board77

It smelled fine, I am not sure it is hor enough for my taste, but now we'll have to wait a little while anyway.

Would you want me to send you a little pot? I have nothing else with pumpkins, but tons of quince jelly, if anybody likes that.

Um... sure!

Aww, thanks Tosh!!!! I'm glad I didn't know you weren't a fan of chocolate cake ahead of time though

Eru - not quite the same, no. See below.

Areanor wrote:

You want to share it?



Pleeeeeaaaase.

Sorry! I don't come in this forum very often

It was actually a marzipan cake for people who hate marzipan. Chocolate layer, almond layer, chocolate layer, and a top almond layer with a sort of crusty almond nut top. Between each layer, juuuuuuust enough dark chocolate frosting (very dark to relieve the sweetness of the almond) to hold the layers together and to carry a thick sprinkling of shredded coconut. It's supposed to be fresh coconut, but we didn't have any, so I used dry. I'll post the recipe another day, as I'm going to bed now.

Don't worry Estel, I'm fairly omnivorous and I did enjoy it.
Quality always wins.

I have to share this, because it's so easy - and so good!

Cream Schnitz Pie - from Edna Staebler's cookbook
("Schnitz" refers to the Mennonite way of cutting the apples - I just cut them in segments)

Pastry for one-crust pie
5 - 7 apples, depending on size
3 tbsp flour
1/8 tsp salt
1 cup sour cream
3/4 tsp cinnamon
3/4 cup sugar

Combine 1/2 cup of the sugar, flour, salt and the cream and beat until smooth. Peel and core the apples, cut them in schnitz and arrange prettily and closely in the pastry shell. Pour the cream mixture over the apples. Mix the remaining 1/4 cup sugar with the cinnamon and sprinkle over the top. Bake at 425 degrees for 10 minutes, turn heat to 350 degrees and bake half an hour until the apples are soft and the filling is set.

(I added a bit of nutmeg with the cinnamon)

That sounds yummy!

Freddy just cooked our apples up, though, into a sort of applesauce--most of which, unfortunately, boiled over into my drip pan and stovetop.

I've made that sour cream apple pie and I like it. But my family did not. You can make a raisin pie sort of the same way, and it makes raisin pie bearable. Otherwise I find it too sweet. But my husband likes the regular old raisin pie, sweetness and all.

When River and Jude were here I made a pie from teh Banana Squash, but I made the crust with butter instead of lard, since River is a vegetarian. The crust sucked. I didn't use a proper butter crust recipe. I should have just made my usual lard crust and River could eaten the filling and left the crust behind.

We had roast chicken for dinner, one that I bought from my neighbour. It had not been frozen. (All the others are already frozen.) I have to say, that was one FINE chicken. I didn't stuff it or doll it up, I just salted and peppered it and roasted it plain and it was GOOD. Yay, Elaine, you raise great chickens!!!

vison wrote:

I didn't use a proper butter crust recipe. I should have just made my usual lard crust and River could eaten the filling and left the crust behind.

Actually, I was thinking of this just the other day - next time we should just make a graham crumb crust. They're easy, yummy, and work well with butter.

I have a pie-related question: my wooden rolling pin has developed a long crack. Should I assume it's a breeding place for germs and get rid of it, or should I keep using it?

It would be a nice excuse to get a pretty marble or glass one.

I don't know if the germ concern would be that great if you're just using it for doughs and the like.

It's probably no big deal, but I think I would buy a new one, Jude.

When I was making that awful butter crust, I had looked for my recipe that made GOOD butter crust and I couldn't find it. I found it yesterday. Grrr. So I'm going to put it in my computer recipe file, when I get a minute.

Oh, jeez. I want to be making jam and jelly today, not doing dumb bookkeeping. I am NOT in the mood for numbers. I am in the mood for nice smells in the kitchen and rows of little jars with neat labels on them, left on the counter for a few days so everyone can see how swell and nice I am.

Thank you both. I have now bought a nice marble one. And I even found one that wasn't made in China! Go me!!!

Oh, that's great!

vison, you could always pictures of your pretty jams and jellies, so all of your invisible friends could also go, "Ooooh, lovely! What a nice lady!"

The Christmas puddings were being made today. Lovely smell in the house.

Hoping to do two things tomorrow: go to the passport office and then go to Galloway's for my fruit cake fruit. I could buy them at Safeway, but I like to go to Famous Foods or Galloway's, it makes a bit of an outing.

The other thing is, nowadays we have to ask where the fruit is from. I just found out that a lot of pickles are from India. India doesn't freak me out like China does, but I think it should have to be on the jar, don't you guys? Like "These cucumbers were grown in India but pickled in the USA." Hah. Fat chance.

I like buying stuff grown in BC or then Canada or then the USA. I don't want to buy fruit from China.

Thanksgiving ideas and recipes welcomed! What did you Canadians do for yours? I'm just kind of bored of the normal stuff and would like to try something new. I have been informed, however, (by 2 young girls and a husband) that we have to have: turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, broccoli casserole, stuffing (normal kind that I make), pumpkin pie (homemade), and cranberries (the lovely gel stuff in the can ).

So I have some leeway with the bread (rolls? something else?), another dessert (I usually do pecan pie, too, but I can do that for Christmas), appetizers, and I've decided I want mushrooms somehow, some way. So maybe an additional stuffing with mushrooms in it? Or stuffed mushrooms for appetizers? Have I mentioned how much I like mushrooms? I just saw Athrabeth's recipe for Hungarian Mushroom Soup over on HoF, and I can't wait to try it!!!!

Anyway, what else am I forgetting?

This goes better with ham...

Escalloped Pineapple

3 eggs
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup milk
1 can pineapple tidbits
1/2 cup melted butter or margarine
5 slices white bread cubed.

Beat eggs and sugar together. Add salt, milk, pineapple including juice, margairne and lastly bread cubes.
Pour into baking dish and bake for 30 minutes at 350.

This is an Amish Recipe from a little Amish place in Indiana.

Some sort of old Family Recipe, I imagine is a variation of some English pudding recipe, which has been handed down generation to generation in my family.


1 Tablespoon butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon vanilla

Mix into a smooth batter, pour into 8X8 baking dish, pour sauce over carefully and bake for 30 minutes at 350.

sauce: 2 Cups water, 1 cup brown sugar, 2 tablespoons butter. Bring to boil carefully pour over batter and bake.

I hate mushrooms, pretty much.

Can I come over for diiner, Lalaith? Souynds lovely to me.

I just made 14 pints of chili sauce. It,s very mild and nice and I,m going to make another bgatch onlyHOT.'

I'm typing this on a wee little notebook thing and it's hard to type.

As I mentioned in another thread, I've been experimenting with my own vanilla extract.

In Patricia Rain's book on Vanilla, she talks about the difference between Tahitian vanilla and Bourbon vanilla. According to her, they have quite different flavours and are almost separate species. I wanted to try them both to compare, but all the local shops sell only Bourbon vanilla.

Enter the internet. I found on online source at organic-vanilla.com which sells both types of beans at extremely reasonable prices. In fact, buying from them was cheaper than buying them from the grocery store, even taking shipping fees into account. Woo-hoo!

There's a good recipe for homemade vanilla extract at the Chocolate and Zucchini blog (a great blog to read if you're interested in food).

Here's the short version: sterilize your bottle by pouring boiling water into it, and let it sit while you prepare the vanilla. Split three vanilla pods, to expose the tiny seeds within. Dump the water out of the bottle, put the pods in, and fill the bottle with the liqueur of your choice. It's traditional to use vodka because of the neutral flavour, but the writer of the blog recommends rum, while Patricia Rain recommends brandy.

So I tried all three.

Here are some Tahitian vanilla pods: When you split the pod open, you see hundreds of tiny seeds (some vanilla writers refer to this as "the caviar of the vanilla"). An alternative to vanilla extract is to steep a split pod in liquid, letting the seeds run out and mix with the food. In some premium vanilla ice creams you can see little specks of vanilla. That's a good sign!

Here you can see some of the "caviar" scraped onto the spoon: The final step in making extract is the most difficult: wait eight weeks while the flavour develops. I want it now!

Here are the fruits of my labour so far: From left to right: Bourbon vanilla made with rum, 2 weeks ago. Bourbon and Tahitian vanilla made with brandy, last week. Tahitian vanilla made with vodka, yesterday.

My first batch will be ready for sampling in six weeks from now.

Mmmm!

When we have an Ohio m00t, you can bring it for us to taste.

vison, of course you can come over! The more the merrier!

Thanks, Ara-anna! Those look good. I'll have to give them a try.

I'll complain about my mother, as it relates to Thanksgiving, when I have more time. Right now, I have a drama rehearsal, so farewell!