Gingerbread Bundt Cake

I usually serve this cake with my homemade lemon curd and I use the same mixing bowl and beaters for the cake. Since I don't wash them in between the cake has just a touch of lemon. This cake is extra moist and tender. 

I have, at times, added golden raisin, chopped dates, pecans, and a little candied ginger and called it fruitcake. Good fruit cake. As my sister-in-law once said, "This is wonderful! It's what you always hope fruitcake will be but it never is."

Cake baking tip: Be sure to let the butter, eggs, and water warm to room temperature if at all possible. It will make for a better rise and an improved texture.

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a 10- to 12-cup bundt-style pan. (I use Baker's Joy spray to prep the pan.)

In a large bowl sift 2 1/2 cups of all purpose flour. Then remeasure and remove 2 1/2 cups from the bowl and put it back into the sifter. Some of the first will be left and will not be used.

To the sifter add

• 2 1/2 teaspoons ginger, 
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon, 
• 1 teaspoon nutmeg,
• 1/2 teaspoon cloves, 
• [the traditional would reduce the cinnamon by 1/2 teaspoon and use allspice but no one in my family has every used allspice. We all like cinnamon.]
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder

and sift again.

[This double-sifting will make for a lighter cake with a more tender crumb.]

Set aside.

In the large mixer bowl, cream together (beat until fluffy)

• 3/4 cup (12 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 1/2 cups brown sugar, packed
• Add, one at a time, scraping the bottom and sides of the bowl after each addition. 
• 2 large eggs
• Stir in
• 1/2 cup of Louisiana or East Texas dark cane syrup.
• [The traditional is molasses but I live in the South and my great grandparents made cane syrup.]
• 
  
• Add the flour mixture in three additions alternately with
• 1 cup water (room temperature)
• starting and ending with the flour. Mix just until smooth.
• Pour the batter into the prepared pan, smoothing the top.
• 
  
• Bake the cake for 55 to 65 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean.

[I set a timer at 45 minutes to check to see. In my oven this cake usually takes just a bit less than an hour.]

Remove the cake from the oven, cool it in the pan for 10 minutes, then turn it out onto a rack.

While the cake is baking, make the glaze.

Pour the glaze over the warm cake. I usually have a plate under the rack to catch the glaze that runs off so I can pour that back over the cake.. 

The granulated sugar gives the cake a sugary coat which is another nod to Pfeffernüsse.

Allow the cake to cool completely before serving.

I like to garnish the cake with a good dollop of lemon curd and either a small dip of vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.

Glaze

• 1/3 cup Grand Marnier [French cognac with bitter orange liqueur]
• [some would use Triple Sec or rum or even water]
• 1/4 teaspoon ginger
• [I'm excessively fond of ginger so I double this which gives the glaze the bite of  Pfeffernüsse]
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar

Here is a link to my 2014 post with my recipe for lemon curd. The Life I Read: Holiday recipes 2014 Lemon Curd

"There ain't a body, be it mouse or man, that ain't made better by a little soup."

Today I'm making soup. 
I like to make soup because it's basically just putting a bunch of good stuff into a pot (or a slow cooker) and going away to do whatever one wishes or needs to do.  The bits and pieces will cook, the flavors will meld; soup is like a good community it makes a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts. As the pot bubbles happily, the soup will fill the kitchen, the house, the world with an aroma of savory goodness. When day is done and one drags oneself to the home hearth, tired and perhaps depressed, soup will be ready to fill the empty places, to warm the cold, to comfort with a full tummy and maybe, just maybe a little peace or at least some rest. 
John Steinbeck (East of Eden) said, "The lore has not died out of the world, and you will find people who believe that soup will cure any hurt or illness and is no bad thing to have for the funeral either." 

As the school year ends with all sorts of assessments and testing and field trips and rushing desperation, my church will show the teachers at Shearn Elementary (just a few blocks away from our building) a little appreciation. I'm making soup for lunch tomorrow. 
"That is soup that you are smelling... times are terrible. And when times are terrible soup is the answer. Don't it smell like the answer?" Kate Di Camillo (The Tale of Despereaux) who is also the source of the quote that titles this blog. 
My soup is both my "thank you" to all the educators who have spent this year with our children and my prayer for them as they face the final weeks of this year. I like it when I can ground my prayer with action.

The guests around my dinner table now often include vegetarians. I have found soup a helpful solution. On a recent menu was Vegetable Beef Stew, Deconstructed. I made a classic French Onion Soup in the slow cooker with a chuck roast. Before serving I removed the roast, shredded it, and served it on a platter.  In a separate pot I had made a vegetarian veggie soup. My guests served themselves. Some ate veggie soup. Some ate French onion soup. Some like my husband ate mostly meat. Others Reconstucted Vegetable Beef Stew by taking some out of both pots. A salad, a selection of cheeses, and crispy bread. Delish!

Soup is for me a dangerous undertaking with somewhat uncertain results. The first line of one of my never-finished-writing-it novels reads: "She was the kind of woman who couldn't make soup; she always ended up with a stew."  That's me!

My soup of the day is a creamy vegetable spinach artichoke soup with tortellini and mushrooms.
I don't think soups require recipes (probably how I end up with stew, huh?) but here goes:

Melt 5 Tbsp. butter. Add 5 ribs of celery (diced fine) and 2 sweet onions (diced).
Saute for a few minutes (medium heat) and add 8 oz. sliced mushrooms.
Season with granulated garlic and parsley, basil, thyme, black pepper, salt.
Add 5 oz. bag of baby spinach (when I make it again, I'll use 2 bags).
Saute until spinach wilts.
I had about 2 cups of good homemade chicken stock in the freezer and that was already in the slow cooker (5 quart oval) thawing. I added 2 cups of Swanson's chicken broth. (If I hadn't had the stock that needed to be used, I'd just use more broth. If I went with a vegetable broth, the soup would be vegetarian. I lined the cooker to make this clean-up a bit easier.)
Add 16 oz. bag of frozen mixed vegetables.
Add the celery, onion, mushrooms, spinach mixture.
Add 2 cans (14 oz. 5-7 count) artichoke hearts (drained and quartered).
Add 1 1/2 cups of Half-and-Half.
Add 1/4 cup Grated Parmesan Cheese (I grated it, not from that green can.)
Lightly Stir.
Cook on high for 3 hours.
Which will be just in time for me to adjust seasonings and have a bowl for supper.

"If a cook can't make soup between two and seven, she can't make it in a week." Anthony Trollope, (Can You Forgive Her?) My Trollope reading got interrupted a couple of years ago and slipped so far to the bottom of the list that he was gone. I'm hoping to get back to him soon.

Before reheating, I may add a bit more broth or cream if the soup is not soupy enough.
And I expect I'll probably add a bit more Grated Parmesan.
I'll refrigerate over night and reheat tomorrow morning.
When it's good and warm I'll add 10 oz. of four cheese tortellini and cook on high for about 30 minutes. (Tortellini could have gone in with everything else but I like it a bit firmer. I thought the overnight wait would make it mushy. In fact, someone who is not me could have made this soup the morning of the luncheon but I don't do mornings.)

Then I'll turn the setting to warm, unplug the slow cooker, and take it to Shearn for the teachers' soup and salad luncheon.

"If you feel all damp and lonely like a mushroom, find the thick, creamy soup of joyfulness and just dive into it in order to make life tastier." Munia Khan, a poet I've recently discovered. I don't yet know whether I like her but I do like this image.

Another soup related discovery: I like seasoned croutons in soup even better than crackers.

Sometimes I need a Yia Yia...

from Mrs. Beeton's Everyday Cookery

I am not feeling well today and what I really, really want is a huge bowl of Yia Yia's Chicken Soup from my favorite Greek restaurant which closed several years ago when the owners went home to Greece to care for an aging mother. I miss them, I miss the restaurant, I miss the herbed lamb souvlaki, but most of all I miss Yia Yia's chicken soup.

The healing powers of chicken soup are legendary. I was never really sure if it was the soup or the maternal hands that prepared and served it.

My own mother, an excellent cook, did not often make soups. She made stews laden with big chunks of meat and home grown vegetables. Her chicken and homemade egg noodles can warm a winter's night and right a world turned upside down.
Both my grandmothers cooked much like my mother. My maternal grandmother, Mary B. Wieland's German heritage added thick stews made with sausage and cabbage and beets and potatoes, lots of potatoes--all delicious but none serving much medicinal purpose.
We are a generally healthy clan with appetites to match and have little need for "invalid cookery."*

"Invalid" is an interesting word rooted {and now I'm down the rabbit hole} in the Latin, meaning"not strong" or "without strength" which in the 17th Century came to be used for the sick and infirm. It is a word that now may be considered politically incorrect, as are a couple of its synonyms e.g. "illegitimate" and "illegal."
Adjectives applied to people are increasingly at issue. I think that sometimes we use language to define, to limit, to stereotype, to divide, to disempower. Our words reveal our thinking of "them" as something other, of something less than I. It can say "you are not one of us, you do not matter." It comes as no surprise that people may be hurt (which might have been part of our intent) and may become angry and object to our attitude and to our words. Those "words that never hurt" can lead to  "sticks and stones" and suddenly the issue becomes political. To me it is seems less "political correctness" and more a matter of "treating others as you would like to be treated."
{Dear reader,  these rabbit holes and my compulsion to explore the world of words is one reason I never seem to get anything done. I've been lost in the dictionary, multiple cookbooks, a nursing archive, and the interwebs for hours. I usually call it research and I justify this excursion by noting that Evelyn Whitaker features many a sick room in her novels. In truth, I'm indulging myself because I'm not well.}

Returning to the subject at hand:
My husband's mother never enjoyed cooking and produced a brood of picky eaters who often prefer the pale store bought version to yummy homemade. David once said he thought it was "tragic that a cook of your skill and taste is married to a man who can so little appreciate really good food." His comfort food of choice is Campbell's Chicken Noodle Soup.
Campbell's out-of-a-can-with-too-much-salt-and-very-little-Chicken-with-overcooked-limp-pasty-Noodles-Soup that I find unbearably bland and barely edible. Nonetheless, there are always several cans in my pantry because "the healing powers of chicken soup are legendary" and an ailing husband must be comforted with chicken soup like his mother made.

I'm going to share a secret. The  woman who owned that Greek restaurant and made her Yia Yia's chicken soup said, "almost any soup can be turned into Avgolemono soup, even that nasty canned stuff can be improved with an egg and some lemon juice. Just remember to add lots of extra dill. Most of the recipes don't call for dill but that's how my Yia Yia made it and that's what you like."

Yes, I sometimes make Yia Yia's Chicken Soup using a classic recipe for Avgolemono (Egg & Lemon) Chicken Soup and I add dill, dried or fresh and lots of it. Like my Greek friend I may use the traditional pasta but "sometimes I make it with rice because you Houstonians like rice" and often I have rice already cooked in my fridge.
While I never had a Yia Yia, my soup is always very, very good.

1907 edition from my collection

Today I'm sick, much too sick to cook and I understand Mrs. Beeton's admonishment to ". . . give such food as affords most nourishment for the least work. . . ."* 
Especially when the cook is also the patient.

Needing the legendary healing powers of chicken soup, I grab that Campbell's can from the pantry. I put it in a pan and add half a can of water. Then I add a lot of dill, dried and handy in my spice rack. (Sometimes I add a dash of onion powder and some celery seed but not today.) While it heats, I separate an egg and beat the yolk very well. I whisk the juice of a lemon into the yolk. Temper it with hot broth, then stir it into the soup.  I sometimes strain out those limp noodles and I hope there's some crusty bread or a few croutons, but, whatever is at hand,  I eat and feel better.

*Here is link to the 1907 edition of Mrs. Beeton's Everyday Cookery. London: Ward & Lock, which is in my collection. Her advice for Invalid Cookery is on pages 107-109 and there is no mention of chicken soup.
Here is another link with recipes from those chapters from an earlier edition. I think I'll just skip the Eel Broth and the Rabbits Cooked in Milk.

{Dear reader, Yes! It is really research since finding this recipe may explain a rabbit included in the "Notices to Correspondents" of The Monthly Packet (Charolotte Yonge, ed.) 1884: "For the Buttercups Building Fund, gratefully acknowledged. Mrs. Barnett, £2; Stamps, 6d.; Lady returned from Berks, £l; N. H., 5s.; a Rabbit, 2s.; privately acknowledged, £3 16s.

Miss Whitaker, Hinton, Twyford, Berks"

Alas!

For those of us who visualized the bunny frolicking on the meadows lawn and being petted by sweet children, it may well have been so until it was prepared per Mrs. Beeton's recipe for invalid cookery.}

Holiday Recipes 2014

I should have posted these last month but I was busy.
The utensil pictured right is Tovolo's Better Batter Tool. It quickly became an essential in my kitchen.
Great for batters, scrapes the side of the bowl better than a spatula.
Stainless steel handle gives it a lot of strength.
High temp silicone makes it useful in making everything.
Without it, I don't think I'd have the strength to beat, beat, beat my date nut loaf for the necessary five minutes.

See my previous blog for my grandmother's recipe for Texas Date Nut Loaf and my microwave adaption: http://the-life-i-read.blogspot.com/2011/12/its-date.html

 Classic Lemon Curd

Carmen gifted me with an abundance of lemons. Juicy. Sweet. I consulted the expert Janet and made lemon curd. The secret to no clumps and no cooked egg white bits is the technique.

In large mixer bowl, cream about 2 minutes:
9 Tablespoons unsalted butter (room temp.)
1 1/2 cups sugar
Slowly add:
3 eggs
3 egg yolks
Beat for 1 minute.
Mix in
1 1/2 cups lemon juice
The mixture will look curdled and that is OK.
In a heavy saucepan, cook the mixture over low heat until the butter melts and the mixture looks smooth.
Increase the heat to medium, stirring constantly with that Tovolo tool until the mixture thickens.
15 minutes or so
Do NOT boil!
When done it will leave a path on the back of a spoon, 170 degrees on thermometer.
Remove from heat and add lemon zest.
Transfer to a bowl, press the surface with plastic wrap, chill in the fridge.
The curd will thicken as it cools.
Cover tightly. Keep in the refrigerator for a week.

May keep in the freezer up to two months.
Thaw in the refrigerator!

It is possible to prepare canning jars and lids and process for 20 minutes in a boiling water bath and keep it much longer.
If there is ever an "off" or metallic smell, do not eat the curd.

Ghirardelli 3-Minute Fudge

This fudge is by far the best I've ever had!
The secret is starting with quality chocolate.
I used Ghirardelli and made two batches, one with pecans and one without. Pecans were better.
I also made one batch with butter and one without as the Ghirardelli suggested. The butter version was smoother, better fudge.
I used the microwave rather than a double boiler. It is very easy to scorch chocolate.

Butter an 8-inch square pan.
Lining with wax paper was suggested but I thought the butter worked much better.

In a microwave-safe bowl, put
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 bar (2 ounces) 100% Cacao unsweetened chocolate baking bar, chipped
14 ounces sweetened condensed milk (Eagle Brand)
Microwave 1 minute.
Remove and stir.
Return to microwave for 30 seconds.
Remove and stir.
Add
1/4 cup butter, cut into 1 Tablespoon chunks
Return to microwave, removing every 30 seconds to stir, until chocolate is melted and smooth.
The whole process in the microwave takes 3 to 5 minutes.
Stir in
2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract.
1 cup pecans, chopped (optional) (or walnuts if you are not a Texan)
Spread fudge evenly in prepared pan.
Refrigerate for 2 hours or until firm.

Slice into squares.
Makes about a dozen large pieces or 16 bite-sized pieces.
I thought my cheese knife worked very well.

Store uncovered at room temperature.
I layered mine between wax paper and put in small tins for gifts and to serve at family gatherings.


I must have about a thousand pound cake recipes.
It is my favorite cake, warm or cold, glazed or plain, with or without fruit, toasted and buttered for breakfast...

My favorite pound cake  recipe is from the Houston Junior League's cookbook Stop and Smell the Rosemary, the best cookbook in my collection.
One day during the holiday rush, I had no milk, no buttermilk,  no sour cream, no yogurt, no canned milk. Nothing. And I needed a cake to take to dinner with friends. No time and even less motivation to make a trip to the grocery.
I remembered an old southern favorite 7-Up Cake and decided that ginger ale might be a bit more seasonal.

Ginger Ale Bundt Cake

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.
Spray a 10-inch Bundt pan with Baker's Joy.
Cream together
1 cup butter at room temp
1/2 cup shortening
3 cups sugar
about 5 minutes until the mixture is light and fluffy.
Add
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon lemon extract
1/2 teaspoon orange extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
Beat 1 minute.
Add one at a time
5 eggs at room temp
Scraping down the bowl after each addition.
At this point you want to beat it really, really well to incorporate a lot of air because this cake does not contain baking powder or soda as a leavening agent.
Alternating between flour and ginger ale, ending with flour, add
3 cups cake flour* (one cup, second cup, end with third)
1 cup Canada Dry ginger ale, at room temp. (1/2 cup at a time)
Beat just enough to incorporate the flour; do not overbeat.
The ginger ale is serving as the leavening agent that will make the cake rise and you don't want to beat it death and lose all the carbonation.
Spoon the batter into  prepared pan.
Bake about 1 hour 40 minutes until cake tests done (inserted toothpick comes out clean)
Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes.
Remove from pan and glaze.

*Nope, I didn't have cake flour either. I never have cake flour. When a recipe calls for cake flour, I
sift regular flour. Measure 3 cups. Remove 2 Tablespoons of flour and add the rest to this recipe.
My general rule for cake flour is to sift regular flour (I usually used Gold Medal unbleached) at least three times then measure the amount the recipe calls for being careful not to mash the flour and lose its lightness.
I prefer a 3-4 cup stainless steel sifter with a rotating handle as pictured. One key to cake perfection is precise measurement and a really good sifter.

Ginger Ale Glaze
3 cups powdered sugar, sifted
1/4 cup ginger ale
2 Tablespoons orange juice, fresh squeezed
These amounts are approximate. Add more powdered sugar or more liquid one tablespoon at a time until desired consistency.


Corn Pudding

Served with Honey-Baked Ham, it was so good, simple plain fare at a holiday table. And so easy.
I made some changes to reduce fat and it worked great. They ate every bite.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Grease 9 x 13 inch Pyrex dish

In a large bowl, beat
2 eggs
Some recipes used only 1 egg but since I was not using sour cream I added the extra for richness.
Add
1 box Jiffy cornbread mix
Blend.
Stir in
1 stick melted butter (I used only 1/2 stick and it was fine.)
1 can whole kernel corn
1 can creamed corn
1 cup sour cream*
*In this recipe a substitution worked great. I used a bit more than a cup of cottage cheese (not low fat, 4%) and 2 Tablespoons of whole milk in the blender and pulsed it until it was the consistency of sour cream. I think yogurt would also work well. Had I been using low fat cottage cheese and milk, I think it would have needed the whole stick of butter.

Some recipes add 1 cup grated cheddar cheese but I didn't think it need that.

Bake about 40 minutes until clean toothpick in the center and the edges just begin to brown.
Serve warm just out of the oven. It does not reheat well.

Pumpkin Soup...

I love the holiday season and for me it really does start with Halloween. I'm not fond of the overdone and expensive decorations--a pumpkin or two is sufficient--and I'm not much for the store-bought or rented costume. I like the old-fashioned Halloween of my childhood--a carnival at the country school we attended with simple games, a not-so-scary spook house, good food, and more candy than was good for us.

Our costumes were often made almost spur of the moment with whatever we had on hand. A farm family never has much money to waste on trifles. My mother always dressed as a gypsy and was a wonderful fortune teller. A burlap sack, braids made from laddered stockings, a headband with a feather, a corn cob doll for a prop--an Indian princess. Daddy's oversized padded cover-alls pulled up over the head with the neck stuffed with something, a pair of gloves and boots--a headless monster who needs a companion guide because the only view is through the button or zipper placket. A witch was usually easy. So was a pirate. A classic ghost was hard because even our old sheets were useful and we couldn't cut holes for eyes. But an old shower curtain or piece of fabric with a shower cap and a rubber mask... Grandma had found the mask in her yard the day after Halloween one year  and gave it to us... it appeared year after year. As far as I can remember that was the only "store bought" mask we had. We made masks out of cardboard and fabric scraps and bric-a-brac. We were limited only by our imaginations and what our crafty mother could help us make out of what we had. A big box could turn into almost anything--a TV set, a robot, a lamp table. A bunch of purple balloons to make a bunch of grapes. Raiding Mother's closet and dressing up in big hats and platform heels. Cross dressing was popular. The best Halloween trick was just the simple joke of a costume good enough to fool everyone into thinking that my brother was my sister.

One of the things I love about my church is that it offers one of those old-fashioned experiences to the children of our neighborhood. We started this year's festivities with a Pumpkin Festival last week. The kids got to decorate the pumpkins that will grace our fellowship hall and courtyard for the big party on Wednesday.
I made pumpkin soup and by popular demand the recipe follows:

K's Pumpkin Soup

In a large pot, whisk together and heat:

• 1 quart of homemade chicken stock (recipe below)
• 1 can Libby's pumpkin
• Add 1 teaspoon each garlic powder, onion powder, cinnamon, black pepper, sweet paprika.
• 1/2 teaspoon each chili powder and black pepper.

Bring just to a boil, reduce heat to low, simmer for 15 minutes.
Add

• 1 can (12 oz.) Carnation evaporated milk, simmer for a couple more minutes, stirring.

{At this point I ate a cup of soup for lunch--it was wonderful!--and put the rest in the fridge.}

A couple of hours before serving time, I put the soup in my slow cooker and added

• 2 quarts Imagine organic butternut soup  

Heat on high until hot, then turn down to warm and serve.

Served in cups with a bowl of roasted  and salted Austinut's pumpkin kernels to add if the diner desires.

 

Note: I often use the butternut squash soup as a base or an extender for my autumn soups. When I was making this soup for Southwest Central Church's Pumpkin Festival, I intended to serve it in cups as a warm beverage. Had I been serving it at home in bowls to be eaten with spoons. I would have started by sauteing a medium onion, finely chopped,  and a couple of cloves of garlic, minced,  in canola oil rather than using the dried spices. I might have prepared some spaghetti squash to mix with it.  I would have diced some wonderful apples (golden ginger or honey crisp) to put a little crunch in the bowls and garnished with a dollop of sour cream or yogurt with a bit of parsley and maybe some bacon bits. 

This pumpkin soup gathered compliments because of the homemade stock which I had in my freezer. It was the liquid left after I had poached chicken for chicken salad. Here is how I did it:

  

Poached Chicken for chicken salad and chicken stock 

• 10 sprigs parsley
• 2 sprigs fresh thyme
• 1 small onion, halved
• 1 small carrot, halved
• 1 stalk celery, halved
• 3 pounds chicken breasts halves, on the bone and fat trimmed
• 2 cans reduced sodium chicken broth
• 2 cups (half a bottle) of white wine

Put the parsley, thyme, onion, carrot, celery, and chicken breasts in a pot. Cover with the broth, and bring just to a boil. Lower the heat to very low and cover. Poach the chicken for 20 minutes or until firm to the touch. Remove the pan from the heat, uncover, cool the chicken in the liquid for 30 minutes.

Transfer the chicken to a cutting board and reserve the liquid. Bone and skin the chicken and cut the meat into 1 inch cubes. Discard the bones and skin.  Yield: cubed chicken or 4 to 6 servings
Use the chicken to make chicken salad.

Strain the broth and store, covered, in the refrigerator for 3 days or freeze for later use. Remove any fat from the surface of the broth before using or freezing. 

And, just because it's in the same file, here is my chicken salad recipe:

Chicken Salad

• 4 cups diced poached chicken, recipe follows
• 1 stalk celery, cut into 1/4-inch dice
• 4 scallions, trimmed and thinly sliced or 1/4 cup sweet onion cut into 1/4-inch dice
• 1 1/2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh tarragon or fresh dill
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped parsley
• 1 cup Hellman's mayonnaise
• 2 teaspoons strained freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• Freshly ground black pepper

In a mixing bowl, toss together the chicken, celery, scallions and herbs. Set aside.

In a small bowl, whisk together the mayonnaise, lemon juice, mustard, salt and pepper to taste. Add to the chicken and mix gently until combined. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Cook's Note: Serve on a bed of lettuce with sliced tomatoes, in half an avocado or in a chicken club sandwich made with artisan's bread, crispy smoked bacon, vine-ripened tomatoes and lettuce.

For me, chicken salad with vine-ripened tomatoes is summer. I made many batches this year. Now I've got that wonderful frozen stock to use in my autumn soups. Happy holidays!

It's a date...

I love dates.  Sooner or later if a recipe calls for raisins or cranberries, I'll substitute chopped dates.  I clip or copy any recipe that calls for dates.  My Gran Oma Cummings did the same.  One of her special Christmas goodies was "date nut loaf."  Sounds like it's bread; but it's candy.  The nut is the pecan--favorite nut of all Texans and used in lieu of walnuts in most recipes.  It's cooked pretty much like any candy then dumped out onto a clean, cold, wet dishtowel and shaped and rolled into a log or "loaf" about 1 1/2 inches in diameter and, after it's cooled, sliced about a quarter of inch thick.

My mother has made date nut loaf for more decades than I've lived.  Her mother, my Grandma Mary Bridgett Wieland also made date nut loaf. It's a Texas tradition. 

Mother made several candies every year for Christmas.  Date Nut Loaf was the first and the favorite of my sister and me.  Daddy's favorite, too.  Other favorites are Boston Cream Candy, Peanut Brittle, Peanut Pattie, Fudge, and some awful peanut butter cocoa thing that Mother always tries to trick me into tasting.  I don't like peanut butter; I've never liked peanut butter; I may even be allergic to peanut butter.  If Reese's Cups were the only candy in the world, I'd never eat another bite.

This year Mother decided she wasn't up to making candy and delegated the Christmas chore.    My brother makes Boston Cream.  He also makes Grandma's teacakes.  Two years ago Mother supervised my making date nut loaf in her kitchen during an early December visit when she wasn't feeling very well.  (I've noticed that our visits are improved when I let her teach me things.)  Two batches of perfect candy!  I tried a couple of batches in my own kitchen last year which didn't come out well--one was sticky and the other was grainy and obviously overcooked--so I'm a bit nervous because this year I'm on my own.  I'm even more nervous because I've been unable to find the recipe with all my notes.  It was either lost in the computer disaster of last January or is buried in one of my file folders of recipes which never quite manage to be organized into a cookbook.

So here follow 2 recipes: first, the old-fashioned stove top version like Mother and Gran and Grandma made and second, the microwave version which I made this afternoon.

Classic Texas Date Nut Loaf (Candy)
2 cups sugar                    1 cup milk 
8oz dates (chopped)        1 cup chopped pecans 
1 Tablespoon butter        1 teaspoon vanilla.

In a heavy saucepan (Mother always uses a heavy aluminum pot which has been missing a handle for decades--I think that pot is part of her magic.  I'm always in danger of scorching the milk.) combine sugar and milk.  Stir over low heat, not letting it boil, until sugar is dissolved.  Turn up the heat to medium and bring to a boil.  Add the chopped dates and continue to boil until it comes to the soft ball stage.  (Mother can tell by looking but uses the drop a bit into a cup of cold water test.)  Remove from heat.  Stir in the butter, vanilla, and pecans.  Cool a bit.  Divide into 2 batches and dump each out onto a cold, wet dishtowel.  Shape and roll into a loaf.  Cool completely. Unroll from the towel, transfer to a cutting board and slice.  Layer into a tin, separating layers with wax paper.  "Keeps a couple of weeks if you can keep from eating it."  May be frozen either before or after slicing.

I read dozens of recipes.  Some use evaporated milk which causes me to suspect that cream might have been used in the days of home dairies.  I suspect that the increased fat in the cream would make a smoother, richer candy.  And since I'm pretty frustrated by my attempts at stove-top candy making, I thought I'd try a microwave version.

K's Date Nut Loaf (Candy) Microwave

2 cups sugar                  1 cup heavy whipping cream
8 oz. dates (chopped)   1 cup chopped pecans
1Tablespoon butter       1 teaspoon vanilla

In a 4-quart microwave-safe glass bowl, mix together sugar and cream.
Microwave, on high and uncovered, for 4 minutes.  Watch to be sure it doesn't boil over. Stir and scrape the sides of the bowl to dissolve sugar.  Check the temperature with a candy thermometer--they make them for use in a microwave but I don't have one.  I just stuck in my instant thermometer when I wanted to check.
Return to the microwave for another 4 - 6 minutes--stirring to prevent boil over--until the mixture reaches 235 degrees F. which is that soft ball stage.  (It took only an additional 5 minutes for my batch.) check out the candy temperature chart
Stir in the dates.  Return to the microwave for another 2 - 2 1/2 minutes, stirring at least once. (It took just under 2 minutes.  My candy thermometer read 240 degrees.)  The dates had softened and begun to dissolve into the candy mixture.
Remove from the microwave and add the butter, vanilla, and pecans.  Mix well.
Let stand to cool until lukewarm.  Then beat, beat, beat by hand for about 5 minutes.  (Hard work for us electric mixer cooks.) .  The candy will thicken (kind of fudgey) and change color a bit.
Pour half the mixture onto wax paper (I used that  clean, cold, wet tea towel for half and didn't think it worked as well) and shape and roll into a loaf.
Repeat with the other half of the mixture.  Yields 2 rolls, each about 9 inches long.
Allow candy to cool and harden for 4-6 hours.  May refrigerate to speed the process.
Unroll towel or wax paper and slice.

Perfect date nut loaf candy.  Yummy!  And since I've posted the recipe on-line, I can't lose it.