Recipe: Coconut Cream Pie

Helen Wride's Coconut Cream Pie

Ingredients:
7 1/2 Tablespoons cornstarch
1 2/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
5 cups milk
4 eggs, well beaten
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup lightly toasted coconut
Heavy whipping cream, whipped to soft peaks, then whip in sugar to taste


Directions:
Bake a pie shell according to your favorite recipe (or package instructions). Let cool.

For pie filling, combine cornstarch, sugar and salt in a bowl. Stir well and set aside. In a small bowl, beat the eggs and set aside. Add milk to a medium saucepan. When milk just comes to a boil, gradually whisk in the dry ingredients. Cook about 2 to 3 minutes, stirring constantly. Temper the eggs by whisking a little of the milk mixture into the eggs, then whisk the egg mixture into the remaining milk mixture in the saucepan and cook about 1 more minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and add vanilla. Stir well. Cool pudding mixture to room temperature then fold in coconut. Pour into pre-cooked pie shell and top with whipped cream. Chill. Makes enough filling for two 9-inch pies.

Cooks Note: If this recipe resembles Helen's Banana Cream Pie, that's because she uses the same vanilla pudding base. Helen always made her own pie filling (actually a thick vanilla pudding) but you can make vanilla pie filling from a box, stir in the coconut, and top with whipped cream. The great banana or coconut flavor comes from the bananas or coconut. Don't you agree, Helen made wonderful pies?

Recipe: Granny Corn

Helen Wride's Granny Corn

Ingredients:
Large bowl popcorn
1 large box Jello (any flavor)
1 cup corn syrup
1 cup sugar

Directions:
1. Pop popcorn, remove old maids and set aside.
2. Bring jello, corn syrup and sugar to a rolling boil. Boil 1 minute. Quickly pour jello mixture over popcorn and stir. Lightly grease your hands with butter and form popcorn balls or serve sticky from the bowl.

Alana's Variation: You can use kool-aid packets in place of the jello for the option of additional flavors.

Recipe: Pizza Sauce

Real Italian Pizza Sauce
by Alana

Great for pizza or just dipping breadsticks. If you don't have all of the spices and herbs, the start up cost for this will be between $10-$20, but you will be thrilled with the result. It is my favorite pizza sauce. When I learn how to can, I'm going to can a few dozen jars of this Italian nectar.

Ingredients:
29 oz can tomato sauce
6 oz can tomato paste
1 ½ t. minced onion
1 t. minced garlic
1 bay leaf
¾ t. sea salt (or ½ t. reg salt)
1 ½ t. oregano
½ t. fennel seed
½ t. marjoram
½ t. basil
¼ t. thyme
¼ t. rosemary

Simmer in crock pot for 2-3 hours. Remove bay leaf. (You can also simmer it on the stove for 1-2 hours on low.)

Number Of Servings: This can make at least two large pizzas.

Recipe: Sourdough Pancakes & Bread

I've been baking a lot of bread lately, and then I got the hankering for some sourdough. I made my own Sourdough starter with help from this web site (and I gave it a little boost with some baking yeast, don't tell anyone). If anyone wants a cup of my sourdough starter to grow their own, just let me know. I'm happy to share. Now I have two sourdough recipes to share with you.

Sourdough Pancakes

Ingredients:
1 c. sourdough starter
1 c. water
• • •
1-1/2 c. flour (I used half whole wheat, which has more wild yeasts in it)
1 egg, slightly beaten
2 T. sugar
1 T. melted butter
3/4 t. salt
1/2 t. baking soda (generous)
milk to reach desired consistency (1/4 c. more or less)

Directions:
1. The night before you want to make pancakes, remove 1 c. of starter and mix with 1 c. warm water and 1-1/2 c. flour. This is a great way to use up the starter that gets discarded while you're growing your starter.
2. In the morning, mix in egg, sugar, butter, salt, and baking soda. Add milk slowly until you reach desired consistency.
3. Fry on hot griddle. Devour with butter (and apricot syrup).


Alana's Sourdough French Loaf

Ingredients:
1-1/2 c. warm water
1/2 T. yeast*
1 T. honey
1/2 c. sourdough starter
1 c. whole wheat flour
1 t. salt
2 T. gluten flour
2-1/2 c.+ bread flour
corn meal

Directions:
1. Mix warm water, yeast*, honey and starter in a bowl.
*you can omit yeast if you have 5-10 hours to let it rise--like overnight in the fridge.
2. Add whole wheat flour, salt and gluten flour.
3. Add bread flour to reach doughy consistency (amount depends on how thick your starter is).
4. Knead and form into a ball. Place in greased bowl in warm area and let rise 1 hour or until doubled in bulk.
5. Punch down and knead again. Let rise again until doubled in bulk.
6. Punch down and form into long loaf, pinching seams together and place on greased baking sheet sprinkled with corn meal. Let rise. Cut slits across top. Place pan of water on bottom rack in oven. Place loaf in oven. Preheat to 375 degrees (while loaf is in oven) and bake 20 minutes.

Recipe: Vanishing Wheat-Oatmeal Cookies

These cookies are probably healthy enough to eat for breakfast--I can't imagine that they have any more sugar than a bowl of kids' sugar cereal. And I fib not when I tell you that I cannot even taste the whole wheat--they literally taste just like regular yummy oatmeal cookies.

Vanishing Wheat-Oatmeal Cookies

Ingredients:
1 c. butter, softened
1 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. granulated sugar
2 eggs
1-1/2 t. vanilla extract
3/4 c. whole wheat flour
3/4 c. + all-purpose flour
1 t. baking soda
1/2 t. cinnamon
a few dashes nutmeg
1/2 t. salt
3 c. old-fashioned rolled oats
1/2 to 1 c. raisins, chocolate chips, etc

Directions:
Blend butter and sugars until creamy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well. Add vanilla. Add flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Mix well. Stir in oats and raisins or chips. Drop by tablespoon onto greased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes, until just golden.

Note: Cookies should not be flat. If the cookies turn out flat, mix in more all-purpose flour, 1/4 c. at a time. Also, I substituted 3/4 c. of the rolled oats with 3/4 c. rolled 5-grain cereal for a healthy variation. This recipe is adapted from one my mother received from Julane Wells in Montana (I added whole wheat and nutmeg).

Recipe: Banana Cream Pie

Helen Wride's Banana Cream Pie

Ingredients:
7 1/2 Tablespoons cornstarch
1 2/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
5 cups milk
4 eggs, well beaten
2 teaspoons vanilla
about 6 bananas, cut up
Heavy whipping cream, whipped to soft peaks, then whip in sugar to taste


Directions:
Bake a pie shell according to your favorite recipe (or package instructions). Let cool.

For pie filling, combine cornstarch, sugar and salt in a bowl. Stir well and set aside. In a small bowl, beat the eggs and set aside. Add milk to a medium saucepan. When milk just comes to a boil, gradually whisk in the dry ingredients. Cook about 2 to 3 minutes, stirring constantly. Temper the eggs by whisking a little of the milk mixture into the eggs, then whisk the egg mixture into the remaining milk mixture in the saucepan and cook about 1 more minute stirring constantly. Remove from heat and add vanilla. Stir well. Cool pudding mixture to room temperature then fold in bananas. Pour into pre-cooked pie shell and top with whipped cream. Chill. Makes enough filling for two 9-inch pies.

Cooks Note: Helen always made her own pie filling (actually a thick vanilla pudding) but you can make vanilla pudding from a box, stir in the bananas, and top with whipped cream. When she taught me how to make her banana cream pie, I was surprised to learn that she uses vanilla pudding (no banana flavoring). The great banana taste comes from the bananas themselves. Makes a wonderful pie.

Recipe: Daisy Coffee Cake

Helen Wride's Apricot Daisy Coffee Cake (Stollen)

Ingredients:
1 package yeast (1 tablespoon)
1/4 cup warm water
1/2 cup milk, scalded
1/4 cup butter
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
3 to 3 1/2 cups flour, sifted
2 eggs, beaten

Jam Topping:
apricot jam
1 cup powdered sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons milk
1/4 teaspoon vanilla


Directions:
Combine yeast and water. Let proof. In a large bowl, combine milk, butter, sugar and salt; cool to lukewarm. Add 1 cup flour and beat well. Stir in yeast mixture and eggs. Add enough flour to make a moderately stiff dough. Turn onto floured counter top and knead until satiny (8 to 10 minutes) or use dough hook in bosh 3 minutes. Transfer to a well-oiled bowl. Cover with a pizza pan or plastic and let rise until double. Punch down and let rest 10 minutes.

To form the daisy, roll dough into a 14-inch circle. Transfer the circle to a greased cookie sheet. Place a glass in the center, top down. Cut circle into 4 sections just to the glass. Cut each section into 5 strips. Criscross 2 strips together and pinch to seal ends. Remove glass and coil one criscross strip in the center where the glass was. Continue to make criscross strips, pinch to seal the ends and arrange loosely around the center coil. When it is done it looks like a bouquet of daisys. Let the daisy rise some, then bake at 350°F for 25 minutes, until golden.

While still warm, spread jam in center of each daisy. Drizzle with confectioner's icing made from powdered sugar, milk and vanilla.

Cooks note: This sounds complicated, and it does take a little creativity, but it tastes delicious. Helen brought this recipe with her to Ohio and made it for our family during one of her visits. We loved it!

Just make sure the criscross strips are coiled around the center coil. I think that is how it looks, a center coil and other coils around the center one. Then when you spread the apricot jam it goes on each little coil.