Old Recipes

I never could get my Grannie to write down a recipe for her fried apple pies.  I could watch her make them, she told me.  I did, and in the fall, I make them—still without a recipe.

We have some of Grannie’s old recipes here, and in the hunt for something to make yesterday, Gabby pulled out the cards. She happened across a recipe for jam cake—it’s one of the few in the box that I actually remember her making, most of her recipes were of that fried apple pie variety.  She often jotted down recipes that she must have only tried once or didn’t make for the family dinners on Sunday afternoons.

The ingredients list wasn’t a problem, so Gabby got to work.  Then she came to me with a question, “It says bake in a cool oven.”

There was no temperature and no time.  I had her set the oven to 325* and check it after 45 minutes—it wasn’t long enough.

Later she came back with a question about the filling/glaze.  It called for ‘butter the size of an egg.’

I guessed 4 Tablespoons, reasoning that is about the right size.  I assume Grannie had been scooping butter or margarine from a tub instead of using sticks.

It was fun to see the recipe and Sherlock Holmes the meanings.

It turned out well too.

Cake:

2 cups buttermilk 

2 1/2 cups flour

1/2 cup butter

1 cup jam or preserves 

1 cup raisins (Gabby subbed coconut, as we had it on hand)

2 teaspoons (baking) soda

1 teaspoon nutmeg 

1 teaspoon cinnamon 

1 teaspoon allspice 

2 teaspoons cocoa

2 cups of sugar

Cream butter and sugar.  Add buttermilk, soda, spices, and jam.  Add flour a little bit at a time.  Stir in raisins. Bake in low oven. (Gabby did 325* for about an hour)

Filling (Glaze):

1 1/2 cups sugar

6 Tablespoons coffee

Butter size of eggs (4 Tablespoons)

Boil until thick.  May add nuts & raisins.

Elderberry Leftovers

We have been using elderberry syrup to treat the flu for a few years.  We have not had that illness so far this winter, but when Ellie had RSV the nurse practitioner told Justin that it does seem effective against that, though not colds.  We didn't have enough berries left to make a batch, so he bought a tiny bottle (4 fluid ounces) at the pharmacy, for around $15.  Yikes!

He seems to have caught her illness, as it seems the childhood immunity does eventually wear off, so rather than continuing to buy the pharmacy version I went and restocked our elderberry supply.  I also bought some local honey.  I'd picked up some ginger at the grocery, and the rest of the ingredients I had on hand.  The total cost (for the portion I used, as I bought a large jar of honey) ran us:

Elderberries:   $2.50
Local honey:   $5.66
Ginger:            $0.50

TOTAL:          $8.66 for more than 2 cups

After Kate and I made the syrup we had the left over elderberries.  I always hated throwing them out, but she really prompted me to look for a use other than compost.  I saw a few recipes for muffins.  None of them quite fit, since we'd already stewed the berries.  I came up with this recipe, and it worked perfectly.  Note, we used 3 drops of clove oil, so we didn't have whole cloves mixed in, as you might, depending on your syrup recipe.

Elderberry Muffins
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup milk
1 egg
3 tablespoons brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
a pinch of salt
3/4 cup flax seed
1 1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup dried elderberries, after drained for syrup with other ingredients removed

Beat butter and granulated sugar.  Blend in all but the elderberries.  Stir in elderberries.  Bake at 425 degrees for 20 minutes.

Yield: about 15 muffins.

What's Cooking

Here are some of the things that have been on our table lately...

Japanese Cream Sauce on fried rice with Sesame Orange Chicken, sans the orange.  Very good stuff.

We've also had Mediterranean Baked Chicken.  It was quite good and didn't take long to make.

I made Samoa Cookie Bars to take to our small group.  I thought they were just okay, but someone did ask for the recipe.

I also made sour dough bread for awhile.  I got the recipe from my mother quite a few years back, but the link appears to be the same one I use.  My starter went really sour, and made the bread, while edible, sour, so I tossed it and will have to start it again.

One Saturday afternoon, for fun, I made these Churro Waffles. The recipe made quite a lot.  We did not butter and cinnamon both sides or serve with syrup, as recommended, but they were very good.  They are definitely not for regular consumption, but they were a fun rainy day treat for us.

What's Cooking

I cook a lot.  With a family of our size and budget, that's a given.  Our meals tend to be simple and basic: a meat and two, soup, a casserole.  I love to bake though.  And since baked goods aren't due to be on the table at 5:00, I can do them whenever I have free time a napping baby.  I thought I'd share some recipes I've enjoyed lately:

Chocolate Chip Cranberry Bread:  The cranberries were on sale at the store for fifty cents a bag, so I picked them up not sure what I would make with them.  This looked really good, so I had Kate (who is working on fractions) double the recipe for me.  Oh my!  I think we may go back for more cranberries to freeze to have this again some time.  The sour cranberries in the sweet bread were so good!

Chicken Parmesan Casserole:  This was just okay.  It was easy enough to make, everyone ate it, but I don't think anyone asked for seconds.

No Bake Energy Bites: I had all the things on hand to make these.  They were wonderful.  I tried to make a second batch into a more cereal consistency--adding more oats.  I thought it was good, but the kids totally caught on and wouldn't eat the cereal version.

Cabbage Steaks:  So you know that I don't just feed my family new sweets, we also try new veggies, or at least new ways to prepare old veggies.  This one went over well.  Nate said he didn't care for it, but he also said that a cranberry was sweet.  In other words, he's not a reliable witness!  Next time I may add Worcestershire sauce too.

Though I haven't made either of these lately, they are probably my two favorite cake recipes:

Italian Cream Cheese Cake: This is a really rich cake with a great taste.  I usually leave out the nuts because I leave the nuts out of just about everything except pecan pie...  That's just me though!

and

Chocolate Cake: This actually isn't where I found the recipe, but the blog I read is no longer there.  The recipe I use substitutes strong, hot coffee for the boiling water.  It is gooey and wonderful.  Like the Cream Cheese cake you'll only want a little slice.