My mother’s recipes and favorites. The foods she made that I remember so well. She is the reason for these posting, my obsession. She truly could make anything in the kitchen. I have memories of her cooking on a wood stove – go ahead give that one a try! And how she managed to work with only one oven!
Pumpkin Pie. All my childhood memories of Pumpkin Pie are from Thanksgiving. My Mom loved to bake. Today, that is easy to say, I mean I have the help of my Kitchenaid mixer, my Breadmaker which I use mostly to mix the doughs. Back to my Mom, she made bread and baked and it was an all day affair. First off, she only had one oven. It was a big oven and two pies would fit on one rack. Our table consisted of a sheet of 3/4 inch plywood. For you non-construction types, that would be 4 feet by 8 feet. All eleven of us would sit down daily to dinner. One that same table, a few days before a holiday my Mom would start baking bread and pies and such.   I remember my eyes were just above table height and looking over all the goodies. It felt like they would go out past my horizon!  Mom made things by two’s; she must have liked the story of the ark. We had two apple, two cherry, two lemon meringue. And yes, back to Pumpkin. That is what you want to know about. Mom was a better than average baker, and she could combine the right amount of flavors to make the tastes pop. I always hoped I would inherit her taste buds.
But, if you know me, I like to adjust things to my liking and keep them easy as well.
While you can look at the back of a can of pumpkin and make the pie, I do believe you can do better. Within the last couple of years I have been playing with Indian spices and one of my favorite spices is Garam Masala.  Many pies are over loaded with cloves and nutmeg – stop already. Pumpkin pie has to have balance. This pie has a perfect blend of spice, just right!
1 1/2 c white sugar
1 tsp salt
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp garam masala
4 large eggs
1 can (29 oz) Libby’s Pure Pumpkin
2 cans (12 oz) Carnation Evaporated Milk
2 unbaked 9 inch pie shells. I used two tart dishes and filled them to their rims with pumpkin. But you can also use deep dish pie pans. I also took the left over pie crust and made leaves to decorate the top -this is my Mother in me. Make it taste good, and make it pretty. Use egg wash and brush the leaves before baking in the oven for about 15 minutes. You can also sprinkle with white sugar to make them sparkle. Like adding a diamond to a ring!
Mix all together and pour into the unbaked pie shells.
Preheat oven at 425, then reduce heat to 350 , bake for 40-50 minutes until knife inserted near center comes out clean.
½ lb Ground Beef or Lamb
3 oz Parmesan Cheese
¼ Onion finely minced
2 – 3 cloves Garlic minced
1 Egg
Fresh Oregano
Fresh Parsley
Fresh Mint (great if you are using lamb)
Fresh grated ginger
Chop and mince garlic and onion.
Grate parmesan cheese finely
Brown ground meat.
Add in chopped garlic and onion and finish browning meat.
Drain browned ground meat, garlic and onion in colander.
Chop or process fresh oregano and parsley, mint and ginger.
Add oregano and parsley to browned ground meat, garlic and onion.
Beat or whisk an egg and stir into mixture.
5 Cups scalded milk (or 5 Cups warm water with 25 Tablespoons instant dry milk–then you don’t need to scald it)
6 Tablespoons sugar
1 Tablespoon yeast
1/2 Cup warm water
6 Tablespoons shortening, melted
2 Tablespoons salt
White flour (approximately 17 Cups)
Soften yeast in warm water. Combine scalded milk (or warm water and dry milk), sugar, salt and shortening. Add about 5 Cups of flour and mix well. Add softened yeast/water mixture. Blend well. Add flour, 1 Cup at a time, just until you have a soft, but not sticky dough. Knead very well. (10 minutes by hand, or 2-3 by bread mixer). Turn out into large bowl and seal, or cover. Let dough raise 1 hour. Punch down. Let raise again for 45 minutes. Punch down and let raise 20 minutes. Divide into 6 loaves. Roll out jelly roll fashion and place in greased bread tins.
Let raise for 1 1/2 hours, or until the bread is 2-3 inches above the sides of the pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes, or until a nice golden brown. Cool on racks. When cool, keep bread in plastic bags. Can be frozen up to 6 months.
Mom would bake her loaves in anything that was oven proof (except the cases when used one of her Village Bakery helpers): terracota pots, frying pans, dutch ovens, tin coffee cans are the ones I remember most! Wonderful memories with the smells filling the air.
As you can see, my Mom was the white bread person, her favorite bread was always brioche buns, me? I love to add seeds like caraway, sesame, dill, sunflower and maybe even a bit of oatmeal on the top. I like a more artesian look. Happy baking.
Beat egg until light and fluffy. Add sugar, vanilla, oil, blend well. Stire in grated zucchini. Sift flour, baking powder, salt, baking soda and creamed mixture, fold in nuts. Turn into greased and floured loaf pan.
So what could my mom do with her canned peaches? Everything or nothing, they were always great. This tart is equally good with tart apples, pears, plums, or berries, apricots or yes – peaches.  Even combining fruits would be great.  The crust has an appealing cookie-like texture. The almond cream  was amazingly smooth and flavorful. Almond flavor is always good with fruit. They combine well, and enhance each other.  I did add both rum and vanilla to flavor it. I like food to look beautiful, but not fussed over, so rustic always is more appealing to me.  Adapted from Baking: From My Home to Yours Dorie Greenspan, but I am sure my Mother had a similar recipe.
For the almond cream:
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
2/3 cup sugar
3/4 cup ground blanched almonds
2 teaspoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon cornstarch
1 large egg
2 teaspoons dark rum
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 partially-baked 9-inch tart shell, made with Sweet Tart Dough (see below), at room temperature
1 can of canned peach halves
Confectioners’ sugar for dusting, or apple jelly for glazing
To make the almond cream: Put the butter and sugar in the workbowl of a food processor and process until the mixture is smooth and satiny. Add the ground almonds and continue to process until well blended. Add the flour and cornstarch, process, and then add the egg. Process for about 15 seconds more, or until the almond cream is homogeneous. Add the rum or vanilla and process just to blend. If you prefer, you can make the cream in a mixer fitted with the whisk attachment or in a bowl with a rubber spatula. In either case, the ingredients are added in the same order. Scrape the almond cream into a container and either use it immediately or refrigerate it until firm, about 2 hours.
Getting ready to bake: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Have a lined baking sheet at the ready. Cut the peaches in half from blossom to stem (or pieces). Whatever fruit you have, make sure to pat them dry – really dry – so that their liquid won’t keep the almond cream from baking.
Fill the baked crust with the almond cream, spreading it even with an offset metal icing spatula. Thinly slice each pear half crosswise, lift each half on a spatula, press down on the pear to fan it slightly and place it, wide-end toward the edge of the crust, over the almond cream. The halves will form spokes.
Put the crust on the lined baking sheet, slide the sheet into the oven and bake the tart 50 to 60 minutes, or until the almond cream puffs up around the pears and browns. Transfer the tart to a rack to cool to just warm or to room temperature before unmolding.
Right before serving, dust the tart with confectioners’ sugar. If you prefer, prepare a glaze by bringing about 1/4 cup apple jelly and1/2 teaspoon water to the boil. Brush the glaze over the surface of the tart.
Serving:Â This tart goes very well with aromatic tea.
Storing: If it’s convenient for you, you can make the almond cream up to 2 days ahead and keep it closely covered in the refrigerator, or you can wrap it airtight and freeze it for up to 2 months; defrost before using. You can also poach the pears up to 1 day ahead. However, once you’ve baked the tart, you should be prepared to enjoy it that same day.
Playing around: The almond cream is a great companion for a variety of fruits. It’s as good with summer fruits, like apricots or peaches, as it is with autumn’s apples.
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 stick plus 1 tablespoon (4 1/2 ounces) very cold (or frozen) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1 large egg yolk
To make the dough: Put the flour, confectioners’ sugar and salt in the workbowl of a food processor and pulse a couple of times to combine. Scatter the pieces of butter over the dry ingredients and pulse until the butter is cut in coarsely – you’ll have pieces the size of oatmeal flakes and pea-size pieces and that’s just fine. Stir the egg, just to break it up, and add it a little at a time, pulsing after each addition. When the egg is in, process in long pulses – about 10 seconds each – until the dough, which will look granular soon after the egg is added, forms clumps and curds. Just before your reaches this clumpy stage, the sound of the machine working the dough will change – heads up. Turn the dough out onto a work surface.
Very lightly and sparingly – make that very, very lightly and sparingly – knead the dough just to incorporate any dry ingredients that might have escaped mixing.
If you want to press the dough into a tart pan, now is the time to do it.
If you want to chill the dough and roll it out later (doable, but fussier than pressing), gather the dough into a ball (you might have to use a little more pressure than you used to mix in dry bits, because you do want the ball to be just this side of cohesive), flatten it into a disk, wrap it well and chill it for at least 2 hours or for up to 1 day.
To make a press-in crust: Butter the tart pan and press the dough evenly along the bottom and up the sides of the pan. Don’t be stingy – you want a crust with a little heft because you want to be able to both taste and feel it. Also, don’t be too heavy-handed – you want to press the crust in so that the pieces cling to one another and knit together when baked, but you don’t want to press so hard that the crust loses its crumbly shortbreadish texture. Freeze the crust for at least 30 minutes, preferably longer, before baking.
To make a rolled-out crust: This dough is very soft – a combination of a substantial amount of butter and the use of confectioners’ sugar – so I find it is easier to roll it between wax paper or plastic wrap or, easiest of all, in a roll-out-your-dough slipcover. If you use the slipcover, flour it lightly. Roll the dough out evenly, turning the dough over frequently and lifting the wax paper or plastic wrap often, so that it doesn’t roll into the dough and form creases. If you’ve got time, slide the rolled out dough into the fridge to rest and firm for about 20 minutes before fitting the dough into the buttered tart pan. Trim the excess dough even with the edge of the pan. Freeze the crust for at least 30 minutes, preferably longer, before baking.
To partially bake the crust: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Butter the shiny side of a piece of aluminum foil and fit the foil tightly against the crust. Bake the crust 25 minutes, then carefully remove the foil. If the crust has puffed, press it down gently with the back of a spoon. Bake for another 3 to 5 minutes, then transfer the crust to a cooling rack; keep it in its pan.
In preparation for Halloween night, my mom would gather us and we would make popcorn balls to hand out for goodies.
1 cup sugar
1 cup light corn syrup (or 1 cup maple syrup)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ginger
1/8 tsp mace or allspice
1 T butter
1/2 cup water
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp almond extract
3 quarts crisp salted popped corn
1 1/2 cups chopped mixed nuts
Combine sugars, salt spices, butter and water in saucepan,. Cook over low heat, stirring until sugar dissolves. Wash crystals from side of the pan. Cook over medium heat to 245 degrees on a candy thermometer – firm ball stage. Remove from heat; stir in extracts. Pour slowly over mixture of popped corn and nuts, stirring to mix well. Sharpe iwth buttered hands, into balls. Makes about 2 dozen balls, 2 inches in diameter.
Variations:
Holiday Popcorn Balls: add 1/2 candied cherries (red and green)Â Â
Crunchy Popcorn Balls: The above recipe makes chewy popcorn balls. If you want crunchy popcorn balls, use only 2 quarts of popcorn and heat the sugar mixture to 290 degrees. Pour over popcorn and nuts, spread in thin layer on buttered aluminum foil and break into pieces when cooled.
Popcorn on a Stick: Form the popcorn balls on a stick.   You can even drizzle carmel and/or chocolate around them to make them even better!Â
Toffee Popcorn Balls:Â Take your chewy popcorn balls and dip in the top third in milk chocolate topping and then sprinkle with broken heath bar!
Fancy Dipped Popcorn Balls
Snowman Popcorn Balls:  Make a smaller and set it on top of the larger ball to cool. Decorate with a mint for a hat, and add different candies to decorate to look like a snowman.
Boil potatoes whole. Do not over-cook potatoes or salad will be mushy. When potatoes are done drain right away, peel and let cool. Put in refrigerator to chill. When chilled completely, cut them up into medium sized cubes and put in a large bowl. Put back into fridge to keep chilled. Combine celery and olives into finely minced pieces. Add to potato mixture. Open can of shrimp and drain well. Rinse off shrimp in the can, and squeeze dry with can cover before removing from can. Flake shrimp well between fingers and add to potato and veggie mixture. Mix mayonnaise into salad and add salt and pepper to taste. If you want to use dill, chop it finely and add it now.  Refrigerate until ready to eat.
When ready to serve, place potato salad on a few leaves of lettuce, serve with cucumber wedges. Oor serve inside a hollowed out tomato or bell pepper or cucumber.
Chicken and Dumplings Ingredients:
4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
4 cups water
2-3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 1 1/2 pounds)
1 1/2 T. olive oil
2 stalks celery, chopped
2 large carrots, chopped
1 onion, chopped
1Â 1/2 tsp. table salt (or 3/4 tsp. fine sea salt)
1 tsp. dried thyme
1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup cold water
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup frozen peas
For the Dumplings:
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. table salt
1/4 tsp. dried thyme
1/2 cup sour cream (reduced fat is fine)
1/2 cup milk
1 T. vegetable or canola oil
Directions:
Place the chicken broth, water, and chicken breasts in a large pot or Dutch oven. Bring the liquid to a boil, and boil until the chicken is cooked through, about 15 minutes. Remove the chicken from the broth and shred it with two forks. Set the chicken aside and keep the broth warm on the stove.
While the chicken is cooking, heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the celery, carrots, and onion, and cook until the vegetables are softened, about 6 to 7 minutes. Once the chicken has been removed from the broth, add the cooked vegetables to the broth, along with the salt, thyme, and black pepper. Stir to combine, and bring the broth to a simmer.
In a small bowl, stir together the cold water and the flour. Slowly pour the flour mixture into the hot broth and vegetables, whisking constantly until well combined. Add peas and chicken to broth.
Make Dumplings:
To make the dumplings, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, and thyme in a medium bowl. In another bowl, stir together the sour cream, milk, and vegetable oil. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir until just combined. (It’s okay if there are a few dry spots of flour remaining.)
Heat the soup to boiling and drop teaspoons of the dumpling dough on top of the soup in a single layer. (The dumplings will expand quite a bit as they cook.) Reduce the heat to medium-low, cover the pot, and let the dumplings cook undisturbed for 15 minutes. (Do not lift the lid during the cooking time.)
When done, gently stir soup to break the dumplings apart.Â
Wait until my sisters read this, it is bound to bring back memories for them.  Since there were 9 kids, and little money, much of our Christmas was baked, crafted and home sewn.   I remember one year mom was particularly stressed not to have enough money for a Christmas tree. She scouted around the 10 acre parcel next door to us, and found tumbleweeds.  She stacked three high, painted them white and made the prettiest “snowman” ever. It was genius. My mom on the other hand, only wished she could give us more. So, she set about making candy.Â
Divinity with Walnuts
Light and fluffy, divinity is a classic! It’s also a bit tempermental when the weather is hot and humid, so it is best to attempt divinity in low-humidity conditions.Â
Double Divinity
(For pastel divinity – add 15 drops of food coloring to uncooked syrup)
2 1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. light corn syrup
1/2 c. water
1/4 tsp. salt
2 egg whites
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup chopped walnuts
Combine sugar, corn syrup, water and salt in heavy 2-qt saucepan.
Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture comes to a boil. (If sugar crystals form on side of pan, wipe them off.)
Reduce heat and cook without stirring until temperature reaches firm ball stage (248°)
When candy mixture reaches 242°; beat egg whites until stiff but not dry. Cook candy mixture to 248° and slowly pour about half of it over egg whites, beating constantly with electric mixer and med. speed.
Continue to cook remaining syrup to the soft crack stage (272°).
Beating constantly, pour hot mixture, a tablespoon at a time, over egg white mixture, beating well after each addition. Continue beating until mixture begins to lose its gloss and a small amount dropped from a spoon holds soft peaks. If mixture becomes too stiff for mixer, beat with wooden spoon.
Mix in vanilla.
Drop by teaspoon on waxed paper.
Divinity Fudge
Variation: Divinity can be poured into a 9-inch square pan, cooled, and cut into small squares instead of being dropped from a spoon.
Makes 27 drops or 1 1/2 pounds.
Chocolate Divinity
If you beat double divinity with electric mixer, add 2 squares melted unsweetened chocolate immediately after last addition of hot syrup: beat until mixture starts to lose its gloss. If you beat by hand, beat 5 minutes after last addition of hot syrup to egg white mixture and then add 2 squares melted unsweetened chocolate and beat until mixture holds its shape when dropped from a spoon.
My mom made gravy. Gravy with fried chicken especially.Â
Biscuits and Gravy
Once the chicken was done, mom would add 1/4 cup flour to the oil in the frying pan. Stir the flour in the grease until it is brown. It will brown nicely, stir constantly so it will not burn. Once the flour has browned to the color you like, add 1 cup water all at once and stir constantly. (If you add the water bit by bit, your gravy will get lumpy.) As the gravy thickens, add 1 cup milk, stirring constantly. Add salt and pepper to taste. Ahhhh – this stuff is good.
If you want to make sausage gravy, just start browning sausage and then make gravy from the drippings. Serve with Baking Powder biscuits, fried potatoes and scrambled eggs for a hearty breakfast buffet.Â
 Dorie Greenspan, but I am sure my Mother had a similar recipe.
