"Hi Rae! I miss you!
Here's my spaghetti sauce recipe that you asked me for ages ago. I assume you still want it. I got it from MY mom when I left home, and always made it the same way, and then when she tasted it one time after I'd made it for years, she didn't think it tasted like her sauce. ????? Anyway, try this:
brown a pound of hamburger with one or two large chopped onions (chop small)
and add two 28-ounce cans of Hunt's tomato puree. We like puree better than sauce and we like Hunt's.
Add these spices, and note that the cinnamon is a secret offered by my mom's Italian friend. A great improvement:
1 t. salt
1/2 t. chili powder (surprise)
1/2 of a large bay leaf, or 1 skinny one
1/4 t. basil
1/4 t. oregano
1/8 t. garlic powder
cinnamon--without sugar, although the sugar could be tried--I guess I use 1/4 t. of cinnamon or less
Lots of times I use double the amount of basil, oregano, or garlic--depending on who's eating. I let this sauce simmer an hour or so on very low heat if I have time to do that. It tastes a lot better then. But it's very good right after it's thrown together, too. Oh! If you want mushrooms put them with the onions when you're browning the onions in the ground beef. Fresh mushrooms are always better than canned, but I've used canned ones before. I've usually sliced the 'shrooms or used small button ones. And I forgot to say you can drain the fat off the hamburger. I forgot to say it because I don't usually do it any more. I use 93% lean beef and there's hardly any fat and the fat is where the flavor is anyway.
One more tip--For the past several years we've liked our spaghetti to be angel hair. Even the "thin" spaghetti doesn't please us as much as angel hair. Your boys might like to think about eating angel hair. And if you're really in a gourmet mood, I love this--cut a spaghetti squash in half (with a machete--that's about what it takes) and bake it 45 minutes face-down on a greased cookie sheet at 325 degrees; then scoop out the inside and it's very much like spaghetti with a nice delicate flavor besides. And it's lower in carbs than pasta, if you care about that. Dad and Maddie don't go for this as much as I do, so I don't serve it that way very often.
Bono appetito! Amore---Tu Mama"
Showing posts with label mom. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mom. Show all posts
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Pumpkin Pie
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Mom’s recipe from the old B H & G cookbook
1 1/2 C canned pumpkin (this will be one 15-oz can; be sure you don't buy "pumpkin pie filling," because that's already spiced and egged and milked and icky)
3/4 C sugar (I've used Splenda successfully too)
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground cloves (Qait's cookbook didn't even call for cloves!)
3 slightly beaten eggs
1 1/4 C milk (skim milk or reconstituted milk will work, but I usually use 2%)
2/3 C evaporated milk (this is a little more than a 6-oz can; I use the little bit of excess in scrambled eggs or something)
1 9-inch unbaked pastry shell (and the other reason people like my pies is that the crust is homemade, with coaching from the best cooks--my mother, who learned tips from my dad's mother; and Relief Society experts)
OVEN at 400 degrees
Combine pumpkin, sugar, salt, and spices.
Blend in eggs, milk, and evaporated milk.
Pour into pastry shell (have edges crimped high because amount of filling is generous). Bake at 400 degrees for 50 minutes, or till knife inserted halfway between center and edge comes out clean.
Cool. (I cool it and then chill it in the fridge for at least an hour. If you put these pies into the fridge immediately after they're out of the oven, they'll get a lot of watery fluid on top. That's okay, though. You just blot it up with a paper towel.)
Another tip: If you want to, you can pour the filling into the pie shells after the shells are placed on the oven rack. I do this when I'm being very particular, because if I slosh the filling onto the edges of the crust before the pies bake, I usually get burned areas where the filling has splashed the crust. It can be a hassle, but it's worth it sometimes. You have to have a small enough pitcher (like a 2-cup glass measure or something) and you have to keep the pitcher wiped off to prevent drips.
Dad's Rolls
ROLLS RECIPE
for Maddie’s Cookbook for Birthday #20!
From our Better Homes & Gardens (1968?) cookbook, with Dad’s changes and notes shown in boldface red font. The triple-recipe portions are also shown in boldface red font. Read the green paragraphs that follow the black ones, before proceeding with the BH & G recipe:
The roll dough recipe I use is a triple batch. There are never enough to go around and the triple batch is the largest I like to handle. It takes four hours without exception. (In saying this, Dad means it takes a four-hour block of time, but that’s mostly rising time.)
1 package active dry yeast This means 3 Tablespoons (9 whole teaspoons), for Dad’s triple batch.
¼ cup warm water ¾ cup
1 cup milk, scalded 3 cups
¼ cup sugar ¾ cup
¼ cup shortening ¾ cup
1 teaspoon salt 1 Tablespoon (= 3 teaspoons)
3 ½ cups sifted all-purpose flour 10 ½ cups, but added in portions as Dad describes in these notes
1 egg 3 eggs, and he always uses large eggs
Soften yeast in warm water (110 degrees). Combine milk, sugar, shortening, and salt; cool to lukewarm. Add 1 ½ cups of flour; beat well. Beat in yeast and egg. Gradually add remaining flour to form soft dough, beating well. Place in greased bowl, turning once to grease surface. Cover and let rise till double (1 ½ to 2 hours).
I mix the yeast and water first, then set it aside to activate (goes bubbly). (A note about temperature control. The water for the yeast must be about 80 degrees F. Just like a formula bottle next to your wrist)While that's in motion I mix the dry stuff. That is the powdered milk, sugar, salt and only 3 1/2 cups of the flour. (The triple recipe is 10 and 1/2 cups flour) Then I add really hot water from the tap (3 cups). I mix the water and the dry stuff with a blender. Then while it's still hot I add the shortening (I like crisco best). The shortening then melts and mixes better. Then the three eggs from the fridge. The eggs cool the mixture just enough to be about 80 degrees farenheit. Then I add the yeast/water mixture and blend it all up.
The rest of the flour (6 and 1/2 cups) is added to a large mixing bowl, I pour the liquid mixture in and stir with a long handle wooden spoon. It will get stiff and hard to stir. Set aside about 1/2 cup flour for keeping the roll dough from sticking to the table and for teasing the dough away from the mixing bowl. Then it all goes on the table for kneeding. Once kneeded you let it sit on the table while you clean the large mixing bowl. Then grease the mixing bowl with crisco (not a lot, just enough to allow the dough to rise and not stick). The dough goes back into the large mixing bowl. Put a cotton dishtowel over the dough so it doesn't get too dry. Let it rise two hours at 80 degrees F.
Turn out on lightly floured surface and shape as desired (“see drawings”, says the cookbook, but see Dad’s notes instead). Cover and let shaped rolls rise till double (30 to 45 minutes). Bake on greased baking sheet or in greased muffin pans in hot oven (400 degrees) for 12 to 15 minutes. Makes 2 dozen Cloverleafs, Butter Fans, or Bowknots, or 3 dozen Parker House.
After it has about doubled in volume, then dump it out on the table and kneed it again. Then flatten with a rolling pin and cut large circles with a biscuit cutter. Fold them in half and put on a pre-greased (or Pam spray) pan to rise 1 and 1/2 hours again. They can even go longer if the room is not around 80 degrees. 107 degrees in the garage is too warm.
Then bake for 10 or 11 minutes. Do not over bake. Test one pan, each oven is slightly different. They may need to cook for 12 minutes. When you take them out of the oven, get them immediately off the cookie pan and onto a rack where they can cool.
Voila, eat with butter that melts and is soooo good.
for Maddie’s Cookbook for Birthday #20!
From our Better Homes & Gardens (1968?) cookbook, with Dad’s changes and notes shown in boldface red font. The triple-recipe portions are also shown in boldface red font. Read the green paragraphs that follow the black ones, before proceeding with the BH & G recipe:
The roll dough recipe I use is a triple batch. There are never enough to go around and the triple batch is the largest I like to handle. It takes four hours without exception. (In saying this, Dad means it takes a four-hour block of time, but that’s mostly rising time.)
1 package active dry yeast This means 3 Tablespoons (9 whole teaspoons), for Dad’s triple batch.
¼ cup warm water ¾ cup
1 cup milk, scalded 3 cups
¼ cup sugar ¾ cup
¼ cup shortening ¾ cup
1 teaspoon salt 1 Tablespoon (= 3 teaspoons)
3 ½ cups sifted all-purpose flour 10 ½ cups, but added in portions as Dad describes in these notes
1 egg 3 eggs, and he always uses large eggs
Soften yeast in warm water (110 degrees). Combine milk, sugar, shortening, and salt; cool to lukewarm. Add 1 ½ cups of flour; beat well. Beat in yeast and egg. Gradually add remaining flour to form soft dough, beating well. Place in greased bowl, turning once to grease surface. Cover and let rise till double (1 ½ to 2 hours).
I mix the yeast and water first, then set it aside to activate (goes bubbly). (A note about temperature control. The water for the yeast must be about 80 degrees F. Just like a formula bottle next to your wrist)While that's in motion I mix the dry stuff. That is the powdered milk, sugar, salt and only 3 1/2 cups of the flour. (The triple recipe is 10 and 1/2 cups flour) Then I add really hot water from the tap (3 cups). I mix the water and the dry stuff with a blender. Then while it's still hot I add the shortening (I like crisco best). The shortening then melts and mixes better. Then the three eggs from the fridge. The eggs cool the mixture just enough to be about 80 degrees farenheit. Then I add the yeast/water mixture and blend it all up.
The rest of the flour (6 and 1/2 cups) is added to a large mixing bowl, I pour the liquid mixture in and stir with a long handle wooden spoon. It will get stiff and hard to stir. Set aside about 1/2 cup flour for keeping the roll dough from sticking to the table and for teasing the dough away from the mixing bowl. Then it all goes on the table for kneeding. Once kneeded you let it sit on the table while you clean the large mixing bowl. Then grease the mixing bowl with crisco (not a lot, just enough to allow the dough to rise and not stick). The dough goes back into the large mixing bowl. Put a cotton dishtowel over the dough so it doesn't get too dry. Let it rise two hours at 80 degrees F.
Turn out on lightly floured surface and shape as desired (“see drawings”, says the cookbook, but see Dad’s notes instead). Cover and let shaped rolls rise till double (30 to 45 minutes). Bake on greased baking sheet or in greased muffin pans in hot oven (400 degrees) for 12 to 15 minutes. Makes 2 dozen Cloverleafs, Butter Fans, or Bowknots, or 3 dozen Parker House.
After it has about doubled in volume, then dump it out on the table and kneed it again. Then flatten with a rolling pin and cut large circles with a biscuit cutter. Fold them in half and put on a pre-greased (or Pam spray) pan to rise 1 and 1/2 hours again. They can even go longer if the room is not around 80 degrees. 107 degrees in the garage is too warm.
Then bake for 10 or 11 minutes. Do not over bake. Test one pan, each oven is slightly different. They may need to cook for 12 minutes. When you take them out of the oven, get them immediately off the cookie pan and onto a rack where they can cool.
Voila, eat with butter that melts and is soooo good.
Monday, October 25, 2010
Whole Wheat Pancakes (from Mom)
Whole Wheat Pancakes (from Mom)
1 1/4 C whole wheat flour
3/4 tsp salt
4 tsp baking powder
3 eggs, yolks separated (The way this read at first was 3 eggs, separated, so I had this mental image of each egg being placed far apart from the others on the counter. Amelia Bedelia would think that way!)
3 Tbsps oil
1 1/4 C milk (the thicker, the better)
3 Tbsp sugar (brown or white)
Mix dry ingredients. Mix oil, milk and egg yolks in separate bowl. Mix wet and dry ingredients together. Beat egg whites til stiff, being careful not to overbeat them because that will just make them go all runny again. Fold the egg whites gently into the batter, and your batter is done.
To fold: pour the egg whites into the batter, and rather than stirring them into the mixture, take your spoon or spatula and scoop (or "fold") the batter over the eggs. Do this gently a few times until the egg whites are combined with the batter. That's what makes Mom's pancakes so fluffy-textured. Just like overbeating the egg whites would make them runny, stirring instead of folding would do the same.
I trust you know what to do with it next. :)
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