This is another of my mother’s (Ruthlace) recipes.  She got it from her mother.  And maybe her mother got it from her mother.  My earliest memories include making these cookies at Christmas.  We’d cut out wreaths, Christmas trees and stars, and then we’d decorate them with frosting and sprinkles.  However, they taste best, in my opinion, warm from the oven - with no frosting- and with a glass of cold milk.  What I like most about them is that they’re not overly sweet.  Here’s the recipe:

Old Fashioned Tea Cakes

1 cup shortening

2 cups sugar

2 eggs

1/2 cup milk

1 tsp. vanilla

3 cups self-rising flour

Mix all ingredients together well.  Add enough flour to make a stiff dough.  Roll out thin and cut with cookie cutters.  Place on a cookie sheet and bake at 400 degrees until lightly browned - about 5-6 minutes.

Not long after RT and I first got married in 1969, someone gave me a recipe for Angel Biscuits.  I used to make them all the time because once you make the dough, you can keep it in the refrigerator for up to two weeks - using some of the dough to make fresh biscuits whenever you’d like.  They’re really closer to rolls than biscuits, and they’re delicious.  They’re so good that my mother, Ruthlace, included the recipe in her book titled Recipes, Rhymes and Reflections.  Here it is:

ANGEL BISCUITS

5 cups self-rising flour

3/4 cup sugar

1 tsp. baking soda

1 cup shortening

3 pkgs. yeast (dissolved in 1/4 cup warm water)

2 cups buttermilk

Combine dry ingredients.  Cut in shortening. Stir in yeast and buttermilk.  Roll out and cut, as desired.  Bake in a hot oven (400 degrees)  Dough may be covered tightly and kept in the refrigerator for two weeks.

My mother, Ruthlace, makes the best dressing I’ve ever eaten.  I’ve always loved my mother’s cornbread dressing at Thanksgiving and Christmas. There just isn’t any other dressing that can compare to it.   Here’s her recipe.

 Cornbread Dressing

2 1/2 cups crumbled cornbread

1 cup dry bread crumbs (use stale rolls or loaf bread)

4 cups chicken stock

1/2 cup drippings (from cooking the turkey) or margarine

1 small onion, chopped fine

2 stalks celery, chopped fine

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. ground sage

1/4 tsp. pepper

4 eggs, slightly beaten

Combine ingredients.  Add a little more broth or water to make a thin mixture.  Bake 30 minutes at 400 degrees or until it is set.

I’m not feeling well today, and so I took the day off work.  Maybe it’s the time of year or maybe it’s because I was looking out the window and seeing all the autumn colors in the leaves, but I wanted some chili.  It took less than fifteen minutes to get it put together.  Now it’s simmering on the stove - just waiting for me to enjoy it at lunch.  So here is how I made it:

Home-made Chili

1 lb. ground beef

2 medium onion, diced

bell peppers (green, red, yellow), diced - about 1 cup altogether

3 stalks celery - including leaves, diced

2 tablespoons olive oil (needed only if the ground beef is very lean)

2 cans diced tomatoes

1 can tomato sauce (or 1 small can tomato paste)

2 cans navy beans (or whatever kind of beans you like in chili.  I just prefer the mildness of the navy beans)

chili powder (to taste - probably a couple tablespoons)

salt and pepper to taste

Heat the olive oil in a large pot.  Add the ground beef, onions, peppers and celery.  Saute until the ground beef is browned and the veggies are tender.  Add the diced tomatoes (juice and all), tomato sauce/paste, the navy beans, chili powder, salt and pepper.  Add enough water to cover everything - make it a good consistency for chili.  Stir well and simmer for a couple hours.  It’ll be ready after about thirty minutes, but it tastes much better if the flavors simmer together for a long time.  And it’ll be even better the second day.

Serve with crackers or corn bread.  RT likes to sprinkle diced onions, a dollop of sour cream and some shredded cheese on top before serving.

Later note:  The chili smelled so good simmering on the stove that I didn’t wait for lunch.  I went ahead and had a bowl of it around ten o’clock this morning.  It is absolutely wonderful!  It’s exactly what I needed today.  The navy beans (instead of kidney beans) make it easy on the digestive system.  What a great recipe - even if I do say so myself! 

Thanksgiving is almost here, and most people will have mashed potatoes as part of their Thanksgiving meal.  Here is my recipe for ”Heavenly Mashed Potatoes.”  They really are divine! 

Heavenly Mashed Potatoes

5-6 medium white potatoes

4 Tablespoons butter

1 can evaporated milk

salt and pepper to taste

Wash and peel the potatoes.  Quarter the potatoes and place in a saucepan.  Cover with water.  Boil gently until a fork inserted in the potatoes goes in easily.  Drain the potatoes and place in a mixing bowl.  Add the butter and salt and papper.  Add approximately 1/4 cup evaporate milk and mix using a potato masher.  I previously used an electric hand mixer, but that sometimes made them gluey.   So use a little arm strength to mash them.  Mash vigorously with the potato masher to make them as fluffy as possible.  You can add more or less evaporated milk - depending on the consistency you like best.  Enjoy!

My daughter took a class on making pastries.  When she left the class, her first words to me were, “I’m buying a stand mixer!”   In the class they demonstrated how useful and practical stand mixers are.  I can see why.  A stand mixer does a more thorough job than a portable mixer.  They also allow you to work more easily and efficiently since both hands are free.  We looked at a Hamilton Beach® Mixer and found that Hamilton Beach® Mixers come in a variety of designs and colors.    My favorite was the “pineapple” colored Hamilton Beach® Stand Mixer.  I think yellow appliances give a kitchen a bright, homey appearance.  However, since my other appliances are either black or stainless steel, I will most likely buy either the ”sterling” or “licorice” Hamilton Beach® Stand Mixer because those are such classic colors.   All these cool colors are part of their Eclectrics® Mixers and other fine appliances.
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Here is a recipe that definitely would benefit from using a stand mixer.  This is a recipe I’ve had for almost forty years.  It is the quintessential, absolutely perfect combination of chocolately deliciousness.  I first got this recipe back in 1969 shortly after RT and I were married.  The recipe came from his mother, Lillian, and I asked her for the recipe after tasting the pie for the first time after that Thanksgiving dinner many many years ago.

Chocolate Meringue Pie

1 cup sugar

2 Tablespoons cornstarch

2 Tablespoons flour

4 Tablespoons cocoa

2 egg yolks (save whites for meringue)

1 1/2 cups milk

1 cooked pie shell

Place dry ingredients in the mixer.  Add milk and eggs and mix until frothy.  Pour into a small saucepan and cook on medium heat until thick, stirring constantly.  Pour into a cooked pie shell.  Cool.

Meringue:  Place the two egg whites into the mixer and whip until stiff.  Fold in 1/4 cup sugar and mix until dissolved.  Spread the meringue on top of the cooled pie.  Pop into a 350 oven for about ten minutes to brown the meringue.

My mother (Ruthlace) has had this play dough recipe for as long as I can remember.  When my kids were little, we’d make it together.  It really produces some good play dough, and it’s something you can make when your kids have a last minute project to do for school or when they are just in the mood to play with play dough - and you don’t want to drive to the store to buy it.

Home Made Play Dough

1 cup salt

1/2 cup corn starch

1/2 cup boiling water

Mix ingredients well and cook over low heat, stirring constantly until dough is too stiff to stir.  Let cool and knead until pliable.  As you knead the dought, add food coloring to make the desired color.

I made this for tonight’s potluck dinner at church.  It’s my mother’s recipe for cobbler.  This recipe is really easy, and it is great whether you use blueberries, apples, blackberries or other fruit.  Here’s how I made tonight’s cobbler.

Georgia Peach Cobbler

Peach Mixture:

2 packages frozen peach slices  - thawed  (the kind that doesn’t have sugar added)

3/4 cup sugar

3/4  cup water

1 T corn starch

Add the peaches, sugar and water to a small saucepan and bring to a boil.  Mix the cornstarch in about 1/4 cup water and gradually add to the peach mixture, stirring constantly.  Simmer for a few minutes and set aside.

Cobbler mixture:

1 stick butter

1 cup self-rising flour

1 cup milk

1 cup sugar

Preheat oven to 350.  Melt the butter in a shallow baking dish in the oven.  While the butter melts, mix the flour, sugar and milk.  It will make a thin batter.  Once the butter is melted, pour the batter into the pan and bake for about ten minutes.  Remove from the oven and add the peach mixture.  Do not mix.  Bake about 45 minutes. 

By the way, it’s “Georgia” Peach Cobbler because I was born in Georgia - which makes me an authentic Georgia Peach and this is my cobbler recipe. 

This afternoon we’re having a potluck dinner.  The occasion is sad.  It will be the dinner that everyone attends after Horace’s funeral.  Our church has some exceptionally good cooks, and because Horace was so well known in the community, there will be a crowd at the church for the dinner.  I’ll be making several gallons of tea and a gallon of fresh lemonade, along with a couple of pies and a broccoli salad.  By the time I got the list, all the main dishes had already been taken.  This broccoli salad recipe comes from my sister, Debi.  It is absolutely delicious - a mixture of tangy and sweet, crunchy and chewy.

Broccoli Salad

2 bunches fresh broccoli, cut in small pieces

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

6-8 strips bacon, fried crisp, drained and crumbled

1 cup raisins

1 small onion, chopped

Dressing:

1/2 cup mayonnaise

4 tablespoons sugar

Mix broccoli, raisins, cheese, onion and bacon.  Fold in dressing.  Cover and chill.Options:  Add 1/2 cup of sunflower seeds, chopped walnuts or chopped pecans.

2 tablespoons vinegar

I was at Sonic the other day and saw that they had a new item on their menu: Macaroni and Cheese balls.  The photo looked like a ball of macaroni and cheese that had been rolled in crumbs and deep-fried.  Ugh - I didn’t feel like dragging around all day from all the fat.  So I didn’t order this.  This morning I was looking at Paula Deen’s cooking magazine, and lo and behold, there was a recipe for Macaroni and Cheese balls - deep fat fried macaroni and cheese balls.

So who came up with this idea?  I can just imagine the rationale.  There’s not enough fat and calories in macaroni and cheese.  Let’s form it into balls, roll the balls in seasoned crumbs and then deep fat fry them.  Wow!  What an idea!  Let’s take a really high calorie and high fat food and see how we can make it even higher calorie and higher fat.  Fried macaroni and cheese. That’s just crazy!