What? A Pajama Party? At Her Age?

Del goes to Cleveland Clinic for his yearly check-up each December and for the last few years, I have not been invited. I've figured out that my going would make the appointment have more importance than he is willing to give it, so Ive stopped arguing with him - about that. So, this year,instead of staying home by myself worrying, I decided to have a pajama party. Not a usual thing for a 66 year old to do, I suppose, but I knew it would take my mind off the event, which blessedly turned out to be what Del calls a waste of a world class surgeon's time. My second reason for throwing the pajama party was because the Carroll County Democratic Party party was set to happen here a couple of days later, and I have a severe decorating anxiety. Del and I had decorated the trees and put a wreath on the door, but it didn't look like a party. So, I asked 3 Democrats and 1 Independent to pack their toothbrushes and jammies and head out to work, I mean, party. Bless their hearts, the pajama party crew arrived with a load of various types of greenery and their talents and transformed the place. I had known that one of my friends is an interior designer, but was unaware that lawyer friend also studied design at one point. Woo hoo! The rest of us were willing workers. By midnight, we were pretty much worn out, but stopped working and continued to talk until about 1:30 when we all gave up and went to our rooms. Other than beds for everyone and adult beverages, things seemed pretty much as they did in the old days - gossip, boy talk, too much food, etc., but we did not break out the nail polish or orange juice can rollers. Speaking of food, our dessert was a big hit. One person threatened to lick her plate. I had made an adult version of Easy Chocolate Eclair Dessert. The recipe for the original version was posted on 3/9/12, and it is delicious for any occasion, but if you feel in the mood for a little kick in flavor, try this: Adults Only Easy Chocolate Eclair Dessert Follow recipe in 3/9/12 post with these exceptions: 1. Substitute 1/2 cup Baileys for 1/2 cup of the milk needed for making the pudding. 2. Stir 3 tablespoons of dark unsweetened cocoa powder into the canned frosting to cut down on the sweetness. 3. Be responsible. Do not serve without making sure guests are aware of the alcohol involved. Come morning, each person stumbled out looking tired and muttering something about coffee. For some reason, we ate our breakfast of baked apple oatmeal standing around in the kitchen instead of at the kitchen table. Maybe we didn't want to get that far from the coffee pot. By noon everyone was on the way home, and by 1:30, I was curled up on the sofa for a nap! I think I'll have another Cleveland Clinic pajama party next year. If someone else will have the Democratic Party party, we won't even have to work!

Boiled Peanuts. Acute Colic and Family Notions

I was brought up on a farm in Southside Virginia where peanuts were an important crop. When I was a child, the peanuts, which are not a nut and which grow under ground, were harvested and then piled up around a tall, sturdy stick to dry in the sun. A city friend of mine, meaning she was from 5,000 person Emporia, thought the peanut shocks were peanut trees. I've tried to find out why the stacks were called "shocks", but have come up empty. This may mean I haven't looked hard enough or that I remember the word incorrectly. Much later on, the family farmers began to use large dryers instead, and I remember how loud the fans sounded. The peanuts were sold, of course, but some were always kept back so that the families had some to cook from time to time.

Mother did what she called "parching" the peanuts. This usually meant roasting them in their shells, but occasionally we would shell them first. I remember that they needed to be stirred quite frequently and checked for doneness. This was particularly true when they had been shelled because they cooked much more quickly, and a scorched peanut tastes nasty and smells p the house. My bedroom opened right into the kitchen, so cooking smells were important to me.

Some people rubbed off the skins and cooked the peanuts in oil, but if I remember correctly, Mother rarely did that. She did make peanut brittle at Christmas time. SIL Pat and Del loved to get a box of it. Bubba and I were less trouble. He liked chocolate covered cherries, and I liked "silver tops" (Hershey's kisses).

Having grown up in Georgia, Del's folks loved boiled peanuts, but had a difficult time getting Virginia farmers to sell them freshly harvested "green" peanuts. At that time, we Virginians were of the opinion that green peanuts would make you sick. My uncle Big Bubba believed they would give you the Acute colic and you would surely die. Acute was pronounced with a long /A/, the emphasis was on the first syllable, and it was always proceeded by the word "the". Somehow that sounded much more serious to us kids than if it had been pronounced as it was intended to be. Big Bubba also thought that eating watermelon and drinking co-cola would result in the acute colic and sure death. Big Bubba was not always right, but he was certainly confident in his opinions. He was the oldest of the Robinson siblings, after all.

The first time Del came to the farm during peanut harvest, he asked if he could buy some of the freshly harvested peanuts. This presented a problem. On the one hand, they didn't want to offend a potential prospect. The Robinson women of the previous generation were both old maids, after all. On the other hand, they didn't want to kill him off, and it was well known that green peanuts would, well, you know... What to do? What to do? He assured Mother and Daddy and my uncle garland that his family had eaten boiled green peanuts forever without a bit of trouble, so in the end, he was given a mess of peanuts to take to his parents, but not before yet another warning that they would get the Acute colic and surely die.
The first time I ate Mrs. Williams' boiled peanuts, I was surprised at how good they tasted - very much like black eyed peas. What's not to like? The Williams would assure you that my assessment is just wrong, of course. I learned to make them according to her method, so, once again, it's more a process than a recipe.

Now a days I have seen boiled peanuts for sale in service stations in Virginia, so I guess that as we began to travel more, brave Virginians decided that if they didn't kill everybody else, they wouldn't kill us either.

A man in Huntsville, Alabama used to sell them by the "dip" from an iron pot by the side of the road, and Del swears they were great, but I could not make myself eat anything that came out of that nasty looking slimy water. One of Del's great pleasures was to take northern visiters to the University out to a really nice lunch and then drive them by for a dip of boiled peanuts. I don't know that he ever converted anyone, but he never failed to amuse himself.

Boiled peanuts:

2 lb. GREEN peanuts - dried or roasted will not do, so don't even try

1 3/4 - 2 cups salt

water to cover peanuts by 2 at least 2 inches.

Dissolve 1 3/4 cups salt in a couple of gallons of water. Add peanuts and add more water as needed to have them covered by at least 2 inches. Mrs. Williams always put a heat safe plate on top to keep the peanuts from floating to top of water. Cover pot turn heat to high until the water boils. Reduce the heat so the water simmers. Stir every 20 minutes or so and be sure to add more water to keep level 2 inches above the peanuts. Be sure to bring water back to boil each time you add water and then reduce to simmer.

After about 4 hours, check one of the peanuts to see if it is beginning to taste salty. If not, add the remaining 1/4 cup salt. Cook for 2 more hours and check for desired texture. Ms. Williams cooked them until they were quite tender, so it could take as much as 7-8 hours. She would taste for salt, and if they weren't salty enough, she would leave them in the liquid in the refrigerator over night. Then she would drain them and store them tightly covered in the refrigerator for 3-4 days. She often put some in zip lock bags and froze them for later. I'm guessing she always cooked a large batch because it took so long to cook them.

You can eat the peanuts hot or cold, and they are kind of messy. The proper way of eating seems to be to open the peanut, slurp up the nuts and the liquid in the shell, chew and swallow.

Note: Treat the green peanuts as you would other fresh vegetables. Refrigerate as soon as you get home and refrigerate cooked peanuts for 3-4 days, or freeze. I suppose you could freeze raw green peanuts in the shell, but I don't really know.

Baked Tomatoes

Our meals at home were often heavy on the vegetables with small amounts of meat. One such meal that I particularly remember was pretty much always the same - baked tomatoes, black eyed or sugar crowder peas and collard greens with slices of home cured bacon and biscuits. We frequently had either peas or greens without the tomatoes, but never the reverse.

So far as I know, mother made these by eye rather than by recipe, so like so many things, it's more a process than a recipe.

Baked Tomatoes as Mother made them

1 quart home canned tomatoes with liquid
1/2 cup sugar or more if tomatoes seem quite acid
3-4 left over biscuits or slices of cold toast
salt and pepper
1/4-1/2 cup water as needed
1 T butter

Pour tomatoes into greased or sprayed casserole dish. Slice or quarter them. Stir in sugar and taste to be sure they are somewhat sweet but not dessert sweet. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Rough chop or tear bread into chunks and stir into tomato mixture. Be gentle so that neither the bread nor the tomatoes fall apart. It should be somewhat soupy. Add 1/4 to 1/2 cup water if needed. Dot the butter over surface of casserole.

Bake at 425 degrees for about 30 minutes or until the casserole is bubbly and bread has absorbed some but not all the liquid. You want the tomatoes to be juicy/syrupy. Add more water if needed.

Note: If I were making these, I would need to use store bought canned tomatoes. I would use half the juice from the can and half water, unless the tomatoes were packed in really thin juice.

Okra - Poor Maligned Veggie.

Will everyone who considers okra inedible please say "aye"? Now, how many of you have actually tried it? Ha! I thought so. Many of you have just been put off by by what you've heard - mushy, stringy, slimy. I have even heard an indelicate person use a slang word for that which is produced by a runny nose.

Del and I grew up eating okra. Mother either fried it or made it with tomatoes. She also made okra pickles with dill. By the time I came into the family, Mrs. Williams put it in soup or stewed it. She usually put whole pods on top of her butter beans, but she always took them out and served them in a separate dish because Mr. Williams didn't like the way okra made the beans taste. Or he did if he knew they had been cooked together. Just one of the little secrets cooks keep from their families.

Both our families grew okra and used it fresh. I buy it frozen, and usually keep both the sliced, but unbreaded, and the whole pods in the freezer. When David, Tracy and Rosa come, I usually fry it, but I also use it in soup and stew whole pods or cook them on butter beans.

Here are the ways I learned to cook okra. If you try them and still aren't converted, you might want to grow a few plants anyway, because dried okra pods are beautiful in arrangements. When picking fresh okra, you might want to wear long sleeves and gardening gloves, because it is an itchy plant.

Fried Okra (Serves 6)

1 lb. frozen sliced okra
1/2 cup white stone ground corn meal
1/2 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. black pepper
healthy shake of ground red pepper
Oil to barely cover bottom of iron frying pan or other pan large enough to to hold okra in a single layer (You know your frying pans. Some may require more oil than mine do,)

Remove okra from freezer to refrigerator to partially thaw. When ready to cook, put into paper bag with meal and seasonings. Shake, shake, shake.

Put enough oil into frying pan to cover bottom of pan. It will be shiny but not of any depth. Turn onto medium high heat. Check temperature by putting a tiny pinch of meal into pan. If it sizzles, shake bag again and pour everything into the pan. Spread okra into single layer, if possible. Cook on medium heat, turning as it begins to brown. Much of the meal will fall off the okra, but that is to be expected. Continue to cook, turning frequently, until the meal is brown. You may need to turn the heat down if it browns too quickly. You want the okra to be tender and the meal brown, not burned. Taste from time to time to check texture.

Note: This will not look at all like the okra you get in Cracker Barrel and such, but the green taste of the okra comes through and it is not greasy.

Boiled Okra

Fresh or frozen okra pods, partially thawed, if frozen

Salted and peppered water to barely cover


Depending upon size of okra pods, allow 3-4 per person. Simmer, covered, for 5 -10 minutes. The okra is done when the tip of a paring knife pierces it easily. Start testing for doneness after 5 minutes. You want it to be tender but not cooked to death. Do not let it come to a full boilor cook it too long, and do be sure to gently turn it instead of stirring because the pods will break and the result will be slimy and mushy. I'm okay with that, but I expect that for the uninitiated, it would be rather like eating a raw oyster, without risking Hep whichever letter. Because of my work and our travels, I've had my shots, but here are not enough shots in the world to persuade me to eat one of those, so I can't say for sure. Apply some kind of heat, however, and it's a whole other story. But I digress.

Note: You can also lay the pods on top of your fresh/frozen butter beans (baby limas), but be sure to check often because they will cook much quicker than the beans. To be fair to Mr. Williams, the flavor of the beans will be slightly changed.


Stewed okra

Mother didn't write down a recipe for stewed okra, so this is a method based on my memory of what she did, substituting store bought/short cut ingredients.

1 can stewed tomatoes
1 cup frozen sliced okra
1/4 cup frozen corn (my addition)
salt and pepper
hot sauce

Combine tomatoes and okra and simmer for 3-5 minutes. Check after 3 minutes for tender/crisp texture. Add corn and simmer for 2 minutes. Add salt to taste and a good bit of black pepper. You can also add some garlic powder and onion powder if you like. Add a couple of big shakes of hot sauce or allow each person to add it at the table.

Okra in Soup

Add either okra slices or pods to soup during the last 10 minutes of cooking. I prefer slices because they are more forgiving of over cooking and freeze well if you make a big batch of soup.

Dilled okra

I haven't made pickles or canned anything else since I used to help Mother, so I don't know the modern rules for safety, and would hesitate to tell anyone how to proceed, except to the grocery store. Up Nawth, you may have to go to a fancy store, but I used to buy them in Ohio without difficulty.

Tuna Casserole - Easy Enough for Children of All Ages

I don't know if the part of the brain that understands math also is in charge of the sense of direction, but I am sadly lacking in both areas, so
when I was in high school, I took just enough math to be accepted into Westhampton and immediately stopped taking it so my grade point average would be high enough for me to be accepted. Two years of Algebra and one year of Plane Geometry. Plane Geometry made sense to me for reasons I don’t understand, but only the extra tutoring Mr. Cashwell gave struggling students on Tuesday afternoons got me through Algebra 2. Because I did well in most of my other classes, my plan worked.

When I quit taking math, I had time in my schedule to take something else, so I took Home Ec from Mrs. Polly Slate. Three recipes from that class are still in my recipe box – tuna casserole, pork chop casserole and kolachky. The tuna casserole definitely belongs in the easy enough for children to make category, but I’ll post the others down the road.

Tuna casseroles of various kinds were standard fare for the inexperienced and short of cash cook back in our early years, but because of the mercury and other bad stuff in the water, we are now advised to limit use of it and some other big fish, so you might want to Google for health recommendations.

I was amused when looking at this recipe to see that it called for a nickel bag of potato chips. That was back in the days when a nickel was still a nickel and occasionally had a buffalo on it.

Recipe

1 large can water packed light tuna
1 can cream of mushroom soup
¼ cup sour cream
Small can baby peas, drained (or frozen baby peas, thawed)
Pepper
Single serving regular potato chips

Mix everything except chips and pour into sprayed casserole dish. Open the bag of chips enough so it won’t pop and squeeze it to make crumbs. Sprinkle chips evenly over casserole. Bake at 350 degrees until bubbly and brown around the edges, about 20 minutes. The low fat versions of everything work just fine. You could substitute buttery cracker crumbs for the chips, but I think the potato chips are better.

Note

If you like, you could add ¼ cup milk and a cup of leftover rice or noodles and substitute leftover corn for peas.

Pimiento Cheese

My father in law, Eugene Williams, loved pimiento cheese, but Mrs. Williams never made it. She frequently bought the already made kind at the commissary, but that was made with wimpy cheese and could not put a patch on Mother’s homemade. Mother used what Daddy called rat trap cheese. It was cut off a big wheel at Bradley’s store and was as sharp as any cheese I have had since.

The first year(s) Del and I were married the budget was tight, so when Mr. Williams’ birthday came around, I made a big batch of pimiento cheese, put a bow on the container and called it a present. He was so taken with it that he had me show him how to make it and made it every week of his life from then until he became too feeble. It is called Daddy’s pimiento cheese out in Colorado because he used to make it out there when he went to visit daughter Dianne. So far as I remember it was just about the only thing he cooked.
Del likes toasted pimiento cheese sandwiches. I prefer to spread it on Premium saltine crackers, but the cheese has to be on the unsalted side so the salty side touches my tongue when I eat it. That’s just one of my little food peculiarities, but I’m sure you’ll be won over if you try it. It’s also good stuffed into celery sticks

Recipe:

10 oz. cheddar, extra sharp is my choice, but use your favorite strength
4 oz. jar of diced or chopped pimientos
6 T mayonnaise, light’s fine
½ tsp. yellow mustard

Grate the cheese by hand or in food processor. You can use the kind that comes shredded, but it doesn’t mush together with the other ingredients as well. Drain the pimientos and add them, the mayonnaise and the mustard to the cheese. Mix well and refrigerate. It keeps several days

Chicken Muddle

When we were in Lithuania, I read a post on FB about the upcoming sale of chicken muddle that took me back. When I was growing up in Greensville County, it seemed that every organization sold muddle to raise money for this or that. Girl Scout Troup 23 sold enough muddle, Claxton fruit cakes and GS cookies to be able to ride the train to Savanah, Ga. to visit Juliette Gordon Low's birthplace. I never cared much for fruit cake, but I still love muddle.

When I was growing up, every community had a couple of men who made muddle for groups to sell, and there was some disagreement as to who made the very best. Others just made muddle for friends and family. Our family made muddle every year in a big black iron pot. The women cooked the hens, took the meat off the bones and got the vegetables together, and the men minded the fire and stirred the pot constantly for hours until it was done. Daddy had whittled out a stirring paddle that looked very much like a boat paddle. Keeping the fire hot enough to cook, but not too hot and stirring the muddle from the bottom of the pot so that it would not scorch
was a big responsibility. Scorched muddle could ruin your reputation as a muddle maker. It was also hot work, so in Southern Baptist families, the iced tea flowed. At our house you had to sweeten the tea yourself if you wanted it sweetened, because we were not of the sweet tea persuasion.

If you are not familiar with muddle, it is basically a thick stew made with chicken, side meat or bacon, potatoes, onions, butter beans (baby limas), corn, tomatoes and LOTS of red and black pepper, cooked so long that the individual ingredients virtually disappear. Various muddle makers might have slight variations - some add sugar or cracker meal for thickening at the end, but we didn't.

Other counties have a somewhat similar dish called Brunswick stew, and there is a good bit of arguing back and forth about which Brunswick County is the county of origin. Brunswick stew looks like a thick soup with individual ingredients in it and must be eaten with a spoon. Chicken muddle is so thick you can eat it with a fork and is a far superior dish. Just ask any Greensville Countian.

Daddy hunted, so we made squirrel muddle sometimes. I don't recall that it tasted any different, but I did hate it when a piece of shot was missed when cleaning the squirrel and I bit down on it. Squirrel was for home use only, of course.

The last muddle Daddy made was just before Del went to Vietnam. There was a big crowd, including Del's family, out in the front yard, and people were always in the kitchen getting the rest of the dinner together and passing through to the bathroom or to get more tea, etc. At one point, I put David, who was several months old down for a nap on a pallet (quilt or blanket)on the floor in my old bedroom. It opened into the kitchen, so there was always someone to check on him. My brother stuck his head in and didn't see David, so he asked the ladies in the kitchen about him. They said they hadn't seen anyone take him, but Bubba went out to see if someone had taken him out to the yard. No one had him or had seen him, so we ran into the house to look again. When I got to the room, I heard little noises coming from under the bed. David had squnched himself under the bed and was still fast asleep, hidden by the dust ruffle/bed skirt. Not the last time that child scared a year off my life, I'm here to tell you.

I have Woodrow Pollard's muddle recipe, given to me by his wife Daisy. I had to cut it down considerably, but make a pretty good muddle inside, on the stove. As soon as we begin to feel fall in the air, Del begins to ask when I am going to make muddle. It freezes well, so I put it up in quarts for later use.

Recipe

Woodrow's Proportions

3 hens
5 lbs. potatoes
3 lb. onions
3 qt. butter beans
3 quarts corn
2 lb. bacon
4qt.tomatoes

My Adjusted Proportions

1 hen
1 2/3 lb. potatoes, chopped
1 lb. onions, chopped
1 qt. butter beans (baby limas)
1 qt. corn
1/2 lb. bacon, chopped (I use less)
1 1/3 quarts canned tomatoes, chopped
water/canned chicken broth to cover chicken
salt
red pepper
black pepper

Woodrow's original recipe, as given to me, only listed the ingredients. My guess is that he assumed that anyone who asked for the recipe wouldn't need directions. Anyhow, here's what I do.

Get out your largest soup pot.

Put chopped bacon into pot and fry until crisp. Add hen, cover with water, broth or a combination of both. Put top on pot and stew until chicken is done. Remove chicken from pot and let cool a few minutes until safe to remove skin and pick meat from bones. Put shredded chicken meat back into the pot and add onions, potatoes, frozen butterbeans and salt and peppers. You are making a big pot of stew, so I would start with a T salt and 1/2 T of combined peppers. You may decide to add more when the muddle is finished.

Simmer, uncovered, until the vegetables are done. Use potato masher to mash some of the potatoes, leaving some still in chunks.

Add tomatoes with juice and continue to cook on low until muddle is thick and takes on the traditional orangish red muddle color. If the muddle continues to seem pale, add additional tomatoes.

When the muddle is quite thick, add corn and continue to cook until the spoon will stand up in the pot. Taste for salt and pepper.

This is really good with cornbread or tortilla chips if you get in a pinch for time.

NOte 1: I usually cook the chicken the day before and refrigerate. This gives me the chance to remove the congealed fat.

Note 2: My biggest pot is usually not big enough, so when it starts to get full, I pull out my next largest pot, divide the stew between them and add half of the remaining ingredients to each pot. If there still isn't enough room, I pull out my third largest pot and put equal amounts of stew from the first two pots into it. I keep tasting and combining until all the pots taste the same.

Note 3: This is pretty much an all day, okay, half day, process, and you need to stay near the stove to stir the stew frequently. Be sure to stir from the very bottom and sides of the pot so it will not scorch. I usually plan to clean out the refrigerator and the kitchen cupboards on muddle day so I will be in the kitchen.

Note 3: When the muddle is done, place pots into sinks and surround with ice. Stir stew frequently and add ice as needed. When the muddle is cool enough to handle safely, put into containers and return to ice bath. When sufficiently cool, place in refrigerator overnight and then freeze.

This may sound a lot like work, but it is worth it. There is a lot of trial and error in the seasoning, just be sure to add small amounts of salt and peppers at a time. As all our mothers said, "You can put it in, but you can't take it out."