Tomorrow this table will be set and loaded with lots of good things to eat. How fortunate I am to have enough, and more, in all areas of my life. Thanksgiving truly is my favorite holiday.

Last year, at my quilt classes’ Christmas party, one of my students brought this yummy appetizer. It is quick and easy to make. I thought you might enjoy it too.

Cranberry Relish Appetizer

 12 oz. Package of fresh cranberries, washed and sorted

3/4 cup sugar

1 medium jalapino, seeded

3 green onions

2 tablespoons fresh cilantro

 8 oz cream cheese (This makes enough Cranberry Relish to go with two 8 oz cream cheese blocks.)

Combine the first six ingredients in food processor. Process them to the consistency of coarse bread crumbs.

Pour over cream cheese block and serve with crackers.

 Enjoy and Happy Thanksgiving to all of you!

When we lived in the desert a few years ago I longed for real winter weather. I missed the snow, the clean landscape the snow creates and the embracing quiet that snow storms bring. I missed the comforting feel of layered clothing, and most of all I wanted to stop being hot so much of the time. It was even hard to enjoy the temperate winter weather there because I knew the blazing heat was approaching again.

As we made plans for our move I loudly proclaimed that, “I will never complain about being cold, no matter how cold it gets!” I repeated it many times on moving day when the temperature was 102 degrees in mid-April!

Now that I am living in the cold I have kept my promise and I have not yet complained about being cold. However, I am keenly aware of it and I am finding ways to take some of the bite off from this coldest time of year. I thought I would share a few of my techniques with you.

The first is a comforting cup of my mom’s homemade hot cocoa. In the far off days when I was still a child, we had a plentiful milk supply. My parents kept a cow at the bottom of our large property and my brothers took turns milking it night and morning. Many winter days at home were begun with a bowl of hot oatmeal and a cup of hot cocoa before setting off to walk to school. (Marshmallows melting on top were an extra treat that I still enjoy.) 

Here is the simple recipe should you want to try it yourself.

Mom’s Hot Cocoa

2/3 cup sugar

1/3 c unsweetened cocoa powder

Pinch of salt

2/3 cup water

8 cups milk

1-2 teaspoons vanilla

Mix sugar, cocoa, salt and water in a large saucepan. Bring to a boil and let gently boil until the sugar is dissolved. Add milk and blend. Heat to desired temperature. Mix in vanilla. Serve.

Another way to cozy up winter is a warm hot water bottle at your feet. However, a friend recently gave me a much faster and easier substitute for this warming comfort.

It is a simple 12” x 12” flannel bag filled with feed corn that you heat in the microwave for 3 minutes. This personal spot warmer is amazing, it stays warm for at least an hour and it is quickly renewed with another two or three minute spin in the microwave.

She also made me a 4” x 22” corn bag to warm and drape across my shoulders and around my neck. Heaven!

She tells me these same bags can be kept in the refrigerator for comfort from summer’s heat in reverse—instant cool for heat relief. I would not want to try it now, but I believe her and I will try it next summer.

My friend buys a 50 lb bag of this corn from the feed store for filling her flannel bags—which she gives to all of her friends, but dry beans or rice could will work as a substitute for the corn. I would not recommend filling your flannel bag with popcorn—for obvious reasons.

My final cold weather neutralizer is familiar to all of us quilters—Bag Balm. I bought some at our local pharmacy recently—at the recommendation of the pharmacist—for healing cracked, dry skin on hands.

Since then I read on Wikipedia that Bag Balm is Shania Twain’s best beauty secret. She uses it on her face and her legs.

So I figured that if it is good enough for Shania, it is good enough for me, and I have been using it in the mornings on my face, neck and hands. It really works!

My hands are never dry anymore and they look like they belong to someone much younger. About my face, I really can’t say since at my age one cannot truly be objective about how young or old one may look, but the skin on my face and neck never feels dry anymore.

I hope you are staying warm this winter. Meanwhile, I am off to the microwave to re-heat my foot warmer.

It snowed earlier this week. Approximately 6 to 8 inches of snow fell and then it turned very cold. In fact, I understand from the national news that two-thirds of our country was, and still is, under the icy grip of this same storm.

When the first big snow of the year falls, I always think of a lovely lady that I knew many years ago, and I think of homemade donuts. Her name was Marilla Baker. I met her during her retirement years. She has since passed away, but she left a positive mark on many lives with a simple tradition that she started as a young mother.

In the late fall she would stock all the ingredients needed for making donuts in preparation for the big day. One never knows when the first measurable storm of the year will fall so she prepared early.

And then, on the first big snowstorm of the year she would start early in the morning making donuts and she continued making them all day long. There was a standing invitation to all she or her family knew to come to Marilla’s house on the day of the storm for freshly made donuts and a cup of something warm to drink. Visitors came by all day long.

Marilla’s tradition started small with her children’s friends and nearby neighbors, but over the years as her family moved a few times, old and new neighbors continued to come. Through work, church and other community associations more acquaintances were made and more people were invited. And so it grew, until at the time I met Marilla, a couple of hundred people showed up each year at her house on the first snow storm of the year. It was a wonderful time for renewing friendships and catching up on the news.

On the evening of a cold snowy day I always think of staying inside and staying warm. Part of achieving that sense of coziness is good food. Comfort food. A steaming bowl of Chicken Noodle Soup (made with homemade noodles) is a good start. For me, a cozy finish to a comfort food meal is a generous serving of my mother’s standard Sunday desert: Eggless, Milkless, Butterless Cake.

Although it’s name is not necessarily appealing to our twenty-first century sensibility, at the time Mom started making this cake it’s name may have been the reason she first tried it. My mother was a Second World War bride. During a time of rationing and many shortages this was a desert she could make with basic ingredients and a few spices.

As our family continued to grow after the War, the family’s economic situation did not improve a great deal. So for a large family this was a recipe that made sense, and it was a great desert to go with Sunday dinners.

The smell of the sugar, spices and raisins boiling on the stove remind me of home, of the comforts of being safe and loved, and of Saturday nights when I was a child.

Here is the recipe in case you want to give it a try.

Eggless, Milkless, Butterless Cake

1 cup brown sugar, firmly packed

1-1/4 cup water

1/3 cup shortening (I use butter instead)

2/3 cup raisins

2 teaspoons cinnamon

½ teaspoon nutmeg

½ teaspoon cloves

In a small saucepan, over medium heat, bring the above ingredients to a boil, continue to boil for five minutes. Remove from heat and cool slightly—about 15 minutes.

Meanwhile combine:

2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ cup chopped walnuts (this is my addition to the original recipe)

Pour hot mixture all at once into dry ingredients and stir thoroughly by hand being sure to break up any clumps of flour that may form when the liquid ingredients are added.

Transfer batter to a greased 8″ square baking dish. Bake at 325 degrees for 30-35 minutes.

Buttercream Frosting

1/3 cup butter, softened

1 pound powdered sugar

2-3 tablespoons very hot milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

Combine all ingredients and beat with an electric beater. The hot milk is vital to making the Frosting taste right. The heat from the milk “cooks” the powdered sugar slightly and gives the frosting a less raw taste. I usually heat 1/3 cup of milk in the microwave to the point of boiling and then add as much as is needed to the frosting to get the correct consistency for spreading on the cake.

The weather is changing here. Although the leaves on the trees are still green and mid-day the temperature reaches 80 degrees or more, the night temperatures are cool and the air feels different. It is mellow and comfortable.

Best of all the grasshoppers are dying off. Just as we were about to give up on everything we had planted—trees, shrubs, and garden—and turn them over to the grasshoppers, the nights cooled. With the cool nights came the demise of many grasshoppers. Before their devastation ended, they had stripped the leaves from six or more of our new fruit trees, all of our grapevines, and all of the red currant bushes.

Fearing the worst, I checked the tomatoes this morning for the first time in a couple of weeks and was surprised and pleased to harvest a nice batch of tomatoes for making homemade ketchup.

My Aunt Esther was a home-canner extra ordinaire. She and my uncle planted a huge garden every year. They shared produce from their prolific garden freely and still there was plenty of produce to store away for cold winter months. The shelves of their basement storeroom were lined with gleaming bottles of fruit, tomatoes, jams, jellies, pickles, and other condiments.

During canning season it seemed to me that her house always smelled like Thanksgiving. Both full and empty bottles lined her counter tops; boxes and pans full of fresh produce awaiting her attention were stacked everywhere, and a pot or two of something delicious-smelling was always simmering on the stove. Her greeting in the midst of such industry and chaos was always a big smile and a hug. She was a woman with lots of enthusiasm and energy, which she also shared freely.

Of the many things she canned I had two favorites—Dilly Beans (string beans turned into an interesting version of dill pickles—long, thin, crisp and tasty) and Homemade Ketchup. Homemade Ketchup is a bit sweeter and a great deal spicier than commercial ketchup. It tastes heavenly on scrambled eggs.

It is Aunt Esther’s Homemade Ketchup that I am making today with the tomatoes from our garden. The house smells delicious and it feels even more like autumn. I can’t wait to fix scrambled eggs for breakfast tomorrow—on second thought, I think I’ll have them tonight.

Here is her recipe:

Homemade Ketchup

7 quarts of fresh tomato juice ( whole tomatoes are cored, peeled and blended to a liquid state–see instructions below)

4 large onions, peeled & coarsely chopped

4 large green peppers, coarsely chopped

1 c. cider vinegar

5 cups granulated sugar

2 tablespoons salt

4 teaspoons cinnamon

2 teaspoons cloves

2 teaspoons chili powder

To easily peel the tomatoes, submerge whole tomatoes into a boiling water bath. When the skins begin to crack, remove tomatoes to a sink-full of cold water. The tomato peel will now easily slip off of the tomato. Blend in a blender to liquify.

Once the entire 7 quarts of tomato juice is prepared, return a little tomato juice (about 1 cup) to the blender and fill the blender with chopped onions. Turn on the blender and liquify the onions and then add it to the tomato juice. Repeat this liquifying process until all of the onions and green peppers have been liquified and combined with the tomato juice in a very large stock pot. (Mine is 8 quarts and it is too small. I divide out part of the juice mixture into a smaller saucepan and add it to the large stock pot as the ketchup cooks down and some of the liquid evaporates.

Add the remaining ingredients to the tomato juice mixture, bring to a boil and simmer for four to six hours. The ketchup is ready when it is thick, dark red, and the volume reduced by half. Ladle into prepared canning jars (I use half-pints) and process 15-20 minutes in a cold-pack canner.

Many years ago a kind neighbor, with three little boys, shared her recipe for Fruit Punch Concentrate with me. My neighbor was frugal and, I believe, ahead of times in her approach to healthy eating. Not that this is necessarily a healthy drink, but the ratio of real fruit juice content is considerably higher than commercially prepared fruit punch and the cost per serving considerably lower. And, it tastes good!

From time-to-time I make this drink in the summertime. It makes a gallon of concentrate, so a thirsty season is a good time to make it. The concentrate keeps for a month in the refrigerator.

Fruit Punch Concentrate

46 oz. can of pineapple juice

12 oz can of frozen orange juice concentrate

5 lb. bag of granulated sugar

5 pkgs Cherry Kool-Aid powder (unsweetened)

5 pkgs Lemonade Kool-Aid powder (unsweetened)

Combine all ingredients (in order listed) in a 4 qt. pan saucepan and place on medium-low heat. Stir continuously to combine the ingredients and to melt the sugar. When the concentrate is no longer “gritty” (from the undissolved sugar) on the bottom, remove from heat and pour into a large storage container. (I use a jar with a wide mouth opening for easy measuring.) During this process my saucepan does not even get hot on the top edges. The sugar dissolves quickly and the concentrate is only gently heated to melt the sugar.

To make punch, measure five parts water to one part of concentrate. For example: Add five cups of water to one cup of concentrate.

Enjoy!

This time of year I relish the smell of a slow, oven-cooked meal and cinnamon. There is a coziness and a sense of comfort that comes from a house warmed by the smell of good food and heated by that same food baking in the oven.

When I was young Sunday dessert was often a cake that Mom made from a recipe book she had purchased as a bride during World War II. On Saturday nights my mother would pull out her battered cookbook, the cover long gone from many years of service, and turn to the page with the recipe called: Eggless, Milkless, Butterless Cake. The page was spattered and stained from much use.

The appeal of this recipe is stated in it’s title….no hard to find ingredients. As she prepared this cake the house would fill with the aroma of sugar, cinnamon, and raisins. For me, a sense of well-being always accompanied the preparation of this cake.

Eggless, Milkless, Butterless Cake

1 c. brown sugar, firmly packed

1-1/4 c. water

1/3 c. shortening

2/3 c. raisins

½ t. nutmeg

2 t. cinnamon

½ t. powdered cloves

2 c. flour

½ t. salt

1 t. baking powder

1 t. baking soda

2 t. water

Boil sugar, water, shortening and spices for five minutes. Cool slightly and stir in flour, salt, and baking powder. Dissolve soda in 2 teaspoons of water and add last to the batter. Grease an 8-inch square baking dish and pour in cake. Bake at 325 degrees for 30-35 minutes.

Evenings in the fall always make me think of this cake. To be completely honest, the cake is a little dry, but when accompanied by thick vanilla frosting and a glass of milk it makes a perfect treat.

Cold weather is closing in on us and the deer are coming to the fields around our house to eat. Tonight as I drove home after dark I saw six deer (two of them fawns) crossing the road. We have protected our young trees with tall poles and wire fencing around each of them to keep the vulnerable new growth out of the reach of the deer. It seems mean-spirited to tempt the deer with young trees and then prevent their approach, especially when inside the house we are comforted by good food and a warm house.

As is the case with many women, my daughter and I enjoy eating dishes that are not traditional meat and potatoes-type meals. When she still lived at home the boys in our family occasionally took backpacking trips and while they were away we would try restaurants and recipes that the boys would probably not appreciate as much as we did. We had chicken sandwiches with sprouts and cashew nuts, different kinds of quiche, and a particularly memorable clear soup made with chicken broth and tofu. During those times we both acquired a taste for unusual spice combinations and meatless dishes.

In the years since she left home our daughter continued her food experiments for unusual and meatless meals. While they were living in Maryland, she met a neighbor who was an amazing vegetarian cook. This lovely lady shared her food and her recipes with our daughter. During times when she had morning sickness, her friend cooked the only food that was palatable for our daughter. So thanks to this generous neighbor, she had the help that I could not give her from across the country.

Whenever I visit, my daughter cooks vegetarian lunches for us and we feast on the unusual flavors and new recipes she has perfected. The recipe below is a meal she made for me on my recent visit. It would be a great one to share when you next meet with your quilting friends for an unusual and healthy luncheon main dish. It is a recipe that was prepared and shared by her good Samaritan neighbor during a time when it was the only food my daughter could eat.

Spinach Pie

8 oz. Roll of phyllo dough (thawed)

1-2 T. Sesame seeds

1-2 T. Butter

Cooking spray

Filling:

20 oz. frozen spinach (thawed and cooked according to package directions)

16 oz. carton lowfat cottage cheese

6 oz. feta cheese (fat free works great if you can find it)

2 oz. shredded mozzarella or muenster cheese

1 tablespoon dill

1 tablespoon cumin (I use a little less to adjust the flavor to my taste)

Dash of nutmeg

Dash of pepper

Combine the above ingredients and mix well. Line an 10″ x 13″ baking dish with four to five sheets of phyllo dough, spread with one-third of the spinach mixture, then alternately layer several phyllo sheets with the spinach filling, ending with 4-5 sheets of phyllo pastry on top. Sprinkle the sesame seeds over the top, slice the butter into small pats and place on top. Finally, spray the top with cooking spray to help the crust stay crisp. Bake at 375 degrees for 30-45 minutes—until it is golden brown on top. Enjoy!

Sometimes life goes at an easy pace and there is time for everything I want or need to do in a day. And then there are times, like the past few weeks, when I race through the day from one task to the next wondering how it got so late so fast. Thanksgiving seemed ages away and now it is here and I am, once again, not quite ready. Today both my daughter and daughter-in-law called to ask what I would like for Christmas—CHRISTMAS!!— just give me a few more hours in this day and maybe, just maybe, I can finish all of my Thanksgiving preparations and then think past tomorrow! 

Meanwhile, here is a quick and easy homemade treat to share with those you love on this holiday weekend. Happy Thanksgiving!

Fudge

2-1/2 c. granulated sugar

1 cup butter (2 cubes)

1 cup evaporated milk

1/4 teaspoon salt

3 cups milk chocolate chips

2 cups nuts (walnuts)

2 teaspoons vanilla

In a medium saucepan, combine the sugar, butter milk and salt. Bring to a boil on medium heat stirring constantly. Boil for seven minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and add the remaining ingredients—chocolate chips, nuts and vanilla. Mix the fudge by hand until the butter is melted. Pour into a buttered 9″ square dish and cool. Cut when cool and serve. Delicious!

Apple pie is one of my favorite desserts and I am always on the lookout for the best example. For me, there is no contest at all between a double or triple chocolate confection and a warm slice of apple pie with cold vanilla ice cream melting alongside. It is pie for me every time.

Much research has been conducted with many articles and books written on the search for the perfect apple pie. I believe it is the combination of many sensations that makes apple pie so desirable. In one slice of pie a la’ mode there is sweet and tart, hot and cold, healthy (apples) and unhealthy (crust, sugar), etc.

In a tiny town, almost a intersection really, located in southern Utah we discovered the perfect All American Apple Pie. Veyo, Utah, is on the way to no place in particular, but in the center of town there is a gas station-convenience store-diner-laundromat-motel-bakery establishment that boasts a reputation for fine baked goods. One mellow October afternoon a few years ago, we took a drive solely for the purpose of sampling their famous pie. The trip was well worth the effort. Since tasting their delicious apple pie that day, it has become the hallmark against which I judge every slice of apple pie I have eaten since then.

One of my hobbies is to try and replicate recipes for dishes I have enjoyed and it has been my quest for quite some time to create an apple pie as good as the apple pie from Veyo. After many experiments, with both failure and success, I believe I have finally come close to a great Apple Pie recipe.

Last week, with the gift of apples from my sister-in-law’s tree, I baked apple pie again. Maybe you would like to try it too. Here is my recipe.

Apple Pie

(makes one large 9″ pie)

Crust:

2 c. all purpose flour

1 t. salt

2/3 c. lard (I prefer lard to shortening because it has better flavor)

½ c. ice cold water (It is very important that the water be ice cold.)

Blend the flour, salt, and lard together with a pastry blender until it is thoroughly combined and there are no lumps, just a fine crumble. With a fork, gently blend in the ice water. It will seem like it is not enough water, but keep blending with the fork until the crust forms together into a ball. You may need a bit more water, but don’t add it until the first ½ cup is thoroughly blended. You may also want to use your hands toward the end to feel for any areas that are still very wet. (The trick to good pie crust is to not activate the gluten in the flour. When making bread, it is important that the gluten be well exercised, but a flaky pie crust becomes tough when the gluten is activated. The ice water and gentle handling are intended to keep the gluten inactive. If the pie crust dough becomes stretchy you will know immediately that the crust will be tough.) Reserve a 1/4 to 1/3 portion of the dough to be used for the top crust. Roll out the remaining pie crust on a lightly floured surface and carefully transfer it to a 9″ pie plate. The pie filling is added next. Then roll out the reserved crust into a circle shape. To make the scores in the top crust, carefully fold the circle in half and then in half again. Use a bread knife to cut three diagonal slits close together on both of the folded sides of the crust. Make the slits near the center, or point, of the folded crust. Transfer the still-folded crust to the top of the filled pie. As the top crust is unfolded on top of the pie, the “V” shaped stem vents will decorate the center of your pie.

Filling:

9 medium sized apples (Granny Smith, if you like tart apples, or Gala for a less tart taste)

1-1/2 c. water

1-3/4 c. sugar

1 to 2 t. cinnamon

3/4 t. nutmeg

½ t. salt

½ c. cornstarch dissolved in 2/3 c. cold water

Peel, core, and slice the apples into wedges (about 12 wedges per apple). Combine apples and 1-1/2 cups of water in a medium saucepan. Bring to boil and cook apples 5 minutes only. (Cooking the apples longer will give you applesauce.) Drain the liquid from the apples and reserve the liquid. Combine the reserved liquid with sugar, spices, and salt. Bring the syrup to a full boil and stir in the cornstarch/water combination. (Yes, this is a lot of cornstarch. I like the pie filling to be nice and thick.) Stir the syrup constantly until it returns to a boil and the syrup becomes transparent and very thick. Add the thickened syrup to the apples. Stir them together carefully to avoid breaking up the apples. Pour the filling into the prepared pie crust. Cover pie with top crust that has been scored to let the steam escape. Seal the edges of the pie crust and sprinkle the top crust with granulated sugar. Bake the pie in a 425 degree preheated oven for 50 minutes. The crust should be very brown, a browner crust adds an almost nutty taste to the pie. Enjoy!