My Grandma's Recipe Box

Her Own Fruit Cake (1970)

2018-07-08T20:30:00.000-07:00

I may have to make this at Christmas.

Sugar Cookies

2018-07-08T20:29:00.001-07:00

As I'm going through this recipe box, the ones with directions like "add enough flour that you are able to roll out the cookies" are ones that I know are going to be good. I have a suspicion that this is the cookie recipe that made her soft tea-cake-like cookies that I adored at Christmas and other holidays. I'm excited about this one.

Sour Milk Chocolate Cake

2018-07-08T20:28:00.001-07:00

This is what you do with your milk that goes sour. I imagine that as a child Grandma grew up with access to fresh milk from nearby farms, and when she moved to a small town as an adult, milk was probably delivered to the door a few times a week. Recipes that use ingredients like sour milk help us remember that during the Great Depression nothing was to be wasted.

Aunt Brenda's Pudding Cake

2018-07-08T11:57:00.001-07:00

Here's the recipe my Aunt Brenda gave Grandma for her chocolate pudding cake. This popular Southern dessert isn't exactly a cake. In some parts, it's called a chocolate quad because of the layers of flavor. This dessert must be chilled before serving, a detail obvious to Grandma but not obvious to everyone else.

Fluffy Frosting and Seven-Minute Icing

2018-07-08T11:52:00.002-07:00

Here are two classic frosting/icing recipes that Grandma thought worth copying out. Fluffy Frosting and Seven Minute Icing are both distinguished by their use of egg whites, cream of tartar, and Karo corn syrup; however, the results are quite different! If it were not pouring rain here today, I might think about experimenting with both of these. But humidity and working with egg whites aren't a good combination.

STEW

2012-03-21T18:16:00.003-07:00

4 lb. Lean Stew Meat with water to cover
10 Med. Potatoes, chopped
2 Onions, chopped
1 1/2 c celery, chopped
2 qts. tomatoes
1 qt. carrots
2 cans of corn
1 can peas
1 qt. green beans
1 pt. black eyed peas
1 small can tomato sauce
1/4 c. ketchup
Hot sauce
salt and pepper
season-all
oregano, small amount
sugar
garlic salt

Makes 10+ quarts

This stew was definitely designed to serve a crowd. There are no instructions, simply "stew." The instructions to use quarts of carrots and tomatoes are indicators that Grandma was almost definitely using home-canned vegetables. She always canned many different things, from wonderful green beans to frozen peaches and cherries.

Fried Oysters

2012-03-17T20:07:00.003-07:00

1 1/2 pt. oysters
2 eggs
4 T water
2 to 3 c. dry bread crumbs or cornmeal
Kettle of deep fat

Wash and drain oysters. May be marinated in French dressing 20 minutes. Roll in crumbs, meal, or meal mixed with flour and salt. Dip in egg mixed with water and in crumbs again. Fry in deep fat 1 min. and drain on brown paper. Shrimp may be fried in the same way.

Mackerel Surprise

2012-03-16T20:43:00.002-07:00

This recipe is an example of doing something with very little. Lessons from the Depression.

Break one box of spaghetti into tiny pieces and boil until tender. Drain and add 2/3 c. butter and a little black pepper. Mix well and place into a casserole. Then take 1 can mackerel, separate into good sized pieces, salt to taste, and place pieces around over the spaghetti. Press down into the spaghetti, add a dash of pepper over all. Bake in moderate oven for 20 minutes.

Apricot Chicken

2012-03-16T20:03:00.005-07:00

12 chicken breasts (skinned and boned)
1 12 oz. can apricot nectar
1 t. ground allspice
1/2 t. salt
1/4 t. ground ginger
1/4 t. pepper
3/4 c. apricot preserves
1/2 chopped pecans, toasted

Place chicken in a 13 x 9 x 2 baking dish. Combine apricot nectar and next 4 ingredients. Stir well. Pour over chicken-cover and chill 8 hours. Take from refrigerator, let stand at room temp. for 30 min. Cover and bake at 350 degrees for 30 min.

Uncover, drain off liquid, and discard. Heat preserves over low heat until warm. Brush over chicken. Bake uncovered 20-25 min, basting occasionally with preserves. Sprinkle with pecans.

(Grandma had an enormous pecan tree in her yard. We would leave her house eating pecans in the car until we were practically sick!)

Serve With Rice:

Saute 1 c onion and 1 c celery in Dutch oven with garlic and 1/4 c butter. When tender, add 4 2/3 c. chicken broth, 2 c rice, salt and pepper. Cover and cook on low for 40 min. Stir in 1 c. chopped carrots and cook 10 more minutes.

A Few Things I Know About My Grandma

2012-03-16T19:57:00.003-07:00

My grandma's name was Ollie Marie Vinson Lee. But she hated the name Ollie and always went by Marie. She grew up in rural central Texas, born in a town that is now at the bottom of Lake Leon near Eastland. She had a master's degree in education, loved fishing, raised three great kids, including my dad, and had her world turned upside down when my grandpa died twenty years ago. She was brave and always faithful to our Lord and Savior.

She died in 2010 and that is how I came into possession of her recipe boxes. I will blog her recipes here in hopes that her love of serving good home-cooked meals to her children and grandchildren will live on.