The Grapefruit and the Author!

I had no idea that this post would end up highlighting a Pulitzer prize winning author named Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings who wrote 'The Yearling' in 1938!  This is how food research has become like detective work for me.  Let me tell you how this process started today before I share these recipes from our American past.  It's been days since I've been able to post due to the insanity that has invaded my life this month.  I had been staring at these recipe cards that I removed from the recipe file for consideration because they seemed 'summery' and would fit in with an August theme.  My older son saw that I was lost in thought in front of the computer screen and inquired about my obvious writer's block.  I told him that I was trying to come up with something witty to write about the grapefruit (click on the link for an informative article from Wikipedia).  He immediately suggested that I write about the funny spoons.  I had no idea that he even knew about the 'funny spoons'!  A recent college graduate, he told me that they serve grapefruit every morning in the cafeteria at his school and they always had the funny spoons available for people to eat them.  Huh.  So...I had to ask - had he had grapefruit in college?  What a shock.  He said he had tried it but it just didn't agree with him but the spoons were cool.  Then - he left.  And I was left to do some more exploring. 

I learned all about where they are grown and how healthy they can be for you and how in some instances the consumption of grapefruit can help medications work for you or hinder their ability to do so.  My advise is to check your medication inserts because there just might be a 'grapefruit advisory'!  I then carefully perused these old recipes which I judged to be from the 40's or 50's when I saw written in small handwriting on the bottom of one index card, 'Cross Creek Cookery'.  Well...isn't Google a wonderful thing?  That led me straight to the author of the above cook book that really isn't a cook book but a collection of recipes and memoirs from Cross Creek, Florida written by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings in 1942!  She wrote this little book in 1938 called "The Yearling" which won the Pulitzer prize in 1939 and shortly afterward was made into a movie!  So Florida grapefruit recipes did indeed lead me to learn about a famous author that I truly knew nothing about who also loved American food and food history enough to write a regional food memoir. Now you know.  Let's get to some fun and retro recipes!

Grapefruit

Sprinkle a grapefruit half with a dash of cinnamon, mace, or nutmeg: 1 T. sugar and dot with 1 t. butter.  Bake in a moderately hot oven for 15-20 minutes, or broil - 3 inches from heat - slowly - same length of time.  Serve hot for dessert.

or:

Sprinkle the edges with brown sugar, powdered clove, and dots of butter.  Fill the center with sherry.  Bake in a hot oven until lightly browned.  Serve hot.

( Cross Creek Cookery )  I found that this cook book memoir was published in 1942.  Below are two more grapefruit recipes that are well...interesting in a 1950 kind of way! 

Grapefruit Cooler

1 Tsp. plain unflavored gelatin
1 Tbsp. cold water
3/4 cup water
2/3 cup sugar
1 no. 2 can grapefruit, cut in small pieces
1/4 cup lemon juice
salt
1 egg white beaten stiff

1.  Soften gelatin in the 1 Tbsp. water for 5 min.
2.  Boil sugar and water 5 minutes.
3.  Add softened gelatin; stir well and then cool.
4.  Add grapefruit, salt and lemon juice
5.  Add egg white.  Mix well and freeze.
6.  Stir once after it starts to freeze.

And finally, here's a gel mold for those of you who can't get enough of them!

Molded Grapefruit Salad

1 - 3 oz. pkg. lime flavor gelatin
1 cup boiling water
1/4 tsp. ground ginger
1 cup grapefruit juice
1 cup grapefruit pieces
1/2 cup diced celery
1 cup creamed cottage cheese

Dissolve lime flavor gelatin in boiling water.  Add ginger and grapefruit juice.  Chill until mixture starts to congeal.

Add grapefruit pieces, celery and cottage cheese.  Mix well.

Pour into a 5-6 cup mold.  Chill until firm.  Unmold on crisp greens.  Serve with mayonnaise or salad dressing.  Makes 6 servings.

There's a note that the above recipe is especially good with pork and chicken.  Not convinced.  And just because I can't help myself...I don't trust any recipe with the word 'congeal' in the directions!  Because.  Here's a short little video about Cross Creek, Florida and the Yearling Restaurant.

The Toddy Cold Brew Experiment

On our recent trip to visit family in Virginia we were introduced to a different type of brewed coffee.  This is the 'cold brew' version and once in the mug is a really good cup of coffee but that's about where the similarities end!  This takes a little getting used to.  I decided to try it for myself and will admit that this has quite a learning curve.  This isn't coffee that you can decide you want to brew and have ready within a minute or two.  This is a project.  Let me explain...

You are indeed 'brewing' the coffee but with cold water for approximately 12 hours.  The grounds sit in the cold water before the water is drained through the filter into a carafe.  What you end up with in the carafe is a 'coffee concentrate' that will keep in your refrigerator for up to two weeks.  To create a cup of coffee you pour a small amount of the concentrate into your mug and then add hot water.  I was told you can add additional cold water and then microwave your coffee mug and add cream or sugar.  The benefit to someone like myself who has crazy hectic mornings and needs to get out of the house early is that I wouldn't have to go through the hassle of brewing a hot pot of coffee each morning.  Now I know there are many that swear by the single cup hot brewing machines that are so popular now...this is an economical and environmentally friendly option that is just now gaining in popularity.  There are no 'pods' going into land fills and (so they say) the coffee grounds can be recycled into your garden or compost pile.  This method of creating a cup of coffee also is said to reduce the acidity in coffee by almost 70%.  That's a big deal to a lot of people.  Wikipedia describes Cold Brew here.

Let me describe how this 'system' works.  You first have to make sure you have coffee that has been coarse ground.  I ended up grinding my own at our local grocery store.  If you use the coffee you normally buy prepackaged at the store that is made for drip coffee makers it will effect the strength of the concentrate negatively.  I found that out the hard way.  There is a filter and stopper that have to be firmly in place in the 'steeping container' before you begin.  Then you have to add water and grounds slowly and carefully to make sure all the grounds are wet.  The grounds have to be slowly pressed down to make sure they are evenly distributed and to avoid clogging the filter.  Now...you leave it alone for about 12 hours.  See.  A project.  The next morning the steeping container (which has the coffee grounds and water in it) needs to be placed above the carafe.  Next time I'll make sure it's already on top of the carafe before I begin!  Then you carefully remove the stopper and the concentrate filters into the carafe.  When it has finished, the carafe is placed in your refrigerator.  But you're not done yet.  There's the cleanup!!  Dealing with the coffee grounds was messy.  The filter has to be washed - water only - no soap. 

Finally.  I was ready to try a cup of coffee made with my Toddy cold brew system!  Like I said there's a learning curve and I have to try again.  I had used too much water and didn't have the correct coarse ground coffee so it was 'weak'.  So now, armed with some experience and sheer determination, I will attempt this again.  If this makes my morning dash out of the house any easier it will be worth it.  I won't be giving up my visits to Dunkin Donuts or brewing the occasional pot of coffee because the smell of coffee brewing is just the best. 

The entire system (with extra filters) cost only $37.95 from Amazon or you can visit the Toddy website at www.Toddycafe.com.  And if you're one of those that has made a commitment to 'buy American', you're in luck.  The Toddy Cold Brew System is proudly made in America!  I was not in any way compensated by Toddy to try this out.  This post was the result of pure curiosity...I'm still trying to figure the whole thing out and will let you know if I eventually achieve any form of success!  Below is a video presentation from the Coffee Fest in NY this past spring.

The Pickle Post!

This is just a quick post - I hope - we'll see how it goes!  Every summer I try to make a few jars of 'Refrigerator Pickles' and on occasion I've given them as gifts because they look so beautiful in the glass jars once they're done.  I originally found the recipe on www.AllRecipes.com and while the basic recipe is incredible I did make some changes.  The great thing about AllRecipes.com is that you can read suggestions, additions etc. from people who have tried the recipe but might have had more success with some minor 'tweaking'.  AllRecipes also has this neat feature allowing you to search for recipes not only by recipe title but also by whatever ingredients you might have available to cook with!  That has been a lifesaver for us on more than one occasion.  Here is the original AllRecipes.com recipe and below is the recipe that I follow.  These really are easy and worth the little bit of effort that goes into making something 'homemade'. 

Homemade Refrigerator Pickles

1 cup distilled white vinegar
1 Tbsp. salt
1 cup white sugar
6 cups sliced cucumbers - I use the small pickling cukes
1 cup sliced sweet onion (Vidalia or red)
1 cup sliced and chopped green bell pepper
1 Tbsp. mustard seed
1/2 Tbsp. celery seed

In a small saucepan, bring vinegar, salt and sugar to a boil.  Boil until sugar is dissolved.  In a separate bowl combine all vegetables and mustard and celery seed.  Pour hot mixture over vegetables.  Stir.  Let sit in vinegar mixture for about 2 hours (stir mixture a few times).  Pickle mixture will reduce.  Place pickles in jars.  If you're not going to consume these immediately or are giving them as a gift you should process the jars in a hot water bath for at least 10 minutes.  You will have quite a bit of excess vinegar mixture leftover.  Not a problem. 

I like to use red onion in mine.  It adds festive color and is especially pretty when giving jars of these pickles for Christmas gifts.  If you want you could always omit the onion entirely and opt for red bell pepper - you'll get the same effect!  Speaking of festive pickles...I found this super fun two minute video on You Tube about the 'Carol of the Christmas Pickle'.  Make sure you wait for the credits at the end!

Our Return to the Road Trip!

We weren't really planning on taking a road trip this summer, it was an unexpected but very welcome request from family to visit!  Summers are typically hard for my husband to get away from work but all things aligned to clear his schedule and as it turned out - they survived without him.  Imagine.  We only took three days so he could be at work on both Monday and Friday.  Our sons agreed to take care of our animals and house (I know) and to keep in contact with us.  That translates to answering our texts and not ignoring them!So off we went. 

I had gone to our local AAA club on Monday and received maps, etc.  Even though we have GPS on our iPhone we still like the feel and security of a good old fashioned 'map'.  We even had a 'Trip Tik' created for us!  That was actually a really good idea.  It broke down the trip in small, detailed bites and was kind of fun!  We were headed from western Connecticut to northern Virginia and for the drive down decided to avoid congestion at all costs so we drove over the Tappanzee bridge, ventured into New Jersey for just a short while and then drove across Pennsylvania past many corn fields and funny sounding towns until we hit Harrisburg and turned south into Maryland.  It was a long trip but without traffic.  Both my husband and I talked about how fun it was to see parts of PA and NJ we had never seen before - we even saw a few barns with Amish designs on them!  It's always fun to arrive somewhere and the family runs out to meet you at the car because they haven't seen you in a long time.  We enjoyed a great dinner and time visiting before heading to bed.  We slept soundly and contentedly.

Morning arrived and we dressed for  outdoor sightseeing in DC.  We were close enough to walk to one of the Metro stations that runs right into the city so we were able to avoid the cost of parking and the parking congestion!  I had forgotten how crowded and busy the DC area is.  The weather in the Capitol that day was beyond hot.  It was soupy, oppressive, heavy heat.  But we were happy to be there and anxious to see some monuments and maybe a museum or two.  Our first stop was the Lincoln Memorial and while that is always inspiring every time we've seen it today was different.  When we got to the top of the steps and turned around to look across the reflecting pool we saw...construction crews.  It was empty.  Construction seemed to be the attraction!  We moved on to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and were humbled.  We've seen it many times but today I was able to capture a picture of a man and a young boy making a charcoal impression of a veterans name.  This has always been a place of honor and respect.  Our next stop was the somewhat new WWII memorial.  It was magnificent.  And, we didn't mind that water was everywhere and provided a tiny bit of misting!  We couldn't get anywhere near the Washington Monument but did get a good look at it on our way to the Museum of American History.  Remember, that's been shut down to undergo repairs from the freak earthquake that hit DC last year. 

Lunchtime at the museum brought a welcome rest from the heat!  That air conditioning felt so good.  This particular Smithsonian museum had just gone through a major renovation and we had not been able to visit it our last time in DC.  There's so much to see so we picked out areas that we really wanted to get to and set out to squeeze in what we could.  I was disappointed that the swinging pendulum is no longer there when you walk in and of course the Star Spangled banner is no longer hanging in the hall but has been restored and is on display in a safe 'low-light' area.  I was anxious to see the First Ladies display with gowns and china settings and my husband wanted to get to the America at War section.  We wanted to do so many more things but by 4 in the afternoon we were starting to run out of steam!  We had dinner plans that evening and wanted time to restore ourselves before venturing out again. 

When we woke up the next morning (our muscles complaining a wee bit) it was hard to say goodbye to family that we only had a short time with.  We decided to try and squeeze in one more museum before making the trek back to CT.  We drove to Chantilly, VA to see the fairly new Smithsonian Air and Space museum that houses the 'big stuff' that the Air and Space Museum in DC couldn't hold.  We were there about 2 hours and I'm pretty sure my husband took pictures of everything!  I did enjoy seeing the Enola Gay and the space shuttle Discovery.  They even had the old 'quarantine trailer' that housed the Apollo astronauts every time they returned to earth!


For the drive home we thought we would give the Jersey Turnpike and Garden State Parkway another shot - our mistake.  We left the museum parking lot at 12:40 in the afternoon and didn't make it back to our home until 10:15 at night!  The traffic, tolls and general craziness were amazing.  We made it home safe and sound, the animals were alive and happy to see us, the house was still standing and the boys were...out.  Normal.

A Freaky Friday from the Fifties!

Just what were they thinking?  These are some 'special' recipes from the 50's that I thought would make some fun reading.  If you prepare them and consume them you just might end up hurting yourself and those you love!  Processed and pre-packaged foods were very much in vogue (see the last recipe) during this time but apparently so was figuring out how to drink even while you were eating!  I found two main dish recipes and what looks like a fruit dessert recipe although I'm not completely sure.  It's for grown ups only...I figured that out.  Enjoy this field trip back to the fifties when eating healthy was a topic that was just not discussed at the table!

Zucchini*

Parboil zucchini
Mix together:

2 eggs
16 oz. ground beef - browned
1/2 cup flavored bread crumbs
1 cup cottage cheese
Shredded mozzarella
garlic powder
dehydrated onion
Spoon into zucchini boats*
Sliced tomatoes on top
Bake 1/2 hour
Serves 4

*I think someone could have come up with a much more creative title than just 'zucchini'.  You don't realize you're making zucchini boats until near the end of the recipe!  Because it includes mozzarella, garlic, onion and tomatoes don't you think a much more exciting title would be 'Zucchini Italiano' or 'Zucchini a la Venice' (for the boat thing).  Did you notice that the recipe called for cottage cheese?  You know that if this were being made today it would be made with ricotta cheese - because.  I know in some parts of the country they still routinely use cottage cheese in lasagna and other Italian recipes.  Stop that.  You can buy ricotta in the stores now.  Try something exotic.  In the fifties (especially the early 50's) Italian cooking had not reached the favorable status it enjoys today.  Remember - at that time period we were still only a decade out from World War II and the Italians were not our allies!  Experimenting with Italian recipes wouldn't become trendy for another 10 years and many Italian ingredients could only be purchased in Italian markets that happened to be located near larger cities with Italian populations.  Now there are aisles in the supermarkets devoted to all kinds of ethnic ingredients!  Cultural diversity in the kitchen is embraced and explored by everyone now!  Read on for something to create that is just...strange.

Frankfurter Crown Casserole 

Close Enough!

2 slices bacon
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 can Cream of Mushroom Soup
1/2 cup water
1/2 tsp. salt, dash pepper
3 cups sliced boiled potatoes
1 cup cooked, cut green beans
1/2 pound frankfurters, split and cut in half

1.  Cook bacon, drain and crumble - set aside
2.  Cook onion in drippings
3.  Stir in soup, water, salt and pepper
4.  Add potatoes and beans
5.  Pour into 1 and 1/2 quart casserole
6.  Stand up frankfurters around edge

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.
Top with bacon.

Wow.  That'll kill you!  At least it's like a 'one pot meal' so it's efficient in that all the components of the meal are equally loaded with fat.  Yum.  And the title just reeks of the 1950's - something that sounds terribly fancy and fussy but is probably the precursor to the 'Franks and beans' Friday night dinner from the early 1970's!  But the craziness doesn't stop here!  For dessert, let's have some fruit - send the kids to bed early though.  Really.

Fruits Rafraichis (Dessert)

1 package frozen strawberries
1 package frozen peaches
1 bottle red wine

Thaw the packages of frozen fruit under cold running water until the packages are soft.  Then open and place the fruit in the bowl in which it will be served.  Cover with 2 cupfuls of the red wine*.  Then place in the refrigerator to chill and marinate until time to be served.

The above recipe was a treasure from Vogue magazine.  February 1st 1950.

You can be sure that fruit would have disappeared rather quickly.  Isn't that one of the ways college kids have always employed to get their fruit servings in?  Maybe.

*I'm just guessing that the rest of that bottle of red wine would be consumed by the 1950 'Hostess with the mostest' as she was preparing for her dinner guests.  Maybe.  Here's a 1950 era 'educational video' about food.  Enjoy.

The video below is from 1950 and was shown as an educational video to encourage family dinners during a time of decline.  Who got to be educated by these videos?  Funny stuff.  Remember 'unemotional conversation' only.  It aids digestion.