Penny Sanford Designs

Tomato Jam Recipe!

This recipe comes from Anina of Twiddletails ( http://twiddletails.blogspot.com/ ) Anina translated the recipe and converted it from metric measurement for me. Thank you, Anina! We LOVE this Tomato Jam!!

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Pick small, firm, ripe tomatoes. Wash and weigh them.

**We used a low acid cherry tomato, small and sweet. Yellow tomatoes would be fantastic for this recipe too!**

Pierce skins with a thick needle. Soak tomatoes in salt water for 20-30 minutes (1 tablespoon salt to 1 gallon water) Rinse well.

**Unc did not want the peel of the little tomatoes to be in the finished jam (it's a personal preference thing), so we dumped the cherry tomatoes in boiling water, let them tumble for about a minute, then dumped them in cold water so that the peel just rolled off. We cut out the little core too. Because we did not use the salt water and thus did not allow the tomato to absorb any salt, we added about a half Tablespoon of salt to bring out the flavor of the tomatoes.**

Grease bottom of jam pot with butter or oil.
Add 1/2 cup of water and add tomatoes and sugar in layers. Pack the tomatoes quite tightly

**Since the consistency of our tomatoes was different than if we had left the peel on as the original recipe prescribed, we started with 1/2 cup of water in a stock pot, dumped in the tomatoes that were very juicy, and added sugar based on the weight of peeled tomatoes.**

Use 1lb sugar for every 1lb of tomatoes

Heat slowly until sugar has dissolved and then cook for about 2 hours on high heat until the tomatoes are clear and the syrup thick.

Add 1/8-1/4 cup of lemon juice and a couple of pieces of peeled, slightly crushed fresh ginger for every 6 pounds of tomatoes while cooking. Remove ginger pieces.

**We did not have any ginger, so I just added an extra splash of lemon juice**

Let cool, bottle and seal.

**We spooned the hot mixture into hot jam jars fresh from being steralized in the dishwasher.  Wiped the rim and outside threads with a dry paper towel to be sure no seed or jam would interfere with the seal, and then put on a sterile/boiled "slapper" and ring. You know the seal is good if the jar/lid "pops" as it cools of.

Eloise's Easy Chicken Casserole

Lunch was too pretty to eat today. We had to photograph it first!
Eloise's Easy Chicken Casserole

2 cans better grade asparagus spears (or fresh asparagus or fresh or frozen broccoli)
1 family size package of chicken breasts
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can cream of celery soup
1 cup mayonnaise
3 Tbs. lemon juice
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
Pimento pepper (chopped or in strips)
Rosemary
Savory
Marjoram
Parsley Flakes
Salt & pepper

Season boiling chicken with rosemary (1 Tbs fresh chopped or 1/2 tsp. dried and crumbled) and Savory (either 1 Tbs. fresh chopped or 1/2 tsp. dried and ground). Salt & pepper to taste. Sometimes we live dangerously and exchange dill for the rosemary.

Steam asparagus (or open cans). Drain You can substitute broccoli as in the photo above.

Line chicken in a casserole dish in individual servings. (You may need to split the chicken breasts, depending on size).

Place asparagus spears over the individual chicken servings in a "sheaf of wheat" pattern. Sprinkle pimento pieces or criss-cross pimento strips over the asparagus.

Mix together cream soups, mayonnaise and lemon juice. Add marjoram and parsley flakes, approximately 1/2 tsp each.

Pour over chicken and asparagus servings, leaving the asparagus tips and ends exposed. Sprinkle with shredded white cheese. (We were out of white cheeses today, so Dollie used shredded cheddar. It was another fabulous variation! I think we will try Pepper Jack cheese next time.)

Cover with foil. Heat at 350 degrees Fahrenheit until cheese melts and sauce bubbles.

You can thank Unc for saving the dish from hungry mouths so that we could shoot it and then share the recipe with you.

He has a good "eye". I'll have to share some of his photographs here on the blog.

There would have been more photos. I had even picked out an interesting plate and fork, but hungry tummies prevailed.

You should have seen the excited, silly little parade of Unc, Gordon, eight dogs, and me following the casserole from the kitchen to the little antique marble top table in the front hall of the old farmhouse where I take so many pictures.

We open both front doors to flood the space with natural light. It is a good place to take a photo at any time of day.

You probably remember that I try to name recipes shared in friendship after the person who generously shared it with me.

Think "Friendship Gardening" but for the kitchen.

This family favorite is named after my friend Eloise.

Eloise was a dear, dear lady with whom I worked in Alabama in the 1980's. She came from a good, solid, old line Mississippi family, and she had some of the most beautiful antiques.

I wish I could share with you a picture of one of her bedroom sets, Victorian era, made of a light burled wood. I wish I could remember now the light colored wood. It was a buttery tan color with inlaid darker woods. Stunning!

Another tidbit I remember with fondness about Eloise was her collection of blue glass and her dining room with its pink ceiling. I never saw the actual dining room, but she told me about her whole adventure with the decorator and the pink ceiling and her surprise that it "worked"!  Eloise was a great story teller!

Eloise had survived some very painful life experiences...stuff most folk could not imagine. When I met her, Eloise had learned to keep moving forward with a mellow, easy going attitude.  There was just so much in life that she could control, so she did not fret over the bad stuff she could not avoid.

I learned a lot from Eloise during our friendship, and I consider her one of the jewels of my life experiences. Through the years, I visited her as she moved from Alabama to Louisiana and then Florida, and she came to visit here on the farm.

(In other words, she was one of those treasured friends well worth traveling to see. Not stopping to visit on your way somewhere else, but traveling just to see Eloise. She was that special!)

She died in the 1990's from cancer, and I miss her very much. Thankfully, I have gotten to know one of Eloise's cousins in Mississippi who is another jewel as well as a friend!

When you make this easy, laid back recipe, think of Eloise and her dining room with the pink ceiling...and share this recipe with one of your friends.

Other recipes on this blog:
Eugenia's Farm Fresh Spinach Casserole
Cousin Marjorie's Herbed Cheese Daisies
Mississippi Pecan Praline Cookies

Eugenia's Farm Fresh Spinach Casserole

Here is a casserole fellow Daughter of the American Revolution member Eugenia Collins brought to the Thomas Rodney Chapter Christmas Luncheon back in December.

It is one of those wonderful pass-along friendship recipes with no particular name which means that we get to re-name it when we put it in our repertoire of tried- and- true recipe favorites!

Flipping through our recipe book and seeing the recipes named for the person who shared it with us becomes a little trip down memory lane. Fun!

We will be trying this recipe with added mushrooms and with mustard greens instead of spinach.  I'll let you know how that turns out.

Thank you, Miss Eugenia! This is my new favorite recipe!

Eugenia’s Farm Fresh Spinach Casserole

1 (16 oz.) bag (or 2 boxes) chopped spinach,  thawed
1 cup onion, chopped
2 pkg. (2 lbs.) shredded sharp cheddar cheese (Save some for topping.)
24 oz. Cottage cheese
6 eggs
6 Tbsp. self-rising flour
1 stick butter, melted
Couple pieces of bacon, crumbled
Salt to taste

Mix all ingredients and pour into casserole sprayed with Pam.  Top with crumbled bacon and saved cheddar cheese.  Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.

I like to add a little bacon drippings for the extra flavor. Take away an equivalent amount of the butter.

Experiment  with some herbs like savory, marjoram and chives.
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To share a chuckle with you... I was looking up the various meanings of casserole and quiche to see which term most accurately fit this recipe.  A quiche apparently needs a pie crust plus eggs and cheese to qualify to be a quiche.

The casserole referred only to the dish in which a recipe is prepared UNTIL 1958 when the definition of casserole was expanded to include the recipe that is made in the casserole dish!  I've been entertaining some silly thoughts about what must have happened in 1958 that rocked the culinary world and created the casserole as a  recipe category, not just the container.

Modern Language Association (MLA):
"casserole." Online Etymology Dictionary. Douglas Harper, Historian. 12 Jan. 2008. <Dictionary.com http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/casserole>.

.

Hey, some of you Foodies help me out with this big mystery!  *grin*

Recipe for Herb Cheese Daisies

Years ago on one of their visits to the farm, (cousin-by-marriage) Marjorie Melton Hammond, and her husband, our Cousin Kelly Hammond of Greenwood, MS,, brought us this beautiful tin filled with Marjorie's home-made goodies.  She was an excellent Southern cook!

Cousins Marjorie and Kelly are dead now, but every time we use this beautiful tin or the Herbed Cheese Daisy Recipe, we remember fondly the time spent together.

I kinda-sorta collect tins... usually those with a Southern theme. (If you ever see a Westie on a tin, PLEASE let me know!)

This tin is five inches deep with the famous painting of magnolias by Martin J. Heade printed on the removable top of the tin, perfect for a serving tray. Heade painted a series of stunning magnolia blooms. I could not find the name of this particular painting or in which museum it resides

The bottom of the tin is printed with a Frank W. Benson painting. I've not found the specific title of this painting. Benson painted a number of women- at-the- seashore scenes. 

If you know the names of the paintings or the museums housing these works of art, please let me know.

This tin from Cousin Marjorie was designed for Sunshine Thousand Window Bakery of Long Island City, New York, the world's largest bakery from 1912 until 1955. Keebler now owns the Sunshine company.

This sturdy tin was introduced in 1991.  I've seen one of these well-made Sunshine commemorative tins with George Washington paintings from 1984... gotta find one of those in good condition to use at DAR meetings. 

Anyway, back to the Herb Cheese Daisies.  Cousin Marjorie's cheese daisies were as crisp on day three as they were just out of the oven.  I've not figured out how she made them so short.  If you have any knowledge about making homemade crackers and cookies very crisp, please share the secret.

Thanks to Cousin Marjorie, I can share this delicious recipe with you.  This Christmas when we put flowers on the grave for her and Cousin Kelly, next to the flowers her daughter had placed, I whispered a little thanks for her simple act of sharing that we have continued to enjoy for more than 15 years.

Herb Cheese Daisies

2 cups shredded Colby, Cheddar, Mozzarella or Monterey Jack cheese
1/4 lb butter (preferred) or oleo
1 light cup of flour
1/2 tsp of salt
1/4 tsp of red pepper (or less)
1/2 tsp each: rosemary, marjoram and savory

Cream butter and cheese together
Sift flour, salt and pepper together
Then add butter, cheese and herbs
Blend well and form into two rolls
Place in plastic wrap and store in refrigerator until chilled
Slice (about 1/4 of an inch thick) and put on cookie sheet
Place pecan half on each slice
Bake at 325 degrees for about 10 minutes
Cool completely before putting in an air tight container

We use less red pepper. You can cut the dough into daisy shapes with a cookie cutter. If your oven cooks fast, watch the bottoms of the cheese daisies. Move them to a higher shelf if the bottoms brown too fas.

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Mississippi Pecan Praline Cookies

The cookies were baked... Mississippi Pecan Praline Cookies... two beautiful dozen of them for the cookie swap!

My little piece of fabric was chosen for the fat quarter swap. 

The camera was ready to record every item for the show-and- tell of scrap quilts. 

But, alas, events of the day would not let us attend the December meeting of the Golden Triangle Quilters this week.

So, since I was not able to share the cookies and the recipe with the Guild members, I'll share it here with all of you.

Mississippi Pecan Praline Cookies:

Ingredients:

• 8 ounces butter
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 2 cups all-purpose flour, sifted
• 2 cups chopped pecans
• sifted confectioners' sugar

Preparation:

Cream butter and brown sugar; stir in vanilla. Gradually work in flour. Mixture will be crumbly. Add chopped pecans and work into dough.

Pinch off dough and roll in hands to form balls about 1 inch in diameter. Press the balls gently into a flat cookie shape, but don't press too flat. (Thanks, Anina, for telling me I left this part of the directions out of the recipe!)

Place on greased baking sheets; bake cookies at 325° for 15 to 20 minutes, until firm and browned on bottoms.

If your oven browns the bottoms of the cookies too fast, then start the cookies in the middle of the oven, and move up to a higher shelf when you see the bottoms of the cookies have browned sufficiently.

If desired, roll pecan cookies in confectioners' sugar while still warm. We REALLY like this part!

Let cool completely on a rack before placing in container so that cookies will remain crisp.
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The plate is the Lenox Colonial Christmas Wreath plate for 1990, depicting a wreath made from cranberries, American holly and red cedar from New Jersey.

This is one of a series of 13 plates designed to represent the 13 American Colonies.

Thanks to a dear friend who searched until she found the one plate missing from my set, I now have all 13 plates in this beautiful series to enjoy!  Thanks so much, Faye!