PRIZE-WINNING COCONUT CAKE

This is one of the many recipes I inherited in the treasure trove of recipe boxes from my mother's estate.

1 3/4 cups cake flour
2 1/4 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup shortening
1 cup + 2 tbsp sugar
2 eggs, unbeaten
2/3 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla
2/3 cup coconut
extra coconut for sprinkling over frosting, if desired

Sift together three times: flour, baking powder, and salt. Cream shortening with sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each. Then add the flour mixture, alternately with the milk, beating until smooth. Mix in the vanilla and coconut.

Pour batter into two round 8-inch layer cake pans, lined on bottom with waxed paper. Bake in a moderate oven (375) for 25 to 30 minutes. Cool and frost with your favorite frosting and sprinkle top and sides with additional coconut, if desired.

file photo for reference

COFFEE ANGEL FOOD CAKE AND BUTTERCREAM FROSTING

This recipe is from the 1960s when it was a favorite in the South.

1 1/2 cups sifted sugar, divided
1 cup sifted cake flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/4 cups egg whites
1 1/2 tsp cream of tartar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp instant coffee powder or granules

Sifting is important to this recipe and directions should be followed for best results. Combine 1/2 cup of the sugar with the cake flour and sift together 4 times.

Add the salt to the egg whites in a clean and cool mixing bowl; beat until foamy. Sprinkle the cream of tartar into the egg whites and continue beating until soft peaks form. Add the remaining cup of sugar, 1/4 cup at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat until stiff peaks form.

Fold in the vanilla and coffee. Fold in the flour mixture, a half cup at a time, beating well after each addition.

Pour the batter into an ungreased 10-inch tube pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 to 45 minutes. Remove from the oven and invert pan over a wire rack.

Ice the above cake with this icing:

Coffee Butter Cream Icing
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/4 tsp salt
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
3 to 4 tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla
2 tbsp instant coffee
slivered toasted almonds for garnish, if desired

Cream the butter and salt together in a large mixing bowl. Sift the sugar into the creamed mixture, a little at a time, beating well after each time. Add enough milk to make the icing of a good spreading consistency (icing that is too stiff is hard to spread on angel food cake) and mix well. Add the vanilla and coffee and beat until light and fluffy. Spread over the cooled cake. Sprinkle with the almonds, if desired.

file photo of this recipe

 

MYSTERIOUS ORANGE CAKE

Here is an old recipe clipping from an old women's magazine from my late mother's recipe stash.

 

HOMEMADE SWEET LIME PICKLES

 Some of these old recipes are sadly lacking in directions. The housewife back then knew what to do. 

This is a perfect example.

Slice 7 pounds of cucumbers and soak in 2 gallons of water. Add 2 cups of lime. leave in this for 24 hours. Wash well and soak in water for 3 more hours. 

Cover with this solution: 2 qt. vinegar 9 c. sugar 1 tbsp. salt 2 tsp. whole cloves 2 tsp. celery seed 1 tsp. mixed spices Let stand overnight in this solution. Bring to a boil and can.

file photo

PINEAPPLE AND CHEESE SALAD

This recipe is from a small Southern Indiana church community many years ago.

1 (No. 2 1/2) can sliced pineapple
1/2 lb cold Velveeta or American sliced cheese
18 large marshmallows, cut into fourths

Drain the juice from the pineapple. When well drained, dice the pineapple. Cube the cheese.

Mix:
3/4 cup sugar
Lump of butter (size of a small egg)
2 tbsp flour (rounded)
2 eggs

Stir in pineapple juice and cook, stirring constantly, in double boiler until thick, about 5 minutes. Let this custard get cold, then combine with diced pineapple, cubed cheese, and marshmallows. Sprinkle ground nuts on top (optional). Serve on a bed of lettuce leaf when chilled. Keep in refrigerator.

clipart

HELLMAN'S CLASSIC POTATO SALAD

1 cup Hellman's Real Mayonnaise

2 tbsp vinegar
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1/4 cup pepper
4 cups cooked, cubed, peeled potatoes (about 5 or 6)
1 cup sliced celery
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 hard-cooked eggs, chopped

Combine the mayonnaise, vinegar, salt, sugar, and pepper. Gently stir in the potatoes, celery, onion, and eggs. Cover and chill until serving time.  Serve on a bed of lettuce leaves, if desired.

file photo

LIST OF OLD TIME SAYINGS

This is a list of some old-time sayings I have gathered from old cookbooks. Hope you will enjoy them.

Willingness without action is like a cloud without rain; there may be lots of thunder and lightening but no parched ground is watered.

Too little to save, Too much to dump. That's what makes the housewife plump.

"A smile is a light in the window of the face by which the heart signifies it is at home and waiting. A face that cannot smile is like a bulb that cannot blossom." Henry Ward Beecher

You find yourself refreshed by the presence of cheerful people. Why not make earnest effort to confer that pleasure on others?

"Whatever is set before you eat, asking no questions for conscience sake." 1 Cor. 10:37

Be grateful for your doors of opportunity--and for the friends who oil the hinges.

I set out to find a friend, but couldn't find one; I set out to be a friend, and friends were everywhere.

"We may live without poetry, music and art,
We may live without conscience, and live without heart;
We may live without friend, we may live without books;
But civilized man cannot live without cooks."

"He may live without books--what is knowledge but grieving?
He may live without hope--what is hope but deceiving?
He may live without love--what is passion but pining?
But where is the man that can live without dining?"
By Owen Meredith

There is no indigestion worse than that of trying to eat your own words.

We do not know how inexpensive the seeds of happiness are or we should scatter them oftener.

Little acts of kindness are stowed away in the heart like bags of lavender in a drawer to sweeten every object around them.

Strive always to be like a good watch--open face, busy hands, pure gold, week regulated, full of good works. 

file photo for reference only

MARSHALL'S MARINATED MUSHROOMS

 This recipe was a favorite of actor and singer Ken Curtis who played Festus on the old TV series Gunsmoke, and his wife Torrie.

1 hard boiled egg yolk, mashed
1/2 cup malt vinegar
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
2 teaspoons chopped parsley
2 teaspoons prepared mustard
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons brown sugar
1 pound fresh mushrooms (small or medium)

Combine all ingredients except mushrooms in a saucepan.  Bring to a boil.  Add mushrooms.  Cover and let boil for exactly 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Remove from heat immediately and put in a quart jar.  When cool, refrigerate overnight.

Makes 1 quart.

MAXINE'S BAKED PORK CHOPS

This recipe was made frequently by Maxine back in my childhood Southern Indiana area over 50 years ago. 

4 pork chops (about 1 1/2 lbs.) 

1/3 cup diced celery 

1/2 cup water 

1/8 tsp. pepper 

2 tbs. brown sugar 

juice 1/2 lemon 

1/2 tsp. salt 

1/2 tsp. dry mustard 

2 cans (8-oz. each) tomato sauce 

Brown chops in fat. Place in shallow baking dish. Combine tomato sauce, water, celery, brown sugar, lemon juice and seasonings; pour over chops. Cover and bake in 350 degrees oven for 1 1/2 hours or until chops are tender.

file photo for reference only

MOM'S SUGAR CREAM PIE

This recipe was my late mother's. When my mother passed away, a gentleman came up to me at the visitation and told me she made the best sugar cream pies he had ever eaten.

1 baked pie shell
1/4 cup corn starch (don't skimp!)
1 cup sugar
2 cups milk
1 stick oleo
1 tsp vanilla
cinnamon
nutmeg

Mix together the sugar, cornstarch, and milk. Cook until thick. Remove from heat and add vanilla and oleo. Sprinkle with cinnamon and nutmeg. Pour into the pie shell and bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes.