June Foodie Holidays: Week 3

June 15: Lobster Day, Cannoli Day, Gin Day
June 16: Fudge Day
June 17: Eat-All-Your-Veggies Day, Apple Strudel Day
June 18: Cherry Tart Day, Sushi Day, Picnic Day
June 19: Dry Martini Day
June 20: Vanilla Milkshake Day
June 21: Peaches & Cream Day, Smoothie Day

Father's Day is the 15th! Chat up your dad if you can. Ask him about the things he likes to cook!

Fudge is one of those things that I associate with Christmastime, because that's when my mother makes it. It's odd to think of it in June, but here's the recipe she always uses for chocolate fudge.

Phudge

4 oz. unsweetened chocolate

6 oz. cream cheese, room temp.

1/2 tsp. vanilla

1/8 tsp. salt

1 lb. sifted powdered sugar

1 C. chopped nuts

Directions: Melt chocolate in a double boiler or in the microwave. Set aside. Stir cream cheese until soft and smooth. Add vanilla and salt. Gradually beat in sugar; add chocolate and beat until smooth. Mix in nuts. Line a 8” square pan with waxed paper and press fudge into the pan. Wrap and refrigerate until firm. Cut into square and store airtight.

June Foodie Holidays: Week 2

June 8: Jelly-Filled Doughnut Day, World Oceans Day (Sustainable Seafood)

June 9: Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie Day

June 10: Herbs & Spices Day, Iced Tea Day, Black Cow Day (root beer float w/ chocolate ice cream)

June 11: German Chocolate Cake Day

June 12: Peanut Butter Cookie Day, Jerky Day, International Falafel Day

June 13: Cucumber Day

June 14:  Strawberry Shortcake Day

Need a gluten-free cookie recipe? These flourless peanut butter cookies are so good, you will never even guess they're "specialty" cookies for people who have to follow a strict diet.

Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies

1 C. creamy peanut butter

1 C. sugar

1 tsp. baking powder

1 egg

Directions: Preheat oven to 350ºF. Cream butter and sugar. Beat in baking powder, and add the egg. Mix until well-combined. Roll dough into balls, roll balls in sugar (optional) and place on a cookie sheet lined with parchment. Bake about 10 minutes – wait at least 5 min. before removing from the cookie sheet. Optional: Melt milk chocolate chips and drizzle over the cooled cookies.

Notes: These are so good, and so easy, and disappear so fast that I usually treble the recipe.

Red Sonjas Variant: Add candied ginger, chopped very fine, to the dough, about a tablespoon (or to taste), and a dash of red pepper (a little goes a long way). Place the dough balls on the baking sheet, stick the end of a steak knife into the dough (the oil from the peanut butter will make the sugar stick to the blade), dip it in red sugar and press the flat tip of the blade into the ball to flatten it slightly, leaving the red sugar in the impression. Flatten remaining balls, and bake as above.

June Foodie Holidays: Week 1

June is National Candy Month, Dairy Month, Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Month, Iced Tea Month, Papaya Month, Mango Month, Seafood Month, Turkey Lover's Month (?!), and Steakhouse Month.

June 1: Olive Day, Hazelnut Cake Day
June 2: Rocky Road Ice Cream Day
June 3: Egg Day
June 4: Cheese Day, Frozen Yogurt Day, Cognac Day
June 5: Moonshine Day, Gingerbread Day
June 6: Applesauce Cake Day
June 7: Chocolate Ice Cream Day, Doughnut Day (first Friday)

Father's Day is June 15th this year. Don't forget to include Dad, if you can, when you're compiling recipes for the cookbook. Maybe your father is the primary cook, or maybe he's just a pinch hitter, either way, you don't want to leave him out. (And if he cooks like my dad does, you'll probably need to stand with him while he's cooking to measure things as he goes or at least guestimate how much of that ingredient he just threw in the pot...)

I have a particular fondness for Applesauce Cake. This recipe is my maternal grandmother's.

Applesauce Cake                                                                

1/2 C. shortening

1 1/2 C. sugar

2 beaten eggs

1 C. applesauce

1 C. chopped raisins

2 C. flour

1/4 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. ground cloves

Directions: Thoroughly cream shortening with sugar. Add eggs and beat well. Add applesauce, then sift dry ingredients together and add gradually. Beat until smooth; add raisins. Bake in a greased and floured 13x9” pan at 350ºF for 30-45 minutes. Frost with easy penuche frosting.

Easy Penuche Frosting

1/2 C. butter or margarine

1 C. brown sugar, packed

1/4 C. milk

2 C. powdered sugar

Directions: Melt butter in a saucepan. Stir in brown sugar and heat to boiling, stirring constantly. Reduce heat; stir and boil over low heat for 2 minutes. Stir in milk, return to boil and remove from heat. Cool to lukewarm and gradually stir in powdered sugar. Let cool; beat to spreading consistency. If the frosting gets too stiff, heat, stirring constantly. Frosts 1 13x9” cake or 2 9” layers.

May Foodie Holidays: Week 4

May 22 - Vanilla Pudding Day
May 23 - Taffy Day
May 24 - Escargot Day
May 25 - Wine Day
May 26 - Blueberry Cheesecake Day
May 27 - Grape Popsicle Day
May 28 - Hamburger Day, Brisket Day
May 29 - Coq au Vin Day
May 30 - Mint Julep Day
May 31 - Macaroon Day

Grilling season is here! Maybe you have men in your family who rule the grill. Be sure to ask them for recipes or tips for the things they cook.

Cherry-Lime Macaroons (my own recipe, developed for a friend)

1 C. sweetened condensed milk
3 C. + shredded coconut
1/4 C. flour
1/4 C. minced sour cherries and/or maraschino cherries
4 Tbsp. lime juice
lime zest from the lime
1/4 tsp. salt

Directions: Preheat oven to 350F. Pour sweetened condensed milk into a bowl, add remaining ingredients and mix well. Add more coconut if it seems too gooey. Drop into small balls and place on a parchment-lined cookie sheet. Bake 12-13 minutes until brown. Let cool on the cookie sheet 10 minutes before removing – once cool, they will peel off easily.

Available at Amazon.

May Foodie Holidays: Week 3

May 15 - Chocolate Chip Cookie Day; International Day of Families, Family Cookbook Day
May 16 - Coquilles St. Jacques Day
May 17 - Cherry Cobbler Day
May 18 - Cheese Soufflé Day
May 19 - Devil's Food Cake Day
May 20 - Quiche Lorraine Day
May 21 - Strawberries and Cream Day

Beginning in 1993, May 15th was declared by the United Nations to be the International Day of Families: "The International Day provides an opportunity to promote awareness of issues relating to families and to increase knowledge of the social, economic and demographic processes affecting families." I think it's also the perfect time to celebrate family, acknowledge roots and history, cultural shifts and traditions... through food.

Family recipes trace a subtle (or overt) history, where we come from, what our heritage is, what traditions we hold. It's important to preserve those histories and traditions, important to know where we've come from. A family cookbook is just one way to do that.

Chocolate chip cookies have a million variations. How many does your family have? (Be sure to include them all, so no one's favorite gets left out!)

Available at Amazon.

May Foodie Holidays: Week 2

May 8 - Coconut Cream Pie Day
May 9 - Butterscotch Brownie Day
May 10 - Shrimp Day
May 11 Mocha Torte Day; MOTHER'S DAY!
May 12 - Nutty Fudge Day
May 13 - Apple Pie Day
May 14 - Buttermilk Biscuit Day

Sunday, May 11th is Mother's Day! Seize the opportunity to spend some time with your mom if you can, whether you talk about family recipes or not. 


Not all of the recipes in your family's boxes will be handwritten; expect to find plenty of clippings, too! This one was in my grandmother's box, from Nestle. I wasn't able to find a date, but it's old enough that I don't recognize the package design (so 1970s probably?), and I don't think butterscotch chips are even sold in 6-ounce packages anymore.

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Debbie’s Fudge (white or chocolate)
Ingredients:
1 stick margarine

2 C. sugar

2/3 C. Milnot

14 large marshmallows

small pkg. chocolate chips OR 4 oz. white chocolate

1/2 C. peanut butter OR 1 C nuts
Directions: In a heavy saucepan, boil the first four ingredients for exactly 3 minutes and 20 seconds. Remove from heat and add the chocolate. Stir until melted and add the peanut butter or the nuts. Pour into a buttered 9x9” pan and cut when cool.

NOTE: On a humid day, cook for 10 seconds longer.

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They aren't buttermilk biscuits, but they are my mamaw's biscuits, that Mom stood next to her, measuring ingredients (because her mother-in-law didn't, she just dumped things in a bowl) to get.

Grandma Mabel’s Biscuits

Ingredients:
4 C. self-rising flour
1/2 C. powdered milk
handful shortening
water

Directions: Put flour in a bowl. Make a well in the flour; pour the powdered milk in it. Add the shortening. Add water, a little at a time, working in flour from the sides. When the consistency is right, scoop by handfuls onto a floured surface. Pat into a biscuit shape with floured hands. Bake at 450ºF until light golden brown.

Available at Amazon.

May Foodie Holidays: Week 1

May 1 - Chocolate Parfait Day
May 2 - Truffle (Candy) Day
May 3 - Raspberry Tart Day
May 4 - Lemonade Day, Candied Orange Peel Day
May 5 - Chocolate Custard Day, Hoagie Day
May 6 - Crêpes Suzette Day
May 7 - Roast Leg of Lamb Day

No recipes this month -- I don't have family recipes for any of those holidays!

Mother's Day is May 11th this year, and a great time to get together with your mom and go through those family recipes. If you want to compile a family cookbook in time for Christmas (or Hanukkah, or Kwanzaa, or Yule), now's the time!

Why is Mother's Day the best time to start this project? Because women do the balance of the cooking in most households, most recipes are passed mother to daughter, and starting now gives you six months to get all the recipes you want from your family and have your family cookbook ready in time for the winter holidays. Creating an Heirloom: Writing Your Family's Cookbook takes you through every step of the process. It's easier than you think!

Available at Amazon.