Lemon Pudding Cake

When I was growing up, we had dessert every single night. My mother taught school and would start supper early in the morning. She would put on a pot of peas or green beans or even brown the meat for dinner. Then, after school, she would pull everything out of the refrigerator and finish the meal. We always had bread too. My daddy said that "bread was the staff of life". She either fried cornbread patties, made biscuits, or had grocery store brown 'n serve rolls. I do not know how she accomplished everything that she did. As I have mentioned before, she was a great improviser with cake mixes and specialty dessert products. I remember the Betty Crocker pudding cake mix very well. Mother would prepare it right before we sat down for dinner and then serve it warm for dessert.

When I married in 1970, one of the first recipes that I tried out of the Better Homes and Garden Cookbook was the lemon pudding cake. It is a sweet, yet tart, warm, and comforting dessert - just perfect for a weeknight treat. 

Lemon Pudding Cake

3/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup sifted all purpose flour

3 tablespoons butter, melted

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

1 teaspoon grated lemon peel

1 1/2 cups whole milk

3 well-beaten egg yolks

3 stiffly beaten egg whites

Combine sugar, a dash of salt, and flour; stir in melted butter, lemon peel, and juice.

Combine milk and egg yolks, add to lemon mixture.

Fold in beaten egg whites.

Pour into 8 x 8 x 2 inch baking pan.

Place in larger pan on oven rack.

Pour hot water into larger pan one inch deep

Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes. Serve warm or chilled. 

We enjoy serving this pudding cake warm, just as my mother preferred. 

Scotchy Fudge For the Holidays

I have been making this super easy stovetop fudge since 1970. My first Christmas as a new bride was in Vienna, Georgia. My husband and I lived on his Uncle's farm in a little house known to all of the neighbors as the Perkle place. I have no idea who the Perkle's were, but I loved that little house. We closed off one of the front bedrooms and the living room and lived in the family room/kitchen combination. Our little fresh cut pine tree decorated one corner of the room. I was still learning how to cook, and my mother sent me this recipe. She had been making the easy fudge for years and knew that I could possible succeed with these very simple ingredients and instructions.

Scotchy Fudge

1 can Eagle Brand Sweetened Condensed Milk

1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

1 cup butterscotch chips

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

Line an 8 X 8 inch square pan with aluminum foil or wax paper that has been lightly sprayed with Pam.

Melt chocolate and butterscotch chips in condensed milk over hot, not boiling water, in a double boiler.

Stir until all chips are melted.

Remove pan from heat and let slightly cool.

Stir in vanilla and chopped nuts- if desired

Refrigerate until firm enough to cut into squares - several hours or overnight

Store in refrigerator.

At Thanksgiving, my daughter and I made several different batches. Some with and some without nuts. As the old saying goes, "Sometimes you feel like a nut, and sometimes you don't". 

Package this fudge in cute little boxes to share with all of your neighbors. 

Cornbread Dressing and a Family Thanksgiving

Several years ago, I tried a recipe for cornbread dressing that I found in Southern Living's holiday cookbook. It was prepared the night before and cooked Thanksgiving morning in the slow cooker. Our family loved it and gave me the authority to never go back to my mother's egg bread and biscuit recipe. Her recipe is delicious, but is quite time consuming and takes up valuable cooking space in the oven. This "new" dressing is super moist, yet gets quite crusty on the sides, for those who love that aspect. Boiled eggs, oysters, or sausage can also be added, along with any other family preferences that you may have. 

The first step is to bake two pouches of Martha White cornbread mix the night before preparing the dressing.

I just simply use the directions on the  pouch with the exception of replacing the milk or water with buttermilk. Don't forget to preheat your greased pan in the very hot also for about 8 minutes. 

Cornbread Dressing

5 cups crumbled cornbread - this is two pouches of Martha White Cornbread Mix - be sure not to get the sweet version

1 14 ounce package of  herb stuffing mix

2 cans cream of chicken soup

1 32 ounce container of chicken stock

1 large sweet Vidalia onion - diced

1 cup diced  celery

4 large eggs - lightly beaten

1 tablespoon rubbed sage

1 tablespoon poultry seasoning

1/2 teaspoon pepper

salt to taste

2 Tablespoons butter - cut up in pats

Saute onion and celery in 1 tablespoons butter in pan

Combine all ingredients except butter in large bowl.

Pour cornbread mixture into well greased 6 qt slow cooker

Dot with the butter

Cook on low for 4 to 6 hours until set and thoroughly cooked

Enjoy with your Thanksgiving or Christmas turkey

Parker loved everything about his Thanksgiving turkey and dressing and didn't spill a thing on Aunt Phyllis's upholstered chairs. 

Aunt Winnie's Famous Squash Casserole

I have been chomping at the bits for some of Aunt Winnie's Famous Squash Casserole. For years, we called it Aunt Winnie's Squash Casserole, but everyone who gets a delectable portion wants the recipe. Therefore, I have officially added "Famous" to the title this year. I have never seen this recipe anywhere else, but in her recipe collection, which I was lucky enough to inherit. This casserole is cheesy, buttery, filled with fresh yellow squash, and even  has a little kick.

My parents both grew up in Seminole County, Georgia. Aunt Winnie moved down the road to Colquitt, when she married. She was over forty when she married, but daddy always referred to her as an Old Maid. On the other hand, I always thought that she was absolutely beautiful, with perfume sprayers and big dusting powder puffs for after baths. She had shoes to match every outfit, and a play by number keyboard, which was the neatest thing.

After she married, she always hosted Thanksgiving dinner. My mother and her sister Aunt Nettie Doris would get up early and prepare their specialty dishes, but Aunt Winnie was always the star of the show.
Colquitt, is a very small town in Southwest Georgia, but has a quaint little shopping street.

It is also the home of the Mayhaw Festival and has several Mayhaw Jelly businesses. 

Several years ago, the historic Tarrer Inn was restored and is now a lovely bed and breakfast with a traditional southern dining room. It is definitely a place to visit if you are ever in the area. 

Aunt Winnie's Famous Squash Casserole

1 1/2 cup yellow squash, cooked and salted

1 cup diced or shredded cheese

1 cup crushed saltine crackers

2 Tablespoons minced parsley flakes

3 Tablespoons chopped red pimento

1 tablespoon dried onion flakes

3 tablespoons melted butter

1 cup scalded milk

Red pepper, black pepper, and salt to taste

Mix all of the ingredients together in a buttered quart casserole.

Bake in a 350 degree oven 45 minutes to one hour.

It can be prepared the day before and baked on your special holiday. 

1960's French Onion Soup and the Clewiston Inn

When I was growing up in South Florida, Clewiston, to be exact, my daddy would often have trips and business dinners on weeknight evenings. Momma and I would often eat at the Clewiston Inn. Two items stand out in my mind after all of these years. I remember dining on deliciously salty French Onion Soup with a melted cheese toast in the bowl. My other favorite was a strawberry cream dessert. It consisted of whipping cream, fresh strawberries, and probably cream cheese and confectioner's sugar. It was served in a square with a dollop of whipped cream. My mother was an excellent cook and decided that she would prepare the French Onion soup at home. I don't know where she came up with the recipe, but I remember her version was even tastier than at the Inn. Of course, I found it hand written in the back of one of her cookbooks.

French Onion Soup

4 large onions, thinly sliced

1/4 cup butter or margarine

3 10 1/2 ounce cans beef broth

1 teaspoon Worcestershire Sauce

Dash Pepper

Loaf of French Bread, cut into slices

Grated Fresh Parmesan Cheese

Cook onion in butter till lightly browned, about 20 minutes

Add broth and Worcestershire sauce. Bring to boiling. Season with salt and pepper if needed.

Simmer about 20 minutes. 

Sprinkle bread slices with cheese; place under broiler until cheese is melted and lightly browned

Pour soup in bowls and place toast slice on top.

Banana Coffee Bread - Make and Freeze for the Holidays

As we are approaching the week before Thanksgiving, menu planning and grocery shopping goes into full swing. If you are expecting a house full of company, especially with teenagers or college students, breakfast planning may become an issue. They do love to sleep late, but need a little bit of nourishment with their morning coffee, coca cola, or orange juice. I have been baking this banana coffee bread for well over forty years. I have tried many other versions of banana bread, but always return to this super moist and delicious easy to mix and bake recipe. It was one of my first baking endeavors as a new bride, and turned out perfectly, much to my surprise. I don't think that I have ever had a mishap with this recipe. I use self-rising flour and have switched the original recipe from shortening to vegetable oil. It is baked in a square pan and therefore, bakes up quickly and more evenly than in a loaf pan. If freezes wonderfully, and is perfect to make now for Thanksgiving or Christmas guests. When the children would bring guests home for Thanksgiving, I would always put a little basket of these banana squares in their rooms for late night snacks or noon breakfasts.

Banana Coffee Bread recipe is adapted from the 1970 Better Homes and Gardens recipe book - quick bread category

Banana Coffee Bread

1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
3/4 to 1 cup mashed bananas
1 1/4 cups self rising flour

Mash the bananas really good; until they create juice, this helps add moisture to the quick bread.


Cream shortening with sugar. Add eggs, one at at time, beating well after each. Stir in bananas. Add flour to mixture. Mix well. Pour into greased 9x9x2 inch pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

When freezing this bread, I let it cool completely in the pan. Then, I  run a knife around the edges. It releases well from the pan. I then wrap the bread in Saran Wrap and wrap again with aluminum foil. It makes an easy to store, compact package for the freezer. Remove wraps when ready to thaw.

Holiday Vanilla Wafer Fruit and Nut Roll

My grandmother always had an icebox fruit cake for Thanksgiving and Christmas. She had a mile high soaked in brandy and wrapped in cheesecloth fruit cake also. It was stored way in the back of the pantry in a dark cool spot. But my favorite was always the ice box fruit cake rolled in a log and perfect for nibbling by my cousin and myself. It was often made with graham crackers, but my Aunt Winnie would make it with vanilla wafers. Aunt Winnie didn't get married until she was over forty and always lived with my grandparents during my childhood years. She worked at the bank downtown and would always take me to the dime store shopping. We would always buy a paper doll book and a bag of the world's best popcorn. I remember that smell so vividly. I dearly loved my Aunt Winnie. She would let me use all of her bubble bath products and her big fluff of a bath powder mitt.

During our Thanksgiving and Christmas visits to South Georgia, we would get up early, have grits and eggs and then breakfast dessert. Breakfast dessert for my cousin and myself was this delicious Fruit and Nut log served with half milk and half coffee and lots of sugar. My parents always carried on with the breakfast dessert tradition for my children also. In later years, when my grandparents were gone and we visited my parents' home for the holidays, they would serve ice cream or a piece of cake to the kids after breakfast, and in the summer it was always fresh peaches with heavy whipping cream and lots of sugar. Breakfast dessert is definitely only a grandparent tradition. I never thought to say "no" to my parent's indulgences for the children. It was their right and privilege to spoil them.

I found this recipe written on an old yellowed piece of paper in her cookbook. I have tried to revise it a little.

Vanilla Wafer Ice Box Fruit Cake

1 box of vanilla wafers
2 cups chopped pecans
2 cups raisins or nowadays, I love craisins
1 1/2 cups mini marshmallows
1 jar maraschino cherries - drained and chopped
1 14 oz  can sweetened condensed milk
1/4 cup confectioners sugar

In a bowl, combine all ingredients except confectioners sugar: mix well - remember that clean hands are the best mixing tool
Form mixture into 4 equal size logs
Place confectioners sugar in shallow dish and roll logs in sugar- coat completely
Wrap each log in plastic wrap and chill for several hours or overnight
Slice just before serving

The logs make great gifts and no cooking at all -