Pastel Popcorn Tree

I wanted to wait until tomorrow to start with the Christmas recipes and treats, but saw this and just couldn't! How funny is this? I have an Aunt who loves popcorn balls and while I bought her Pannetoni instead at the local Italian grocery store, I know she'd enjoy this one. It's from Better Homes and Gardens Cookies and Candies, 1966.

Pastel Popcorn Tree

5 quarts popped corn (about 2 cups unpopped)

2 cups granulated sugar

1 1/2 cups water

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 cup light corn syrup

1 tsp. vinegar

1 tsp. vanilla

Keep popcorn hot and crisp in slow oven (300 - 325). Butter sides of saucepan. In it, combine granulated sugar, water, salt, syrup, and vinegar. Cook to hard-ball stage (250). Stir in vanilla. Pour cooked syrup slowly over hot popped corn, stirring just enough to combine thoroughly. Butter hands lightly (?) and shape popcorn mixture into 2-inch balls.

Pink popcorn balls:

Prepare as for whit popcorn balls above but omit vinegar (to ensure pretty pink color) (I'm not kidding - it says that.), and vanilla. Add 1/2 tsp. red food coloring and 1/4 tsp. peppermint extract to cooked syrup. Shape some of the red popcorn mixture into eleven balls 2 1/2 inches in diameter, the remainder into 2-inch balls. (Why?)

Marshmallow Sparkles

Red food coloring

Strawberry-or raspberry flavored gelatin (1/2 of 3 oz. package)

Marshmallows, large and miniature

Add food coloring, a few drops at a time, to gelatin, mixing well to obtain desired color. Dip a few marshmallows by hand into water. Drain excess moisture by shaking in paper toweling. Roll marshmallows in colored gelatin and allow to dry thoroughly.

Oh boy. That's a lot of work. How would you eat this, too?

In May I participated in an online auction for YA author and librarian Bridget Zinn, who has colon cancer. Another auction is happening to help with her mountain of bills. Lots of manuscript critiques here along with lovely signed gifts. Check it out!

http://cynthialeitichsmith.blogspot.com/2009/11/bridget-kicks-cancer-auction-bid-to-win.html

Actual Auction:

http://www.32auctions.com/organizations/163/auctions/163

Colored Sugar Mold

This is from a cookbook I rarely discuss on here - the Southern Heritage Gift Receipts volume. It is all things you can make with food for gifts - like preserves, etc. Lots of them are weird, but I kind of liked the idea of this one. I'd enjoy receiving some of these!

I got thinking about this when I made French Toast out of sliced, thick, leftover Thanksgiving rolls yesterday and used a cinnamon sugar mixed spice a friend had given me. It really gave the recipe something extra, in addition to the nutmeg, vanilla, eggs, and milk I used.

For the Colored Sugar Mold here, the book suggests:

3 cups sugar

1/2 cup colored coarse sugar

1 tablespoon water

Combine all ingredients in a small mixing bowl; stir until dry ingredients are moistened. Press mixture firmly into an ungreased 3-cup mold (should I use my salmon mold one?). Let stand at least 30 minutes. Unmold and place in an airtight container. Break pieces from mold and serve in tea or coffee. Yield: one 3-cup mold.

Also pictures was Lemon Mint Sugar, for 'tea, punch or fruit': 1 cup sugar, 1 tablespoon grated lemon or lime rind, 1 tablespoon dried mint leaves, 1/8 tsp. salt. I think it is in the center of the photo. This time the directions are a little different:

Combine sugar, grated rind, mint and salt in a 8-inch square baking dish. Bake at 200 for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from oven and cool completely in pan. Place mixture in container of an electric blender, and process until sugar is fine. Store in an airtight container.

I am not reading much these days, as I am trying to knit so much - but very much enjoyed Michael Black's Hostile Takeovers - a police procedural mystery set in Chicago. It is the second of a series. Mike is a friend, but I really like his humor and his female cops especially - he does a great job of characterization balanced with good mystery plots.

Melting Dreams

This is from the Southern Heritage Company's Coming volume, in a menu for Morning Call. That menu includes several lovely little sandwiches and cookies and - the dreaded Ribbon Sandwich Loaf! Ahhh! That version includes avocado and pimiento and will not be featured here!

But I liked the name and recipe for Melting Dreams. I was thinking more about my past year how new projects and directions have emerged - melting previous dreams into new bigger ones I wouldn't have imagined. But that's enough thinking. On to eating...

Melting Dreams

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 cup cornstarch (Yep, that's rare, but likely yummy)

1/2 cup sifted powdered sugar

3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons butter or margarine

Combine flour, cornstarch and sugar in a medium mixing bowl; cut in butter with pastry blender until mixture resembles coarse meal.

Shape dough into 1-inch balls, and place on ungreased baking sheets. Flatten balls with a fork in a crisscross pattern. Bake at 300 F for 15 minutes or until lightly browned. Yield 3 dozen.

I got one hat done yesterday for charity. That brings me to two.

Coconut Birthday Cake

Thanksgiving Day gave me even more to be thankful for. The catered food turned out well; the things I made worked ok, and my family brought wonderful dishes and their lovely selves over. I ate like it was my last meal. I took photos of two sisters-in-law's dishes and you'll see them as guest bloggers here soon. I don't know if it was the new house or what but it all ran so smoothly and joyously. I am lucky to have family that I enjoy spending time with, behave well and all get along, too. What more could you want from a party?

I am up at 3 a.m. blogging thanks to the asthma steroids, but I'm also eating the apple bread my sister-in-law Terri brought and drinking the Celestial Seasonings Sugar Cookie Tea my sister-in-law Laura gave me. Yum! You'll see that bread recipe soon on here.

I pulled this photo from one of my favorite vintage cookbook titles: the Southern Heritage/Southern Living Cakes volume. It is listed right after "Thanksgiving Mincemeat Cake" and since my birthday is the day after Thanksgiving this year and I love Coconut - here it is:

1/3 cup shortening (Yep, I hate working with shortening too, but with the Southern Heritage recipes I've found shortening adds a lot to the flavor and texture.)

1/3 cup butter, softened

1 3/4 cups sugar

3 cups cake flour

3 1/3 tsp. baking powder

3/4 tsp. salt (I may cut some there, though.)

1 1/3 cups milk

2 tsp. vanilla extract

4 egg whites

Lemon Filling (I'd do chocolate frosting for layers.)

Fluffy Frosting (Get a can of white for this one; you can even find Coconut now...)

Freshly grated coconut (Give me a break. I don't live in Hawaii. Get a bag. Dye it pink for extra fun.)

Cream shortening and butter; gradually add sugar, beating mixture well.

Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt; add to creamed mixture alternately with milk, beating well after each addition. Stir in vanilla.

Beat egg whites (at room temperature) until stiff peaks form; fold into batter.

Pour batter into 3 greased and floured 9-inch round cakepans; bake at 350 for 20 - 25 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pans 10 minutes; remove layers from pans, and let cool completely. Spread filling between layers; frost top and sides and sprinkle with coconut. Yield: One 3-layer cake. (Do you know where your pans are?)

I'm now 38 years old. I'm still calling that the mid-thirties! As usual, I have a few goals for next year which include the usual husband/family ones, financial, health and spiritual ones, but I also want to knit 50 hats for charity, try 5 new things, hit more writing goals, more work for my agent, talks and more. This last year certainly taught me to be open to new situations, so it will be fun to see what comes next.

Happy Thanksgiving! Today I invited my dynamo librarian friend Nancy McCully to guest blog. Nancy is responsible for the Vintage Cookbook programs after asking me why I don't 'do a program with all those cookbooks' and helping me design them as well as get the word out. She has established a business doing library programs on travel, including a very popular one on Christmas in Williamsburg. She is awesome with both adults and teens, has a wonderful sense of humor, and makes exquisite jewelry in her spare time. While of course today I am especially thankful for family, she is also a person I am thankful to have in my life. What are you Thankful for today? -AA

My name is Nancy McCully and I am also a librarian with a shelf full of vintage cookbooks. My collection is a bit different from Amy’s—I bought the books new and have been using them ever since. Don’t worry, my family doesn’t live on meatloaf, Campbell soup sauces, and jello. I do fix ethnic dishes and wouldn’t dream of using the butter and cream that are the staples of vintage cuisine. I love my new cookbooks but I keep going back to some of my first purchases to prepare old family favorites.

One cookbook I use heavily at this time of year is The Williamsburg Cookbook, a treasure I picked up on our honeymoon visit to Colonial Williamsburg in 1976. It automatically opens to the King’s Arms Tavern Sweet Potatoes recipe on page 102. My family enjoys these potatoes every Christmas whether we’re sitting around the dining room table in Mount Prospect or feasting in style at the King’s Arms Tavern. If you want to add a little taste of Colonial Williamsburg to your holiday table, try these:

King’s Arms Tavern Sweet Potatoes
(8–10 servings)
3 pounds sweet potatoes ½ teaspoon cinnamon
¾ cup light-brown sugar, ½ teaspoon nutmeg
packed, divided ¼ teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons butter 1 cup milk

Preheat oven to 400°F. Grease 1½-quart casserole. Cook sweet potatoes in boiling, salted water until done. Drain, peel, and mash. Stir in all remaining ingredients except 2 tablespoons of sugar. Turn mixture into prepared casserole and sprinkle with remaining sugar. Bake at 400°F for 30 minutes.

Colonial Williamsburg is a magical place during the Christmas season. To see the decorations and discover how easy it is to add Williamsburg style touches to your holiday celebration, come to my last Christmas in Williamsburg slideshow of the season.

Christmas in Williamsburg Wednesday, December 16, 6:30 p.m.
Rolling Meadows Library 3110 Martin Lane Rolling Meadows, Illinois 60008(847) 259-6050

Pear Mincemeat Pie

My writer friend Molly Macrae was posting a Carmelized Pear tart/pie thing on her Facebook yesterday. Now Molly guest blogged here as Ms. Prune Whip last month, and will be back with Fruitcake soon. She loves many of the foods I make fun of, including salmon loaf, mincemeat, prune whip, etc. I thought she might like a Mincemeat-Pear recipe, and found this from a previous blog post:


But I also looked in my books, and realized that the combination of Pear and Mincement is in most of my cookbooks. Ahhhh! How is that possible?

This is from the 1968 Betty Crocker Pie and Pastry Cookbook, and I like it as clippings fall out from a previous owner, including one from Buffalo News for Holiday Pies, no date.



Pear Mincemeat Pie:


Pastry for 9-inch two-crust pie


1 jar (28 oz.) prepared mincemeat (3 cups)


6 canned large pear halves


6 maraschino cherries


Heat oven to 425 F. Prepare pastry. Spread mincemeat in pastry-lined pie pan. Press pear halves into mincemeat with cut sides up and narrow ends toward center. Place a cherry in hollow of each pear half. Cover with Lattice Top. Cover edge with 2-3 inch strip of aluminum foil to prevent excessive browning; remove foil last 15 minutes of baking. Bake 40 - 50 minutes or until crust is nicely browned. Serve slightly warm and, if desired, top servings with Whipped Cream Cheese and Old-Fashioned Lemon Sauce (both? really?)




A couple exciting things happened yesterday. One, the article by cookbook collector and writer Susan Mellish at Antique Week came out. I was interviewed on my favorite subject and thoroughly enjoyed talking to her.



Second, when I arrived back at work after vacation, I had a package from the Pillsbury Corp. Inside was a t-shirt about pie, some recipes for apple and pumpkin pie, and a handwritten note:
We love pie and are glad to hear that you do too! Enjoy this 'Love the Pie' t-shirt and delicious pie recipes from Pillsbury!

These things are so cool. I started this blog to teach myself blogging almost 4 years ago, and never imagined I'd be giving talks, interviews and receiving fun things like that in the mail. I have a lot to be Thankful for this year!

Back for Thanksgiving

We're back from Disney. Here's the castle at the Magic Kingdom decorated for the holidays. Lovely! Our hotel overlooked the castle also. It is a bit hard to be home again, getting ready for 17 guests for Thursday, but we do love Thanksgiving with family too.

Speaking of food, one of my favorite meals at Disney was the breakfast at the Polynesian resort's Kona Cafe. Here's my Macadamia Nut Pineapple Pancakes:

Yes, that is my son trying to get into the picture. I would spend all my time cropping if I wanted to rid each photo of that. Luckily, he is very cute and photogenic!

Another favorite meal was at the 50's Prime Time Diner at Hollywood Studios. Everything there is vintage, and the wait staff treat you like they are your parents. While there, I saw these on the wall:

Yep - the one in the middle is a SALMON MOLD mold! Ahhhh! The others are pretty interesting, too.

But now I'm making my list for Thanksgiving, and I always make my Yam/Apple casserole:

2 large cans yams, drained and sliced (or 6 cooked and sliced sweet potatoes)

6 medium cooking apples, McIntosh

1/2 cup melted butter

1/3 cup lt. brown sugar

1/2 tsp. nutmeg

Set oven to 350 F. Layer potatoes and apples, and drizzle butter/sugar/spices in between. Cook covered for 30 - 35 minutes, until all is soft.

Are you all ready for Thanksgiving this week?

Pineapple Cranberry Punch

Now I know this is a Christmas Cookbook, my McCall's pamphlet Book of Merry Eating from a 1981 printing, but it has a fun drink that I think would actually work well for Thanksgiving. Don't worry - it's not the one pictured. I know folks that would drink that thing as an individual portion - and likely have a Very Merry holiday.

What do you serve to drink for Thanksgiving? Wine - and I usually start that with a glass at least before the relatives arrive so I am all happy and relaxed...

How about this? Pineapple Cranberry Punch

1 pint bottled cranberry juice

1 tablespoon sugar

2 cups canned unsweetened pineapple juice

Combine all ingredients; stir until sugar is dissolved. Refrigerate until very well chilled - will take at least 2 hours. Makes 1 quart - or 6-8 servings.

I hope you have more than one bathroom if all 8 folks drink their portion at once!

I should be back to live blogging soon, relaxed and happy from my vacation. See - it's not just the wine that helps the holiday. It is likely crazy to fit in a plane trip to the Happiest Place on Earth (and yes, readers, I did just go there in June - what can I say?) with two little guys before serving Thanksgiving dinner, but it is a fun way to start the season! I did still find the wine glasses in their box...

Individual Pumpkin Pies?

From the 1954 Culinary Arts '250 ways' pamphlet cookbook series, this is from the Holiday Cookbook - '250 festive recipes for every holiday'.

This cookbook suggests making Individual Pumpkin Pies, 'for those who prefer a light-colored, delicately spiced pumpkin pie'. Now I'd have to double this recipe, because I've found that when there are little portions dictated of everything, folks take two - at least. I count myself in that group too of course!

This is supposed to make 8 - so you'd feed likely 4. First you are supposed to make 'Pastry for Little Pies and Tarts'. That is just a pastry for a 2-crust pie, rolled 1/8 thick and cut about 1/2 in. larger than the size of the pans. The edges are fluted. To bake those - 450 F 8 - 10 min. (But in this case you should refrigerate the crust and mix up the pumpkin part before baking it all.)

Back to the pies:

Combine

2 cups (1 lb. can.) canned pumpkin

2/3 cup firmly packed light brown sugar and a mixture of

1 tsp. mace

3/4 tsp. ginger

3/4 tsp. nutmeg

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. salt

Combine and add to pumpkin mixture, mixing well until smooth

2 eggs, slightly beaten

1 cup cream

1 cup milk

Remove pastry from refrigerator. Pour about 1/2 cup filling into each pastry shell. Sprinkle tops with Nutmeg. Bake at 450 F 10 min. Reduce heat to 350 F and bake 20 min. longer. Cool on cooling rack.

Those cute turkey cutouts are from thing slices of Cheddar Cheese. Now I love Cheddar with apple pie, but pumpkin? Oh well, it looks cute!

Thanksgiving Side Dishes

I featured several Thanksgiving side dishes in my Vintage Holiday November talks. A big one that shows up in many cookbooks is the Creamed Onions. From the Better Homes and Gardens: Holiday Cookbook, 1959
“For tradition’s sake, serve time-honored Creamed Onions.”

Apparently my Grandma Curtin made these every year.

Creamed Onions:

18 - 20 medium onions (usually what I buy in two months)

1/3 cup salad oil

3 tablespoons enriched flour

1 1/2 cups milk

1 cup shredded process American cheese (the traditional way?)

Peanuts, chopped

Peel onions and cook in a large amount boiling, salted water until tender; drain. Blend salad oil and flour; stir in milk and cook slowly until thick, stirring constantly.

Add the cheese and stir until melted. Add the onions and heat through. Place vegetable bowl and sprinkle with chopped peanuts. Makes 6 - 8 servings.

While it doesn't sound too terrible, I don't think it would really go with my family.

Other sides suggested in this cookbook are: Pickled Beets and Onion Rings, Crab apples, Corn Dotted with Pimiento, and Celery Oriental.

Now there I got excited - great a multicultural dish! Forget that this is a US holiday - what is Celery Oriental? Don't get too excited, readers.

Celery Oriental 'as served at Neiman-Marcus' (the height of haute cuisine in Vintage Cookbooks) merely is cut on the diagonal. That's right - the only thing that makes this Oriental is to cut it on the diagonal, or 'Oriental julienne'. So now your Thanksgiving can have international influences!

Decorations for Thanksgiving

Let's talk about Thanksgiving decor for a moment. There are lots of homes around here already lit up for Christmas, but what about Turkey Day? Do you have a big blow up turkey on the front lawn? Pilgrims aplenty?

This is a late 1800’s stove ad card, in the Family Gatherings volume of my favorite Southern Living cookbook set.
Under Entertaining for Thanksgiving: “A particularly elegant – and appropriate – centerpiece is frosted fruit. Dip pieces of fruit into egg whites which have been beaten until they are frothy. Then dip the damp fruit into granulated sugar and set it on a wire rack until it is dry. This fruit is particularly eye-appealing when massed in a glass bowl or compote and set between pairs of tall candles.”

Yikes. Pass the salmonella. You can buy fake fruits with frosted sheen, and hopefully no one will try to eat them, which is what always happens in my home.

I have made cloth cornucopias in the past for gifts and craft shows, but I have a big cloth pilgrim I hang and some cute Hallmark type figures I set out. Mostly until Owen stops grabbing everything (and we can find everything in the boxes) it is pretty simple decoration. The food is the main event, right?

Any unusual decorations out there?

Baby Turkey Montmorency

I showed this photo when I discussed Turkey during my Vintage Holiday November talks. You might think - Turkey is Turkey - how could the vintage cookbooks have messed that up? As readers here know - there are few foods that have not been processed and perverted beyond recognition in the vintage decades. I'm sure my children will make fun of food things we do today.

From Farm Journal’s Cooking for Company, 1968: Turkey, roasted buttery-brown, holds its claim to supremacy on the Thanksgiving platter, but today’s hostesses feature it in company meals the year round. One reason is that almost everybody enjoys it. Then, it’s handsome and showy on the platter…For picnics, a whole turkey, roasted a day ahead and chilled, is a true delight.

My thought is that is may not be a 'true delight' for the person carrying and carving it to the picnic...

Baby Turkey Montmorency is from McCalls pamphlet cookbook series, 1981. This is from the Book of Merry Eating volume, and the recipe includes: baby turkey, meat-extract paste, dry white wine, turkey giblets and neck, 1 can cherry-pie filling. Mmm, mmm.

If you haven't planned your menu for the big Turkey Day yet - perhaps that is your dish. Where could you find 'meat extract paste', I wonder?

Roast Turkey & Butternut Squash

I'm still working off of that last menu in the Complete Holiday Cookbook. It mentioned Roast Turkey with Fruit Dressing for the Formal Thanksgiving Dinner, but also added a recipe for Glazed Butternut Squash. I got the photo from a person on Flickr, because the recipe sounded so good. See it below, but first, the Turkey with Fruit Dressing:

4 cups toasted bread cubes

2 cups diced celery

3 tablespoons grated grapefruit peel

1/2 seedless raisins

1/2 cup crushed pineapple

1/4 cup chopped nuts (no kind listed - can't imagine they mean pistachios)

1/3 cup melted butter

Hot water or broth to moisten

1 tsp. salt

1 8 - 10 pound turkey

1 or 2 buttons garlic

1 medium ripe grapefruit (Ahh, the grapefruit again - Did you see how this same cookbook used grapefruit slices to decorate a pumpkin pie on the blog here two days ago?)

Toss fist 9 ingredients together lightly; set aside. Clean bird thoroughly; dry. Rub entire bird inside and oat with garlic and additional salt. Fill bird loosely with stuffing, shaking to fill, but do not pack. (Oh boy - love those directions.) Tie and fold neck opening; tuck wings. Close cavity; tie legs. Grease bird thoroughly; place breast down on rack. Cover with foil. Roast slowly at 325 degrees for 3 hours and 30 minutes. Turn bird breast side up; squeeze 1/2 of the fresh grapefruit over bird. Leave uncovered; continue roasting 15 - 20 minutes longer. Squeeze other half of grapefruit over bird; turn heat to 375 degrees to finish roasting and browning. Cut tie that holds the legs together to allow this portion to completely cook. Yield: 10 - 12 servings.

Really? Pineapple, nuts and grapefruit on a bird, with grated grapefruit peel? Has anyone tried anything like this?

This recipe is a little more to my taste and workload preferences:

Glazed Butternut Squash

2 butternut squash

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 brown sugar

1/2 cup water

2 tablespoons butter

Cut squash into 3-inch pieces. Pare and parboil until tender; drain. Place in shallow baking pan. Heat remaining ingredients; pour over squash. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 - 30 minutes, basting with syrup until glazed. Yield: 6 servings.

Yum, yum - is your Thanksgiving menu planned?

Formal Thanksgiving Supper

This is the last of the several menus in The Complete Holiday Cookbook - Formal Thanksgiving Dinner. This is the second full Thanksgiving Dinner they list, and I don't know why they are serving cranberries in a tupperware pitcher, but at least many of these menu items are recognizable today:

Crab Meat Cocktail

Roast Turkey with Fruit Dressing

Saucy Vegetable Trio

Yams with Watercress Sauce

Cranberry Relish

Avocado-Ribbon Aspic (Ahhh! Yikes! Aspic!)

Cloverleaf Rolls

Mincemeat Pie (I said recognizable, not edible.)

Pecan Pie

The Cocktail looks pretty good and fairly easy:

2 cans crab meat

3 green onions and tops, minced

1/2 teaspoon paprika

1/4 tsp. dry mustard

1/4 tsp. salt

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1/2 tablespoon fresh dill, cut fine

2 tablespoons French dressing

2 tablespoons mayonnaise

Mix all ingredients well; chill. Serve on shredded lettuce. Yield: 6 servings.

Why shredded lettuce? How would you eat that for cocktails? Seems messy. I say serve it in a bowl next to crackers. Yum.

I actually like the Cranberry Relish to:

4 medium oranges

2 pounds cranberries

2 medium unpeeled apples, cored

4 cups sugar

Peel oranges; trim and discard white part of rind. Put orange pulp and rind, cranberries and apples through food chopper. Add sugar; mix well. Refrigerate for 2 hours. Relish may be frozen. Yield: 2 pints. (Don't serve in a Tupperware pitcher!)

We're taking a little vacation in the next weeks, but thanks to the magic of blog post scheduling you won't notice a thing. I'm working on packing, and here is the priority: boys clothes and things to amuse them on the plane, snacks for boys, books, knitting projects, asthma medicine, netbook loaded with projects for my work as my agent Terry Burns' Editorial Assistant, clothes and things for me. Then we return to host Thanksgiving and celebrate my 38th birthday. It's been quite a year. Normally I plan a list of things I want to do in the next year, but really, if next year I get 1/2 as much done as this one I'll be happy. No more house moves, though! I'm still trying to find cookbooks...

Turkey-Time Supper

Turkey-Time Supper is the name of yet another menu from this same cookbook! Who knows when you'd be supposed to make all these, but this menu seems like a leftover one:
Turkey Open-Face Sandwiches

Relish Tray

Pumpkin Pie

Now what is that on the pie, you ask? Grapefruit slices. 1. Yuck - who would combine those flavors? 2. Can it sit out like that and be attractive?

Here's the Sandwiches, though. I like this recipe, though it is of course totally unhealthy - except perhaps for the turkey and cranberries.

Turkey Open-Face Sandwich

2 cups diced turkey

1/2 cup salad dressing

1/2 cup grated cheese

4 tablespoons cooked cranberries

4 whole toasted buns, buttered

Mix turkey, salad dressing and cheese well. Put 1 - 2 tablespoons cranberries on bun. Spread with turkey mixture. Cook in broiler 4 - 5 inches from heat for 2-3 minutes. Yield: 4 servings.

My talk at Villa Park was so much fun. Judy the librarian who runs the adult programming, is just lovely and had a nice crowd and easy setup for me. She and her husband Bill helped with everything. I got so many good stories from that group, too. I stayed chatting with them for quite a while and wrote down many recipes and stories to look up and add to future talks. My voice was totally gone when I returned home, but it was well worth it!

After Thanksgiving Buffet

This is still the same Complete Holiday Cookbook - there are three more Thanksgiving menus, in addition to the other two! This is the After Thanksgiving Buffet. When would you serve and eat that? The menu:

Turkey Casserole

Minted Glazed Carrots

Green Beans

Cauliflower

Mushroom Cheese Sauce

Raspberry Salad Ring

Mincemeat Cake

Then, a Lemon Meringue Pie recipe is added. Yikes. That's a lot of odd flavors together!

Turkey Casserole doesn't actually sound too bad, though:

1 cup celery

1 large onion

1 1/2 tsp. salt

2 tsp. poultry seasoning

1 tsp. sage

1 large loaf bread, cubed

3 eggs (I didn't say it was healthy!)

3 cups diced turkey or chicken

2 cups turkey or chicken gravy

Combine celery and onion; mince in electric blender. Add celery mixture and seasonings to bread; mix well. Stir in eggs. Layer dressing and turkey in buttered casserole; repeat layers until all are used. Pour gravy over top; cover casserole. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour. Yield: 6 servings.

The minted glazed carrots use honey, butter, mint. And they are served whole, as in the picture. Odd. Get some nice dill, cut them up and serve them in a bowl like we're supposed to in suburbia.

I'm reading Ann Pearlman's The Christmas Cookie Club. Yummy.

Upside-Down Cupcakes

I'm doing a little research on upside-down cakes for my Valentine's Day programs. Also, I have a recipe from the Thanksgiving menus to post on that subject.

I found this site about this style of cake. I put a photo from there here, on the most popular upside down cake - the pineapple. I love the pan with spacers for the pineapple rings! Here is more info:

The first recorded recipe for Pineapple Upside Down Cake According to John Mariani's ( The Dictionary of American Food and Drink , Revised Edition, 1994), "The first mention in print of such a cake was in 1930, and was so listed in the 1936 Sears Roebuck catalog, but the cake is somewhat older." In Fashionable Food: Seven Decades of Food Fads (1995), Sylvia Lovegren traces pineapple upside-down cake to a 1924 Seattle fund-raising cookbook...While rooting around in old women's magazines I found a Gold Medal Flour ad with a full-page, four-color picture of Pineapple Upside-Down Cake--a round cake with six slices of pineapple, candied red cherries, and a brown sugar glaze. The date: November 1925." --- American Century Cookbook: The Most Popular Recipes of the 20th Century , Jean Anderson (p. 432)

No mention of Mince Upside-Down Cupcakes, from my Holiday Week-End Luncheon. Mincemeat shows up in all the vintage cookbooks as a nice holiday treat, but this one is a bit weirder than others I have seen - which is saying a lot!

2 cups prepared mincemeat

1/4 cup water

3/4 cup butter

1 small package yellow cake mix

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup light cream

3 tablespoons rum (Is that enough to make it worthwhile?)

Dash of nutmeg

Whipped cream

Heat mincemeat, water and 1/4 cup butter, stirring until blended; cool. Grease bottoms of twelve 3 1/4-inch cupcake pan cups; fill each about 1/4 full. Prepare cake mix as label directs. Spoon into cupcake cups; fill about 2/3 full. Bake at 375 degrees for 20 minutes or until done. Cool slightly. Invert pan on cake rack; shake gently and lift pan. Finish cooling. Combine sugar, 1/2 cu butter and cream. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until butter is melted. Add rum and nutmeg; keep hot. Arrange cupcakes on serving dish, mincemeat side up. Spoon rum sauce over top; top with whipped cream. Serve at once. Yield 12 servings.

Gross. I really think you could use cherries or another fruit that bakes well - maybe apples with cinnamon. I like the cupcake idea, though.

I just finished Jennifer Chiaverini's Quilter's Holiday, a Thanksgiving story. I love her Elm Creek Quilts series, and I talk about them during my vintage holidays talks, especially about food traditions. It got me thinking I haven't done charity knitting or quilting in ages. I used to do a lot of this. So I looked up sites needing hats and blankets and I knitted a hat yesterday, even though Owen kept taking the yarn skein and running, yelling "Mine!"

http://www.dailyknitter.com/charity.html

Turkey Cacciatore and Wilted Lettuce

After a two day break to recover from the latest asthma issue (I'm up at 4 blogging again) and to do another talk, I'm back writing about the Holiday Weekend Luncheon for after Thanksgiving from the previous post. My talk last night was at the Thomas Ford Memorial Library in Western Springs, IL. It was great fun, and the crowd really seemed to enjoy Sandwich Loaves. I didn't serve one, don't worry - but we all had fun talking about them. That's what I wanted from these programs. Thanks to Jamie and the Friends for hiring me - I would gladly go back to that lovely place. I know teen librarian Heather, and knew it had to be good to have great people like her working there, and I was right.

So I found this image of Turkey Cacciatore from a Flickr account. It doesn't quite match this recipe, though.

3 cups cut-up turkey (get a pound of ground...)
1/4 cup cooking oil
1/2 cup chopped onions
1 2-pound 3-oz. can tomatoes
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1/2 bay leaf
1/8 tsp. thyme
1/4 tsp. marjoram
Saute turkey until slightly browned in oil. Add remaining ingredients; cover. Simmer for 1 hour. Remove cover to reduce the sauce. Serve on spaghetti. Yield: 5 - 6 servings.

Wilted Lettuce - folks, I really just think this is a form of Greens, only with cold salad greens. Why not call it something more appetizing, though?
1 head lettuce
1 small onion, diced
5-6 slices bacon, diced
1/4 cup bacon grease
1/4 cup vinegar
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1/4 cup water
Break lettuce into small pieces; place in bowl with onion. Heat back till crisp; drain. Add to lettuce and onion. Combine in frying pan, bacon grease, vinegar, sugar, salt, pepper and water. Bring to boil, stirring. Pour over salad. Toss well. Yield: 6 servings.

Holiday Weekend Luncheon

The Complete Holiday Cookbook also has two other Thanksgiving Weekend menus. I hope the authors didn't think the same person would be preparing all these! This is a photo of Angel Food Chocolate Eggnog Cake. The entire menu for the "Holiday Weekend Luncheon" is:

Turkey Cacciatore, or Savory Turkey Sandwiches or Venison Roast

Wilted Lettuce (Yes, it's actually a recipe.)

Garlic Bread

Angel Food Chocolate Eggnog Cake, or Mince Upside-Down Cupcakes

I'll be posting lost of these recipes.

Here is the cake:
2 cups eggnog

1 6-oz. package semisweet chocolate pieces

1 tablespoon unflavored gelatin

1/4 cup milk

1 cup whipping cream, whipped

1 baked chocolate angel food cake (?? Where would you find that??)
Nutmeg

Bring eggnog almost to simmering temperature, stirring constantly over low heat. Add chocolate pieces; stir until melted. Soften gelatin in milk; stir in eggnog until thoroughly dissolved. Cool. Fold in whipped cream when mixture begins to thicken. Slice angel food cake into strips 1/2 inch thick. Line bottom of springform pan with layer of cake. Cut 8 pieces of cake to about the size of ladyfingers; stand around sides of pan at even intervals. Pour gelatin mixture over bottom layer of cake. Alternate layers of cake and filling, ending with thin covering of filling on top. Refrigerate until set. Remove side of pan. Decorate top of cake with Eggnog icing. Spread icing down sides between chocolate angel ladyfingers. Sprinkle nutmeg over top.

This sounds like a heck of a lot of work to ruin a nice angel food cake. But who has a separate luncheon and menu Thanksgiving weekend anyway? (Go out to eat if you have any stomach room left.)

Corn-Stuffed Peppers

I am including some photos today from my first Vintage Holidays talk at the Ela Area Public Library yesterday. Their Friends group hosted me for a holiday tea, and I could not have asked for a lovelier setting or reception from that group, led by Terri Meyer, who also books programs for the library. If all my talks go that well, I will be in Heaven!

Here I am talking to a lovely audience member in front of my cookbook display after the talk. She had recently discovered some family recipes. I love stories like that, and several people there had great stories to share.

Also pictured here are the two servings I did - one was pumpkin pie and pumpkin pie fudge. (set on my Grandma Curtin's vintage Christmas tablecloth) The other was a : gingerbread man, sugarplum, Pizzelle, Kolacky, Pepperkakor.

Now on to today's Thanksgiving recipe. Also from the same menu I listed yesterday is Corn-Stuffed Peppers, and this actually sounds good!

Corn-Stuffed Peppers:
6 medium green peppers

1 1/4 tsp. salt (that's a lot!)

3 cups corn, cut from cob, or frozen corn, thawed

1 cup diced fresh tomato

1 1/2 tsp. instant minced onion

1/4 tsp. ground black pepper

1/8 tsp. garlic powder

1 tsp. chili powder

3 tablespoons flour

2 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted

Slice tops from green peppers; carefully remove seeds and membranes (??). Parboil in covered saucepan for 5 minutes in boiling water to cover and 1/2 tsp. salt; drain. Combine remaining ingredients; spoon into peppers. Place in baking pan. Bake at 375 degrees for 35 minutes or until done. Yield: 6 servings.

Thanksgiving Dinner the Vintage Way

Before Sandra's lovely blog post about her fabulous Thanksgiving Dinner, I was writing about the first of several sample menus in this cookbook, likely from the late 60's. Here is their full traditional menu for Turkey Day:

Onion Soup

Butter-Roasted Turkey

Glazed Sweet Potatoes and Apples (recipe from a few days ago on here)

Corn-Stuffed Green Peppers

Holiday Rice

Cranberry Ring Mold with Old-Fashioned Mayonnaise

Tossed Green Salad

Pickled Beets

Buttered Rolls

Pumpkin Pie with Mincemeat (oh, dear)

Fresh Coconut Cake

Crackling Rose

Cranberry Juice

Coffee

Wow. Interesting to see how pickled beets would go over at my holiday table, but I do not have the stomach to attempt it. Also included are a few recipes like the Tagliarini I wrote about, and Diamond Cheese Biscuits. These sound easy and delicious, for a nice change with the vintage cookbooks.

Diamond Cheese Biscuits

1 cup sharp cheese, grated

1 cup sifted flour

1 stick butter (I didn't say healthy.)
Mix all ingredients well. Roll as for icebox cookies. Slice into diagonal shapes; place on baking sheet. Bake in 400-degree oven until done. Yield: 16 biscuits.

I'm not really sure what icebox cookies are, but I think you just roll the dough and cut. Bake until done - I love it when they say that. The ovens in our new home are possessed - things get slightly burned on the bottom no matter what temperature or how short the cooking duration. Perhaps the ghost of the previous owner only likes it when people make things from scratch. I'm not sure.

Today is the first of the Vintage Holiday talks. My house is filled with gourmet food, and I believe I am ready to begin on what is an entirely new venture for me. I hope I discover lots of people with great recipes and stories to share, just as I have on here.

Sandra Byrd's Thanksgiving Menu

I am so excited about guest blogger Sandra Byrd's post today! Readers here will remember that a few weeks ago I discovered her French Bakery trilogy and literally devoured them for their perfect blend of smart characters, surprising plot twists, recipes, light romance, and Christianity. I am giving these books as holiday gifts this year. The third - Piece de Resistance, is new and while I am sad to see these end, I know Sandra is hard at work on more books for adults and teens. I found her website, and wrote to say how much I enjoyed the books. By the way - you should always do that with books that particularly touch you; authors do not hear often from readers! I discovered that Sandra is as lovely as her books. She agreed to guest blog about her Thanksgiving menu. Welcome Sandra Byrd!-AA

What a delight to be invited to be a guest on Amy's blog because she combines two of my very favorite things - cooking and eating! And, because I'm an author, the fact that she is a librarian just raises her to heroine level. So, I thought I'd start off with a little background and self Q & A just to let you know something about me and my books and then move on to something else fun - my Thanksgiving menu for this year! What's on yours?

What made you start writing and how did it dovetail with food?
When I was a kid I wanted three careers: to be a hair stylist, to be a waitress, and to be an author. After I mohawked my Barbie and gave myself a bad red dye job I knew I wasn’t cut out for the hairstylist career. I actually was a waitress in a Jewish deli when I was a teenager. Although I loved talking to my deli customers, especially the Holocaust survivors, and watching the deli guys slice a clover-stained cow's tongue, writing was the real passion. Putting them together is a gift from God.

Much of this series revolves around food. Do you like to cook? What kind of research did you have to do while writing this book?

I do like to cook and bake! I got my first serious cooking instruction book, by Jacques Pepin, when I was 17 years old. La Technique. My first "real" job was for a caterer. See? I was starting with food early. I learned how to make Pasta Primavera there and also Chicken Marsala, all before I'd graduated from high school, and I've been a home cook and baker every since.

For this series of books, I went to France, of course and sampled many chocolate croissants and visited Laduree, which everyone must visit at least once.

http://www.laduree.fr/public_en/maisons/champs_accueil.htm (be sure to watch the whole slide show!)

You feel bad for me, don't you? I also job shadowed a baker at a French bakery here in town. And I visited a baking school for a day. It was great fun, but I also so how very hard they work. The physical endurance required of bakers and chefs is amazing. Something we lay people don't often think about.

Are the recipes in the book your own?

Yes and no. No new recipes are really invented any more, we know how everything works and what works together and what doesn't. Tweaking going on every day, though. I made these over and over again till we were all tired of them. Well, the boys never tired of Boyfriend Bait Beef Stroganoff. And I tried to tweak them so casual cooks would be comfortable making them. There are recipes in each of the three books in the series. I hope you'll try at least one in each!


Byrd Family Thanksgiving, 2009

Succulent Smoked Turkey (from Black Diamond Smoke House in Black Diamond, Washington)
Mashed Potatoes with Crema and Chives
Cornbread Stuffing with Walnuts
Gravy. Lots of it.
Butternut Squash Bake with Candied Topping
Toasted Sweet Corn Pudding (Gourmet Magazine, November, 2009.)
Cranberry Salad

Fig Crostata (Gourmet Magazine, November 2009)
Homemade Pumpkin Pie (15 year old daughter's chore! Train 'em young!)

You'll notice I haven't even tried to balance this with vegetables. We'll eat salad till December 24th. :-)

After earning her first rejection at the age of thirteen, bestselling author Sandra Byrd went on to publish more than three dozen books including her widely-acclaimed adult fiction debut, Let Them Eat Cake and it's sequels, Bon Appétit and Pièce de Résistance. Keep an eye out for her forthcoming tween/teen fiction series, London Confidential.A former textbook acquisitions editor, Sandra is also an accomplished non-fiction writer and author. Her articles have appeared in numerous publications such as Radiant, Focus on the Family's Clubhouse Magazine, Christian Parenting Today, Today's Christian Woman, Pockets, Decision, and Guideposts. During the past eight years Sandra has mentored hundreds of students through the Christian Writer's Guild.
Sandra Byrd Online:

http://sandrabyrd.com/
http://www.facebook.com/sandrabyrdbooks
http://www.facebook.com/sandrabyrdwrites

Glazed Sweet Potatoes and Apples

I also found this recipe in the Complete Holiday Cookbook. I've actually been making this for years of family Thanksgivings from an old newspaper clipping.

Glazed Sweet Potatoes and Apples
6 medium potatoes
2 (or more) cooking apples, peeled and sliced thin
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup (packed) brown sugar
1 tablespoon water
Cook sweet potatoes with jackets on in water to cover until tender. Cool; peel and slice lengthwise in 1/2-inch slices. Layer 1/2 of the sweet potatoes in shallow 1 1/2 quart casserole. Cover with apples; top with second layer of potatoes. Melt butter in small saucepan; add sugar and water. Bring to boil; pour over potatoes. Bake in preheated 350-degree oven about 45 minutes or until apples are tender, basting occasionally.

I cut slices of potatoes and did two layers of apples, so the apples are on top. That looks nice. This is delicious. How can you go wrong with apples and sweet potatoes? Although,every time I think that about a food, I find some gross version in my old cookbooks!

Yesterday, my toddler started breathing very hard, very fast. He'd had a cold for a few days, and I knew from the spring that he needed to go to the ER. We were there for a few hours, getting him steroids (Yep, the family on steroids together um - stays well together?), tested for H1N1 - all the usual ER fun. He was up coughing a lot last night, but is doing a bit better, I think. I am ready for a day of crabby steroid baby: Mulan DVD, Playdough, Trains, check.

Tagliarini

This photo and menu is from The Complete Holiday Cookbook, Favorite Recipes Press, 1970's. I know it's from the 70's because there clippings and comments from the owner from that time, including the "High Valley Farm Smoked Turkey" guide. Now this photo looks fairly normal, right? Look on the right. What have they done to the pumpkin pie? Yes, that's mincemeat. We'll get to that. First, I will mention a sides recipe not listed in their menu, oddly, but still included between the Butter-Roasted Turkey and the Onion Soup.

I grew up with pasta at every single holiday meal. My Grandmother Alessio brought her 'gravy' to everything. When I started hosting Thanksgiving, I thought it odd that caterers did not automatically include mostacholi. But this one is unfamiliar to me. Anyone have Tagliarini at T-Day?

Tagliarini

1 pound ground meat

2 tablespoons fat or oil

1 large onion, grated

Salt and pepper to taste

Pinch of garlic salt

1 can tomato soup

1/2 can water

2 tablespoons chili powder (because nothing says Thanksgiving like a roomful of family eating chili powder)

1 4-oz. package noodles

1 cup yellow cream-style corn

Cheese

Sliced stuffed olive (optional)

Brown meat in fat; stir in onion, salt, pepper, garlic salt, soup, water and chili powder. Simmer for 20 minutes. Boil noodles until tender; drain. Add noodles, corn, 1 cup grated cheese and olives to meat mixture; mix well. Pour into casserole. Bake for 30 minutes in 350-degree oven. Top with sliced cheese; bake until cheese is melted. Yield: 6 servings.

So - this is a sort of meat/noodle casserole. Sounds like what I make for dinner a lot around here, but I don't cook in fat. Ick. No, I just eat my fat straight up from leftover Halloween candy!

My husband and toddler have been sick this week, and in between trying to help them I've been working on my presentation. I have worked more on the Vintage Holidays show than on ANY library presentation I've done, and there have been like 80 of those. Starting something new is so scary. I'm sure it's good for all of us to leave the comfort zone, but nervous is only the tip of what I'm feeling right now. The schedule of talks is up at my site if you are in the area, but many have pre-registration, and several - gulp - are filled.

Thanksgiving on the East Coast Menu

How many readers plan a new menu for Thanksgiving each year? While I do get lots of the basics catered, I do add some traditional things. But then there's my inventive brother-in-law who makes neat salads out of something new each year, or my sister-in-law who finds some unusual themed dessert I always like. Tradition is fun, but so are surprises, right?

This postcard is from the Celebrations volume of the Southern Heritage set. Does anyone send Thanksgiving greetings? I'd love to get one.

Here's the promised Thanksgiving on the East Coast Menu from that volume:
Roast Turkey
Sage Dressing with Giblet Gravy
Cranberry Frappe
Creamed Onions
Savannah Baked Oysters
Southern Corn Pudding
Brussels Sprouts with Dill Butter
Crabapples + Olives + Sweet Pickles (not together, I assume)
Celery Vase
Sweet Potato Muffins
Fig Pudding
Maryland White Potato Pie
Berkeley Spiced Cider

Wow. I think you'd need something stronger than Spiced Cider if you were attempting to make all that!

I read a lot about creamed onions and oysters for Turkey Day in the vintage cookbooks. They must be favorites in some areas. Here's Savannah Baked Oysters:

1 cup finely chopped celery
1/4 cup butter or margarine
4 cups herb-seasoned stuffing mix
1 cup finely chopped fresh parsley
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
6 (12 oz.) containers fresh select oysters, drained
1/2 cup butter, melted

Saute celery in 1/4 cup butter until tender. Combine stuffing mix, parsley, sauteed celery, salt, and pepper; stir well.

Layer half of oysters in a lightly greased 12x8x2-inch baking dish; top with half of stuffing mixture. Repeat layers, pour remaining butter over mixture in baking dish. Bake at 350F for 30 minutes or until bubbly. Yield: 12 servings.

Cranberry Frappe

This is also from the same menu as yesterday's Southern Corn Pudding. The menu is indeed coming on here, but I wanted to feature a few more recipes from it yet.

Today I'm looking at Cranberry Frappe. My Mother and Father In Law are the only ones who eat cranberry sauce for Thanksgiving, and we usually get it in the can. I've seen recipes and cookbooks that feature it that way, unmolded. My Southern Heritage Celebrations volume of course has another suggestion:

Cranberry Frappe
2 cups fresh cranberries
2 cups water
2 cups boiling water
3 oranges, halved
3 lemons, halved
2 cups sugar

Combine cranberries and water in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer 20 minutes or until cranberries are soft. Strain cranberries, reserving liquid. Press pulp through strainer; discard seeds and skins. Combine strained pulp and liquid. Set aside.
Pour boiling water over orange and lemon halves; let stand 20 minutes. Remove oranges and lemons, reserving water. Juice oranges and lemons; strain juice, and add to cranberry pulp mixture. Remove pulp from orange and lemon halves, reserving shells. Add reserved water and sugar to cranberry mixture; stir well.
Fill reserved orange and lemon shells with cranberry mixture; freeze until firm. Pour remaining cranberry mixture into a 9x5x3-inch loaf pan; cover and freeze until firm. Use filled orange and lemon shells as a garnish for meat dishes, if desired. (???) Remaining frappe may be scooped into individual serving dishes. Yield: 2 quarts.

This seems like a lot of work. I wish they had a picture of it in the reserved lemon and orange shells. That reminds me of the pudding pumpkin cups in orange shells I did last week.

I actually have a vintage cookbook featuring only cranberries, and my Mom likes to look at it. It was like $1 or something. I'll post from that this month too.

I'm doing NaNoWriMo this month too of course, because I always seem to need to have 75 things going on. Also, we're doing a promotion for novel writers at the library. I realized though that with this blog I'm pretty disciplined about writing each day now, but we'll see. Fiction is way harder for me.

But! My first mini cookbook is available for sale on Kindle now: http://www.amazon.com/Vintage-Cookbooks-Holiday-Cookies/dp/B002V1I4E0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=digital-text&qid=1257162838&sr=1-1

$1.99 for 25 of my favorite holiday treat recipes, including my Grandma Curtin's Fudge. It is going for $1.99, and I'll donate 1/2 to the local Schaumburg Twp. Food Pantry, which many more people are using now than ever before. No Kindle? It will be up on my website soon with a button to order it on Paypal and I'll email it to you PDF. I should also have a new Alana story: Felled by Fruitcake, by early next week. Alana is the antiques store bookkeeper who likes to solve mysteries in my short stories which have been published so far in two anthologies. This will be a bonus holiday story with recipes and again, 1/2 will go to the food pantry.

Thankful for Cookbooks Month

Happy November! Welcome to Thankful for Cookbooks Month. I will feature Thanksgiving recipes all month.

I've been working on my presentations for the Vintage Holiday talks which start next week, and found this, a "Thanksgiving on the East Coast" menu from the Southern Heritage Celebrations volume. I will post the full menu soon, but was particularly intrigued by the 'Southern Corn Pudding'. I will be talking about Thanksgiving Traditions - favorite and weird, and I think this one is definitely the latter.

Southern Corn Pudding (The yellow blob on the left of the picture.)

6 eggs

3 cups milk

3 cups fresh corn, cut from cob (Why not just serve the corn?)

1/4 plus 2 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. pepper

Combine eggs and milk, beating well. Add remaining ingredients; stir well.

Pour into 2 greased 1 1/2 quart casseroles. Bake at 375 F for 40 minutes or until set. Yield: 12 servings.

Very odd. Like baby food or something. Do you have anything weird on your Thanksgiving menu? If not, get ready for me to supply some weird ideas...

I want to take a minute to thank all you readers! Vintage Cookbooks has made the Top 100 Food Blogs for Technorati! Yeah!

I'll end with this photo of two cute boys going out for Trick or Treating. J put a hat on under his Darth mask as he was cold. We had lots of fun but not as many out in our new neighborhood. Too much candy around here!