Random Recipe Monday - WWII cake

Veterans' Day is tomorrow. Right now, the population of new veterans seems to be growing and the population of old veterans declining. No matter the war front, we are grateful for their service and I hope everyone can thank their veterans or remember the ones that are now gone.

In that spirit, I thought a recipe from the past might be interesting and for those who are lucky to still have WWII vets in their lives, perhaps a bit nostalgic. I found this recipe at recipecurio, which is a new site to me but one I'll be checking out frequently - she has done a great job preserving older recipes.

This particular recipe was written in the time of rationing so you'll notice the absence of butter or shortening. Not such a bad idea from a cholesterol standpoint anyway. I think the "milk" should be whole milk though. The cake recipe is called "spring beauty" but lemon flavor in November sounds fine by me.

SWANS DOWN’S SPRING BEAUTY CAKE

1 cup sifted Swans Down Cake Flour
1 teaspoon Calumet Baking Powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 eggs
1 cup sugar
2 teaspoons lemon juice
6 tablespoons hot milk.

Sift flour once, measure, add baking powder and salt, and sift together three times. Beat eggs with rotary egg beater until thick enough to stand up in soft peaks (5 to 7 minutes); add sugar gradually, beating constantly. Add lemon juice. Fold in flour, a small amount at a time. Add hot milk and stir quickly until thoroughly blended. Turn at once into ungreased tube pan and bake in moderate oven (350° F.) 35 minutes, or until done. Remove from oven and invert pan, 1 hour, or until cold. Remove from pan.

Fabulous Fifty State Tour - Oregon and Sour Cream & Raisin Pie

I have always liked driving into Oregon. Sure, there is some gorgeous scenery, quaint towns and lovely coastline, but mainly because it means that I don't have to pump my own gas. Yep, you can't pump your gas in Oregon, and I find that very civilized. The state also lacks a sales tax, which certainly is appreciated by those folks who live along the southern Washington border and who don't mind committing a little fraud to buy big ticket items. Not that anyone from Washington would do such a thing.

The Beaver state has more than gas and sales tax going for it, though. It is the place for hazelnuts, peppermint and black raspberries - though I don't think I'll try them all at once, thank you. Lewis and Clark, the original road trip duo, explored there and who can forget the adventures of The Goonies along the coast near Astoria (goodbye, One Eyed Willie, goodbye). Matt Groening (Simpsons, Futurama), Ursula K LeGuin (fantasy author), Tanya Harding and Courtney Love have all called Oregon home - certainly all creative types in their own special way.

The state motto though has me puzzled: "She flies with her own wings". Ummmm...I don't get it. Maybe some savvy Oregonian can clue me in. And speaking of unusual, the state's official seashell is the Oregon hairy triton. Wow, that's something you don't hear about everyday.

So I guess this was a long way of saying that Oregon is a bit quirky - but in a good, wearing birks with socks, loving hiking and trail mix, we have 231 state parks, kind of way. And what better way to celebrate that off-beat spirit than a vintage sour cream & raisin pie recipe from Scappoose, Oregon. Nothing says off-beat like raisin pie to me.

Random Recipe Monday - Sourdough Bread

I am in a Western state of mind lately. It probably got started with watching 3:10 to Yuma, which was a good movie once the thing got started. I'm also doing a bit of research into my great grandmother and her journey in a covered wagon to San Francisco. Add to that my wish to take a City Slickers-type vacation to a dude ranch, and well, you can see why Western stuff is popping up lately.

For the most part, I'm not a big fan of Western style culture. I don't own cowboy boots, I don't dig rodeos or even country music. Roping and riding aren't my hobbies and I wouldn't know a working end of rifle from the business end of a cow. All that said, however, I still find the lifestyle of the pioneers and those that journeyed out into the west to be fascinating.

I mean, imagine coming to a land with nothing but the provision in your wagon and your own self-reliance. No grocery stores, no mercantiles, no place to restock your food pantry. Hard enough to imagine baking bread on a daily basis, let alone needing to keep a starter going for the yeast. I find it amazing that people not only survived but thrived in this kind of environment.

So, as I just finished making a peanut butter sandwich for NR on grocery store bread, I salute those pioneer cooks who did it the hard way. Here is a recipe for a modernized sourdough bread. I think I'll mix up a mess of pork and beans, a loaf of this and rent a few more Westerns from Netflix. Yeehaw, everybody.

Ace of Cakes we ain't

We had NR's birthday bash on Sunday and it was a fine day for it. Sunny skies, warm but not too hot, tables in the shade and family willing to travel to our house in the hinterlands - good times. We chowed on rootbeer glazed ham, curried potato salad and baked beans. NR had chosen "ham on a ham bone" for his meal, so I finally found a ham shank that would fit the bill. Finding a ham that isn't pressed meat with water added is not as easy as you would think.

He also did a look-see through my copy of "Hello, Cupcake" (see the widget at the bottom for info on this fun cupcake book) and selected bowling pin cupcakes (of all things). I expected him to pick the sharks or the horses or even the big alligator, but nothing doing - it was bowling pins for the non-bowling kid. Alrighty, that was what he wanted, so that's what I was going to make for him.

Or make that "we" were going to make for him. Hubby stepped up to the challenge and almost single-handedly crafted these towers of cupcakes and donut holes. All would have been well if I hadn't made a mistake on the frosting side of it. Truth be told, I don't often do canned frosting because I don't care for the flavor. I have in the past used a canned cream cheese frosting that tastes pretty good so when the recipe suggested canned frosting, I went with my whipped cream cheese. Bad idea. The frosting needed to be warmed to a melty goo consistency so the cupcakes could be dipped (think chocolate dipped ice cream cones) and the bowling pins given their white veneer. Unfortunately, the whipped cream cheese frosting decompressed and turned a strange yellowy-white.

Never ones to be defeated by confectioners' sugar, we opted to merely frost the pins with the frosting and omit the dunking. The end result was a bit more impressionistic than we might have hoped but NR liked them just the same. As the birthday boy, he ate the one bowling ball that accompanied the pins.

Worry-wart that I am, I decided to make a back up dessert to the cupcakes. I just wasn't convinced that they would taste alright (they did). Our back up was a 7-UP cake - NR is a big fan of lemon/lime sodas. I had never made one before but the ingredients were fairly straightforward, if laden with butter. I mixed it up, plopped it in the bundt pan and hoped for the best.

I think, in the end, the cupcakes were favored more than the 7-UP cake. The cake was fine, if a bit dense like a pound cake, but it didn't have a big lemon/lime taste. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but if I made it again, I'd add some additional zing to the mix.

So, this is all a really long way of saying that hubby and I are not Aces of Cakes yet, but we gave a good attempt with those cupcakes. They were fun to make (when we weren't freaking out over yellow frosting) and how often do you get to debate the merits of carved donuts with your spouse?

If you are interested in the vintage 7-UP cake recipe, check out this one. I used a version from America's Lost Recipes, but this one is pretty close.

What a peach

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“Life is better than death, I believe, if only because it is less boring and because it has fresh peaches in it” Thomas Walker

Fresh peaches taste like summer, without the sunscreen or bug spray flavor. They are perfection at their ripest and whether you eat them off the tree or in a pie, pudding or upside down cake, they are one of the best summer fruits going.

Now some folks are put off by the fuzzy skin. Not me, I find it part of the peachy experience. But for those who can't deal with it, there are a couple of ways to get rid of the fuzz. If you are eating only one, use a veggie peeler or a paring knife and just peel it off. But if you need to make a pie and you have a bunch to peel, get a pot of water boiling. Cut an X in the bottom of each peach, place the peach in the water for 15 seconds or so, remove the peaches with a slotted spoon and rinse them in cool water. Once they are cool enough to handle, rub them with a towel to peel back the skin. Read EHow for a more detailed version if you need it.

For those who love historic food stories, check out The Old Foodie's blog for the rumor about unpopular King John's death by way of peaches. Foodie reports that peaches were grown at the Tower of London in 1272 and provides a 16th century recipe for "Marmelet of Peches". Kinda puts my humble offering of Fresh Peach Coffee Cake (in honor of Rosemary) to shame.

So, fresh or cooked, I hope you'll give these in-season sirens a place in your kitchen. Let these sweet babies spark your imagination; some peach jam would be lovely in the winter, or some dried peaches would be great in a Waldorf salad, or a pitcher of mimosas with fresh peach juice, or...

*Peaches and Pewter by Pauline Campanelli. Check out Art.com.

We hold these hoecakes to be self-evident....

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Or something like that. The Fourth of July is upon us and everyone will be dressing their potato salads, grilling their hot dogs and adding blue and red sprinkles to everything that will stand still. I thought it might be interesting to eat something that was actually eaten during the time of our Declaration of Independence - something not cut into the shape of a flag or topped with redi-whip. I bring you the humble hoecake.

Ok, don't get excited. The daily breakfast of General George Washington is something to clamor about, but I'll give you the recipe, promise. I know, it's hard to contain the excitement for corn meal and honey, but a bit of back story first.

His devoted wife, Martha, actually had been married before she wed the General. George himself had no kids but he doted like mad on Martha's children. His step-granddaughter, Nellie, lived at Mount Vernon and recalled the ritual that began the General's day; he ate three of these hoecakes, drown in butter and honey, with three cups of tea (no cream, thank you) each morning.

If it was good enough for the Father of our Nation, by golly, it's good enough for me. Start your Fourth off right with Washington's favorite breakfast. Happy Fourth everyone!

Nellie Custis' Hoecakes (modernized, as found at MountVernon.org)
8 3/4 cups white cornmeal
1/4 teaspoons dry yeast
1 egg
Warm water
Optional: You may want to add salt to the batter
Shortening or other cooking grease
Honey
Butter

1. In large container, mix together 4 cups white cornmeal, 1 1/4 teaspoons dry yeast, and enough warm water to give the mixture the consistency of pancake batter (probably 3-4 cups). Cover and set on the stove or counter overnight.
2. In the morning, gradually add remaining cornmeal, egg and enough warm water to give the mixture the consistency of pancake batter (3-4 cups). Cover and set aside for 15 to 20 minutes.
3. Add cooking grease to a griddle or skillet and heat until water sprinkled onto it will bead up.
4. Pour batter, by the spoonful, onto the hot griddle. (Note: since the batter has a tendency to separate, you will need to stir it well before pouring each batch.) When the hoecake is brown on one side, turn it over and brown the other. Serve warm with butter and honey.


*Painting of the construction of Mount Vernon, as found at MountVernon.org

With a saucepan over the sea

My second foray into the cookbooks of the past is a 1902 volume titled "With a saucepan over the sea..." by Adelaide Keen. Miss Keen claims to have presented recipes from around the world and it does appear that she has found samples from all over Europe (which in 1902 represented the "world" to most Americans).

Ms. Keen may have been ahead of her time with her ideas about eating healthfully. "If we ate freely of greens, in salads and fresh vegetables, all of which are cheaper here than in Europe, we should not need blood purifiers nor quinine; fruit replaces liver pills, olive oil is more easily assimilated than cod liver oil, and strengthening soups are the best tonics. And it may be said that false hair and false teeth are not seen nearly so much abroad as they are here, because the people are better nourished."

Unfortunately for the modern cook, most of Ms Keen's recipes involve parts of animals that we aren't all comfortable eating today. But, that said, she has some recipes with names so curious that I had to include a few.

ANGELS ON HORSEBACK. (English supper dish.)
Cut 2 ounces of bacon into very thin slices, wrap each around a fat oyster, put three on a skewer, using all required, and fry in butter; serve that way on toast, with slices of lemon.

LEMON CAKES, OR KING HENRY'S SHOE STRINGS. (England.)
Beat the yolks of 6 eggs well, add 1/2 pound sifted sugar, the grated rind of a lemon, and 2 tablespoonfuls of orange-flower water. Beat all well, add slowly 6 ounces flour, then whites of eggs beaten stiff, and the juice of a lemon. Pour into ladyfinger tins or on a large pan, very thin; bake 1 hour slowly, and cut in strips.

RICHMOND MAIDS OF HONOR. (England.)
THESE celebrated cakes, or tarts, were invented by Queen Elizabeth, and are still sold at Richmond.

Beat 2 eggs, add 1 quart of milk, and the juice of a lemon. Set in a pan and skim off the curd. Drain it, mix with yolks of 4 eggs, beaten with the grated rind of the lemon, some sugar to taste,- the lemon can be rubbed on it, in two lumps, - a little cinnamon and nutmeg, 6 ounces currants and 1 glass of brandy. Mix well and fill shells of puff paste. Bake 20 minutes.

Pillsbury Bake-Off - Then and Now

I bet you know what April 15th is, right? You have the date marked on your calendar, no doubt. All eyes will turn to Dallas when the winner of the one million dollar prize for the Pillsbury Bake-Off will be announced. Oh, you thought I meant tax day, huh. Well, no matter, now you have something good to watch for on that day.

The Bake-Off has been going strong since 1949. It started as a one time affair to celebrate the 80th anniversary of Pillsbury and it was held at the Waldorf-Astoria hotel in New York, but its popularity ensured that it became a yearly event. The winning recipe of that first contest was No-Knead Water-Rising Twists, created by Theodora Smafield of Rockford, Illinois. Ms. Smafield won fifty thousand clams, no small prize then or now.

Into the 1950s, the entries were mostly desserts, often cake, and focused on fancy "company's coming" type sweets. French Silk Chocolate Pie was the winning recipe in 1951 and is typical of the era.

The 1960s and 1970s saw a shift in focus. Women were entering the workforce and time was suddenly important. Time-saving recipes and shortcuts were the focus. International flavors began to come into the entries, as well as entrees. Poppin Fresh Barbecups from 1968 (the winner was Peter Russell) and Zesty Italian Crescent Casserole from 1978 were two favorites.

The 1980s and 90s brought in fusion cuisine and an emphasis on healthy food. More men were entering the contest and the winner of the first million dollar prize, in 1996, was a man. Brocoli-Cauliflower Tetrazzini from 1988 and Seven-Layer Chinese Chicken Salad from 1998 are good examples.

Which brings us to the 2000s. Panini, pie and pasta have all been winners. And in just a few short days, all eyes will indeed turn to Dallas for the big winner and his or her 15 seconds of culinary fame. I raise a tube of crescent rolls and salute you, winner of the 2008 Pillsbury Bake-Off.

Irish Coffee - a good use for whiskey

I gotta say that I really don't like whiskey. I know, there are some folks who enjoy the stuff, but I've never been one of them. My use for it has always been gargling when I'm sick or as an ingredient in recipes. It just isn't my cup of tea. But it could be my cup of coffee - Irish coffee.

This actually is an Irish creation, which surprised me - as many things labeled such are not. It was created in 1942 to warm up some passengers on a transatlantic flight to New York that had to turn around and come back to Ireland. The drink was so popular with them that the bartender eventually landed a job in San Francisco to share his beverage with the masses. Here is Mr. Joe Sheridan's original recipe for Irish coffee, as found at Irish Culture and Customs:

Ingredients:
Cream - Rich as an Irish Brogue
Coffee - Strong as a Friendly Hand
Sugar - Sweet as the tongue of a Rogue
Whiskey - Smooth as the Wit of the Land.

Method:
Heat a stemmed whiskey goblet
Pour in one jigger of Irish whiskey
Add one spoon of brown sugar. Fill with strong black coffee to within one inch of the brim
Stir to dissolve the sugar. Top off with whipped cream, slightly aerated, by pouring it over the back of a spoon, so that it floats.
Do not stir after adding the cream as the true flavor is obtained by drinking the hot coffee and Irish whiskey through the cream.

Random Recipe Monday - Uncle Russell's Spanish Rice

Today's recipe comes from my Scandinavian great uncle, Russell. I'm not quite sure how a Norwegian fellow came to make Spanish rice as his signature dish, but perhaps in Minnesota this reminds folks of Madrid. Anywho, here is the recipe for those looking for an easy casserole.

Uncle Russell’s Spanish Rice

6 slices bacon, chopped

1 onion chopped

1 ½ lbs ground beef

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup uncooked rice

3 cups tomato juice heated (approximately)

1 teaspoon paprika


Sauté bacon slowly and pour off part of fat. Brown chopped onion and beef in hot fat. Add salt.


Add the rice, the tomato juice and paprika to meat.


Pour into greased casserole and bake at 350 degrees F until rice is tender, approximately 40 minutes.

Random Recipe Monday - Stuffed Hamburgers

One of my newest eBay acquistions (I think it was two dollars) is Carolyn Coggins' Company Cookbook, published in 1954. It is an interesting book, more for Ms. Coggins' commentary than the recipes, but there are many that look worthy of trying. Here is one that you might want to try:

Stuffed Hamburgers
Makes 8 servings

2 pounds hamburger
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 egg

Mix thoroughly and press half the meat mixture into greased custard cups. Spread stuffing and cover with the remaining meat mixutre. Dot with butter or margarine. Set custard cups into a pan of water and bake in moderate oven (350 F.) 45 minutes.

Make the stuffing by combining 2 cups prepared bread stuffing for poultry, 2 tablespoons chopped onion, 1/4 cup melted butter or margarine, 1/2 teaspooon thyme, 1 teaspoon salt, and 2 tablespoons hot bouillon. Combine ingredients in order given and blend.

Random Recipe Monday - Sweet-Sour Beef

Vintage recipes are the food equivalent of playing Russian Roulette. You just never know if a vintage recipe is going to hold up to modern cooking. There are lots of reasons why a recipe might not wow a modern cook. Oven temperatures, type of product used, and just changing tastes. I tend to try vintage recipes when nothing is at stake - no party, no company, just an average day when I feel like taking chances. So, do you feel lucky? Well, here's a 1957 recipe - untried by me - but recommended to the readers of Household magazine. Who knows, it might be a culinary gem. If nothing else, it's a way to use up leftover beef and to prep something for a quick weeknight dinner.

2 cups cubed cold roast beef
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon dry mustard
1/2 cup vinegar
1 1/2 cups hot water
1 package dry onion soup
hot fluffy rice

Brown beef cubes with butter in skillet. Stir in flour. Combine remaining ingredients, except rice, and add to meat mixture. Simmer for 20 minutes. Cool. Put in freezer container, wrap and freeze. Reheat and serve over hot, fluffy rice. Makes 6 servings.

Happy Valentine's Day

I'm a fan of the Barenaked Ladies - no not those ladies, the Canadian band. One of the songs that I love is "If I had a million dollars". There's a clip of the song on youtube, sung by sock puppets no less. Link to song.

But I digress. In the song, many things are listed as worthy of buying if they had a million dollars. One of the lines is "If I had a million dollars, I'd buy you a monkey. Haven't you always wanted a monkey?" Well, my mom has always wanted a monkey. It's been a long running joke that she'd love a monkey to sit on her shoulder. Sock monkeys have had to stand in for gifts, because as any Animal Planet viewer knows, giving real monkeys just isn't cool. But I digress.

This Valentine's Day, for Mom and all monkey lovers out there (that came out wrong) here is a little English Monkey for you:

English Monkey
1 cup stale bread crumbs
1 cup milk
1 tablespoon butter
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg
Pinch of cayenne
1/2 cup cheese cut into pieces
Crisp buttered crackers - such as Ritz

Soak bread crumbs fifteen minutes in milk. Melt the butter in top of double boiler, add cheese. When cheese is melted, add soaked crumbs, egg (slightly beaten), salt and cayenne. Cook three minutes and serve on crackers. Serves Four.

Recipe from 1946, "A modern kitchen guide".

Love you, Mom.

American Eats

For those who get the History channel on their tvs, you might want to check out a show called American Eats. There are many "history of food" shows, but this one has some interesting facts and images from our culinary past. I liked it right away when I heard the narrator comment that worrying about nutrition is a luxury. That certainly is the truth, as it is true about organic food, local food, or any other limitations we put on our diets. Eating junk food and crummy fast food is easy. Eating well is the trick.

The show doesn't just hit on food itself; it explores the work of the creators and the times in which the food was born. We learned about the unusual ideas practiced at Dr. John Kellogg's Battle Creek Sanitarium (see the film, Road to Wellville, for an exaggerated idea of Kellogg health regimes.) Just imagine yogurt enemas - no, I'm not kidding. I can just guess how Dr. Kellogg would feel about frosted flakes.

There is some great history on truly American foods like chop suey, chimichangas, hamburgers, even Chef Boyardee canned pasta. (Just think, there actually was a real Chef Boiardi who was a famous chef in the 1920s, known for his amazing Italian cuisine. Wow, hard to picture that when opening up a can of Chef Boyardee spaghetti.)

I love hearing the stories of immigrant populations that came to America, found ways of cooking that were assimilated into American culture, and those very foods became part and parcel to our diets. I can't imagine a better illustration for a melting pot culture.

Sure, a lot of the food we think of quintessentially American can be crap - hot dog, anyone - but much of it is more than just the sum of its common parts.

Check it out, if you get a chance. Some of it will make you scratch your head in wonder, but some of it is just plain interesting.

No butter, no sugar, no taste?

I've mentioned rationing during World War II before, the special quality of sugar when it is scarce. Recipes from the early and mid-20th century interest me and I frequently hang out at Foodtimeline.org to get my fix on foods from our past. Beyond just the rationing of sugar, cooks during The Great War, The Great(er) Depression and Dubba Dubba II, found ways to still have their cake and eat it too. Recipes for cakes calling for no milk, no sugar, no eggs came on the scene.

Does it sound unappetizing? Um, yeah, a little. Substituting tomato soup for milk or mayonnaise for eggs does make me a bit squeamish. Heck, I've heard of chocolate cakes that take sauerkraut for moisture. Some of those "make do" kind of recipes belong in the past, quaint but not revived, I think. But others are handy reminders of what you can do with a little ingenuity.

Take that mayonnaise cake, for example. Plenty of people swear that chocolate mayonnaise cakes are deliciously moist. The newer book, America's Best Lost Recipes, put out by those venerable folks at Cook's Country magazine, holds a recipe for this cake (and the sauerkraut cake too.../shudder) so you know at least some folks are still partial to this concept of making do with what you have.

It's funny, at least to a odd duck like me, in this time of celeb chefs and pancultural dishes, that a niche of the lucrative cookbook market is celebrating the recipes that have long thrived in dusty recipe boxes. These unfussy, unpretentious, dowdy recipes never are as glamorous as their TopChef-fusion style cousins, but here they stay. Collected, recorded by various food historians and passed along.

I'm glad to see it. I'd rather see these recipes get more attention, rather than the glitzy stuff that shows up on celeb cooking shows. They are homely and homey, and that's ok. I don't want them every night, but it's nice to have them there when all you have in your pantry is a jar of mayonnaise and a dream for chocolate cake.

Toga optional...

I am smitten, in seriously deep smit, with the HBO series, Rome. I just watched the first 6 episodes, close to back to back, and I am loving it. It reminds me of Deadwood, when Deadwood was good (season 1) and it beats the pants (literally) off anything on the networks right now. It's a bit risque, for those with sensitivity to that sort of thing, and definitely not for the younger set, but my oh my, what a good show.

And lest you think this topic is too far afield from Nostalgic Homemaking, here's a little ancient Roman recipe for your reading pleasure:
1 pound of boiled wheat grains
3 pounds of new cheese
1/2 pound of honey
1 egg

Mix it and eat it. Serves several.*

Can't wait to see how this all works out for Julius, Marc Anthony, et al (so much suspense - well, not really). Hey, notice the Latin? Wonder what the Latin is for "I made a funny"?

*Found in Life in Ancient Rome by Frank Richard Cowell

I got the baby!

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No, I'm not expecting. I'm talking about the baby found inside a King Cake. Before you call the authorities, let me explain. King Cakes are famous in New Orleans and are made to celebrate Twelfth Night (January 6) and the pre-Lent period leading up to Mardi Gras. There is some fascinating history of the King Cake here and a recipe from 1901 to try out here. Don't forget to warn your guests about the baby (or crown or whatever you bake in the cake) so they don't swallow it by mistake.

For the rest of us on New Year Diets, enjoy the celery and V8.


* Photo courtesy of RecipeTips.

Random Recipe Monday - Saucy Hamburger Crumble

I hope I don't ruin anyone's day when I say that Betty Crocker wasn't a real person. I know, hard to believe, but she didn't exist. Be that as it may, Betty liked to cook. In 1958, she published a book about cooking for boys and girls. Unlike Mrs. Seinfeld today, Betty didn't try to hide good veggies in her brownies. She tried to impress upon the little children the importance of purchasing her products to make some swell cakes.

Although there is advertising aplenty in this book, there are some recipes too. One of the recipes is the Saucy Hamburger Crumble. Betty calls for this to be served over mashed potatoes. I'm not sure why this is something that kids should be cooking, since it calls for frying hamburger and adding liquid to hot grease, but hey, who am I to question Betty.

Melt in frying pan 1 tablespoon fat. Add and brown lightly 1 small onion chopped. Then add and brown 1 pound ground beef, 1 teaspoon salt. Break the meat into small pieces. Stir in 1/4 cup Gold Medal Flour. Then stir in 2 cups water or milk. Heat until gravy bubbles. Serve over mashed potatoes. Serves four.

Oh Fudge (Random Recipe Monday)

Three cheers for the folks that put together foodtimeline.org. What a great resource for those of us crazy for food history trivia. Ever wondered how candies came into our holiday lives? Well, maybe not. But fudge is one of those treats that I'm glad to see grace the plastic tree-shaped dishes so prevalent right now. It's one of those things that I don't keep around because I'd eat the whole thing. But with get-togethers on the horizon, I have an excuse to make some up and a reason not to eat it all.

There are many fudge recipes, and I'm no expert candymaker, that's for sure. But I'm going to be trying out Mrs. Mamie Eisenhower's Miracle Fudge this week. According to wikipedia, this was a favorite treat of Ike's and was served at dinners at the White House. I can't quite imagine such a straightforward little treat surving in today's White House.
Here's wiki's version of Mamie's fudge:
4-1/2 cups sugar
2 tablespoons butter
1 pinch of salt
1 tall can evaporated milk
12 ounces semisweet chocolate bits
12 ounces German sweet chocolate
1 pint marshmallow cream
2 cups chopped nutmeats
Heat the sugar, butter, salt, and evaporated milk over low heat, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Bring to a boil and boil for 6 minutes. Put chocolate bits, German chocolate, marshmallow cream, and nutmeats in a bowl. Pour the boiling syrup over the ingredients. Beat until the chocolate is all melted, then pour in a pan. Let stand for a few hours before cutting. Remember it is better the second day.

Oh, and the origin of fudge? Foodtimeline.org says that college girls in the late 19th century cooked it up as a way to stay up past their bedtimes. My, how times have changed.

Photo courtesy of AllRecipes.com. Click
here for advice on fudgemaking.

The extended family...

Every year, somewhere between my sister's birthday and Christmas, we get together with the extended family. By "we", I mean my immediate fam (mom, dad, sis, grandma, hubbies and kids) and by "extended family", I mean my dad's clan. Generally, it's a fairly sober event - no alcohol and no merriment. My dad's clan is reserved. They don't like garlic, or spices, or loud things. They like lefse, and crocheted afghans, and Rice-a-Roni "Spanish" rice. They are all really good at Trivial Pursuit and take it seriously. I used to think they were so different from my immediate family because they were so Scandinavian and we were so Irish. I pictured them as frosty, stoic, bland, like some nordic ice village, but without the cool ice hotels or castles. Lutefisk, that gelatinous wobble of fish soaked in lye (no, I'm not kidding) really epitomized them in my mind. While my Irish bunch, though not into whiskey, were loud and boisterous. Everyone talks over everyone else. Everyone eats and plays pinochle. We know how to have Fun - capital F kinda fun.

Ok, so do I still see this as an US versus THEM kinda thing? Well, sort of. I've come to appreciate my grandmother's silent strength (heck, she scrubbed her kitchen floor right before giving birth to twins so the house would be clean when she got back from the hospital) and the way they all seem quite content with their lives. They aren't looking for spice, for excitement, for novelty. Bland potato lefse is just fine with them, thank you very much. There's something to be admired in not seeking beyond the comforts of your own home - something very Dorothy-after-she-comes-back-from-Oz-ish about that. Me - I'm always searching. I'm always looking for the next thing, the next new recipe, new spice, new interest. Some of these things stick around with me (I couldn't live without garlic) and some of them pass along (like those fancy ice hotels that melt each spring). So I guess I'm a weird amalgamation of the stoic Scandinavian and the hot-blooded Irish.

My Norwegian grandmother used to hate The Golden Girls when it was on TV. She felt the portrayal of Rose Nylund was undignified, that it made Scandinavians look stupid, simple. She didn't like it. I've never though she was stupid but I have thought her approach to life was too simple for me. I just couldn't get around the fact that she was happy crocheting the same afghans year and year after year. She didn't vary them, she didn't change them up, she just held fast to her way of doing things. Looking back though, that isn't simple. Holding fast is very hard to do.

So We will meet up with Them and I'm offering to make the food this time. No hidden spices, or disguised garlic. Nope. I'm making a 1950s menu straight out of Betty Crocker.
Chex mix
Onion dip
Pigs in a blanket
Deviled eggs
Hot cheese puffs
I hope they like it. My wish is that I can learn to see them as a little more like family and a little less like strangers we see a few times a year. Maybe grandma will even be excited to see I've taken up a crochet hook. We'll see.