Moon Pie Magic #2

Hello Dear Followers!
I apologize for the lack of posts last week. Just some craziness going on. I will hopefully get caught up on the Christmas posts this week, in between more craziness, but I will manage. I hope life is a crazy good for you!

Moon Pie Magic #2. Kinda crazy. I know it will  be much crazier when that number is in the double digits though. I told you I thought #2 would come from Betty Crocker's Cooky Book. My thoughts were correct.

Here is a look at the cover.

Copyright 1963 by General Mills

This cookbook was used by my Great Aunt while she was taking care of her father.

(There is a note in the front stating so)

Did you notice the spelling??

This is the note on the back side of the title page.

The last sentence says "Remembering the motto "happy the home with the fully cooky jar," we hope you'll turn to this book often."

Do you always have a full cooky jar or at least cookies at the ready?

I know Jim's Grands always have cookies in the freezer.

A look at the table of contents.

The Cooky Primer has lots of hints, tips and how to's.

You can even find solutions for dry and soft cooky dough.

The following hint is from page 19:

"Sticky fruits can be cleaned from your food grinder quickly and easily by running a few small pieces of dry bread through it."

That nifty tip was found on the page with the some filled cooky recipes.

I think we will see more than one post from this book so I didn't take  a lot of pictures or search for all the cool tips and tricks.

The recipe we are going to look at today is on the right hand page in the above photo.

Do you see my Great Great Aunt's handwritten notes??

Again... LOVE THEM!

Yes, we are going to make chocolate crinkles.

That is them pictured in the lower right hand corner!

Here's the recipe:

Chocolate Crinkles

1/2 cup vegetable oil (we use canola)

4 squares unsweetened chocolate (4 ounces)

(I tried to get a picture, but dreary days and poor lighting worked against us)

2 cups granulated sugar

4 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla

2 cups Gold Medal Flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup confectioners' sugar

Mix oil, chocolate, and granulated sugar. Blend in one egg at a time until well mixed. Add vanilla. Measure flour by dipping method (p.5) or by sifting. Stir flour, baking powder, and salt into oil mixture. Chill several hours or overnight.

Heat oven to 350°. Drop teaspoonfuls of dough into confectioners' sugar. Roll in sugar; shape into balls. Place about 2" apart on greased baking sheet. Bake 10 to 12 min. Do not overbake! Makes about 6 doz. cookies.

Note: If you use Gold Medal Self-Rising Flour, omit baking powder, and salt.

4 ounces of chocolate...melted.

My Great Great Aunt's notes:

"Looks just like picture. REALLY YUMMY!"

"Make small don't spread much"

Don't roll in xx sugar until the instant they go in oven.

Roll twice.

Let's take a look at some of the book shall we?

Look at those spreads.

This furthers my love affair with most things vintage!

Pretty and fun and yes those are the chocolate crinkles in the lower right!

The back cover.

I look forward to sharing more from this book.

Definitely some fun and interesting looking recipes and tidbits inside!

Wait what???

You are upset because I didn't show you how the cookies turned out?

I didn't forget, I saved that picture for last!!

THEY ARE DELISH!

I wish you lived closer and we could share them.

If you missed MPMM #1 you can read it HERE

Thanks so much for stopping by. I hope you will leave some comment love so I know you were here!

Do you make chocolate crinkles as part of your Christmas cooky list?

Do you call them something else?

Oh, I am going to research the spelling of cooky!

Hugs!!!

~Jen

The first of MANY family recipes

Thanksgiving is almost here! Are you all ready or do you need to make one more trip to the store? I am making one more trip a little later tonight and then hopefully I won't need to go back for a few days!

Awhile back I received not one, but TWO 35 pound boxes from the UPS Man! He carried them both to the house at the same time! I thanked him A LOT!!! He told me someone knew how to pack! I told him what was in the boxes and he said "I'm glad I didn't lose these two. These boxes are filled with treasures!" Yep! TWO boxes FULL OF TREASURES!!!!!

Box One

Box Two

TWO BOXES full of recipes. Recipes from my Great Great Grandmother, Great Grandmother, Great Great Aunt and Great Aunt. The boxes were sent to me by my Great Aunt.

There are some AMAZING AMAZING things in these boxes.

The boxes have been emptied and thrown away.

Most of the cookbooks have been given homes around the house.

There are some that need me to make a trip to Staples or another such store and buy some plastic sleeves.

There are others that are sitting in a pile because I am just not sure what to do.

There are cookbooks galore! One was published in 1890!! LOVE IT!

There are handwritten recipes...from my Great Great Grandmother.

Her handwriting was BEAUTIFUL!

In the second picture you can see a box in the lower right hand corner.

Yep, a recipe box. Plenty of handwritten recipes there!

That isn't the only place one will find handwritten recipes.

The most recent place I found a handwritten recipe was on the inside cover of a cookbook.

There will be many posts coming from these boxes of treasures.

There is also some discussion to be had about these boxes of treasures, and I think I am going to make that a post all it's own.

The first recipe I am going to share with you is a hot dog sauce recipe.

The recipe is titled "Texas Hot Sauce"

I suppose the hot is all in the eye of the beholder!

This was a family recipe that came from a hot dog shop that is no longer open.

You will need:

2 pounds ground meat

1 cup onion

2 TBSP butter

2 cans tomato soup

2 cups water

2 TBSP chili powder

(we used chipotle powder and less of it. we were out of regular chili powder and realized so too late)

1 tsp paprika

3 TBSP flour

2 tsp salt

1 tsp cloves

2 TBSP mustard

4 TBSP war sauce

(that is how it was listed on the recipe. what do you call worcestershire sauce?)

2 TBSP sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon

5 dash tabasco

browning the meat

meat draining

it didn't say so, but we cooked the onions and the butter for a few minutes before adding everything else 

bubbling away

What we didn't take was a picture of the chili cheese fries we made!

They were pretty AND pretty tasty!

The cloves give it a flavor that stands it apart from other hot dog sauce recipes you have had.

(or at least that I have had)

We made our chili cheese fries the night we made this. **Ok, OK!! I was working, Jim made the recipe AND took the pictures. I ate the chili and am writing the post!** And we froze the rest in a couple sour cream containers for later consumption. Yep, it makes enough to go around!

Please go to this post and offer your opinion on what to name the posts about all these wonderful treasures!

Hugs
Jen

Linking up here:

Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp--a recipe

Hi Everyone. We had some berries left after we made jam last weekend. We also had some rhubarb in the fridge from a visit with my Grandparents the weekend before. I didn't want a pie. I wanted something a little different. I found a recipe for crisp. It is another recipe from Ina on the Food Network. We haven't had a recipe of hers disappoint us yet!!!

Here's the link to the recipe! I hope you enjoy it!!!!
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/strawberry-rhubarb-crisp-recipe/index.html

Have a great weekend!!!!

Strawberry Jam - YUM!

Hi Everyone!!!!!!! I hope all of you are doing well!

We are doing well. We have been keeping very busy.

These longer days have been keeping me outside longer, for which I am thankful.

More time outside equates to less time with all of you though.

Over the weekend we hit some yard sales. Found some good deals.

We planned our route so we would be in the area of the LOCAL berry farm.

We came home from there with 11 quarts of strawberries.

These berries are much bigger, sweeter and juicier than last years berries.

YUM!!!!!!

We made strawberry jam.

There are 12 half pints and 12 pints sitting on the counter, with another pint or so sitting in the fridge!

We won't eat it all ourselves. Some of it will be set back to be given as gifts now and again at Christmas!

I sure am thankful Jim likes to help in the kitchen!!

Making the jam as a team is definitely a lot easier and more enjoyable!

We used the recipe straight from the Ball Blue Book of Canning!

Strawberry Jam

yield: about 8 half pints

2 quarts strawberries

1/4 cup lemon juice

1 package powdered pectin

7 cups sugar

Wash strawberries; drain. Remove stems. Crush strawberries one layer at a time. Combine strawberries, powdered pectin and lemon juice in a large saucepot. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally.  Add sugar, stirring until dissolved. Return to a ROLLING boil. Boil hard 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Skim foam if necessary. Ladle hot jam into hot jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Adjust two piece caps. Process 10 minutes in a boiling water canner.

***have no fear if you can't find the "one package of powdered pectin." It seems they are now selling this pectin in containers. 6 tbsp of the stuff in the container is equivalent to one "old" box. /sigh ***

Here's a look at the jam cooking away.

It turns such a vibrant red once the sugar is added.

Oh and...the house smelled AMAZING!!!!

Here's the end result...

It was gloomy most of the weekend or I would have taken a picture of ALL

of the jars lined up.

I think of our filled jars as works of art!

Look at how pretty!!!

We cleaned up the sticky mess and relaxed with a bowl of ice cream with some of the "too much for another jar" leftovers. YUM!!!!!

Thanks for stopping by and starting your week off with this sweet treat!!!!

~Jen

When life hands you lemons...part 2

Have you tried the lemon curd recipe yet? It is so delish!!! In this post I am sharing the lemon cake recipe we Jim made. It was divine with fresh berries and homemade whipped cream.

Straight from the oven!

On the platter waiting to be cut!

On a plate with all the other goodies!!!

Here's the recipe:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/lemon-cake-recipe/index.html

Thanks for stopping in. Just like the other day I would love to hear about you trying these recipes. Share with us on Facebook!!!

We're almost over the hump and the weather is looking up, at least for me!

hugs 

Jen

When life hands you lemons...part 1

If you are reading this, that means you survived Easter!  I am sure that was easier for some of us than it was for others.

I came home from the grocery store on Friday with not one, but two bags of lemons. Farm Girl Sam had a post the other day about an English lemon cake. It got me thinking about a lemon pound cake. Lemon this, lemon that. In this post I am sharing a lemon curd. It is yummy yummy!

I came home with two bags of lemons based on the number of lemons needed for the lemon cake

The lemon curd recipe starts out:

Using a carrot peeler, remove zest of 3 lemons, being careful to avoid the white pith.

Put the zest in a food processor fitted with the steel blade. Add the sugar and pulse until the zest is very finely minced into sugar.

It smelled delightful at this point. I told Jim I was taking it into the bathroom to use as a facial scrub.

He looked at me.

I didn't use it as a facial scrub.

the step that there isn't a picture of:

Cream the butter and beat in the sugar and lemon mixture.

Add the eggs, 1 at a time, and then add the lemon juice and salt.

Mix until combined.

Pour the mixture into a 2 quart saucepan and cook over low heat until thickened.

Cooking about 10 minutes, stirring constantly.(we shared the stirring duties) The lemon curd will thicken at about 170 degrees F

or just below simmer. Remove from heat and cool or refrigerate.

Isn't it beautiful?

The house smelled so lemony fresh.

I am sure it would be great on toast, but my Step-Mom left us some homemade rolls and I have been having my curd on the rolls. I guess I will test the toast theory out when the rolls are gone.

The recipe is from Ina Garten on the Food Network.

I love love love most of her recipes.

Here's the recipe:

Ingredients

• 3 lemons
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1/4 pound unsalted butter, room temperature
• 4 extra-large eggs
• 1/2 cup lemon juice (3 to 4 lemons)
• 1/8 teaspoon kosher salt

Directions

Using a carrot peeler, remove the zest of 3 lemons, being careful to avoid the white pith. Put the zest in a food processor fitted with the steel blade. Add the sugar and pulse until the zest is very finely minced into the sugar.

Cream the butter and beat in the sugar and lemon mixture. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, and then add thelemon juice and salt. Mix until combined.

Pour the mixture into a 2 quart saucepan and cook over low heat until thickened (about 10 minutes), stirring constantly. The lemon curd will thicken at about 170 degrees F, or just below simmer. Remove from the heat and cool or refrigerate.

I would love to hear from you if you try it!

Tell us your story on our Facebook page!!!

I hope to see you all soon!!! Next up is the lemon cake recipe!

St. Patrick's Day meal (or two)

Hi Everyone! Yesterday  mentioned Jim had made Irish Soda Bread and I was hoping to post about it. This is that post! {smile} Neither of us had ever had soda bread so this was a first. The whole meal was a bunch of firsts. Perhaps I should back up! We thought it would be fun to have St. Patrick's Day dinner with Jim's Mom and Step-Dad. Jim's Mom loves to cook and we all like to try new things. The menu started out with reuben sandwiches and colcannon (more on this soon). Jim's Mom was bringing roasted veggies, homemade thousand island and an Irish dessert of some sort.  The soda bread, not on the menu, but something Jim had been talking about trying. Try he did.  Here is is before it goes in the oven. Do you know why you cut it like this? To let the fairies out!!!! (this made me giggle and I was very much upset when I didn't see any fairies escape...jim told me i couldn't see them since i didn't have special fairy seeing glasses...i'm gonna go with that)

Here's the link to the recipe Jim used.

Irish Soda Bread recipe

Here it is out of the oven. 

Kinda neat looking.

Smelled good.

It was good and we decided over dinner it would make great toast.

This is what Wikipedia has to say about Colcannon:

Colcannon is traditionally made from mashed potatoes and kale (or cabbage), with scallions, butter, salt and pepper added. It can contain other ingredients such as milk,cream, leeks, onions and chives.^[1] It is often eaten with boiled ham or Irish bacon. At one time it was a cheap, year-round staple food,^[2] though nowadays it is usually eaten in autumn/winter, when kale comes into season.^[3]

An old Irish Halloween tradition was to serve colcannon with prizes of small coins concealed in it, as the Irish, English and Scots do with Christmas pudding.

The Welsh dish cawl cennin, despite the somewhat similar sound of the expression, is etymologically unrelated to colcannon, and is a leek soup, literally "broth (of) leeks."^[4]

For ours we made mashed potatoes and added in blanched kale and crumbled bacon.

We did decide the addition of onions or chives would be great too. We just made the mashed potatoes like normal and then added in the blanched kale and bacon. 

It was pretty.

It was healthy.

It was good.

Here's a (not so great) picture of our table.

The roasted vegetables and colcannon took center stage here, but the reubens (which you can almost see) were amazing as always! There is enough corned beef and swiss left that we will probably be having a reuben pizza night this week.  {yum}

We had a delicious meal and everyone enjoyed all the firsts involved.

The dessert was an Irish potato cake. No pics or recipes, but it was tasty tasty too! 

Jim's Mom made some homemade whipped cream and colored it green for the occasion.

I made mention the soda bread would make good toast.

It did!!!

The colcannon also made AMAZING potato cakes!

Aw yes!!! Last night's leftovers turned into this morning's breakfast!

YUMMM!!

Thanks so much for stopping by!

hugs

One sick pumpkin

If you have been following my blog you know I have linked up to All Things Thrifty for her All Things Spooky Party. I have already linked up once this week but I am going to link up again. (I didn't see anywhere that said I couldn't) Brooke's post this week was about food. I commented and said I wished I could find the picture of a pumpkin we did for a Halloween party a few years ago.
I bought an external hard drive over the weekend to back up my computer (LONG overdue), my pictures and the blog. This means I can transfer some older pics that are saved to CD to the external drive. GUESS WHAT I FOUND!!!! Yep! The pumpkin and a several other pics. The pics might be a few years old but I think they will still be fun to blog!
Our friend Maribeth had a Halloween party and we took this pumpkin and the cake (cake is a post of its own). Both were a hit, here is the pumpkin!

Homemade, chunky guacamole never looked so appetizing right? Thanks for stopping by. I hope you will go and visit Brooke's party. I am linking this up there too.
Also linking up at  I hope you stop there and check out some great ideas!!!
~Jen