Christmas Mice!

Recipe  here.   Check the comments there, too, for some helpful hints, like unwrapping the candy and drying the cherries before you begin assembling.  Also, when pressing the candy to the cherry, position it in such a way that the eyes will show up when you put them on; if that chocolate stripe is in the wrong place, the eyes won't show up.

Here's a video of how easy it is.

Sunday Stuff

I had a request for my recipe for the cranberry congealed salad mentioned in my FMJRA post yesterday, so here it is!  It's good stuff!


1 oz. package raspberry flavored gelatin
1 cup boiling water
1 16 oz. can whole-berry cranberry sauce
3/4 cup finely chopped celery
1/2 cup chopped pecans
lettuce leaves
garnishes:  celery leaves, fresh cranberries


Combine gelatin and boiling water, stirring 2 minutes or until gelatin dissolves.  Chill until mixture is the consistency of unbeaten egg white.  Stir in cranberry sauce, celery, and pecans.  Spoon mixture into lightly oiled individual molds or a 4-cup mold.  Cover and chill until firm.  Unmold onto lettuce lined plates.  Garnish, if desired.  8 servings.


This recipe came from the Southern Living Christmas Book.


I'm making my final list of things I need to pick up to get Thursday's meal together, then Steve and I are headed to the Norton today to check out the Ansel Adams exhibit. 


No politics today.

Blehhhhhhhhhh

Blehhhh. I've been under the weather for the past couple of days. Nothing major, but I'm fighting something off. It's been raining here for seven solid days. A slow, drippy rain. Grey. When I got home yesterday, around 5, I went to bed with a book and the dogs. Felt like blehhhhhhhhh. I got through school today with the help of lots of aspirin and now I've got a pot of chicken soup going.

It's a simple recipe, really, and I don't know why anybody would ever open a can for chicken soup, except that it's faster. Seriously, do they even put chicken in Campbells Chicken Soup? My sister sent this recipe to me.

All you do is boil a chicken. Debone it. Return the meat to the stock. (If you want to be finicky, do this the day ahead, put the stock in the fridge, and skim the grease off the top the next day, then proceed.) Add a chopped onion, some chopped celery, some chopped carrots, and LOTS of fresh ground pepper and TONS of freshly chopped garlic. Salt to taste. Some folks like to add rice, or noodles, or mushrooms, and that's all fine. The magic of this soup lies in the garlic and the pepper. Will cure almost anything. I usually add a little barley rather than rice or noodles. And I usually chop some green onions up on the top when serving.

So.

I'm making soup and will hopefully return to the living tomorrow. Luckily I have lots of really good books to keep me occupied. (My brain is too blehhhhhhhhh for proper blogging.)

Salad Days

A couple of weeks ago when Steve and I went to the Centaur Parade, my friend Harriett had this wonderful salad. She had lots of other food too, but this was a wonderful cabbage salad, an alternative to the ubiquitous coleslaw. I ate two servings!

The second week, when we went back for the Gemini Parade, Harriett gave me the recipe for her salad. I went right to the store and picked up the ingredients the next day. I thought, this will be a nice little salad for us to have one night at dinner!

I was not thinking, nor was I paying any attention to the recipe. It calls for 1 medium head of cabbage, chopped. I did not buy the biggest cabbage in the store, I swear. I guess "medium" is a relative term, but now I have enough salad to feed the entire neighborhood. Salad for days. Tons of salad. Whole new meaning to the term "salad days."

In case you would like the recipe, and lots of salad, here is Harriett's Top Ramen Salad:

1 medium cabbage, chopped
4 green onions, chopped (or one regular sweet onion)
3/4 c. vegetable oil
4 T. sugar
6 T. Rice vinegar (or balsamic)
2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. pepper
4 T. sesame seeds (optional)
2 pkgs, chicken Ramen
4 t. slivered almonds (optional)

Mix cabbage and onions overnight. Seal well.
Combine oil, vinegar, salt, pepper, and seasoning from Ramen. Stir and add to cabbage.
Toss with crunched Ramen noodles and other optional ingredients one or two hours before serving.
Also optional - diced chicken.

Serves 8

New Year's Food

The best thing about New Year's day to me is eating. As soon as I get up I get the food going. This is southern food at its best!

This year instead of ham (since we just had that at Christmas) I'm going to have a corned beef brisket. I decided against having greens and opted for cabbage (at Steve's request). And of course, black eyed peas and cornbread. I typically reject dried peas; they never taste right to me, and NEVER canned ones. Frozen are okay but fresh are best. In my case, fresh/frozen.

I'll cook both my peas and my cabbage with a big ole' ham hock in each. I'll also break out the chow chow Steve and I bought in Jefferson, which is a sweet/spicy/hot cabbage based relish. Sounds bizarre, but it's wonderful! And in the south when you serve black eyed peas, you usually have a side relish of diced tomatoes and sweet onion marinated in vinegar. Lots of hot, sweet, buttery cornbread on the side!

How I cook black eyed peas:

2 c. fresh black eyed peas
2 lbs. smoked ham hocks
onion, sliced in half
1 fresh jalapeno or cayenne pepper

Place the ham hocks in a heavy 4 to 6 quart pot and add enough water to cover the meat by at least 1 inch. Bring to a boil over high heat, reduce the heat to low and simmer partially covered for 2 hours, or until the ham hocks are tender and show no resistance when pierced deeply with the point of a small skewer or sharp knife.

In a sieve or colander, wash the black-eyed peas under cold running water until the draining water is clear. Add the peas, onion, pepper and a few grindings of black pepper to the pot, mix well, and bring to a boil over high heat.

Reduce the heat to low and simmer partially covered until the peas are tender.

And then turn on the football game!

Old Family Recipes

This is one of my mother's great spinster aunt's cookbooks, or rather, collection of recipes. There are pages and pages of hand-written recipes and recipes cut out of old magazines and newspapers which are pasted down. My mom and I have three or four of these books; they are blank paged "year books" given out by insurance companies; this one is the 1939 volume given out by United States Fidelity and Guaranty Company.

It seems that in 1939 the big deal was apple crisp and date bars. There are at least five different recipes for apple crisp in this book and probably three for variations of date-nut bars. I have not been able to bring myself to try any date-nut bars. There are two recipes for pecan pie in the book.

In one of the books my mom has is the treasured Aunt Kate's 24-Hour Fudge recipe. The problem with these recipes in these books is that often only the ingredients were listed. I guess the great-aunts knew enough about being in a kitchen to figure out the rest. I'm not so sure I could pull that off on some of them. The fudge recipe was tricky enough but now that I've made it, it seems simple enough.

If you are brave, you can try it, courtesy of my mom's great-aunt Kate Ernest. It's fabulous.

Put into large bowl:
1 stick butter
1 small pkg. chocolate chips (semi-sweet)
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts (optional)

In a heavy boiler:
2 cups sugar
1 small can Pet milk
Cook, stirring constantly over medium heat.
Cook EXACTLY eight minutes AFTER it starts to boil.

THEN, In a double boiler melt 10 large marshmallows with 1 Tbsp. water. (This doesn't take very long.) Add this to the sugar & milk; stir, then pour into mixing bowl with the butter & chocolate chips. The heat from this will melt the chocolate chips & butter. [It helps if the butter is room temperature when you do this.]

Stir until mixed well then pour into a buttered 8 x 8 pan; let stand for 24 hours in the refrigerator before cutting [I let mine sit outside of the refrigerator for about 30 minutes before I cut it, just to soften it up a little.]

It's not as complicated as it might sound and it's wonderful. Creamy and rich! Mom says the secret is not to cook it longer than eight minutes once the boiling starts. I lowered the heat a tiny bit to low/medium once it started boiling.

Coffee, Fruitcakes and Refrigerators

It's a cold Saturday morning here in Shreveport today, cloudy and gray. It is also the first day of Thanksgiving vacation - hooray! It's been a hectic week what with the refrigerator replacement saga and keeping up with my students who have been ready for Thanksgiving break ever since Halloween. Not to mention the fact that I've been fighting off a cold for a few days. I believe I might have succeeded on that front (thank goodnes for Zicam).

Nothing is better on a cold, gray Saturday morning that warm pajamas, a warm puppy and a hot cup of coffee. Unless maybe a bowl of cheese grits gets added in the mix (on the stove now!) The whole, I don't have to go anywhere and I don't have to do anything today attitude has consumed me. So here I sit with my Mello Joy Southern Pecan (the best coffee in the world ever), thinking about what I might do today. I might clean some house a little. I might grade a few of the 67 research papers stacked in the living room. I might start making the cornbread for the Thanksgiving day dressing. I might dust off my collection of recipes and start cooking stuff again (been lazy on that front lately.) I might do nothing but watch old movies all day. So many options!

Back to the coffee thing - I was a die-hard Community coffee drinker; I don't have time to make coffee every single day during the work week because I prefer the old fashioned drip coffee pots to the electric brew things. You don't ever get those tasty grounds in your cup with the electric models. Radio host Moon Griffon touted Mello Joy on his program every day and so a few years ago I converted. I've never looked back. I prefer the Southern Pecan variety (which Steve calls frou-frou coffee) but I'll always take the dark roast as well. The coffee isn't available everywhere but it is available online here and you can read the Mello Joy story there also.

The replacement refrigerator came this week on Wednesday. It is cooling MUCH better, my ice cream is not like cement anymore and things are better. Still one problem though. Now the water dispenser has the water pressure that would generously be described as a trickle. The ice-maker is fine. Water pressure - not so much. So, this week I will call a plumber and see if I can get it fixed that way without having to call Sears via India to get it fixed. I know, Sears would fix it for free since it's new, but trust me, I just can't talk to those people anymore. I'll give Giglio another $100 to save me from that. But I'm happy; my beer is cold. Life is good.

I'm looking forward to holiday baking. I've mentioned that we are having our entire family together this year for Christmas for the first time in probably seven or eight years. I love to cook at Christmas anyway so this is a great excuse for me to make all my favorite stuff! My mother passed a fruitcake cookie recipe down to me years ago which I make every single year because I love them. She tells a funny story every year about those cookies. My godmother, Cissy, came by our house one morning; I was a little girl and mom and I were making fruitcake cookies (Izzy's Lizzies). We had them all mixed up and the first pan was in the oven. The house smelled heavenly. Cissy came by in the morning for a cup of coffee and to drop a wreath off for mom (she made these wonderful evergreen wreaths every year.) Mom invited her to come back by later that afternoon for a "bee-ah" (beer, for you Yankees) and a cookie. Sure enough, 5:00, here comes Cissy. She collapsed in laughter when she saw Mom and I STILL in the kitchen baking cookies. Moral of the story: cut that recipe in half!

So I was in Albertson's buying the fruit for my cookies this week. A lady in line behind me noted my candied fruit purchase and told me that hers was "already in the freezer cut up!" She has a friend that does it for her. Good friend! She told me about a "white fruitcake" recipe that she makes every year. She said she makes it at Thanksgiving and then puts it in the refrigerator until Christmas. In that time, she said, her husband "docters it up with everything from apple juice to bourbon." Yes sir - I'm tempted to make one of those this year. Seriously thinking about it. I know, the fruitcake is a much maligned Christmas tradition, but I love them! Homemade ones, that is.

In the spirt of fruitcake, here is my Izzy's Lizzies recipe (already cut in half!)
2 eggs
1 lb. candied cherries
1 lb. candied pineapple
1/2 cup bourbon
3/4 c. brown sugar
3 cups pecans
1/2 tsp. cloves
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. allspice
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1-1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 stick butter
1-1/2 Tbsp. milk
1-1/2 cup sifted flour

Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs one at a time. Add bourbon and milk. Add all dry ingredients, sifted together. Prepare fruit and nuts - cut in small pieces and sprinkle with 1/2 cup flour. Add to batter. Drop into small cookies no larger than a quarter. Bake at 250 for 15 minutes. Run under flame to brown. Sprinkle lightly with bourbou and seal in tins.

Fall Food

There is something about fall weather that makes me want to start cooking. I don't like to cook much in the summer; it's either the lazy days or the heat, or maybe both. I grill a lot in the summer. Plus, a lot of the things I like to cook are more fall-type things, like gumbo or hearty stews. My sweet tooth is pretty much year round; things like an apple pie (pictured) interest me or a pineapple upside down cake, like my grandmother used to make.

I have an old, old Chambers range that I would not trade for anything. I'd say it's the one thing I'd "grab in a fire" but I couldn't move it with the help of twelve men. That thing is HEAVY. Because of the narrow configuration of my kitchen I cannot take a decent photo of it to show you, but it looks like the one here. On the left side is a griddle, and mine, like the one pictured, has a cutting board sitting on top of it that I just move aside when it's time to make pancakes. On the back right is a well, in which a deep pot sits, which you can make soup in. I never use it for that. I can warm bread or rolls in it though. The oven is on the left and that is storage on the right. Mine is white, like this one.

The only problem with this stove is 3 burners; when I cook Thanksgiving dinner it takes a bit of juggling, but I get it done.

Right now my stove has a rump roast in the oven (it will be very rare when it comes out; I like it that way!); fresh peas from Lester's Farm are on the front left burner and a pot of rice on the back. When the roast comes out, I will slide a pecan pie in the oven, for dessert. I wanted to make the maple-nut pie, below, but didn't want to go buy walnuts. I guess I could have substituted pecans, but usually the first time I try a recipe I like to stick to it as written. Since I have pecans on hand (my mom has two pecan trees) I'm going for the pecan pie.

As fall progresses I suspect I'll be sharing more recipes here. There is something about fall, cool weather, football and holidays, that means FOOD!

Maple-Walnut Pie

• 1 Recipe Single-Crust Pie Pastry, see recipe or 1 rolled refrigerated unbaked piecrust (1/2 of a 15-oz. pkg.)
• 1-1/2 cups pure maple syrup
• 3 eggs
• 6 Tbsp. butter, softened
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 cups coarsely chopped walnuts, toasted
• 1 Tbsp. vanilla
• 2 Tbsp. light rum (optional)
• 1/4 tsp. freshly ground nutmeg
• Rum raisin or vanilla ice cream

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Prepare pastry and line 9-inch pie plate. Prick bottom and sides of pastry with fork. Line pastry with double thickness of foil. Bake 8 minutes. Remove foil. Bake 5 minutes more or until crust is lightly browned cool. Reduce oven to 350 degrees F.

2. In saucepan bring maple syrup to boiling. Reduce heat. Simmer, uncovered, for 10 to 12 minutes or until reduced to 1 cup.

3. In medium bowl beat eggs with electric mixer on medium to high speed until thick and lemon colored, about 5 minutes.

4. In large bowl beat butter with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add granulated and brown sugar; beat to combine. Beat in reduced syrup and eggs. Fold in walnuts, vanilla, rum, and nutmeg. Pour into prebaked crust.

5. Bake pie on baking sheet in lower third of oven 35 minutes or until set around edges; cool. Serve with ice cream. Makes 10 servings.

The Blue Willow Inn Cookbook

As the school year has started I find that I have less time for cooking. I love to cook and love to try new recipes, but it always takes me a few weeks to get back into the routine of the school year. Steve would take me out to dinner every night if that's what I wanted, but we both get tired of eating out. We enjoy eating out more if we don't do it too often. I prefer to cook when I can.

On the weekends I do have time to put together decent meals. Yesterday, for example, I made red beans and rice; I might have been inspired by my recent trip to Don's Seafood, or maybe it was a deep longing for fall to hurry up, but either way, they turned out pretty good. I like to use a mixture of andouille and regular pork sausage in my red beans and rice. Plus, it makes lots of leftovers for the upcoming week!

Today I'm going to make a shrimp and rice casserole that is in The Blue Willow Inn cookbook. The Blue Willow Inn is in Social Circle, GA, about an hour out of Atlanta. I've never been there but my sister gave me their cookbook for Christmas last year and I've made nearly everything in it. It's good old, bacon-grease-laden Southern cooking! (Yesterday I made their banana pudding recipe to go along with my red beans and rice). Many of their recipes use boxed or canned ingredients (like cream of mushroom soup), which most purist cooks scoff at, but the Blue Willow philosophy is that in all likelihood that's how your grandmother cooked. They are all about recreating that authentic Southern home cooking taste.

I'm glad I don't live near enough to the Blue Willow Inn to eat there often because by the looks of their cookbook, I'd weigh 500 pounds in no time.

Here, for your enjoyment, is Savannah Shrimp and Rice, from the Blue Willow Inn Cookbook.

1 small onion, chopped
1 small green pepper, chopped
1 tablespoon butter
8 cups cooked rice
1 pound cooked shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 (10-3/4 oz.) can condensed cream of mushroom soup
1/4 teaspoon curry powder
salt and pepper
1/2 plus 1/4 cup grated cheddar cheese

Sautee the onion and pepper in the butter. Preheat the oven to 350. In a mixing bowl, combine the onion and pepper with the rice, shrimp, soup, curry powder, 1/2 cup grated cheese, and salt and pepper to taste. Mix well. Pour shrimp mixture into a 9 x 12-inch baking dish. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes until bubbly. Remove from the oven, and immediately sprinkle the remaining cheese on top. Serve hot. Makes 8 servings.

(Photo credit: Bluewillowinn.com)

Here's to Your Heart!

Food is a subject near and dear to my heart; I love to cook and love to eat! I have a huge cookbook collection, but to be honest, the food I love most is those so southern based recipes that my mom cooked and my grandmother. Bacon grease is usually the first ingredient in those recipes. My mother kept a metal canister on the stove that was filled with bacon grease. In these days when we microwave our bacon, you have to make more of an effort to collect your bacon grease and truly, good southern food just isn't the same without it! Good, cholesterol laden, artery-clogging bacon grease.

So when I came across this article in the NYTimes about Louise's Family Restaurant in Harlem, and their difficult times staying open in these heart-healthy days, it just made me want to boil up some ham hocks and cook some greens or something. By the time I finished reading about their menu (and bacon grease), I was starving.

I hate to see family owned or locally owned business go by the wayside. While all the chain restaurants running up and down our own Youree Drive are good for the economy, I dislike most of them. The saddest day in Shreveport-restaurant-history for me was the day Brocato's closed. Omigod the Snapper Brocato was to die for. My experience with chain restaurants has been mediocre food, uninspired service, and little originality. Give me a local L'Italiano or Monjuni's anyday, and you can keep your Olive Garden.

In solidarity for Louise's Family Restaurant in Harlem, and other local establishments, I encourage you to support the local places when you can! And for your heart, I offer a good, artery-clogging recipe:

Pinto Beans and Ham Hocks
Ingredients
3 smoked hamhocks
2 lbs. dried pinto beans
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoon hot sauce
1/2 medium chopped onion
Directions
Boil hamhocks on high heat for 45 minutes. Add all seasonings except hot sauce and onion. Continue boiling for 20 minutes. Add pinto beans, hot sauce, and onion. Boil on medium heat until beans are done to taste.
Note: To speed up cooking of beans and reduce the gas beans produce, soak beans in cold water overnight or for three hours during the day.
Serve with rice and a meat sidedish. You can also use the hamhocks as your meat sidedish.

(Photo credit: Nicole Bengiveno/The New York Times)