Recommended cookware.

Let’s chat about cookware for a bit. People are always wondering what to buy, especially young folks going out on their own for the first time or newlyweds. Even folks who are just looking for new stuff.Well I sure do have an opinion. Of course I can also be influenced. I am a member of the America’s test kitchen web site and they do product and tool/implement testing. They recommend All Clad and I would certainly get that and as a matter of fact I do intend to buy a couple of skillets of theirs in the future. But a 10 inch skillet is $105. A full set of that stuff runs close to $2000. So ya see I am not a Rockerfeller. So I will need to get a piece at a time.

I hear a lot about Calphalon, and they were tested along with all clad and it passed the test but never performed the best in cookware but did test the best in bake ware. All clad was the pick every time. They had very little good to say about the noted “Chef’s cookware” such as Rachel Ray, Emeril and Mario Batali. Only one was ever recommended with reservations and that was Mario Batali’s big pot. I am proud to say that my cookware usually received the nod as the best cookware for the money as the best buy.

My cookware is Farberware. It is 25 years old, I had thought it was about 30 years old but when I got to thinking about when I actually got it, it was exactly 25 years ago this year. It is wonderful except for the skillets. They were immediately relegated to the camping cookware. For skillets, I do have my beloved cast iron, all over about 40-50 years old and well seasoned. I also have some all around non stick skillets that are oven safe also. I have some general bake ware with some professional pans, muffin tins, and cookie sheets. I have a ton of Wilton cake pans of all different shapes and sizes. I have the black and white speckled roasters in 4 sizes that are also probably 40-50 years old. I have a cast iron dutch oven that is the same age as the skillets.

So I highly recommend Farberware. My daughter has Revere ware that is almost 13 years old. I like it too but still prefer the Farberware. I am going to include some pictures of my 25 year old Farberware and my daughter’s Revere ware. I will even gladly show you the bottoms.

The most important thing about good pots and pans is how you take care of them. I have a couple of products that I highly recommend, and have been using them for as long as I can remember. The first is Bar Keeper’s Friend and the second is Never Dull. Every once in a while stainless steel will get that cloudy look in the bottom or a rainbow lookin sheen. Bar keeper’s Friend gets rid of that easily and it will also take off any of that cooked on junk that gets on the bottom. The Never Dull takes care of any of the water spots and dull areas. Now I automatically use both of these on my pots quarterly come rain come shine. The first Saturday in Feb, May, August, and November I drag out every piece of equipment and dish especially those I use rarely, I also get the Silver out, and they all get washed, polished, buffed etc.

I use the bar Keeper’s Friend as they need it. But the bottoms still get a bit grungy since the grand daughter does them so they need the scrubbing quarterly to get all that gunk off. You will be able to see it in the pictures. Next month is scrub time. There was even a pan that needed some extra care and I took some pictures of it as well as one of my mother’s pots that is 51 years old.

For cast iron, well it needs special care. I never , NEVER use soap on my cast iron, it screws up the season. I wash it in hot water. If you work on your skillets before they get cold, things don’t get stuck on. However, if on occasion, things stick, then put it on the stove ,then put in water, bring it to a boil and just use a spatula as if you were deglazing and it comes right off. Then make sure it is good and dry and use a little paper towel to rub just a few drops of oil in. Twice a year you should re season. I actually scrub it with soap and water. Then rub it with oil. Make sure you don’t get too much on, you want just enough to get it rubbed in. If you get too much then it will get sticky in there. Then put it in a 300 degree oven for about an hour. The more you cook in them the better the seasoning stays.

Farberware insides

Farberware insides

Farberware sides

Farberware sides

Inside of Farberware

Inside of Farberware

The bottoms of the Farberware

The inside of my daughter’s Revereware

The sides of my daughter’s Revereware

The bottom of my daughter’s Revereware

Closeup of the inside of the Farberware

The inside of the 51 year old pan

The inside of the 51 year old skillet after Bar Keeper’s Friend

The bottom of the 51 year old pan

Excellent products

My future skillets

Now there are three pictures are of a pot that was my mothers, she got it before I was born and I am 50. I was happy to see that it had that rainbow, cloudy haze on the inside that I have been talking about. The first picture is of that haze on the inside of this Sears and Roebuck Stainless Steel pot, the second one is the inside of the pot after I have used the Bar Keeper’s Friend and the third is the bottom of the same pan. It looks almost brand new. Course in person, when you look at the handles, (one is broken) you can see the wear on them.

No matter what you get, you should have these two products on hand to care for your cook ware, to keep it looking good,and prolong it’s use. But with these pictures, it might help to see what they look like after 25 years of wear and tear.

So there ya go, these are the things I recommend because they work. Remember a good set of cook ware should last a lifetime. So make your choices with that in mind. Then buy the stuff to take care of it properly and you will be happy. There may be a bit of brown on the bottom of a couple of my pots but it won’t be there next month and I will match my old pots to anyone’s.  My cast iron is in excellent shape. I have never had to replace either one in the past 25 years. The only new cook ware I have ever had to buy is the non stick skillets and I have to replace them every couple of years.

So until we meet again, Happy cookin, Happy Smackin!!!

Granny’s public service announcement, more important than paris or Lindsay or Brittney

Good morning, pull up a chair, grab a cup. I know I have been sketchy here lately and not posting each day. I apologize. There will be days that I miss due to an argument with mother nature. She seems to have afflicted me with a few problems one of which is high blood pressure. It certainly is not the one that does the most damage but it is the deadliest. For some reason this past week, my blood pressure decided to rear its ugly head. Even when you get it back down, it is still hours before the headache goes away.

Granny’s Public Service Announcement: High blood pressure like smoking takes days, weeks, months, years off of your life if you do not keep it in control. Even in good control, there will be days when it wants to act out. During these times, especially if you cannot see a doctor, go to bed, dark room, stress free, lay on your left side as much as possible. Of course take your medicine as your doctor ordered. This is the best way to get the blood pressure down. Now please hear me when I say it is best that you go to the doctor immediately. But I am also a realist, I know you may not have insurance or the money. Of course it is not risking your life over but if you refuse to seek medical attention, then this is what you can do to help the situation. *Granny steps down off the soapbox*

So now the last night I was able to cook a full meal, (thank God Lulu is here to step up to the plate), anyway I do have the recipes and the pictures. It was a fairly easy meal with lots of flavor. The menu was: Frito Chili Pie Salad, Butternut squash, Rice Salad, Rolls and dump cake.

Frito chili salad

1 pound ground beef
1 chopped onion
1 teaspoon pureed garlic
8 ounce tomato sauce
½ cup tomato juice
1-2 tablespoon chili powder
½-1 teaspoon cumin
¼ teaspoon oregano
1 can kidney beans drained and rinsed
8 ounce bag fritos
lettuce
tomato
onion
grated cheese
sour cream
salsa

Preheat oven to 350. Grease 2 quart casserole. brown meat, then add onion and garlic. Drain. Add tomato sauce, tomato juice, seasonings. Stir in beans. Put meat in a casserole dish, then top with grated cheese and top with fritos. Cover and bake for 40 minutes. In the meantime make salad out of lettuce, onion, and tomato. Serve frito chili on bed of lettuce and add grated cheese and serve with salsa and sour cream.
Notes: I use 2 tablespoons chili powder and 1 teaspoon cumin cause I like that fullness of the earthy flavors. If you would like to add some heat, then a couple of slices of diced jalapeno will do the trick. The kids do not eat salad so I just serve it as a casserole. I also love tortilla chips so I use those instead of fritos. I also like pinto beans a whole lot better than kidney beans so I use those instead. I would venture a guess that even black beans would work. I also use 1 ½ pounds meat and maybe a touch more tomato juice.

Rice salad

2/3 cup long grain rice
¼ teaspoon salt
2 tablespoon chopped parsley
1-2 tablespoon chopped dill
½ teaspoon grated lemon zest
2 tablespoon water
2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon dijon mustard
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1 cup finely diced yellow squash
1 cup small broccoli florets
3 radishes thinly sliced
1 green onion thinly sliced
cherry tomatoes halved
1 cup diced zucchini
bell peppers of any color cut in half, seeds cleaned out.

In small pan cook rice and salt in 1 ½ cup water, then rinse rice in cold water, drain and set aside. Toss veggies with rice. Make dressing out of remaining ingredients, Toss all together and serve in bell pepper halves. If you do not want to use the bell pepper bowls then dice one bell pepper finely and add to salad.
Notes: I added 1 teaspoon chicken bouillon to my rice cooking water. I doubled the dressing cause rice just soaks it up. I also added a couple of tablespoons lemon juice to the dressing as well as my old reliable standby a clove of crushed garlic. I blanched my broccoli and squash for 3 minutes then rinsed in cold water so I could set the color. I added 1 finely sliced quartered baby carrots.

Butternut squash bake

1 large butternut squash about 3 pounds
¼ cup butter, melted
½ cup orange juice
¼ cup packed brown sugar
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ginger
1/8 teaspoon cloves
Orange marmalade

Peel the squash and cut in chunks, boil in salted water till tender. Drain well and let dry a bit. preheat oven to 350. Take squash and mash with potato masher, then add the remaining ingredient except marmalade one at a time and mix well. Spread this into a buttered casserole, then spread a thin layer of marmalade on top. Bake for 30 minutes.
Notes: the only thing I change about this is I leave out the marmalade, no one likes it on there.

Dump cake

2 can cherry pie filling (or your favorite)
1 medium sized can crushed pineapple
1 yellow cake mix
1 sticks butter

In a 9×13 inch pan, pour the ie filling over the bottom. Sprinkle the pineapple plus juice over the pie filling. Pour the dry cake mix over this and level the powder. Cut 1 stick butter into pats and place over the top of the cake mix. Now place this in hot 350 degree oven for 5-10 minutes till butter melts. Take it out and add pats of butter to the dry areas. Place back in oven and bake 30-45 minutes till golden brown. Serve with whipped cream, ice cream or warm custard sauce
Notes: The original recipe calls for cherry pie filling but hey I love change so I make all kinds, blueberry (son in law‘s fave), blackberry (my fave), peach (lulu’s fave). This time however, I made strawberry. I got that Comstock strawberry pie filling and it was scrumptious. I did not want to have to be saddled with pulling it out after 5-10 minutes, so I melted the butter, poured it over and then using the back of a spoon, smoothed it all over the top till not powder showed.

Happy Smackin!!!

YEP My Dementia is showing!!

I made that “hole” long donut post because I was planning a donut day, making cider donuts with the chitlins. And yet I completely forgot to add the recipe for the cider donuts. I can only plead insanity. So here ya go for those who wanted the cider donut recipe.

Cider donuts
1 gallon of apple cider (for baking and drinking)
1 cup sugar
¼ cup solid vegetable shortening
2 large eggs
½ cup buttermilk
3 ½ cup all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. cinnamon
½ tsp. salt
¼ tsp. nutmeg
Vegetable oil or shortening for frying
Boil 1 cup of apple cider in a small saucepan for 8 to 10 minutes or until cider is reduced to 1/4 cup; let cool. In a large bowl, beat sugar with solid shortening until smooth. Add eggs and mix well, then add buttermilk and cooled cider. In a medium-sized bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, salt and nutmeg. Add to liquid ingredients; mix ingredients just enough to combine. Transfer dough to the lightly floured board and pat to 1/2-inch thickness. Cut with a 3-inch donut cutter; re-roll the excess donut holes and cut scraps back into the dough. Refrigerate formed donuts on baking sheets for about 20 minutes to help firm the dough prior to frying. Add enough oil or shortening to fill a deep (3-inch) pan; heat to approximately 375°F or until the oil is bubbling. Fry several donuts at a time, turning once or twice until browned and cooked through, about 4 minutes. Remove and place on paper towels for draining and cooling.
Once the donuts have drained and cooled a bit, shake up the donuts in the bag of cinnamon sugar. Finished donuts can be placed on a wire rack to continue cooling.
Spiced Cider
Cider left after making donuts
2 cinnamon sticks
2 whole cloves
Whole nutmeg
½ orange peel
pour the excess apple cider into a large saucepan and heat with cinnamon sticks, nutmeg, cloves and orange peel cider and stir occasionally. Not only will it add warm festive fragrances throughout your home, it makes a tasty complement to the donuts.
So there ya go.
While I am here, I will also add my take on Strawberry Daiquiri Jell-O. A while back I bought a couple of boxes if Strawberry Daiquiri Jell-o, and the family loved it. I always keep jell-o on hand, it is a cheap and easy dessert and everyone likes having dessert every day. Now I make my own puddings so I only buy them if they are called for in a recipe and my family prefers the homemade. I have on occasion made homemade jell-o with fruit juices and unflavored gelatin but for the most part I just buy it. Anyway, low and behold that strawberry daiquiri jell-o was just a temporary special item. Wouldn’t ya know they don’t make it anymore and the family keeps asking for it. So what do ya do when it is fourth and down and the team is screamin at ya to make a play and make it good. Ya punt and hope it was enough.

So I made my own recipe, and guess what, it was a touchdown. They loved it and asked for more. Damn people always wantin more. It is really quite good, and I believe it would be vicious in my red and white dessert, yep no name just colors.

Strawberry Daiquiri Jell-O

1 (3 ounce) box Strawberry jell-o
1 (3 ounce) box Wild strawberry jell-o
1 (10 ounce) frozen Strawberry Daiquiri Drink Mix (Bacardi) thawed
2 ¾ cups water

In bowl, take the daiquiri mix and mix it with ¾ cup water. Bring the remaining 2 cups water to a boil, and then dissolve both boxes of jell-o in it. Then add it into the daiquiri/water mix. Then divide into 6 dessert glasses or just chill in bowl or mold till firm.
Notes: You could easily make strawberry daiquiri jell-o shots by substituting ¾ cup rum for the ¾ cup water.

Or try it on the top of:

Red and white dessert

2 cups shortbread cookie crumbs
¾ cup melted butter
3 tablespoons sugar
3/4 cup sugar
1 (8 ounce) package of cream cheese at room temperature
1 cup whipping cream
3 tablespoons powdered sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla
Jell-O of choice
Fruit of choice (optional)
Whipped cream for garnish

Preheat oven to 400. Mix cookie crumbs, 3 tbsp sugar and butter and press into the bottom of a 9×13 inch pan that you have sprayed lightly. Bake for 7 minutes and set aside to cool. Beat cream cheese and ¾ cup sugar till smooth. Set aside. Now whip the cream until it is thickened and then gradually add the powdered sugar, then stir in the vanilla. Now fold the whipped cream into the cream cheese mixture. Spread this over the cooled crust and place in the fridge. Now mix your jell-o as directed. Place this in the fridge to cool of and get thickened. That takes only about 30 minutes. Now take the dessert and if you are using fruit such as sliced strawberries, place these over the filling. Then ladle the thickened jell-o over this and place back in fridge and let it set over 4 hours at least.

So there ya go, I just made that jell-o last night and it really was good. I keep a lot of those frozen juice blends on hand for smoothies, I just put the concentrate in my smoothies straight from the freezer, and have found them a wonderful addition to smoothies so now I am looking into adding those to a few different jell-os. I love the Welch’s passion fruit concentrate so I guarantee it will be the next I fool around with.

So until next time Happy Smackin’!!!

WHO MAKES THE DONUTS?

The topic today is donuts. Yes those wonderful delicate rings of all things good and fair in this land. Yeah I know it is just a donut but then one man’s donut is another man’s pate foie gras.I can remember my mama making donuts, I would watch as those little white rings went in to the deep fryer, swam around and bubbled till they became a beautiful golden brown. Then out to drain the excess grease which in those days was usually lard or solid Crisco. Then mama would have a variety of toppings from powdered sugar, sugar cinnamon, to glazed, and both vanilla and chocolate iced. She would make long johns which are simply a hole-less rectangular donut. I always ordered long johns cause they looked bigger and they were the same price so I felt like 2 long johns was much more advantageous than 2 donuts. I think what I loved the most was mama would first glaze them THEN add the icing too. Talk about getting your cake and eating it too.

I have noticed at most donut stores if you ask for the chocolate iced, well that is all there is but not my mama’s. The best of both worlds on the plate.

Mama made cakey type, crullers which believe it or not are very simple, yeast raised, and potato donuts.

Now one type of donut Mama did not make was cider donuts. After we moved to upstate New York, we heard that cider donuts were a big deal. Shoot I wouldn’t even drink a cup of cider unless it was bubbling with cinnamon, cloves, orange or lemon. Then I had one and them and some tasty little buggers, yes they are. Even mama would have liked them. So I will include that recipe too.

One of the biggest problems I come up against is I have a ton of handwritten recipes. My mama lived 42 years and in that time she made a whole passel of things and trying to remember which ones I loved, is very hard cause I just didn’t always know. She died when I was 18 and there just isn’t anyone to ask now. So I will include all of her recipes and then a couple of mine. But that leads me to another PSA.

Granny’s Public Service Announcement
Ok you are sitting there reading this and I am sure you think on occasion oh my mom does that or my mom makes that. Now I am telling you that is not enough. Families pass down all kinds of things such as heirlooms, stories, land etc. Recipes are often passed down but herein lies the problem. Sometimes mama’s don’t put things down, we keep it in our head because it becomes part of our repertoire and it becomes so everyday that we give it no thought. So get with your mama, grandma, granny, mamaw, mother in law, and get all those things down now because she won’t always be with you. Mark my words there will come a day when out of the blue you think of something such as in my case a pineapple cake, it was the only one like it I have ever found, it was iced with crushed pineapple that was cooked with something enough to become spread able, and yet it was never written down. Get creative, people are into scrap booking, make a recipe scrapbook, or make a family recipe book to pass down to the generations to come. Leave a written word of the person you love and admire and sprinkle it with the stories of that person.

I even have stories of eating at JKY and SKY’s house and their mama, who was the tiniest little thing and her husband always did the big game hunting. I always found it humorous that this little lady and she was a lady of the finest kind would be cooking big old moose and big old bear. Then there is CKH’s mama, I have tons of stories of her, oh and she was a wonderful woman, she always called the little fart. She made some great fried potatoes and chili mac and a cake, let me see I cannot be sure whether it was a plum cake or a wine cake but it was that color and it was scrumptious. I think I won’t let that pass cause Lady D is still with us. Heh I guess now I can be the old fart. So do not let those things go, do it now, because tomorrow, may see it as a memory. While you are at it, let them know how much you love them, how much they have affected your life. Granny steps down off the soap box.

Well without further ado and stomach growlings, let me get to the recipes.

Mama’s old fashioned donuts

1½ cup sugar
2 eggs, beaten
3 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoons nutmeg
2 egg yolks
4½ cups flour
Pinch of salt
1 cup milk

Add the sugar to the 2 egg yolks and beat thoroughly; mix in the 2 beaten whole eggs. Sift dry ingredients and add alternately with the milk to the sugar and egg mixture. Do not beat too much, just enough to mix the dry ingredients with the liquid. Have the dough rather stiff. Roll out on a floured board, about 1/4 inch thick. Fry in hot lard. Handle the dough as little as possible. Drain on brown paper, then glaze and when cold store in a stone crock.
Note: Back then there was no paper towels, you had cloth napkins and tea towels period. So when something needed drained you put it on the brown paper bags you brought groceries home in. Every kitchen had big stone crock, it was used to make kraut among other things and often doubled as a cookie jar.

Potato Donuts

2 cups mashed potatoes (plain)
¼ cup butter softened
Pinch salt
3 cups sugar
3 beaten eggs
1 cup milk
7 cups flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
Nutmeg (optional)

Mix butter with potatoes; add pinch of salt, sugar, eggs, ilk. Sift 7 cups all-purpose flour. Put 5 cups flour with eggs and milk mixture. Take remaining 2 cups flour and add baking powder. Add bit of nutmeg. Mix. Roll or pat out to ¼ to ½ inch thick. Fry in deep fat on a medium stove until golden brown. Drain then glaze.

Big House Donuts (Mama always said this was a White house recipe from when she was a kid, hence the pint measures)

2 cups milk
4 eggs
1 tablespoonful melted butter,
Flavoring of choice (nutmeg, cinnamon, vanilla etc)
Pinch salt
Pint of flour

First boil the milk and pour it, while hot, over flour; beat it very smooth and when it is cool have ready the yolks of the eggs well beaten; add them to the milk and flour, beaten well into it, then add the well-beaten whites; then, lastly, add the salt and as much more flour as will make the whole into a soft dough; flour your board, turn your dough upon it, roll it in pieces as thick as your finger and cut them with donut cutter and deep fry them. Then drain and glaze.

Puffballs (what we call holes now, mama called em puffballs, they are a really quick recipe that she made in between the whole donut thing)

3 eggs
1 cupful of sugar,
1 pint of sweet milk,
salt,
nutmeg and
flour
two heaping teaspoonfuls of baking powder

Mix all ingredients and add enough flour to permit the spoon to stand upright in the mixture; add baking powder to the flour; beat all until very light. Drop by the dessertspoonful into boiling lard. Fry until golden brown, serve warm.

Now Mama has a recipe called plain donuts, it is well colored and looks like some cooking fingers made some prints so I am sure she made these, not only because of how the recipe looks but because of the way it is written. A lot of her recipes say pint or a tea cup etc and when they do I will let ya know how much that is. One recipe says a coffee cup full of flour, and she literally meant get your cup that you drink coffee from and those typically help 6 ounces or ¾ cup.

Plain donuts

1 egg
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons butter
1 cup sweet milk
Pinch salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 cups flour
½ teaspoon ginger
¼ teaspoon nutmeg

Mix egg, sugar and butter and beat till creamy. Add milk (sweet milk just refers to regular old mil as opposed to buttermilk). Mix all dry ingredients together then add to the creamed mixture. Roll out about ¼ to ½ inch thick. Cut into donuts. Cook in deep fat that will fry a small walnut sized ball of dough in 65 seconds, do not let fat get above that degree of heat. My not: You are safe between 350 and 375.

Buttermilk donuts

2 beaten eggs;
1 cup sugar;
1 cup buttermilk;
3 tablespoons melted butter;
4 cups flour with a teaspoon soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt added in

Now that is all that the recipe says but you will proceed the same way, roll out to ¼ to ½ inch thick, cut and then deep fry.

Raised donuts

2 pkgs. yeast
1/2 c. scalded milk
1/3 c. sugar
3 1/2 c. flour
2 eggs
1/2 c. warm water
1/3 c. shortening
1 tsp. salt
Soften yeast in warm water. Set aside. In large bowl combine milk, shortening, sugar, salt and cool to lukewarm. Add 1 cup of the flour and beat well. Beat in yeast, water and eggs. Add remaining flour and make soft dough. Mix well. Place in greased bowl. Cover and chill 3 hours (or overnight). If raises in refrigerator, punch down. Turn on lightly floured surface. Roll 1/3 inch thick. Cut with floured donut cutter. Let rise 30 or 40 minutes. Fry in deep fat (375 degrees) about 2 minutes or until brown. Turn once only, can soak up too much greased otherwise. Drain on paper towel.

Now let’s talk about what top em with. You are limited only by your imagination. You can do a glaze, or you can do a chocolate or vanilla frosting, or a flavored glaze or simply dust them with granulated sugar, sugar and cinnamon mixture, powdered sugar, or my mother used to throw a stick of butter in the skillet, melt it and add in brown sugar and cook it lightly just till the brown sugar was melted and then put a bit of that in the bowl and we could sop it up with our donuts and use as little or as much as we wanted.

Now my mama did not have those written down but I have collected a few that I have used and highly recommend.

Regular glaze

1/4 cup whole milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups confectioners’ sugar
Combine milk and vanilla in a medium saucepan and heat over low heat until warm. Sift confectioners’ sugar into milk mixture. Whisk slowly, until well combined. Remove the glaze from the heat and set over a bowl of warm water. Dip doughnuts into the glaze, 1 at a time, and set on a draining rack placed in a half sheet pan for 5 minutes before serving.

Chocolate glaze, As I said earlier, I prefer to glaze my donuts as above with the regular glaze, let it dry a bit, then dip just one side in the chocolate glaze.
½ cup unsalted butter
¼ cup whole milk, warmed
1 tablespoon light corn syrup
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
2 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted

Combine butter, milk, corn syrup, and vanilla in medium saucepan and heat over medium heat until butter is melted. Decrease the heat to low, add the chocolate, and whisk until melted. Turn off heat, add the powdered sugar, and whisk until smooth. Place the mixture over a bowl of warm water and dip the doughnuts immediately. Allow glaze to set for 30 minutes before serving.
Note: Instead of using a bowl of hot water, I bought a heating pad specifically for the kitchen, for raising yeast rolls etc, so put your bowl of melted chocolate on the heating pad on medium and it works perfectly. Also you can change the chocolate such as german chocolate, milk chocolate and even white chocolate. You can change it altogether these days because now we also have peanut butter and butterscotch chips so you can do that.

Fruit Glaze

2 cups powdered sugar
A bit of orange zest
¼ cup orange juice
A drop or two of almond flavoring

Mix and add more powdered sugar if needed to make a thick glaze. Now you can change this around a bit for non citrus fruits by adding juice or if no juice then I take a couple of tablespoons of jam/jelly and dissolve it into hot water and use that.

Vanilla icing, this is as easy as 1 2 3

2 cups powdered sugar
2 tablespoons butter at room temperature
1-2 tablespoons half and half
½-1 teaspoon vanilla

Mashed butter as much as possible into the powdered sugar then add the vanilla, and mix, then start adding your half and half a few drops at a time till it is spread able, this is not one to dip, it’s a spreader. You can alter this by using real Maple syrup instead of the half and half and make a maple icing.

Now for a completely adult donut

Take a couple of cups of powdered sugar, and mash a couple of tablespoons of room temperature butter in to it then add a few tablespoons of a liqueur of your choice such as Amaretto, and make a glaze. Yummy, yummy but again steer the kiddoes away from those.

Oh and crullers the old fashioned way. Now these days a lot of them are made by putting the batter in a piping bad and piping it out in a circle with a large open star tip. You can certainly do that. But the old fashioned way is to roll out the dough, and then cut in flat strips, then twist the strip around and form it into a circle and join the two ends.

Now go forth and multiply your flour and ingredients into piles of donuts. They really are easy and oh so delicious.

So in answer to the question who makes the donuts? Well I make the donuts, hope you will too and then

HAPPY SMACKIN!!!

WHO’S the Antique?

Last week my daughter and I went antiquing. Oh we had a whole passel full of fun. We love antiques. We each have our collections but we are not limited to just those things. However, it is sometimes hard to find something older than me, so it’s more like an antique looking for antiques. It is sad when ya find something that was clearly from the period when you were a little girl and people are pouring over it like it’s a great find and you think well shoot I had one in 3 different colors, nothing special, and it didn’t work. Yet there it is with some exorbitant price.

My daughter collects pigs, Boston Terrier things, and tea pots. I collect cookbooks, Hard Rock T shirts, and all things Tinkerbell. My father was a stickler that we were not allowed to go to movies, but every Sunday night at 6pm the Wonderful World of Disney came on and Tinkerbell would come out and sprinkle her fairy dust all around and I just loved her. Then when I was 18, I saw my first Disney movie which was The Rescuers an I loved it. The first time I saw Cinderella was with my daughter when she was 5, so I was 26. The minute videos started coming out, I started buying all the Walt Disney movies as soon as they came out. My daughter was still little and I used the excuse that I was buying them for her, but even when she was 15, I was still buying them, I used the excuse someday I will watch them with my grandbabies. In all actuality, I was buying them for me cause I had never seen the older ones and was delighted with each and every one. Ackk I digress, back to the antiquing.

We found a gorgeous teapot for my daughter. It is a tea for one set, where the teapot sits inside the teacup on the saucer and it looks like it is just 2 pieces until you lift it. I will try to remember to get a picture of it. Strange that she loves tea pots and tea sets cause I am the hot tea drinker.

I also found a great cookbook although not an antique. I fell in love with this vintage “The First ladies Cook Book”. Each section is topped by a photo of both the President and his First Lady then there area couple of pages about their history and social life in the white house plus a bit of history on the meals of that Presidency. There is also a picture of that President’s State China. Then there are from just a couple to 4 or 5 recipes plus pictures that were favorites of the President and his Missus.

There are some photographs of the some of the original handwritten recipes, often signed by the First lady and some photos of a cook book written in that time. It is just quite informative and very interesting.

One of the things I found so interesting is that molded gelatin salads were popular as far back as Thomas Jefferson. They were called jellies and were made long before jell-o or unflavored gelatin was even thought of. I found the way they made this early gelatin intriguing.

There are a couple of recipes I want to share with you. In some cases the original recipe is written and then a culinary expert has re-written it so it can be made today. I want you to be able to read the original so I will transcribe both, the original recipe will be italicized and in parenthesis while the re-write for today will just be italicized.

{ Wine Jelly
Take 4 calves feet & wash them well without taking off the hoofs, (or instead of that 1 oz. isinglass, or 1 oz. of deers horns) These fee must be well boiled the day before they are wanted. Let them cool in order to take off the grease. After taking off the grease put the jelly in a casserole. Put there 4 oz. sugar, cloves, nutmeg. Boil all together. Take 6 whites of eggs, the juice of 6 lemons, a pint of milk, a pint of Madeira, Stir all together, Pour it into the jelly & boil it. Taste it to see if sweet enough, if not, add powdered sugar. Strain it 2 or 3 times thru’ flannel till clear. Put it in glasses or moulds.}

I was fascinated by the recipe. I had to look it up, the problem with using calf’s hooves was it also left a real beefy taste so they always had to make the “jelly” really strong-tasting hence the cloves spices. Isinglass is a component found in the swim bladders of fish, so it left a fishy taste. They could actually buy powdered deer horn and isinglass but had to boil the hooves.

Now here is the same recipe with more definite amounts using today’s ingredients.

Wine Jelly
2 envelopes of unflavored gelatin
½ cup cold water
2 cups milk or strained fruit juice
¾ – 1 cup sugar
Pinch salt
1 pint Madeira (can also use burgundy or sherry)
Strained juice of 3 lemons
Fresh fruit for garnish

Dissolve 2 envelopes of gelatin in water. Add this to the milk or fruit juice, then bring this to a bubble. Add sugar and pinch of salt to taste. Let cool. Next add the pint of wine and lemon juice.
Pour into mold that has been chilled. Set in refrigerator for at least 2 hours. Un-mold and serve cold. Decorate with fresh fruits that have been rolled in sugar.

This was a favorite recipe of President Thomas Jefferson and First Lady Martha Jefferson.

I absolutely love this cook book even if it is not an antique.

Oh My Gravy

Last night’s dinner was a simple one of fried pork chops, mashed taters, gravy, cauliflower and rolls. Dessert was just jell-o. There are no real recipes but I would like to discuss gravy a bit.Most people shrivel at the prospect of making gravy. I have even had a friend that was so terrified of making gravy, she would open a can of cream of whatever soup and add about a half can of milk and heat it up and call it gravy. Now that is fine in a pinch or if that is what you want for gravy but you sure are missing something wonderful. A good gravy is better than, well, hmm, any of the 7 deadly sins for me anyway.

Gravy is really quite simple and so I never gave it a lick of thought and people would ask and I would tell em my lick and a promise way of making gravy. They were polite an smiled and said thanks but of course I could see they were not a gonna make gravy.

Then my daughter grew up, got married and immediately moved a fer piece from me, all the way to Hawaii. She had never cooked much of anything when she got married. I made her a little recipe box with some of her favorite things and how to make em. But she called one day a wantin to make gravy, so I tried the lick and promise thing but it did not fly, she wanted exact amounts which I didn’t have. So I went to the kitchen and worked it out. I will include that at the bottom of this post.

The next thing I learned about gravy was people call it different things. For example, in others lingo they will say sausage gravy, well to them that mean making a pound of sausage in gravy. But to me sausage gravy means cream gravy made in sausage drippings. After quite a few years I think I have figured out what they mean to what I mean.

Now I say sausage cream gravy, bacon cream gravy, ham cream gravy, chicken cream gravy, pork chop cream gravy, hamburger cream gravy, and that means the gravy is cooked from the drippings/grease left over from frying up the main ingredients.

Now I say chicken gravy, roast gravy, turkey gravy and that means the gravy made from a bit of butter, flour and the juice leftover from making baked/roasted chicken, roast, turkey or broth of the above.

Now I also say sausage SOS, hamburger SOS, chipped beef SOS, and that is where I make my 1 pound of sausage in gravy.

Then there is white gravy and chocolate gravy. White gravy is made the same as any other cream gravy except you start with either new oil or butter, and you only cook the flour just a minute to take the raw taste off and immediately put in your milk, you want no real color at all. This is the stuff ya usually see at restaurants and is great over chicken fried steak. But it has a more benign flavor whereas if you use meat drippings then you get a lotta flavor from them. However, the white gravy is great for those vegetarians that will drink milk.

Ahh and then there is chocolate gravy. I have already included that recipe in an earlier post so it needs no further discussion.

Then there are sauces which is just a much thinner gravy.

It took a bit but I figured out the recipes. Now I am certainly NOT saying that the way other people say it is wrong, cause I am sure it is quite correct from where they come from. I just want to be clear about what I mean so you know which is the recipe you are looking for. I am also NOT saying that the way other people make their gravy is wrong. Gravy is an individual taste, some people like it thicker and some thinner. I certainly do not want to say that my was is perfect for everyone but it is perfect for me and mine. If you have never made gravy then this is a beginning for ya to learn and then you can always add a bit more liquid if ya like yours a bit thinner.

For sausage, bacon, ham, chicken, pork chop, hamburger cream gravy that is perfect every time and is always consistent.

4 tablespoons grease leftover from frying the meat (meat drippings)
4 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon salt
¼-½ teaspoon pepper
2 cups milk, half and half, or one thing I like to do is take a 12 ounce can of evaporated milk and put in a 2 cup measure then fill it up with water t the 2 cup mark

Now before I ever start dinner, I measure out the milk and add the salt and pepper to it and stir it up, I then measure out my flour, and measure another ½ cup water. Now have that all by the stove. I like to turn my stove down on low, then add the flour, and stir it around, if it is not creamy but a bit too dry, add a teaspoon of meat drippings back in till it is creamy. At this point you do not have to stir it continuously just every minute or so, now here is where you need to decide how long to cook it, the longer you cook it and the darker you get it the more intense the flavor, I usually cook mine 3-5 minutes over low heat. Then stir in the seasoned milk stirring continuously, now once you get the milk in you can raise your temperature up to medium high. Cook, stirring continuously until it comes to the bubble. Turn the heat off and continue to stir it till it quits bubbling. Voila you are done.
Note: If after it comes to the bubble, you fell it is too thick then add a bit fo the water one tablespoon at a time until it is the consistency you like, or you can use extra milk if you choose. Also, thickeners such as cornstarch, flour, arrowroot etc do not reach their full thickening power till it comes to a bubble. Now I only use flour an cornstarch as a rule. You can cook flour thickened gravies for a few minutes as long as you stir continuously without anything bad happening, however, with cornstarch, you want to stop as soon as it bubbles, cause cooking it too long will make it break.

For chicken, turkey, or roast gravy, I like to use butter for adding a bit more flavor. You can actually just shake up your flour in a wee bit of broth and pour it in a pot with the other broth and then turn the heat on medium and cook it till it thickens. Again I prefer the butter method. I also like it a bit thinner than cream gravy.

Chicken, Turkey or Roast Gravy

3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons flour
¼-½ teaspoon pepper (most restaurants etc call for white pepper in these so it does not have the little flecks in it, I use black pepper cause I don’t care)
*Salt* taste your broth and adjust salt t taste
2 cups broth (or take your roast juices and add water or broth to measure 2 cups)

Melt butter in sauce pan, add flour and stir over medium heat for 1 minute, add broth and increase heat to medium high and cook till bubbles. If too thick then add a bit more broth till it is the consistency you like.
Note: For Giblet gravy, before you start take your cooked liver, gizzard, heart, neck and 1-2 hard boiled eggs (optional) and chop them up, add them to the gravy as soon as you are adding in the broth and then proceed.

For Sausage and Hamburger SOS

1 pound hamburger or sausage
Meat drippings
6 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon salt
¼-½ teaspoon pepper
3 cups milk, half and half, or evaporated milk as above but to 3 cups

Sauté your meat till it is browned. If it has more than 6 tablespoons drippings, then drain a bit off, add the flour and if it is a bit dry then add a bit more oil in. Cook this over medium heat for just a few minutes, then add in the seasoned milk and increase heat to medium high and cook till thick and bubbly, if ya need to you can add a bit more milk or water to get the consistency you want.

When I make the chipped beef SOS, I use the butter method cause chipped beef comes in a jar. Just dice it up a bit and add it in, but make sure you add NO SALT because it is already quite salty. I also use just the 4 tablespoons of butter and flour with 2 cups milk cause the amount in the jar is not enough to support 3 cups milk. If you try this and it is too salty, then next time, rinse the beef in water before adding it to the gravy.

For white gravy

4 tablespoons butter or vegetable oil
4 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon salt
¼-½ teaspoon salt
2 cups milk.

You make it the same as above except in the very beginning you put your oil/butter and flour in clean skillet over low heat, stir it over low heat for only 1 minute, add the seasoned milk and proceed as above.

There ya go, all you ever wanted to know about gravy but didn’t ask for lol.
That is a jumpin off place for ya, then you can alter it to best suit your needs and tastes.

Gravy always reminds me of mama and home and childhood. I have always been a gravy girl. My first solid foods were taters and gravy. My daughter wasn’t always a gravy girl, as a matter of fact can remember going to my aunt’s for dinner when Lulu was 4-6 months old. I took her a jar of baby food bananas which were her favorite. Well my aunt got all over me like white on rice telling me I should be ashamed of myself giving “that baby that jarred mess when ya should be feeding her taters and gravy” yes it was direct quote. So I politely took that baby and sat her in my aunts lap and said “YOU feed that baby some taters and gravy” and she said well all right. She got her a spoonful of taters and sopped em down in the gravy and stuck em in Lulu’s mouth, I took two steps back quickly just in time to miss the tater and gravy spit bomb. Yep she spewed em out of her mouth like Ol’ faithful. Needless to say she ate nanners. I actually did feed her lots of things from the table and only fruit from the jar.

She was grown and pregnant with my first grandbaby when she finally ate gravy. We never ate out a lot but we did like to go to Sonic and get a Chicken finger basket for her and a steak finger basket for me. We always ordered extra gravy on both of them and I got all of it. I dipped my steak and fries in it, yum. So I was sitting there surrounded by my 4 lovely cups of gravy and she was nibbling on a bite of he chicken when out of the blue I was sideswiped, she swooped her chicken over and down in one of my beloved cups of creamy gravy goodness and then she ATE IT. The heifer even had the nerve to say mmmmm that is good, I want mine back. So my days of extra gravy were over, now I have to fight to get my fair share, she loves gravy so much.

Back to my childhood, I loved gravy so much that when mama made it for dinner, she would not only smother my taters in it, she would tear up 2 pieces of bread and put em in a pile and smother them in gravy too.

Also as a child I ca remember my mama singing the song Barbra Allen, it was one of her favorites. Although it was not my favorite, I did like it because it explained how the rose got its thorns. So here are the words to it for ya.
BARBRA ALLEN
VERSE 1
In scarlet town, where I was born
There was a fair maid a dwelling
Made every youth cry well away
An’ her name was Barbra Allen
VERSE 2
All in the merry month of May
When the green buds were a swelling
Sweet William came from the western states
And courted Barbra Allen
VERSE 3
It was all in the month of June
When all things they were blooming
Sweet William on his death-bed lay
For the love of Barbra Allen
VERSE 4
He sent his servant to the town
Where Barbra was a dwelling,
My master is sick and sends for you
If your name be Barbra Allen
VERSE 5
And death is painted on his face
And o’er his heart is stealing
Then hasten away to comfort him
A, lovely Barbra Allen
VERSE 6
So slowly, slowly, she got up
And slowly she came to him
And all she said when she got there,
Young man, I think you’re dying
VERSE 7
O yes, I’m sick I’m very sick
And death is on me dwelling
No better, no better, I never can be
If I can’t have Barbra Allen
VERSE 8
O yes, your sick and very sick
And death is on you dwelling
No better, no better, you never will be
For you can’t have Barbra Allen
VERSE 9
O, don’t you remember in yonder town
When you were at the tavern
You drank a toast to the ladies all around
An’ slighted Barbra Allen
VERSE 10
As she was on her highway home
The birds they kept a singing
They sung so clear they seemed to say
Hard hearted Barbra Allen
VERSE 11
As she was walking over the fields
She heard the death bell knelling
And ever stroke did seem to say,
Hard hearted Barbra Allen
VERSE 12
She looked to the east, she looked to the west
She spied his corpse a coming
Lay down, lay down, that corpse of clay
That I may look upon him
VERSE 13
The more she looked, the more she mourned
Till she fell to the ground a crying
Saying, take me up an’ carry me home
For I am now, a dying
VERSE 14
O mother, o mother, go make my bed
Go make it long an’ narrow
Sweet William died for pure, pure love
And I shall die for sorrow
VERSE 15
O father, o father, go dig my grave
Go dig it long and narrow
Sweet William died for me today
I’ll die for him tomorrow
VERSE 16
She was buried in the old churchyard
And he was buried, beside her
From William’s heart, grew a red red rose
From Barbra’s grew a green brier
VERSE 17
They grew and grew, and they grew and grew
Till they could grow no higher
And the rose went around the briar
The rose went around the briar

It’s the Great Punkin Charlie Brown!!!

Tis the season of da punkin sha na na na na. I have long given up canned pumpkin. It’s for beginners or busy women. Neither of which I am anymore. But hey I am not knocking the beginning cook nor the working woman who opens a can of pumpkin. I was there. Nothing needs to be said about a beginner cause she is learning and old cooking hands should be reaching out a hand and helping them along the way. Now I do have something to say for those working women about how they feed their families.

 

I know you, I was you, I was a single working mother. I know about the long nights staying up long after they are asleep to work on the pumpkin costume for the big play. I know about those days where your boss is doing their best imitation of Darth Vader and everything that can go wrong does. I know about the days that you come home and your feet hurt in such a way that most people will never know but every step is painful and all you want to do is put them up and rub them. But the moment you walk in here are al these little urchins with their gapped toothed grins say ‘mom, what’s for dinner I’m starving’. I know about the guilt, the guilt of spending so many hours at work to make a living yet knowing that you must give that quality time to make them wholesome human beings that contribute to society, so much so that you give up each and every day off to rest to do something with the chitlins. I know because I have walked a mile in your worn out shoes that so hurt your feet but would be so comfortable if you could just go to the podiatrist for special inserts. I know about the holey drawers, your child looks like you run with the Hiltons and yet your drawers are so holey they could be air conditioned.

 

I tip my hat to you and I say a prayer each night for those who were like me, that they find peace and a bit of relief. Let me just tell you, there is always time for you to do the things you want like making that homemade pumpkin puree. Someday they will grow up. They will be all you ever dreamed of and more. People will ask them about their parents and they will say my mom was awesome, she was a great mama and she was the best daddy I could ever have cause she was both. I never felt unloved or unwanted, I always felt I was the center of her world. She did more as a single parent than most 2 parent families will ever do.

 

I know because at some point every single day my 30year old daughter crawls in my lap, yep you heard right, and says “I have the best mommy in the world”. She was the best mommy and she was the best daddy.

 

So you keep on doing what you are doing, go ahead and take all the shortcuts you can, BUT give yourself permission to throw out the guilt. You are doing fine and someday should your health be bad then they will insist you come home with them cause even tho it is not their responsibility to take care of you they will insist cause they will remember all those sacrifices you made and it will all come together for them as an adult. I keep you in my prayers and I raise my glass in honor of you and I thank God that there are children like yours that will grow up and run the country because I know they have been taught by the hardest workers and most dedicated people in the world.

 

Being a single parent was at times very hard for me, I had to cut food way back. I made sure to eat real slow, then my daughter would ask for seconds and there were none, but I said sure, and I took my plate to the kitchen and would give her what I had. I never wanted her to know that but somehow as an adult, she remembered and put it all together. It hurts my heart that she remembered that, I really never wanted her to know how poor we were at times. She never went without tho, I take pride in the fact that when she needed to go to the doctor, I made sure it happened. When she needed braces, well she got em. I would have sold my soul to the devil if I had to make sure she had what she needed and a lot of what she wanted. She had one of the first karaoke machines cause she wanted one. Some of her friends with two parents did not have as much as she did but there were times when it was a tremendous struggle.

 

Ok let me crawl back off my soap box and say yeah it’s pumpkin season, and found all my recipes and I would like to share them with you.

 

Before we get to that point, for those who have never done your own pumpkin, let’s chat about that a second. Of course you can use any pumpkin but those great big hobgoblin pumpkins, are a bit of a pain. Lots of innards to get rid of and lots of stringy flesh you will have to get out. However, the small pumpkins that are called sugar pumpkins or pie pumpkins are so easy and much better for the purpose. Simply cut them in half use either a big heavy knife or shhhh don’t tell anyone but you should buy a piece of hardware to use in the kitchen. There are some wonderful tools in hardware that work great in the kitchen, however, once you buy them and use them in the kitchen, they should ALWAYS stay there and no crossover. Some of the best tools that make great kitchen gadgets are of course a blow torch for crème brulee and to brown up your meringues such as baked Alaska. Then there is the micro plane that does wonders on citrus zest. Oh and the pipe wrench that makes a great nutcracker. Well I think each kitchen needs a hacksaw. It will cut through bone, coconuts, and yes even the big old pumpkins. So get out the hacksaw and cut those pumpkins in half. Use a spoon and scoop out those seeds. Now you can set those aside to make pepitas those wonderful roasted punkin seeds. Now if you have a bit of trouble getting the innards out, then dig out that putty knife, it will make short work of punkin innards. Now lots of places say to peel that punkin and cut into chunks, bull hockey, just put your pumpkins cut side down in a roasting pan, then add about 1 inch of water in the bottom of the pan, and bake at 350-400 till they are tender, 45-60minutes usually. Take them out and let them cool. Then scoop out that flesh with a spoon and you can mash with a fork but I like to just run it thru the food processor. Then I put 2 cups of the pumpkin in each pint sized freezer bags, then put them all in one big gallon sized bag to keep them al together. Then freeze them. Each 2 cup bag is equal to 1 can. Yes yes the color will be different more yellow orange than orange. But it will look the same after cooking it in pies etc, but it will taste a heap more better.

 

 

 

 

Pumpkin Bread

, the best I have ever eaten

 

3 cups sugar

1 cup butter, melted (can use oil)

4 eggs

1 can pumpkin (2 cups using homemade)

3 ½ cups flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 ½ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cloves

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 teaspoon nutmeg

1 teaspoon ginger

½ cup water

1 cup chopped nuts of your choice (optional)

 

Sift dry ingredients together with spices. Cream butter and sugar. Add pumpkin and mix well. Mix melted butter and water and add alternately with flour mixture. Pour into greased floured 9×5 loaf pans or one Bundt pan. Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until done.

Note: This is licious just as it is but it is also great sliced then toasted in the toaster and schmeared with a pat of butter or softened cream cheese.

 

 

Cinderella cake with Coachman’s icing

 

2 cups sugar

4 eggs

1 cup melted butter or oil

2 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

2 teaspoons cinnamon

½ teaspoon salt

1 can pumpkin (2 cups)

Coachman’s Icing:

3 ounce package cream cheese at room temperature

½ cup butter at room temperature

1 pound box (4 cups) powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

Orange food coloring or red and yellow in equal amounts to make orange.

 

Beat sugar and eggs till light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add butter. Combine dry ingredients and add to egg mixture. Add pumpkin and mix well. Pour into greased Bundt pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 55 minutes or until done. Let cool 10 minutes before turning out. Cool completely before frosting. For frosting: Combine all ingredients and frost cooled cake.

Notes: You can bake this in a 9×13 inch pan also which I have done for Halloween, then I used candy corn to decorate, I put them around the bottom edge standing up against the cake, then around the top outer edge. Then spelled out the happy Halloween with the candy corn and used a store bought tube of black writing icing to make some random cobwebs. That was before the cake decorating lessons. Also another thing I did for another Halloween just a couple years ago is I made two of the cakes and baked them in the in bundt pans and put the bottom one upside down, then the second one I put right side up, and used wooden skewers to stabilize them, then I iced them and took an ice cream cone upside down over the hole and iced it green so that it looked like a pumpkin.

 

 

Pumpkin Crème Brulee

2 cups heavy cream

2 teaspoons vanilla

8 egg yolks

1/3 cup sugar

1 cup pumpkin

¼ teaspoon cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

¼ teaspoon ginger

¼ cup sugar for top

Preheat oven to 300. In large bowl, whisk together cream, vanilla, yolks, sugar, pumpkin, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger. Blend well and strain into large bowl and skim off any foam or bubbles. Divide mixture into 6 ramekins or custard cups. Place in water bath and bake until set around edges but loose in center. About 30-40 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool in water bath. Remove cups from water and chill at least 2 hours. Before serving, sprinkle each with 2 tsp sugar and caramelize. Good time to use that blowtorch or it can also be done under the broiler.

 

 

 

Pumpkin dip

1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened

2 cups powdered sugar

1 can pumpkin or 2 cups

1 tablespoon cinnamon

1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice

Cream together pumpkin and cream cheese. Add in all other ingredients until well blended. Refrigerate 3-4 hours.

Note: Serve this with gingersnaps and/or graham crackers. You can sprinkle a few nuts over the top of the dip for a pretty presentation. I like to cut gingerbread into 1 inch cubes and toast it in the oven just a bit and serve that also with this dip. You can also use a pound cake or angel food cake for dipping. Apple slices also go well with this dip.

Note: You can make your own pumpkin pie spice mix easily at home:

½ teaspoon cinnamon

¼ teaspoon ginger

1/8 teaspoon allspice

1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

This makes 1 teaspoon, so for a tablespoon, just triple these amounts.

 

 

Pumpkin Bars with Lemon Glaze

1 cup sugar

1 egg

1 cup butter melted or you can use oil

1 1/3 cups (8 ounces) pitted dates, finely chopped (I use raisins)

1 ¾ cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon cloves

1 cup pumpkin

1 cup (4 ounces) chopped walnuts

Lemon Glaze:

1 cup powdered sugar, plus more as needed

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 10-by-15-inch jelly roll pan. Beat the egg. Stir in the sugar, oil and dates. Stir together the flour, baking soda, salt and spices. Add the egg mixture and the pumpkin alternately to the flour mixture in thirds, stirring to blend well each time. Stir in the nuts. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and spread it evenly with a spatula. Bake until well browned and done, about 25 minutes. Cool for about 5 minutes. To make the glaze, in a small bowl, mix the powdered sugar and lemon juice. If the glaze seems too thick, add a little more juice. Spread the glaze over the baked layer. Let stand for 5 minutes, then cut into bars.

Pumpkin cookies2 ½ cups flour

 

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoons cinnamon

½ teaspoon nutmeg

½ teaspoon cloves

½ teaspoon salt

½ cup butter, softened

1 ½ cups white sugar

1 cup pumpkin

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup raisins optional

1 cup chopped nuts optional

Glaze:
2 cups powdered sugar

3 tablespoons milk

1 tablespoon melted butter

1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, ground cloves, and salt; set aside. Cream together the butter and white sugar. Add pumpkin, egg, and vanilla to butter mixture, and beat until creamy. Mix in dry ingredients. Drop on cookie sheet by tablespoonfuls; flatten slightly. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes in the preheated oven. Cool cookies, then drizzle glaze with fork. To Make Glaze: Combine powdered sugar, milk, melted butter, and vanilla. Add milk as needed, to get the right drizzling consistency.

Pumpkin Corn Bread1 ¼ cup flour

 

¾ cup yellow corn meal

½ cup packed brown sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

¼ cup butter, melted and cooled slightly

2 eggs, beaten

¾ cup pumpkin

2/3 cup milk

Preheat oven to 350. Grease and flour 9x9x2 inch pan. In a mixing bowl combine flour, corn meal, brown sugar, baking powder and salt. Combine butter, eggs, pumpkin and milk. Stir liquid into dry ingredients until only moistened, don’t over blend. Pour into pan and bake for 25-30 minutes. Serve hot with butter – oh my cheese and crackers this is DELICIOUS!!!!!

Pumpkin fritters

 

1 ½ cup pumpkin

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 egg, beaten

½ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

½ teaspoon nutmeg

½ teaspoon cinnamon

Vegetable oil or shortening for frying

Powdered sugar

In large bowl, combine all ingredients except oil or shortening and sugar. Mix until blended. Place oil or shortening to a depth of 1 inch in a deep, heavy skillet. Heat to 350 degrees. Drop mixture by spoonfuls into hot oil. Do not crowd skillet. Fry until golden brown, and drain well on paper towels. Roll in powdered sugar.

Note: You can make your own pumpkin pie spice mix easily at home:

½ teaspoon cinnamon

¼ teaspoon ginger

1/8 teaspoon allspice

1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

This makes 1 teaspoon, so for a tablespoon, just triple these amounts.

Pumpkin Pound Cake

1 ½ cup butter, softened

2 ¾ cup sugar

6 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 ½ cups flour

¾ teaspoon cinnamon

½ teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon ginger

¼ teaspoon cloves

1 cup pumpkin

Walnut Sauce:

1 cup packed brown sugar

½ cup whipping cream

¼ cup corn syrup

2 tablespoons butter

½ cup chopped walnuts

½ teaspoon vanilla

In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add eggs, one at the time, beating well after each addition. Stir in vanilla. Combine the dry ingredients and add to creamed mixture alternately with pumpkin, beating just until combined. Pour into 2 greased and floured 9X5X3 inch loaf pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 65 to 70 minutes or until done. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pans. For sauce, combine brown sugar, cream, corn syrup and butter in a saucepan. Bring to a boil over med. heat, stirring constantly. Reduce heat; cook and stir 5 min. longer. Remove from heat; stir in walnuts and vanilla. Serve warm over the cake.

Note: For a more toasty flavor toast the walnuts in the oven before making the sauce.

Pumpkin Scones

1 tablespoon butter

½ cup sugar

1 each egg

2 cups flour

3 teaspoons baking powder

1 cup pumpkin

1 ½ teaspoon salt

Grease baking pan or use silicone. Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg and beat well. Add pumpkin, flour, baking powder and salt and fold in by hand. Knead lightly and cut into 1-inch squares. Place close together on the scone tray and bake at 425 degrees until well risen and golden on top (about 15 minutes). Serve hot, with butter.

 

 

 

Pumpkin Pecan Over and Under Pie

Pumpkin layer:

Unbaked 9-inch pie shell

1 large egg, slightly beaten

1 cup pumpkin

1/3 cup sugar

1 tablespoon heavy cream, half-and-half or whole milk

¾ teaspoon cinnamon

¼ teaspoon nutmeg

¼ teaspoon ginger

Pecan layer:

2 large eggs, slightly beaten

2/3 cup light corn syrup (such as Karo)

½ cup sugar

3 tablespoon butter, melted

½ teaspoon vanilla

1 cup chopped pecans

Pumpkin Layer: Combine 1 egg, pumpkin, 1/3 cup sugar, cream, cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger. Spread gently over bottom of unbaked pie shell. Pecan Layer: Combine 2 eggs, corn syrup, 1/2 cup sugar, butter and vanilla. Stir in pecans. Pour carefully over pumpkin layer in pie shell. Bake in 375 degree oven for 50 minutes.

 

 

Pumpkin Empanadas

3 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

½ cup lard or shortening

2 beaten eggs

½ cup milk

Cooking oil or shortening for deep-fat frying (optional)

Powdered sugar or sugar

Heavy cream (optional)

Pumpkin Filling:

1 can pumpkin

1 cup packed brown sugar

¾ cup chopped walnuts (optional)

½ cup raisins

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

¼ teaspoon cloves.

 

In a mixing bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, and salt. Cut in lard or shortening until mixture resembles fine crumbs. Combine eggs and milk; add to flour mixture, stirring until all is moistened (use hands, if necessary). Form into a ball. Cover and chill for 1 hour. Meanwhile, prepare Pumpkin Filling. Divide dough into 16 portions. On a lightly floured surface, roll each portion into a 6-inch circle. Place about 3 tablespoons of the Pumpkin Filling in the center of each circle. Brush edges with water. Fold in half; press edges with tines of fork to seal. Fry or bake as directed below.

TO FRY: Fry empanadas, a few at a time, in deep hot 375 degree fat about 4 minutes or until golden, turning once. Drain on paper toweling. Sprinkle with powdered sugar.

TO BAKE: Place empanadas onto a greased baking sheet. Brush tops with heavy; sprinkle with sugar. Bake, uncovered, in a 400 degree oven about 15 minutes or until golden.

Pumpkin pancakes

 

2 1/3 cups buttermilk baking mix

2 tablespoons sugar

¼ teaspoon cinnamon

¼ teaspoon nutmeg

¼ teaspoon cloves

¼ teaspoon ginger

1 ¼ cups milk

2 eggs

1/3 cup pumpkin

¼ cup melted butter.

 

Mix all ingredients and cook like you normally would.

Note: I have a couple of ways I like to serve these, of course pats of butter are a must. The first way is just maple syrup but not plain maple syrup, while making the pancakes, I like to heat the syrup over low heat with either a cinnamon stick in it or a few sprinkles of ground cinnamon. The other way is to top it with fried apples and then a bit of hot caramel topping for a wonderful fall breakfast. Even the dogs will howl for some.

 

 

Paula Deen’s Pumpkin bars4 eggs

 

1 2/3 cups sugar

1 cup vegetable oil

1 can pumpkin or 2 cups

2 cups sifted flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

Cream Cheese Frosting

1 (3 ounce) package cream cheese, softened

½ cup butter softened

2 cups powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

Garnish cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350°F. In a mixing bowl, beat eggs, sugar, oil, and pumpkin at medium speed with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, and baking soda. Add to pumpkin mixture and beat at low speed with an electric mixer until thoroughly combined and batter is smooth.
Spread batter in an un-greased nonstick 13-x 10-inch baking pan. Bake for 30 minutes. Cool completely before frosting. For frosting: In a mixing bowl, beat cream cheese and butter at medium speed with an electric mixer until smooth. Add confectioners’ sugar and beat at low speed until combined. Add vanilla and beat until desired consistency is reached. If desired, garnish with ground cinnamon.

 

 

Pumpkin Pie Cake

Crust:

1 box yellow cake mix (reserve 1 cup for topping)

1 stick melted butter

1 beaten egg

Filling:

4 cups pumpkin or 1 large can

3 eggs

¼ cup sugar

½ cup brown sugar

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 teaspoon cloves

1 teaspoon ginger

1 teaspoon nutmeg

2/3 cup canned evaporated milk

Topping:

1 cup reserved cake mix

½ cup sugar

¼ cup butter at room temperature

½ cup chopped nuts (optional)

 

Mix cake mix and butter with fork. Add egg. Place this in a greased, floured 9×13 inch pan. Blend all the filling ingredients together and pour over crust. Mix all topping ingredients together and crumble the topping over the filling. Bake at 350 degrees for 50-60 minutes.

 

 

Pumpkin Apple Butter Pie

 

1 cup pumpkin

1 cup apple butter

¼ cup brown sugar

½ teaspoon cinnamon

¼ teaspoon cloves

¼ teaspoon nutmeg

¼ teaspoon salt

3 beaten eggs

1cup canned milk

1 pie shell

Streusel topping:

3 tablespoons soft butter

½ cup flour

1/3 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup chopped pecans

 

For pie, combine ingredients in order given. Pour this into pie shell. Bake for 50-60 minutes. While pie is baking make streusel topping, mix everything with a fork till crumbly. After the baking time, remove pie and crumble the topping over the pie then back to the oven for 15 minutes.

 

 

Paula Deen’s Pumpkin Gooey Butter Cake

 

Cake

1 package yellow cake mix

1 egg

8 tablespoons butter, melted

Filling:

1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened

1 can pumpkin or 2 cups

3 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

8 tablespoons butter, melted

1 (16-ounce) box powdered sugar or 4 cups

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon nutmeg

 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Combine the cake mix, egg, and butter and mix well with an electric mixer. Pat the mixture into the bottom of a lightly greased 13 by 9-inch baking pan. To make the filling: In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese and pumpkin until smooth. Add the eggs, vanilla, and butter, and beat together. Next, add the powdered sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and mix well. Spread pumpkin mixture over cake batter and bake for 40 to 50 minutes. Make sure not to over bake as the center should be a little gooey. Serve with fresh whipped cream.

Note: I have actually made this with a spice cake mix also as well as a carrot cake mix.

 

 

Don’t forget your fur babies.

 

Pumpkin Drop Cookies (for dogs)

1 ½ cups rice flour

½ teaspoon cinnamon

½ teaspoon nutmeg

3 tablespoons applesauce

2 egg whites

½ cup pumpkin

2 tablespoons honey

½ cup water

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Combine all ingredients, and drop by the teaspoonful onto a cookie sheet. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until firm. Cool, and store in an airtight container.

 

 

Until we meet again may all your punkins be big and sweet, be safe, and happy smackin!!!

 

Dinner was delicious

Just got up from the table and I might have to go ROA. Some of you might know what that means already. But for those who don’t. My family is largely in the medical field. My mother and aunts were nurses as am I, my uncle was pre-med plus he was a histologist, cytologist etc etc, my two cousins were in the X-ray area, another was in lab and so on and so on. Betcha can’t guess what the conversations at our dinners cover, hehe. Most people could not eat at our table due to the conversation not the food cause the majority of my family could be featured on the Food network and hold their own.

So big holiday dinners are huge, everyone makes several things each etc, we could probably feed a couple of Army battalions. For a couple of days at least. But we all sit down and eat till we need to go bulimic. So then we start retiring and my favorite cousin is first, she says I need to go R-O-A, then ya walk in the living room and everyone in the family is lying somewhere on their right side with the top half leaned forward a wee bit. ROA is a radiology position, it stands for right oblique anterior. That position helps to empty the tummy faster which means quicker relief so you can go do it again. So now ya know when ya eat too well, don’t demand digel, just push away and go R-O-A!!!

Tonight’s dinner was Carne desebrado which is shredded beef. My hats off to My friends Lucy and Desi for teaching me how to make it. In their restaurant it was served as tacos, burritos, tortas etc. Here at this house we like it so well, we eat it as roast. You can shred it or not. Tonite I shredded it so you can see how it looks that way. We then had pillow potatoes and pillow cauliflower an rolls. Then we topped it off with coconut cream pie.

Sunday meals were always big at our house. They were special. Mama even used the china. Heh talk about puttin on the ritz. We lived in a backwoods hillbilly town, where if ya passed gas, the neighbor said scuse you, then told everybody else.

Ok another story. One of the funniest moments happened when I wa oh bout 13 or 14. My mama decided to spank me. Oh cheese and crackers could she make a belt whine. She could do it to, she would plant that left foot, grab my arm with the left arm, holding that belt in her right hand, well then I would commence to runnin, course I couldn’t go far cause her foot was planted but I ran around her in circles, she pivoted on that left foot, and kept the right moving, and the right arm was a swinging. I think I probably hopped every lick. But as soon as she got hold of my arm, I started screaming. I could scream better than any scary movie ever. Well one day this fiasco started and of course I went into my oh my goodness it’s the Bates motel best act, and the sheriff showed up to see who was a murderin me. (I hadn’t been murdered yet but I could tell by the look on mama’s face that I was gonna be). The neighborhood called thinking some one was a killin me. Silly people it was just mama. Needless to say that was the end of my screamin days but I still ran, every time she took my hand.

Now please in all fairness, I want everyone to know my mama NEVER really hurt me. She didn’t beat me. It just seemed that if I could scream loud enough, she would feel bad and only give mea couple of swats. I can tell you now, I deserved every single spankin I got but one. I deserved a whole lot more than I got. So no bad words about my mama or I will be puttin Easy off in your old man’s shorts.

Ok so back to Sunday dinner, see ya thought I would forget where I was. Ha I did but thanks to computers I can scroll back. Even in our little Podunk town where if ya swung a cat you’d hit your neighbors, on Sunday mama would get out the fine bone china all trimmed in 14 karat gold. We ate off it every Sunday. We always felt like royalty. I still have that china today, it was made in 1948. Needless to say we do not eat off of it now, it is far too delicate. However, on holidays I get out our china that we do use which is Noritake and we get out the good crystal and the silver. Oh I do so hate polishing silver.

Well enough jibber jabbering, so here are the recipes.

Carne desebrado (shredded beef)

1 boneless chuck roast

1 small bottle crushed garlic (I think it is about 4 ounces)

1-2 jalapenos depending on how hot ya like it

1 onion sliced

1 bay leaf

Using heavy duty foil put two large layers down, you want to seal this up and keep in as much steam as possible. Place the roast on the foil, pour the whole bottle of garlic with the juice on the roast and rub both sides with it. Throw the sliced onions over the top, split the jalapenos and drop them in along with the bay leaf. Add 1/2 cup water. Seal this up well and cover with one more piece of foil. Place it on the top rack of your oven and bake at 350 degrees for 6 hours and NO peaking. Then unwrap and shred with a couple of forks, or it is so tasty leave it whole, and eat as a roast. Makes great burritos, tacos etc.

Pillow potatoes

6-8 medium potatoes

3 (¼ inch thick) onion slices

Morton Nature Season

Garlic Powder

Butter

6 slices Velveeta cheese thick slices

2 lengths of Reynolds wrap, 15 inches long

I have been making what my daughter named pillow potatoes and vegetables for 25 years. Long before Reynolds came out with their cooking pouches. There was a cooking company who sold cookware and called it greaseless cookware. They would come to your house and cook ya a meal using their cookware using water only. They swore that steamed fried potatoes were great. Yeah, un huh NO! But I did get the idea about steaming potatoes a bit differently tho. It took about 3 different times till I got it right then I branched out into veggies. Ok back to taters. I peel my potatoes and cut them in ¼ inch thick slices. I take 3 onion slices and separate them into rings. Then I start making the pillow part. Take the two pieces of foil and put the shiny sides together and on one of the long sides, fold the edges together and roll over twice, making sure it is pressed together well. Then place it on cookie sheet and fold the top piece back. Now put a single layer of potatoes on the bottom and then place a layer of onion over then sprinkle with the seasonings and keep layering taters and onions with seasons till all done. Now slice the butter into pats and place all over the top. Now bring top down and seal all edges, folding it at least twice but leave as much room as possible. Place this in 400 degree oven, the steam will puff it up and it is ready about 10-15 minutes after puffed. Take this out and then open just one side and be careful cause the steam will burn ya. Layer the cheese slices over the top and reseal and place back in the oven for 10 minutes.

Notes; I have done this with all kinds of veggies, I of course change the seasonings depending on the veggie but I have done broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, sweet potatoes etc. The other thing I have done that my family loves is English peas, I add a touch of mint. I sometimes place cheese over them and the kids love cheesy peas.

Cream Pie

3 eggs separated

3 tablespoons cornstarch

3 tablespoons flour

3/4 cup sugar

3 cups milk

1/2 teaspoon salt

Additives

2 teaspoons vanilla

2 tablespoons butter

1 pre baked pie crust

Separate eggs and beat yolks and set to side. Save egg whites for meringue or an egg white omelet. Mix flour, cornstarch, salt and sugar and stir well in a medium sized pan. Add milk to pan. Cook over medium heat stirring constantly. Boil 2 minutes, then temper egg yolks, and add al back in to pan. Cook again until it comes to a bubble, and boil 1 more minute. Remove from heat and stir in butter and vanilla, stir till butter is melted then add the additive. Stir well and pour into pie shell. If adding meringue to top, do that now
but if using whipped cream then wait till later.

Notes: First to temper eggs, stir a ladle of hot filling into egg yolks then add another and stir and another and stir. Then pour it all back into pan.

Meringue can be a problem with weeping but I have had great luck with my recipe:

Stablilized Meringue

1/2 cup sugar, superfine

2 tablespoons water

4 large egg whites

1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

In a small saucepan over medium-high heat, stir together the sugar and water until the sugar is completely moistened. Cook until the syrup boils. Turn the heat to low. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the egg whites until foamy. Add the cream of tartar and beat until stiff peaks form. Bring the sugar syrup to 236 degrees and slowly drizzle the sugar syrup down the side of the mixing bowl into the whites with the motor of the mixer running. Beat the whites for an additional 2 minutes until shiny.

Top the custard with meringue, when the custard has cooled to room temperature. Seal the edges carefully, and transfer to the oven. Bake until browned, about 10 minutes. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Stabilized whipped cream

2 tablespoons cold water

1 teaspoon unflavored gelatin

2 cups whipping cream

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/4 cup sugar

Soak gelatin in water for 5 minutes. After sitting. dissolve gelatin over hot water in double boiler. Let this cool. Whip the cream slowly adding sugar till its all incorporated. Continue to whip on high till it forms stiff peaks.

On each of these sprinkle the top with coconut, for whipped cream topping it goes directly into the ice box, sprinkle coconut on the meringue before baking it.

Now the different flavors and any changes:

Coconut: just add one can of coconut except for a small handful to put on top.

Banana: Slice the bananas and dip in acidulated water, I usually just add a tablespoon of lemon juice to a cup of water then dip my slices in and out to drain. Then I layer the bananas in the bottom of the pie crust, then pour the filling over it. Takes 1-2 bananas

Pineapple cream pie: I small can of crushed pineapple drained well, then stir it into cooked filling.

Cherry Cream Pie: Take 1 jar of maraschino cherries and drain them and then roughly chop them. Stir them into filling with 1/2 teaspoon of almond extract

Chocolate: Add 4 ounces semisweet chocolate to pan with milk and then cook it as above. Please note it will look weird and more like freckly until right at the end, but I promise it will come together.

Peach cream: Add a drained can of peaches that have been diced.

And so on, you are limited only by your own imagination.

Now a couple of biggies as far as I am concerned. These recipes were made up when I was a little girl or before, at that time, milk was different and most families had their own source of milk. The pie will be just fine as it is written but to get closer to how they tasted when I was a little girl, use half and half in place of the milk. It will knock their socks off.

Also you are not limited in your meringue and whipping cream to the way it says. I like to use brown sugar instead of white sugar in my whipping cream for the fruit based pies. I also will sprinkle a wee bit of cinnamon in it also. At times I will put only half the amount of vanilla and add equal amount of almond extract. I also have been using the French vanilla extract a lot.

Until next time, eat well, be safe, happy smackin!!!

Saturday Night Game Night

Saturdays are family game days. We spend time together as a family. We play board games not video games. They have all week that they can play video games. Games start about noon and can go al the way up to midnight, however, at times if there is a good movie out, then about 8pm we will stop and do movies. We make snacks and have a great time. Dinner is always an easy fast meal so no long time in the kitchen to detract from family time.

This family time was originally started because Sergeant First Class Uber Goober knew very little about his children. He could not tell you even what grade they were in and had to stop and think to remember how old each child was. He did not seem to know exactly how to interact with his children. Iraq had taken its toll on family life. His children didn’t know him much better. Years of separation had made them strangers without a clue as to how to get it back together, they felt uncomfortable if left in each others company. Well board games can do wonders. It worked and worked well plus it was just fun. We started with a couple of board games two years ago and we now have over 40. It also teaches the children how to strategize, and how to share and how to be not only graceful losers but graceful winners.

Last night’s dinner was quite simple. We had hot dogs and the only thing I do different is the way I fix the wieners. Years ago they had a Hot dog place called Max’s Frisco Franks. They had the best hot dogs I have ever found in all the places I have traveled. So see New York had nothing on Max’s,. My favorite hot dog was deep fried. Yeah yeah, give me butter, lotsa butter, cream lotsa cream, and if it can be done then please do deep fry it.

I feel it is time again to reiterate the disclaimer, my cholesterol is normal and so is my triglycerides. And again the French eat far more fatty foods than Americans and yet they are healthier and thinner. So if you are into health foods, well this is not the blog for you cause I like to cover my health foods in butter, cheese, mayonnaise and then deep fry it for good measure.

So I deep fry my wieners and then cover it with Wolf brand chili if I don’t have any of my own in the freezer, then mustard and onions, a small dab of cheese and sometimes some pickle relish and on occasion some jalapenos depending on my mood.

The main thing last night was the side dish, some onion strings and they are good, you can also do the same thing as onion rings.

Then we had jell-o for dessert, cause there is always room for jell-o.

Onion strings

1 large onion

2 cups buttermilk

2 cups flour

1 scant tablespoon Morton Nature Season

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon black pepper

1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon Cayenne Pepper optional

Peanut Oil

Slice onion in very thin strips from top to bottom. Can do this very early in the day and just cover with cold water in the ice box. Then at least one hour before dinner place in a dish and soak in buttermilk for at least one hour. Combine dry ingredients and set aside.

Heat oil to 375 degrees. Grab a handful of onions, shake around in the seasoned flour and shake off excess. Now you kinda need to make sure they are separated as you drop them in the hot oil. Deep fry for a few minutes till golden, and place on paper towels to drain for a few seconds and I have found to keep them warm and crispy, place them on top of a cake cooling rack over baking pan and place in 200 degree oven. Want t make sure hot air can circulate under them also.

Note: One of the easiest ways I have found to bread these things is to take a colander, roll a big handful around in it then put them in the colander and shake it around to get rid of the excess flour. Also if you like a bit more spice than just cayenne pepper then put a few drops of Tabasco in your buttermilk mixture.

Be safe, enjoy life and happy smackin’.

 

Tall tales….

Well, I missed two days of posting. Thursday we did leftover Caldo de pollo cause it was just so good. Friday night, well we had pizza rolls. The kids love ‘em and I had a hot link Sammich. Now that is one complaint I have about living in the land of Yankees.

They absolutely do not have some of the things I consider staples of life. How can man live without hot links? Lord, I just am not strong enough. Every time a family member visits I make them bring hot links or just do not come. When one of us is lucky enough to dip below the Mason Dixon line, well we bring back hot links if we expect to sleep indoors.

Ahhh the humble hot link, such beauty in a simple sausage. The Yankees try but they just do not have the know how. No it is not a wiener with cayenne pepper in it. They tried to slip that one past me. I caught it, it didn’t fly. Then they had the nerve to try to pass off a smoked sausage with hot peppers in it as a hot link, the nerve of em, well that dog didn’t hunt either, I actually became ill trying to choke that down.

The best hot links were from Wilson’s Meat Company in Oklahoma City when I was just a corn nubbin. Wilson’s slowly faded until they went belly up in the 80s, pun intended. They still do some bacon and Sammich meats tho. About 30 years ago I moved to Oklahoma city to live. After Wilson’s closed, well the search was on for a good hot link. Canadian Valley makes an acceptable one as does Schwabs, however, in the last few years I have found that Earl Campbells hot links are wunnerful, wunnerful, wunnerful.

You would be hard pressed to find brick chili here also. Lord, what is wrong with these people. Chili is best in a brick, it is pure meat and flavor. They don’t even have a good canned chili. No use asking “Neighbor, how long’s it been since you had a bowl of Wolf Brand Chili?” Cause the answer is NEVER.

Mexican food, well give it up, ain’t happening. I now know what the subtle meaning of Pace commercials is, “NEW YORK CITY” means don’t look cause ya won’t find it there. Making a run for the border here means Canada and French fries covered in mushroom gravy and cheese and they call it Poutine but it just leaves me pouting.

Now New York thinks it has a hold on the best pizza in the world, well then why is Domino’s and Pizza Hut making a killing here? I hear they had great hot dogs here but I ain’t found a place to sell em yet. Now I will admit that if you want Italian food or Asian, this is the best place to be. We have found the best Chinese food here in all the states we have been in and that is United china.

You cannot find okra here. It needs a long growing season and it just don’t make it. The few fresh okra pods you can find here have more wrinkles than I do, and lord that’s a plenty.

Ok ok, enough gritching (cross between griping and bitching). So I have no recipes to share but I would like to tell ya another whopper.

Granny Rhinehart Deep In The Night

Back in the day, when work was no where to be found, well you went to the work. In Northeast Texas and Southeast Oklahoma for example they had the CCC camps. CCC stood for Civilian Conservation Corps. Well they were responsible for building the state parks up, they built bridges and trails and enhanced natural bridges etc etc. I am sure these camps were all over the U.S. and that was exactly what they were, camps, you went and lived there in semi permanent tents and did the work till the project was done. However, that meant that the man may be gone from home anywhere from a month to two years or longer. Now should you want to learn more about the CCC camps, well just google it. It is quite a history lesson.

Anyway back to Granny Rhinehart. Times were tough for Granny and Biggam. So Biggam went to work in the CCC. He was gone for extremely long periods but Granny was quite capable. Granny had several things that were her ride and joy. Her boys were of course at the top of her list, then her home was on the list, and then third were her dogs. Granny had a pack of three coonhounds and she loved em.

So the time came when Granny found herself alone in the log cabin with just he boys who were toddlers and her dogs. It was different today you could step out on the back porch and spit and hit a neighbor but back then it would take over half a day on horseback to reach a neighbor.

Days were short but the nights were oh so long. No electricity, just a ‘coil oil’ (coal oil which is kerosene) lamp for light. The problem is, it was miles to buy the oil so when dark came, it was bedtime to save on the oil. Now when I say dark, I mean serious dark. The house was among the deep pines and moonlight was hard pressed to seep through the tree branches. So seeing more than a foot in front of your face was impossible. That was the reason chamber pots were necessary, you certainly did not want to walk out to the outhouse without being able to see the poisonous snakes.

So this one night everything went along as normal as could be. Dinner was made early and served at 4 pm, the dishes done and the floor swept good and clean. The livestock was bedded down. The dogs were fed and watered and brought inside. Then dark came and brought danger with it.

Nights had always passed uneventful since they had moved to the log house. Not this night.

Somewhere in the wee hours of the night, the dogs became agitated and set up a fuss to go outside. Well Granny didn’t think much about it so she went ahead and let them out. It wasn’t but a few minutes that the dogs began to howl and bark and growl and then this horrible caterwauling started. It was the most horrible noise Granny had ever heard. She could hear her dogs yelping and screaming and this horrible noise. She knew her dogs were in a fight with something powerful big.

Granny was at her wit’s end but she took up her rifle, it was too dark to aim. However, Granny knew something was a tearin her dogs up. It seemed like an eternity that Granny did her thinking, she could shoot out into the night and she might hit her dogs but maybe it would scare whatever off. So she put the gun up to her shoulder and aimed in the general area of the screaming and pulled the trigger.

Then she called her dogs and held her breath to see which dogs returned. Lo and behold all three dogs returned but they were in sad shape, long cuts and gashes laid her dogs open. Granny fired up the ‘coil oil’ lamp and went to work with needle and thread and it took all night but morning found the last dog sewn and placed upon a quilt to mend.

Granny decided to go about her routine and began her morning constitutional. She headed out to the outhouse and about halfway there remembered the shot in the night, she went in the direction of last night’s fiasco and there she found a black panther, dead with one shot between the eyes.

Needless to say, Granny’s dogs healed and life went on.

This was always my favorite Granny Rhinehart whopper and of course we heard it by the kerosene lamp and the odd shadows on the wall and the flickering of the lamp made it seem al the more real as I lay there on my pallet listening to Mamaw tell this whopper.

Until we meet again, be safe and happy smackin’ !!

Just for kicks, I am adding my sketch of a cougar aka panther, you will not find my signature on this one cause I drew it for my daughter who feels that the cougar is her spirit guide, so I dedicated it to her and her name is on it, so to protect the guilty, I cut it down to take those things off. However, I guarantee it is my drawing and no one else’s.