Baked Apples

Baked apples are an old timey dessert that you don't often see anymore, a shame too, as they are very tasty and easy to make.   When I was a child, every so often mom would make them for my dad.  They were always well received.  I tend to make mine on the simpler side of things, as some use chopped nuts, raisins and other things in the filling.     They are good served as they are, topped with ice cream or even some plain unsweetened heavy cream over the top.    No matter how you eat them, they are good!

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.   Wash, halve and core apples, about one apple per person and place in a shallow baking dish that will just fit the number of apple halves.   Sprinkle the apples with a good quality cinnamon, then put about a tablespoon of brown sugar on top of each half, then top each one with about a teaspoon of butter.   Put a little water in the bottom of the pan and put it in the oven.   Bake about 45 minutes or until the apples are very tender.    Allow the apples cool slightly before serving and serve warm.    Top each serving with some ice cream or plain heavy cream.      And as always, enjoy!   

Instead of apples, you can also use halved and cored ripe pears or halved pitted peaches or apricots.   The peaches and apricots may not take as long to cook, so start checking for tenderness after 30 minutes for those.  

Scalloped Corn

 The south has a variety of corn casseroles that are all quite similar, but still different in how they taste and look.   There is spoon bread, like a cross between corn bread and corn custard.  Their is corn pudding, which is a type of corn corn custard.   And then scalloped corn, my favorite.  Not quite as delicate as well made corn pudding, but not as heavy as spoon bread.  It is also set apart from the other two by having a crunchy buttered cracker topping.   

2 cans of creamed corn, or about 4 cups homemade creamed corn (the cans are handy and, honestly, taste just as good)

1 pkg thawed frozen sweet corn or about 3 cups fresh corn, cut off the cob and the cobs scraped

3 eggs, beaten lightly

salt and pepper to taste

1 tbsp sugar

1/2 cup melted butter, divided

1 cup Ritz cracker crumbs or other butter type cracker, divided

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Butter a large casserole dish and set aside.   In a large bowl add the creamed corn, thawed or fresh corn, sugar salt and pepper, and mix well.  Then stir in half of the cracker crumbs and half the melted butter.   Mix well, then pour into the casserole dish.  Mix the remaining cracker crumbs and melted butter, mixing well.  Sprinkle them evenly over the top of the corn mixture.   Bake about 30-45 minutes, until well browned and bubbly.  Cool slightly before serving.

Did one wish to attempt to improve on perfection, you could add some grated sharp cheddar to the corn mixture and then more on top with the cracker crumbs... I would suggest about a cup to the corn mixture and half that amount to the topping.   One could use some crisp bacon or diced ham in the pudding as well.    

Homemade Caramel Corn with Sorghum

 When I was a small kid in southeast Missouri, we would sometimes go trick or treating out in the country around Fairdealing.  My Grandma's both lived there.   I loved going to the the houses in the country, because back then we would often get homemade treats like cookies or popcorn balls.  The popcorn balls were made pretty much like this caramel corn was, with sorghum, and I always loved the taste of sorghum.   This is pretty much the same thing, except it isn't made into balls, although you could easily do that.   When the corn comes out of the oven, allow to sit until cool enough to handle, then with lightly buttered hands, form it into balls.   

Homemade Caramel Corn

11/4 cup of unpopped popcorn, popped (about 12 cups or so)

1  cup butter

1 cup sorghum or molasses or corn syrup

1 cup brown sugar 

1 cup white sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp salt

1/4 cup water

Preheat your oven to 250 degrees.

Put the popped corn in a very large bowl and set aside.

In a 2 quart saucepan melt the butter, then add the sorghum, water, sugars and salt. Bring the pan to a full boil,  stirring until the sugars are all melted and the butter is completely incorporated. Boil about 1 minute. 

Add the vanilla and stir well.   Pour the caramel

over the popped corn and mix very well.

Place the caramel corn into very large deep roaster or divided between two 9x13 inch

cake pans. Place the pan or pans in the oven and bake for an hour, stirring the corn

every 15-20 minutes. At the end of the hour allow to cool completely, then break

up into pieces and store in airtight containers.

Streusel Coffeecake

Streusel Coffeecake

1 cup softened butter

1 1/2  cups white sugar

3 eggs

2 tsp vanilla extract

3 cups flour

1  tsp baking soda

2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp salt

2/3  cup yogurt

2/3  cup sour cream

1/4 cup vegetable oil

Beat the sugar and butter together until smooth, then beat in the yogurt, sour cream, oil and vanilla. Mix the dry ingredients together and then stir into the wet mixture. Spoon about 2/3 of the batter into a greased 9X13 inch cake pan. Sprinkle your choice of fillings as below, then dot the remaining batter on top of the filling. Finally, evenly sprinkle the streusel topping over everything. Bake at 350 degrees for about an hour, until nicely browned and a toothpick stuck in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool before cutting.

Streusel: ½ stick soft or melted butter, 1 ½ cups sugar, 1 cup flour. Mix together with fork or your hand, until it makes clumps. Sprinkle the clumps over the everything.

Fillings:

Sprinkle heavily with brown sugar, cinnamon and pecans.

Or: Sprinkle heavily with some sort of berry or cherry, fresh or frozen. If you use cherries, add a small amount of almond extract to the batter, in addition to the vanilla.

Or: Rhubarb, chop fresh or frozen rhubarb, sprinkle lightly with a couple tablespoons of sugar, then put over the batter.

This is especially good with fresh or frozen gooseberries.

Easy and Special Fruit Cobbler

4 - cups canned sliced peaches in juice, drained or other fruits/berries

1/2 - cup butter, softened

3/4 - cup sugar

1 - teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 - cup milk

1 - cup all purpose flour

1/8 - teaspoon salt

1 - teaspoon baking powder

1/3 - cup sugar

 1/2 - teaspoon cinnamon

1 - tablespoon cornstarch

1/4 - cup boiling water

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray a 8x8 inch baking pan with non stick spray. Drain the sliced peaches and arrange them in the bottom of the baking pan.In a large bowl or kitchen aid mixer, cream the butter with 3/4 cup sugar. Add the vanilla extract and mix well. Add the milk, flour, salt and baking powder to the sugar butter mixture. Mix until creamy. Spread the batter over the peaches and smooth. In a separate bowl, mix 1/3 cup sugar and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon with the cornstarch. Sprinkle the mixture evenly over the batter. Pour the boiling water over the sugar mixture making sure to cover all of the sugar with the water. This is where the magic happens and what makes the crispy topping. Bake at 375 for 40-45 minutes. Cool slightly before serving.

Note: Fresh peaches can be substituted for canned peaches. About 4 peaches is equal to 3 cups.

Blackberry version follow the recipe above and use 4 cups fresh blackberries or other berries in place of peaches, omit the cinnamon and continue with the recipe as directed. 

 The cornstarch and boiling water topping gives the top of the cobbler a smooth, shiny and crispy topping.   

Grandma Casey's Candied Sweet Potatoes

Thanksgiving is coming and I want to post some of my family's favorite things and things that I am usually asked to make for family gatherings.   One of them is candied sweet potatoes.   This is an old recipe, one my grandma used to make back in the Ozark hills.   It is very simple and easy to make.   The amounts vary, depending on how many you want to make.  I usually make about 1 sweet potato for each person that will be eating them.

5 sweet potatoes, peeled and sliced

about 1 cup white sugar

2/3 cup butter, cut into bits

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.   Place the sweet potatoes in a 9x13 in. pan,  pour the sugar evenly over the potatoes, then dot with the butter.   Bake the pan of sweet potatoes about 45 minutes to an hour, stirring 2-3 times.   You want the potatoes to be very tender, the sugar will form a very thick syrup and the potatoes will be lightly browned around the edges.  If  some blacken a tiny bit around the edges, don’t worry about it.   That bit is especially tasty.  

Ham and beans

Growing up in southeast Missouri we ate lots of ham and beans.   Luckily, except for my younger sister, we all loved them.   My dad especially enjoyed them, so mama would make them all the time.   She would fix either Great Northern, commonly called "white beans" or pinto, also called "brown beans".   I love them both.   I fix them often too and because it is hard to make just a few beans, I have a couple of people I share them with when I cook them.   My brother-in-law, Gary, is the main one who gets some of my beans (he is even more crazy about them than I am!), but there are also a couple of people I work with who think my beans are among the best they've eaten.

Beans have to have a side of cornbread to eat with them.  I don't know why the two taste so good together, but they do.   I also like to eat a wedge of raw onion with a bowl of beans and some folks like pickled hot peppers or pepper vinegar with their beans as well.   One woman  I work with even has to have piccalilli with her beans.   

I do admit to being a bit picky about how I cook my beans and it is usually a two day affair for me.   I also find that I get the best results when I use my crockpot, as beans are something that can't be rushed and turn out the best when done very slowly.   Please note, that it is difficult to give exact proportions for this, as there are variables beyond control, but no matter what happens, you will rarely come up with beans that aren't tasty!   Just be sure to make a lot of cornbread to go with them!


4-6 good sized chunks of ham shank or
a good meaty ham bone
water to cover, about 1 1/2  quarts

Simmer the ham shanks or ham bone about 8 hrs. on high, until the meat is ready to fall off the bone.   Remove the shanks or bone and any meat from the broth and refrigerate.   Later the meat will be taken off the bone and shredded into bite sized chunks, with any bone, skin or fat discarded.   Chill the broth and when ready to cook the beans, remove any solidified fat and discard.

 2 pounds of beans, either Great Northern or Pinto or 1 pound of each

The night before cooking the beans, rinse and pick out any bad beans and then place in a deep bowl and add twice as much water as needed to cover them.   Allow to soak over night.   Then next day, rinse and drain the beans, then place in the crockpot with the defatted ham broth and simmer on high 6-8  hours.   You want the beans to be very soft, splitting and bean broth to turn milky and no longer clear.   The texture of the beans with be almost creamy.   In fact,  you will be concerned that they are overcooked.   Add the cooked ham meat you have removed from the bones.   Allow to sit a few minutes to heat the ham up. 

Now fill a bowl with your hot cornbread, crumbled into chunks, top with the beans and lots of the bean soup, either have a chunk of raw onion on the side or top the beans with chopped raw onion and dig in!   Some good eating here!

Breakfast: Chorizo and eggs, and biscuits with sausage gravy

I love breakfast foods, but rarely eat them at breakfast time.   About the only times I eat in the mornings, is on the weekends or if I am off for some reason and even then it isn't a usual thing.   Take today, for example, I slept in and got up about 9:30 am.   I piddled around the apartment, but it wasn't until noon that I decided to eat something.   I've been craving chorizo and eggs, and just happened to make a double batch of chorizo last night, so had it in the fridge.   I sliced a small onion, cooked it in a bit of oil, then added about 2 ounces of chorizo.   I stirred it until the chorizo was done and the onions limp and lightly browned.   Next I beat 3 eggs with a splash of milk, then poured it over the chorizo and onions.   I stirred it  until set and the eggs were well mixed with the chorizo and onions.   Next I heated two flour tortillas, sprinkled a tablespoon or so of cheese in them and then filled with the eggs and chorizo, rolling them up into a delicious breakfast burrito.   With a glass of cranberry juice, that was my lunch/breakfast and it was fantastic!

Sometimes Aaron will request I make sausage gravy and biscuits.      First I make the biscuits:

2 cups flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
6 tbsp. solid shortening (lard is best, followed by butter and then vegetable shortening)
1 cup butter milk

Mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.    Cut the shortening into the dry ingredients until it is well blended, if there are a few small clumps of shortening, that is ok.   Make a well in the center and pour in the buttermilk.   Quickly stir together using a fork until all of the dry ingredients are moistened.   Dump out onto a lightly floured surface and quickly knead a dozen times, then roll out about 1/4-1/2 inch thick.  Cut into rounds and place in an ungreased pan (a heated cast iron skillet is the best baking dish!).   Gather the scraps together, roll out again and cut more biscuits.   Bake in a preheated oven at 450 degrees about 10-15 minutes or until well risen and brown on top.   Goes good with butter and honey or butter and sorghum, with jelly or jam, or covered with sausage gravy.

Sausage gravy is something my family and Aaron both love.   Where we split is in how it is put together.   My family always fried the sausage in patties and served it along with the biscuits and gravy, but Aaron prefers the sausage fried loose and crumbly and served in the gravy itself.     Being the kind person I am, I usually cook it that way for him.   Gravy is something I usually don't measure carefully, but cook for with my eye.   Here's how I do it:

I crumble the sausage into a hot skillet and if the meat looks very lean, I'll add a bit of oil or bacon drippings.   Fry the sausage until it gets good and brown, but being careful not to burn it.    Remove the brown sausage crumbles to a bowl and set aside.   Eye the grease in the pan and you should have about 4 tbsp.   if more remove some and if less add more oil or bacon drippings.    Add three  tablespoons of flour and stir into the drippings until smooth.   Continue cooking and stirring until the flour/fat mixture begins to brown.  Whisk in 2 cups milk and cook, stirring, until the mixture thickens.   If it looks too thick, add up to another cup of milk.   Boil for 1 minute, stirring all the while.   Add the cooked sausage back to the skillet and taste for salt and pepper.   If too thick you can add a bit more milk to thin it down, gravy will thicken as it cools.   Pour over hot biscuits and enjoy!

If you prefer your sausage on the side, make the loose sausage meat into small patties and fry in the heated skillet, adding some oil or bacon drippings as above.   Turn the patties often and watch for burning.   When well browned and done in the center, remove from skillet and drain on paper towel.   Make gravy as above, but disregard the part of returning the cooked sausage to the gravy.   This is some good eating!

Healthier Biscuits

Most people love a good biscuit.   When properly made they are flaky and either high and fluffy or thin and a bit crisp.   To get the flakiness, you need lots of high quality shortening, either lard or butter give the very best flavor.   The shortening is cut into the flour and then quickly rolled out and cut.   For the very best texture and flavor, you should also use buttermilk in place of sweet milk.    But is there a way to have a biscuit without all the heavy fats?   I came across what is called a heart healthy version of biscuits and decided to give it a try.    I got a good rise, they were pretty and the flavor was fairly good.   Will it completely replace my old stand-by recipe of biscuits, no, no way it could.  But it is handy when wanting a biscuit and I'm trying to eat better.   I'll probably save my old stand-by recipe for when I have company.   Even so, this is a good recipe to have on hand if you need to cook for someone with dietary limitations.   Enjoy!

2 cups flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1 cup buttermilk
3 tbsp. and 1 tsp. vegetable oil

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.   In a mixing bowl combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.   Stir in the milk and vegetable oil, quickly mixing until all of the flour it moistened.   Empty bowl onto a lightly floured board and quickly knead about 8-10 times.   Roll out dough about 3/4 inch thick and cut into rounds.   Place on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake about 10-12 minutes or until golden brown.  Serve warm.   This should make about a dozen biscuits.

Aunt Laura's Apple Cake

This is a recipe that I can remember my Grandma making all the time and it was always one of my favorite recipes.   I have the recipe in front of me on a piece of faded, stained and tattered paper.   I can barely make out Grandma's handwriting, but luckily I know the recipe well enough that I know what it calls for.   One thing about this cake.   It is a bit heavy and when first made a bit dry.  However, after sitting for a few hours or overnight, the moisture in the apples makes this a very moist and delicious cake.   I think you will enjoy it.

1 cup Wesson oil (other oils will work, this is just what the recipe calls for)
2 cup sugar (dark brown is the best but you can use white, too)
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
3 cups flour
3 cups, peeled and chopped apples
1 cup black walnuts (I leave them out because I don't care for them)

Beat together the oil, sugar eggs and vanilla, then add the apples and allow to sit for a few minute.      Then stir in the cinnamon, baking soda, salt and flour and mix until smooth.   Fold in the nuts if using.    The batter will be very stiff.    Spread in the bottom of a greased 9x13 inch cake pan.   Bake at 350 degrees 45 minutes to an hour or until a toothpick comes out clean.   Allow to cool completely before cutting.   It is best made several hours ahead of time.    Enjoy!

Chicken and Dumplings

Like I've said many times, my Grandma Casey was an incredible cook.   She could make just about anything taste good.   An old timey favorite of the whole family was chicken and dumplings.   Grandma's dumplings were of the southern-style, rolled dumplings and not the high fluffy steamed biscuit type.    The dumplings floated in a thick rich chicken gravy, with falling off the bone moist chicken pieces in abundance.   I tried years and years to re-create Grandma's chicken and dumplings before coming up with a close approximation.   While this isn't exactly like Grandma's, it is close enough to satisfy the hunger for her good cooking.   Chicken and dumplings makes a meal in itself.   We always ate it ladled over mashed potatoes.   But no matter how you eat it, it is always good!

a roasting or stewing hen, if unable to find either, the largest fryer you can find.
giblets from the chicken
chopped onions and celery, about a cup to cup and a half each
sprinkle of poultry seasoning, maybe 1/2 tsp. or so
water to cover (about 2 quarts)

Simmer the chicken, vegetables and seasoning until the chicken is extremely tender.    You should have at least a quart to a quart and a half of broth.   If not that much either add some water or some canned chicken broth.   Allow to cool in the broth, then remove and take off the bone, discarding bones and skin.   Cut into bite size pieces and return to broth.   Leave giblets in the broth as well as the vegetables.  Skim as much fat off the broth as possible, reserving about 3 tbsp.    Bring back to a boil.

While the broth is coming back to a boil, make the dumpling dough.

2 cups flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
3 tbsp. chicken fat or used melted butter
3/4 cup buttermilk

Mix the flour, salt and baking soda together and then stir in the chicken fat or melted butter.   Mix well.   Make a well in the center and pour in the buttermilk.   Stir together quickly, making a soft dough.    Turn the dough out onto a well floured board and knead quickly 3-4 times.    Then roll out about 1/4 inch thick.   Cut into 2-3 inch squares.   Drop the dough squares into the boiling broth and stir after each addition.   Cover the pot and simmer about 10-15 minutes until the dumplings are done and tender.   The broth should thicken, but if not make a flour and butter roux (equal amounts of flour and butter cooked until it begins to brown a little bit) and stir into the broth, simmer about another minute or two until thick enough.    Enjoy!

Cornbread

I grew up eating cornbread on a regular basis.   Mama and grandma's cornbread was of the standard southern variety.   Always made of white cornmeal, usually flavored with bacon grease and always baked in a preheated cast iron skillet.   It was always crusty, a bit salty and delicious.  It is still my favorite way of making and eating cornbread.   Later, I learned of other ways of making cornbread, using part white flour and sugar, with melted butter instead of bacon grease.   While still preferring Mama's type of cornbread, every so often I'll make "Yankee" style cornbread just to be different.   Aaron likes both kinds.   There are some things that just cry out for a pan of hot, crusty cornbread...ham and beans, beef stew, macaroni and tomatoes.   Here are my two favorite cornbread recipes. 

Mama's Southern-style cornbread

2 cups white corn meal (either regular or self-rising)
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder (omit if using self-rising meal)
1 tsp. salt
1 egg
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
3 tbsp. oil or melted bacon grease

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.   Grease a 9 inch cast iron skillet (or 8x8 inch square pan) and place in the preheated oven to heat.   Mix together the dry ingredients, then beat in the egg, buttermilk and oil/bacon grease.   Spoon into the preheated pan and bake about 20-25 minutes, or until well browned and crusty.   Cool a bit before removing from pan.   Enjoy!

Rich "Yankee" Cornbread

1/2 cup butter (or ¼ cup butter and ¼ cup oil)

2/3 cup white sugar (decrease if desired, I only used 1/2 cup and it
was plenty sweet)
2 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup cornmeal
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease an 8 inch square pan.
Melt butter. Remove from heat and pour in a large bowl, then stir in sugar. Quickly add eggs and beat until well blended. Combine buttermilk stir into mixture. Stir in cornmeal, flour, baking soda and salt until well blended and few lumps remain. Pour batter into the prepared pan.
Bake in the preheated oven for 20-30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.   Enjoy!