Tag Archives: sugar

Recipes - Salads

Mason Jar 7-Layer Salad

Here’s a fun post for today! With company coming tomorrow, I took time this afternoon to do some prep work for the big supper I’m planning. Mama and I spotted this great idea in a Spring issue of Southern Living Magazine for a traditional 7-layer salad served in a most nontraditional way. I knew it would be a great salad to enjoy around the supper table when guests are in the house. The recipe for this salad has many variations and today I made a few changes of my own so the recipe is the ingredients and method used when I prepared the salad today.  Use pint size Mason jars for this.

The prep work consists of tearing the lettuce into bite-size pieces, trimming the cauliflower into flowerets, allowing the frozen peas to thaw, slicing green onion, grating a hard block of Parmesan cheese, and frying the bacon for the bacon crumbles. I did add sugar to the mayonnaise before topping the salad with that mixture and the freshly grated Parmesan as I like mayonnaise sweetened slightly for dressing purposes. I’m saving the bacon crumbles for serving at the table for individual bowls. Many recipes use Cheddar cheese for this dish but my block of Parmesan seemed more enticing to me than the packaged Cheddar in my fridge so I substituted it.

Serve with a deep bowl for guests to mix their own salad right out of the jar. A fun idea and a flavorful crisp dish! What could be better? Allow the jars to sit in the fridge overnight then place on the table with a bowl for mixing. There are multiple reasons to love this recipe: seven layers, seven good bites, one great salad!

Mason Jar 7-Layer Salad

Ingredients

1 head iceberg lettuce, rinsed, torn into bite-size pieces, dried
1 head cauliflower, trimmed into flowerets
1 bag frozen peas
1 cup green onion, snipped small
1-1/4 cups mayonnaise
1 cup freshly grated Parmesan Cheese
8 pieces bacon, fried, drained, and crumbled

Directions: Prepare all vegetables and fry and drain the baxon. Assemble the salad in individual jars beginning with the lettuce and then in the order listed. Wipe jar tops and rim of jar carefully, seal tightly, and store in fridge until ready for serving.

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Recipes - Desserts

New Post, Old Pie

Walnuts really are the best nuts for this pie I’ve decided; they add great texture, chopped to 1/4 t. size; flatter pecans wouldn’t add as much texture to this pie as only 1 cup of nuts is used.  I didn’t have my stick of butter softened much at all; just cubed the butter small and creamed it with the liquid from the egg yolks. You wouldn’t want the butter completely soft so this worked fine. Vinegar is the unexpected flavor in the pie and it is just enough to keep it from being overly sweet.   Beat the egg whites frothy and fold in to the batter gently. This results in a top crust that crumbles easily; use a serrated knife to slice this.  A just-right accompaniment tonight was a large dollop of Cool Whip.  Delicious!

If you’re after an easy to prepare dessert (completed in 30 minutes prep time, including rolling out a pie shell) then check out this savory “old timey” cupboard pie.  It’s a snap to make and definitely a real snap-crackely-pop for your palette.

Mrs. Bernie’s Chewy Nut Pie

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs, separated
1 T. vinegar
1 cup pecans or walnuts, chopped
1 cup raisins
1 9” unbaked pastry shell

Directions Preheat oven to 350. Cream butter, sugar, egg yolks, and vinegar in medium bowl. Add nuts and raisins. In separate bowl, beat egg whites slightly, and fold into first mixture. Stir well to blend all ingredients. Pour in unbaked pastry shell and bake for 45 minutes and allow to cool before cutting.

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Recipes - Desserts

Blackberry Cobbler

My BFF down in Florida was mentioning blackberry cobbler a lot, at least three times last week, so when I spotted fresh blackberries at my local market yesterday, I knew we had to have our own cobbler, up here, and soon!  These were large beautiful blackberries just made for cobbler or blackberry pie and they did not disappoint. The photos above took as long to fuss with as the actual cobbler prep work did.  35 minutes and its in the oven! The larger photo is as served out of mama’s room tonight at Woodland Hills.  I have to say, “the cobbler thing” was a pleasure, from start to finish!

Do cook your blackberries to thicken, then cool the filling off the stove before adding the topping; cook it just long enough for the juices to coat a wooden spoon; 5 minutes.  The sugar, berries, and the whiff of cinnamon take a minute to boil, as the sugar must melt first.   The cornstarch-water mixture thickens the sauce perfectly.  Taste it as it cools because you might want a little more cinnamon.  The biscuity topping is a terrific complement to the berry filling.  I like to drop it willy-nilly over my berries as that  makes for easy serving.  It does taste like abiscuit, browned on top with a  cake-like texture, perfect for soaking up the ample juices from the berries.  Fresh blackberries, are, of course, a given for this recipe.  These berries were from my local market; youknow, the only “real” grocery store in town; they were beautiful to look at, big as large Bing cherries, and they held their shape nicely too, once cooked.

If you have 60 minutes total, and 3 cups of blackberries, you are in business my friend!  Half of that time is the cobbler baking and you cleaning up the kitchen quickly, right? Start to finish, there was nothing more pleasant to be doing with that hour, and the results were amazing!  Ahhh, the many flavors of Spring!  Dig Right In!

Blackberry Cobbler

Ingredients for berries

3 cups fresh or frozen blackberries
1 cup sugar
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
3 T. cornstarch
1 cup cold water
1 T. butter

Biscuit Topping

1-1/2 cups flour
1 T. sugar
1-1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 stick cold butter, cubed
1/2 cup milk

Directions In a large saucepan, combine the blackberries, sugar and cinnamon. Cook and stir until mixture comes to a boil. Combine cornstarch and water until smooth; stir into fruit mixture. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Pour into a greased 8-in. square baking dish. Dot with butter.

For topping, in a small bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in milk just until moistened. Drop by tablespoons onto hot berry mixture.

Bake, uncovered, at 350° for 30-35 minutes or until filling is bubbly and topping is golden brown. Serve warm with whipped topping or ice cream. Yield: 9 servings.

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Recipes - Desserts

Apricot Nectar Cake


Because I was indulging my wild-child hippie flower power tendencies (i.e. doing a ton of cleaning out of flower beds and digging-in-the-dirt planting) for the past four days, I have neglected to blog. Truth of the matter is, you can’t blog if you’re not cooking and can’t cook if you’re outside dirt digging all day long until twilight falls! I am so happy to be back at it today and even happier to introduce you to this delicious, easy-breezy, apricot nectar cake!

The recipe came to me from BFF Susan who received it from her sister-in-law, Vikki. You can also bake this using mango nectar and I make sure to keep several cans of both nectars on my pantry shelves so that I can bake this cake in a jiffy when I need something quick but delicious. I find the nectar at Walmart in the canned juices aisle.

You will have this batter mixed and breathing in the bowl in under 10 minutes. I do beat the eggs separately because the one time I didn’t, the cake wasn’t nearly as light in texture. Some recipes call for using a yellow cake mix for this one, but I love the hint of lemon that the Duncan Hines Supreme Cake Mix offers in this recipe. You also might want to zest up a teaspoon of lemon peel and add that to either the batter or the glaze. The lemon flavor adds a great zing to the apricot or mango flavors. The cake is beautiful baked in a Bundt pan sprinkled with finely-sifted powdered sugar. Today I baked this exactly as found in my “Missouri to Maui” cookbook.

You just can’t get too fruity for spring time! Offer those around your table a taste of robust apricots or tropical mangoes then just sit back and accept your compliments!  Guaranteed you will have many!

Apricot Nectar Cake

Ingredients

1 box Duncan Hines Lemon Supreme Cake Mix
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup apricot nectar (found at Walmart in the canned juices section)
3/4 cup cooking oil
4 eggs, beaten separately

Directions Preheat oven to 325. In large bowl, mix first four ingredients with electric mixer on medium for approximately two minutes. Scrape batter from sides of bowl with spatula as you mix. In separate small bowl, beat the eggs with mixer then gently fold into the batter. Pour batter into a greased and floured Bundt pan. Bake 50 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean and dry. Poke holes in cake with the tines of a fork and pour hot glaze over cake.
Glaze

2/3 cup powdered sugar
Remainder of the can of nectar
1 T. butter

Directions In medium saucepan, combine ingredients and bring to a slow boil. Cook just until smooth and the powdered sugar is dissolved. Take cake out of oven and poke holes in hot cake with a fork then pour glaze into a measuring cup and slowly pour over cake. Make glaze a few minutes before cake is out of oven. Let cake cool then invert onto your serving platter and dust lightly with powdered sugar.

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Recipes - Desserts

Raisin Nut Pie


Raisin Nut Pie 3

I found this recipe in mama’s recipe box, written in pencil, on a yellowed index card, and memories flooded back as I remembered eating this delightful pie at the Barker house next door while a kid in Marble Hill.  Bernie Barker’s recipe for Raisin Nut Pie will delight you too if you are a raisin and nut lover especially.  The recipe is also found in my “Missouri to Maui” cookbook.

My prep time today was less than an hour and that included rolling out my homemade crust.  Separate the eggs, the egg whites beaten slightly then added to the pie filling right before baking.  Be sure you fold in the egg whites, not stirring, but folding, taking care to leave them as light and fluffy as possible.  I used pecans today but walnuts are also great in this pie.  I also used golden raisins rather than dark raisins; either works fine.

This old recipe is often referred to as a “funeral” pie and I do turn to it often when I need something for bereavement dinners at church. You will have the ingredients on hand most likely and perhaps that is why it is such a popular pie here in southern Missouri when you need to prepare something quickly to carry in somewhere.

No matter your reason for preparing this old stand-by, you will be glad you did.  Serve it up slightly warm with a dollop of whipped cream or vanilla ice cream and enjoy the smiles around the table.

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs, separated
1 T. vinegar
1 cup pecans or walnuts, chopped
1 cup raisins
1 9” unbaked pastry shell

Directions Preheat oven to 350. Cream butter, sugar, egg yolks, and vinegar in a medium bowl. Add nuts and raisins. In separate bowl, beat egg whites slightly, and fold into first mixture. Stir well to blend all ingredients. Pour in unbaked pastry shell and bake for 45 minutes and allow to cool before cutting.  This is good served with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream on top.

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