In The Kitchen with Grandma

Grandma loved cooking. When I asked family members what something was, they remembered her cooking the majority said, "Zucchini Bread". 

I have not ever tried my hand at Zucchini Bread, but if it is anything like Banana Bread - I am sure it is delicious and quite easy to make. I can smell it baking in the oven now. Can you? 

When summer hits, I enjoy frequenting the local Farmer's Market for fresh produce. In my bag of goodies, you can find Zucchini, yellow squash, fresh tomatoes alongside the Honey-dew melons, and from time to time watermelons. 

I remember mom and dad having a huge garden in the back of our house. We called it the back 40. Dad, grandma's son grew several different types of squash, zucchini, corn on the cob, cucumbers, okra, green beans, black-eyed peas, carrots, potatoes, cantaloupe, watermelons and, had a nice bounty of sunflowers. I am sure he gave his mother, my grandma many Zucchini's among other fresh produce throughout the summer months. 

In fact, I remember family (his sisters) coming to harvest their share of the bounty that he grew year after year. 

I enjoyed mom canning the fresh vegetables and freezing them so we would have them throughout the winter months. I will never forget the shelves in the garage lined up with mason jars filled to the brim with yellow squash, green beans, and then some. Mom even made her own pickles out of the cucumber's dad grew. 

I wonder if Grandma would bake a fresh of piping hot Zucchini Bread today if she was still living?  

Grandma Kercher

ZUCCHINI BREAD

3 eggs beaten

1 c. oil

2 c. sugar

2 c. grated zucchini

2 T. vanilla

3 c. flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. baking powder

3 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. salt

1/4 c. chopped pecans

Add oil, sugar, zucchini, and vanilla to beaten eggs. Sift flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt together. Add sifted dry ingredients to the creamed mixture. Stir in pecans. Pour into two greased loaf pans. Bake at 325* for 1 hour. 

Have you ever had Zucchini Bread? If so, do you bake it yourself? 

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In The Kitchen - Fool for Rhubarb Pie by Nana White

Many years ago, my mom told me that she liked Rhubarb Pie. I had no idea what she was talking about until I started researching what it was. I have never eaten Rhubarb Pie. 

CREDIT: Crisco

I began asking mom what it tasted like. She said, 'it is sometimes tart and sometimes tangy' and it is so good while her face lit up. I could see her mouth begin to drool as she described a Rhubarb Pie to me. She also said, 'they would eat the pie with homemade Vanilla Icecream' and that was a treat. 

I never did get mom a Rhubarb Pie and she never made one while I lived at home or even into my adult years. After researching the Rhubarb plant, I was not interested in trying this pie for myself. 

Rhubarb is a vegetable if you did not know that. But when it is cooked, one must add a great deal of sugar for it to get the sugary sweetness one is longing for in each bite of pie they enjoy. 

Rhubarb can be made into jam and served as an accompaniment to roasted meats. 

I asked mom if this plant could be eaten in its original form and she said, 'oh yes - grab a jar of sugar, remove the leaves and chomp down - really just putting the Rhubarb in the sugar and then sucking on the stalk". I asked her why she removed the leaves and she said, 'They can make you extremely sick'. When I researched this plant further, I did read that the small leaves are poisonous and must be removed before ingesting the Rhubarb. 

Did you know that Rhubarb stocks become very toxic and poisonous in late summer? They do. I found that to be quite interesting. It is best to harvest this plant in the Spring and early Summer. I have never even seen a Rhubarb plant - so I do not know what I would be looking for. Do you? Have you ever grown any? 

I do not know about you, but I am not really interested in trying Rhubarb Pie. It does not sound appealing to me at all, but my mom sure did enjoy the ones she ate. I wish now, I would have gotten her a piece of Rhubarb Pie when she lived with us. I would have loved to see her face while she was eating it. I can only imagine what it was like though, because as I am typing this post out - my mouth is watering just thinking about the tart and tangy taste. I guess I could compare this sensation to when I eat a lemon. 

When my husband got his Cookbook out for me a few months ago, I found a recipe that Nana White had shared for Rhubarb Pie.

FOOL FOR RHUBARB PIE

4 egg whites

1tsp. Vanilla

1 tsp. Vinegar

1 c. minus 1 T. sugar, sifted

8 oz. Rhubarb

1 T. butter

1/2 c. sugar

2 c. whipping cream

Heat oven to 225*. Grease or spray a 9-inch pie pan. Beat egg whites until foamy. Add vanilla, vinegar, and 1 tablespoon sugar; beat to blend. Continue to add sugar, a tablespoon at a time, continue beating until all sugar is added and stiff peaks form. Spread the meringue in the pan in a concave fashion, as if it were a pie shell. 

Bake 1 hour, then turn off the oven but leave the pie shell there until the oven is totally cool about 1 more hour. Chop rhubarb into small pieces. Melt butter in a skillet over medium heat. Add rhubarb and 1/2 cup sugar. 

Cook, stirring occasionally until rhubarb is tender and the mixture is falling apart. Crush some of the bigger pieces with a fork to make a smoother mixture. Chill the mixture in the refrigerator. 

When the meringue is completely cooled, beat the whipping cream until still. Fold in the rhubarb mixture. Use this to fill the meringue. 

***

Looking at this recipe, had I known this was in the cookbook my husband had - I might have tried to make my mom one of these Rhubarb Pies. I suppose now, this will be one of those would have, could have moments that will go down in history. 

Do you like Rhubarb Pie? Have you ever made one? Share your memories with me of eating Rhubarb Pie. 

Enjoy! 

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Banana Bread Review

This last week, my daughter posed a question to my husband and me asking if we liked Banana Bread.  My reply, "YES, I love banana bread".

A few days later, she texted and said, "come to the door I have something for you". I grabbed my mask, wrapped myself up tightly in my housecoat - as I've been on strict quarantine since my discharge from the hospital on the 11th of March.

After putting my coverings on as instructed by the doctors on numerous occasions, I opened the door. My daughter is standing in the middle of the yard with her grabber and something wrapped up at the end. I started laughing and coughing and laughing some more. I told her, 'you are so silly'...you won't catch what I have by standing on the porch with me.

I completely understand why she kept her distance though - she is a new mom and has a precious young man we call Caiden at home. He is 7 weeks old. I haven't seen or held him since he was two weeks old because I've been so sick and what I have is highly contagious. Especially for the little guy.

She told me "she didn't know I liked Banana Bread and that it was good to know". She returned to her home and I came back into the house. I sat the loaf on the counter and thought, "I'll save this for breakfast the next day". So, I waited...

The Banana Nut Bread was made by Dandelion Provisions. I've not ever heard of them before. I searched for them on FaceBook. 

The next morning came around and I carefully unwrapped the loaf, made a few slices and placed them on a paper towel. I like my Banana Bread heated up, so I placed the slices in the microwave for less than a minute to heat it up.

The Banana Nut Bread was very tasty. I can only imagine what it would have been like right out of the oven! I savored each bite of those two small slices I had. The rest of the loaf was saved until the next day.

 I have liked the Dandelion Provisions Facebook page and I will be placing an order for my family sometime in the future.

Thank you, Hannah, for blessing me with a loaf of Banana Nut Bread from Dandelion Provisions. I enjoyed every single morsel!

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That's How the Cookie Crumbles

The Baby Album I made for my grandson

Several weeks ago, we held a baby shower for my daughter. We had a hot cocoa bar with all the trimmings. You had your choice of so much deliciousness  - I think I personally had three cups of hot chocolate!

We had Cayenne pepper, Cinnamon, Marshmallows, Chocolate chips, Butterscotch chips, Cookies and Cream chips, Peppermint candy canes, Andes Mints, Caramel sauce, and, Chocolate sauce (well, I don't think they are called sauce - actually they were in a squeeze bottle). LOL  - but you get the picture...we had a cocoa bar!

The theme of the shower was "Baby It's Cold Outside"...and the day couldn't have been more perfect as the temperature was in the high 20's and the Metroplex had snow (well, in Denton anyway).

The room was very nice...my daughter and her friends did a GREAT job with the decorations.

The shower was a success, even the hot cocoa bar!!!

Last week, I was over at my daughter's home helping her pack - -they are in the process of relocating closer to where my son-in-law works. Actually, truth be known - - it's really to be closer to us, the grandparents! I feel so honored...

As I picked up a box to pack a few things in it from the kitchen, I noticed the leftover items from the hot cocoa bar. Chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, Cookies and Cream chips, Andes Mints, and a few other things. I sat them on the kitchen counter and went on with packing.

A few minutes later my daughter came in and stated she didn't want the assorted goodies and I said, "I'll take those home if you don't want them" so I brought them home and placed them in my kitchen cabinet.

This morning as I was walking with my Ancestors, after all, I am the family genealogist. While I was clicking away at the keyboard - I had this thought pop into my head, make cookies!!! I sat that for a few minutes thinking to myself, I don't recall the last time I made homemade cookies. I continued looking through my DNA matches trying to figure out who these people were on this particular branch of my 4 x great grandfather. No clue...

I noticed the time on the clock and it appeared to be in slow motion. It just kept ticking...tick tock, tick tock - it was as though time was standing still. I love walking with my ancestors and I work on genealogy nearly every day. The branch I had been working on actually belonged to my 4th great grandfather who served in the Revolutionary War and the research was very interesting to me. I was thinking with the information I had, I might even be able to apply for DARS (Daughters of the American Revolution) as I find it very fascinating. I continued to click, click, click on the keyboard. I'd open this document and that document...until I opened a photograph. Over in the comments section of this particular photo was a great deal of commentary.  The information was priceless. There was even a link to a DARS Facebook group of my 4th great grandfather, Shadrack Rogers. I felt like I had just hit the lottery! Still in my mind, was the thought of making cookies...so I switched gears.

I pushed the keyboard to the side, got up out of my chair and proceeded into the kitchen.

I started gathering the items I was going to need to make these cookies. I grabbed the canisters of flour and sugar. I grabbed the eggs out of the fridge. I grabbed the pans, the bowl, and mixer from the cabinets. I hunted for the other ingredients (hoping I wasn't going to be missing anything). Remember, I haven't made cookies in ages...it appeared I had everything I needed to make these cookies. I smiled...

The aroma began to fill the air of chocolate chip cookies baking in the oven...I had taken two sheet pans of cookies out of the oven by now. Then a knock came at the door. Today, they were delivering the baby furniture for my daughter. Remember, I told you they are in the process of moving. They decided since they were moving out this direction, they'd have the furniture delivered to our house. I took the pan of cookies out of the oven, so they wouldn't burn and set them on the counter while I answered the door.

Time stood still as I waited for the unpacking and unboxing of the items...

I went to take my cookies off of the sheet pan and I had to scrape them off as they had already set up.

These bits and pieces will make a great topping for ice cream one of these evenings!

That's how the cookie crumbles!

(at the time of this post, we were still awaiting the baby's arrival...he will be making his debut any day!)





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