Frosting For the Cause

Baked Goods and Bloggers unite to increase awareness of Cancer

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.

My Mom’s Recipe Boxes

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.

Personal Chef for Hire

Whetting your appetite

We are moving ever closer to spring and I am contemplating new items for my personal chef clients’ menus. I thought I would whet your appetite with some pictures and descriptions of some of the things my clients have eaten lately. Some things stay on the menu year round and many things are seasonal. As you faithful readers of this blog know, I am a firm believer in eating according to the seasons. The reasons are many. The quality of locally grown in season food is higher, has more nutritive value, and is less expensive. Each season has its own energies, as does the food that grows during that time.

I must admit I am ready for the spring produce – peas, asparagus, strawberries! But, we have a few more weeks of root vegetables and squashes ahead of us. We are blessed here in California with an early spring but Mother Earth is still resting and waiting and so must we.

Here is a Winter Vegetable Stew I made for a vegetarian couple, rich with mushroom broth and locally cultivated mushrooms, winter squash, celery root, celery, onions, spinach, and sundried tomatoes which were picked and dried in the height of the season and so carry that life force in them.

A soup that sticks around most of the year is Chicken Noodle soup. Obviously, this was not for the same clients, but a family who orders soup every week. Here is where I get to be creative. I hardly ever use a recipe for soup. I have a memory of a recipe or a concept  and either see what looks good at the market and/or what is available in the fridge. This means each time it is a one of a kind masterpiece, never to be exactly repeated. This soup contains chicken thighs which I find have so much more flavor and richness, especially good for soups and stews. It also has onions, carrots, celery, spinach and noodles. This day, I used what noodles were available in the clients’ cupboards. It also has a healthy dose of garlic, and some salt and pepper.

Next up is a recipe, often requested by my vegetarian clients, from the wonderful Molly Katzen for Spaghetti Squash Pancakes. You first bake the squash and when cooked scrape out the flesh which is noodle like in shape. Personally, I have never quite gotten into using this squash as a substitute for noodles but many people do. The batter is simple with the cooked noodles, rice flour, onion, eggs, salt and pepper. I like using red onion and adding some fresh thyme. This definitely is a seasonal recipe, appearing in the fall and winter. These clients love little patties and cakes so I am sure some sort of spring pancake will be on their menus soon, perhaps peas.

Lastly is a recipe I found on a piece of paper when cleaning out my garage. I suspect it is a Zone diet recipe but I cannot give appropriate credit for it. Delicious little good for you cookies, made of dried figs, almond flour, salt, vanilla,orange zest, and a bit of coconut oil. ( the oil was not in the original recipe) Happily, they are processed sugar free, grain free, and gluten free.

Almond Fig Bites

2 cups almond meal
1 c. ( 6 oz) soft dried figs ( one of my personal chef friends suggested subbing apricots, yum!)
2 tsp. orange zest
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. salt
1 T. coconut oil

Heat oven to 325º. Lightly coat a baking sheet with cooking spray or line with parchment paper.

Blend all the ingredients in a food processor until mixture resembles coarse meal, about 1 minute.

Form dough into small slightly flattened balls  and place on baking sheet 1/2 in. apart. ( cookies do not spread during baking). Bake until bottoms of cookies are slightly browned, 12 to 15 minutes, turning pan once half way through. Cool and eat!

There is a small taste of what has been keeping me busy lately. I love my work as a personal chef. Every day is different and every client is different. Stay tuned for Spring will surely come and new ideas will emerge along with the new vegetables, fruits, and herbs.

This post is part of  GNOWFGLINS Tuesday Twister. Head over there and read all the other interesting posts, please.