Monday, October 20, 2008

Acorn Squash for Sukkot

FALL STARBURST (Parve)
*Jenn had asked me and Troy to join them in their Sukkot and would I please bring an acorn squash dish. Certainly... little did I know that the "bug" would invade my day and once again, Troy would have to finish what I began... It was a success and as requested, here is the recipe. It may look and smell like sweet potato, but it really was acorn squash... what a PAIN that squash is to cut up... so very hard, but this recipe makes it worth the effort.

1 1/2 to 2 pounds butternut (or acorn)squash, cut into halves and seeds removed
1/2 cup margarine (I NEVER use margarine.. I used organic butter)
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
4 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, and sliced
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 cups fresh cranberries
( I used organic dried/unsweetened, and added organic dried cherries too..
add a bit of water!!)
1/4 cup sugar
1-2 tablespoons cinnamon-sugar
(sold commercially or made at home with 1 part cinnamon to 4 parts sugar)

Boil squash in water to cover in a saucepan until tender. Cool until it can be handled.
Scoop out flesh, discarding peel.

Puree squash with margarine and brown sugar in a food processor. (Troy just mashed it)
Cook apples and 1/4 cup granulated sugar in a saucepan for 8 to 10 minutes, or until juices begin to be released and the sugar melts and coats the apples. Set aside.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Heat cranberries with 1/4 cup granulated sugar in a saucepan until berries soften and burst, stirring often. (if you used the dried, be sure they are unsweetened,
and add a bit of water to the sugar as you rehydrate and prepare)

Arrange apples around the edge of a 9-inch French white oven-safe dish.
(I left the peels on the bright green apples for color and fiber)
Pour the squash puree in the center.
Top with the cranberries, leaving a small border of squash.
(The cranberries may bleed into the apples slightly.)
Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar and bake for 20 minutes.
Yield: 6-8 servings
taken from: Recipes from the Kosher Palette II
author says "my experience with Sukkot is that it is a
cozy holiday filled with family, friends and fun"

Monday, October 13, 2008

Tahtee's Peanut Butter Cereal Candy

Peanut Butter Cereal Candy
(with Tahtee changes)
(from the ACU women's cookbook...
a gift from my mother at my bridal shower in 1975)
*this has been a family favorite for years... much better than the marshmallow cereal bars*
3 cups Rice Krispies cereal
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cut white corn syrup
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
Combine sugar and syrup, cook, stirring constantly until mixture comes to a full rolling boil.
Remove from heat, stir in peanut butter and vanilla, and immediately pour syrup over cereal mixture, stirring gently to coat.
Pat mixture into buttered 8'X8"X2" pan. Cool, cut into bars.
*this is the original recipe.... in my bars, I substitute and add whatever I want to make it healthier.
*I also usually double the recipe for our family
GET NUTRITIONALLY CREATIVE
ex: substitute Almond butter for Peanut butter
*use LivActive cranberry cereal for 1/2 of cereal mixture
*add nuts (whatever kind you like) or sesame seeds
*add chocolate chips (be sure to do this last minute as the hot mixture will melt the chips)
*add bran, or flax seeds... raisins, cranberries (don't use the sweetened ones), oatmeal, etc.
***caution... as you are adding, be sure not to add more than the liquid mixture can handle or the bars will not be chewy, but hard and crumbly ;)
**for Christmas it is pretty to use pistachios and cranberries in the candy... and good!!**

Sunday, October 12, 2008

Bell Peppers (stuffed) ALA Aunt Ellena

*Nana says if Aunt Ellena recommends it, it's gotta be good*

STUFFED BELL PEPPERS
(from Houston Junior League Cookbook. 1968, p. 113)

½ cup uncooked rice ½ to ¾ can Rotel tomatoes
6 large green peppers salt and pepper
1 pound ground beef 1 can condensed tomato soup
1 medium onion (chopped) 1 ½ cup grated cheddar cheese
1 cup finely diced celery 1 soup-can water, or a little more
2 tablespoons bacon drippings 1 8-oz can tomato sauce
1 ½ teaspoons celery seed




Cook rice until tender. Cut tops off peppers, remove seeds, and boil pepper cases for 5 minutes. Drain. Saute beef, onion and celery in bacon drippings. Add rice, 1 cup grated cheese, celery seed and tomatoes. Season with salt and pepper;. Stuff pepper cases with mixture and place in greased, or foil-lined baking dish. Make a sauce by mixing soup, water, tomato sauce and remaining ½ cup grated cheese; pour over peppers. Bake uncovered, in 350 degree oven for about 45 minutes. Baste several times during cooking. The stuffed peppers can be frozen before cooking. Freeze separately in plastic bags with a generous amount of sauce over each pepper.

Serves 6

Post-production thoughts:

We used domestic basmati rice. Variety probably is unimportant.

We used “chunky style” Rotel tomatoes. A whole can (10 oz. probably would work.

Smaller bell peppers (about the size of a medium orange) give a more satisfactory pepper to filling ratio. This recipe would probably fill 8 or 9 peppers this size.

For future reference . . . we’ll soften (boil) a head of cabbage and try this filling, sauce and cooking time and temperature on lemon-sized stuffed cabbage rolls

Friday, October 10, 2008

Mimi's Lemon Cups (1945 recipe)

**Aunt Linda just sent this recipe that was given
to our Mimi (Mary Etta Wilson Pettersen), in 1945***
Well, then you MUST add Mimmie's lemon cups:Makes 12 custard cups
2 Cups sugar
10 Tbs. fresh lemon juice
4 Tbs, butter
rind of 2 lemons
6 eggs
pinch of salt
3 Cups milk
8 Tbs. flour
Cream butter and dry ingredients.
Pour in mixture of rind, juice, egg yolks and milk.
Fold in stiffly beaten egg whites, Pour into muffin cups.
Place cups in a pan of water and bake 45 min. @375.
Mary Jane Stevens gave this to Mimmie in 1945.

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Mimi's Gingerbread






Mimi's Gingerbread
(could anything be more of a comfort food for a time of chaos that is pressing and depressing our financial markets and the political scene?.... let's just make a pan and eat it warm with butter.. let's just remember a simpler time and know that the ONE WHO created us is the One WHO makes the plans!) A MEMORIE FROM MIM'S KITCHEN. THE BEST GINGER BREAD YOU EVER TASTED!! NANA Date: Tue, 07 Oct 2008
HI! (from Aunt Linda... Nana's youngest sister, Eric's mom) Well, we have signs of fall here (Huntsville, AL) so I made gingerbread. (Eric's favorite). I've used Mimmie's recipe all of my life, and I wondered if you have it. It's really wonderful.
 She noted on my recipe card that it came from a White House Cookbook. Anyway, here it is....enjoy;
 Cream together 1/2 cup butter and 1/2 cup sugar. 
Add 1 cup molasses, 
1 tbs. ginger, & 
1 tsp. cinnamon 
Beat in 2 1/2 cup flour then
 2 tsp. baking soda dissolved in 1 cup boiling water. 
Add 2 well-beaten eggs. 
Bake in greased pan for 40-60 min at 350. .