Fairy Cookies

This recipe is from page 45 of Log Cabin Cooking Pioneer Recipes & Food Lore by Barbara Swell.

2 cups sugar
1/2 cup butter
2 eggs
1 cup sour cream
1 tsp. soda
1 tsp. vanilla extract
flour

cream together sugar and butter.  Add eggs, soda, sour cream, and extract.  Add enough flour to make a soft dough.  Roll out thin or drop spoonfuls onto greased cookie sheet.  Bake at 350 degrees until slightly browned.  

ADDITIONS:  Dried fruit can be added to batter, sugar can be sprinkled on top, or a nut can be pressed in center of each cookie.

Pigs in A Puddle Recipe

This recipe is found on page 28 of Log Cabin Cooking Pioneer Recipes & Food Lore written by Barbara Swell.

                                             PIGS IN A PUDDLE

1/2 lb. ground meat (beef, turkey, pork)
1 onion, chopped
Binder, can be cooked rice or breadcurmbs
A cabbage
1 qt. tomatoes, stewed or chopped spiced with slat and pepper
Italian herbs to taste

  Brown meat and onion and drain off fat.  Add cooked rice or bread crumbs.  Drop outer leaves of cabbage into boiling water just until softened.  Put a spoonful of meat mixture onto each cabbage leaf and roll up egg roll style.  Place in a shallow, greased pan.  Cover with tomato sauce and bake at 350 degrees about 30-45 minutes until bubbly.

Old fashioned Recipes for Cornmeal Mush, Johnny Cake in Rhyme, Johnny or Journey Cake, Hoe Cake, Hunter's Cake and Ash Cake

These recipes are from an old cookbook have written by Barbara Swell.  The name of it is Log Cabin Cooking Pioneer Recipes & Food Lore.  I enjoy this little paperback a lot. Takes me back in time.

CORNMEAL MUSH

  Boil 2 cups water, add 1/2 tsp. salt, and sprinkle in cornmeal slowly while stirring until mush becomes thick.  Eat warm with butter and honey or molasses or put in a bread pan and chill until set.  Slice and fry in a frying pan with a bit of butter until crisp on both sides, then serve with maple syrup or honey.

POLENTA:  To warm mush, add Parmesan cheese, salt, pepper, garlic, Italian herbs to taste, and diced sun dried tomatoes.  Chill in bread pan, slice, and fry in a small amount of butter or olive oil until brown.

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JOHNNY CAKE IN RHYME

Two cups Indian (cornmeal), one cup wheat;
One cup good eggs that you can eat.
One-half cup molasses too.
One big spoon sugar added thereto;
Salt and soda, each a small spoon.
Mix up quickly and bake it soon.
               
                          from: Brenner, My Folks Come in a Covered Wagon

JOHNNY OR JOURNEY CAKE

Make a thick mush, add a pinch of salt, make into small cakes and bake on a greased pan until browned.

FOOD INSULTS

He's small potatoes and few to the hill.
He's all vine and not taters!
He flies around like a parched pea in a hot skillet.
He's helpless as spilled beans on a dresser.  

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HOE CAKE

Make as Johnny Cake, add a little butter and cook on a clean, greased hoe over hot coals (or you could always us a hot oven).

HUNTER'S CAKE

Make as Hoe Cake and add a pinch of baking soda.  Bake on a board near the fire.

ASH CAKE

2 cups cornmeal
1 cup buttermilk
3/4 tsp. soda
1/3 cup butter
1 tsp. salt

Clear a spot out of the ashes in the fireplace, drop batter onto the hearth.  When the dough forms a crust, cover with ashes and hot coals.  Bake until done through about 15-20 minutes.
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Recipes taken from pages 19 and 17 of Barbara Swell's Log Cabin Cooking Pioneer Recipes & Food Lore.

Antique Recipes From inside Modern Priscilla Cook Book. Handwritten and vintage newspaper clippings

I found this old antique book at a sale and it is stuffed with handwritten recipes as well as old newspaper and magazine recipes.  The owner also wrote recipes inside the book as well as gluing some recipes inside as well.  It is all falling apart, but I can not pass up nostalgic stuff like this. Below are some of the recipes I will share.

Newspaper clipping
St. Pat's Peppermint Candy

6 cups Quaker Puffed Rice
1/2 cup crushed green peppermint candy
1/4 cup butter or margarine
1/2 pound fresh marshmallows (about 32)

1.  Heat Quaker Puffed Rice in a shallow pan in a moderate oven (350 degrees) 10 minutes.  Pour Quaker Puffed Rice into a large greased bowl.  Mix with crushed peppermint candy.

2.  Melt butter and marshmallows in double boiler, stirring occasionally.

3.  Pour marshmallow mixture over Puffed Rice and candy, stirring until Puffed Rice is evenly coated.

4.  Pack Puffed Rice candy into greased 7 x 11 inch pan.  Cool and cut into squares.  Store in refrigerator.  Makes 32 squares.
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Here is a handwritten recipe. It is hard to read but will type it exactly as I see it.

Bean soup good

Navy Beans washed and soaked over night in the morning add honk of ham cook hour later brown 1/2 lb onions (cut fine) untill light brown in 1/4 lb butter add to ham also another 1/4 lb butter let simmer should be done 3 hrs after started to cook add salt and pepper (just before serving) to cust.

There is no punctuation or form of grammar and I hope it is easy to understand for you.

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This one is a cut out from a magazine or newspaper.

Broiled Deviled Maine Sardines

2 cans Maine Sardines (31/4 oz. size)
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon lemon juice
3 slices buttered toast, halved
1/4 cup grated American cheese

Mix worcestershire and lemon juice.  Place Maine Sardines on toast.  Sprinkle sauce mixture over sardines, top with cheese.  Broil slowly until cheese melts.  Garnish with pimiento.  Serves 3

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This one is from an old magazine.

Texas Style Fruit Cake

1 cup sugar
4 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1 pkg. (14 oz.) dates, halved
1 lb. candied pineapple, chopped
1 lb. candied cherries, halved
2 lbs. pecans
1 3/4 cups flour
2 tsps. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt

Beat together eggs, sugar and vanilla until light and creamy.  Dredge fruits and nuts in flour.  Mix remaining flour with dry ingredients.  Add to creamed mixture and beat well.  Fold in fruits and nuts.  Line loaf pans with foil.  Press dough firmly into pans leaving no spaces but allow 2 inch head space.  Cover securely with foil.  Bake 2 1/2 hrs at 275 degrees.  Lift foil from top of pans during last 20 minutes.  Cool.  Lightly moisten with B & B liqueur to hasten age.    Serves 18 to 20.
                                                Erika Reeb, Friend of UT Corpus Christi

Mu Tea (Herb Tea)

Boil one package of Mu Tea in 32 ounces of water for 10-20 minutes.  Serve.  It can be re-heated and the grounds can be used a second time.  A most yang beverage, Mu Tea contains "Gin-seng" and 15 other medicinal plants.

RUTH FROG LEGS

The following recipe is in my personal collection of recipes. It is from the San Antonio Express News Cookbook '1978 insert. It was in the October 15, 1978 issue and very few of these remain. The following recipe was submitted by Ruth Gorman at the time. Enjoy

RUTH FROG LEGS
BY RUTH GORMAN - SAN ANTONIO

8 prs. frog legs
1/2 cup oil
4 oz. peeled almonds
1 red pepper
1 green pepper
1 1/2 ozs. finely chopped shallots or onion
2 cloves garlic, chopped very fine
4 fresh tomatoes, skinned and quartered
1 lemon, peeled and quartered
1 cup white or pale rum
1 bay leaf
1/2 teaspoon thyme
1 teaspoon parsley
1 dash cayenne pepper

Saute the frog legs in oil and a nut of butter on low fire but do not brown to much. When the frog legs are cooked (about 10 minutes), remove to serving dish and keep warm. In the butter where the frog legs were cooked, put the rum, the chopped shallots and garlic and reduce this on a low fire to a syrup, stirring gently. Add the red and green pepper let this simmer for a few minutes. Add the 4 tomatoes and a little salt and pepper, put the cover on and cook for 10 minutes. Put this ragout on the frog legs in the serving dish and heat for a few minutes. Add cayenne. Just before serving put the almonds which have been previously sauteed in butter to a nice golden color (but not too cooked as they get bitter).Decorate with lemon quarters. Serves 4. To make this dish more attractive, serve with rice Pilaf or sweet potato croquettes and a a salad.