Saturday, December 31, 2011

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year, from the whole Treat family!
It would seem, from this card, that Grammy and Grampy probably spent several New Year's Eves counting down to midnight with Jean and John O'Brien. Grammy's recipe box included this card, which is extremely brand specific (we assure you, this is not product placement).

"Delicious Dips at Jean's New Year's Eve

Hickory Farm Crackers

Wisconsin Pride Cheese, room temperature
add sour cream and Hellmann's mayo
Mix all together until smooth."

May everyone have a safe and happy 2012!

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

James' Date Nut Cake

I remember having this cake served with cream cheese as a kid... it's been a while. Makes a good snack for the holidays!

James Date Nut Cake

1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
4 TB milk
2/3 cup flour
2 ts baking powder
1/4 ts salt
2 cups dates, chopped
2 cups nuts, chopped

-Dredge nuts and dates in milk then mix all ingredients well.
-Pour into buttered pan.
-Bake at 325 degrees for 30 to 40 minutes.

Thursday, November 24, 2011

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

Happy Thanksgiving, from the Treats!
We hope that you already have the turkey in the oven, but for reference, this is how it's done. Double click the recipe book page to expand. Happy Holidays!

Monday, November 7, 2011

Countdown to Thanksgiving

We're beginning the Thanksgiving season with a well-worn page from Grammy's cookbook.

Two tips that Grammy would like to pass along, to make your pie even better:
1) Use 2 different varieties of apples for better flavor.
2) There is no shame in using the premade pie crust.


APPLE PIE
Pie crust
6 tart apples, cored and sliced
2 ts flour
1 cup sugar
1 ts lemon juice
1/2 ts cinnamon
1/4 ts nutmeg
2 TB butter

-Sprinkle flour over bottom of pie plate, place crust over and sprinkle with 1/4 cup sugar.
-Arrange apples on pie crust and sprinkle with lemon juice.
-Mix remaining sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg; sprinkle over apples.
-Dot with butter; cover with top pie crust.
-Bake at 425 degrees for 40 - 50 minutes.

Thursday, November 3, 2011

Pumpkin Bread and Autumn Gold Cake

2 for 1 today! These two recipes are brought to us by the Del Monte Kitchens (in much the same way tuna casseroles are brought to us by Campbells soup).

Pumpkin Bread
3 cups sugar
1 cup oil
4 eggs, beaten
1 16 oz can (Del Monte) Pumpkin
2/3 cup water
3 1/2 cups flour
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp allspice
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves

-Cream sugar and oil together. Add eggs and pumpkin, and mix well.
-Sift together dry ingredients, and mix in with water and wet ingredients.
-Pour into well greased loaf pans. Bake at 350 for 60 to 90 min.

Autumn Gold Cake
1 pkg orange flavored cake mix
1 16 oz can (Del Monte) Pumpkin
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/4 cup water
3 eggs
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 cup whipped cream
dash of nutmeg

-Combine cake mix, pumpkin, sugar, water, eggs and pumpkin pie spice, and beat for 4 minutes.
-Pour into greased cake pan, bake at 350 for 45 min.
-Serve topped with whipped cream and a dash of nutmeg.

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Baked Squash Pudding

This recipe calls for a Hubbard squash... and I didn't know what that was. After a quick Google search, I've attached a photo of one below.
It also calls for "top milk"... but I'll let you Google that one yourself.


Baked Squash Pudding

1 1/4 cups cooked Hubbard squash
1/3 cup brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup molasses
1/2 ts salt
1/4 ts cinnamon
2 eggs
3/4 cup top milk

- Strain squash, then mix with sugar, molasses, salt and cinnamon.
- Beat in eggs, add milk and mix.
- Pour into greased baking dish. Bake at 325 degrees for 90 minutes.

We're back!

Pardon the hiatus -- I went on a long overdue vacation to visit Emily in her new home in London. She's doing well, adjusting to drinking tea at work, saying British things like "I haven't topped up my mobile phone," etc. Here's a mediocre photo of us at Stonehenge:

Admittedly, we've both looked better. I'm posting this because Grammy Gertie is a bit of a Stonehenge enthusiast, and I thought she's be amused.

We're getting into the fall harvest season, so it's time to post some new recipes. Onwards!

Sunday, September 4, 2011

Who are these people?

Yesterday, we paid a visit to Grammy Gertie out in Western MA. She's doing well and sends her regards.
Grammy Gertie, whenever she came across something delicious, would ask her friends for their recipes. I had asked about some reoccurring names that appear on the cards. Here are a few of those people:

In the immediate family, we have her children, Kit and James. James married Ellen (you see her name appear on some of the recipes).
More extended, we have Grandma Beal, Grammy's maternal grandmother (and my Great Great Grandmother). Grandma Beal taught Grammy how to make butter and weave on the rug loom. Grandma Beal also made coconut oatmeal cookies.

Edna Hall - was a librarian in Pittsfield, and her husband was an apprentice at GE at the same time as Grampy Chuck. Grammy met her in 1942.
Edna's Chicken recipe.
Edna's Seafood Casserole recipe.

Dorothy Politis - childhood and Smith College friend of Edna Hall. She taught school in Pittsfield and married a chiropractor named Alex.
Dot's Rhubarb Dump Cake recipe.

Dorcus Lamson - her husband worked at GE with Grampy Chuck.
Here is Dorcus's fruit and marshmallow salad recipe.

Jean O'Brien - her husband and Grampy were in rotary together. She and Grammy were foodies in the Berkshires together, visiting as many restaurants as they could. The O'Briens used to invite us grandkids over to swim in their pool.
Jean's Hot Chicken Salad recipe.
Jean's Punch recipe (contains alcohol).

Sunday, August 28, 2011

Hurricanes & Peach Pie

My local farmer's market had a Hurricane Irene special on peaches this week: "Buy them now, before they blow off the trees." Today, the storm hit. We're all fine, but going a little stir crazy being trapped in the house all weekend.

I decided to test out Grammy's Peach Pie recipe. It came out delicious!


Here's the link to Grammy Gertie's Peach Pie recipe.

Thursday, August 25, 2011

Concord Grape Pie

Grammy Gertie told me recently that she and her friends in Pittsfield will be making Concord Grape Pie as a cooking demonstration. They're waiting for the Concord Grapes to come into season, which should be soon.

Here's the recipe so that the rest of us can cook along:

Concord Grape Pie

4 cups concord grapes
1 cup sugar
3 TB flour
1/8 tsp salt
pie crust

-Slip the skins off of grapes.
-Heat grape pulp to boiling, then press through a sieve/strainer to remove the seeds.
-Add grape skins back along with sugar, flour and salt... and...
(technically difficulties -- we're missing the other side of the card!)

-Pour mixture into pie crust, top, and bake for... I'm going to say 350 degrees for 60 min
(but let me confirm that with Grammy)

Monday, August 15, 2011

Quick Peanut Cookies

Ah, the days before everybody had peanut allergies. If you're still able serve nuts to company, here's a cookie recipe:

Quick Peanut Cookies

1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 ts vanilla
2 cups flour
1 ts baking powder
3/4 ts salt
2 TB milk
1/2 cup chopped peanuts

-Cream together shortening and sugar. Beat egg with vanilla extract and mix in.
-Sift together flour, baking powder and salt. Add to wet mix.
-Shape into 2 rolls in 2" diameter, and wrap in waxed paper.
-Chill until firm.
-Slice into rounds, place on greased baking sheet, brush with milk and sprinkle with nuts.
-Bake at 400 degrees for 8 minutes.

Monday, August 8, 2011

Waldorf Salad

Here's another version of the famous Waldorf Salad (a salad so famous, it has its own Wikipedia page), which Grammy adds her own twist: cranberries and pineapple. It's easy enough to make:






Waldorf Salad

apples, cubed
celery, sliced
dried cranberries
pineapple, cut into chunks
walnuts, chopped
mayonnaise

-Mix all of the above!

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Scotch Scones

There were hundreds of recipes in Grammy's cookbook from the 1940s, but I only copied the ones that were well worn.

I'm assuming you can add raisins, blueberries or whatever you like (chocolate) to this recipe.

Scotch Scones

2 cups flour
2 TB sugar
3 ts baking powder
1/2 ts salt

1/4 cup shortening
1 egg yolk
1/3 cup light cream
1 egg white

-Sift together dry ingredients.
-Cut in shortening into dry mixture with 2 knives.
-Beat egg yolk, mix with cream, and add to dry ingredients.
-Roll out dough to 1/2" thick. Cut into triangles and place on baking sheet.
-Beat egg white, brush on triangles. Sprinkle with sugar.
-Bake at 450 degrees for 15 minutes.

Monday, July 25, 2011

Spiced Green Tomatoes

The Farmer's Markets are in full swing all over New England, with their bins of kale, peppers, lettuce and everything else that's leafy and green. It's not quite tomato season yet, but you might be able to find some green ones.




Spiced Green Tomatoes

5 lbs green tomatoes, sliced
5 1/2 cup sugar
2 cups vinegar
1 tsp whole cloves
1 tsp whole allspice
1 TB white mustard seed
1 TB cinnamon

- Wash but don't peel the tomatoes.
- Combine all the ingredients and cook gently until tomatoes turn clear.

Monday, July 18, 2011

Peach Pie

Summertime at Grammy's always included pies. We're a little late in the season for peaches, perhaps, but still delicious.


Peach Pie

2 pie crusts, pre-made
1 cup sugar
pinch of salt
3 TB quick-cooking tapioca
1 ts lemon juice
4 cups sliced peaches
2 TB butter or margarine
1/4 ts nutmeg

-Mix peach slices with lemon juice
-Mix dry ingredients
-Butter pie plate, lay bottom crust in
-Arrange peaches over bottom crust
-Cover with dry mixture
-Add chunks of butter, top with tapioca
-Place top pie crust over top. Bake at 350 degrees for 35-45 minutes

Thursday, July 14, 2011

Grammy's Cookbook

For the past year, I've been holding on to a copy of Grammy's cookbook, a 1942 copy of "The Pocket Cookbook". It's quite fragile, almost 70 years later; I wasn't entirely sure how to scan it without it completely falling to bits.


As suggested by one of my siblings, we decided to photograph the recipes in the book. You'll be seeing a few recipes over the next few months that look like the above photograph.

We love, by the way, that Chapter 9 is called "Penny Stretchers"

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Ice Box Cookies

It was well into the 90s in Massachusetts today, and this recipe was selected entirely because it contains the phrase "ice box".
I feel cooler already.

Ice Box Cookies

2 cups brown sugar
1/2 cup oleo/butter
3 eggs
1/2 ts salt
1/2 ts cream of tarter
1/2 ts baking soda
1 ts vanilla
1 cup nuts
3 1/2 cup flour

- Mix wet ingredients; mix dry ingredients; mix everything together.
- Form dough into a log shape.
- Refrigerate or freeze dough log until needed.
- Slice cookie rounds from log and place on greased cookie sheet.
- Bake at 425 degrees for 5-8 minutes.

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Cranberry Jello Mold

It's almost Independence Day over here in the States...

(Which reminds me, a belated acknowledgment and hello to our international readers! Grammy Gertie was an avid traveler in her day, and would love to say Hola, Olá, Vanakkam, and Привет to you all. Thanks for checking out GrammyGertie.com!)


If you're celebrating the 4th of July this weekend, the one thing your patriotic barbecue absolutely needs is a dish that is flaming red and deliciously chilled in the summer sun!

We proudly present another variation on the cranberry Jello mold -- you can see our previous ones here and here (and don't worry, there are yet more in the recipe box!).

Click on the image to enlarge. Happy 4th of July!!

Monday, June 20, 2011

Pickled Cole Slaw

In honor of tomorrow being the first day of summer, here's a recipe for the season's quintessential side dish.

Pickled Cole Slaw

1 head cabbage, sliced
1/2 spanish onion, chopped
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp salt
2/3 cup vinegar
2 tsp mustard
1 tsp celery seed
1/2 cup salad oil

-Toss the cabbage, onion, salt and 1/2 cup of the sugar together.
-Mix the vinegar, mustard, 1/4 cup sugar, celery seed and oil in a saucepan. Bring to boil.
-Pour liquid over cabbage mixture.
-Let stand overnight in sealed container in fridge.
-Stir and serve. Keeps for a week or more.

Thursday, June 16, 2011

Beer Batter

Happy Summer, everyone! (well, almost)

The Treat grandkids had a chance to visit Grammy Gertie over the weekend. She's doing well and says hello to all!

Summer, being the season of clambakes and also sorts of beach shack grub, has a lot of fried food. It seems fitting to post another beer batter recipe. The first one can be found here.

Beer Batter

1 cup flour
1 tsp salt
1 can beer
2 eggs, yolks beaten and whites whipped separately

- Mix flour and salt. Add beer and stir mixture until smooth.
- Add the egg yolks, then egg whites.
- Dip shrimp or fish (or onion rings) into batter and coat.
- Fry in hot oil.

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Banana Chiffon Cake

Let's take a moment to discuss technique.

This recipe, along with recipes for muffins and many other baked goods, requires making a "well" with the dry ingredients. You literally make a donut hole in the center of the dry ingredients, and pour the wet mixture in.

Then, and this is essential, do not over-mix the batter! It's actually better to mix it until lumpy, then walk away and let it sit for 5 minutes.
(There should be a Treat cooking show on Food Network, right?)
On to the recipe!

Banana Chiffon Cake

Dry ingredients:
1 cup plus 2TB flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 ts baking powder
1/2 ts salt

Wet ingredients:
1/4 cup oil
2 egg yolks
3 TB cold water
1/2 cup mashed (very ripe bananas)
1/2 tsp vanilla or grated lemon rind

4 egg whites
1/4 ts cream of tarter

-Mix together dry ingredients and make a well in the center.
-Add wet ingredients in order, but hold on the egg whites and cream of tarter. Beat until smooth.
-Mix egg whites and cream of tarter until stiff.
-Fold other mixture into egg whites.
-Pour into ungreased 9" tube pan.
-Bake at 325 degrees for 50-55 minutes, until it springs back when touched.
-Turn upside down and let cool.
-Serve covered with whipped cream.

Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Penuche Frosting

It's the kind of day that requires a quick, sugary pick-me-up. In fact, I just grabbed a bowl of carmel corn to eat while typing. This recipe ought to do it:






Penuche Frosting

1/2 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup milk
2 cups xxxx sugar

-Melt butter, add brown sugar. Boil for 2 min, stirring constantly.
-Stir in milk and bring to boil.
-Gradually add sugar.
-Beat until spreadable.

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Dot's Rhubarb Dump Cake

Something about baking with rhubarb makes me think of A Prairie Home Companion, but digressions.

Dot's Rhubarb Dump Cake

4 cups rhubarb, chopped
1 cup brown sugar
3 oz strawberry jello packet
1 cup water
1/3 cup melted margarine

-In a 9x13 pan, spread the rhubarb.
-Spread sugar and jello over the rhubarb.
-Drizzle the water over everything, followed then by the margarine.
-Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Jean's Spinach Souffle

This recipe is a little loose on the measurements, and has one red flag ingredient that we wouldn't use anymore (bet you can spot it...). Still, the spinach makes it healthy, right?

Jean's Spinach Souffle

1 pkg frozen spinach, cooked and drained
3 eggs
chunk oleo
1 cup milk
1 pkg grated cheddar cheese

- Mix ingredients well, put into backing dish.
- Bake for 1 hr at 325 degrees.

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Easy Chicken Casserole

Good evening,
I've slowed the rate of posting recipes on this site because we only have a few dozen left. Maybe 1 a week from here on?
Anyway, on to the recipe!



Easy Chicken Casserole

1 cup cooked chicken
1 can chow mein noodles
1 small jar of white onions
1 small can of mushrooms, sliced
1 can concentrated chicken and rice soup
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 cup buttered bread crumbs

-Layer chicken, noodles, onions and mushrooms in a greased baking dish.
-Pour soups over the other ingredients.
-Top with bread crumbs.
-Bake at 325 degrees for 30 minutes.

Monday, April 25, 2011

Pepper Relish

I'm not much into canning things (I'm more into buying things in cans!). Still, it's probably a valuable skill to have, especially as we start getting into the season for fresh produce.

Pepper Relish
(recipe from Lois Lincoln)

8 sweet green peppers
8 sweet red peppers
16 med size green tomatoes
12 med size onions

-grind all of these together, then add:

5 cups sugar
3 TB salt
1 pint vinegar

-boil all ingredients together for 45 minutes.
-put into canning jars.

Sunday, April 17, 2011

Happy Birthday, Grammy Gertie!

"I’m just an old farm girl at heart."


It's time to celebrate another birthday!

Last year, about this time, I posted a small part of an interview I did with Grammy for a grad school project. You can read that here:
We're going to continue on with more of the interview today. Be sure to wish Grammy Gertie a Happy Birthday when you see or talk with her!


"When I was younger, my mother was a very good piano player. At that time they didn’t have sound in the theaters, so my mother played the piano. The people who played the piano would play fast when it was an exciting part, or use it to speak the parts of the movie, or something like that. She played the piano for quite a few years until sound started to come into the theaters.


And then of course she taught me how to play the piano. I know; no one’s heard me play. I was about 8 years old, and from there on she taught me and a few other people too. I kept on playing and when I was in high school I played for the high school glee clubs and the orchestra. I played for both the boys and girls glee clubs. The band was about half girls and half boys. I think there was about 125 in our orchestra. It was a good sized band.


At that time the music director said to me, "Why don’t you get interested in the percussion instruments?" He started me out with bells and chimes, snare drums, and all those. Then my folks bought me a marimba. It looked like a xylophone. It depends which hammers you use – you can make it sound like a xylophone or softer, which is like a marimba. And so I played that for quite a while.


Lots of groups like the PTA would ask me to come in as a guest and play for them. Either the marimba, or with the hard hammers to make it sound like a xylophone. I also learned to play the timpani, the kettle drums. They call them timpani or kettle drums. They’re the big drums you see in the back at the orchestra. I played those all the time in high school and the first couple of years after that. The music director had me come back and help him out as something special.


I kept trying music. My folks kept encouraging – more my mother with that. When I was playing marimba, my father had a truck at the time and we could take the marimba in that and take me around to different places to play it. Otherwise it would have been very hard to get around. There were quite a few meetings that asked me to come and play.


My father would arrange things where the whole family of us could go out and put on musicals. There were a couple of brothers that played the accordions. And (Grammy's friend/ sister-in-law) Janet tap danced – she was pretty good at tap dancing. She would go with us and we would put on little shows to attract people in the farm areas and the general stores. That would bring the people in to have a little bit of excitement that they don’t normally have."

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Coffee Cake

Hey everybody -
I just got back from Key West... I know, I know, life is so hard...

REMINDER... someone has a birthday coming up. What do you get for the Grandma who's got it all? I'm not entirely sure, but I recently procured an authentic Key Lime Pie recipe... maybe it will make its way into the recipe box!

On to today's recipe. It's Friday (technically), so let's do something sweet to end the week:


Sour Cream Coffee Cake
(recipe by Barbara Fickling)

1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 cups flour
1 ts baking soda
1 ts baking powder
pinch of salt
1 1/2 cup sour cream
1 ts vanilla

-Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs one at a time and beat into cream.
-Sift in dry ingredients gradually, alternating with sour cream.
-Stir in vanilla.
-Pour half the batter into a greased 10" tube pan. Cover with 3/4s of the filling (below).
-Add remaining batter, and cover with remaining filling. Press it lightly into dough.
-Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes.

Filling
1/2 cup sugar
1 ts cinnamon
1 cup chopped nuts.

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Apricot Bread

Apricot Bread

1 cup dried apricots, chopped
1 cup boiling water
-mix the above, let stand for 15 minutes.

2 eggs
1 1/2 cup sugar
4 TB butter
-cream these three ingredients together, then mix in

3 cups flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 cup nuts, chopped

-Mix everything together, apricots, creamed eggs, and flour mix.
-Bake at 300 degrees for 1 hr 15 minutes.

Monday, March 21, 2011

Jean's Hot Chicken Salad

Just as we thought it was finally warming up, it decided to snow again today. It makes you want to come home, eat/drink something warm, and curl up in bed.

In that spirit, we present this unexpectedly warm recipe. Note that it includes several things you would usually find on Grammy Gertie's lunch table, including the Hellman's and potato chips.






Jean's Hot Chicken Salad
2 cups chicken, cooked and diced
1 cup celery, chopped
1/4 cup almonds, slivered
pinch of salt
2 tsp onions, finely chopped
1 cup Hellmann's
2 TB lemon juice

-Mix all of the above ingredients together.
-Put into a baking dish, and top with:

1/3 cups grated cheddar cheese
crumpled potato chips on top

-Bake at 30 minutes for 350 degrees.
-Recommended serving, pour baked chicken salad over Chinese noodles


Monday, March 14, 2011

Swiss Steak

I just watched a "Good Eats" episode where Alton Brown covered the regional differences between Swiss Steak and Salisbury Steak, etc. You can watch it here. The intro of the episode made me laugh, especially since we've featured most of those recipes on this blog.

Swiss Steak

1/4 cup flour
1 ts seasoning blend
1/4 ts pepper
1 1/2 lbs round steak, trimmed
1 TB vegetable oil
1 cup chopped celery
1 cup chopped onion
1/2 lb mushrooms, sliced
1 cup water
1 clove garlic, minced
1 TB steak sauce

-Combine flour, seasoning blend and pepper.
-Cut steak into serving size pieces, dredge in flour mixture.
-In a non-stick skillet, brown steak in oil.
-Drain and place steaks in a casserole dish.
-Top with celery, onion and mushrooms.
-Combine water, garlic, and steak sauce. Pour over vegetables.
-Cover and bake at 350 degrees for 90 minutes or until meat is tender.

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Spinach Casserole

I'm pretty hungry as I type this recipe in... and it's sounding pretty good right now.


Spinach Casserole from Pat Peterson

2 pkgs frozen chopped spinach, cooked & drained
1 cup Pepperidge Farm stuffing mix
1/4 cup margarine
1/2 pkg Lipton onion soup mix
1 cup sour cream

-Melt margarine, and mix with stuffing.
-Add other ingredients and mix.
-Put mix into casserole dish and back at 350 degrees for 20 mins.

Monday, February 28, 2011

My father and I visited Grammy Gertie over the weekend, and actually made one of the recipes!

The dish in question was Wilted Lettuce, a favorite of Grammy's. It's actually not as unhealthy as I originally thought -- it's more like a salad with bacon bits.

Grammy Gertie, of course, did not need the recipe card; she has it memorized. The prep time only took about 10 minutes. We all sat down to eat it and...

...it was good.
I would actually make this at home for guests. The name seems a little misleading - it would be better to call this something like "salad with a tangy dressing."

Anyway, Grammy says hello to everyone. Here's a photo of her, chopping and sauteing away!
(That's my father's hand, by the way, in case you thought she had a mutant limb)

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Greetings from England!

We've had a slight delay in postings due to Emily's and my somewhat impromptu trip to London. She's still over there, but I made it back last night -- this time without a single volcanic disruption.

Meanwhile, here is an England-inspired pick for tonight's recipe:

Aunt Eve's Yorkshire Pudding
1 cup sifted flour
1/2 ts salt
1 cup milk
3 eggs, slightly beaten

-Add flour, salt and 2/3 the cup of milk to beaten eggs.
-Mix until all flour is damp.
-Gradually add remaining milk, and beat smooth.
-Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes, until puffed and browned.
-Serve with roast & gravy.

Friday, February 11, 2011

Sour Cream - Date Dreams

Happy Friday! Here's a recipe for some homemade cookies. You can double click on the image to enlarge it.

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Molded Cranberry Salad

Grammy has multiple recipes for Cranberry Jello Mold. When I've posted them all, maybe we'll do a compare and contrast recap.

(and if you can't wait for that, click the "cranberries" link on the right... it should bring up a number of recipes)


Molded Cranberry Salad

2 pkgs strawberry jello
3 cups water, hot
5 med oranges, plus orange zest
16 oz cranberries, chopped
2 cups sugar

-prepare the jello per instructions on box.
-mix in other ingredients while water is hot.
-set in mold and cool.

Monday, January 31, 2011

Pennsylvania Dutch Pickled Beets and Eggs

I just spoke to Grammy this evening, and she's doing well. She says hello!

Grammy is a fan of pickling odd things -- this recipe is case in point. I'm not sure what this would taste like, nor under what conditions I would try this: maybe if I were on a game show? It just sounds weird.

Pennsylvania Dutch Pickled Beets and Eggs

2 lbs whole beets (canned, drained)
1 sm onion, halved and thinly sliced
8 hard boiled eggs, peeled
1 cup sugar
1 cup beet juice (from can)
3/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1 1/2 ts salt
dash of pepper
2 bay leaves
12 whole cloves

-Put beets, onion and eggs in glass container.
-In a medium saucepan, combine sugar, beet juice, vinegar, salt, pepper, bay leaves, and cloves. Bring to boil, then simmer for 5 minutes.
-Pour simmering liquid over beets and eggs.
-Cool to room temperature, cover, and refrigerate for 48 hours before using

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Butter Frosting

We've had a bit of a snow delay between postings, but we're still here!

Butter Frosting for 8"x8" cake

1/4 cup butter or oleo
1 egg white
1 3/4 cup confectionary sugar
1 TB vanilla

-Beat together the butter and egg white (and 2 or 3 TB of the sugar).
-Gradually add the rest of the sugar and beat until light and fluffy.
-Add vanilla, stir.

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Kit's Hamburg Stroganoff

Here's another recipe from my Aunt Kit. If it seems like I've been posting a lot of hot recipes recently, the 2 feet of snow outside my window might have something to do with that.

Kit's Hamburg Stroganoff

Cream of Chicken soup
ground beef
1/4 cup onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped
mushrooms, sliced
1 cup sour cream

-Simmer onion and garlic together in fry pan.
-Brown hamburger meat in onion and garlic, then add soup. Simmer.
-Add sliced mushrooms and sour cream.
-Serve over cooked rice.

Monday, January 10, 2011

French Onion Casserole

This recipe is an interesting rearrangement of French Onion Soup. If and when I try to make it, I'll post some photos.






French Onion Casserole

4 med onions, sliced
3 TB oleo / butter
2 TB flour
dash of pepper
3/4 cup beef bouillon
1/4 cup dry sherry
1 1/2 cup croutons
2 TB oleo / butter, melted
1/2 swiss cheese, shredded
3 TB parmesan cheese

- Cook onions in the 3 TB oleo/butter until tender.
- Mix in flour and pepper.
- Add bouillon and sherry, and cook until thickened and bubbly.
- Pour into 1 qt casserole dish.
- Toss croutons with 2 TB oleo / butter and put on top of onion mixture.
- Sprinkle with swiss and parmesan cheese.
- Place under broiler until cheese melts, about 1 minute.
- Serve hot, serves 4-6 people

Thursday, January 6, 2011

"Tricks" by a Treat

This poem-Zen koen-advice isn't a recipe, but appears in Grammy's recipe box:

"Tricks on cooking
Sprinkle a few chopped nuts on bottom of cake pan -- prevents sticking
Use extra large eggs."

Monday, January 3, 2011

Chicken Broccoli

Happy New Year, everyone!

Here's a seemingly-healthy recipe to go with your diet resolutions. I say "seemingly" because, despite the lean protein and vegetables, the people over at Kraft and Campbell's soup have yet again put their stamp on your dinner.... Enjoy!

Chicken and Broccoli

2 pkgs broccoli, cooked
2 cups cooked chicken
1 cup American cheese, grated
1 can Cream of Chicken soup
rice, cooked

-Layer ingredients in casserole dish.
-Bake for 30 min at 350 degrees.