Sally Lunn

Here's an old recipe for you, called Sally Lunn.  It comes from old England and was often used by the ranch and chuckwagon cooks in this country.  When they needed a quick dessert or breakfast bread, this one was easy and quick to prepare and could easily be adjusted for more people.

There actually is some history from England and Colonial America with some argument as to who first did this and where.

Sally Lunn is a spongy cross between bread and cake.  I like it best fresh and hot with some whipped cream on it.  Basically, with whipped cream I see it as a dessert and without whipped cream it's a pleasant breakfast bread.

1 cup flour
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
3 teaspoons of baking powder
1/2 teaspoon of salt

Mix ingredients together and pour into a well greased cake pan.

Sprinkle the top liberally with cinnamon and brown sugar

Bake at 375 for 20-25 minutes or until done.

The recipes I find online all use yeast instead of baking powder.  I found my recipe in an old book for cow camp cooks and this is the way I'm used to making it. 

This was a popular cake with the cow camp cooks because it was so easy and could be made up in a hurry if there was an unexpected occasion.

Anyway, this is one of the easier and quicker desserts I count on when I'm planning my menus.

The "Family Recipe"

Ok, one of my favorite dishes can be adjusted to feed from two to about as many as you want with only a little adjustment to ingredient amounts.  I call it a Mexican Casserole.  My Mom called it an Enchilada Casserole.  My daughter just calls it "The family Recipe"

Pretty simple, really.

For one or two people:

1lb hamburger.
small onion
small bell pepper
1 can of enchilada sauce
1/2 cup salsa
tortilla chips
cheddar cheese

That's it.  Brown the hamburger along with a chopped onion and diced pepper.  Once the hamburger is browned, add the enchilada sauce and salsa, then stir it together and simmer it well.  Meanwhile, crunch up some of your tortilla chips in the bottom of a casserole dish or a 9x9 cake pan or a cast iron skillet or any other fairly deep oven ready baking dish.

Pour half of the hamburger mixture over the base of crushed tortilla chips.  Cover with cheese and more crushed tortilla chips.  Pour the rest of your hamburger mixture and cover with cheese.  Bake it until the cheese is melted all over the top. 

For variety, use different intensities of enchilada sauce and salsa.  Put some chili peppers in it. 

If you want to fancy up the service, put some refried beans and Spanish rice on the plate with it.

Figure 1/2 lb of burger per person and one 10oz can of enchilada sauce per pound of burger.  I've made two 9x13 cake pans of this to feed 11 but I've also had 8 cowboys eat up that much.  If I've got a big group, I'll definitely do the beans and rice as filler.