August Foodie Holidays: Week 3

August 15: (Julia Child's B'day!) Lemon Meringue Pie Day

August 16: Bratwurst Day, Rum Day

August 17: Vanilla Custard Day 

August 18: Soft Ice Cream Day

August 19: Potato Day, Hot & Spicy Food Day

August 20: Lemonade Day, Chocolate Pecan Pie Day, Bacon Lover's Day

August 21: Pecan Torte Day

Today's recipe comes with an opportunity for storytelling. It just so happens that I have three generations of rather humorous and disastrous Pie Incidents involving my grandmother, my mother and myself. I included those anecdotes in the family cookbook, and will share them here, too, as examples of the sort of stories you can collect and share (if the people are willing, and no one's feelings are hurt doing so).

The Pie Incidents

“The last time Mother made her lemon pie was a very memorable one. She had made the pie for Mike for his birthday, since that was his favorite. Donna sat down with her piece and took a bite. You could see her trying not to make a face. She bravely took another bite, saying nothing.

“Mike was not so subtle. ‘Mom,’ he shouted into the kitchen, ‘what did you do to this pie?’ Mother tasted it, and immediately realized that she’d forgotten the sugar. She was mortified.” (told by Sharon B.)

  

“Grandma is not the only member of the family to do odd things to pies. A neighbor, whose favorite pie is cherry, was treated to Mom’s own version of it. She bought canned cherries, but accidentally bought cherries that hadn’t been pitted. Jim said it was the ‘best pie he’d ever had,’ as he spit out cherry stones.

 “Perhaps it runs in the family. I made a sweet potato pie for a friend who’d joined us for one Thanksgiving dinner. I asked if there was anything special I could cook for him, since he was alone for the holiday. His request was sweet potato pie.

“I didn’t have a recipe, so I got one from a book. It called for bourbon in the filling, and I had to substitute whiskey from one of those tiny airplane bottles. It baked, and baked, and baked, and ever got quite done. After it had been baking well over an hour, I took it out, thinking that was the way it was supposed to be. It wasn’t.

“We each took a bite, and the alcohol, which was supposed to cook out, had not. It was just awful! I felt awful. And Mom wonders why I don’t like to make pies…” (told by Wendy W.)

Lemon Cream Pie 

1 2.9 oz. package lemon cook and serve pudding

1/2 C. sugar

1/4 C. water

3 eggs, separated carefully

1 baked and cooled 9” pie crust

1/3 C. sugar

Directions: Stir mix, 1/2 C. sugar, 1/4 C. water and 2 egg yolks in a medium saucepan. Stir in 2 additional cups of water. Stirring constantly with a wire whisk, cook on medium heat until mixture comes to a full boil. Cook 5 minutes, stirring twice. Pour into the cooked and cooled piecrust. To make the meringue: Beat three egg whites in a large bowl with an electric mixer on high speed until foamy. Gradually add 1/3 C. sugar, beating until stiff peaks form. Spread over filling, sealing to the edge of the crust. Bake at 350ºF for 10-15 minutes or until meringue is lightly browned. Cool at room temperature at least 4 hours before serving. 

August Foodie Holidays: Week 2

August 8: Zucchini Day, Frozen Custard Day
August 9: Rice Pudding Day
August 10: Banana Split Day, S'mores Day
August 11: Raspberry Tart Day
August 12: Julienne Fries Day (shoestring fries)
August 13: Filet Mignon Day
August 14: Creamsicle Day

Here's a dish that will help you use some of your zucchini crop. It came to me from one of my husband's aunts.

Vegetable Lasagna

2 small zucchini (8oz. each)

1 bunch broccoli

2 C. firmly packed spinach leaves (about 4 oz.)

5 Tbsp. butter or margarine, divided

1 tsp. dried oregano leaves

2 tsp. salt, divided

1 15 oz. container part-skim ricotta cheese

2 large eggs

2/3 16 oz. pkg lasagna noodles (about 12)

1 C. flour

2 C. milk

1 C. grated Parmesan cheese

1 8 oz. pkg part-skim mozzarella cheese, sliced

Directions: Dice the zucchini; coarsely shop the broccoli and the spinach. Melt 2 Tbsp. butter or margarine in a 12” nonstick skillet. Cook the zucchini and broccoli with oregano and salt over medium heat. Cook until tender-crisp, about 5 minutes. Add the spinach and toss until wilted. Remove from heat. In a medium bowl, mix the ricotta and eggs with a fork; set aside. Prepare noodles per package instructions; drain. In a 2 qt. saucepan over medium heat, melt 3 Tbsp. butter or margarine. Stir in flour and salt until smooth. Gradually stir in milk; cook, stirring constantly, until sauce boils and thickens. Remove from heat and stir in Parmesan cheese. Layer half of the cooked lasagna noodles in the bottom of a glass baking dish. Put half of the ricotta mixture on the noodles, half of the vegetable mixture over the ricotta, and pour half the sauce over that. Top with remaining noodles and repeat layers. Top with mozzarella. Bake in a preheated 350ºF oven for 40-45 minutes, until hot and bubbly. Let stand for 10 minutes for easier serving. Makes 8 main-dish servings.

August Foodie Holidays: Week 1

August is National Catfish Month, Peach Month, Sandwich Month, and Panini Month.

August 1: International Beer Day (1st Friday), IPA Day, Raspberry Pie Day
August 2: Ice Cream Sandwich Day
August 3: Watermelon Day, Grab-Some-Nuts Day
August 4: Chocolate Chip Cookie Day
August 5: Oyster Day, Waffle Day
August 6: Root Beer Float Day
August 7: Raspberries 'n Cream Day

I feel a little like a broken record when I say this, but if you get multiple recipes for the same thing, include all of them (unless they're identical, of course, or have one minor change that you could include as a recipe note). It seems like a simple thing: you have five different recipes for chocolate chip cookies, so you pick one and set the rest aside. Except one of those that you set aside will invariably be someone's favorite (and now it's not in the family cookbook) and the family member who contributed it may have hurt feelings (because it was excluded), and now the next family reunion or holiday gathering is going to be uncomfortable for no good reason. Unless the finished size of the cookbook is a significant concern, include everything.

This particular recipe for chocolate chip cookies comes from one of my husband's aunts.

Deluxe Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 C. butter or margarine, softened

2 C. sugar

2 C. brown sugar

4 eggs

2 tsp. vanilla

4 C. flour

5 C. quick oatmeal, powdered in blender

1 tsp. salt

2 tsp. baking powder

2 tsp. baking soda

24 oz. chocolate chips

8 oz. Hershey bar, grated

3 C. chopped pecans

Directions: Cream together the sugars and butter in a large bowl. Add the eggs and vanilla; mix well. In another bowl, mix together the flour, powdered oatmeal, salt, baking powder and soda. Gradually add to the sugar mixture – dough will be stiff. Add the chocolate chips, grated candy bar and nuts. Make golf ball sized balls, and flatten a little on a cookie sheet. Bake at 375ºF for about 15 minutes. Don’t overcook.

July Foodie Holidays: Week 4

July 22: Penuche Fudge Day
July 23: Vanilla Ice Cream Day
July 24: Tequila Day
July 25: Hot Fudge Sundae Day
July 26: Coffee Milkshake Day, Bagelfest Day
July 27: Crème Brûlée Day, Scotch Day
July 28: Milk Chocolate Day
July 29: Chicken Wing Day, Lasagna Day
July 30: Cheesecake Day
July 31: Cotton Candy Day, Raspberry Cake Day

Another recipe from my mom, although it feels a little like cheating, because it's not really raspberry cake, so much as cake with raspberry sauce. Anyway, it's delicious. (I should double-check with her, though, because I don't believe she uses margarine anymore to cook with, and I don't know if it affects this particular recipe or not to substitute butter. Don't be afraid to ask your contributors for clarification, or to test the recipes yourself if you have the time!)

Pound Cake

1/2 lb margarine

1/2 C. Crisco

3 C. sugar

5 eggs

3 C. flour

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1 C. milk

1 tsp. vanilla

1 1/2 tsp. almond extract

Directions: Cream first three ingredients together well. Add the eggs one at a time. Alternately add the flour/baking powder and the milk. Add the vanilla and almond extract. Bake in a greased and floured tube (angel food) pan at 350ºF for 1 hour 20 minutes. Cool 2 hours (NOT upside down.) Serve with raspberry sauce.

Raspberry Sauce

2 10 oz. packages frozen raspberries

1 C. water

1 C. sugar

4 Tbsp. corn starch

2 Tbsp. lemon juice

Directions: Reserving the juice, drain the thawed raspberries. Combine the juice, water, sugar and corn starch in a saucepan, cooking and stirring constantly until thickened. Stir in the lemon juice and the raspberries. Cool slightly. Serve warm over pound cake

July Foodie Holidays: Week 3

July 15: Tapioca Pudding Day
July 16: Corn Fritters Day, Fresh Spinach Day
July 17: Peach Ice Cream Day
July 18: Caviar Day, Hot Dog Day
July 19: Daiquiri Day
July 20: Fortune Cookie Day
July 21: Junk Food Day

No family recipes for this week, but as an historical aside, did you know that fortune cookies are not Chinese at all? There is a similar Japanese tea cookie (complete with fortune) that has been around since the 1800s, and competing stories over who invented the modern version in California in the late 1890s/1900s. They remained something that was largely seen as Japanese until WWII, when Japanese discrimination and resentment was strong, and those immigrants were placed in internment camps. It was then Chinese immigrants took over production of the cookies.

July Foodie Holidays: Week 2

July 8: Chocolate with Almonds Day
July 9: Sugar Cookie Day
July 10: Piña Colada Day
July 11: Blueberry Muffin Day, Mojito Day
July 12: Pecan Pie Day
July 13: Beans n' Franks Day, French Fries Day
July 14: Macaroni Day, Grand Marnier Day

You will likely receive more than one "best" recipe – below is one such example for the "best" sugar cookie recipe, one my father-in-law favored, that his mother made. I have two other "best" sugar cookie recipes. It's probably a good idea to just call all of them simply Sugar Cookies (or whatever your duplicate recipes are), to avoid any family arguments... (After all, you will know the truth.)

Sugar Cookies

1 C. shortening

2 C. sugar

3 eggs

flavoring (such as vanilla, lemon, almond, etc.)

1 tsp. soda

4 1/2 C. sifted measured flour

1 tsp. salt

Directions: Cream together the shortening, sugar, eggs, salt, flavoring and soda. Add flour and shape dough into an oval and wrap in wax paper or place into a plastic bag. Chill at least 2 hours. Preheat oven to 350ºF. Use a pastry canvas and covered rolling pin. Flour both lightly. Take out 1/4 or less of the dough. Keep remaining dough chilled. Roll dough into 1/4" or 3/8" thickness. With flour cutter, place cutter on dough and press down firmly with fingers all around the edges to make sure the entire image is cut. With spatula, lift cutter and dough. With thumb, rub cutting edge clean of dough. Then, using thumb, gently press dough into design of the cutter. Be careful never to press closer than 1/4" from the edge of the cutter. SLAP cutter down on table or cookie sheet and dough will come right out. Flour cutter before cutting the next cookie. Bake cookies 12-15 minutes. Do not allow to brown. Cool thoroughly before decorating.

July Foodie Holidays: Week 1

July is National Baked Bean Month, Bison Month, Culinary Arts Month, Grilling Month, Hot Dog Month, and Ice Cream Month.

July 1: Creative Ice Cream Flavor Day, Gingersnap Day
July 2: Anisette Day
July 3: Chocolate Wafer Day, Eat Beans Day
July 4: Barbecued Spareribs Day, Caesar Salad Day
July 5: Graham Cracker Day, Apple Turnover Day
July 6: Fried Chicken Day
July 7: World Chocolate Day, Strawberry Sundae Day

This comes from my mom. I can't vouch for it because I am strictly bean-free (the texture totally squicks me out), but it's the only recipe I have that fits the bill for this week. Enjoy, I guess?

Bean Casserole

1 can kidney beans, drained

1 can butter beans, drained

1 can baby lima beans, drained

1 can pork and beans

1/2 lb. turkey bacon

2 large onions, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/4 tsp. dry mustard

1/4 C. vinegar

3/4 C. brown sugar

Directions: Combine beans in a large casserole. Chop the bacon into 1” pieces and fry until crispy. Add the onion and garlic and fry until brown. Add sugar, mustard and vinegar; simmer 20 minutes. Pour over beans and mix. Bake 1 hour at 350ºF.

________

Hey! See what I did up there? That is an example of what NOT to do in your family cookbook! You will almost certainly receive recipes from family members for things you don't like (maybe even despise). Doesn't matter. As a historian, your job isn't to edit history and censor it because it's icky or unhealthy (unless a healthy cookbook is specifically your theme). My advice to you is to gather everything you can, unselfishly and judgement-free. The people who are giving their time and recipes (and hopefully stories, too) are doing just that, and should expect nothing less from the person compiling it. So keep the "ew, gross" editorials to yourself when you're putting it all together. Future generations don't need that kind of color commentary, they can figure out what they like (or don't), the same way everyone else has – by tasting it!