Pear and Pineapple Cocktail

My mother-in-law’s pear tree has been full of beautiful pears this year and she brought some to me a couple of days ago.  Looking through Grandmother’s cookbooks, I found this 1940’s recipe for a Pear and Pineapple Cocktail.  Since I had all the ingredients on hand, I made it for our dinner Thursday night.

The recipe is so unbelievably, ridiculously easy to make! 

Just combine the fruit, add grape juice and cherry juice.

Garnish and enjoy!

Pear and Pineapple Cocktail

4 pears

20 oz. can pineapple chunks

4 maraschino cherries

white grape juice

Peel the pears and chop in small pieces.  In a bowl, combine the pears and pineapple chunks.  Divide the fruit evenly between 4 cocktail glasses.  Cover the fruit with white grape juice.  Add a small amount of maraschino cherry juice to the glasses.  Garnish with a cherry.  Yields 4 servings.

How easy is that!  I think it makes a beautiful presentation. 

I’m linking up with Brenda’s Canadian Kitchen for another Cookbook Sundays.  I can’t wait to see all the great recipes that will be shared!  Wouldn’t you like to come on over and join us?

DG

Season of the Witch

Happy Halloween! 

I hope all of you 

- whether you’re fellow blogging

ghouls, ghosts, goblins, witches, vampires or zombies –

have a spooktacularly Haunted Halloween!

For those of you that don’t know, I’ve had a very special visitor for the past couple of weeks.  Lisette, a witch from the Old Country, has been visiting.  What “Old Country” you are so correct in asking.  I, myself, asked the same question of Lisette.  She just looked down her nose at me and flew off in a huff.  Hmmm…I’m still waiting for an answer.

Let me tell you a secret about Lisette.  In spite of all her warts, her crooked nose and knobby fingers – not to mention the fact that she puts on airs and has a cackle that makes your hair stand on end - Lisette likes to think she is quite a frou-frou witch.  She speaks with an extremely fake French accent all the time and when she doesn’t want to answer a question…she sniffs in disdain and turns up her nose at you.

When she found out about Tablescape Thursday hosted by Susan over at Between Naps on the Porch, Lisette vehemently insisted on doing a tablesetting for your Halloween pleasure this week.  I’m almost afraid to see what she does to my table!

Wow, it sure is bright, isn’t it!  Almost hurts my eyes!

Lisette said “no ghosts, no goblins…no zombies and no skeletons” (although I did slip one in when she wasn’t looking)…only a witch’s table would do for Halloween.  A bit conceited, isn’t she!

She tossed her hat on the table – the one with the orange and purple feathers.  Did I mention the fact that when Lisette dresses up, she likes “putting on the ritz”?

She added her shoes on top of the table!  I said, “Ummm…excuse me!  We eat on this table!  Get your midnight graveyard stomping boots off my table!”  Well, as you can see, I lost this argument.

As if her boots (who knows where they’ve been!) on the table weren’t bad enough…she’s put severed fingers on the table to use as knife rests.  I don’t even want to know where she found them or what they used to be attached to.  Are they something she uses in her witchy spells?  I really think I’ve just lost my appetite.  Ok, this is the final straw!

I sternly told Lisette “NO” when she began to put some hollowed out skulls on the table.  She expected us to eat from them…not in this lifetime!  She finally agreed to use plates…although she did threaten to put a spell on me that would make me crow like a chicken if I complained about anything else.

In honor of her beloved feline Binx, Lisette used napkin rings sporting black cats with glowing green eyes to hold the napkins. 

Lisette chose to use amethyst glass bread and butter plates…they match the amethyst goblets.

Lisette’s spell book can be seen in the background.  Wonder if she’s stirring up a love potion?

It’s almost time to say goodbye to Lisette…she’ll be flying back to the Old Country after the Witches’ Ball on Halloween night. 

I honestly can’t say that I’ll be sad to see her go…it’s been an exasperating  couple of weeks putting up with her spells and hexes.  Maybe by the time she comes for a visit next year, I will have recovered from THIS visit. 

Until next time…

Happy Halloween from Lisette and

DG

 

 

 

 

Golden Peach Crunch

Welcome to another adventure in making recipes from my Grandmother’s cookbooks!  “Favorite Recipes of Alabama Vocational Home Economics Teachers Third Edition” is the only one I found that still has a title page.  The book was published circa 1960’s and I believe was sold through the area schools as a fundraiser. 

Looking through the pages of this cookbook, the recipe for Golden Peach Crunch caught my eye.  Since my whole family loves peaches, I decided to give it a try. 

To make this recipe, the peaches and spices are combined in a bowl and then poured in a baking dish.

The topping ingredients are mixed together and ready to be put on the peaches.

Time to go in the oven to bake…

Hot from the oven and ready to eat…or you can let it cool to room temperature before serving.

I like to serve this dessert warm from the oven with a scoop of ice cream.  Yummy!

What I love about this dessert is the fact that it’s super easy to make and it bakes up quickly. Perfect for those days when you’re short on time, but still want a great dessert. 

Golden Peach Crunch

2 cans (1 lb 13 oz) peach slices, drained

1 1/2 t cornstarch

1/4 t cinnamon

1/4 t nutmeg

1 T lemon juice

1 c quick Quaker oats (uncooked)

1/2 c butter, melted

1/2 c brown sugar (packed)

1/4 t salt

In a large bowl, combine the peaches with cornstarch, cinnamon, nutmeg, and lemon juice.  Pour into an 8” baking dish.  In another bowl, mix until crumbly the oats, butter, sugar and salt.  Sprinkle this mixture over the peaches and bake at 375 degrees for about 30 minutes.  May serve hot with whipped cream.  Yields 8 servings.

I’m linking up with Foodie Friday over at Designs by Gollum.  Wouldn’t you like to join us?? 

DG

Spiderwebs, Crystal and Silver Pumpkins

I’m  joining Susan over at Between Naps on the Porch for Tablescape Thursday.  I’m also joining Stephanie Lynn at Under The Table and Dreaming for her Halloween Pumpkin Parade Party.  Don’t you want to join us too?  I’m sure you’ll find lots of inspiration in all the beautiful tables and Halloween decor.

I decorated this Halloween table in sparkling silver, black and crystal.  I started out with a black tablecloth and topped it with a silver runner.   

Shimmering silver beaded place mats went on the table next.

Each place setting is layered with a black dinner plate, a silver liner plate and a black soup bowl.

Placed on top of the soup bowls are black and silvery gray plaid napkins.  The silver napkin rings are dressed with a black and silver ribbon.

A crystal dish for holding butter is placed on the black bread and butter plate.  I placed a silver paper doily under the crystal dish for a little extra shine.  Then I added a crystal handled butter spreader on top of the crystal dish.

Black and crystal diamond point stemmed glasses will be used for iced tea.

Glittered silver spiderweb votive candleholders are placed at each setting.  A spiderweb place card is attached to each candleholder with silver ribbon.

Silver candelabrum draped with ropes of iridescent black and dark blue beads were placed at each end of the runner. 

A black napkin placed on a silver tray forms the base for the centerpiece.  Silver pumpkins, more black beaded rope and Halloween masks decorate the tray.

A couple of views of the entire table…

I want to thank you for visiting with me today.  Company is always fun and welcome, so I hope you’ll come back very soon!

DG

Potato Soup

I was craving soup, but I wanted a recipe that was simple and light.  After a quick look through the pages of my Grandmother’s cookbooks, I had my soup recipe. 

This recipe for Potato Soup is from what I believe to be the oldest cookbook that my Grandmother owned, circa 1930-40’s.  It was super simple to make and from start to finish took less than 25 minutes to prepare.

The potato and onion has been sliced, water and salt have been added…now it’s time to start cooking.

Bring the water to a boil and then turn down the heat to a gentle simmer.

Add cream and butter.

Dust with pepper, garnish and enjoy!

This is the original recipe exactly as it was written in the cookbook.

Potato Soup

Peel and slice 1 potato in very thin slices.  Peel and slice a small onion in thin slices.  Cook rapidly in 2 cups of boiling water for 15 minutes.  Add 3 cups of thin cream or rich milk and 1/4 teaspoon of salt.  Heat.  Add 2 tablespoons of butter.  Dust with pepper.  Sprinkle each portion with minced parsley.  Fresh mint leaves, finely chopped, may be substituted for the parsley.  Serves 4.

My comments on the recipe…

For a light lunch, this recipe was exactly what I wanted.  However, I honestly can’t see how one potato is going to feed 4…especially not the four hungry people that I feed each day!  Well, possibly if you were hosting a ladies’ luncheon and were also serving breads, sandwiches or salads.  There was basically enough potatoes in the soup to feed one person with a lot soup liquid left over.

For my personal taste, I thought it needed a tiny bit more salt added to it.  Since I was out of parsley and didn’t have time to run out to the store, I garnished the soup with crumbled bacon.

I’m linking up with Designs by Gollum for another Foodie Friday.  I’m also linking up with Brenda’s Canadian Kitchen for Cookbook Sundays. We would love to have you join us!

DG