Eggless Egg Nog

Nothing like some good Egg Nog to bring in the Thanksgiving and Christmas season. The younger generation may not get (or like) this , but some of us seasoned folks understand the love for this drink. Egg Nog. along with the smells of winter, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking goods and turkey; all usher in the Season for Merriment and Celebration. 

As I have gotten older, I realized that lactose intolerance can inhibit my drinking of this fine beverage. I also find that raw egg kinda disagrees with me. This recipe is a great alternative! I substitute the whole milk for lactose free milk. 

 

 Am I happy? Yep!!    I think you will be too:)

Ingredients:

 

5 cups 2% or whole milk
1 3.4oz. pkg. Vanilla instant pudding mix
1/2 cup sugar
1-1/2 tsp. Rum Extract
1/4 tsp. each of ground nutmeg, allspice, ginger

Directions:

 

Start with cold  milk and put about half of it, along with all other ingredients in blender and blend very well at medium to high speed.  Pour into serving pitcher and add remaining milk and stir well. Refrigerate at least 1-1/2 hours.

Stir before serving

Country Fried Apple Pie

Come on folks...lets get the old school, cooking with real fat, recipe moving!

Remember when people used the real fat/lard for cooking, and it was usually kept in the refrigerator.

An alternative for this recipe would be to use Butter Flavored Crisco for frying.  Yum Yum

Ingredients:

Double Pie Crust
Stewed (dried) apples
Deep fat

Directions:

Roll crust on a floured board.  Cut with a large, round cookie cutter.  Put about 1-1/2 tablespoons sweetened, seasoned (a little vanilla, a little cinnamon), chunky cooked apples  in each round.  Moisten edges with cold water, fold to make semi-circle and press edges together.  Fry in hot fat and drain well on paper towels when crispy brown.

Some folks like to sprinkle a little powdered sugar on top for visual appeal, but I like mine just the way they come straight out of the hot fat.  Add a dollop of ice cream on the top, while they are still hot!!!

If you don't like apples, try this with peaches, blueberries, blackberries, strawberries or any like fruit of  choice.

Fried Cajun Fish

                       I love fish!!!




The seasonings on this is enough to be different and is guaranteed to be on your weekly menu planner.  The recipe calls for firm white fish, which is usually a quick-cooking type fish.  This would include (but not limited to) tilapia, catfish, haddock, grouper, Alaska pollock, and snapper.




Ingredients:

2 tsp. paprika
2 tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cumin
½ tsp chili powder
4 firm white fish fillets
1 tbs oil

Directions:

Mix paprika, black pepper, coriander, cumin and chili powder in a bow. Toss fish in spice mixture. Heat oil in a frying pan over medium heat, add fish and cook for 2 minutes on each side or until cooked

Old Fashioned Pear Preserves

(Using the hard, cooking pears)

My great-grandmother used to make this and it was delicious with her homemade biscuits, that were cooked in a wood stove. This recipe has 2 ingredients and simple directions, but to make it the old fashioned way, it is an all day process.

Ingredients:

To every 2 lbs. Pears, peeled and sliced, add 1 lb sugar

Directions:

Put the pears in sugar in a big pot or dishpan and allow to sit overnight. Early the next morning, cook slowly or on low heat on top of the stove, uncovered for almost half a day or until juice slightly thickens and both pears and syrup become transparent and amber in color. Use your own judgment by testing occasionally. The pears must not become too hard. Put up in sterilized, dry jars and seal.



 

Chocolate Gravy

This is sopped with biscuits like molasses, syrup or meat gravies were. Socially acceptable like dips today, except the sopping was done on your own plate instead of a common dish.

Ingredients:

½ cup cocoa
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
1 tbsp. flour, mixed with ½ cup water, stirred til smooth
½ tsp. vanilla
pinch of salt
4 tbsp. butter (optional)

Directions:

Mix cocoa and sugar. Have water boiling in saucepan. Add cocoa and sugar mixture, salt. Gradually stir in flour mixture. Remove from burner and stir in vanilla. Serve hot or cold

Southern Style Chow Chow

 This will be the best Chow Chow you have ever eaten!

Nice for gift giving, very colorful and packed full of flavor!

In a big pot combine:

1 ½ cups sugar
3 cups vinegar
1 tbs. Celery seed
1 tbs mustard seed
½ tsp red hot pepper

Chop by hand (do not grind):

4 white onions
4 green peppers
4 red peppers
1 small cabbage
2 large carrots (optional)

Sprinkle with salt; toss. Allow to stand for about 2 hours. Then put into vinegar mixture and mix well. Allow to cook about 15 minutes after it starts to boil. Pack in sterile jars. Make certain that all of the vegetables are covered by the vinegar mixture in the jars. Pour off excess. Seal jars.

Note: This can be as hot as you like. Use mild pepper instead of hot peppers if you don't like it hot. I wonder what this would taste like with Habanero peppers?

Butter Molasses and Biscuits

This is combined with real butter, but during the Depression if none was available, salt pork drippings were used instead.

The recipe states that you are to whip the mix together until it turns white. We never did this, but just blended ours together and the results were actually what the photo look like. On hot biscuits, the butter melted, and it got mixed pretty good when we started to chew!!!!!

Directions:

Pour some cold molasses on your plate. Add very soft real butter, and with a fork whip together until mixture turns white. Spread on hot biscuits.

Look for molasses that is unsulphured since not only does it not contain this processing chemical to which some people are sensitive, but it has a cleaner and more clarified taste.

Unopened containers should keep for about one year, while opened containers should keep for about six months.