NASCAR's Tony Stewart's Shrimp

Well, Max, now that it FINALLY feels like Fall Football Weather, Tailgating Parties are becoming fun again. Of course, Kentucky’s recent exciting football wins–and spectacular losses–add to the Saturday afternoon excitement. Since I don’t care all that much about football, I concentrate on the Tailgate Party end of it.

Ours is a competitive bunch of Football Widow-Tag-Alongs. Every week it is who can come up with the most interesting dish. Last week’s hands down winner was Bev Miller with her “Tony Stewart Smoke’s Shrimp.” The fellows were inhaling this appetizer even before she told us that this recipe came from the well known NASCAR driver. At that point, all the men demanded another round of this neat grilled shrimp.

The Smoke’s in the name, according to Bev, is Stewart’s nickname. So we kind of have a little play on words here?

NASCAR or Tony Stewart lover or not, this is one Smoking Good Recipe!!

NASCAR’s Tony Stewart’s “Smoke’s” Shrimp:

One pound of large, uncooked shrimp
Garlic powder
Dried onion flakes
12 ounce package of bacon
Pepper
Jar (18 to 20 ounce) smoky style barbeque sauce

Peel, clean, and devein the shrimp, but leave the tails on. Rinse well. Dry with a paper towel and season with garlic powder, onion flakes, and black pepper. Guys like them SPICY

Pour the smoky barbeque sauce in a glass or corning wear type casserole, about 8 x 8 inches like the CorningWare French White Casserole. Cut each slice of bacon in half and wrap around a shrimp. Secure with a toothpick. Place shrimp in the marinade and store in the refrigerator for at least an hour.

Grill the shrimp over low heat until the bacon begins to turn crisp. They can also be broiled in the oven.

Serves 6. That’s normal people. Hungry guys at a football game? Might serve 2 or 3.

Best White Bread

Now that it has finally settled down to our normal brisk Fall weather, I had to make bread today. My recipe comes from an old (1969) Farm Journal cookbook and was simply entitled “Best-Ever White Bread.” And it is about the best too. I added the egg for richness and came up with the Raisin Loaf from some other recipe.

Erma, your alcohol enhanced ways have rubbed off on me. I wouldn’t think of using raisins straight from the package in any of my cooking after I tried your trick of keeping several packages soaked in lots of bourbon so they are nice and plump, and extra flavorful. One should always “test” these raisins by eating a few while you are cooking. All women need the iron in raisins, and the bourbon sauce makes the cooking go faster.

I found this cookbook at my library on the library discard shelf. Each book was a quarter and there are some real dogs on the shelf, but occasionally you come across a real gem and “Homemade Bread” was a diamond in the rough. Over the past few years, I have collected all of the Farm Journal cookbook I can find. You know they are good because they are always stained and very used looking.

A highlight of each month as a child was the arrival of the “Farm Journal Magazine.” There was a kid’s page, and a nice women’s section with down-home, comfort recipes for farm wives who didn’t have access to a lot of fancy ingredients or time to prepare elegant meals.

Erma, if you ever come across some of their cookbooks, grab them. They are our kind of food. Their one on food preservation is my Bible on canning and preserving foods.

Farm Journal’s Best-Ever White Bread and Raisin Bread:

2 cups milk
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon lard or shortening (butter works too) (see how old this recipe is?)
1 egg, slightly beaten
1 package dry yeast
¼ cup warm water
6 to 6 ½ cups flour

Original recipe said: “Scald milk.” Today we only have to bring the milk up to medium warm in a saucepan, then stir in sugar, salt and lard. Cool to luke warm.

Sprinkle the yeast on the warm water and stir to dissolve.

When yeast is dissolved and milk mixture is about body temperature, pour the milk, yeast and 3 cups of the flour into a large mixing bowl. Beat with a wooden spoon until batter is smooth. You could also beat for about 2 minutes in a mixer.

Slowly begin adding the remaining flour until you have a soft dough that leaves the sides of the mixing bowl. Turn onto a lightly floured bread board. Turn the mixing bowl over the dough and let sit for at least 10 minutes.

Begin kneading by hand (or in a mixer with a dough hook) and knead for about 10 minutes. You may need to add small amounts of flour so the dough does not stick to the board. At end of the kneading, pour a bit of oil into the bottom of a mixing bowl. Turn the dough so that all surfaces and sides of the bowl are greased.

Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 ½ hours. Punch the dough down, and divide into 2 loaves. Place into two 9 x 5 x 3 inch loaf pans that are greased, if not Teflon coated. Cover and let rise again until doubled, which will be about an hour.

Bake at 400 degrees for 35 minutes until a deep golden brown and hollow sounding when thumped. Remove at once from pans and place on wire cooling racks to cool. For a softer, shiny crust, lightly oil or butter the tops.

As soon as the bread is cool enough to cool, cut a slice to sample and slather on the real butter. This step is essential. You would not want to serve your family an inferior bread, would you?

To make a superb Raisin Bread (I always make one loaf Raisin Bread.) Go to the point when you have kneaded the bread well and divide in half. Set the plain loaf in one small bowl. For the other half spread the dough out with your hands and sprinkle on about ¼ of a teaspoon cardamon and a generous ½ teaspoon cinnamon. Knead for another minute or so until the spices are well mixed in the bread. A few streaks may remain, but that just adds interest to the loaf.

When the dough has raised, again pat it out into a rectangle. Sprinkle on a thin layer of brown sugar, a light dusting of cinnamon, and as many raisins as you like. Press raisins into the dough. Roll the dough up tightly so there are no air pockets in the dough. Continue as with regular bread.

This makes a wonderful breakfast toast by slicing and buttering one side of the bread. Bake in a hot 400 degree oven for several minutes, turn over and bake another minute or so until lightly toasted. Watch carefully as once it begins to brown, it cooks fast.

Old Time Hint: When you are shaping your dough into loaves, use a rolling pin to roll out the dough. This removes the bubbles of air that makes holes in the bread.

Celebrate Fall with Apples

Dearest Max, it has finally cooled down, and I am beginning to feel human again. Well, I’m never exactly human, but as human as I can be. It must be old age, but the extended heat has been a real trial for me–not to mention my poor yard and garden.

We haven’t a single apple on any of our trees, so I had to break down and buy some Jonathon Apples Saturday so I could make some apple recipes. It bothers my frugal Scotch soul to have to BUY apples, there are supposed to be free on my trees!!

I made the French Apple Pie with the Nutmeg Sauce from last week and it was delicious.

With Halloween coming, I also start thinking of pumpkins and doughnuts. As you know, I really don’t like the popular glazed doughnuts. My favorites are the cake type doughnuts. A Saturday afternoon treat would be to go to the hole-in-the wall Ward’s Bakery and buy one of their crunchy cake doughnuts dusted in powdered sugar. For Halloween, my mother could sometimes be persuaded to make up a big batch of our nutmeg flavored cake doughnuts. Alas, all the calories and fats in deep frying have made those treats a rare occasion.

Apple Doughnut Muffins are a compromise. They taste like a good cake type doughnut, but are baked. Calorie Enhanced they still are, but not quite a bad as deep fried. Problem is that they are so good, that one tends to eat more than one of them at a time. Diet Disaster.

Apple Doughnut Muffins:

2/3 cups soft butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs, beaten
3 cups flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon nutmeg
Pinch of salt
½ cup oil
1 cup, chopped, peeled apple
Melted butter
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons cinnamon

Cream the butter and 1 cup of sugar in the mixer until light and fluffy. Blend in eggs. Mix the flour, baking powder, nutmeg and salt in a small mixing bowl. Alternate blending in the flour mixture with the milk. Stir in the finely grated apple.

Spoon into greased or silicone muffin cups. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. As soon as you remove the muffins from the oven, dip them into the melted butter and then roll (or shake in a paper bag) in a mixture of the remaining cup of sugar and the cinnamon. Coat well.

Fall Pumpkin Cake

After all I said Max about my lack of cake decorating skills, I hesitate to pass on this great Fall Pumpkin Cake recipe. It came originally with directions for that Seven Minute Frosting which I can not make. When I make it in layers, I use a brown sugar carmel type frosting which is good and anyone can make. It is also nice baked in a big cake pan and topped with a frosting with coconuts and walnuts like what goes on a German Chocolate Cake.

Can anything be more Fall than Pumpkin?

Fall Pumpkin Cake:

½ cup solid shortening
1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 beaten eggs
1 cup canned pumpkin or winter squash
3 cups cake flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
½ cup milk
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 teaspoon maple flavoring

Cream the shortening in a mixer and slowly add the sugars, eggs, and pumpkin.

Mix the flour, baking powder, and baking soda. Add alternately with the milk. Finally with a spatula, fold in the walnuts and maple flavoring.

Pour into 3 8” round cake pans that have been greased. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Cool on a cooling rack. Frost with your favorite frosting, but a caramel brown sugar seems to be best.

Fall Breakfast Casserole for Tailgating

I had not thought of mulling Apricot Nectar before, but it sounds rather interesting. I like the fact that you make it up ahead of time and can store it in the refrigerator. If you were serving this is a punch bowl, or chafing dish, you could stick a few whole cloves in the other half of the lemon sliced as a decoration.

We joined the old gang Saturday morning for a Tailgate Party before the game. At first we would bring a cold picnic lunch, and then people started bringing in hot dishes, and soon the guys were barbequeing, and now that everybody comes early to the games we have to arrive so early that we begin with breakfast. Some fans stay and have a late night dinner after the game!

So now, it’s not just fix a couple of dishes to share, it is fix TWO meals to take.

There are all kinds of versions of this Breakfast Casserole around, but this one is easy and transports well. When I fixed it Friday night, I chopped in a bright red pepper for color.

Hearty Breakfast Casserole:

8 eggs
7 slices of bread
1 pound mild cheddar cheese
4 cups milk
1 package sage breakfast sausage crumbled
2 teaspoons dry mustard
Dash Worcestershire sauce

Use a firm bread, such as French or Italian or Whole Wheat. Trim off the crusts and save for another use. Cut bread into 1 inch cubes. Place the break on the bottom of a 9 x 13 inch pan. Beat the eggs with a hand whisk in a large mixing bowl. Stir in remaining ingredients. Pour over the bread. Cover and refrigerate overnight. Cook at 350 for 1 hour and 15 minutes.

Serves 4 to 8 depending on the size of the servings and what else is on the menu.

Unusual Fall Hot Apricot Drink

Guess who HAD to buy a jug of cider Saturday at the store? Max, dear, it would not be Fall without real cider. Not that pasteurized apple juice that people try to pass off as cider. We sometimes buy up some at the end of the season and let it turn into Hard Cider. Now that is a drink! It is what our ancestors drank all winter.

All right, Max, I can hear you now. “There goes Erma with her alcohol enhanced recipes.” So? Hard Cider has to be full of vitamins, minerals, and other such necessary stuff. Remember, that it is All Natural–which must count for something.

If you tire of Cider, and I never do, try this unusual Fall drink. Mulled Apricot Nectar is a nice change from the more usual hot Mulled Cider.

Mulled Apricot Nectar:

1 can (46 ounces) apricot nectar
½ lemon, sliced
2 sticks cinnamon
15 whole cloves
8 whole allspice berries
Sugar or honey (optional)

In a heavy saucepan bring everything to a boil and then simmer gently for 5 minutes. Taste after a minutes or so and see if you want to add a bit on sugar or honey for a sweeter nectar.

Remove pan from heat, cover and let stand 30 minutes. Strain. Reheat when you are ready to serve. Makes about 5 cups.

Quick and easy Fresh Coffeecake from the Midwest

Yep, Erma, it definitely is Fall gingerbread weather.

Here is another quick and fool proof “cake” recipe that you, the clueless cake decorator, can use. No frosting, or decorating at all.

Coffeecakes like this were a staple of every household when I was growing up. We used to make them up in the morning and as soon as they came out of the oven, we drove them out to the fields for a midmorning coffee break where the men were harvesting the corn or soybeans.

Like a lot of my other favorite foods, this kind of coffee cake seems to have gone out of style, and I can’t understand why. They are so easy to make. And, heaven knows, fresher and better than the bear claws on the grocery shelves. Thirty minutes, thirty-five tops, and you have a fresh from the oven, home made coffeecake!

As this cake bakes, some of the crumb topping “flops” down into the coffee cake, giving it a great flavor and a marbleized look. I think Flops were a New England thing.

Midwest Cinnamon Flop Coffeecake:

1 cup brown sugar
½ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ cup butter
2 cups flour
2 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons solid shortening
1 ½ cups sugar, white
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup milk

In small mixing bowl, mix the brown sugar and cinnamon; cut in the butter with a fork until you have crumbs.

Mix the flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl.

Cream the shortening in a mixer, and gradually beat in the white sugar. Add egg and vanilla and beat well. On low speed alternate mixing in the flour and milk. Pour into an 8” square greased baking pan. Sprinkle on the brown sugar crumbs. Bake at 425 degrees for 25 to 35 minutes until golden brown. Serve warm.

Yields 8 servings. And yes, you can dress it up with a few chopped nuts.

Real New England Gingerbread for Fall

A school Fall Festival. Now, doesn’t that bring back some memories? Seems like we baked for days. I always brought in cookies, or brownies, or your Rice Crispy Squares, and I am sure you know why. I just couldn’t compete with the fancy cakes. Yes, I know that I make some really excellent homemade cakes. It’s that whole decorating thing that eludes me.

I keep saying that I should take a Cake Decorating Course and learn to pipe on little flowers, and names, and such. But, let’s face it, I would probably fail Cake Decorating I. I have illegible handwriting, does anyone think that I could do better with a pastry bag? The poor instructor would not doubt take me aside after a few disasters and offer to refund my money.

It was little consolutation that my cakes tasted great, and that I knew some of those beautifully decorated things were really straight out of a box. Mine just were not eye catching. Okay, they were eye catching, but for all the wrong reasons. So I stayed with safe cookies.

Which sort of brings me to one of my all time favorite cake recipes: Old New England Gingerbread. “Old New”? Anyway, Max, you know what I mean.

The first cool fall days and I begin to think of making Gingerbread. I loved it as a kid, AND you don’t ever decorate it with frosting!!

This has to be one of my oldest recipes. It dates back to our early days when all I had was one of those weak little Portable Electric Hand Mixers that would barely beat eggs. I remember distinctly that it struggled to even mix a box cake.

Somewhere in those first years, I came across this recipe, and I wrote down in my Cooking Notebook that, “This authentic New England recipe came from the “Boston Post Newspaper.” It was first published in the 1930’s and is still there most requested recipe.” Of course, that was in the 1960’s. Who knows if New England ladies are still making Gingerbread?

My notes go on to say that, “There is NO ginger in this recipe, and that all the early Gingerbread recipes did not include ginger.” Wonder if that is true?

Anyway, I made this a lot in those pre-decent mixer years as you can mix it all by hand. It is at its best served warm (Bless you, Oh microwave) and with a hot Lemon Sauce.

Old New England Gingerbread:

1 cup sugar
½ cup solid shortening
1 teaspoon salt
½ cup real molasses
2 eggs
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon cloves
1 cup boiling water

Beat the eggs slightly in a large mixing bowl with a hand whisk. Add everything else but the boiling water and stir until shortening is in small lumps. Pour on the boiling water and stir by hand until the shortening is completely blended in the batter.

Pour into a 13 x 9 x 2 inch baking pan that has been well buttered. Bake at 325 degrees for about 30 minutes. Test as for any cake.

Serve with a hot Lemon Sauce.

Fall Treat Recipes

Erma, I never fail to be amazed at how our minds seem to focus on the same thing at the same time. There you were celebrating the beginning of fall with a fragrant pot roast, and I was busy making batches of Rice Crispy Squares to the Fall Festival at the grandchildren’s school. And I thought that the days of baking for school carnivals was over when the kids graduated? Ha! Since it is only us grandmothers who have the time (and lack of brains) to spend hours in the kitchen baking, here we are years later still cranking out the baked goodies.

One of the things Cate specifically requested for the Bake Sale was that old 1950’s standard Rice Crispy Squares. “No problem,” I said. Guess what? They no longer print the recipe on the cereal box anymore. I actually had to spend quite a while hunting through old cookbooks to find the recipe. I found lots of “improvements” like adding M & M’s, candy bars, nuts and such. Frankly, the original is still the best. It must be, as the things sold like hotcakes at the Home Baked Treats Booth.

By the way, don’t ever, ever buy the already made Rice Crispy Squares. They are dreadful!

Rice Crispy Squares:

¼ cup butter
36 regular sized marshmallows (about half of a standard 16 oz package)
½ teaspoon vanilla
5 ½ cups Rice Crispies

In a large saucepan melt the butter over low heat and then add marshmallows. Cook and stir until all marshmallows are melted. Remove from heat and pour in the cereal. Stir well and stir in the vanilla.

Pour at once into a well buttered 13 x 9 x 2 pan. Press down lightly so cereal sticks together. Use the back of a large cooking spoon that has been buttered to press down the cereal. Cool and then cut into bars with a serrated knife.

Fall Meat Recipes-Pot Roast

Max, look at the calendar. It says October, and that means that FALL is here!! The heat is over (okay, so it is still unusually hot here) and now we can think of cooking hearty recipes with things like pumpkin and apples. I have become more than a little tired of summer salads, and so, even though it is still quite warm, I made Classic Fall Pot Roast Sunday.

Is there a man alive who does not love Pot Roast? Such a homey dish, and easy, and cheap. Usually I put carrots and potatoes in to cook with the roast, but this version with its rich gravy is supposed to be served over noodles which says to me that it had its origins in Germany or Austria. The long marinade soak says, to me, that this is supposed to be a pretty tough cut of meat–which is good as the selection of beef roasts, at a reasonable price, lately seems to be poor.

This is a recipe that also works well in a Slow Cooker like the CorningWare Slow Cooker. Just use the low setting for about 6 hours.

Classic Fall Pot Roast:

3 to 4 pound beef roast (with or without bone)
Meat tenderizer (optional)
2 large onions
2 tablespoon sugar
1 lemon
1 tablespoon ginger
1 tablespoon salt
12 black peppercorns
1 ½ cup red wine (can substitute apple juice)
2 tablespoons shortening
2 tablespoons flour

If using, sprinkle roast with a little meat tendizer and then place in a casserole dish with a cover. Slice the onion and lemon and mix with all the seasonings. Then add the wine or apple juice. Pour over the roast. Marinade should half cover the roast.

Marinade, covered, in the refrigerator for 24 hours. Turn the meat several times. Next day drain the roast and save the marinade.

Brown the roast on all sides in shortening in skillet or heavy kettle with lid. Simmer with the saved marinade, covered, for 3 to 4 hours, adding additional wine or liquid if necessary.

Remove the meat and keep hot. Blend the flour with a small amount of water and stir into the remaining marinade in the skillet. Bring marinade to a boil and scrape all bits of meat off the bottom of the skillet. Add the flour/water and cook until thickened.

Slice the roast and serve the marinade gravy over the top.

Serves 4 to 6 depending on how many males you are serving.