1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts
1 box yellow cake mix
1 small box vanilla instant pudding (whether or not the cake mix already has puddin’ in it)
4 cackle berries [eggs]
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup oil (cooking variety, not motor oil, in case you are a man and trying baking for the first time)
1/2 cup dark rum

Glaze:
1 stick butter
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup dark rum

Making the cake

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
2. Lube up a Bundt pan. I love that Baker’s Secret spray, does it all in one shot.
3. Sprinkle your little nuts evenly in the pan.
4. Mix all cake ingredients, and then pour over your nuts.
5. Bake one hour, trying not to be overcome by the lovely aroma coming from your oven.
6. Let cool, then invert on serving plate.

Glaze:

1. Melt butter in pan, then stir in water and sugar.
2. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly (important!!) for five minutes.
3. Remove from heat, and carefully stir in rum.
4. Poke your cake all over–I like something that makes a good-size hole, so the glaze really permeates. A chopstick is good for this.
5. Drizzle and smooth glaze all over the cake–saturate as much as possible.

If you want to dress it up, whipped cream goes well with the cake. Bring to a party and impress your friends!!

1. Cream the butter and add the sugar.
2. Add the egg yolk, cream and vanilla and mix well.
3. Sift the flour and baking powder together and add to butter mixture.
4. Add 1/4 c. (half) of the nuts.
5. Form dough into small balls and dip in egg white, then chopped pecans.
6. Make a small indentation in the center of the balls of dough after placing them on an ungreased cookie sheet.
7. Fill the indentation with plum jam.
8. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.
9. remove carefully from sheet, as these are quite fragile.

Sift together in a large mixing bowl:
3 c. flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 c. sugar

Using a knife or pastry blender, cut with 1 c. softened butter, until particles are fine.

Add
1 egg, slightly beaten
3 Tbsp. cream
1 tsp. vanilla

Blend throughly, adding more cream if necessary.

Chill dough for atl least 1/2 hour, then roll out and cut.

Bake on an ungreased cookie sheet at 375 degrees, watching them carefully.

2 lbs. ground round
½ lb. ground veal
½ lb. ground pork
2 heads of cabbage
½ c. Uncle Ben’s converted rice
1 onion, finely chopped
salt, pepper
Grandma’s spaghetti sauce, or any sauce that is tarter than it is sweet

To prepare the cabbage:

1. Core and pull out the hearts and the smaller pieces; pull on the cabbage head to loosen the leaves without breaking them.
2. Cut up the hearts and small pieces and put them in a small pot with salt and water & bouillon; cover & boil about 5 min. then strain in a colander.
3. In a big pot with water & salt, place a whole cabbage & cover; cook over med. high heat. When one cabbage is al dente (usually 5-10 min.), remove and cook the other one ’til al dente too.

To prepare the meat filling:

1. Fill a small saucepan halfway with water and add rice.
2. Bring to boil & cook half the time given on the box; let sit for 5 min.
3. Drain in colander and add to meat.
4. In a separate bowl, add onion, salt, pepper & Maggi
5. Add the rice, cabbage hearts& some cut-up leaves.
6. Add 4-5 Tbsp. spaghetti sauce, and mix.

Assembling the cassarole:

1. Take out the heads of cabbage and let cool.
2. Taste meat to correct seasoning.
3. Separate leaves and roll a heaping Tbsp. of meat into them, rolling them up like burritos or eggrolls. Some leaves will need to be halved; large leaves will need to have the thick center vein cut out. You can patch pieces that break through overcooking.
4. Layer the rolled cabbage in a casserole dish (Grandma’s was a huge glazed ceramic pot about 18″ across and 6″ deep), spreading spaghetti sauce over each layer.
5. Bake covered for 1 hr. at 325°.

1. Prepare 1 pkg. Pepperidge Farm herb-flavored stuffing and place in a 9×13″ pan.
2. Spread with 3 c. turkey pieces.
3. Cover with white sauce.
4. Bake at 350° for 1 hour.

White sauce:
½ c. margarine
½ c. flour
¼ tsp. salt
4 c. chicken or turkey broth

Cook until thick and add 7 beaten eggs.

2 c. sugar
1/2 c. cocoa
1/2 c. whole milk
1/2 lb. margarine
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 c. chunky peanut butter
3 c. quick-cook oatmeal

1. Mix the sugar, cocoa, milk and margarine in a thick-bottomed pot.
2. Cook over medium heat until mixture boils.
3. Remove and cool slightly.
4. Add vanilla, a pinch of salt, peanut butter, and oatmeal.
5. Stir well.
6. Drop on wax paper and let cool.

½ c. molasses
½ c. dark Karo syrup
½ c. shortening or margarine (1 stick)
4 c. flour
½ tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. ground cinnamon
½ tsp. ground cloves
½ tsp. ground cardamom
1 c. sugar
1 jumbo egg or 2 med. eggs

1) Combine molasses, syrup & shortening in sauce pan and bring to a boil over med. heat.
2) Remove from heat & pour over the flour and baking powder.
3) Add soda & spices and allow to cool to lukewarm. Add the sugar, eggs & beat.
4) Knead the dough until as smooth as possible.
5) Roll out no thinner than ¼” and cut into ¾”-wide bars. Place the bars on wax paper (layer as necessary) and freeze.
6) Remove from freezer and cut the bars diagonally into diamond shapes (½” to ¾” across) and bake at 375°. Watch them closely because they can burn very quickly.

2 lbs. ground beef, browned and drained
1 Tbsp oil
1 large onion, diced, and added to the browned beef and cooked until soft

Reduce heat to medium and add:
2 tsp garlic salt, or 2 cloves garlic and 1 1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp oregano
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp pepper
1 can (8 oz) tomato sauce
1 pkg chopped spinach

When the beef/spice/spinach mixture is heated all the way through, pour:
4 eggs, beaten over it
and cook until set.

Serve on toasted hamburger buns.

5 lbs Granny Smith

1. Core and divide (do not peel), place in soup pot, add enough water to reach half as high as the apples.
2. Cook low to med heat to avoid burning, until apples are very soft.
3. If there is excess water, pour off and save (mine was too mushy with apples to do this so I had to cook it out later).
4. Puree remaining apples/water in food processor  until smooth, put back in pot.

Add:

1 Tbsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
1 cup sugar

Cook and stir this for hours (4-5?) over low heat (just bubbling on top) stirring frequently.  You want it reduced to a thick consistency so that if you stir it and pull the spoon out to make a small “peak” it stays there.   The contents of my pot were reduced to about half.

Connie: You could put this in plastic containers and freeze it – I am going to try canning it today.  Wish me luck!!!

Note: We know mom used Gala apples too (she’d buy them by the bushel from farms in Wilcox, AZ), but aren’t sure how much less sugar you would need to balance their sweetness.

1 smoked beef tongue, about 4 lbs.
2 Tbsp. mixed pickling spices
1 Tbsp. instant minced onion
1 Tbsp. celery seed
1 Tbsp. parsley flakes

1. Cover tongue with cold water. Add remaining ingredients & cover.
2. Cook slowly until tongue is tender (about 2 hours).
3. Cool in cooking water. Remove fatty root section and skin from tongue.
4. Slice & serve with Lemon Raisin sauce.

Lemon Raisin Sauce (mom’s):
½ c. brown sugar
2 Tbsp. flour
2 c. strained broth from tongue
1/3 to ½ c. lemon juice (or to taste)
½ c. seedless raisins
½ tsp. salt

Lemon Raisin Sauce (Meemah’s)
1 c sugar
1/2 c vinegar
1/2 c tongue broth
1 c cut raisins
2 cloves
1 sliced lemon

Boil until lemon is transparent and sauce thickens.