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If you watch The Disney Channel as often as my family does (that's a lot) you've probably seen the little snippets of a program called Pass the Plate, hosted by Brenda Song (Who doesn't LOVE her as London Tipton on The Suite Life of Zach and Cody?). She presents a food, facts about it and one of the ways her family enjoys it before passing the plate on to another family in a different part of the world, who then shares how they prepare and eat that food in a healthful way, and so on.  It is, not surprisingly, one of my favorite parts about having kids who love to watch The Disney Channel.  If you haven't seen it yet, look out for it, or go to the website to view the videos of each episode. So far, there have been six different foods featured and the website offers recipes, food facts and, coming soon, fun activities.

I thought it would be fun to do my own little segment for a few of the featured foods - you know, if the plate were passed to me. I'd add to the mix with Pennsylvania Dutch or Pennsylvania Amish food since it's so popular here. Here are three foods that were featured already, and my Pennsylvania take on them.

Spinach - Usually at our house I use spinach fresh in big green salads or on sandwiches instead of lettuce. Several of the kids really like creamed spinach, so I make that too. The Pennsylvania Dutch make a hot bacon dressing that they most often pour over dandelion greens. I like to have it over spinach and even have a slightly different, and a bit healthier, version I've written about at Cooking with Anne. This recipe is the "real deal", though and worth a try at least once!

Pennsylvania Dutch Dressing

2 strips meaty bacon
1 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon flour
1 tablespoon vinegar
1/2 cup cold water
salt and pepper to taste

Dice bacon and fry until crisp in a heavy pan.
Combine sugar, vinegar, flour and water and stir until smooth.
Pour this into the pot and cook, stirring often, over medium heat until
thickened. Salt and pepper to taste.
Serve hot over spinach, endive or dandelion greens.

Tomatoes - I most often serve tomatoes fresh from the garden and sliced as-is. Tomatoes here in Pa Dutch country aren't always of the home-canned variety left to sit on a shelf and gather dust until winter. One thing that is common here in Pa is scalloped tomatoes and corn. Just good stuff.

Scalloped Tomatoes with Corn

3 large tomatoes - cored and sliced thick
3 tablespoons olive oil (butter or bacon fat is traditional)
2 cups fresh or frozen corn kernels
1 small onion - chopped
1 teaspoon each salt and pepper
2 teaspoons each freshly chopped parsley, chervil and basil
1 teaspoon sugar
1 cup fresh bread crumbs

Sauté corn, onion, salt and pepper, herbs and sugar briefly in a small skillet. Layer with tomatoes and bread crumbs, alternating layers and ending with bread crumbs in a greased 2 quart baking dish. Bake, covered, at 350 degrees F for 45 minutes. Uncover and bake for an additional 10 minutes or until bread crumbs are golden brown.

Rice - Rice is almost always served under something here whether it be gravy, chili or stewed chicken. The other way that it's enjoyed is in rice pudding. This is one of those dishes that everyone here has a recipe for. I love this recipe for two main reasons; The sugar is very limited and there's lots of milk so the kids are getting a good kick of calcium. You can leave out the sugar altogether and add it per serving, but I found that the kids were adding way more that way. If you leave in the little there is, it incorporates through the whole pudding and isn't too sweet at all. This takes time but is very worth it!

Rice Pudding

1 cup long grain rice
2 cups water
8 cups milk
1/2 cup sugar
1 beaten egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Cook the rice in the water following package directions - this usually means adding the rice to the water, bringing to a brief boil, reducing heat and simmering for 20 minutes until the rice absorbs all the water and is tender.

In a large pot combine the cooked rice and milk. Cook over a very low flame, stirring from time to time, until all the milk has cooked into the rice. This can take an hour or more. Once the milk is absorbed, remove from the heat and quickly add the beaten egg - stirring constantly so the egg thickens the pudding but does not cook. Stir in the sugar and vanilla until well combined. Pour into a large flat pan like a 9x13 baking pan. Cool in the refrigerator, covered, for several hours before serving.