Mema’s yeast rolls

No holiday meal was complete without my sweet Mother In Law’s rolls. The first meal I ate at her table consisted of fried chicken (lightly fried then baked in the oven), fresh black eyed peas, homemade cream style corn, rice with celery and onions sauteed in butter, and these rolls served with home churned butter. The rolls just melted in my mouth. Dessert was chocolate meringue pie so good your eyes would roll back in your head. When the meal was over all the females pitched in and cleaned up the kitchen and got to know each other. I was in love with Darrell and his family after this meal if not before.

1/4 cup warm water
1 package dry yeast
3 cups flour
1 cup scalded milk
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
3 eggs
1/2 cup lard (yes, LARD) Crisco will do, though

Place yeast in cup with 1/4 cup warm water to proof the yeast. If it begins to bubble, it is good yeast. Put sugar, salt, and lard in mixing bowl. Add scalded milk and let cool to lukewarm. Add eggs and yeast mixture to the milk mixture and beat in 1 1/2 cups flour with the mixer. Add 1 1/2 more cups flour, beating until moist. Turn out on floured surface and work in more flour 1/2 cup at a time as needed to make a soft dough. This will be softer than bread dough. Turn into greased bowl, cover and let rise at room temperature until double.

Punch dough down and put on a floured surface, pinching off 2 small balls of dough to make divided rolls. Place two balls in each muffin tin depression, let rise until double (again at room temperature), and bake at 325 until golden brown. Remove from oven and brush tops with melted butter.

Alternate method: Roll out dough, and cut with round biscuit cutter. These may be baked in biscuit shapes or creased and folded over to bake in a folded shape.

Creamy Fudge

This recipe takes the guess work out of fudge. You don’t need a candy thermometer, you just need to time how long you cook it. One some days, it takes it longer to set (I guess it depends on the humidity and barometric pressure). But it always does set up and remains creamy after being cut. I like to cut these into small 1 inch or smaller squares and serve in a mini muffin paper liners. So good you had better double the recipe; good for gifts at Christmas and to gift your guests as they leave your house.

1 1/3 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup (1 small can) evaporated milk
1/4 cup butter
1 jar regular size (approx 7 ozs.) marshamallow crème
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 12 oz. size semi-sweet chocolate (2 cups)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts

Combine sugar, milk, butter, marshmallow crème and salt in a saucepan. Cook, stirring constantly, until mixture has boiled for exactly 5 minutes. Remove from heat, add chocolate pieces and vanilla and stir until chocolate is melted. Stir in walnuts. Turn into buttered 9 inch square pan. Let stand until firm, then cut into squares. This recipe can be doubled.

English Toffee

My sister, Rose, in one of our many conversations about what we were cooking and why, shared with me her love of her son Tim and his allergy to some nuts. She made English toffee for him with almonds on top, so he could have Christmas candy without breaking out in hives. This recipe is the culmination of a search for the best toffee recipe. Almost no one makes toffee any more, and if you serve this to guests they have no idea what they’re eating. I think that’s a plus!

10 tablespoons butter (1 stick plus 2 tablespoons)
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons cold water
1 1 /2 cup sliced almonds, divided
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 dash salt
1 (6 ounce) bag milk chocolate chops (1cup)

Generously butter a cookie sheet.

Place butter, sugar and water into a heavy pan over medium heat. Bringing to a bubbling boil, stirring constantly with a wooden spatula, about 10 minutes. Remove spoon and cook to soft crack stage (275) or when mixture resembles the color of peanut butter and will create hard brittle threads when dropped into cold water. Remove from heat and add 1 cup nuts, vanilla, and salt. Stir well, then pour onto prepared cookie sheet and spread to 1/4 inch thickness. Cool slightly, sprinkle chocolate chips on top then spread chocolate as it melts. Sprinkle 1/2 cup sliced almonds on top of chocolate mixture, press the nuts down into chocolate mix. Cool completely in the refrigerator, then break into pieces. Store in an airtight container.

German Apple Pie

This apple pie is the pie of my dreams. It’s important to choose the freshest apples available with a firm texture and the sweet tart flavor that resembles pineapple. Unfortunately the best apples for this run about $3 a pound, but it’s worth it! If you’re going to the trouble to make it, do it with the best possible ingredients.

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup shortening
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 to 3 tablespoons ice water

FILLING:
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
6 cups thinly sliced peeled tart applies (1/4″) approximately 6 apples
1 cup heavy cream

Whipped cream optional to top.

In a small bowl, combine flour and salt; cut in the shortening until crumbly. Add vanilla. Gradually add water, tossing with a fork until dough forms a ball. Roll out pastry to fit a 9 inch pie plate. Transfer pastry to pie plate, trim to 1/2 inch beyond edge of pie plate. Pinch or flute edges to make a pretty edge.

For filling, combine the sugar, flour and the cinnamon. Sprinkle 3 tablespoons of this mix into the crust. Layer with half the apples, then sprinkle with half the remaining sugar mixture. Repeat layers. Pour cream over all.

Bake at 450 for ten minutes. Reduce heat to 350 and bake for 50-60 more minutes until apples are tender. Cool and store in the refrigerator. Top with whipped cream if desired. Delicious!

Sara Jeanne’s version of the alleged Grandmother Mitchell’s oatmeal cookies

Note: As Sara Jeanne says, this is an “adapted and modified” recipe and she and she alone is responsible for all the trash talk in this recipe

6 sticks of real salted butter (not that fake stuff)
3 cups of firmly packed organic brown sugar
1 1/2 cups granulated organic “kind of white but not real white ’cause it’s organic” sugar
6 brown organically raised range free eggs (the big ones of course)
1/4 cup of Mexican vanilla (it’s a lot but it’s worth it)
4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3 teaspoons of baking soda (not the container from the fridge)
5 teaspoons of cinnamon (a lot but it smells incredible)
2 teaspoons of nutmeg (subtle but sublime)
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt (We’re God’s people for God’s sake)
1 Huge 2 lb. 10 oz. container of Old Fashioned Quaker Oats (not the quick or the insant kind)
1 Big old box of raisins (you know, like 4 inches high) or Crasins are great
As many pecans as you can afford. 4-6 cups of pecans or walnuts (when you use craisins use walnuts for a cleaner, crisper, lighter flair with a sharp after-bite). Politically incorrect comment has been deleted because Sara Jeanne has decided she will not discuss politics any more.

Heat your oven to 400 degrees. Beat the butter and sugars in that huge Kitchenaid mixer until creamy. Add the eggs and vanilla, and mix.

In a separate bowl, mix flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt with a fork until you think it’s incorporated and then mix it some more for about 30 seconds. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the egg/sugar stuff and mix on low. Add raisins or craisins and mix well. Add the oats a little at a time. This is where it gets tricky. Just add enough to mix it in slowly. Stop when your mixing bowl is about to overflow and cause an electric over-load in the West Texas grid. Transfer the cookie mixture to a very large roasting pan and slowly by hand (with gloves or zip lock baggies on your hands) mix in the rest of the oats. Don’t wipe your nose at this point. Add the nuts and mix it together, packing it down and compressing the dough into a big tight mound. You want really stiff dough because the end result will be be a little tiny mound of a cookie that will make you slap your pappy. A flat cookie is your enemy, it lacks soul.

Take a soup spoon and dig enough dough to make a ball in the palm of your hand. Place on a cookie sheet, the heavier the better. I like the Pampered Chef baking stone and a big cast iron pan. That really bakes the bottom well. Bake for ONLY 13-15 minutes (no more!) and remove. They need to be a dark golden brown because the interior dough should be soft and done. Place on a piece of the El Paso Times or Denver City Press to cool. Don’t use the Houston Chronicle because they will instantly develop mold, completely fall apart, and weep without cause. While they are hot coax them back into a little mound. That makes them hold together when times get tough. Cool for about 30 minutes and then flip them over so that the bottoms can dry out a bit. Take a load off and sit down and cool off. You’ve been at it for about 4 hours. Pour yourself a big glass of milk or a glass of wine if you happen to be Mimi.

Things your Grandmother never told you

**Toast oats for 15 minutes on a cookie sheet in 350 degree oven for an enhanced cookie flavor.

**Bake the turkey or chicken breast down for juicier white meat.

**Drain cooked vegetables soon after cooking so they remain crisp, not soggy. Save water for soup stock.

**Add hot milk while mashing potatoes; cold milk makes them soggy.

**A bay leaf inside the flour canister will keep it dry and drive away bugs.

**Old potatoes won’t discolor if you add a slice of lemon to the water as you boil them.

**Toast nuts in a skillet for enhanced nutty flavor.

**Prebake piecrusts for custard pies to prevent a soggy crust.

**Brush unbaked piecrusts with egg to prevent soggy crust and present a shiny appearance.

** Out of mayonnaise? Make it yourself!! 1 whole egg to 1 cup of oil and 1 T lemon juice, process in blender or food processer or beat with electric mixer. You’ll never buy mayo again.

**Get an oven thermometer so you can make sure your baked goods are cooking at the proper temperature.

**If your pie crusts are browning too rapidly, place a sheet of aluminum foil over the pie to slow the browning process.

**Use ice cream scoops to ensure uniform size when scooping cookie dough to put on the baking sheets.

**When Martha Stewart says, “It’s Easy!” take it with a grain of salt.

**When making cookies to take to work/school, bake three times the number you need to take. The man of the house will need them.

**When in doubt about what to do with your Mother’s recipe, close your eyes and remember what she and it looked like when she made it. You’ll be amazed.

**When you don’t know what to talk about, talk about food. When you do know what to talk about, it’s usually food. When you plan, you plan your food. When you shop, you buy food. When you feel bad, you eat food. When you feel good, you buy lots of food. When you celebrate, you have parties with food. When Christmas comes, you eat lots of good food. When you lose weight, you think about food. When you don’t, you eat even more food. You can cut out a lot of things, but you can’t cut out food. Food is good.

**Keep your money pinned to your drawers. (words of wisdom from Festus)

**Do things that need to be did. (words of wisdom from Festus)

**When in doubt about what to cook, put some olive oil in a skillet and saute some onion. Something will come to you when you smell the onion cooking.

Chicken and buttermilk dumplings

I love the tang of buttermilk in these rolled dumplings. Since you use self-rising flour, they have some fluffiness to them without being too biscuit-like. Chicken and dumplings have been my favorite comfort food since I was a little kid. There are lots of recipes around to short cut the dumpling preparation but I don’t like any of them. Flour tortillas or canned biscuits don’t cut it as dumplings at the Barron house, we want made from scratch dumplings and a whole chicken cooked until tender. I like to follow Julia Child’s instructions when boiling a chicken–cover with water and bring to a boil. On top of the water will be the scummy stuff you don’t want in the broth, so you pour off all the first boil water, and start all over again with clean water. That way you don’t have to waste a lot of time skimming off the crud and your broth is clear and beautiful.

1 small chicken
Water for boiling the chicken, to cover
Salt to taste
3-4 celery sticks, diced
1/2 onion, diced
1 carrot, peeled and diced
2 cups self rising flour
3 – 4 Tablespoons butter shortening or butter
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 egg
white pepper
Kosher salt
parsley or dried chives

Slowly simmer chicken in soup pot, adding salt to taste. When tender, remove chicken from the broth and remove the meat, cutting into small pieces and returning to the broth.

Pour flour into bowl. Cut in shortening or butter with pastry cutter and stir in parsley or chives if desired. Make a hole in the middle of the flour mixture and add buttermilk with 1 egg gently beaten into it to form a doughy consistency (like biscuit dough). Sprinkle flour on cutting board. Roll dough into a thin sheet and cut into squares. Let rest for 10 minutes. Add celery, onion, and carrot to broth. Simmer on medium heat. Drop dumplings one square at a time into boiling broth. Add salt, white pepper and black pepper to taste and simmer until tender, uncovered and unstirred. If you stir this mixture, your dumplings will disintegrate.

Note: You can stew chicken breasts in chicken broth if you do not wish to cook a whole chicken but the chicken flavor will not be as intense and you won’t have the gelatin from the bones to thicken the broth.

Green Chile Chipotle Rice

While this is not really a Mexican influenced dish, I like to serve it with enchiladas. The green chile and peppers bring the heat and flavor of New Mexico to it, and I will probably continue to tinker with it. I think I’m going to try sprinkling some chili powder on top of the cheese next time, can’t wait to see what that does.

1 cup jasmine rice
2 cups chicken broth, unsalted
1/2 tsp salt (or to taste)

Cook rice in broth for 12-15 minutes. Remove from heat, fluff with a fork. Stir in:

1 cup reduced fat sour cream
1/2 cup roasted green chile
2 chopped chipotle peppers

Place in oven proof glass casserole dish (1.5 to 2 quart) Top with

1 -2 cups Fiesta grated cheese (Mexican blend)

Bake at 325 for 20 minutes or until top is golden brown.

Serve with enchiladas and beans, or any other main dish.

Mema’s Dublin potato salad

This potato salad is a welcome change from potato salads that have the consistency of mashed potatoes. The celery seed and mustard seed give welcome texture and the cabbage adds a flavor I love. In her later years when Jo Ann and I cooked the family dinners and Marguerite asked what she could bring, we often requested this dish because it can be made the day before and gets better with time.

2 Tablespoons vinegar
1 teaspoon celery seed
1 teaspoon mustard seed
3 potatoes, cubed and boiled
2 teaspoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups finely shredded cabbage
1/4 cups chopped pickle
1/4 cup onion
1 cup salad dressing
1/4 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon salt

Combine vinegar, celery seed and mustard seed and set aside.

While potatoes are warm, drizzle with vinegar mixture. Sprinkle with sugar and first 1/2 teaspoon salt. Chill. Before serving, add cabbage, pickle and onion. Combine dressing, milk and second 1/2 teaspoon salt. Pour over mixture and toss.

Hard cooked eggs are good to add.

Egg Salad

Another recipe from Darrell’s Mom. Marguerite used a lot of eggs in her cooking because they had chickens, so this recipe was an old standby for her. In case you haven’t noticed, today ordinary supermarket eggs don’t taste like the eggs from the farm (unless you buy organic or free range eggs). She also cooked scrambled eggs with onions for supper on the farm, wonderful waffles with the egg whites beaten stiff, and plain old fried eggs for supper (the evening meal was never called dinner on the farm). Even her brownie recipe has more eggs than any other recipe I’ve seen. Even with all those eggs, her boys and her husband did not have high cholesterol, contrary to the conventional wisdom of the 70′s and 80′s. She wanted to feed her boys good healthy food and was much more conscious than most people were at that time about raising their own food in order to ensure good nutrition for the family. This egg salad is not chunky, and may be put into the food processor to achieve the creamy texture that she obtained by using a meat grinder. My nutrutionist told me years later that eggs do not make you have high cholesterol, and that he ate eggs every day. He was 85 at the time.

8 hard boiled eggs
1/3 cup sweet pickle relish
4 Tablespoons mayonnaise
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/2 teaspoon salt

Chop eggs very fine. (Mema put them through a grinder). Combine all ingredients, chill. Serve on lettuce leaf or tomato slice. Makes wonderful little finger sandwich on crustless bread. Serves 4 – 5.