A STROLL DOWN MEMORY LANE - with recipes

Save this recipe for Christmas. It was sent to me by my friend, Kathy Goodyear. It was given to Kathy by Mrs. Evelyn Harwood at the cottage on Hawk Lake, Ontario, during the summer of 1980.

RICH CHRISTMAS PUDDING.

I lb. seedless raisins
½ lb. sultanas
½ lb. currants
½ lb. candied peel
½ lb. glace cherries
Juice and rind of one lemon
Juice and rind of one orange

½ lb. flour
Pinch of salt
1 tsp mixed spice
½ lb. bread crumbs
½ lb. Demerara sugar
1 lb. chopped suet
8 eggs
1 bottle of Guinness
½ cup brandy

Method: Combine the ingredients in a large bowl, cover and let stand overnight. Add more Guinness or brandy if mixture is not of dropping consistency.

Pour pudding into greased earthenware bowls and cover with grease proof paper or greased brown paper, tie down tightly and steam the small bowls for about 6 hours and one large bowl for about 8 hours.

Steam the puddings in a large steaming kettle with a holding rack or on a rack in a large Dutch oven prepared with boiling water. Cover the kettle and keep the water simmering to about half way up the bowls. Mrs. Harding prefers to put the kettles with the puddings into a 300 degree oven. Add water if necessary.

Advice from me: Christmas cakes and puddings improve if they are prepared at least one month before using them. I used to wrap my cakes in cloths dipped in sherry, then with Saran wrap and then with foil. They will keep for months and months.

This is my last recipe on A STROLL DOWN MEMORY LANE – with recipes. I may return when I receive more recipes to share. Thanks for coming by. Anita
www.anitabirt.com

A STROLL DOWN MEMORY LANE - with recipes

I am pleased to offer you another recipe from Becky Mushko. She sent family pictures to go with the recipe but they wouldn't transfer to my blog. If you'd like to see them, you'll find them on Becky's blog: http://peevishpen.blogspot.com Becky is a writer living in Virginia. Below is the recipe for Light Bread and the story behind the recipe.


"One of the delights of my childhood was going to Grandma’s house on Sunday and smelling her light bread baking. Eating it hot from the oven was even more delightful. She had both a wood stove and a gas stove in her kitchen. She used the wood stove for baking the bread and for most of her cooking. I rarely saw her use the gas stove.

Mattie Blanche Nace Ruble—who lived to be 97—grew up in Lithia, Virginia, but moved to Roanoke when she married a railroad man.

Grandma probably got the recipe from her mother, Sulmena Frances Spence Nace."


Grandma Ruble’s Light Bread

1 cake or package of yeast
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon shortening (Crisco works well)
6 cups plain flour
1 teaspoon of salt
1 pint lukewarm water

Dissolve 1 cake yeast and 1 Tbs. sugar in one pint lukewarm water. Add 1 Tbs. shortening (Crisco) and 3 cups plain flour. Beat until smooth. Then add 1 tsp. salt and 3 more cups of flour—or enough to make a dough that is easily handled.

Knead the dough until smooth and elastic–about 10 minutes. Place dough in greased bowl, cover, and set in a moderately warm place, free from drafts, until light (about 50 minutes).

Punch down dough and form into rolls. Place rolls in greased bread pans, cover, and let rise one hour. Bake 30 minutes in preheated 350 degree oven.
~~~
I liked the rolls from the corner of the pan—crust on two sides so it held up well for buttering.

To readers of my blog, I really need more recipes. This recipe is number twelve. They are available to anyone interested in receiving a copy. You can find them on my blog if you scroll down and down - but if that is tedious, send me an e-mail with the requested recipe and I'll send it to you. Here's my e-mail address. anita.birt@gmail.com

I have had six books published. One non-fiction and five romance novels. For information about my books and to view book covers and synopsis of each book, go to my web site:
www.anitabirt.com

Anita

A STROLL DOWN MEMORY LANE - with recipes

This recipe came from Becky Mushko who lives in rural Virginia. I was delighted to receive it - my first from the United States. Becky wrote, "when I was a kid my Great Aunt Leona Ruble Davy and her husband (she called him Buddy but I don't know his real name) would come from their new Castle home to visit us around Easter. She usually brought me a fruit and nut chocolate covered egg. Sometimes it had my name in icing on it."

Becky says, "I'm not much of a cook but I've made this spoon brad before and it is wonderful. I wonder how much more wonderful it would be baked in a wood stove?"

If you'd like to meet Becky, here's the link to her blog. http://peevishpen.blogspot.com where you can read her comments about Great aunt Leona.

Leona's Spoon Bread

1 cup boiling water
one-half cup corn meal
1 tablespoon butter
one-half cup sweet milk
one and a half teaspoons baking powder
one-half teaspoon salt
2 eggs, well-beaten
Pour one cup boiling water over one-half cup corn meal. Beat in 1 Tbs. butter, one-half cup milk, one and a half tsp. salt, and 2 beaten eggs. Pour into a greased baking dish. Bake until set.
This would be at 400 degrees for 20 or 30 minutes in a modern stove. Serve hot with butter.

Make my day, please leave a comment. If you have a spare moment or two share one of your favourite recipes with me on my blog. Send the recipe to: anita.birt@gmail.com

Weather report from the west coast of Canada. After weeks of lovely spring weather, daffodils in bloom, the flowering trees making the streets magical, we are back to chilly, windy days. I live by the sea and there are white caps on the waves. I've been for a walk all wrapped up in my red winter jacket and a woolly hat on my head.

Anita
www.anitabirt.com

Peevish Pen: Old Family Recipe: Spoonbread

Peevish Pen: Old Family Recipe: Spoonbread

A STROLL DOWN MEMORY LANE - with recipes

I have fallen behind with posting recipes. I've been "poorly." Nothing major. Enough to slow me down and my family urging me to rest.

My friend, Ruth Farrow, gave me two recipes for Shortbread. One from her grandmother and the other from her Great Aunt Zena, her grandmother's sister. When Ruth was ten her grandmother and great aunt vied for Ruth's attention. Her grandmother, a clever seamstress, made Ruth a pretty blue dress. Her great aunt, not clever with a needle, also made Ruth a dress. It wasn't a great success but Ruth loved it. Below are the recipes.

Great Aunt Zena's Shortbread. A true Scot's recipe!

1/2 pound of butter
1/2 cup berry sugar
1/2 cup of rice flour
1 3/4 cups of flour (One and three quarter cups)
Dash of salt.

Sift the dry ingredients
Knead the dry ingredients into the butter. Form two rolls, wrap in plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator.

Slice into cookies (should be thick enough not to burn. I'd guess at least one quarter inch. My mother used the same recipe and pressed the butter/dry ingredients into round cake tins and baked them slowly. For the cookies. 275 F. for 20 minutes Longer for the kind my mother baked. She's no longer with me so I can't ask her any questions.

Ruth's Grandmother's Shortbread

1 lb. butter
1 cup light brown sugar
4 cups flour
dash of salt.

I think the dry ingredients can be stirred up by hand. Brown sugar would stick to the flour sifter.
Ruth assumes the cooking instructions are the same as for her Great Aunt Zena's recipe.

Butter makes everything taste good. Please don't substitute margarine. Treat yourself once a year to real Shortbread made with real butter. Julia Child used butter wildly. Her recipes call for butter for browning meat, onions, garlic.

I'm looking for recipes from all over the planet. I have two from a reader in Virginia. They'll be be posted tomorrow. Please send me your favorite old recipes to: anita.birt@gmail.com

I have a list of all the recipes posted. If you remember seeing one and lost it, drop me a note and I'll send it to you.

Anita
www.anitabirt.com