Wine Drops

1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1 cup crisco
2 eggs
1 cup molasses beaten with a mixer for 3 to 4 minutes
1 cup thick sour milk
2 tsp. baking soda sifted in 4 cups flour
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. cloves
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1 cup raisins

Drop on a cookie sheet, sprinkle with sugar and bake at 375 degrees for about 10 minutes.

Graham Cracker Pie

18 graham crackers
1/2 cup butter
1 pt. milk
3 Tbsp. flour
3 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla

Roll the crackers fine, save out 1/2 cup of the crumbs, mix the remainder with 1/2 cup of butter. Pat evenly in bottom of pan (use square pan). Mix flour and sugar well, add beaten egg yolks. Mix with 1 pt. of milk and cook in double boiler until thick. Add vanilla, remove from heat and cool. Pour in lined pan and cover with the well beaten egg whites and 1 tsp. sugar. Sprinkle the 1/2 cup of cracker crumbs over top and bake 15 minutes in hot oven.

German Date Cake

1 tsp. baking soda
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup butter
1/2 tsp. salt
2 cups flour
2 cups buttermilk
2 tsp. allspice
2 tsp. cinnamon
2 tsp. nutmeg
1 pkg. dates, cut up
1 pkg. chopped pecans

Dissolve soda in butter and sugar. Sift all dry ingredients together and add alternately with cool buttermilk alternately. Add chopped dates and nuts. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. Serve iced or plain.

Green Tomato Dill Pickles

green tomatoes
stalk celery
sweet green pepper (cut in fourths)
garlic
2 quarts water
1 quart vinegar
1 cup salt
dill to taste

Use small green tomatoes, pack into sterilized jars. Add to each quart a bud of garlic, 1 stalk of celery and 1 chunk green pepper. Make a brine of water, vinegar and salt and boil with dill for five minutes. Pour the hot brine over the tomatoes in the jars and seal immediately. There is enough liquid to fill about 6 quarts. Pickles will be ready to use in about 6 weeks.

Nut Cookies

1/3 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 cup flour
1 tsp. baking powder
3/4 cup chopped nuts
1 tsp. lemon juice

Cream butter, add sugar and eggs well beaten. Sift flour and baking powder together. Add first mixture; then add nuts and flavoring. Drop from spoon on an unbuttered baking sheet, leaving an inch space between them. Bake in a hot oven (425 degrees). This will make two dozen cookies.

Pork Chops Plynesian

4 pork chops cut 1 inch thick
1 pkg. (11 or 12 oz.) mixed dry fruit
3/4 cup pineapple juice
1/2 cup dark corn syrup
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. curry powder
hot cooked rice

Brown chops on both sides in large skillet over medium heat. Drain off excess fat. Combine fruit, juice, syrup, salt, and curry powder and pour over chops. Cover and simmer 1 to 1 1/4 hours turning until done. Serve over rice.

Tuna Burgers

1 - 7 oz. can tuna drained and flaked
1/2 cup fine bread crumbs (about 2 slices of bread if making homemade)
1/2 cup chopped celery
2 Tbsp. onion
1/3 cup mayonnaise
2 Tbsp. chili sauce
1 tsp. lemon juice

Mix tuna, bread crumbs, celery, and onion. Blend mayonnaise, chili sauce, and lemon juice together and then stir into tuna mixture. Form into 4 patties. Fry lightly in oil over medium heat for 5 minutes or until lightly browned. Serve on hamburger buns.

Small Sponge Cakes

Beat well together two eggs and then stir in a teacupful of powdered sugar and beat for five minutes; add slowly a teacupful of flour, beating all the while; grate half a lemon in it and bake in scalloped tins.

Candied Squash Rings

2 medium acorn squash
1/2 cup molasses
1/2 cup water
2 Tbsp. butter, melted
1 Tbsp. lemon juice
1/8 tsp. allspice

Wash squash and cut crosswise into 1/2 inch rings. Scoop out and discard seeds. Place rings in single layer in a large shallow baking pan. Combine remaining ingredients in a small bowl and pour over squash rings. Bake uncovered 400 degrees for 45 minutes or until tender. Turn once during baking. Place on hot platter and spoon sauce over top and serve hot.

Candied Squash Rings

2 medium acorn squash
1/2 cup molasses
1/2 cup water
2 Tbsp. butter, melted
1 Tbsp. lemon juice
1/8 tsp. allspice

Wash squash, cut crosswise into 1/2 inch rings. Scoop out and discard seeds. Place rings in single layer in a large shallow baking pan. Combine remaining ingredients in a small bowl and pour over squash rings. Bake uncovered 400 degrees for 45 minutes or until tender. Turn once during baking. Place on hot platter, spoon sauce over top and serve hot.

Baked Ham Slices

1 slice ham
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp. ground mustard
milk to cover

Place ham slice in casserole dish, rub with mustard and sugar. Pour milk to just cover ham. Bake 1 hour at 350 degrees.

Molasses Popcorn Balls

3 qts. popped corn
2/3 cup molasses
1 1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup water
1/3 tsp. vinegar
1/3 tsp. salt
2 Tbsp. butter

Pick over popped corn, discarding all hard kernels. Boil molasses, sugar, water, vinegar, and salt, without stirring to 270 degrees or until it becomes brittle when tried in cold water. Remove from fire and add butter and vanilla. Have corn in a large pan, pour the syrup over it gradually, using a spoon to mix well. Form into balls and wrap in waxed paper. Makes about 36 balls.

Maple Sugar Cookies

1 cup grated maple sugar
1 cup white sugar
1 cup butter
2 eggs, well beaten
2 tsp. baking powder
2 Tbsp. water
flour

Cream the butter and slowly add the sugars, eggs, water, and baking powder. Add enough flour to make a soft dough. Roll out, cut with cutter and bake in a quick oven.

Baking Powder Biscuits

Mix and sift twice two cups of flour, 4 tsp. baking powder, 1/2 tsp. salt. Work in 2 Tbsp. butter and add 3/4 cup milk gradually. Roll on floured board lightly until half an inch in thickness. Cut and place on greased pan. Bake in hot oven for 15 minutes.

Grandma's note: It's important for oven to be very hot. If baked in too slow an oven the gas will escape before it's done it's work of making lots of air pockets and keeping the biscuits light.

Peanut Butter Fudge

In later life when grandma and grandpa went to Florida each winter, grandma would get together with friends and relatives and for several days they would make fudge to send out as Christmas gifts. Now grandma loved to eat as well as bake and cook, and I don't remember a whole lot of fudge being mailed north . . .

Boil together 2 cups granulated sugar, two Tbsp. peanut butter, and 1/2 cup milk. Cook these ingredients until the mixture will form a soft ball in cold water. Add a pinch of salt before taking from stove. Then add 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract and beat until creamy. Cool in buttered tins and cut into squares.

To the bottom of this recipe grandma added the word good and underlined it. She also added the date May 7, 1920. I don't know why she dated some of her recipes but I'm glad she did. I personally find it fascinating to have found a little booklet that she hand-wrote these recipes and to recognize some of them were later copied out onto recipe cards and put into her red recipe box. These were obviously tried and true recipes that she used her whole life.

Ginger Pears

Peel a dozen large pears which are not quite ripe and cut into long, thin strips. Add two-thirds as much sugar as you have fruit, the juice of 1 lemon, 2/3 cupful of water and a desertspoonful of ginger. Boil all together until the fruit is transparent and serve as a relish.

Potato Croquettes

Grandma always made lots of food, so there were leftovers. And of course she had that nack of making it the next day into something new and fresh. Here is a great use for leftover mashed potatoes.

To a cupful of mashed potato add 1/2 tsp. salt, a pinch of pepper, 1 Tbsp. butter, 1/2 Tbsp. chopped parsley, dash onion powder, and the yolk of one egg. Beat all together until fluffy and light. Form into balls, dip in beaten egg and roll in nicely browned bread crumbs that have been rolled very fine and fry to a delicate brown in hot fat.

Grape Pie

Many of the recipes that my grandmother has are just a list of ingredients as I've said before. Others she wrote out 3 or 4 different times with just small ingredient changes, so no one knows which was the latest or that she preferred. Then I came across a bunch of recipes like this one that definately show the way recipes were passed from one person to another. She even went so far as to date the top of this recipe 1935. Enjoy!

Take one coffeecupful of grapes, one teacupful of sugar, one egg well beaten, a pinch of salt, a dessertspoonful of flour and a teaspoonful of butter. Bake with two crusts.

Peach Upside-down Cake

3 Tbsp. butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 Tbsp. apple juice concentrate, thawed
1/4 cup sliced almonds, toasted
3 cups sliced peeled peaches
3 Tbsp. butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. soda
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. salt
3/4 cup buttermilk

Melt 3 Tbsp. butter in ovenproof skillet. Add 3/4 cup brown sugar and apple juice and cook until sugar melts. Remove from heat. Place toasted almonds and peaches over brown sugar mixture.
Cream 3 Tbsp. butter and 3/4 cup brown sugar. Add egg and vanilla. Sift dry ingredients and mix alterately with buttermilk. Spoon batter over peaches and bake 350 degrees for 45 minutes. Let stand 5 minutes then invert cake onto serving plate.

Green Tomato Pickle

Slice 15 lbs. of green tomatoes and sprinkle with salt. Let stand overnite. The next morning mix 1 quart vinegar, 5 cups sugar, 2 Tbsp. whole allspice, 2 Tbsp. stick cinnamon and boil 30 minutes. Add tomatoes and simmer 15 minutes. Seal jars while hot.

Soft Ginger Cake

This recipe was labelled as coming from grandma's mother-in-law. She also put a note on the bottom of the recipe that this cake was very good.

1 cup sugar
1 cup shortening
1 egg
1 cup molasses
1 cup boiling water
2 tsp. soda
1 tsp. ginger
3 cups sifted flour (may take a bit less)

Sausage

It sometimes seems strange when I see some of the recipes and realize that you did not always run to the store when you wanted something - like sausage, but instead, had to plan on the making and storing.

To every 12 pounds of meat take 3 Tbsp. of salt, 3 Tbsp. black pepper, 6 Tbsp. powdered sage, and 1 tsp. red pepper. Grind the meat through the mill, then mix in the seasonings thoroughly. Let stand half an hour, then grind again, stuff and hang up in a dry, cool place. After they hang a week or 10 days, or until the skins are dry, take down, rub with corn meal and place in a wooden box with brown paper between each layer. Sausage may also be kept fresh if fried, placed in jars and covered with the drippings. If not sufficient, make up the deficiency with melted lard. Keep the jar well covered in a cool place.

Chicken Meatloaf

1 lb. ground chicken
1 cup saltines, crushed
1/2 cup onion, chopped
1/4 cup water
2 Tbsp. green pepper, chopped
2 Tbsp. ketchup
1 Tbsp. prepared mustard
1 tsp. prepared horseradish
1/2 tsp. paprika
1/4 tsp. fresh ground pepper

Combine all ingredients and bake in a greased loaf pan at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

Mustard Pickles

I've been asked for another Grandma Gert memory and there are so many, but I think this one will bring a smile, I know I laugh every time I remember it. Grandma was not good in a crisis. To say she would absolutely panic was an understatement. I was about 7 years old when I accidentally shut the car door on my index finger. I was at grandma's and I ran into the house crying and my finger with a bleeding gash. Grandma ran to the bathroom to get a bottle of disinfectant, screaming the whole way that I was going to lose my finger. She returned with the bottle of disinfectant, stuck my finger in the top of the bottle and turned it upside down. If a little was good, the whole bottle better. Only after she gave a sigh of relief that she saved the day did I ask her why was my finger in a bottle of toilet bowl cleaner! (p.s. I was just fine and I have all my fingers today).

4 quarts green tomatoes
1 qt. small onions
3 qts. cucumbers
1 head cauliflower
6 red peppers
6 green peppers

Cut up and let stand overnight in weak brine. In morning cook up in the same water until tender, drain and pour over them the following dressing:

3 Tbsp. mustard
1 Tbsp. turmeric
1 Tbsp. celery seed
2 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups flour
1 qt. vinegar
1/2 cup water

Can while hot.

Parsley Potato Dumplings

In 6 quart sauce pot over high heat, heat 4 quarts water to boiling.
Meanwhile, in large bowl with fork combine 1 - 12 oz. package frozen shredded hash browns potatoes that have been thawed, 2 eggs, 2 Tbsp. chopped parsley, 2 1/4 tsp. salt. Stir in 1 1/2 cup flour and 1/4 tsp. baking powder. Mixture forms a soft dough. Immediately turn mixture onto lightly floured surface. With floured hands, divide into 16 portions and shape into balls. Gently drop balls into water, stir carefully so dumplings do not stick to bottom of pan. Cook 15 minutes or until tender but firm. With slotted spoon remove dumplings from water.

These are great served with gravy.

Gingered Lemon Cookies

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1 egg
1 Tbsp. grated lemon rind
1 Tbsp. lemon juice
1 tsp. powdered ginger
1/4 tsp. salt
2 cups flour

Cream butter and brown sugar. Stir in egg, lemon rind and juice. Sift together dry ingredients and stir into butter and sugar. Knead and roll into 2 inch balls and press onto cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees.

Raisin Filled Cookies

1/2 lb. raisins, chopped
1/2 cup sugar
4 level Tbsp. flour
1 tsp. vinegar
1 cup water

Mix in order given and cook until thickened, stirring to prevent burning. Set aside to cool.

Cookie Dough
2 cups sugar
1 cup shortening
2 eggs
1 cup sweet milk
1 tsp. soda (mixed in milk)
4 level tsp. baking soda
1/2 salt
1 tsp. vanilla
4 - 5 cups flour to make proper consistency

Bake in hot oven.

Cucumber Relish

1 peck large cukes - peel and seed
4 large onions
1 cup salt
2 cups sugar
4 cups vinegar
1 Tbsp. white mustard seed

Grind cukes and onions - add salt - let stand overnite - next morning drain. Add other ingredients and cook 1/2 hour.