When Grandma made her delicious muffins, she often did not have buttermilk on hand. Instead, she used one of her buttermilk substitute recipes. Her favorite used lemon juice. You simply add 1 teaspoon of lemon juice to 1/4 to 1/2 cup of milk. However, if Grandma did not have a lemon, she added 1 teaspoon of white vinegar to 1/4 to 1/2 cup of milk, instead.
Grandma’s chickens were great layers, so she always had plenty of eggs. One of her favorite tricks was to crack eggs into spaghetti sauce as the sauce was bubbling away. The eggs would develop a delicious spaghetti flavor as they cooked. Grandpa would scoop them out of the sauce and eat them over the next several days for lunch. My friend Connie has a version of spaghetti eggs where she shells hardboiled eggs and cooks them in the sauce. If you’ve never tried them, spaghetti eggs may sound odd, but they really do taste good.
Grandma knew that tea had healing properties well before there was scientific research to prove it. If you were stressed out, ill, or just a bit frazzled, Grandma would brew a cup of tea and offer you a homemade cookie. However, during the summer months, brewing hot tea can really be uncomfortable, so Grandma would switch to a refreshing pitcher of her iced tea.
Grandma’s tips for great tea:
1. Always empty the kettle completely and re-fill it with fresh water.
2. When brewing a pot of tea, use one bag for each guest and add an extra bag for the pot.
3. Don’t leave tea leaves or tea bags sitting in the pot or cup after brewing. Overbrewed tea is bitter.
4. Use fancy tea cups and take the time to sit and sip your tea.
5. Make refreshing iced tea by growing and picking fresh Lemon Balm, Lemon Verbena, or Peppermint. Bring water to a boil, pour over the leaves, let brew for five minutes, and strain the tea. Then, add several cups of your herbal iced tea to a pitcher of orange pekoe iced tea. (This tea is popular with children who don’t like straight herbal tea.)
