A Better Homes & Gardens contest winner from
Mrs. Sheridan Burch, Raton, New Mexico

None of us here, of course, knew Mrs. Burch except by way of an old copy of the Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook. It seems that Mrs. Burch had, way back in 1935, submitted the winning entry to a BH&G recipe contest, and the recipe was published in the 1940-something issue of the cookbook, which also happened to be the one your innkeeper learned to cook from too many years ago. This recipe (obviously) became a favorite. Mrs. Burch was quoted as saying, "I was given this recipe by a round-up cook named 'Doughy" when the chuck wagon was in camp near Cimarron." The original instructions are below.

2 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups brown sugar
2/3 cup shortening
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 cup sour milk
2 eggs, beaten well

"Measure the flour, brown sugar, salt and shortening into a mixing bowl and rub or work to fine crumbs. Remove 1/2 cup of the crumbly mixture and reserve to sprinkle over the top of the cake. To the remaining crumbs add the blended baking powder, spices and soda, mixing thoroughly. Add the beaten eggs to the sour milk, then stir this into the dry mixture until it is very smooth.

"Spread the batter in 2 greased pie pans or layer cake pans and sprinkle with the reserved crumbs. An additional teaspoon of cinnamon and a few chopped nutmeats may also be sprinkled over the crumbs. Bake in a moderately hot oven (375°) for about 20 minutes. Serve hot from the pan in which it was baked. Any left over cake may be reheated in a moderate oven."

Better Homes & Gardens, June 1935

Your innkeeper confesses to having “borrowed” this recipe from another B&B he visited several years ago while vacationing in the Eastern shore area of the Chesapeake. Sounds suspiciously like a case of industrial espionage, not that he'll admit to it.

The original used thick slices of homemade bread, which works fine if you halve the slices—otherwise the banana sort of gets lost in the bread. At the Hacienda we use rolls from one of the local Mexican bakeries called Virginias. You’ll have the best luck with bread or rolls that have some body to them. Picture something in the middle of a range anchored by supermarket white bread, with it’s fine grain and “gluey” consistency, on one end, and Kaiser rolls, with their dry, crumbly texture, on the other. Just experiment and you’ll soon come up with something that works. The recipe adapts on-the-fly to whatever number of folks you might be serving, which is why the ingredients list is not very specific in regard to quantities.

1-¼ to 1-½ inch-thick slices of bread or rolls, enough for two to three slices per person
banana(s)
2 eggs per person
evaporated milk
cinnamon
sugar
vanilla
lightly oiled griddle, preheated to 375°

The ideal slice of bread for this is about 1-¼” thick and about 2-½” wide by about 6” long. How you get there depends on the type and style of bread you start with. Using a knife point, cut slits in the “face” of the slices, about 2/3 the length, centered from top to bottom.

Cut the banana into halves, and then cut lengthwise into strips, first quarters, then eighths. Cut again into 16ths, if it’s a really fat banana, to avoid tearing the bread. Push the banana strips into the slits in the bread slices, being careful not to tear the slices.

Break the eggs into a mixing bowl, allowing about 2 eggs per three slices of bread (one serving), and whisk them until smooth. Add evaporated milk, cinnamon, sugar and vanilla, and whisk again. Pour into a shallow dish, like a pie plate.

Press the bread slices lightly into the egg mixture to coat well, then grill until lightly browned. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve with butter and maple syrup, and spicy sausage or bacon on the side.

The basics of this recipe appeared in Joy of Cooking as a quick sour cream coffee cake but it's equally good made with yogurt, or a combination of the two, depending on your taste preference or what you happen to have in the fridge at the time. Your innkeeper has, however, noticed a tendency for the batter to diminish somewhat on the way from the mixing bowl into the pan, making for a somewhat thinner cake than advertised.

Cake
1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup yogurt or sour cream or a mix of the two
2 eggs

Sift the dry ingredients together. In another bowl beat together the yogurt or sour cream and eggs. Add to the dry ingredients and beat until just smooth. Spread in a lightly greased 9 x 9-inch square pan, top with the streusel topping, and bake at 350° F. for about 30 minutes.

Streusel Topping
1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 tbsp flour
2 tbsp butter, at room temp
5 tbsp sugar

Cut the ingredients together with a fork or pastry cutter and crumble over the top of the cake. Cut in additional flour, as needed, to make it crumbly—if it clumps together in large chunks, it will tend to settle to the bottom during baking.

This is really not an omelet at all, but is more like a soufflé. Or maybe a cross between a soufflé and a quiche, if there could be such a thing.

One of the best things about this dish, aside from its rich combination of flavors, is that it lends itself well to mixing ahead, then holding overnight in the fridge. In the morning just pour into the baking dish and stick in the oven. At the B&B that makes for a lot less rush in the morning, which is much appreciated. Add about 5 minutes to baking time.

Ingredients list for full recipe (serves six to ten):
9” x 13” glass baking dish, oiled
10 eggs, beaten well
½ cup flour
1 tsp. baking powder
½ cup melted butter
8 oz. jack cheese, shredded
8 oz. cheddar cheese, shredded
½ pt. (1 cup) sour cream
½ pt. (1 cup) cottage cheese
1 - 4 oz. can diced green chiles

Have oven at 350°. Beat eggs. Stir flour and baking powder into melted butter, then gradually add beaten eggs, stirring constantly. Add remaining ingredients to the egg mixture, stirring well. Pour mixture into the baking dish and bake 40 minutes at 350° until golden brown. Serve with a fresh-cut salsa and sour cream.

Ingredients list for half recipe (serves four to six – use 8" X 8" glass pan):
5 eggs, beaten well
¼ cup flour
½ tsp. baking powder
¼ cup melted butter
4 oz. jack cheese, shredded
4 oz. cheddar cheese, shredded
½ cup sour cream
½ cup cottage cheese
½ - 4 oz. can diced green chiles

A good, basic corn bread recipe is one of the more versatile things you can use to dress quite an array of entrées, from breakfast to lunch and dinner, and also in-between. It tolerates quite a bit of abuse, meaning you can throw a considerable array of odds and ends into it to make it more interesting.

At the Hacienda we frequently serve it as a breakfast bread, along with breakfast burritos or other dishes with a Southwestern flair. At dinnertime it goes well with almost any Mexican or New Mexican dish, and is a “must have” with American-style chile with tomatoes, beans and meat. Leftovers are good reheated, of course, or split and buttered, then browned under the broiler, and topped with honey or jam. In the unlikely event it survives long enough to start to dry out, just crumble into chunks, freeze in a Ziploc, and save for stuffing.

For a little more zip, replace some or all of the green chiles with chopped jalapeños. For a rust-colored tinge and correspondingly earthy flavor, add a tablespoon of ground chile. Change the cheese to Parmesan. Whatever. The possibilities are nearly endless.

1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
2 ½ tsp. double-acting baking powder
2 tbsp. brown sugar
¾ tsp. salt
1 cup yellow cornmeal
1 egg
3 tbsp. melted butter or bacon drippings
1 cup sour milk
½ (or more) 4-oz. can diced green chiles or jalapeños
1/3 cup grated cheddar cheese
small handful whole-kernel corn, frozen, canned or fresh

Preheat the oven to 425° F., and spray a 9” x 9” glass pan with Pam. For a crispier crust, grease the pan heavily and preheat in the oven.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, sugar and salt, then stir in the cornmeal. Beat the egg in a smaller bowl, then beat into it the butter or drippings and milk.

Combine the flour and egg mixtures with just a few rapid strokes, then stir in the green chiles, cheese and corn, or any other additives you might have dreamed up.

Bake for 20 minutes, removing when a knife test shows the center to be done.

One of the challenges we faced at the B&B, as we worked on the breakfast menus, was how to prepare the same basic ingredients in an appealing variety of ways, so that guests would have a fresh breakfast treatment every morning of their stay. Potatoes are a good accompaniment to a variety of main dishes, but cottage fries, even good ones, can get old after a couple of times. These sauced potatoes, really a sort of escalloped potato dish, were one way we tried to put a fresh face on a basic breakfast ingredient.

A secondary benefit is they can be done in the microwave instead of the oven, thereby freeing that up for muffins, which require a higher temperature than most other dishes, or some other use.

Pre-cook the potatoes in the microwave the evening before, or earlier in the morning, then set aside to cool. The idea of the pre-cooking is to get them almost done, not to the point of a baked potato, but so that the cooking time with the sauce is minimized. They should be soft when you slice them, but not crumbly.

The quantities below will serve four generously; adjust as required for your group.

4 medium white potatoes, pre-cooked about 9 min. in the microwave on high and cooled
3 tbsp. butter or margarine
1 tbsp. flour
1 ½ cups milk
salt and pepper
1 tsp. dill weed
1 tsp. granulated garlic
1 cup shredded cheddar–jack cheese
¼ cup finely grated Parmesan cheese

Spray a 9” x 9” glass pan with Pam and set aside. Slice the potatoes as thinly as you can manage without having the slices crumble, and sort of squish them into the bottom of the baking pan. Melt the butter or margarine in a small sauce pan, then whisk in the flour. When smooth, whisk in the milk, a little at a time, and heat, stirring constantly, until sightly thickened. Salt and pepper the potatoes generously, sprinkle with the dill weed and garlic, add the cheddar-jack cheese, and pour on the milk mixture. Microwave on high for 15 minutes. Remove from the microwave and sprinkle on the Parmesan cheese, then place into a warm oven to hold until serving.

The basic requirements for a breakfast dish at the Hacienda is that it be good, be fresh and be original, or at least distinctive. A basic salsa fresca, or fresh salsa, appears on almost every Mexican dinner table, and is often served with tortilla chips as an appetizer at Mexican restaurants. As such, it is hardly original, being almost an institution, but Monica managed, with her creative flair, to bring it out of the realm of the ordinary with a couple of added touches.

The ingredients below are basic—add your own touches to push it whatever direction you like. You can add green chiles, green, red or yellow bell peppers, a dash of cumin, diced habanera chiles (if you’re really into hot stuff!), or any number of other ingredients. Just keep everything fresh—no canned goods, please—as the salsa should crunch, not squish.

1 large or 2 medium tomatoes, not overly ripe
½ medium white onion
1 or 2 jalapeños, according to heat index and palate
~ 1 tbsp. coarsly chopped fresh cilantro leaves
granulated garlic to taste (keep it light)
salt to taste (ditto)
~ 1 tsp. Lawry’s Lemon Pepper
juice of ½ key lime, or ¼ Persian lime

Chop the tomato(es), onion, jalapeños and cilantro by hand on a large cutting board. (If you must use a processor, be very careful not to overdo it—you want coarsely chopped pieces, not mush.) Scrape into a small mixing bowl and sprinkle with garlic, salt and lemon pepper, then squeeze the lime over all.