Thanksgiving and my Mama’s Sweet Potato Pie

(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.

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

1. Combine cherries, jam, and cheese for filling.
2. 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.
3. 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!!!

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

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

(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?