Fall Is Here! My Nanny Is A Great Grandma, Cuttting The Carbs and Other News!

Fall has arrived and now there's more time to devote to blogging and sharing some of my favorite foods, recipes and activities that make up my sense of home, family and good stuff!
There's been quite a bit of change since I last blogged here!
We welcomed baby Stevie to our family in August :) What a precious, precious baby :) He is happy, healthy and growing in leaps and bounds. I can honestly say that I never had a clue what being his grandma would mean to me. You can't possibly comprehend, prior to having your own children, just how much love you can have for another human being. Having a grandbaby is that PLUS! :) There is no feeling like it in the world. Just holding and cuddling that sweet little baby lets me know that all is right with the world, no matter what! I won't post any pics of him here to prevent the usual risk of  internet fun and games. I believe that to alter others' photos, especially of their loved ones is virtually sacrilegious.

Another shift in the cosmos....
Fall signals the advent of comfort food cooking but with a twist here. In my ongoing and ever-present attention to health, I've been bumping up my low carb cooking and recipe research! There are thousands upon  thousands of incredible recipes with carb counts that are low enough to help anyone not only manage their blood sugar but weight also. Most recipes can be "de-carbed" with very little effort and just a tad of expense. You can substitute white and wheat flour with almond, peanut and coconut flours. The choices for sugar free sweeteners is almost open ended!
I have some incredible friends who have shared their knowledge of alternative ingredients with me and I thank them wholeheartedly for their expertise!
Each time I post a recipe that is low carb, that will be clearly indicated. You'll see them interspersed with family favorites and those that make no attempt to cut the carb level whatsoever.

I've already started the interior Halloween decorating and have the outside to finish. I love, love, love Halloween! I like to celebrate it and it's theme all October long. The feel of the spooky holiday is one I adore!

I know that my Nanny was smiling at me yesterday :) It was a day of cooking down some neck pumpkins for the season! Here in Delaware, neck pumpkins are almost nonexistent! Most folks have no idea what they are, or else they refer you to butternut squash, which is a totally different item!
I was so, so lucky to find Fifer Orchards in the Wyoming area. Micheal is a pure treasure! I was able to buy quite a few there. I also got a call from Willey Farms in Townsend. They now have them too!
To avoid this scarcity situation next year, I'm saving the seeds! I'm not sure if I'll have the time for a garden next Spring, but I do know that I will, at the very least, have neck pumpkins! Pies made with the neck pumpkins are nothing like pies made with the rounder, dark orange variety. Back home, in Lancaster County, PA, we never, and I mean NEVER, used a standard pumpkin for pies. I recall them being earmarked only for carving into Jack O'Lanterns and then given to livestock as a type of feed.

I'll be posting a homemade crust and pumpkin pie recipe here as well as a low carb tweaked version. Pumpkin is so good for you and with the right substitutions, it fits perfectly with a low carb lifestyle!


It is finally raining here on Delmarva. It's way too late to help the farmers but homeowners are starting to worry about the water table. It was such an odd and unfamiliar sound this morning, to wake up to the sound of the rain! But it sure makes it feel like Fall. We've had some days with temps in the high nineties this past week, so this is a welcome change!

On a final note, I'm making a product recommendation. If you have never tried Greek-style yogurt, I suggest you do! And if you do, please try Fage brand. It's thicker, creamier and just delicious. In keeping with low carb intakes, which recommend a high fat intake in conjunction, try to find the full fat version of the unflavored Fage. The cultures actually eat the carbs for sustanence, so the carb level is low, but the taste is fantastic. Mixed with some flax (the praises for flax will be in an upcoming post!), fresh fruit, some sugar free flavoring syrup, it's absolutely delicious! Some of the local stores here carry Fage but in the lower fat versions. It's been a struggle to find the full fat version but we're constantly tracking it down and we've contacted Fage as well.

I've been resuming my auction lists as well lately. Fall is chock full of special activities that I don't do in the Summer months. So between work, auctions, family research,  my work on the Marian Baker Story, traveling back home to Pennsylvania, visits to New Jersey and other areas, it's going to be a very, very busy season!

 

Old Fashioned Quince Jelly

• 7 1/2 cups sugar
• 3 fluid ounces liquid pectin
• 4 1/2 cups water
• 3 pounds quinces, cored and chopped, peels on
• 1/4 cup lemon juice

Directions

1. Sterilize 8 (1/2 pint) jars in boiling water for at least 5 minutes, and have new lids ready.
2. Place the quinces in a large pot, and pour in water. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low, and simmer, covered, for 15 minutes. Strain off 4 cups of the juice. Mix juice with sugar and lemon juice in a heavy pot, and bring to a boil over high heat, stirring constantly. Stir in pectin, and return to a boil. Boil for 1 full minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and skim off foam. Ladle into hot sterile jars, and process for 10 minutes in a hot water bath to seal. Refrigerate jelly after opening.
3. Store sealed jars in a cool dark place. Refrigerate jelly after opening.

Expanding Horizons: Beyond The Kitchen Window....

My Nanny's kitchen was a warm, sunny, bright place no matter the day, no matter the weather. The warmth and goodness came from within, from the love of family and from the heart. Many wonderful memories were lived and made in that space, in that two-story farmhouse in the 'southern end'.
My hours spent with her in that kitchen have stayed with me, to this day. It's because of her that I love to cook and bake. There's a feeling of comfort in rolling pot pie dough or taking Aunt Dora's sugar cakes out of the oven.
I learned many things in Nanny's kitchen without realizing at the time that I was. My view of things, people and the world were formed in part during those hours at her kitchen table. I can't say that I mirror her outlook completely, for she saw the goodness in everyone. One of her phrases that we all heard thousands of times is "God love em!" She even found redeeming qualities in Charlie Manson. She was sure that he was hurt badly as a little boy. Forgiveness was her forte. She was a devout Catholic and held to her beliefs and tenets. She was wonderful lady who gave me far more than she ever knew.
In that vein, this site is going to be a bit more than just a recipe compendium.
I'll still include the recipes from Nanny's kitchen, our family favorites and others that I have come to love. But I'll also include other offerings from cooking/baking to family stuff :) The only rule is that it has to be positive and uplifting :)
My Nanny's view of the world was much like the view from her kitchen window....there is a whole world out there full of warmth and good stuff, of good people and good memories to be made. That's the stuff that matters.....

Nothin' Beats Lancaster County Shoppin' :)

Neck pumpkins, cup cheese and lots of goodies from Earl Weavers.....great finds, great prices and getting to spend time with some folks I haven't seen in a while :) That's a great way to spend your time!
I got some research done, worked on a few other projects and came home laden with goodies from Lancaster County too :)
This is going to be a great weekend!
Lots of cooking to do, and a few more of Nanny's recipes to post sometime this weekend :)~

Coming Soon! Cashew Butter...Alton Brown and Jeff Lee Style!

Hopefully this week, we'll test the recipe...I finally found the Walnut Oil!

Nanny's Cracker Pudding

This cracker pudding is incredible! Sweet, creamy with a little bit of the cracker lumps...Just what I needed after a long, hard day at ........ school! :)

Nanny's Cracker Pudding

1 quart milk
2 eggs
Scant 1/2 cup sugar
Vanilla to taste
1 cup Ritz crackers
Baker angel flake coconut (short kind)

Heat milk but don't scald or burn. Add sugar and dissolve. Crush crackers and add to the milk.
Turn off the heat under the milk. Take a small amount and slowly beat into the eggs, making sure the pudding base is cooled a bit.
Once its well mixed, put it back into the pudding base and cook a bit longer.
Add the coconut, stir.

Miss Lizzie West's Cornbread/Sussex County, DE

This is a wonderful recipe that was given to me by one of my neighbors shortly after we moved into our wonderful, old house here at the beach. This is a recipe that was a favorite of Miss Lizzie West, one of the former residents of our house. She was a wonderful old woman who was all that is good about the southern part of Sussex County, Delaware.

This is an Eastern Shore wet cornbread, not at all like the dry, crumbly version that I was accustomed to prior to moving here.

Miss Lizzie's Cornbread


4 cups of boiling water
2 cups of cornmeal
1 tsp. salt
1/2 stick of butter
2 eggs
1 cup of sugar
1 cup of milk
1 cup flour

Mix together, then add 1 cup of milk, again. Then mix all together with a mixer.
Grease baking pan. Bake in preheated 350 degree oven for one hour or until brown.
Miss Lizzie's sister, Margie, was a resident of a local nursing home and had some very interesting things to say about Miss Lizzie's experiences in our house. Suffice it to say, when we wondered about finding a lock of hair in the fireplace in the dining room, Miss Margie told our neighbor that Miss Lizzie often stated she saw a woman in green shoes, rocking in that room....and she had no head.....

Nanny Kelley's Bread Pudding

This comes from a fading piece of paper, now tan with the 'receipt' written in ink, by my grandmother herself, Belva A Kelley.

This was a favorite of my late husbands. He adored her and her cooking. And she adored him right back :)

Nanny Kelley's Bread Pudding

1 1/2 cups of stale bread cubes
3 cups of milk
1/3 cup of sugar (you may alter this to taste)
2 eggs
pinch of salt
vanilla (I usually go with two tsps)

Scald milk and soak bread in it till soft.
Add sugar, beaten eggs, salt and flavoring.
Bake in moderate oven. The paper shows 325 degrees but there is a note in the margin that
says "I use 360 degrees.)
Note: She also wrote: You can add raisins if you like them.
Bake for 45 minutes.

I can tell you that I have always had to double this recipe. It disappeared too fast otherwise!