Old Fashioned Saltine Snacks

Last night at midnight I got a craving for an oldie but goodie that my Mama grew up on which she in turn made for us as kids and, of course, I made for my own kids.  They are inexpensive, quick and easy to make and, of course, yummy!  Sweet and salty!

I made mine with clean* ingredients, the marshmellows being organic and made with organic cane sugar and no HFCS but you can use whatever ingredients you have on hand ... like I said, they are old fashioned and my Nanny made them way back when she cooked on a wood burning stove so there is nothing fancy about them.  I just choose to eat clean.

The great thing about this recipe is that you can make as many or as little as you want ... I made just 6 cause they were just for me.

Saltine Snacks

Saltine Crackers
Peanut Butter
Marshmellows

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Place Saltines on an ungreased cookie sheet.  Spread each Saltine with Peanut Butter and place a Marshmellow on top.  I had to cut my Marshmellows in half because the organic ones come a little larger then regular marshmellows.

Place in oven and cook until the marshmellows are toasty, about 6 minutes.

*Clean = Nothing artificial, no chemicals, no man-made ingredients.

Enjoy!!!

Homemade Caramel Sauce

Start with a heavy pan

Organic Sugar in the pan

As Sugar breaksdown it will look crumbly ... this is normal to the process of caramelizing

See how it is starting to liquify but yet still has clumps ... keep cooking, be patient

Sugar has completely liquified and caramelized

Adding Butter will make it bubble up bigtime ... make sure not to burn it ... adjust heat if necessary

Adding the Milk will make it bubble up even more ... turn down heat to low

Remove from pan and transfer to a heat resistent container

After cooling for a couple minutes, whisk it really good to get a smooothe consistency

There ya go ... Homemade Caramel Sauce ... NO HFCS or other gunk in it ... all natural

Caramel Sauce

1/2 cup Organic Sugar

3 Tblsps Organic Butter

1/2 cup Evaporated Milk (or Organic Heavy Cream)

NOTE: The Evaporated Milk was what I had on hand left over from a recipe.  If you want to make it totally Organic (and richer in flavor) then use 1/2 cup Organic Heavy Cream in place of the Evaporated Milk.

Place sugar in a heavy pan (I use cast iron cause it heats up most uniformly).  Cook on medium low heat until sugar has completed dissolved and become a liquid and caramelized.  It takes a while but be patient.

Add Butter but turn heat down a bit ... it will bubble up like crazy.  Stir until Butter is melted.

Next turn heat completely down as low as possible and add Milk ... cook for a couple more minutes stirring constantly.

Remove from pan into a cooler container (make sure it is a heat proof container) ... I used a Pyrex measuring cup.  Let stand for a minute or two to cool then whip it with a whisk for about 20-30 seconds. 

Sauce will thicken as it cools.  You can refrigerate any unused portions and just zap it in the microwave for a few seconds, stir and enjoy again!

Here's how I used mine but its also great for dipping apples, pears or other fruit in
or pouring over your favorite ice cream or dessert

Mama's German Chocolate Cake

  

Getting started ...

Mama loved to bake and was known for her delicious cakes.  With her German Chocolate Cake she always used the recipe from the back of the Baker’s German’s Sweet Chocolate … below is a photo of the original package that she saved … I copied and pasted it into the family cookbook I made several years ago because this cake was such a part of our lives growing up.  Though now the packaging looks much different, it’s still the same chocolate I use today.  I changed up the recipe just slightly but it doesn’t change the taste … this is an awesome cake and well worth the effort it takes to make it.  This time making it though I used Organic Sugar, Organic Flour, Organic Eggs and Organic Butter … making it a cleaner version but still fattening and delectable.

Mama’s German Chocolate Cake

1 pkg (4 oz) Baker’s German’s Sweet Chocolate

½ cup Water

2 cups Flour

1 tsp Baking Soda

¼ tsp Salt

1 cup (2 sticks) Butter, softened

2 cups Sugar

4 Eggs, separated

1 tsp Vanilla

1 cup Buttermilk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Cover bottoms of 4 (9 inch) round cake pans with parchment paper, grease sides of pans. 

Microwave Chocolate and Water in large microwavable bowl on HIGH for 1 to 1-1/2 minutes or until Chocolate is almost melted, stirring after 1 minute.  Stir until Chocolate is completely melted.  Set aside.

Mix Flour, Baking Soda and Salt; set aside. 

Beat Butter and Sugar in large bowl on medium speed until light and fluffy.  Add Egg Yolks, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition.  Blend in melted Chocolate and the Vanilla. 

Add Flour mixture alternately with the Buttermilk, beating until well blended after each addition. 

Beat Egg Whites in small bowl on high speed until stiff peaks form.  Gently stir (or fold) into batter. 

Pour batter evenly into prepared pans.  Bake 15-20 minutes or until toothpick inserted in centers comes out clean.  Immediately run small metal spatula around cake layers.  Cool in pans 15 minutes; remove layers from pans to wire racks.  NOTE: I do not have wire racks so I place them on parchment paper to cool.  Discard wax paper.  Cool cake layers completely. 

Beating the Egg Whites

Folding the beaten Egg Whites into the batter

While layers are cooling ... on to the Frosting

Mama always used her mother’s Coconut Pecan Frosting ~ my Nanny. To cover a four layer cake you really need to make 1 and a half recipes of the Frosting … I failed to do that this time … forgetting … but have since made a notation in my cookbook so I do not forget next time; however, the cake is pretty dang awesome even with just using 1 recipe of the Frosting.  But to make a seriously pretty cake and be able to cover it completely with Frosting you really need to make at least 1.5 recipes.

Coconut Pecan Frosting

1 cup Evaporated Milk

1 cup Sugar

3 Egg Yolks

½ cup Butter

1 tsp Vanilla

1 cup Chopped Pecans

1 pkg Baker’s Coconut

Combine Milk, Sugar, Egg Yolks, Butter and Vanilla in a saucepan over medium heat.  Cook, stirring constantly, until thickened, about 12 minutes. 

Remove from heat, add Pecans and Coconut.  Cool.  Makes enough for tops of three layers.  NOTE: Make 1.5 to 2 recipes of Frosting to cover entire cake.

NOTE: For reference “1 Package Baker’s Coconut” is the smaller package as it comes in two sizes.

First step of Frosting prep

Completed Frosting

Completed Cake

Doesn't this close up just make your mouth water?

Lemon Blueberry Cheesecake Bars

 Another Pinterest find (courtesy: www.pincookie.com).  This one I actually did a SEARCH for cause I was looking for something with Blueberries!  The only thing I’ve change is that I only made HALF a recipe since (1) I only had 8 oz of Cream Cheese on hand and most importantly (2) I knew I’d be the one eating it all and I didn’t want a whole one LOL  Oh and I used Frozen Organic Blueberries since I didn’t have fresh which worked out just fine.  I did still use a 9x9 baking dish so mine just turned out thinner than original version BUT oh so sinfully delicious!!!  I could literally eat the whole thing … but I won’t LOL.  If you want the full recipe you’ll either have to do the math or go to the website where original recipe is found.  Here’s the link: http://www.pincookie.com/lemon-blueberry-cheesecake-bars-2/

Lemon Blueberry Cheesecake Bars

(NOTE: Double ingredients for full sized bars)

For Base:
Butter, for greasing
1 Tblsp Sugar*
1/16 Tblsp Ground Cinnamon
4-1/2 Graham Crackers
¼ stick Unsalted Butter, melted

For the Filling:
8 oz Cream Cheese, room temperature
1 Egg
1 Lemon, zested and juiced
1/4 cup Sugar*
1 cup Frozen Blueberries, thawed

Preheat oven to 325°

For the Base:

Grease bottom of a 9x9-inch baking pan with Butter.  Place parchment paper (cut to size) over the Butter, pressing down at the corners. In a food processor, process the Sugar, Cinnamon and Graham Crackers until you have the consistency of breadcrumbs.  Add the Melted Butter and pulse a couple of times to fully incorporate.  Pour into the lined baking pan and firmly pat down with the bottom of a glass.  Bake for about 5-7 minutes, or until set.

For the filling:

Add Cream Cheese, Egg, Lemon Zest, Lemon Juice, and Sugar to the food processor and pulse until well combined.  It should have a smooth consistency.  Pour onto the cooked base and then sprinkle with Blueberries. They will sink slightly but should be half exposed.

Bake for 15-30 minutes, or until the center only slightly jiggles.  Cool completely and then refrigerate for at least 3 hours.  Once set, remove from pan using the parchment lining and slice into 10 rectangular bars.

*I use Organic Sugar so I used less than the above recipe called for.

Mini-Cinis (Cinnamon Rolls)

I had forgotten all about this recipe that I found in Southern Living years ago.  Meant to make them while the kids were here for New Years but with all the food we had in the house, I didn’t.  Forgot too, how very easy they are to make … apparently too easy cause I made a half a recipe last night and by hmmmmm … about an hour ago they are all gone … I’m embarrassed to say … I ate every last one of them!  So much for the FIVE pounds I lost between Thanksgiving and Christmas and have managed (thus far) to keep off!  Like I said … too easy to make LOL

Anyway, this is the recipe as I found it in Southern Living … I quadruple the Icing cause I like lots of it on mine and believe me … its not too much!  For my ‘half recipe’ last night though I only doubled the Icing.  The italicized wording is MY own added hints.

NOTE: Pictures are of a half recipe, except for the Icing, I doubled that.

Mini-Cinis (Cinnamon Rolls)

Makes 2 Dozen

2 (8 oz) cans Refrigerated Crescent Rolls

6 Tbsp Butter, softened

1/3 cup Brown Sugar, firmly packed

¼  cup Pecans, finely chopped (optional)

1 Tbsp Sugar

1 tsp Ground Cinnamon

Icing

2/3 cup Powdered Sugar

1 Tbsp Milk or Half-n-Half

1/4 tsp Vanilla Extract

1/8 tsp Salt

Unroll crescent rolls and press diagonal perforations to seal so you end up with two rectangles.  Lay out on flat surface (I place mine on Parchment Paper to keep it from sticking to my granite countertop) and lightly roll it with a rolling pin. 

Stir together butter and next four ingredients.  Spread mixture evenly over one side of each rectangle.  Roll up jellyroll fashion.  Cut into 1 inch thick slices, using a serrated knife.  Place rolls 1/4 inch apart into 2 (8 inch) greased cakepans.  Bake at 375° for 15-18 minutes or until golden brown.  Watch them because my oven cooks them in like 12 minutes.  Cool 5-10 minutes. 

Stir together powdered sugar and remaining ingredients.  Drizzle over warm rolls. 

Helpful Hint: To make slicing easier, place unbaked rolls on baking sheet and freeze 10-15 minutes. 

Banana Puddin'

Yep there’s lots of Banana Puddin’ recipes out there but here’s one more that is definitely worth a try … plus it’s an easy one and I wouldn’t be adding it to my blog if it wasn’t delicious.  I shared some once with a neighbor and her children and they loved it … it is pretty darn good if I must say so myself.  It’s not my recipe though … I got this one from one of my nieces though her recipe calls for Pepperidge Farm Chessman cookies which are good but I prefer Nilla Wafers. 

Banana Puddin’

6-8 Bananas, sliced

1 box Instant Vanilla Pudding

Milk (to make pudding as directed on box)

8 oz Cream Cheese, softened

1 can Sweetened Condensed Milk

1 sm Cool Whip*

1 box Nilla Wafers

Layer bottom of pan with Nilla Wafers and cover wafers with lots of banana slices.  Prepare pudding as directed on box.  Blend pudding, cream cheese and condensed milk.  Fold in Cool Whip.

Begin layering pudding mixture with bananas … when you reach the last layer add more Nilla Wafers on top.

*Note to self: Cool Whip contains hydrogenated oil … next time take the time to make your own whipped cream … its easy and even more tasty.

Mama's Southern Bread Puddin

Lord my Mama was a great cook as was her Mama before her, my Nanny … well come to think of it there isn’t a bad cook in the family, at least on the McKellar side … I don’t know much at all about the Kincaid side except my Daddy was a great cook but he learned mostly from watching food shows on television.  All of us have a reputation for being great cooks … from family reunions, to church dinners, to cooking for friends and family … we always get rave reviews.

Bread Puddin (pudding to those of you with no Southern blood running through your veins lol) … now that’s one of those recipes everyone has a recipe for.  There’s some version of it in most every country: Italy, France, Germany, Ireland, England … I could go on and on.  Most every version calls for the basics: Milk, Bread, Sugar, Butter, Eggs, Vanilla … the amounts all vary and the density of the final cooked pudding also differs.  Some leave their bread sliced and some crumble it up … Some add raisins or other fruit … and Some even have a sauce over them, as the Irish version does (Whiskey Sauce), but in my opinion, and everyone else who has had my Mama’s version, its not needed.

I don’t keep Whole Milk in my house unless, of course, I’m making something like my homemade Mac n Cheese which just cannot be made so delicious without using Whole Milk/Half n Half … sooooooooo for this recipe, which I usually make when I’ve got some leftover bread of some sort that needs to be used, I use my Silk Very Vanilla but you can still use Whole Milk as it calls for … the Silk though works just as well!  As for the bread I use … I’ve used everything from regular sandwich bread to leftover hamburger buns to leftover artisan bread … the only difference is, depending on the type bread, you add more or less Milk (or Silk in my case).

About the missing measurement for the Milk … that’s because as I’ve just said the amount you use depends on the type of bread and how dried out it may be (day old, three days old, whatever).  The mixture must be very wet and really soupy before it goes into the oven … here's pictures showing the mixture before I popped it into the oven.

Finally, as for the optional nuts, I love using Pecans in mine but I sometimes leave them out because my hubby is not a fan of nuts in his food … something to do with the texture lol  Oh and the Coconut, its kinda optional too but then again ... it wouldn't be my Mama's Bread Puddin without it cause she loooooooved Coconut.

Oh and one more final hint … the key to ‘mixing it up’ is mixing it with your hands … Mama and my Nanny always said that adds a little Southern sweetness!!!

So here it is … my Mama’s Southern Bread Puddin

Mama’s Southern Bread Puddin

Loaf of Bread

1-2 cups Sugar

Whole Milk

2 sticks Butter (melted)

6 Eggs

14 oz Coconut

1 Tbsp Vanilla

Chopped Nuts (optional)

Tear bread up, mix eggs, sugar and remaining ingredients.  Add enough milk to make it soupy.  Pour into 13x9 inch pan.  Bake at 350 degrees til done.  

          

Nanny's Pecan Pie

The cookbook in this photo is the family cookbook I designed,
edited and had published.  I'm very proud of that cookbook!

This is my Nanny’s recipe … best Pecan Pie I’ve ever eaten though I do use a different type of syrup than she did and I prefer my Pecans chopped whereas she kept hers in halves.  Nanny used Blackburn-Made Syrup (made by a company in Texas) and I prefer a cane sugar based syrup (Roddenberry’s Cane Patch Syrup which only has 3 ingredients and is 35% cane syrup … though there are other brands I’ve used in the past which are very similar).  To me, mine is just a wee bit better than my Nanny’s … she, of course, thought hers was better but she was proud that I used her recipe and didn’t use Karo Syrup like a lot of folks do.  She always said that “Karo syrup has no business in a Pecan Pie” LOL  Now, I’ve made this Pecan Pie for years and years and even used to make it for my husbands English grandmother, who always requested it saying it was the best she had ever had!!!  I once made it in Canada for her on one of our frequent trips years ago … great memories!  My son, Anthony, always requests it and says that no one’s Pecan Pie is as good as his Moms! 

This recipe makes one regular size pie.  I like a deep dish Pecan Pie cause you get more of the oooy gooey insides so I make one and a half recipe which is perfect for a deep dish pie crust.  If you want to make it a deep dish pie, you’ll have to do the math LOL

Nanny’s Pecan Pie

1 cup Syrup

¾ cup Sugar

3 Tblsps Butter

3 lrg Eggs or 4 small, slightly beaten

1 tsp Vanilla

1 cup Pecans (I prefer mine chopped)

Preheat oven to 350°.  In a saucepan, cook the Syrup and Sugar on medium heat until the Sugar is dissolved.  You do not want it to come to a boil.  NOTE: if it is boiling and you add the eggs, they will cook like your making egg drop soup and you DO NOT want that!  Pour in Eggs and whisk until blended, add Vanilla and Butter.  Once Butter is melted, remove from heat and stir in the Pecans.  Pour into an uncooked ready made pie crust.  Bake for 40-45 minutes or until the top has browned.

I placed this pie on a plate I inherited from my Mama ... sadly I have no idea what the story behind the plate is since in 1952 she would have been 16 ... maybe it was a birthday gift, I don't know.  I do know that she made her own birthday cake on her 16th birthday so I feel sure it has something to do with that.  But since my Mama is gone ... I will never know.  Makes me sad but I'm glad that I have it!

Daddy's Peanut Butter Fudge

My sister and I, along with our daughters make this every Christmas when baking our Christmas Goodies, just as my Daddy did when we were growing up.  It’s the best and creamiest Peanut Butter Fudge I’ve ever had … though some I’ve had from candy stores was pretty darn close.  I remember when I was a kid Daddy would sit it outside on the snow topped picnic table, covered, of course, to harden.  Snow?  Yes, we lived in Kansas at the time … you’d be waiting a long time to get a snow covered picnic table in SOWEGA lol  This Fudge is easy easy easy to make but patience is needed to get it to the right stage before adding the peanut butter.  Brings back so many good memories.  

Now, you do not want to try to double this recipe because we tried that one year and it DID NOT work out.  If you want to make several batches, you’ll have to make individual recipes.  This recipe always seems to be just the right amount for mine and my sister’s family … after it has hardened, cut into 1x1 inch squares … perfect size.  Yummmm

Daddy’s Peanut Butter Fudge

1 cup Evaporated Milk

2 cups Sugar

1 tsp Vanilla

1 Tbsp Butter

1-1/2 cups Extra Crunchy Peanut Butter

                                

Mix together Milk and Sugar in heavy 4-quart pot over medium to medium low heat.  Cook until soft ball forms when a tad is dropped into a glass of cold water.  This is important because if you don’t take it to this step the end result will be a grainy fudge because the sugar has not totally dissolved.  Remove from heat, add Butter.  Stir in Extra Crunchy Peanut Butter and Vanilla.  Pour into a Pyrex 8x8x2 inch dish that has been greased with butter.  Cool in fridge to harden. 

Fresh Apple Pound Cake

This was originally my Nanny’s recipe passed down to my Mama.  It’s probably not written like your used to but this is the way my family wrote down recipes … a lot of it assumes you know what you’re doing … believe me, there was a time I’d have to ask questions about this hand written recipe too.

 So here it is as I would have written it down for all of you:

Fresh Apple Pound Cake

1-1/2 cups Cooking Oil (I use Extra Virgin Olive Oil)

2 cups of Sugar

3 Eggs

3 cups Sifted Flour

1 tsp Salt

1 tsp Baking Soda

2 tsp Vanilla Flavoring

3 lrg Apples (Peeled, Cored and Cubed)

1 cup Pecans, chopped

Glaze:

1 stick Butter

½ cup Light Brown Sugar, packed

2 Tblsps Milk

Preheat oven to 325°.  Combine and beat Oil, Sugar and Eggs on medium speed for 3 minutes.  Add Flour, Salt, Soda and Vanilla and beat until blended.  Fold in Apples and Pecans. 

Pour into a greased and floured Tube Pan and bake for 1 hour and 20 minutes or until toothpick inserted into middle comes out clean.

After cake has cooled, heat the Butter, Light Brown Sugar and Milk and bring to a boil for 2 minutes.  Pour over completely cooled cake.  The glaze will be thin but will soak into the cake.

Fresh Apple Pound Cake before placing in oven

Look what happened as I went to place my cake in the oven ...
I was wearing a long necklace (not a good thing when cookin)
and off popped the 'keys' and into the back of the oven they flew
LOL ... I had to use plastic coated tongs to remove them!

Fresh Apple Pound Cake before adding Glaze.

I made this cake for the first time over the weekend and it was just as delicious as I remembered it.  Perfect for this time of year ... being apple season and fall and all … hope ya'll enjoy it too!