Stuffed Burger Balls

Well, as you can see, my Stuffed Burger Balls did not quite look like the picture from Jiffy Cooking. I did pass on the Worcester sauce, but still. They were yummy, though, after zapping them for another minute in the microwave when I served them to rid the meat of its pink tinge. Basically it tastes like burgers and stuffing - why the elaborate combination? I don't know. I also don't know how a 45 minute cooking time qualifies as Jiffy Cooking.



Moving On:
I was looking for my favorite Jelly Cake recipe (I'll post it when I find it), and found a paper from the same infamous 7th grade cooking class where I did so poorly! This paper gives a recipe and VERY explicit directions for Chocolate Pudding. This is my mother's favorite pudding recipe, and I made it for her many times when I was younger. Actually she made this into an icebox cake by layering it with vanilla wafers and putting it in the fridge for our anniversary recently. So it's been on my brain, and here it is:

Chocolate Pudding (exactly as my home ec teacher has it)
Mix together in a heavy aluminum pan:
3 T. Cocoa
2 T. Cornstarch
1/8 t. salt
1/2 C. sugar
Add slowly:
1 3/4 C. Milk
Mix a small amount of the milk to the dry ingredients, which have been stirred together well.
Add the remaining milk.
Place on a medium flame and stir CONSTANTLY until thickened.
After the mixture is thickened, allow it to boil SLOWLY over a LOW FLAME for two extra minutes.
Remove from flame and add:
1 T. butter
1/2 t. vanilla
Place in individual dishes or a baked pie shell. Cover with a plastic wrap.

Enjoy! Yesterday I received a cookbook from Amazon, White Trash Cooking. I had seen this in New Orleans a few weeks ago when I went for the American Library Association Conference. While I may pass on the 'Cooter' recipes, the "Jail-House Chili" has possibilities.

I've been reading about a mystery a day to get ready for an article deadline, but here's another great teen one: Dead Connection by Charlie Price. Murray can hear dead folks talking in the cemetery and one day hears the voice of a missing cheerleader. The suspense and clues are very tight on this one; its definitely a page turner. I'll review it at length in Crimespree Magazine, so check it out!