Mom’s Creamed Spinach

Yesterday was my Mom’s birthday. I miss her a lot. Some foods are just about more than food. Creamed spinach always makes me think of my mother. I can remember watching her make creamed spinach, thickening the sauce and watching her stir the spinach mixture as it became thickened and bubbly. She would let me stir it, to keep it from sticking. It was always one of my favorite dishes- as a kid and today. Mom really liked spinach. She cooked with spinach a lot. She also made pork chops Florentine, occasionally rolled spinach inside a boneless turkey breast and made a wonderful spinach salad with a sweet and sour dressing, hard cooked eggs and croutons. Here is her recipe.

Mom’s Creamed Spinach

2 (10 oz.) packages frozen spinach or 2 lbs. fresh spinach, washed and stemmed
1 T. butter
1 c. milk – or half and half
2-3 T. flour
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 t. dill weed
Cook spinach in a small amount of water and drain when heated through or wilted. Return spinach to pot and add butter. Place milk and flour in jar with tight fitting lid and shake until well mixed. Add to spinach and cook, stirring constantly until thickened and bubbly. Season to taste and serve.

Blueberry Vanilla Jam

I will be one of the vendors at the Pretty Pitty Bazaar in Westlake today. This is a fun show- lots of great vendors AND you help out animals. Hope to see you there.

Wine, appetizers & unique holiday gifts from local vendors!

Join us on Saturday, November 14, 2015 from 4:00 to 9:00 p.m. for a glass of wine or two, appetizers and the opportunity to check out unique products of local vendors in one convenient location!! Guests are asked to donate $10 at the door. Your $10 donation includes one glass of wine and appetizers. A portion of each sale will be donated to the dogs of For the Love of Pits®.

Location:
24510 Cornerstone
Westlake, Ohio 44145

I will have my books, seasoning mixes, blueberry jam and some yummy baked goods.

https://www.facebook.com/events/948420808538194/

Pumpkin Chiffon

I have been making this for a long time and really love it. From a technical cooking standpoint, it’s not really a chiffon, but that is what my Mom called it so I will leave it as  Pumpkin Chiffon. It’s more like a pumpkin pie, without the crust. Super easy to make and quite tasty. I bake it in a casserole dish but you could also make it in individual  ramekins.  This recipe is always a big hit when I make it for friends.  You could use canned or fresh cooked pumpkin or butternut squash. I always cook up and freeze pumpkin and squash for later use, so frozen would work, too.  I sometimes serve it with gingersnaps and whipped cream. It is a lovely Fall dessert.

Pumpkin Chiffon

½ c. applesauce
1 c. cooked or canned pumpkin or squash
¾ c. brown sugar
1 t. cinnamon
½ t. salt
½ t. nutmeg
1/8 t. cloves
4 eggs, well beaten
1 c. half and half or evaporated milk
Stir together first seven ingredients. Beat in eggs and stir in milk. Place mixture in 1 ½ quart casserole and bake in a 350-degree oven for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Serve alone or with cookies. Serves 6-8.

Smoky Brussels Sprouts Salad

I know some people don’t like Brussels sprouts. I am not one of them. I have always loved them, even when I was a kid. I like them steamed with butter, roasted, pan fried and even raw. This salad is a great way to enjoy their crunchiness in raw form. The smoky flavor come from the bacon. The dressing, sweetened with maple syrup, really makes the dish.

The nice thing about this salad, is that it tastes good even the next day. The sprouts are like little cabbages. Unlike leaf lettuce, which wilts quickly once dressed, the sprouts soften some, but retain most of their crunch.

Smoky Brussels Sprouts Salad

8- 10 oz. Brussels sprouts
1 large orange, peeled and cubed
4 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled
¾ c. dried cranberries
½ c. toasted slivered almonds*
Dressing:
¼ c. olive oil
¼ c. apple cider vinegar
2 T. maple syrup
1 T. fresh chopped parsley- or 1 t. dried
2 t. hot sauce, or to taste
½ t. dried thyme
½ t. dried basil
Salt and pepper to taste

Trim bottoms off the sprouts, cut in half and slice thin. You should end up with about 4 cups of sliced sprouts. Place in large bowl with the remaining salad ingredients. Place dressing ingredients in a jar with a tight fitting lid and shake well to combine. Toss over Brussels sprout mixture.
Note: The salad ingredients can all be assembled a day ahead, then just dressed when ready to serve. This salad is also good the next day.
*To toast the almonds, place in a skillet over medium low heat and stir occasionally, until toasted. Be careful, once they start to brown, they can burn easily.

Sweet Potato Pound Cake

If the only way you enjoy sweet potatoes is as a side at the holidays, or in pie, it is time to expand your thinking about them. In this recipe, the mashed sweet potatoes add both sweetness and moistness to the finished cake. Great plain, or with a dollop of whipped cream and some fresh berries. This cake makes a great dessert or a nice addition to a brunch menu. Also a nice way to use up leftover mashed sweet potatoes, if you find yourself with leftovers.

Sweet Potato Pound Cake

1 1/2 c. cake flour*

1/2 t. each baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg

1/2 c. unsalted butter, room temperature

1/2 c. sour cream, room temperature

1 1/3 c. sugar

3 eggs, room temperature

1/2 c. mashed sweet potato

1 t. vanilla

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Lightly oil an 8×4-inch loaf pan. Mix flour with next 4 ingredients and set aside. In large mixing bowl beat together butter and sour cream. Beat in sugar and then beat in eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in mashed sweet potato and vanilla. Stir in dry ingredients and pour batter into prepared pan. Bake until tester comes out clean, about 1 hour and 15 minutes. Cool in pan 30 minutes before loosening cake sides from pan and removing. After cake has cooled wrap in foil and store at room temperature. Serves 8.

* If you don’t have cake flour you can make your own. Simply measure out a cup of all purpose flour and remove 2 tablespoons of the flour. That is now the same as a cup of cake flour OR remove the 2 tablespoons of flour and replace them with 2 tablespoons of cornstarch and sift together to combine. I do the flour/cornstarch mix and keep a batch on hand for when I need it in baking.

Maple Syrup Cookies

Maple syrup is one of my favorite natural sweeteners. I’m referring to real maple syrup not the “maple flavored” stuff. The addition of maple syrup makes these cookies really special.  These make a nice dessert for Thanksgiving or any time, really. Crisp and mildly sweet, they can be eaten plain, or you can coat them with a maple glaze, after they have cooled. Cookies are crisp but will soften slightly, if glazed. Either way, they are really tasty.

Maple Syrup Cookies

1 c. butter

1 c. sugar

½ c. maple syrup

1 egg yolk

3 c. flour

3/4 t. salt

Glaze:

2 c. powdered sugar

½ c. maple syrup

To make glaze: Beat sugar and syrup together until smooth.

Beat together butter, sugar and syrup. Beat in yolk. Combine flour and salt and add to butter mixture. Mix well.  Wrap dough in plastic wrap and chill. Roll chilled dough 1/8 inch thick and cut out with assorted cutters. Leaves and other autumnal cutter shapes are best. Place on an ungreased baking sheet and bake in a preheated 350-degree oven for 12 minutes. Cookies should be lightly browned around the edges. Cool and decorate with glaze. Makes about 4 dozen cookies.

Unglazed are tasty, too.

Orange and Honey Glazed Sweet Potatoes

I will admit it – I am not a fan of really “sweet”, sweet potato dishes. Not unless it is a dessert. I grew up in a “no marshmallows on sweet potatoes”  household, but they were still served “candied”. Sweet potatoes, sometimes canned, cooked in a glaze of brown sugar and butter. It was just what we did.

Then, one year,  I grew my own sweet potatoes. Everything changed after that. I can still remember the joy of digging that first plant up.  There they were, a cluster of beautiful sweet potatoes. I grew a lot of them that first year. I steamed them, baked them, made soup with them. Had them for breakfast more than once.

My Mom was so pleased when I told her I was supplying them for her Thanksgiving dinner that year. I suggested we just cook them with a little butter, salt and pepper. They were so naturally sweet, that they surely, did not need to be candied. Not everyone was so pleased with that choice. Clearly, how to prepare sweet potatoes evokes some of the same passion as how to cook the turkey. So for awhile, there were two competing dishes of sweet potatoes on the Thanksgiving table. As if there weren’t enough dishes to worry about- we now had to have 2 types of sweet potatoes.

I hope this dish might just bridge the gap between the two camps. A little sweet, but not really candied. The orange juice and honey enhance the sweet potatoes nicely. The sugared nuts are a fun addition, too.

Orange and Honey Glazed Sweet Potatoes

4 T. butter
4-5 c. peeled and sliced sweet potatoes
1 c. fresh orange juice
Zest of 2 oranges
¼ c. honey
2 t. hot sauce, or to taste
Salt and pepper to taste
Fresh grated nutmeg
Sugared nuts- optional* recipe follows

Melt butter in large skillet. Add sweet potatoes and cook over medium heat, for 5- 8 minutes. Potatoes should start to turn a little golden. Add orange juice, honey and seasonings and turn heat down to low. Cook, uncovered,  until potatoes are tender and liquid is evaporated, about 10 minutes. If you want more color on the sweet potatoes, turn the heat up a little once they are tender, and liquid is mostly gone. Serve with sugared nuts sprinkled on top, if you like. These can be made a day ahead and reheated.

*https://thecharmedkitchen.com/2015/11/07/sugared-nuts/