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

Decorating for Autumn and Halloween

Even though Autumn is my favorite season and I love all the rich earthy colors, I decorate my home very sparingly in these hues simply because these colors clash violently with all of the pink in my home. 

Does anyone else have this problem?  Do you find the colors in your seasonal decorations not flowing very well with the colors in your home?  I would love to hear how others work around this!

The island in my kitchen is one area that I always try to decorate for Fall.  I started out with a glittered cloth, decorated with a pumpkin, from the local antique shop.  A wooden tray holds a scarecrow couple, a pumpkin, and an orange glittery candleholder surrounded by pinecones and acorns.

The other end of the island holds my favorite cookie jar – of course full of Halloween cookies.

Lisette, a witch from the old country, is visiting with us until after Halloween.  I tried to take a photo of her to share, but she threatened me with several different spells if I did.  I distinctly remember hearing something about boils on my toes and hair growing out of my ears….so no photo of Lisette.  She will be attending the Annual Witches’ Ball on Halloween night and has her finery and best broom all ready to go. 

Her fur topped boots will keep her feet warm while she dances in the moonlight’s glow. 

Black leather gloves are a must have fashion accessory at all the best soirées for witches. 

Her favorite moth-eaten shawl is hanging on hooks, along with her most spectacular feather boa. 

After a quick consultation with her crystal ball, Lisette knows she is going to have an enchanted evening at the Witches’ Ball!

My dining area is the only room in my house that gets a full Halloween makeover.

This fellow sits on top of my china cabinet keeping watch over all the mystical events that occur in this room.

The buffet is decorated with candles and potion bottles.

 

Lisette has been cooking up a Witches Brew Love Potion from an old copy of Magickal Booke of Spells for Halloween night.  She says it has to ferment for several days before it’s ready to slip in some poor unsuspecting Wizard’s drink.

Lisette and I thank you for coming by to visit us!  We’re joining in Table Top Tuesday.  Be there or…Lisette was mumbling something about spells most vile if you don’t visit Marty over at A Stroll Thru Life to see all the beautiful table tops! 

DG

Grandmother’s Cookbooks

A couple of months ago, my aunt had asked me to help her clean out some closets and drawers.  You know, that fun job of organizing and getting rid of clutter.  Well, as we were going through a drawer, I began to find loose cookbook pages.  By the time we got to the bottom of the drawer, I had found pages from three different cookbooks that had belonged to my Grandmother.

My aunt said “just throw that junk away”.  Excuse me!  I don’t think so!  I scooped up those pages faster than you can blink!

I brought all of them home, bought a binder and several packages of sheet protectors and now…VOILA, my Grandmother’s cookbooks are ready for my kitchen!

The three cookbooks worth of pages filled up an entire 3” binder.  There are handwritten notes throughout the pages.  There are even some pages that a child had written on.  I won’t name any names (Mom!), but it looks like this child was practicing her handwriting. 

I put photos of my Grandmother in the binder and a note telling how the recipe binder came to be.  Hopefully some day one of my grandchildren will appreciate having this binder of recipes as much as I do.   

One of the books dates to the 1960’s.  The other two are harder to date exactly since the covers were missing and we couldn’t find any references to the names of the cookbooks.  We do know however, that they are both much older and one of them definitely dates at least to the 1940’s if not earlier.

Also with the cookbooks was a loose page of recipes torn from The Progressive Farmer magazine.  On this page was a recipe for a Lemon Gold Cake.  I’m pretty sure this recipe was the reason my Grandmother kept this page since she loved the flavor of lemons.

This cake was the first one I made from her recipes.

Ok, I totally can not frost a cake, but my husband says I’ll get better with practice!

Would you care for a slice?

To share my adventures in cooking my way through Grandmother’s books, I’m joining in over at Designs by Gollum for Foodie Friday and Brenda’s Canadian Kitchen for Cookbook Sundays.  Hope to see you there!

Lemon Gold Cake

2 1/4 c sifted flour

1 1/2 c sugar

1 T baking powder

1 t salt

1/2 c oil

6 eggs, separated

3/4 c cold water

2 t fresh lemon juice

1 t grated lemon rind

1/2 t cream of tartar

In a large mixing bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.  Make a well and add the oil, egg yolks, water, lemon juice and rind.  Beat with a spoon until smooth.  Add the cream of tartar to the egg whites and beat until very stiff.  Gradually pour the egg yolk mixture over the egg whites; fold until blended, but do not stir.  Pour in an ungreased tube pan.  Bake at 325 degrees for about 1 hour 10 minutes.  Turn cake out of the pan and cool completely.  When the cake is cool, slice it into 3 layers and put the cake back together with the Lemon Filling.  Frost the cake with a 7 Minute Frosting flavored with lemon juice.

 

Lemon Filling:

4 T flour

3/4 c sugar

dash of salt

1/4 c lemon juice

1/2 c water

2 egg yolks or 1 whole egg

2 T butter

2 t grated lemon rind

Combine all except the butter and rind in the top of a double boiler.

Cook over boiling water, stirring constantly, until thick.

Ad butter and lemon rind; cool and spread between the cake layers.