My Grandma's Recipe Box

Where did January go?

2011-02-10T07:30:00.000-06:00

Wow - I failed to post one thing in January. Admittedly, I didn't even look at my Grandma's Recipe boxes. I am blaming it on the move (ok, yes, I moved at the end of October and should be over it by now, but these things take time). In my old house, I had the perfect eye level spot for the boxes and it made looking for things and grabbing a box easy. Not the case in my new house...I really should have thought about that before signing up for the place (can you imagine the conversation with my husband and realtor?) "Honey (actually I never call him that, so this gives you some idea of how it goes from here)...ummm, I know you really like this house, the view of the mountains, the backyard that is perfect for the dogs, the 10 minute drive to work and all, but I just don't have a place that is perfect for my Grandma's recipe boxes...let's keep looking, after all, we've only looked at about 50 houses." What was I thinking? I wasn't. At least not about the impact to those boxes, my cooking, picture taking and blogging. Well, I need to get back at it and maybe i'll get something done this weekend!

I'll be back!!!!

There's no such thing as bad fudge....

2010-12-30T09:28:00.000-06:00

Wow...I must have fallen off the face of the earth...as I haven't blogged in over a month. Looking back, I have been consumed with "lots of nothing". But...here I am, and believe it or not, I am going to share my Grandma's Cream Fudge recipe. Her "Secret Fudge Recipe". The "Super Duper Secret Fudge Recipe"...the one that if I tell you about it, I'll have to take action to ensure you can never tell anyone about it. I have believed this about my Grandma's fudge for years....lots of years, in fact decades...And then it happened...I found that 4th grade cookbook and guess what recipe was in it...YES! the "Super Duper Secret Cream Fudge Recipe"...WHAT? How could that happen? How could my mom have let me disclose the family secret...am I now going to have to travel the continent and ensure that all copies of that cookbook have been destroyed and memories wiped clean? OMG! But Wait!!!...no worries, even if someone has the recipe, they can't make the fudge. In fact, hardly any one in the family can make the fudge. My grandma used to make it and we would find pans of it in the fridge, hoping it would set up, we would find pans of it that were so hard they would need to soak for hours to clean...but to us, there was no bad fudge..there was the flat, sliver dollar fudge, there was the hard, sugary fudge and then there was the ultimate...a smooth, creamy "dollup" of heavenly chocolate. As Bubba says, it just melts in your mouth. These creamy dollups make rare appearances, this recipe is hard. In fact few family members make it any more, they wait for my cousin to make it. He has been given the elite status as "the best at making Grandma's fudge". We practically bow down to him when we talk about fudge. Honestly, some of the fudge he has made isn't that good, but at least he made it and to us, there is no such thing as bad fudge. Over the years, I have tried to make my Grandma's fudge...going to the lock box, dusting off the password that opens up home of the super secret recipe, closing all the blinds so no one would get a peak at the recipe, even varying my trips to the store so that no one could figure out the ingredients, mixing up my routine, just in case some one has figured out that I am making my Grandma's fudge. All of this to end up with globs of sugary chocolate or little lakes of chocolate on wax paper. But recently I decided to try my hand at the Super Duper Secret Cream Fudge. (After all, I am in a new neighborhood and people will be less likely to observe my behavior or recognize the scent). Seriously, I wanted to take it to my mother for Christmas. I went through bags of sugar, boxes of chocolate and pints of cream, 4 batches worth...each one, a little bit better than the previous. I only threw a few pieces away and gently wrapped the rest up and took it on the plane with us. We joked the entire time about the bad box, the medium box and the good box...always saying...there is no bad fudge. With some practice, I think I could be a good back up for my cousin, maybe even get a curtsey from family members at the thought of my Cream Fudge. So while I am disclosing the ingredients "globally", you'll note...there are no instructions...If I shared those....well, you know.

Bibingka Royale (Coconut Rice Dessert)

2010-11-17T16:52:00.000-06:00

Ok, you're right, this one didn't come from my grandma's recipe box, but she would approve of me including this as a continuation of her recipes. I know I have said it before, but my Grandma LOVED Hawaii. Even though she never actually visited the place, she knew a lot about it (except for maybe how to actually pronounce it, lol - she always had a "ya" on the end). You know..she would say it like "Hawaiiya". I just loved it! Now I am not exactly a huge coconut fan and this isn't exactly what I remember eating at get togethers when we lived in Hawaii, but it sounded close and so I included it as a part of a recent Hawaiian dinner. The menu included Kalua Pork, Shoyu Chicken, Hawaiian-style macaroni salad, rice and Bibingka Royale. This recipe came from a great cookbook called "Best of the Best from Hawai'i Cookbook" Every time I look at this picture and the coconut on top, I think of the recent snow we have had...now I am not sure how I go from a sweet Hawaiian coconut dessert to snow, but maybe there is someone out there who can see what I see!

Bibingka Royale (Coconut Rice Dessert)
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 1/4 cups coconut milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups mochiko
4 teaspoons baking powder
3 eggs, beaten until light
1/4 cup melted butter
Wilted banana leaves (I skipped this part because I couldn't find them)
2 cups shredded coconut

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix sugar, coconut milk, and vanilla together in a large mixing bowl. Sift mochiko and baking powder together. Add mochiko mixture to milk mixture. Beat until dough is smooth. Add eggs and melted butter to batter. Beat mixture until smooth. Pour batter into a greased, 9x13-inch pan that has been lined with wilted banana leaves. (I just greased the pan instead of using banana leaves) Bake for 45 minutes. Remove from oven and sprinkle with shredded coconut while still hot. Cool completely before cutting. Another note; I could not find mochiko in the stores near by, so I used "Sweet Rice Flour" which may be found in the baking section with many of the gluten free flours. It seemed to work fine.

You'll note that "sifting" is required in this recipe too and I did make sure I didn't skip this step...still trying to clean up my slobby/lazy kitchen habits. I'm also still searching for that coconut rice dessert recipe I remember and I hope to find it, make it, (eat it) and post about it one day.

Banana Tea Bread - A lesson in 'Sifting'

2010-11-10T15:46:00.001-06:00

I am very excited to be somewhat settled and to have the time to continue the journey through my Grandma's Recipe Boxes. Yesterday, we had a "dusting" of snow and it really got me thinking about baking. Along with the desire to warm the house I had some bananas that needed used, so I set out looking through the boxes for something "banana" to bake. As I look back through prior recipes, I noticed I had previously made a few banana recipes, but I found this "Banana Tea Bread" that I hadn't made yet. I'll start off by saying, I think this tasted GREAT! Of course, I dived in while it was warm, but I would bet that is exactly how my Grandma served it too!
This recipe pointed out the fact that I have perhaps become a kitchen slob. I often whip through recipes, not taking the time to read them thoroughly and even if I do, I take short cuts. Maybe those shortcuts are driven by my desire to eat what I cook as soon as possible, my desire to get this task done and move on to the next or my lack of experience or appreciation for how details really make a difference. Today's lesson (remember - she was a teacher - so through her recipe's I find lessons) has to do with sifting. Who does this today? I mean really, measure it, sift it, measure it again and sift it again...it makes me tired to think about it. What's the point? Does it really make a difference? Who cares? And if they care, will they even know? But you know what, I did it today (after all, I am unemployed and I have time...lots of time, so my reasons for skipping steps isn't as valid).
So here's what I learned...It makes a difference! Sifting serves a purpose. And depending on what you are making, it can be an important step in baking light and airy cakes and breads. Through out history, the purpose of sifting was two-fold. Back when flour was ground more locally (and probably sold in 50 lb flour sacks (sound familiar?)), sifting was a way of removing "foreign objects" from the flour - don't ask. Sifting also ensures a uniform measurement. Today, we often buy our flour at the grocery store in bags that have been handled many times - each time, packing the flour, sifting it lightens it back to its original form. Sifting is also the proper way to ensure other ingredients are incorporated throughout the flour/batter/dough.
This Banana Tea Bread was light and tasty and it must have been good as I found 3 different recipe cards for it throughout the 7 boxes. I noted that one of these recipes is over 50 years old. A recipe that stood the test of time...and I am glad I took the time to "sift".

Banana Tea Bread
1 3/4 c. flour
3/4 tsp. soda
1 1/4 tsp Cream of tartar
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 c. lard or 1/2 c. butter (I used unsalted butter)
2 eggs
1 c. mashed ripe bananas

Sift flour, measure, sift again with soda, cream of tartar and salt. Cream butter and sugar gradually, beating until light and fluffy. Add eggs and beat well. Add flour mixture alternately with bananas, small amount at a time, beating after each addition until smooth. Turn into a well oiled loaf pan. 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 x 3 and bake in a moderate oven - 350 degrees for about an hour until done.

The Recipe Boxes have arrived in Colorado!!!

2010-11-07T08:19:00.000-06:00

Wow - it has been a short but long journey as I look back at my posts and realize I started talking about our move in August. Last week, the moving van delivered what seemed like endless boxes from Texas to Colorado. Finally, we are in our new home!! The kitchen was the first room to be unpacked and admittedly, there are still boxes that are waiting for attention. The good news is - we ALL made it! The 2 dogs, the 2 cats, the 2 peeps (me and Bubba) and the 7 recipe boxes. (Sounds almost like a song).
Any way - hopefully I'll get back to cooking and posting in the next few days.

Take Care!

Carne Guisada

2010-10-07T17:54:00.001-05:00

If you have been following along, you know that I am on the verge of a move...on most days, this might seem like a terrible thing to be on the verge of, but as the clock ticks and the days turn to weeks and months, tis far better to be on the verge of a move than a nervous breakdown, murder, drinking or binge eating...all of which become possibilities when embarking on a move. If you've been following along, you also know that I am attempting to clean out the freezer and cupboards. Today's attempt was a mighty fine success if I don't say so myself. I actually used one of the many "tools" out there where you plug in ingredients and it spits out possibilities..I LOVE THIS! I can't believe I haven't used it before, but then again, this blog is about cooking from my Grandma's recipe boxes, so usually I am buying ingredients to satisfy recipes versus looking for recipes to use up ingredients. So here's what I plugged in "Stew meat, canned tomatoes, beer" and the recipe I landed on was called "Carne Guisada", also known as Tex-Mex Stew. The recipe that is the foundation of what I prepared came from a blog called Homesick Texan. (http://homesicktexan.blogspot.com/2009/01/carne-guisada-tex-mex-stew.html). I have visited this blog a few times previously and enjoyed the reading, but since I live in Texas, I didn't necessarily "relate". I do wonder if I will experience the same feelings after my move. I also have to give some credit for this recipe to some of my on-line chat friends at Epi...they often give me ideas. Here is my version of Carne Guisada..

Carne Guisada
1 1/2 lbs beef stew meat
4 TBS Canola oil
l medium onion chopped (I used a purple onion because it is what I had)
5-6 cloves chopped garlic
3 chopped jalapenos (I think mine were jalapenos - came from the plant in my yard and it isn't marked - I removed the seeds)
1 28 oz can diced tomatoes (I think it was 28 oz - again - just cleaning out the pantry)
1 bottle Shiner Bock beer (A fine beer to use in a good Texas recipe - although many would say it should be used for drinking, not cooking)
1 TBS cumin
1 TBS chili powder
1 tsp Oregano
1 Bay Leaf
Cilantro (I didn't have fresh - but had bottled - so of course I used it)
Brown the stew meat in 2 TBS of canola oil. Remove from pan, add remaining 2 TBS of oil, cook onions about 10 minutes, add garlic and peppers, cook another minute. Add spices, tomatoes and beer. Bring to a boil, cover and simmer approx 4-5 hours. If you don't want the meat broken up, you can reduce the cooking time.

Of course, my grandma didn't have the internet to help her figure out how to use ingredients..truth is, she probably didn't need it...and I am pretty sure she wouldn't just throw food away..she wasn't wasteful, which with out one of these new internet/online websites, I would be throwing things away because when you are on the "verge" of anything, finding recipes just isn't at the top of the list.

After all the butter is gone..

2010-09-26T12:07:00.001-05:00

I so need to cook, take pictures and post, but I am struggling to find time. Not too mention that I am working on cleaning out cupboards and the pantry and trying not to leave an odor, but rather a fragrance afterwards, like that of just baked cookies. Nothing I have thrown together, or heated up straight from the can, would be worth looking at or writing about and none of it could be considered fragrant. I suspect that I am a few weeks away from a 3-can special made up of pinto beans, ginger and crushed pineapple (YUK!). (Hmmm - wonder what my Grandma would do?) Will have to think about that one for awhile.

And I am almost out of baking supplies, which means it is going to be hard to leave the house filled with that "just baked cookie smell". In fact, I'm out of butter and trying to decide if I should give in and buy more so that I can bake cookies. I've been thinking a lot lately about baking cookies and the link to selling my house.

How does that work any way? I mean really, are you supposed to just whip up a batch of cookies in the time between "the call" and "the showing"? Who can do that? And if you can pull it off, what are you supposed to do with the cookies? Leave them out for the realtor and the potential buyer? What if they "hate" cookies or are on a diet? What if they want milk with their cookies? Should I leave a note that says "there's milk in the fridge and a glass in the cupboard, help yourself". Then what, will they just sit and eat cookies and forget to look at the place or would it be possible that my cookies would be so tasty they'd take a big bite, smack their lips and say "I'll take it!" If only it were that easy.

Herb Crusted Pork Loin Ribeye Roast and Deviled Mashed Potatoes

2010-09-06T14:45:00.002-05:00

Herb Crusted Pork Loin Ribeye Roast

Some of you must be wondering if I have any kind of a plan for this blog lately, last week I was going to focus on taking pictures and the week before that I said I wasn't cooking for awhile and then here I am posting a couple of recipes. So first of all, I definitely need to keep working on my photography skills... I took every picture of this roast in the "landscape" mode of my camera...Ha! ...hardly the kind of thing a good food photographer would do. And about the only thing related to landscape in this photo is the landscape area I personally will cover if I eat everything I cook. Oh well, I can only laugh at myself and capture it as a lesson (exactly what my grandma the teacher would expect me to do...learn from my mistakes). Needless to say, I'll keep practicing and hopefully things will get better. It's true, I don't have much of a plan lately and am taking it one day at a time while the house is on the market, but this weekend I found some time to cook a few things.

With the long Labor Day weekend, it figures not too many people are shopping for houses and so it seemed pretty safe to cook. So while I am not cooking from my Grandma's recipe boxes, I am using times like today to clean out the cupboards and freezer. Today's "freezer DIG", produced a Pork Loin Ribeye Roast. I pondered cooking it on the grill, in the crock pot, slicing it in to boneless chops, but ended up adapting a recipe I found on line and roasting it in the oven. I also had some potato buds that needed to be used as well, so despite the poor photography, things didn't turn out too bad. The Deviled Mashed Potatoes were a good accompaniment to the pork.

Herb Crusted Pork Loin Ribeye Roast
1 2lb Pork Loin Ribeye Roast
1 tbs salt
2 tbs olive oil
2-3 cloves garlic, chopped
2 tbs thyme-chopped (I used fresh, didn't chop too much..just massaged to bring out the flavor)
2 tbs basil-chopped (I used fresh, probably more slightly more than 2 tbs)
2 tbs rosemary (only jarred herb I used)

Preheat oven to 475 degrees F. (My oven runs a little hot, so I stopped at 450 degrees). Place the Roast on a rack in a roasting pan. Combine the remaining ingredients in a small bowl. With your fingers, massage the mixture on to the pork roast, covering all the meat and fat.

Roast the pork for 30 minutes, then reduce the heat to 425 degrees F and roast for an additional 30 minutes. Test for doneness using an instant-read thermometer. When the internal temperature reached 155 degrees F, remove the roast from the oven. Allow it to rest 20 minutes before carving. It continues to cook while it rests.

Deviled Mashed Potatoes
Some where out there is a real recipe for these, but I just make them as I go...no exact measure..make the potatoes per the directions on the box..(It's okay if they are even a little thicker than usual). In a separate bowl, mix a couple of tbs prepared mustard, with approx 1/2 c. sour cream, add a tsp of sugar and chives..microwave/heat to warm, add to potatoes and serve. I like mine with a good mustard flavor..adjust the ingredients to your liking.

In the mean time...

2010-08-29T17:49:00.000-05:00

It's clear to me that as long as my house is for sale and time is spent waiting (and waiting) for that one person or family that decides our house is a fit for them, it's going to be hard to cook anything. Sure as I get a bunch of ingredients out, I'll get that call that says..."an agent would like to see the house in 15 minutes"...not conducive to my kind of cooking...messy...I mean really messy. So, I have decided to use this "break from cooking" to work on my photography. Lord knows, I have plenty to work on.

I think I mentioned we got a new kitten...Lucy is her name. So here's picture...key to taking a picture of Lucy is to make sure the flash doesn't go off, otherwise her eyes would be shut. All I can say is this...she's a pill. Her name in the shelter was "Pig Pen", at first it didn't seem fitting, but there are times, like when I figured out she was sleeping - yep, sleeping, in her litter box..that made it clear why the they called her Pig Pen. Lately, we have been referring to Lucy as the "Hamburgler"...remember that little character from McDonald's..google it...you'll see the resemblance!

Here's the "hamburgler" in action!! So far her "thievery" has been focused on the dog's food.

A Random Move Thought - The Wait has Begun.

2010-08-22T17:05:00.000-05:00

OK, I have been waiting for the day we finally felt like it was "time" to list our house. Several things needed to happen to be "ready" and yesterday was finally it. Now in the 2 weeks since we made the decision to pick up and go, we have scrubbed floors, wiped walls, cleaned closets and drawers (strangers WILL be looking), we took down wall paper, textured and painted walls and I have parted with all kinds of "stuff". In the nearly 24 years Bubba and I have been married we have moved from CO to Hawaii to Central Calif to Southern Calif to North Texas and now back to CO. You'd think I know a little about the process, but guess what...if I did know something about it, I apparently just completely blocked it from my memory. I suspect that after each move was over and we were completely exhausted, we wanted to say something like "never again" and put the memory of the whole thing out of our mind's. Truthfully though, going back to Colorado was always a dream, so I guess we just blocked the nightmare of moving from our memory because we always knew we wanted to be somewhere else. Good thing, because if I HAD remembered what a pain moving is, we might not have chased our dream. So, the place is listed and now we wait. I have kept all my grandma's recipe boxes nearby, hoping that I will have some time to make something, anything. Maybe I can find something that will leave my kitchen with the sweet aroma of one of my grandma's favorites...maybe it will "hypnotize" a buyer into wanting my house immediately, so hypnotized they insist on paying more than what we are asking (OK - I need to wake up, but it was going to be a great story, don't you think?)

A Short Break

2010-08-16T05:59:00.004-05:00

One of the things I know my Grandma believed in was following your dreams. As a first grade teacher I know she encouraged "her" kids everyday to do just that. For a long time, Bubba and I have dreamed of living in Colorado and we are in the process of fulfilling that dream. Of course, that means a lot of time and energy focused on preparing our house to go on the market, selling it, finding a new house and moving. Sounds like an easy 4 step process and I am going to convince myself that it IS that easy. In the meantime I am struggling to find time to cook let alone decipher my grandma's recipes so I am going to be taking a short break...I hope to post in a couple of weeks!

Take Care!!! And wish us some luck as we fulfill our dream!

Blueberry Pudding de Luxe

2010-07-25T06:18:00.001-05:00

I walked past my Grandma's house the other day. Time has changed a lot of things, but it hasn't changed the memories. And although the white picket fence that surrounded their backyard is gone, house still stands. Just for a moment, I pictured her in that quaint little kitchen of hers that generated at least a million meals (ok, maybe not a million, but a whole bunch of them.) When I think about my Grandma's kitchen, I recall the red metal table with the linoleum top and the plastic covered metal chairs. The small countertops, the simple oven/stove and the nice white freezer/fridgerator...none of this Sub-Zero stuff. Just off my grandma's kitchen was a porch - not a big one, in fact, calling it a porch probably isn't fair to all the other porches in the world. HER porch had a fold-up ledge that I remember holding fudge and cakes and pies and during the holidays, it held the turkey, the ham and all the other goodies too. The porch also had what seemed like a huge cupboard (it WAS huge if you were 6 yrs. old) that had all her canned goods, boxes of dream whip and jello. It's this jello thing that got me back to searching her recipe boxes again and leads me to today's recipe.

Don't ask me how this recipe get's Pudding de Luxe in it's title. It has nothing to do with pudding - not even Jello pudding and I'll be honest, I didn't even end up making a jello recipe. I promise one of these days I'll dive in to some jello (recipes, that is - you know I think I have heard about college antics where they really do "dive" in to jello).

This Blueberry Pudding de Luxe is refreshing and easy (Bubba said it passed - yea!!). I'll admit - we didn't do as the recipe suggested and eat it warm with whipped cream - I am sure it would have been wonderful that way, instead, I put it in the refrigerator after cooling. OK, we're strange, we ate it for breakfast, but it's ok - it isn't pudding! It isn't a crisp! I don't know what it really is, but it's good. This recipe is from 1961 so I don't know if my Grandma ever made this one - it's super easy, super tasty and I could imagine how it would create a sweet fragrance in my Grandma's kitchen when she did make it.

Blueberry Pudding de Luxe
To Prepare: 15 min To Bake: 45-50 min
2 12 oz pkgs. frozen blueberries
4 teaspoons lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2/3 cup sifted flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened

1. Thaw blueberries according to directions on package. Drain one package. ( I cut this recipe in half and did not drain any - didn't seem to change the texture at all)
2. Empty undrained package of blueberries into a 1-qt. baking dish and add the drained blueberries. Sprinkle evenly with lemon juice and cinnamon. (I added just a little sugar to this).
3. Sift the flour (I didn't) and sugar together into a bowl. Stir in butter until blended. Turn onto a sheet of waxed paper. Cover with another sheet of waxed paper and gently roll out dough to fit size of baking dish. Peel off one sheet of the waxed paper, through prick dough with fork and gently lay over blueberries. Peel of remaining waxed paper.
4. Bake at 375 degrees for 45 to 50 min., or until top is lightly browned and blueberry mixture is bubbly. Serve hot with with sweetened whipped cream. About 6 servings.
Note: Blueberry mixture will not completely fill baking dish, thus allowing room for bubbling of mixture.
Family Weekly, January 8, 1961.

Blueberry Freeze

A Priceless Recipe Book

2010-07-11T17:58:00.000-05:00

Over the 4th of July week, I have been spending time with my parents in that same small town I grew up in, the town where my Grandma taught school, the place where the recipe collecting began. Now a "real blogger" would have brought her camera with her, knowing that there is always an opportunity to take a picture of something, but not me, nope, I needed to bring other stuff, like 5 pairs of shoes. (I admittedly need to work on my priorities if I am going to be a serious blogger.) Of course being away from home means I haven't been cooking, but it doesn't mean I can't continue to add to the stories about my Grandma's recipe box. In fact, not long after I unpacked all those shoes and sat down in my mom's kitchen I spotted my mom's recipe box. (I think that that will be my next blog!) Or I should say "boxes". Much to my surprise, as I was flipping through her recipes, I found she was carrying on with many of my Grandma's recipe box "habits" . I found recipes written on adding machine tape, recipes cut from newspapers and magazines glued to recipe cards . Oh and I also found out my mom has been holding out on me as she had several of my grandma's recipes in her recipe box! Just when I thought my Grandma couldn't have any more recipes, I found out there are more!!! I am going to have to quit my job and just blog about my Grandma's recipes. My mom's system of collecting recipes has many facets, there are the "recipe boxes", the shoe boxes, the recipe books and the 3-ring binders. As I was looking through her collection, I found what I feel is the best cookbook ever assembled. I would put it up against most any of today's cookbooks that sell for $30+ . It's faded cover, is simple and sweet and "hand designed". It is bound by 2 "rings". There are 59 recipes in this book, 53 of them are for pies, cakes, cookies and candies. The pages have been hand cut and the "type" is purple (the color you get when you use carbon paper, for anyone who can remember what that is and what it looks like). It was "published" in 1970 for Christmas and was no doubt the best gift a mother or grandmother received that year. These recipes were from my 4th grade class. Actually, forget about the $30....this recipe book is priceless.

Tomatoes

2010-06-27T16:58:00.000-05:00

OK, my hat goes off to those bloggers who can keep up with summer activities, vacations, work AND cooking and blogging. I am not doing so great at it and as much as I tell myself that I am going to "buckle down", cook something and blog about it, it just isn't happening. Now, I know that my grandma has plenty of recipes that are just perfect for the summer. Being a school teacher, I am sure that she found summers to be the best time to cook...after all...this meant more time for socializing, bridge playing, family gatherings and trips to see good friends or friends dropping by. Boy do I envy the thought of "summers past" and I feel guilty about not cooking something from all those recipes, but then again..I have a lifetime of my grandma's recipes...who says I have to try and get them all in in a year or two?. So while I may cut back on cooking (well not cooking, but at least stuff from my Grandma's recipe box and the kind of stuff that anyone would want to read about), I do know that I have some things to blog about and no doubt, I can tie them back to summers with both my Grandma's. I thought I would start, by sharing a picture of my tomato plant. Admittedly, it isn't pretty, in fact, I suspect most will look at it and determine that I am a pathetic excuse for a Nebraskan (I mean, after all, shouldn't all good Nebraskans know how to grow stuff?)...but I want to tell you something about my tomato plant. It has produced a number of tomatoes that are plump, juicy and full of flavor...Just ask Duke, my (now weighing in at 108 lbs) chocolate lab. He is my gardening companion when it comes time to pick tomatoes. I think he knows that the chances are pretty good that he will get a tomato and he loves them! Now for Bubba, I'm not sure he even knows I have a tomato plant, but that's OK...just means more for me (and Duke)! I'll water my flowers and my one tomato plant (I actually have 2, but the other one hardly counts...I think it has produced a total of 2 tomatoes) and then pick a tomato right off the vine and eat it (Duke gets one too). As I think about my 2 Grandma's, it is my father's mother that was the gardener. Grandmother loved flowers, but I always remember her planting a tomato plant or two in her flower beds and taking great care of them...and for those that remember my grandmother, I bet they know that I get my "just picked" eating habit from her! Any way...here's a picture of my beauty! It's mine and I am sure my grandmother is getting a kick out of me and Duke and the tomato plant.

Strawberry Yum Yum

2010-06-13T10:51:00.000-05:00

Alright, I must admit that when I found this recipe in my Grandma's recipe box, I had a "reaction" to the title. I just wasn't really ready to take the recipe serious...I mean "yum yum", it almost sounded as if she consulted her first graders in the title of this recipe. Of course, I know that wouldn't have been the case for a couple of reasons...1) She didn't create recipes, she just copied them, cut them out, typed them, wrote them (on anything that had room for a recipe) and 2) She wouldn't have made this for 1st graders...while they would love it (after all, it has some "yummy" ingredients) it was probably a challenge to take a freezer dessert to school. One of the things if have found about the recipes in my Grandma's recipe boxes is that they are generally down to earth, easy for a busy mom or grandma. The title for this recipe is "Right On!". It is easy, refreshing and "Yum Yum" captures exactly how you feel after you taste it. It leaves you wanting more. It's cool, light and the crumb topping provides a great accent to the creaminess of the strawberry mixture. Frozen fruits are so easy to use these days and I would consider using frozen blueberries instead of the strawberries. Imagine serving a pan of the strawberry and a pan of this in blueberry for the 4th of July...it could look very patriotic. My Grandma loved the 4th of July!!! I'll have to save that for another day!

Strawberry Yum Yum
1 c. flour
1/2 c. butter
1/4 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. chopped nuts
2 egg whites
1 c. sugar
2 tsp lemon juice
1 - 10 oz Pkg frozen strawberries
1 large carton cool whip (I used Cool Whip Free)
Mix the first 4 ingredients until crumbly and press into an 8x8 inch pan. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes. Cool and break into crumbs. Combine egg whites, lemon juice, sugar and strawberries and beat at medium speed for 15 minutes. Fold cool whip into strawberry mixture. Put half of crumbs in 9x9 pan, spread strawberry mixture over crumbs. Top with remaining crumbs and freeze.

This recipe was written on the back of a census card...the blank backside really did make a good recipe card!

Lomi Salmon

2010-05-31T16:57:00.000-05:00

OK...you got me, Lomi Salmon did not come from my Grandma's Recipe Box. In fact, I don't even have an actual recipe for Lomi Salmon among my "personal" recipes. I did find the attached recipe in one of my Hawaiian recipe books, and I suspect that the Lomi Salmon we ate this weekend was made much like this, the secret ingredient to the best Lomi Salmon is the "massage or lomi". See, it has to be made with loving hands for one's loved ones. My "fix" for Lomi salmon happened precisely because of one's love for their son, brother, nephew, grandson, cousin, uncle, aunty and friend forever. It was served at a high school graduation party. I am sure these are happening all over the country right now, but not like this one. This one was held in Texas, but for about 4 hours, I felt like I was in Hawaii. Everything about this graduation party was Hawaiian. I felt it the minute we came through the gate to the back yard (or as I like to think about it, the minute we crossed the state line). The smell of Teriyaki Chicken, Ribs and Hamburgers on the grill woke my first sense. Then my eyes met all the friendly faces from Hawaii, even if I had never met any of these people before, I felt like I was greeting aunties and uncles who had been my friends for years. As we made our way to the kitchen (to drop of my haole choc chip cookies), we were met by the beautiful and proud hostess, the mother of the graduate. She had a Haku Lei, a muumuu and was busy finishing up the poki, tako, mac salad, kalua pig and lomi salmon. Back outside, cold beer in hand, tea leaf lei around our necks, the Hawaiian music playing subtly in the background, I swore for a minute I heard the ocean (of course it was a "splash" coming for the swimming pool) and it didn't seem Texas hot...it was Hawaiian cool. Then I began to meet the family of the graduate...Grandma and Grandpa had flown from Hawaii, Aunty and Uncle too, and more Aunties and Uncles, all recently arriving from the islands. And then there were the Hawaiian Aunties and Uncles from down the street. We had only been there 10 minutes and we had earned our respectful title as aunty and uncle too. Eventually the Uncle I had met years ago and who was a good friend of a good friend made it and the party was on! As the night progressed more Hawaiians made their way to the party, more food was served and the cold beers kept coming. We "talked story" (in pigeon English) for hours. We talked UH Football, Baseball and the fact that the Wahines had won a big game earlier in the day on their way to their Women's Softball World Series. We heard old stories (some of them I have heard a few times) and new stories and we talked about what it was like to be from Hawaii living in Texas. I learned how this community in Texas had managed to bring the spirit of the Islands to Texas. Now granted, the beauty of the islands has many facets, but the real beauty has and always will be the people (and the food) and with friends and family gathering on a Saturday evening celebrating a significant milestone anything is possible. It was an honor to be included and congrats to the graduate....he is a lucky young man! So here's that Lomi Salmon recipe - It was "ono".

Lomi Salmon

1 pound salted salmon 3 stalks green onions, chopped

3 large tomatoes, diced 3 cubes ice, cracked

1 onion, chopped

Soak salted salmon in cold water for on hour. If salmon is very salty repeat process. Remove skin and bones and shred salmon with fingers. Place in a bowl and add tomatoes and onions. Chill; add crushed ice just before serving.

NOTE: Salted salmon was introduced to Hawaiians by Westerners. Lomi salmon is now known as a "traditional" Hawaiian food, which is always served at a lu'au.

This recipe comes from the "Best of the Best from Hawaii Cookbook".

The Oregon Coast...Google, the Internet and Garmin

2010-05-18T20:44:00.000-05:00

This week I don't have anything to post about a recipe from my Grandma's Recipe Box because we took a break and went to the Oregon coast. We hit the weather just perfectly and saw sun the entire 2 days we were there. Now if you haven't been there, it is a beautiful place when it isn't raining. Both Bubba and I have been to Oregon before, including one really great fishing trip in Central Oregon. This was our first trip to the coast (together). We flew in to Portland mid morning on Friday and made our way to Corvalis to hit a 5:30 baseball game. Which means 4:00 pm batting practice. As we drove from Portland to Corvalis, I was amazed at the wineries...I knew Oregon wines were becoming popular, but I am even more aware now, having driven past what must have been at least 20+ neatly marked wineries. The vineyards seem never ending as they are just beginning to show signs of life. The sky was incredibly blue and the trees were in full bloom. The colors were bright, from reds, to pinks and white. Cotton was floating in the air and the fragrances of all these trees were everywhere. Allergies were alive and well. I might also mention that it seemed that the coffee in Oregon was better too! (I know...that's supposed to be Seattle...but Portland has Dutch's). We did take a slight "food" detour, based on my Google search for Mexican food..on my I-phone. I found this place called Su Casa. OK...good thing our Garmin was working because this place was somewhere we would never have found without it. Now the write-up about the restaurant said it was "out of the way" but that the food was authentic and it was well worth it. As we wound our way through several quaint neighborhoods with very fashionable restaurants and bars, we got more and more excited about Su Casa. We discussed how we could see ourselves sitting outside at one of these places and enjoying the evening. We pressed on, the Garmin continuing to steer us to the address we had entered. We crossed railroad tracks, drove through industrial areas, passed abandoned cars and houses with bars on the windows. We were ready to go back....back to one of those quaint places we had passed. But Bubba suggested we keep going...so we did. And then we found it...a lime green building...Su Casa. We pulled in to the crumbled parking lot and looked in the window. There was one other couple in the restaurant so we kept going. As we walked in, I could smell a faint musty smell, but it was quickly forgotten when the friendly waiter greeted us with one of the most welcoming smiles I have experienced in a long time. He left us with the menus and took our drink order. The other couple had these really great looking strawberry margaritas...so I had to have one. We asked about one of our favorites...the chile relleno. He told us it was authentic..not a fluffy/eggy one...he was right. As we waited, people came in and picked up their call in orders and the tables began to fill up. Before we left, the place was actually kind of busy. We fired up the Garmin and headed to our hotel...it wasn't quaint the way most would describe quaint, but it was different, it was out of the way and the food was good. Google, the Internet and Garmin....they open you up to all kinds of possibilities. It was short and sweet...we got to smell and feel an ocean breeze...not something you get much of in Texas. We enjoyed baseball, saw some great college ball parks and had dinner with some old friends. My Grandma would approve!

One Egg Cake and Upside Down Cake

2010-05-08T09:01:00.000-05:00

I will admit that my recipe search had a purpose this time; I wanted to find something easy. I mean really easy. Something I could "whip up". I wanted to make something that was a "no brainer". Usually the cakes, cookies or dessert sections are a good place for finding just this type of recipe. This recipe is another one of those that is "just so fitting". It contains options...you can make it an upside down cake, or you don't have to, you can use different kinds of fruit, they could be fresh or canned...it's up to you what you decide. With out the fruit it is "one egg cake", but I can't imagine this recipe really being any good right side up (i.e.: no fruit). I can guarantee my grandma has made this cake. It’s easy and it is written for pineapple and my Grandma LOVED pineapple. I'm going to digress for a minute.... I remember some of the games we would play at my grandma and grandpa's house. There were two that were quite popular among us. Now keep in mind, our games weren't the kinds of games that were on a computer, or from a board, we played games, made up by us, with what ever we had. One game we played was "post office"; I'll have to explain more about that some other day. The other game we played was "grocery store" (combined with "house"...surely some of you remember playing "house"). (Here comes the tie in to all of this). My Grandma and Grandpa had a "pantry". By many of today's standards, it was nothing more than a cupboard full of canned goods and Jell-O boxes. But if you are a couple of kids looking for something to do at Grandma's, this is a "gold mine". You can set up a store and have all kinds of fun. You can occupy hours upon hours, first you have to set up the store, then you have to decide who is who, who works in the store, who shops at the store, so many things to do in a grocery store. After all, we knew an awful lot about the grocery store. In our small town, it was "Bud's" grocery store. We could ride our bikes down the street; pick up a loaf of bread or a gallon of milk (we called it a gallon but today I now know it was really a 1/2 gallon), put them in the basket on the handlebars of our bike and ride home. No money involved. Bud knew who's kids we were and he would just put it on my mom's bill. At our "store" at my Grandma’s we would buy and sell groceries, we would stock, reorganize, oh so much to do. Grandpa was always good for a real purchase, quarters would change hands, we would get to keep them, and the groceries really did disappear from our inventory. Now here's the rest of the tie...we could sell pineapple till the cows come home. Diced, chunked, rings, crushed, big cans, small cans, in juice, heavy syrup...you name it...we had every kind of pineapple known to man (except fresh...a little hard to find in Nebraska).

One Egg Cake and Upside Down Cake

2/3 C. sugar 1 egg

1/4 C. shortening 1 1/2 C. flour

1/4 tsp salt 1/2 C. milk

1 tsp vanilla 2 tsp B. Powder

For Upside down - use 2 tbsp butter.

Place in bottom 2 tbsp melted butter, 1/2 c. brown sugar.

Pineapple for fruit. (I used canned peaches…most anything could work).

Couple of things about this recipe...I used an 8x8 glass baking dish and baked this at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes...(notice no directions), I took it out, turned it out of the pan, it wasn't done, so I literally put it back in the pan and baked it some more, about another 20 minutes. Bubba liked this recipe...he gave it a 9. I think this is the all time high and I would say that for once the rating matched the consumption.

Window Washing Compound

2010-05-01T08:30:00.000-05:00

I think I have mentioned a few times that I am often surprised by some of the things I find in my grandma's recipe boxes. At some point you would think that I would have seen all the recipes at least once, as my process is to read and read and read, until I find that one recipe that seems like the right one for that day. Tonight, as I was searching for this weekend's recipe, I was once again surprised. I wasn't really focused on a specific section, but had found a grouping of recipes that seemed to be out of order and "unfiled". Not really something unusual, but I just don't remember seeing any of these recipes before. Any way, I find myself looking at a card that says..."Make dessert". Many of her recipes have notes about things she needs to do (not to be confused with directions on how to prepare the recipe...many of her recipes don't include directions), so this wasn't the surprise, and the recipe, while it says "drink - Cranberry juice" isn't that odd either, the fact that the recipe is for what looks like an orange juice, has me looking at the card a little closer. And I honestly feel like there must be more, so I turn the card over and there is the surprise... a recipe for Window Washing Compound. Yep, window washing compound. Now, I can't for the life of me connect any of the dots on this one recipe card. I go from thinking about dessert, to thinking about drinking cranberry juice, to drinking an orange drink (with raw egg I might add) to Window Washing Compound. I do remember with fondness how "busy" my grandma always was, in fact, it wasn't until she was very old that I remember even seeing her sleep, so the fact that there is so much going on on one card just seems to fit the woman she was. So maybe it's best to just leave it at that...she was my grandma, the queen of multi-tasking.

Window Washing Compound

2 c. ammonia

1 pt. rubbing alcohol

1 tsp dish washing detergent

Enough water for one gallon

I'll admit I don't know if I'll make this recipe (mostly because having a gallon of this stuff would be reason to wash windows and I don't want to wash windows!) I am enjoying looking at the streaks and cob webs, they provide character.

Pineapple Cookies

2010-04-25T14:27:00.001-05:00

It seems like only a short time ago baseball season started, but as of yesterday the season for our team is over and it's time to get back to my Grandma's recipe boxes. I started this morning with the usual routine, looking for something new to make. I was actually going to make something out of jello, but I've got to tell you, I need to get psyched up for some of her jello recipes. So once again, I found myself in the cookie section...there are so many cookie and dessert recipes, it's almost a sure bet I can find something I am in the mood to make and that I have the necessary ingredients to get things going with minimal planning. These cookies were so easy and are rather unique. I really don't remember seeing a recipe for Pineapple Cookies ever before. So maybe some of you following along will take a chance on these like I did. Next to jello, pineapple might be the most popular ingredient in my Grandma's recipe boxes...and of course, one of these days, I'll have to make the pineapple/jello combo. These cookies are light and fluffy, which I attribute to the baking powder. I think you'll like them. Bubba did!

Pineapple Cookies
1 egg
1/2 c. butter
1/2 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. pineapple - crushed - drained
1/4 tsp soda
1/2 c. white sugar
2 c. flour
1/2 c. pecans
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla
Mix and drop on cookie sheet to bake - 350 degrees.

I beat the butter and sugars together, added the egg, beat it some more, added the vanilla and pineapple. Add the dry ingredients and the nuts, mix well. The batter will be soft ( I recommend using a cookie/ice cream scoop). I baked these for about 8 minutes at 350 degrees.

Banana Nut Muffins with Oatmeal Streusel

2010-04-16T20:19:00.000-05:00

It was a baseball weekend again and I had banana's from the week. I didn't have time to find a banana recipe in my Grandma's recipe boxes so I just found one on-line. This is from Cooking Light and is super easy. I didn't waste banana's and Bubba had something to take in his lunch during the week. I think this is another recipe my Grandma would put in her box and I am sure I will find one very similar to this the next time I am thumbing through her boxes.

Banana Nut Muffins with Oatmeal Streusel
Yield: 12 muffins (serving size: 1 muffin)

Ingredients

MUFFINS:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (about 6 3/4 ounces)
1/2 cup whole wheat flour (about 2 1/2 ounces)
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup mashed ripe banana (about 2 bananas)
3/4 cup 1% low-fat milk
3 tablespoons canola oil
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg
1/4 cup chopped walnuts, toasted
STREUSEL:
6 tablespoons regular oats
5 tablespoons all-purpose flour (about 1 1/2 ounces)
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons butter, softened
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Preparation

Preheat oven to 375°.

To prepare the muffins, lightly spoon 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour and whole wheat flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flours and next 4 ingredients (through salt) in a large bowl; make a well in center of mixture. Combine banana and next 4 ingredients (through egg) in a bowl; stir well. Add to flour mixture. Stir just until moistened; fold in walnuts. Place 12 muffin cup liners in muffin cups. Spoon batter into 12 muffin cups.

To prepare streusel, combine oats and remaining ingredients in a small bowl. Blend with a pastry blender or 2 knives until mixture resembles coarse meal. Sprinkle streusel over batter. Bake at 375° for 22 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.

Nutritional Information

Calories:: 241 (30% from fat)
Fat:: 8.1g (sat 1.9g,mono 3.1g,poly 2.5g)
Protein:: 4.6g
Carbohydrate:: 38.9g
Fiber:: 2.1g
Cholesterol:: 23mg
Iron:: 1.8mg
Sodium:: 164mg
Calcium:: 89mg

Laura Zapalowski, Cooking Light, MAY 2007

Strawberry Cheesecake

2010-04-10T08:41:00.000-05:00

If you have been following along, you knew something strawberry was coming from my Grandma's recipe box. If you haven't been following along, but you've been in a grocery store lately, you aren't surprised to see a strawberry recipe. As I made the Strawberry Cheesecake, there were a couple of thoughts I had about my Grandma. The first was this...I really don't think my Grandma ever made this. I think she saw this and cut it out, planning to make it some day, but that day just never came. I say this for 2 reasons..first, I must have talked or thought about making a cheesecake at least 200 times before and I never did it (I think I inherited that from her...how else could I explain it) and second...this was a lot of work and I just think my Grandma was too busy to make something like this. When you see the picture of the whole pie, you'll see what I mean. The other thought I had about my Grandma when I was making this was how amazed she would be about the size of a strawberry today...I think she would suggest that it "just isn't right, what they've done with these strawberries". We all must agree, they are probably "over engineered". Regardless, I do know, my Grandma would appreciate and enjoy this lovely Strawberry Cheesecake, almost as much as Bubba (I think he gave me more than an 8 on this, again, based on the consumption scale).
Strawberry Cheesecake
1 cup graham-cracker crumbs
1/4 cup firmly packed light-brown sugar
1/4 cup butter or margarine, melted
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
5 pkgs (8-oz. size) cream cheese, room temperature, softened
1 1/4 cups sugar
3 tablespoons flour
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 teaspoons grated orange rind
1/4 cup milk
6 eggs, room temperature
2 pints fresh strawberries, washed and hulled
2/3 cup strawberry or red-currant jelly, melted
1 tablespoon kirsch or rum (I didn't have either so skipped it)

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. In medium bowl, toss graham-cracker crumbs, brown sugar, butter and nutmeg together. Press mixture onto bottom of 9-inch spring-form pan. Bake for 10 minutes. Cool in pan on rack.
2. Make filling: Preheat oven to 500 degrees F. In large bowl, with electric mixer at high speed, beat together cream cheese and sugar until light and fluffy.
3. Blend in flour, vanilla, orange rind and milk until mixture is smooth. Beat in eggs, one at a time, beating thoroughly after each addition.
4. Pour mixture over baked crumb crust in pan. Bake in preheated oven for 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 250 degrees F. Bake 1 hour longer.
5. Leave cake in oven, with heat turned off and door shut, about 20 minutes. Remove from oven.
6. Cool on rack until room temperature, then refrigerate cake 3 hours or longer.
7. Prepare strawberry topping: Slice enough dry strawberries to garnish. Arrange sliced and whole strawberries on top of cake.
8. To Glaze; Combine melted strawberry jelly and kirsch, cool slightly. Brush strawberries with glaze. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
Makes 12 servings.

Here's a picture of the whole cheesecake and her recipe card. The recipe was cut out from some magazine or newspaper and neatly glued to a recipe card. Typical of several recipes in her recipe boxes.

It was a bit of a mystery - But as it turns out, I was making muffins!

2010-04-06T05:30:00.000-05:00

I wouldn't say I have a process that I am following as I cook my way through my Grandma's recipe boxes, but I see a pattern or routine that has developed. It usually starts with a sit down session on Friday night or Saturday morning. It could be something catches my eye, or I am hungry for something, or Bubba says he is hungry for something. I'll start thumbing through the boxes, find what I'm looking for, read the recipe, read it again, do my best to make it, take a picture and then write about it. But in the case of this post's recipe, it was just simple curiousity that made me pick this one. It started like any other recipe search on a Saturday morning, I was looking for something made with strawberries, so I started flipping through recipes, and as I moved through the bread section (which preceeds the dessert section) I come across this recipe that doesn't have a name. Yep, it just starts right in with ingredients...I guess the name of it wasn't important. So, as I start, I have no idea what I am really making. It's kind of exciting! I really can't tell what I am making, other than it has a bunch of stuff I love...yeast, vanilla, cinnamon, nuts and it is supposed to raise and it goes in a muffin pan. So do I have rolls? Are they muffins? I guess I'll just have to make it and find out.

It's kind of funny how it could be such a "thrill" to be making something you have no idea what it is. OK, so my life is a little boring and I have to get my excitement from an untitled recipe...but hey...I'm digging it and I am sure my Grandma is loving it. I can hear hear her urging me on, with a sweet little laugh thinking this is good, clean fun! Besides, it's a big baseball weekend and that is giving me just about all the excitement I can handle....the 'Mojo" couldn't make the road trip...but his collar did...hoping for good things!!! So while I keep up with the game, I'll see if I can figure this one out.

Soften 1 cake yeast in lukewarm water. (I used 1 pkg. rapid rise yeast)
Scald:
  1 C milk
  2 TB Sugar
  1/2 C Shortening (I used butter)
  1 Tsp Salt
Cook to Lukewarm
Add 1 C flour and beat well
Add softened yeast
Add 2 well-beaten eggs
Add 2 1/4 C Flour
Add 1 Tsp vanilla
Cover, let rise 1 1/2 hrs or until light
Stir down and add 1 C sugar, 1 1/2 Tsp Cinnamon, 1/2 C nuts cut fine.
Fill muffin tins half full, let raise 30 min, cook 30 mins at 375 degrees.
Makes 2 1/2 Doz.

Honey Whole Wheat Bread

2010-04-03T09:30:00.000-05:00

I think awhile back I mentioned that I was trying to use up a few things in my pantry that would eventually be stale or bad. Some wheat flour was one of those ingredients so I went on a recipe search and found this Honey Whole Wheat Bread recipe at www.freshloaf.com. I made the bread and I would say it turned out OK. Bread is tricky... I KNEED (pun intended) to keep on practicing. Any way...here's the recipe and a picture..it was good toasted with a little butter and jelly.

http://www.thefreshloaf.com/recipes/wholewheathoneybread
Honey Whole Wheat Bread
makes two loaves
1 lb whole wheat flour
12 oz hot water
8 ounces bread or all-purpose flour
1 5 oz can evaporated milk (or milk, or more water or soy if you are vegan)
1/3 cup honey
2 teaspoons salt
3 teaspoons instant yeast
an additional 1/2-1 cup flour, as necessary, to achieve the desired consistency

Mix the hot water and whole wheat flour together in a bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic and set aside until around room temperature, at least 1 hour.
(My thought is that soaking the flour may help soften the bran and release some of the sugars in the wheat, though, truthfully, I don't know for sure if it does).
Add the milk, honey, salt, yeast, and bread flour to the original mixture and mix until well combined. Add additional flour and knead by hand or in a stand mixer until a tacky but not completely sticky dough is formed. Place the ball of dough in a well-oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and set aside to rise for 60 to 90 minutes.
Divide the dough in two and shape the loaves. Place the loaves in greased bread pans, cover the pans loosely with plastic (I put them in a plastic bag), and set aside to rise again for 90 minutes.
During the final 30 minutes of rising, preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Place the pans into the oven and immediately reduce the oven temperature to 375 degrees. Bake for approximately 45 to 55 minutes, rotating the pans once so that they brown evenly, until the internal temperature of the loaves is around 190 degrees and the bottom of the loaf sounds

Chocolate Fudge Bars

2010-03-29T21:21:00.001-05:00

It was a big baseball weekend AND I needed to make something from my Grandma's recipe boxes so the Chocolate Fudge Bars were my choice. I knew I could bake a bunch of these and have them for the team between games. The Bars (also known as Brownies) were a hit....and I'd like to think they helped the boys get lots of hits, as they won all 3 games. (My Grandma would definitely approve). I should note that while I found this recipe in my Grandmas recipe box, it is a familiar recipe. My mom has passed it on to me and it is one I have made many times over the years, so it is a little different than most of the recipes that I have truly made for the 1st time after finding them in her box.

Chocolate Fudge Bars (Brownies)
2 eggs 1/8 teas. salt
1 cup sugar 1/2 c. cake flour
1/2 cup melted butter 1 cup broken nuts
2 squared melted choc (bitter) 1 teaspoon vanilla

1. Sift flour
2. Melt choc & butter
3. Beat eggs, add sugar, beat again
4. Add melted butter, choc, vanilla, and salt & beat again
5. Add flour & mix until smooth. Add nuts
6. Fill 7 x 10 plan 1/3 full.
7. Bake in preheated oven 350 degrees - 25 min.
Cut into bars before cool.

No-Knead Overnight Parmesan and Thyme Rolls

2010-03-21T11:44:00.000-05:00

Okay, I know what those of you that have been following along are thinking...and you are right, this recipe didn't come from my Grandma's Recipe Boxes. Oh, she has bread and roll recipes all right, several of them, but I am telling you, they are hard to figure out. Between the handwriting and lack of directions in many of them, you really really have to get psyched up to take some of these on. Since Saturday was the first day of spring and I wasn't going to a baseball game (which would have been my first choice) I was having trouble getting interested in taking on one of her recipes when I decided to approach my cooking for the weekend from a different angle. One my Grandma would approve of...using up ingredients I had...the frugal approach. Add to it, my recent issue of Cooking Light had just come and their spring recipes were catching my eye. (I'll try to forget about the fact that by the same time the next day, I had about 6 inches of snow in my back yard). These rolls are very tasty and easy and if you like the flavors of olive oil, parmesan and thyme, I think you'll really like these.
No-Knead Overnight Parmesan and Thyme Rolls
1/2 teaspoon dry yeast
2 tablespoons warm water (100 to 110 degrees)
2 tablespoons extra-vifrgin olive oil, divided
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1/3 cup 2% reduced-fat milk (I used skim and didn't see a real difference this would have caused)
1/2 cup (2 ounces) grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, divided
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1.1 ounces whole-wheat white flour (about 1/4 cup)
5.6 ounces all-purpose flour (about 1 1/4 cups), divided
Cooking spray
1/2 teaspoon cracked black pepper
1. Dissolve yeast in 2 tablespoons warm water in a large bowl; let stand 5 minutes or until bubbly.
2. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add thyme to pan; cook 1 minute or until bubbly and fragrant. Add thyme mixture and milk to yeast mixture, stirring with a whisk; add 1/4 cup cheese, sugar, salt, and egg, stirring well.
3. Weigh or lightly spoon whole-wheat white flour into a dry measuring cup; level with a knife. Using a wooden spoon, stir whole-wheat 4.5 ounces (about 1 cup) all purpose flour into a dry measuring cup; level with a knife. Add all-purpose flour to yeast mixture, stirring well. Add enough of remaining all-purpose flour, 1 tablespoon at a time, to form a smooth but very sticky dough. Place dough in a large bowl coated with cooking spray, turning to coat top. Cover and refrigerate overnight. (Dough will not double in size.)
4. Remove dough from refrigerator. Do not punch dough down. Turn dough out onto a floured surface; sprinkle dough lightly with flour. Roll dough into a 12 x 7-inch rectangle. Brush dough with remaining 1 tablespoon oil. Sprinkle remaining 1/4 cup cheese evenly over dough; sprinkle with pepper. Beginning with a long side, roll up dough jelly-roll fashion. Pinch seam to seal (do not seal ends of roll). Cut roll into 8 (1 1/2-inch) slices. Place slices, cut sides up, on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper. Cover and let rise in a warm place (85 degrees), free from drafts, 1 hour or until rolls have risen slightly.
5. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
6. Place pan in oven, and immediately reduce heat to 375 degrees. Bake rolls at 375 degrees for 12 minutes or until golden brown. Serve warm. Yield: 8 servings (serving size: 1 roll).
Calories 161, Fat 6.3 g(sat 2g, mono 3.3g, poly 0.6 g); Protein 6.3g; Carb 19.7g; Fiber 1.3g; Chol 32 mg; Iron 1.4mg; Sodium 246mg; Calc 112mg.
April 2010 Cooking Light

Agatha's Blueberry Buckle

2010-03-16T19:48:00.001-05:00

It's not blueberry season, and I don't know if you have seen the price of blueberries in the store lately, but they are darned expensive. I know because I keep checking the price of fresh berries because I have wanted to make this Blueberry Buckle recipe for some time now. I finally decided that I was going to have to find an alternative, and boy, did I. Wal-mart (my Grandma loved shopping, so I know she would have loved "my" Wal-mart - it's huge) has some great frozen fruits under their "Great Value" brand..and the blueberries, although frozen, when thawed are big and juicy. This recipe card is a rather "catchy" one, it is one that is "professional" and I didn't have to try and figure out what the ingredients where or what to do with them once I figured it out. But what I did decide to understand is where this cute card might have come from. If you'll notice it has the name Red Farm Studio on the bottom of the card. After doing a little research (Have I mentioned how much I like Google?), I found out that Red Farm Studio, makes greeting cards and coloring books...right up my dear Grandma's alley!!! I suspect she ordered something from them for school and the recipe card was included..she neatly stapled it to a recipe card, and here we are. Bubba loved the Buckle...that's all I need to say.
Agatha's Blueberry Buckle
Mix together thoroughly 3/4 cup sugar, 1/4 cup butter and 1 egg. Stir in 1/2 cup milk. Sift together and add 2 cups flour, 2 tsp. baking powder, 1/4 tsp salt. Blend in 2 cups well drained blueberries. Spread batter into well greased and floured square pan. Sprinkle with following mixture: 2/3 cup sugar, 1/3 cup sifted flour, 1/2 tsp cinnamon and 1/3 cup belted butter. Bake at 375 degrees about 35 to 40 minutes.

Chocolate Cake

2010-03-11T06:40:00.002-06:00

This recipe is probably more about the recipe card than it is about the actual recipe, although the cake isn't bad. This card is torn and tattered, it's yellow and the paper feels fragile when you touch it. I haven't found another recipe card quite like this one in my Grandma's Recipe Boxes. It is truly one of those special instances that only could be found in an old recipe box. Although I am not completely sure, it is quite possible that this recipe belonged to my great grandma (which would make this really old). She uses Roman numerals to capture the steps. What is really interesting is the picture of a young boy (although Bubba thinks it is me...now that is funny) that has been glued to the recipe card. It's truly something very different. I don't actually know why she would do this and I have spent several days trying to imagine what would lead her to put the picture of someone on a recipe card. I have decided that maybe it was this persons favorite recipe, someone she loved to make this for and so a picture on the recipe card was a loving gesture, a special tribute to someone special. Maybe my family who visits this blog from time to time might have an idea.

Chocolate Cake
I Scald 1 cup milk, 3 tbsp cocoa - let cool
II Mix 1 (Scant) cup sugar, 1 tbsp butter - 2 eggs
III Add cocoa and milk mixture and 1/2 tsp soda - 1 tsp B.P. - 1 cup flour
IV Beat until smooth
Butter and flour pan.

I don't know if you have noticed the use of "scant" in some of the recipes I have posted. This is a term that is rarely, if ever seen in "modern" recipes. I have not been able to find any specific reason for the use of the term "scant" other than these recipes really do need ingredients that are just short of, for example a full cup of sugar. The fun and mysteries just keep on coming.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

2010-03-06T10:32:00.000-06:00

What recipe box doesn't have a chocolate chip cookie recipe? My Grandma's Recipe Box is no exception, I found at least one and to my surprise, it wasn't the Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe. I compared her recipe to the all-time favorite and while it is similar, there are some differences...starting with the amount of flour, which is sifted, the addition of water (to offset the additional flour) and the absence of nuts. Now, I will admit, I think every chocolate chip cookie on earth should include nuts, but because my Grandma's recipe didn't include any, I did it exactly like the recipe said (she would be so proud that I followed directions) Oh - not to mention that there are actually a couple included with this recipe. These cookies baked up very nice and really do taste good. No complaints here and if Bubba wasn't on the road for baseball he would give them a thumbs up for sure. Enjoy!
Choc Chip Cookies
3/4 C sugar
3/4 C brown sugar
2 sticks oleo (I used butter)
2 eggs beaten
3 C flour (sifted)
1 tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp soda
1 C Choc chips
2 Tbsp water
Cream sugar & oleo - add eggs - makes 3 1/2 - 4 doz
I baked these at 375 degrees for about 9 minutes. I did everything exactly as stated. My recipe made 3 dozen cookies, using a medium sized cookie scoop (Bet my Grandma would have loved one of these gadgets)..she surely had to do these using a spoon. The scoop is great because this is a moist cookie dough and handling it wouldn't be much fun (unless you like licking your fingers alot!)

Pineapple Cake

2010-02-28T07:36:00.000-06:00

There are a few things to talk about with this Pineapple Cake recipe. I could start with the "recipe card" itself. Remember how I have mentioned that my Grandma would put a recipe on anything, well this is another example, this recipe is written on the back of a "Continuing Census Card". I can't determine when this census card was completed, and I wonder if it was actually used for anything. I notice a few things, like the phone number is only 5 digits...even I remember when we didn't need to dial 10 numbers to reach some one. Other information captured on the card includes basic information, Family Name, Occupation, Race, Address, names of children, ages, sex, place of birth and how far to schooI. I believe my Grandpa must have been the one involved in the census as the individuals information has been typed by that old black typewriter I remember so well. But, as these cards were either discarded or no longer needed, my Grandma realized they would make perfect recipe cards...thus the cake recipe on the back.
On to the cake itself, all I can say is YUMMY! and Bubba agrees. Admittedly, I frosted this cake with cream cheese frosting and let's admit it...I could put cream cheese frosting on the recipe card and it would taste good. This is yet another easy, make that super easy recipe. The only real challenge is one I have faced before with my Grandma's recipes, she lists the same ingredient twice with two different measures. After searching for similar recipes (again, thank goodness for Google), I believe that the two measures should have been combined versus perhaps being two different ingredients or one of them could have been vanilla (which by the way, I did this research after making the cake, so it could have been even better). I also cut this recipe in half which was easy math (even though my Grandma knows I could do more complicated math...after all, I had a good teacher!)
Pineapple Cake
2 c. sugar
2 c. flour
1 T. soda
3/4 T. soda
1/2 c oil
2 eggs
1 large #2 1/2 can crushed pineapple
nuts
Mix dry ing. & add oil, eggs, pineapple (juice too) mix thoroughly. Bake in greased & floured pan. 25-30 min. 350 degrees. Recipe from Bertha Fullerton, long time friend of my Grandma.
In cutting this in half, I used a small can of crushed pineapple and I used baking powder for the smaller soda measurement (wouldn't do that again). 1/2 of the recipe is perfect in an 8x8 baking dish.

Cobbler

2010-02-24T19:38:00.000-06:00

This screaming green recipe has been jumping out of my Grandma's recipe box at me for months now..it just says "make me, make me". So this weekend, I finally gave in and made this Cobbler, Peach Cobbler as a matter of fact. It took me two, yes, two, tries, but I think I did a decent job. As you can read, this is another one of those easy recipes, almost too easy and I have gotten so used to "no directions" that when this recipe actually had some, I didn't see them. That led to me undercooking the first cobbler. The 2nd attempt turned out better. Bubba, to no surprise, was looking forward to rating this dish, but as it came out of the oven and he took a look at it, it was clear this wasn't what he expected. He was expecting what I would call a crisp or a crumble. As I researched cobblers and crisps, I found that Bubba's confusion was not uncommon. Cobblers, Crisps, Crumbles and Brown Betty's (as well as various other dishes) have a long history, back to the first American settlers. They brought recipes like English steamed puddings with them but because they couldn't find all the necessary ingredients they would improvise, resulting in what became these traditional American dishes. They are meant to be juicy and to use the fruits of the season (apples, berries, peaches, etc) and topped with some sort of crust, usually a biscuit crust (cobbler) or a combination of nuts, flour and sugar/spices (crisp). Of note: my cobbler didn't have that "juicy" texture, which is why Bubba rated this lower than your average dessert. I attribute the lack of juice to my cooking skills, not the recipe.

Cobbler

3 tbs Butter (melted in an 8x8 pan)

1 C flour

1/2 c sugar

2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 C milk

Mix until mostly smooth, spoon over butter

1 #303 can peaches over batter, don't stir.

Bake 1 hour, 15 minutes at 375 degrees, or maybe 350 degrees.

I did not include the juice from the peaches, which I think is why my cobbler lacked that "juiciness"

Fudge Squares

2010-02-20T08:23:00.000-06:00

My Grandma had me at "fudge". She loved fudge, she loved chocolate and these Fudge Squares were definitely chocolatey. Now, I literally cooked these 3 times, just trying to get them "done". If only there were some directions to go with the ingredients, I wouldn't have to resort to such measures. But as you know, I've become accustomed to recipes with only the ingredients. As I think about how my grandma would react, I think she would probably just laugh and encourage me as I was scooping these out of the pan. I know this, because I have witnessed her cooking and re-cooking fudge, trying to get it to set up. When you look at my typed recipe, along with my Grandma's hand written recipe, you will see just what I had to work with on this one. As I have said...this is a journey, this is fun, and you just have to keep your sense of humor..Bubba didn't rate these...he didn't care for the gooey mess even if it is chocolate and I would never let big brown dog eat this so he couldn't provide a rating either. I haven't given up. I will try these again! I'm also going to check out my mom's brownie recipe...I think it might be this..With Directions!!

Fudge Squares

2 Sq. Choc

8 tsp butter

1 C. sugar

2 unbeaten eggs

1 C. flour

1/2 tsp B.P.

1/4 tsp salt

2 tsp vanilla

1 C. nuts

Melt Choc and butter.

Baking Powder Biscuits

2010-02-17T06:38:00.000-06:00

I will admit, I have a weakness for carbohydrates, and in particular I just love rolls, bread and biscuits. There was a period of time when you could count on me to purchase a can or two of those Pillsbury biscuits or recently the kind that are frozen in the bag. But I suppose these simple "luxuries" didn't always exist for my Grandma, so it's no wonder there are lots of bread and biscuit recipes in her recipe box. Today I decided to take on one of her biscuit recipes, Baking Powder Biscuits. These aren't hard to make, but there is an art to making good fluffy biscuits, and I have not mastered it. After some reading, I made a second batch of these, just to see if I could get them to raise and be fluffier than my first batch. The secret seems to be in how cold the shortening is and making sure you don't "over work" the dough. I also read that using a hot oven helps the biscuits raise. Of course, my Grandma's recipe doesn't have all these details and didn't give an oven temperature. I wish I could say that my 2nd batch was perfect, but I think I need to make a few more batches before I can declare perfection (now I know why Bisquick and canned/frozen biscuits are so popular).Here's the recipe and a picture...but today's there's another story to the biscuits...thanks to the dogs.
Baking Powder Biscuits
2 c. flour
4 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp salt
3 tbsp shortening
3/4 to 1 cup milk or water and milk
Sift dry ingredients, cut in shortening. Add milk gradually mixing with knife. Dough should be as soft as can be handled without sticking. Turn on to lightly floured board. Roll 3/4 inch thick. Bake in hot oven 12 to 15 minutes.

Ok, so now the rest of the story...as many who take food pictures know, the best pictures happen when you find a spot where the natural light comes through. Today, that place was in my front room on the coffee table. The biscuits were staged and I was waiting for the perfect light. In doing so, I walked away for awhile and was planning to come back when the sun came out. Good news was the sun came out and I was ready to snap a few photos, but as I looked down at the bowl, my biscuits were MISSING, GONE, I was left with Jelly...I was shocked...and then I saw the crumbs on the floor and one big happy 100 lb (plus 3 biscuits) chocolate lab. He gave them a passing grade...I am gonna have to break the news to Bubba that he's been replaced.

This is the recipe I followed. As you can see, it is pretty torn, tattered and dirty...that means it must have gotten some use. The other clipping was filed away right there with the recipe card...always good to have a back-up!

Beef Brisket

2010-02-13T19:09:00.001-06:00

It is yet another baseball weekend, but this time the team is on the road, so it gives me a chance to accomplish several things. Some fun things like cooking goodies from my Grandma's recipe boxes and some not so fun things..like TAXES..Ugh. All, while listening to baseball. While looking for things to make today, I found several recipes that peaked my interest and so I started with this super easy brisket recipe...I mean, really easy. So easy, it would probably never appear in a real "foodies" recipe box, but this brisket can create such a wonderful "fragrance" throughout the house I think if you try it, it will find a place in your recipe box. It smells oohh, so good as the onion and mushroom soups meld with the smell of the brisket. The recipe card has 2 recipes on it, one for this brisket and a recipe for chicken is on the other side. I stuck to the easy one today. Try this one! I think you'll like it and I have no doubt my Grandma smelled this one cooking today.
Beef Brisket
1 lean brisket
1/2 pkg lipton onion soup mix (I used more than 1/2 the pkg)
1 can cream of mushroom (I used 98% fat free and it was just great with this)
Put both on top of brisket, which is placed on large piece heavy aluminum foil.
Bake 45 minutes at 450 degrees - then 2 hours at 325 degrees or until done.

How Old is Old?

2010-02-13T09:01:00.001-06:00

As I was wandering through my Grandma's Recipe boxes today, I found an old newspaper clipping that had a couple of recipes on it. I could tell by the color of the paper that it must be very old. It was quite yellow, almost brown. As I tried to figure out how old these recipes might be, I turned the clipping over hoping to find some sort of date. As luck would have it, there wasn't a date anywhere to be found, so I decided to do some research. Now remember, my Grandma was a 1st grade teacher, and as I have been cooking my way through her recipe boxes, I often feel that she is still "teaching". Today was one of those moments for sure. The clipping which was titled "Queries from Homemakers" by Mary Cook, included 2 recipes, one for an "Applesauce Fruit Cake" and one for "White Cake". Mary Cook reminds us that it is always an excellent idea to have a fruit cake or white cake on hand as a refreshment during the Holidays. Clue #1. As I turned the newspaper clipping over, there is a partial news article titled "Seabees Get High Praise - President, Leaders Note Anniversary". As I read through what is left of the article, the President, is none other than President Roosevelt (aaahh, but which President Roosevelt?) Well, there are a couple of clues to help me figure that out (but, my Grandma is making me work a bit on this). One clue is the reference to Pearl Harbor, which leads me to Franklin D. Roosevelt. Not to mention that if this was Theodore Roosevelt, this piece of newspaper would be over 100 years old. Now, to narrow this down a little more, this article is about the 2nd anniversary of the creation of the 1st regiment of the Seabees. Through the miracle of "Google", I was quickly able to learn that Admiral Ben Moreell, requested the authority to activate, organize and man a unique, very special organization that would support the Navy and Marines in remote locations on December 28, 1941. This organization became knows as the Seabees. So there you have it...these recipes are about 67 years old.
Applesauce Fruit Cake
Three cups sifted flour, 2 teaspoons baking soda, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 2 teaspoon cinnamon, 1 teaspoon cloves, 2 cups chopped nut meats, 2 cups chopped raisins, 1 cup chopped dates, 1/2 cup shortening, 3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar, 1 cup sliced gumdrops, 4 ounces mixed candied fruits, 2 eggs well eaten, 2 cups thick applesauce.
Mix and sift flour, soda, salt and spices; mix about one-half cup of this mixture with the nut meats and fruits. Cream shortening, gradually add sugar and cream until light. Beat in eggs. Add flour, alternately with applesauce (drained of excess juice) beating well after each addition. Beat in fruit-nut mixture. Turn into greased loaf plans and bake in moderately slow oven 325 degrees, one and one-half hours or until done. Makes two small loaves. Place a pan of water in the oven during first 30 minutes of baking.

White Cake
One-half cup shortening, 1/2 cup sugar, 1/2 cup white corn syrup, 6 tablespoons milk, 2 cups pastry flour, 3 egg whites, 2 teaspoons double acting or 3 teaspoons single acting baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon vanilla.
Cream shortening and add sugar gradually while creaming. Add corn syrup and beat vigorously. Sift dry ingredients together. Mix flavoring and milk and add alternately with dry ingredients to sugar mixture. Fold in stiffly beaten egg whites. Pour into two greased, floured layer cake pans. Bake in 375 degree oven 20 minutes. For loaf cake bake 45 to 55 minutes at 350 degrees.

I won't be making either of these this week, but will keep these recipes in mind for my "fruit cake" loving friends...who I have yet to meet and one day I might make the "white cake" recipe as the sound of the cake and sherbet sound like a great combination.

A Slow Down

2010-02-05T20:34:00.000-06:00

As the baseball season get's underway, this is the first time I have struggled to find time to thumb through the recipe boxes, make a decision, study the recipe card (because I usually have to do some research to figure out the "how" part), go shopping and cook/bake. This weekend is Bubba's home opener, 2 games on Saturday and one on Sunday. I did my grocery shopping on Friday night, with out a grocery list, so I really don't know if I will have the ingredients to make something, should I find that weekend recipe to cook. So, for only the 2nd time since starting this blog, I may be at a loss for words. We don't even have plans to make something for the Superbowl game. I admit I feel like I might be letting my Grandma down by not cooking something this weekend but when I truly think about what she would say, I know she would want me to be at the game, cheering the coach and the team on! Stay tuned and let's hope I get to share some winning scores!

Banana Macadamia Nut Muffins

2010-01-31T18:01:00.000-06:00

OK, so this recipe did not come from my Grandma's Recipe boxes, but I have a feeling that if I were to have made these and taken them over to her house, she would have asked for the recipe and it would have become a recipe in her box. I am thinking it would have been in the "bread" section, or maybe the "dessert" section, can't say I have completely figured out her thought process filing everything in her boxes. She would have liked these muffins because of the tropical flair, attributed to the macadamia nuts. I have posted in my blog before about how she loved Hawaii, even though she never physically made it there. I can imagine the conversation as we munched on these, about how the Macadamia nuts came from Hawaii, about how Bubba's family sent them to us for Christmas, along with a whole bunch of other "local" treats. She would have thoroughly enjoyed the conversation (and the muffins). I adapted this from a June 1991 Bon Appetit recipe, incorporating my own tastes and the ingredients I had on hand.

Banana Macadamia Nut Muffins
1 1/2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
3 large mashed ripe bananas
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup dark brown sugar
1/3 cup of canola oil
1/4 cup milk
1 large egg
1 cup sea salt roasted macadamia nuts, chopped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease twelve muffin cups or line with muffin papers. Sift flour and soda into large bowl. Add nutmeg and cinnamon. Combine bananas, both sugars, oil, milk and egg in a medium bowl. Mix into dry ingredients. Fold in half of the nuts. Divide batter among prepared muffin cups. Sprinkle tops of muffins with remaining macadamia nuts. Bake until muffins are golden brown and tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Transfer muffins to rack and cool.

Bubba tasted these when he came home from baseball practice today and gave them a "thumbs up". That's a new rating scale but I will convert it to a "passing" grade, or in the even older scale, it would have probably rated a "7". He said he was looking for more macadamia flavor.

Peanut Butter Cookies

2010-01-27T06:16:00.000-06:00

Ok, I have to admit it, I was back in the cookie section again. There are just so many recipes in that particular box and the reality is, I can figure out what to do with the list of ingredients, usually. I guess that is what keeps me coming back to cookies. Add to that, I've rarely met a cookie I didn't like. This weekend, I was looking for something I could give away as we were anticipating some players stopping by and I wanted to be able to give them something to take back to school with them. Oh my Grandma would love this...her Peanut Butter Cookies (well, I consider them hers) made it all the way to college!!

Peanut Butter Cookies

1/2 c. peanut butter

1/2 c. shortening (I used butter)

1/2 c. B. sugar

1/2 c. W. sugar

1 egg beaten

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 1/4 c. cake flour

1 c. flour

1/2 tsp soda

1/8 tsp salt

That's it, as it's written. I did not use cake flour and I did not use 2 1/4 c. flour. I probably used about 2 cups. I baked these for about 7 minutes at 350 degrees. We bagged them up and sent them home with the boys. I am sure they'll pass the test with a passing grade, even at the college level.

Chicken

2010-01-23T18:33:00.001-06:00

I don't think I am going to find a recipe for "fried chicken" in my Grandma's recipe boxes. I am sure that in her time, you just "knew" how to make fried chicken. I did, however, find this easy Chicken recipe. I see it as a twist on fried and baked chicken, using potato buds. Now, if she is using potato buds, I don't think this recipe is that old, but as I researched instant potatoes or potato buds, I did find that they have been around for a long time, some versions go as far back as the early 1800's. I have always used Betty Crocker potato buds, so I decided to see what I could find out about those potato buds, which wasn't much, but I did learn a lot about Betty. Betty Crocker was "invented" in 1921 to respond to questions about baking that were received by a milling company, by the name of Washburn Crosby Company. The managers of this company felt that it was more intimate to have their responses answered personally. The name Betty was thought to be a "warm and friendly" name and Crocker was the last name of an executive of the company. They held a contest in their office to see which female employee would "sign" the various responses. In 1924, Betty acquired a voice and then a "face" in 1936. It's not clear to me when Potato Buds became a household product, but they sure do work good with this recipe. Once again, this is a recipe of few words. In fact the name of the recipe is "Chicken". That's right, just "Chicken". And with the addition of a few more words, you end up with this flavorful baked chicken. Now, I will admit, I might have spiced this up just a little bit with some seasoning salt (as if using seasoning salt is considered "spicing it up".) I served this chicken with the scalloped corn and a salad. Bubba loved the chicken, as did I (he gave it a "passing" grade"). This is one I will make again.

Chicken
Beat 1 egg - 1 c milk.
Melt 1 cube butter or oleo margarine - put in bottom of the pan.
Dip chicken in egg mixture - then in potato buds, salt & pepper. Bake at medium heat about 1 1/2 hours. Turn once.

Scalloped Corn

2010-01-21T06:37:00.001-06:00

As we try to break away from all the sweets (even if it is for just awhile) I found a couple of recipes that we could whip up this weekend. One of those was Scalloped Corn. Steamed corn makes a routine appearance at our house, so I figured that this would be a nice "upgrade". The ingredients in this recipe are simple, and once again, there are no instructions. I am sure for many of you who cook often or have been trained, knowing what to do with a recipe absent instructions comes natural. Not for me. And it is times like these I really wish I could walk in to my Grandma's kitchen and sit down and talk to her about this recipe. When I close my eyes, I can see her and can imagine what she might say. Honestly, on this one, I think she might laugh (she had a way of doing that) and tell me she had no idea OR she would have some story for me about who served it, when, with what and what they were doing...she loved to talk. It's one of the things I loved about her.

Scalloped Corn
1 Tbsp Chopped onion
2 Tbsp butter
1 Tbsp flour
3/4 C. milk
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp mustard
2 Tbsp pimento
1 1/2 C. corn
2 egg yolks
1 C soft bread crumbs

I must have turned this recipe card over 20 times looking for some instructions or note on the back side...nothing. It should be noted...Bubba doesn't want me to make this one again! :)

14 Carat Cake

2010-01-17T11:13:00.001-06:00

I have to admit, it is a little difficult balancing a New Year commitment to eating healthier and having a food blog. Add to it that my food blog isn't about gluten free, sugar free, fat free, meat free, cheese free, carb free, need I go on. It's about my Grandma's Recipe Box(es) and her recipe's are loaded with all the stuff we probably shouldn't eat...but did I mention that my Grandma lived well in to her 90's? So maybe the secret to a long life isn't about a diet "free" of all the good stuff...maybe the secret to long life IS about eating all the good stuff. At least it's something to think about..specially after I think about how I just made this really great Carrot Cake that uses, oil and sugar galore...topped off with that ever loving Cream Cheese frosting...Yum...my mouth waters just thinking about it...and I know today, that the smell of that cake baking in my kitchen surely found it's way to my Grandma's kitchen in heaven. This recipe was found neatly folded and tucked in the "cake" tab. Due to the way it is folded, it didn't stick out and I have missed it several times as I looked for something sweet to make. This one is a typed recipe...with "red" marks...you know, the kind a teacher makes when a word is mis-spelled. Yep, it looks like my Grandma (the first grade teacher) used her red pencil to make corrections. It starts with the title where "Carrot" is spelled wrong (if you are referring to the vegetable vs a "gem"...although the title would reflect the gem...she was sure to point out this cake was about the vegetable), corrected in red, and it's noted that "nut"s are missing as an ingredient (in red)... and the oil needed a correction (in red) as well. In my mind, I imagine that my Grandma was sitting at her kitchen table, multi-tasking. Making a cake to take somewhere and correcting papers...and while she was using this recipe, she just couldn't help herself.

14 Carat Cake
2 cups flour 2 cups sugar
2 tsp Baking Powder 1 1/2 cups oil
1 1/2 tsp soda 4 eggs
1 tsp salt 2 cups grated raw carrots
2 tsp cinnamon 1 8 1/2 oz pineapple, drained
chopped nuts (I used walnuts) Cream Cheese Frosting

Sift together flour, baking powder, soda, salt and cinnamon. Add sugar, oil and eggs and mix well. Stir in carrots, drained pineapple and nuts. Turn into 13 x 9 inch greased and floured pan and bake 350 degrees for 35 to 40 min., until the top springs back when touched lightly with a finger. Cool a few minutes or until cool enough to frost.
Cream Cheese Frosting
1/2 cup butter
1 8 oz pkg cream cheese, softened
1 tsp vanilla
1 lb. powdered sugar, sifted
Combine butter, cream cheese and vanilla and beat until well blended. Add sugar gradually, beating vigorously. If too thick add a small amount of milk to thin to spreading consistency.

Bubba has declared that he is going to eat ALL this cake and as he enjoyed this as dessert last night, I heard him thank Fyrne for this one. I guess that means this one scored high. He has asked me to make sure I keep this recipe out and make it again. Good thing it's baseball season because I truly believe Bubba will eat as much of the cake as he can!

Ice Box Rolls (Potato)

2010-01-10T15:23:00.002-06:00

Long before I started cooking my way through my Grandma's recipe boxes, I was routinely looking through her recipe boxes for very specific recipes. One of the first recipes that caught my eye was the one I attempted this weekend. I had been traveling for work and while on the road we were served lunch at one of the sites. Now I don't remember everything that was on the menu that day, but I still vividly remember the potato rolls the caterer served. They were heavenly, and I quickly decided that the only thing I would eat for lunch that day was the rolls. They had this wonderful light texture that melted in your mouth as it was filled with that subtle yeast flavor. I came home and immediately said "I have to make those rolls". So I thought maybe I could find a recipe in my Grandma's recipe box that might replicate those wonderful potato rolls. As I thumbed my way through the "bread" section, I found a recipe all right, but I couldn't make anything of it. I even mailed it to my mom to see if she could make sense of it. She mailed it back. I sent it to a fellow "foodie" who does lots of baking to see if he could make anything of it, his words were "Good Luck with that." If you look at this recipe closely, you will understand...

So nearly a year later and after reading it about 50 times, hoping I might make sense of it, I decided to dig in and try today...what the heck...it's only potatoes, flour, a little sugar, a couple of eggs, some yeast and my time... I'm happy to say, I made rolls. They don't taste like those roles I can still remember, but I did make a potato roll. So here they are:

Bubba likes these, he gave them a passing grade (he is still having trouble with the rating scale, but what the heck...I'll take a "P"). Below is the list of ingredients that are on the recipe card, as for directions...Good Luck!

Ice Box Rolls (Potato)
1 C. mashed potatoes 2 eggs beaten
1/2 c. sugar 1 cake yeast - 1 1/2 pkgs
1 t. salt Soak 10 min in luke warm 1/2 c water (potato)
1 C. flour
(3/4) 1/2 C. Crisco
1 C. scalded milk
Mix all together with spoon. Mix with beater, a bit
Let rise twice in size
Add 4 cups or more (sifted)
Knead down on floured board. Let rise twice in size roll out and 1/4 inch cut with butter and pinch.
I have no idea if my Grandma ever made these rolls, but by the look of the recipe card I would guess she had. I also would guess that hers came out better than mine!

Chocolate Pie

2010-01-06T19:53:00.000-06:00

Today I went head first back into my Grandma's recipe boxes, looking for something to bake. It is a beautiful day outside and I should be out doors, but if I am going to make any progress in getting through these recipes boxes before the turn of the next decade, I better get going. In my post Christmas post, I mentioned all the pies that were baked and consumed, none of which, were a part of my doings, so I decided maybe I should bake a pie...thus, today's recipe. There are plenty of pie recipes to chose from, none of which start with making a pie crust, so I leveraged that opportunity to forego making a crust from scratch today. I had a pre-made crust in my freezer, so I decided to put it to good use. Now, if I am brutally honest, I doubt my Grandma had the convenience of going to the freezer and pulling out a pre-made crust and I believe that if she did, she would have done just what I did today. I think she might have been the original "semi-home made" cook on this earth, before it was TV worthy and would have told me to do exactly what I did. As I thumbed through the pie section, I came across this Chocolate Pie recipe, it sounded easy enough and just about matched my motivation level. What I did notice as I read the instructions was the last step which said "Cover with meringue and bake until slightly browned." OK, now I need to find a meringue recipe, so I flipped on through the pie section and found a Meringue recipe that looked like it just might belong with this pie. The hand writing was the same and the "faded" shade of the recipe card was almost exactly the same...so I combined these two recipes together to make my pie. Once again, there are limited instructions with both the pie filling and with the meringue, so I had to use some of my basic cooking skills and the internet to fill in the pieces I thought were missing. For example, I have never made a pie with a meringue before so I needed some help in determining the temperature to cook the pie and meringue (400 degrees for 5-6 minutes if your interested) and I think had I followed the directions "exactly" I could have ended up with scrambled eggs in a chocolate sauce. Instead, I folded some of the pie filling in with the beaten eggs and then added the eggs to the hot filling.

Chocolate Pie
2 tbsp cocoa or 1 sq chocolate ( I used cocoa)
3/4 c. sugar
3 tbsp corn starch or 4tbsp flour ( I used corn starch)
2 C. milk
2 yolks
1/2 tsp vanilla (just realized I forgot this)
speck of salt (didn't use any salt either)
Put milk in double boiler, saving some to mix with corn starch. When milk is scalded add dry ingredients mixed together. Add corn starch mixed to thin paste. Stir until thickened and allow to cook 10 min. Add beaten yolks. Cook about 2 min. more. Remove from fire and pour into baked crust. Cover with meringue and bake until slightly browned.

Meringue
2 egg whites stiffly beaten
2 tbsp powdered sugar
1/2 tbsp lemon juice or 1/2 tsp vanilla (I remembered the vanilla for this part)

For what it's worth, I got Bubba to give this pie a rating and he gave it a "7", then I reminded him of the "S" and "U" scale and he gave it an "S". The pie is good, meringue isn't my "thing" really, so if I made this again, I would just make the pie and put some whip cream on top!

Macadamia Butter Cookies

2010-01-01T17:02:00.001-06:00

It's time to get back to my Grandma's recipe boxes and start cooking again, and as I was looking through it for something to take to a New Year's Eve Birthday party, I have to be honest, I just wasn't feeling it. There are so many recipes for Jell-O salad, cakes, cookies, breads, rolls, pies and desserts it's almost overwhelming. Add to that, I just couldn't find anything that was appealing to make or bake. First thing I did was call the party hostess and ask her if there was something she "needed" made for the party, hoping I would get an assignment (my Grandma would be proud of that approach). We talked about what she knew people were bringing, what she had planned for the main dish(es) and whether she needed any help with preparation or to borrow any of my chaffing dishes, but I didn't get any help on deciding what to make. Ugh! So, this time, I went to my cookbook and magazine cupboard to see what I could find. Sometimes when I take this approach, I start looking for recipes that fit the ingredients I have on hand and today, I had some "special" macadamia nuts fresh from Hawaii so I had my mission. And here is what I ended up with, a Macadamia Butter Cookie from the December 2009 issue of Cooking Light. I will admit, I had to read this recipe a few times because I was looking for "butter" in the recipe..there isn't any...you process the macadamia nuts in a food processor to make a macadamia butter..it's great! The nutmeg in these provides an interesting taste...next time I make these, I might leave the nutmeg out and see what the cookie tastes like that way.

Macadamia Butter Cookies
2/3 cup macadamia nuts
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg
5.6 ounces all-purpose flour (about 1 1/4 cups)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt (I didn't use this because my macadamia nuts included sea salt)
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 cup sweetened dried cranberries, chopped
1 tablespoon granulated sugar

1. Preheat ove to 375 degrees.
2. Place nuts in a food processor; process until smooth (about 2 minutes), scraping sides of bowl once. Combine macadamia butter, 1/2 cup granulated sugar, and brown sugar in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed. Add vanilla and egg; beat well.
3. Weigh or lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife Combine flour, baking soda, salt and nutmeg, stirring with a whisk. Add flour mixture to sugar mixture; beat at low speed just until combined (mixture will be very thick). Stir in cranberries. Chill 10 minutes.
4. Divide chilled dough into 30 equal portions; roll each portion into a ball. Place 1 tablespoon granulated sugar in a bowl. Lightly press each ball into sugar; place each ball, sugar side up, on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper. Gently press the top of each cookie with a fork. Dip fork in water, gently press top of each cookie again to make a criss-cross patter. Place 15 cookies on each of 2 baking sheets.
5. Bake cookies, 1 baking sheet at a time at 375 degrees for 9 minutes or until golden (my oven is hot so only cooked these for about 7 minutes). Remove cookies from pan; cool on a wire rack. Repeat procedure with remaining cookies. Yield: 30 servings (serving size: 1 cookies).

Candied Sweet Potatoes

2009-12-30T18:56:00.000-06:00

In my post Christmas post (that sounds kind of funny but that's what it was), I mentioned we didn't really follow recipes, which we didn't, but I thought I would share my mom's "recipe" for these sweet, yummy sweet potatoes. My mom has been making these for as long as I can remember and it is one of our favorites. If you could have heard us as we ate these, we kept telling ourselves how "healthy" these were. Sure, the yam is healthy, but after you smother it in butter, brown sugar, karo syrup and cream, something tells me we may have compromised the "healthiness" of this vegetable...after all, look at the name I give them...Candied Sweet Potatoes. I should also note that I used a new lens to take this picture, I think it is working pretty good. You can actually SEE the butter..yum! Thanks mom for the recipe!

Sweet Potato recipe: 5-6 Yams, peeled and cut into pieces about the same size. Start in a pan of cold water and bring to a boil for about 15-20 minutes until slightly tender when poked with a fork. Drain and put into a 9x13 slightly greased glass baking dish. In sauce pan heat about 3/4 cup butter with 1 to 1 &1/2 cups of light brown sugar and about 2 tbsp light Karo Syrup and 2 to 3 tablespoons of whipping cream, stirring continuously until butter and sugar are melted and blended with syrup and cream. Pour over the cooked sweet potatoes and heat in 350 degree oven for about 20 minutes. Can be cooked ahead of time, refrigerated and then reheated about 20 minutes before serving. Baste potatoes with the sauce and serve.

Sometimes the best recipe is...No Recipe!

2009-12-28T12:10:00.000-06:00

This is the first time in a few months where I have taken a 7 day vacation from posting. I will admit, I have been enjoying the holiday season, too much, if you base the enjoyment factor on food and drink consumption. Lots of cooking took place over the course of Dec 24th and 25th, and to be down right honest, we didn't make a single recipe directly from my Grandma's recipe boxes. Yet, our Christmas dinner was exactly like she would have prepared. See, in our family, there really isn't a recipe for that truly special Thanksgiving or Christmas meal. Christmas dinner starts with planning and shopping days (and this year, thanks to my sister's enthusiasm, weeks) in advance. The menu is almost always the same, with an occasional new twist added. Frankly, I wouldn't have it any other way. We had our turkey, ham, gravy, candied sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, dressing, cranberries, rolls, pumpkin pie, apple pie, chocolate pie, banana pie and cheese cake (yes..you read that right!). This Christmas, cooking was truly a family affair. We were cooking for 16 people with one oven and one refrigerator (thank goodness for Colorado snow!) We had to have a plan and everyone had a role. We only referred to recipes twice, once for the rolls, in the Better Homes and Gardens Cook Book and once at an online crock pot dressing recipe I found at Thanksgiving. My mom had responsibility for the candied sweet potatoes and rolls, my dad was leading us through the turkey and ham preparation (and he was the master potato peeler), my sister and her friend prepared pie after pie and the gravy and I took care of the cranberries and dressing. With extreme orchestration, planning, cooperation and just good company, we prepared a meal for 16 friends and family and every dish was served hot! We were so busy cooking, laughing, and washing dishes, that I didn't take many pictures, but the ones I did take will make for good memories. We were blessed in so many ways and my mom, my sister and I made my Grandma proud.

My Blog has gone to the Dogs

2009-12-21T20:36:00.000-06:00

As the holiday's approach and sweets are everywhere, including my kitchen, I was anxious to keep cooking but to find a break from all the sweet stuff. But then, I saw these great little cookie cut outs that I bought a couple of Christmases ago and I felt I just had to use them. Naturally my first thought was to head to the recipe boxes and find a sugar cookie recipe...which I know there are several. But doing that didn't help with this "sugar break" Bubba and I need to take, and then it hit me...why not make some cookies for the dogs, well not really cookies, but maybe some dog treats. It occurred to me that I probably had everything it would take, so I set out on one of my internet searches and found the recipe below...did I mention how much I like browsing the internet for recipes? Well, I found the following and the rest is history...my "kids" are munching on little candy canes, stars, snowmen, trees and mittens..

http://www.gourmetsleuth.com/dogtreats_oatmealwheat.htm

Oatmeal Wheat Dog Biscuit Treats

Recipe by: Michelle Stewart

I N G R E D I E N T S

1 cup uncooked oatmeal

1 tablespoon bouillon granules (beef, chicken or vegetable)

3/4 cups powdered milk

1 egg, beaten

1/3 c margarine

1 1/2 cups hot water

3/4 cups cornmeal

3 cups whole wheat flour

I N S T R U C T I O N S

Preheat oven to 325 F.

In a large bowl pour hot water over oatmeal, margerine, and bouillon granules: let stand 5 minutes.

Stir in powdered milk, cornmeal and egg. Add flour, 1/2 cup at a time, mixing well after each addition.

Knead 3 to 4 minutes, adding more flour if necessary to make a very stiff dough. Pat or roll dough to 1/2 inch thickness. Cut into bone shapes and place on a greased baking sheet.

Bake for 50 minutes. Allow to cool and dry out until hard.

Makes approximately 1 3/4 pounds. Store in an airtight container

Storing Dog Treats

In general you should store dog treats the same way you would homemade people cookies. That being said, there are two main variables that determine storage time - the amount and type of fat in the recipe and your local weather conditions. If your recipe uses fats such as butter, or meat bits or juices then it will be more prone to rancidity than a recipe that uses some vegetable oil or shortening. Your treats may mold or spoil much faster in humid or very hot climates.

Refrigeration and Freezing - Refrigeration will prolong the life of more fragile dog treats. Make sure to store in a tightly sealed container or zip lock bag. You can also freeze most treats in zip lock freezer bags. Allow to thaw completely before use.

Here's the picture of who will benefit from these yummy treats...and I know they definitely noticed that some of the treats are shaped like Christmas trees and stars and mittens and snowmen...

Joan Mondale's Meat Loaf

2009-12-20T07:12:00.000-06:00

It's fun to spend time with the hand written recipes in My Grandma's recipe boxes and it is equally as interesting to look at the newspaper clippings that are included. I can tell by the way the pages are folded which recipe's "caught her eye" or were the one's she made regularly. I have to admit, I have a cupboard full of recipes cut out of the newspaper or torn out of magazines too. At least I know I came by this habit honestly (she handed it down to my mom, who handed it down to me!). My recipe today was one I went searching for as Bubba commented he needed a break from sugar and wanted some MEAT!. Well, Meat it is...Meat Loaf to be precise. My Grandma had torn an entire page from the Sunday Family Weekly section of her newspaper...some of you may remember that as an insert to your paper. This particular section is titled "Smart Cooking/by Marilyn Hansen" and on this Sunday (January 9, 1977) her title was "Rosalynn Carter and Joan Mondale share their favorite recipes". What's special about this, in my mind, is the dinner conversation this recipe spurred. Now Bubba and I don't talk much about politics, but on this Sunday, from Heaven, my Grandma, the first grade teacher, spurred an educational discussion between us. We spent the rest of our dinner, talking about who the Presidents have been over the last 30 years...this is NOT a conversation we would have had, if not for a Meat Loaf recipe from my Grandma's recipe box.

Meat Loaf

Joan Mondale
1 cup soft bread crumbs
1/2 cups milk
1 lb. ground beef
1/3 cup chopped onion
2 tablespoons chopped green pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon ketchup
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
1 egg
1 can (8 ozs) tomato sauce
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. and grease 9x5x3-inch loaf pan.
2. In medium bowl throughly combine all ingredients but use only half-can of tomato sauce. 3. Turn meat mixture into loaf pan; smooth surface and top with remaining tomato sauce. Bake 45 to 60 minutes. Makes 4 or 5 servings.

I don't recall the Bubba rating on this one, but I think I can safely say it would get an "S". Not sure this would be the meatloaf recipe I would set aside as a "must make again", and based on the fact that this recipe isn't torn, worn or dirty, I don't think my Grandma made it more than once (if that).

Chewy Pecan Squares

2009-12-18T05:59:00.000-06:00

So anyone who has been following along knows about the big bag of Texas pecans I bought a while back. Well this recipe was the final use of those..at first I couldn't wait to use them up, now I am wishing I had some more...funny how that happens. These Chewy Pecan Squares are exactly like the recipe says...chewy in the middle and crunchy around the edges...and what makes these unique (in my mind at least) is that mayonnaise (yes, that's what I said) takes the place of any butter, egg or liquid. Bubba gave these an 8+ (ugh...he just can't change to my 1st grade rating scale).
Chewy Pecan Squares
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup BF Mayonnaise
1 tsp vanilla
1 C. all purpose flour mixed with 1 tsp baking powder
3/4 C. chopped pecans
In a large bowl mix sugar, mayonnaise and vanilla until well blended. Stir in flour mixture and 1/2 c. pecans (dough will be thick and sticky). Press into well greased 8 inch square baking pan. Sprinkle with remaining pecans. Press into dough. Bake in preheated 350 degree oven 15 minutes or until pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan on a rack. Cookies are soft while hot but firm when cool. Cut in 12 squares.
Mayonnaise takes the place of eggs, liquid and butter in these chewy in the middle, crunchy around the edges.

Recipe with no name - turns out the back side is the fun part

2009-12-16T20:57:00.000-06:00

This is the second recipe I've come across in my Grandma's recipe boxes that didn't have a name. The last one turned out to be corn bread. It's hard to explain why or how I came across this one, I wasn't really looking for a cake recipe or anything sweet (Bubba and I are getting a little burned out on all the sweet stuff) but for some reason I pulled this one out..read it, read it again...realized I didn't know what it was and decided to see what was on the other side...and there in lies the magic. Keep in mind...I am sitting in my living room, surrounded by Christmas cards that we have received, Christmas cards that need mailed, stocking stuffers that need packed for the upcoming trip and I am looking at recipes, only to find "on the other side", the words to that popular Christmas carol "Up on the Roof Top". Remember now, I have 7 different recipe boxes that I could be looking at, on this day, I pick this one. I say "devine" intervention...my Grandma, who loved Christmas knew I needed to have a little more Christmas spirit and that a good ole carol like this one might do the trick! So, in case you don't remember the lyrics...here they are...(Recipe Style - 1st verse only).

Up on the Roof Top
Up on the house tops reindeer pause
Out jumps good old Santa Clause
Down thru the Chimney with lots of toys
All for the little one's Christmas joys
Ho Ho Ho Who wouldn't go
Ho Ho Ho Who wouldn't go
Up on the house top Click Click Click
Down thru the chimney with Good St. Nick

In case you are wondering about the recipe...I am enclosing it too. I really don't know what this is..looks like it might be for Angel food cake...I didn't make it today...will have to try it some other time...

"Recipere"

2009-12-14T06:59:00.000-06:00

In shopping for Christmas presents, or should I say, my favorite part...stocking stuffers, I came across a gift that will be given to someone who shall remain nameless for now. I also can't go in to a lot of detail about the gift because then I would give it away, but I did find some things very interesting that I want to share with you now because what I learned explains so much about what I have been finding as I cook my way through my Grandma's recipe boxes. There is a writer, by the name of Marianne Banes, who has written an article called "How to Read a Recipe". It would seem like she wrote this article, just to explain to me why my Grandma's recipes often lack so many details. She starts by taking us back 200 years ago where in the US recipes were more like notes about favorite dishes. These notes were passed on from grandmother to mother to daughter while they spent hours together in the kitchen. Sometimes these notes or recipes would simply contain the list of ingredients (I have seen several of these in my Grandma's recipe box) with very few instructions (how many times have I mentioned this so far in my short time posting about my Grandma's recipes). Marianne writes that "early recipes were often referred to as "receipts" to differentiate between a doctors orders to pharmacists called "recipes", both from the Latin word recipere, meaning "to take"." Later (mid nineteenth century), the word "recipe" became the more generally accepted word used in Europe and America as the common term for culinary directions in cookbooks. The rest of her article breaks down how a recipe should be properly written so that anyone preparing the dish, would know what to do...boy have I needed some of that recently. So, if you have a few minutes...look back over the recipe's I have posted..what you will see is that in many cases, I have simply provided a list of ingredients and the secrets to the preparation have been left "in the kitchen".

Chocolate Cookies

2009-12-10T19:42:00.001-06:00

Lately I have been been spending some time in the "cookie" sections of my Grandma's recipe boxes. There are plenty of cookie choices to sort through and I can find a recipe to solve many different things...like pecans that should be cooked, the cook's craving for chocolate or a use for some of that leftover Halloween candy....yep, still had some Hershey Bars left over so I was looking for a way to solve for that too! I can't imagine my Grandma making these, but I can imagine her tasting them and wanting the recipe. The reason I know she would have liked them was she loved chocolate. In fact, we have a "family" recipe for fudge that I doubt I will ever share in my blog...I might make it and take a picture for you, but I have come to believe that it is "top secret" and can't be shared. My Grandma also loved Chocolate covered cherries...she always had some, tucked away in the back of the refrigerator where unless you were looking for them, you wouldn't see them. And another thing about my Grandma...she LOVED Russell Stover's candy...give her box of chocolates and she was as happy with this as she would have been if you'd of given her a million bucks! As to why I don't think she would have made these...well, I just don't think she would have had the patience to "frost" a bunch of cookies...for the work, she would have just made fudge or reached for a piece of that Russell Stover's candy. Bubba is having a hard time adjusting to the new scale, so he did give these a "7" (which proves my point), so I would convert these to a "S". PS...this recipe has no directions...just contents...I have some theories I plan to share with you in an upcoming post about these lack of directions, etc.

Chocolate Cookies

2 sq. choc. melted - added last
1 c. sugar
1/2 c. butter
1 egg - don't beat
1/2 c. milk
1 c. nuts
1 1/2 c. flour
2 tsp B. powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
Bake 370 to 400 degrees F.
Frost with hersheys.

Spicy Buffalo Chili

2009-12-07T06:13:00.000-06:00

It was an unusually cool weekend in Texas, not that we don't have cool weather here, we just don't get as much of it as Nebraska, Wyoming or Colorado (some of my favorite places). I was also anticipating the big football game between my beloved Cornhuskers and the Texas Longhorns and was looking for something we could eat while watching the game...hence "Chili". Not long ago, I purchased some ground buffalo meat because I had been hearing about how it's all some people will buy, and decided it was time I check it out. Now, logically (or not) you might think that my Grandma would have a recipe for Buffalo chili in her boxes, but that isn't the case. Now really, other than she grew up in the early 1900's (Little House on the Prairie era-sort of), and I suspect she could have ridden in a covered wagon across the plains and could have experienced a real live buffalo on the prairie, I am not sure why I would think she would have a Buffalo Chili recipe. Any way, I went on my internet search and found a recipe similar to the attached recipe. I made some edits because I didn't have the exact ingredients and I would definitely use buffalo again and I would make this again, with some modifications to meet our tastes. None the less, here is the recipe adapted from a Spicy Buffalo Chili recipe by John Mitzewich at Americanfood.about.com

Spicy Buffalo Chili

1 tablespoon olive

1 pound ground buffalo mea

1/2 large onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 red bell pepper, diced

1 can (14-oz) diced tomatoes

1/4 cup chili powder (I used less, more by mistake but didn’t regret it..this is spicy so it depends on how much you like this kind of chili flavor)

1/2 tablespoon ground cumin

1/4 tsp ground chipotle pepper

1/8 tsp cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/4 teaspoon cayenne

1 cups beef broth, or water

1 (15 oz) can pinto beans, drained

water as needed

In a large pan, over med-high heat, cook the buffalo in the oil until browned and broken in small pieces. Add the onions and red pepper and sauté for 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for one minute.  Combine the remaining ingredients in your crock pot, add the meat and cook on low for 8 hours.

Jackson Cookies

2009-12-05T14:06:00.000-06:00

I have had this recipe sitting out for a while now, thinking that I really needed to make it. It didn't hurt that I have this wonderful (ly expensive) bag of Texas pecans begging to be put to use. I must admit, this recipe has me completely baffled. There aren't too many ingredients and once again, there are even fewer directions. But, the ones that ARE included seem completely clear, yet after about 9 minutes in the oven I was running back to the recipe to see if I had "screwed" up again. Actually, I don't think I did, but to call these "cookies" is crazy. Too call them "bars" would be crazy too. I think it's cake!!! That's all I'm gonna say. I think Bubba would give me an "S" for this recipe. It's flavorful (Nutmeg and cinnamon are a great combination)but it's just not a cookie and it is "spicy". This is one that I don't know if I'll ever know what is right or wrong with what I did. This recipe is from "Oletha" and perhaps if she were around, she could give me the scoop. Maybe someday, someone will read this and fill in the missing pieces for me. Anyway, this is one that I would say...bake at your own risk.

Jackson Cookies
1 c. butter
1 1/2 c. sugar
Cream together
3 eggs beaten - add to above
1/4 c. milk
1/2 tsp soda
pinch of salt
Stir into mixture
2 c. flour
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 c. raisins
1/2 c. pecans
Mix well and stir into mixture.
Spread on shallow well greased pan and bake in 375 degree F oven for 10 or 12 minutes. Remove from oven. Cut into squares while hot.

Turkey or Chicken Casserole

2009-12-02T19:24:00.001-06:00

Like many of you, we had plenty of turkey left over from Thanksgiving and I was just waiting for the opportunity to put at least one of my Grandma's casserole recipes to good use. I should start off by saying that Bubba was quick to give me a rating for this recent recipe, which I attribute to the fact that I had "shut him out" on the last recipe. All that said, he kindly gave this Turkey (or Chicken) Casserole a "7". Yep, that's right, a "7". I may as well have a 3 to 8 scale, since I don't think I stand a chance of anything less than a 3 or higher than a 8. My Grandma, the teacher, would probably coach Bubba on how to grade on the curve...except there is probably one problem, she taught 1st grade and I think the scale was simply Satisfactory or Unsatisfactory (no curve). In fact, as of this moment, in honor of my Grandma, I am changing the rating scale, it's either S or U, or I guess I could add S+. Bubba will learn of the new rating scale when he reads this...I'll let you know how he reacts. Back to the food...this recipe is tasty and a good use of left over turkey. I made it a day ahead and I am glad I did, I think the time it had for the flavors to meld was worth it. I also took the opportunity to use some of the remaining green onions from Thanksgiving and probably added a little more green pepper than the recipe called for.

Turkey or Chicken Casserole
1 1/4 cups spaghetti (broken into pieces)
1 1/2 to 2 cups cut up cooked fowl (who calls it fowl these days?)
1/4 c. diced pimentos
1/4 c. chopped green pepper
1/2 c. chopped small onion
1 can condensed cream of mushroom soup (undiluted)
1/2 c. turkey broth or water (I used chicken broth left over from Thanksgiving)
1/2 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper
1 3/4 cups grated sharp cheddar cheese
Early in day or night before, if preferred - cook spaghetti, as package directs, drain. Place turkey, pimento, green pepper and onion in 1 1/2 qt casserole. Pour in mushroom soup and turkey broth, add salt, pepper and 1 1/4 cups of grated cheese and spaghetti. With two forks, lightly toss until all is well mixed and coated with sauce. Sprinkle remaining 1/2 c. grated cheese on top of turkey mixture. Chill about 1 hour before dinner. Heat oven - Bake casserole mixture until bubbly through out. (I baked it at 350 degrees F for about 45 minutes, it was very cold as it had been in the refrigerator for 24 hours.

Do Ahead Sausage Souffle

2009-11-29T17:39:00.001-06:00

This recipe has been around for several years in our family. I didn't find this exact recipe in my Grandma's recipe box, but I know it is in there somewhere. My mom originally came across this recipe several years ago in the Denver Post Newspaper. There was a food editor by the name of Helen Dollaghan and this was one of her recipes. A few years later, I even got one of her cook books autographed (I was pretty excited about that!). This Do Ahead Sausage Souffle is standard fare for any holiday or brunch gathering in our family. Over the years we have all tried variations, using different breads, different sausage, different baking dishes and I think we always come back to the original recipe. This does cook up better in a glass baking dish than it does in a metal pan, but either way, it tastes really good and is one of Bubba's favorites. (I am not asking him for a rating this time, cause his ratings aren't matching up with his consumption).

Do-Ahead Sausage Souffle
8 slices soft bread with crusts
2 c. shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1 1/2 lbs sausage links, cooked and cut in 1/3rds
4 eggs
2 3/4 c. milk
3/4 tsp dry mustard
1 can cream of mushroom soup

Spread evenly, bread cut in to cubes, in bottom of well greased baking pan (13x9x2). Sprinkle cheese evenly over top of bread. Arrange sausage on top. Beat eggs with 2 1/4 c. of the milk. Pour over bread mixture. Mix together dry mustard and soup. Add remaining 1/2 c. milk. Mix well. Spoon on top of casserole. Cover tightly with foil. Refrigerate over night. Place in cold oven. Set oven to 300 degrees F. Bake about 1 1/2 hours until puffy and brown. Option: substitute sausage links with ground turkey sausage. Add a little garlic and pepper when browning.

Butter Horns

2009-11-27T14:04:00.002-06:00

As you might imagine, Thanksgiving and a 4 day weekend provide an opportunity to make several recipes from my Grandma's recipe boxes. At one point, I was thinking that I would make everything we were having for Thanksgiving out of her recipes, but I admit, I gave up and some things are my own (or my mom's or the internet's). These rolls, however did come from her, or rather her friends Mary and Alice (I think they might have been sister's in law). They're not bad and I think I would try to make these again as they are full of that good yeast roll flavor, I just don't think I got the texture perfect. For those of us who don't cook all that often, I think we all would agree that baking rolls and bread takes some practice.

Butter Horns
1 cup milk (scalded)
1/2 c. shortening
1/2 c. sugar
1 cake yeast (1 pkg)
3 beaten eggs
2 tsp salt
4 1/2 c flour (sifted)
Blend scalded milk, shortening and sugar. Cool to luke warm. Add yeast and mix to dissolve. Add beaten eggs and salt. Sift flour once then measure. Add flour and mix until smooth. Put dough into a greased bowl and cover. Let rise till doubled in bulk. Divide dough into 3 pieces. Roll each piece into circle about 9 in. diameter, butter each circle of dough, cut into 12. Roll up in crescents. Cover, let rise till doubled. Bake at 400 degrees F about 13 to 15 min.

One of the things about looking through recipe boxes around a holiday is you can't help but recall some of the many Thanksgiving's gone by. Many of my memories are of those that were at my Grandma and Grandpa's. My cousins would come from Colorado and we would all play outside in the leaves while our Dad's watched TV (usually football) and the women cooked. Fall in Nebraska can be beautiful and of course, Football is big!! If it was nice enough to be outside football was our game of choice and we had many a good game on the front lawn, or in the street, or in the neighbors yard. The food was always yummy and there was lots of it. The "adult" table was long and impressive with turkey center pieces and cornuopias and our "kids" card table was, well, ours! While I think back, I have made a huge mistake by not honoring my Grandma this Thanksgiving with a Jello recipe...we always had a jello salad, sometimes with cranberries, sometimes not, maybe strawberry/banana jello or some good ole' lime jello with cottage cheese (I told you there are things I need to make that I am putting off). As I sit here thinking about those good times, I can remember always taking some jello so I wouldn't hurt her feelings (I think we all did it), we would take just a little and put it on our plates, but I don't know if anyone ever really ate it..except my Grandma...she loved it, I knew it was the one thing she made for herself. My Grandma also had this great little Turkey shaped cranberry dish, it was used once a year. The funny part was, on more than one Thanksgiving, the turkey dish and it's contents were forgotten in the refrigerator and it was the subject of many a good laugh for all when we went to put the leftovers away and there sat the cranberries in the turkey dish. :) Perhaps a little late, but Happy Thanksgiving to all!!

Nut Fudge Cake

2009-11-25T11:27:00.001-06:00

Ok, I am going to admit right out of the gate, this recipe was "hard". It is one that appears so old, it could have actually belonged to my Great Grandma. It is these very kind of recipes I am avoiding as I look through my Grandma's recipes boxes. See, this particular recipe has all kinds of things wrong with it as it is written on the card. In fact there are so many things wrong, you should be asking me "why on earth did I make this in the first place if it is so bad?" Well let me tell you why and then let me tell you what is wrong and then we can decide what to do with the end product (it could be another one of those trash can trips). The "why" of all of this is because Bubba asked for it. Now, I should have enough sense to look at a recipe and just say "no", but then again, I have committed to making everything in her recipe boxes (well, almost everything) and to just say "no" wouldn't have been the right thing to do. On the surface the recipe looks ok, a chocolate cake with some chocolate frosting, how could I mess this up. Well, let me tell you how. First, I think when she or my Great Grandma was writing this recipe down, she wasn't focused. Sugar is listed twice, with 2 different measurements, and the instructions (what few there are) indicated beating the butter and sugar together, but there isn't any butter listed as an ingredient, so I assumed that one of the sugars was actually butter. Key, was deciding which one should be butter and which one should be sugar. I don't have many real cooking skills, but I do know that I have never seen a cake with 2 cups of butter and so I decided that the 2/3 cup sugar was really butter. Speaking of directions, they are hard to follow. The instructions suggest that you use 1/4 cup of water to dissolve the cocoa...well 1/4 cup of water isn't going to dissolve a 1/2 cup of cocoa, so I ended up using the water and the milk, who knows if this was a good idea or not. Vanilla is listed as an ingredient but no quantity is included, it says to fold "whites" in to the cake mixture but it never tells you what to do with the whites...I decided to beat them and fold them in after the nuts. It doesn't give you cake size pan, a cooking temperature or a cooking time (My head is hurting just thinking about this and I haven't even started talking about the frosting). I decided to put the cake in 2 round pans at 350 degrees F for 25 minutes. I decided to do this because the directions mentioned putting the frosting on the hot cake. As it turned out, this probably wasn't the right idea. Now for the icing, let me just say, it tasted good (how can powdered sugar, butter and cocoa not taste good?). But again, I had to guess quite a bit on what to do, and when you see the recipe card, you will see why it was so confusing. It mentions adding vanilla at least 3 time..geesh, she must have really been multi-tasking when she wrote this recipe. (If you know my Grandma, what I would guess was going on was she was talking on the phone (her phone was ALWAYS busy!)). OK, for the taste test, it tasted alright, but it shouldn't have been a layer cake, probably was meant to be a sheet cake, thus putting the frosting on a hot cake...I should know better. While this didn't make it to the trash as quickly as the Tuna Delight, it wasn't far behind. Oh well, on to the next recipe. PS: I am not even going to bother trying to write out the ingredients or directions on this one. If someone really wants them, send me a note and I'll take a stab at it.

Chocolate Mint Cookies

2009-11-21T16:49:00.013-06:00

Today Bubba and I were looking through recipe boxes for the weekends "treats" and as usual, we came across some sweets we wanted to try. Now eventually I am going to have to cook some of her recipes that just don't appeal to our taste buds (like the Date Cake recipe) but for now, there are still plenty of yummy recipes to try. The recipe included today was not one of her hand written ones, but was one of her newspaper clippings. Based on the way the paper was folded these Chocolate Mint Cookies are probably what she had her eye on or it could have been the Ham Croquette recipe or the Hot Dip recipe, which while I am looking at it, I might try those soon too. I am not sure why these are called cookies, they are made in a pan and are more like brownies, but either way, I think you will like them. I probably didn't get the mint cream filling thick enough as it didn't really set up even after refrigeration. If I made these again I would use more powdered sugar or less milk than the recipe calls for. I used organic peppermint oil, and perhaps that affected the texture too. Also, note that the cookie layer directions don't indicate what to do with the butter, so I melted it with the unsweetened chocolate.

Chocolate Mint Cookies
Cookie layer:
2 squares unsweetened chocolate
1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup flour
Grease a 9x9 inch pan. Melt chocolate: cool. Beat eggs and sugar: add flour and chocolate. Stir until smooth. Spread in pan and bake for 25 minutes at 350 degrees F. Cool completely.
Mint Cream Filling:
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
3 tablespoons milk
2 tablespoons butter
3/4 teaspoon peppermint
Beat all ingredients together until smooth; add green food coloring, if desired. Spread over cookie layer and refrigerate until this layer is firm.
Chocolate Glaze:
2 tablespoons butter
2 ounces sweet chocolate
1 teaspoon vanilla
Melt together and drizzle over cookie layers. Cut into bite size pieces.

Tequila Daiquiri

2009-11-20T06:20:00.000-06:00

While I clearly have a self explanatory title on this post, it isn't as clear as it seems. First, the recipe I have (from my Grandma's Recipe Boxes) is for (as written on the card) Tequillo Daiguira. I have quickly jumped to the conclusion that this is for some sort of daiquiri, based on 2 simple ingredients, tequila and frozen lemonade. But for anyone who knows my Grandma, this recipe is about the last thing I would have expected to find amongst her recipes. In fact, every time I look at the recipe card, I try to imagine where and when she might have picked up this recipe. Could it have been some wild and crazy bridge party (not likely) or at some after school bash with all her teaching friends (not likely) or maybe playing bridge out at the golf course (that's the most plausible option)? And even funnier, if you look closely at the recipe card, the picture in the top left hand corner is of this cute, blonde, innocent looking little girl standing over a stove with a pan, hardly the picture I would associate with a can full of tequila...It's such a mystery. Once I stop wondering about how she acquired this recipe, I then start thinking about how a tequila recipe get's called a daiquiri...oh well..... Any way, here's the recipe in case it's nice and warm where you are and you are looking for something to spice up your cocktail party!

Tequello Daiquira
1 Can Frozen Lemonade Concentrate
1 Can of Tequello or 6 oz.
Mix. Fill blender w/ice and mix.

Cinnamon Cookies

2009-11-15T07:28:00.002-06:00

Recently a friend from high school dropped me a note and asked if my Grandma had any cookie recipes that would be good for a Christmas cookie sale. I was actually very excited about this inquiry, because it gave me a sense of "mission" as I started thumbing through all her cookie recipes. I will admit, I have pulled several out that have what I would consider to be "potential". The cookie recipe I chose today is titled Cinnamon Cookies. It isn't the recipe I started with, because, what I found was, that my Grandma wasn't opposed to the "2-sided recipe card". Well, as I look at this one, it isn't even a recipe card, it is a post card. Yep, I told you she would write a recipe on anything. These recipes are written on a "Happy Birthday" post card. It's hard to read the recipe date, but it is dated 9/26/71. Seems like a really long time ago.

Cinnamon Cookies
Mix 1 cup soft shortening - part butter (I used all butter)
1 1/2 c. sugar
2 eggs
Sift 2 3/4 c. flour or 2 1/2
2 tsp cream of tarter
1 tsp soda
1/4 tsp salt
Roll in a ball the size of a walnut. Roll in mixture of 2 Tbsp sugar and 2 tsp cinnamon.
Place 2" apart on ungreased baking sheet. Bake until lightly browned but soft. 400 degrees for 8 to 10 minutes. 5 dozen cookies.

These are pretty easy, probably the hardest part is rolling them in the cinnamon/sugar mixture. I used a cookie scoop that was probably a little too big (it's been a long time since I have seen a "whole walnut" - that's my excuse and I am sticking too it). In fact, mine were probably closer to golf ball size (ok, not really, but they weren't the size of walnuts either).

For Christmas, I like the idea of putting a dozen of these in a cellophane bag and add some ribbon or bows. I tried to get a rating from Bubba, but he was too busy eating them to give me one. Ultimately I think he gave them a 7 (He's too tough!).

Mahi Mahi from L&L BBQ

2009-11-14T13:00:00.004-06:00

OK, so we really have this Hawaiian theme going, which I am sure my Grandma would be OK with (at least for awhile, but she probably would also suggest that it is time to get back to her recipe boxes and quit messing around). So I will listen to that little voice and move on, but I thought I would share some dinner we had this week. This probably won't seem like a big deal to any body unless they have lived in Hawaii and then moved to the mainland. Once you have lived in Hawaii for any amount of time, I believe that when you leave, one of the things you miss (right up there with beautiful blue skies and a warm blue ocean, sandy beaches and some of the worlds warmest, kindest people) is the food. Texas hasn't been the mecca of "local" food and up until recently, I was doing my best to make sure Bubba and I got a fix of chicken katsu, kalua pig or teriyaki chicken every now and then. But now...L&L Hawaiian BBQ (a franchise from Hawaii), has popped up on my way home from work. They have it all and the menu is exactly like those in Hawaii. Their saimin is awesome and Bubba loves the spam musubi. I guess we are considered regulars. The picture above is a Mahi Mahi Plate, one of my favorites.

Food Pictures from the Past

2009-11-12T05:24:00.001-06:00

Long before I ever thought about a food blog, we were taking pictures of food. I think I mentioned in a previous post about the picture taking that preceeds eating at most family events. Perhaps this attitude towards food and pictures goes way back in our family history. While I don't remember lots of picture taking when I was growing up, what I do remember is my Grandpa taking/making home movies. You know, the reel to reel kind. And now that I think about it, I can remember a few of those times we gathered around to watch old movies and a few slide shows too. I am sure my Grandma had something for us to eat while watching the movies, I just can't remember what it could have been (maybe cookies or cake (or Jell-O). Maybe there are some old food pictures out there somewhere that I just don't know about. Recently, while looking through my old pictures I came across this picture from a trip we took a few years back when Bubba was coaching a baseball team that "represented" the USA and played various teams throughout Belgium and Holland. Over the course of 10 days, we combined baseball, site seeing, eating and a little bit of sleep to make for a once in a life-time adventure with 17 college ball players and Bubba's dad. This picture was taken as we made our way through the streets of Brugge. I think it was that same day that I look back to as one of my most memorable. We wandered around Brugge, took pictures, sat outside on a beautiful sunny day, had wine and pate for lunch (well I did, Bubba had something with a little more substance and his Dad skipped the wine) and we watched people go about their day in a beautiful place (the boys were off touring through the square) and getting ready to play a ball game later that afternoon. We found the food in Belgium to be fresh, light and they serve up some awesome pastries (if you can believe it, we didn't eat any chocolate). By the way, Belgium lays claim to the "French Fry" and it considered a popular fast food is to serve mayo with fries. The baseball teams we played were all "club" teams and after most games, they hosted us to a simple meal ( I remember creamed something or other over fries for one meal). And of course for those of us who were of drinking age, it was served with a favorite beer (if you haven't heard, they have lot's of beers in Belgium). I personally enjoyed the "cherry beer". If you ever get a chance, you should consider a trip to this area of the world.

Hawaiian Pumpkin Pie

2009-11-09T19:30:00.001-06:00

In my last post, I mentioned about how much my Grandma had always wanted to go to Hawaii and that I thought she would have included the recipe for the Pork Loin with Mango Chutney Sauce for it's tropical "flair", if for only that reason. Well, in looking through her boxes to find something to cook this weekend, I came across another pumpkin recipe ('tis still the pumpkin season). There are still several pumpkin recipes I need to make, but I decided to keep with my Hawaiian/tropical theme and make this Hawaiian Pumpkin Pie. Now, I am not sure what made this "Hawaiian", maybe the little bit of ginger that is used in the pie filling and topping are what gives it it's name, I can't really be sure. This pie is similar to a chiffon pie recipe I also found in one her many recipe boxes. It is light and cool and the sour cream frosting adds a nice flavor to the sweet pie filling. Bubba liked this one (well he likes them all really) and gave it an "8". (I am feeling like I am really going to have to work hard to get anything above an 8, but on the flip side, I would have to work pretty hard to get below a 4 (remember the Tuna...he didn't even give me a 2 for that!).
Hawaiian Pumpkin Pie
1 tbsp unflavored gelatin
1/4 c. cold water
1 1/4 c. pumpkin
1/2 cup milk
3 eggs, separated
2/3 cup light brown sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp each nutmeg, ginger and allspice
1/3 c. granulated sugar
9 inch baked pie shell
Add gelatin to cold water, set aside. In pan combine pumpkin, milk, egg yolks (slightly beaten), brown sugar, salt and spices. Cook for 2 minutes after boiling point, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and add softened gelatin and stir. Beat egg whites, light and fluffy, add sugar and beat until stiff. Beat cooled pumpkin mixture until smooth then fold in egg whites. Pour into baked pie shell and pile high. Chill until set, then top with sour cream topping. Serves six.
Sour Cream Topping
1 c. sour cream
1/ c. confectioners sugar
2 tbsp candied ginger or 1/2 tsp ground ginger
Combine sour cream and c. sugar and candied ginger. Spread over top of pie and sprinkle over nutmeg. Keep chilled until serving time.

You'll note that this recipe is written on a Frisco railroad note pad. This railroad doesn't exist in name any more, but what I find ironic is I don't live too far from a town called Frisco. Many of the signs in the town are exactly like the logo on this note pad. If I hadn't taken on this little project, I don't know if I would have found this recipe (it was pretty "smushed" down in the recipe box) or that there was a link to my Grandma, right here in Texas. Yes, it's a stretch, but to me it is still a link! Coincidence, sure. Fate? Maybe!

Pork Loin with Mango Chutney Sauce

2009-11-05T21:06:00.022-06:00

I think I have mentioned a time or two that My Grandma's Recipe Box(es) is loaded with recipes for sweets. Honestly, I do enjoy baking, so this notion of cooking my way through her recipe box is going to work out fine, but I do need a break from bars, cakes and cookies from time to time. So I decided to plan on cooking something different over the weekend. As it turned out, while headed to the produce section of one of the grocery stores I frequent, I couldn't miss the huge display of mangos. They were beautiful and fragrant and the price was right at a $1.00 a piece. So I bought a few mangos and a pork tenderloin and headed home to see what I could come up with. Now after living in Hawaii for 10 years, you'd think I would know exactly what to do with the mangos, and I do, if you count dicing them and eating them. I will admit, I didn't even look through my Grandma's boxes to see if I could find something, I was frankly anxious to do what I usually do and surf the internet for a recipe. I ended up making the following Pork Loin with Mango Chutney Sauce that I found at www.thatsmyhome.com. It required a Mango Chutney so I searched some more and found the following recipe for Mango Chutney at Foodnetwork.com from Paula Dean. While there aren't recipes like this in my Grandma's Recipe box, I think she would have loved this one. She always wanted to go to Hawaii and even to this day I can hear how she would say the word "Hawaii'a" ( yea, she always kind of added this "a" sound at the end). In a picture that is tucked away, she is dressed up in a "mumu" and sporting a plastic lei and the smile on her face is priceless. In reality, that was about as close to an island as she got. Perhaps one of the few regrets I have is that we didn't make sure she visited us while we lived in Hawaii. Any how...Here's to one I think she would add to her box, if for no other reason than the fact that it's a tropical type recipe.

Pork Loin with Mango Chutney Sauce

1/2 cup plain dried bread crumbs

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp coarsely ground black pepper

1/4 cup plus 2 tbsp Dijon mustard with seeds

1 boneless pork loin roast (3 lbs.) well trimmed

Parsley sprigs for garnish

Preheat oven to 350 degrees (F). In small bowl, combine bread crumbs, salt, pepper and 1/4 cup mustard.

Pat pork roast dry with paper towels. With hand, pat bread-crumb mixture onto pork. Place pork on rack in small roasting pan (about 14 inches x 10 inches) and roast 1 hour and 20 minutes or until temperature on meat thermometer reaches 155 degrees, F. (Internal temperature will rise to 160 degrees upon standing.)

Transfer pork to cutting board; let stand 10 minutes.

In 1-quart saucepan, heat mango chutney, remaining 2 tablespoons mustard and 1/3 cup water over medium heat, stirring constantly, until heated through, about 1 minute.

To serve: Slice pork. Arrange pork on platter with parsley sprigs. Serve with sauce.

Mango Chutney

2 1/2 cups diced mangos

1 (1-inch) piece peeled fresh ginger

1 Scotch bonnet pepper, minced

1 clove garlic, minced

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 cup cider vinegar

1/2 firmly packed light brown sugar

1/2 cup raisins

Freshly ground pepper

Place all ingredients in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, and simmer until thick, about 25 minutes, stirring often to keep from sticking. Let cool, and store in an airtight container.

For the Chutney, I didn't have a scotch bonnet pepper, so I used the last jalapeno from my "so called" garden. Bubba rated this one a "7".

Banana Bars

2009-11-03T05:33:00.000-06:00

As I have been pulling out recipe cards and putting them back in their recipe boxes, I have come across a few banana recipes, so I decided while I was shopping to add some bananas to our cart. If we ate them through out the week, great! in fact, awesome! 'cause that would mean we had added some fruit to our diet. If we didn't eat them, I knew I could find a recipe that wouldn't waste them. Well, I guess you know how well we did on the fruit in our diet part. This recipe has a few more ingredients than the last couple of posts, but true to the recipes I've come across so far, directions are a little light. In general, I think I did pretty good, but I don't think I got the frosting quite right. I didn't need any milk and it was a little "runny" but still "yummy". I have no real idea of the type of occasion my Grandma might have decided to serve this for. This isn't one that has one of her bridge player or teacher friend's name on it so its hard to tell and I don't ever remember having this before. I will caution you, it is a little sweet. When I make this again someday, I might try this with less sugar.
Banana Bars
1 1/2 c. flour
1 1/2 c. sugar
1/2 tsp soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 c. shortening
2 eggs
1 ripe banana
1/3 c. milk
1/2 tsp lemon juice
1/2 c. nuts
Mix all ingredients except nuts. Beat 2 minutes. Add nuts. Put in 13 by 9 in. pan and bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes until done. Cool on rack.
Frosting
2 tbsp soft butter
2 c. powdered sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
1 medium banana
Beat until smooth and if too thick add milk.
Cut into bars and serve.
This recipe might be one of the better things I have made since I started. In fact, Bubba gave this a 9 on our 1 to 10 scale. A nice change after my Tuna Casserole fiasco. I guess that's the thing about baking, it's a little more of a science and following directions (even when there aren't a lot of them) should result in something edible.

Cream Tuna Delight

2009-10-31T10:43:00.000-05:00

Casseroles have probably been a part of many a baby boomer's diet. I know I have made a few in my time. Somewhat to my surprise, there aren't ton's of casseroles in My Grandma's Recipe boxes, but what isn't surprising is that I would find a Tuna Casserole recipe somewhere in the mix. Seriously, who doesn't have a Tuna Casserole recipe in their recipe box or file? As you will see, this is yet another simple recipe, with only 4 ingredients (not counting the bread crumb topping). It seems impossible that I could mess this one up, but honestly, I actually managed to screw up a tuna casserole. Yep, I can make a sausage log (see my previous post), but I can't make a tuna casserole. Bubba rated this one a "4" on our 1 to 10 scale. Honestly, he was being generous, because we threw this away immediately after dinner (I think it was still warm when the heavy blob hit the can). Throwing away left overs isn't unheard of at our house, but throwing them away before making a stop over in the refridgerator is, and the Tuna Delight went straight from the table to the trash. Now, I am sure that my Grandma probably didn't throw many things away, remember, she wrote recipes on the backs of envelopes and used bridge tallies, so she probably wouldn't approve of my response to this casserole, but then again, I am thinking she probably knew exactly how to make this "delightful" tuna dish. Probably of note...I doubt there are many food posts out there where someone admits to not being able to make a tuna casserole but we all know we've had a bad day in the kitchen a time or two :-)

Cream Tuna Delight
1 can white tuna - crumbled
1 small pkg. noodles - thin - cook in salted water and drain
1 can chicken soup
1 can small peas
Buttered crumbs on top. Bake 1/2 hr.

Ice Box Cookies

2009-10-28T06:08:00.004-05:00

As I continue to review My Grandma's Recipe Boxes for things to make/bake, I have realized that there are those recipes that are "no brainers" and then there are those that I have to work a little harder to read the hand writing or figure out "how" to put the ingredients listed on the card together. Today, I decided I just wasn't up to major deciphering, so I looked for something easy...one of those "no brainers". That led me to the cookie section, I mean how hard can cookies be? Right? Well, there are some that are harder than others, but I remember my mom making these Ice Box Cookies so I figured I knew I could figure out what to do. They really are easy, and convenient, if you don't want to bake all the cookies at one time you just keep these wrapped up in wax paper and slice and bake as many as you want. I found a couple "variations" as I rummaged through the boxes and I decided to make this version that uses ginger and cinnamon. The other version uses basically the same ingredients only cloves are in place of the ginger and my sister reminded me that somewhere I should be able to find a chocolate version. I will eventually make the other cookies as well and if I had thought about it sooner, I should have just made them both at the same time, would have been fun to compare the two.

Ice Box Cookies
1 C. sugar 1 C. brown sugar
1 C. butter 2 eggs
1 tsp. baking powder 1 C. nuts
1/2 tsp. ginger 4 C. flour
1/2 tsp. cinnamon 1 tsp. soda
Mix. Shape into 2 loaves. Keep in ice box. Cool 2 hours before using. 350 degrees, 8-10 minutes.

I creamed the butter and sugars, added the eggs and beat that some more, then added the spices, flour and soda and baking powder. The loaves I made resulted in 2 "logs" about 2 inches in diameter. I also messed up and used 1 tsp cinnamon, which was just fine.

Bar B Qued Beef

2009-10-23T21:02:00.005-05:00

In my Grandma's Recipe Box, it is a lot easier to find sweets than it is main dishes. This continues to feed my theory/belief that most of her recipes were acquired at some sort of social event. As I flip through the boxes, I continue to search for "main" dishes, if for no other reason than we just can't simply eat all these sweets, but also, to continue to build upon my own cooking and photography skills. Recently, as I was looking at the few "Meat" recipes Fyrne had in her box, I came across some very familiar hand writing on one of the recipe cards. It is hand writing that for as long as I can remember I have wished I could replicate. I am not sure why I think like this, maybe it's because I see the hand writing as pretty and easy to read. Or maybe the most important reason is simply, it is my mom's hand writing. The recipe card includes another simple recipe for something anybody who eat's beef has to love. Bar B Qued Beef. Now this recipe probably isn't something you would find in the recipe box of a Texas or Kansas City cook, but as a current Texas resident, I think that this is a good, easy BBQ recipe. In fact Bubba gave this an 8 on our 1 to 10 rating scale. As you'll see, this can work for a Brisket or a Chuck Roast. I used a small Brisket cut and the only regret I had was that I didn't make more. I decided to cut the slices thicker than you would with a brisket, more like a thick slice of roast beef, I would do the same again, but next time, I would also consider cutting it a little thinner.

Bar B Qued Beef
(Brisket & Chuck Roast) (5 1/2 lb roast)

At night - brush on 1 oz liquid smoke, add onion salt and garlic salt, and celery salt. Refrigerate in foil over night.
In morning - add worcestershire sauce, salt & pepper and bake in 275 degree oven for 6 hrs. Open foil and add 1/2 bottle Barbecue sauce. Bake uncovered for another 1/2 to 3/4 hrs.

Pumpkin Pie Dessert Squares - It's that time of year!

2009-10-17T18:04:00.009-05:00

In many places, including my home town, there's been frost on the pumpkin and it's early October. Imagine that! Now I love the fall and I love pumpkin "things", like pumpkin spice lattes, pumpkin pie, and as of today, these "Pumpkin Pie Dessert Squares" I found this recipe a couple of weeks ago, right about the time I heard there was going to be a pumpkin shortage. Did any of you hear that? I didn't quite panic, because much like my grandparents, I have a pantry, and sure enough, I had pumpkin, so all was right with the world and I could make this desert when the time was right.

Today's posting isn't about the recipe for me. Bubba and I have been taking pictures of food for a long time now. In fact, I think "we" were doing this way before all these blogs started. See, Bubba's mom and dad had this huge round table in the dining room of their house in Hawaii and whenever the family got together, the round table would be covered with plates and plates of food and we always took pictures of the table, ALWAYS! Of course, our pictures were taken with our instant cameras and this was well before digital cameras were even heard of. The pictures in all my previous posts have been taken much the same way, but today, I used my birthday present (a new camera) to take this photo...I have lots of learning to do, but I figure if I want one of my recipes to get published on a spot like Tastespotting.com or foodgawker.com, I have to "get with it". Ok, speaking of getting with it...here's the recipe.

Pumpkin Pie Dessert Squares
1 pkg yellow cake mix
1/2 cup butter or oleo melted
1 egg
FILLING
3 cups (1 1.b 14 oz) pumpkin pie filling
2 eggs
2/3 cup milk
TOPPING
1 cup reserved cake mix
1/4 c. sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 c. butter or oleo

Grease bottom only of 13" x 9" pan. Reserve 1 cup cake mix for topping. Combine remaining cake mix, butter and egg. Press into pan. Prepare filling by combining all ingredients until smooth. Pour over crust. For topping, combine all ingredients. Sprinkle over filling. Bake 350 for 45 to 50 minutes until knife inserted near center comes out clean. If desired serve with whip topping.

I think this is the first recipe card that I have shown that is typed. Those from my family that read this will know exactly which type writer was used to type this. I can still picture that old type writer today, in fact, when I think about it, I can even recall the smell of the type writer ribbon. It reminds me of my grandpa...I remember him being the "typer" in the family, so I suspect he may have typed this recipe for my grandma. He was great at doing those kinds of things for her!

Recipe with no name - turns out to be cornbread

2009-10-14T20:40:00.005-05:00

So I found this bridge tally sheet folded and torn and tucked away in with the "breads". It's contents included a score of "they" 400 and "we" 530, so I guess "we" won!!. On the other side was a list of ingredients and only the "baking" instructions. I could, however, tell by the contents, that I would be making cornbread. In my lifetime, I haven't been exposed to lots of cornbread, and even though we have spent the last six years living in the southwest it hasn't become a part of our "regulars". Texas is surely home to many cornbread recipes given our closeness to the southwest and the link to Native Americans who were cooking using ground corn before the Europeans explored what is now the United States. Cornbread was also popular during the Civil War because it could be baked (as with this recipe) or fried, which is common in many southwestern recipes. While Bubba and I ate this cornbread, I was reminded of the best I had ever tasted, which was made by his auntie. Honestly, the recipe seems to be a family secret so I have no idea what made it so good, I just know I liked it). This one really doesn't compare to my favorite, but it's simple and easy...not a bad combination (specially if you can put a little butter and honey with it). By the way, Bubba gave the cornbread a 6.

No Name

1 egg slightly beaten
1 c. milk
1 c. flour
1 c. corn meal
4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp melted shortening
2 tbsp sugar
Bake 30 minutes in moderate oven

There you have it!

Chocolate Sheet Cake

2009-10-11T10:37:00.033-05:00

I found this recipe for Chocolate Sheet Cake tucked in with some of the ice cream recipes in my Grandma's Recipe Box. Until I actually made it, it didn't occur to me how logical this really was. This cake is so moist and the cooked frosting is like layering creamy fudge on top. I can only imagine what it would taste like with some home made ice cream. I guess I'll have to save that for another day. I actually don't remember that last time I had "sheet cake". It was probably served where there was a crowd, a "chili supper" for the boy scouts or some other "fund raiser". Wikipedia says the following about sheet cake: " A sheet cake is a cake baked in a large, flat rectangular plan such as a sheet pan or a jelly roll pan. These single-layer cakes are almost always frosted, and may be decorated on the flat surface on the top. In the United States, these inexpensive cakes are commonly available in grocery stores, and are often served at office and birthday parties."

Here's the Chocolate Sheet Cake recipe from my Grandma's recipe box:

2 C. sugar 1/4 c. cocoa

2 C. flour 1 C. water

1/8 tsp salt 2 eggs

1 stick oleo 1 tsp vanilla

1/2 c cooking oil 1/2 buttermilk

1 tsp soda

In sauce pan mix oleo, oil & cocoa & water. Bring to boil. Pour over sugar, flour & salt mixture. Beat well. Add soda dissolved in buttermilk. Beat well and pour into greased cooking sheet. Bake at 400 (375) for 20 (25) minutes.
Frosting: Melt 1 stick oleo, 4 tbsp cocoa, 6 tbsp milk. Bring to boil, mix in powdered sugar and pour over. Add instant coffee - if needed.

Couple of comments about the recipe above. Oleo is a term used for oils, in the case of these old recipes I am assuming they used margarine (I typically use butter). If you notice, the directions don't mention anything about the eggs. I beat them with the sugar and vanilla, added the chocolate mixture and then the flour. Also the frosting doesn't give much of an idea about how much powdered sugar..my guess is I added about 2 - 2 1/2 cups. This was one of the more challenging recipe cards to read.

Curry Stew

2009-10-10T09:50:00.010-05:00

As many weeks/weekends would have it, finding time to cook something can be a daunting task. I wish I was better at thinking ahead and making sure that we had something in the fridge for every night of the week, but I just don't seem to get it done. Actually last weekend though, I did look ahead and decided to cook something Bubba could heat up after a night of fall baseball practice. It's been cooler and so the notion of Curry Stew didn't seem out of season. It is one of his favorites, from his days at home in Hawaii and I do my best to replicate how his mom used to make it. There is no recipe that I am aware of, except for the instructions from the back of the S&B Golden Curry Sauce Mix (yep, I use a mix). How I go about this is all based on what Bubba has told me about how he remembers his mother making it. I make adjustments since not all the ingredients are available in Texas, so I guess I should call this "Texas Style Curry Stew". I have never actually written a recipe, so let's see how this turns out. And you might have guessed already, this recipe didn't come from My Grandma's Recipe box, but she always wanted to visit Hawaii, and I think if she had, she might have put this in her recipe box, specially if Bubba's mom had made it for her. Based on the simplicity of the recipes in her boxes, this would have fit right in!

Curry Stew
1 - 1 1/2 lbs lean stew meat
1 box S&B Golden Curry (I like medium hot) - Usually find this in the asian section of your grocery store
Carrot, Celery, Onion, Potato all cut to preference (I cut the carrot and celery in smaller dice)
Fresh green beans (cut in to 1-2 inch bite size pieces)
Daikon (if you can find it - I say if you include this, it isn't "Texas Style")

Brown the stew meat in a small amount of olive oil. Put all the vegetables, the meat, the curry and 2 1/2 cups water in the crockpot, cook for 6-8 hours on low. Just before serving you may want to add a little corn starch dissolved in a little water to thicken the curry. Serve over rice.

Curry is a very popular dish in Hawaii, and is considered one of the most popular dishes in Japan as well. You can buy curry from lunch wagons and oka zuya's (take out deli that serves "local" food- no sandwiches) throughout Hawaii. In reading about it's history, it is typically prepared with onions, carrots and potatoes. Daikon must be the Hawaii influence and the green beans must be "mom's" influence. Curry was introduced to Japan during what is known as Meijii era (1869-1913), when India was under the administration of the British and the Imperial Japanese Navy adopted it from the British Navy. In some regions of Japan, beef curry is most popular, in other regions where there is strong Hindu and Islamic influence vegetarian, chicken and lamb curries are more popular.

J-E-L-L-O

2009-10-06T19:57:00.008-05:00

Do you remember the song? J-E-L-L-O...now that I think about it, I do. In fact I can't get it out of my head (I think there is a song about that too..for another day). Do you remember the spokesperson for Jell-O? (Jack Benny for one generation, Bill Cosby for another) Ever have a favorite fIavor? Did you know that Jell-O's history goes back to the Victorian era and that it was considered a food for the "well to do"? Did you know that the owner of the patent for powdered gelatin was also the inventor of the first American steam-powered locomotive? (Who knew I would be talking about trains this much on a food blog?) Or that there is a museum dedicated to the history of Jell-O? I decided that while I am cooking my way through my Grandma's recipe boxes, I would also take the time to learn what I could about some of the foods/dishes that I prepared, thus my ability to share this food trivia with you (much like the tater-tot trivia from a previous recipe) I think I have mentioned before, Jell-O made many an appearance at my Grandma and Grandpa's house, so it's not hard to find a recipe, what is harder is deciding which one to start with. Any way, to kick off the first of many jell-o recipes, I picked a simple one, Orange Tapioca Salad. I will admit, I purchased more Jell-O in one trip to the store than I have purchased in the last 10 years. There are still plenty of good flavors to chose from. This recipe was a bit of a surprise, it tastes alot like a creamsicle and we were asking ourselves why it is called a salad. Bubba was eating it for dessert (and he gave it a 9!).

Orange Tapioca Salad
1 pkg orange tapioca pudding jello or lemon (I did not find orange tapioca, so just used sugar-free plain tapioca)
1 pkg orange jello (3 oz) (I used sugar-free)
1 pkg instant vanilla pudding (I used sugar-free)
Put in 2 cups of hot water - stir
Cook stirring constantly until clear, thick and bubbly. Cool completely. (not sure why it says clear..it's orange and creamy)
Add 1 pkg or envelop dream whip (according to directions) (I used 2 cups of Fat-Free Coolwhip)
Add 1-1/2 can of drained mandarin oranges.

This was good...we would make it again!!!

Here's what's cooking: Apple Crumble

2009-10-03T16:03:00.003-05:00

Here's what's cooking Apple Crumble
Recipe from the kitchen of Georgia

Slice pan full of apples
1/2 cup sugar
cinnamon
Sprinkle over apples
1 cup brown sugar
scant 3/4 cup butter
1 cup flour
Mix and sprinkle over apples
Can add nuts if desired
350 degree oven - till done

Well it's October and fall has arrived in Texas. Apples are abundant in the grocery store and equally as abundant in my refridgerator as I discovered this morning. Having all these apples made my "recipe selection" easy today. As you can see, I found yet another "simple" recipe from my Grandma's recipe box, there are only a few ingredients and even fewer details. I am finding that the lack of detailed instructions are challenging for me. When I cook I have a need to know things like exactly HOW MANY apples (I didn't use enough), should I peel the apples (I didn't), or HOW LONG should it bake and HOW do you DEFINE DONE? Oh, and I didn't sprinkle the cinnamon and sugar over the apples before the other ingredients, I just mixed them all together...My Grandma would be disappointed that I didn't read directions better. Despite all my issues, this Apple Crumble tastes just as you would expect, sweet and cinnamony (is that a word?)

I don't know who Georgia is, but my guess is she served this dessert somewhere and Fyrne just had to have it. I didn't get a rating from Bubba today, maybe he'll make a comment later.

Tide, onions and frosting...it's all in the box

2009-10-01T20:47:00.000-05:00

I thought it would be good to take a break from the cooking and reflect on a few things I have found in the recipe boxes. See, these boxes are so much more than just metal boxes with recipes in them. If you take the time and look beyond the recipes themselves, there’s lots more to see. This is what makes this fun and you won’t find what I am finding in cookbooks or on-line recipe sites. For example, many of the recipes have been cut out of newspapers and magazines, so what is on the back can be as interesting as the recipe itself. On the back of one recipe is a grocery store ad that includes Giant Tide for $1.19 for 3 lbs 1 oz. If I could pay yesterday’s prices for today’s 8.8 lb box of Tide, it would cost me $3.42 versus the $15.99 I paid (on sale on Saturday). And then there’s the recipe card that doesn’t really have a recipe on it, it contains the following information we all need to know. :)

“Do you know that boiled onions then served with creamed sauce or onions served in any manner will free children from worms”

And for my mom, who I know makes a great chocolate cake with butter frosting, here’s one for you from Grandma’s recipe box.

Easy Butter Frosting

Beat thoroughly, 6 tablespoons soft butter, 3 cups powdered sugar, 3 tablespoons milk or cream and ½ teaspoon vanilla. Coloring may be added. Will frost a 2 layer cake.

Enjoy!!

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2009-09-30T15:54:00.005-05:00

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Pictures on a recipe card...Priceless!

2009-09-29T20:27:00.022-05:00

As I continue to make my way through the recipe boxes, I am finding all kinds of things to cook and write about. Today's recipe isn't one that I could see myself making but for the fact that it was in one of my Grandma's recipe boxes. In fact, I'll admit, I went in to preparing this recipe thinking I would make it, see how it turned out and dispose of it before Bubba ever laid eyes on it. Obviously I didn't have high expectations for my abilities or for the actual taste of the "Golden Sausage Roll". What drew me to this, first and foremost, was the accompanying instructions or more truthfully, the picture that was included with the instructions. I mean really, how could you not see the picture below and not smile and think "Gee, I think I know what to do with this". Now, I don't know if my Grandma actually drew this or her friend Merle did (As you can see on the card, she notes that this is Merle's recipe.) but either way, the image is priceless.

Golden Sausage Roll
2 lbs pork sausage
3-4 golden delicious apples, pared, cored and diced to measure 3 cups
1 onion, chopped
2 cups soft bread crumbs
1 egg slightly beaten
1/2 tsp salt

1 onion sliced
2 golden delicious apples
1/4 c butter
parsley
pitted ripe olives
dash of pepper

Roll out sausage between 2 sheets of heavy waxed paper into a 12 inch square. Mix together diced apples, chopped onion, bread crumbs, egg and seasonings. Spread on sausage and roll up. Place in a baking dish seam side down and bake 350 degrees for about 1 hour and 15 minutes until browned.

Core remaining apples, but do not pare and slice into rings. Saute apple rings and sliced onion in butter until golden. Garnish baked roll with onions, apple rings with olives in the center, and parsley.

I used Jimmy Dean sausage and since I wasn't planning anything fabulous with this recipe, I omitted the olives as you can see in the picture. Actually, when I look at this picture it reminds me of some of the pictures in the old red checkered Better Homes and Garden's Cook Book. If you don't believe and you have an old cookbook, take a look, you'll see what I mean. Honestly, this was a rather tasty dish if you like pork sausage and stuffing. The combination of the apples, onions and the flavor from the sausage did come together nicely. Bubba, tasted it and gave it a 7+ on our scale and he wouldn't let me get rid of it as I had planned...guess the Golden Sausage Roll will be making an appearance as a left over this week.

Where to begin?

2009-09-26T11:33:00.007-05:00

Now that I have a couple of recipes under my belt, I think I need to figure out how to go about this in some sort of organized way. My Grandma does have some organization to each box, for example, the box I am looking at now has pies, preserves, rolls, salads, sandwiches, sauces, soups, and vegetables sections (very 1st grade teacher appropriate). So I think I am getting the flow, but wait...the next section after vegetables is pancakes; waffles. OK, now why wouldn't she put pancakes & waffles before pies? And it get's even crazier, after that she has the chicken dishes section, oh, and now I see the pickle section, yep, an entire section dedicated to pickles (I'll save that one for later). I don't even know where to begin. I think I'll just start cooking based on what my taste tester (he has informed me he would like to be known as "Bubba" in this process ) is hungry for. I am thinking this approach will lead to higher ratings so it's just fine with me. So here's a good one to tackle on a Saturday morning, Oatmeal Cookies. Once again I found multiple recipe cards for the same recipe. I think she has multiples because even she was confused about the organization of her recipe box.

Oatmeal Cookies
3 c. rolled oats 5 tsp. milk
3 c. flour 1 tsp. cinnamon
2 c. sugar 1 c. raisins
2 tsp. soda 1 c. nuts
2 eggs 1 c. melted butter
Dissolve soda in milk. Beat eggs separately adding yolks to milk. Mix flour, oatmeal and sugar. Drop by spoonfuls or roll in small balls and place far apart in tins. Bake in moderate oven.

As you look at this recipe, you will see there are probably some details missing. At least I thought so. Today's recipes usually provide step by step instructions which makes it easier for any of us to turn out a decent dish. Well, I had to leverage some of my experience to pull this one together, so let me tell you a little about the details I used. I beat the eggs, added the sugar and mixed on a high speed for about 30 seconds. Then I added the milk and soda mixture. Then I added the cinnamon and melted butter, mixed this together, added the flour, oatmeal, nuts and raisins. I also added about a tsp. of salt since I used unsalted butter. I set the oven at 350 degrees and cooked them for about 8 minutes. As you can see, the cookies are somewhat large (about 6 cookies to the cookie sheet). Bubba was on his way to the airport to pick up some recruits so I got his rating on the way out the door (with a cookie in his mouth). He gave them an 8+ (at least we kind of stayed to the rating scale this time). This recipe is quite different from the one on the Quaker Oat box. I think I like this one better and agree with Bubba's rating.