Showing posts with label nostalgia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label nostalgia. Show all posts
Most Sundays I go to my sister's home for Sunday Dinner. Sometimes it's a roast beef dinner, other's it might be chicken or even pork. Whatever the main course, it is a wonderful opportunity for us to get together as a family and break some bread together.
This week I decided to bring some dessert. I was feeling very nostalgic so I decided to make Grandmother's Five Cup Salad.
This simple dessert is very quick to throw together, although it does take a number of hours to macerate and meld the flavors together. But, really it is as easy to make as stirring together a few simple ingredients.
Its also known as Ambrosia Salad, and has five very basic ingredients. Crushed pineapple, mandarin orange segments, sweetened coconut, miniature marshmallows and sour cream. That's it. Its a real store cupboard recipe!
Its a real favorite on buffet tables and at covered dish suppers, church suppers, etc. Probably because it sits well and is deliciously popular, not to mention colorful! It really is embarrassingly easy to make.
You can add other fruits for color and variety if you wish, like maraschino cherries, or even halved grapes. I have even seen it made with rice.
My favorite way to enjoy it however is the way I am sharing it today. Unadulterated and simple. Don't ask me why it is called a salad, when it is a dessert. I have no answer for that. Just eat and enjoy!
WHAT YOU NEED TO MAKE GRANDMOTHER'S FIVE CUP SALAD
Very simple store cupboard ingredients.
- 1 cup (75g) shredded sweetened coconut
- 1 cup (50g) mini marshmallows
- 1 cup (225g) well drained crushed pineapple (pineapple crush)
- 1 cup (200g) well drained tinned mandarin orange segments
- 1 cup (120g) full fat sour cream
HINTS AND TIPS TO MAKE THE BEST FIVE CUP SALAD
I have made this with unsweetened coconut before, but trust me when I say you really need the sweetened coconut, especially if you are using mandarins and pineapple in juice and not syrup. Sweetened coconut also helps to counteract the acidity of the sour cream.
It is really important that you drain both the pineapple and the oranges really well. I set them in a sieve over a bowl and leave them for at least half an hour. Failure to make sure they are drained can make for a sloppy finish which you don't want.
Do plan on leaving it for at least several hours in order for the flavors to meld together beautifully. It will taste much better for doing so. If you can stand to leave it overnight, so much the better. The marshmallows kind of melt into the mixture and get seriously yummy.
If you are not a fan of sour cream, I have also seen this made with whipped cream. Do use actually real cream which has been whipped until stiff, not the spray cream.
You can also use the frozen cream product, but I cannot speak for how it tastes as I have never done so myself. I always just use sour cream.
If you want to charge it up a bit, you can use canned fruit cocktail, which has peaches, pears, etc. in it. Again make sure you drain it really well.
You can also use sliced ripe banana. Soak it for a few minutes in some lemon juice to help prevent the banana from turning brown.
If you like things really sweet, you can stir in a tablespoon or two of sweetened condensed milk. This also adds a hint of richness.
I have added toasted nuts before. Pecans and walnuts are especially nice. Don't add them until you go to serve the salad however. If you put them in too soon, they will lose their crunch, and DO toast them first. Toasting increases the nuttiness. (Let them cool down before using!)
Spread them out on a baking sheet and toast in a preheated moderate oven (350*F/180*C/gas mark 4) for 8 o 10 minutes will do the trick.
Don't overmix the fruit. Fold it all together gently. If you work it in too much you will break up the fruit and it won't be as pretty.
This is not a dessert which freezes well. If you freeze it the dressing/sour cream splits. You also shouldn't leave it out at room temperature for more than 2 hours. It will become watery as well if left that long.
It really is best served chilled from the refrigerator.
You can use colored marshmallows if you want to use more colors. I used white today and to be honest most of the time I use white. I am a purist when it comes to that I guess!!
This really is a simple and easy salad/dessert to make. It would be perfect for Mother's Day. You could even get the kids to help you make it.
Its also very easy to reduce the amounts. As there is 1 cup only of each ingredient, you can halve it (to serve 4) by reducing the amount to 1/2 cup of each ingredient, or (to serve 2) using only 1/4 cup of each ingredient!
That's how simple and versatile this tasty dessert is!
Some other easy and simple desserts here in my English Kitchen are:
EASY BLACKBERRY AND LEMON DESSERT - A simple layered dessert of Greek yogurt (tangy), a lush whole blackberry syrup, tart lemon curd and crisp broken sweet meringues. Such a simple and yet incredibly delicious thing! A great last minute dessert!
JAM JAR TRIFLES - Fresh berries are mixed together with a small bit of jam to sweeten and make a kind of a sauce, and then layered together in jars with store bought pound/madeira cake and a lush lemon cream! Simply delicious. A perfect warm weather dessert as well.
Yield: 8
Grandmother's Five Cup Salad
Prep time: 30 MinCook time: 5 MinInactive time: 6 HourTotal time: 6 H & 35 M
This is a lovely old fashioned dessert. Simple to make and very delicious. A beautiful taste of nostalgia.
Ingredients
- 1 cup (75g) shredded sweetened coconut
- 1 cup (50g) mini marshmallows
- 1 cup (225g) well drained crushed pineapple (pineapple crush)
- 1 cup (200g) well drained tinned mandarin orange segments
- 1 cup (120g) full fat sour cream
Instructions
- Make sure your fruit is well drained. I set it in a sieve over a bowl and leave it to drain for at least half an hour.
- Place the pineapple, coconut, sour cream and marshmallows in a bowl and fold together.
- Gently fold in the mandarin segments, taking care not to break them as much as possible.
- Cover tightly and refrigerate for 5 to 6 hours.
- Serve well chilled.
This content (written and photography) is the sole property of The English Kitchen. Any reposting or misuse is not permitted. If you are reading this elsewhere, please know that it is stolen content and you may report it to me at: mariealicejoan at aol dot com
Thanks so much for visiting. Do come again
Every Christmas my mother would make us the most delicious Peanut Butter Fudge. Mom was not one to make us a lot of treats throughout the rest of the year, but at Christmas time she would always make us our favourites.
One of those was this Peanut Butter Fudge. It was rich and creamy and a real taste treat for each of us. We all loved it.
Our mother had been quite chubby during a period in her childhood, and she had an obese mother. I think controlling weight was a really important thing to her. For the life of me, I cannot remember her ever sitting down at the table to eat a meal with us.
My sister and I spoke about this one day and she could not remember mom eating with us at the table either, although she did remember her standing at the counter eating leftovers from the day before.
It was not something I ever thought about while my mother was alive, so I will never ever know what motivated her. She was a very tiny woman. Short and petite.
I remember thinking throughout her last years of her life that I must have been a huge disappointment to her with my size and weight problems. All that effort she went to while we were growing up to help to keep us thin had all gone to waste!
Oh well, we are who we are. My father has always struggled with his weight, and my last thirty-five years of life have been a huge struggle with my own. I have decided though that I am simply not going to worry about it anymore.
I will eat healthy, with the occasional treat and let what be, be. I think that is the healthiest attitude to take. I will indulge and partake of treats every now and then like Mom's Peanut Butter Fudge. And I will enjoy them, for all of their delicious taste and the wonderful memories that they bring into to my heart and soul.
I truly believe that good food nourishes the soul as well as the body.
One thing my mother always made at least once during the holidays was
peanut butter fudge. It was never chocolate or any other kind . . .
always peanut butter, but we didn't mind because we loved it so very
much. It was a real treat for us! WE never got candy as a rule!
She always made her fudge in the same pot. It was an old aluminum one that she had
gotten in her original set of Wearever cookware back in 1955.
I think the set of pans cost almost as much as a house, but here we are 2020 and we are still
using them. Money well spent, I'd say!
Mom never measured anything. She didn't need to. It was all done by
memory, and she knew exactly how much of each thing she needed to add by
sight alone . . . and it always worked like a charm, every time.
Me .
. . I made fudge sometimes for my children when they were growing up, but, 9 times out of 10 they'd end up having to eat it with a spoon. They ate and enjoyed it anyways.
We'd watch our mother as it went together . . . as if by magic . . . and then sometimes she would let us beat it when it was ready, with her big old wooden spoon.
If we'd been very good . . .we'd be given the pot and spoon to lick clean. We always did a pretty good job of that, coz it would always be as clean as a whistle by the time we were done.
The beaten fudge would be poured into the same pan each time. It was an old aluminium tin, blackened through use . . . it's bottom engraved in a swirly pattern of raised tin.
Some how those little traced swirls on the bottom of each piece only added to it's flavour. Every sweet and cake of my childhood used to come with that swirly pattern on the bottom as well. We never minded. What I wouldn't give to have that tin now!
But even more I would love to have my mother here. One year, when I was all grown up and had a family of my own, she let me watch and take measurments while she made it. This delicious recipe is the result. Enjoy!
Mother's Peanut Butter Fudge
Yield: Makes one 8-inch square pan
It just wouldn't be Christmas without a pan of this to munch on! Creamy and peanut buttery. If you don't like peanut butter, look away now!
Ingredients
- 3 cups (585g) of white finely granulated sugar
- 3 TBS smooth peanut butter
- 1 cup (240ml) of whole milk
- 1/4 cup (60g) butter
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- Butter an 8 inch square pan. Set aside.
- Place the sugar, peanut butter and milk into a LARGE saucepan. (You will need a really big one as it really increases in volume when it is boiling. Trust me on this.)
- Heat, whisking, until the peanut butter is completely melted into the mixture. Increase the heat slightly and bring to a rolling boil. Reduce the heat to a medium boil and continue to boil, stirring occasionally to help prevent it from catching. You will want to boil it to the soft ball stage, (115*C/235*F) This should take between 18 to 25 minutes or so. Once this happens, remove from the heat immediately.
- Stir in the butter and vanilla. Beat with a wooden spoon until it begins to look creamy and begins to lose it's gloss.
- Pour into the prepared pan immediately. (Don't wait too long or it will harden in the pot and you won't be able to pour it into the prepared pan. You just want it to begin losing it's gloss.)
- Allow to set for about an hour at room temperature, before cutting into squares to serve.
- Store in an airtight container. This also freezes well.
What favourite treat created for the holidays reminds you most of your childhood? I really would love to know!
This content (written and photography) is the sole property of The English Kitchen. Any reposting or misuse is not permitted. If you are reading this elsewhere, please know that it is stolen content and you may report it to me at: mariealicejoan at aol dot com Thanks so much for visiting. Do come again!
You know it is autumn when the temperatures start to dip and the kitchen starts to smell like sugar and spice and all things nice. Cinnamon. Cloves. Nutmeg. Yep, a Tomato Soup cake is in the oven!
Tomato Soup Cake? What the heck? Say what? Today I am tipping my hat to this fabulously retro recipe which dates back to days of old. I got the recipe from my Canadian MIL. I am sure she got it from a tin of tomato soup!
People are always really surprised when you give them a slice of this delicious cake and are told what kind of cake it is! You can almost guarantee their eye brows will rise in question. Almost like they have heard you wrong.
Nope, you tell them. It is Tomato Soup Cake. And then you can see them kind of nervously dipping their forks into it. Not quite sure of what to expect.
They raise their fork to their mouth and you can almost see them cringing. They are not sure what to expect but it can't be good right?
WRONG! They are almost always pleasantly surprised and have no problem digging their forks into the cake for a second bite. This is love at first bite, every time.
Tomato Soup Cake is a spicy sweet classic that has been gracing tables across North America for a great many years, back to the 1930's and the great depression. This simple spice cake is also known as Mystery Cake.
The secret ingredient, a tin of condensed tomato soup, has kept people guessing to no avail as to just what it is. You cannot taste any tomato soup in it. It just tastes nice and spicy.
I can only guess some really brave housewife happened upon the idea of using tomato soup to help cut back on butter and eggs which were really scarce at the time, along with wages. There is some, but not a lot.
What a wonderful way to think outside of the box! How very innovative. Whoever it was, I thank them very much!
In all truth it was probably a dietitian working for one of the soup companies who came up with it as a way to sell more tinnd soup. It doesn't really matter. The end result is one very delicious cake!
I had never heard of it before my MIL gave me the recipe. It was not something my mother had ever made. The first year I was married my MIL gave me a little handwritten notebook filled with all of her tried and true recipes. This was one of them.
I confess, I, too, was quite sceptical when I first saw it. It was my ex husbands favourite cake however and so what was a good wife to do. Eager to please, I baked it for him.
It smells heavenly when it is baking. All spicy and warm, like autumn. Your house will smell amazing.
To me, this is the smell of Home Sweet Home. Homecoming. Changing leaves. A briskness in the wind. Crisp and cooler mornings. The smell of spice and woodsmoke.
This tender and moist, spicy cake is to be honest, simply wonderful. It is very similar to my Applesauce Spice Cake both in looks and in flavour. They both smell fabulous when baking.
The applesauce cake is not quite as dark in colour. Both recipes are a nod to the ingenuity of the cooks and bakers of days gone by, when nothing was ever laid to waste and every scrap was used.
I have added a cream cheese icing to my MIL's recipe. Hers was always plain. Where she used to bake hers in a square pan, I like to bake it in a loaf tin. I think it turns out much moister baked in a loaf tin.
The cream cheese icing really adds a special touch I think. A certain richness. I have had to fiddle a lot with my cream cheese icing since moving here to the UK. Cream cheese here is wetter I think. It took me a very long time to get it to work out properly.
It is a fine balance between butter and cream cheese, and I do find it takes me a lot more icing sugar to get it to the right consistency here, which does result in more icing, but you can freeze the extra. Or keep it in the refrigerator for a short time if you know you are going to be using it up soonish.
You can leave it plain if you wish, or just make a vanilla butter cream. Plain it is lovely toasted lightly and spread with butter.
Yes, I do know how to add extra calories to just about everything. What can I say? Guilty as charged.I guess I just know how to put the good in taste. And my hips don't lie. They are the proof of the pudding.
This spicy moist cake is studded with sweet sticky raisins. You can leave them out if you want, but if you are a raisin lover, I highly recommend you leave them in. You could use chopped dates in their place if you wanted to, or even both.
Same with the walnuts. Leave them in and do toast them first if you can. It does make a difference. You could probably use pecans in their place, but I have just always used walnuts. Where I come from if a recipe calls for nuts, its usually walnuts.
I really hope you will bake this. Don't tell your family what it is until after they have fallen in love with it and then watch for the surprised look on their faces.
Tomato Soup Cake
Yield: 1 (8 by 4-inch) loaf
prep time: 10 Mincook time: 45 Mintotal time: 55 Min
This sweet and spicy classic loaf cake is studded with sticky raisins and crunchy toasted nuts. A cream cheese frosting is its crowning glory. You know its autumn when one of these is in the oven!
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup (60g) butter
- 1 cup (195g) sugar
- 1 large free range egg
- 1 (10 3/4 oz)(295g) tin of condensed tomato soup, undiluted
- 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 1 1/2 cups (210 g) sifted all purpose (plain)flour
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp ground cloves
- 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp baking powder
- 1/3 cup (50g) raisins
- 1/3 cup (40g) toasted walnuts (coarsely broken)
For the cream cheese frosting:
- 2 1/2 TBS butter, at room temperature
- 4 TBS cream cheese, at room temperature
- few drops of vanilla extract
- 1 cup (130g) icing sugar sifted (or enough to give you the consistency needed) (In the UK it may take considerably more)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4. Butter an 8 by 4 inch loaf tin and line with baking paper. Set aside.
- Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg. Beat in the tomato soup.
- Sift together the flour, soda, baking powder and spices. Add to the creamed mixture and mix together just to combine. Fold in the raisins and nuts.
- Spread in the loaf tin and bake for 40 to 45 minutes until well risen and a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean. (Here in the UK, mine took an additional 10 minutes.)
- Let cool in the tin for 10 minutes, then tip out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
- When the cake has cooled make the frosting. Beat everything together until smooth, adding enough icing sugar to give you a smooth, thickish yet spreadable frosting. Spread over the top of the cake.
- Cut into thick slices to serve.
How are you coping with all of the changes in Blogger? I am having a heck of a time myself. I have never been one much for writing code etc. Like a car, I just want to get behind the wheel and turn the key. This sure is different! I suppose in time it will become old hat! Things are not quite looking the same on my home page, but I am hopeful that they will sort themselves out in due time.This content (written and photography) is the sole property of The
English Kitchen. Any reposting or misuse is not permitted. If you are
reading this elsewhere, please know that it is stolen content and you
may report it to me at: mariealicejoan at aol dot com Thanks so much for visiting. Do come
The recipe I am sharing with you today is not only a small batch recipe, but it is incredibly nostalgic. These are the kind of cupcakes our Grandmothers might have baked, and some of them probably did! Moist, delicious and spiced with warm baking spices!
The original recipe was published in The Farmer's Wife magazine in 1930. It turned out to be very popular, and I am not surprised!
It won tons of blue ribbons at county fairs through the United States. It had to be a blue ribbon winner to get published in the magazine. I got the recipe from a cookery book entitled The Farmer's Wife Baking Cookbook, over 300 blue ribbon recipes.
These are the kinds of recipes I love most of all! Simple, comforting . . . family friendly . . . historic. With no bells and whistles.
To be honest when something is so tasty, it doesn't need bells and whistles. I did choose to ice them with a homemade lemon buttercream and who can blame me for dressing them up a tiny bit with some cupcake sprinkles.
Cupcakes were made for sprinkles, don't you think?
I loved having a cupcake when I was a child. A cupcake is like having a "party" for one. A tiny moist cake . . . all of it just for you!
These are fabulously flavoured with warm baking spices . . . cinnamon and nutmeg . . . actually the original recipe called for mace, but I didn't have any. If you do have some, feel free to substitute mace for the nutmeg.
Sweetened with molasses and brown sugar . . . which lend a depth of moistness to the cake and a wholesome sweetness . . . both go very well with warm baking spices.
I was tempted to add sultanas, but decided not to mess with the integrity of the cupcake the first time I baked them. It was enough that I was cutting the recipe in half.
The lemon frosting was one I concocted in my head. I've always done that. Made frosting up as I go along . . .
Its simply a couple tablespoons of room temperature butter, beaten together with 1 heaped cup of sifted icing sugar, a few drops of lemon extract and a TBS or so of cream or milk.
Just enough to give you a nice fluffy consistency.
If you like your cakes with an old fashioned flavour and flair, then this is the recipe for you!
Plantation Cupcakes
Yield: 6
prep time: cook time: total time:
An old, old recipe which was first published in the Farmer's Wife Magazine in 1930. The original recipe made a dozen. I downsized to six.
Ingredients:
- 55g white vegetable shortening (1/4 cup)
- 2 TBS soft light brown sugar
- 1 large free range egg
- 87g molasses (1/4 cup)
- 85g plain flour (3/4 cup)
- 1/8 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 60ml milk (1/4 cup)
- lemon buttercream frosting and sprinkles to finish (optional)
Instructions:
- Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*f/ gas mark 4. Line a 6 cup muffin tin with cupcake liners.
- Cream the shortening and sugar together until light. Gradually beat in the egg until well mixed, then add the molasses.
- Sift together the flour, spices, salt, baking powder and baking soda.
- Add the dry ingredients to the creamed mixture alternating with the milk, making two dry and one wet addition until well blended. Divide between the paper lined muffin cups.
- Bake for 20 minutes until well risen and a toothpick inserted into a cupcake comes out clean.
- Cool completely before frosting.
If you would like to bake a full dozen cupcakes, just message me and I will be happy to send you the original full sized recipe! In the meantime, enjoy!
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