Thanks to Coconut Mama, I have some new coconut flour baked goods. Being gluten free and now mostly grain free, I miss eating things some others take for granted… bread, biscuits, pizza. You get the idea.

Coconut flour is a relative newcomer on the food scene. With the rise of people interested in low carb dieting, Paleo and Primal eating, grain free recipes, the search went out world wide to find things to expand those  parameters. Coconut flour is sort of a conundrum for me. It is processed so not really a whole food. But/and, I am human and I want what I want. I am not willing to go the rest of my life without baked goods. I am willing to go the rest of my life having better health, having a healthier thyroid and all those issues which are affected by gluten. So, I am happy to include coconut flour in my diet when those carb-y urges arise. It has a really good nutritional profile, 2 Tablespoons provides the following:

1.5 g fat (1 g saturated fat)
10 g carbs (with 9 g fiber, bringing the net carb count to a measly 1)
2 g protein

(Read more: http://www.marksdailyapple.com/coconut-flour/#ixzz1j1HnrWoy)

Note how high in fiber it is. I don’t need to tell you everything that that means! Just be aware and don’t eat too much at one time. ( a good thing to remember about food in general) Drink some extra water. I find that things made with coconut flour tend to be on the dry side. Most recipes contain plenty of fat and there seems to be some chemical reason that coconut flour needs a lot of eggs for things to work. This increases the protein content of things, which is a good thing.

This is a good basic recipe for flatbread, biscuits, and beyond.  After the recipe, you will find some of my ideas for improvising. As usual with my posts, I encourage you to be creative and come up with your own explorations.

Coconut Flour Flatbread

makes 4 small bread rounds

• 3  Tablespoons Coconut Flour or 1 Tablespoon Almond  Flour & 1 Tablespoon Coconut Flour Mixed Together
• 2Tablespoon Coconut Oil, Melted
• 2 Eggs ( local and pasture raised organic)
• 1/2 Teaspoon Sea Salt
• 1/4 Teaspoon Baking Powder

For the first time in many years, I have been making holiday treats, giving them to friends and clients. Yes, I have eaten a few as well. Do I feel guilty or do I feel as if I am leading my friends down the sugary road to somewhere bad ? No. There are many many ways to indulge in some holiday cheer. I use nuts, honey, stevia, coconut oil, really good raw cacao, all organic of course.

The internet abounds with recipes and ideas galore! I owe a tip of the hat to Wardeh of GNOWGFLINS for her egg nog recipe which of course I have changed up a bit. Thanks to her commenters, too, who added their own taste.

Egg Nog
raw, real, no sugar, lacto fermented

4 cups of milk ( raw and fresh is best. I used 3 c. raw cow’s milk, 1 cup of heavy cream. You could use goats’ milk, coconut milk, make your own almond milk…)
8 yolks from eggs from pasture raised chickens ( I used 7 as some of the eggs were pretty large) ( As I have commented many times on this blog, when your eggs are fresh, local, from the pasture, there is no problem with eating the yolks raw. The chemistry of the whites is such that they are better for you when cooked)
stevia to taste ( I used the liquid kind and used 3 dropperfuls)
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp or so of freshly grated nutmeg
2 T. whey

Combine and mix in your blender. This filled one quart jar and one pint jar with a bit for the cook to taste. Let sit on the counter overnight or 24 hours. Shake well and pour into a beautiful glass. Go ahead and top with whipped cream and/or add a spoonful of alcohol ( rum, whiskey, some sort of liqueur)

Leave for Santa or not. I like to think the old guy might be ready for something lighter so I plan to offer him some fresh made juice. I recently made some for my cooking service, http://healthalchemykitchen.com ( called moving into winter juice, if you Santa Cruz folks would like to order some) I combined, in the blender, purified water, a Mutsu apple, 2 kiwis, 3 stalks of celery, a small amount of peeled celery root, and about an inch knob of ginger. Blend until liquified, strain, and drink.

I found a lovely cookie recipe in the cookbook, Sweet and Natural, by Meredith McCarty. Of course, I switched some things around.

Linzertorte Cookies

2 c. nuts, soaked, then lightly toasted and as finely ground as you can get them. ( I used purchased almond meal) ( can use almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts)
1 c. oatmeal, finely ground
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. sea salt ( I probably used a bit more, I didn’t measure!)
1/2 c. melted butter or coconut oil
1 egg
2 T. water
3 droppers of liquid stevia ( or if you want 1/4. cup honey)
1 tsp. orange zest
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/4 c. fruit sweetened jam ( raspberry is traditional, I also used ginger jam – NOT fruit sweetened but oh so yummy.)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheet with parchment or brush with oil.

Mix dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, whisk wet ingredients together and add to dry. The dough is not very wet but you should be able to form balls easily. Roll into 1 1/2 in. ( ish) balls. Transfer to baking sheet. Flatten a bit and press thumb in middle. You make have to fix some cracks and form what looks like the caldera of a volcano. Fill indentations with jam.

Bake until golden, 15 to 20 minutes.

Ho, Ho, Ho!! Enjoy a peaceful moment with a healthy beverage and some guilt free cookies . If Santa is lucky, there will be some left for him. Don’t forget the carrots for the reindeer.

We have moved into full on root vegetable season and so it is time to pull out this favorite recipe of mine. They are a frequent item on my personal chef service menus.  Today it is carrot patties but any root vegetable that you can grate works beautifully. I have made them with celery root,turnips, parsnips, as well as a mix of several different vegetables including winter squashes. These are really a version of latkes which traditionally are made with potatoes. Today they have an Asian kind of flair. You can season them however you like – like Italian ? blend in some rosemary, oregano, and maybe even some parmesan cheese. Mexican ? use squash and add in some cumin and chili. Top with guacamole.

Root vegetables in general are a powerhouse of good nutrition. They are high in B vitamins. Since they grow IN the ground, they contain lots of minerals ( as well as energetics of the earth element). They are very high in fiber. This time of year, they are abundant and fairly inexpensive.

Carrots contain lots of anti oxidants, beta carotene, and Vitamin C. In the spring we enjoy eating the tiny new carrots ( the REAL baby carrots, not the designer ones in the bags in the store) and this time of year, go ahead and eat the big ones. They are perfect for this recipe.

This is one of those recipes that constantly evolves. I have blended information from several recipes over the years, combined with experience and what my current tastes and nutritional needs are. I love that about cooking. I look at recipes as guides, as a partially filled in canvas. Feel free to add your tastes to this one.

Carrot Patties

1 c. grated carrots ( or any combination of root vegetables or squash that you like)
2 T. coconut flour
2 T. dried seaweed ( I use either wakame or dulse)
1 tsp. or more of fresh grated ginger
pepper to taste
2 fresh eggs, from pasture raised chickens
1 T. melted butter or coconut oil, as well as more for frying ( a few tablespoons)

Mix all ingredients in a bowl and let it sit for a few minutes while frying pan/griddle heats. Coat the pan with enough oil so patties don’t stick. Drop batter by large spoonfuls onto hot pan. You decide if you want them small ( if you are having this as a side dish) or larger ( for a main course). Cook a few minutes on each side.

I have served them with a simple sauce of tahini and miso ( about 3 parts tahini to 1 part miso, mix in 2 parts water) and have also enjoyed eating them plain. I think they make a fabulous breakfast!

* The photographer in me feels compelled to apologize. The carrots were indeed a deep beautiful orange color. I have yet to master the art of using my phone camera for inside pictures. This process today has definitely inspired me to replace my non working ( non phone) camera.

First, my camera seems to be out of commission so I have scoured the archives instead of taking pictures at the market today.

Cabrillo Farmer’s Market ( today I went to the downtown Santa Cruz market, but you get the idea)

I have been out of town the last few weeks and eating other peoples’ cooking. Add to that the fact that summer produce is at its peak, I got a bit carried away today at the Farmers’ Market. I had two very full and heavy bags! My refrigerator is full and now I have to be on top of things so that none of it goes to waste. I thought I would go through my purchases with you and my plans for them.

I am hungry for fruit this week. I bought strawberries which honestly will probably just be eaten as is. I am surprised I didn’t eat all of them already! Windmill Farms of Live Oak has the best berries I have ever eaten! Yum.

I bought plums, a new to me variety called Yummy Giants and yes, they are. They are for a cooking trade with a friend and will become hand pies.

I bought lacinato kale, basil, cilantro, and cucumbers from Route 1 Farms. I ate some of the kale tonight with green beans also gotten at the market from Mell-o-dee Ranch, from whom I also got some eggs, corn,  and blackberries. The eggs are going into some homemade mayonnaise amongst some other things. Basil and Cilantro will become pesto, which I have written about here. Cucumbers are being combined with lemons from my tree to become soda. ( a future blog post there) The corn is being pickled tomorrow, based on a variety of recipes I found on the internet. ( also, a future blog post, provided I get my camera working!) Blackberries will be blended with some kefir tomorrow morning for a smoothie.

I treated myself to some raw cream from Claravale Dairy. I am lactose intolerant but occasionally I put raw cream in my coffee substitute drink in the morning and it doesn’t seem to affect me in the same mucus-y way that pasteurized dairy does. We are so lucky here in this part of California to have this dairy . Almost daily, I read on the internet stories of raw milk dairies being raided, shut down by the FDA. Please educate yourself on this subject and support your small local dairies.

I came home with a nice sized newly “processed” pasture raised chicken and a small bag of chicken feet from Fogline Farms in Soquel, Ca. I will roast the chicken and have enough for probably 4 meals. I am likely to eat the legs and thighs as is. I will make some chicken and fig salad from the breast. Then, the carcass and some of the feet will be turned into delicious chicken bone broth. That, in turn, will go in the freezer for future use.

I also got carrots and radishes which will go into salad and just for munching. Thanks, Blue Heron Farm.

A bottle of Mint Cooler from Creative Cultures rounded out my purchases. After momentarily forgetting where my car was parked and having to carry those heavy bags a few more blocks than planned, it gave me a boost for sure!

Please use the comment section to share what you have gotten recently at your farmers’ market.

I am not sure when it started but a few well known food bloggers had a conversation about pie and soon #pieday was created. It is a  day for food bloggers, food lovers, cooks and chefs to make a pie, take a picture of it, post it on Facebook, Twitter, write a blog post about it. I can’t imagine very many people in our culture anyway who don’t like pie. This event has become a pretty big phenomenon. If you use either Facebook or Twitter I encourage you to go and explore the huge world of pie. Go here for the Facebook event page. Go to twitter and do a search using #pieday ( the “hashtag” is what enables you to see ALL the tweets that have to do with pieday)

I love savory pie. And I have been craving meat, so I created a savory Carnivore Cottage Pie. I wish I could give credit to the blogger from whom I got the crust recipe but the link is long gone. so, thank you, faceless Paleo diet practitioner. The crust is the only part I really have a recipe for. It would have been better had I had a recipe for the rest as I forgot to put some eggs into the filling which would have held it together nicely. Instead, it fell out of the lovely crust. Tasted good, yes, but not so pretty for a photo! As with all my recipes, improvisation is the name of the game and this could have almost infinite combinations of ingredients.

Carnivore Cottage Pie

crust:
5 c.organic almond meal/flour
4 T. cold organic butter, cut into small pieces
2 organic eggs ( please use ones from pastured chickens)
1 tsp. salt

filling:
I used a small onion and a couple cloves of garlic which I sauteed in some leftover bacon fat. Use what oil/butter combination you prefer. I added about 3/4 lb. of turkey sausage, and a couple big handfuls of beet greens, salt, pepper, some Penzey’s Summer in Paris seasoning. This is a good time to use leftover veggies. I had thought of putting mushrooms in, but forgot!

Place almond meal and salt into the food processor.  Pulse in the pieces of butter. Add eggs and mix until it comes into a ball. Dump onto a piece of parchment paper, wrap, and cool in the refrigerator for 30 minutes or so. This dough is pretty fragile before baking. Divide into two balls and roll carefully into circles for your pie pan. I used a deep dish baking dish and pushed the dough carefully up the sides.I put a few slices of pork pate over the dough and sort of spread it around.  Add the cooked filling which you have mixed with a couple of eggs. Cover with the other rolled out crust and gently press the edges together.

Bake at 350º in the center of the oven for about 30 minutes. Yummy!

This post is also part of Traditional Tuesdays and Real Food Wednesdays blog hops. Hop on over and check out the other posts.

I have been experimenting a lot lately with pesto. I have long loved the Italian classic sauce . It is quite yummy on noodles, potatoes, vegetables, and meat.  I am not very tolerant of dairy so didn’t indulge in pesto too often. Last year a friend suggested that I try making it with miso instead of the parmesan cheese. Why not ? It has that good salty umami flavor plus it provides some probiotic fermented goodness. That led me to experiment with making other changes.

What are the basic ingredients of pesto? Let’s take them one by one and make a list of substitutes/variations.

green herb – Classic pesto is made with basil. This is a summer herb, so what can we do the rest of the year ? Here in Central coastal California, we have farmers’ markets year round so I just go and see what is available. In the fall and winter you can use arugula, parsley, spinach. In the spring comes dandelion greens, sorrel, fava greens. Summer herbs are cilantro, basil, as well as many of those other herbs continue to be available. Try some nasturtium leaves ( just a few as the taste is pretty strong, but good for you).  See what else you can find that you might like. Watercress ? try it.

garlic – For a party once which had a tropical theme, I made a Hawaiian style “pesto” with ginger instead of garlic. ( The other ingredients were cilantro, macadamia nuts, olive oil, and a bit of sesame oil). I usually stick with the garlic, but experiment!

nuts- Classic ingredient is pine nuts. Lately, they are ridiculously expensive so thinking of options is good. Walnuts are so good for you, high in the good omega oils so mostly now I use those. Try other nuts for interesting flavors.

oil – Again, the classic choice is olive oil. Other oils such as hemp and flax oils can be added for more nutrition.

cheese – Now I always sub miso for the cheese. I like the dark aged kind the best but you might like the milder flavor. If you also are intolerant of dairy, please do not use soy cheeses. They are so over processed and really have no nutritional value and in fact all that processed soy may be harmful.

I don’t measure things in this recipe really. I just add things until they look or taste right. Trust your instincts.

Pesto with room for improvisation

1 cup walnuts, soaked overnight and drained
2 bunches of herbs ( my latest was a bunch of basil – I stripped the leaves off and didn’t use the big stems, and cilantro)
1-2 cloves of garlic
1 big Tablespoon of miso
1/2 – 1 cup of oil ( mostly olive plus a few Tablespoons of hemp and flax oil)

First, process the nuts in the food processor. Add the other ingredients ( you may need to add one bunch of greens at a time, process it so there is room for the next bunch, depending on how big the bowl of your processor is). Add a few Tablespoons of water if you feel it needs thinning. Taste and decide if it needs more oil, maybe some pepper or some other herb. Not salty enough ? add some more miso.

This recipe is really just a framework and is the perfect opportunity for experimenting and improvising. Please use the comment area and let me know how you like your pesto.

Frosting For The Cause is a monumental endeavor by Paula Kelly. It is a full year of posts from bloggers and participants honoring/celebrating/mourning women we all know with cancer, and celebrating them with a baking project. Oh the stories! Oh the yummy recipes! Not only is this project raising awareness but the participants pledge to donate money and baked goods. Please go take a look. This is my contribution. ( I wrote about this recipe once before but it is time for a revisit)

I found out in November, 2010 that my mother had bladder cancer. I was with her in the Dr.’s office when she got the news. She knew right away that she didn’t want any heroic measures but she and her doctors decided that surgery to remove her bladder was a good option for her. It turned out that maybe that wasn’t the best course. I returned to Pennsylvania the end of January of this year to be with her for her surgery. It was a difficult road for her to recover from that surgery. The challenge of learning to deal with her ostomy and the bag that required proved to be too stressful and too difficult. During all that needed to be done in preparing for her surgery, it was discovered that she had some cancer in/on her spine and a suspicious area in her liver. The first few days after her bladder surgery, she and I did the New York Times crossword puzzle as we usually did when we visited together. Soon, it was apparent recovery was not going well. She had much pain and began to lose her ability to walk and stand. We had a succession of family members come and monitor/be advocates for her in the hospital and subsequent nursing care. About 6 weeks after her surgery, her children gathered at her bedside to witness her dying. It was a challenging and beautiful time. I learned much about my mother in those last months of her life.  I spent my whole life watching her struggle with her really non existent weight problem, denying herself the pleasure of eating what she wanted. The last few years of her life, she would say that when she got to age 90, that she would give herself permission to eat whatever she wanted. She died at 89 and the last week she finally gave herself permission to eat dessert and boy did she enjoy it. I always thought she didn’t like chocolate but every day that last week of being conscious and eating she had chocolate frozen yoghurt for lunch and chocolate ripple ice cream for dinner ( and several days, not much else). I am happy she got that chance to indulge. Mom, this chocolate frosting is for you!

Baked Gluten Free Coconut Flour Doughnuts

1/2 cup of coconut flour
1/4 teaspoon of sea salt
1/4 teaspoon of baking soda
6 eggs
1/2 cup of honey (or other sweetener)
1 tablespoon of vanilla
1/2 cup of unsalted butter (coconut butter, coconut oil, or regular oil will work as well)

option – add 1 T. of cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, 5 spice powder, or powdered ginger

Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl. I always sift the coconut flour. Mix together the wet ingredients in another bowl and add to the dry. Mix well. This is when an electric beater comes in handy. You also could use a food processor. One of the tricky things about using coconut flour is that it gets quite lumpy in the process of mixing and requires a bit of effort. If doing it by hand, I recommend using a fork to facilitate the breaking up of the lumps.  Fill the baking pan ( I got my doughnut pan at King Arthur Flours) about 2/3 full. Bake for about 20 minutes in a preheated 350º oven. Let them cool completely and then you either can just lift them out with your fingers or gently use a fork.

There are many options for topping as well as just leaving them plain. I melted some 70% cacao content chocolate, added a few T. of cream and frosted mine. You could make a glaze of powdered sugar and your favorite flavorings (  a bit of orange juice, maple syrup, or vanilla extract). You could glaze them with a bit of honey. Yum!

I live in California and my mom lived and died in Pennsylvania. I so wish I could send these doughnuts to the wonderful nurses and aides who took care of her but the complications and expense of doing that overwhelm me. So instead, I will be offering some donation of cooking time and money to WomenCare of Santa Cruz, Ca. ( http://www.womencaresantacruz.org/index.html) and giving a nice big plate of doughnuts to the daughter of one of my personal chef clients who is having her own struggle with several kinds of cancer. She doesn’t eat gluten and her children love sweets so, a good solution.

I miss you, Mama, and I miss your help with those “darn” crossword puzzles.

Spring is traditionally a really good time to cleanse our digestive systems. The energy of Spring is that of new growth, of change, those seeds have to push through the dirt to find light. Fresher food is more available. For the most part, the weather is warmer. Not so much the last few weeks here in Central California! It has been raining a lot.

I decided with the excited support of my nutritionist with whom I work to do a 21 day raw food diet. I have ( had) gotten too set in my ways what I was willing to eat and not eat. I had been partaking of too many ( albeit WAY less than in the past) starchy carbohydrates and grains. Dairy, to which I am intolerant, was creeping back in….. mmm, cheese! raw cream! so, this felt really right. I am at almost 2 weeks now and going strong. I am following an omnivore raw diet. This means that I am eating some raw fish, raw egg yolks which I have written about here, and no, it is not raw but have had a bit of seared very rare meat. I have had a bit of raw goat cheese as well. I eat as many vegetables as I can including some that are fermented, a couple of portions of fruit a day, nuts and seeds, and plenty of fat in the form of coconut, olive, flax, and hemp oil.

Yes, I have been hungry. Yes, I have had equal moments of being gloriously satisfied.

I feel different. I have lost some weight. ( I haven’t weighed myself in a very long time, but I can see it and feel it). My ankles aren’t as swollen. My joints are no where near as inflamed. I am sleeping even better than before. It will be interesting next week when I start adding in more meat, cooked veggies how I continue to feel. It will be a good time to really tune in. Do I feel better because of no grains? no chicken? Or, do I feel better because of how many vegetables I am eating ?

So, no cooking per se which is weird for me. But, lots of chopping and mixing and creating interesting things. The food dehydrator has come out a few times. Here are a few photos of some concoctions.

An old standby, beet and carrot salad, I have enjoyed it with tahini miso dressing, occasionally with some walnuts, and occasionally wrapped up in some nori like a sushi roll.

I love this version of seaweed salad, found long ago on the internet. I would love to give credit but now I cannot find it so thank you to someone out there in the seemingly infinite world wide web. The basic ingredients are green apple. wakame seaweed, and avocado. I mostly stick with this and make a dressing out of different kinds of oils, coconut vinegar and a raw egg yolk. Truly, the egg yolk just disappears into it. If you click on the wakame link, you will discover as I did that it is a very invasive weed that can do damage to boats, etc. It is so nutritious, I wonder what this all means for the future of eating it.

Not such a great photograph but oh so delicious. Cafe Gratitude Cafe in the San Francisco Bay Area is a pioneer both in their delicious raw cuisine but also in how they do business. I have raved about their onion bread in another post. Here is a Spinach Tortilla from their cookbook. I topped it with a bit of kefir cream and some salmon and halibut ceviche. Sadly, it was gone in a few bites.

So, another week to go. I do look forward to having a piece of chicken and some roasted vegetables. It feels good that the simple things are what are calling to me. We will see.

Are you intrigued by the raw food diet ? My friend mentioned above is leading a raw food cleanse starting with an informational meeting this coming weekend. Please click on the link above and you will learn more about it, or leave a comment here.

The more deeply I have pursued my own personal growth and my career as a personal chef, I have discovered such a need for community. There have been studies which show that having community is one of the elements of having a long healthy life. I have been part of a spiritual community for many years which has become my family and my deepest friends. I belong to a couple of online personal chef communities which gives me information and support, recipes and helpful tips. There have been gatherings in “real” life and those connections have also become deep and important to me.  There is a community of people who support the same ideas I have about nutrition, the political side of food, and cooking, both on line and in everyday life. I work alone, I live alone, and I am always looking for places where I feel comfortable gathering with my peers.

Some of my friends and colleagues and I have decided to do more to create that food community, that gathering of peers to celebrate our good fortune and blessings here in Santa Cruz County, the bounty of good food here, and people who are passionate about what we eat and where it comes from. Together with my friend Noelle Noli, Craig Lane from Health Alchemy Nutritional Services, and the good folks from Santa Cruz Local Foods, I am organizing a dinner.

This event will take place June 17, 2011 at the Masonic Temple in Santa Cruz, starting at 5:30 PM. We will have a socializing time, then dinner will be served family style ( a chance to sit with new friends), followed by some brief speaking, dessert, and some networking time.

We believe in eating seasonally, organically, using local and ethically produced products.

I am excited about the chance to work with these people and to create an absolutely delicious beautiful meal and an opportunity for people to get together and explore our connections. I hope you are too!

our menu:

Flax breads and flavored ghees
Wildcrafted herb and flower salad with several kinds of salad dressing
Sauteed Greens
Beef Ribs or Tempeh with Cherry Chipotle Glaze
Chia pudding Trifle with fresh berries and Lavender whipped cream
probiotic sodas, water

Cost: $40 per adult, $20 for children
Tickets available through PayPal ( account # charitydas)

more information , charitydas@me.com

Memories of Food gone by…

I have spent the last few weeks taking care of my mother and then sitting by her bed side as she died of cancer. Now comes the time of going through her things, clearing out her apartment, examining her life, and contemplating all that goes with the death of a loved one and what comes next. My mother was a great cook and I have written previously here about learning to love cooking from her. I have so many happy memories of cooking together, cooking for our family, making desserts for my dad. I have memories of great meals and of family traditions based on food.  In the course of sorting through things, I have been given my mom’s recipe boxes. What a treasure and how sweet it has been to look through and see what she thought was important to cut out of a newspaper and to find some of the family classics. I thought I would share a few and some story that goes with them. I wish I had good photos of some of the recipes. As you can imagine as recipe keepers yourselves, they are tattered and stained and full of history.

One of the ones that I was anxious to get is an old family favorite – Prune Cake. This recipe is handwritten on an old envelope along with a to do list on each side. That day, she went to the cleaners, the Hospital, Rentzsche’s ( which I think I remember was a clothing store), talked to or saw Marjorie, and a few things I cannot read. According to the other list she called Helen, who was her friend until her dying day, Mildred, Audria and Rich. The last three I do not remember. The envelope is totally covered with food and oil stains. This was a well used and well loved recipe. I have no idea of its origins though I did find several references on the internet and other blog posts with pretty much the same recipe.

Prune Cake

for the cake:

1 1/2c. sugar
3 eggs
1 c. buttermilk
1 c. oil
1 c. chopped cooked prunes
2 c. flour
1 t. salt
1 t. soda
1 t. nutmeg
1 t. cinnamon
1 t. allspice
1 c. chopped nuts
1/2 tsp. vanilla

Sift flour and spices, salt, and soda. Add sugar, stir in oil and beaten eggs, buttermilk, nuts and vanilla. 40 minutes at 300º. ( I am thinking this goes in a  9x9in. pan which I would grease)

for the sauce:

1/2 c. buttermilk
1/2 tsp. soda
1 stick oleo ( ! ) ( I would use butter)
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 cup sugar
1 T. Karo syrup

Cook 7 minutes after it boils. Stick cake with fork and pour sauce in and over. ( poke a lot of holes and the sauce seeps down into the cake. After it cools, these places become super yummy!).

My brothers were the recipients of this cake many times throughout summer camp, boarding school, and college. They and their friends can attest to its deliciousness! ( It mails quite well as it is dense)

The other recipe I found which made me smile deeply was my mom’s Party Meatloaf. My mother loved to give parties and did regularly. This meatloaf was on every menu for many years.

Party Meat Loaf

3 1/2 lbs. ground beef
1 beaten egg
2 cups milk
2 cups bread crumbs
6 T. minced onions ( she used the dried ones, reconstituted)
4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
4 T peanut butter ( I always thought it had more in it than that, just enough to give it some creaminess I guess)
1 1/2 T horseradish
1 1/2 T catsup/ketchup

The only instructions are ” 2 hours. 350º

I would free form them on a parchment lined baking sheet after mixing all the ingredients thoroughly but gently.

I found many other recipes, given by friends on their personalized recipe file cards, things cut from our local Celina Ohio newspaper, some from the New York Times, many of unknown origin, a few in my handwriting which as a child was much better than it is now including my famous blueberry muffins which were part of a 4 H project which became a classic family story. My project was creating a simple meal. Mine was a tomato stuffed with either chicken or tuna salad ( I cannot remember but think probably tuna), melon balls, and a muffin. We had learned about menu planning, about making the plate look nice, about using different colors. I took that part very seriously and dyed the milk I served green and flavored it with mint! I was sad at the County Fair to only get a red ribbon instead of blue. When I asked about it, I was marked down because everyything was round! Thus was my first lesson in food styling.

I so look forward to making these old favorites and trying out some of the one she obviously enjoyed over the years. I will treasure having this connection to my mama who took such great care to make sure her family was well fed and got such great satisfaction out of cooking.