Paul and Penny

Mom got this out of one her first cookbooks that daddy bought her right after they got married. Better Homes and Gardens Dessert Cookbook. I have the recipe book and will cherish it always. She used to make it for him and for his dad, and grandpa still talked about mom’s pie up until the day he passed away. Grandpa passed away 2 days after Christmas and I remember on Christmas day that year, he asked me if my mom was making some of her good pies.  Sweet memories…

Chocolate Pie

1 c sugar

3 heaping T cornstarch

3 level T of Hershey’s cocoa powder

1/4 t salt

12 oz milnot plus enough water to make 2 cups (or just 2 cups of milk)

3 beaten egg yolks (reserve whites for your meringue if making one)

2 T butter

1 t vanilla

Combine sugar, cornstarch, salt and cocoa in medium sauce pan, add milnot and eggs and mix well. Put on medium heat and bring up to heat, stirring CONSTANTLY making sure to scrape the sides and bottom of the pan CONTINUALLY. ( I use a whisk). It will thicken as you cook and stir, don’t rush it or it WILL SCORCH!When about half way thicken, remove add butter and vanilla and place back on fire and finish cooking.  Let cool and pour into a prebaked pie crust. (see recipe for mom’s pie crust). Mom always served it in a plain pastry crust, but last year due to time restraints, I poured it into a store bought small graham cracker crust topped with Cool Whip and shaved a Hersey bar over the cool whip. It was beautiful and delicious.

This is the one and only pie crust that mom, Penny and Emily have used since mom got it around

1980! In your pie plate put 1 cup of all purpose flour and stir in 1/2 t salt.

In a small sauce pan, heat1/3 cup of shortening (or I use oil and just use a scant less

than 1/3 of a cup) and 1/4 cup water and bring to boil, remove from heat and pour in your

pie plate over the salt and flour,

mix til all flour is moistened and then press in pan,

flute the edges if you want to and prick bottom with a fork.

bake at about 375 til golden. then fill with whatever filling you want like chocolate or

whatever is already cooked.

Or if you want to make a fruit pie or something that cooks in the shell, then pour in the

filling when the crust is raw and then bake accoring to pie directions.

Bake a 9 x 13 pan of cornbread ahead of time.  I love my homemade recipe, but both grandma and I use Shawnee Mills Cornbread mix when in a hurry.

In a large pan crumble a 9 x 13 pan ( or a little less) of cornbread with a half loaf of white bread and set aside. In a medium sauce pan, boil some chopped onion and celery in some water and and add to bread mixture, use extra chicken broth if you need more liquid. Add sage, salt and pepper. Add sliced up boiled eggs and turkey or chicken pieces and bake in a 9 x 13 pan at 400 for about 45 minutes.

Penny’s version

I saute my onion and celery in butter instead of boiling it in water and add butter and all to the mixture. And since I don’t have the water from boiling, I just use more Swanson’s chicken broth.

I also like to add some cream of chicken soup.

I also like to add chunks of turkey if you have any to use.

I also like to add a larger ratio of white bread to cornbread than grandma does. Probably close to half and half but, more cornbread than white bread.

1 3/4 cup cornmeal

1/4 cup flour

6 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1 egg or egg white

2 cups buttermilk

some water

mix well and scrape into an iron skillet that is heating in the oven with some oil in it-

it should sizzle when you scrape it into the pan. Bake 400 for 20-30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350°F.Mix corn syrup, eggs, sugar, butter and vanilla using a spoon. Stir in pecans. Pour filling into pie crust.

• 1 cup Karo® Light OR Dark Corn Syrup
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted
• 1 teaspoon Spice Islands® Pure Vanilla Extract
• 1-1/2 cups (6 ounces) pecans
• 1 (9-inch) unbaked or frozen** deep-dish pie crust

 Bake on center rack of oven for 55 to 60 minutes. Cool for 2 hours on wire rack before serving.

**To use prepared frozen pie crust: Place cookie sheet in oven and preheat oven as directed. Pour filling into frozen crust and bake on preheated cookie sheet.

RECIPE TIPS: Pie is done when center reaches 200°F. Tap center surface of pie lightly - it should spring back when done. For easy clean up, spray pie pan with cooking spray before placing pie crust in pan. If pie crust is overbrowning, cover edges with foil.

My Mom’s Carrot Cake AKA The best carrot cake ever!

2 c flour

1 t  baking powder

2 t baking soda

2 t cinnamon

1 t salt

2 c sugar (some brown)

1 ½ c canola oil

4 eggs

2 c rated carrots

Mix dry ingredients separate from wet ingredients. Add together, pour into a bundt pan (oiled and floured) Bake 300-350 for 45 minutes

300 for 45 mn in a 9x 13

350 for 1 hour in a bundt pan

Penny’s Icing

½ stick (1/4 c) softened real butter, 1 8 oz cream cheese, 1 box powdered sugar, 1 t vanilla.

Blend til smooth and ice cooled cake.

  Boil a chicken, wait til its done, remove chicken, then drop the dumplings in (recipe below), at the very last after dumplings are done, add some cream of chicken soup, gently, be careful not to break up your dumplings. debone chicken and add it back in. add pepper at the end.   Making dumplings flour and salt,  per mom “i just put flour in a bowl and then add some salt and then add eggs, one at a time”. add eggs one at a time until you get a dough, to form, it will be sticky at this point, then put it on a floured cabinet and work in the flour with your hands until it’s thick enough (mom usually had a flimsey type dough that made very tender noodles) to roll out with a rolling pin or glass (mom said she used a glass for years because she never had a rolling pin, but then she found one at a garage sale years later and used it) mom said to flour your glass or pin also, when you have it rolled out, rather thin, slice in wide strips (break them up about 2-3 inches long) and drop in broth as it boils on medium when you get a few in turn your heat down to low and keep dropping dumplings in, you want the heat a little above a simmer but mom said it should be on low, “the loose flour will help thicken the broth but you don’t want it to stick to the bottom of the pan so use large spoon to keep the noodles moving and to keep anything off the bottom from sticking per mom” do this gently or you’ll break up your noodles”.

I was thinking about how good mom’s dumpings are and then realized that although I have seen her make them many times, I have never paid attention to detail enough to pass the recipe on to Hannah or Jacquline (or even our “men’s men” Josh or Cody ;0) so I called her up and asked her to tell me how to make them. Below you will find the recipe in her words. They are truely awesome, just like mom… -Penny

Boil a chicken, wait til its done, remove chicken, then drop the dumplings in (recipe below), at the very last after dumplings are done, add some cream of chicken soup, gently, be careful not to break up your dumplings. debone chicken and add it back in. add pepper at the end.

Making dumplings flour and salt,  per mom “i just put flour in a bowl and then add some salt and then add eggs, one at a time”. Add eggs one at a time until you get a sticky dough to form, it will be sticky at this point, then put it on a floured cabinet and work in the flour with your hands until it’s thick enough (mom usually had a flimsey type dough that made very tender noodles) to roll out with a rolling pin or glass. Mom said she used a glass for years because she never had a rolling pin, but then she found one at a garage sale years later and used it. Mom said to flour your glass or pin. When you have it rolled out, rather thin, slice in wide strips (tear them up about 2-3 inches long) and drop in broth as it boils on medium. When you get a few in, turn your heat down to low and keep dropping dumplings in. You want the heat a little above a simmer but, mom said it should be on low. “The loose flour will help thicken the broth and you don’t want dumplings to stick to the bottom of the pan”, “so use large spoon to keep the noodles moving and to keep anything off the bottom from sticking” per mom” and “do this gently or you’ll break up your noodles”.

Mom, aka Grandma Kathy