Pumpkin Muffins

       When I think of fall I think of pumpkins. Pumpkin muffins to be exact. Natalie loves all things pumpkin and she loves these muffins! These muffins are especially pumpkiny and spicy. It seems to be that either you really like them or you really don't. When Grace was in college a few of her A Capella friends spent the weekend with us. Whenever we have overnight company I usually do a little baking. I baked these muffins for her friends. Her friend Jake happened to be one of the ones who didn't especially like them. He didn't know it until he tasted them. He was trying to be tactful about it and was holding his muffin with only one bite taken in his hand on his lap. So it looked like he had eaten it. That is until Daisy grabbed it out of his hand and startled Jake. Did I mention you either really like them or you don't? Well, Daisy really liked them. When I apologized to Jake for Daisy's behavior and offered him another muffin he politely refused. Lesson learned - you can't please everyone but you can always please a Labrador.

Pumpkin Muffins

1 can of pumpkin

1 box of golden raisins (it makes a difference- the golden or white raisins look pretty in this recipe)

1 cup water

4 eggs

2 1/2 cup sugar

1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 1/2 tsp ground cloves

1 tsp salt

2/3 cup canola oil

3 1/2 cup flour

1 tbsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

Soak raisins in the water. Do not drain.

Combine eggs, pumpkin, sugar, spices, salt, and oil. Beat well. Stir in raisins and water.

Combine dry ingredients and then mix together with the wet ingredients and mix until just combined.

Spoon batter into greased muffin tins. (Actually I use cut little paper liners. it makes clean up so much easier. I use an ice cream scoop to fill them.)

Bake at 400 for 25 minutes. Yield about 3 dozen muffins, give or take.

And this dear daughters is what your pumpkin muffins will look like if you are absent minded like your mom and leave out the baking powder and baking soda. I guess that's what happens when I try to blog and bake on a school night. They are still pretty tasty even if they aren't light and fluffy. 

 

Pumpkin Muffins: Take 2

This is what they are supposed to look like.

Making Pizza

     When you girls were little I used to make homemade pizza on Friday nights. In those days we lived in the burbs on the northwest side of San Antonio. Daddy worked for an insurance company that was located in north central San Antonio. It was 20 miles away give or take depending on which route he took. With the city traffic it was at least half an hour one way. Sometimes he took the VIA bus. Although the bus saved wear and tear on our older cars it could take him quite a while to get home. This one Friday he was running pretty late. I don't remember the exact details but for some reason I went to pick him up at a bus stop at Bandera Road and Loop 410. This was way before cell phones so he must have called me from a phone booth to say he missed his connection. I was in the middle of making pizza but I stopped what I was doing and went to pick him up. Katie was in middle school at the time. She decided to help me by rolling the dough out on the pans. (In all honesty I don't remember if she volunteered or if I asked her to do it) I came home to a dented pizza pan and dough that was not rolled out. I guess the dough was being stubborn that day and she felt the need to beat it with a rolling pin. I still use that same pizza pan today.

You can see the little dimples.

Pizza Dough

Here is the recipe I used that day. I got it from my Mama Ann.  Lately I have been using a "new" slightly different recipe I found in Pam Anderson's Cook Without a Book book)http://threemanycooks.com/recipes/meaty-mains/pizza-dough/ 

4 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/4 cup oil (I used olive oil)
1 tbsp yeast
1 1/4 cups warm water

Dissolve yeast in the water. Add the oil and then the rest of the ingredients. Turn into an oiled bowl and let rise in a warm place until about double. You'll get a feel for it. I usually turn the oven on to preheat and the set dough on top of the stove because it is warm there.

After it has risen divide into 2 balls. Then grease your pizza pans and spread the dough with your hands until it reaches the edges. This might take a little doing but you can do it.

Next I prebake my dough for about 5 minutes at 450. I've tried skipping this step but in my conventional electric oven I've found this works best for me.
When that's done you spread the sauce on top. I have a confession about the sauce. I used to make homemade pizza sauce. When Daddy and I were first married there was a pizza place called Mr. Gatti's Pizza. We loved their pizza. One day I noticed they used Contadina pizza sauce. Some years back I realized I could buy Contadina pizza sauce at the store. No brainer. So that's what I use.

When y'all were kids I used to put Jimmy Dean sausage, mushrooms and black olives on our pizza. Sometimes to change it up I would substitute pepperoni. I put the mozzarella cheese on first and then the toppings. I bake it at 450. I put one pizza on the top rack and one on the bottom. After about 9 minutes I switch them and bake another 9 minutes or until it looks done. Then Daddy cuts it and we eat it.
Now a days I don't use any meat. Our toppings of choice are mushrooms , black olives, green olives, onion, and jalapenos (if the grand kids aren't around). This combination makes a pretty tasty pizza pie.

There you have it. Homemade pizza.

How NOT to Make Cherry Pie

        Daddy and I had not been married very long when I decided to make him a cherry pie. Cherry pie was and still is a favorite of his. Grace loves cherry pie as well. I made my crust from scratch and carefully assembled my cherry pie. I baked it to perfection and was so proud to present it to him. I anxiously awaited his compliments because I just knew he was going to love it. Funny though, no compliments sprung forth. I couldn't leave well enough alone so I asked what he thought of my delicious creation. He had the nerve to say that it wasn't as good as his mom's cherry pie. As I live and breathe I can say it is nothing short of a miracle that we are still married. I was devastated. But, you know what? I dusted off my pride and asked my mother-in-law how she made cherry pie. Turns out she didn't use canned cherry pie filling. Ouch!  From that day on neither did I!
 So here is my recipe for cherry pie:

Pastry for a 2 crust pie

1 cup of sugar

1/3 cup flour

2 cans of pitted tart cherries, packed in water and drained

1/4 tsp almond extract

2 tbsp butter

Preheat oven to 425

Mix sugar, flour, cherries and almond extract

Line a pie plate with pastry and then pour in the cherry mixture. Dot with butter. Cover with the second piece of pastry. Seal the edges and flute. Cut slits in the top to allow the steam to escape.  Bake until golden brown and the juice begins to bubble up through the slits, 35-40 minutes. Cool and enjoy. Your husband will love it. Mine does!

*This recipe was adapted from Betty Crocker's Cookbook New and Revised Edition Copyright 1978

Note: When I was a full time homemaker I used to make my crust from scratch. This modern grandma is busier than ever these days so lately I have discovered that Trader Joe's makes an excellent pie crust which can be found in their freezer section.

What I didn't know in my early years of marriage was that my mother-in-law was a pie maker extraordinaire. As time went on I began to realize that she was no ordinary pie maker. Pies were her specialty and we all looked forward to them. Sadly, Mama Ann is no longer with us but the memory of her delicious pies lives on.

"2007 - These are the last Thanksgiving pies my mom baked this side of heaven. She had very little use of her hands by then, so I know it was very difficult for her. My mom made the world's best pies - we all started craving them every year weeks before Thanksgiving." -Gail Knuth Clayworth

  

Potato Salad

As Natalie will tell you I make pretty good potato salad. I learned to make it from watching my mama. I have adapted the recipe through the years to come up with my own version. Problem is it is never exactly the same from batch to batch because I have a tendency to throw things together without measuring. Some time after Natalie and Scott were engaged she was telling him how awesome my potato salad is. He was reluctant to try it because he wasn't real familiar with potato salad. She persisted and he gave in. Trouble is, it was one of those days when I wasn't paying particular attention to what I was doing and I squeezed too much mustard in. It was not my finest offering and Scott was not impressed. We did not win him over to potato salad that day. I'll share my recipe any way. Just remember to go easy on the mustard!!

Potato Salad

1 5lb bag of potatoes, boiled

1 dozen eggs, boiled

several dill pickles, chopped

mayonnaise, 2 cups give or take

French's mustard, a little dab'll do ya

Paprika

Boil the potatoes making sure not to over boil them. I've gotten distracted so many times and over boiled my potatoes. Mushy potatoes aren't as good. Boil a dozen eggs, cool them, and then peel and chop them. Chop the pickles. Mix these three ingredients together well. Add some salt and pepper and mix again. Then add the mayo and mustard and mix well. Taste and adjust seasoning if needed. Put into a pretty glass bowl and sprinkle paprika on the top. I'm not sure that the paprika adds any real flavor but if I leave it off I hear about it. 

I am famous for making too much food whenever we have family gathering. My family always pokes fun at me for it. Funny thing is recently when I made this recipe I actually made just about the right amount. You know what? They complained there wasn't enough leftover. And they were serious. I just can't win. :)

"Let's start at the very beginning..."

Daddy and I were married on the Saturday afternoon of Memorial Day weekend in 1975. Sometimes I still feel like that young girl of nearly 40 years ago but recently I've started to realize that if I want to leave a legacy for my daughters I had better get a move on. Over the last several years some ideas have come and gone; I tried writing my memoirs but that didn't turn out the way I hoped. Grandma Doris died much too soon and left me with so many questions. There is so much I don't know about my family history, especially on her side. I want to be deliberate and transparent with y'all. I hope to give you more than just a glimpse of who I am and who you are because you are my daughters. The way I plan to do this is by sharing recipes, stories, photos and some of my handiwork from the past, present and future. Some of this will be familiar; some maybe not so much but here goes nothin'.

"Let's start at the very beginning..." (The Sound of Music is a favorite of mine!)

My mom made the very best fried chicken. Hands down. I wouldn't be exaggerating if I told you my fried chicken is as good as hers was. Trouble is Daddy and I became vegetarians a couple of years ago. Well I'm a pescatarian to be exact which means I eat fish. (I didn't last as a vegetarian. I missed chicken too much. I still don't eat beef or pork and I buy my chicken from a local farm. 10-25-2019) I can't imagine never enjoying fried chicken again; maybe some day I will choose to do so. For now I will share my recipe and a story to go along with it.

Shortly after we were married and settled into our little apartment I invited Daddy's parents over for dinner. Of course I wanted to prepare something I was confident I could make. I knew how to fry chicken. I had seen my mama do it a hundred times. In those days you couldn't buy boneless chicken in the super market. You could buy a whole chicken that had been cut up. That's what I bought. To this day I think fried chicken tastes better if the bones are left in! I was so proud of myself for preparing a meal for my in-laws and and I wanted it to be perfect. It would have been too if only I had some napkins in the house. There was not one napkin to be found. Here we were eating fried chicken, with the bone in, with our hands and no napkins. I had to get out my hand towels. I was so embarrassed. Who serves fried chicken without napkins? Your mother does. That's who.

Mama's Fried Chicken

One whole chicken; cut into serving size pieces

4 eggs

a splash of milk

several cups of flour

garlic powder

salt and pepper

a large frying pan

Crisco or canola oil for frying (my mom always used Crisco and I did too years ago. I changed to canola oil when I found out I had high cholesterol. I think maybe the formula for Crisco has been changed through the years so it doesn't have trans fats in it any more.)

Mix the eggs and milk together in a pie plate. In another pie plate mix the flour and seasonings. Dust the chicken with flour and then dip in the egg mixture and then back in the seasoned flour. Place into hot grease. Adjust the temperature so it doesn't brown too fast. This takes some practice and instinct. Fry until the juices run clear.  Grandma Doris always served potato salad with fried chicken. I will share that recipe soon.

Feeling sentimental and wanting to do something about it

Dear family,

        I've decided to try my hand at blogging again. I think the reason it didn't work for me last time was that I didn't have a definite direction.  For a long time I have wanted to put together a family cookbook. It is a daunting task. Back then I asked family members for recipes and didn't get a single recipe. Plenty of them wanted a copy when I was done, though. I was thinking recently that I could blog family recipes.

        When Katie has time I'm going to see if she can help me spruce up my look; that is the look of this blog. So if any of you have any recipe requests just let me know and I will post them. In a perfect world I would actually make the recipe, photograph it and then blog it. I hope to at least write a few sentences about why the recipe is special to our family and how it came to be in our family. I think I may include some sewing/quilting projects just by way of documenting them for our family. So any old photos of things I've made could be a fun place to start, especially if any of my girls are wearing my projects. 

So this would be a lovely example of my handiwork circa December 1991

Matching Christmas dresses! I also made the stockings that are hanging on the mantle. I think it was Daisy who ripped up one of them to get to the chocolate inside. It was the next year that I ordered the ones from Lands End that we have been using ever since. The bed spread is on the hearth because a Natalie and Franny got tangled up and Natalie fell into that brick. She ended up with a huge fat lip and two loose teeth. Thankfully they tightened back up and all was well.

Of course family stories are also worth preserving. I know you know what I'm talking about; those stories, usually told around the supper table, that make us laugh til our sides hurt. You get the picture. A little of this and a little of that -  that is special to our family. Things that we want to remember.

Here's hoping this will be the first of many posts that will help us record some of our family history.