A Taste Of Gratitude

Thanksgiving and my Mama’s Sweet Potato Pie

2011-11-23T11:52:00.008-06:00

(In the photo, you’ll see my most precious possessions, which incidentally were my mom’s as well ~ the cookbook daddy gave her as a gift when they first married in 1954 and the wedding band she wore without taking it off for almost fifty-six years.)

So here I am, the second Thanksgiving without mama. They say the first holiday is the hardest. Well, let me say from my own experience, the second time around without her is no easier. Even so, at least I can function better, and I can bring myself to cook Thanksgiving dinner. I will be cooking Thanksgiving dinner this year in my mama’s kitchen, standing in the same exact spot she did, using her cookware, making her recipe for dressing and gravy, my recipe for steamed whole green beans, potatoes, salad, rolls and my Mama’s famous Sweet Potato Pie.

I’m actually making her pie in my kitchen and taking it to my dad’s house this afternoon. I am spending the night at dad’s so I can get up bright and early tomorrow morning and get to work. I will be spending my first night away from Paul and Stephen since the summer of 2003 when I took a short road trip with my parents. ... I wonder if they’ll have a stag party in my absence? Everyone reading this, please cook spaghetti for them till they’re sick of it. (That statement makes absolutely no sense whatsoever to you unless you’re a big Andy Griffith Show fan.)

So I digress, we all know that’s what I do best.

Sweet Potato Pie

3 medium sweet potatoes, baked

¼ cup butter, melted

2 eggs, separated

½ cup honey

¼ t salt

¼ t nutmeg

1 t baking powder

½ cup milk

1 t grated orange rind

1 t brandy (mom used vanilla)

Unbaked pie shell. (I use store bought)

Wash and bake baked potatoes until they are soft. Remove skins, and mash them with a fork (unless you have a ricer, which I don’t) to remove all the lumps. Cool slightly. Add melted butter, egg yolks, honey, salt, nutmeg and baking powder, and beat until smooth and creamy; then stir in milk, orange rind and vanilla. Pour into the unbaked pie shell. Bake in a hot oven (450°) for 15 minutes or until edge of crust is lightly browned. Then reduce heat to 300° (slow) and bake 25-30 minutes longer. Remove pie from oven and spread with meringue made by beating the 2 egg whites until stiff, then beating in 3 tablespoons of sugar. Return to oven for 20 minutes to brown meringue. Cool on cake rack before cutting. 5 to 6 servings.

NOTE: I can't remember mama using honey in her recipe. Like me, she probably played with the ingredients. I'm going to use dark brown sugar in stead. I'll update later to let you know how that goes.

Cherry Pocket Pies

2011-07-01T15:49:00.005-05:00

This one comes from our friends at Publix -- My personal favorite grocery store! I tried this recipe last year and loved it because it's something that Stephen can enjoy helping me make in the kitchen. And we all know that boy loves to help ... and eat! Right now is a good time to buy fresh cherries. I bought some recently from Publix and will make these little babies again! ... Enjoy!

Cherry Pocket Pies

Ingredients

12 slices Bakery thin white sandwich bread
1 cup fresh cherries
2 tablespoons cherry jam
1/4 cup whole milk ricotta cheese
2 eggs (or 1/2 cup egg substitute)
4 tablespoons unsalted butter

Prep

Remove crusts from bread.
Remove cherry stems and pits; chop coarsely.

Steps

Combine cherries, jam, and cheese for filling.
Brush six bread slices with egg, then top each bread slice with 2 tablespoons of the cherry mixture. Add second bread slice; crimp edges using a fork.
Preheat large nonstick sauté pan on medium 2–3 minutes. Brush pies with egg. Place butter in pan, then add pies; cook 1–2 minutes on each side or until golden. Serve. (Makes 6 servings.)

CALORIES (per 1/6 recipe) 180kcal; FAT 10g; CHOL 25mg; SODIUM 170mg; CARB 18g; FIBER 1g; PROTEIN 5g; VIT A 8%; VIT C 2%; CALC 6%; IRON 6%

Salsa!!!

2011-04-10T08:31:00.007-05:00

I love chips and salsa, but I’ve never been able to find a store bought salsa that I like. I’ve tried nearly every brand out there, and none of them taste authentic. Finally I just gave up and treated myself to salsa and chips when I went to a Mexican restaurant. By the way, I care very little for authentic Mexican food, but I do love chips with salsa and cheese dip. I usually make that my meal on the rare occasion I go to a Mexican restaurant. So I hit the internet on a quest to find a salsa recipe that I like. I finally found one that I LOVE, although it needed some tweaking for my taste. You have to do that with recipes like salsa. Some like it hot, some like it mild. I like it medium myself, so this is how I make it.

First and foremost, I should tell you that you are going to need a good food processor. I love my nice, big KitchenAid that my bff gave me for my birthday.

Ingredients:

* 1 - 28 ounce can whole tomatoes with juice
* 2 - 10 ounce cans Rotel (diced Tomatoes with Green Chilies)
* ¼ cup chopped onion
* 1 clove garlic, minced
* 1 whole Jalapeno (a half if you‘re like me), quartered and thinly sliced
* ¼ teaspoon sugar
* ¼ teaspoon salt
* ¼ teaspoon ground Cumin (I omit this, cause I don’t care for Cumin)
* ½ cup Cilantro (or more, depending on your taste)
* ½ of a Lime (this is also one of those things that depends on your taste)

Preparation:

Combine whole tomatoes, Rotel, onion, jalapeno, garlic, sugar, salt, cumin, lime juice, and cilantro in a blender or food processor. Pulse until you get the salsa to the consistency you’d like — I do about 8 pulses. Taste and adjust to your preference. It’s a good idea to make this several hours ahead of time, or even a day before you’re going to serve it. Trust me, it’s even better.

Note: be sure you get WHOLE tomatoes or you’ll have soup after you put them through the processor. I learned this the hard way. Also, you’ll want to use the “large” bowl. I learned that the hard way, too.

Oh, one more very important thing! Use disposable food gloves when you are slicing the Jalapeno peppers! (Yes, that’s another thing I learned the hard way) I scoop out the seeds as well, because I’m kinda wimpy and have stomach ulcers, so I can’t take the heat.
I have another Jalapeno Pepper hint for you: If you didn’t read all of my instructions before you sliced and deseeded the pepper, your hands are probably on fire! Don’t touch your face!!! If you’re a man, don’t pee! (lol, I just thought of that!) The only thing that stopped my hands from burning like H-E-double-hockey-sticks was Dawn dish washing liquid. The original (blue) kind. You’ll have to lather, rinse, repeat until the burning stops. Dawn cuts the grease! The pepper seeds and membranes are apparently oily. =/

Anyway, I hope you enjoy this stuff, it’s the best salsa I’ve ever made.

Fig Cake

2011-03-03T14:26:00.002-06:00

My parents have a huge fig tree in the back yard and this time it's loaded with gigantic figs. As a kid, I loved eating them raw, fresh off the tree. Now, not so much. So I have been trying to find recipes for them. Here's one that I modified and made my own. My next experiment will be using fig preserves in the place of fresh figs.

Fig Cake

This is sort of like a coffee cake or quick bread.
You'll need the following ingredients:

2 cups self-rising flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg (too much nutmeg for me. Next time, 1/2 teaspoon)
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup canola oil

1/2 cup butter flavored crisco, melted
1 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup chopped figs
1 cup toasted chopped pecans (optional)

Stir together the dry ingredients; stir in egg, oils, and buttermilk. Stir in vanilla. Fold in figs and pecans. Pour into a greased and floured 13- x 9-inch pan.

Bake at 325° for 35 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. I sifted a little bit of confectioners sugar over the top of it.

This is a re-post from a few years back. I am trying to collect and copy all of my recipe posts from the past in this blog. (wish me luck with that) ;)

My Mama's Chicken And Dumplings

2011-01-26T13:07:00.012-06:00

(click on the photo to enlarge. Photos above taken last year when mama was making her famous chicken and dumpling recipe for Stephen and my brother, Randy - their favorite dish!)

Homemade Chicken Broth
* A large stockpot
* Bone-in chicken (this is healthier because of the bone marrow, and I'm sorry if that statement grosses you out.)
* Two or three stalks of celery (With the leaves; they're full of flavor)
* A whole onion, quartered
* Sometimes I add some carrots
* Add enough water to the stockpot to cover everything.

Cook the chicken and vegetables for a couple of hours or so (if you're adding carrots, wait until the last 30 minutes to add them) and let the broth cool enough for you to touch the chicken without burning yourself. Remove the chicken from the broth and set aside.
While the Chicken is cooling, make your dough. You can either roll it out on a floured surface and cut into strips or you can make drop biscuits. Depends on your preference. For me, it depends on how much time I have.

The Dumpling Dough
This is the really hard part for me. My mama always added egg to her dough, and I just had to omit that because the fact that mine was always too chewy was driving me insane. If anyone knows how to add the egg and allow the dough to be tender at the same time, please let me know! So here goes:
* 2 cups of flour (Mama always used White Lily self rising)
* 1/4 stick of Crisco Shortening (I use butter)
* 1/2 cup of milk, buttermilk, chicken broth, or even water

Put the flour in a large bowl, make a well in the center and cut in the shortening or butter until the mixture is blended into the size of little peas (sort of like when you're making homemade biscuits) you can do this with a pastry blender, a fork or do like I do; roll up your sleeves and do it with your *clean* hands. Make a well in the center of this again and slowly add your 1/2 cup of liquid, pulling the flour down from the sides of the bowl a little at a time. Knead a few times times, making sure you do not over-knead it! Form a dough ball and toss it onto a floured surface to roll out like my mama did in the photo up there, using her "Pampered Chef" dough roller. If you like biscuit-like dumplings, just spoon them into the broth. I prefer my mama's technique of rolling them out about 1/8 inch thick.

At this point, return the broth to a slow boil, slice the dough into strips and pinch a little at a time off of the strips into the broth (work kind of fast). Reduce heat to low. ALL recipes tell you to cover for 15 minutes. Usually when I do this the dumplings cook away, so I like to keep the lid off and guard them! Do not stir, you'll end up with a thick soup. In stead of stirring, shake the stock pot a little to move them around. Don't forget to add the chicken meat before you serve it! ;)

The End!

I really wish I could have figured out a simpler way of writing this recipe, but that's just not possible for me. I don't know about the rest of you, but making dumplings is not easy for me, my mama always told me I just needed more practice. I hope she was right. To this day I haven't succeeded with adding an egg to the dough. I can't help but wonder if just for giggles, my mama took her dumpling secret to Heaven with her?

Ice Cream Cheesecake

2010-12-17T13:18:00.003-06:00

Confession: I haven't made this one yet, but I'm planning on making it this weekend. Photos of the pie and reviews coming soon.

Ice Cream Cheesecake

Crust:
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
½ teaspoon cinnamon
3 tablespoons sugar
4 tablespoons margarine, melted

Filling:
2 (8 oz.) packages cream cheese
1 quart Blue Bell Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream
1 (12 oz.) jar red raspberry preserves
1 cup whipped cream topping (or ½ cup whipping cream, whipped)
9” butter spring from pan

Combine graham cracker crumbs, cinnamon, sugar and margarine and press over bottom and sides of 9” buttered spring form pan. Chill.

Prepare filling by softening and whipping cream cheese. Be sure to use chilled bowl and beaters and beat ice cream, adding cream cheese. Spoon ¼ of cheese mixture over crust.

Drizzle 1/3 preserves over mixture. Preserves will sink to bottom. Repeat with ice cream layer and preserves. Save last third of preservers for later. Freeze mixture with crust.

Before serving, add whipped cream topping (or whipped whipping cream) and remaining preserves on top.

Sorry friends! We've been SO busy ...

2009-11-12T09:28:00.000-06:00

A message to everyone who has been keeping up with A Taste Of Gratitude blog: First of all, thanks for your interest -- that means a lot to me! I apologize for not updating in a long time. So much is going on “offline” these days, I haven’t been able to find the time to update. I do have a few new recipes, stories and photos that I am keeping on file and will be updating ASAP! … When I find the time

Time To Make The Donuts

2009-10-15T13:00:00.006-05:00

Last year for Christmas, my mama gave us Paula Deen's, "My First Cookbook" and we finally tried one of the recipes this morning. Whod'a thought canned biscuits could be so good? Checking the pantry, we only had the ingredients for powdered donuts, but Stephen didn't mind. We used an apple corer for Stephen to cut the holes out with, which was perfect because he can grasp it easier. After they were all finished, we each had a donut and split all the donut holes (we each had five). Needless to say, for about an hour we were on an amazing sugar high. I managed to get some laundry done while he chased the cat around the house, but now we've come down from it and are just a couple of lethargic couch potatoes watching the Tom and Jerry hour on the cartoon network. I would advise you to limit yourself to ONE donut if you can, because they are very sweet.

Paula Deen's Canned Biscuit Dough Donuts and Holes
(you'll need the help of an adult for frying the donuts!) ;p

Ingredients:
* Peanut oil, for frying
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 1/4 cup cocoa powder
* 5 tablespoon milk, divided
* 2 cup confectioners’ sugar, divided
* Chocolate sprinkles
* Colored sprinkles
* 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
* 1/4 cup sugar
* 2 cans large buttermilk biscuits

Directions:
Heat 2-inches peanut oil in a large pot or dutch oven to 350 degrees F.

In a shallow bowl, stir together the sugar and ground cinnamon, set aside. In a small bowl, whisk together 1 cup of confectioners’ sugar, 2 tablespoons of milk and 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract, set aside. This is the vanilla icing. In another bowl, whisk together 1 cup of confectioners’ sugar, 1/4 cup of cocoa powder and 3 tablespoons of milk, set aside. This is the chocolate icing.

Lay out the biscuits on a cutting board and with a 1-1/2-inch round cookie or biscuit cutter, cut out a hole from the middle of each biscuit. Fry them in the oil until golden and then flip with tongs to fry the other side. You can even fry the donut holes. Drain on paper towels and then toss in the cinnamon-sugar or glaze and sprinkle as desired.

Recipe by Paula Deen
Servings: 16-20 servings
Prep Time: 30 min
Cook Time: 2 min
Difficulty: Easy

Who Doesn't Love Pasta?

2009-10-14T10:08:00.010-05:00

We love pasta and I'm lovin' the fact that Ronzoni Smart Taste is a healthy, nutritious pasta. I can love my pasta with less guilt!
Click the link below to visit Ronzoni Smart Taste, where you can enter their sweepstakes to win free groceries for a year, print money-saving coupons, find recipes, health and wellness tips and more! I signed up for their newsletter to stay informed of special offers.

Ronzoni Smart Taste

Crock Pot Chicken And Vegetables

2009-10-10T14:43:00.004-05:00

This is one of those throw it in a pot meals for busy days. It’s also a good recipe if you’re feeling just plain lazy and don‘t want to stand over the stove. Either way, it’s hearty and comforting.

You’ll notice in this photo that I’m lazy enough to use paper plates. I don’t care who knows - I won’t apologize - I’m not at all sorry for it.

Crock Pot Chicken With Vegetables

You will need:

* It goes without saying, you’re going to need a crock pot.
* A skillet and some light olive oil and butter for browning the chicken.

Ingredients:

* 3-4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
* 3-4 carrots, sliced diagonally in thirds
* 3-4 medium russet potatoes, cut in fourths
* 1 medium onion, chopped
* 1 teaspoon dried rosemary (fresh rosemary is even better)
* 1-2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
* salt and pepper to taste
* ½ tablespoon - olive oil
* ½ tablespoon - butter
* 1 tablespoon - flour (enough to make a roux)
* A good quality chicken stock or broth

Directions:

* I like to brown the chicken in equal amounts of olive oil and butter before putting it in the crock pot because it makes it look pretty and appetizing, and the pan juices make a very tasty gravy. Sure, it’s healthier to just use the olive oil to brown the chicken, but if you add a little butter, it’ll brown better and prettier. It’s obvious I like my food to be pretty, because I use that word a lot when I talk about food.
* Because vegetables take longer to cook in a crock pot, go ahead and place the veggies in the bottom of your pot. Sprinkle with a little salt and pepper; top with rosemary and chopped garlic cloves.
* Place your browned chicken breasts on top of the veggies; sprinkle with a little salt and pepper.
* Add some flour to the pan you browned the chicken in and cook over medium high for about a minute, scraping the brown bits on the bottom of the pan (This is your roux) You may need to add a little more oil and butter.
* Start adding a little chicken broth to this until you’ve got your gravy the way you like it; turn your heat down! And now you have your gravy.
* Pour your pan gravy all over your chicken breasts; add more broth if you need to, to cover the tops of them. Don't over do it with the broth, because it's going to produce a lot of liquid while cooking. Cover with the lid and cook on high for an hour, then cook on low for about 6 more hours. If that time isn’t feasible for you, just cook on low for about 8 hours. You can also cook this on high for 4 hours. Try not to cook boneless breasts longer than that. Trust me, you won’t like the results. Be sure not to open the lid while it's cooking. But if you must, add about 20 minutes or so to your cooking time.

NOTE: When this is done, you’ll notice the pan gravy that you poured over the chicken has gotten very watery by now. If you prefer thicker gravy, follow the steps you followed in making your pan gravy.
Here’s a good guide:

½ Tablespoon - unsalted butter
½ Tablespoon - light olive oil
1 Tablespoon - flour
1 cup - broth

* Cook the oil and butter with the flour on medium-high heat until the flour has cooked to the point it’s browning a little; Add about a cup of the broth from the crock pot to that and stir until it’s smooth. If you feel like taking in a few more calories and fat grams, you can add a little cream to the mixture, but I usually don’t because I’m trying to watch my boyish figure you know.

My Grandma's Baked Apples

2009-10-05T13:42:00.006-05:00

Stephen loves helping me in the kitchen and since he is not attending school right now (I’ll talk about that another time), I’ve been trying to come up with things I am sure he can assist with in the kitchen. We’re having fun with our cooking projects, and I want to keep a journal of them -- if I can discipline myself in keeping my camera handy and making notes. In time, I’d like to print our recipes and stories and make a keepsake book for Stephen, which is one reason I created this new food and recipe journal. How I wish I had recorded photos and notes from my childhood when I helped my mama and grandmothers in the kitchen.

Last Friday, Stephen and I baked apples! It was like taking a step back in time for me. I recall being as young as four years old when I helped my grandmother with this very recipe. Grandma baked apples at least once a week. Her little house, which was (and still is) located on main street in our town would smell so wonderful when she baked apples. The fragrance of apples and cinnamon was most distinctive in the fall of the year -- I believe it was because of the crisp chill in the air, and it just made you feel all warm and happy inside to step onto grandma‘s porch and breathe in the aroma.

Now on to the recipe -

You'll need the following ingredients:

* A baking pan, large enough to hold the apples. I like them to fit snuggly in the pan so they won‘t tip over.
* An apple corer is nice, but not necessary
* 6 - apples, washed
* 1/3 cup - brown sugar
* 1 - teaspoon cinnamon
* 1- teaspoon vanilla (optional)
* 1/3 cup- raisins
* 1/3 cup- coarsely chopped pecans
* 2-3 tablespoons - butter
* boiling water - enough to cover bottom of dish

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 350 or 375 degrees, depending on your oven.
Core the apples and use a spoon or paring knife to scoop out the remaining seeds. If you use an apple corer, I find this doesn’t make the hole in the apple big enough to hold the ingredients, so I make it slightly bigger in diameter with a paring knife.

* Mix the next five ingredients together in a small bowl.
* Spoon the mixture into each apple.
* Top each apple with a pat of butter.
* Add boiling water to bottom of pan.
* Bake until the apples look all shriveled and a knife easily pierces through them - about 45 minutes.
* Spoon the sweet, buttery pan drippings all over the apples before serving.

These are also good topped with vanilla ice cream, but we usually just eat them plain.

A Home For My Recipes ...

2009-09-30T13:07:00.000-05:00

Since so much of my blogging these days included the subject of food, I thought it was only fair to give the food talk a blog space of its own.