What's Cooking. . . . . Old Favorites - Texas Hash

Old Favorites

I have to be honest and say I have not done much cooking lately, so I have no pictures to go along with these recipes right now. But I thought I would share with you some of my family's old favorites. The one I am sharing today is from an old community cookbook that was given to me early in my first marriage and there are several recipes that have been marked with 'good' or 'very good' in the margin. Most of these recipes are simple and economical. Nothing gourmet about them, just common, everyday foods that most families in the Midwest were eating in the 1960's. I would not be surprised that many of these recipes could be found in Amish cookbooks, even though most of the recipes in this book were contributed by Dutch ladies.

A side note: Did you know that the group of people called the Pennsylvania Dutch are not Dutch, but Deutsche? The Deutsche are German people, and Germany is called Deutschland. It sounds something like doytch-land. I haven't researched why the people from Holland are called Dutch.

On to the recipe for today ~

Texas Hash

1 pound hamburger, browned

1/4 cup chopped onion

1 cup diced celery

1/4 cup green pepper

2 cups tomatoes

1 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon chili powder

1/2 cup uncooked rice

Combine all ingredients. Heat to boiling on stove burner, then bake, covered, 1 hour at 350 degrees.

Note: I am usually in a hurry when cooking a meal, and find that bringing this to a boil in a heavy skillet with a lid, I can then turn the heat down to simmer and cover with lid. Allow to simmer until rice is cooked. That could be about 20 minutes. And it depends on whether you use regular rice or instant rice.

Since I try to have browned hamburger in the freezer at all times, using a bag of that makes for a really quick dish. This is also easy to add other ingredients to your liking. You might like to add garlic, a little bit of sugar to mellow the tomatoes, a can of corn or an amount of frozen corn to your liking, a can of pork'n'beans, or any kind of cooked beans. Adding the corn and a can or two of beans can extend the meal to feed more people if your kids bring friends home. If you happen to be out of rice, add some pasta.

Serve with a salad and garlic bread and you have a tasty and filling meal. In fact, I think I will make this for my supper tonight! I have everything on hand, except I think what is left of the green pepper in the fridge needs to go in the garbage. I should check the freezer as I might have some chopped pepper in there. I do know there are some whole hot peppers in there, and since I like a little heat, that is probably what I will end up with, or else a small can of green chilies. Adding a jar of chunky salsa could be substituted for the tomatoes, onion and green pepper. That is part of the fun of cooking isn't it? Make it your own. But if you find a combination that everybody loves, you better write it down so you can remember what you did the next time you want to make it. Ask me how I know that!