"The New American Sampler Cookbook" - Beef Stew and Apple Crisp from two former members of Congress - Election Day 2016

Date I made these recipes – November 8, 2016 – Election Day, USA!

The NEW American Sampler Cookbook, edited by Linda Bauer (recipes submitted by members of Congress)

Published by The Kent State University Press

ISBN: 0-87338-435-0; © 1991

Purchased at Kona Bay Books, Kona (Big Island) Hawaii – May 2016

Recipes:  Beef Stew submitted by Representative Beryl Anthony (D), Arkansas – p. 59 ; and Apple Crisp submitted by actor-turned-Representative Fred Grandy (R), Iowa – p. 248.  Fred played "Gopher" in the popular TV series, The Love Boat.

So tonight, after months and months and well, years really, of political ads and primaries and debates and whatnot, We, The People, will have voted for the 45^th President of the United States (POTUS).  I know I am not alone in wanting this whole thing to be over.  O.V.E.R., over.

But I'm not here to talk politics per se because this isn't a political blog, it's a cookbook blog.  And of course I have a cookbook that fits the bill – The New (what happened to the "old?") American Sampler Cookbook.

This book, published in 1991, provides a bipartisan sample of recipes from then members of Congress as well as then President and Vice President of the United States, George H.W. Bush and Dan Quayle.  Even Guam, a U.S. territory, joined in.  All proceeds went to a charity that fights worldwide hunger.

This is one of those cookbooks that is just a straight-up book of recipes - no chit chat, no stories or anecdotes, just lots and lots of good things to eat.  The usual suspects in the Table of Contents are, of course, "Appetizers," "Salads," "Soups," "Stews," etc. all the way down to "Potpourri (Snacks, Sauces, Drinks)."  And heck, just for something completely different, there is a recipe for "Moose Swiss Steak" on page 125.  Take a guess at which state submitted that recipe?

So in terms of cookbooks, this one is pretty complete save for one thing that I desired that perhaps you don't:  party affiliations.  And the reason I wanted this was because I wanted to be fair and make a dish from each major party—Republican and Democrat (though there were a few Independents listed here as well).

Thank goodness for smart phones.  And so over the course of two evenings there I sat, watching TV shows and surfing the internet (multitasking!), looking up all the contributors to this cookbook to see who they were and what party they were with so I could cull the herd down to two.  This was no easy task but I'm no quitter!

To make my life easier though, I must confess that I defaced my own cookbook*.  Yup.  For the first time ever, I sat there with a pencil, noting a "D," "R," or "I," next to all the names listed in the back of the book.   And honestly, I think I can make a case that this is helpful information because if I didn't know a good portion of these names (25 years after publication), then it's likely the next cook book owner won't either.

I am nothing but fair.  And you are all more than welcome!

The most important thing to me about this cookbook though, is that it's a rare glimpse back in time when parties on both sides of the aisle worked together to achieve a common good.  "Those were the days, my friend, we thought they'd never end..." (They did.)

I must say, in looking through all the recipes, some members of Congress outdid themselves by submitting not one, not two, but several recipes for our dining enjoyment.  Although it's still early in our voting day (!), I'm going to go out on a limb and declare a winner:  [former] Senator Christopher Bond, Republican, Missouri, gave up 30 recipes and that is outstanding.  I didn't cook any of them, but that is an outstanding effort, especially for a charitable endeavor.

Hot on his heels was Senator Charles Grassley, Republican from Iowa with 15 recipes, the late Senator Spark Matsunaga, Democrat from Hawaii with 10, former Senator Steve Symms from Idaho with 7, and  former Representative Beverly Byron, Democrat from Maryland with 6.

Did you notice how even-handed I was with the runners up?  Two from each side!  Again, I am so fair!

But still folks, the challenge was to try to pair one dish from each party so that the flavors didn't clash, but as with politics and life, some did and thus were eliminated from the race. It took me a while, but I think that I hit the jackpot with these two dishes:  "Beef Stew," from Representative Beryl Anthony, D, Arkansas and "Apple Crisp," from Representative Fred Grandy, R, Iowa.

Now unless you live in Arkansas (and even then...), you may not know who Beryl Albert is but I know – I. Know. – that bells will ring for many of you when you see the name Fred Grandy because in addition to serving in the House of Representatives from 1993-1995, Fred played the beloved character "Gopher" on ABC's hit TV series, The Love Boat, which aired from 1977-1987.

Yes folks, just like actor/governor/President Ronald Reagan, our "Gopher" went to Washington.

I think we need to take a moment to talk about this, don't you?

First, let's talk about the TV show. When The Love Boat premiered (1977), I was a sophomore in college and had no time to watch TV, and yet, now that I have watched a number of reruns on cable, I'm amazed at how many seem familiar.  Perhaps I caught them in reruns even back then?  Highly possible.

Today's college students will likely be surprised to learn that back in the 70's, you'd be hard pressed to find a dorm room with a TV.  Monster stereos, sure, TV's no.  TV's were expensive.  And those who had one (black and white only, and absolutely no cable) were revered, such that many of us gathered (around the campfire, after leaving our covered wagons and horses....) around the TV set in said owner's dorm room to watch our favorite shows or at least try to.

And that's because, sad to say, reception in most dorm rooms was horrible causing us to the do the following (you would call them "hacks") in order to get a picture:  1) putting tin foil on the antennas (yes, antennas—look it up) to pick up a decent picture; 2) creating rabbit ears antennas out of bent clothing hangers to do the same, or 3) creating complicated furniture set-ups resembling cat trees so we could put the TV as close as possible to the window to get a better feed.  Nothing worked though, and if it worked, we more often got sound than we got a picture.  And sure, you can "listen" to something like the movie Gone with the Wind without a picture if need be, but did you want to?  No.  (This happened to us, I kid you not!)

Sound ridiculous?  You young'uns have no idea...

At any rate, here's the basic premise of The Love Boat:  a cruise ship, dubbed The Love Boat, sets sail ("set a course for adventure, your mind on a new romance" = big hint) each week, usually to Mexico, and is manned by Captain Merrill Stubbing (played by The Mary Tyler Moore Show alum, Gavin MacLeod) and his crew.  His crew – and I know you know this – consisted of Doc, the ship's doctor; Julie McCoy, your cruise director; Isaac, the bartender; (eventually) Captain Stubbing's daughter, Vicki, and of course, the Ship's Purser, Berle "Gopher" Smith, played by Fred Grandy of the "Apple Crisp Recipe" Grandys.  As I hope you can imagine by the title, love on the ship was in the air, all day, every day, for passengers and crew alike.  Let's just say Doc took a special interest in the female human body.  Ew.  Even as I write that, it seems creepy but I didn't create the character – a total ladies' man - I just report about it. 

According to Wikipedia, "Gopher's" job, that of a ship's purser, is to handle the ship's finances or, if you will "purse" strings.  Get it?!  And he (or she) does other administrative stuff as well.  But if you ask me – and you didn't – I think "Gopher" (and the rest of the crew) spent more time on misadventures on and off the ship than on handling the money, honey.  Every single week without fail, the crew of The Love Boat got themselves into situations only rivaled by the crew of the S. S. Minnow from the TV show, Gilligan's Island, and yet people loved it.  The plots (of both shows) were ridiculous but The Love Boat lasted 10 seasons and Gilligan's Island, three so they had staying power.

As an aside, were you like me, yelling suggestions at the TV about how to get off Gilligan's Island?  Thought so.

At any rate, according to Wikipedia, Fred had an interest in politics that preceded his time as an actor so it was perhaps a natural path for him once he took a break from acting.  He has since returned to TV, appearing on The Mindy Project.

And now that we got all that out of the way – the history of TV, life in college, The Love Boat, ridiculous plots, and actor, representative, and recipe contributor, Fred Grandy – we can turn our attention to the other side of the aisle – the Democrats and the "Beef Stew" recipe submitted by Representative Beryl Anthony of Arkansas.  Sadly, this recap does not involve a look through the TV years but I will try to make this as interesting as possible.

First though, let me point out the irony of featuring a dish from someone from Arkansas given that Hillary Clinton, a former resident and First Lady of Arkansas (and The White House) is now running for President. I did not plan this.

So, a brief history of Representative Beryl Anthony:  Beryl Anthony was born and raised in – I love this – El Dorado, Arkansas, before going on to get an undergraduate and graduate (law) degree from the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville.  Just after law school, he was Arkansas' Assistant Attorney General, then a local prosecuting attorney, and then went into private practice before running for Congress in 1979.  He served from 1979-1993 and thereafter, returned to private practice in Washington, D.C.  While in Congress though – and how ironic is this – he was a member of the Ways and Means Committee which deals with money in the form of taxation and revenue-raising measures. In other words, he was just like our purser friend, "Gopher!"

Coincidence?  I think not.

Now I would not be doing my due diligence here if I didn't warn you that while Fred's recipe for "Apple Crisp" takes a mere hour to make, you had best plan ahead (vote early and often!) when you make this beef stew as it requires 5 hours of cooking time in a slow oven (250F).  Happily, I made another recipe (fruitcake), which I will post about next month, that required the same cooking time and temp.  I am nothing if not good at multitasking!  And as soon as the stew and fruitcake were done, I popped in the apple crisp and we had ourselves a hearty election night dinner. The stew was delicious but warning – it produced mass quantities and I only made half a recipe.  The apple crisp is perhaps now one of my new favorites because the "crisp" ingredients are only used as toppings and not crust and toppings. Why, it's practically diet food!

This now concludes Election Night 2016.  Hilariously, and prophetically perhaps, we switched between election coverage and several episodes of Food Network's Chopped.

Only in America....

Beef Stew – makes 6 servings (Ann's Note:  requires 5 hours cooking time at 250.)

Ann's Note:  When I saw how much a half recipe made, I envisioned us eating this stew until the next election cycle but I am happy to report that we have just enough for two hearty (and I mean "hearty) servings as leftovers.

3-4 pounds lean stew meat (chuck roast is great) (Ann's Note:  I used chuck roast country ribs – no bone – and cut them into small pieces.  Delicious!)

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 to 3 ribs of celery, cut in 1-inch lengths

5 carrots, cut in 1-inch lengths

2 or 3 onions, diced

5 potatoes, diced

Salt and pepper to taste

2 tablespoons sugar

3 tablespoons minute tapioca

2 bay leaves

3 cups tomato juice

1 clove garlic, minced

½ cup red wine

2 cups frozen green peas

1 cup fresh mushrooms, sliced

Preheat oven to 250.  Sauté meat lightly in olive oil.  Place all ingredients in pot except frozen peas and mushrooms.  Seal pot with foil and put lid on.  Bake for 4 ½ hours at 250F.  Add peas and mushrooms and cook 30 minutes longer.

Apple Crisp – fills a 9-inch cake pan

4 cups apples

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon nutmeg

1 tablespoon lemon juice

½ cup water

1 cup sugar

¾ cup flour

½ cup margarine; softened (Ann's Note:  I used butter)

Peel and slice apples.  Coat a square, 9-inch cake pan with spray shortening.  Place apple slices in it and sprinkle with cinnamon and nutmeg.  Add lemon juice and water.  Mix sugar, flour, and margarine/butter until the combination crumbles.  Spread this over the fruit.  Bake uncovered for 1 hour at 350.  Serve with vanilla ice cream.

"Dining Out at Home" - Beef Stew for Men

Date I made this recipe:  November 4, 2012

Dining Out at Home by Sophie Leavitt

Published by:  Stackpole Books

© 1966

Recipe:  Beef Stew for Men – p. 60

You wouldn’t necessarily think that a recipe titled “Beef Stew for Men” would set off a firestorm within me, but it did.  Call me sensitive, but after hearing some very interesting things coming out of some politicians’ mouths this election season, I feel like women’s lib has been pushed back into the dark ages.   I mean, come on – “binders of women?” 

So then along came this recipe and I have to say, at first I laughed - “Beef stew for men?  So what—I can cook it but I can’t eat it? Suddenly I was thrust back in time to an Irish Spring commercial from the 70’s featuring a woman picnicking with her man (boyfriend, husband – not sure). (And they’re both Irish which of course makes perfect sense for an Irish Spring commercial.) He says that the bar of soap features “two deodorants to help keep a man clean and fresh” and then she utters the famous tag-line:  “Manly, yes, but I like it, too.”

So in the spirit of the Irish Spring commercial, I just had to ask myself just what about this recipe made it “manly?”  Was it the fact that it contained glazed carrots (Ooh fancy, fancy)?  Was it the addition of wine?  Was it that beef is something only men enjoy? (If you think that’s the case, you clearly haven’t seen me tuck in a filet!) 

Suddenly my snort upon seeing this recipe turned into a rant.  My poor husband started backing out of the room as I went on a mini tirade about this recipe:  “Oh sure, women end up cooking it but it’s intended for men?  What the hell is that all about, huh, huh? And did you know that for years and years most professional chefs were men, not women?  So what recipe do women get to make, Baked Chicken for Women….”

If we had a dog, I’m pretty sure the dog would have been halfway down the alley while I was having this “discussion” with my beloved.

I am not a feminist per se but having grown up during the dawn of the women’s movement (the 60’s and particularly the 70’s), I get particularly irked when I see what appears to be dings at all the strides women have made over the ages.  Never mind that this recipe is from 1966 – I’m making it now, damn it!  I am not a binder, I am woman, hear me roar!  (Okay, true confession time:  I appreciate Helen Reddy’s battle-cry, I Am Woman, but as a singer, I thought the song ended on a weak note instead of a powerful one, and Helen seemed almost apologetic as her voice faded away into the night.  Think about some of today’s kick-ass female vocalists like Pink or Gwen Steffani or even Beyonce and oh yeah, no apologies there.  And if Whitney Houston had gotten a hold of it well, can I just say whoa?  Talk about a roar….)

Speaking of roaring about women’s issues, comedienne Ellen DeGeneres, who cracks me up to no end, went on a particularly funny rant of her own in the past couple weeks against the Bic pen company.  Having worked in marketing, I can tell you that every company lives, breathes and dies with selecting the right product for the right market, and the Bic [pen] company is no exception. Ellen announced that we’ve made a lot of progress toward equality but something made her think that we still have a way to go and then announced – true story – that Bic had made a line of pens for women called “Bic for Her.”  In classic Ellen fashion, she said “I know what you’re thinking – it’s about damned time.”  She’s right – that was my very first thought besides What the Hell??

So okay, now we have Beef Stew for Men and Bic [pens] for Her.  Wow, I’m feeling so…special.  I mean, men get their beef stew and we get pens (in women’s colors of pink and purple).  We HAVE made strides, haven’t we?! ;)

So one more comment about women before I actually get to the recipe…for men…and that is that whereas once upon a time, a woman chef in the kitchen was about as rare as roast beef, these days women are making strides.  As you may imagine, I watch a lot of cooking shows and I am pleased to see more and more women competing in some of the chef competitions.  Last night, I watched the next iteration of the Food Network’s The Next Iron Chef Redemption and hey, a big whopping four out of ten competitors were women.  So we should be pleased, right?  Well…perhaps if the numbers were half and half, or even better, the majority of cheftestants were women I’d be happier but then again beggars cannot be choosers.  A woman in the kitchen competing alongside men is a good thing.  (And can I just say that I have met Alex(andra) Guarnaschelli who kicked butt and won the evening’s competition?  Oh yeah, she rocks it.).  I cannot wait to see if some of these cheftestants make Beef Stew…for Men!

Despite all this gripping and ranting, the recipe was pretty tasty but then why wouldn’t it be?  The cookbook was written by a woman and cooked by a woman.  Oh yeah—I am woman, hear me roar….(and get the hell out of the way of my chef’s knife [for her?!].  You’ve been warned…)

PS—tomorrow is Election Day.  Get out and vote!

Beef Stew for Men – serves 8

4-lb chuck roast, 2-inch pieces, room temperature (I cut the recipe in half and used two pounds of stew meat)

8 carrots, each cut into 3 pieces

1 T fat to glaze carrots (I used Crisco)

1 ½ T sugar

4 T fat as needed (to brown the meat)

4 T flour

3 cups strained, canned onion soup or dehydrated onion soup as per instructions or 4 bouillon cubes, diluted with 3 cups water

1 cup red burgundy wine

3 T tomato sauce

4 allspice (I happened to have whole allspice on hand but if you don’t, then I would use ground allspice but sparingly)

2 large bay leaves

1 tsp thyme

3 large garlic cloves

¼ tsp pepper to taste

1 ½ tsp salt or more to taste

Glaze carrots by melting fat, adding sugar over carrots, shaking, rolling them around until glazed; then set aside on a plate, getting all the glaze up with a rubber spatula.

Wash out skillet, heat with 1 T fat, brown beef, adding fat as needed; avoid crowding, so as to brown better.  Place in casserole; remove fat from skillet but leave brownings in; set aside while you sprinkle 2 T flour over beef in casserole, shake to distribute, heat in oven over 5 minutes, sprinkle other 2 T flour and shake, heat 5 minutes.

Pour rest of ingredients into skillet, scraping up brownings, and bring to boil.  Pour over beef in casserole adding carrots, bring back to boil before putting in the oven with a lid on.  Reduce heat to 300 degrees.  Cook, stirring once in a while, 2-2 ½ hours.  Correct seasonings.

  

"The Black Family Reunion Cookbook" & "Sylvia's Family Soul Food Cookbook" - Yam Pork Chop Skillet and Golden Brown Macaroni and Cheese

Date I made these recipes: January 25, 2009

The Black Family Reunion Cookbook – Recipes and Food Memories from the National Council of Negro Women
Published by: Simon & Schuster
ISBN: 0-671-79629-1 © 1991
Recipe: Yam Pork Chop Skillet – p. 104

Sylvia’s Family Soul Food Cookbook – From Hemingway, South Carolina, to Harlem by Sylvia Woods and Family
Published by: William Morrow & Company, Inc.
ISBN: 0-688-16219-3 © 1999
Recipe: Golden Brown Macaroni and Cheese – p. 206-207

Well, this is part two of Inauguration food and today’s focus is on food from African-American kitchens.

One of the first things I think about when thinking about African-American foods is macaroni and cheese, something that until recently was almost exclusive to the African-American household. (Sorry, Kraft macaroni and cheese does not count in my book). In my household, the only time we ever had macaroni and cheese was when we made a dish called “Western Mac” that contained macaroni, cheese, ground beef, tomato paste and corn. This does not count as macaroni and cheese, either. Nope, if you’re going to have it, you need to make the real deal.

The mac and cheese recipe I used is from Sylvia’s Family Soul Food Cookbook. Sylvia Woods, the owner, runs Sylvia’s Restaurant in Harlem and try as I might on many and many a trip, I have never gotten up that far to try her restaurant but I am determined. Still, if you can’t get the real thing, making something from her recipe book is the way to go.

The other cookbook I used, The Black Family Reunion Cookbook had to have been sponsored by Crisco because there was hardly a recipe that didn’t call for Crisco oil or shortening. Lucky for me, I had both in my cupboards.

These dishes are easy to make and were darned good on yet another below zero day here in the heartland. The mac and cheese in particular was very tasty; what was surprising about this recipe is that it didn’t call for mustard (a typical component of macaroni and cheese) and yet the flavor didn’t suffer at all.

So happy post-inauguration, everyone and now dig in!

Yam Pork Chop Skillet – 4 servings
1 tablespoon Crisco Shortening or Crisco Oil
4 pork shoulder chops
4 medium yams or sweet potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
1 large onion, thinly sliced
1 medium green bell pepper, cut into rings
¼ teaspoon dried thyme leaves
¼ teaspoon dried marjoram leaves
Salt and pepper to taste
1 can (14 ½ ounces) tomatoes

Heat Crisco Shortening or Crisco Oil in a large skillet on medium heat. Brown the pork chops.

Arrange the yam slices, onion slices and green pepper rings over pork chops. Sprinkle with thyme, marjoram, salt and pepper. Top with tomatoes. Cover. Cook on low heat one hour or until tender.

Golden Brown Macaroni and Cheese – Makes 5 to 6 servings or more as a side dish
6 cups water
½ teaspoon salt
2 cups uncooked elbow macaroni
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter or margarine
2 ½ cups grated mild Cheddar grated cheese, divided
2 large eggs
½ cup milk
Paprika, for the top

Preheat the oven to 350. Grease an 8-inch-square baking pan.

In a 6-quart pot, bring the water and salt to a boil. Add the macaroni and cook for 7 minutes, stirring occasionally. Drain. Return the macaroni to the pot and stir in the butter or margarine until melted. Add 2 cups of the Cheddar cheese.

In a medium bowl, beat the eggs then beat in the milk. Add the milk mixture to the pot with the macaroni. Stir until combined. Spoon into the prepared baking pan. Sprinkle the remaining ½ cup Cheddar cheese on top. Dust with paprika. Bake, uncovered, for 30 minutes or until the cheese has melted and the casserole is warm throughout.

"Political Palate Ticklers" & "SCEF Recipes - A Radical Cookbook" - Noodle Casserole Supreme and Carrots Vichy

Date I made these recipes: December 10, 2006

Political Palate Ticklers Compiled by South Washington County DFL
© sometime between 1963 and 1967

Recipe: Noodle Casserole Supreme – p. 49

SCEF Recipes – A Radical Cookbook
Published by Southern Conference Educational Fund
© 1973

Recipe: Carrots Vichy submitted by Yvonne Pappenheim – p. 27

In yesterday’s blog, I noted how I uncovered a few more election/politically-oriented cookbooks to add to my “Election Day” postings. I swear to you, this is the last of them. In fact, as I’m sitting here, I’m not quite sure how these ended up here in the first place although I think that they probably came from my mother-in-law’s collection which makes sense since she used to be very active in DFL politics.

At any rate, last night’s main dish was called Noodle Casserole Supreme submitted by Mrs. Eugene McCarthy (and a big shout out to her for using “casserole” instead of “hot dish”). As with some of the other Election Day postings, you probably need a brief history lesson:

Eugene McCarthy, Democrat, was a Minnesota Senator who made an unsuccessful presidential run in 1968. For those of you who were alive at the time, the ’68 convention in Chicago was one of the most contentious conventions of all times. The Vietnam War was raging, Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy had been assassinated, the party was divided and things got so bad in Chicago that Mayor Daly called in the troops to try to restore order. Of course, he only made chaos out of chaos, but that’s another story for another day.

At any rate, Mrs. Eugene McCarthy, otherwise known as Abigail, submitted this recipe for this cookbook which also includes recipes from then Senator Hubert Humphrey, Governor Karl Rolvaag and Attorney General Walter Mondale.

I decided to make this recipe because it seemed fairly straightforward and it also, as you will see, is glorified lasagna only done in casserole form. And while it was very easy to make, it was not without its problems.

First, let’s talk about the sugar to tomato ratio that comes into play with most “pasta” sauces. For most tomato-based sauces, you need sugar to cut the acidity and tartness of the tomato. How much is a matter of opinion.

In my family, we have the equivalent of the Three Bear’s sauce: Aunt Rose’s recipe (the true Sicilian in the family) has the least amount of sugar, followed by my mother’s (non-Sicilian), and further followed by my Aunt Martha’s (non-Sicilian) which has the most. It’s all of matter of taste, but my taste buds were waiting for Aunt Rose’s sauce but got Aunt Martha’s instead. Were I to make this recipe again, I would cut back on the sugar (maybe 1 tablespoon instead of two) for better balance.
Second, let’s talk about the “filling.” This recipe called for cottage cheese with chives and I was please to find that such a thing still existed in grocery shopping land. The cottage cheese I bought, however, had cottage cheese, chives and onions. And here, Houston, we had a problem.

I debated whether or not to just add chives to plain cottage chives or whether to go with the cottage cheese I found. I decided on the cottage cheese, chives and onions ready-made mixture and people, it was not the best choice. The onions in the mixture are raw and crunchy and just did not go with the nicely sautéed onions called for in the actual recipe. Between the sugar and the onions, I did not enjoy this dish but I wouldn’t call it an all-out failure, I would just adjust things differently the next time. Except, sadly, there cannot be a next time as I must continue on through the rest of my cookbooks so as to finish cooking my way through my collection before I’m to old to start the oven!

Noodle Casserole Supreme
8 oz. package wide noodles
3 T butter
1 c. chopped onion
1 can (17 oz.) whole tomatoes. (Note: I broke these up a bit before adding them to the mix as directed).
1 T Worcestershire sauce
2 T sugar (I’d recommend using a lot less unless you like very sweet sauce)
1 c. cottage cheese and chives (as noted above, I don’t recommend using a cottage cheese/chive/onion mix. If you can’t find just cottage cheese and chives, buy chives, snip them into small pieces and add to plain cottage cheese)
1 c. sour cream
¼ c. Parmesan cheese

Cook noodles as directed on package; put in greased casserole (2 qt.). In saucepan, melt butter, add onion and cook over medium heat until tender. Stir in tomatoes, Worcestershire sauce and sugar; bring to a boil. Remove from heat and stir in cottage cheese and sour cream. Mix with noodles in casserole; sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Bake in a 350 oven for 25 to 30 minutes. Serves 8.

As an accompaniment to the casserole, I made Carrots Vichy from the SCEF (Southern Conference Educational Fund) cookbook. The subtitle of the book is “A Radical Cookbook” and in a way it was. The recipes were reminiscent of the natural food movement of the 60’s and 70’s and I had a hard time deciding on something to make that didn’t involve a recipe that would leave me healthier but still hungry during this cold winter month. (I know I will kick myself later for not making Bambi’s Tuna Casserole, I just know it). The carrots seemed like a good compromise.

Carrots Vichy
1 T shortening or margarine (I used butter)
6 carrots, sliced (I did not use, nor do I recommend, baby-cut carrots)
1 large onion (the recipe didn’t say so I chopped the onions)
2 T sugar
Pepper

Heat fat and brown the onion. Add the carrots and remaining ingredients. Cover and cook slowly 1 hour or more. Mix from time to time.

Okay…first order of business…I hate recipes that just assume I know what the author wants. “Carrots sliced”…how thick? “1 large onion”…chopped, sliced, diced…what?! I need to know these things.

So I improvised and all was well until the onions started to caramelize. I had the heat as low as possible and mixed (i.e. stirred) as directed but they still cooked too quickly. I recommend checking them after about a half hour rather than an hour or you risk having really cooked, possibly burned, carrots.

And then there’s the sugar problem. Again, maybe it’s just me, but two tablespoons of sugar is too much for the 6 carrots, especially since carrots are sweet by nature. I’d taste test as I went along. But other than the sugar fix I got between both recipes, the carrots were good and I would make them again, with modifications.

"Kitchen Kapers" by DFL Women of Minnesota - Crab-Chicken Casserole

Date I made this recipe: December 6, 2006

Kitchen Kapers – DFL Women
Compiled by the Members and Friends of the Olmsted County DFL Women of Minnesota
© 1988

Recipe: Crab-Chicken Casserole - p. 48 - Submitted by Sally Blanton

So there I was, hot on the trail of the next items to make for the blog (appetizers for an upcoming party) and…oh, prunes (as my mom would say). I discovered three other “political” cookbooks that I should have made for my Election Day blog. Oh well, there’s no time like the present.

If you’ve ever seen the movie, Babette’s Feast, you’ll be able to relate to the visual of this next recipe. Babette, a French servant, moves to Norway in the late 1800’s to take care of two elderly spinster sisters. When she arrives, the landscape is white, the people are…well, white and the food is white. Babette soon changes all this when she cooks the sisters and their friends the feast of the century. (For those of you who collect “cooking” movies, this is a MUST!)

At any rate, Minnesota has quite the large Norwegian population, and when I first moved here, the running joke about the “native” food was how white it was – white fish covered with white sauce, white lefse (a Norwegian version of a crepe), white potatoes…you get the picture.

Times have changed and Minnesota now boasts quite the large Vietnamese, Hmong, Hispanic and Somalian populations, just to name a few, and the food is no longer white. But every once in a while, you find a recipe, like the one below, that resurrects the image of Babette’s Feast, pre-Babette. Except for the mushrooms (which very well could be white if I didn’t use canned), everything is white – the chicken, the milk, the onion, the crabmeat (particularly since I bought a can of all white meat crabmeat) and the saltines. I resisted the urge to throw some parsley at the thing for color but it was mighty difficult. (I also thought about bagging the Swiss cheese – white, of course – which I thought was overkill, but decided to stay true to the recipe).

Image aside, this is a recipe that I’m sure would meet with Babette’s approval.

Crab-Chicken Casserole
4 whole or 8 halved chicken breast, skinned, boned and halved lengthwise
3 T. butter
¼ c. flour
¾ c. milk
¾ c. chicken broth
1/3 c. dry white wine
¼ c. chopped onion
1 T. butter
1 (7 ½ oz) can crabmeat, drained and flaked
1 (4 oz.) can drained, chopped mushrooms
½ c. coarsely crumbled saltine crackers
½ tsp. salt
Dash of pepper
1 c. Swiss cheese

Pound chicken pieces lightly, working from center out, with meat mallet to make cutlet about 1/8-inch thick. In a saucepan, melt 3 tablespoons of the butter then blend in flour. Add milk, chicken broth, and wine all at once. Cook and stir till thickened and bubbly. Set aside.

Let me just say a quick word about my meat mallet. Most of you probably have the very slim, very sleek, metal mallet found in today’s cooking stores. Not me. I inherited my maternal grandmother’s wooden mallet, with a huge mallet head the size of brick and with teeth carved out on two sides to really bite into the meat. It looks positively medieval but it always did the trick. At least it did until I made this recipe when the mallet head came loose and almost flew through my kitchen window. Sadly, I must now retire the meat mallet to a place of honor in my utensil holder and must shop for a new one. Sigh.

Okay…back to the recipe…

In a skillet, cook onion in the remaining tablespoon of butter until tender, not brown. Stir in crab, mushrooms, cracker crumbs, salt and pepper. Stir in 2 tablespoons of sauce. Alternately layer chicken and crab mixture in baking dish. Pour remaining sauce over all. Bake, covered, at 350 until chicken is tender, about 1 hour. Uncover, sprinkle with the Swiss cheese, and bake until cheese melts (about 2 minutes longer).

And now a quick word about the layering concept described above. I wouldn’t do it if I were you. I have my choice of a long, glass lasagna pan or a shorter, glass cake pan. I chose the shorter in an attempt to stay true to the directions, but seriously, people, it was a big mess and looked like one great big white blob when I put it in the oven. If I were to do this over again, I would do one long row of chicken, add the crab mixture on top of that and then pour the white sauce but that’s just my sense of esthetics.

"DFL Fabulous Foods" (MN) & "A Taste of Justice" (MN lawyers) & "The White House Cookbook - 1894" & "The President's Cookbook " (Cannon) -various

DFL Fabulous Foods from the 5th District by Margaret Macneale, District Chair and Bill Davis, Associate Chair (spiral bound)
© 1983
5th District DFL

Recipe: Doorknocker Hotdish Supreme submitted by Kathie Anderson (a/k/a Tater Tot Casserole) – p. D12

Okay, for those of you who are not familiar with Minnesota-speak, here are a few translations:

DFL: DFL is the acronym for Democratic Farm Labor which is really the Democratic Party, just in disguise. Confused the heck out of me when I first moved here, let me tell you.

Hotdish or Hot Dish: Hotdish is the Minnesota term for Casserole. Personally, I think it’s rather oxymoronic to call a hot dish a Hotdish, don’t you? Eh, what can you do? And yet, for years and years, Byerly’s grocery story, famous everywhere for having chandeliers over the frozen food section, carpeting on the floors and various and sundry “fancy schmancy” things to entice all of us shoppers inside, called their casseroles “Hot Dish.” I hate to say, but I always took perverse pleasure in asking for a small container of a particular casserole when at the deli counter.

So what does this have to do with today’s recipe? Well, just like “DFL” and Hotdish,” “Doorknocker Hotdish Supreme” is a fancy name for “Tater Tot Casserole.” For the life of me, I don’t recall ever having this growing up in Michigan, but here in Minnesota, this dish is practically in the Hotdish Hall of Fame (if there is such a thing and I suspect there is).

This recipe was problematic because it is meant to serve 18-20 doorknockers (oh, by the way, doorknockers are the people who go door-to-door to ask for your vote for the party they represent on Election Day. Some people have metal door knockers on their front door but that’s a different story for a different day). Although I figured I could easily cut the ground beef in half (it called for 3-3 ½ pounds of ground beef), I wasn’t sure what to do about the other ingredients – same amount, cut in half, eliminate altogether?

So I did what any transplanted Minnesotan would do: I checked with Byerly’s.

Now, I’ve got to tell you, folks, I was more than disappointed when I looked up the recipe on Byerly’s website as the name changed (to protect the innocent?) from Tater Tot Casserole to “Beef N Tater Hot Dish.” http://www.byerlys.com/ (the address that will pop up is http://www.lundsandbyerlys.com/. Lund’s stores bought Byerly’s several years ago). What the heck is this world coming to? This dish is known throughout the state as “Tater Tot Hot Dish.” Even Byerly’s sells it as “Tater Total Hot Dish.” So now all of a sudden we get all fancy schmancy (like the frozen food section) and call it “Beef N Tater (don’t get me started on the ‘N) Hot Dish?” Listen, Byerly’s, there are very proper Lutheran Church basement ladies rolling around in their graves right now over such a cavalier name for such a revered casserole. I’d rethink things if I were you.

Anyway…Byerly’s used 1 ½ pounds ground beef and a full (16 ounce) package of frozen vegetables for their recipe so I figured if it was good enough for Byerly’s, it was good enough for me. I did not, however, follow their lead and use 3 cans of soup (chicken gumbo, cream of mushroom and chicken rice) as I thought that was soup overkill. I realize I could go to Hot Dish Hell for that, but I’m willing to take the risk.

Doorknocker Hotdish Supreme (Note: To feed approximately four people, use these ingredients as follows):
1 ½ pound ground beef
1 package onion soup mix
1 package (16 ounces) frozen missed vegetables
1 can mushroom soup diluted by ½ can of water (or not, see below)
Frozen tater tots (use 1 large package)

To serve 18-20, use 3 ½ pounds ground beef but keep the rest of the recipe the same (not that I made that much but that’s what’s written).

The directions also left a bit to be desired: “Brown ground beef, mix with all other ingredients.” I mixed half the onion soup mix in with the ground beef while browning and then put all but about a quarter of the rest of the package in when I mixed everything together. Byerly’s recipe used ½ c. chopped onion and you could probably do the same but I stuck with the ingredients in this recipe.

For a creamier, soupier dish, I’d probably skip the ½ can of water. The recipe was good but it was a little on the dry side. A little water is good, maybe even a little milk, but ½ can is too much.

Also, the traditional way to make this dish is to put the tater tots on top but here, she called for them to be mixed in. It’s your choice but I don’t want the casserole gods coming after me so I put them on top.

However you end up mixing up this recipe, bake it at 350 for one hour and then get out there and knock some doors, for heaven’s sake!

A Taste of Justice – All District Legal Education Presents A Collection of Favorite Recipes of Minnesota Lawyers to Benefit the Learning Center for Homeless Families by All District Legal Education
© 2001

Recipe: Andrea’s Cream of Celery Soup submitted by Andrea George, Esq., Office of the Federal Defender – p. 143

So I’m sitting here, minding my own business, thumbing through the pages of this book and I come across this recipe. I’m embarrassed to say that for a minute there, I thought “Andrea George. Andrea George. Why is this name familiar?”

Perhaps because she was my Criminal Procedure professor at law school a mere 3 years ago?

Duh.

Before I tell you about the recipe, let me tell you about Andrea as she is not your mother’s federal defender.

To start with, Andrea’s hair went down past her butt and she wore the largest hoop earrings I’ve ever seen AND she totally pulled off the look. She was a year younger than me (hate her) and totally hip, totally now, totally wow. She wowed us on the first day by memorizing the first names of our entire class (about 60 people or so). People, I can’t even remember where I put my car keys most days and there she goes and memorizes names. Sheesh. I must admit, I liked being called “Ann” after two years of “Ms. Verme” (or variations thereof) and “Andrea” seemed to suit her just fine.

She was a total panic in class, using real-life stories to highlight the criminal process. (And yes, folks, most criminals are stupid but that’s beside the point). My favorite day came when we were talking about the Miranda warning. (Miranda is the “you have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford one, one will be appointed for you” spiel the police give you when you are taken into custody.) She told us that when you ask for an attorney, it must be unequivocal so the police know to stop questioning you, along the lines of “I want an attorney, g’ damnit!” (I can guarantee you that my entire class will use that line if ever taken into custody, we loved it that much!)

Andrea rarely called on me but the day she did, I was having a particularly bad day and said so. When she said “Ann, are you feeling intelligent today?” I responded with “Intelligent, no. Stressed, yes.” In any other class, that answer would have resulted in me being grilled like a cheese sandwich about some point of law for the entire class period, but not with Andrea. She just accepted that answer and moved on. (My other favorite professor was Carol Swanson who taught my corporations class. She’d ask a “yes” or “no” question and if you got it wrong, she’d say “Oh so close. You had a 50-50 chance of getting it right!”)

Andrea’s class was so much fun that when it came time to answer a Criminal Procedure essay on the Bar exam, I actually cracked my knuckles and cackled because I knew the material forwards and backwards, all because of her. It’s not many people that will tell you that they actually enjoyed answering a question on any exam, bar or otherwise. I tip my Minnesota attorney license to her.

And so speaking of enjoyable, Andrea’s recipe was most tasty and we enjoyed every drop. I didn’t realize until I got started (shame on me for not reading the directions) that it only made two servings so if you’re thinking of serving 18-20 like the Doorknocker Casserole (a/k/a Tater Tot Casserole), you may need to contact Andrea for further advice. Just remember, don’t be unequivocal. State what you need: “I need to know if this recipe can be quadrupled, g’damnit,” and you’ll be fine.

Andrea’s Cream of Celery Soup
2 T butter
3 large stalks celery, chopped
½ tsp curry powder
1 c. chicken broth
2 tsp minced fresh parsley
1 c. milk
Salt and pepper to taste
2 T whipping cream (for serving)
2 T toasted slivered almonds (garnish)

In a medium pan, melt butter over low heat. Add celery and curry and cook about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. (As a note, Chef Ann Willan likes to peel celery with a peeler to reduce the stringiness. I used that method here and liked it). Stir in broth and parsley and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce to low heat, cover and simmer 20 minutes. Blend in milk, salt and pepper. Transfer soup to blender and mix until almost smooth. Return to pan and warm through over low heat. Stir in cream and almonds just before serving.

Okay. All went very well until we came to the blender portion of our program. I have always put off getting a blender because I never felt we needed one until now since we had a Cuisine and a Kitchen Aid, but if you’re on the fence about one, buy it now. This recipe would have been a lot smoother with a blender as the Cuisinart just didn’t smooth out the celery like I hoped it would. Besides, you can always make Margaritas in the blender in the off season.

Andrea also notes that the soup is best when made a day ahead and refrigerated. I found that the curry flavor (which I like) really came out when I did that. If you don’t want the curry flavor, you might want to eat it that day.

The White House Cook Book by Mrs. F.L. Gillette and Huge Ziemann, Steward of the White House
Published by: The Werner Company
© 1887 by F.L. Gillette and © 1894 by the Werner Company

Recipe: Scalloped Cheese – p. 197

Oh, people. This cook book was almost my undoing. There were ingredients that were new to me, unclear directions, unclear oven temperatures – you name it, I found it. As an example, there’s a recipe for “Slip” which is (and I quote) “Slip is bonny-clabber without its acidity…” I knew that. (Okay, admit it. You were thinking that laundry directions got in here by accident as in “How to wash your slip” or “Psst, your slip is showing?”)

And then there was a recipe requiring “sweet milk.” Google will tell you that “sweet milk” is regular milk, as opposed to butter milk which is not sweet. Apparently calling it just “milk” was way too easy.

I also had a very difficult time selecting something that didn’t involve actually finding the chicken/bull/fish, etc. and killing it yourself for dinner. And don’t get me wrong, it’s not necessarily because I have issues with hunting, fishing, etc. or even that I have issues with eating meat. I’m just following my motto of “Why do something yourself when you can pay others to do it for you?” Seriously, this is why grocery stores exist!

So when I stumbled upon the Scalloped Cheese recipe and read “Any person who is fond of cheese could not fail to favor this recipe” I thought I was as good as gold.

Not so.

I was doing great until I came upon the instruction “Bake it in a hot oven as you would cook a bread pudding.”

Riiiight. Luckily, one of the many cookbooks I have in my collection is the Joy of Cooking so I consulted it, found that bread pudding cooks at 350 for 75 minutes and that was that. One should also put the bread pudding pan into a larger pan filled with water as bread pudding cooks in a “water bath.” The hot water helps keep the pudding creamy. I’m glad I found what “hot oven” means as I was picturing a fire burning stove and Lord knows where I’d find that in this day and age!

Okay, so. There I was, armed with all the ingredients and an oven temperature and off I went. To make this recipe, you need:

Scalloped Cheese
3 slices of bread, trimmed
¼ pound of cheese
Four eggs
3 c. milk
Butter for the bread

Take three slices of bread, well-buttered, first cutting off the brown outside crust. Grate fine a quarter of a pound of any kind of good cheese (as opposed to bad cheese?! We used cheddar); lay the bread in layers in a buttered baking-dish, sprinkle over it the grated cheese, some salt and pepper to taste. Mix four well-beaten eggs with three cups of milk; pour it over the bread and cheese. Bake it in a hot oven as you would cook a bread pudding. This makes an ample dish for four people.

So far, so good EXCEPT when we pulled it out of the oven and cut into it, it was all watery. I don’t know about cooking enough to know what ingredient might have triggered the water flow so if any of you do, let me in on your secret. At first, I suspected the milk as today’s milk seems much more watery to me than the whole milk they likely used back in the day (and probably directly from the cow to you), and then the cheese since cheese can often generate liquid when being melted. Other than that, the dish was good although it tasted more like an egg casserole than scalloped cheese. Maybe that’s what they called egg casserole back in 1894? Oh those wacky White House chefs!

The President’s Cookbook by Poppy Cannon and Patricia Brooks
Published by: Funk & Wagnalls, A Division of Reader’s Digest Books, Inc. (and also famous for their Funk & Wagnalls Dictionary when I was growing up).
© 1968

Recipe: Capitolade of Chicken – p. 66 – from the recipes of Thomas Jefferson while at his home in Monticello, VA. (Note: the chapter is titled: A Gourmet in the White House, appropriately named since Jefferson introduced many new foods to the American palate).

Most of you know who Thomas Jefferson is but many of you may not know Poppy Cannon. Although Poppy died in 1975, hers was a name I recall hearing way back when I first started collecting cookbooks. Poppy authored many cookbooks in her day and was a former food editor of The Ladies Home Journal.

History buffs may also know of Poppy as she was the second wife of NAACP leader, Walter Francis White and their marriage (she was white and Jewish, he was black) caused a major scandal in the black community.

But regardless, Poppy’s cookbooks are interesting peeks into American life and the recipes, a snapshot on food of the times. The recipe below is no exception.

Capitolade of Chicken
2 T butter
2 T chopped onion
1 T finely chopped shallots
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 c. sliced mushrooms
1 T flour
1/3 c. white wine
1 c. soup stock/chicken broth or leftover chicken gravy
2 c. chicken, diced
Parsley (for garnish, if desired)
Toast slices or rice

One of the things that drives me nuts about a recipe, and this one is no exception, is to list all the ingredients without the amount required, for example, butter, onion, shallots, but then include the amounts in the recipe instructions itself; “melt two tablespoons butter, cook 2 tablespoons chopped onion, etc.” I want a shopping list ready to roll when I go to the store and don’t want to have to mine the recipe for the amounts I need.

Okay, little rant…back to the recipe.

Melt 2 T butter in skillet. Cook 2 T chopped onion in the butter until yellowed. Stir in 1 T finely chopped shallots, 1 clove crushed garlic and 1 c. sliced mushrooms. Cook over low heat for 5 minutes, or until lightly browned.

Stir in 1 T flour and keep stirring until smooth. Add 1/3 c. wine and 1 c. soup stock/chicken broth or gravy. Cook slowly until the sauce begins bubbling. Reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Add 2 cups diced chicken and stir into sauce. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve over toast with chopped parsley on top. Serves 4-6.

As for variations, the recipe calls for leftover chicken but since I didn’t have any leftover chicken, I poached some chicken breasts and cut them up and the results were fine. Although I followed the “serve over toast” directive on the first day, I used rice with the leftovers and the dish tasted even better.

"Five Star Favorites - Recipes from friends of Mamie and Ike" & "The First Ladies Cook Book" - Applesauce Meatballs and Clove Cake

Date I made these recipes: Sunday, November 5, 2006

Five Star Favorites – Recipes from friends of Mamie and Ike
Published by: Golden Press – New York
© 1974
Recipe submitted by Mrs. Robert S. Callender of Indian Wells, CA

The First Ladies Cook Book – Favorite Recipes of all the Presidents of The United States
© 1969 (or, as they say in Roman numerals – MCMLXIX)
Recipe from the collection of Theodore Roosevelt

Tuesday, November 7, 2006, was the day of mid-term elections in the United States. In honor of that event, I pulled out six cookbooks from my collection having to do with the Presidents, their First Ladies and/or law and elections in general. I honestly didn’t realize I had so many and let me tell you, some of them were a real challenge to cook with as you will see below.

But first, a history lesson.

Some of you are probably asking yourselves “Mamie and Ike Who??” And so to enlighten you: Dwight David (Ike) Eisenhower (a/k/a Dwight D. Eisenhower) was the United State’s Supreme Commander of the Allied forces in Europe during WWII as well as a five-star general (thus the title of the book). Back in the day, women loved a man in uniform and so it should be no surprise that he came back from WWII (and the Korean War) as the man of the hour, ran for President on the Republican ticket (many a woman was photographed with a “We Like Ike” sign) and won. Ike was the 34th President of the United States and served from 1953-1961 when the glamour boy of the day, Jack Kennedy, bounced him out and the Camelot years started, spearheaded by the equally glamorous Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy.

Alas, Mamie Doud Eisenhower, Ike’s First Lady was no glamorpous (I seem to recall many a discussion about her hairstyle – a sort of Audrey Hepburn imitation sans Audrey, you know?). But in her heyday, Mamie was the hostess with the mostest and she and Ike seemed to know everyone as evidenced by all the famous people who submitted recipes to the cookbook.

I have absolutely no idea (although I did a Google check) who Robert S. Callendar is nor do I know who Mrs. Robert S. Callendar is but it matters not to me as it’s all about the recipe and this recipe is damned good.

Applesauce Meatballs - Five Star Favorites – p. 56
1 egg
½ c. milk
1 ½ c. packaged season stuffing croutons
1 ½ lb ground beef
2/3 c. applesauce
3 T. finely chopped onion
1 ½ tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
¼ tsp sage
1 can (10-3/4 oz) condensed tomato soup
½ c. water

Okay, this recipe starts out fairly easily. Beat the egg with the milk, add that mixture to the croutons and let stand about 5 minutes. No issues there.

Next we go to the instructions “beat until smooth and fluffy.” Hmmm. Okay, I put the contents in my Cuisinart, let them whirl around for a minute or so and voila! Smooth and fluffy it was! (Just so you know, they didn’t have Cuisinarts back in the 50’s so no wonder the instructions were vague. But now you know so no excuses, people!)

Mix together the croutons, beef, applesauce, onion, salt, pepper and sage. Do not do as I did which is to say I mixed all but the salt and pepper, rolled them all out, realized my mistake and threw all the meatballs back in the bowl for re-mixing. Duh.

Once again, the quantity of the meat required by the recipe was problematic. I found myself staring at the packaged ground beef options in the meat section of my grocery store and cursing the fact that there were absolutely no 1.5 pound packages to be had. No problem, I thought, I’ll just buy two packages of almost 2 pounds and just use it all. What would it hurt?

Well, people, it hurt. Here’s the problem: You will not have enough tomato sauce (made with the tomato soup listed above) if you make almost 2 pounds of meat. To compensate, I had to divide my tomato sauce (to which you add the ½ cup water and then stir) between two baking dishes. While the whole thing was incredibly flavorful, the soup mixture looked a little anemic and not as pretty as it could have been.

But what was lacking in appearance was more than made up in taste. These meatballs are Yummy! The applesauce (and for convenience sake, I used two lunch-sized containers from an apple-sauce six pack) made the meat as moist as it could be. And even better was the fact that my leftover sage from a few week’s ago was still fresh enough to use in the dish. It doesn’t get any better than this. And wouldn’t you know that me, “Miss Never Eats Leftovers,” is still working on the meatballs 4 days later. Of course, this is due, in part, to having made way too many meatballs but that’s beside the point.

Clove Cake – The First Ladies Cook Book – p. 166

So...history time again. Theodore (Teddy) Roosevelt was Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s (FDR’s) cousin and the 26th President of the United States. Unlike his cousin, Franklin, Teddy was a Republican, something that I, somewhat of a history buff, managed to overlook for several years. (Don’t even get me started on how confusing it was to my teenage mind to learn that Abraham Lincoln was also a Republican but that was back in the day when Republicans were really Democrats and Democrats were really Republicans.)

Some of you may or may not know that the Teddy Bear was named after Teddy. Since it doesn’t have anything to do with the recipe, I’ll let you read about that on your own, but I’m thinking that both Teddy and the bear would enjoy this sweet treat!

Clove Cake
½ c. butter
½ c. milk
½ c. molasses
2 c. flour
2 eggs, whole
3 c. seedless raisins
1 tsp baking soda, mixed into the molasses
½ teaspoon cloves
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon allspice
1 ½ teaspoons nutmeg
Butter for decoration (optional)
½ pound crystallized ginger (optional)

Okay, those of you who bake know the golden rule: butter, milk and eggs should be at room temperature. I know this rule, I know this rule, I know this rule…but I was in a hurry so I bent the rule. I had the ingredients out for maybe five minutes, maybe 10 but no longer than that and so let me just say that before you knew it, my Kitchen Aid was spitting out egg yolk like a volcano because the butter was too cold to incorporate the egg properly. It was not pretty. (We won't even talk about what happened when I opened the can of tomato soup.)

To force the issue, I took out a wooden spoon and smoothed out the butter until it was soft and also let it sit a bit so that it would come up to temperature. The second beating went much better than the first.

Next, sift together the flour and the spices. Again, I say unto you to think before acting. I have several sifters but decided to use the Martha (Stewart) method and put it through a fine sieve rather than a sifter with a handle like my grandmother’s. Well, all well and good I say unless the amount of flour you are sifting exceeds the size of the sieve.

Now that I was completely covered with eggs, milk and flour, it was time to add the raisins. Let me say a word about raisins.

I had some leftover seedless raisins in my house that turned out to be boulders in comparison to the itty bitty organic seedless raisins I purchased at Whole Foods, my local grocery store. Out of the three cups needed, I’d say a good two were the boulder size and the other cup was pebble sized.

The result was that this cake really should be renamed Raisin Cake instead of Clove Cake because all that you can see are the raisins and while very yummy, it does seem like overkill.

Anyway, once you’ve mixed all the ingredients, bake in a greased 8-inch tube pan at 350 for 45-55 minutes. Naturally, I have something to say about that.

I have two “tube” pans at home. One is a Bundt pan, and I can tell you, since I measured, it is not 8 inches, and one is what I would call an Angel Food Cake pan that IS 8 inches. I measured them using a little measuring tape on a key ring my husband bought me years ago after I kept guestimating the size of furniture pieces I considered buying. I cannot tell you how convenient it is.

Anyway…and then there’s the amount of baking time. I say to pull the cake after 45 minutes on the dot and test for doneness because by the time I got to it at about 50 minutes, it was bordering on being too dry. I’m still eating it but I think you’d achieve better results by checking. I also think that a lovely dollop of whipped cream would taste nice on this, but that’s just me.