Someone suggested that I share some recipes on the web for the food I've been writing about. So here goes!
Cream together:
1 cup shortening
1/4 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
Mix in:
1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups rolled oats (quick oats ok, but 'real' oats
work best, i think)
2 cups chocolate chips (that's one bag)
Drop by spoonfulls onto a cookie sheet (i like to make them fairly big). Bake at 375 for 10 to 12 minutes. Makes about two dozen, as i recall. I make a double go whenever I can, otherwise they just don't last long enough. These are really good and hearty cookies, guaranteed to be a hit and disappear fast.
Measure 2 cups water into a pan and put on the stove to boil.
In a large bowl place:
1 cup quick oats
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 Tablespoon salt
2 Tablespoons margarine
Pour the 2 cups of boiling water over all this and stir till margarine is melted and it's all mixed together.
While waiting for that to cool, mix 1 package yeast in 1/2 cup warm water (we're talking lukewarm water here, too hot and it will kill the yeast!). When the stuff in the bowl has cooled a bit, add the yeast water and stir.
Mix in 5 cups of unbleached white flour.
On a floured counter top or board, knead for 5 to 10 minutes (this is my favorite part-- second to eating it, kneading is why i make bread). Let the dough sit, preferably in a warm place, until it approximately doubles in size. Punch it down (that part's fun too). Divide dough and place in two greased bread pans. Let rise again in pans on top of oven as it is preheating. Bake at 350 for 30 to 40 minutes. This bread at its best is thick and moist and really good warm out of the oven with butter and jam. Once it cools off and sets a bit it can get a little dry, but always makes excellent toast.
Note: the Oatmeal Bread and the cookies recipe above come from the More With Less Cookbook, a Mennonite collection.
Mix in a bowl:
3 cups flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
4 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 Tablespoon sugar
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
Cut in 6 tablespoons of shortening (i've used Crisco or equivalent, but i think margarine or butter would work too). This is best done with a pastry cutter, but fingers work well too in a pinch.
Combine and stir:
1 small beaten egg
1 1/3 cups sour milk or buttermilk
Add the egg and buttermilk to the dry ingredients and mix.
The dough should handle without too much stickiness. Knead lightly on a floured counter or board.
Roll to 1/2 inch thickness and cut with a biscuit cutter. If you don't have a biscuit cutter get a tin soup can out of the trash, wash it out, flour around the top a little, and use that.
Place on a cookie sheet and bake at 350 for 10 to 12 minutes or until golden. I usually get about 20 biscuits. Eat with butter and jam or honey, or with generous ladles of sausage gravy.
Put in a pan and bring to a boil:
1 1/4 cups broth and water (I've been using canned
beef broth, but i imagine vegetable or chicken stock
or anything like that would work fine.)
1/2 to 1 cup sausage (just put in however much sausage
you want, really)
Combine 3/4 cup milk with 1/4 cup flour. Stir to get the flour mixed in as good as possible.
Slowly pour the milk and flour mix into the boiling broth, stirring as you pour. Keep heat up and stir constantly until thick and smooth. Dump onto biscuits and enjoy with scrambled eggs and home fries. Glen and I have made this breakfast for several of our longer-term hosts now and it gets great reviews every time!
(from RECIPES FROM THE OLD MILL by Sarah E. Myers and Mary Beth Lind, Good Books, 1995)
Cathy writes: These were a real lifesaver for us during grad school days. The recipe can stand a fair amount of tinkering -- add all the chopped dried fruits, nuts, etc., that you want, eliminate what you don't have on hand -- just add a little hot water as needed.
Blend together:
1/3 c. brown sugar
2/3 c. crunchy peanut butter
3/4 c. honey
2 Tb. hot water (as needed to make all the ingredients hold together)
2 tsp. vanilla
Stir in and mix well:
2 1/2 c. rolled oats
1 c. whole wheat flour
1/4 c. wheat germ
1/2 c. sunflower seeds or nuts or combination
1 Tb. sesame seeds
1 c. chocolate chips
1/2 c. raisins or other chopped dried fruit
1/2 c. coconut (optional)
Press into a greased 9" x 13" pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes, until lightly browned. Cut into 24 bars while still warm. Cool completely before removing from pan. These freeze and travel well.
Joe says: I can't wait to try making these! Cathy gave us two bags of bars and they really were lifesavers. We always looked forward to biting into one. It was like, hey, we have some of those granola bars that Cathy gave us yet. Well, what are we waiting for, let's eat one!
Combine in a bowl:
1 jar peanut butter
1 box powdered sugar
1/2 cup softened butter or margarine
Put mixture in refrigerator for awhile to harden. When you can roll them into small balls without the stuff sticking to your hands too much, then do so. Lay the balls out on wax paper and put them back in the fridge for awhile.
When the balls are hard enough that you can stick a toothpick in them and they don't fall apart, they're ready to be coated with chocolate. Melt a bag of chocolate chips in a double boiler (or, if you don't have a double boiler, use the old Gosa method of holding a small pot over top of a bigger pot of boiling water; watch out for the steam).
Add some cooking wax or some oil to the chocolate (I think this thins it and also helps it harden better). Use toothpicks to dip each peanut butter ball into the melted chocolate. Lay them out on wax paper again and return to fridge once more to harden.
Oh, make sure you drizzle each ball with some extra chocolate to cover the hole made by the toothpick. When you're all done eat lots. They're scrumptious!
Happy cooking and baking!
Keep in touch - Joe (lappjoe@yahoo.com) and Glen (glapp@juno.com)!