Love, Laughter & Blueberry Pie

I love blueberries. I especially love to freeze them for a chilly snack or to use in smoothies. That's what I ended up doing with this batch. Even as I washed and prepared them for freezing, I couldn't help remembering a blueberry pie Mom made years ago. This was back when the world was larger than today, but somehow we had a lot more time on our hands. Time to make a homemade pie crust. Time to sit and visit with relatives over a cup of coffee. Whenever my Aunt or Grandma visited, most of the time was spent in the kitchen. The house wasn't perfect and the food wasn't prepared before they arrived. It seems to me that part of the joy of those visits was three women cooking up food and chatting a mile a minute. I remember Daddy saying he'd never heard so much talking and laughing in all his life. Isn't that what life is all about? Looking back, those moments that seemed so small at the time stand out in my memory. A simplier time filled with love, laughter and blueberry pie.
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Mom's Blueberry Pie
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Pastry for 2-crust pie (8-inch)
4 cups fresh blueberries, rinsed & drained
4 teaspoons lemon juice
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup sifted flour
1 teaspoon grated lemon peel
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons butter
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Pre-heat oven to 450 degrees. Sprinkle lemon juice over blueberries & toss. Mix sugar, flour, lemon peel, cinnamon, nutmeg & salt. Gently toss in blueberries. Turn mixture into a pastry shell, heaping slightly at center. Dot with butter. Top with additional pastry crust, crimping around edges to seal. Pierce top crust with a fork in several places. Bake at 450 degrees for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 degrees and bake 30 to 35 minutes longer or until crust is light golden brown. Cool on cooling rack.

Home Grown Green Beans

These are 'home grown' green beans a friend gave me recently. You can tell they are 'home grown' because they're not the perfect specimens you find in cans at your grocery store. It doesn't get much fresher than this! Maybe it's the fact that they're 'organic' without trying to be or the fact that I spent a wonderful hour snapping them, but these are the best beans I've had in a very long time.



Just cooking these green beans brought back memories of my Grandmother's kitchen and Summer canning. One Summer we had so many beans, Mom and Grandma harvested them by the clothes basket full while I snapped beans and manned the pressure cooker. For years there was always a quart jar of green beans to be found in the basement. Add a dab of bacon drippings, simmer for a couple of hours, and you have the perfect vegetable. Try it sometime with store canned beans if fresh aren't available. You'll have a taste of Summer and make some memories of your own.

MSG

I'm always on the lookout for recipes in our local paper, especially since they published one of mine from my Simple Cookery blog. This weeks food section had a long article on MSG (monosodium glutamate). I was surprised to find out the flavor enhancer has been around since 1908. Personally, I don't really get along with this additive or with sulfites. While I won't fall over with an allergic reaction to either, in moderate quantities, my face will flush almost immediately. Eventually I'll end up with a headache. Small quantities found in soups or other foods don't seem to bother me much. It's probably more a matter of 'layered' exposure to MSG. For instance, I probably get a lot more exposure at a food buffet than in a can of cream of mushroom soup.
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Growing up, we always had a can of Ac'cent in the kitchen. Mom and Grandma used it a lot in their meat dishes. I always thought of it more as a meat tenderizer for cheap cuts of meat than a flavor enhancer. At some point Mom stopped using it, and I've never used it in any recipes. I was surprised to find that a lot of my friends still use it. In one of Mom's cookbooks every meat, poultry and fish dish calls for Ac'cent. I always just omitted the ingredient not knowing what to substitue for it. Lately I've been thinking maybe I'm missing something. A little tenderizing, a little flavor, a little trouble breathing.....Next thing you know someone will tell me Worcestershire sauce has anchovies in it.
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Meat Muffins
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1 and 1/4 pounds ground beef
1/2 pound ground pork
3 slices bread torn into pieces (about 2 cups)
1 cup milk
1 egg, beaten
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon Accent
1/2 teaspoon thyme
1/4 teaspoon pepper
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Mix all ingredients together and divide into 12 equal portions. Pack lightly into muffin tin. Bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes.
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Meanwhile, blend together 1/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar and 1/3 cup ketchup. After about 20 minutes of baking time, spoon 2 teaspoons of ketchup mixture on top of each muffin and continue baking for another 20 minutes. Total baking time approximately 40 minutes.

Cherry Pie

Have you ever had a home-made cherry pie? Think for a moment before you answer that question. Maybe you've used a can of cherry pie filling to make your pie. Or, maybe you bought some fresh cherries at the farmer's market. True, those are home-made pies. But, have you grown your own cherries, picked them, pitted them, and filled a home-made pie crust with them? I have - once. My Mother did this once too. We learn from our mistakes and try not to repeat them.
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Years ago, near the Hollow, a wonderful neighbor let Mom pick some cherries from her tree. Being Mom's little helper, I ate more cherries than I picked. Eventually though Mom picked enough for a pie. Daddy's favorite dessert was pie of any kind. No matter how often Mom made one, he would say it had been years since she made a pie for him. Now I cannot tell you what this pie tasted like because I was pretty young at the time and most of my memories are about picking the cherries. I do know that Mom never tried making a fresh cherry pie again.
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Now, I have no doubt in my Mother's love for me. But she did believe in letting me make my own mistakes so I could learn from them. When I was a teenager and full of all the knowledge I needed, my Grandmother's recently planted cherry tree finally bore fruit. We were having special dinner for some friends, and I was determined to make a home-made pie. I was above even using a store bought pie crust. I picked and pitted the cherries. Mom's only advice to me was that fresh fruit tends to 'cook over' in the stove and that I should line the oven with foil so I didn't make a mess. I made the pie-crust. I noticed Mom making another as I was cooking the cherries. She said that she might as well make another crust since we had the table messed up anyway. I could say that Mom had 'the sight' and knew what was about to happen. In truth, I was using her old recipe from years ago, so she was reliving her cherry pie effort. I ended up with enough pie filling for two pies, so her extra crust came in handy. When both pies boiled over in the stove, I was very glad that I had lined it with foil.
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The pies were not so pretty, but they were good. However, they were very tart, so ice cream was definitely needed. I do have to say that everyone enjoyed them. Mom and I even laughed over our joint efforts at pie making. You definitely have to listen to Mom's advise. Whenever you can, opt for the refrigerated pie crust you can buy in stores now. It just makes life easier. And, finally, there is no shame in buying pie-filling. Just because you didn't grow the cherries, doesn't mean you didn't bake some love into the pie.
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Cherry Pie
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Pastry for 1-Crust Pie for a 9-inch pie pan
4 cups pitted, fresh sour red cherries
1 and 1/2 cups sugar
5 tablespoons flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
2 tablespoons butter
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Combine cherries, sugar, flour, salt and pour into pie shell, heaping slightly at the center. Sprinkle with almond extract, and dot with butter. Bake at 450 degrees for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 375 degrees and bake for about 45 minutes longer. Remove to cooling rack and cool completely. After pie is cool, top with hard sauce.
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Hard Sauce
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1 teaspoon almond extract
1/3 cup butter
1 cup sifted confectioners' sugar
a dash of salt
1 teaspoon cream or evaporated milk
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Cream butter and almond extract together, gradually adding sugar & salt. Beat in cream. Sauce will harden as it cools.

Hollow Memories

You probably won't be surprised to hear that the road thru the hollow was a dirt road sparsely covered by gravel and hardly maintained by the county. There were two small wooden bridges each side of the long driveway to our home. Those bridges were washed out more than once when I was little. I remember walking thru the woods to a more shallow area of the creek so I could cross the road since the school bus couldn't get across the bridge. It was uphill both ways. Well, not really, but you get the idea.
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When the county decided to pave the road, they also widened it. There were some lovely trees that lived on both sides. They bent over so much, it was usually shaded during the day. One winter, Daddy took us sledding thru the hollow. He rigged up a sled on a piece of tin roofing and pulled us behind the tractor. The trees in the hollow were heavy with snow and ice. They bent so far over it looked like we were going thru an ice tunnel. It was a true winter wonderland. Anyway, when the road was paved, it didn't look much like a hollow anymore.
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Funny things happen as years pass. Without our help and without really paying attention, trees like to take back the road. Recently going thru the hollow, I noticed how much more it looked like the road of my memories. The trees are large again and branches bent. One bridge has been replaced with a huge culvert, but the other is still wooden. It's pretty rickety too. I know the county will trim the right of way soon and probably replace that bridge. And, I know it's for the best. But, it is nice to see the hollow again with my eyes instead of just in my memories, even for just a little while.

Relentless

My friends know that I'm obsessed with Dean Koontz. I eagerly wait twice a year for his new novels since I have read all of the currently published books. Don't misunderstand me. I'm not the sort of raving fan found in Stephen King's Misery. I would never harm Mr. Koontz, and this blog should in no way lead you to believe I would keep him tied up in my basement. Or any basement.
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I know you're wondering what all of this has to do with the Hollow. It simply comes from a love of books and a simpler time when they occupied so much more of our lives. This was back when there were only three channels available on our television. My parents did not have the time or desire to read novels for pleasure. So, I have to wonder how the shelves in the den of our home became filled with so many books. As a child I would gaze up at them and just know wonderful things must be contained in such beautiful covers. I don't remember looking thru books at the pictures. I remember looking thru them and wanting to be able to read. Mom read to me a lot. I know she had to be so very tired of The Little Engine That Could.


I have a very vivid memory of the first book I brought home from our little school library - Casper. I never wanted to give it back.

We would have book fairs at school and I would always look thru them wishing I could buy one. One year I won a contest and received a free book at the fair. I don't remember what I did in class to win, but I do remember the book. It was a little book called The Empty Grave

and wasn't nearly as scary as it sounded. I was about 8 or 9 years old then. The first novel I ever read was The Black Stallion by Walter Farley.

After that, I found a way to buy every Walter Farley book I could find. Then came Barbara Cartland romance novels. A friend gave me The Thornbirds to read around that time. Let's just say I couldn't go back to Barbara after that and moved on to Harlequin Romances. Another friend loaned me The Shining by Stephen King. After that I read every Stephen King novel I could get my hands on. I still do, but he scares me sometimes. Definitely not the kind of books to read when you are alone in the house late at night. And, of course, I love reading Nora Roberts!
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Years ago, my dear friend Sally, was reading Lightening by Dean Koontz. She was so excited every day telling me parts of the book, but not enough to give away the part. When she finally gave it to me, she would ask every day where I was in the book and we'd talk about it. Lightening is such a wonderful book and still one of my favorites. If you've never read a Koontz novel, I recommend Lightening or Life Expectancy to start.


During a difficult time in my life, I wrote to Mr. Koontz. I wanted to tell him about Sally and how much joy his books had brought to us both over the years. I don't remember everything I put in that letter. I do remember telling him that I didn't know what had happened in his life to be able to write such wonderful novels or such strong women characters, but I was glad for the impact it had on my life. An amazing thing happened. Not only did Mr. Koontz personally write back, he sent me one of Trixie's (his beloved dog, inspiration and author in her own right) books. As if I wasn't a big enough fan before! So, you see, I could never keep him in my basement.
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I bought his latest novel, Relentless, the day it was released. I told myself to read it slowly, maybe a chapter a night. I didn't even make it a week before I had to finish it. If you love reading books, you know what I mean. So, as you're looking for something new to read this summer, consider one of his books. Most often, you are assured of a happy ending. It may not be the ending you want, expect or need, but it will be happy. Isn't it that way in life too?

Vintage Tablecloths & Sunday Supper

I love vintage tablecloths. Just looking at them brings back memories of food laden tables and Sunday supper. That supper usually included fried chicken during the plentiful days. In the summer, when fresh vegetables were abundant, the supper was mostly made of 'side dishes' and meat was used more as a flavoring than the center of attention.
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In my great-grandparents home, all the adults would eat supper first. Then the young children would be fed. We were not allowed at the supper table until all the adults were finished eating. I can still remember playing with my cousins and my older brother sneaking us a piece of fried chicken to 'hold us over' to supper-time. Grandma didn't follow this custom and neither did Mom. But, anytime we were in our great-grandparents home, it was the unspoken rule. I've often wondered where that custom originated. I don't have a lot of memories of my great-grandparents. Some of the memories are of them being in the 'sick' bed. Most often though, I remember Mammie in the kitchen making coffee or reading the Bible to me, and DaddyBurke in the front porch swing. It's sad that those days ended long before I made it to the 'big' table. I would have loved to 'listen in' on the conversation and carry those memories with me.
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If you don't like okra, try substituting dill pickle slices in this recipe.
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Fried Okra
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1 pound fresh okra
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup corn meal
1 tablespoon paprika
1 teaspoon salt
enough oil to cover bottom of frying pan 1/4 inch deep
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Wash okra and remove stems. Cut into 1/2 inch slices or leave whole, if desired. Combine flour, corn meal, salt and paprika. While okra is still damp from washing dip into flour mixture. Fry in oil -medium high - until brown. Drain on paper towels.