Fare Exchange: Easy recipes for lasagna, casseroles, salads

Good morning and welcome to Fare Exchange. An impassioned request begins today’s column. It’s from Marguerite McCammon.

“I need help for beach vacation meals. We always prepare food ahead and take it to the beach for our large family. And then we still end up doing a lot of cooking there. I need some recipes for a crowd – from teenagers to grandparents. I need some recipes that can be made ahead, and some easy menus and recipes when you are at the beach and don’t want to stay inside cooking all day. I hope readers will send these fast for our late-July family vacation.”

Secondly, Kaylan G. wants a recipe for “an old-fashioned yellow cake with chocolate icing so I can make my visiting father’s favorite cake for his birthday.”

COOL WEATHER RECIPES

Barbara Babb wrote from Nashville: “I enjoy the recipes in Fare Exchange and thought I’d send two of my favorites for cooler weather (casseroles just seem like the best thing to fix when it’s cool outside for some reason). My girls loved the lasagna and still ask for it when they come home. I’m not sure how my mother came up with the chicken casserole. She always prepared meat and vegetables for dinner and this is my first recollection of a casserole of any type that she branched out and served.”

Easy Lasagna

1 pound ground beef

1 (32-ounce) jar spaghetti sauce (your favorite)

2 eggs, slightly beaten

1 1/2 cups water or cooking wine

1/4 cup chopped parsley

Sliced mushrooms, canned or fresh

2 cups cottage cheese

3 cups mozzarella cheese, grated

1/2 cup Parmesan cheese

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

9 to 12 lasagna noodles, uncooked

Brown beef and drain. Add sauce and water; simmer 10 minutes. Combine eggs, water or cooking wine, parsley, mushrooms, cottage cheese, mozzarella and Parmesan.

Pour enough meat sauce in a 9-by-13-inch casserole to cover the bottom.

Layer 3 pieces of uncooked lasagna over sauce. Cover with about 1 cups sauce. Dot cottage cheese mixture over sauce. Repeat layers, ending with sauce.

If you have more Parmesan cheese, sprinkle it on top.

Cover with foil and bake in a preheated 350 F oven for 1 hour. Remove foil and bake an additional 10 minutes. For easier cutting, let stand 10 minutes.

Mom’s Chicken Casserole

1 cup diced celery

Chicken broth for cooking celery

1 1/2 cups cooked chicken

1 can cream of chicken soup

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1/4 cup mayonnaise

1 small can sliced water chestnuts, drained

2 teaspoons diced onion

3 hard boiled eggs, chopped

Cracker crumbs for topping

Cook celery in chicken broth until tender. Drain and mix celery with chicken, chicken soup, salt, pepper, mayonnaise, water chestnuts, onion and hard-boiled eggs.

Pour into greased casserole and top with cracker crumbs. Bake in a preheated oven at 350 F until bubbly and brown (about 45 minutes).

PICNIC FARE

Here’s a recipe that is served hot but works well for picnics, says its sender Rosemary Palmer, “because serving it at room temperature, it is still just as good.”

Hot Chicken Salad

3 cups diced chicken

1/2 cup chicken broth

1 cup slivered or sliced almonds

1 small jar pimento strips

2 cups chopped celery

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 tablespoon minced onion

1 1/2 cups mayonnaise

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup grated mild cheddar cheese

1 cup crushed plain potato chips

Combine chicken, broth, almonds, pimiento, celery, lemon juice, onion, mayonnaise and salt in a large bowl.

Pour this mixture into a greased 9- by 13-inch casserole dish.

Sprinkle cheese on top, then the crushed chips. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 20 to 25 minutes, just until hot all the way through.

To make this a day ahead or earlier in the day, prepare except for putting the chips on top. Add them just before baking so they will stay crisp.

COCONUT CAKE

This recipe is adapted from my Aunt Mega.

It’s been a few weeks since we have reveled in a gracious plenty of coconut cakes. This one promised, from Jody Poindexter of Flintstone, Ga., features a cream cheese frosting.

Coconut Sheet Cake

3 large eggs

1 (8-ounce) container sour cream

1/3 cup water

1 (8.5-ounce) can cream of coconut

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 (18.25-ounce) package white cake mix

Coconut-Cream Cheese Frosting (Recipe follows)

Beat eggs at high speed with an electric mixer for 2 minutes. Add sour cream, 1/3 cup water, cream of coconut and vanilla, beating well after each addition. Add cake mix, beating at low speed just until blended. Beat at high speed 2 minutes. Pour batter into a greased and floured 13- by 9-inch baking pan.

Bake in a preheated oven at 325 degrees for 40 to 45 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool cake in pan on wire rack. Cover pan with plastic wrap and freeze cake 30 minutes. Remove from freezer.

Spread Coconut Cream Cheese Frosting on top of chilled cake. Cover and store in refrigerator.

If desired, cake may be baked in 1 greased and floured 15- by 10-inch jellyroll pan for 30 to 32 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Makes 15 servings.

Coconut Cream Cheese Frosting

The frosting is very thick.

1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened

3 tablespoons milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 (16-ounce) package powdered sugar, sifted

1 (7-ounce) package sweetened flaked coconut

Beat cream cheese and butter at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy; add milk and vanilla, beating well. Gradually add powdered sugar, beating until smooth. Stir in coconut.

Here are some notes from the “Southern Living” test kitchen, sent with Ms. Poindexter’s cake recipe.

“For the smoothest frosting, freeze cake for at least 30 minutes; then frost. Freeze layers right on the wire rack or on a cookie sheet. If you’re not using them right away, wrap frozen layers well in plastic wrap.

“Cream of coconut may be found in the ethnic food or drink mixers section of supermarkets.

“Mix homemade batter by hand for a more tender and moist cake.”

Thank you for the general ideas for recipes, for meals, for your own kitchen magic. Thank you for giving us your specific reasons and tips. Thank you, period. And thank you in advance for what you might, just might, send on this week.