by jphilo | Dec 11, 2024 | Recipes
Grandma Fern’s sour cream red chocolate cake made regular appearances at the end of Sunday dinners during my childhood. Mom liked to make it for 2 reasons:
- It reminded her of the mother-in-law, Fern Stratton, who she dearly loved and who died at age 55.
- It was easy.
So easy, in fact, Mom taught me how to make it so I make it as my first 4-H project at age 10. It earned a blue ribbon.
We’re celebrating our oldest granddaughter’s 10th birthday this weekend. She requested chocolate cupcakes, so it seemed fitting to use a blue ribbon recipe. I made the cupcakes today. They appear rather plain in the photo above for good reason. I spent a good part of this morning hunting down this recipe and don’t want to lose it again. If I wait until after we get back from Wisconsin, where we’ll decorate them before her party, getting ready for Christmas may push my good intentions right out of my head.
Also, I found a card with the recipe written in Mom’s beautiful cursive and don’t want to wait another minute to share this bit of her with you.
Doesn’t her writing take you back to elementary school penmanship practice? Mine never looked that good.
One final note: Because of my dairy allergy, I used Kite Hill’s dairy-free sour cream and no one could tell the difference between it and regular sour cream. Will wonders never cease!
by jphilo | Oct 25, 2024 | Recipes, See Jane Dig!
The origin of See Jane Dig’s Early Bird Coffee Cake recipe came straight from the little box where my mom filed her favorite dishes for several decades. As you can see, she clipped this one from a newspaper or magazine and glued it to an index card. As you can also see, it is dog-eared, spotted, and well-used.
What you can’t see are the ingredients and instructions for making it.
Why? Because this post is designed to tantalize readers enough to move them to purchase the book on Amazon. For those who are not yet motivated to spend your hard-earned dollars on Jane, her adventure, and this recipe, please know that Early Bird Coffee Cake met all the Dorothea Stratton (that’s my mom) cooking criteria.
- It uses common ingredients.
- It’s easy to throw together. Bonus: no mixer required.
- The crumb topping negates the need for frosting or glaze.
- It doesn’t require turning out of the pan. Just slice and eat.
- It’s delicious.
Having made and eaten my fair share of more Early Bird Coffee Cakes than I can count, I can vouch for that her criteria are spot on. Especially the last one.
It’s flavor is different from most other coffee cakes. In my opinion, no other varieties measure up to it. My siblings, husband, my kids, and my grandkids love it. The grands like it best in muffin/cupcake form so they can pack it in their lunches and make their classmates jealous.
Now that you know the origin of See Jane Dig’s Early Bird Coffee Cake recipe, you must be curious to taste it. So go ahead and buy the book. Once you’ve made and sampled the coffee cake, leave a comment below about what you think of it. I’d love to hear from you!
by jphilo | Feb 10, 2022 | Recipes
My husband is spending the weekend at our son and daughter’s-in-law farm. I was invited too, but am staying home in hopes of shaking the cough that is the last vestige of a virus that likes me much more than I like it.
The guys will watch the Super Bowl on Sunday, so I’m sending a batch of shortbread for them to enjoy. This is our son’s favorite cookie, and I can’t believe the recipe hasn’t been featured here before. (I’m also sending crumb top apple pie for my daughter-in-law.) Both recipes are from the Betty Crocker Cookbook that was a wedding present in 1977. Shortbread been a cookie staple at our house for over 40 years.
With only 3 ingredients, it’s easy to make. It tastes best after a few days stored in an airtight container at room temperature…if it lasts that long.
Super Bowl Shortbread
1 1/2 cups softened butter (preferably made with butter made from Snippy’s cream)
1/2 cup sugar
4 cups all purpose flour
Heat oven to 350°. Cream butter and sugar. Work in the flour. If the dough is crumbly, mix in 1 to 1 tablespoons softened butter.
Roll dough 1/3 inch thick on a lightly floured surface. Use a small water glass to cut into rounds. Place 1/2 inch apart on a hot, ungreased baking stone. Bake for about 20 minutes or until set. Remove from stone to cool.
by jphilo | Jan 26, 2022 | Recipes, See Jane Run!
Ham and potato soup has been a favorite of ours for decades. When we lived in South Dakota, I made it with fresh milk that an old farmer sold for fifty cents a gallon.* We skimmed almost a quart of cream off every gallon and added some of that to the soup, too. My love of potato soup continues too this day, but making a dairy-free version to rival what I was used to before being diagnosed with a dairy allergy has been a struggle.
Until now.
With the addition of our Instant Pot and my daughter’s knack for using cashews to make foods creamy, the ham and potato soup I served our family last night was a winner. We were so hungry before supper, I forgot to photograph the full pot. As you can see, there wasn’t much left! Also, I prepared the ham hocks in the Instant Pot the day before, a process which yielded the broth used in the soup.
Ham and Potato Soup in the Instant Pot
2 cups cooked, cubed ham or the meat picked off two cooked ham hocks
6 cups ham, chicken, or vegetable broth
2 pounds potatoes, peeled and cubed in 1/2-1 inch cubes
2 tablespoons Earth Balance butter substitute
1 large carrot, chopped
1 medium onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
salt and pepper to taste
1/8 cup raw cashews
1 quart shelf stable coconut or oat milk
Soak the cashews in hot water for a few minutes. Put them in the blender with 1/2 cup of the coconut or oat milk and blend until smooth.
Using the saute setting on the Instant Pot, melt the butter substitute. Add the carrot, onion, and garlic. Saute until onions are transparent. Add the potatoes, ham, and broth to the pot. Season with salt and pepper to taste. (If using ham broth, you won’t need more salt.)
Secure the lid on the Instant Pot. Be sure the venting button is set to seal. Using the pressure cooking function, set the timer for 10 minutes. When the Pot beeps to signal the end of the 10 minutes, turn venting button from seal to vent to quick release the pressure.
When the pressure has been released, take off the lid. Turn on the keep warm function and add the blended cashews and the rest of the coconut or oat milk. Serve when the soup reaches your preferred temperature.
*The complete story of the farmer and his amazing milk cow, Snippy, made its way into See Jane Run! and the other books in my cozy mystery series. They are available on Amazon.
by jphilo | Jan 21, 2022 | Recipes
Cooking ham hocks in the Instant Pot is amazingly simple. I discovered that fact after deciding to use *ham hocks from the freezer in Instant Pot ham and potato soup. That soup was also amazing simple, delicious and believe it or not, dairy free. The recipe can be found at this link.
Ham Hocks in the Instant Pot
2 ham hocks (Ask the butcher to cut each hock into 2-3 pieces to make it easier to pick off the meat.)
6 cups water
Put the ham hocks and the water into the Instant Pot. Secure the lid and be sure the venting button is set to seal. Using the pressure cooking function, set the timer for 40 minutes. Push start.
When the pot beeps to signal the end of the forty minutes, let the pot natural release the pressure for 20 minutes. Then move the venting button to vent so the remaining pressure releases.
When all the pressure has been released, remove the lid. Using a slotted spoon remove the hocks. Put them in a pan to cool. When sufficiently cooled pick off the meat and discard the bones.
Use the meat and the liquid in the pot as ingredients for ham and potato soup, ham and bean soup, or other ham-based soups.
*Those of you who are eagerly awaiting the release of See Jane Run! on June 7, 2022 should know that cooking ham hocks in the Instant Pot is a totally Jane kind of thing to do. Except that Instant Pots weren’t around in 1977 when the story takes place. But if they had been, she’da been using one.
by jphilo | Jan 5, 2022 | Recipes
Caramel apple dip used to be a favorite snack at our house. But once the kids were grown and my dairy allergy was diagnosed, I quit making it.
I missed it. Oh my how I missed it.
I was resigned to life without this treat until my daughter-in-law made a chance comment when we were together for Christmas. My daughter and I mentioned that Baker’s Pantry–a Mennonite grocery store we frequent because they sell 40-50 pound bags of all manner of bread baking staples–carries Watkins extracts.
That’s when my daughter-in-law said, “We used to mix their caramel extract with a little brown sugar and cream cheese to make apple dip.”
That’s when the lightbulb lit up in my brain. From the expression on my daughter’s face, I think she had a lightbulb moment too. We immediately added Watkins caramel extract to our Baker’s Pantry grocery list for the shopping trip we had scheduled for New Year’s Eve morning.
On the way home from Baker’s Pantry, we stopped at Hy-Vee, an Iowa-based grocery chain. They carry just about everything, including Daiya cream cheese substitute made from coconut. Most cream cheese substitutes are soy-based, and our granddaughter can’t have soy. (As I’ve said before, with her soy issues and dairy issues for 5 of the 6 people in this house, we are that family.)
A couple nights ago, I made the caramel apple dip and served it for dessert. It was a big hit. With everybody. Absolutely delicious. There are not enough superlatives to do the dip justice. And it was so easy. Incredibly easy.
You’ll find the recipe below. Use regular cream cheese if dairy isn’t an issue for you. Use one of the soy-based substitutes if that works at your house. However, you have to use Watkins caramel extract or the flavor superlatives won’t apply.
Dairy-Free Caramel Apple Dip
8 ounces Daiya cream cheese substitute at room temperature
1/2 teaspoon Watkins caramel extract
2 tablespoons brown sugar
Put the cream cheese substitute into a bowl and mash it with a fork to loosen. Add caramel extract and brown sugar. Continue mashing with a fork and mixing until smooth. Refrigerate until serving it with apple slices.
