Beans and Dumplings – A Depression-Era Meal

One of my earliest memories is of sitting at a table with my mother, father and little sister.  We are in a one-room, second-floor flat on Elm Street in downtown Cincinnati in the mid-1930s.  All day, Mother has watched over a simmering pot of beans with a pig hock added for flavor.  My father has come in from his timekeeper job on the WPA and we are having about the cheapest supper possible in the midst of the Great Depression.  I have a plateful of beans and a tiny bit of the small amount of meat that is on a pig hock (my father gets the biggest portion of meat and my mother claims to love chewing around on the bone).  The beans are steaming and the teaspoon or so of meat is flavorful – I love it!  It was said in my family that you weren’t an Applegate if you didn’t love beans, so I guess I qualified as a full-fledged member of my father’s side of the family.

As time went on and my father moved to better jobs with the City of Cincinnati and then Dayton Acme (a World War II defense plant), there was more money in my mother’s food budget and she stopped using the mostly-fat pig hocks and either threw in a pork chop or two to cook with the beans or had crisp bacon or fried ham on the side.  This was the only time my father ate pork … along with his beans topped with chopped onion and a lot of black pepper.

By the time my future husband started coming to the house for meals, Mother had added a big cast iron skillet full of fried potatoes to the menu.  It was his favorite supper.  After we were married, I continued to have this meal one night a week.  Every time I hear the John Denver song, “Back Home Again” and the line about “supper on the stove” and the wife who felt the baby move, I think about my young husband coming home to an expectant wife in our little apartment with the windows all steamed up and a big white and red graniteware pot of beans simmering on the range.

My four children didn’t inherit their parents’ love of a bean supper and I got out of the habit of making it.  But now that I’m alone, I crave the beans of my childhood, especially in the fall and winter.  I make a healthier, easier version with a slow cooker.

GREAT NORTHERN CROCKPOT BEANS

• 1/2 lb. Great Northern dry beans
• 6 cups cold water*
• 1-1/2 tsp. ham flavored soup base (L. B. Jamison’s)
• Salt and pepper to taste

Place the dry beans cold water in the slow cooker.  *I use this amount of water to insure that I’ll have enough broth to make dumplings.  Cook on low overnight – approximately 8 hours.  Add the ham flavoring, then taste before adding salt and pepper.

I was the only one in the family who liked dumplings with my beans and I used to make a one-person serving.  This works very well for me now when I want to make a meal just for myself.

DUMPLINGS FOR ONE

• 1/4 cup of My Biscuit Mix**
• 1-1/2 Tblsp. (approx.) of cold water

In a small bowl, stir the biscuit mix and water together to make a thick, moist dough.

Heat about 1 cup of bean broth and 1 cup of beans in a small pot to boiling.  Drop the dough into the boiling mixture by the tablespoonful, making three dumplings.

Lower the heat to simmering, cover the pot and continue simmering for 10 minutes without lifting the lid.  Note:  The white and red graniteware lid is from my original 1952 set.

Serve immediately with chopped onion and a grating of black pepper.  A small serving of meat is good, but not necessary (to me, at least).  Today, I happened to be browning hot sausage to freeze for my Thanksgiving stuffing and kept back enough to make myself a small grilled patty.  It tasted wonderful.  This is truly my soul food.

**MY BISCUIT MIX

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 Tblsp. baking powder
• 1/3 cup vegetable shortening (Crisco)

Mix together the flour, salt and baking powder.  Cut in the vegetable shortening.  Store in a covered container in the refrigerator until ready to use.

This is good for making individual servings of biscuits, pancakes … and dumplings.

Recipe for Walt’s Polish Stuffing

Tart Cherry Pie

I always make the fruit pies I’ll serve on Thanksgiving well ahead of time.  When I was competing in county and state fairs, I found I could bake a fruit pie and freeze it.  Then the night before I needed it, I could take it out to thaw and the next morning crisp it in a 350 degree F oven for about 10 minutes with basically no change in the original pie.  I had to do it this way for the Ohio State Fair because of time restrictions plus a 2-hour drive and I continued to win ribbons.  I’ve used the technique since the early 1980s to get a jump on holiday baking.

This morning, I baked two apple pies which will go in the freezer after they have cooled, and I was remembering other Thanksgiving pies I have made through the years.  For the 20 years we lived in Blue Jay on the Ohio/Indiana border, I had the benefits of a front yard full of fruit trees.  In July, there was one old tree that produced a huge amount of tart cherries.  These snapshots from 1991 show my son and his family who were visiting from St. Louis and helping me by picking some cherries.

The little girl with the pail graduated from college last year and the baby is now a sophomore in college.  Time flies.

I froze a lot of cherries but to have the very best pie for Thanksgiving, I made one while the cherries were fresh off the tree – my husband’s favorite.  Here’s the recipe:

TART CHERRY PIE

• Pastry for 9″ double crust pie
• 4 cups fresh tart cherries, pitted
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 3 Tblsp. quick tapioca
• 1/8 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. almond extract
• 2 Tblsp. butter
• 1 Tblsp. milk

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F

In a large bowl, mix together the cherries, sugar, tapioca, salt, and almond extract.

Fit bottom crust in a 9″ pan, pour filling into crust and dot with butter.  Place top crust on pie, crimp edges and brush with milk.  Cut vents and place on a larger flat pan to catch spills.

Bake @ 375 degrees for approximately 45 minutes.

Cool pie completely on rack.  Serve to a hungry family or wrap and place in a two-gallon ziplock bag.  Place in the freezer until needed.  For best flavor, use within 6 months.

I only wish I had one of those fresh cherry pies in the freezer for this Thanksgiving and my husband here to enjoy it.

A good piecrust recipe

My favorite apple pie recipe

A November Sunday Dinner

In the past 9+ years, I’ve been able to find Concord grapes at my supermarket only twice.  This past Friday was one of those days and although I had told my daughters we wouldn’t be having pie for Sunday dinner until after Thanksgiving (to whet their appetites for holiday pies), I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to make one of my favorites.  I posted about my Streusel Concord Grape Pie back in 2007, when I had just begun blogging.  It’s a messy looking pie, but the flavor of the grapes is just incredible.

Back in the 1980s and 1990s, my husband and I lived on a two-acre plot of land that included every type of fruit that grows well in our southwestern Ohio area, including Concord grapes.  I used to have five-gallon pails of them setting in the kitchen waiting for me to cook up something delicious.  The grape jam and jelly were good but the pie was a family favorite from the beginning.  It takes some time to make, but is well worth it.  Check out the recipe.

Streusel Concord Grape Pie

Our meal was also an old standby – grilled pork tenderloin, sweet potato patties, and Spinach and Mushroom Casserole.

Spinach and Mushroom Casserole

I did try out a different recipe for a marinade, based on one I saw on All Recipes.  It was delicious.

PORK TENDERLOIN MARINADE

• 2 Tblsp. olive oil
• 1/4 cup plus 2 Tblsp. teriyaki sauce
• 1 Tblsp. liquid smoke
• 1/8 tsp. garlic powder
• 1/8 tsp. onion salt
• Grating of black pepper

Mix ingredients in a 9×9 square baking dish.  Add 1/2″ thick slices of pork tenderloin and toss until coated.  Cover and refrigerate for several hours, turning occasionally.  Remove from marinade and grill – I use a stovetop grill.

Above recipe is enough to marinate about 2 lbs. of sliced pork tenderloin.

I served dinner with some fresh homemade potato rolls and enjoyed a beautiful autumn day with my family.

Easy Potato Yeast Rolls

Fabric Goodies from Amish Country (Ohio)

I’ve posted before about the beautiful Amish country of Holmes County, Ohio.  My oldest daughter and I made another trip just in time for the peak colors and gorgeous landscapes.

This area is also a shopper’s paradise, particularly for quilters.  My three favorite quilt shops are Helping Hands (Berlin), Gramma Fannie’s Quilt Barn (Berlin), and Miller’s Dry Goods (Charm).

Although I buy a lot of fabric for specific quilt projects, I especially love to find a bin filled with bags of remnants.  I found three this trip – a 75-cent bag…

…a $2 bag….

…and a $5 bag.

The little Amish lady behind the counter told me the remnants in the $5 bag were from a quilt she had just completed.  I would love to see her quilt with all those pretty fall colors.

We always stay at a cottage set in the middle of Amish farms – very quiet, picturesque and charming.  There are plenty of restaurants serving Amish-style, hearty meals and lots of fun things to see and do.

I would highly recommend a visit if you’re ever in this section of Ohio.

Grandma Mary’s Doughnut Balls

When I met my future mother-in-law in 1951, she introduced me to her very popular Doughnut Balls.  She told me that when her four kids were little, she would get up early in the morning and make these treats before her husband went off to work so he could have some fresh and warm for breakfast and the kids could eat some later when they woke up.  Actually, the recipe is easy and quick enough to do just that.  I never made them for her son for breakfast because he preferred bacon and eggs, but I did make them many times for my own four children and my mother loved them for lunch with a cup of hot coffee.

Here’s a 1950s picture of my mother-in-law, later known as Grandma Mary, at her familiar place in the kitchen, getting a meal ready for her family.

For our first Halloween together as a married couple in 1953 before there were any children, I decided to make special treats for the “beggars” as we called them in those days.  When I was a child out begging one Halloween, word had come along the street that someone was handing out hot doughnuts.  We raced up to the house only to find they had run out, but I always thought that sounded like an ideal Halloween treat.  So, using a wedding gift electric deep fryer, I set up an operation near the door, mixing up batches of Grandma Mary’s recipe and offering piping hot, sugary Doughnut Balls to some very surprised trick or treaters.  I had also made a huge batch of hot chocolate and passed out small paper cups of this to wash down the doughnuts.

I was very pleased with my Halloween treat idea but by the next year, I had a six-month-old baby and after that there were more children and less time, so I never duplicated that 1953 Halloween.  However, we still enjoy having these Doughnut Balls for breakfast and I think of Grandma Mary every time I make them.

GRANDMA MARY’S DOUGHNUT BALLS

• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 egg
• 2 Tblsp. melted Crisco shortening
• 1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• Crisco for deep frying
• 1-2 cups of confectioners’ sugar for coating

In a medium bowl whisk together the sugar, milk, egg and melted shortening.  In a separate small bowl mix together the flour, salt and baking powder.  Combine dry and wet ingredients, stirring just until dry ingredients are incorporated.

Heat Crisco shortening to 365 degrees F in a large pan with a fryer basket*.  Drop batter by teaspoonful into hot shortening – 4 to 5 doughnuts at a time.  Fry for 3-4 minutes.  Doughnut balls will flip over and become golden brown on both sides.

*If you don’t have a basket, lift and turn doughnuts with a slotted spoon.

Drain doughnuts on a paper towel.

Continue frying remaining doughnuts, placing the drained doughnuts in a brown paper sack along with about a cup of confectioners’ sugar and shaking until doughnuts are coated.

I’ve never had time to count how many doughnut balls this recipe makes since it requires fast work for a few minutes, frying, draining and coating – and anyone who is in the kitchen grabs a warm doughnut as soon as it’s finished.  These are best when eaten while still warm.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Update: It’s a long time since 1953 and a different world.  I wouldn’t recommend having children eat anything homemade by people they don’t know.  But Doughnut Balls and hot chocolate would be nice for a family Halloween party!

Happy 77th – to me!

Actually, my birthday isn’t until Wednesday, but my two daughters and I like to celebrate birthdays the entire weekend before the big day.  So, on Friday evening my oldest daughter showed up for her usual weekend visit with flowers and two pints of gelato – let the fun begin!

When I went to the kitchen on Saturday morning I found a gift on the table to think about until my daughter got up for breakfast.

It was two towels, hand-embroidered redwork with horses – I’m sure they’re harness horses.

We met my youngest daughter and her two children for lunch at my favorite Mexican restaurant and did some shopping in the afternoon.

On Sunday morning, on the kitchen table was the most gorgeous box that was shaped like a book – and I wondered if it might be a book or a box with something wonderful in it.

It was indeed a box with some amazing contents:  An 1883 autograph book that belonged to a woman living in Cozaddale, Ohio – a small town close to where we live.  Each page was filled with sentimental verses in the most elegant handwriting.  Did everyone write that beautifully in the 1880s?  In addition, there was a handwritten list by the woman’s daughter identifying the people who had contributed to the book.  Then, my daughter had taken it further by finding census records for the people and information on Cozaddale, as well as locating a book written in 1960 about the founder.

And the day had just begun.  At lunchtime, my youngest daughter, her husband and children came for dinner, after which there were more gifts including a Garrison Keiller CD, a Minnesota State Fair book, microwave steamer dishes, a big brass alarm clock with an alarm I can actually hear, a new garden flag and a set of solar lights for the front yard,

…a candle, a Jadite hen covered dish, mini loaf pans, a drop cookie maker, embroidered pillow cases and embroidered redwork panels for me to use to make a quilt.

The grandchildren, known here as Jellyfish (10) and Dolphin (6), made their own special gifts.  They each made molded, fragrant soap and they made decorated boxes to hold the soap.  Dolphin also made a horse light catcher and Jellyfish worked with his mother in assembling a book of his photographs of my “favorite things” – family members, of course, and all kinds of neat things that are in my house.

As usual, the youngest daughter brought her renowned Best of Show White Cake with Caramel Frosting.  After cake and gifts, the girls, the grandchildren and I took a drive to – where else? – Cozaddale – a pretty drive on a late September day.

I was sorry to see everything end – and I don’t think it could all have been done in less than a weekend.

Sunday-After-Thanksgiving Meal

After eating our fill of turkey on Thanksgiving, on Friday and on Saturday, it doesn’t seem possible that anything with turkey would be appetizing on Sunday, but this dish made with extra-rich turkey gravy/broth is highly anticipated by my family on the post-Thanksgiving Sunday.   I found this recipe for Creamy Turkey Tetrazzini in a Philadelphia Brand Cookbook in 2004 and we have been enjoying it ever since. The secret is to use the best turkey broth/gravy you can salvage from the holiday meal.

CREAMY TURKEY TETRAZZINI

• 1/4 cup margarine
• 1/2 cup finely chopped onion
• 1/2 cup finely chopped celery
• 4 oz. fresh mushrooms, sliced thinly
• 10 oz. good turkey broth/gravy
• 8 oz. cream cheese, cut into small cubes
• 1 cup chopped cooked turkey
• 2 Tblsp. chopped pimiento
• Salt/pepper
• 1 oz. grated Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F

Saute onions and celery in margarine over medium heat for about 10 minutes.  Add sliced mushrooms and continue cooking until mushrooms are cooked through.  Add broth and cream cheese, stirring over low heat until cheese is melted.  Add turkey and pimiento.  Taste before adding salt – it will depend on how your gravy/broth is seasoned.  Grate some black pepper over the top.  Pour into a 1-1/2 quart casserole dish.  Top with grated cheese.  Bake @ 350 degrees F for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile cook 7 oz. of spaghetti or fettucine according to package directions.  Drain pasta.  Serve hot chicken mixture over pasta.

Yield:  4-6 servings.

For dessert today, I made my version of Tiramisu, developed about 15 years ago when we had enjoyed the dessert at a restaurant but I had no idea of how it went together.  We all like my version which uses low-fat versions of some ingredients and 1/2 cup of Kahluha.

MY FAIRLY LIGHT TIRAMISU

• One package Italian lady fingers (about 12 lady fingers – I use Alessi Biscotti Savoiardi)
• 4 oz. light cream cheese (Neufchatel), softened
• 15 oz. light ricotta cheese
• 2 cups light Cool Whip whipped topping
• 1/2 cup Kahlua (to pour over lady fingers)
• One small block of Ghiaradelli chocolate (I like milk chocolate)

In a large mixer bowl, beat together the cream cheese and ricotta cheese until smooth.  Fold in Cool Whip whipped topping.

Place half of the lady fingers in layer in bottom of 9×9″ pan.  Pour half of the Kahlua (1/4 cup) over the lady fingers.

Spoon half of the cream cheese mixture over the top of the lady fingers.  Repeat with the remaining lady fingers, 1/4 cup of Kahlua and remainder of cheese mixture.

Grate the Ghiradelli chocolate over the top of the dish.  Refrigerate for at least two hours before serving.

Yield:  8 servings

We all agreed that it was a good meal and a little bit different even if the entree did include turkey!

My Mother’s Birthday

 

My mother died in 1991 – she would have been 91 years old on this November 28th.  When she was 72, she made a tape, telling all of the family stories she could recall.  She gave this accounting of the day she was born in  Morrow, a small railroad town in Ohio.

“On Thanksgiving Day my father came downstairs and he told my mother, he said, “I dreamed we had a little girl and we named her Martha” and she said, “Well, you better go get the doctor because I think your dream’s going to come true” and he went for the doctor and I was born before the doctor got there.  He went running down and said, “Hurry up, hurry up, doctor, the baby’s already here” and old Doc said, “There’s no use hurrying if your baby’s already here.”

So, we always associated Mother’s birthday with Thanksgiving and occasionally it even fell on the exact day.  In 1952, her birthday was on the day after Thanksgiving.  I had been away from home for the first time, living with my new sailor husband in Portsmouth, Virginia.  As it turned out, my husband got an early discharge from the Navy and was due to go home the first week of December.  I wanted to surprise my mother by walking in on her birthday and we decided I would go home alone and my husband would follow when his discharge came through, so we spent our first Thanksgiving together just waiting around for time for me to get on the train and never did get a Thanksgiving meal. 

I rode on the clackety train all night and arrived home on a chilly November morning.  I walked out of Union Terminal in downtown Cincinnati, hailed a cab and watched the familiar landscape go by the window with complete joy, vowing to never leave Cincinnati again.  We pulled up to the front of my parents’ little house and I got out of the cab to pay the driver.

My father was just coming through the gate and he stopped short.  He didn’t say anything to me, but turned and called back to Mother, “Lil’s home.”  My favorite image of heaven is that I will pass to the other side and will see my father in the distance, wearing his twill pants and plaid shirt.  He won’t speak to me or raise a hand in greeting – he’ll just turn to the others and say, “Lil’s home.”

 

I had the supreme pleasure of walking through the side door into the dining room and completely surprising Mother on her birthday. 

 

I know that Mother’s best gift that year was having her daughter back home and since we rented the upstairs apartment from my parents for 8 years (at the astounding fee of $12.00 a month) before our family got too large, we had a lot of wonderful times together.

I always think of Mother on Thanksgiving and all the great dinners we had together, but I remember especially the year that I was one day late for Thanksgiving but right on time for a special birthday.

Walt’s Polish Stuffing

 

I call this “Polish Stuffing” only because I got the general instructions from a wonderful Polish gentleman in my office (about 20 years ago).  I’m sure he used some kind of great sausage and maybe some extra herbs, but this was my version and my family always wants a side casserole of this stuffing for Thanksgiving.  I don’t stuff the bird with it in consideration of those who don’t like spicy ingredients in their turkey.  First, though, I make the bread that I use, an adaptation of an old Saco Buttermilk Powder recipe.

HERB BREAD FOR STUFFING

• 4-1/4 to 4-3/4 cups all purpose flour
• 2 packages fast-rising yeast
• 1/4 cup SACO buttermilk powder
• 2 Tblsp. granulated sugar
• 2-1/2 tsp. salt
• 2 Tblsp. shortening
• 1-3/4 cups of water heated to 130 degrees F
• 1 tsp. sage
• 2 tsp. celery seed
• 1/8 tsp. nutmeg
• 1/8 tsp. black pepper

In the large bowl of an electric mixer, place 2 cups of flour, yeast, buttermilk powder, sugar, salt.  Mix to blend and add the 130 degree F water and shortening.  Beat on medium high for 3 minutes.  Insert dough hook and add sage, celery, seed, nutmeg and pepper.  Beat for a total of 6-1/2 minutes more, adding flour as necessary to make a stiff dough.  If necessary, knead a small amount of flour into the dough by hand.  Cover and place in a warm spot to rise for 30 minutes.  Punch down and spread dough in a thin layer in an oiled jelly roll pan.  Cover and let rise for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  Bake bread for approximately 15 minutes until dough has baked through and the top is golden brown.

Let cool on a wire rack.  Best to make the bread the day before use and then cut it into small cubes.

Note:  If I don’t have time to make this bread, I use a purchased 14 oz. bag of seasoned bread cubes.

RECIPE FOR WALT’S POLISH STUFFING

• 1 lb. of good spicy hot pork sausage, cooked until the pink is gone
• 1 cup celery, chopped
• 1 cup onion, chopped
• 12 cups of herb bread cubes or 14 oz. pkg.
• 2 cups chicken broth
• Freshly ground black pepper

Mix all of the above ingredients together and place in an oiled baking dish.  Cover and bake approximately 20 minutes @ 350 degrees F.  Uncover and bake another 10 minutes.

Getting Ready for Thanksgiving

 

About this time of year – a week or so before Thanksgiving, I start getting ready for the big day.  At this point, it’s mostly paper work.  I only feed 6 people but I need enough food to cover a big Thanksgiving dinner at noon, leftovers for supper and a huge bag of food to send home and eat over the weekend.  This requires organization, so this week I do my lists:  Menu, groceries needed, groceries on hand, shopping list, to do list, cooking schedule.  I do all of the cooking myself – my choice – and do as much as possible beforehand.  My family likes pie so I make a lot of them – one apple, three pumpkin and sometimes one by popular request (in past years these have been pecan, blueberry peach, grape, cherry).  Two crust pies can be made in advance and put in the freezer.  The trick is to take them out the night before and in the morning, do a quick bake to crisp them up.  I also make the pie crust for the pumpkin pies ahead of time but like these pies baked fresh on Thanksgiving day. 

My schedule calls for picking up the turkey on Tuesday so I can have Wednesday free for advance cooking.  On Wednesday, I make a Polish Sausage Stuffing, bake sweet potatoes (less marshmallows), steam cauliflower, and get fruit pies and yeast rolls made the previous week from the freezer.

Thanksgiving Day starts with having the turkey stuffed with regular dressing in the oven by 5 AM.  With more space in the refrigerator, I put the cranberry sauce inside to chill, then fill the pumpkin pies and take the turkey out long enough for them to bake.  At the same time, I crisp the fruit pies, then put the turkey back in the oven and sit down for breakfast – usually pretty light on Thanksgiving.  I prepare the relish tray, put other items in the refrigerator to chill and peel, cook and mash potatoes.  These can be kept warm in a crock pot for up to 2 hours.  Then I set the table and get the turkey out of the oven to rest.  I use this time to heat the sweet potatoes and Polish stuffing.  In the final minutes, I fry the breaded cauliflower that my daughter always requests, put the rolls in the oven and get the turkey onto a platter.  By noon, it’s time for everyone to come to the table.

Every year, I make up a souvenir menu for each person, usually using a photo from the year before.  My menu photo last year was of my youngest daughter and her children doing the traditional testing to see if the turkey is done.

I always call this my yearly cooking marathon.  I’ve had marathons in past years when I had fruits and vegetables to process quickly from a large garden and a lot of baking to do in preparation for a fair, but this is my only marathon now and I enjoy it.