Pause and Remember – 12/2/2011

On Friday, I pause and remember a single, wordless moment from the past week – inspired by The Warden’s Log.

I wasn’t going to buy another building to add to my crowded village, but who could resist a barn with horses looking out?

Best of Show Chocolate Zucchini Bread

I started making zucchini dishes in 1982 when my husband, 12-year-old daughter and I were living in Blue Jay, Ohio, on the Indiana border.  We had two acres which my husband had filled with every kind of plant, tree and bush that would produce something edible – barely leaving room for a small house in the center.  He loved to grow zucchini because he was rewarded with basket after basket of them and as a novice country dweller, I tried to make use of every single piece of fruit or vegetable he brought in the house.

By 1987, I had tried a lot of zucchini recipes and was looking for something different to take to our Hamilton County Fair (Cincinnati).  I decided to take a favorite recipe from the Bear Wallow Zucchini cookbook and change it from a spicy zucchini bread to a chocolate one.  The bread not only won the blue ribbon at the fair, but also won the Best of Show rosette.  It’s a delicious zucchini treat.

BEST OF SHOW CHOCOLATE ZUCCHINI BREAD

• 3 eggs
• ¼ cup cocoa
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 1-¾ cup granulated sugar
• 3 tsp. vanilla
• 2 cups grated zucchini (unpeeled)
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp. soda
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 cup chopped toasted walnuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Grease and flour loaf pans of your choice

In a large mixing bowl, whisk eggs; add cocoa and whisk until smooth.  Whisk in oil, sugar and vanilla.

Stir in zucchini.

In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, soda and salt.  Stir into zucchini mixture.  Stir in walnuts.

Pour into greased/floured pans, filling about 3/4 full, and bake @ 350 degrees F.

Loaves are done when a tester inserted in the center of a loaf comes out clean

• Two 9×5 loaves – bake for approximately one hour
• Two 7-1/2×3-¾ loaves and one 5×2-1/2 mini-loaf  – bake for approximately 50 minutes (check mini-loaf at 35 minutes).
• Six 5×2-1/2 mini-loaves and one 7-1/2×3-¾ loaf for approximately 50 minutes (check mini-loaves at 35 minutes).

Allow bread to cool in pans for 5 minutes, then remove to cool completely on a rack.

This is one quick bread that could easily be a dessert.  It’s rich, chocolatey, moist and full of crunchy nuts.  But the most important thing to me in 1987 was that it used 2 cups of zucchini.

My picture was taken for the fair’s publication, “The 132nd Annual Hamilton County Fair Salutes its 1987 Best of Show Winners”.  (I had won Best of Show with three different items that year.)

The Next Best Thing to Robert Redford

In 1984, I participated in a recipe exchange by mail and this is one of the recipes I received.  There are a lot of versions of this dessert with a lot of names, but since Robert Redford still looks good to me, I’m keeping it.  This is an easy dessert to assemble, should be made ahead of time and chilled, and is very rich and delicious.

THE NEXT BEST THING TO ROBERT REDFORD

Crust:

• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup butter, cut in small cubes
• 1/2 cup toasted pecans, chopped

Filling:

• 4 oz. cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 8 oz. carton of Cool Whip whipped topping, divided
• Small package of instant vanilla pudding (four 1/2-cup svgs.)
• 1-1/2 cups milk, divided
• Small package of instant chocolate pudding (four 1/2-cup svgs.)
• Block of Hershey chocolate bar or Ghirardelli milk chocolate bar
• Pecans for garnishing

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F

To Make the Crust:

Mix the flour, butter and pecans well.  Press mixture in a 9×9 baking pan.  Bake @ 350 degrees F for 15 minutes until lightly brown.  Cool

To Make Filling and Assemble:

Layer 1: Beat cream cheese and sugar until fluffy.  Fold in 4 ounces (half of an 8-oz. carton) of whipped topping.  Spread over cooled crust.

Layer 2: Mix vanilla pudding and 3/4 cup of milk until thickened.  Spread over Layer 1.

Layer 3: Mix chocolate pudding and 3/4 cup of milk until thickened.  Spread over Layer 2.

Layer 4: Spread remaining 4 oz. of whipped topping over Layer 3.

Grate the block of milk chocolate over the top of the dessert and garnish with whole toasted pecans.

Refrigerate for at least one hour before serving.

This dessert won a ribbon at the Hamilton County Fair (Cincinnati) in 1984 and has been a favorite dessert in our family ever since.

I’m so glad I took part in that chain mail recipe exchange.

“Redford”, as we call it, was our dessert today when my daughters and grandchildren returned from swimming at Boomerang Bay (Kings Island, Mason OH).  We had another old favorite for lunch - Mom’s Tuna Melts.

Best of Show Raspberry Cherry Pie

In 1983, I had won our big County Fair Pie Contest (Hamilton County/Cincinnati) and really didn’t want to push my luck by entering the following year, but my oldest daughter insisted it was my duty to defend my title.  So, I looked around my country kitchen, crowded with fresh produce, and decided to make a Raspberry Cherry Pie, using our home-grown black raspberries and tart red cherries.  I baked it on a hot Saturday morning, took it to the fairgrounds and when the contest was over, was told I was the first one in the history of the contest to win two years in a row.  I got a blue ribbon, best of show rosette, an engraved silver bowl and a half-bushel of apples.

The years went by and I was always baking something new for our Sunday dinner – never got around to making the prize-winning pie again.  Then, my husband was ill with Alzheimer’s and we had to leave our country home and the raspberry bushes and the cherry trees, so it has been over 25 years since I first made this pie.

A month or so ago, my online friend, Darlene, blogged about a dessert she had made using frozen tart cherries from Meijer.  I hurried to the store, picked up a bag of cherries and some red raspberries, and came home to bake an old favorite.  It was just as good as I remembered it.

BEST OF SHOW RASPBERRY CHERRY PIE

• Pastry for double crust 9″ pie (click here for my favorite recipe)
• 1 cup tart red cherries (I used frozen)
• 3 cups fresh raspberries
• 1-1/4 cups granulated sugar
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 3 Tblsp. fast-acting tapioca
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 2 Tblsp. butter
• 1 Tblsp. milk

Preheat oven @ 375 degrees F

Measure one cup of cherries into a large bowl.  If cherries are frozen, they will thaw by the time the pie is completed.

To the cherries, add the raspberries, sugar, salt, tapioca and vanilla.  Toss to mix well and let stand for 10-15 minutes.

Stir fruit to distribute sugar and turn into a pastry-lined 9″ pie pan.  Dot with butter, add top crust and crimp to seal.  Cut vents and brush with milk.

Place on a flat pan to catch spills and bake @ 375 degrees F for 45-50 minutes until top crust is golden brown.

Cool on a wire rack.

I probably took a little more care in preparing a fair entry, but not much.  To me, the idea was that it should be one of my normal Sunday pies – with all its little rough spots and bubbling over.

In 1987, when we went to the fair, my daughter told me that one of her entries was going to be my birthday present.  When we got to the Hobbies & Crafts Department, I found she had made a miniature model of the Hamilton County Fair Pie Contest, correct down to the tiniest detail with ribbons, trophies, a table full of pies and baskets of apples.  It won a Best of Show Rosette for her.

Every year, I display the model during the county fair season and remember all the good – and hectic – times we had at the pie contests.

Spicy Bread and Butter Pickles

I first made these pickles on September 21, 1985, and thought they were good enough to take to the county fair in 1986.  I don’t believe they won a ribbon, but the family enjoyed them.

The recipe is from a great book, Garden Way’s Pickles & Relishes – 150 recipes – Apples to Zucchini, by Andrea Chesman. The original recipe made 4 pints, but I cut it in half for this batch which will give me one jar to use this summer and one jar to save for next Memorial Day and July 4th.  The addition of Tabasco sauce makes them spicy but not hot.

SPICY BREAD AND BUTTER PICKLES

• 3-1/2 cups thinly sliced pickling cucumbers, unpeeled
• 1 medium sweet onion, thinly sliced
• 1 quart water
• 1/4 cup pickling salt
• 1/2 teaspoon Tabasco sauce

The Brine:

• 1/2 cup white vinegar
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 tsp. mixed pickling spices
• 1/4 tsp. turmeric
• 1/2 teaspoon Tabasco sauce

Combine the cucumbers, onions, one quart of water and 1/2 tsp. Tabasco sauce in a stainless steel or glass bowl and let stand for 3-4 hours.

Drain the vegetables and rinse 3 times with cold water; let stand in fresh water for 5 minutes, then drain again.

Combine the vinegar, one cup of water, brown sugar, granulated sugar, spices and 1/2 tsp. Tabasco sauce in a stainless steel saucepan; stir and bring to a boil.  Add the drained vegetables to boiling brine, bring to a boil again, and simmer for 10 minutes.

Fill hot sterilized pint jars with the pickled mixture, leaving 1/4 inch headspace.  Seal.

Process in a boiling water bath for 5 minutes, counting the time after the water begins to boil again after the jar has been inserted.  For small batches like this, I like to use an asparagus steamer for processing the pickles.

Cool on a wire rack.

Let pickles cure for at least 2 weeks before serving.

Click here for a good website on canning and preserving.

Fairground Food

The midway – Carthage Fair, 1932

When I was growing up in the 1930s-40s, the fairground was a fun place to go with the family in the summer and fairground food was cotton candy, fried fish sandwiches, taffy apples and ice cream candy.  When my father was growing up in the 1920s, a fairground was his home for much of the year.  My grandfather was a blacksmith and horseshoeing was his trade…

My grandfather and my father, ca 1914

He took his business on the road during the county fair season and his large family came along.

Grandma Lillian, Annie, Frank, a neighbor, my father – Johnny

My grandmother (the original Lillian) did the laundry in a washtub outside the barn…

…and cooked the family meals on whatever kind of stove she could rig up.   My father brought along the memories of fairground meals when he married my mother in 1932.

I still make these two dishes today at age 77.

FAIRGROUND PANCAKES

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp. sugar
• 1-1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 2 Tblsp. vegetable oil
• 1 cup milk

In a small bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.  Add the oil and milk, mixing well.  Cook on a hot griddle until bubbles form on the surface.  Flip and continue cooking on the reverse side.  Serve hot with butter and syrup.

This makes six 4″ pancakes or as my father would have made them, two large griddle-sized flapjacks.

My father would have used bacon drippings or lard instead of oil and the milk would have been diluted evaporated milk.  He made syrup by mixing the right ratio of dark brown sugar and water (which I’ve never perfected) and boiling until of  syrup consistency.  And the meal would not have been complete for my father unless there were two sunny-side-up eggs on top of the pancakes, everything liberally sprinkled with black pepper.

My oldest daughter and I always have a pancake and egg breakfast, called our Fairground Breakfast, before we start out on a long trip.  It’s sure to hold us until lunchtime.

Another of my father’s fairground favorites was his chili.

FAIRGROUND CHILI

• 1 lb. ground beef
• 1 large onion, diced
• 1 large can of kidney beans
• 1 medium can of tomato puree
• Water to fill one kidney bean can and one puree can
• 1/2 to 1 tsp. salt
• Grating of black pepper

In a large pot, brown the ground beef and onion until no pink shows in the meat and the onion is tender.  Add the kidney beans, puree and water from the two cans.  Simmer on the stove for at least one hour.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.   Serve hot – 4 servings.

My father liked his chili with lots of chili powder and saltine crackers.  He usually broke the crackers up in the chili.  One of the favorite aromas of my childhood was of beef and onions frying in preparation for chili.

I continued to take my children (and now my grandchildren) to county fairs.  Back in the 1960s, I took my three young children to the Owensville (Clermont County, Ohio) fair and stopped in a trailer parked on the fairgrounds to visit my father’s cousin and his very large family.  Bill was also a blacksmith and hauled his family around the fair circuit to make a living.  Inside the small trailer, 5 or 6 little kids were seated at a table and Bill’s wife, Mary, was at the stove frying mush in a big cast iron skillet.  She would slice the mush, throw it into the hot grease, flip it and then put it on one of the kids’ plates.  For the 15 or 20 minutes we were there, she never stopped flipping and serving slices of hot mush – there was always an empty plate and a hungry child yelling for more.  She invited us to have some, but we said no thanks and left her there to feed her kids.

So, when you hear the term, “Fairground Food”, it’s not always an expensive treat out on the midway – it could very well be somebody’s favorite meal.

Black Walnut Lemon Bread

For Mother’s Day in 1985, my son and daughter-in-law in St. Louis sent me a cookbook that I loved.  It was called Elsah Landing Heartland Cooking and was just full of good recipes like this one that I adapted for Black Walnut Lemon Bread.

My version won a 2nd place ribbon at the Hamilton County (Cincinnati) Fair that year.  I’m the only one in the family who likes black walnuts, so I chose this week while my daughters are on vacation to make myself a batch.  I like to bake quick bread in mini loaf pans (about 3×5″ measured across the top).  I started making bread in small loaves to take to work for coffee break or lunch.  This size pan makes two reasonable servings or one very generous serving.  Using 6 pans results in a bread about 2″ thick, 4 pans would make a thicker bread and, of course, the bread could be made in a standard 9″ bread pan.

BLACK WALNUT LEMON BREAD

The Bread:

• 1/2 cup butter, room temperature
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 egg
• 1-1/2 Tblsp. lemon peel
• 1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• pinch of salt
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 cup chopped black walnuts

The Syrup:

• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 2 Tblsp. lemon juice
• 2 Tblsp. water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F

Grease/flour 4 or 6 mini loaf pans (3″x5″) or one 9″ bread pan

To make the bread:

In the large bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter.  Add sugar gradually, mixing well.  Add the egg and lemon peel, beating to blend.

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt.  Add to butter mixture alternately with milk, beginning and ending with flour mixture – beating well after each addition.  Stir in black walnuts.

Pour into prepared pan(s).

Bake @ 350 degrees approximately 20-25 minutes for the 6 small pans, 30-35 minutes for the 4 small pans or 45 minutes for the large loaf.  Loaves will be a pale golden brown and will test done when a tester is inserted near the center of the loaves.

While bread is still in the pan(s), brush with the warm syrup.  It looks like too much syrup, but keep going back and brushing – the bread absorbs the liquid – use all of the syrup.

Keep in the pans on a wire rack until bread has cooled, although I have been known to steal a loaf while it’s still warm and, wow, is that good!

Remove loaves to rack.  Serve immediately or wrap and keep at room temperature for a couple of days.  Loaves can also be well wrapped and frozen.  When eating a cooled loaf, I like to warm it for a few seconds in the microwave to activate all that lovely lemon syrup flavor.

Since nobody else likes the black walnuts, I guess I can just eat all I want and not worry about saving any for the vacationers.

Fresh Corn-Zucchini (Squash) Relish

Over twenty years ago when my husband and I lived in rural Ohio on the Indiana border with a huge vegetable garden, I tried a lot of recipes to deal with the surplus produce.  In 1985, I found this recipe for Fresh Corn Zucchini (or Yellow Summer Squash) Relish in a cookbook called, “Seasoned with Sunshine”.  I made it on July 21 and the next week entered it in our Hamilton County Fair (Cincinnati).  It won a blue ribbon and became a family favorite.

Since I’m by myself now in a small bungalow with no garden, I pick up produce at the farmer’s market and make one quart of the relish.

FRESH CORN-ZUCCHINI (SQUASH) RELISH

• 2 cups fresh corn, cut from cob
• 3/4 cup onion, finely chopped
• 1/2 cup red bell pepper, finely chopped
• 1/2 cup green bell pepper, finely chopped
• 1 cup apple cider vinegar
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 2 tsp. pickling salt
• 1/2 tsp. celery salt
• 1/2 tsp. turmeric
• 1/2 tsp. mustard seed
• 1/4 tsp. dry mustard
• 2 cups zucchini or yellow summer squash, unpeeled, sliced 1/4″ thick (cut larger diameter slices in half)

In a large pot, combine all ingredients EXCEPT ZUCCHINI/YELLOW SQUASH.  Bring to a boil over medium heat, then reduce heat to low and simmer uncovered for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add zucchini/squash slices and simmer uncovered on low heat for 20 minutes longer, stirring occasionally.

Spoon relish into sterilized jars – one quart or two pint jars.  Relish can be kept in the refrigerator for use within a month or so, or processed in a boiling water bath for 20 minutes for longer storage.

I could refrigerate the two pint jars for my own use, or even more fun, keep one jar and make up the second one for a neighbor.  It’s easy to dress up the giveaway jar with a circle of fabric placed between the jar cap and lid.  Yes, I think I like that idea best.  Now, which of my neighbors would enjoy some relish today?

Favorite Banana Cake

I found the recipe for this cake  in a magazine in 1986 and the cake became a family favorite.   I have a note in my recipe binder, “Excellent.  Won Blue Ribbon at Hamilton County Fair (Cincinnati).  Took to work and Matt (my boss) said it was an ‘exceptionally good cake’ – about the best anyone could get from him.”

FAVORITE BANANA CAKE

• 1 cup plus 2 Tblsp. all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/3 cup shortening (Crisco)
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/4 tsp. vanilla
• 1/2 tsp. banana extract (actually, banana flavoring)
• 1/2 cup buttermilk*
• 1/2 cup mashed banana

*A substitute for buttermilk:  Place 1 Tblsp. of white vinegar in a liquid measuring cup.  Fill with milk to the 1/2 cup line.  Allow to stand for 5 minutes before using.

Grease and flour an 8″ cake pan.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a medium bowl combine flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.  Set aside.

In a small bowl combine mashed banana and milk.  Set aside.

In large bowl of mixer, cream shortening and sugar.  Add the egg and beat in the vanilla and banana extracts.

Add the dry ingredients alternately with the banana mixture, beginning and ending with dry ingredients – beat well after each addition.

Pour into prepared pan and bake @ 350 degrees  F for 30-35 minutes until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.  Cool completely in pan on a wire rack.

Frost with Banana Cream Cheese Frosting:

BANANA CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

• 3 oz. cream cheese
• 3 oz. butter
• Approx. 2 cups  confectioners’ sugar
• 1/2 tsp. banana extract (flavoring)

In mixer bowl cream butter and cream cheese.  Add extract and then add confectioners’ sugar a small amount at a time, beating until smooth and of spreading consistency.

Yield:  6 pieces of delicious cake.

Apricot Cheese Dainties

I found this recipe in 1990 in a publication called Blue Ribbon Gazette, a collection of winners from county and state fairs all over the country.  The lady who submitted the recipe cautioned that Solo apricot filling should be used, not jam or preserves, to keep the filling from seeping out too much.  I can attest to that, since I tried other products and found Solo to be the best.

The cookies won a ribbon at the Ohio State Fair and a Blue Ribbon at the Hamilton County Fair (Cincinnati) in 1990, and have become a favorite of my daughters for every holiday – Christmas, St. Nick, Valentine’s Day, birthdays.

APRICOT CHEESE DAINTIES

• 1/2 cup margarine (I like Imperial)
• 1 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese
• 1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 2 Tblsp. ice water
• 1/2 can of Solo Apricot Filling

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Cream the margarine and cheese until smooth.  Add flour and salt, mix together until blended.  Add water and stir with a fork until the mixture forms a ball.  Divide dough in half,  roll one portion 1/8″ thick (like pie crust) on a lightly floured surface and cut with a floured 2″ cutter.

Place cutouts on an ungreased cookie sheet.  Place 1/2 tsp. of apricot filling on each circle of dough.

Roll the remaining portion of dough 1/8″ thick and cut into 2″ circles.  Place the circles on top of the filled cutouts, press together lightly and prick with a fork around the edges.

Bake @ 375 degrees F for approximately 10 minutes until cookies are golden brown.  Cool slightly and then remove to a rack.

Makes about 1-1/2 dozen cookies.

Note:  These cookies are like pie – best the day they are made.