Carrot Cake

This is from the recipe drawer of Ora. Now I never had a chance to dig through Ora's recipe drawer, but passed around the family, as all amazing recipes are, I do have this recipe in my own recipe journal. I am sure that I wrote it down from some slip of paper that my mom had, but I don't have a picture of the old recipe. So that means you are going to have to use your imagination to picture this fantastic decadent cake.

• 2 c. sugar
• 1 1/2 c. oil
• 3 eggs
• 3 c. flour
• 2 t. baking soda
• 2 t. salt
• 1 t. cinnamon
• 3 c. grated carrots
• 1 c. chopped pecans
• 1 t. vanilla
• 1  - 20 oz. can crushed pineapple, untrained
• 1 c. raisins

*Preheat oven to 350°.
*Cream together sugar, oil and eggs.
*In another bowl, blend together flour, soda, salt, and cinnamon. Add to creamed mixture.
*Then add remaining ingredients.
*Grease and flour layer cake pans or a 9 x 13 baking dish. Add batter to pans.
*Bake layers for 30-35 or 9 x 13 for 1 hour.

Cream Cheese Frosting:

• 1 box of powdered sugar
• 1 stick of butter
• 8 oz. cream cheese
• 1 t. vanilla

*Sprinkle top of cake with chopped pecans.

Although there are no specific directions on the frosting, I am quite sure it is straightforward.  I am hoping you will give this one a try. It is extraordinary!

Applesauce Cake

This is from the recipe drawer of Maxine.  As I was looking through some of the recipes, trying to decide which recipe to post next, I came across this applesauce cake.  I recognized this recipe as one that I had written in my own recipe journal.  Mine is written down as "Great-Grandma Schaefli's Applesauce Cake."  I got this recipe from my husband's grandmother, Lola, Maxine's mom, and the daughter of Ada Mae Schaefli.

I also found two recipes in Maxine's drawer for this.  One you can tell was well worn and used and the other one was on a nice card and written in Maxine's handwriting.  I am making an educated guess, but I would suppose that the other one is written in either Lola or Ada Mae's handwriting and that Maxine put it in her drawer after Lola passed away.











I don't remember exactly, but I am sure I must have gotten the recipe from Lola, as mine is just the list of ingredients with the cooking time and temperature.  Maxine's copy also has some instructions with it.  So I will definitely want to try this cake again and try the instructions and see how it comes out.


1/2 c. shortening
1 c. sugar
1 1/2 c. apple sauce
1 c. raisins
1 c. pecans
1 egg
2 c. flour
1 t. cinnimon
1/2 t. allspice
1/2 t. cloves
1/4 t. nutmeg
2 t soda (baking soda)
1/4 c. hot water

Cream shortening and sugar.  Add egg.  Stir in applesauce.  Add flour and spices and mix well.  Pour in raisins that have been cooked slightly over low flame.  Mix soda with 1/4 c. hot water and add to mixture.  Add nuts and mix well.   Bake 45 minutes   375 degrees

May bake in Angel food cake pan or Bundt pan.

I have made this cake in the past with success and also without success.  I am hoping that the addition of these instructions will make it come out great every time!

Mystery Sauce

This is from the recipe drawer of Pauline.  Well, today we have a mystery!  You can certainly tell by looking at these ingredients that this is a sauce or a gravy of some kind.  However, the main liquid ingredient is missing and there is no title on this piece of paper.

I think I mentioned before that my grandma Pauline worked for a while at the school cafeteria.  This recipe is certainly a high quantity recipe, certainly more than you would make just for your family dinner.  Of course, remembering how much food my dad, uncle, grandpa and cousins could put away, this may have just been a recipe she had for our Sunday dinners.

If anyone has any ideas about this mystery, I would certainly love to hear your thoughts.

*8 c. (what do you think this mystery ingredient is)
*16 tbsp flour
*8 tbsp parsley
*1 sp celery salt (teaspoon??)
*16 tbsp butter
*8 tbsp onion
*8 bay leaves
*8 cloves
*pepper

So that is it...just a list of ingredients and no directions.  This seems like a sauce or gravy to me because of the butter, flour and 8 c. of something??  With the onions, celery salt and parsley, my best and first guess is a poultry gravy, and using 8 c. of chicken stock/broth.  But I haven't ever heard of a bay leaf or cloves in a gravy.

Let me hear from you... can't wait to hear what you think!

Coconut Cream Pie

This is from the recipe drawer of Pat.  So today is my mom's birthday.  I wanted to honor her by posting one of her recipes today, and for some reason I have been thinking about cream pies recently.  Not that I have ever really made homemade cream pies, but I have my mom's coconut cream pie on my mind recently.

As you can tell from just looking at this recipe, it has been well used.  There are splatters and the ink is smeared.  That is a sure sign that the recipe will make an awesome dish!  Yep...  I think I need to give this a try myself and I hope that you are so moved as well.  If my memories serve me, you will not be disappointed.

* 9" baked pie shell
* 2/3 cup sugar
* 3 T. cornstarch
* 1/2 t. salt
* 3 cups milk
* 3 egg yolks, beaten
* 1 T. butter
* 1 1/2 t. vanilla

Mix sugar, cornstarch and salt in same pan.  Gradually stir in milk.  Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens and boils.  Boil 1 minute.  Remove from heat.  Gradually stir at least half of hot mixture into egg yolk.  Then blend into hot mixture in saucepan.  Boil 1 min. more, stirring constantly.  Remove from heat.  Blend in butter and vanilla.  Pour immediately in baked pie shell.  Finish with pie meringue.  Let cool at room temp or pie may be chilled thoroughly and topped with sweetened whipped cream.
Coconut Cream Pie
Fold 3/4 cup coconut into filling.
Sprinkle 1/4 cup coconut on meringue or whipped cream.
Banana Cream Pie
Cool filling and layer 3 large banana in shell

For thicker pie use coffee cream for milk.  To serve warm, use 1 T. additional cornstarch.

Happy Birthday Mom!  Thanks for the memories!

Holiday Punch

This is from the recipe drawer of Pat.  This week especially, I have been thinking back about New Years past.  I remember that New Year's Day was always a big celebration in my family.  We always went to my Grandma Adams' house (Pauline).  My cousins were always there and we would have a big dinner and stay all day, eat, play games, and go home way after dark.  I remember watching the parades while we got ready in the morning and my mom would be making some dish or dishes to take.  It didn't take long to get to my grandma's house, so we would finish watching the parades with my cousins when we got there.
One thing that we always knew would be there was Holiday Punch.  Now if I remember correctly, my mom probably got this recipe from my aunt and uncle, because I seem to remember that my uncle was always "in charge" of the punch.  But this is her copy of the recipe.

*2 large cans unsweetened pineapple juice
*1/2 can frozen orange juice
*1/2 can " (frozen) lemon juice
*1/3 can frozen lime juice
*2 large bottles ginger ale
*1 large bottle club soda
*sugar to taste

Prepare punch.
Chill in freezer just prior to serving.
Float ice-ring in punch while serving.






You can see that this recipe has been made over and over many times.  It is quite stained.  And another interesting thing about this recipe is that it was written on a checking deposit slip; probably just the only paper that could be found when my mom wrote it down.

There is probably a couple of amounts here that are worth mentioning.  In the 70's there were not 2 liter bottles of ginger ale nor of club soda.  Large bottles were closer to a one liter size.

There is no mention here on the front or back of this recipe about how to make the mentioned "ice-ring".  I do remember making these when we made this punch.  We always used a bundt pan so that the ice ring would have beautiful scalloped edges.  Slice up oranges, lemons, and limes and lay them down in the bundt pan.  Sometimes I remember my mom putting maraschino cherries in the very bottom of the pan.
Gently fill water to cover the fruit being careful not to displace any pattern you made with the fruit.  Place in the freezer to make the ice.  When you are ready to serve the punch, run water over the bundt pan and the ice ring should pop out.
This tangy punch has wonderful memories... I am wishing I had some right now!

Martha Washington Fudge

This is from the recipe drawer of Pat.  I have always wondered about the name of this recipe...  did it really come from Martha Washington?  I did a little googling on it and what I could find is just that it is a southern holiday candy recipe.  There are a few variations, but they were all very similar.  This is another recipe that my mom got from her friend and neighbor in Inola, OK.  Boy am I glad that she did!  I cannot remember a single holiday season going by without making and EATING this awesomely, delicious candy.

*1 stick oleo (margarine or butter)
*1 1/2 boxes powdered sugar (24 oz)
*1 can Eagle Brand Milk
*1 can Angel Flake Coconut (3.5 oz)
*2 cups chopped pecans

Combine all ing. and let stand in ref. for 3 to 4 hours.  Roll into balls.
Melt in double boiler:
*1 large pkg. choc. chips
*1/2 stick parafin

Dip balls in chocolate.

So I am encountering in this project the way that recipes can be changed, tweaked and morphed into other recipes.  My own personal copy of this recipe is just slightly different.  I am sure that this accounts for all of the slight variations that I found when I went out looking for explanations of the name.  Each person changes it just slightly as it gets passed down and around.
The amounts are interesting.  Powdered sugar now comes in bags, but the 24 oz. is still the amount I have in my version (1 1/2 lbs.)  Coconut doesn't come in cans any more that I know of, and the recipe that I have calls for 7 oz.  I wonder if that means that I wrote it down wrong, or my mom liked it with more coconut and passed that along to me?  Although my recipe did have 2 cups of chopped pecans, I always found that to be a lot, and have noted on mine to just put 1 cup.  In the past, 12 oz of chocolate chips was a big bag, as the small bag was only 6 oz.  They don't make 6 oz. any more and the 12 oz (large bag) is now actually the smallest bag, as there are now 24 oz and 36 oz bags.  Lastly, my recipe only calls for a 1/4 stick of paraffin.  I am wondering again if my mom just found a 1/2 stick to be too much and adjusted it when she gave it to me?  I tend to use the freezer as well.  Maybe that was just to speed up the process.  The dough gets pretty stiff that way, the balls get harder and tend to melt less when you dip them and the candy keeps forever in the freezer.  (Well, not FOREVER... we eat it too fast for that!)  Any way you make it, these are amazing candies.   Hmmm... I wonder how my daughter and future grandchildren will make it??

Cranberry Salad

This is from the recipe drawer of Pat.  Cranberry Jell-o Salad has been a staple on our Thanksgiving table since I can remember.  I believe my mom told me that she got this recipe from one of her friends and neighbors in Inola, OK in the late 60's.  We are actually getting a two for one with this recipe, as it is my mom's recipe, but I am pretty sure that this is my sister, Trudi's handwriting.  As you can see from this picture, this recipe has been made a lot.  You can always tell the good ones by the number of stains on the paper.

*1 lg. box Cherry Jello
*2 cups boiling water
*1 can whole cranberry sauce
*1 can plain cranberry sauce
*1 small can crushed pineapple
*juice of pineapple + water = 1 cup
*1 cup chopped celery
*1 orange - chopped
*1 cup pecans - chopped
*1/2 cup coconut (optional)

Dissolve Jello in water.  Add to the cranberry sauces.  Mash with potato masher.  Add remaining ingredients.  Stir all together.  Refrigerate.  Best if prepared 24 to 48 hrs. before serving.  Makes 10 cups.

This is different than many cranberry salad recipes.  The celery and pecans make it really crunchy.  I can vouch for this one... you should give it a try!