My best friend in high school was Troy Clark.  Literally we came "of age" together and the phone lines between our two homes burned up with our conversations about our fears, achievements, things to do, things to not to do, the latest top hits on WLS (Chicago), and on and on.

We, Troy and I, also plotted what seemed to be innocent excursions that somehow turned infamous such as the camping trip to one of the islands on Island lake:  it rained and rained, the boat leaked and nearly sank, and we lost a friends 10 1/2 HP Evinrude motor which abruptly fell off the back of the boat and disappeared into the water never to be seen again!

Or the night we sneaked out of my parent's house through a window to go "gigging" frogs!  We laid out this perfect plan to cover our ulterior plan and ate pizza and watched TV with my parents.  Then once we were sure my parents were sound asleep, we were on the move.  We took the family boat across the bay we lived on and into the next bay of Amacoy Lake.  In our wisdom we decided to row quietly up the inlet to the lake...pitch black sky, ghostly trees illuminated by our flashlights, quiet except for the sound of oars in the water.  Suddenly a bobcat on the shore screamed!  It scared us so much that we were each rowing so hard the boat was going in circles!

Wonderful memories, eh?

Troy's mother Daphne was like a second mother to me.  She would make these as a special treats especially around Christmas.  The simplicity of this recipe belies its deliciousness:

1 stick real butter
1 box (1 lb) confectioners sugar
1 tsp vanilla

Mix and roll out like pie dough.  Spread with plain creamy peanut butter and roll.  Cool and slice thinly

This recipe came to me from one of my college room-mate's mother.  She also used the pie crust recipe to make pecan tarts that were beyond delicious:

Never Fail Pie Crust  (Loren's Mother's recipe)

Measure 4 cups flour.  Then sift.  Work in 1 Tbs brown sugar and 2 cups lard until mixed thoroughly.  
In a cup, beat up 1 egg.  Add 1 tsp vinegar, 1 tsp salt.  Add water until cup is full.  Add to flour mixture.
This will be a very soft dough.  Put in refrigerator and chill. 
Divide dough into 8 balls.  Roll in saran Wrap and place in freezer.  
To make pie, remove a couple hrs before so it thaws thoroughly.  This dough can be rolled and rerolled without becoming tough.

Makes 8 single crust pies.

I first posted this recipe in September, 2013.  Yesterday I made it for the first time and it is excellent!  Here is the recipe once again:

"In case you have not noticed, fall is here...and it is apple season.  Soon my favorite apples (MacIntosh) will be hitting the local Bay Area markets.  Prepare your self for pie recipes.  In the meantime here is a recipe that will help prepare you for making apple pie:

Apple Cider SangriaYIELD: SERVES 4-6

 PREP TIME: 10 MINUTES

 TOTAL TIME:   One Hour 10 MINUTES


ingredients:1 bottle (standard size) of pinot grigio
2 1/2 cups fresh apple cider
1 cup club soda
1/2 cup spiced or regular brandy
3 honey crisp apples, chopped (I used two honey crisp and one Macintosh)
3 pears, chopped (I used one large Bosc pear)
1 navel orange sliced in half (top to bottom).  Then each half is sliced into 1/8" to 1/4" 1/2-moon like slices, include juice)
About 20 seedless red flame grapes, sliced in half

Combine all ingredients together and stir gently for a few minutes. Refrigerate for an hour or so (or longer!) before serving."


This recipe easily double and triples.  Yesterday...or rather Friday night when I made it...I doubled it.  Perfect.

Myrtle's Blonde Brownies

Do not grease pan  Bake 350.  
Melt 1/3 c. Ole - add 1 c packed brown sugar, 1 tsp vanilla.
Add egg and keep stirring in a bowl.
Add 1 c flour, 1 tsp B.P.
Add 6 oz of chocolate Chips, 1 c. nuts.
Press in ungreased and bake for 20 minutes.  
Cool 10 minutes before removing from pan.

Myrtle's Peanut Brittle

2 cups sugar
1 cup white syrup
1/2 cup boiling water
2 c peanuts.  I use Dry Roasted Peanuts
2 Tbs butter
1 tsp vanilla
1 Tbs soda  (Baking Soda)

Mix sugar, syrup and water.  Place on low heat and stir until dissolved, then stir briskly.  Cook until hard ball stage or 265 on thermometer.  
Then add peanuts and butter.  Cook until golden brown.
Remove from heat.  Stir in vanilla & soda and stir just until well blended.  Pour on 2 buttered cookie sheets and spread. You have to work fast after you add soda.  (Cool and break apart into chunks when it's cold.)

4 C. flour, 1-1/2 C. sugar, 1-1/2 C. Oleo, 1 tsp Salt, 1 tsp Soda.  Sift dry ingredients.  Work Ole in like pie crust.


Beat together 3 eggs, 1/2 C. buttermilk, 1-1/2 tsp vanilla.  Add to the above mixture.  Roll thin and cut with cookie cutters.  Bake at 375.  (I guess until they look done.  No time listed)  

Ok.  My memories to fill in the blanks.  When I did these I never sifted dry ingredients (except maybe powdered sugar.)  I don't think most people do these days.  That was an old time thing.  As I remember it, after baking, I left them on the pans for a little bit until they solidified enough that you could get them off without distorting whatever form you had them in.  I can't remember if she greased the cookie sheets or not but, I find that if you use parchment paper, you never need to grease a cookie sheet and there is no cleaning of pans.  Just throw the sheet away after all the cookies are baked.  The best invention since ---- well ---- sliced bread!

Let the cookies cool totally and then make the frosting.

Her recipe called for 3 Tbs milk, 1/2 stick butter, 1-1/2 tsp vanilla, and powdered sugar.  No amount given.  

Just melt the butter until soft but not hot, add the vanilla and milk.  Then add powdered sugar until it is the consistency you would like for your cookies.  I found I liked it just a little thinner so that they would form on the cookie and shine rather than like a heavy frosting that you spread on like a cake.  You can put portions of the frosting in small bowls and put food coloring in them if you would like.  Using some kind of frosting spreader with a variety of tips, decorate them however you like, also using things like sprinkles, Jimmies and other candies to add to the fun.

Keep them in an airtight container, perhaps with waxed paper in between layers to protect the frosting.  (Courtesy of Ellie Andrews)

My mother was a tremendously good bread baker.  When she could not sleep at night, she would get up and bake bread starting with that wonderful recipe she held in her head.  By time the rest of us were waking up she would be pulling loaves of freshly baked bread out of the oven and the kitchen was filled with mouth watering smells of the goodness we were about to have for breakfast.  She baked a stone-ground wheat bread that was my favorite.  She baked cinnamon rolls that even now so many years later...I savor.

Unfortunately when she died in 1988, so did that wonderful bread recipe that she held in her head.  Or so I thought.  Then a dear friend of mine that I've know since those first days of college wrote me an email that let me know she had Mom's recipe...and asked if I would like it.  Of course!  So, in Ellie's words, here is Mom's recipe for bread...and her cinnamon rolls:


"Mom's Buns  (I think this was the same recipe she used for bread, if I remember right  Notes in parenthesis are mine.)

Keep in mind that this recipe is written somewhat the old fashioned way as you'll see when you get to the flour and "Ole".

Put 4 C milk and 1/4 lb Ole in a large pan.  Bring to a boil.  Add 3/4 C sugar and 2 Tbs salt. (That always sounded like a lot of salt but, your Mom liked salt.)  Let cool.  Add 2 well beaten eggs.  Add 2 packages of dry yeast.  Add flour to make stiff.  (Huh?  Well, yeh.  About that much.)  Bake at 350 for 20 minutes.  This makes 60 buns.

Okay, I think a couple of things that were left out were the following.  First, after putting all ingredients together, you have to kneed it until it's "smooth and elastic" and then put it in a greased bowl, turn it over so there's grease on both sides, cover it with a light dish towel, put it in a warm spot and let it rise double.  Then punch it down, grab hunks of it and roll each in your hands and put on a greased cookie sheet or in a 9x13 inch pan.  Let rise a second time.  Then cook it at 350 for 20 minutes.  

I don't remember how many loaves of bread this would make but, I'm guessing at least 3 so just divide it into equal portions, put them in greased loaf pans, turn them so there's grease on the top too, and let rise.  I would imagine it takes close to 45 minutes to an hour for those to cook.  I remember her taking the loaf pans out and tapping them on the top to see if they were done.  She would also lick her finger and tap it on the bottom of the pan to hear how it would sizzle.  Never got brave enough to do that myself.  It always seemed a little like voodoo or magic to me!

I also remember that, instead of the milk, if she had boiled potatoes for a meal, she would save the potato water and use that instead.  

Okay, that's all I remember on those.  I do remember though that she would use the same recipe of bread dough to make her fantastic cinnamon rolls.  She'd let it rise once and then roll it out into a huge rectangle, cover it with a thick layer of soft butter, put brown sugar and cinnamon over the butter and then roll it up on the long side.  She'd then cut it into slices that were probably at least an inch and a half to 2 inches thick each.  In a 9x13 pan, I think she'd melt some butter first and then cover the bottom in a thick layer of brown sugar topped with loads of walnut halves and quarters.  No exact quantities, just handfuls of each spread liberally across the bottom.  Then the slices of dough were laid on top, covered, and left to rise again until they were about to the top of the pan.  I don't remember how long she would cook them but, I'd imagine it was close to an hour.  

Many a delicious, sticky cinnamon roll with nuts was eaten in her kitchen and dining room.  The taste was fantastic and the smell orgasmic!

Hope my memories of what she did that weren't written down are accurate.  I should declare a baking day and give them a try again.  Haven't made them in probably 30 years!  Life gets in the way when you're working every day and raising kids at the same time.  I used to cringe every time I'd make "Homemade dinner rolls", little frozen balls of dough that I'd pull out of a plastic bag from the grocery store to pop in the oven.  I knew that Mom Lysdahl would be rolling over in her grave!"  ~courtesy of Ellie Andrews

Yesterday I posted a recipe that I thought came from my Aunt Ruth.  Yet, as I went through the paperwork surrounding the recipe I became convinced that the recipe was from Jane Zimmerman...as is this recipe.

Who is Jane Zimmerman?  She is perhaps one of the most influential people in my life (outside of my parents).  Jane taught me independence.  In my freshman year of college I was looking for a part-time job...and she was looking forward for someone to do her yard work:  rake leaves, shovel snow, etc.  A mutual friend put us in touch with each other and this 18 year old kid and this 70+ year old woman became fast friends...I worked for her all though college and for a few years after college until she died.  Except by then it was not so much work as the two of us getting together for coffee and cookies in her kitchen and talking away.  Her house had a fireplace in every room because she loved fireplaces...and that is the way she had designed the house.  My favorite fireplace was the one in the kitchen...in the eating area of the kitchen.  The eating area had two walls that were solid plate glass overlooking her gardens...and one wall was the fireplace.  I have fond memories of sitting there at the table on a cold winter day with a warm fire crackling away and enjoying coffee and home-made goodies such as this recipe.  By the way, Jane's actual first name was Ruth!  Only her closest friends were allowed to call her "Jane."  I was one of those close friends.  I remember you Jane Zimmerman with love.  Here is her recipe:

Melt 1 package (6-oz) chocolate bits with 3 tablespoons corn syrup and 1 tablespoon water.  Stir to blend.  Add any crisp ready-to-eat cereal; stir until well coated.  Drop by teaspoons full on wax paper or aluminum foil.  Chill.

Variations:  1 cup flaked coconut & 3/4 cup candied cherries.
1 cup miniature marshmallows and 1 cup salted peanuts.
1 cup raisins and 1 cup nuts
1/2 cup chopped pecans and 1/2 cup chopped dates

Although this recipe is really a Christmas type of recipe, I am thinking why not for Halloween?!

1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup evaporated milk
1 tablespoon corn syrup
1 six-ounce package semi-sweet chocolate chips/bits
1 1/2 cups pacans

Method:  Mix sugar, evaporated milk & corn syrup in heavy 2 qt saucepan.  Cook & stir over medium heat until mixture boils & is bubbly all over top.  Boil and stir 2 minutes.  Remove from heat & stir in chocolate bits until they are melted.  Add pecans.  Drop with 2 teaspoons on to wax paper.  Chill.  (May use toasted almonds or salted peanuts)

This recipe, again from the back of a 3 x 4 card, does need some interpreting for intention:

"1 pint blueberries, 1/2 cup sugar.  Mix and spread in pan.   (What size I ask?).  Mix any cake mix according to the directions on the box.  Pour over the blueberry mixture.  1/2 of the cake mix.  Bake at 375 degrees for 45 minutes.  Serve with whipped cream."

My thought is that she used an 8" x 8" baking pan...hence using one half of the cake mixture.

Try it.  Enjoy it.

A few years ago I came across this recipe in Marion Cunningham's "The Fanny Farmer Cookbook."  My copy is the 12th edition from 1979.  I love this cookbook and recommend it as a basic book to have in your library of cookbooks.  Mine is old, stained with splotches of food and oil, the binding is broken...and yet I refer to it again and again.

Anyhow, I cannot take full credit for this recipe because it was in this cookbook that I first saw this recipe.  However over the years I've modified the original recipe enough where I believe I can call it my own.

It is October and the Macintosh apples are now in the market.  These apples are my preferred apples when baking.  Here is the recipe for the pie:

Basic pastry dough for 9-inch two pie crust
1 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
3 tablespoons flour
1 cup cranberries
1/2 cup raisins (I used golden raisins)
grated rind of 1 orange  (I hate to say this...but you can tell when it is enough)
5 large tart apples (my ratio is 4 Macintosh, 1 Granny Smith)
2 tablespoons of butter

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.  Line a 9-inch pie plate with half the pastry dough.  Stir the sugar, salt, nutmeg, cinnamon, flour, orange zest together in a large bowl.  Peel, core, and slice the apples and toss them along with the cranberries, raisins and orange zest in the mixture of sugar, flour, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg.   Pile the filling into the lined pie plate and dot with the butter.  Roll out the top crust and drape it over the pie.  Crimp the edges together and cut several small vents in the top.  Sprinkle with your favorite sugar/cinnamon mix.  Bake for 10 minutes, then lower the heat to 350 degrees and continue to bake for 30-40 minutes or until the apples are tender when pierced with a skewer and the crust is browned.

enjoy