Autumn's Here! Carol's Apple Crisp



Me with Memo - 6 weeks old and Stephen on the shore of
Lake Ontario, NY

After living most of their lives in and about the New York metropolitan area, my dad took a job as Superintendent of Schools in Barker, NY. It is up along the fruit belt of New York south of Lake Ontario and between Buffalo and Rochester.....very cold country! They bought a farm and became part time farmers. They rented the land for cattle grazing. Got fresh milk from the farm down the street. Picked apples, pears, peaches and other fruits from local groves. And created a huge garden they tended to ...so did we if we were around!

Memo was 1 1/2 years old the first time he visited the farm. He loved Popie's tractor and watching the cows. Liz arrived at 5 weeks to visit the farm. We spend one Christmas there and got hit with about 4 ft of snow. The kids first time being in snow!

During that visit, I remember putting our clothes in a drawer in my old dresser upon arrival. One evening I went to grab something out of the drawer and a mouse surprised me!!! I screamed and shut the drawer. My brother, Stephen grabbed the drawer and took it downstairs and out the back door and dumped the contents of the drawer onto the open back porch. The mouse took off and ran around the side of the porch and into a crack under the basement door! That mouse was no dummy! He was not going to be outside in 10* below zero and 4 ft of snow. I put my things back into my suitcase and zipped it up from then on!



The farmhouse in Barker, NY



Carol's Apple Crisp:

Peel 6 apples - preferably Macintosh, Granny's or Braeburn - dice

1 cup flour

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

3/4 tsp salt

1 egg

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 cup butter

1/4 cup sugar & 1 tsp cinnamon

Peel and dice the apples and place in a greased casserole dish. Mix together the flour, brown sugar, salt, egg and cinnamon. Sprinkle the mixture over the apples. Melt the butter and pour over the entire mixture. Then sprinkle with sugar/cinnamon mixture over entire casserole dish.

Bake 350* for 1 hour.

Serve with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream or both!!



Popie on the tractor moving piles of snow!



Stephanie's Zucchini Bread - tis the season!



Memo and Liz - photo taken while living in
N. Tonawanda, NY in 1982. Memo was 9 years
old and Liz was 5 years old.



I lived in Mexico 10 years, 8 years in Mexico City and 2 years in Monterrey, Mexico. After about the third peso/dollar devaluation. We decided we would NEVER be able to buy a home or afford to live the way we wanted to. So Jorge, Memo, Liz, two dogs and I moved to New York. We drove a U-Haul cross country and stayed with my parents for about 5 weeks. Jorge had been offered a job with a business consultant doing the computer installations in school districts and municipalities for his company. He office was in the Buffalo area so rented a large colonial in North Tonawanda, NY. 

Almost immediately, Jorge started traveling when the company won a large contract with Sullivan County and then an even larger one in Bellport School District on Long Island, NY. During the time of his travel, I depended on neighbors for help with the kids. I was substitute teaching at the time. Joan Reilly was the neighbor to our right and had 6 kids!  

Joan was very family oriented and with 6 kids on a tight budget, she cooked a lot! One day she invited me over and offered me a taste of her zucchini bread. It was delicious! I asked her for the recipe and she gave it to me but I have somehow lost it! The difference between her zucchini bread and most others is that she uses crushed pineapple! So after much experimentation, I discover my recipe using zucchini and crushed pineapple that cooks well and taste delicious!!

Zucchini Bread: (This recipe makes 2 loaves to share or freeze one!)

3 cups shredded zucchini - leave the skin on but wash

3 eggs

1 cup vegetable oil

2 cups sugar

1 16oz can of crushed pineapple

3 cups flour

2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp salt

1 tsp ground nutmeg

1 cup raisins

Mix all the wet ingredients together then mix the dry ingredients and slowly hand mix them together adding the dry into the wet. Do not use a mixer as it disintegrates the zucchini, pineapple and raisins.

Grease 2 loaf pans - you could use a large 9" by 13" rectangular cake sheet and cut into squares.

Cook at 350* for 50-60 minutes. For high altitude add 1/4 more flour. For convection oven, cook only about 40-45 minutes.

Hawaiian Potato Salad



My cousin, Stacy, in 1961      



Last week we celebrated my brother, Stephen's 50th Birthday, my niece, Delaney's 12th and my 57th! I also found out that my cousin Stacy had a birthday at the beginning of the month too!Stephen and I are on the same day only 7 years apart. I decided to make it a Hawaiian Luau. I pick up some recipes out of cookbooks and also off the Internet. But as usual I did not like all the ingredients and switched all of them up. My most successful and different was the Hawaiian Potato Salad. I have shared it twice now to applause so I think it is time to make it part of the My Recipes & Traditions repertoire!




My cousin, Tammy, in 1961

 

Hawaiian Potato Salad:

2 sweet potatoes - peeled and diced

2 yams - peeled and diced

4 regular potatoes - peeled and diced

3 celery stalks - diced small

1/2 Spanish onion - diced small

1/4 cup sweet pickle relish

2 cups mayo - Best or Hellman's is my preference

1tbsp dill week

1tbsp salt

1tbsp white pepper - regular is OK too! White blends in to the white color better!



My cousin, Jeri Ann, in 1961.



Boil up the potatoes in a large pot with a dash of salt for 15-20 minutes - keep firm and NOT mushy!

Once cooked, drain immediately and pour cold water over it and re-drain. (This stops the cooking process immediately!) Let drain completely. In a large separate bowl, mix the onions, celery, mayo, relish, dill weed, salt and pepper thoroughly. Once the potatoes are room temperature mix the potatoes into the cream mixture - add more mayo (by the tbsp) until all the potatoes are covered in the cream mix. Now gently spoon into a serving bowl and cover. Keep refrigerated at least 4 hours then serve.

As some of you know, Stacy, Tammy and Jeri Ann and my siblings have been estranged for more than 50 years due to divorce. We are so blessed now to have them part of our lives I am so happy and look forward to the reunion - SOON!

Phyllis' Apple Dumplings



Dave, me and Phyllis at the Equestrian Center in July 2011 watching
Joe Nichols and Craig Morgan in concert!



I love our extended family! I get to have great friends, like my sister-in-law, Susan's mom, Phyllis. She and I have been great friends over the years obviously sharing similar interests in cooking, sewing and her grandchildren, Delaney and Morgan, my nieces. On her last visit to Colorado Springs, she left a couple of weeks ago, she taught me how to make her famous Apple Dumplings! I asked her the recipe and whether she gave me permission to post it and it is!

Phyllis' Apple Dumplings: Serving size 4

The sauce:

     2/3 cup sugar

     1 1/2 cup water

     2 tbsp butter
     1/4 tbsp cinnamon
 Bring to a boil until sugar is dissolved. Then turn off and set aside.

Core and peel 4 apples - Granny Smith, Macintosh, Braeburn - a good cooking apple - set aside

The Cinnamon Mixture: 

     1/3 cup sugar

     2 tbsp butter

     1 tbsp cinnamon

Mix together the cinnamon and the sugar. Cut the butter into slices. Set aside to add to the middle of the cored apple before wrapping with the dough. 

Making the dough for the apple dumplings:

3 1/2 cups of flour

1 1/2 cup Crisco Shortening

2 tsp salt

1/4 cup ICE WATER

Cut the shortening and salt into the flour with a pastry blender until mixture crumbles. Make a hole in the center of the mixture and slowly add the ICE WATER until dough rolls into a ball.

With a floured surface and floured rolling pin use 1/4 the ball and roll out large enough to cover 1 apple completely. Place the apple in the middle of the dough. Spoon 1 tbsp of the cinnamon/sugar mixture into the cored center of the apple and then add a pat of butter on top of the mixture. Start wrapping the dough around the apple pinching the dough together with wet fingers. Place the apples in a casserole dish pour the sauce over each apple and allow to drain to the bottom of the dish. Sprinkle each apple dumpling with sugar.

Bake @ 425* for 40-45 minutes or until dumpling tops are golden. Serve with whipped cream or ice cream!!

Thanks Phyllis!!!

Summer Fare - Summer Squash & Summer Squash Bisque



Memo and me swimming in the pool at Nana & Popie's Farm.



My parents and their parents grew vegetable gardens all their lives. When my parents moved to Barker in upstate New York. They had 128 acres of property with a home, garage, barns and other farm buildings. My dad finally realized a dream of having a large productive garden with all the fresh foods he and my mother loved. I used to take Memo and Liz there over the summer and always seemed to find myself weeding the garden. Weeding was never fun but once the vegetables were ready to eat...it was delicious fun! One of my favorites is yellow summer squash.

Summer Squash:

4-6 yellow summer squash - sliced

1 stick of butter

1 large onion - sliced

salt and pepper to taste

In a deep saute pan, add the butter and melt on low heat. Add sliced onion and some salt. Saute for about 5 minutes. Add the sliced yellow summer squash, pepper to taste and cover. Cook over low heat for about 15 minutes or until the squash is wilted. Remove from heat and serve.



Me and a naked Memo with Morgan,
our family dog, after swimming.



Summer Squash Bisque:

1/8 cup olive oil

1 medium onion diced

2 stalks celery - diced

3 yellow squash - diced

1 sweet potato - peeled and diced

4 cups chicken or vegetable broth

1 tbsp Turmeric

1 cup cream

1 tsp Pepper

Pour oil into soup pot. Cook on medium heat. Add onion and celery and cook for about 3 minutes.  Add squash and sweet potato saute for about 10 minutes until slightly tender. Add broth and cook for another 15 minutes until soft. Turn down heat then using a hand-blender, blend the vegetables into a puree. Add the cream, taste for more Turmeric and Pepper.

I have been looking for recipes to use as the summer vegetables become ripe and in abundance in the stores. Enjoy!

Stephanie's Mushroom Tortellini



Winning a sales award in Las Vegas at the National
Convention in February 1994.



During the 1980's and 1990's, I worked as a real estate agent on Long Island, NY. It was before the time of electronic contracts, digital signatures and true communication via the Internet. As a result, I found myself driving from Shirly, NY where we lived and worked to many locations on Long Island to deliver contracts and go to closings. On one such occasion, I was in Westbury, NY and after the closing I went to Fortunoff, a store that was big and beautiful on Long Island from 1964 until it's closing in 2009. After shopping and just a block away was an "nuevo" Italian Restaurant I decided to visit Baci. On their menu there was a tortellini dish that I decided to try and I fell in love with it ever since. I even sat near the kitchen on a couple of occasions to watch them make the dish. And before I left Long Island and Real Estate there, I actually got the nerve to speak to the chef and ask him his ingredients. So here is what after much tweaking, I came up with a delicious and exact, as I remember, recipe.

Stephanie' s Mushroom Tortellini:

1 package cheese tortellini

1 package sliced mushrooms

1 stick of butter

1 tbsp flour

2 cups of heavy cream

Salt and pepper to taste

Diced fresh basil

Grated Parmesan cheese

In a large pot add water and salt and bring to a boil. Add tortellini and boil for about 8 minutes until "al dente" firm not mushy. In a deep saute pan add the butter and melt on medium low heat once melted add the sliced mushrooms and saute until tender. Using a large spoon, push the mushrooms to the sides and add the flour and cook into a paste with the butter. Now add the cream and mix at first with the "roux" and then once fully integrated gently push the mushrooms into the sauce. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Drain the tortellini, place into a bowl and then pour the mushroom sauce over the top and incorporate with the tortellini. Serve with grated Parmesan cheese and fresh basil.

Best served with a Caesar Salad and garlic bread. Mangia Bene!!!!

Kathy's Delicious French Toast



Dave's sister Rita, mom Kathy and brother Larry. Here celebrating
Larry's 60th Birthday in November 2010 in Custer SD.



I have been very blessed with terrific mother-in-laws! I owe most of that to the relationships I saw between my dad and Nana, my mom's mom and my mother with Nonnie, my father's mother. they called each other mother-in-loves! I never saw disputes or dislike EVER!!! So when I got my mother-in-laws, I tried to treat them with the same respect. AND although hard at first with my first mother-in-law, over the years she went from calling me the "slut" to daughter....of course in Spanish! I was luckier with Kathy, Dave's mom. She seems to have taken to me right away and considered me a blessing to her son!!! Guess she should ask him!! LOL

I have visited Kathy on many occasions. She usually chooses to take her guests out for meals. But on our last visit, Dave asked her to make her famous French Toast and she agreed. I was very much surprised when the night before, after a rousing game of Mexican Train, she took a whole loaf of white bread and laid it out on a cutting board and then covered the bread with a clean, light dish towel. When I asked why she did that, she said that her mother told her that if you leave the bread out to get dried, it was firmer when cooking and would not fall apart. Plus she said that you really do not want to SOAK the bread thorough but just place a coating on the outside that has plenty of flavor. French Toast should have a crusty outside! (Since mine NEVER do, I decided to pay more attention to her recipe!)

Kathy's French Toast:

Bread - sliced (Kathy uses white bread but I have gone to artisan sweet breads and had the baker thick slice it) It adds another dimension to the flavor of the french toast.
Eggs - Approximately 6 eggs for a loaf of bread - increase if the bread is larger than normal
Milk - 1 cup (for richer batter add Half &Half or cream)
Vanilla - 1tsp
Cinnamon - 1tbsp
Butter - depending on how many slices you are making (I use butter spray instead - easier!)
Confectioner's Sugar - I use a shaker and just decorate the French Toast with confectioner's sugar before serving.
Maple Syrup - I heat up my syrup in the microwave just prior to serving

Leave the bread out to dry all night. In the morning make the French Toast batter using a whisk. Whisk between each bathing of bread to keep all the ingredients mixed and fluffy. Use a medium to large frying pan turn on to medium high heat and add 1 tsp before each slice. Let melt and add the slice. Cook for about 2-3 minutes and then turn. If not lightly browned increase heat slightly and monitor. Make as many as you need following these steps.



Many of the Cates Clan!
Back Row: Sister Terry, Brother-in-law Howard, Sister Sharon, Brother Larry, Mom Kathy
Bottom Row: Dave, Stephanie, Sister Rita

The nice part about French Toast and pancakes is that they can go on a plate and then be heated up in the microwave - if needed. But by doing this, they lose they crustiness of the batter. So it is best to serve immediately!

Make sure you have the confectioner's sugar and syrup ready when the French Toast is served. Other compliments are fruit, bacon, sausage, and fruit syrups instead of maple syrup.