Sweet Potato Casserole

4 - 8 sweet potatoes (depending on the size of the pan you use and the size of the potatoes)
1/4 ((1/2 stick) - 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
1/2  - 1 cup brown sugar
1/2  - 1 bag marshmallows

Boil unpeeled sweet potatoes until easily pierced (not too soft, now). When cool, peel.

Preheat your oven to 350. Slice potatoes and layer in an 8 x 8 or a 9 x 13 pan. Thinly slice some of the butter and randomly drop them on the potatoes. Sprinkle some of the brown sugar over the top. Repeat until you have 3 or 4 layers. Sprinkle (if using mini-) or place (if using large) marshmallows, covering the potatoes. Bake until marshmallows are nicely browned.

American Chop Suey

Poppa never gave any precise ingredients for his American Chop Suey recipe. I am not even sure how I came up with the one you kiddos are used to...maybe from your father? Poppa's version sat on the stove in a MONSTROUS pot, from which anyone entering the house would scoop massive quantities into their bowls and chow down. So good! Here is the recipe you are familiar with--the smaller-potted version:

American Chop Suey

Ingredients
(will serve four)

• olive oil
• 6-8 cloves of garlic, crushed garlic
• 1 small onion, diced
• 1-1 1/4 lb. ground beef or turkey
• 1 small can diced tomatoes (10 oz.?)

Radiatore 

• 2 small or 1 large can tomato puree (28 oz.?)
• Worcester sauce
• oregano to taste
• basil to taste
• garlic salt to taste
• pepper to taste
• 1 box of elbow macaroni (Mama prefers Radiatore)

Into the bottom of a good-sized pot, pour a thin layer of olive oil. Add the garlic and the onions, and cook on medium heat for one minute. Add your ground meat to the pot, and cook until no pink remains. Drain off any grease. Add tomatoes, puree, Worcester, oregano, basil, garlic salt, and pepper. Combine well. Cover your pot and simmer on low for several hours. (You can even transfer the sauce into your crockpot and set it to low for a few hours.)

Prepare your pasta according to directions. Drain thoroughly and mix with sauce. Delish!

Poppa would serve this dish with Italian bread from Micucci's (I think, although your father may remember better), and a salad served in a bowl he had rubbed the inside of with fresh garlic. Sure miss Poppa's cooking!

Enjoy!

Love,
~Mama

Italian Cookies

Italian Cookies are requested by you three every Christmas...and if I don't make them, there is hell to pay (as I found out one year when I was not "feeling it").

Your Auntie Vikki used to make these delicious cookies every year. The recipe came from Sue Caiazzo, her former mother-in-law, and your cousin Tony's grandma. Auntie Vikki used to make (and probably still does) Lemon Drops, Chocolate Drops, Hand Cookies, and Jelly-Nut Loaves. At one time I did too, but it was a lot of work and a good lot of the cookies ended up wasted. Now, I only make two out of the four. This year I made Lemon Drops and my own rendition of Jelly-Nut Loaves, which I loved even better than the original (sooooo much easier)!  Here are the recipes (NOTE: each of these recipes requires the same basic ingredients and the same frosting.)

Peanut Butter Blossoms and Mama's Italian Cookies

Lemon Drops (pictured)
(makes at least 3 dozen)

4 cups flour
6 teaspoons baking powder
1 cup sugar
6 eggs
1 cup oil
1 small bottle of lemon extract (1 oz.)
1 box (1 lb.) confectioners sugar

Preheat oven to 350. Thoroughly mix together, by hand, all ingredients in a large bowl. If the dough seems too oily add more flour until a stiffer dough develops. Roll into 1 inch balls and place on an ungreased baking pan. Flatten cookies a bit with the bottom of a drinking glass. Bake for 11-12 minutes (until barely golden on the bottom). Let cookies cool on a wire rack. Frost with a mixture of confectioners sugar and water: Add a little water to 1 pound of conf. sugar and stir with a fork. Add only enough water to make a thick drizzle. Dip each cookie into the frosting and let it air dry on the wire rack. Pour the extra frosting into the corner of a plastic bag. Cut a tiny hole in the corner and drizzle patterns on the dried cookies. Let dry again.

Jelly-Nut Thumbprints (pictured--Mama's version)
(makes at least 3 dozen)


4 cups flour
6 teaspoons baking powder
1 cup sugar
6 eggs
1 cup oil
1 small bottle of anise extract (1 oz.)
small jar seedless raspberry jam
chopped pecans
1 box (1 lb.) confectioners sugar

Preheat oven to 350. Thoroughly mix together, by hand, all ingredients in a large bowl. If the dough seems too oily add more flour until a stiffer dough develops. Roll into 1 inch balls and place on an ungreased baking pan. Flatten cookies a bit with the bottom of a drinking glass. Use your thumb and create a well in the middle of each cookie. Fill each well with a little raspberry jam. Sprinkle with chopped pecans. Bake for 11-12 minutes (until barely golden on the bottom). Let cookies cool on a wire rack. Drizzle with a mixture of confectioners sugar and water: Add a little water to 1 pound of conf. sugar and stir with a fork. Add only enough water to make a thick drizzle. Pour the frosting into the corner of a plastic bag. Cut a tiny hole in the corner and drizzle patterns on the cookies. Let dry on the wire rack.

Jelly-Nut Loaves
(makes close to 3 dozen)


4 cups flour
6 teaspoons baking powder
1 cup sugar
6 eggs
1 cup oil
1 small bottle of anise extract (1 oz.)
small jar seedless raspberry jam
chopped pecans
1 box (1 lb.) confectioners sugar
colored dots (sprinkles)

Preheat oven to 350. Thoroughly mix together, by hand, all ingredients in a large bowl. If the dough seems too oily add more flour until a stiffer dough develops. Divide dough into thirds and roll each out until a thin rectangle. Spread jam all over and sprinkle on nuts. Carefully roll up and bake for about 20 minutes, or until a light golden brown. Frost with the same water/conf. sugar mixture. Sprinkle with colored dots while wet. When dry, slice each loaf on the diagonal.


Chocolate Drops
(makes at least 3 dozen)

4 cups flour
6 teaspoons baking powder
1 cup sugar
6 eggs
1 cup oil
1 small bottle of almond extract (1 oz.)
1 box (1 lb.) confectioners sugar
Marciano cherries, cut in halves

Preheat oven to 350. Thoroughly mix together, by hand, all ingredients in a large bowl. If the dough seems too oily add more flour until a stiffer dough develops. Roll into 1 inch balls and place on an ungreased baking pan. Flatten cookies a bit with the bottom of a drinking glass. Bake for 11-12 minutes (until barely golden on the bottom). Let cookies cool on a wire rack. Dip each cookie in water and conf. sugar mixture and let it air dry on the wire rack. Pour the extra frosting into the corner of a plastic bag. Cut a tiny hole in the corner and drizzle patterns on the dried cookies. Press a cherry half into the center of each cookie. Let dry again.


Hand Cookies
(makes at least 3 dozen)

4 cups flour
6 teaspoons baking powder
1 cup sugar
6 eggs
1 cup oil
1 small bottle of anise extract (1 oz.)
1 box (1 lb.) confectioners sugar
colored dots (sprinkles)

Preheat oven to 350. Thoroughly mix together, by hand, all ingredients in a large bowl. If the dough seems too oily add more flour until a stiffer dough develops. Roll into "snakes" and form into the letter "S" and snail shapes. Bake for 11-12 minutes (until barely golden on the bottom). Let cookies cool on a wire rack. Dip each cookie in water and conf. sugar mixture, sprinkle with colored dots, and let it air dry on the wire rack.

Peanut Butter Blossoms

Aly's favorite!

Peanut Butter Blossoms
(makes 1 dozen) 

1 egg
1 cup sugar
1 cup of peanut butter

Mix these three ingredients together with a hand mixer until combined. Drop 1 1/2 inch balls on cookie pan. Do not flatten. Bake at 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes. In the meantime, unwrap as many Hershey's Kisses as cookies in the oven.  Immediately after taking cookies out of the oven, smoosh a Kiss into the middle of each hot cookie, flattening it considerably.

Store in an air-tight container. Yum!

Love,
~Mama

Three-Corn Casserole

Here it is! Mama's most-love side dish! I must admit, this recipe is not my own. I actually got it from a Burnt Offerings, Volume II cookbook the Ladies Auxillary of the Cherryvale Volunteer Firefighters created and sold as a fundraiser. Gee, I must have bought the cookbook back in 1990 or 1991 when we live on Shaw Air Force Base in Sumter, SC. This recipe is actually from a lady named Faith Storey, whom I never met, but sure have been greatful to all these years. Admittedly, I have never come into contact with anyone else who made this besides me. Your dad has tried it from memory a few times...betcha mine is better!

Three-Corn Casserole

1/2 c. butter, softened
1 c. sour cream
1 egg
1 16 oz. can whole kernel corn, drained
1 16 oz. can  cream-style corn
1 9 oz. pkg. Jiffy corn muffin mix

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Mix butter, sour cream, and egg. Stir in both corns. Blend in dry muffin mix and spoon into a well-greased 8x8 inch casserole or pie plate. Bake for 1 hour until puffed up, golden brown, and slightly crispy on top. Serves 6 to 8.

You make this for your significant others and your kiddos, you hear? We'll just keep this recipe in our family and continue to Wow! our guest when we share it.

Love,
~Mama

Triple Chocolate Cake

We never had money for birthday parties when I was a girl. I remember only one--on my ninth birthday. My mother was wonderful about acknowledging our special day, though. There were always a few gifts, messily wrapped and impossible to open. (SO much tape!) She always made us a cake, too. I remember her frosting...really, really sweet, a mixture consisting solely of confectioners sugar and milk. She tinted it with liquid food coloring, pink, green or yellow, I remember. She loaded it with sprinkles.

I "professionally" decorated cakes from the time you, Aly, were a baby. Each of you had a fancy one for your birthdays, usually themed to represent your passion at the time...Whinnie the Pooh, Buzz Light Year, Pocahontas. I will detail this in another blog entry, though, because today I want to give you the recipe for one of your favorite childhood cakes. (Pretty random, yes, but I was thinking about Jay's upcoming birthday and how she loved this one.) You enjoyed it often, as it was not a birthday cake, but an all-occasion cake: Triple Chocolate Cake. Tell me you loved it! :)

Triple Chocolate Cake

1 package chocolate cake mix

1 (4 serving size) package chocolate Jell-O instant pudding and pie mix

1 3/4 cups of milk

2 eggs

1 (12 oz.) package semi-sweet chocolate chips

Combine cake mix, pudding mix, eggs, and chips in a large bowl. Mix by hand until well blended, about 2 minutes. Pour into a greased and floured 10-inch Bundt or tube pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 50 to 55 minutes, until cake springs back with lightly pressed. Don't over bake!. Cool for 15 minutes in pan, then remove. When completely cooled, shake confectioners sugar over the top.

Word is, this cake is even better if left to "mellow" for a day. We could never wait, however!

It is best slightly warm...with ice cream, of course. :)

I love sharing these memories with you, babies!

~Mama

Corned Beef and Cabbage

As you know, I was adopted by Nana and Pepe when I was just a few months old (one of these days I will scan the old photos and add them to this blog). My rightful heritage is German and Irish, though your grandparents are French through and through. Nana and Pepe were really thoughtful when it came to my biology. Neither of them kept the adoption a secret; in fact, through the years, they would cheerfully answer any questions I had and would disclose small details--as that is all they had since the adoption was a legally closed one. I have to say, as the primary parent I talked adoption with, Nana never made be feel ashamed to ask about my birth parents or my adoption story.

As I got older, Nana made it her special treat to me to make Corned Beef and Cabbage every year on Saint Patrick's Day. I don't remember when or why the tradition got started, but it became one I look forward to every year. As an adult, I have carried the treasured torch, and since 2003, I have actually been cooking all the special meals for them!

This year St. Patty's was on Thursday, a work day; therefore today, Sunday, we will feast on one of my favorite meals ever. I just love the nostagia! Here is the recipe (a simple one) for you to share one day with your own families. Perhaps you will carry the torch and cook it for me!

Corned Beef and Cabbage

1 corned beef brisket (find the brands that have the spices enclosed)
5 pound bag of red potatoes, unpeeled, whole
1 bag of baby carrots
1 bag small onions, peeled, but whole
One head of cabbage, quartered

Place corned beef in a large pot and cover with water. Cover and simmer for about 2 hrs. Add potatoes and onions (you may have to add more water to cover everything). Cover and continue simmering for 1 hour. Add carrots. Place cabbage on top of the other succulent ingredients. Continue simmering, covered, for a half hour. Serve it all with dark bread slathered with real butter.


Remember!! (In spite of how much your father hammered the Italian "thing") You're Irish, too, my loves!

~Mama

Apple Sandwiches

Pepe used to make Uncle Craig and I Apple Sandwiches for breakfast all the time. We LOVED them and would ask him the night before if he would make them the next morning. He cheerfully agreed every time and would even get out of bed on a Saturday morning just to make them for us. The Apple Sandwich was an invention of his own. The basic "recipe" was sometimes varied by substituting orange marmalade or strawberry jam for the sugar. I think our favorite was simply the basic.

As you kids were growing up, I would make these for you and you loved them, too. Dominic...you eat them pretty frequently even now. This is another "tradition" you can pass on to your own families. ;o)

Apple Sandwiches

1. Toast two slices of bread.
2. Immediately and generously spread butter on both slices (part of the goodness of this treat is the cinnamony, sugary, buttery drops left on the plate that you can either lick straight off the plate or from the plate with your fingers...mmmmmmmmmmm!).
3. Sprinkle cinnamon and sugar on each slice of buttered toast.
4. Slice one peeled apple creatively over one slice of toast--heap those slices!
5. Sprinkle more cinnamon and sugar over the apple pile.
6. Top with the waiting buttered, sprinkled slice of toast.
7. Cut in half diagonally. It is more fun to each this sandwich in triangles than in rectangles!
8. Swipe loose apples (a few slices will ultimately fall out and onto your plate) through the buttery goodness that has dripped from your sandwich.
9. Think of your mom and smile while you savor every bite!

Love and adoration,
~Mama

Tourtierre (Toochay [oo, as in foot]) Pie

This is a french meat pie you kids must remember. I generally make it every Christmas--at least I made it every Christmas after we moved back to Maine. I grew up with Tourtierre Pie at Christmas time. I especially loved it warmed over for breakfast on Christmas morning. I am pretty sure my great-grandmother, Nanny, made it. My own grandmother, Grammy, made it and served it with her homemade coleslaw--the best I have EVER had. How I wish I had that recipe to share with you! All I know is she would mix in one "secret" ingredient, which was "a little dijon mustard--but just a smidgen." Gram even grated the cabbage and carrots by hand before mixing in just the right amount of mayo--or was it Miracle Whip...I think it was, but I don't really know...I don't have the recipe, darn it! Oh! It was so, so good and so, so perfect with her hot-out-of-the-oven tourtierre pie. Another thing that she is so memorable for is her made-from-scratch pie crust. Devine! My mother's tourtierre pie was made in a store-bought pie crust, but the meat mixture was homemade. Her tourtierre pie was terrific as well. She inherited her marvelous knack for cooking from the two lovely women/ teachers before her.

I think my tourtierre pie holds its own! I DO NOT make homemade crust...Pillsbury works just fine for me . Please keep our family tradition going, guys, and keep making tourtierre at Christmas!

Tourtierre Pie

Peel and begin cooking 4-6 large potatoes for mashing.

Make ready the bottom pie crust in your 9 inch pie pan.

Thoroughly cook:

• 1 1/2 lbs. lean ground hamburg
• 1 1/2 lbs. ground pork
• about a 1/2 an onion, chopped

Add garlic salt and pepper to taste. Drain fat from meat mixture.
When your potatoes can be pierced with a fork, drain and coursely mash them with a large fork or a potato masher. (You can also used an electric beater, but only until the potatoes are course. You do not want to whip them--and do not add butter or milk as you would whipped potatoes.)
In a large bowl, add potatoes to the meat mixture. You will work toward a mixture that holds together--not too much potato now, but a mixture that is meaty and potatoey (you are smiling; I know it!).

Add a dash or two each of cloves and cinnamon. You will have to keep tasting until you get the flavor you remember. So much of the cooking I was taught did not come from a recipe. The flavors came together by look, feel, and taste and now you will have to do the same.

Into the bottom crust you've prepared, spoon the meat mixture until you have a slight, packed mound. Cover with the top crust and seal the edges. Make vents/slits in the top of the crust. Brush lightly with milk. Bake for about 30-40 minutes at 350 degrees or until the crust is the color you enjoy. I like it dark golden--crispy and flavorful. If you'd like, ladle some beef or pork gravy over your warm slice--and don't forget the coleslaw...mmmmmmmmm!

Enjoy my special Christmas memory, my loves!

~Mama