Memories Shared

Pumpkin Bread

It's fall and that just screams Pumpkin Bread to me. I make it every year and actually have friends who ask me if I'm going to make it long before the season hits. It's something I enjoy making and giving. The giving part is the fun part in any project like this. I've had lots and lots of requests for the recipe. I boast about my secret ingredient and yes I have included it in this recipe. It's not really a secret, but isn't it fun to say that about any recipe that everyone enjoys?! Anytime I make a sweet bread like banana/pumpkin etc. I use one large box of vanilla pudding. I've used both the cook version and the instant for me they have both worked one as well as the other. It sure makes a difference in the bread, so very moist!!!! So I hope you will try this recipe out. I think you will really enjoy it!!!

Eva

 

 

Pumpkin Bread

This recipe is my absolute favorite. It makes several loaves and is great for gift giving. This recipe mixes up easily and doesn’t require a mixer which makes it super easy to make up quickly.

3 cups pumpkin puree    

1 ½ cups vegetable oil      

4 cups white sugar      

6 eggs      

4 ¾ cups all-purpose flour   

1 ½ teaspoons baking powder     

1 ½ teaspoons baking soda

1 ½ teaspoons salt

3 ½ teaspoons pumpkin pie spice

1 large package vanilla pudding

(I’ve used both cook and instant version)

¾ cup chopped pecans

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour 3 9x5” loaf pans. I use the Pam spray that has flour in it and it works great.

In a large bowl mix together the pumpkin, oil, sugar and eggs. Combine the flour, baking soda, salt, and spices. Sift all together. Stir flour mixture into pumpkin mixture until well blended. Add pecans and stir. Equally divide the batter into each of the prepared pans.

Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes to 1 hour.

Tip: I often have people request this without pecans, so I usually mix the batter and dip out enough for how ever many loaves without pecans. Then I add pecans to my mixture. I don’t really measure them I just add enough for however many loaves left to be baked.

 

Seafood Salad

This recipe is so loved by our family. This is one that Mama, aka Nana, came up with while we all worked at Russell Corporation. This was wildly popular and still requested often to this day. A favorite for parties! So YUMMY!!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Seafood Salad

 

Macaroni – use the version of you choice. I usually make too much so start with half the amount that you think you need and then add to it. Cooked until just done.

 

Purple Onion – start with half an onion chopped. Add more if desired.

 

Scallions – chop entire scallion include green tops.

 

Celery – 2 or 3 stalks chopped finely

 

Green Pepper and Red Pepper – chopped finely

 

Frozen TINY English peas – about 2 cups blanched

 

2 heaping teaspoons of Dill Chopped and Sweet Chopped pickles

 

Green Olives to taste

 

Black Olives to taste

 

Seafood -  we often mix imitation Crab and boiled Shrimp. Any seafood desired may be used.

 

Dressing for Seafood Salad

 

1 cup mayonnaise

1 cup sour cream

2 heaping tablespoons Mustard

1 cup buttermilk – use half to start and then add remaining

Juice of one fresh Lemon

Wine Vinegar to taste

1 package Ranch Dressing dry mix

1 heaping tablespoon Bay Seasoning

 

Mix thoroughly and pour over Seafood Salad.

Blizzard Bites

I thought I would share the recipe for Blizzard Bites, a snack mix that I made up and gave as gifts. 

This is how I packaged it for gifts.

 

Here is a close up of the actual mix.

 

I have seen this on soooooo many different blogs and I have no idea where it originally originated at so I have no idea who to give credit to, sorry!

Blizzard Bites

1 box Cherios cereal

1 box Rice Chex

1 box Corn Chex

1 box Crispix

1 bag of twisted pretzels

1 bag M&M's

2 cups pecans

6 bags of white chocolate chips (whatever  you need to give a good coating of white chocolate)

Toss all dry ingredients until well mixed.

Melt chocolate in double boiler or in microwave, whichever method you are used to using. If you are using the microwave; Only put the microwave on for about 15 seconds at a time and stir each time to prevent burning. I will take several turns in the microwave until all of your chocolate is melted.

Gently fold in melted white chocolate and mix until all of the cereal is well coated. I covered my kitchen table with parchment paper and laid all the cereal mixture out to dry. Break into small pieces and store in a tightly covered container.

Nuts and Bolts

This recipe is called Nuts and Bolts, donated by my Mother. I made this for Christmas gifts this year for Randy's co-workers. Everyone always seems to enjoy it. I packaged it in a round cocoa container that was covered with decorative papers and a pretty label, naturally I forgot to take the picture. Sorry! That's what happens when you finish gifts at oh, 2 o'clock am! To know me is to love me!!!!!

 

Nana’s Nuts and Bolts

Mama started making this snack mix years ago. It has always been extremely popular with everyone. Great for gift giving during the Holidays.

In extra large mixing bowl combine;

1 box cherrios

2 boxes crispix

Bag of thin pretzel sticks

Box of cheese sticks

Box of cheese nips

Bag of Goldfish

2 c. peanuts (canned salted)

2 c. pecans

Sauce;

2 sticks butter, melted

½ c. worchestershire sauce

1 t. onion powder

1 t. garlic powder

2 T. lowery’s season salt

2 t. garlic and parsley salt

Mix all ingredients wells. Layer ½ mixture in large roasting pan. Pour enough sauce to coat cereal mixture. Add remaining mixture and repeat process. Add only enough sauce mixture to lightly coat cereal mixture. Bake at 250 degrees and toss every 10 minutes.

Note: Flavor enhances as it sits. Salty taste may increase as mixture sits.

Dill Bread Dip

Another favorite of ours, contributed by our DIL Jennifer. Requested so much that she gets tired of making it. Once you taste this you will understand why! Delish!!!!

 

Dill Bread Dip

2 pints Sour Cream

1 pint Mayo

2 Tablespoons Beaumonde Seasoning, we find ours at Publix

2 Tablespoons Parsley Flakes

2 Tablespoons Dill Weed

Small amount of Lipton Onion Soup Mix, very small amount!

Optional: Bacon Bits or Chipped Beef, we NEVER use these.

Mix, refrigerate overnight so that flavors have time to blend. Place in 2, 1 pound bread rounds that have been hollowed out. Cut up extra bread for dipping.

Enjoy!

 

Stuffed Mushrooms

This recipe is a family favorite that gets requested at Christmas every year. I was given this recipe while living in Alamagordo New Mexico, twenty something years ago. It's been at almost every Christmas Eve since. So super quick and sooooooooooooo easy!! Enjoy.

 

Fresh Mushrooms

8 oz Cream Cheese, softened

Package of Real Bacon Bits

Garlic salt to taste

Clean your mushrooms well and take the stems out.

Mix remaing ingredients together and stuff each mushroom cap with a heaping spoonful of cheese mixture.

Broil just until the cheese gets browned and bubbly.

Serve immediately and prepare to crave these OFTEN!!

Enjoy.

Cranberry Pineapple Freeze

Continuing with our Cranberry recipes. This recipe comes from Jennifer my DIL or Step DIL, however you want to look at it. In our house we really don't look at anything as steps and besides I love my son as my son. Anyway, so this recipe comes from Jennifer. Here's Jennifer.......Hi Jenn!

 

Ok, so here is Jennifer's recipe. I did mine just slightly different. Instead of making it a freeze I simply mixed mine up and placed in the fridge. I'm not much on frozen desserts (it hurts my teeth), so mine turned out much like a cool whip dessert, kinda like Watergate salad in a way.

Cranberry Pineapple Freeze

1 14oz can sweetened condensed milk

9 oz cool whip (I added a bit more)

1/4 c lemon juice

16 oz whole cranberry jelly  -- I used 2 cups of my homemade cranberry jelly

20 oz can crushed pineapple, well drained

1/4 c. chopped walnuts -- I used pecans

Combine milk and lemon juice, stir in cranberries, pineapple and nuts. Fold in cool whip and freeze. Serve slightly thawed.

Here's my finished product:

 

This dessert was YUMMY!! It was so light and cool, but it does have a rich texture. It would be so pretty served in a compote glass with a few sugared cranberries in one corner. Note to self: must try that and take picture!

Hope ya'll enjoy!

Homemade Cranberry Jelly

Since we are on cranberries I decided to go ahead and share what other cranberry recipes that I used for Thanksgiving. First up homemade cranberry jelly. I have always loved cranberry jelly out of the can. My whole family LOVES it! I have never made it homemade before this year mostly because I thought it was much like making traditional jellies and would be too much work. Well......I found this recipe and it was just a plain recipe with no extra stuff like orange peel or anything else. It was just plain cranberries, sugar and water. So I decided to give it a whirl. This is so unbelievably easy that I will never again purchase this from a can. Wow was this good! I doubled this recipe so that I could have some extra jelly to use in another recipe that will come up next, Cranberry Freeze or my version was Cranberry Fluff so stay tuned those will post next.

Publix had these little jewels on sale buy one get one free so I ended up caving and purchasing several bags and am I glad I did!

Here they are all washed and pretty.

Aren't they gorgeous? They just scream take a picture of me!

Homemade Cranberry Sauce

1 12 ounce bag of fresh or frozen cranberries
1 cup sugar
1 cup water

1. In a saucepan, mix water and sugar and heat on medium heat until sugar is dissolved. Add cranberries and bring to a low boil. Stir frequently and reduce heat to keep the sauce at a low boil for about 10 minutes. When the sauce begins to thicken and the cranberries begin to burst remove from heat. The sauce will thicken as it cools.

 

The picture above is what they look like as they are cooking and the cranberries are starting to pop. The next picture is the finished product. If you have an opportunity to try this recipe you won't be sorry.

 

Sugared Cranberries

It never ceases to amaze me at how much time goes by between my posts. I can't believe the last one was in October. I've also been needing to post my Thanksgiving recipes. I can't believe it's been a week since Thanksgiving already. So to start off my collection of shares for y'all what better thing to start with than these.

 

Aren't they gorgeous??? And soooooo addictive!! Sugared Cranberries are  really good I'm warning you one is not enough. Before you know it you are talking to yourself and trying to keep your hands out of them so that your DH can have a few! Ok so that was me, but you've been warned. These things are GOOD! You will need to allow yourself a little time to make them, but they are worth the wait.

According to the experts on the net, Superfine Sugar can not be found in the South. I just took some of my regular granulated sugar and processed it in my food processor for about a minute. It worked beautifully. Don't process your sugar too long though or you will have powdered sugar!

Sugared Cranberries

 

• 2  cups  granulated sugar
• 2  cups  water
• 2  cups  fresh cranberries
• 3/4  cup  superfine sugar

Preparation

Combine granulated sugar and water in a small saucepan over low heat, stirring mixture until sugar dissolves. Bring to a simmer; remove from heat. (Do not boil or the cranberries may pop when added.) Stir in cranberries; pour mixture into a bowl. Cover and refrigerate 8 hours or overnight.

Drain cranberries in a colander over a bowl, reserving steeping liquid, if desired. Place superfine sugar in a shallow dish. Add the cranberries, rolling to coat with sugar. Spread sugared cranberries in a single layer on a baking sheet; let stand at room temperature 1 hour or until dry.

Note: The steeping liquid clings to the berries and helps the sugar adhere. Store in an airtight container in a cool place for up to a week.

 

 

Boiled Peanuts

Boiled Peanuts, YUM! I love them and I guess everyone in our family does. That's funny giving that Holly doesn't eat nuts, weirdo......did I say that? Mama who's a transplanted Yankee loves them too, but I guess after over 50 years in the South she's as much Southern as Yankee. Did you just feel that jolt? That was the cousins up North cringing, breaking into convulsions. Hum next time they are down wonder if I could convince them to try these little gems.........OK maybe NOT! Anyway, these are a fall favorite. With the annual fall party coming up they are a must have for the list, so I thought I'd do a little post about how I put these together. Nothing fancy by any means and how they are made are definitely by taste of the cook.

First you start with Green Peanuts any amount you wish, but lets play with about 2-3 pounds.

Wash them throughly and then, yes, wash them again. We usually cook these on an outdoor cooker, but I've cooked a many of them inside on the stove. Cover the peanuts with enough water so that they have plenty of water to swim in, if they wish.

With this amount of peanuts I put about 1 1/2 cups of table salt. Now some say more and no doubt some will say less, but too much salt makes them unbearable to eat when they are cool and too little salt makes them bland, YUCK, YUCK I say!! So this is the equation that works for me, but do them by your taste.  Boil these babies for a LONG time, several hours. Depending on the freshness of your peanuts will depend on how many hours you will cook these, but it will most definitely take more than 2 hours to cook. After about 1 1/2 hours I start pulling one out and tasting to check for doneness and saltiness. Boiled peanuts should be soft, not crunchy.

Tips: If your peanuts are too salty pour off the water, cover with fresh water and boil for a few minutes. If peanuts are not salty enough you can add slightly more salt to the water and let the peanuts stand in the water to absorb the salt.

Interesting history found says that this method of eating peanuts came about during the Civil War. In search of new things to make as coffee, southern solders boiled these. Soon finding that you could eat them with much enjoyment. Popularity grew from there, but prior to this these were grown purely for livestock food. Hum....... so thankful for that little discovery and even more thankful that drinking the water after boiling them didn't last. Can you say mud soup???