Pickled Watermelon Rind

Summer means watermelon, and watermelon means piles of leftover rinds. Here's the perfect recipe to make sure you use every part of the buffalo.
This recipe takes 3 days.

For Grammy Gertie's more personalized version of this recipe, see here.

Watermelon Sweet Pickle
8lbs watermelon rind
1/4 cup salt
4 lbs sugar
1 quart vinegar
1/2 cup pickling spice

-Cut rinds into 1" cubes.
-Mix salt into 1 quart of water, add rind and let stand overnight.
-Drain, cover with water and boil until rind is tender.
-Combine sugar, vinegar, and pickling spice, and bring mixture to boil.
-Move watermelon rind to sugar mixture and let stand overnight.
-Bring to boil again, pack in sterilized pint jars.

New Year's Resolutions

Happy New Year, readers. We're slowing down on postings in 2013 because we don't have as many recipes to publish... but we're still here! The Treat family also paid a visit to Grammy Gertie over the holidays - she's well and says hello!

Here's a recipe that sounds like a healthy New Year's option... until you get to the heavy cream.

Fantastic Spinach Salad
Spinach, torn into small pieces
1 large red apple, peeled and chopped
1/4 cup salted peanuts

Dressing
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp brown mustard
1 tsp salt
1 cup heavy cream
1/3 cup white vinegar

-Combine all "Dressing" ingredients and cook slowly over medium heat until it is thickened. Stir Constantly.
-Serve dressing warm over salad ingredients.

Cider Braised Cabbage

I initially cringed at the thought of cabbage, but in uploading the recipe, I've changed my mind. This might be good. Any takers?

Cider Braised Cabbage

2T butter
1 med onion, sliced
1 2lb head cabbage
1/2 cup apple cider
2T vinegar

-Melt butter in large pot over medium-high heat.
-Add onion, sauté until beginning to soften.
-Add cabbage, saute until slightly wilted, tossing frequently.
-Stir in apple cider.
-Uncover; simmer until almost all liquid in pot evaporates. Stir in vinegar.
-Season with salt and pepper.

Broccoli & Red Onion Salad

Happy New Year!
This recipe sounded like a healthy choice for the new year, but once again, the ingredients prove otherwise....

Broccoli & Red Onion Salad

2 heads broccoli, chopped
1 red onion, sliced
1 lb bacon, cooked and crumbled
1-2 cups cheddar cheese, shredded

-Mix all of the above, then mix in the below dressing:

1 cup mayo
1/2 cup sugar
1 TB red wine vinegar

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.

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.

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.

Cider Glazed Sweet Potatoes with Cranberries

We just had something remarkably similar to this at my mother's house over the weekend. Must be a holiday thing!

Cider Glazed Sweet Potatoes with Cranberries

3 1/2 lb sweet potatoes

1 1/2 cup apple juice

1/3 cup brown sugar

5 TB butter

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 ts all spice

1/2 cup dried cranberries

1/8 cup chopped green onions.

-Cook potatoes until half done.

-Add the spices, remaining ingredients, into sauce pan. Cook until the juice is syrup.

Cranberry Nut Loaf

COUNTDOWN TO THANKSGIVING

We're one week out from Turkey Day, which used to be Grammy's main event. You're going to have to figure out how to roast a turkey on your own, because she didn't have a written recipe for that. She must have memorized it.

In the mean time, this would be nice to have on the table.

Cranberry Nut Loaf

2 cups sifted flour

1 cup sugar

1 1/2 ts baking powder

1/2 ts soda

1 ts salt

1/4 cup shortening

3/4 cup orange juice

1 TB grated orange rind

1 egg, beaten

1/2 cup chopped nuts

1 cup fresh cranberries, chopped

-Sift flour, sugar, baking power, soda and salt.

-Cut shortening into mixture until coarse.

-Combine orange juice, egg and grated rind.

-Pour wet mix into dry mix and stir. Add cranberries and nuts.

-Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.

Harvard Beets

You know what vegetable sounds wicked smart?

Harvard Beets

3 cans whole beets

2 TB whole cloves

1 cup sugar

1 cup white vinegar

3 TB vegetable oil

3 TB ketchup

1/8 ts salt

3 TB cornstarch

1 ts vanilla

-Drain beets, but save 1 1/2 cups juice.

-Cut beets into wedges.

-In a large saucepan, combine the sugar, vinegar, ketchup and salt. Put cloves in a strainer, and add. Bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Remove cloves.

-Combine cornstarch and beet juice until smooth. Stir into sugar mixture. Bring to boil.

-Add beets and vanilla.

Buttery Corn Bread

Autumn has certain foods associated with it, apple pie, roast turkey, etc. For some reason, I always wait until fall to make cornbread. If you like your corn bread on the... cornier side... (sorry, that sounds like something Grampy Chuck would have said), switch the measurements for the flour and the cornmeal.

Buttery Corn Bread

2/3 cup butter, softened

1 cup sugar

3 eggs

1 2/3 cup milk

2 1/3 cup all purpose flour

1 cup cornmeal

4 1/2 ts baking powder

1 ts salt

-In mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar.

-Add eggs and milk.

-Mix in flour, cornmeal, baking powder and salt.

-Pour into greased 13" x 9" baking pan.

-Bake at 400 degrees for 22-27 minutes.

Pickled Fruit

When we think of Grammy and pickled fruit, usually it's all about the watermelon rind. According to this recipe, though, you can pickle just about everything.

Pickled Fruit

5 cups sugar

2 cups water

1 cup vinegar

12" stick cinnamon, broken

2 ts whole cloves

5 lbs fruit, washed, seeded and peeled

(peaches, pears, pineapple, melon, papaya, citrus, kumquats)

-In a large Dutch oven combine sugar, water, vinegar, cinnamon and cloves.

-Heat until boiling, reduce heat.

-Add fruit to syrup and...

(oops! okay, that's all we have of that recipe. Still, Grammy knew how to pickle, so I bet if we follow the instructions for pickled watermelon rind, we'll have good results)

Carrot Broccoli Casserole

Good morning!

Hope everybody had a wonderful 3 day weekend (if your job gave you Columbus day off, that is). Here's a warm fall dish that can work either as a side dish, or could work as a main dish if you're going vegetarian.

Carrot Broccoli Casserole

1 pkg baby carrots

1 1/2 lbs fresh broccoli, chopped (or 2 pkgs frozen broccoli, chopped)

8 oz Velveeta cheese, cubed

3/4 cup butter, divided

1 3/4 butter flavored crackers, crushed

-Place 1" of water in saucepan; add carrots and bring to boil.

-Reduce heat and simmer for 5-8 minutes.

-Add broccoli, cover and simmer for 6-8 minutes.

-Drain and set aside.

-In a saucepan, melt the cheese and 1/4 cup butter until smooth. Add broccoli and carrots.

-Melt the remaining butter and toss with cracker crumbs.

-Layer the buttery crumbs, then vegetable mix, crumbs mix, vegetables, top with crumbs.

-Bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes.

Citrus Chiffon Salad

I have concerns when mayonnaise appears unexpectedly in a recipe -- as it seems to so often in 1960's style cooking....

Citrus Chiffon Salad

1 cup orange juice

1 TB lemon juice

1 pkg lemon or orange gelatin

1 pkg (8 oz) cream cheese, cubed

1 cup whipped topping

1 can (8 oz) crushed pineapple, undrained

1/3 cup mayonnaise

-Bring orange and lemon juices to boil and stir in gelatin until dissolved.

-In a blender, mix cream cheese, whipped topping, pineapple and mayonnaise until smooth.

-Add gelatin mixture to blender, and mix.

-Pour into 4 cup mold coated with non-stick cooking spray. Refrigerate overnight until firm.

Prize Biscuits

There's a note on the bottom of this recipe card:

"For drop biscuits increase milk to 1 cup"

Good to know!

Prize Biscuits

2 cups flour

4 tsp baking powder

2 tsp sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cream of tartar

1/2 cup butter

2/3 cup milk

-Mix all of the above, and bake? (likely at 425 for, dunno, 12 minutes?)

Frozen Waldorf Salad

Good morning,

I'm fitting in this post between work assignments... as you do. Hope everybody's having a wonderful July so far! Here's something cool to try on a hot summer's day.

Frozen Waldorf Salad

1 can(8oz) crushed pineapple, undrained

2 eggs, beaten

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup lemon juice

1/8 ts salt

2 med apples (red delicious), chopped

1/2 cup celery, chopped

1/2 cup pecans, chopped

1 cup whipped cream

lettuce leaves

-Drain pineapple and set juice aside. Add water to juice until it equals 1/2 cup.

-Combine juice, eggs and next 3 ingredients, and cook over medium heat, stirring until thick. Let cool.

-Stir in pineapple, apple, celery and pecans.

-Fold in whipped cream.

-Spread mixture in pan, cover and freeze until firm.

-To serve, let stand at room temperature for 20 minutes. Cut into squares and serve over lettuce lined plates.

Heavenly Frozen Fruit Salad

Heat wave!

We're all suffering temperatures in the upper 90s today, so I wanted to post a cool-sounding recipe.

Heavenly Frozen Fruit Salad

1 ts unflavored gelatin

2 TB lemon juice

3 oz soft cream cheese

1/4 cup mayonnaise

1/4 ts salt

2 TB sugar

1/4 cup quartered maraschino cherries

1lb 4 oz can crushed pineapple, drained

1/2 cup heavy cream, whipped

-Turn refrigerator to coldest setting. (YES!)**

-Sprinkle gelatin over lemon juice. Stir over hot water to dissolve.

-Add combined cream cheese, mayonnaise, salt and sugar.

-Fold in fruit and whipped cream.

-Pour into ice cube tray. Freeze just until firmed.

**alternately, you could just do this in your freezer.

Creamy Corn Pudding

At first I wasn't sure if this was a dessert or not. The onion and thyme probably make it taste savory though. In fact, this probably tastes like a quiche.

Creamy Corn Pudding

2TB butter

1 small onion, minced

1/4 cup flour

1 ts salt

1/4 ts pepper

2 cups half-and-half/light cream

1 cup milk

10 oz corn

4 large eggs

fresh thyme sprig for garnish

-In saucepan, heat butter and saute onion for 10 min.

-Stir in flour, salt and pepper.

-Gradually stir in cream and milk until mixture thickens.

-Remove from heat and stir in corn.

-In casserole dish, beat eggs.

-Stir corn mixture into eggs.

-Set casserole dish into pan of boiling water. Bake at 325 for 1 hr 15 min.

-Garnish with thyme and cool.

Blueberry Salad

Grammy has a whole section of her recipe box marked "Salad"... which almost exclusively refers to Jello Salads. Here's a good one for the summer. Note the usage of "canned blueberries".

Blueberry Salad

1 cup coffee cream

1/3 cup sugar

1 pack gelatin

1 tsp vanilla

1 pint sour cream

1/4 cup cold water

1 pack strawberry jello

1 cup boiling water

1 can blueberries with juice

Layer 1

-Heat coffee cream and sugar.

-Dissolve gelatin in cold water.

-Add hot mixture and stir well.

-Remove from heat and add vanilla and sour cream.

-Blend well and pour into square pan. Chill until set, 1 hour.

Layer 2

-Dissolve strawberry jello in boiling water. Add blue berries and juice.

-Pour in pan over cream mixture and chill to set.

Cranberry Mousse