Baking for Two

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Since there is just the two of us--AppleJack and me--baking at our house is a challenge.  Most  recipes are written with six to eight servings in mind.  While the first serving is warm, tasty and delicious, the second serving is a nice left over, servings number three, four five and up and not so tasty and are either not eaten or left forever on the hips. 


While making an early morning run through the grocery store, I spied this magazine at the check out counter.  I am a sucker for magazines at the check out.  Those clever marketing people get me every time.  Last fall during the Southern Festival of Books, I listed to Bridget Lancaster who is part of America's Test Kitchen--she was warm and funny and delightful.


Yes, the magazine went into my shopping cart and I am enjoying reading each and every recipe and can't wait to smell some wonderful aromas coming from our kitchen.  Two servings--let me know what you think.  And. . . like with all the Test Kitchen magazines, they have some wonderful tips are improving your baking skills. 

A Side Dish for Easter--Pineapple Casserole

Easter is just around the corner, April 8.  Is everyone busy preparing their Easter menu?  Family get to gathers means the return of favorite foods and recipes which are often only prepared for special occasions.  For my family a favorite is Pineapple Casserole.  This casserole is simple, tasty and easy to prepare.  I made it the other day and AppleJack asked, "why don't you prepare this more often."

Pineapple Casserole

1 (20 oz) can crushed pineapple (drain and save juice)
3 tablespoons flour
1/2 cup sugar
3 tablespoons pineapple juice
1 cup grated cheddar cheese
1/2 cup crushed Ritz crackers
1/4 cup melted butter

Preheat over to 300 degrees
Mix pineapple, flour, sugar, pineapple juice and grated cheese together and put in 8 x 8 inch greased pan
Mix Ritz crackers and butter and sprinkle on top
Bake for 20 to 25 minutes.

Simple, easy and delicious.  I served this dish with a pork loin roast.  AppleJack says "it's the perfect combination of foods."

Grape Salad and the nearly empty dish

Being a member of a large family, being a member of a large church, and being lucky enough to have many stitching, quilting, hooking, and gardening friends, means I attend many pot luck dinners.  Pot luck dinners are great--great fun, lots of laughter and especially great food.  One of the things I have learned over the years is some of the best food I have eaten has been prepared by someone at a pot luck supper.  Another thing I have learned is to watch for nearly empty dishes.  Nearly empty dishes you say.  Yes, nearly empty dishes, because if the dish is almost empty it means someone has prepared a tasty, delicious recipe which eveyone has enjoyed.

A couple of years ago I was at a picnic and spotted "the nearly empty dish."  This is my clue to spoon some of the tasty remains onto my plate before it is all gone.  This time the nearly empty dish was Grape Salad!    WOWZERS!!!  EUREKA!!!  And slap my mama!  To say the grape salad was good does the recipe and Debbie, my friend who prepared the dish a huge injustice!  Grape Salad is a simple, super easy and delicious!

Grape Salad

2 pounds green grapes
2 pounds red grapes
4 ounces softened cream cheese
4 ounces sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup chopped pecans

Take grapes off the stem, wash, and place in a large bowl.
Mix cream cheese, sour cream, and vanilla in a small bowl
Stir in the grapes, coating thoroughly
In another small bowl, mix brown sugar, and pecans.
Sprinkle over the top of grapes.  DO NOT STIR IN.
Refrigerate overnight and keep refrigerated until ready to serve.

Hint:  When serving this dish, stand back and avoid the stampede!  Your lovely bowl of Grape Salad will soon be an empty dish.

Peanut Butter Fudge

Busy!  Everyone lives a busy life!  Am always on the lookout for tasty, easy recipes.  Mother makes this fudge and it is always a hit!  It is tasty, quick and only has four ingredients.


Peanut Butter Fudge

2 cups white granulated sugar
5 ounces of evaporated milk
1 cup of peanut butter
1 teaspoon vanilla

• sift sugar
• combine sugar and evaporated milk in a heavy sauce pan (I use my iron skillet)
• over low to medium heat,  cook sugar and evaporated milk mixture until soft ball stage (soft ball means a soft ball will form when dropped into cold water)
• when sugar and milk have reached soft ball stage, turn off the heat, add one cup of peanut butter and vanilla and mix well
• pour fudge into greased 8 x 8 pan
• cool and cut into one inches pieces

Tip from Mother--make fudge on a day with low humidity.  The fudge will be creamy.

Marinated Asparagus

Raise your hand if you do not like asparagus.  True confession--until a couple of years ago, I was in the category of "No thank you, no asparagus for me."  Visualize in your minds, Snoopy going "Bleah."  My Mother taught nutrition classes for several years and would sound out the health benefits of eating asparagus:

1,  can detoxify our system
2.  has anti aging functions
3.  considered an aphrodisiac
4.  protects against cancer
5.  reduces pain and inflammation
6.  prevents osteoporosis and osteoarthritis
7.  reduces risk of heart disease
8.  prevents birth defects
9.  solution for world peace

Not really about the world peace, but Mother would start singing the virtues of asparagus and she was convinced it was the answer to just about everything.  I became very clever in ways of moving asparagus around on my plate.  All this changed when our friend, Sandra invited us to dinner and she served marinated asparagus.  The recipe is very simple and is a great make ahead dish for all of us who have limited time.

Marinated Asparagus

one large can of asparagus
one half cup of sugar or Splenda
one half cup of vinegar
one half teaspoon salt
one teaspoon pepper
one half lemon, juiced
three teaspoons canola oil or olive oil

Mix everything but asparagus until sugar is dissolved.  pour marinate over asparagus and refrigerate overnight.

No more Betty Snoopy going "Bleah."

Peach Cobbler

 Can you believe AppleJack is not a fan of desserts?  Something just seems terribly wrong.  He isn't.  If given the choice between dessert or another serving of veggies,  he will choose the veggies. Except, when it comes to cobblers.  AppleJack is a huge fan of fruit cobblers.  His favorite is blackberry made with wild blackberries.  However, if they are unavailable, he will settle for tame blackberries.  Peach cobblers are a close second.  Not just any peach but a South Carolina peach.

I should consider myself fortunate, fruit cobblers are relatively simple to make.  Choosing to spend my time on stitching projects I look for cooking short cuts.  One of my cooking short cuts is using frozen biscuits for the dough portion of the cobbler.  The peaches are frozen South Carolina peaches.  Music City has a good Farmers Market and during the summer there are neighborhood food fairs, we make frequent visits to both.

Begin by rolling out the frozen biscuits--the thinner the better.  The dough will rise during cooking.

While rolling out the frozen biscuits, bring the peaches (unthawed) to a boil.  I add a teaspoon of vanilla to the peaches.

Line the bottom of the baking dish with one half of the frozen biscuit dough.  Spoon the peaches and juice over the top of the biscuit dough.  Note:  I do not add sugar as the sugar used to make the simple syrup is enough.

Grate nutmeg over the peaches.  Dot butter over the entire mixture.

Top with remaining biscuit dough.

Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.

Sometimes I serve this with frozen yogurt.

Stand out of the way!  AppleJack has been known to eat the entire cobbler by himself.  The man may not like desserts, but he can do some serious eating when it comes to fruit cobblers!

Never Fail Chocolate Pie

Mother bakes excellent pies!  Milk, eggs and butter were always plentiful on the farm.  Growing up during the depression years Mother grew up with the "waste not, want not" principle.  There must be hundreds of recipes for chocolate pie.  Mother calls her recipe for chocolate pie--Never Fail.

3 tablespoons flour
3 tablespoons cocoa
1 cup sugar
2 cups sweet milk
2 eggs
2 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon salt

Mix flour, salt, cocoa and sugar

Place 1 and 1/2 cup milk on medium heat in heavy pan or double boiler (I use my trusty, faithful iron skillet)

Add the other 1/2 cup of milk to the sifted dry ingredients

Cook until mixture begins to thicken

This next step is very important!  Add approx 1/4 cup of the thicken milk/sugar mixture to the egg yolks.  Very important to add hot mixture to the yolks to temper the egg yolks, else you will end up with yucky scrambled eggs and failed pie. 

Add the tempered egg yolks to milk/sugar mixture and cook until thicken (about two to three minutes).  Add butter and vanilla and mix well.

While this mixture is cooling, I make the meringue.

Bake at 350 degrees until meringue is golden brown.

Oh AppleJack, I'm ready for the taste tester guinea pig

"Let them eat pie"

Is there anything better than a good piece of pie?  AppleJack would say yes, "pie, with a good cup of coffee."   I have a friend who is on the quest to find the perfect piece of pie.  My Mother is a wonderful pie maker.  Anytime my extended family has a get together Mother is always asked to bake the pies.  Chocolate, lemon, coconut, chess, butterscotch, pumpkin, pecan or any other type pie, Mother excels.  Growing up on a farm, Mother always had fresh milk, eggs, and butter at her disposal.  These three ingredients seem to be universal in most pie recipes.   One of the secrets to a good pie is the crust.  As I have added "making a good pie" to my bucket list of things I want to accomplish, I have begun to bake more pies.  My pies are not as good as Mother's, but AppleJack says I am improving and making progress and he is always willing to be the taste tester guinea pig.

In 1989, Marcia Adams released a cookbook called Cooking from Quilt Country.  Marcia spent more than a year living, cooking and baking with Amish and Mennonites families.  PBS had a thirteen part cooking series featuring Marcia, the Amish and Mennonites and their recipes.  Below is one of the recipes from Cooking from Quilt Country--Hot Water Pie Crust.  Take it away Marcia.

When you mention a hot water pie crust, people look askance, for traditional pie crust recipes always emphasize cold ingredients and ice cold water,  And we are talking about boiling water here,  But this makes a tender, flaky crust.  At one stage, it looks like unappetizing putty, but don't worry about that,  I make huge amounts, cut it into wedges, and freeze it for nearly instant pies.  This is an old, old recipe.

Makes pastry for two 8-inch pies with top crusts or two 9 or 10 inch pies without top crusts

1 cup lard, very soft
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup boiling water
3 cups all-purpose flour

Place the lard and salt in a large bowl and beat a bit with a tablespoon until he lard is completely softened.  You can also do this with an electric hand beater.

Pour boiling water over the lard and blend again.  Let this mixture cool to room temperature, but stir often so water and lard won't separate.

Stir in the flour, and form the mixture into a ball.  If you use your hands do it quickly.

Chill for several hours or overnight, then let the cold dough sit out at room temperature for about thirty minutes before rolling out.

If you are preparing a shell to fill later or if your recipe requires a pre baked crust, pre heat the over to 425 degrees F.  Roll out a portion of the dough to 1/8 thickness.  Transfer the crust to a pie pan and pat it in snugly.  Form a decorative edging along the rim and trim off the edges.  Prick the surface of the pastry all over with a fork.  Bake for 15 minutes or until golden.

Stay tuned folks. . . tomorrow we will bake a Never Fail Chocolate pie.

Grandmother Rebecca's Banana Pudding

Bananas are a very controversial subject in our house.  If you want to engage in a lively discussion, just bring up bananas.  No one straddles the fence on the subject.  There are two decisive camps:  the banana lovers and the banana haters.   I'm in the camp of the banana lovers.  One of the reasons I love bananas is because of Grandmother Rebecca's banana pudding.

Here are the ingredients for Grandmother Rebecca's Banana Pudding:

2/3 cup sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 cup water
2 eggs, separated
1 1/2  milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
18 to 24 vanilla wafers
2 medium bananas

Combine the sugar, cornstarch and water in a heavy saucepan; mix well.  (Grandmother Rebecca used an iron skillet and I find this works well).

Beat egg yolks, add milk; mix well.  Gradually add milk mixture to cornstarch mixture.  Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until mixture comes to a boil.  Boil one minute, stirring constantly, until thickened.

Remove from heat and stir in vanilla.  Cool slightly  (I make the meringue while the mixture is cooling).

Begin with a layer of vanilla wafers then bananas and pudding.  Top with meringue and bake at 400 degrees for 8-10 minutes.

The good thing about having bananas being a controversial issue:  more banana pudding for me.

In memory of Grandmother Rebecca I stitched a mourning sampler.  I used a Barrick Sampler design called Mary's Wreath.  The mourning sampler is stitched on Birds of a Feather linen and was stitched with Needlepoint Inc silks.  This is one of my favorite pieces of needlework.  Grandmother Rebecca was a survivor and when I am feeling wimpy, I think about her life and pull on the big girl panties.

Pecan Crescent Cookies

AppleJack has two sisters.  The older sister is affectionately called Sis.  Sis is the epitome of Southern elegance and taste. Sis's home is beautifully decorated,  her flower garden is filled with interesting varieties and weed free, she entertains with style and grace and is an excellent cook.  Sis has baked thousands of cookies serving her children, grandchildren, neighbors, friends, and university students.  Each year at Christmas time, Sis spends hours preparing each persons favorite recipe.  Pecan Crescent Cookies is one of my favorites.

Pecan Crescent Cookies

1 cup butter softened
1/2 cup of sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup finely chopped pecans
confectioner's sugar

Preheat over to 325 degrees

In a large mixing bowl, cream butter, sugar and vanilla until light and fluffy.  Gradually add flour.  Stir in the pecans.

Shape rounded teaspoonfuls of dough into 2-1/2-inch logs and shape into a crescent.  Place one inch apart on ungreased baking sheets. Bake for 20-22 minutes or until set and the bottoms are slightly browned.

Let stand for two to three minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool.

Dust with confectioner's sugar before serving.