Poppy Seed Chicken

Assembled ingredients 

This dish never fails.  It is a casserole which contains two teaspoonfuls of poppy seeds, quite enough to justify the title of the dish. Poppy seed chicken is also distinguished by use of Ritz cracker crumbs, not only in the casserole but also on top of it, as a crust.

My wife, Pat, taught me to crush the Ritz crackers in a 1-gallon freezer bag. I finish the job off with a potato masher.

The number of calories in this recipe is “many, many,” as one glance at the photo of the ingredients illustrates.  Our daughter, Bonnie, redesigned the recipe for us when she was visiting last July, to make it healthier, but we prefer it our way.

Poppy Seed Chicken

Poppy Seed Chicken

Ingredients

2 cups cooked chicken, diced or shredded
1 (10 1/2 ounce) can cream of chicken soup
1/2 cup sour cream
8 ounces of Ritz crackers (2 packets)
2 teaspoons poppy seed
1 cup butter or vegetable oil spread,  melted

Directions

1. Put the crackers in a 1-gallon freezer bag and crush them into crumbs.

2. Mix chicken with soup and sour cream in a bowl.

3. In another bowl, mix crushed crackers and poppy seeds with melted butter.
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4. Mix half of cracker mixture into the mixture of chicken, sour cream and cream of chicken soup.

5. Add this mixture to a 7 x 11 baking pan or casserole dish..

6. Spread the remaining mixture of crackers, melted butter and poppy seeds over the contents.

7. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

8. Cover with aluminum foil. Bake 15 minutes at 350 degrees.

9. Uncover and bake 15 more minutes at 350 degrees.


(“Revised for Good Health” Recipe: This recipe calls for 1 packet of Ritz crackers, 2 tablespoons of melted butter and ¼ teaspoon of curry powder. Also, the cream of chicken soup and sour cream are to be fat-free. The directions are the same except that the melted butter is not added to the crushed crackers. Instead, half of the mixture of crushed crackers and poppy seed is added to the mixture of chicken, sour cream, cream of chicken soup and curry powder, and the resulting final mixture is added to the baking dish.  The remaining dry crushed crackers are spread over the contents of the dish, and, at last, the melted butter is drizzled over the top layer of crushed crackers.)

Cucumbers and Onions

Simple ingredients

In published collections, this recipe is called “Cucumber and Onion Salad.” In our family, though, it was never served as a salad. In the refrigerator, during the summer, stood a large jar in which cucumber and onion slices quietly marinated in a sweetened solution of vinegar diluted 50-50 with water. When it was time to eat some of the cucumbers and onions, my wife, Pat, would take them out of the jar and distribute them on plates, Next to each pile of cucumbers and onions she would place a small pile of saltine crackers. We would consume them as follows: Place a cucumber slice on a cracker. Place a strip of onion on the cucumber slice. Open wide your mouth. Pop the whole shooting match in for a big delightful bite.

Pat added a nice touch  by scoring the peeled cucumbers with a fork along their length, working all the way around each cucumber, thereby making ridges all around. When the cucumber is sliced, the slices have serrated edges.

Cucumbers and Onions

Ingredients

3 large cucumbers (the fresher, the better)

1 large onion

1 cup white vinegar

1 cup water

2/3 cup sugar

dash of salt and pepper

Directions

1. Peel the cucumbers.

2. Score them along their length with the points of the tines of a fork, so as to make ridges.

3. Slice them thin (but thick enough so that they are not floppy).

4. Put the slices in a bowl that is big enough so that they fill it about 1/3 full.

5. Trim and peel the onion and slice it into fairly thin slices. Cut the slices roughly into quarters.

6.  Add the cut-up onion to the bowl with the cucumbers in it. Stir.

7. In a separate bowl, mix the vinegar, water, sugar, salt, and pepper. Mix.

8. Pour the liquid mixture over the onions and cucumbers. Stir.

10. Place the bowl in the refrigerator and let the contents marinate. The longer it marinates, the tastier.

Saltine cracker, ready for action