"Soul Food - Classic Cuisine From the Deep South" by Sheila Ferguson - Cheese and Sausage Grits Casserole for Black History Month

Date I made this recipe:  February 25, 2017 – Black History Month

Soul Food – Classic Cuisine From the Deep South by Sheila Ferguson

Published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson

ISBN: 1-55584-420-0; copyright 1989

Purchased at Bonnie Slotnick Cookbooks, NYC

Recipe:  Cheese and Sausage Grits Casserole – p. 61

So February was Black History Month and even though I had the entire month to make a recipe from a related cookbook, please note that I snuck this one in under the wire.  Of course, getting it posted in the month of February was another matter all together.

While I don't necessarily keep a list of cookbooks to purchase, I was on the lookout for this after reading about the book and its author a long time ago (in a galaxy far, far away) and finally found it two years ago at one of my favorite cookbook bookstores, Bonnie Slotnick Cookbooks in NYC.  As per usual, when I shop at Bonnie's, I find the coolest books and this was one of them.

This cookbook, written in 1989, is full of yummy recipes and great stories submitted by Sheila and her relatives. And sure, there were a fair amount of "no-go" recipes like "Pig's Feet," "Chit'lins," and lordy, lordy, "Braised Squirrel," but I was prepared to overlook that because of the breadth of her other offerings.

As a "for instance," "Roland's Home Fries" (p. 41) was in the running for a long time but when I realized that my recent breakfasts out with friends were heavy on the home fries, I passed.  Still, I would love to make it sometime because it sounded easy and fabulous.

On pages 60 and 61 you'll find four recipes for all kinds of grits including one for a "Sweet Grits Soufflé."  Today's recipe, Cheese and Sausage Grits Casserole, was found on page 61.  I like a book that has four grit offerings for every flavor palate out there.

Also in the running was "Aunt Odessa's Macaroni and Tuna Bake Casserole," (p. 122) and I also pondered that long and hard before going back to the grits.  I love mac and cheese, and I love tuna casserole so this likely would have been a hit even though it was missing my favorite tuna casserole ingredients – peas.

And then I considered two salads, one, a classic macaroni salad, the other, a potato salad, (both on p. 132) but these are more summer than winter dishes and Black History Month waited for no one!

See what I mean?  And those were just a few of the options from this cookbook a cookbook that covers soul food recipes from A-Z, as evidenced by the following categories:

• The High and Mighty Breakfast
• Down-Home Breads
• Grits, Grits, Grits
• Fine Feathered Fowl
• Critters That Swim  ("Critters?"  that "Swim?"  Happily, she mostly means fish.  Mostly.)
• The Almighty Pig
• If You See It, Shoot It (I almost spit my coffee just now!)
• Beans 'n' Rice
• Kissin' Cousins (a variety of recipes from people who are not kin but should be)
• Soulful Salads
• God's Green Acres
• That Glorious Sweet Potato
• Sweet Thangs
• Cakes and Cookies
• Pickles and Drinks (Huh.  I don't know as I'd ever put these two together in one chapter, but I suppose she was getting to the end of things and had to wrap it all up. )

Also included in this book is a chapter called "So What Is Soul Food," "It Don't Mean a Thing If It Ain't Got That Swing! The Black Way of Talking," and a "Future Reading" page.  Books in the "Future Reading" section aren't necessarily African-American but most have to do with southern cooking or southern specialties.

Now although it's not necessarily a requirement that a cookbook author have some cooking cred, I was surprised to see that author Sheila Ferguson is a singer first, cook, second.  Her dust jacket bio says she was lead singer of the legendary pop group The Three Degrees ("When Will I See You Again?"); these days, it looks like she is enjoying a solo career.  So the fact that she pulled together a really good cookbook is amazing – kudos!

Before I head on to the easy and tasty recipe, I have to tell you that my friend, Ann, will likely not touch a drop of this recipe and that's a damned shame.  Years ago, she spent some time at Florida State University and our northern gal of Scandinavian descent did not cotton to grits at all.  Can't say as I blame her as the few times I had grits while down south during childhood family vacations were not fond food memories for me, either. I n fact, I thought they were awful.  But over the years, I've really taken to them which is a good thing as I am able to leave my horrible grit-eating past behind me and embrace the suckers.  That said, it should be noted that there are "grit" grits which I like, and that are a lot like polenta, and then there are hominy grits which I loathe.  I make it a point never, ever to order the latter.

Although this is an easy dish, there is one adjustment that I made and that is to the sausage.  The recipe directs you to use a ready-made (read:  already-seasoned) product like Jimmy Dean sausage but I just could not, not only because of the preservatives and other additives, but because a roll of that stuff was way more than I needed.  So I Googled to see what sausage seasonings closely approximated Jimmy Dean's and added them to the ground sausage I purchased (in the quantity I needed, no more, no less). I'm including the sausage spices below.

This was a very good dish and a great way to close out Black History Month.  As an FYI, about a year ago, I purchased a fabulous and fascinating book called The Jemima Code by Toni Tipton-Martin.  This book (not a cookbook per se) explores two centuries of African-American cookbooks and Soul Food – Classic Cuisine From the Deep South is one of the included books.  I am currently going through my collection list to see which cookbooks from The Jemima Code I already own and which ones I need to acquire.  It's a process to be sure but meanwhile, enjoy this casserole!

Cheese and Sausage Grits Casserole – p. 61

1 lb ready-made sausage meat (Ann's Note:  I suggest you skip that and add the spice mix below to make your own sausage.)

1 cup uncooked grits

4 cups lightly salted water

1 cup grated cheddar cheese

1 cup butter

2 large eggs, slightly beaten

1 cup milk

1 small clove garlic, minced

Ann's home-made sausage spice (*These are for a half pound of sausage; double the ingredients for a full pound).  Add the following mixture to your ground sausage:

¼ teaspoon parsley

1/8 teaspoon rubbed sage

1/8 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper

1/8 teaspoon sage

1/8 teaspoon coriander

½ teaspoon salt

*If you want it hot, add some red pepper

Form the sausage meat into patties and fry it up crisp and golden brown.  Be sure you pour off all the excess fat as you're frying. Drain your patties on paper towels, then crumble them up in a bowl.  Preheat your oven to 350.

While you're doing all this your grits can be cooking.  You've got to boil them up in the salted water for about 5 minutes, exactly as it states on the box.  When they thicken up to the consistency of porridge, remove them from the heat and stir in grated cheese. Cover and let them stand for a couple of minutes.  Now stir in your butter, eggs, milk, and garlic until well blended.  Stir in your sausage meat.  Taste and adjust your seasonings.

Pour into a well-buttered 1 ½ quart baking dish and bake in your oven for 1 hour or until lightly browned and bubbling.

"Fruitcake - Memories of Truman Capote & Sook (his cousin)" by Marie Rudisill, Capote's aunt - 1886 Fruitcake - Holiday Party Food!

Date I made this recipe:  November 8, 2016 (Election Day) for serving in December

Fruitcake – Memories of Truman Capote & Sook by Marie Rudisill

Published by Hill Street Press

ISBN:  1-892514-81-8; © 2000

Recipe:  1866 Fruitcake – Originally known as the "Lee Fruitcake" – p. 12-14

I know what you're probably thinking:  "Fruitcake?  Ew!!!!!  I hate the stuff!"

You are not alone but folks, I've gotta tell you, I am not in your camp.

We were Jane Parker Fruitcake people in our house.  Jane Parker was an A&P (grocery store) brand that we all loved.  And although A&P disappeared eventually from my home town, my late father, ever the letter writer, managed to track down an address for the company – pre-internet, no less – and inquired as to where he could get one.  He was given a mail order address.  Problem solved.

Then a few years ago, we were thrilled to find that  Amazon carried it and so I ordered several to be shipped to my loved ones.  But as these things go, Amazon carried the product for only a few years and now once again, Jane Parker has disappeared from our lives. Please come back, Jane.  Please.

As you might imagine, we are bereft.

And so there was only one thing left to do and it was to make my own fruitcake.

I approached this with just a tad of trepidation, mostly because the candied fruit cost so much that if I screwed it up, there went all that money down the drain.

Besides, would it be as good as Jane's?  Oh, we could only hope.

Now then, even though fruitcake is decidedly unpopular at this time of year, (it saddens me, it really does), I have oodles and oodles of cookbooks containing fruitcake recipes, as well as fruitcake cookie recipes, but I passed on cooking from them because I had my eye on one book and one book only:  Fruitcake – Memories of Truman Capote and Sook.  I consider this to be the granddaddy of fruitcake cookbooks (possibly the only fruitcake-focused cookbooks) as it contains 23 recipes, surely the largest "gathering" of fruitcake recipes known to man?

Although the vast majority of recipes are variations of cake + candied fruit, there are a few variations, some of which gave me pause, such as "Chocolate Fruitcake" – p. 20-21 or a "Sugar-Frosted White Fruitcake" – p. 37-38.  I don't know about you, but I cannot get past the "ick" factor of chocolate and fruitcake.  I cannot.  And since I've never had a frosted fruitcake, I felt I had to pass on that one as well as I'd have no point of comparison to my unfrosted and beloved Jane Parker.

There are also a few recipes here for booze-soaked fruitcakes and even one for a "Fruitcake Flaming" but I have to tell you, and I cannot believe I am saying this, I cannot:  I moistened my fruitcake as directed with bourbon and I shall never do so again.

Never.  Why?  My fruitcake was over-bourboned (if that's even a word which Spell-check tells me it isn't!).  It's not like I doused it with the entire bottle (because what a waste of good bourbon!), but simply moistened periodically the cheesecake I wrapped it in as directed, from the time I baked it to the time I served it a monthly later.

Weeks later, when I finally had a tiny taste, I was about knocked out by the alcohol.  Whoa.  And this is coming from me who enjoys her stronger alcohols like gin, cognac and bourbon.

Is this why people like their homemade fruitcakes so much?

The alternative to soaking the fruitcake in booze was to use grape juice, but that proved to be tricky.  I had split my fruitcake in half and the half that I moistened with grape juice started to develop a bit of mold at the bottom of the cheesecloth and so I had to throw it out.

Obviously, I don't have my fruitcake techniques on lock and load yet.  But I tell you who does and that is most southerners, like author Truman Capote, and his cousin, Sook Faulk, and this book's author, Marie Rudisill who was Capote's aunt.

In fact, come to think of it, most of my southern cookbooks are where I can go to find fruitcake recipes.  And they all say the same thing which is to make it months in advance, wrap it in cheesecloth, then moisten with booze or fruit juice, but mostly booze. Hmmm.  At any rate, this fondness explains why there are 23 fruitcake recipes in this book. 

As to Truman Capote, I hope the majority of you recognize his name and his books (and movies) such as In Cold Blood and Breakfast at Tiffany's.  I think I read In Cold Blood while in high school, long before the movie of the same name came out.  I did not read Breakfast at Tiffany's but I understand that the storyline was tweaked (sanitized?) when the movie, starring Audrey Hepburn, was filmed.  Not that this matters as I loved Audrey in that role.  (Mickey Rooney though, is another story.  He played a very stereotypical Chinese man – what? –  in the film and caught flack for that ever after.  File that under:  What Were They Thinking?)

So apparently this book is a compilation of recipes that Truman enjoyed that his cousin, Sook, made for him, and that his aunt wrote about.

As to this fruitcake, it was originally known as the "Lee Fruitcake," as it was part of southern General Robert E. Lee's family recipe collection.  In my opinion, this fruitcake comes closest to approximating the Jane Parker recipe I loved so much.  And I tell you, it was delicious, at least until I "ruined" it by pouring bourbon on it.  I may never get over this folks, never.

One thing I found while attempting to stock up on the candied fruits early and often, is that at least in these parts, they don't start appearing on shelves until just before Thanksgiving.  How then, are these southerners able to make their fruitcakes so many months in advance?  Are they just better at stockpiling the candied fruit for one season to be used the next?  Inquiring minds want to know.

You should know though, that I had no difficulty sourcing the bourbon.  None.  Although the next time I make the fruitcake– and there will be a next time – I may use even less than I did this time and might also switch it to brandy or cognac.  The possibilities are endless.

For safety's sake though, I may refrain from intentionally setting the fruitcake on fire to achieve a "Fruitcake Flaming."  (That was the exact title which makes me wonder if they purposely avoided calling it a "Flaming Fruitcake?")

By the way, I purchased this book in as soon as it was released in 2000, but sometime between 2000 and 2016 this book went missing.  Now granted, I have a lot of cookbooks and every once in a while I misplace one, but it's usually temporary.  Not so with this book.  So this year, I finally found it and bought it online (again!) and it is now staying on a shelf where I can see it at all times.  Meanwhile, and I am not kidding, I made some party food from a Martha Stewart cookbook and am saddened to report that "Martha" is missing.  And I don't know where "she" could have gone but I have looked in all the usual places of where I put books I am blogging about and so far, nothing.  Huh.  Can this be a trend?

Anyway, here then is the Capote Family fruitcake via the Lee Family, in all it's glory.  This makes one very large, and very heavy, fruitcake, but one I hope you enjoy throughout the holiday season. 

1866 Fruitcake – fills one large tube pan

½ cup candied lemon peel

½ cup sliced candied orange peel

1 ½ cups finely cut citron (Ann's Note: it comes already finely diced)

1 ½ cups candied pineapple

1 cup candied cherries

1 ¼ cups dark seeded raisins

1 ¼ cup white raisins

1 cup chopped pecans

¼ cup sifted enriched flour

1 cup butter

2 cups brown sugar

4 eggs

2 ½ cups enriched flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon all spice

1 teaspoon cinnamon

½ teaspoon nutmeg

½ teaspoon cloves

¾ cup grape juice

Combine the peels, fruits, nuts; sprinkle with ¼ cup of flour and mix well.

Thoroughly cream butter and sugar.  Add eggs and beat well.  Sift together 2 cups of flour, the baking powder, salt, and spices; add alternately with grape juice.  Pour the batter over the floured mixture of peels, fruits, and nuts.

Pour into a large tube pan until ¾ full.  Do not flatten batter.  Bake in a very slow oven at 250F for about 5 hours.  Remove from pan and pack in air tight tin with a double layer of cheesecloth soaked in bourbon.  Ann's Note:  Nuh uh.  Do this at your own peril!  If you use grape juice, keep and eye on the cheesecloth to avoid the slight mold problem I experienced.

Bake at least 3 months before Christmas.  Do not let the cake dry out and keep lacing it with bourbon.

And one final Ann's Note:  This "adult" fruitcake should probably be consumed at home during the evening hours as it may impair your driving or worse, give people the impression that you like to get an early start to your holiday celebrations.  Unlike my beloved Jane Parker fruitcake, this is not exactly fit for breakfast consumption and that is a major bummer.   

"White Trash Cooking" - Sloppy Joe's on Corn Bread

Date I made this recipe:  April 2, 2016

White Trash Cooking by Ernest Matthew Mickler

Published by:  The Jargon Society/10 Ten Speed Press

ISBN:  0-89815-189-9; © 1986

Purchased at Bonnie Slotnick Cookbooks- NYC

Recipe:  Sloppy Joe's on Cornbread – p. 35

There's nothing more fun than enjoying 60 degrees one day and then 30's (with wind gusts) the next, right?  Spring weather can be so fickle.

And so when the temperatures dipped, I trotted out my usual cookbook suspects – soups, stews, and casseroles - hoping to make something warm to get me through this cold snap.

But then I realized I was playing it too safe and that I had so many more interesting cookbooks in my vast collection to use that I needed to break out of the mold.

So I looked through a couple of shelves and pulled White Trash Cooking just because I could.

Typically, when folks learn about my cookbook collection, they usually ask if I have certain cookbooks in my collection.  Like there's some sort of rule for collecting but alas,  there is not.  Although several people – book publishers, chefs and those involved in culinary arts or writing, will suggest things that you must have, each collector's collection tends to run to their taste.  Mine tends to run toward interesting covers, interesting (sometimes hilarious) titles and out of print books.  Still, I have been somewhat predictable when it comes to expectations:  "Do you have Irma Rombauer's The Joy of Cooking?"  "Yes."  "Julia Child?"  Of course.  "Betty Crocker?"  People please—is the Pope named Francis?

Some though, get creative:  "Do you have Peg Braken's I Hate to Cook?  (Always asked by someone who hates to cook, co figure.) "Yes."

And then several years ago, when this book was popular, I got asked – all the time – "Do you have White Trash Cooking?" and believe it or not, the answer was "No."

"No?"  "That's right.  No."

It's not that I didn't want the book, it was just that at the time, I was on the hunt for more elusive books than that.

Finally, in July 2011, I was in NYC at my favorite cookbook book store – Bonnie Slotnick Cookbooks – when I saw it and bought it.  When in Rome... Still, note that I bought the book in 2011 but just now got around to using it.  Timing is sometimes everything.

Now you may be asking yourself how the heck a Sloppy Joe recipe got itself included in a "white trash cookbook" and trust me, I asked myself the same thing.  I mean, it wasn't like I was lacking in opportunity to cook something white trashy like "Mock Cooter (turtle) Soup" (I don't do turtles, mock or otherwise) or "Mary Linder's Washday Soup" or even "Big Mamma's Cracklin Corn Pone," but none of these spoke to me (some for good reason!).  Instead, I went for a favorite of mine and many – Sloppy Joes.  I'm not sure why, I just know that I wanted it. (By the way, you know this book is southern by the recipe names:  most of them have two, such as "Edna Rae's Smothered Potatoes," or "Netty Irene's Macaroni & Cheese."  Bless.)

This recipe differs from other S.J. recipes though, because it is served over cornbread. Perhaps this is what pushes it into the "white trash" category?  For your convenience, there are a couple of cornbread recipes in this book.  But I wasn't exactly in the mood to make S.J.'s and cornbread too, and so I opted to buy already-prepared cornbread from Kowalski's Market.

Bad decision and here's why:  there are two kinds of cornbread in this world – sweet (sugar added) and not sweet (no sugar added).  I misread the label and thought I was buying "not sweet" (I really should have known better but was in a hurry) and let me tell you, sweet cornbread does not go with Sloppy Joe mix.  Does not.  So if you make this dish, take the time to bake non-sweetened cornbread; you'll thank me later. Although now that I think about it, it would have been nice had the cookbook author mentioned the cornbread issue for all of us who live north of the Mason-Dixon line and are not always familiar with such things.

It would been nice to also mention or at least elaborate on the can size of two ingredients listed:  1 "can" tomato puree or ketchup and 1 "No. 2" can Libby's tomatoes.  Thank goodness for smart phones because I Googled "No. 2 can" while at Target and found that it's 1 pound, 4 ounces or 2 ½ cups.  And then I guessed on the size of the "tomato" puree, deciding on a small can – 8 ounces or 1 cup – for this recipe.  It all turned out okay but dang, I hate guessing!

This cookbook  serves up a lot of southern favorites for every type of cooking category:  meats, vegetables, sandwiches, salads, desserts and the like.  There are four recipes alone for sweet pones (a type of cornbread), more than a few mentions of sweet potatoes, and of course, a recipe for Ice Tea South." As I mentioned above though, I think the jury is still out as to whether or not "Sloppy Joes" is a "white trash" recipe.  I mean, half the planet ate them growing and it remains one of my favorite "comfort food" meals. 

In fact, I've told this story before, but years ago when I was working on a project in downtown Minneapolis, I had a hankering for Sloppy Joes.  And unbelievable hankering as in "I need to have some right now!"

Now some of you may know, but others may not, that the vast majority of buildings in downtown Minneapolis (and also downtown Saint Paul) are connected by indoor walkways we call skyways.  Many small businesses, including restaurants, mostly quick serve, line these skyways that stretch for miles.

So when I got this hankering for Sloppy Joes, I asked around the office to see if anybody could think of a place that served them (they couldn't) and even called a few places, but alas nothing.  But then a miracle happened:  one day, weeks later, I was walking through one of the skyways and noticed a daily special signboard outside of The Brothers Deli (6^th Street skyway) advertising Sloppy Joes.  I inquired whether or not this was a one time deal and was told they usually offer them every Wednesday.  I love Wednesdays!  I especially loved Sloppy Joes Wednesdays.  I was not necessarily in love though, with the weight I put on but that's another story for another day.

And now back to the cookbook...for those of you who love White Trash Cooking, please know that there is a White Trash Cooking II Recipes for Gatherin' and a 25^th anniversary edition as well.  I have got to put White Trash Cooking II Recipes for Gatherin' on my acquisition list pronto because I'd sure hate to miss out on a great dish for all that gatherin' I do.

If you have a hankerin' for Sloppy Joe's on Corn Bread, here's a recipe for you (serves 6):

1 pound ground beef

½ cup chopped bell pepper

1 grated carrot

1 can tomato puree or ketchup (Ann's Note:  use a small, 8 ounce can)

1 teaspoon black pepper

¾ cup chopped onions

½ cup chopped celery

1 No. 2 can Libby's tomatoes (Ann's Note:  1 pound, 4 ounces or 2 ½ cups.  And by the way, I have no idea what type of tomatoes were called for so I used diced.  The result was a rather chucky mix so you might want to pulse them for a bit in a Cuisinart.)

¾ teaspoon salt

Cornbread (Ann's Note:)  Do NOT use cornbread containing sugar (for the record, damn that label print was tiny on the store-bought cornbread I used!).  You're looking for a sugar-free cornbread, such as you'd use for cornbread stuffing.   Google "Cornbread recipes without sugar."  If you own this cookbook, there are several recipes which should suffice.

Brown ground beef in big iron skillet.  Stir in onion, bell pepper, celery, and fry until brown.  Add carrot, tomatoes and puree.  Stir mixture well, season with salt and pepper.  Simmer for one hour and serve hot over hot-buttered cornbread.

"Colorful Louisiana Cuisine in Black and White" - Shortnin' Bread and Turkey Gumbo - for MLK, Jr. Day

Date I made this recipe:  January 19, 2015

Colorful Louisiana Cuisine in Black and White by Bibby Tate and Ethel Dixon

Published by:  Pelican Publishing Company

© 1988; Third printing  July 1990

Purchased at Bonnie Slotnick's Cookbooks, NYC

Recipes:  Shortnin' Bread (B) – p. 19 and Turkey Gumbo (W) – p. 37

This is one of my more unique cookbooks and entirely fitting for Martin Luther King Day as it combines recipes of two women, one black and one white.  Bibby Tate (whose recipes are denoted with a "W" for white), was a descendent of a Louisiana plantation family who owned slaves.  Ethel Dixon (whose recipes are denoted with a "B" for black), descended from slaves.  Together, they published this book, filled with tons of recipes that will make you hungry.  Really hungry.

The timing for me using this book could not be better as one of the big films of the year – and an Oscar contender for Best Picture – is "Selma," that tells the story of how Martin Luther King, Jr. organized a march from Montgomery, AL to Selma, AL, 50 years ago this year, in an attempt to secure voting rights for all blacks in the state of Louisiana and beyond.  And although the vast majority of marchers were black, many from the white community risked life and limb to join in the fight for equality. 

Normally, I limit myself to one recipe per cookbook but seeing as how people of all color joined the march, I thought I would make two dishes, one of Ethel's and one of Bibby's.  Although a few recipes in this book gave me pause ("Smothered Sqirrel???"), there are 338 pages of glorious recipes sure to please.

And so there I was, all of 19 pages in, when I found my first recipe:  Shortnin' Bread.  Many of you who are my age might remember singing that song, Shortnin' Bread as kids, but the real reason I had to make this recipe – just had to – was all because of one woman and one woman only:  "Ethel Mae Potter (We Never Forgot Her)."

Ethel Mae Potter was TV character Ethel Mertz's maiden name on the show, I Love Lucy.  Actually, Ethel was given a couple of different middle names and maiden names over the course of the show but this one was most memorable.

In season four, Lucy, Ricky, Fred and Ethel motored to LA so that Ricky could be in a movie.  Along the way, they stopped in Albuquerque, NM, so that Ethel could visit her hometown.  This episode remains one of my favorites.  Turns out Ethel told a teeny lie to her dad and hometown neighbors, alluding to the fact that she, not Ricky, was the big star.  And as it also turns out, the entire town always thought that she was destined for greatness as well.  As Ethel's father, Will, explained in a hilarious moment, the local theater marquee now reads "Ethel Mae Potter, We Never Forgot Her."   When daddy explained "Ethel Mae's very big in Albuquerque," Ethel's husband Fred, always the fast one with the quip said "She's big everywhere!"  Love me that Fred Mertz.

So of course, with Ethel Mae now back home (in triumph), she was asked to perform as the headliner for a variety show.  And one of the two numbers she sang is – wait for it – "Shortnin' Bread." 

And this is how I came to select one of today's recipes.  Thank you, Ethel Mae!

I don't know as I've ever had shortnin' bread so I wasn't sure what to expect when I made this recipe but what you get is a rather dense cake that doesn't rise much (and it wouldn't since it doesn't contain baking powder) and is not very sweet.  It reminded me of cornbread which, unless you add sugar to it, is pretty bland (in my northern opinion).  Not in a bad way "bland," just bland!

Since there are only two of us, I decided to make just half a recipe which was fine and I somehow knew that the baking time needed to be adjusted from 60 minutes to about 30.  But I lost track of time and so the bread ended up being a little bit more golden than I would have liked.  Still good, but very golden.  The instructions say to serve with jam or jelly but I used honey instead to combat the aforementioned "blandness."  (It's the word of the day.)

Turning our attention to turkey...for the first time ever, I happened to have a turkey breast carcass in the refrigerator, left over from my New Year's Eve dinner.  So last week, I made up the gumbo base, sans the shrimp, and put it in my freezer.  I can promise you that this combination of "recipe calling for turkey carcass" + my having a carcass on hand = not likely to be seen again until asteroids pound the earth, destroying civilization.  Well, maybe.

But lo, though I had the main ingredient, once again the making of this gumbo was fraught with peril.  As you will see, this recipe doesn't give ingredient amounts, leaving me to guess at the right combinations.  There are several other gumbo recipes in this book but each one is so different, using different ingredients, and that made it hard for me to determine whether or not I could "borrow" ingredient amounts and instructions.  Further, a bona fide roux usually involves fat, flour and liquid but this instruction said to use flour and liquid only.  Soooo...fat, no fat?  I decided to use the flour and liquid as directed and hope for the best.

As to the spices, I started with ¼ teaspoon of each, then tasted, then added another ¼ teaspoon more.  And I added the entire can of Rotel tomatoes without draining them  - in other words, I was living life on the edge!

All in all, this recipe turned out okay and the flavors were good and yet, this recipe also tasted a little bland.  You can adjust that by just adding a bit of salt and pepper to taste before serving.

The bigger problem though, was that I thought this was a bit watery and the only way to solve that – I think – was to either add more okra (which is often used as a thickener), which I did not have on hand, or to add more roux.  But since I didn't know what to do with my roux in the first place, I'm not sure adding more would have made a difference.  Hopefully, some great southern cook is reading this and will let me know just where this thing went south, pun intended.  It was a tasty dish but I felt it was missing a little je ne sais quoi.

As suggested, I added shrimp and the shrimp was okay (actually, some of it was freezer-burned even though I had just purchased it the day before) but I think it would have been even better with pieces of leftover turkey.  Next time.

Turkey Gumbo – Serving size not given - *You'll need a leftover turkey carcass for this!

1 turkey carcass

Flour (Ann's Note:  about 1 tablespoon)

1 chopped bell pepper

1 can Rotel [tomatoes – traditional mixture]

Basil (Ann's Note:  about ½ teaspoon or more)

Thyme (Ann's Note:  about ½ teaspoon or more)

Rosemary (Ann's Note:  about ½ teaspoon or more)

Okra (Ann's Note:  amount not given, instructions not given so I used 4 small diced okra)

Salt and pepper to taste

Ann's Note:  As I explained in my narrative above, exact amounts were not given so season this mixture to taste.  As to the Rotel, all the recipe said was "Rotel" and like many things, there are several varieties of these canned tomatoes.  Use the "traditional" mix.  I also added the can without draining it and have no idea if that is correct or not!

This bears repeating:  Unclear instructions annoy me!

Put whole carcass in big stewing pot and boil in water with chopped onion until meat falls off bones.  (Ann's Note:  I almost boiled away my broth so keep an eye on this pot.  I think I reduced my stock to about half and that actually seemed about right but again, who knows?)

Remove the bones and make a roux by taking some of your seasoned water and mixing with flour, or use one of the prepared roux like "Iron Pot."  (Ann's Notes:  Okay, folks, traditional roux is fat + flour + liquid but do you see a mention of fat here?  No, you do not.) So I followed the directions and mixed flour and liquid until I felt the mixture looked like a roux; not that I know what a roux looks like. 

Return mixture to the pot and add chopped bell pepper, a can of Rotel, chopped basil, thyme, okra, rosemary, salt and pepper.  Cover and let simmer at least an hour.  Add crab meat, fresh or frozen, and shrimp that has not been cooked before.  You may also add gumbo, crabs, and oysters.  Cook till shrimp are done and serve over rice.

Shortnin' Bread – makes a 9 x 12 loaf pan

2 cups flour

2 ½ tsps baking soda

1 pinch salt

1 stick butter

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup sweet milk

Cream eggs and butter.  Add remaining ingredients.  Oil and flour a 9 x 12 loaf pan.  Pour batter in pan.  Bake in 350 oven for about 1 hour.  Let cook.  Cut and serve with jam or jelly.

  

"The Italian Slow Cooker" & "Camille Glenn's Old-Fashioned Christmas Cookbook" - Lentil Soup and Good Fortune Tea Cake - Lucky Foods for the New Year

Date I made these recipes:  January 1, 2015 – New Year's Day

The Italian Slow Cooker by Michele Scicolone

Published by:  Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

ISBN:  978-0-547-00303-0

Recipe:  Sicilian Lentil, Vegetable, and Pasta Soup – p. 32

Camille Glenn's Old-Fashioned Christmas Cookbook by Camille Glenn, author of The Heritage of Southern Cooking

Published by: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill

ISBN:  1-56512-102-1

Purchased at Arc's Value Village

Recipe:  Good Fortune Tea Cake – p. 200-203

Well, Happy New Year, everyone!

As is usual and customary, I decided to make something with beans (or lentils, as the case may be) to bring good fortune to our household for the coming year.  And then I found this recipe for Good Fortune Tea Cake and thought "why not," right?  Can there ever be an abundance of good fortune?  I think not.

And though we are far away from baseball season, let me use a baseball analogy for these recipes:  the soup was a swing and a miss as it lacked any flavor whatsoever, but the tea cake was a home run.  This concludes my baseball analogy.

Let's start with the Italian Slow Cooker cookbook.  I have a couple of books by Michele Scicolone and so when I saw this one, I thought it would probably be fantastic because her stuff usually is.  But I sensed going in that this recipe would not be another home run hit based on two things:  1) using water instead of chicken or vegetable broth to cook these lentils.  Water doesn't have much flavor, folks.  Broth does.  And 2) the instructions call for you to add salt and pepper but only after cooking the soup for 7 hours.  Um...no.  Believe me, I salted and I peppered and it was still one very bland meal.

Normally, I never alter a recipe for this blog because I want to evaluate the thing "as is," but this time around,  after tasting it midway through, I added a lot of Italian spices.  Still, this only upped the flavor profile (such that it was) a little bit.  And I should have really cheated and used chicken broth.  Live and learn, folks.  Live and learn.

The author also suggests that we add Pecorino Romano to the dish which is always a good idea, but in my book, the flavor should be there before adding any accoutrements.  So for this boo-boo, I'm going to have to ding our author. Nothing personal, Michele!

As to other recipes in this book, many sounded good but I was stuck on the lentil thing to bring us good luck and so there's that.  Still, two good things came out of these experiments from New Year's Eve (previous posts) and New Year's Day:  first, deep down, I'm a bread stuffing versus cornbread dressing gal, and by bread stuffing, I mean my mother's recipe that includes bread, onions, celery and sage.  No need to get all crazy about this stuff.  Second,  as between lentils and the black eyed peas used in Hoppin' John, another New Year's Day southern favorite, it's lentils every time.  I just don't get the point of black eyed peas.  Do not. 

But the cake.  Oh people, THE CAKE!  My gawd, it was awesome and so unexpected!  And hilariously, it was from a southerner so I figure that balances out my previous attempts with cornbread dressing and Hoppin' John.

And although I intended that just my husband and I partake of this incredible edible, we were invited over to my mother-in-law's for a New Year's Day open house and so we came bearing gifts.  There's nothing like the pressure of serving all these people a cake we've never made or had yet to taste but they swooned at first bite. 

I suppose I could just tell you all that the making of this cake was all so simple but that's not how these things go.  So here's how this thing went:  I was too busy cooking on New Year's Eve to get around to making the cake the night before so I asked my husband if he would take out the butter and eggs on New Year's Day to bring them up to room temp (as directed) so I could make the cake that morning.  But when I woke up that morning, I had a near-migraine and so he ended up making the entire cake.  And for the record, no, this was not a hangover migraine.  We ate dinner kind of late on New Year's Eve, and as soon as we sat down, I was wiped out.  In fact, I only had half of my usual and customary martini and that was all the "good cheer" I was able to manage that night.  I fell asleep at 10:30 and so Andy had to ring in the New Year all by himself and that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

So I don't know why I had the headache the next day but it was awful.  And so I pressed  Andy into service to help out and am I a lucky gal or what that this man likes to bake?  And this recipe is a bit involved so it took some doing.  But to paraphrase the old Shake and Bake commercial "Here's how I helped:"  I pointed to the cupboards containing the sifter and the grater as well as some of the ingredients he needed and had already put out the springform pan he needed the night before so he was all set.  But thereafter, I was on the couch until go time.  But PS—I normally like the smell of oranges and orange peel but that day, the stuff smelled like that awful Orange Glo stuff you use to remove stick adhesive and if it wasn't zero outside, I would have opened a window to clear the air.  Sorry, Orange Glo people.

This recipe makes enough for either two 8 ½-inch springform pan's worth of batter or one 10-inch and we went with 10-inch.  And it makes a ton of frosting, not that there's anything wrong with that, but we had more than what was needed seeing as how we made one cake.

This recipe also calls for you to insert randomly two small blanched almonds into the cake batter with the instruction that whoever finds the almond in the piece of cake they are given will have harmony and good fortune in the year ahead.  Well folks, if some is good, more is better, right?  So I bought about a cup's worth of almonds and then blanched them and we put them all throughout the batter so that everybody got good luck.  The New Year is no time to be playing favorites with the roulette wheel of life.

I was also to have purchased 1-2 tiny mirrors to put in the center of the cake(s) and before serving the cake, everybody was to look in the mirror and make a wish.  I hate to tell you but we defied fate and skipped the mirror part.  I figured between the cake's name and the overabundance of almonds, we were good to go.

As to the rest of the cookbook, I may just have to keep this one at the ready for next year's holiday dinners.  I don't normally do that but this cake was so good and the rest of Camille's recipes also sounded so awesome that I just may.  What I loved about this book is that she put together suggested menus for the entire season and sometimes you just cannot beat that. 

So, even though the lentil soup was disappointing, the lentils alone should bring us luck and the addition of the cake into the mix should have put us over the top.

May all good things come your way in 2015.

Spinach Lentil, Vegetable, and Pasta Soup – serves 6

*Ann's Note:  Please consider using at least a half and half mixture of water and broth of your choice.  And spices such as basil, oregano, etc.  The author also suggested you can add a couple of chopped potatoes or two cups chopped green beans, winter squash or spinach leaves.  I used potatoes but they were just too bland for this dish.  Should have gone with the green beans...

1 pound brown lentils, rinsed and picked over

1 large onion, chopped

2 medium carrots, chopped

1 large celery rib with leaves, chopped

2 large tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped or 1 cup chopped canned tomatoes

6 cups water (*Don't say you weren't warned)

 1 cup ditalini, tubetti or elbows

Salt and freshly ground pepper

Freshly grated Pecorino Romano

In a large slow cooker, combine the lentils, vegetables, and water.

Cover and cook on low for 7 hours.  (Ann's Note:  I don't think that's enough as my lentils were still a bit al dente.  I tried 8 hours and that was a little better but not by much.)  Add the pasta and salt and pepper to taste.

Cook on high for 30 minutes more, or until the pasta is tender.

Serve hot, sprinkled with the cheese.

Good Fortune Tea Cake – serves 6 to 8 per cake

For the cake

2 cups sugar

Zest of 1 lemon

Zest of ½ navel orange

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature

4 large eggs, separated

3 cups sifted all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 cup milk

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

1 ½ teaspoons fresh orange joice

1 ½ teaspoons cognac vanilla (see page 29) or 1 tablespoon cognac

2 whole blanched almonds (Ann's Note:  most grocery stores carry slivered blanched almonds but you need them whole.  To do them yourself, pour boiling water over your almonds, just enough to cover and let sit for 1 minute.  Drain, rinse, drain again.  Peel off the skins.  Do not let the almonds sit for too long or they will be soggy.)

For the frosting

½ cup heavy or whipping cream

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature

6 cups sifted confectioner's sugar

¼ teaspoon salt, or to taste

1 ½ teaspoons good-quality pure almond extract, or more to taste

To make the cake, preheat the oven to 350F.  Butter two 8 ½-inch springform pans and dust them with flour.  (You can also use one, 10-inch springform pan).  Shake out excess flour and set the pans aside. 

Combine the sugar, lemon zest, and orange zest in a food processor and twirl until the zest is finely grated (or grate the zest by hand and add it to the sugar).

Using an electric mixer, beat the zest mixture and butter together until thoroughly blended.  Add the egg yolks, one at a time, beating until the mixture is smooth and creamy.

In another mixing bowl, combine the flour with the baking powder and salt; stir well.  Alternating, add the milk and the flour to the egg mixture.  Do not overbeat.

Add the lemon juice, orange juice, and vanilla and blend carefully.

Beat the egg whites until they hold a stiff peak.  Gently fold a third of the whites into the batter to lighten it.  Then fold in the remaining whites, mixing gently but thoroughly.  Pour the batter into the prepared pans and poke and almond down into the batter of each pan. 

Bake the cakes on the lower rack of the preheated oven until a cake tester inserted in the middle comes out clean, 50 minutes to 1 hour.

Watch the cakes carefully – if they overbake they will be dry.  Don't let them cook so long that the cake separates from the sides of the pan – that's too long.

Allow the cakes to cool in the pans for 5 minutes.  Then remove them from the pans and set them on wire racks to cool thoroughly before frosting them.

Frost the cakes:  place a small mirror in the center of each cake and frost around the edges to seal it in place.  Then cover the remaining top and sides of the cakes with the frosting.  Place each cake on a stand or platter and arrange a few very small edible flowers around the mirrors.

Before serving the cakes, each guest in turn looks into the mirror and makes a wish.  The person who finds an almond in his slice will have a year of harmony and good fortune – it's a promise!

The author also notes that "This is one of the best cakes I know for its "keeping" qualities.  Store in an airtight container, it will stay moist for days.  (Ann's Note:  this is assuming you have any left!)

To make the frosting, heat the cream in a small saucepan until it is warm. 

Using an electric mixer or food processor, cream the butter, confectioners' sugar, and salt together until smooth.  Slowly add the warm cream, beating until smooth.  Add the almond extract.  If you won't be using the frosting immediately, cover and refrigerate it.

"The Cracker Kitchen" and "Southern Sideboards" - Easter Ham (using Coca-Cola), Potatoes au Gratin and Tart Cherry-Pineapple (Jell-O) Salad

Date I made these recipes:  April 20, 2014 (Easter Sunday)

The Cracker Kitchen – A cookbook in celebration of cornbread-fed, down-home family stories and cuisine by Janis Owens; Introduction by Pat Conroy

Published by:  Scribner

ISBN:  13: 978-1-4165-9484-0

Recipes:  Easter Ham (made with Coca-Cola) – p. 6 and Potatoes au Gratin – p. 7

Southern Sideboards by the Junior League of Jackson, Mississippi; recipe submitted by Mrs. Frank Byers, St. Petersburg, Florida

Published by:  Junior League of Jackson, Mississippi

© 1978

Recipe:  Tart Cherry-Pineapple (Jell-O) Salad – p. 89

I don't know why or how it is that Easter sneaks up on me every year, it just does.  I blame Christmas and Valentine's Day for this predicament.  With Christmas and Valentine's Day there is no guessing, no sneaking, no near-miss on the date. Christmas is always, always, always December 25^th and Valentine's Day is always, always, always February 14^th.  But Easter?  Easter is stealth.  Stealth holidays are not my favorite.

Also not necessarily my favorite?  Making a ham because it's expected.  I do like to change it up a bit and hey, if the actual day of Easter can change up from year to year, so should my menu, right?

And so I was all set to do something different such as make a lasagna like I did one year, but then that damned Catholic guilt set in:  "Make a ham.....Make a ham....You know you should make a ham.  Everybody makes a ham....What is wrong with you???"

And so I decided that I would make a half-hearted attempt to find a ham recipe but if I didn't, then I wasn't going to put much effort into it.  It's always wise to find a compromise for guilt, no?

Luckily, this cookbook, The Cracker Kitchen, was prominently displayed among by 1,900 cookbook (and let me tell you, that is no small feat) and there on page 6 was a recipe for ham in Coca-Cola and page 7 had a recipe for Potatoes Au Gratin and well, I win!  I win!  In fact, the ham recipe is titled "Easter Ham."  Be still my heart....

I must confess that when I purchased this book, I thought the title was interesting (The Cracker Kitchen) and I believe a quick glance at the time suggested it was filled with southern recipes, but that information goes out the window when it comes time to select a book.  And so silly me—somewhere down the road, I thought the term "cracker" applied to coal miners but I found out via the internet that the correct term is "coal cracker."  "Crackers" all by itself is often a derogatory term for poor white southerners.  I do believe my high school and college history books glossed over this little items and this is why reading cookbooks is important!  I've learned more about history and culture from reading cookbooks than any of my textbooks.  In fact, had I endless hours available (and I don't), I could probably compile an anthology of the history of the United States as told in cookbooks.  Some other lifetime....

Our cookbook's author though, does a pretty good job giving us the history of the region and the origin of the name and some darned fine recipes in between.  She describes a "cracker" as "...your family lived in Florida for at least three generations, had Southern roots, and among themselves, still talked like raccoons."  (For clarification on the raccoon issue, you'll have to read the book.) And then to make things interesting, she talks about her daddy, a Pentecostal minister who runs a ham radio net called "Ambassadors for Christ."

Again, it appears that selecting this cookbook for Easter, what with it's "Easter Ham" recipe and an "Ambassador for Christ" was a matter of divine intervention.  "And the Lord said...no lasagna."

This cookbook is nicely divided up by seasons so there are recipes and menus for spring (Easter, Mother's Day), Summer (Memorial Day, Fourth of July) and so on which I find helpful when planning something like my Easter Dinner.  I could have gone whole hog (hahahaha) and make the Green Bean Bundles (with bacon) for this meal but decided to hold off in favor of my Jell-O salad.  I can have green beans any time but occasions like this just scream for a Jell-O salad and so I made one – because I could.

Oddly enough, the heartiest (and delicious) food came from a cookbook about "crackers" – poor white folks – whereas the more "common-man" recipe for my Easter repast – Jell-O – came from a Junior League cookbook.  Huh.  "Class, for your essay compare and contrast the social order and economic status of "crackers" with members of the Junior League...."  Two more different classes of people you could not meet. 

I must admit that the purpose of the Junior League has always puzzled me.  If you look at any of their websites (they are in most major cities), you'll see that their mission is to build communities by volunteering.  Okay...volunteering within the Junior League or outside of it?  It's unclear.  But what I do know is that being a Junior League member is not for the feint of pocketbook.  It takes money to join (dues + "tuition" in a mandatory training class) and money to remain a member in good standing via generous donations to every fundraiser the group puts on and there are several. 

In addition to money, and I suspect this is more of a southern thing, you need to know the right people and by "know," I mean that in order to join the Junior League of Jackson, Mississippi, you need "sponsorship" by at least four current members.  So obviously, waltzing into a meeting unattended is frowned upon.  And in certain circles, waltzing in  without hat and gloves is rumored to be cause for immediate banishment to a desert island.  And based on what I've read and heard, who your kin are (or aren't) is of incredible importance to most southern Junior Leagues.  Let's just say a cracker from Florida (poor and without pedigree) is as unlikely to "win" a coveted spot in a Junior League as they are to win the lottery (assuming they play it).  It bothers me greatly that a class system still exists in volunteer ranks (never mind in life) but such is the Junior League way.  Maybe for this reason alone, my Junior League cookbook collection is limited.  I salute that these cookbooks are a great fundraiser for their activities, and some Junior League cookbooks (mostly southern) are highly sought after, especially earlier versions but I don't have the shelf space or interest to collect the "whole set."  But this particular cookbook, Southern Sideboards, did impress, not only for it's size (almost 400 pages, spiral-bound—impressive!) but for the variety of recipes. 

Of interest in this cookbook were recipes for things like "Bull  Shot," which sounds like a Bloody Mary only made with beef broth; "Wassil" (High, Ho, the Merry-O, a wassiling we go!), dove and other wild birds/game (I've never seen dove recipes outside the south); and fruit cakes of every kind and variety.  Other "southern" staples include lots of pork recipes (BBQ ribs, pork chops, etc); relishes and pickles; homemade ice cream and desserts galore.  I'm not sure this group left anything out and sure enough, and bless their hearts, they even included "recipes" for Play Dough, Finger Paints and Soap Crayons.  No task too small or too mundane for a Junior Leaguer! All the recipes were submitted by club members who, as was usual and customary at the time, went by their husband's name.  As I've said in other blog postings, this irks me to no end but it was a sign of the times and so I just have to roll with it.

Now in a total "shut the front door" moment, as I was flipping through the front of this book to look for the copyright, I noticed an Introduction, Of Food and Fellowship, written by Wyatt Cooper.  "Not THAT Wyatt Cooper," thought I.  Yes, THAT Wyatt Cooper—as in father of CNN news anchor Anderson Cooper.  Don't ask me how I know these things, I just do.  (Just like I know that Anderson's mother is Gloria Vanderbilt of THE Vanderbilt family.  Gloria is still alive and well although sadly, Anderson's father, a native of Quitman, Mississippi, died in 1978, just after submitting the introduction.)

So there I was, flipping through this cookbook wondering what I could add to my "cracker" Easter repast and then...Jell-O.  Who doesn't love Jell-O?  (Don't answer that!).  I told my friends that I made it not only because I could (freedom to make Jell-O is a lesser-known Freedom, as outlined in our Constitution) but because I do not recall a holiday where mom didn't make a Jell-O salad.  Like most people, we had our Thanksgiving Jell-O, our Christmas Jell-O (actually, mom rotated between four or five salads), our Easter Jell-O, Valentine's Day Jell-O (made in heart molds) and even green St. Patrick's Day Jell-O.  This "Easter" Jell-O though, is nothing like mom made as it's rather tart but it's a nice change-up for once as some Jell-O salads (like the ones with marshmallows) can be overly sweet and who needs more sweet what with all that great candy the Easter Bunny brought to our homes?

Now before I get to these delicious recipes, let me just say that trying to find a five-pound (or less) ham at Easter time is akin to finding the Holy Grail.  It may exist but you're going to have to go on a crusade to find it!  Luckily, and unbelievably, Target had a 6 pound ham priced at $13.00 and change and it became mine, all mine!  The rest of the stash was all 9 pounds on up.  As it is, we now have frozen ham slices and a frozen ham bone to deal with so you should expect to see some more ham recipes popping up here and there.  Maybe next Easter?  (Pays to plan ahead!)

Easter Ham – serves 8 (Ann's Note:  requires overnight marinating)

One 12-ounce can cola

1/3 cup packed light brown sugar

One cooked 5-pound ham

In a large sealable bag, mix the cola and sugar until dissolved.  (Ann's Note:  no need to mix; the minute the Coke hit the sugar, the sugar was a goner!)  Add the ham and shake it around to make sure it's coated.

Marinate overnight in the refrigerator, occasionally giving it a shake to make sure the marinade stays on the ham.

Preheat the oven to 350.  Put the ham in a roasting pan and bake for 1 hour, basting once or twice.  Let it cool a few minutes before slicing.  Serve right away, or later, cold.

Potatoes au Gratin – serves 6

4 cups peeled and thinly sliced white potatoes

½ cup salted butter (Ann's Note:  if you only have unsalted butter, add about ¼ teaspoon of salt; the ration is ¼ teaspoon salt per ½ cup butter)

3 tablespoons plain flour

1 cup sour cream

½ cup whole milk

1 ½ cups shredded sharp Cheddar cheese, divided

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon ground black pepper

Dash of hot sauce

Preheat the oven to 325. 

Fill a large pot with water and put your potatoes in.  Bring to a boil and boil 2 to 3 minutes.  Drain the potatoes.

Spray a 9 x 13-inch baking dish with nonstick cooking spray and spread the potatoes in it in a thin layer.

Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat.  Sprinkle in the flour and stir until blended.  Stir in the sour cream, milk, 1 cup of the cheese, the salt, pepper, and hot sauce.  Cook, stirring, over medium-low heat until smooth, adding more milk to thin it if necessary.

Pour the cream mixture over the potatoes.  Bake for 30 minutes, until bubbling. 

When you take the potatoes out of the oven, top it with the remaining ½ cup cheese and let it sit for 5 minutes, until melted.

Tart Cherry-Pineapple Salad – Serves 8-10

Grated rind and juice of 1 lemon

Grated rind and juice of 1 orange

1 (16 ounce) can tart cherries (reserve juice)

½ cup water

1 (3 ounce) package lemon gelatin

1 envelope unflavored gelatin, softened in ¼ cup cold water

½ cup sugar

½ cup chopped pecans

1 (20 ounce) can crushed pineapple with juice

Boil the fruit juices (lemon, orange, cherry) and pour over the lemon gelatin and the softened unflavored gelatin.  Stir well to dissolve. Cool.  Add remaining ingredients.  Spoon into a ring mold or individual molds.  Chill to set.