Chili From Memory

Several of you have asked for recipes of some of Mom's "everyday" meals. An irony of this project is that Mom was an intuitive cook and rarely used a recipe for our favorite meals. Chicken Soup, Country Ribs, Meatloaf, Spaghetti Sauce, Oven Fried Pork Chops, Pork Roast, Country Soup, Pot Roast, Lemon Roasted Chicken, were all staples on her table. All were lovingly created without a recipe. I suspect her repertoire consisted of hundreds of these "From Memory" dishes.

Today the wind howls and sleet blows. Seems like a good evening for Chili.

The first Chili dinner of the season was a bit of a ritual for Mom. In late fall, our local university women's organization hosted their annual used book and record sale. Jim and I would arrive at the University Extension building early to be first in line when the doors opened. Without fail the evenings were cold and miserable. After the event we'd tote our records to Mom and Dad's house for show and tell. My parents were as thrilled with our treasures as we were! Mom always had a huge cauldron of Chili and pan of cornmeal muffins ready to feed her weary record hunters. Those were exciting days! Chili dinner seems like a celebration to me. Warm and satisfying for the body and the heart.

Jim's nephew, Mark, loved Mom's Chili as much as we did. One memorable Sunday afternoon Mark's beautiful wife, Janice, spent the afternoon making Chili with us. Here is the simple recipe to make a small kettle. . .Mom would make 6X this amount.

Brown 1 Lb Ground Chuck (I use ground turkey) with a sprinkle of onion powder. The secret is to really, really brown the meat. Let it caramelize!
Add 1 large chopped onion and keep on browning. When the onion is also caramelized, add a rib or two of chopped celery. Remember, patience is key to get the nice, browned flavors.
Add 24 oz can of diced tomatoes. (I'm fortunate enough to have home canned tomatoes from my friend Kerstina. Thank you, dear!) Cook gently with a lid on.
When the tomatoes no longer look "raw" add 1 package of McCormic Chili Mix (one of the few instances I remember her using a prepared mix of anything) and a generous pinch of brown sugar.
Finish with a can of drained, rinsed light red kidney beans.
Serve with Tabasco Sauce to your cold and grateful family.

I always pray when I prepare our evening meal. I pray over my bubbling kettles and roasting vegetables and sizzling cast iron skillet. I pray for my little family who is about to share the meal together. I pray for the dear friends and distant relatives who linger in my thoughts as I work. I pray for those I love who are no longer with me.

Tonight, I'll pray for you all as I serve Chili From Memory to my grateful family.

Love to you all,
Patti

Tanta Inga

"Tanta Inga was a cook for the logger barons," Mom explained. "She was so precise with her cooking that she only used white pepper in her mashed potatoes. That way no black specks would mar the beauty of her dish."

Tanta Inga was my father's paternal aunt. As one of the oldest of many children ( 9, I think), her opinions loomed large in Dad's family. She left a deep impression on my mother as well. I grew up hearing stories about Tanta Inga. On their first meeting, Inga peeked under Mom's skirt to see the layers of crinoline that billowed under Mom's dress to emphasize her tiny waist.

Tanta Inga played cards (a sin in my mother's family). She sometimes smoked a little cigar, and had a career, and laughed a big laugh. Her home was always filled with people. She was a character. . . just the kind of woman my mother adored.

Mom remembered that Inga's coffee kettle bubbled on the stove all day long. More guests required another scoop of grounds. Egg shells simmered in the kettle to clarify the dark brew. Dad remembered it as thick, strong, and delicious.

My memories of Inga are my parents memories. In my imagination I see beautiful braided breads sometimes filled with candied fruit and nuts. Succulent roasts of goose and beef served on large platters ceremoniously carved at the table. Schaum tort filled with fresh strawberries and sweet cream. Cookies made with cardamom or almond paste and graced with bits of citron served next to fragile cups filled with coffee so thick a spoon would stand in the center. And of course, mashed potatoes white as snow. My parents remembered people lingering at Inga's table. Memories of memories. The faded stories wisp through my mind's eye.

I never met Tanta Inga, but I feel as though I have know her. So far, I've not found any recipes identified as Inga's but this one, written on lovely watermarked stationary in a shaky hand, somehow feels "right".

I made Berliner Krunce for Christmas this year. The recipe is huge so I divided it in half. It's been decades since I've baked these little cookies, and I couldn't quite get them formed into a figure 8. I remember Grandma Ellingson making them as wreaths. Mine look more like Grandma's. Tender and delicate, Berliner Krunce glisten with sugar and bits of citron. A lovely little "two bite" as Amelia called them. Amelia asked that we make them every Christmas. You know I will. I have to smile at the new memories of a memory of a memory.

Love to you all,
Patti

Bullets

Fattiman Bakkles, Berlinder Kranner, Sandbakkelse, Bullets, Krumkaka. Christmas recipes in Mom's collection speak another language. Dad was 100% Norwegian, and our Christmas treats reflected this tradition.

My favorite has always been Bullets. The delicate, pecan filled crescents are are gently laid in powdered sugar while hot from the oven, then stored in mounds of powdered sugar. Just removing the container lid is a treat as clouds of powdered sugar billow and puff from the cookie box. As children, we loved to fish around the sugar with our fingers to find the last hidden cookies.

I remember one Saturday morning when I was 4 or 5. I got up early, pulled a chair up to the counter, and raided the coffee can filled with bullets. Dad found me sitting in the middle of the living room floor covered in powdered sugar, the empty can by my side. Dad scooped me up and had the living room and me cleaned up before Mom awoke. He was always so sweet to me. No one ever said word about the mess (or the bullet shortage). I think eating a whole coffee can of cookies was punishment enough.

I feel very sentimental about the recipe card pictured. All three of us wrote on the card. I can still see the card balance on the cupboard knobs while Mom's old Mixmaster whirred underneath. Cookie baking was a family project. Mom ruled from the kitchen table, I mixed and rolled, Dad had oven duty, CeCe popped in and out to nibble. Memories of those days are precious.

Last Sunday Jim, Amelia and I made Grandma T's cut-out cookies. Filled with sour cream and nutmeg, it's our favorite sugar cookie recipe. A blizzard raged outside while my Kitchen Aid whirred. I mixed and rolled. Jim cut out cookies and had oven duty. Amelia popped in to decorate and nibble. These days are precious also.

I was going to skip making bullets this year. I'm the only one who LOVES them. Really, I love them too much! Jim stores them outside so I don't have a repeat of my childhood cookie feast. Amelia asked that I make a batch. After all, Santa needs some variety on Christmas Eve.
Tonight I bake.

Love to you all,
Patti

The Great Ginger Cake Mystery

My mother was on a quest to solve a mystery and rediscover the perfect gingerbread cake recipe she was served as a new bride. The story goes that Dad's family was gathered at Grandmother Ellingson's home. For dessert, Grandmother made a spicy little ginger cake with burnt sugar frosting. The gathering was rather large and the cake was rather small, so everyone was allotted only a sliver of cake.

Mysteriously, Grandmother never made the recipe again nor would she ever share the recipe with mom. Maybe she wasn't "wowed" by the cake, or maybe she simply lost the recipe. Maybe, and this was always the question, she didn't want to share this little gem with the new interloper. What ever the reason for its absence, Mom and Dad always spoke longingly of the cake. At least once a year CeCe and I would hear the story of the little pan of cake with a great big flavor.

The Ginger Cake became mythic, and Mom was always asking friends and family if they'd encountered the recipe. Leave it to dear, Great Aunt Helen to take up the challenge. In Mom's recipe collection, Aunt Helen supplied 3 Ginger Cake recipes.
This one is the best.
I topped the cake with Browned-Butter Frosting.

1 Cup butter
1 (16oz) Package powdered sugar
1/4 Cup milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract.
1)Cook butter is small heavy saucepan over med. heat until butter begins to turn golden. 6-8 minutes. Stir constantly or it will burn. Chill one hour until it is cool and begins to solidify.
2) Beat butter until fluffy; gradually add powdered sugar alternately with milk beginning and ending with sugar. Stir in Vanilla.
3)Frost top of cooled cake.

The final mystery is this. Mom never made any of the ginger cake recipes nor did she ever ask me to "tweak" any of the recipes. Aunt Helen brought this cake to Green Bay on one of her visits. Apparently the recipe didn't match up with the myth.

We loved it! The recipe was easy, and the result was rich and filled our home with the perfume of gingerbread.

Spicy and not too sweet, this recipe makes a delightful little pan of cake. . . just the right amount to serve my family and leave them wanting more. Maybe the myth continues.

Love to you all,
Patti

Summer's end and back-to-school malaise have kept me from writing but not from cooking and remembering.

August 11 would have been Mom's 74th birthday. My tradition was to baked either a Caramel or Fresh Coconut Layer Cake for her birthday. The choice was Mom's. This year I planned on baking one for my project and writing about our birthday traditions which involved the expected cake and presents, and also quirky rituals like dancing under a limbo stick. Amelia had a different idea which completely set me on my ear. While Jim and I discussed the delicious options, Amelia requested something new. Something totally new. "Why don't you bake a Banana Cake with cream cheese frosting, Mom" she exclaimed. "And make it into cupcakes!"

Well, I've never, ever made a Banana Cake. Rarely do I make cupcakes. There was no Banana Cake recipe in her collection. It was not a traditional birthday recipe. With all those inflexible thoughts, my immediate response was, "No!"

The next day while I walked in the cool of the morning, I had the strongest memory of something Mom told me long ago. Almost a vision. "When I'm long gone," Mom advised, "If you decide to buy flowers for my grave, buy the most beautiful bouquet you can, keep it for yourself and think happy thoughts of me each time you look at it." I remember crying that day.

Mom was truly a "Live In The Present" woman. "Enjoy Now" was her constant theme. Be Happy NOW! Banana Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting suddenly seemed like a perfect way to honor her birthday memory.

I found the recipe in a 1958 Friendship Baptist Church cookbook compiled by the Hettie Cobb Missionary Union. Hettie Glover Cobb was my Great-Grandmother. My Gramma, Lousie (affectionately called Cooter by her siblings) was Birthday Chairman for group.


You can imagine my delight when I found Mrs. Nannie Brown's Banana Cake recipe in the book. Nannie Brown lived down the street from Gramma. Many of my childhood days were spent with my cousins walking the red clay path past her house to downtown Davisboro Ga. Many nights were spent playing Ghost In The Graveyard through her yard. I think we may have raided her vegetable garden too. I wonder if the reason we never played with her granddaughter, Fran, was because we were so wild. Fran would have had a blast running with the barefoot cousins. Fran met my cousin, David, in college. They've been married over 20 years.


I emailed Fran about the recipe. While Fran didn't remember Nannie baking this particular cake she reminded me that Nannie was an excellent cook. "Any of her recipes will be Wonderful." Fran was right!

Banana Cake was delicious. I didn't use Nannie's frosting, but made a traditional cream cheese frosting. The beautiful, moist texture and rich banana flavor made it a new favorite! Perfect for birthdays, just as my wise daughter suspected.

Amelia packed up the remaining cupcakes and brought them to a friend's overnight birthday party. I'm told girls went for a walk then stayed up all night watching scary movies and devouring sweet banana cake slathered with cream cheese. I wonder if they played ghost in the graveyard and raided a vegetable garden too.

Remember the past, my darling Amelia. Dream of the future, but Live in the NOW!
ENJOY NOW!

Love to you all,
Patti

A Deliciously Sweet and Bubbly Day

I think punch is the quintessential party beverage. Deliciously sweet and bubbly. Saturated with fruit juice and effervescent soda. Sometimes spiked with vodka or champagne or ice cream. Even its name has energy. . . PUNCH! Punch seems like a mini party in a little glass.
Mom didn't often serve punch. Usually it was reserved for bridal and baby showers, but Jim's upcoming family reunion in Arlington Heights, Illinois seemed like a perfect occasion to mix up a batch. Mom's collection of recipes offered many choices. I immediately disregarded any recipe with ice cream (too messy) or booze (too many kids around the punch bowl). One of her recipes lists "a large ice block" in the ingredients. The ice is not chipped or formed into a pretty mold. The punch is simply poured over the block. That recipe went into the "NO" pile. This recipe calls for 1/2 bottle of Vodka. REALLY? Notice it makes "1 punching bowl". I can't help but wonder if the author was sampling punch when she wrote this recipe for Mom. I chose to make is a beautiful recipe from Mom's dear friend, Eloise Lindem. This was the punch "Auntie" Eloise served when she hosted my bridal shower.

Our party gathered on a perfect summer's afternoon at the home of Jim's niece, Cheryl, and her family. Jim's two sisters, his brother, their spouses and most of the children and grandchildren relaxed under the shade of a honey locus tree. For hours we sipped punch, ate barbecue, and feasted on peanut squares (Mom T's recipe) and brownies. Little cousins romped in the bouncy house until they were exhausted. Teen cousins wandered through the park and later had deep conversations in the family room. Some grandchildren developed their entrepreneurial talents by selling rocks found in the neighbor's yard. The best bargain was Andrew's offerings for 1 cent. The most expensive were Max's river rocks for $1.00. Many grandmother and aunts went home with heavy purses! We all cooed over the new baby and toasted the parents of this beautiful family, Byron and Helen, both long gone but with us always. Mostly we talked and laughed and counted our blessings as a family.

Next year we'll gather again, this time at our home, to celebrate Byron's 100th birthday. I don't know if there will be new family members, or if we'll have punch. I am sure we'll laugh and reminisce and celebrate being a family. After the party is over, we'll be left with deliciously sweet and bubbly memories of a perfect afternoon spent with those we love.
Love to you all,
Patti

Pink Flamingo Fluff

"It's very pink", our friend, Jeff, observed when I unveiled this dessert.
We'd been invited to Chris and Jeff's home for dinner. I always try to bring something I know they love like Peach Cobbler or Blueberry Pie, or my historic Pound Cake. This strawberry dessert was a real departure from my typical homemade bakery, but I knew they'd get a kick out of being part of this experiment.

Mom collected three versions of this recipe. Could three recipes lead me astray? One called for mixing the gelatin with orange juice. Another recommended chilling it in a mold, then turning it out and frosting with 1/2 pint of whipped cream.
I selected this recipe because it was handwritten by my Mom. "Mix strawberries and juice w/small marshmallows," is a bit obscure. What strawberries? Did she mean Jello juice? How many marshmallows? I decided to mash 1/2 cup fresh strawberries with juice of 1/2 lemon and 2 Tab. sugar. One cup of marshmallows seemed about right. I didn't have enough whipped cream to mold the dessert and frost it, so I settled on using Mom's big crystal bowl. I imagine many of you remember it filled with melon balls or 7 cup salad (more on that recipe another day!)

After dinner, the four of us faced our servings of what I called Pink Flamingo Fluff. The electric pink color was a bit alarming and a sure sign that few ingredients found in nature graced the dessert. Our friends were real sports. "It's very light", said Chris. Jeff chimed in, "and very airy." By that point I was laughing so hard I was in danger of wearing Pink Flamingo Fluff!

Really, it was a fine retro dessert. Pink Flaming Fluff tastes a bit like a silly strawberry shortcake. The kids loved it!

How thankful I am for dear friends who can share a laugh over a light, airy, fluffy, pink dessert. Next time, I'll bring Pound Cake!

Love to you all,
Patti

The Gift of Cake

My childhood summers and Christmases were spent with Mom's family in her hometown of Davisboro Ga. Her sisters and their families would gather with us at Grama's home. What wonderful memories I have of barefoot summers, and cousins in matching red Christmas pajamas, and Grama's house stuffed and overflowing with family; memories of making biscuits, and learning to drive, and slicing thick slabs of cake from the bounty that filled the dining room sideboard. I can still see the parade of great aunts and distant cousins stopping by with gifts of cake.

There was always Pound Cake. I love Pound Cake. So did Mom. Maybe that's why her recipe collection is filled with Pound Cake recipes. This recipe is from my Great Aunt Sara and was often one of the offerings on the sideboard. When I found the recipe I couldn't remember it, but after baking it, the crisp lemon flavor brought me right back to my barefoot childhood.

My friend, Allison, who is about to enter 8th grade, wondered how I would choose which Pound Cake recipe to bake. She pondered if I'd make all the cakes in the collection, or select a few. Last week I had lunch with Allison's mother, my dear friend Kris. We talked about the possibilities. I selected this recipe because the lemon is unique in the collection and because of my Aunt Sara's beautiful script. You'll notice there are no baking directions. I beat together butter (not Crisco) and sugar until light, then added the remaining ingredients. Using a buttered and floured loaf pan, I baked the cake at 350 for 1 hr and 15 min. Next time I'll bake it for an extra 5 minutes or so.

After my family sampled the cake, I wrapped up the remainder and brought it to Allison. I was stunned over how she had grown the past year. She's becoming a beautiful young lady. I could almost hear the voices of my great aunts when they arrived at Grama's house on those long ago hot summer's days with gifts of cake. Aunts and distant cousins exclaiming, " I can't Believe how big you've grown. You were just a little girl last time I saw you!" "You're such a young lady, just like you're Mama when she was your age." It made me smile, then and now.

I hope Allison and her family enjoyed their treat as much as I enjoyed baking it. Now I understand the joy that comes from arriving at someone's home on a hot summer's day with a gift of golden cake.

Coconut Sheet Cake

Yesterday, Jim and I celebrated our 29th wedding anniversary. I decided the special occasion deserved a special dessert. Coconut Sheet Cake beckoned me. When I served it after dinner, all conversation stopped. The tender, sweet cake stunned us with its seductive blend of cream cheese, sour cream, cream of coconut, and sweetened coconut.

Amelia asked me not to print the recipe on-line as she believes it's prize worthy. For years, she's wanted me to open a restaurant. We even have a name picked out, The Hummingbird Cafe. Of course we would offer this delight of a dessert ($4.50 a slice declares Amelia). We could even make it into wedding cake. It's a beautiful fantasy and high praise from my teenage daughter.

As Amelia was beating the cream cheese frosting, I remembered Mom making beautiful sandwich loaf filled with layers of pimento cheese, olive nut, and chicken salad then frosted with savory cream cheese and decorated with fresh flowers from the garden. Mom made this for "Silver Tray" occasions like bridal showers or birthdays. You know, the times worthy of polishing your silver. Amelia and I decided to create our own "Silver Tray" occasion and host a tea for her friends. I'd love a menu of ladies sandwiches, cheese straws and petit fours. Of course I'll keep you posted and remember to take pictures!

By the way, I'll gladly share this recipe with anyone I love. That includes my dear friends as well as family.

Love to you all,
Patti

Crumbling paper is everywhere. Pages disintegrated the moment I began leafing through Mom's book, and tattered bits have somehow found their way through my entire home. Thankfully, the loose recipes are in somewhat better condition than the Better Homes & Gardens Cook Book.

I estimate Mom collected close to a thousand loose recipes in her book. Some are neatly written on recipe cards, but many are scribbled on bits of scrap paper and check book deposit receipts, copied using archaic transfer papers I've never seen before, clipped from extinct publications, and soaked from vinegar bottles. There's even one written on the back of a quote from our wedding photographer ($298.00 for the entire package).

It's a wild bundle of paper. Recipes that read more like grocery lists than a set of instructions often end with the command "Bake!" or "Marinade!" Yes, Mom, I will Bake! and Fry! and Marinade! and possibly even Stew! But first, I must sort!

I decided to group recipes into categories that made sense to me and began creating piles on my kitchen table. My categories include Cookies, Candy, Cakes and Frosting, Miscellaneous Desserts, Pie, Breakfast Items, Entrees, Hot Dish, Side Dishes, Salads, Pickles and Jams Appetizers, Breads, Product Cards with multiple recipes, What In The World (more on this category later!) I realize there was a certain mania to mom's recipe collection. So far I've counted 7 Pound Cake recipes,12 Croquette recipes, 15 Punch recipes and numerous variations of Salisbury steak and puffed pancakes. I'm charmed at her quest for the perfect amalgamation of butter and eggs or Hawaiian Punch and ginger ale. I can hear her say, "You just never know, Patti" as she copied another variation of Yeast Rolls from a television cooking show. I still don't know what I'll "just never know", but I find myself saying the same thing to Amelia when the conversation is over and I no longer feel the need to justify my actions.

I've had to carefully place the cook book and a large stack recipes back on my shelf. They're too fragile to handle, and I'd like to save some surprises for myself.

Tomorrow, I'll cook. Today, I'll dream of cardamom, and butternut squash, and croquettes fried until they are "Handsomely Brown."

Love to you all,
Patti

Chicken & Rice Salad or Don't Throw Off The Recipe

One of the first times I cooked with my in-laws to be, Jim's dad admonished me by saying, "Don't throw off the recipe," when I tried to "tweek" his chili. Really, it was thoughtless of me to suggest that his recipe needed a pinch of brown sugar or a dash of hot sauce. I have to chuckle because I'm still "tweeking" recipes. . . all recipes.

This lovely salad recipe was written by Jim's mom (I'll call her Mom T from now on). An offering from both my mothers, the one who gave birth to me and the one who welcomed me when I fell in love with her son. What a perfect choice for my first food blog.

Here's where it gets tricky. This is perfectly lovely recipe on its own. Jim declared it to be something our mothers would serve at a ladies lunch. I agree, but I couldn't leave it alone. I added a handful of sliced kalamata olives and some sliced almonds and a bit of black pepper. I think it punched the salad up a bit. Next time, I'll skip the olives and add dried cranberries or fresh sliced green grapes. I believe cooking is where our artistic selves have a chance to shine. With quality ingredients and a bit of love and faith, how can you go wrong!

Dad T finally accepted that I was not a "follow the recipe" kind of cook (neither was my mother). I have many fond memories with my father in law in the kitchen and around his generous table. After all, a bit of brown sugar in the chili sweetens the entire meal.
Love to you all,
Patti

I've Enabled Comments

Dear Readers,
If you've had trouble posting comments, please try again. This is all new to me, and I just figured out how to enable comments for everyone.

I'm trying a salad recipe tonight. Will let you know how it goes!

My Project Begins

July 5, 2010.
My mother's recipe book bulges and brims with culinary delights. From the time she received her trusted Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook in 1956 as a wedding shower gift, it was an invaluable tool in her kitchen and became a depository for a lifetime of clipped, scribbled, and typed recipes. Mom passed away 11 years ago. I inherited her cookbook, and it's sat on my kitchen shelf held together by two crumbling rubber bands these long years. It's not that I don't cook. I like to think of myself as an accomplished home cook with loads of my own tried and true recipes. I've peeked inside several times and even thought I'd sort through the recipes saved on scrap paper and check book deposit receipts, but the task as always proved a bit overwhelming and sad.

I miss my mother deeply and I miss the women who shared recipes with her, my grandmothers (Louise and Helen), my beloved Great Aunt Helen, my mother in law (also Helen) and a whole host of female relatives named Tante Inga, Aunt Reba, Aunt Fanny, Aunt Agg, Aunt Micki, Aunt Sara, and many many others. There are also many offerings from family friends, some who I still see regularly, beautiful recipes that graced the tables of many church pot lucks and ladies circles. I've decided to cook through my family recipes as a way to reconnect with my mother and remember the way she thought and laughed and loved. I don't expect to make all of the recipes in her book, just the most important and interesting ones. I don't promise to post all the recipes, but I'll include some in this blog.

If any family or friends would like to share memories or recipes, please post them in the comments section!

I'm excited for and interesting and delicious adventure!