TO YOU-TUBE READING OF FIRST CHAPTER OF DUCK AND COVER
HERE ARE A COUPLE OF RECIPES TAKEN FROM MY COOKBOOK, COOKING WITH
FAMILY:
HOMEMADE SYRUP
Run out of pancake syrup? Don’t worry. Make your own. This is
delicious.
½ cup light brown sugar
½ cup granulated sugar
½ cup water (1/3 cup if you want thicker consistency)
¼ teaspoon vanilla
dash of salt
Combine all ingredients.
Mix well.
Bring to boil and cook for 2 minutes.
Cool slightly.
Serve over pancakes, waffles or French toast.
Store leftover syrup in refrigerator.
OPTIONAL: Use all granulated sugar. Instead of vanilla, use maple extract.
There has been a slight
change made to the recipe below. But, if you bought a copy of the book after
Dec 1, 2017, no need to worry, the change has been made to the book -- and the
change is added below. My fault. My face is red. I forgot to say,
"cook the macaroni according to directions on box." But I did make
this recipe without cooking the macaroni first, and it turned out okay.
ORA’S ORANGE MACARONI
The recipe below was handed down from generation to generation in my
friend Dolly Withrow’s mother-in-law’s family. It was created during the Great
Depression and was served when meat and money were scarce. No cook in the
family ever measured any ingredient, so she had to guess. Dolly watched Ora
make this recipe many times, though, for it was served on every Thanksgiving
and Christmas. When her husband, Bill, and she entered Ora Withrow’s house, the
tantalizing aromas of macaroni and baked turkey with dressing lured them
inside. Those were memorable, happy Christmases. Both her in-laws are gone now
as are their three sons, one of whom was her husband. Ora’s sister, Dolores
Stump, is the only remaining member of that family. She loved them all and
loved her sister-in-heart.
Dolly’s hope for you, the readers of this recipe and this cookbook,
is that you, too, will have wonderful memories of Christmases with the aroma of
Ora’s macaroni inviting you inside a warm and welcoming home.
2 cups uncooked macaroni
1 bell pepper, chopped fine
1 medium onion, chopped fine
1 large package sliced pimento cheese (or American cheese with one
small jar of diced and drained pimentos) Cut cheese into small pieces.
Add a little salt and pepper to taste. (You will later add tomato
juice, which will be salty, so use your judgment as to how much salt you add. I
add a tiny dash only.)
Cook macaroni according to directions on box. Drain macaroni and
mix with bell pepper, onion, and cheese (also add pimentos if purchased
separately from cheese)
Mix all ingredients in a deep baking dish. We use Corning Ware
sprayed with Pam.
Add tomato juice as you continue to mix ingredients. Use just
enough tomato juice to barely cover macaroni mixture. You can place strips of
extra cheese on top in lattice-woven fashion if you wish, and I drizzle a
little more tomato juice for color.
Bake at 325 degrees about an hour and ten minutes.
Here are a few added TIPS to the Hard Rock Candy Recipe in my book:
TIP: Cooking times will vary according to the wattage of microwave. In a
high-wattage (1250 watts) microwave, I found that it only takes a cooking time
of 2 min 45 sec the first time and 2 minutes the second time. The above cooking
times were done in a lower wattage microwave. TIP: During second cooking stage, watch through window, if mixture
starts to turn brown, stop the microwave!
WRITE DOWN YOUR MEMORIES
On summer mornings, Grandma and I sat on the front porch and waited for the mailman. She raised her hand and waved to all the
passers-by and often times said, "Who was that?" when a stranger drove
up the road. With a fly swatter always by her side, she kept down the house fly
population. Any that dared land on her porch banister were shortening their
days on this earth. The large willow tree in the middle of her yard, with its
long limbs swaying in the breeze, was a mecca for her grand kids. We pulled the
limbs after a rain and took a shower beneath the tree canopy. We lay in its
shade on hot summer days. We searched for four-leaf clovers in the grass
beneath it. We chased flickering fireflies at night.
However, my most vivid
memory is of stepping inside the back door into her home. Like a moth attracted
to the welcoming glow of the porch light, I was drawn to Grandma's quaint
kitchen, her familiar voice, her smiling eyes set deep inside her wrinkled
face, her bucket of cool well water by the back door, and last but not least,
the aroma of her stack cake.
If there was any food that
left an impression on my young mind, it was her applesauce stack cake. Grandma
stacked thin layers - six, seven, or eight of them - on top of each other with
applesauce spread between them. This cake, baked my many generations of our family,
was made with a handful of this, a handful of that, and a pinch or two of
something else.
When I bake one, the sweet
aroma brings the past into the present. It brings back images of Grandma. It
brings back the feeling of a much simpler time.
Write down your recipes,
lest you forget.
Write down your memories,
lest you forget.
And that is why I have
included 12 pages to write down your own recipes, lest you forget.
But there's not just recipes!
There are 3 pages of cooking tips, food remembrances from my
childhood, my original poems about Appalachia and food, instructions on how to
make aprons from blue jeans, and a page of food traditions and superstitions.
***********************
BOOK EXCERPT FROM
FUN THROUGH THE SEASONS
volume one
The Star-Spangled Flag
How is a flag like
Santa Claus?
They both hang out
at the pole.
American flags come in all sizes. There are little ones, big ones
and humongous ones.
In the summer of 1813, Commander Major George Armistead requested a
big flag be made. He wanted a flag so big that “the British would have no
difficulty seeing it from a distance.”
In Baltimore they commissioned Mary Young Pickersgill, a “maker of
colors,” to sew the huge flag. Mary and her 13-year-old daughter, Caroline,
used 400 yards of the best quality wool bunting. The stars measured 2 feet from
point to point. The red and white stripes measured 2 feet wide each. When they
finished the flag of 15 stars and 15 stripes, it measured 30 feet by 42 feet.
Ft. McHenry, which was constructed between 1799 and 1802, was
shaped like a five-pointed star! During the Battle of Baltimore in September of
1814, the British bombarded the fort. The huge flag Mary and her daughter made
flew proudly, ready to meet the enemy.
Bombshells, weighing as much as 220 lbs., shot through the air.
Some exploded in midair! Rockets traced wobbly arcs of red flame across the
sky.
Francis Scott Key, a young poet-lawyer witnessed the bombardment
while under British guard on an American truce ship. He and Col. John
Skinner had gone to ask for the release of a prisoner. They secured his release
but were not allowed to return, having seen the preparations for the enemy’s
sea attack.
During the night, by the light of the bombs bursting in the air,
they saw the flag flying. Before daylight, there came a sudden silence. Francis
Scott Key did not realize it, but the British had ordered a retreat. When day
light came, the flag was still there. He was so inspired by the sight of the
flag, he began to write on the back of a letter he had in his pocket. He
continued to write until he finished the poem that became known as “The Star-Spangled
Banner.” It became our national
anthem in 1931.
Over the years, pieces of the Star-Spangled Flag were snipped off
by the Armistead family and given away as souvenirs and gifts. The historic
flag that flew over Fort McHenry during the Battle of Baltimore, now tattered
and torn, is located at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of
American History.
***********************
I HOPE YOU ENJOYED THIS
LITTLE EXCERPT FROM THE MONTH OF JULY!
Along with poems, stories, craft and activity ideas, my book is
filled with articles and recipes.
Think your child would like to read more?
If so, you can go to Amazon or
Barnes and Noble
and order a copy.
As a little bonus for your child, go to my download page and
download a sheet of bookmarks, a coloring page and worksheets your child can
print out to go along with his or her book.
***************************************
