Mom's Chocolate Cream Pie w/Merinque

 Mom's Chocolate Pie

        This is a special post. I baked this pie yesterday (12/23/2020) on the 2nd anniversary of my father's passing. My dad did most of the cooking growing up, but my mom would cook on her days off and would make this chocolate pie for my dad on special occasions.  She used the same recipe every time. The recipe she used for the pie crust (I can only assume) and the filling are in the 1960 Better Homes & Gardens Dessert Cook Book of which I have a 1965 fifth printing copy. My mother passed away 30 years ago this coming NYE and I don't know for sure what happened to her copy of this cookbook. I'd looked for one since I started collecting cookbooks and found my copy years ago at either an estate sale or an antique store. I recognized it and knew it was the right book.  

    I don't believe I've ever tried making her pie, but as part of how I honor my parents on the anniversaries of their passing, I make things they liked to eat or used to make. I have memories of baking this pie with my mom and sister, but no clear memories of the ingredients or the process.  I just remember as kids, my sister or I were the ones who had to do the stirring. 

    I started with combining the first three ingredients (sugar, salt and I used cornstarch instead of flour for my thickener) in a saucepan, followed by slowly adding the milk which I had pre-heated in the microwave and two one ounce squares of un-sweetened baking chocolate, chopped. I stirred this mixture continuously and after this mixture boiled, I cooked it for two more minutes and removed the pan from the heat. I stirred a small bit into my slightly beaten egg yolks and then stirred that into the chocolate mixture, stirring for two minutes and removing from the heat. After removing from the heat, I added vanilla and the recipe calls for 2 tablespoons of butter; I forgot to add the butter for some reason, even though it was on the counter right next to the stove; in the long run, it did not seem to affect the pie. The recipe says to let the mixture cool to room temperature. 

    While the chocolate mixture was cooling, I made the pie crust (it did not look pretty) and baked it in my pre-heated oven. The recipe says 450 degrees! However, my oven is ancient and doesn't go that high, so I do my best, like I normally do. I baked it at 375 degrees for about 20 minutes I believe. I am pretty good at "eye-balling" doneness, so I just watched it.  Anyhow, once the shell was ready, I poured the chocolate filling into the pie crust and smoothed it out. 

    I beat egg whites, cream of tartar and half a teaspoon of vanilla for the meringue. I don't think it formed soft peaks like it really was supposed to before adding the sugar, but I've been having a problem with my shoulder and it was hurting from holding the mixer over the bowl. I slowly added six tablespoons of sugar until the mixture was a bit stiffer. It wasn't perfect, but it spread nicely over the filling and I was able to make some little peaks on top, before putting the pie in my oven at 350 degrees (I'd lowered the temperature after doing the crust) for 15 minutes. 

    I was pretty pleased with how the pie looked when it came out of the oven. After cooling for quite awhile, I cut myself a little piece and the filling hadn't held up as well as I'd hoped (pictured below), but it sure tasted good. It was just as good as I'd remembered.  Once the pie was completely cooled, I put it into my new Tupperware pie container and then into the refrigerator.  I declare this a tasty success, because although I forgot the butter, the piecrust wasn't super pretty and the meringue wasn't the best, it tasted like my mom's. That and that it was for my dad, were what was important. 

Stuffed Cabbage Leaves

 Stuffed Cabbage Leaves

    So today is Sunday, and I made this recipe yesterday.  It was good! Not super complicated, but it seemed like a lot of prep work.  This recipes came from the same cookbook as the last recipe, this 1959 Farm Journal's Country Cookbook.  

    One curious thing about this recipe was that it doesn't say to cook the sausage that goes in the filling and the second thing is that the recipe calls for you to put a whole, small onion in the baking dish with the rolls.  I didn't understand the onion thing, so I ended up doing some onion slices with what was left from the onion is used for part of the filling. The recipe called for seasoned rice and I chose to use  one cube of Knorr's "Caldo de Tomate", which is tomato bouillon with chicken flavor. 

    The first step was I browned the sausage and while that was working, I started chopping up the green pepper, onion and celery.  Next I put the cabbage which I had removed the core/heart from on a large pan and poured boiling water over it, covering with the lid. The hot water wilts the leaves and makes them easier to remove. I also cooked the rice in the microwave while all this was going on. Once the sausage was browned, I drained the grease and put the sausage in my mixing bowl.  I added butter to the skillet and cooked the onion, celery and green pepper, which I cooked for 2 minutes, stirring frequently. When the rice was done, I added that to my mixing bowl and then added the veggies, mixing it all up.  

    Now, one thing I changed was the recipe called for 'thyme', which I thought I had and didn't, so I modified the seasoning (Sometimes you have to use what you have on hand and that's okay).  Instead of one 1/2 teaspoon of thyme, I used 1/2 teaspoon of  Trader Joe's "Italian Style Sofrito" mix, which has onion, tomato, sea salt, garlic, chili pepper, parsley flakes, crushed red pepper, rosemary and sage; one 1/2 teaspoon of parsley flakes and one 1/2 teaspoon of Penzey's Spices "Ozark Seasoning", which has salt, black pepper, garlic, paprika, mustard, ancho, celery seed, caraway, allspice, ginger, cardamom and cloves. The recipe also calls for 1/2 teaspoon of salt. I mixed the seasoning in with the rice and sausage mix.  

    Once my filling was all ready, I took the cabbage and pealed leaves off, laying them on paper towels to dry off a bit. I sprayed a 9x13 baking dish with cooking spray and used a spoon to scoop some of the filling onto leaves, one at a time. I rolled up the leaves with the filling into little "packages", placed them in my dish and secured them with toothpicks. The recipe calls for using a 1/4 cup of filling for each leaf, but I "eyeballed' it and it worked out fine.  I made 12 rolls aka "packages".  Once the pan was full, I poured the tomato juice and water over the rolls and added the rest of the onion, which I had sliced. I baked in a 350 degree pre-heated oven for one hour (my house smelled good). 

    I was hungry, so didn't let it cool for very, long, before I served myself a roll with a piece of buttered sour-dough bread.  I rather enjoyed this dish and plan to make it again. I proclaim it a success!! I am however plotting to try an all veggie and sausage (or without) version. You could easily leave out the sausage and season without the chicken and tomato bouillon, for a vegetarian dish and just do what I want to try, all veggies.  Maybe even crumbled tofu or paneer cheese would work.      

    So, as always, if you try this, let me know what you think. 

Farmer Jones' Special

 Farmer Jones' Special

    Farmer Jones' Special is a recipe I found in my copy of the 1959 Farm Journal's Country Cookbook. It's towards the back in a section called "Exciting Rice Dishes". This is pretty much a casserole. The recipe calls for putting the mixture into a 12" ovenware pie plate and I ended up using a 9"x13" baking dish. One, all of my pie dishes are not that big and there was so much, that I knew it would do just fine in a 9"x13" dish. 

    So, the first thing you do is pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees. Then you chop up your celery and onion.  The recipe calls for 1 cup chopped celery and I used a little more. I'd cut up 4 stalks and didn't want to waste it. You cook the celery and onion in butter/margarine until golden brown, cover and cook until tender. The recipe says to add the tomato juice, tomato paste and ground beef, cover and simmer for 10 minutes.  The recipe did not say to brown the ground beef first, but I did.  It just wasn't going to be cooked thoroughly unless you cooked it before adding to the vegetables. I cooked my rice in the microwave while I was doing all this. Once everything was done, I mixed it all together and spooned it into my baking dish, which I had sprayed with a bit of cooking spray. The recipe calls for 1/3 cup Parmesan cheese.  One, I used the powdered in a jar kind and two, I used way more than 1/3 cup. It is cheese and cheese is awesome, so do to your taste. I used the powdered kind, because I forgot to buy fresh Parmesan. The powdered kind was just fine.  Switch it up and use an entirely different kind of cheese, like shredded mozzarella or monterey jack if you wish. I like to salt and pepper on my plate sometimes, rather than adding during cooking, but feel free to add your 1 teaspoon of salt during cooking (you add that when you add the meat to the vegetables. 

    This recipe was good as is and I would definitely make it again. You can get at least 8 servings out of this recipe. The ingredients cost less than $10 and the most expensive ingredient was the ground beef, which was $5.79.  The rice I got for $1 and the tomato paste was under $1. The tomato juice I got (a pack of mini V-8 juice cans) was about $2.50. I only used two cans, but I am happy to have the extras in my pantry. And something I like, is that you can easily make this spicy by using spicy tomato juice, adding chili powder or maybe even finely diced jalapeno. I love garlic, but wanted to make it without this time.  I will sprinkle some garlic powder on what I have for lunch today and see how I like it. You could also add diced tomatoes if you like. If you don't like hamburger, use ground turkey. *If you are vegetarian, I think this could be made with diced tofu or paneer cheese. Just cook it before adding to the vegetables.*

      A nice garden salad and rolls or cornbread would round out this meal nicely. As always, if you make this, let me know how you like it. 

    The last picture below is a before/after photo of the filled baking dish.  :)

Hershey Bar Pie

 HERSHEY BAR PIE

    Here's a super short post about the pie I made for Thanksgiving. It was just me and I'd decided I wanted to cook all the food, just for me! At the last minute I also decided I wanted to make pie. Hershey Bar Pie is so easy. It's just three ingredients, plus anything you decide you might want to top it with . Unfortunately, I did not write down the weight/amount of the chocolate, but I used three packages of mini Hershey bars. There is 8 mini bars in each package. They were $1.50 each at my local Kroger grocery store. I bought whipped topping for under a $1 and a graham cracker pie crust for about $2. I added chocolate chips I had at home, so this cost me less than $5!!! 

    What you do, is make sure your Cool-Whip or the generic brand whipped topping like I used, is thawed and softened. If your whipped topping is too cool, when you mix it with the chocolate, it might make little "chippy" type bits.  This happened to me before and it wasn't bad. So as far as mistakes go, it's okay if that happens. It is not the end of the World. Unwrap the chocolate bars and melt them in a saucepan on low.  You can break them up into smaller pieces first, if you like. Take the saucepan off the stove. Use a large spoon or spatula to scoop the whipped topping into the chocolate.  I used a metal whisk to incorporate the topping with the chocolate. You can use a wooden spoon, but the whisk helps make sure it is completely combined. Spoon the chocolate mixture into your pie crust and sprinkle any toppings you like on top, before chilling the pie in the refrigerator. 

    I cut fairly big slices and I got 6 pieces from mine.  You can do smaller pieces, because this pie is pretty rich. I think it would be great with a nice hot, cup of coffee or tea. 

Ingredients:

Hershey Bars - About 3 or 4 large or 3 packages of 8 mini bars

Whipped Topping (aka Cool Whip)

Graham Cracker Crust

Toppings can be chocolate chips, toffee bar, nuts, coconut, etc... Be creative!

Fruit & Honey Candy

 FRUIT & HONEY CANDY

    Okay, so I found the recipe for this candy tucked into the Laurel (Iowa) Centennial Cookbook (1881-1981).  The Laurel Centennial Cookbook has multiple recipes submitted from members of my family and I inherited this copy by my Aunt this past year. I'm very, proud of the fact that on both sides of my family, I have ancestors who founded or co-founders of towns, so it is cool to have this cookbook from a town which some of my ancestors helped to found. This recipe had been cut out of a magazine in 1989/1990.  I love when I can date clippings that I find tucked into cookbooks and this clipping was for a recipe from Sue Bee Honey and had a coupon for .15 cents off a bottle of Sue Bee Honey.  It expired on 02/28/1990. 

    This isn't something I'd ordinarily make, but I wanted to try my hand at something healthy and something different.  This recipe fit the bill on both fronts.  Reading the recipe, I couldn't figure out what they meant by "fruit bits", so I tweeted the question to Sue Bee Honey (@SueBeeUSA) and they responded pretty quickly.  Some fine person at Sue Bee Honey had actually researched this on my behalf and provided the answer.  That answer was that the Sun-Maid Fruit Company, famous for their raisins (that's how I know them) made/makes a product called "fruit bits".  The fruit bits are exactly what they sound like. Little bits of mixed dried fruits.  I couldn't find any, so that was one of the dried fruits I ordered off of Amazon; I just ended up with a different brand, because I couldn't find the Sun-Maid brand. I also ordered dried apricots, apples and peaches in addition to a large bottle of Sue Bee Honey. The other ingredients are orange extract, quick oats (Um, I just got regular oats and it seemed to work fine) and walnuts.  

    Honestly, this was a little time consuming to make, mostly because the food processor I have is small and I could not fit all of the ingredients in it, so I had to process all the fruits in batches and then I used my really small one to finely chop the walnuts.  I also processed the oats, to make the pieces smaller and I liked how it turned out, with some not all of the pieces totally ground up as I didn't want all of the oats in large pieces.  One slight hiccup which really didn't matter in the end was that the bag of mixed fruit I ordered was large pieces, not bits.  I hadn't realized it, but no biggie. They were going to get chopped up anyhow. I simply cut up those pieces a little smaller, before processing with the other dried fruits. Since my food processor was not large enough to process the "ton" of fruit, nuts and oats, after I processed each smaller batch of mixed fruits, I put the fruit in a large mixing bowl. I mixed the honey and orange extract in the food processor with the fruits.  I hand mixed in the oats and finely chopped walnuts with a wooden spoon, making sure that all the ingredients were incorporated.  The recipe says to process the nuts and some of the walnuts in the food processor, but mixing them in with the wooden spoon, worked just fine. 

    I'd ordered mini-baking cups, so I set out a bunch of those, grabbed my small cookie scoop and started scooping balls.  The recipe only calls for 7oz of walnut pieces, divided, but I used more than the 1 cup you set aside for rolling the balls in. There are so many balls that I had to crush up some more nuts.  You can do this to taste, like I did. I wanted to ensure I had a decent amount of crushed walnuts on the outside of the balls. Using my small cookie scoop was an excellent decision.  It made the perfect size ball. The recipe says the yield is approximately 7 dozen and I made 83/84 balls.  I can't remember if I counted before I sampled one. 

    What did I like about this recipe? I like that it is a healthy recipe with no added sugar besides what is naturally in the honey and dried fruits. I thought it tasted pretty good, considering it's not what I normally would reach for as a treat.  I liked that it is something that I can share with my neighbors & friends who may follow certain food restrictions, specifically no dairy or certain animal products. Would I make this again?  I think so. When after COVID restrictions are lifted and life can get more back to normal, I would make this for my church ladies group annual fund-raiser (canceled this year because of COVID). I think this healthy alternative might do well with the crowd at my church.  

    A picture of the recipe is attached below. If you try this out, feel free to let me know how you like it. 

Goody-Pie

 Goody-Pie

    This recipe is the last of the choices I gave when I had a poll to see what I should make.  The winner was Vegetable Dish, so I made the Spanish Lima casserole, then it was the Meat Dish (Donna James' Salisbury Steak) and now this, Dessert.  Reading the recipe, it is clear it is not a pie, but more of a "crisp".  It's a pretty easy recipe and I enjoyed making it. However, although it tasted good, I wished I had not chopped the apples so small and it was way too much sugar. And, I was on FaceTime with a friend and accidentally put 1 teaspoon each of baking powder and baking soda instead of 1/4 teaspoon of each.  I figured at least they were equal amounts; at least I was consistent with that. *It didn't really affect the taste* I plan to try this recipe again, only I will double the amount of apple, and will use less sugar.  I'll take out the single cup of white sugar mixed with the apples before the topping with has more sugar in it. Because I'll be doubling the amount of apple, I'll also use a bigger baking dish.  

    I started by melting the 1/3 cup butter, so it could cool while I was fixing the apples (cutting, peeling and chopping) and mixing the dry ingredients for the topping.   The recipe says you can also sprinkle lemon juice over the apples, which I didn't do, to help prevent the fruit from turning brown.  I used two decent, good sized honey-crisp apples, which were just a tad over 3 cups. You can sprinkle cinnamon over the apples in the dish, if desired.  I chose to mix 1 teaspoon cinnamon in with the white sugar and then poured that over the apples, which I had spread in my round baking dish.  I combined the dry ingredients for the topping together in the order listed and stirred in the cooled butter with a fork at first and then used my clean hands to make sure it was completely mixed.  Next I spread the topping mixture over the apples and put it in my oven for 45, which I had pre-heated to 350 degrees.  The recipe says "a moderate oven" and I figure 350 degrees is pretty standard. My kitchen started smelling really good pretty quickly. It was awesome!!

    When my baking time was up, some of the topping still looked "dry", but I think that happens with a lot of crumbles/crisps. It was a nice, dark brown bubbly color around the outside though.  I served myself a small dish with some whipped topping and then remembered I had maple flavored whipped topping in a can, so I tried some of that also and it was awesome!!!! I will say though that I did not eat all of the gooey goodness on the bottom of my bowl, but that wasn't because of the taste, it was because it was just so sweet.  I hate to say it, but I didn't save what was left, because of the overpowering sweetness.  After I did that though someone I talked to about it suggested using bits of it on top of oatmeal and then I was kicking myself, because I thought that would have been a great idea to be able to at least use some of it. 

    Anyhow, like I said up top, I liked this dessert and will make it again, but with less sugar and more apples.  If you try it, let me know if you like it.  You may be okay with the full amount of sugar, so it's up to you if you want to try it. Using more apple and a bigger pan might help.  

    This recipe was submitted to the cookbook which started this all by a Mrs. W. O. Abram.  

Donna James' Salisbury Steak

    Donna James' Salisbury Steak

    Donna James' Salisbury Steak finished 2nd place in the poll I ran to determine what I would make last week.  The winner was last week's Spanish Limas casserole. The recipe was on a newspaper clipping which had been cut out by an unknown female relative of mine and stuck into the cookbook which belonged to my great-grandmother.  There's no date or any clue of what newspaper it appeared in, but it likely was a Central Iowan newspaper, since that's where my relatives lived.  It looked pretty ease and it was. You simply mix the first seven ingredients (ground beef, dry bread crumbs, egg, salt, pepper, minced onion and finely chopped celery), form it into an oval shape, brown both sides in a heated skillet (the recipe calls to brown it in butter, but I forgot and just used a drizzle of oil) and pour the cream of mushroom soup which you have mixed with the given amount of water, over top. The recipe says you can add boiled potatoes around the meat and the sauce and meat juices will make a gravy.  

    I made the meat mixture and let it set, while I washed and cut in half baby potatoes. I added the baby potatoes to boiling water to start those cooking while I browned the meat.  I formed the meat into an oval(ish) shape as instructed and transferred it to my heated cast iron skillet.  Where I had a problem, was when it was time to turn the meat over.  It was simply too large to flip over and mine broke.  No biggie though. Now I just know it would be best to make two smaller shapes.  So, I kept checking the potatoes and when they were cooked, but not mushy, I drained them and poured them evenly on the sides of the meat. Next I poured the diluted cream of mushroom soup over top, put a lid on it, turned the heat down and set a timer for twenty-five minutes.  

    It smelled pretty good while it was cooking and I was glad when it was finished, because I was excited to try it.  I let it cool a bit and then served myself some of the meat and potatoes, along with the  "gravy".  It seams more of a sauce, but whatever you call it, "sauce" or "gravy", it was good.  I didn't do a pretty presentation and in fact, it doesn't look super appetizing, which is not a ringing endorsement, but you know what?  It doesn't have to look pretty all the time. I did take a video of the bubbling skillet when I first took the lid off. 

    Would I make this again? Yes.  I thought it was good.  You could serve four people (meat portions may be small), but I would maybe cook the potatoes on the side instead of completing them in the pan with the meat.  They were flavorful cooked in with the meat though. If you use a bigger skillet (mine is a 12 inch, I believe), you could do it to make sure you have enough for four people.  You also could have a vegetable side dish, which could help extend servings. I had butternut squash which I had cooked yesterday, but forgot to heat up to eat with my Salisbury Steak.  Some nice rolls or bread would be great because, there's gravy and who doesn't like to "sop up the gravy" with bread?  

    Is there anything else I would different besides making two shapes of meat? I would maybe add less salt or maybe none.  You can always add salt at the table, which I think would be fine. You could maybe add some spice to it. Try your favorite spicy seasoning at the table or while cooking. The recipe suggested cream of chicken or cream of celery soups as an alternative to the cream of mushroom.  I like cream of mushroom, so I don't think I would do that.  

    So, if you try this, I hope you like it.  And let me know.  :)