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Some recipes from the ladies of Buffalo Gap By Judi Leaming You’ll recall we spent the winter rambling around the southwest … primarily Texas, New Mexico and Arizona. We spent more than a month in Texas and it wasn’t enough. We could have spent a year and still not seen … and experienced … all that there is to see and do in Texas. On our way back east, we were traveling through what is referred to as the West Texas Panhandle Plains which took us through Abilene. Just south of Abilene we discovered the charming small town of Buffalo Gap, where we spent half a day at the Buffalo Gap Historic Village – a collection of homes and history from West Texas as life there would have been lived in the 1880s, in the era around 1905 and in the 1920s. Spicer and I both enjoy wandering through this type of “living history museum” and our time travel was enhanced with “sound wands” that allowed us to select from a wide variety of recorded retellings about the history of the times as well as about the lives of the people who lived here. Even these small historic sites have taken a “page from Disney” and your entry and exit here are made through the Buffalo Gap Mercantile which just happens to serve today as their gift shop. Our time spent at Buffalo Gap Village had been so pleasant that I — of course! — needed a souvenir and thus came home with a cookbook that is a collection of recipes contributed by area residents, entitled “Taste from the Gap.” I had taken the time to glance through the book before to my purchase and found a variety of recipes that sounded unusual and interesting, so I decided this was a book I just couldn’t pass up, despite the fact my shelves here in Dover overflow with cookbooks. By the time that we reached Dover, I had identified a number of recipes I wanted to test and now I want to share those successes with you. Even if you think you just don’t need another recipe that uses broccoli, I urge that you give this a try. The combination of broccoli and carrots is a delight to the eyes as well as the palate. This must be a Buffalo Gap community favorite for three different ladies contributed this recipe to the cookbook, each adding a variation of her own. I hesitantly prepared and served Corn and Zucchini Mexicana when our Dover grandchildren were here for dinner and I knew the recipe was a winner when it received a “thumbs-up” vote from 10-year old Rose, 14-year old Evan and 17-year old Jack. This crew is used to testing “gram’s recipes” and they are brutally honest with their opinions so their approval has merit. The third recipe, Eggs Newport, is unusual and yet was a perfect answer on a night when I needed to fix a quick meal. We enjoyed this on toasted English muffins and a fruit salad.
Broccoli and Carrot Casserole 1 (20-ounce) bag of frozen broccoli florets, thawed 1 medium onion, chopped 2 cups shredded carrots 1 can cream of chicken soup 1 (8-ounce) container sour cream (1 cup) 2 teaspoons curry powder 1 (8-ounce) bag dry herb seasoned stuffing mix 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted Directions Preheat oven to 350-degrees. Lightly grease a two-quart baking dish and set aside. Drain broccoli. Bring about six cups of water to a boil in a large saucepan and add onions and carrots. Cook for just two minutes to blanch then drain and rinse with cold water. Combine cream of chicken soup, sour cream and curry powder in a large bowl and stir to mix. Stir in drained broccoli, onion and carrots and mix well. In another bowl, combine stuffing mix and melted butter, tossing to mix. Spread half this stuffing mixture into the prepared baking dish and top with vegetable mixture. Spread remaining stuffing mixture over the top and bake in preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes to heat through. If desired you could add some cooked chicken and this would become a main dish casserole. The next time I make this I may also add a can of drained and chopped water chestnuts to the vegetable mixture.
Corn and Zucchini Mexicana 2 pounds small zucchini, thinly sliced 1 large sweet onion, chopped 2 tablespoons butter 1 (16-ounce) bag frozen corn niblets, thawed and drained 8-ounces Velveeta cheese, cubed 1 (4-ounce) can chopped green chilies 10 to 12 Ritz-type crackers, crumbled Directions Preheat oven to 350-degrees. Lightly grease a two-quart baking dish and set aside. Sauté zucchini and onion in butter until just tender. Add corn, cheese and green chilies and stir to mix well. Stir over low heat just until cheese melts. Spoon into prepared dish and top with crushed crackers and bake for 30 minutes in preheated oven.
Eggs Newport 1 can cream of mushroom soup 1/2 cup milk 1/2 cup mayonnaise 6 hard boiled eggs, shelled and chopped 1 tablespoon chopped green onion tops 8 to 10 slices of crisply cooked bacon, crumbled (*) Toasted English muffins Directions Preheat oven to 350-degrees. Mix all of the ingredients except bacon and muffins. Spoon into a lightly greased one-quart baking dish. Top with crumbled bacon. Bake for 20 minutes and spoon over toasted muffins. (*) I used a bag of Oscar Meyer cooked bacon pieces.
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