Hi there. We wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving and a Merry Christmas.
I thought I’d change from canning to doing things for the holidays. I enjoy cooking and baking as well as canning. I usually start in November to bake cookies and fruit cakes. Fruitcakes are best when they are left to ferment a little after they are baked. I use orange juice in mine. I never put whiskey in like most people do. After they are baked, I let them cool, wrap them in foil and freeze them until a couple of days before I want to use them. I use the left over fruitcake from Christmas and make like a bread pudding with it and bake it in the oven. It makes a good dessert for New Year.
A few years ago, when my husband and I were first married, his cousins would come down and we’d have like an assembly line doing sugar cookies. Each person has a different thing to do. I’d make dough the night before. I’d say, O.K. guys. Wash your hands and let’s get to it. Yes, it was all boys. Even had the Deputy Sheriff’s youngest boy helping. They loved it and had a lot of fun.
I’d roll out the dough, two would cut the cookies out, two would put colored sugar on them and one put them in the oven. It would go that way up until 11:00 o’clock at night for two nights. Then we would make raisin and chocolate chip. Then peanut butter, then oatmeal, then walnut. They liked to make, what I call, print cookies. It was a round cut out sugar cookie where they would press their thumb in the middle of the cookie and then put mint or cherry jelly in the print before baking it.
In about two weeks time, we would have 3 or 4 large metal potato chip cans full of cookies. Of course, the boys always knew when the baking was over they would each take home big bags full of all kinds of cookies. Those boys are grown up men now with children of their own. Some ask, “Did my Dad really bake cookies when he was my age?” I answer, “He sure did!”
While these boys were having fun baking cookies, other boys were getting into trouble and going to jail at Christmas time. But not my boys. And I would tell them, We sure were proud of them, too.
At Thanksgiving, there are so many things to be thankful for. My husband Bill and I found a relation we didn’t know about and who are very caring people. William Wike and Harvey and Mary Wike have helped find family members who we didn’t even know, let alone know where they lived. Thanks and hope you had a happy Thanksgiving.
Also to Franklin Wike. Thanks for allowing me to do Grandmas Kitchen. I really enjoy doing it.
The Friday after Thanksgiving we get out our Christmas decorations. I do the inside of the house and Bill does the outside. Fifteen years ago when we first moved here, the street was dull and dark. We lived in a mobile home park. We decorated out mobile home, the yard and everything that year. It seemed to spring everyone into action. By the following weekend all 200 mobile homes were lit up. The owner of the park said it looked like Christmas Village. We’ve been doing it every year since. Each person adds a little something new to their outdoor decorations each year.
We have Christmas dinner at my daughters home along with her husband and our six wonderful grandchildren. It is a wonderful family day there. The younger ones like playing with the ribbons and bows on the presents. And sometimes they even like playing with what is inside the box!
I promised I’d tell you how to can pumpkin this time, so see the next section to see how its done.
Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!
Thank You,
From Linda Clark
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Canning Pumpkin
The fields are full of two kinds of pumpkins. There are neck pumpkins that are a dull yellow, sometimes bright, and the large orange ones called cow pumpkins, which are used for jack-o-lanterns and also to feed cattle. Humans can eat cow pumpkins, too. I’ve even canned them before, but I prefer neck pumpkins. I only do about four at a time, because its hard work.
Cut pumpkins in two. Clean out seeds and stuff from inside. Cut in small pieces. With sharp knife, peel off the outside. Pumpkin is a slippery vegetable, so be careful when cutting and peeling it.
After that is done, put your cut up pieces in a large pot. Cover with water and cook on medium heat until soft.
Very carefully, drain hot water off pumpkin. You can either leave the pumpkin in chunks or mash it like you would a potato.
Put the pumpkin in wide mouth Mason jars. Add cup of warm water and 1 teaspoon salt.
Put the two-piece metal lid on the jar and pressure can at 10 pounds pressure for 60 minutes. Remember, always let the canner completely cool down before taking the lid off.
It is a lot of work, but it looks good on your shelf. Just think of all the things you can make with pumpkin when you are snowed in this winter!!
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Two-tone Holiday Pie
Legacy of Genny Schmidt
Linda Clark’s Grandmother
1 cup canned mincemeat
1 unbaked 9-inch pie shell
3 cups home canned or 1 1-pound can pumpkin
3 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 cup orange juice
1 cup evaporated milk
Spread mincemeat on bottom of pie shell. Mix the rest of the ingredients together and pour over the mincemeat. Bake in a hot oven, about 400 degrees, for 45 minutes. Completely cool before serving. Top with your favorite whipped topping.
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Bread Stuffing
Legacy of Linda Clark
Lancaster, PA
6 cups of cubed bread
1 lb sausage
1 teaspoon salt
3 eggs
1 teaspoon poultry seasoning
Mix together with a small amount of warm water. Make it moist. You can double if you want. Stuff a large turkey or it can be baked in a casserole dish by itself.
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Fruit Cake
Legacy of Linda Clark
Lancaster, PA
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/3 cup milk (I use orange juice)
3 cups mixed dropped candied fruit
1 cup raisins
1 cup broken walnuts
1 cup shortening
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
Cream shortening, sugar and eggs together. Add dry ingredients, alternating with milk or orange juice. Stir in fruit and add nuts. Turn into greased 10-inch tube pan. Bake at 275 degrees for one hour and 45 minutes. Cool. Wrap in foil and store in freezer until Christmas.
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My Mother’s Magic Blintz Recipe
Legacy of Ida Miller nee Schwartz
Toledo, Ohio
Batter:
4 eggs, well beaten
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
Filling:
1-1/2 lb cottage cheese or Ricotta cheese
2 egg yolks beaten
1 Tablespoon butter
1 Tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
Add milk to salt and eggs. Beat in flour gradually until smooth. Grease a 6" skillet with butter and heat the pan. Pour in only enough batter to make a VERY THIN pancake, tipping the pan from side to side to cover the bottom until the pancake blisters. Toss on a board, fried side up. Wipe frying pan with a paper towel when finished. Count pancakes. If you don’t have 24, you need more practice. If you have 30, you are ready for the next step. Beat filling ingredients until smooth. Place rounded T of mixture in the center of each pancake and fold into an envelope shape.
Before serving, bake blintzes in 350 degree oven or fry on both sides until golden brown. Serve with sugar and sour cream and/or strawberry jam.
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Cranberry Tea
Legacy of Linda Walters nee Hunsaker
Carbondale, IL
1/4 Cup packed brown sugar
3 cinnamon sticks, plus additional sticks to use as stirrers
1 Tablespoon whole cloves
8 Cups Cranberry Juice
6 Cups Apple Juice
Throw everything in a pot and bring it to a steep. Serve warm garnishing with a cinnamon stick.
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Apple Butter Pumpkin Pie
Legacy of Christine Walters nee Lant
Evansville, IN
1 cup apple butter
1 cup fresh or canned pumpkin
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
3 eggs, slightly beaten
3/4 cup evaporated milk
1 unbaked 9 inch pipe shell
Whip cream for topping
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Combine apple butter, pumpkin, sugar, salt, and spices in bowl. Stir in eggs. Gradually add milk and mix well. Pour into pie shell. Bake for about 40 minutes or until set.
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5 Cup Salad
Legacy of Beulah Faye Williams nee Hoskins
Henderson, KY
1 cup Miniature Marshmallows
1 cup sour cream
1 cup mandarin oranges drained
1 cup pineapple tidbits drained
1 cup coconut
Mixed and chill.
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Chocolate Fudge
Legacy of Linda Walters nee Hunsaker
Carbondale, IL
3 Cups Sugar
4 heaping tablespoons cocoa
3 tablespoons light corn syrup
1 cup evaporated milk
6 tablespoons butter, plus extra for buttering dish
1 cup chopped pecans (optional)
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Mix sugar and cocoa; add syrup and milk. Cook in saucepan over medium heat until a small drop forms a soft ball in cold water. Remove from heat. Add butter, pecans, and vanilla. Beat with mixer or by hand. Pour into a slightly buttered oblong glass dish and cut into squares. Mixture will thicken as it cools.
U S Legacies Magazine December 2005
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