Real Mail.....

It's a treat to get something in the mail from people you love. Yesterday it was a sweet thank-you from my grandson, Tyler and a recipe from Maureen, my friend in Metropolis Illinois.

In case you want to bake on this 100 degree day, here's the recipe that she makes for her grandson and his boss and co-workers. She doesn't have a computer but she really needs to be warned that she is going to have men following her all over town if she keeps baking for them. (They may be already doing that.)

Hot Fudge Pudding Cake

1 cup flour 1/2 cup milk
2 tsp. baking powder 1 cup brown sugar
1/4 teas. salt 1/4 cup cocoa
3/4 cup sugar 1 and 3/4 cup hot water
2 Tbsp. melted butter 2 Tbsp. cocoa



Mix and sift flour, baking powder, salt, sugar and 2 T. cocoa. Blend in butter and milk. spread batter in 9 x 9 pan. Mix brown sugar and 1/4 cup cocoa and sprinkle over batter. Carefully pour hot water over batter. Bake in preheated 350 degree oven for 45 minutes. Serve warm. Makes 9 servings (what a joke).

I (Maureen) double it and bake 1 hour. Hope you like it. It's not pretty. I never could make a pretty cake. I buy them!

Love Maureen.

Cracker Salad.....

If the MaGuire family makes it, it is gonna be yummy. Julie made it from Paula Deen's recipe. I was not prepared to like it so much, but I should have known!

Georgia Cracker Salad (recipe Paula Deen)

1 sleeve saltine crackers (coarsely crumbled)
1 large tomato, finely chopped
3 green onions, finely chopped
1 and 1/2 cups mayo (good mayo)
1 hard boiled egg, finely chopped (I used two)
salt and freshly ground black pepper.

I put mine together all except for the crackers and put in the refrigerator until time to eat, then added the crackers. Three of us ate it all.

The picture is a poker plant, which I am sure has a more appropriate name. It is a beautiful day in Michigan, enjoy!

Pumpkin Pie-Cake ......

Today is Living Water Church dinner at Blessed Hope Church. Barbara gave me a recipe for something pumpkin to make.

And I made our old stand-by Texas Sheet Cake. You can never go wrong with a Texas recipe.

Barb's Pumpkin Pie Cake

This is a three stage recipe, don't get them confused like I kept doing. Oven on 350.

A yellow cake mix, but take out 1 cup of it and try not to lose it.
A stick of melted margarine
One egg.
Mix these and spread in a 9 x 13 pan, greased only on the bottom.

Mix one can of pumpkin (I used 15 oz. size)
2 T. pumpkin pie spice
4 eggs
1 and 1/2 cup sugar (I cut this down just a bit).
A Large can of evaporated milk
Pour over the first mixture.

Mix the lost cup of yellow cake mix with
1/2 stick margarine
1 t. cinnamon
1/4 cup sugar
Crumble this up and sprinkle over the pumpkin filling.

Bake 1 and 1/2 hour at 350. Check it after an hour, mine didn't take so long.

I hope they will like it! Happy Wednesday!

Barb's Sausage Strudel

1 lb Bob Evans Zesty Sausage
1 8 oz. pkg cream cheese
2 pkgs. Pillsbury Crescent Rolls
1 egg white
poppy seeds

Cook the sausage over medium heat in a large skillet until all traces of pink disappear, crumbling finely as you go. Drain, and in the same pan with the sausage, cube up the cream cheese and continue to stir until it is melted and well blended. This is the filling.

Open the crescent roll dough and smooth the seams to make a rectangle. Place half the mixture down the middle and fold the sides over. You can leave the ends open, the filling does not leak.

Brush the tops of the rolls with egg white and sprinkle with poppy seeds. Bake for 20 minutes at 350 degrees. Cut in slices to serve.

Happy Friday to all. Enjoy.

Cornbread Dressing

This is how it's done.....The night before make a recipe of Aunt Jemima Corn Meal Mix that is on the bag, except use buttermilk instead of milk and make sure it is soupy. Pour it into a hot skillet that has some Crisco melted in it. Try not to eat it when it gets finished because then you won't have enough for the dressing.

After you have hidden the cornbread, cook a chicken breast covered with water until done, that will be the broth you use tomorrow. Refrigerate overnight.

Next day saute 2 cups onion chopped and about 2 cups thinly diced celery in at least half a stick of butter until the vegetables are slightly cooked.

Crumble about a third of a loaf of bread and the cornbread, season with about 1/8 cup of rubbed sage or poultry seasoning some salt and pepper. Add the celery and onion and 2 eggs and the chicken broth. I usually add a can of Swanson's chicken broth for extra flavor. It needs to be a soupy mixture, like the cornbread was. Bake it 450 for about twenty minutes.

This is the way my mother and grandmother made it. No one ever wrote it down until I did, that's why it has a lot of vague instructions. You learn by doing anyway. Happy Thanksgiving!

Amaziing Pancakes

This was John's first pancake breakfast at my house. Charlie has named my pancakes "Amazing" but not to my credit, the recipe is from Land O Lakes.
Messy kitchens are happy ones, mine is delirious. Tyler, Charlie's friend, John and Charlie celebrate breakfast. Recipe below.

Amazing Land O Lakes Pancakes

Mix together, you don't have to sift:
1 cup of flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teas salt
2 Tablespoons sugar

Mix together:
3 Tbs. Land O Lakes butter, melted
1 cup real buttermilk
1 egg
Add to dry ingredients. Sometimes you may need to add just a tad more buttermilk for the right thickness. Use a hot griddle lightly greased. Must use bacon grease. So there!

You will never buy Aunt Jemima again.

Us Versus Food

First, the really good stuff. I made some apricot jam from Connie's recipe. Go to the link, I Started Out As a Child. They must be in season, there were plenty of them at Meijers.

Lunch on Wednesday. No Thanks Charlie, I'm not interested.


But I am, the first time all summer, Gramma has taken us to White Castle. She eats way too many tomatoes.

I'm just saying hello today but tomorrow I will show you what I've been making from some Crows Roost Primitives patterns.

Move Over, Buca De Beppo

Charlie is cooking Italian. You can see there wasn't much left to take a picture of. We loved it.

Now, the recipe came from one of the bloggers, and if it was yours, please let me know so I can give you credit for this delicious dish. I just jotted the recipe down and didn't take note of where it was posted.

Hope you don't mind if I share it with my friends and family....

Stuffed Shells

A jar of spaghetti sauce
16 oz ricotto cheese
2 eggs
16 oz. mozzarella
parmesan (1/2 cupor more)

He cooked the shells first, made the filling meanwhile. Mix the ricotto, eggs, a handful of the mozzarella and the parmesan.

Rinse the shells in cold water, drain and stuff with the mixture. If it's too runny add a little more of the mozzarella. (He didn't have to.)

Then layer the sauce (top and bottom) and stuffed shells (stuffed side down) and top with the mozzarella that is left. He baked it 30 minutes (foil covered) and uncovered it for about another 10 minutes.

I hope someone will take credit for this recipe, meanwhile I will keep looking for it in the blogs.

Thank you very much.

Making Meatloaf

Watching the oven...making meat loaf for fifty for our Living Water monthly dinner at Blessed Hope Church. He should be called Pete Loaf.
I've been cooking instead of working, just this one guy this week. He is cuter than his picture. He has watched me cook and we are sharing my recipe. It's better than Ann Lander's recipe, which Mammy sometimes used. This is my mother's recipe.
(Emma's)

Recipe for My Meat Loaf

In a large bowl put four slices of white bread, cover these with milk, enough to absorb and make soft. Add salt, pepper, a medium to large chopped onion, a dash or so of catsup and three large eggs.

I use a half pound of sausage (like house brand or Jimmy Dean) and near three pounds of ground chuck. Mix this all together and make a long loaf. Bake it at 400 until it browns well. Usually takes about 40 minutes.

After it is done, I make a glaze of tomato catsup and brown sugar enough to cover the loaf and put it back in the oven for just a few minutes. I know this is not an exact measurement recipe, but it works, just have faith.

Everyone really liked it, even those who don't like meat loaf.

If you are in the Detroit area, pick up a Free Press this morning. It's worth the buck, to read Mitch Albom's article about Haiti. Happy Thursday everyone.

Sun Dills

These are my pickles I made from a recipe from a post on Old Centennial Farmhouse. I had to buy the cucumbers as my crop failed this year. I followed the directions and set them in the sun yesterday. Today it has rained all day. They are supposed to be "dills" in a week, so this will be interesting. I also had to buy dill but if these are good, I will have my own next year. Check out her blog, it is very interesting, and she has some beautiful Michigan pictures.

Snacking Peas and Corn Salad

These are my Sugar Snap peas which were planted on St. Patrick's Day, yes, it was very cold that day, but that's a date I can remember and it seems to be one that they like. You can often see people standing by them having a snack.

I didn't get a picture (or a taste) of Barbara's corn salad. It disappeared so fast and everyone said it was good, so I'm posting the recipe. I was so glad it was enjoyed.

Barbara's Corn Salad

4 cans drained corn
1 small green pepper, chopped
1 small onion, chopped
1 cup of shredded cheese (I used Mexican)
1 cup mayo

Stir and leave set in refrigerator overnight. Before serving, stir in one package of chili-cheese FRITOS.

Cranberry Chutney

Taste-testers at the craft show liked it!
CRANBERRY CHUTNEY
1 pound of cranberries (4 cups) of course it would take just a tad more than you get in a package at the store. You don't have to chop them.
l small tart apple diced
2 cups light brown sugar
3/4 cup cider vinegar
1/2 cup dried currants (these are like raisins, only tiny)
1/2 teas. salt, l/2 teas ground ginger, l/2 teas. ground cinnamon. 1/4 teas. ground cloves, l teas. yellow mustard SEED, and 1/4 teas. dried pepper flakes.
Bring mixture to a boil, lower the heat and cook about 25 minutes. It should begin to thicken, and will thicken more when it is cooled. It made about 2 pints and you can freeze it. Put it on top of a layer of cream cheese and eat with crackers. Kathy and I thought it would be good on a bagel or a muffin, or just eat with a spoon. Also I didn't have the cloves so you can omit them, I don't see it could be any better. Ground cloves are like 6.00 a teaspoon. I hope you like it.