Cheese Sauce

Driving home from the grocery store this evening (yes - I'm fully aware one should figure out dinner prior to going to the grocery store), I had a real craving for mom's cheese sauce. Thankfully, it didn't take too long to locate the recipe in the Hearthside Cook Book. I was totally impressed with how fast it whipped up. Wouldn't take any longer than mixing up Kraft Dinner... and without the chemicals!

Cheese Sauce

2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp flour
¼ tsp dry mustard
1 cup milk
¼ tsp salt
Dash of pepper
1 cup shredded cheese

Melt butter in saucepan over low heat.
Mix dry mustard into the flour, add to the melted butter and blend well.
When the mixture bubbles, add cold milk and cook and stir over moderate heat until the resulting sauce is smooth and thickened.
Add seasoning and blend.
Add cheese and stir over low heat until melted and smooth.

How I made the mac and cheese above:

Made cheese sauce.

Cooked noodles.

Fried up some onions.

When everything was ready, I tossed all together with a pinch of cayenne pepper and popped into a 180C oven for approx. 20 minutes.

Side note: For as long as I can remember, mom babysat kids at home. She made their lunches, so that all the kids would be eating the same food and wouldn't feel left out. This was their favorite sauce... so I know for a fact that this is a kid favorite!

Christmas Pudding

I must be mad... or a glutton for punishment... because I'm attempting to make Christmas pudding again. The last time I made it, I boiled the pot dry, which is never a good thing!




The recipe calls for a cup of mixed fruit. I ended up chopping up way more than needed, but guess I can use that in the next recipe... fruitcake. (I used a mix of dried pinapple, apricots, prunes, currants, apple and pear.)

Christmas Pudding

Ingredients
1 cup sultanas
1 cup mixed fruit
½ cup butter
½ cup brown sugar
2 eggs
¾ cup flour
Pinch of baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg
2 tbsp rum (or brandy)


Method
Put fruits in a bowl, sprinkle with rum (or brandy), leave overnight.
The next day, cream butter and sugar.
Add eggs.
Add fruit.
Add flour.
Add the pinches of spices etc.
Grease a heatproof bowl.
Place mixture inside.
Double foil and cover tightly.
Place in a double boiler and boil for 4 hours. Don’t let water run dry!
Serve with custard, crème anglaise or rum sauce.







What your pudding should look like prior to double foiling and cooking it in the double boiler.

Cookie Update!

It's holiday baking time again!! I made mom's shortbread cookie recipe again... and updated the original post with pictures. Click on the link below to be taken to the recipe.

Shortbread Cookies

Uh oh... now that I've mastered the shortbread cookies... I guess it's on to Christmas pudding and fruitcake. Do I dare!?

Pumpkin Pie

Just in time for Thanksgiving... mom's pumpkin pie recipe. Sometimes pumpkin pies can taste, well, pumpkin-y. This one has a nice texture and flavor, thanks to the condensed milk. (In my opinion, condensed milk makes everything taste better... the minute the can is open, I'm in there with a spoon!) Happy Canadian Thanksgiving everyone!




Pumpkin Pie

1 – 9” unbaked pie shell (see pastry recipe)
1 – 14oz can pumpkin (400ml)
1 – can condensed milk
2 – eggs
1 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp ginger
½ tsp nutmeg
½ tsp cloves

Preheat oven to 220C.

Beat eggs lightly in a medium bowl. Add pumpkin, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves and stir well until blended.

Blend in condensed milk. Pour into pie shell.

Bake at 220C for 10 min. Reduce oven temp to 180C and continue baking for 45 min. longer or until knife inserted in center comes out clean.

Cool and top with whipped cream and grated sugared ginger.

Donna’s tip: Cut out tiny pasty ‘leaves’ to edge pie crust with.

Spaghetti Sauce

Sadly, I was not born Italian. I think they’ve got it going on... food, coffee, style, architecture... they know how to live! Having pale freckled skin, fuzzy red hair and a habit of putting my foot in it, I couldn’t be more different from the olive skinned, dark silken-haired, sophisticated Italians. However, I am proud to say that our family has our own spaghetti sauce. It has been nurtured over many conversations with mom on the phone, many notes, and many pots of spaghetti sauce. Thing is, every time, the sauce tastes a little different. Sometimes it’s good... other times it’s simply fantastic. It’s better the next day, and freezes well. Many times I’ve heated up spaghetti leftovers, sat down to eat it, and ‘sunshine-on-a-cloudy-day’... this meal is fabulous, just what I needed!

So, while I may not have been born Italian... there’s still the chance that I could marry an Italian! As long as he can get past my bad habit of putting my foot in it!

Spaghetti Sauce

Tbsp olive oil
Package of extra lean ground beef
Clove of garlic, chopped
1 onion, chopped
1 tbsp Italian Spice
1 can tomato sauce
1 can stewed/canned tomatos
1 tbsp Ketchup
Pinch of cayenne

Heat olive oil in saucepan over medium heat.
Add onions and garlic and fry for a minute or two.
Add ground beef and Italian spice, fry till beef is cooked.
Turn beef mixture into a stock pot over medium heat.
Add cans of tomatoes, Ketchup and cayenne.
Bring to a simmer and simmer for half an hour or more.
Serve with spaghetti pasta.

Optional: add handfuls of chopped vegetables... carrots, zuchinni and peppers are all great in this sauce.

Author’s note: This was my favourite meal growing up. Every birthday dinner, it was spaghetti with garlic bread for dinner and angel food cake with pink icing for dessert.

Happy Birthday

May 2
Remembering mom on what would have been her 70th birthday today. I made this cake and cupcakes for her 68th birthday... also made homemade pizzas and had some of her friends around for dinner. In regards to the birthday cake... yes, I am my mother's daughter!

Fried Scones

Dad was raised in Northern New South Wales. Apparently, his mom was a good cook, and dad often spoke about her fried scone recipe. Mom and I attempted to perfect the fried scone recipe... we got it as close to dad's taste memory as we could. We think that his mom saved up the fat drippings in a jar all week, and then fried the scones in the drippings at the end of the week to use it up. How eco-friendly is that? (Though not sure what it would do to your insides!)



Fried Scones

Use the basic Scone recipe

Heat olive oil in a frying pan over medium heat, enough to shallow fry.
Roll out scone recipe and cut into rounds about 1" thick.
Place scones in hot oil.
Here's the trick... cover the frying pan with a lid while the scones are frying... this will trap the heat in and cook the scones in the middle.
It takes about two minutes a side over medium heat to cook the scones.
Serve hot with golden syrup.

Lazy Daisy Cake

I've made this recipe a couple of times now, and love it! The cake is really easy to make... and very yummy too.



Lazy Daisy Cake Cake

1 cup sifted cake flour*
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
3/4 cup sugar**
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup milk, scalded***
1 teaspoon vanilla

Topping
1/2 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
4 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons cream or evaporated milk
1 cup shredded coconut

For cake:
Preheat oven to 350F. (180C)
Sift flour once, measure and resift twice with the baking powder and salt.
Beat eggs with a rotary beater until very light.
Add sugar gradually and continue to beat until thick and lemon colored.
Fold dry ingredi­ents into egg mixture, gently but thor­oughly.
Combine butter with scalded milk and vanilla and add to batter, stirring un­til blended.
Pour into a greased 9 by 9 by 2-inch pan and bake about 25 minutes, or until done.
Re­move from oven and cool.

For topping:
Combine sugar, butter and cream and cook over low heat until butter and sugar are melted.
Remove from heat, add coconut and spread on top of the cake.
Place about 2 inches under broiler heat and brown lightly, about 5 minutes.
Re­move from the broiler and serve warm or cold.

*Cake Flour: An easy way to do this is to put 2 tablespoons of the cornstarch into the bottom of a 1 cup measure, then fill to the top with flour.

**Recipe calls for 1 cup of sugar, but mom switched it to 3/4 as 1 cup is too sweet. But if you like it really sweet, by all means make it 1 cup!

***Scalding: Many older recipes called for you to scald milk, that is, to bring it nearly to a boil and stirring. Scalding served two purposes, to kill potentially harmful bacteria in the milk, and to destroy enzymes that keep the milk from thickening in recipes. Pasteurization, however, accomplishes both of those goals, and since almost all store-bought milk in Western countries is pasteurized these days, scalding is essentially an unnecessary step. Another reason some recipes continue to call for scalded milk is that they simply want you to heat the milk first, as it will speed the cooking process, help melt butter, dissolve sugar more easily, etc.

Pie Finishes

From the Canadian Robin Flour cookbook... ways to finish your pie crust. Mom was perfect at the ruffle edge. I've tried and tried, but can never get the edge as flawless as she did. Guess I just need a little more practice! (The "Glamour Tops' subtitle makes me giggle. Bling was alive and well in the 50s, so it appears!)

Apple Pie

Mom's apple pie was so good, it has spoiled me for any other. Flaky crust, and the absence of cinnamon in the apple mixture ... it melts in your mouth. (Mom and I were in agreement that cinnamon takes away from the apples. Especially low-grade cinnamon in store bought pies that taste of grit.) The only way to improve this pie is with a dollop of whipped cream on top.

(How classic is this 1950s illustration of the doting housewife serving her husband a homemade apple pie?)

Apple Pie

1 recipe pie dough - click here for recipe
8 medium sized apples (about 5 cups, sliced)
3/4 cups of sugar
1 tbsp flour
1 tbsp corn starch
1/4 tsp salt
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon butter

Preheat oven to 450F.
Peel, core and slice apples.
Combine the sugar, flour and salt in a bowl and blend thoroughly.

Add sliced apples to the sugar mixture. (Mom sometimes started the cooking process of the apples in the microwave for a minute or two.)
Line a 9-inch pie pan with half the pie dough rolled 1/8 inch thick.
Arrange sliced apples and sugar mixture in the pan. Drizzle lemon juice over the top, then dot with butter.
Adjust the top crust, cutting several vents to allow for the escape of steam.
Trim and seal the edges and bake in a 450-degree F. oven for 15 minutes, then reduce the heat to 350 degrees F. and con­tinue to bake for 45 minutes longer, or until the apples are tender.

Fried Scones

Dad was raised in Northern New South Wales. Apparently, his mom was a good cook, and Dad often spoke about her fried scone recipe. Mom and I attempted to perfect the fried scone recipe... we got it as close to dad's taste memory as we could. We think that his mom saved up the fat drippings in a jar all week, and then fried the scones in the drippings at the end of the week to use it up. How eco-friendly is that? (Though not sure what it would do to your insides!)

Fried Scones

Use the basic Scone recipe

Heat olive oil in a frying pan over medium heat, enough to shallow fry.
Roll out scone recipe and cut into rounds about 1" thick.
Place scones in hot oil.
Here's the trick... cover the frying pan with a lid while the scones are frying... this will trap the heat in and cook the scones in the middle.
It takes about two minutes a side over medium heat to cook the scones.
Serve hot with golden syrup.

Pancakes

Pancakes

1 1/3 cups flour
2 tbsp sugar
3 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
1 1/4 cups milk
1 egg
3 tbsp melted shortening or salad oil

Sift flour into mixing bowl. Add sugar, baking powder and salt; stir well to blend.
Combine milk, egg and shortening in a small bowl. Mix well.
Add liquid ingredients to dry ingredients. Beat with a rotary beater until smooth.
Grease hot griddle for first pancakes only. Pour batter by 1/4 cupfuls onto griddle. Bake until puffy and bubbly. Turn and bake other side.
Yield 10 6” pancakes.

When we were kids, dad would make pancakes for us every Saturday morning. He would shape them into Mickey Mouse ears... we thought he was the bee's knees!

Ice Cream

Thought this was an appropriate time to share the picture of mom's ice cream scoop and grandma's ice cream dish... we always waffles topped with ice cream and syrup.

Waffles

Waffles

1 1/3 cups flour
2 tbsp sugar
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup milk
2 eggs, separated
1/3 cup melted shortening (or oil)

Sift flour into mixing bowl. Add sugar, baking powder and salt. Mix well to blend.
Combine milk, egg yolks, and melted shortening. Mix well.
Add liquid ingredients to dry ingredients. Mix well.
Beat egg whites until stiff. Fold into batter.
Bake on preheated waffle iron until golden brown.
Yield 4 9” square waffles.

I added the picture of the recipe for Dale... he was reminiscing about the illustrations in the cookbooks. They are kind of cute and retro!

Yorkshire Pudding

Yorkshire Pudding

1 cup flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup milk
2 eggs
1/2 cup cold water

Preheat oven to 200C (400F).
In a bowl, sift the flour with the salt.
Make a well in the flour mixture and add the milk.
Beat vigorously.
Add the eggs, one at a time, beating thoroughly after each addition.
Beat in ½ cup cold water, beating until bubbly on top.
Put batter in fridge for 1 hour before using.
Pour into well greased muffin tins and bake in oven for 30 minutes.

I do recall mom making this in the blender... so you could just add ingredients into the blender as listed in the steps above.

This is a great addition to a roast beef dinner... especially when you have dinner guests as bratty as I was who refused to eat beef!

Happy Birthday to Me!

It's my birthday today... so I've created a collage with a collection of cakes mom made for my birthday each year: One, a bunny; Two, a snowman; Three, a doll with a dress; Four, Hansel and Gretel's house; Five, Hickory Dickory Dock clock; Six, appears to be what is still my favorite... angel food with pink icing. These were the days before Martha Stewart... mom was inspired by the Australian Woman's Weekly cookbooks. (Click on pic to see an enlarged view.)

Garlic Press

Retro Garlic Press - A blog needs photos to make it interesting, I know. I'll try to post some pics of food soon, but I'm not that organized ... for now, I just have photos of objects...

Shortbread Cookies

2 cups sifted flour
1 tsp cornstarch
1 cup butter (room temp)
1/2 cup icing sugar

Set oven to 130C (270F)
Sift together flour and cornstarch.
Cream butter until smooth.
Add icing sugar and continue creaming till fluffy.
Add flour mixture, and mix till mixture is crumbly, then smooth.
Place in fridge to set. Roll out dough to desired thickness. (Dad always liked his shortbread to be thick.)
Place on ungreased cookie sheets and bake for 40 min, or until cookies are pale gold.


Cream together butter and icing sugar.


Add flour mixture and blend till smooth.

Roll out dough and cut shapes.

Place on baking sheet and you're ready to bake!

Mom made these every Christmas... she used cookie cutters to punch out shapes: partridge, moon and star. The partridge was special, as it got a silver ball for an eye. She would make them early on in the Christmas season, then hide them so that the flavor would mature. It drove me crazy, as they are my favorite cookie, and I wanted to eat them right away!

Scones

Scones

2 cups flour
3 tsp baking powder
Pinch of salt
½ cup butter – cold and cubed
1 cup milk

Preheat oven to 205C (400F).
Mix dry ingredients.
Cut in cold butter with pastry cutter or use fingers until mixture resembles fine bread crumbs.
Add milk all at once with a metal spoon.
Tun out onto floured surface and pat out with fingers until approx. 1” thick.
Cut out into desirable shapes.
Brush tops with milk if desired.
Bake for approx. 12 min or until golden brown.

Note: handle scone mixture as little as possible. Too much handling results in hard scones.

Mom used to roll out the entire mixture to make either cheese rolls or cinnamon rolls - 'cindies' as dad called them. Dale has perfected the cindy recipe, and we still have to perfect the cheese recipe... so I will post those variations once they've been tested ;)

Refrigerator Bran Muffins

Refrigerator Bran Muffins

1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup margarine (or oil)
2 eggs
2 cups buttermilk
2 1/2 cups flour
2 1/2 tsp soda
1 cup boiling water
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups All Bran
1 cup Nabisco 100% bran
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup raisins or dates

Add boiling water to bran and raisins. Let stand until cool.
Sift together flour, salt and soda.
Cream together sugar, butter and add the flour mixture.
Add the bran mixture.
Bake in muffin tines at 400F for 15 – 20 min.
This mixture can be kept in the fridge until you need a batch of fresh muffins.

Notes:

* I omit the raisins, cuz I don't like them!

** I use All Bran for both bran portitions of the recipe.

Festive Layered Salad

Festive Layered Salad

1 cup small macaroni shells
4 cups shredded Romaine lettuce
4 carrots, pared and cut into 2-inch sticks
1 pkg (10 oz) frozen green peas, thawed
1 small red onion, halved, sliced crosswise and separated into rings
1/2 pound piece cooked ham, cut into 1/2 in cubes (2 cups), optional
1/2 cup shredded Swiss cheese (or Cheddar)(2 oz)
1 1/2 cups mayonnaise
1 tsp curry powder
2 hard cooked eggs, cut into wedges

Cook macaroni shells following package directions. Drain well in a colander. Cool to room temperature.

Place lettuce in an even layer in the bottom of a 3-quart clear glass bowl. Arrange the carrot sticks in an even layer over the lettuce. Cover with a layer of macaroni, then the peas, onion and ham. Sprinkle the top with the cheese.

Combine the mayonnaise and curry powder in a small bowl. Mound the dressing in the center of the salad. Arrange the egg wedges around the dressing. Cover with plastic wrap. Chill several hours.

Just before serving, toss well to coat. (Or you can leave it in the layers and it will get mixed as it gets dished up.)

Serves 8

This was titled 'Festive Layered Salad' from the Family Circle 1984 clipping! This was a potluck classic... and if we were lucky, there would be leftovers the next day, when it was even tastier, if possible. I often crave this salad... though it's slightly large for a meal for one!

Hearthside Cook Book

This Watkin's Hearthside Book was published in 1952 and cost $2.50! There are some great cakes and pies in it that were mom's standbys. I baked the classic Lazy Daisy (a white cake with a toasted coconut topping) out of here tonight... but I still need to work out the bugs in the recipe and ensure it's up to scratch before I can post it!

Lemon Snow

1 1/4 cups sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
1 1/4 cups water
3 eggs, separated (yolks, slightly beaten)
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 tbsp butter

Combine sugar and cornstarch in a saucepan. Add the water gradually, stir until smooth.
Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens. Remove from heat.
Stir small amount of cooked mixture into beaten egg yolks. Add egg mixture to remaining cooked mixture in saucepan.
Return to heat and bring to boil, careful not to let the mixture burn on the bottom of the pan. Remove from heat and stir in lemon juice and the butter.
Beat egg whites until they form soft peaks and fold into filling mixture. Cover and refrigerate until set.

I emailed mom to ask her for this recipe, and this was the note at the bottom when she emailed the recipe back: Try to remove the "white umbicks" from the eggs lest you find a lump in your pudding when it is your mouth!!!!!

( You can substitute the lemon juice for 1/4 cup of passion fruit juice.)

Lasagne Florentine

1 tbsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 onion, finely chopped
1 lb (500g) ricotta or cottage cheese
1 pkg (300g) frozen chopped spinach, thawed and well drained
1 cup (250 ml) shredded mozzarella cheese
1 jar – (500 ml) pasta sauce (your favourite flavour)
½ cup (150 ml) water
9 Catelli lasagne noodles

Preheat oven to 180C (350F)

Heat oil in a saucepan and cook garlic and onion until tender.
Combine ricotta cheese, spinach, half of the mozzarella cheese and onion mixture.
Combine sauce and water, mix well.

In a 9x13 baking dish:
Lay out 3 lasagne noodles.
Spread half cheese mixture over noodles.
Spread 1/2 sauce mixture over noodles.
Top with with 3 more noodles.
Spread remaining cheese mixture over noodles.
Top with remaining noodles, sauce, then extra mozzarella cheese.

Cover and bake for 45-50 minutes. (You may need to remove the foil just at the end if the cheese hasn't quite browned up yet.)
Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

Tips... if using ready to eat lasagne noodles, still soften them in boiling water before using them.

Butter Tarts

l/3 cup butter
1/2 cup corn syrup
1/2 cup brown sugar
2/3 cup raisins (or dried cranberries)
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/4 tsp. salt
1 egg


Melt butter in small saucepan remove from heat and add corn syrup, brown sugar, raisins, vanilla and salt.
Beat egg slightly and add to above mixture - mix well.
Spoon mixture into pastry lined muffin cups about 2/3 full.
Bake @ 350 for about 20 minutes, until pastry is golden brown - check as time may be less if smaller tarts are made.
Loosen edges with pointed knife and allow tarts to cool at least 10 minutes before removing fron tins.

For pastry lined muffin cups; make 1 yield of pie crust recipe. Chill. Roll out and cut out circle shapes to fit muffin tins.

Pie Crust

What better start to the recipe blog with none other than the pie crust recipe... the foundation for many of mom's recipes. If memory serves me correctly, this recipe originated with mom's mom, Mary.

Pie Crust

2 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 cup shortening
1 egg
Milk to suit

Place 1 egg in a measuring cup. Beat slightly and fill to ½ mark with milk.
Combine flour, salt & baking powder in a bowl. Work shortening into the dry ingredients, then add milk/egg mixture.
Place in fridge to set.
Yields top and bottom crust for a pie.

(*Note – Coarse salt and the Crisco stick that comes in the new 3 pack makes for an even flakier crust. We discovered that at Christmastime when I made mom's chicken pie. Recipe to come soon.)

Intro

I've been working on collecting recipes from my mother's collection to go into a recipe book to share with my brothers. However, the book is taking much longer than expected. I have started this blog to share recipes with them as I go... and anyone else along the way.

I have called this blog Three Teaspoons of Sugar: 'Three' for the three of us children, 'Teaspoon' because teaspoons are just cute little things, and 'Sugar', because sugar is just another word for love.

I have tested all the recipes posted here, and to the best of my knowledge, you should get the correct results from them. Please feel free to email me if you have any questions, comments or concerns.