Molasses Cookies

The cookie jar is empty! Time to get with it and find a good, durable cookie. Can't think of one better than old fashioned molasses cookies. They're easy to make, they keep well, and they're just plain good.

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. While the oven is heating, stir together 2 1/4 c. flour, 2 t. baking soda, 1 t. ground ginger, 1 t. cinnamon, and 1/2 t. ground cloves and 1/2 t. salt.  Now toss in 1 c. of dark brown sugar, 3/4 c. Crisco, 1/4 c. molasses, and 1 egg and beat all the ingredients together.

Roll into little balls, roll lightly in sugar, and put onto a baking sheet, baking each batch for 10 minutes. This recipe will make 48 small cookies.

Enjoy!

Pita Bread

The other day I had a craving of sorts for homemade bread, but I didn't want anything heavy or cake-like. I looked in the pantry, found some whole-wheat flour and when decided upon pita bread. There's a really good recipe for it in the cookbook I received in 1984...one of my first "real" cookbooks, The Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook. Page 75.

To make the bread, you combine 1 pg. active dry yeast (1/4 oz. from a jar) with 1 1/4 c. warm (110-115 degree) water in the mixing bowl.  Add 2 cups of whole wheat flour, 1/4 c. Crisco, and 1 1/2 t. salt. Blend this on low speed for 30 seconds, and then switch to high speed to beat the mixture for 3 minutes. Once this is done, then mix in another cup of white flour with a spoon into the mixture. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead about 5 good minutes kneading in a bit more flour (around 1/4 to 1/2 c.) to make it nice and pliable and smooth (It makes a very pretty dough.) Then let it rest in a warm place covered for 15 minutes. Divide the dough into 12 separate portions, and roll each gently into a smooth ball. Cover with a damp cloth and let rest in a warm place for 10 minutes. Next, gently flatten each into a disk with the fingertips. Cover with a damp cloth and let rest in a warm place for 10 more minutes. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.
Take the disks out, one at a time, and roll them into  a flatter disk, about 4-5 inched across. Use a good floured board to do this to prevent sticking. Two by two, bake the pitas for about 3 minutes on each side in the 450 degree oven. Be sure to keep the unbaked portions covered with the damp cloth until you're using them. Once the pitas are done and cooled, when you use one, slice in half and then carefully slice into the pita (life filleting a fish.) Enjoy!

Provencal Vegetable Soup

When the temperature dipped and we saw rain for the first time in a long time, my thoughts went to make a good comfortable pot of soup.

My first trip was to the crisper; I came up with carrots, cabbage, leeks, celery, and a bit of spinach.  In the freezer I found peas. In the pantry I found a couple of potatoes, an onion, a can of diced tomatoes, 4 small cans of chicken broth, a pint of green beans.

In a bit of olive oil in the bottom of the soup pot, I sauteed diced onion, thinly sliced leeks, diced  celery, a bit of salt, and some garlic powder until they were soft. I then added the four small cans of chicken broth, the can of diced tomatoes, the peeled and diced potatoes, and the peas. To this I added two big bay leaves and around a teaspoon of herbes de Provence. Then it was time to simmer and simmer. The great thing about soup is the aroma that greets a person at the door and drifts through the house...true comfort.

This is a soup that gets better over the next couple of days as the flavors continue to blend. Enjoy!

Lovely Custard with Brown Eggs

A very nice lady where Tom works had an abundance of little brown eggs the other day. In addition to their being pretty to look at, they also had lovely yellow yolks. I took one look and immediately thought custard.

The recipe is very simple; to make four ramekin servings, heat 2 c. milk and 1 t. vanilla to a simmer. Once it's had a chance to simmer a bit, remove it from the heat and then add the combination of  8 whisked egg yolks and 1/4 c. sugar. The heat will cook the eggs without curdling them. Pour into the ramekins and put into the fridge until they set up to the consistency you like. Enjoy!