over the Schnitzel and Spaetzle.  Ist gut!

We moved into our new home around eight months ago and I think because of the move, I lost my original  Schnitzel and Spaetzle recipe.  My good friend Daphnee originally gave it to me when we were "military wives" back in Germany and I kept it all these years until now.  I was able to email Daphnee to ask her for the recipe and as always, she came through in no time.  The only thing she didn't send was the Spaetzle sauce so I had to 2nd guess the ingredients.  I remember the sour cream and onion powder but I feel like there's one more ingredient missing.  I wanna say it's worchestershire sauce but I'm not positive.  So I concocted what I think was the sauce and it came pretty close to it, it's still bugging me though that something's not righ I just can't seem to pinpoint it.  I hope I do find my original recipe, I'm so sad without it.

Anyway, I ended up making a recipe and half of the Spaetzle because I was feeding six people including two meat and potatoes men.  As you can see, I didn't use any lemons because I didn't have any.  I also didn't have bread crumbs so I ended up using "shake and bake".  Yea, not very authentic but oh well.  The family still loved it and ......it's all gone.

I rarely ever make this recipe in the summer time only because you really put in a good workout when making the Spaetzle.  But we were all in the mood for it and the workout was well worth it :)

This recipe is shared with:

Monster Club

by Paula Deen

(printable recipe)

3 boneless chicken breasts

1 8oz. bottle Italian dressing

3 sprigs fresh rosemary

1 cup mayonnaise

1 tbsp. white vinegar

1 tbsp. chopped fresh thyme

1 tsp. lemon zest

16 slices white bread

12 slices bacon

8 slices tomato

1 pkg. deli ham

6 slices muenster cheese

6 sheets of foil (enough for each sandwich)

First pound the chicken breast to make it evenly flat and then cut each chicken breast into equal serving portions.

In a large re-sealable plastic bag, combine the chicken, salad dressing,

and rosemary sprigs.  Seal the bag and marinate in refrigerator for at least 2 hours.  Spray a grill rack with nonstick, nonflammable cooking spray.  Preheat the grill to medium-high heat.

In a medium size bowl, combine mayonnaise, white vinegar, thyme and lemon zest;

Mix well, cover and refrigerate.

Drain the chicken, discarding marinade.  Grill the chicken for 5 minutes per side, or until done.

Evenly spread the mayonnaise mixture on 1 side of all the bread slices.

Lay each sandwich on a foil sheet as you start to put the sandwich together.  Top 6 bread slices with 2 slices tomato.  1 grilled chicken breast piece.  2 slices back and another bread slice.  2 slices ham.  and 2 cheese slice.  Top the sandwiches with the remaining bread slices, mayonnaise mixture side down.  This picture here is the Monster Club, it has the added slice in the middle, it the sandwich for the men in the family, including our son.

This one is a bit smaller (for us ladies) because it doesn't have the middle slice of bread.  So, I'll name it, the Mini-Monster Club  :)

Wrap each sandwich in the foil sheet sprayed with nonstick, (ooopsey, totally forgot this step) nonflammable cooking spray.  Place the sandwich on the grill rack.  Top each sandwich with a brick (or a heavy iron skillet like I did), and grill for 6 minutes per side or until toasted.

Unwrap sandwiches and serve immediately.

Oh mercy!  This was the most delicious, warm sandwich I've had in a long, long time.  I was very leary of the mayonnaise because I'm not a mayo person, I rarely, ever eat it.  I didn't even test taste it as I made it, I just never liked the taste of it.  Well.......I've been converted!!!....... but only with this recipe.  I guess it was all the flavors joined together that gave it a wonderful, delicious, savory flavor.  It wasn't overwhelming but just the perfect compliment for this club sandwich.  Please note, the only thyme I had was Lemon Thyme, so I'm sure that helped the taste along with the lemon zest, white vinegar and the mayo.  I'm certain this mayo spread will taste good on any other kind of sandwich, so it will definitely be a keeper in my books.  As you can see, I made a Monster Club for the men in the family and a Mini- Monster Club for us ladies.  This sandwich definitely lives up to it's name.  I was kinda shocked that my mother-in-law finished hers along with some other side food items.  I was plenty satisfied with mine too and hubby loved his very much, same with my son.  The only complaint hubby and I had was that the bread could have been toasted some more, possibly a little thicker.  The bread slices were kinda thin from the start but that's the way it was bought.  My suggestion would be to cut the slices at least 3/4 - 1 inch thick.  Hubby also suggested that the bread be toasted in the toaster first and I really wished I had thought of that ahead of time.  All in all, this is a very, very good sandwich, very satisfying and will be a hit with the men in the family.  I also have leftovers so I don't need to cook dinner tonight, yea, my kind of recipe!

I'm sharing this recipe with: