Joanne Fluke Christmas Bundle: Sugar Cookie Murder, Candy Cane Murder, Plum Pudding Murder, & Gingerbread Cookie Murder (88 page)

This is Trudi Schumann’s recipe. She says to tell you that “hot” means heated, not spicy. If you do want it spicier, use a spicier sausage and that should do it.

4 large potatoes
(or 6 medium)

6 slices of bacon, diced

¼ cup flour

2 Tablespoons brown sugar

2 teaspoons salt

2 teaspoons dry mustard

2 teaspoons black pepper

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/
₃
cup vinegar
(white, red wine, or even balsamic)

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/
₃
cup water

2 teaspoons celery seed

2 teaspoons onion powder

2 teaspoons garlic powder

1 large onion, chopped

6 to 10 large bratwurst
(or dinner franks, or Polish sausage, whatever)

Grease
(or spray with non-stick cooking spray)
the inside of a 4-quart slow cooker.

Wash the potatoes, pierce them with a knife, and cook them on HIGH in a microwave for 15 minutes. You should be able to pierce the cooked potatoes with a fork, but the inside should be just a little too raw to eat at this point.
(You can do this step the night before and refrigerate the potatoes.)

Let the potatoes cool, peel them and slice them. Put them in the bottom of the greased crock-pot.

Chop up the bacon and put it in a one-quart microwave-safe measuring cup. Microwave it on HIGH for 3 minutes, stirring midway through. Fish out the bacon
with a slotted spoon and add it to the potatoes in the crock-pot. Pour off all but approximately 2 Tablespoons of the bacon grease.

Mix the reserved bacon fat, flour, brown sugar, salt, dry mustard, black pepper, vinegar, water, celery seed, onion powder, and garlic powder in the same container you used to microwave the bacon. Stir it thoroughly and heat for one minute in the microwave on HIGH. Add the chopped onion, stir it around and heat for an additional minute on HIGH.

Add this to the potatoes and bacon in the crock-pot. Cook for one hour on LOW.

Stir the warm potato salad, top it with the bratwurst you’ve pierced with a fork,
(so they won’t explode,)
and cover.

Turn the crock-pot to HIGH and cook for an additional hour or two, or until the potato salad and the bratwurst are hot.

Grease or spray the inside of a 5-quart slow cooker with Pam

This recipe is from Winnie Henderson. She says her second husband was a hunter and she used to make this for him all the time.

2 pounds cubed beef
(cut into roughly one-inch cubes)

1 pound other cubed meat
(venison, pork, turkey, chicken, more beef, even sausage as long as it’s not too fatty)

2 medium onions, roughly chopped

4 stalks celery, cut in ½-inch pieces

2 cups baby carrots
(or one-inch chunks of carrot)

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon onion powder

1 teaspoon paprika

1 teaspoon pepper
(freshly ground is best)

¼ cup brown sugar
(that’s 4 Tablespoons)

14-ounce can stewed tomatoes
(with peppers, with garlic, plain, any type is fine)

three 7-ounce cans mushroom stems and pieces
(NOT drained!)

2 medium-size potatoes, peeled and cut into one-inch cubes

two .88-ounce packets beef gravy mix
(I used Lawry’s Brown Gravy Mix)

Put the chopped onions in the bottom of the slow cooker. Lay the chunks of meat on top of that.
(If you plan to use sausage and it’s pre-cooked, don’t add it at this point—Wait until an hour or so before serving.)

Put the carrots and celery on top of the meat, and cook on HIGH for 5 hours.

Add the garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, and ground pepper. Then add the brown sugar, the tomatoes, and the mushrooms with the mushroom liquid. Stir it all up and add the cubed potatoes.

Pour in enough water to almost cover the meat and vegetables, but not quite. Then add ONE packet of gravy mix and stir again.
(Reserve the second package of gravy mix for the gravy itself.)

Cover and cook on LOW for an additional 6 to 7 hours. If you start this late and don’t have the required 11 to 12 hours of cooking time, you can leave the crock-pot on HIGH for the entire time, and it should be ready in 8 to 9 hours.

If there’s too much liquid when you’re ready to serve, sprinkle in the second gravy packet and stir it in until it’s thick.

Serve in big bowls with hot crusty bread. It’s a perfect winter’s evening meal.
(If you use venison as the second meat, don’t tell Andrea. She has real reservations about eating the star of a classic Disney movie.)

Grease or spray inside of 4-quart slow cooker with non-stick cooking spray

OR

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F., rack in the middle position

This recipe is from Barbara Donnelly, who got it from her mother.

16-ounce can whole berry cranberry sauce

6-ounce can tomato sauce

12-ounce bottle stout beer
(Barbara uses Guinness Stout)

2 teaspoons freshly ground rosemary
(it’s so much better fresh!)

1 teaspoon thyme

1 teaspoon sage

1 teaspoon sweet basil

1 teaspoon oregano

1 teaspoon ground black pepper
(again, freshly ground is much better)

1 teaspoon salt

boneless chuck or rump roast, four to five pounds in weight
(or any similar cut of boneless beef)

.88-ounce packet beef gravy mix.

Mix all ingredients except the meat and the gravy mix in a bowl. Put a half-cup of the mixture in the bottom of the slow cooker. Set in the meat and pour the rest of the sauce over the top.

Turn the slow cooker to LOW and cook for 8 to 10 hours.
(If you’re late putting this up in the slow cooker,
you can cook it at HIGH for the entire time. Using this method, it should take only six to seven hours.)

When the meat is easily pierced by a fork,
(Barbara likes hers practically falling apart,)
remove it from the sauce, cut it in chunks and put it on a platter. Cover the platter with foil so it will stay warm.

Turn the slow cooker to HIGH and sprinkle in the packet of beef gravy mix. Stir until the sauce has thickened. To serve, drizzle some of the sauce over the meat on the platter. Put the rest in a gravy boat or small pitcher for the table.

If you choose to do this in the oven: Grease or spray the inside of a roasting pan with non-stick cooking spray. Follow the directions above and once your Irish Roast Beast is in the pan, cover it tightly with heavy-duty foil.

Bake at 325 degrees F. for five to six hours, or until it’s easily pierced by a fork. Then take off the foil and let it brown in the oven for another 45 minutes. When it’s time to make the gravy, transfer the meat to a platter and pour the liquid into a saucepan over medium heat. Sprinkle the gravy packet over the sauce and stir until it thickens.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F., rack in the middle position

This recipe is from Esther Gibson, Digger Gibson’s wife.

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/
₃
cup cracker crumbs
(or matzo meal)

1 cup evaporated milk
(or light cream)

2 beaten eggs
(you can just beat them up with a fork)

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon garlic powder

½ teaspoon onion powder

½ teaspoon paprika

½ teaspoon pepper

½ teaspoon sage

½ teaspoon ground oregano

1 medium onion, chopped

1 ½ pounds ground beef
(or 1 pound beef,
½
pound ground pork)

Grease
(or spray with non-stick cooking spray)
a bread pan and have it ready.
(The one Esther uses is metal and the bottom measures 4-inches by 8-inches.)

In a large bowl, mix the cracker crumbs, beaten eggs, evaporated milk, and seasonings. Add the chopped onion and mix well. Here comes the messy part…

Add the hamburger and mix it all up with your impeccably clean hands.
(That’s right, use your hands and smoosh it all up together—this really is worth all the mess.)

With your hands, transfer the meat mixture to the pan you’ve prepared, filling it to within ¾ of an inch of the top, except in the middle where you should mound
it like a loaf of bread. If you have any meat mixture left over, shape it into patties, separate the patties with wax paper, stick them in a freezer bag and pop them in the freezer. They make wonderful hamburgers.

PIQUANT SAUCE MEATLOAF TOPPING:

Esther says this piquant sauce is the reason her family loves having meatloaf. It’s really good!

3 Tablespoons brown sugar

¼ teaspoon nutmeg
(freshly grated is best)

1 teaspoon dry mustard

¼ cup catsup

In a small bowl, mix the brown sugar, nutmeg and dry mustard.
(Esther uses a fork to do this.)
Mix in the catsup and then spoon the sauce over the top of your meatloaf.

Put a drip pan
(Esther has an old cookie sheet with raised sides)
under the meatloaf pan and bake it at 350 degrees F. for one and a half hours.

Let cool in the pan for fifteen minutes, then turn it out on a carving board. Let it cool for another five minutes, and then slice.

Everyone says no one makes meatloaf better than Esther!

Ruel moved to Minnesota from California to teach at a local college. He says that there are more “hotdish” variations in Minnesota than there are mosquitoes at a shore lunch. Essentially, hotdish is a comfort food concept, not a hard-and-fast recipe. Feel free to substitute and make your own variations. Some people in other more fancy parts of the country call this dish a “casserole.”

2 large onions, chopped

1 pound of hamburger
(or ground pork, or a combination of the two)

½ cup butter
(1 stick,
¼
pound)

1 pound of any cooked, leftover meat
(beef, pork, ham, chicken, or sausage)

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/
₃
cup honey

½ cup soy sauce

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon Season Salt
(see Mrs. Knudson’s recipe on backmatter)

1 teaspoon ground black pepper
(freshly ground is best)
hot sauce to taste
(optional)

2 pounds cooked medium-size shrimp without tails

2 one-pound packages of mixed frozen vegetables
(use your favorites)

2 four-ounce cans sliced mushrooms, drained

6 cups of cooked rice
(white, brown, or a mixture)

In your largest stovetop pan and over medium heat, fry the hamburger and onions together until the hamburger is crumbly and the onions are translucent. Drain off the fat.

Add the butter and stir it around until it melts. Chop the leftover meat into bite-size pieces and add them. Then add the shrimp, honey and soy sauce. Simmer for 10 minutes to marry the flavors. This should be on the wet side. If it’s not, add a little more soy sauce or your favorite flavored vinegar.
(I like raspberry vinegar.)

Season with garlic powder, season salt, black pepper, and hot sauce to taste
(if you like it on the hot side.)

Steam, boil, or microwave the vegetables. Drain them and add them, along with the mushrooms.

Add the cooked rice. If there’s not enough room in the pan, combine the meat mixture with the rice in a large roasting pan you’ve sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. Mix it well.

If you’re not ready to serve yet, you can keep it warm in a 325 degree F. oven, uncovered for up to an hour and a half.

Yield: Serves at least ten hungry eaters, maybe more.