Salmon Ball

This is from the recipe drawer of Maxine.  So as I came across this recipe it made me wonder just how many different ways can you mix up cream cheese with a variety of ingredients to serve in a ball shape with crackers?  It seems that we are pretty obsessed with cream cheese balls...well, I know that I for one love them!!!

1 - 1lb can salmon

1 - 8oz pkg cream cheese

1 - T. lemon juice

2 - teaspoon grated onion

1 - teaspoon horseradish

1/4 - teaspoon salt

1/4 - teaspoon liquid smoke

1/2 cup chopped pecans

3 Tablespoon parsley

Drain & flake salmon; remove any skin or bones

Combine the salmon & cream cheese and all seasoning

Mix thorly (I assume this means "thoroughly")

Combine the pecan & parsley

Shape salmon in ball

Roll in nut mixture

Chill well

Serve with assorted or rye crackers

I must admit...this is a little more sophisticated than most cheese balls I am familiar with.  Maybe I'll try it for the next game and see if I can "up" the sophistication just a little bit.

Sugar Jumbles

This is from the recipe drawer of Maxine.  I came across this recipe and have to admit that I am confused.  The ingredients make it look like a cookie recipe, but the amounts are quite small and so I am not sure that it will make cookies.

1/2 c. shortening

1/2 c. sugar

Mix

Add:  1 egg

Add:  1 teaspoon vanilla (from reading Maxine's recipes, I have deciphered that what looks like a capital T, is really her abbreviation for teaspoon)

Add:  1 1/8 c. sifted flour

1/4 teaspoon soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

Drop by spoonful

Bake 375 degrees, 10 minutes

If you notice on the right side of the recipe it says "over".  There is a small note on the back that says:

Sprinkle sugar before putting in oven

So, I am seriously thinking of trying these out, just because I want to see if they are cookies, or come out as something else.  If anyone in the family ever had Sugar Jumbles, please comment and let me know something about this recipe.

Corn Dip

This recipe is from the drawer of Maxine.  As we near the beginning of football season, many of us begin to look to our stand by dip recipes... and then we begin to wonder if there are any "new" dip recipes we could try this year.  Well, I found one in Maxine's drawer.  So maybe this one will sound good enough for you to try, and see if you want to add it to your recipe standbys.

8 oz.  1 pkg. cream cheese
1 pkg. ranch dressing mix
1 can whole corn (drained)
1 can chopped black olives (drained)
Green or Red pepper (chopped)
Green chilies  4 oz  (chopped)

Serve - Lg. corn chips (scoops)

Well, I have to tell you, that I spent quite a bit of time having to decipher that first line.  I couldn't understand what "83" meant.  You know, this is one of the ways that recipes like this, that are hand-written, get changed and tweaked; sometimes it can be difficult to read the hand writing.  But I definitely think that the 8 oz makes since, especially since we are talking about cream cheese.

Another way that recipes get changed, is if the new cook doesn't particularly like one of the ingredients.  If I decide to make this dip, it will not have black olives in it.  So, it will be just a little different than Maxine's.  What we won't ever know, is if her version was maybe just a little different than the person she got it from.  Happy dipping!

Hummingbird Cake

This is from the recipe drawer of Maxine.  Hummingbird Cake...it is certainly a traditional, southern dessert.  This is my sister's favorite cake.  And since her birthday is this month, I thought this recipe would be appropriate. I remember my mom making this cake, but only on very special occasions.

3 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1 tsp. soda
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
3 eggs
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 - 8 oz. can crushed pineapple
2 cups chopped bannana
1 cup nuts

1.  Sift dry ingredients together.
2.  Add all others
3.  Stir until mixed well - do not beat
4.  Bake in 10" tube pan 350 degree oven 1 hour 10 mins or until cooked.  Cool in pan.

Frosting

2 - 3 oz. cream cheese - softened
1 stick margarine
1 tsp. vanilla
1 box confectionery sugar

Since I knew that this was my sister's favorite cake, and I have actually made it for her a couple of times from a recipe my mom gave me, I thought I would look up her recipe and see if there was very much of a difference.  What I found was an almost identical recipe...the only differences were these:

*2 cups of nuts instead of 1
*Bake in 3 layer cake pans instead of a tube pan.  Bake for 25 to 30 minutes.
*Basically double the frosting recipe:  2 - 8 oz packages of cream cheese, 2 sticks of margarine, 2 tsp. vanilla and 2 boxes of confectionery sugar.  This will be enough to frost the three-layer cake.

By the way... I can highly recommend this cake, but be careful... it is very rich!

Mandarin Orange Cake

This is from the recipe drawer of Maxine.  This is one of those recipes that you imagine Maxine got from a friend at work.  How can we tell?  It is written on a notepad from Southwestern Bell Telephone Company where she worked for many years.  When someone brings a great dish to a work potluck, where do you write the recipe or have them write it for you?  More than likely in this day, they either send it to us in an email or by text.  Just another little detail that gets lost from the recipe.

1 box yellow cake mix
1 can Mandarin oranges w/juice
2 eggs
1/4 c. oil (in the second half of the 20th century, if it doesn't say, the oil is most likely vegetable oil)

Mix and pour in greased floured pan.
Bake 425 degrees 30 min. 9 x 13
Break up oranges; mixer or blender

1 sm. box instant vanilla pudding
1 sm. can pineapple w/juice
9 oz. carton Cool Whip (I don't think that you can buy a 9 oz Cool Whip; probably 8 oz)

Mix and spread.
Set in fridg (refrigerator) for 2 days
Optional - pecans on top

One thing I would always suggest when making a hand-written recipe is to read it all the way through before you begin.  You may find little notes, that give you better directions farther down in the recipe.  For example, it isn't until after we get the baking directions, that it tells us we need to break up the oranges with either a mixer or blender.  If we just started making it we would have whole orange segments in the batter.  Now I am not saying that the cake would not taste good... but it would be one of those occasions when you would have tweaked the recipe and it would start to be different...not wrong... just different.

Old Time Bread Pudding

This is from the recipe drawer of Maxine.  There are so many versions of Bread Pudding and each cook probably changes the recipe just a little to create thousands of versions.  So this is the version I found in Maxine's drawer.  Notice that it was written on a "Shopping List" note pad.

4 slices buttered bread - toasted
1/2 c raisins
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 c. sugar
1/8 tsp salt
1 c. evaporated milk
1 c. boiling water
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. cinnamon

Cut bread into cubes & place in a greased 2-qt baking dish.
Sprinkle with raisins.
Mix eggs, 1/4 cup sugar, salt, milk & water
Pour over raisins
Let set 10 mins.
Add vanilla & stir
Sprinkle with remaining sugar & cinnamon
Bake 350 degrees 30 minutes

I really do love almost anything with raisins and cinnamon.  Maybe I had better give this one a try!