Penny Sanford Porcelains

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!