Marguerites Cookbook

A cooking blog all about making vintage recipes from a cookbook we inherited from our grandmother

Chicken in Rice

chickeninriceheader

Chicken dishes were some of the most plentiful recipes that graced the table during family dinners at Marguerite’s house in my life time. They were most frequently casseroles or plain baked chicken, but Marguerite did lots of chicken recipes. While I don’t remember this chicken in rice recipe from any Sunday dinners with her, I would have enjoyed it a lot.

Chicken in Rice

Here’s what Marguerite had to say:

Chicken in Rice recipe

Now there was one thing that did confuse me in this recipe: minute rice. I asked my mom, and found out that Minute Rice was a brand of quick cook rice. Turns out it does still exist, but I decided to go with a 90 second microwave option of another brand instead. Mixing all the ingredients was very simple and this was a very easy recipe to prepare. This was the second recipe where I’ve browned chicken before baking it (the first was the Chicken and Mushrooms recipe). I really like the way the chicken looks and turns out.

Chicken in Rice

I did end up baking this recipe for the entire 40 minutes because I felt that the rice mixture was still too watery after the first 30. I wasn’t sure I was happy after the 40 either, but I was already afraid I had over baked the chicken. After it cooled a bit out of the oven, the mixture thickened and it looked better. I did feel the chicken got a little dry, but it was still tasty. We both like this chicken in rice recipe alright. Shannon felt it was a little too similar to a casserole, but still liked it okay. I enjoyed some of the flavors in the rice mixture. I couldn’t tell exactly which ones I liked the most, but I think it was some of the flavors from the condensed soup. In the end, I do think my favorite part of this recipe is its simplicity. So if you are looking for a quick and simple chicken recipe for dinner, give this one a try!

Chicken in Rice

Chicken in Rice
Print Recipe
Servings Prep Time
4 10 minutes
Cook Time
30-40 minutes
Servings Prep Time
4 10 minutes
Cook Time
30-40 minutes
Chicken in Rice
Print Recipe
Servings Prep Time
4 10 minutes
Cook Time
30-40 minutes
Servings Prep Time
4 10 minutes
Cook Time
30-40 minutes
Ingredients
Servings:
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
  2. Mix all ingredients together other than the chicken.
  3. Brown chicken in butter.
  4. Place rice mixture in baking dish. Place chicken in rice.
  5. Bake at 375 for 30-40 minutes.
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Spaghetti Sauce

spaghetti sauce header

Happy New Year from Marguerite’s Cookbook! Aaron here, and starting now on Marguerite’s cookbook, I will be writing the posts.  We decided that since Marguerite was my grandmother and Shannon consulted with me quite a bit when writing posts this past year, it would make more sense if they came from my perspective. And now, on to our first post of 2017!

spaghetti sauce

With the cold of winter all around us, now is a good time to have simple meals that can keep you warm. What could be better than a nice homemade spaghetti sauce? Marguerite’s spaghetti sauce is very simple with only a few basic ingredients, making it a perfect easy sauce recipe.

Here’s what Marguerite had to say:

spaghetti sauce recipe

We decided to skip the mushrooms in this sauce, because, not everything needs mushrooms. In typical Marguerite fashion, we were missing some information. Such as: how many ounces were the standard cans of ingredients back in her day?We turned again to my mom to ask what the typical can sizes would have been at the time. She distinctly remembered Marguerite using the small 6 0z cans of tomato paste. So with all my questions answered, it was time to make some sauce. While making this we totally couldn’t stop saying “sauce” in very bad long-island accents.

spaghetti meat sauce

As I mentioned before, this recipe has very few ingredients. Even though the spaghetti sauce has to simmer for quite a while, it was nice to only need about ten minutes of prep before this recipe was cooking on its own. Checking on it now and then, plus making sure to stir it occasionally, the three hours went by smoothly and at the end we had an easily made sauce. After cooking up some spaghetti (appropriate) to go with our sauce, it was time to try it out.

meat spaghetti sauce

The theme of this sauce was simple and that is also how it tasted. I really mean simple in a good way, in that there weren’t too many flavors crammed into this. I thought it was very tasty and I enjoyed it, but I also felt it was just a little too thin. Shannon thought it was delicious and it reminded her of her Italian grandmother’s homemade spaghetti sauce a bit as well. All in all, a great homemade spaghetti sauce!

meat sauce

Spaghetti Sauce
Print Recipe
Prep Time
10 minutes
Cook Time
3 hours
Prep Time
10 minutes
Cook Time
3 hours
Spaghetti Sauce
Print Recipe
Prep Time
10 minutes
Cook Time
3 hours
Prep Time
10 minutes
Cook Time
3 hours
Ingredients
Servings:
Instructions
  1. Brown ground beef with onion in a skillet.
  2. Combine tomato paste, spaghetti sauce, garlic, and 5 cans of water in a large saucepan. Add ground beef to mixture, and use final 6 oz can of water to rinse skillet.
  3. Simmer for 2 1/2 to 3 hours.
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Zucchini Torte

Zucchini Torte Header

It’s fall, and one of the most popular ingredients in fall cooking is zucchini. This is the time that zucchini are in season, and Marguerite took advantage of that with quite a few zucchini recipes. We planned on making this recipe back in August, but skipped it due to moving. However, the recipe that was supposed to be on the blog this week turned into such a failure we had to switch it up.  Don’t worry, though, we will share all of our recipe fails with you sometime around Christmas!

Until then, here is what Marguerite had to say about this zucchini torte recipe:

Zucchini Torte Recipe

As you can see, this recipe has an interesting set of ingredients. So, as with a lot of our recipes, Aaron asked his mom for some clarification. She said a torte can either be like a cake or like a quiche in her experience. She also suggested which pan we should cook the zucchini torte in since Marguerite did not specify.

Zucchini Torte

Making this zucchini torte was simple and straightforward. Cubing the zucchini was obviously a bit time consuming but mixing all the ingredients took no time at all. I do not like zucchini very much, so I did not even want to try this zucchini torte. I did think that it looked nice, and might appeal to someone who likes zucchini. Aaron did try it, because one of us had to, and he will eat almost anything. He did not enjoy this zucchini torte. It tasted strongly of zucchini, and not of much else. He also felt it didn’t taste enough like a cake or a quiche.

Zucchini Torte

Aaron said to me, “if I had extra zucchini around, I’d put it in some bread before this any day.” But if you like zucchini, this torte is probably for you. We hope you enjoy Marguerite’s zucchini torte!

Zucchini Torte
Print Recipe
Servings Prep Time
10 20 minutes
Cook Time
40 minutes
Servings Prep Time
10 20 minutes
Cook Time
40 minutes
Zucchini Torte
Print Recipe
Servings Prep Time
10 20 minutes
Cook Time
40 minutes
Servings Prep Time
10 20 minutes
Cook Time
40 minutes
Ingredients
Servings:
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Chop zucchini into cubes.
  3. Mix together zucchini, Bisquick, onion, salt, oregano, and cheese.
  4. Pour into pan.
  5. Beat eggs and oil together and add to dry mixture until zucchini is covered.
  6. Bake uncovered at 350 for 40 minutes.
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Grilled Flounder

Grilled Flounder

This is a great flounder recipe that can be either baked or grilled. We choose to do a baked version of this recipe, but it can be made on a Foreman or a regular grill.

Grilled Flounder

Here is what Marguerite had to say:

Grilled Flounder

One of the best parts of this grilled flounder recipe is how few ingredients it takes to make the sauce. Simplicity is always a plus for us. Aaron was surprised that cocktail sauce plus mustard equaled barbecue flavor, however he hates flounder. He wants to try it again on another white fish. I want to try it again on a grill.

Grilled Flounder

This grilled flounder has a nice, tangy consistency to it. It’s the perfect flavor for a summer meal and definitely one we’ll try again as the weather warms up.

Grilled Flounder

Grilled Flounder
Print Recipe
Servings Prep Time
4 4 oz 10 minutes
Cook Time
20 minutes
Servings Prep Time
4 4 oz 10 minutes
Cook Time
20 minutes
Grilled Flounder
Print Recipe
Servings Prep Time
4 4 oz 10 minutes
Cook Time
20 minutes
Servings Prep Time
4 4 oz 10 minutes
Cook Time
20 minutes
Ingredients
Servings: 4 oz
Instructions
  1. Lay fish in baking dish.
  2. Mix other ingredients and spread on fish.
  3. Bake 20 minutes at 450 degrees.
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