Wisdom From Grandma » Grandma’s Recipes

Basic Pancake Recipe

kthomas — Thu, 07 Sep 2006 19:43:42 +0000

Today, we use pancake mix, but back in Grandma’s day, they made pancakes from scratch. This recipe is similar to the one she used:

2 cups flour
2 cups milk
2 eggs (beaten)
1/3 cup butter (melted)
2 tablespoons sugar (optional)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

Makes approximately 8 pancakes

In a large bowl combine flour, milk, beaten eggs, 1/3 cup melted butter, sugar, baking powder and salt until just blended. Preheat lightly greased griddle or frying pan. Pour about 1/4 cup of batter into pan per pancake. Cook until pancakes begin to bubble. Flip once and cook for 1 to 2 minutes longer. Serve with maple syrup, jam or fruit.

* This is a basic, easy pancake recipe you can easily vary. Try adding fresh cut fruit or chocolate chips to the batter for variation.

Grandma’s Shrimp Creole Recipe

kthomas — Sat, 25 Mar 2006 13:39:02 +0000

This recipe actually came from one of her Southern in-laws, but Grandma didn’t say who she got it from on the recipe card. (Tip-this is not a fast dish to cook.)

You will need:
1/4 pound butter
1 cup chopped green pepper
1 cup chopped onions
1 cup diced celery
2 cups chopped canned tomatoes
1 cup tomato puree or 2 tablespoons tomato paste
2 bay leaves
3 pounds peeled shrimp
1 ounce lemon juice
a pinch of salt, pepper, and cayenne
2 ounces cornstarch

Directions:

1. Use your butter to saute the pepper, onion and celery over low heat for about five minutes.
2. Add the tomato puree or paste and the bay leaves to the pan and simmer for another 15 minutes.
3. Add your shrimp and cook for an additional 15 minutes.
4. Dissolve the cornstarch in a pint of water.
5. Pour the cornstarch mixture into the pan and simmer for five minutes.
6. Pour in your remaining ingredients and allow the entire thing to simmer for another 15 minutes.

We serve this dish over cooked white rice. It serves 8 people.

Grandma’s Favorite Pie Crust Recipe

kthomas — Fri, 03 Mar 2006 23:13:13 +0000

No matter how hard I tried, my pie crust always was heavy and doughy. Finally, I convinced my mom to give me Grandma’s favorite pie crust recipe, which makes a wonderful light flaky crust.

Ingredients:
2 cups flour (bleached all-purpose is what I use)
1 1/2 teaspons salt
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup cold water

Directions:
1. Sift flour and salt into a bowl.
2. Pour the vegetable oil in a measuring cup and pour the water on top of the oil. Don’t stir them together.
3. Dump the oil and water on top of the flour and salt.
4. Stir the ingredients with a fork until it is blended enough so that you can form the dough into two balls.
5. Use a rolling pin to roll out each ball into a circle of about 12 inches across. (You may want to put the dough between two pieces of wax paper to make it easier to roll it out.)
6. Carefully place the crust into your pie pan and get ready to make a delicious pie.

Grandma’s Recipe for Date Pinwheel Cookies

kthomas — Tue, 20 Dec 2005 01:48:44 +0000

These delicious date pinwheel cookies were one of Grandpa’s favorites. Although there are several steps to making the cookies and the recipe may look a bit complicated at first, these cookies are worth the extra effort.
To make the dough, you will need:
1/2 Cup of butter
1/2 Cup of brown sugar
1/2 Cup of granulated sugar
1/2 Teaspoon vanilla
1 Egg
2 Cups sifted flour
1/8 Teaspoon salt
1/4 Teaspoon soda

Directions:
1. Mix the ingredients well.
2. Chill for one hour.
3. Divide your dough in half.
4. Roll the dough into two 8×10 rectangles.

To make the filling, you will need:
7 Ounces of pitted dates
1 Teaspoon of lemon peel
1/2 Cup granulated sugar
1/8 Teaspoon salt
1/3 Cup of water
1 Cup of chopped pecans if you prefer nuts in your cookies

Directions for filling:
1. Simmer all filling ingredients for 5 minutes, stirring constantly.
2. Remove filling from heat.
3. Add pecans.
4. Allow filling to cool.

Directions for cookies:
1. Spread the date nut mixture on the two dough rectangles.
2. Roll each rectangle into a jelly roll.
3. Wrap the rolls separately.
4. Chill overnight.
5. Cut rolls into 1/8 inch slices.
6. Bake cookie slices on greased cookie sheets for 8 to 10 minutes at 375 degrees.

Grandma’s Holiday Punch Recipe

kthomas — Thu, 24 Nov 2005 17:39:37 +0000

Although this recipe is one of Grandma’s later creations, it is still a family favorite. This quantity of holiday punch will fill a standard size punch bowl.
Ingredients:
2 2 liter bottles of ginger ale
1 64 ounce carton of no pulp orange juice
1 64 ounce container of red fruit punch or red cranberry juice (The kids prefer fruit punch)

Directions:
Simply combine the ingredients in a punch bowl and enjoy. If you prefer a more festive look, you can freeze part of the red punch or cranberry juice in a jello mold ahead of time and add it to the bowl at the last minute. (Be careful so that you don’t splash punch everywhere!)

Grandma Maguire’s Jewish Pound Cake Recipe

kthomas — Tue, 25 Oct 2005 14:32:25 +0000

This recipe for Jewish pound cake was passed down to Grandma from her great-grandmother, who got it from her mother-in-law. Of course, the recipe has changed through the generations as more modern ingredients became available.

Ingredients:
1/2 pound butter
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
4 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 pint sour cream
2 teaspoons vanilla

Cinnamon Mixture Ingredients:
2 tablespoons cinnamon
3 tablespoons brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

Directions:
1. Cream butter and sugar together.
2. Add eggs to this mixture one at a time.
3. Sift together your dry ingredients.
4. Slowly add sour cream and your dry ingredients to the butter mixture, alternating the sour cream and the dry ingredients until they are all combined.
5. Add your vanilla.
6. Combine your cinnamon mixture ingredients in a separate bowl.
7. Grease your Angel food cake pan. Grandma also lined it with waxed paper.
8. Pour half of your cake mix into the pan.
9. Add half of your cinnamon mixture.
10. Carefully use a knife to mix the two together to create a marbelized effect.
11. Pour in the other half of your cake and cinnamon mixtures and then marbelize them.
12. Bake at 350 degrees for 75 minutes.
13. Allow the cake to cool thoroughly before serving.

Grandma’s Sugar Plum Spice Cake Recipe

kthomas — Sun, 02 Oct 2005 16:08:19 +0000

This recipe has a bit of a scandal attached to it. Nan says it was actually her recipe, but Grandma borrowed the recipe and took the cake to a party. From then on, everyone considered it to be Grandma’s Sugar Plum Spice Cake recipe. I guess they thought Nan was too young to come up with something this delicious!

Ingredients:

1/2 Cup of shortning
2 1/2 Cups of cake flour
1 Teaspoon baking powder
1 Teaspoon baking soda
3/4 Teaspoon salt
3/4 Teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 Teaspoon cloves
1 Cup granulated sugar
2/3 Cup brown sugar packed down

1 Cup plus 2 tablespoons of sour milk
2 Eggs
1 Cup of cooked prunes
Frosting

Instructions:

1. Soften shortning.
2. Sift in dry ingredients.
3. Stir in brown sugar.
4. Add 1 cup of milk and beat the mixture for one to two minutes.
5. Add eggs and the two remaining tablespoons of sour milk.
6. Beat the mixture for an additional minute.
7. Pour mixture into ban and bake at 375 degrees for approximately 25 minutes. Test doneness with a toothpick.
8. Let cake cool and then frost with your favorite frosting.
9. Cut your prunes into small pieces and spread them on top of the cake.

(For an extra special cake, bake several small round cakes instead of one large one and create a layer cake, with the frosting and prunes between each layer.)

Grandma’s Devil’s Food Cake Recipe

kthomas — Tue, 20 Sep 2005 20:42:32 +0000

Ingredients:

5 tablespoons of butter
1 Â¼ cups of sugar
3 Â½ squares of baking chocolate
3 eggs
1 teaspoonful of vanilla
Â¾ a cup of milk
3 Â½ level teaspoonfuls of baking powder
1 Â½ cups of sifted flour

Instructions:

1. Melt chocolate.
2. Cream the butter, sugar and chocolate together.
3. Add your eggs and vanilla, and beat together until they are very smooth.
4. Sift your baking powder with one-half a cup of the flour and then combine with your blended ingredients.
5. Add the milk and the remaining flour, gradually, until the mixture stiff enough to drop from a spoon.
6. Beat your mixture until it is smooth.
7. Bake in a 350 degree oven until a toothpick comes out clean.

Grandma’s Recipe for Perfect Shrimp

kthomas — Thu, 15 Sep 2005 14:42:46 +0000

Grandma’s recipe for shrimp is so simple and easy, but they taste so good. Almost everyone who eats these shrimp asks for the recipe.

1 teaspoon of salt

Enough water to cover shrimp

a few celery tops with leaves

1 tablespoon of pickling spice

Combine above ingredients and boil until the shrimp turns pink.

Drain.

Grandma’s Oven Fried Chicken

kthomas — Fri, 09 Sep 2005 18:53:55 +0000

Over the years, this delicious fried chicken dish has been updated to be a bit healthier, but it still tastes wonderful. We rarely eat leftovers when we have this meal, since there is usually no chicken left.

Ingredients:
1 Cup of breadcrumbs or crushed cereal flakes
1/4 Cup of grated Parmesan cheese
3/4 Teaspoon of salt
1/4 Teaspoon of garlic powder
1/4 Teaspoon of pepper
1/2 Cup of butter or milk
3 Pounds of chicken (Grandma killed, plucked, and cut up her own chicken, but we just buy a three pound pack of breasts, wings, or thighs from the store.)

Directions:
1. Heat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Skin chicken.
3. Melt butter and dip chicken pieces in the butter. (Or coat them with milk.)
4. Dip chicken pieces in bread crumbs or crushed cereal flakes until they are thoroughly coated.
5. Grease a 12 x 8 baking pan.
6. Place chicken in the pan and bake for one hour.

Serves four hungry people or six dieters.