Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Granmother's Recipe Box

I have my grandmother's recipe box, which actually belongs to my aunt now. I have it since I've promised to transcribe the recipes... one of these days. Since it's been over a year now I figure it's about time I get the job done. I was thinking of typing the recipes up in Word then making copies for everyone, but then I thought, why not put them on the blog? Now family members can access them freely on the web. I'm not going to sit here and type them all in at once, but I will post a few at the time. She didn't have a lot of recipes in her box, sadly, since she cooked mainly from experience and memory. When I get the recipes from the box typed in I'll go to the recipe/memory book she made for me and post those recipes as well; after all, those are probably the ones everyone in my family wants anyway. I need to get the box done first, however so I can get it back to my aunt!

To start, she had a handwritten note about equivalents:
4 tbsp - 1/4 cup
5 and 1/3 tbsp - 1/3 cup
8 tbsp - 1/2 cup

The Recipes:
Monkey Bread, from Lori
3 cans biscuits
1 tsp cinnamon
1 cup brown sugar
1.5 sticks oleo

Cut each biscuit into 1/4s, roll each 1/4 into a ball and roll each ball separately in brown sugar/cinnamon mix. Drop balls into buttered bundt cake pan. Combine oleo with rest of sugar and cinnamon. Cook until all runs together. Pour over biscuits; cook one hour at 350.

Banana Bread
1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
2 cups flour
1 tsp soda
dash salt
1 cup ripe mashed banana
1/2 cup walnuts

Cream sugar and shortening
add eggs (beaten)
add dry ingredients alternately with milk
add bananas

cook 350 degrees 45 to 55 minutes

Apple Pan Dowdy
8 large apples peeled, cored, and cut into thick wedges
3/4 cup apple juice, cider or water
3/4 cup dark brown sugar, firmly packed
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
4 tbsp butter, melted
3 tbsp cornstarch

Crust: 2 cups flour, 4 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp salt, 3 tbsp butter or shortening, 2/3 cup milk

Butter a 9 x 13 inch baking dish and line the bottom with the apple wedges.
Pour apple juice over apples, bake at 400 degrees for about 15 minutes or until apples are barely soft. Mix together brown sugar, salt, cinnamon, butter, and cornstarch, then pour over apple mixture and stir gently.

Make crust: Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. Cut in the butter or shortening with knives or a pastry blender until butter is cut into pea size bits. Stir in the milk, then spread batter over apple slices in the baking dish (if you want the result to be pretty, roll out dough and cut into rounds.) Bake at 425 degrees for 15 minutes until lightly brown. Serves: 10 to 12.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Two things for you. I was watching a show called The Drs. and they recommended that children not eat microwave popcorn. There are too many little cancer-causing ingredients in it. Not enough to affect adults but not for children. (Good thing you got the popcorn popper for the N's.) And PJ was reading the label on his frozen blueberries and they have 10-12G of sugar in them.

Kim said...

Hi Loretta:
DH has been fussing at me for the micro popcorn for a while now, too since he doesn't like it or the mess the kids make with it, now the cancer info. I'm convinced; I won't buy anymore! :)

As for the blueberries, check the ingredients. Is that ADDED sugar or naturally occurring sugar? The cranberries I put in my cereal have added sugar which is bad, but I only put in a few. I load up on the blueberries because they have enough other good stuff (anti-oxidants and so forth) to outweigh the natural fruit sugars, plus it's an easy way to make sure I'm getting my fruit servings every day. If you try to avoid ALL sugars then you won't eat any fruit, and that's a bad thing to do, too; your body needs fruit to be healthy. You just have to watch the portions and find the right balance for your body.