Apple Breakfast Cake

I was given this mix with a spoon recipe when we lived in Lexington, Virginia. We lived there from the time David was just about 4 until 7, and he loved the cake so much that he requested it for his birthday a couple of years. I’m sorry I don’t remember where the recipe came from.

Lexington is where David and another little boy had their first run in with school authorities. Both families had moved to Lexington after the school year started, and we were told the older preschool class was full. They put the boys in with the younger kids where there were spaces. About 3 weeks into the year, both families were asked to come in for conferences. The teacher asked if David seemed unhappy . He seemed quite happy to us, but it seems that during playtime, he and his buddy would begin to talk about how they wanted to go home and wanted their mamas. Whereupon, the little kids would start to cry and go to the teacher for comfort while the little juvenile delinquents had no competition for the good toys. The teacher said they didn’t do anything she could punish them for, but they were causing trouble. We had stern talks with our boys every day before school, but it is amazing how fast spots opened up for them in the age appropriate class. Once there, the peers kept them straight.

Recipe

Mix together with wooden spoon:

2 eggs
2 cups sugar
1 ¼ cup oil
3 large apples, peeled and chopped
3 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1 heaping T. cinnamon
1 T. pure vanilla extract

Spread batter into 9” x 13 “ pan. Add crumb topping. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 – 40 minutes. A knife will come out clean.

It is really good slightly warm, but continues to be moist the next day.

Crumb topping

Mix together in batter bowl to save on dishes:

¼ cup flour
¼ cup brown sugar
2 T cinnamon

Note: I have found that the cake works just fine if you use only 1 cup oil. I’ve also tried taking out a ¼ cup of sugar while reducing the oil to ¾ cup, but it was sort of dry.

If you prefer, you can cut down a bit on the cinnamon, but we like it this way.

Pecan Tassies

Pecan tassies are miniature pecan pies baked in muffin tins that are in the neighborhood of an inch across, give or take. They were pretty much guaranteed to be served at weddings, showers, teas and other dress up functions in Jarratt, and in Emporia, I think, when I was growing up.

This would probably be as good a time as any to explain the geography of our growing up. We lived on the farm five miles from Emporia, a city of 5,000 and five miles from Jarratt, a smaller town. (The word city is important, because it was a big deal when that status was achieved. I’m not sure why.} We went to school in Emporia, and to church in Jarratt, and Daddy worked in Jarratt at Johns Manville. When mother worked while Bubba was in college and again after I was in high school, she worked in Emporia, and I started working there when I was fifteen, first in Rose’s dime store and later in Gene’s and whatever it turned into. I mentioned in an earlier post that we got married on Sunday so the ladies I had worked with could come to the wedding.

This bi-community living made for some confusion the first year we had Daylight Saving Time. Virginia allowed local option, and Emporia did and Jarratt didn’t. The clock was set for Emporia time and it was a mess. After Daddy got to work and we to church at the wrong time a couple of times, we went to the two clock system.

When I was in first grade, I was terribly worried that the people in Emporia would think I didn’t go to church and the people in Jarratt would think I didn’t go to school. If I recall correctly, I was much more worried about the church part than the school part. To be expected of a properly brought up Southern Baptist child, I expect.

Apparently that sort of worrying runs in the family. We’re keeping Moonpie this weekend while Rosa and parents go to Disney to the science class they have there. When we were making plans on the phone last night, David said they had decided not to surprise her because they were afraid she would think there was a family emergency if they took her out of school early without warning. I heard a voice in the background say “I tend to over think things.” I wish I could tell her she would get over it with age, but her Mema hasn’t yet, and I have a Medicare card. Mother used to say that if I didn't have something to worry about, I'd worry about that.

Back to the pecan tassies. They require a special pan, one for mini muffins about an inch across. When we were first married, I bought one pan and used it and washed it and used it and washed it until I had baked enough to serve. Then every Christmas, I bought another pan until I had enough to feed a small army without stopping to wash in between. It certainly made things easier and quicker, but it can be done with just one pan.


Recipe

Pastry

3 oz. block cream cheese (lower fat works, but not fat free)
½ cup margarine or butter
1 cup flour

Mix together with mixer or by hand. Form into a log, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for an hour. Divide into 24 balls. Spray pans with vegetable spray. Press balls into and up the sides of tiny muffin tins, about an inch across.

Filling

2 eggs
1 cup light brown sugar
2 T melted butter or margarine
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
Pinch salt
1 cup pecans

Beat eggs slightly, add all other ingredients and mix well. Put into uncooked shells, leaving a small rim of crust showing.
Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes until crusts are brown and filling is set but not hard. Use blade of knife to help remove tassies while they are still warm. If left to cool completely, they may stick.
These freeze well.

Note: When I’m feeling lazy, and don’t plan to freeze the tassies, I let Publix or some other nice company do it. Roll out one of their pie crust circles until a bit thinner and cut out circles big enough to reach up the sides of your muffin cup. I use a juice glass that is just the right fit, but it took a couple of tries to find the right size. Gather the scraps, reroll and keep cutting.

Overdale Relay Stuffed Blueberry French Toast

My fellow staff members at Overdale Primary School in Tallmadge, Ohio were enthusiastic supporters of Relay for Life. Quite a few of them spent the night at the event, but sleeping outside in a sleeping bag or on a beach lounge chair just did not appeal to this delicate flower. I was quite glad to get up at 4:30 to make breakfast and take it to the brave souls who did spend the night, however, and take my turn walking laps while they got cleaned up a bit and ate. One of the dishes they liked best was this French toast casserole.

One of my fondest Relay for life memories involved a then first grader who is a survivor of leukemia. She was asked to take part in the opening ceremony and was quite excited. It was a rainy week and every day she talked about the ceremony and worried that it might rain that day. She told me that she prayed every night that Jesus would make it "sun", and she knew He would because she knew Jesus would want it to "sun". She asked me several times if I thought Jesus would want it to "sun". On that Friday it rained pretty hard in the morning but was only sprinkling in the afternoon. Just as the little sweetie was to say her part, it stopped raining and a beautiful rainbow appeared. I guess she was right. Jesus must have wanted it to "sun". I have never heard anyone else use sun as a verb, but it makes sense. We use the word rain that way, after all.

Overdale closed this year, and most of the staff members moved with the students to Dunbar. I'm sure they have been warmly welcomed, but it had to be difficult to pack up all their things and leave the "home" they had made over the years at Overdale.

I understand from friends that they are as active in support of Relay for Life at Dunbar as they were when I had the privilege of working with them at Overdale. They just aren’t the Otters anymore.

Recipe

1 loaf white or whole wheat bread, crust removed and cut into cubes
½ loaf French bread, white or whole grain (Not a baguette)
6 cups frozen blueberries, thawed and drained
8 oz. cream cheese
½ cup sour cream
1 tsp. vanilla
8 eggs
3 cups milk
½ tsp. cinnamon
½ cup powdered sugar

Spray 9”x13” pan with vegetable spray and place cubed bread on bottom. Sprinkle with berries. Microwave cream cheese in bowl for 2 minutes. Stir in sugar, sour cream and vanilla. Spread over berries.
Cut French bread into 10 slices, ½ inch thick. Place on top of cream cheese mixture. Beat together eggs, milk and cinnamon. Pour over the bread. Gently push the bread down into liquid with a wooden spoon. Cover with foil and refrigerate overnight.

Bake, covered, at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. Uncover and bake 15 minutes. Let rest for 5 mnutes or so before serving with warm maple syrup or blueberry syrup. Serves 10

Note: I have substituted heated low sugar jam for fruit syrup. It works great. I have also substituted blackberries or combined blueberries and blackberries.

Careless Blogger Alert!

I just realized that the oatmeal cookie recipe posted earlier has an error. I have fixed it so everything is now okay. Appparently I can't read my own scribbling.

I am so sorry! Whenever you see anything that doesn't look right, please let me know. I would be so grateful

Why Mema Plus Mother's Meatloaf

The story of how Mother became Mema has absolutely nothing to do with her meatloaf recipe, but digressing is one of my talents/weaknesses.

When nephew Monte was a young toddler, his granddaddy Ashby had a stroke and was quite ill for a long time. He and Mrs. Ashby lived on the Eastern Shore before the bridge-tunnel was built and getting to them on the ferry took so long. Pat needed to be with them during this difficult time, so Monte shifted between our house, his house and the Eastern Shore quite a bit during that time.

Unfortunately, it did not occur to us that my calling Mother Mama would carry over to Monte, but it did. We tried changing to Grandma, and every other name we could think of, and Mema was the one that worked. Since both Monte and later Melissa said Mema, it was only natural that David would when he came along. Monte and Melissa called Pat's mother Mama Duck, and David called Mrs. Williams Grandmother. When he was just starting to talk, he called Mr. Williams Man. It embarrassed Mr. Williams to have this little kid yelling "Man" across the church yard. We could not figure out why David had picked this name until he got old enough to say longer words and changed to saying "Man Daddy." (Granddaddy) Now if we could just figure out why the baby Rosa called Del Bepo. I thought it was so cute, but it disappeared one day to be replaced by Granddaddy. Tracy's dad is Grandpa.

I became Mema because the first time David put her in my arms he said ”Here’s your Mema.” I have to confess that I almost turned around to look behind me, even though Mother had died when David was in college. I felt quite honored that I would be called Mema, but I knew that no matter how hard I tried there would be no way that I'd be the Mema she was. What a lady!

Back to meatloaf.

I love meatloaf, and I love cold meatloaf sandwiches. I don’t know that Mother ever had a formal recipe for her meatloaf, but this is my adaptation of what she taught me to do. Many people use ketchup or barbecue sauce in their meatloaf, but Mother always used home canned tomatoes. As mentioned in the scalloped potato post, she almost always served scalloped potatoes and string beans with her meatloaf.

Recipe

2 lb. ground beef or turkey
1 medium onion, finely chopped or equivalent of onion powder
1/4 medium green pepper, chopped
¾ cup raw oatmeal
½ tsp. salt
¼ tsp. black pepper
Dash red pepper
2 lightly beaten eggs or equivalent of substitute
28 oz. can diced tomatoes, divided

Scoop half the tomatoes from the can with a slotted spoon and mix with other ingredients. Shape into a loaf and place in sprayed baking dish.
Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Pour remaining tomatoes over meatloaf and cook another 30-45 minutes or so, checking for doneness after 30 minutes. Remove from oven, place on platter and allow to rest while you make the gravy.

Spoon off all but 2 T of drippings into a small bowl, and add 2 T of flour to the pan. Place on eye of stove and brown the flour, being sure to scrub up the bits at the bottom of the pan.

Remove as much fat from the drippings as possible and add beef broth to make a cup. Pour into the pan and stir until thick.

This makes at least 8 servings. For Del and me, I shape two loaves and freeze one raw for later. If I do that, I put half the remaining tomatoes into a freezer bag and wrap it up with the second loaf. Half the mixture leaves us plenty for sandwiches. I imagine you could cook both loaves and freeze one and half the gravy, but I have not actually tried that.

In case you would prefer to make the meatloaf exactly as Mother did, here’s how our recipes differ:

She did not put any tomatoes in the mixture itself. She just poured all of them over and around the loaf.

She did not make gravy. She served the meatloaf from the baking dish and we just scooped the tomatoes from the pan if we wanted to and put them over our meatloaf.

Mema's Special Spaghetti Sauce (Mema 2)

I don’t remember that Mother made spaghetti sauce, but Dolly, our aunt by her marriage to Mother’s Brother Mel, made it quite frequently and shared it with us. I remember that when the weather was cold enough that it would not spoil, she used to put a jar of sauce in Mother’s car which was parked behind Leggett’s department store. That was in the day when no one much bothered to lock either cars or houses in Emporia or Jarratt.

Mel and Dolly had lived all over because Mel had a career in the Army. He fought in World War 2 and had what they called a battlefield commission. I remember that Mel wore his dress whites to Bubba and Pat’s wedding and Dolly looked so elegant. She always wore her black hair up, in a bun or on fancy occasions in a more elaborate twist or curls. As she aged, she first developed a white streak and then it all turned silver . I remember that she always wore “Youth Dew” perfume by Estee Lauder. The young country/small town girl thought Dolly knew everything there was to know about the proper way to “do things." She probably did, after all those years of Army functions. Even in my day as an Army wife, they gave us a little book of social rules and regulations. How else would I have known that the wife of the ranking officer would be asked to pour the first few cups of tea at any ladies'event and the wife of the second ranking officer the first cups of coffee. Unless I've gotten it backwards, of course. It hasn't come up in our post army life, thank goodness.

They moved to Emporia after Mel retired, and we so enjoyed having them nearby. They were so good to Bubba and Pat and me. I remember that Dolly came out to see me get dressed for proms, and she was Mistress of Ceremonies at our wedding. They also gave the after rehearsal party, and Mel drove Daddy and me to the church and Del and me to the reception and back out to the house in his big new car.

Both Mel and Dolly are gone now, but it makes me happy to know that my cousin Barry and his wife Suzanne are now living in the house where he spent his high school years.

Back to spaghetti sauce. I used to make a pretty respectable sauce from scratch, but that got to be too much like work after I discovered MIDS sauce. It’s the only jar sauce I have ever really liked. It is made in Northeast Ohio and only recently found its way down to Georgia so I can make what Rosa calls Mema’s Special Sauce without dragging sauce home from Ohio when we visit. (Thank you MIDS and Publix.)

Mema’s Special Sauce (Mema 2, not to be confused with the REAL Mema)

1 jar MIDS spaghetti sauce
1 T olive oil
1 large clove garlic, minced
1/2 Italian style chicken sausage link per person, thinly sliced (comes precooked)
½ T fennel seed
¼ cup white wine
¼ cup water

Heat oil in sauce pan. Add sausage and lightly brown on low heat. Add garlic,and fennel sead and cook for 30 seconds or so. Add sauce. Pour wine and water into sauce jar, screw on top and shake so that you will be able to get every drop of sauce from jar. Simmer, stirring occasionally, for 15 minutes, or longer if you like.

You can substitute another jarred sauce, but it won’t be quite the same.



Continuing on the spaghetti sauce theme –

Tomato Basil Sauce

When David and Tracy were first married, he was interviewed for the cooking column of the newspaper where Tracy worked. They published a couple of recipes that he enjoyed cooking. One was for this quick spaghetti sauce.

Recipe

2 slices bacon
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
28 oz. can crushed tomatoes (Muir Glen is a good brand, but it’s more expensive.)
1 T oregano
1 T basil
2 t. onion powder
Dash cayenne pepper
Dash black pepper
Pinch of sugar if sauce seems sharp

Fry bacon until crisp. Remove from pan, drain on paper towel and crumble. Wipe most of fat from pan, but leave the brown bits, if any. Slightly brown garlic and add tomatoes, spices and peppers. Simmer over medium low heat for 15 minutes. Add bacon during last 5 minutes. Taste for seasoning. Serve over pasta.

Baked Vidalia Onion Dip

If Del were listing his favorite things to eat, this recipe would be close to the top of the list. I usually make it once or twice a year when lots of people are around so he won’t be able to eat the whole thing all by himself. I don’t recall where I got this recipe. Probably someone brought it to a potluck, and we begged until given the recipe.

Our family is divided on the subject of onions. David likes them. In fact, when he was quite young, and became cranky while I was cooking dinner, a slice of onion often improved his disposition. I can’t remember how I landed on that as a snack for a small child. Seems strange when I think about it.

Tracy and Rosa don’t care for them one bit. They don’t seem to mind onion powder so much, so it may be a texture thing instead of just a matter of the taste. Tracy’s mother, Sally Stenberg, another really good Southern cook, makes her turkey dressing part with and part without onion so her whole family will enjoy it.

Recipe:

Combine equal parts grated Vidalia onions, mayonnaise and grated Swiss cheese, add a sprinkle of paprika or red pepper and spoon into a sprayed casserole dish. Bake at 350 degrees for approximately 45 minutes or until brown and bubbly. A knife will come out pretty clean. Remove from oven and use paper towels to blot up the grease on top of the casserole. Serve with crackers or slices of baguette. Of course you could also just apply directly to waist and hips, ‘cause that’s where much of it is going to end up. The rest will be in your arteries.

Note: I have been told that only Vidalia onions will work in the recipe, but I don’t know. I use Duke's mayonnaise when it's available, it's a regional product, so use your favorite brand. The empty mayonnaise jar works perfectly for measuring the onions and the cheese.