In Celebration of General and Mrs. Washington

In commemoration of the birth of our First President, I offer this recipe named after his wife. Although I don’t know how it came to be named after the First Lady, I seriously doubt it reaches back into the early years of our country. Who developed this candy? I don’t know, but I’m certainly glad they did.

MARTHA WASHINGTON CANDY

1 stick butter, melted
1 lb. Angel Flake Coconut
1 lb. pecans, chopped fine – but not too fine
1 can Eagle Brand milk
1 1/2 lb. powdered sugar

1. Mix all ingredients thoroughly.
2. Roll into 1″ balls.
3. Chill for 30 minutes.
4. Melt 2) 6 oz. packages chocolate chips with 4 oz. paraffin in double boiler. Keep the heat on low.
5. Using toothpicks, dip each ball into melted chocolate to coat thoroughly.
6. Place dipped balls onto waxed paper covered cookie sheet to set.
7. Remove toothpicks.

Notes:
*The taste of this candy is very much like an Almond Joy, except for the pecans. And substituting or adding pecans never hurt anything. Fresh, local pecans are best if you can get them. I didn’t realize it for years, but they do make a difference in the taste.

*The first time I made this recipe, I was offended by the paraffin and tried to omit it. It was a real mess and wouldn’t set.

*Keep most of the dough balls in the refrigerator while you’re dipping, bringing out only a few at at time. They quickly warm to room temperature and will slide off the toothpick when dipping.

*Store them in the refrigerator except when you bring them out to serve; this keeps the chocolate from getting warm and sticky.

*After they set up on the waxed paper cookie sheet and there is a little hole left in the top of each piece of candy where the toothpick has been removed. This bothers my husband (hereafter known as the Creative Perfectionist). His solution is to take spoonfuls of the melted chocolate and drizzle it over the tops, filling the holes. This makes a lovely presentation and gives the look of expensive, handmade chocolates. Well, they are handmade, but they aren’t all that expensive.

*Normally I don’t like “shortcut” candy, cakes, etc., but this is a really good recipe with a wonderful flavor.

Vintage Kitchen Altered Book Ephemera

These pictures are from the October 1, 1943 issue of The Family Circle magazine. Some magazines haven’t changed all that much over the years. Family Circle has changed a lot. In ’43, it contained only 20 pages, included current events and a movie review, a short story and was printed in black and white on paper which was not slick. The cost is not printed on the cover, but I’m guessing that it was about .05. (Click on the image for an enlarged view, then click again on the magnifying glass. It will then be readable.)

The Sweetheart Toilet Soap ad is particularly nice for me, because that’s the brand of soap my mother bought for our bathroom (besides the Lava that was for my dad. Boy, I only used that soap once!). Sweetheart was pink and pretty and had a lovely fragrance.

I’ll be scanning in lots of vintage ads, recipes and illustrations and will share some of them here. I’m working on an altered book. It’s been awhile since I’ve been in an altered book round robin, and my sister (Fran) suggested we invite Abby and Cathy to join us in one with the theme of “Vintage Kitchens”. We will each choose a more specific theme for our own books then write a few rules for the others to follow when they work on ours.

Fran has chosen the 1950s, with emphasis on the colors of turquoise and pink.

For mine, I’ve chosen a 1940’s look with red and white, and accents of green and yellow.

Homemade Ice Cream

Homemade Strawberry Ice Cream

When I was growing up, homemade ice cream was a simple fact at summertime celebrations. We simply always had it. After a trip to Owasso to the automated ice house – where one put in a coin (a quarter? surely more than a dime?) and down the shaft and out the door shot a huge solid block of ice – my mother would stir up a batch of mix for the ice cream freezer.

I suppose there were electric machines available then, but I’d never seen any and we certainly didn’t have one. Ours was the old-fashioned hand crank type. The women were always in the house where it was cool-er (no a/c), and the men would gather outside by the water hydrant (I don’t know why that was the designated spot, but it just was) to chop up the block of ice with an ice pick and take turns at turning the crank. Just who the men were besides Daddy and my older brother is lost in the mists of my memory. Probably uncles and maybe cousins and certainly my brother’s friends. What I can remember is the good-natured buzz of conversation and how that was the place I was drawn to.

Inevitably, I would beg for a turn at the crank and Daddy would try to talk me out of it, telling me that I wouldn’t like it because it was hard to turn. But I would insist that I could do it and he would let me try. About 2 rounds, maybe 3. It was really stiff and more than my skinny little arms could handle. Then I’d drift back and forth between the women and the men, asking if it was ready yet. It took forever. About 30 – 45 minutes.

Joe and I bought our first freezer during our second year of marriage. It was kind of a big deal because we didn’t have a lot of spending money and $15.00 was a lot back when minimum wage was $1.65 an hour. That one is long gone and we’re about to wear out our 4th one. Nothing fancy for us; we’re not the kind of people who have new-fangled gadgets like the kind that doesn’t take ice or ice cream salt (although I am curious). Not even a White Mountain (on sale: $248.00). We buy cheap ones at Wal-Mart and our current one was an end of season close-out that cost $9.00.

For some reason, we’ve made more this summer than ever before in any one season. We do like our snacks and summer in the south is just too hot to keep the oven long enough to bake 4 trays of cookies (always one tray at a time) or a pie or even a cake. Our summertime desserts are usually No Bake Cookies, Rice Krispie Treats or homemade ice cream.

(The photograph above also has Sweet and Spicy Pecans from Ravelin Bakery in Denton, Texas. Sandra posted a similar recipe on her blog.)

Last week was the first time we’ve ever made vanilla. I don’t care for vanilla unless it is topped with strawberries or peaches or chocolate syrup or an accompaniment to cake, so we’ve always made a flavor. Our usual choices are banana nut, strawberry or peach. If we don’t have any fresh fruit, then we make chocolate. Once, years ago, we made blackberry. It was a lovely shade of purple, but please learn from my mistakes and strain out the seeds first. Sheesh.

The reason for making plain vanilla? It was a special request from our 5 year old grandson. So we added an extra egg, more vanilla extract and increased the heavy cream to make it a little more special.

We use the same basic recipe, with a few variations which I’ll list at the bottom.

*This recipe uses raw eggs. There are lots of recipes available for a cooked custard ice cream, which I’ve never tried myself.

BASIC HOMEMADE ICE CREAM – makes 1 gallon
In a blender, mix:
3 eggs
2 cups sugar
dash salt
1 cup of milk
2 cups heavy cream
fruit – about 3 bananas and a dash of nutmeg or 2 cups of strawberries or 5 peaches, peeled and pitted

Blend until smooth. Pour into ice cream freezer container. Add another cup of chopped fresh fruit cut into 1/2″ pieces. For Banana add 1 cup of chopped pecans or walnuts.

Fill container with whole milk up to the fill line.

Place container into bucket and lock on the motor. Add alternate layers of ice and rock salt and plug it in and let the motor turn until it stops (check on it every few minutes and add more ice and salt as needed) which will be anywhere from half an hour to an hour.

Important: Before taking off the lid, brush off all the ice and salt and pull the container up out of the water/ice mixture. I didn’t do this one time and salt got into the ice cream and it was inedible. Now I even slowly pour about a cup of water over the lid before removing it to make sure that no salt will invade the mixture.

It will probably be very soft right after the motor stops. My dad always let it set to “cure” but I usually can’t wait, so we have a serving right away. Joe has put the Tupperware box in the freezer ahead of time so that the ice cream doesn’t melt even a little bit in a room temperature container.

This recipe makes a very scoop-able ice cream (after sitting in the deep freeze for a few hours) but the texture is going to be different than a commercial product. It’s not that it has ice crystals (it doesn’t) but it’s just not as slick and smooth. I like that about it and I really like the incredibly fresh and pungent flavor that the fruit gives it. All natural. No artificial flavors, colors or preservatives.

CHOCOLATE ICE CREAM
Use the same basic recipe as above, but omit the fruit and add 1/2 cup powdered cocoa (not the drink mix) and 1 cup of chopped nuts. Joe likes to add chocolate chips in the blender; I don’t because no matter how long I blend it, it still has hard little bits of the choc. chips.

VARIATIONS
1 can of Eagle Brand sweetened condensed milk can be substituted for the heavy cream then reduce sugar to 1 cup. When I’ve done this, it was because I was out of cream, but had the Eagle Brand and some Carnation canned milk, which I also used. The outcome will be different than with the cream, but it’s probably lower in cholesterol.

Once I didn’t have any whole milk or cream, and used 1 can of Carnation and reconstituted dry milk. This is probably much, much healthier than the cream & whole milk type, but is more like ice milk than ice cream.

It’s also a nice touch to put the serving bowls in the freezer ahead of time, especially if you’re going to be eating it outside.

As I said, after being in the deep freeze awhile, it makes nice scoops. Joe put the scoops into Braum’s (a nice Oklahoma company) ice cream cones for our grandsons, poured some sprinkles in a bowl and dipped them. They thought it was grand.

This post linked to:
Frugal Friday @ Life as Mom
Food on Friday @ annkroeker

Peaches

From the closeup photo in the new banner above, one might think we have huge peaches. You may have even heard that everything grows bigger in Texas.

Well, the peaches on our tree don’t grow bigger – they’re pretty small.

But, oh how I have hope!

After several years of late freezes and goat damage, we have real live fruit on our tree!

Fresh peaches are so wonderful; they don’t have any resemblance to store-bought ones – unless they’re local, of course.

When we lived in Oklahoma, we would drive down to Porter and buy them from the orchards.

In Texas, there’s nothing like a Parker County peach. And boy, you have to get over there fast. One year the crop was so slim that we didn’t get any. Another year, the orchard was only letting people have a set amount.

I like to get 1/2 bushel, or a whole one if I have help putting them up for the freezer. We eat a ton of them fresh, make ice cream (absolutely incredible), eat them with heavy cream or make cobblers.

Then through the year, I ration them out to myself (Joe doesn’t like eating them plain so I’m really just putting them up for myself or the cobblers or ice cream. There are actually about 3 jars left in the freezer and I think they’ll last me until next month when the crop is in.

Speaking of ice cream, Joe made some Banana Ice Cream on Sunday when our family was here. Only Liam, Joe and I ended up eating it, so there was plenty left over for the freezer. There are only 2 servings remaining.

Good thing we’ll be in Grapevine today so we can pick up more cream. Sam’s has it in quarts for a whole lot less than the grocery store. And since this is ice cream weather (they’re predicting record high temperatures this week), I want to have plenty on hand.

I could hardly believe how good that Banana Ice Cream was. When I complimented Joe on how good it was, he told me the reason…he used the whole quart in it! I’ve always used about a cup or two, but never the whole carton. He said that was why it scooped so easily after being in our really cold freezer.

All I know is that we’ll be making Chocolate Walnut this afternoon and I can hardly wait.

After all the surgery, my taste buds are back to normal.

Hallelujah!

1932 February Menu

(Click on image to enlarge to a legible size, and click again, if necessary.)

Needlecraft Magazine printed menu suggestions each month. It’s helpful to bear in mind that 1932 was deep depression. Around that time, my great-uncle sold his 3 story Victorian home in Kentucky for $500.

Average Cost of new house $6,510.00
Average wages per year $1,650.00 (if you even had a job)
Cost of a gallon of Gas 10 cents
Average Cost for house rent $18.00 per month
A loaf of Bread 7 cents
A LB of Hamburger Meat 10 cents
New Car Average Price $610.00
Average House Price 540

Go here for more information about 1932.

This post linked to Food on Friday @ annkroeker.com

Easy-No-Need-To-Buy-A-Mix Cornbread

CORNBREAD

(This recipe is for an 8″ x 8″ pan; for the large cake pan or skillet size, just double everything.)

1 egg, beaten
1 c. cornmeal
1 c. flour
1 c. milk
1/2 t. salt
3 t. baking powder
1 T. sugar
1 – 2 T. oil

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees (toaster oven 350-375 degrees).
2. Mix all ingredients together in a medium mixing bowl with a spoon.
3. Butter or Pam baking pan.
4. Use a spatula to transfer batter from bowl to baking pan – it wants to stick to the sides of the bowl.
5. Bake for about 20 minutes until brown on top and knife inserted into middle comes out clean.
6. Serve hot with butter.
7. If you have any left, store it in an airtight container in the freezer until you make cornbread dressing. Or feed it to the birds.

This is a fairly basic recipe and easy to mix up. It came from a regional cookbook we got as a wedding present over 30 years ago. I’ve altered it a bit: lessened the baking powder and oil and added the sugar. I don’t like sweet cornbread, but if you do, add a little more sugar until it suits your taste.

Since I’m from the south, cornbread is like one of the 4 food groups. Beans (pintos) and cornbread is actually my favorite meal. If there’s fried potatoes, greens and chopped onion,
to go with it, well…I’m real happy.

My mother grew up out in the country during the 1920s and didn’t have access to store bought white bread, but she said that her mother made biscuits every morning and cornbread every day at noon (“dinner” to Mama). This must have seemed strange to my Philadelphia-born grandmother, but she adapted to kentucky ways.

The best cornbread I’ve ever eaten was made by Mrs. Hickson, head of the cafeteria at Mingo School. Tuesday was Beans & Cornbread day. Even kids like me (who took their lunch every other day of the week) bought their lunches on Tuesday. I think my friend, Carol, has the recipe. I hope so because I’d love to have it.

This post is linked to Food on Fridays @ annkroeker

Vegetarian Chili

It’s not as bad as it sounds, although it won’t fool a meat lover, but then again it’s about as close to the real thing as I can get. Some vegetarian chili recipes have things like carrots, etc. in them, which I don’t understand. Mostly I make this when our vegetarian sons are here, but I have made it for just Joe and me, too.

Vegetarian Chili

*1 package Morningstar Farms Crumbles (or 4 Boca Burgers thawed and cut into 1″ pieces)
*1 onion, chopped
*2 cloves garlic, minced
*2 T. olive oil
salt
pepper
~
1 can (I think it’s about 12 oz.) diced tomatoes
1 small can tomato sauce
2 cans (or more) pinto beans
1/4 t. comino
Chili powder (at least 2 T.)
Oregano – dash

1. Saute crumbles, onion and garlic in olive oil. Crumbles will not get real brown or crisp, so just cook until the onion is translucent. I use the dutch oven for this step. There’s no reason to wash an extra skillet. Just keep stirring it to keep it from sticking.

2. Add canned ingredients and spices. We use quite a bit of chili powder. If you’re not sure, add some and taste, then adjust to your own preferances.

3. Cover and heat over low heat for 30 minutes. It really doesn’t need more time that that, and much longer and the soy products change texture somewhat.

4. Serve with fresh chopped onion and possibly a little sour cream and grated cheddar on top, or cheese slices and saltines or cornbread on the side.

Variation:
Three Way: add cooked spaghetti to your bowl. I love it this way. When I was a girl Ike’s Chili Parlors in Tulsa sold Chili, Chili with Beans and Three Way (chili, beans and spaghetti).

This post linked to Food on Friday @ annkroeker.com

Shirley Booth’s Chess Tarts Recipe

Shirley Booth and Don DeFore

http://www.flickr.com/photos/34637380@N00/3193268492

From Good Housekeeping, December 1964:

“Shirley Booth, like the generous person she is, gives Sally Edwards credit for these tarts.

CHESS TARTS

l package piecrust mix or favorite pastry for 2 crust pie
2 eggs
1/4 c. butter or margarine
dash salt
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup seedless raisins
1/2 cup snipped, pitted dates
1/2 cup chopped California walnuts
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup heavy or whipping cream
candied cherries
slivers of preserved orange peel
slivers of preserved citron
green seedless grapes

Make day before serving as follows:
1. Make up piecrust; then, on lightly floured board, roll it out 1/8-inch thick. For each petal tart shell, cut out 5) 2 1/4-inch fluted pastry rounds. Place 1 round in bottom of each of 6) 2 3/4’inch muffin-pan cups. Wet edges of rest of rounds, then press 4 of them to sides and to round in bottom of each cup, overlapping edges slightly.

2. Prick well with 4-tined fork. Refrigerate 30 minutes; bake at 450 degrees F. 10 to 15 minutes or until golden brown. Cool; lift each carefully from cup; store at room temperature.

3. In saucepan beat eggs well; then add butter or margarine, salt sugar, raisins, dates. Cook, stirring constantly, until thick. Refrigerate this filling, covered with waxed paper.

~About an hour before serving:

1. Stir walnuts and vanilla into filling; then pile some filling in each tart shell. Whip cream; use to top tarts. In center of each mound of cream place a cherry; surround with orange peel and citron. Refrigerate.

2. Arrange tarts on pretty serving plate; pass, with tiny bunches of grapes. Makes 6.”

Jim Manago has written a book “Love Is The Reason For It All – The Shirley Booth Story”. You can read about it here. His site is very impressive with lots of photos of Shirley Booth as well as stories behind the scenes of “Hazel” and other celebrities like Whitney Blake, Karen Carpenter, and Joyce van Patten.

Don DeFore was one of my favorite actors and it was fun to read the interview with his son. It makes me like him even more to know that he was an active conservative.

For those interested in purchasing the book, Jim recommends that you go to bookfinder.com.

Celebrity Recipes – Good Housekeeping December 1964

Yesterday I posted photos from the December 1964 issue of Good Housekeeping. Carol from Old Glory Cottage asked for the celebrity recipes referred to in the photo. (Carol has some great vintage Christmas images in her sidebar.)

http://www.notablebiographies.com/images/uewb_01_img0063.jpg

There are too many for me to type all of them and they’re posted in the back of the magazine all chopped up, a column or two on each page so too difficult to scan. But I tell you what I’ll do: since Carol asked for it, I’ll include Lucy’s today, and list each celebrity and the name of their recipe and if anyone wants one, please leave a comment and I’ll post as many of them as I can.

Here’s what it says:

“Lucille Ball, one of Hollywood’s most hospitable stars, often treats dinner guests to this ‘happy ending’.

APPLE JOHN
Make about two hours before serving as follows:
1. Start heating oven to 375 degrees. Grease a 2-quart casserole. Fill it with 8 cups thinly sliced, pared, cooking apples, 1/2 cup granulated sugar, 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg, 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon, 1 tablespoon grated lemon peel, 2 tablespoons lemon juice and 1/4 cup water; then toss together with a fork. Bake, covered, 1 hour or until apples are tender. Now turn oven heat up to 450 degrees.

2. In bowl combine 2 cups packaged biscuit mix and 2 tablespoons granulated sugar; quickly stir in 2 to 3 tablespoons melted butter or margarine and 1/2 cup milk. Then drop, by rounded tablespoonfuls, around top edge of casserole, also one in center of biscuit ring. Bake, uncovered, about 12 to 15 minutes or until biscuits are golden and done. Cool slightly.

3. Serve warm, with vanilla ice cream on top of each serving. Makes 9 servings.”

Mrs. Lyndon B. Johnson: Pecan Pie

Julie Andrews: Striezel, Hot Mincemeat Pie with Rum Sauce

Doris Day: Green and Gold Salad

Bing Crosby: Wild Duck

Deborrah Kerr: Creamy Raspberry Cups

Patty Duke: Crunch Walnut Bread

Jack Benny: Superior Fried Chicken

Polly Bergen: Chili

Tony Curtis: Hungarian Kipfel

Shirley Booth: Chess Tarts

Fannie Hurst: Indienne Beef Stew

Peggy Lee: Hearts of Palm Salad

Johnny Carson: Christmas Waldorf

Eartha Kitt: Salade Nicoise

Danny Thomas: Homos Be Tahinee

Gina Lollobrigida: Christmas Wreath Cookies

Carol Channing: Golden Popcorn Balls

Rick Nelson: Beef Tartare, Stuffed Brussel Sprouts

Beatrice Lillie: Peel Fold Christmas Trifle

Raymond Burr: Grand Marnier Chocolate Mousse

Carol Burnett: Chicken Casserole

Inger Stevens: De Luxe Rice Pudding

Hugh Downs: Nut Filled Cakes

Blanche Thebom: Doppa I Grytan

Walter Cronkite: Harvard Beets

Eileen Farrell: Citrus Froth

Elke Sommer: Christmas Stollen

Dick Van Dyke: Brandied Sweet Potatoes

Gingerbread Men

Better Homes and Gardens Cookies and Candies, 1968 edition

My friend Merrily gave me this cookbook when I was 16. She was one of the best cooks I knew, and certainly the best cookie maker. The recipe for my sour cream pound cake came from her.

We have literally worn the cover off of this book over the last 39 years. Joe’s luscious fudge is in this book, and this is the only gingerbread man recipe I’ve ever used.

Better Homes and Gardens Cookies and Candies, 1968

Notes:

* If rolled thick, this recipe makes a soft cookie, which is what my family prefers. However, with the last bit of dough, I roll them thinner for a crunchy cookie which goes well with morning coffee.
* Plan ahead and chill the dough. It does make a difference. I’ve tried doing it in a rush and it just doesn’t work. The dough is sticky and then I add too much flour.
*I’ve never used shortening, I’ve always used vegetable oil (canola, etc.).
* Make sure the cookie cutters are well floured before each cutting, or you’ll start losing arms, heads, etc. that don’t want to separate from the cutter.
* Keep a pastry brush handy. Flour is needed to dust both the rolling pin and the rolling surface, but you don’t want that floury taste on the bottom of the cookies. It’s a hassle, but dust them off before placing them on the baking sheet.
* Parchment paper gives the best result. For years I Pammed the sheet, but the pp results in a better cookie.
* Press raisins into the cookie after they’re on the sheet. Frozen raisins work better. Soft, room-temperature ones don’t want to press in and will likely fall off.
* Sprinkle sugar over the tops before baking.
* Bake one sheet at a time, although it isn’t as important with this recipe as it is with chocolate chip type cookies.
* Turn sheet around half way through baking.
*After baking, let set for about 5 minutes before transferring to cooling rack.

I store the finished cookies in a clear jar on my counter-top. If left out on a plate in humid weather for a long time they stay soft, but not as nice. Besides, it’s way too easy to pick up one from a plate everytime I pass by.

My grandsons love these. In fact, they asked me to make paper gingerbread men for them to play with last summer. I used my larger sized cutter for a pattern and we had the plain, regular gingerbread man, plus Gingerbread Batman, Gingerbread Robin, Gingerbread Joker, Gingerbread Superman. Construction paper was cut out to make their clothes and their faces were done with Crayolas.

This post linked to Food on Fridays @ annkroeker.