OCTOBER & APPLE HARVEST TIME

OCTOBER & APPLE HARVEST TIME

Supermarket produce bins are filled with many different kinds of apples, and at such good prices–but if you live in an area where apples are grown, or can get to a Farmer’s Market–you may find even better prices. One year when my brother Bill was visiting me, we went to Oak Glen and were able to buy a big box of different kinds of apples for about ten dollars. It was late in the season and the apple grower was happy to get rid of some that were a little past prime – but I had apple sauce in mind and didn’t care. Not very long after that, Bob & I bought an apple tree of our own and for the past decade, it produced all the apples we could use. I still have many quarts of applesauce in our jelly cupboard from our crop last year. These weren’t Granny Smith apples, but a close cousin–a green skinned tart apple, idea for apple sauce and pies with the name of “Beverly Hills.” Living in the San Fernando Valley, I knew we needed an apple tree that didn’t require a frost. Now, living in the high desert, we’ll have frost–and snow–so more apple varieties are available to us. We bought several fruit trees from a nearby nursery last spring.
Did you know that the saying “As American as apple pie” is referred to as the symbol of America? The word “apple” itself comes from the Old English word “aeppel.” and there are approximately 10,000 different kinds of varieties of apples grown in the world with more than 7,000 of these varieties grown in the United States. Apples are a member of the rose family of plants and the blossoms are much like wild-rose blossoms. I can attest that the pink/white blossoms in the spring are beautiful and aromatic. When the English pioneers first arrived in North America they found only crab apples–the only apple native to the United States. European settlers arrived and brought with them their English customs and favorite fruits. In colonial time, apples were called winter banana or melt-in-the-mouth. An apple a day keeps the doctor away is a very old English saying; ownership to the saying has been long forgotten.. Today, the expression still rings true, as our knowledge of apples’ many health benefits increases.
One of the most interesting facts I was able to uncover is that most historians fail to mention that those early orchards in the New World produced very few apples because there were no honey bees. Historical records indicate that colonies of honey bees were shipped from England and landed in Virginia early in 1622. One or more shipments were made to Massachusetts between 1630 and 1633, others probably between 1633 and 1638. The Indians called the honeybees “English flies” and/or “white man’s flies.”
One of America’s favorite legends is that of Johnny Appleseed, a folk hero and pioneer apple farmer in the 1800s. There really was a Johnny Appleseed whose real name was John Chapmen; he was born in Massachusetts. Appleseed’s dream was for the land to produce so many apples that no one would ever go hungry. Most historians today consider him to have been eccentric but very smart businessman, who traveled about the new territories of his time, leasing land and developing nurseries of apple trees. It is estimated that he traveled 10,000 square miles of frontier country. He collected apple seeds from cider mills, dried them, put them up in little bags, and gave them to everyone he met who was headed West. For forty years he traveled through Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Iowa (planting seeds every place he considered to be likely spots). He did more than just plant apple seeds. He began nurseries to take care of the apple orchards as well as other fruit, vegetable, and herb plants. He walked alone in the wilderness, without gun or knife. He chopped down no trees and killed no animals. Appleseed believed that God wanted him to go around and read his Bible to people and plant apple trees. He was respected and appreciated by the Native American tribes and the new settlers alike. For the rest of his life, he traveled alone and denied himself the companionship of a wife.
Apples are the most varied food on the planet, with more apple varieties on record than for any other food. The list of apple varieties topped 7,500 the last time someone counted, including more than 2,500 varieties grown here in the United States. Each apple variety has its own unique flavor, and best uses.
Previously I mentioned making apple sauce – which I consider to be the easiest food of all to can and we sometimes got at least 30 quarts of applesauce from our one tree. However some of the apples went into desserts and I have gone through some of my files searching for favorite recipes.
First, here is a recipe for Spiced Baked Apples (low in calories, high in fiber!)
To make SPICED BAKED APPLES, you will need:
2 TBSP dark brown sugar (I use Splenda brown sugar)
½ tsp apple pie spice
¼ tsp salt
4 favorite sweet apples, cored and halves
2 TBSP chopped pecans
Combine brown sugar, apple pie spice and salt; sprinkle evenly over cut sides of apples. Place apples on an aluminum foil-lined baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes or under tender. Sprinkle evenly with pecans and bake 5 minutes more or until pecans are toasted.
Original recipe suggests serving with some nonfat vanilla yogurt or no-sugar-added fat free frozen vanilla yogurt. Or you could add a small dollop of fat free or sugar free Cool Whip.
Per serving, 110 calories, 23 g carbohydrates, 1 g protein, 3 g fat, 3 g fiber, 145 mg sodium. Weight Watchers, this dessert is 2 points without any topping.

Here is another simple recipe for BAKED APPLES;
To make Easy Baked Apples, you will need
4 medium size tart apples, cored
4 tsp low sugar strawberry spreadable fruit
½ tsp cinnamon
1 ½ cups unsweetened orange juice
Place apples in a foil lined 8” square baking dish. Spoon 1 tbsp fruit into the center of each apple; sprinkle with cinnamon. Pour orange juice into pan. Bake, uncovered, 400 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until apples are tender. Serve immediately. Makes 4 servings.
This dessert has, per serving, 109 calories, trace of fat, 1 g. protein, 29 g carbohydrates, 3 grams fiber, no cholesterol 9 milligrams sodium. Weight Watchers, this dessert is also 2 points per serving.

MAPLE APPLES WITH CINNAMON CREAM is another heart-healthy low cal, low fat dessert. To make Maple Apples with Cinnamon Cream, you will need:
3 medium apples, peeled (if desired*) cored and sliced
½ tsp grated orange peel (optional)
2 TBSP natural or sugar free maple syrup
1 tsp margarine or butter
½ cup reduced sugar or sugar free nonfat vanilla yogurt
¼ tsp ground cinnamon
¼ tsp ground nutmeg
Place apple slices and orange peel in a one quart microwavable baking dish. Drizzle maple syrup over the apples; toss to mix. Dot with butter. Cover loosely; microwave at high power 3 to 5 minutes or until apples are crisp tender, stirring once.
Meanwhile in a small bowl, blend yogurt, cinnamon and nutmeg. Spoon apples, hot or at room temperature, into serving dishes. Drizzle each serving with yogurt mixture.
Per serving: 87 calories, 1 g fat, O mg cholesterol, 32 mg sodium, 20 g. carbohydrates, 1 g protein, 3 grams fiber.

Sandy’s cooknote: eat the apple peel any time it’s possible–it’s good for you!

OLD FASHIONED APPLE FRITTERS
My grandmother often made apple fritters and served them dusted with powdered sugar – yum! One of my favorites to this day. To make Old Fashioned Apple Fritters, you will need:
1 cup sifted flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 ¼ tsp salt
¼ cup sugar
1 egg
½ cup milk
2 tsp cooking oil
1 cup diced pared apples
Cooking oil for frying, confectioners sugar
Sift together flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Beat egg well and combine with milk and oil. Stir into dry ingredients, then add diced apple. Drop batter by tablespoonfuls into hot cooking oil heated to 375 degrees F. and cook about 4 minutes. Drain on absorbent paper and sprinkle with confectioners sugar.

OLD TOWN APPLE-CINNAMON MUFFINS
To make Old T own Apple-Cinnamon muffins, you will need
¾ cup unsalted butter, softened
1 2/3 cups sugar
2 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 ¼ cups flour
1 TBSP ground cinnamon
1 ¾ tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 ½ cups milk
1 cup peeled, chopped Granny Smith apples, packed
Cinnamon sugar
In mixing bowl, cream butter with sugar until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time beating until well combined. Add vanilla. Toss together flour, baking powder and salt in another bowl. Then add, alternately over low speed, with milk to butter-egg mixture just enough to blend. Fold in apples. Fill 12 paper-lined muffin cups at least 2/3 full with batter. Sprinkle each muffin with 1 tsp of cinnamon-sugar mixture. Bake at 350 degrees 25-30 minutes or until tops spring back when lightly touched. Serve warm. Makes 12 large muffins.
Cinnamon Sugar
½ cup sugar
1 TBSP ground cinnamon
Combine sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl, tossing to mix well. Makes ½ cup.
Each muffin contains 354 calories, 13 grams of fat, 0.12 grams fiber. Each muffin is 8 points on Weight Watchers (you might want to eat just half of one! Or instead of making 12 large muffins, aim for 24 small ones which would then be 4 points each).

Happy Cooking!
Sandy

MAKE MINE LIGHT – FRUITCAKES!

When someone told me that my fruitcake recipe sounded good – but she couldn’t eat fruitcake because she is on Weight Watchers – I replied “Not true. I’m on Weight Watchers too – and I know you can eat fruitcake; it’s really all about portion control” – and that’s true up to a point. But I told her, “I bet I can find some fruitcake recipes for you in my Weight Watcher cookbooks – or else I can find fruitcake recipes that are low in fat and/or sugar…”

I was excited by the challenge and more than delighted with what I have been able to find. And just like “yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus” I am ready to report that “Yes, Marlene, there is a Weight Watcher fruit cake” I am so thrilled with what I have been able to find (in my own personal collection of cookbooks) that I can hardly wait to try some of these recipes.

This first recipe is on a clipping from the L.A. Times that I cut out years ago; it doesn’t have a date on it – but on the back of the clipping are sale items for Lucky’s, a store that hasn’t been around in SoCal for many years. This is a simple no-bake fruitcake and based on the calorie/fiber/fat count, I figured it to come out to 3 points per serving.

To make “FRUITCAKE: STIR AND SERVE”

You will need:

½ pound raisins
½ pound pitted dates
½ pound dried figs
½ cup walnuts
½ tsp vanilla
1/8 tsp dark rum

Combine raisins, dates, figs, walnuts, vanilla and rum in food processor. Blend until coarsely chopped. Do not over-blend.

Spoon and press mixture into 9×5” loaf pan. Cover with plastic wrap and place heavy object on top to weigh down. Refrigerate 2-3 days to blend flavors. Unmold. Serve thinly slices. Makes 12 servings.

Each slice contains about: 162 calories, 4 mg sodium, 0 cholesterol, 3 g fat, 34 g carbohydrate; 1 g protein, 7 g fiber, 12% calories from fat. Exchanges 2 fruit, ½ fat.

What could be easier?

This next recipe for Chocolate Cherry Fruitcake is from a home-made cookbook I compiled with nothing but fruitcake recipes I think I started it when I was frustrated trying to remember where I had seen a favorite fruitcake recipe…the problem is, I have over 50 3-ring binders full of recipes (only one full of cake recipes, but 3 or 4 of Christmas recipes) plus a collection of over 200 filled recipe boxes (never mind how many cookbooks) – well, I thought getting all the fruitcake recipes in one place would be helpful). I think this was from a newspaper clipping.

To make Chocolate Cherry Fruitcake you will need:

2 cups dark raisins
2 cups dried sour cherries
½ cup maraschino cherries, drained
¾ cup dried cranberries
¼ cup brandy, very hot
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, melted and cooled
4 eggs
2 cups sugar
2 ½ cups flour
½ cup cocoa powder, measured then sifted
½ tsp salt
1 ½ tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp ground cloves
¼ tsp nutmeg
1 tsp cherry or raspberry extract
1 tsp vanilla extract
½ cup raspberry or apricot jam
2 cups walnuts, broken
1 cup coarsely chopped semi-sweet chocolate or chocolate chips
Nonstick cooking spray
Brandy, for soaking

*Four hours or up to 1 day before baking, place raisins, sour and maraschino cherries, and cranberries in a large bowl. Toss with hot brandy, cover and set aside.

Ok, next day: Blend melted butter with eggs. Add sugar flour, cocoa powder, salt, baking powdered, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg.

Add raspberry extract, vanilla, and jam to fruit mixture, then stir in walnuts and chocolate chips. Fold fruit mixture into batter. Blend well.

Spray 2 (9×5”) loaf pans with nonstick cooking spray and line with parchment paper. Spoon batter into pans. Place pans on baking sheet and bake at 325 degrees until dark brown, cake springs back when lightly touched, and toothpick inserted in middle comes out clean; 2 to 2 ½ hours. Cool in pans 15 minutes before removing to rack to cool completely. Makes 24 servings.

Each serving contains 113 calories, 10 mg sodium, 2 mg cholesterol, 9 grams fat, 8 grams carbohydrates, 2 grams protein, 0.77 gram fiber. For Weight Watchers, each slice is 3 points.

Here is another fruitcake recipe that is easy and low in calories–and no fat. The use of unsweetened applesauce takes the place of butter or cooking oil.

To make Easy Fruitcake, you will need:

1 cup flour
1/3 cup brown sugar
½ tsp baking powder
¾ cup unsweetened applesauce
¼ cup egg substitute
2/3 cup dried apricots
2/3 cup dried pineapple
¾ cup dates
½ cup raisins

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Lightly spray two 5×3” loaf pans with nonfat cooking spray. In a large bowl, combine flour, brown sugar and baking powder and mix well. Add applesauce and egg whites, and stir until moistened. Fold in the dried fruits.
Spread batter evenly into prepared loaf pans and bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool cake 10 minutes before removing from pans. Cool several hours before slicing. Serves 16.

Each slice contains 116 calories, 2 grams fiber, 2 grams protein, 28 grams carbohydrate, 18 milligrams sodium. For Weight Watchers, each slice of cake is 2 points.

The following recipe is from Weight Watcher’s New Complete Cookbook and I am so excited with the find, I think I am going to make this cake, also, for the upcoming holidays.

To make Brandied Fruit Cake you will need:

1 ½ cups all purpose flour
2 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
¼ tsp salt
¼ cup reduced-calorie tub margarine
½ cup packed dark brown sugar
1 TBSP grated gingerroot*
1 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp nutmeg
¼ tsp ground cloves
1 cup fat-free buttermilk
½ cup egg substitute
1 tsp grated orange zest
1 tsp grated lemon zest
1 tsp vanilla extract
12 dried apricot halves, chopped
½ cup golden raisins
6 large pitted prunes, chopped
6 dried dates, pitted and chopped
3 TBSP brandy, bourbon or rum

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9” Bundt pan with nonstick cooking spray.
Sift the all purpose flour, whole wheat flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into a medium size bowl.

In a large bowl with an electric mixer on high speed, beat the margarine until creamy; add the brown sugar, gingerroot, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves beating until fluffy. Add the buttermilk, egg substitute, orange and lemon zests and vanilla, beating until well blended. Gradually add the flour mixture stirring just until combined. Gently stir in the apricots, raisins, prunes, dates and brandy. Scrape the batter into the pan. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 35-40 minutes. Cool in pan 5 minutes, then remove from the pan and cool completely on a rack. Makes 12 servings.

Each serving contains 212 calories, 3 g total fat, 1 g saturated fat, 1 mg cholesterol, 268 mg sodium, 42 g total carbohydrate, 3 g dietary fiber, 5 g protein. For Weight Watchers, each serving is 4 points.

Tip: if you have the time, soak the dried fruit in the brandy for a few hours or a few days, in a tightly covered container.

*Sandy’s Cooknote: Rachel Ray suggests freezing ginger to have some on hand but I LOVE my tip for fresh ginger: peel the pieces of ginger and put them into a jar and fill it up with sherry. Keep refrigerated. The ginger will keep indefinitely.
**
It was with a bit of dismay that I discovered most of the fruitcake recipes in my files are sans (without) nutritional information, so I have skipped any that I can’t provide point values for without trying to break it all down mathematically (math was never my strong suit). But keep in mind that whatever fruitcake recipe you may choose to make, having a thin slice of it won’t break your diet.

Also, one of the recipes that calls for applesauce reminded me of some articles I clipped from newspapers and magazines in the early 1990s, when someone discovered that a paste made of prunes, vanilla and water could be used to replace butter or oil in recipes. Food editors all over the country jumped on the band wagon, trying prunes in place of butter, with a lot of mixed reports. But Ruth Reichl, now editor of Gourmet magazine, wrote an article about it which must have appeared in the L.A. Times in 1992. She wrote about using a standard brownie recipe from the Fannie Farmer Baking Book and making the prune paste using ½ cup of the paste to replace a stick of butter. She writes that while everyone thought prunes for butter was nonsense, the laugh was on them because the prune paste brownies turned out very good.
Then someone wondered – why prunes, why not other fruits instead? And so the search was on to develop a number of recipes using fruit purees, often using jars of baby food fruit puree. This is why you will often find unsweetened applesauce in various cake recipes, replacing much of the butter or oil.

To make homemade prune paste, in case you want to give this a try, take one cup of pitted prunes, blend with 6 TBSP water and two tsp vanilla. Substitute the paste for shortening in recipes for brownies, muffins, and other baked goods. This reduces the fat in the recipe by at least 75%. The mixture is best when used fresh but will keep in the refrigerator several days. Also bear in mind that prunes are very high in fiber (which for Weight Watchers is always a good thing).

In a lengthy article for the Daily News in 1992, food editor Natalie Haughton commented that baked foods with fruit purees are less caloric than their fat counterparts because fruits have only 4 calories per gram while fats have 9 calories per gram, but fat in a baked item helps yield a moist tender product and pureed-fruit replacement baked goods tend to have a rubbery tough texture and lack flavor.

Since these articles were all written over fifteen years ago–and prune paste and fruit puree substitutes for butter or oil have all but disappeared from our culinary landscape -you might surmise that it was an idea that didn’t hold up–but I have noted a number of recipes even recently that contain unsweetened applesauce…and I have been thinking that the prune paste might work well as a partial replacement for butter in a fruitcake recipe which – after all, – is a fruitcake.

Before ending this discussion on fruitcakes, I’d like to share with you a recipe that was given to one of my daughters-in-law by her mother, at the bridal shower. It’s called

BEST RUM CAKE EVER

To make Best Rum Cake Ever, you will need

1 or 2 quarts rum
1 cup butter
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp soda
1 tsp sugar
2 large eggs
1 cup dried fruit
½ pint lemon juice
1 cup nuts

Before you start, sample the rum for quality. Good, isn’t it? Now go ahead. Select a large mixing bowl, measuring cup, etc. Check the rum again. It must be just right. To be sure rum is of the highest quality, pour one level cup of rum into a glass and drink it as fast as you can. Repeat. With an electric mixer, beat 1 cup of butter in a large fluffy bowl. Add 1 teaspoon of the thugar and beat again. Meanwhile, make sure that the rum is of the highest quality. Try another cup. Open second quart if necessary. Add 2 arge leggs, 2 cups fried druit and beat till high. If druit gets stuck in beaters, just pry loose with a drewscriver. Sample the rum again, checking for tonscisticity. Next, sift 3 cups of pepper or salt (it really doesn’t matter). Sample the rum again. Sift ½ pint of lemon juice. Fold in chopped butter and strained nuts. Add 1 babblespoon thugar or whatever color you can find. Wix mel. Crease oven and turn cake pan to 350 gredees. Now pour the whole mess into the coven and ake. Check the rum and bo to ged.

On that happy note -
Happy cooking!
Sandy

HOMEMADE CHRISTMAS CANDIES

As promised, the following are from my personal recipe boxes and are favorites I have been making for many years. The first two are recipes for making Buckeye Balls. Any good Ohioan knows what Buckeyes are, and most probably have a recipe or two for making Buckeye Balls candy (You can also buy them in almost any good candy store in Ohio) but they aren’t hard to make and it’s an easy enough recipe to make with children.

The first Buckeye Ball recipe is from my sister Becky’s collection and is in her handwriting. I have a lot of her recipes and my ultimate goal is to get them put together in a cookbook of just her recipes. She was an excellent cook, as all Schmidt & Heileman family members knew.

To make Becky’s Buckeye Balls you will need:

½ pound butter
1 pound jar peanut butter
1 ¼ cups powdered sugar (5 cups)
12 ounces chocolate
¼ bar paraffin

Have ingredients at room temperature. Mix together the butter, peanut butter and powdered sugar; mix well and shape into balls (bite size); then chill*

When the balls are thoroughly chilled, melt 12 ounces of chocolate and ¼ bar of paraffin in top of a double boiler. Coat each ball and place on wax paper. (to make it look like a real buckeye, you need to dip the candy balls into the chocolate but not quite covering it all. There should be an uncovered spot on top of each ball.
*Becky wrote chill but didn’t say – she assumed everybody knew–it may be a lot easier to chill the buckeye balls if you place them on cookie sheets to chill. If you line the cookie sheets with wax paper, you can use the same cookie sheets again after the candies have been dipped.

This next recipe is similar.

BUCKEYE BALLS #2

To make Buckeye Balls #2, you will need:

1 jar (16 ounce) creamy peanut butter
1 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 ½ (16 ounce) packages powdered sugar
1 (12 oz) package Nestle Toll House semi sweet chocolate morsels
2 TBSP shortening

Beat peanut butter and butter at medium speed with electric mixer until blended. Gradually add powdered sugar, beating until blended. Shape into 1” balls and chill 10 minutes or until firm. Microwave chocolate morsels and shortening in a 2 quart glass bowl at HIGH 1 ½ minutes or until melted, stirring twice. DIP each peanut butter ball in melted chocolate until partially coated and place on wax paper to harden. Store candy in airtight container. Makes 7 dozen.

CREAMY NUT TOFFEE

This recipe has been in my files so long – it was typewritten on an index card; I don’t know how many years it’s been since I have even owned a typewriter.

To make Creamy Nut Toffee you will need:

1 cup sugar
½ tsp salt
¼ cup water
½ cup butter
1 cup chopped walnuts (divided in half)
1 12-oz package semi sweet chocolate chips

Combine sugar, salt, water and butter in a medium size saucepan. Cook to light crack stage (285 degrees on your candy thermometer). Add ½ cup chopped walnuts and then pour onto a well greased cookie sheet. Cool. Melt the semi sweet chocolate pieces (over low heat, top of a double boiler). Spread half of the chocolate on top of the candy; sprinkle with half of the remaining chopped walnuts. Cool. Turn the candy over and repeat with remaining chocolate and nuts. When cool, break toffee into small pieces.
**
VERY GOOD ENGLISH TOFFEE

To make Very Good English Toffee, you will need:

½ cup finely chopped peanuts
½ cup butter or margarine (if using margarine don’t use a soft spread)
1 cup granulated sugar

Line a 12×10” with aluminum foil; shape piece of foil to about 10×8”. Sprinkle chopped nuts in pan and set aside. In 1 ½ quart pan, melt butter over medium heat. Immediately begin to stir in sugar with a long handled wooden spoon. Continue to cook over medium high heat about 6 or 7 minutes or until mixture turns golden, stirring only enough to prevent burning. Pour over nuts in prepared pan. Cool, break into pieces. Makes ¾ pound.

AUNT ANNIE’S VERSATILE WHITE CHOCOLATE CANDY

Aunt Annie wrote on the recipe card, “I have used all kinds of nuts and different kinds of pretzels and it all turns out good!”

To make Aunt Annie’s Versatile White Chocolate Candy, you will need:

1 pound white chocolate
4 TBSP grated paraffin
1 ½ cups stick pretzels, broken
1 ½ cups cocktail nuts
– or peanuts
– or mixed nuts
or cashews

Melt white chocolate and paraffin in the top of a double boiler. Stir in broken stick pretzels and your choice of 1 ½ cups of nuts. Drop by teaspoon onto cookie sheet sprayed with Pam.

(Sandy’s Cooknote: I have a recipe similar to this in my files; it was called Sticks & Stones.

HOLIDAY SUGARED WALNUTS

I have been making all of the variations of this recipe for so many years, I no longer remember where I originally got it. This is my favorite confection recipe to make up (I could make up three or four batches in one evening, after work). My penpal, Bev, has been keeping us supplied with walnuts from their walnut tree in Oregon–I keep them in the freezer so they won’t go bad.

To make Holiday Sugared Walnuts you will need:

1 ½ cups sugar
½ cup liquid*
1 tsp light corn syrup
¼ tsp salt
2-3 cups walnuts, halves or whole pieces

Cook first 4 ingredients to soft ball stage, (236 to 240 degrees F); remove from heat; add walnuts; stir until creamy; turn onto foil, separate pieces and let cool.

*To make Orange Flavored: ½ cup orange juice; 1 ½ tsp orange rind
To make Sherried Walnuts: ½ cup sherry wine, ½ tsp cinnamon
To make Spiced Wanuts: ½ cup water, ½ tsp EACH nutmeg & cloves and 2 tsp cinnamon
To make Minted Walnuts: ½ cup milk, green food coloring, and ¾ tsp mint flavoring, stirred in after cooking milk, sugar, corn syrup & salt, but before you add the walnuts.

CHRISTMAS YULE LOG:

To make Christmas Yule Log you will need:

1 6-oz package butterscotch chips
1 8-oz package cream cheese
1 tsp vanilla
1 lb powdered sugar
Chopped nuts

Melt chips in pan; add cream cheese (room temperature will blend better) and mix. Next add vanilla extract and stir in 1 pound package of powdered sugar. Cream in mixer; put in refrigerator to chill. When chilled, form into logs. Roll in chopped nuts. Return to refrigerator until solid enough to slice. (This is a very rich candy. You will want to make the slices thin).

DIVINITY (Basic recipe)

To make Divinity you will need:

2 ½ cups granulated sugar
½ cup light corn syrup
½ cup hot water
¼ tsp salt
2 egg whites
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup nuts, chopped (optional)

Combine sugar, corn syrup, water and salt in a large saucepan. Cook, stirring just until sugar is dissolved but not after mixture begins to boil. Cover pan for 3 minutes to let steam dissolve sugar crystals on side of pan to prevent graininess in Divinity. Clip candy thermometer to side of pan.

Cook mixture, uncovered, to 238 degrees on candy thermometer (soft ball stage). While syrup is cooking to temperature, beat egg whites until stiff in a medium size bowl. When syrup reaches required temperature, slowly pour half of the hot syrup into the beaten egg whites in a slow but steady stream while beating continuously. Place remaining syrup back on the stove to cook to 258 degrees (hard ball stage). Continue beating the egg white/syrup mixture while adding the remaining syrup and the vanilla, until the mixture forms stiff peaks. Stir in nuts, if desired. Drop mixture by teaspoonsful onto wax paper and let cool. Store in tightly covered container.

Variations:

Cherry Divinity: Substitute ¼ cup maraschino cherry juice for ¼ cup water in basic recipe. Stir in ¼ cup chopped maraschino cherries just before spooning out.
Chocolate Divinity: Stir ¼ cup semi sweet chocolate pieces into basic recipe until melted, just before spooning onto wax paper.

SEE’S FUDGE

See’s Candy is a famous candy store in Southern California. I didn’t come across this recipe, though, until after I had already posted the fudge recipes.

To make See’s Fudge, you will need:

½ cup butter
1 6-oz package of semisweet chocolate pieces
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups granulated sugar
1 (5 ¾ oz) can evaporated milk
10 large marshmallows
1 cup chopped nuts

Combine butter, chocolate pieces, and vanilla in medium size bowl. Set aside. Place sugar, evaporated milk and marshmallows in a medium size saucepan. Bring to boil over medium heat, stirring frequently. Reduce heat to low and cook 6 minutes, stirring constantly. Pour hot mixture over ingredients in bowl. Beat with electric mixture until fudge is thick and dull (this doesn’t take long). Stir in nuts. Pour into a lightly buttered 8” square baking pan. Refrigerate several hours. Makes about 36 squares.

I found another fudge recipe in my files that I thought you might enjoy. It’s called Ribbon Fantasy Fudge. To make Ribbon Fantasy Fudge, you will need:

3 cups sugar
¾ cup solid stick margarine (not a soft spread)
2/3 cup evaporated milk
1 6-oz package of semi sweet chocolate pieces
1 7-oz jar of marshmallow crème
1 tsp vanilla
½ cup peanut butter (crunchy or cream style)

Combine 1 ½ cups sugar, 6 tablespoons of the margarine, and 1/3 cup evaporated milk in a heavy 1 ½ quart saucepan; bring to full rolling boil, stirring constantly. Continue boiling 4 minutes over medium heat, stirring constantly to prevent scorching. Remove from heat; stir in chocolate pieces until melted. Add 1 cup (1/2 jar) marshmallow crème and ½ tsp vanilla; beat until well blended. Pour into a greased 13×9” pan. Repeat with remaining ingredients, substituting peanut butter for the chocolate pieces. Spread over chocolate layer. Cool at room temperature; cut into squares. Makes 3 pounds.

MAPLE PRALINES

To make Maple Pralines you will need:

2 cups granulated sugar
2/3 cup milk
1 cup maple syrup
2 cups pecans

Boil sugar, milk and syrup until mixture reaches 238 degrees on a candy thermometer. Remove and cool. When it is lukewarm, beat until it is smooth and creamy. Add nuts and drop on wax paper making little mounds.

OH, FUDGE! – MAKING CHRISTMAS CANDY

OH FUDGE! – MAKING CHRISTMAS CANDY (MY BLOG)

What smells and tastes more like the approach of Christmas than making batches of homemade candies? And these make wonderful gifts from your kitchen to give to friends, neighbors, coworkers, your doctor’s office or anyone else you want to give a little gift of appreciation during the holidays. If you go to Michael’s or Joann’s you can find a nice assortment of festive cellophane bags or other small containers to put your treats into. (Also remember to visit these stores after the holidays when they are marking 50 or even 75 percent off. This is when I stock up on many of my supplies for gift giving home made treats. Sometimes you can find small tins that are great for giving a small amount of candy. Think ahead!

Everybody thinks of fudge when the holidays are on the horizon. There are a few things you should know about candy making, to assure yourself of success. One is a candy thermometer. There are some recipes, especially some of the fudge recipes, that don’t require a candy thermometer. But if you don’t have one, go buy one; they only cost a few dollars. If you have to cook a concoction to a very definite temperature, you are going to need a candy thermometer. Another tip is – some candies don’t like humidity; you need a good dry day to make some candies, such as divinity.

My next tip has to do with equipment – if you are going to make candy, fudge or whatever else, you need
• Measuring cups, dry and liquid
• Measuring spoons
• A good wooden spoon.
• A good solid saucepan (2 quart will do but 3 or 4 quart will be better)
• Suitable pans such as a jellyroll pan to pour the candy into (my favorite pan for the five pound fudge recipe is a Wilton half-sheet cake pan). Go to Michael’s or Joanns and look at the different size cake pans that are available. Or buy some of those 8” square disposable aluminum foil cake pans to pour your fudge into and leave it in there to give away–just wrap cellophane or plastic wrap around it when it’s cold.
• Heavyduty aluminum foil. If you line your pans with it, when the candy is cold you can lift the whole thing out with the edges of the foil, lay it out on a cutting board or the kitchen counter, and then cut it into pieces. It’s much easier than trying to cut it while it’s still in the pans (and you won’t make knife marks in your pan).

Ok, if you don’t have a Michael’s or a Joann’s anywhere near you, then may I suggest going online to kitchen supply companies, such as Kitchen Kraft (one of my favorites) or King Arthur Flour – but if you just Google “kitchen baking equipment” you will find dozens of sources. (I have the feeling we talked about this before in Sandychatter). But places like Target and Kmart also have pretty decent kitchen supply departments.

Presumably you have collected all the necessary equipment, have stocked up on sugar, butter, unsweetened chocolate bars or a decent unsweetened cocoa, chopped walnuts or pecans (if you like nuts in your fudge) and whatever else your recipe calls for and you are ready to make candy. Ok, let’s do it! The recipes I am about to share with you are from my own personal collection and are recipes I have been making for years, so I know they are good.

FIVE POUNDS OF FUDGE

To make Five Pounds of Fudge, you will need:

2 packages (12 ounce each) chocolate chips (I prefer Nestle’s Toll House semi sweet morsels but any kind will do
1 jar (7 ½ ounce) marshmallow crème
1 can (12 ounce) evaporated milk
4 ½ cups of granulated sugar
1 TBSP vanilla extract
2 cups chopped pecans or walnuts

Put first three ingredients in a large bowl (not a plastic bowl – use glass or ceramic). Lightly butter a 15×10x1” pan or several small aluminum pans (or line the 15×10x1” pan with foil, then butter it). In a large deep pan, mix the evaporated milk and sugar. Bring to a boil and cook rapidly, stirring constantly, for exactly 9 minutes. Pour over other ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Beat with mixer just until well mixed or if you have strong arm, mix it with your wooden spoon. Then stir in vanilla and nuts. Spread evenly in prepared pans. Chill 12 to 24 hours. Cut into squares. Store airtight or with foil if giving in small aluminum pans.

MAGIC FUDGE

I have been making this for decades. I also use it to make my chocolate truffles. It’s a versatile recipe.

To make Magic Fudge you will need

3 large bags (12 ounce each) semi sweet chocolate morsels
2 cans Borden’s Sweetened Condensed milk (NOT evaporated!)
1 ½ tsp vanilla extract
Chopped nuts if you want to add them

Melt the chocolate chips over hot water in top of a double boiler (always be careful melting chocolate; don’t let any of the water come in contact with your chocolate – it will spoil it faster than you can say “oh fudge!” – Also be careful not to let the water boil or get too hot – that can ruin your chocolate too. Get the water hot, turn the heat down to the lowest setting – or take it off the heat source & then place the top container with the chocolate in it over the hot water. If you don’t have a double boiler, don’t despair – You can use a glass bowl for the top part. Improvise! Don’t try to rush melting chocolate. When the chocolate is melted, remove it from the heat, stir in the Borden’s sweetened condensed milk and then the vanilla. You can add nuts at this point, if you like. To make Rocky Road, you can mix in miniature marshmallows, walnuts or pecans.

When I make distinctions between evaporated milk and sweetened condensed milk and you don’t know what I am talking about – go to the supermarket and in the baking section, find the canned milk products and take a close look. Borden’s makes Sweetened Condensed milk. Carnation and Pet make evaporated milk. There is a big difference.

Make sure you have the right kind. You might want to stock up on cans of both items if you are going to do some serious candy making for the holidays.

This next recipe is kind of fun to make and give away as gifts, asking the recipients if they can guess what the mystery ingredient is. Most can’t guess! A penpal from Northern California was visiting me way back when and brought some for me try. I couldn’t guess the mystery ingredient.

To make MYSTERY INGREDIENT FUDGE you will need:

1 pound Velveeta cheese (the mystery ingredient)
1 pound butter
1 cup unsweetened cocoa
4 pounds sifted powdered sugar
1 TBSP vanilla extract
Chopped nuts (optional)

Melt together 1 pound Velveeta cheese and 1 pound butter – scorches easily so watch carefully and stir as needed. Remove from heat and add 1 cup cocoa, the four pounds of powdered sugar and then 1 TBSP vanilla. Can add nuts if you like. This makes 2 9×13” pans or 100 pieces of fudge. (This is very rich candy!)

PEANUT BUTTER FUDGE

To make Peanut Butter Fudge, you will need:

1 pound powdered sugar
½ cup peanut butter
½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tsp vanilla extract
6 TBSP milk

Combine ingredients and mix well. Spread in a 9” baking pan and refrigerate until candy hardens. Cut into squares. (This is one of those recipes that will work better if you line the 9” baking pan with foil; when the candy has hardened and you are ready to cut it into neat little squares, just lift the foil out of the pan and–voila! – it will be easy to cut into nice squares.

AUNT ANNIE’S CREAM CANDY

To make Aunt Annie’s Cream Candy, you will need:

2 pounds of powdered sugar (sifted)
3 sticks butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
Dark chocolate, melted

Let the butter come to room temperature, then mix all ingredients together. Shape into bite size balls and set on cookie sheet and let stand overnight. (This should form a crust). Dip the balls into melted chocolate. Aunt Annie wrote that she covered just half the candy balls when dipping into dark chocolate. These are very rich, similar to Opera Creams. Does anyone know what Opera Creams are, anymore?

You may have noticed that none of the above recipes required the use of a candy thermometer–don’t worry; you’ll get plenty of use out of it. Here is a recipe for old fashioned fudge–you’ll need your candy thermometer for this one.

To make Old Fashioned Fudge, you will need:

2 cups granulated sugar
2/3 cup buttermilk
2 squares (1 oz each) unsweetened chocolate OR 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa
2 TBSP light corn syrup
¼ tsp salt
2 TBSP butter
1 tsp vanilla
½ cup chopped nuts

In a medium saucepan over medium heat, stir together, sugar, buttermilk, chocolate, corn syrup and salt until chocolate melts and sugar dissolves.

Cook mixture, stirring occasionally, until it reaches 234 degrees F on a candy thermometer. Remove from heat and stir in butter. Cool mixture to lukewarm without stirring. Add vanilla, then beat until thick and no longer glossy. Quickly stir in ½ cup nuts. Turn mixture into a buttered 8 or 9” square pan. When set, cut into squares. Makes about 36 (1 ½” squares).

MAMIE EISENHOWER’S MILLION DOLLAR FUDGE

This recipe has been making the rounds since the 1950s; it originally appeared, I am told, in “Who Says We Can’t Cook?” a spiral bound collection of recipes published in 1955 by the Women’s National Press Club of Washington, D.C. (Actually, I think I might have this cookbook but many of my books are still packed in boxes and stored in the garage and a storage shed). At any rate, to make

MAMIE EISENHOWER’S MILLION DOLLAR FUDGE, you will need:

4 ½ cups granulated sugar
pinch salt
2 TBSP butter
1 tall can evaporated milk
12 oz semisweet chocolate pieces
12 ounces German sweet chocolate
1 pint marshmallow cream
2 cups chopped nuts

In a large saucepan, combine sugar, salt, butter and evaporated milk. Boil 6 minutes. Place chocolates, marshmallow cream and nuts in a large bowl (not plastic). Pour boiling syrup over ingredients in bowl; beat until chocolate is melted and pour into a pan. Let stand a few hours before cutting. Store in a food tin box or a tight fitting plastic container (I really like Rubbermaid Takealongs for storing cookies and candy).

CREAM PRALINES

Of all my praline recipes, this is my favorite. It was sent to me by my penpal Gene, who lives in Louisiana and kept me supplied with pecans for many years before she had to move into an assisted living facility. I love pralines. Years ago when I worked in Hollywood, we would make a mad dash for Farmer’s Market at lunch time to buy their giant pecan pralines and sherried walnuts. Yum!

To make Gene’s Cream Pralines, you will need:

1 cup light brown sugar (packed)
1 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup evaporated milk
½ tsp vanilla
1 ½ cups pecan halves
(Butter a large cookie sheet. Gene butters two)

Cook sugars and evaporated milk over medium heat stirring constantly until candy thermometer reaches 234 degrees F. Remove from heat, add pecans and vanilla and stir with a wooden spoon until creamy. Drop by tablespoons on cookie sheets; if candy becomes too stiff, add a small amount of cold water. Once you get the hang of handling the cream praline mixture you can spoon it directly into muffin pans lined with cupcake liners. You can leave the pralines in the cupcake liners or remove them later; they will all have a uniform shape.

I wanted to share a lot more favorite Christmas candy recipes with you but will have to send them in batches; I’ll post some of my favorite easy-to-make confection recipes next time, such as Holiday Sugared Walnuts – one of my favorites!

Thanks to Seth, my niece Julie’s fiancé, for requesting fudge recipes.

Happy Cooking!
Sandy

CHRISTMAS IS RIGHT AROUND THE CORNER…

Christmas is practically right around the corner–(you may not want to think so, since Thanksgiving isn’t even here yet) but our household starts gearing up for Christmas by September, and we are half-way through the month as I write this. (I have updated my giftlist and some gifts are already stashed in a closet–no small feat considering how crowded our closets already are.)

I have begun to stock up on dried fruit–and there are so many more to choose from these days; pineapple and mango and cherries and ginger–many ingredients which will make a fantastic fruitcake, even if you think you don’t really like fruitcake. (Actually, we have the last slices of a fruitcake aging in the car port refrigerator that is about 6 years old. Some of it gets eaten every year and then I douse it with a little more brandy, rewrap it and put it back into the frig). The fruitcake is sacred and my household knows it. One year long ago, I had made a fantastic fruitcake laden with dozens of pecans and walnuts and Brazil nuts. I had it aging in the frig in a Tupperware container. After taking my sons to Ohio for a vacation that summer, upon returning home I discovered we had a new laundry room frig. “Where,” I asked my husband, “Is my fruitcake?”

“Oh,” he said, dismissively, “I didn’t know what it was and threw it out”. Needless to say, no one ever threw out anything without my knowledge after that.

Cookbook author Edna Lewis recalled Christmas in Freetown, writing, “When I was a girl growing up in a small farming community of Freetown, Virginia, preparations for Christmas started in early September, when we children went out to gather black walnuts, hickory nuts, and hazelnuts….Whenever she saw a break of a day or two from the September harvest, Mother would set about making the fruitcake. It was a family affair that my older sister and I cheerfully participated in….” I know I get my pecans and walnuts from a supermarket, but in my heart I am gathering black walnuts and hickory nuts somewhere. (Actually, for the past couple of years, our walnuts have come from my penpal Bev, in Oregon, who has gifted us with a big box of unshelled walnuts for several Christmasses now).

One of the best stories you will ever read about fruitcake making can be found in a little book by Marie Rudisill, about her nephew Truman Capote and a Southern cousin, Sook Faulk. When Truman was a young child, he and his elderly cousin Sook would go pecan collecting in preparation for making fruitcakes, which Sook sent to many different people, including a few U.S. presidents (FDR was one).

And another author, Moira Hodgson, compiled a small cookbook titled “Favorite Fruitcakes”, subtitled ‘Recipes, Legends, and lore from the World’s Best Cooks and Eaters”. Hodson’s collection is gleaned from many famous cookbook authors, including James Beard (his mother’s black fruitcake) and Julia Child’s Famous Sticky Fruitcake. There is also Marion Cunningham’s Chocolate Fruitcake and Edna Lewis’ Christmas Fruitcake.

Here’s the thing about fruitcake – it has gotten a lot of bad press, some directly traceable to author Calvin Trillin, who claimed there is just one fruitcake in the world that has never been eaten, just passed around from family to family. Don’t you believe it. Anyone who dislikes fruitcake has just never eaten really good fruitcake (it reminds me of growing up hating rice. Rice to me was a sticky white ball that tasted faintly of library paste. That was how my mother cooked it. After I became an adult and moved to California – I discovered rice – wild rice and rice pilaf and yes, even Rice-A-Roni…and what I learned was – I didn’t hate rice. I just hated the way my mother cooked it). So, trust me on this. There are dozens, maybe hundreds of really excellent recipes for making good fruitcake. (I know because I became obsessed with fruitcake recipes one year and began putting all I could find in a blank recipe book. Quite a lot of them are from newspapers and magazines.

Well, I have been going through cookbooks and recipe files, trying to decide what kind of fruit cake to make this year. There were a lot to choose from. A fruitcake with chocolate in it? With pecans and walnuts? With or without citron? (preferably without) And whose recipe should I choose? James Beard’s mother’s black fruitcake? Rose Levy Beranbaum’s less fruity fruitcake? Jeff Smith’s Lighter Applesauce fruitcake? How about Bourbon Fruitcake? Martha Washington’s Fruitcake? White Fruitcake from the White House cookbook?

As you can imagine, this fruitcake making can be serious business. Deciding which recipe to follow is just the first step. Finally, I chose a recipe called Holiday Fruitcake which originally appeared in the October 25, 1990 Los Angeles Times food section.

I also had all of the right ingredients on hand to make Holiday Fruitcake. (This is always a step in the right direction—I grew up in a household where I had free reign in the kitchen, allowed to cook or bake anything I wanted—the only criteria being, all of the ingredients had to be available in the pantry. I never, as a child, asked my mother to buy a special ingredient for my cookie baking binges, nor did we ever make special forays to the corner grocery store for special items).

One sunny afternoon, I put Bob to work shelling pecans and chopping almonds. He also chopped dried apricots and dates. Meanwhile, I was greasing loaf pans, creaming butter and sugars and making sure no one had tapped into the bottle of Grand Marnier. (Other than myself, of course). It took the largest bowl in the house to get it all mixed and we took turns trying to stir the big wooden spoon in this…muck of fruit and nuts. As we stirred, I explained that taking a turn at stirring the fruitcake is good luck, a tradition that dates back hundreds of years.

Eventually the lumpy batter all ended up in four loaf pans – and I hovered cautiously over the kitchen stove, throughout the baking process.

When the cakes were finally baked, removed from the pans and cooling on racks, we congratulated ourselves and celebrated with … maybe just a teeny little bit of Grand Marnier.

When the cakes were completely cold, they were wrapped in cheese cloth and then Reynold’s Wrap, placed in Tupperware containers and stored in the refrigerator.

In December, we will re-wrap them in cellophane and give them only to very special people. (Translation: people who actually do like fruitcake).

I’d like to share with you the recipe for Holiday Fruitcake as it appeared in the Los Angeles Times in 1990. (If you have a favorite fruitcake recipe, I hope you will share it with me!)

HOLIDAY FRUITCAKE

1 pound dried apricots, chopped
1 pound dates, chopped
1 pound golden raisins
1 pound red and green candied cherries
1 pound red and green candied pineapple
1 pound almonds, blanched, toasted and chopped
1 pound pecans, broken into pieces
4 cups flour
1 pound unsalted butter, softened
1 ½ cups brown sugar, packed
1 ½ cups granulated sugar
12 eggs
1 teaspoon ground cloves
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground mace
1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
¼ cup rum
¼ cup brandy
Grand Marnier
Juice and zest of 2 oranges
Juice and zest of 2 lemons

Thoroughly grease 4 (8×5”) loaf pans. Combine apricots, dates, raisins, candied cherries and pineapple, almonds and pecans in large bowl. Mix in 1 cup flour to dredge mixture. Set aside.

Cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating after each addition.

Sift remaining flour with cloves, cinnamon, mace, baking soda and salt. Add to creamed mixture alternately with rum, brandy, ¼ cup Grand Marnier, and fruit juices and zests. Fold into fruit-nut mixture. Pour into loaf pans. Bake at 300 degrees 2 ½ to 3 hours or until wood pick inserted in center of cake comes out clean. Cool in pans 15 minutes. Remove from pans onto wire rack and let cool to room temperature. Moisten 4 pieces cheesecloth, large enough to cover each loaf, with Grand Marnier, and wrap around each loaf. Wrap Grand Marnier-soaked loaves in foil and refrigerate or store in cool place note: aging improves fruitcake.

In December, we will re-wrap them in cellophane and give them only to very special people. (Translation: people who actually do like fruitcake). It may surprise you to know, there is such a thing as really good fruitcake. And with all the different kinds of dried fruits available nowadays, you can make a fruitcake to suit the taste of your own family. If there is an ingredient in a fruitcake recipe that doesn’t turn you on, substitute an equal amount of another dried fruit you do like.

I was talking about making fruitcake and a girlfriend who works full time (I am now retired) complained “I don’t have time to do all of that work!”
so I am going to share with you one more fruitcake recipe; I made this for years while I was a full time administrative assistant raising four sons. And this fruitcake was a huge hit with everyone who tasted it:

Eve’s Fruitcake

4 ½ cups chopped pecans
3 ½ cups chopped walnuts
2 pounds dates, c hopped
1 pound candied cherries, cut up
1 pound candied pineapple, cut up
2 (14 ounce) cans of sweetened condensed milk (NOT evaporated)
8 ounces of shredded coconut

Combine pecans, walnuts, dates, cherries (reserve a few whole cherries for decoration),pineapple, condensed milk and coconut. Mix with your hands . Turn into greased and floured miniature loaf pans. Bake at 225 degrees about an hour. Cake is done when no milk oozes out when pressed with fingers). Decorate with reserved cherries, if desired. Let cool or chill in pan for easier pan removal. Turn out on foil and wrap snugly. Store in refrigerator about 1 month before serving (or giving away as Christmas presents. Those decorative cellophane bags are really nice to wrap these in. Voila! You will have 6 or 8 small loaf pans of fruitcake. (or bake the whole thing in a tube pan that has been greased and floured and bake 1 ½ hours). This is a nice fruitcake but doesn’t have the aging power that fruitcakes doused with brandy or rum do).

I did a Google search before finishing this post; I was hoping to find a Texas fruitcake that I thought was especially good – it’s not the one offered by Collins, probably the most famous Texas fruitcake you can order online today. I think the one I had in mind must have gone out of business–they sold small fruitcake bites dipped in chocolate I think they called “puds” – oh, yum!

Happy Cooking!
Sandy

PEASE PORRIDGE HOT (PEA SOUP)

PEASE PORRIDGE HOT

PEASE PORRIDGE HOT,
PEASE PORRIDGE COLD
PEASE PORRIDGE IN THE POT NINE DAYS OLD
SOME LIKE IT HOT, SOME LIKE IT COLD,
SOME LIKE IT IN THE POT NINE DAYS OLD

The origin of the above children’s rhyme is unknown, but refers to a type of porridge that, in the middle ages, was made from peas. The earliest known recorded version of the children’s rhyme can be found in John Newberry’s Mother Goose Melody (c. 1760).

Now here’s what’s interesting about old nursery rhymes–they often contained a nucleus of history and this is true of Pease Porridge. In the middle ages, when many folks were terribly poor–and undoubtedly always hungry–a pot or kettle hung over the fireplace fire and all bits and pieces of food were added to it on a daily basis. I remember reading that the pot of soup on the back of the stove is still a practice in remote parts of France. Whatever bits and pieces acquired today will be in tomorrow’s pot of soup which is kind of like a perpetual pot.

Well, I went to the trouble of searching for some recipes for ham and split pea soup (or just pea soup) originally because I thought my sister wanted a recipe (also got to thinking – why does anyone need a recipe for split pea soup? Can’t you just throw it together or isn’t there a basic recipe on the bag of dried peas?) – Nonetheless, curiosity won out (and my sister wanted a vegetable soup recipe, not one for peas). Oh, well. By now I had a small stack of recipe cards from my soup files. So–of course–I thought of sharing these on my Blog.

To start things off, here is a recipe for Low-Fat Split Pea soup.

To make LOW FAT SPLIT PEA SOUP, you will need:

8 oz dry split peas
1 medium size onion, chopped
1 medium size carrot, peeled and sliced (or chopped)
3 chicken bouillon cubes
5 cups water
1 tsp curry powder*
¾ tsp salt
Dash cayenne pepper

Rinse and sort dry peas. In a 4 quart saucepan over medium-high heat, combine peas and remaining ingredients and bring to a boil. Cover, and reduce heat to low. Simmer 50 minutes or until peas are tender. Makes 5 servings. Recipe can be doubled but if doubled, increase water to 8 cups, not 10.

*Sandy’s cooknote: I don’t like curry powder. If you do by all means add it. If you don’t, then I suggest substituting a teaspoon of Beau Monde seasoning, which I just love-and it goes with almost any kind of recipe.

NORWEGIAN PEA SOUP

To make NORWEGIAN PEA SOUP you will need:

1 pound pkg dried whole or split yellow peas
7 cups water
1 ½ cups finely chopped carrots
1 ½ cups finely chopped onion
½ tsp marjoram leaves
2 ½ pounds fully cooked smoked ham, cubed (shank end preferred)*
1 cup thinly sliced celery
2 cups (8 oz) grated Jarlsberg cheese

Rinse and drain peas. In heavy, large saucepan combine peas and water and bring to a boil. Cove and set aside for at least an hour (if using split peas, skip this step).

Add carrots, onion, & marjoram and bring to boil. Cover and simmer 1 hour. Add celery and cook until peas mash easily, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking. Ladle sop into bowls and pass the cheese. Nice to serve with croutons.

*Sandy’s cooknote: You may use the bone and cubed ham from a baked, fully cooked smoked ham. In fact, it’s when we are polishing a ham shank that I start thinking whether to make ham and bean soup, or ham and split pea. If you don’t want to make soup right away, wrap the ham bone in aluminum foil, label it and put into the freezer to use later.
**
The following is from a very old newspaper clipping. I have no idea who Eva was. But in order to make EVA’S SPLIT PEA SOUP, you will need:

2 cups dry green peas
10 cups cold water
1 large onion, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
bacon fat
1 ham bone or 2 smoked ham hocks
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
½ tsp marjoram
Frankfurters, sliced in 1” pieces, optional
Hot buttered croutons

Soak peas in water overnight. Next day, sauté onion and carrots in bacon fat until onions are tender. Add peas, with liquid. Add ham bone, garlic, salt, pepper and marjoram. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer 3 hours, stirring occasionally. Remove ham bone, trim off meat and return to soup (Bone can be reused for other soup or discarded).
Correct seasoning, if needed, and add frankfurters, if wished. Serve with hot buttered croutons.
**
The following is a very nice vegetarian split pea soup

To make VEGETARIAN SPLIT PEA SOUP, you will need:

2 tsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups dried split peas
½ cup barley
¾ tsp salt
8 cups water
2 medium carrots, peeled & chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
2 small potatoes, peeled and diced
¼ cup freshly chopped dill (optional)
1 bay leaf
1 TBSP dried parsley
½ tsp dried basil
½ tsp ground black pepper
1 TBSP red wine vinegar*
Dashes of hot pepper sauce (optional)

Heat oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add onion and garlic; sauté about 5 minutes, until onions are translucent. Add the peas, barley, salt and water. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to low. Simmer, uncovered, for 2 hours, stirring occasionally. Add the cartots, potatoes, celery and spices (leaving only the vinegar and hot sauce to add at the end). Simmer another hour; add water when necessary or if you desire a thin soup. Test the soup; vegetables should be tender. Add vinegar and hot sauce just before serving. Makes 10 servings.

*Sandy’s cooknote: This is an interesting variation with the vinegar added just before serving. If you have German or Hungarian roots, you will always have some kind of vinegar (usually apple cider vinegar) on the table to splash into your bowl of soup, if it is split pea or any kind of bean soup. We keep white vinegar in a carafe on the table. Bob wouldn’t eat pea or bean soup without some vinegar added to it. Neither would my brothers!
**
This last recipe is printed on a very old card and was tested by someone named Mary Martensen, a home economics editor at the Chicago Herald-American–however long ago that may have been. What I like is that this is a very simple recipe for making a cream type split pea soup.

To make MARY’S SPLIT PEA SOUP you will need:

1 cup dried split peas
2 ½ quarts cold water
1 pint milk
½ onion
2” cube fat salt pork
3 TBSP butter or margarine
2 TBSP flour
1 ½ tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper

Pick over peas and soak several hours in cold water to cover. Drain, add cold water, pork and onion. Simmer 3 or 4 hours or until soft. Put through a sieve*. Add butter and flour and seasonings blended together. Dilute with the milk, adding more milk if necessary. Note the water in which a ham has been cooked may be used. Omit the salt.

Sandy’s cooknote: If you don’t have a sieve, you can blend the peas in your blender but I would suggest cooling it down somewhat, first, and only do half a blender-full at a time so it doesn’t splash. When I make pea soup I like to cook the peas and whatever other ingredients (carrots, onion) -except meat – and blend it in my blender to make it smooth. Then add some leftover ham if you want it in your soup. We like very thick soups, more like chowders. What I usually do is cook a hambone and then set it aside. Use the stock from the hambone then to cook the peas. (And if you take the time to chill the stock, you can easily remove the fat that rises to the top and solidifies). While the peas are cooking, cool the hambone and remove all the bits of meat to put back into the pot later.
Ok, it’s a little more work this way–but you will have a fine pot of soup.

Happy Cooking!
Sandy

LET THEM EAT MORE (VEGETABLE) SOUP

LET THEM EAT MORE (VEGETABLE) SOUP

It started innocently with my sister requesting a recipe. I thought she said “pea soup” But I learned the next day, I misunderstood. She was making a vegetable soup. I can’t imagine how I heard “pea” when she said “vegetable”.

While waiting for her to arrive at my place, I looked up and copied a slew of pea soup recipes. She didn’t want pea, she wanted vegetable. Oh, well, I said. Who really needs a recipe for making vegetable soup? You just toss whatever you have on hand into a pot, add water or some cans of vegetable broth – and voila! You have vegetable soup. Then, of course, I began searching through my soup files for vegetable soup recipes and, admittedly – there are a lot of varieties.

Then, today, I wanted to use up a lot of leftovers in the vegetable crisper so I decided to make chicken/vegetable/tortilla soup, I had some leftover chicken breasts, about half a head of cabbage, plenty of carrots and celery–I also had some slightly old flour tortillas that would work nicely in thin strips dried in the oven–and a package of taco seasoning mix for flavor. (My reasoning being: I am going on vacation in a week, and anything in the refrigerator that doesn’t get cooked, thrown out, or frozen – will be a soggy decayed mess when I get back). My chicken/vegetable/tortilla soup has turned out very nicely.
What you do is, fill a bowl with soup; sprinkle on some dried tortilla strips, and top it off with a sprinkling of grated cheese. A slice of avocado is also nice if you happen to have some on hand. It was a nice variation of my sister Becky’s clean-out-the-refrigerator-soup.

But getting back to vegetable soup – vegetable beef, vegetable chicken, plain vegetable soup – there are a lot of recipes from which to choose (My sister pointed out – I didn’t have a recipe for vegetable soup on my BLOG. MY BAD. Mea Culpa. So, brace yourself because I am about to rectify that omission.
**

This first one from my card file is very old, written in real ink and the card has yellowed. (I collect old, filled recipe boxes so sometimes there’s no telling where some of my recipes came from). No directions are provided. (Do you really need directions to make soup?)

To make this vegetable soup, you will need:

VEGETABLE SOUP

2 quarts quartered tomatoes
2 dozen medium carrots, sliced
2 quarts cut green beans
2 cups chopped celery
½ cup chopped parsley
1 small head cabbage, chopped
4 small onions, chopped
½ cup rice or barley
2 quarts hot water
meat

Sandy’s Cooknote: I suspect this recipe was for canning vegetable soup. But in today’s world? Make it up and freeze it in batches suitable for your household. I absolutely love the Gladlock 2-quart rectangular plastic containers. Once you freeze the soup, pop it out of the plastic container and put it into a Ziplock bag, then label it with a black marker. At my house we call these “bricks”. (I trade my bricks to girlfriend MJ, in exchange for doing all my sewing and mending. I-do-not-sew. It’s a satisfactory barter system. She doesn’t like to cook).

And when a recipe for vegetable soup just provides you with the innocuous direction of “meat” – you can use a pound or two of stewing meat, almost any kind of beef cut – but my favorite meat to add to any vegetable soup is a 7-bone or chuck roast, already cooked and presented in one meal – then the leftovers cut up and turned into soup. Leftover gravy from the roast and any leftover vegetables can also be added.
**
Here is another old recipe called SKINNY SOUP for the simple reason that it’s made up mostly of vegetables, some high fiber, with a little leftover turkey meat, chopped up – if you have it on hand. If not, leave it out. It will be fewer calories.

SKINNY SOUP

To make SKINNY SOUP, you will need:

3 stalks celery, diced
3 large carrots, diced
1 cup sliced fresh mushrooms
1 sweet onion, diced
½ head cabbage, sliced
½ pound fresh or frozen cauliflower cut up
2 medium potatoes, diced
1 cup frozen peas
3 cups water
2 cups leftover turkey meat, chopped (optional)
1 46-oz can tomato juice, preferably low sodium
2 TBSP fresh dill or 1 tsp dried
2 TBSP fresh basil or 1 tsp dried
1 tsp garlic powder
½ tsp ground pepper
Freshly grated Parmesan cheese for topping (optional)

Prepare all vegetables. Use a large soup pot. Add all vegetables, turkey (if using), water, tomato juice and spices. Bring soup to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer, covered 45 minutes to an hour or until vegetables reach your desired tenderness. Top with Parmesan cheese when presenting in a soup bowl. Makes 10 servings.

LISA’S THREE INGREDIENT VEGETABLE SOUP

This recipe was sent to me by Lisa, a penpal who lives in Ithaca, New York. To make Lisa’s Three Ingredient Vegetable soup, all you will need is:

1 16-OZ pkg Bird’s eye frozen mixed vegetables*
1 46-oz can tomato juice
1 3-oz pkg ramen oriental noodles with beef flavoring

Mix vegetables and tomato juice in a 5 quart pot. Heat to boiling. Add noodles and flavor packet. Simmer 15 minutes; stirring occasionally. 8 servings. What could be easier?

*Sandy’s cooknote: Canned or frozen mixed vegetables are my culinary best friend; I like to keep a lot of them on hand; they’re great in all kinds of soups and stews.

ALL NEW BASIC SOUP

To make ALL NEW BASIC SOUP, you will need:

5 medium carrots cut into 1” slices
3 medium celery stalks, sliced
3 large onions, chopped
1 large clove garlic, minced
2 cans (28 oz) tomatoes in juice
1 small head cabbage, sliced thin
2 medium parsnips, peeled and cut into 1” slices*
2 pkgs (5 oz each) baby spinach leaves (or use 1 10-oz pkg chopped spinach
½ cup fresh parsley or ¼ cup dried parsley
2 chicken flavored bouillon cubes
1 tsp salt
½ tsp pepper
12 cups water

Coat an 8-qt pot with Pam. Over medium-high heat, add carrots, celery, onions and garlic. Cook 5 minutes. Add tomatoes and their liquid, breaking up the tomatoes with a fork or side of a spoon. Add the cabbage, parsnips, bouillon cubes, salt & pepper and water. Heat to boiling over high heat, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat, cover and simmer, stirring occasionally until all vegetables are tender. Add more salt & pepper if desired. Makes about 25 cups.

*Sandy’s cooknote: I am not fond of parsnips. Ditto turnips. I would use a couple of medium size potatoes instead.
**
This next one is titled Mexican Vegetable Soup and appears to be a promotional recipe card from French’s since it called for an envelope of French’s Chili-O Mix. Use a package of what ever chili seasoning mix you prefer.

To make MEXICAN VEGETABLE SOUP, you will need:

2 pounds beef soup meat plus soup bone (if you can find a soup bone nowadays! – back in the day, my childhood, you could get a soup bone from the butcher free)
2 TBSP salad oil
1 envelope chili seasoning mix
6 cups water
1 1-lb can tomatoes
1 can beef broth
1 1-lb can cream style corn
1 small summer squash, peeled and sliced

Cut meat in 1” cubes. Brown in oil in soup kettle or Dutch oven type pan. Add chili seasoning mix, water, tomatoes and broth; cover and simmer 1 ½ hours or until meat is tender. Add corn, carrots and squash; cover again and simmer 30 minutes. Remove soup bone. 6-8 servings.

Sandy’s cooknote: If you can’t lay your hands on a soup bone, don’t worry about it. Just leave it out. And if you don’t have any canned beef broth – dissolve 1 or 2 beef bouillon cubes in hot water and use that instead (TIP: Always keep chicken and beef bouillon cubes on hand!)
**
The following is a simple vegetable beef soup that is made with ¾ of a pound of extra lean ground beef. Three quarters of a pound? Why such an odd amount? I would use a pound of ground beef. This recipe would be easy enough to throw together for a quick dinner – ready in an hour; serve with crackers or garlic bread.

VEGETABLE BEEF SOUP

To make VEGETABLE BEEF SOUP, you will need:

3 medium carrots, chopped
2 large potatoes, cut into small cubes
1 medium onion, chopped
3 ribs celery, with tops, chopped
½ tsp salt
1 tsp freshly ground pepper
About 3 cups shredded green cabbage (1/2 head)
¾ (or 1 lb) extra lean ground beef
1 quart tomato juice (low sodium if you are watching your salt)
dashes of Tabasco sauce (optional)

Combine carrots, potatoes, onion, celery, cabbage, ground beef (uncooked), salt and pepper in a large soup pot. Add enough water just to cover the vegetables and ground beef. Add tomato juice last and bring to a boil, then lower heat and simmer at least 1 hour. Meat should be cooked and vegetables tender. Stir soup occasionally to break up the ground beef. Add a few squirts of Tabasco sauce if you want to give it a little zing.
Makes 10 servings.
**

This next recipe contains uncooked broken spaghetti, which is a twist – but reminded me that my sister Becky, whenever she made her clean-out-the-refrigerator-soup, would chop up any leftover spaghetti and add it to the post near the end of cooking time.

To make MULTI-VEGETABLE SOUP you will need:

2 TBSP butter or margarine
2 TBSP cooking oil
1 cup thinly sliced carrots
1 cup thinly sliced zucchini
1 cup thinly sliced celery
1 cup finely shredded cabbage
1 large onion, chopped
2 beef bouillon cubes
2 tsp salt
8 cups boiling water
1 tsp Accent (optional)
1 can (16 oz) stewed tomatoes
¼ cup uncooked broken spaghetti
½ tsp thyme

Heat the butter or margarine and oil in a pot. Add carrots, zucchini, celery, cabbage and onion; cook uncovered abut 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the bouillon cubes, water, salt and Accent (if you are using it) to the vegetables. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer uncovered, about 30 minutes. Stir in the stewed tomatoes, spaghetti and thyme. Cook 20 minutes. Serve hot from a tureen. You can serve with a bowl of shredded parmesan cheese- personally, I like to have some hot garlic bread as an accompaniment. Makes about 2 quarts soup.

This next recipe sounds like something someone created when the vegetable garden was overflowing. You could make the soup with or without meat – if without, add a few beef bouillon cubes for flavoring.

To make GRANDMA’S HARVEST SOUP, you will need:

1 ½ pounds beef stew meat, trimmed and cubed
1 tbsp vegetable oil
10 medium fresh tomatoes, peeled and cut up
2 cups tomato juice
2 medium size onions, chopped
1-2 garlic cloves, minced
½ tsp pepper
2 tsp salt (optional)
6 medium potatoes, peeled and cubed
5 carrots, cleaned and sliced
2 cups frozen or fresh corn
2 cups frozen or fresh green beans
2 cups frozen peas
3 ribs celery, sliced
1 cup sliced butternut squash
¼ cup finely chopped fresh parsley (or 1/8 cup of dried)
1 tsp sugar

In a Dutch oven, brown meat in oil over medium high heat. Add tomatoes, tomato juice, onions, garlic, pepper and salt. Bring to a boil; reduce heat to low and simmer 1 hour.
Now add potatoes, carrots, corn, green beans, peas, and celery. Cover and simmer an additional 30 minutes. Add squash and simmer 10-15 minutes more or until meat and vegetables are tender. Stir in parsley and sugar. Makes 8-12 servings.

Sandy’s cooknote: Well, I think that’s enough of vegetable soup–it should give you something to work with. Don’t be afraid to use what you have on hand. And when you are chopping up celery or carrots (I like to have the Food Network or Oprah on while I am puttering around in the kitchen), chop extra and freeze it in 1 cup portions in plastic ziplock sandwich bags–then when you are ready to make some soup, you already have some of the ingredients on hand and can just toss them into the pot. My sister Becky used to dump small amounts of leftover vegetables into a large plastic container and kept it in the freezer for making pots of soup.

I’ll work on some pea soup recipes for another post.

Happy Cooking!
Sandy

An Old Recipe Box (a poem)

AN OLD RECIPE BOX

It is an old recipe box,
Perhaps the oldest one I have ever seen,
Made of wood, and covered with stains,
With the name “KARL L. VONDERAHE”
Printed in pencil inside the lid.
Many of the recipes are on cards yellowed with age
While clippings crumble and disintegrate
When touched.
One old recipe card, written in ink,
Is dated 1938, while
Some recipes are, curiously,
Written on old cardboard luggage tags.
There are many different recipes for cakes,
And pickles,
Jellies and jams,
Oftentimes in different handwriting
Which might suggest
The owner of the recipe box requesting
A favorite recipe from a friend.
My niece found the recipe box
At an estate sale in Palm Springs,
Leaving me to imagine
The owner had passed away
And no one wanted this fine
Old recipe box.
When I carefully go through
The contents of the box,
I imagine the previous owner
Going through it
Searching for a favorite recipe for
Pecan pie
Or molasses taffy,
Armenian meatballs
Or
Mabel’s ham loaf.
It’s all here,
In the recipe box.

–Sandra Lee Smith
August, 2009

WASHING DISHES

WASHING DISHES

Thank God For Dirty Dishes
Thank God for dirty dishes;
They have a tale to tell.
While others may go hungry,
We’re eating very well
With home, health, and happiness,
I shouldn’t want to fuss;
By the stack of evidence,
God’s been very good to us.
–Author unknown

WASHING DISHES

When I was about four years old
Jim would have been seven and
Becky eight going-on-nine,
It was our chore to do the dishes
After dinner every night.
Becky washed;
Jim dried,
And I put away the dishes, pots and pans
And silverware
My sister bought song books
For ten cents each
At the drug store on Carl Street.
In them were printed
All the popular songs
For the month,
And my sister propped
The song book
Behind the faucet,
So we could memorize
All the words
To all of the songs
Being sung or
Played on the radio.
We must have memorized
Hundreds of songs
And it made the time
Go by quickly.
I have wonderful memories
Of the three of us
Doing dishes together.

–Sandra Lee Smith

WASHING DISHES #2

It has never been unpleasant to me,
Washing dishes after dinner,
Hot soapy water in the sink,
My Fiesta Ware rinsed and stacked
On the counter to my left,
Ready to be washed,
Leftovers put away
In little plastic containers,
And the table cleared.
There was an orderliness about it all,
The final ritual to the evening meal.
In Arleta the kitchen sink
Was in a corner overlooking
The backyard where I could see
The bird feeder and the many
Feathered friends that visited us every day.
There was a triangular ledge
Above the sink
Where my blue glass was on display.
It was a time for contemplation
And deep thoughts,
While I washed and rinsed the dishes
And put them on a rack to air-dry.
I still have the Fiesta Ware dishes
And the blue glass is above the sink
But there isn’t a window looking out
Into the yard
I do miss that.

–Sandra Lee Smith
July, 2009

MUSTARD (a poem)

MUSTARD

For some reason that I no longer can recall,
I once bought a big gallon jar of mustard; this
Must have been sometime in 1993, perhaps,
Perhaps we had a big BBQ party or I bought it
For the 1993 Christmas holidays,
Or the mustard was on sale at a good price.
It had been opened and being such a big jar,
Was stored in the refrigerator in the laundry room
On Arleta Avenue.
Early one morning, on January 17, at 4:30 AM,
we were awakened by an earthquake that shook the house,
And as I stood in the doorway of my bedroom,
I could hear things falling, glass breaking.
When the shaking stopped, I called out to my brother
Who had been visiting us and was sleeping in Bob’s room
While Bob shared mine.
There was no electricity and it was before dawn
So Bob went in search of flashlights and his camping lanterns.
We began to assess the damage while my brother
Continued his preparations for a flight out of Los Angeles to
Oakland that morning.
He soon left in his rental car but would discover that
LAX was closed down until it could be inspected,
So he retrieved the rental car and drove to John Wayne Airport
Where he caught a flight to Oakland and
Was on time for a meeting.
Meantime, we discovered thousands of books
And jars of jelly had fallen in the spare bedroom
And would take hours to tidy up.
Bob brought in a trash can and we began
Sweeping up broken glass.
We were dumbstruck to discover
That none of the cookie jars had broken
With the exception of two lids
That had jumped off a bookshelf
And crashed to the floor.
It was not until much later that I opened
The door to the laundry room refrigerator
And the gallon jar of mustard (along with other things)
Fell out and landed on the floor.
The mustard fell with such force that
The lid flew off and mustard sprayed
With great velocity
All over the laundry room; the walls
And ceiling and floor were covered with mustard.
It took a great deal of time to clean it all up
But the stains on the ceiling would never come off.
In the pantry jars and cans had fallen
And anything made of glass had broken
Including jars of liqueurs I was brewing.
It was an overwhelming smell
But nothing, no nothing
Could compare with all the yellow mustard
On floor, ceiling, walls.
I have never even liked mustard
Very much
And now I liked it even less.
I never bought a gallon of mustard ever again.

–Sandra Lee Smith
Remembering January 17, 1994

Postscript: The damage from the Northridge Earthquake was widespread and entire Buildings collapsed in Northridge, about 12 miles west of us. We soon had electricity, Never lost our gas or water and for about a week, friends and friends’ children would call and ask if they could come and take a shower at my house. They would bring their own towels and soap; we had a steady parade of shower-takers until their utilities were restored. There was damage to a freeway overpass and a motorcycle policeman was killed where the overpass had separated. It had not even occurred to me or my brother that the 405 freeway might not have been safe to drive on but he continued on his way and along with other would-be travelers planning to head out of LAX, went to another airport that was unaffected by the earthquake. I was reminded of the mustard for years afterwards, until Bob finally painted the ceiling and walls to the laundry room.
**