Chicken "Italiano" and Lightning Lunch

This is also from the Better Homes and Gardens I've been blogging from earlier this week. An "Italian" dish in the electric skillet. Here is the caption on that photo:  Tender chicken bubbles to just-right spicy goodness - in quick-from-a-mix spaghetti sauce!  Bonus:  Your electric skillet minds the main dish while you fix the salad, dessert.

I don't think my Italian Grandma Alessio made chicken this way...

Chicken "Italiano"

Cut up one 2 1/2 - 3 pound ready-to-cook frying chicken; salt lightly. Preheat electric skillet to about 360F.  Add 2 tablespoons salad oil; add chicken; brown slowly, 15 to 20 minutes; spoon off fat.

Mix 1 envelope spaghetti-sauce mix according to directions, but omitting extra fat; pour over chicken. Cover; reduce heat to about 250F.  Cook till tender, about 45 minutes, basing occasionally.  Serves 4.

1 enveloped spaghetti-sauce mix. Oh boy.  I also don't know about that temperature being hot enough for the chicken. This might be tasty, but I'd cook it differently. But then there's this one:

Lightning Lunch

1 12-oz. can luncheon meat (nothing good starts with this)

2 tablespoons butter or margarine

1 1-pound can whole yams, drained

4 canned cling peach halves

Dash cloves

1/4 cup orange marmalade

Cut meat in 4 slices.  Melt butter in electric skillet preheated at about 360F.  Add meat, yams, and peaches; brown on one side.  Turn; sprinkle yams with salt; and peaches with cloves.  Spoon marmalade over meat.  Heat uncovered at about 230F basting often, till hot and glazed, about 5 minutes.  Makes 4 servings.

Retro Crafting Friday: Smart Chair Sets

Coats & Clark's is still known for their thread, but in this 1954 craft manual they are featuring their crochet thread to make chair coverings. It was important in the 50's to not have naked chairs. I remember my Grandma Alessio in the 70's still covered her couch with vinyl and it would be stick and noisy. Of course we all loved that, and made extra noise on it. My Grandma Curtin made doilies for her chairs, and I'm sure it did protect the sleeves some. I love the pictured basket of flowers but can't figure out how it sticks to the back of the chair. The work involved too is amazing for something designed to get a little dirty. 

This set on the right here is more straight crochet in multicolors. They also have Christmas Ball patterns. Imagine redoing another complete set for your home for the seasons and holidays. They even have the very hard filet crochet with pictures in it here. Here's the pattern for the Rainbow's End Chair Back:
Starting at narrow edge with Black, make a chain 14 inches long.  1st row:  Sc in 2nd ch from hook and in each ch across until row measures 12 inches.  Cut off remaining chain.  Drop Black.  2nd row:  Draw a loop of White through loop on hook, ch 3, turn, skip first sc. dc in next sc and in each sc across.  Ch 1. turn. 3rd row: Sc in each dc across, sc in top of ch-3.  Drop White, turn.  4th row:  Draw a loop of Black through loop on hook, sc in first sc. * sc at base of next sc (long sc made), sc in next sc.  Repeat from * across.  Ch 1, turn.  5th row:  Sc in each sc across.  Drop Black.  Repeat 2nd to 5th rows incl until 22 White sections have been completed, ending with 4th row.  Break off.

That reads a bit like a foreign language to me, as I'm not very good at crocheting. Does anyone here make these?

Dixie Dandy Bake

I'm back to blogging from the Better Homes and Gardens 1963 Meals in Minutes. Apparently, Dixie Dandy Bake is on the cover, but I'm not sure which it is. I know it's not those yummy looking parfaits, though!

Perhaps it is the dish on the lower left...

Dixie Dandy Bake

1 1-pound can applesauce

1/4 tsp. ginger

2 12-oz. cans luncheon meat (uhoh)

1 8-oz. can pineapple slices

1 1-pound 2-oz. can sweet potatoes

1/2 cup apricot jam

1/2 tsp. dry mustard

1/4 tsp. salt

1 tablespoon water

Combine applesauce and ginger; spread in 10x6x1 1/2-inch baking dish.  Slice each loaf of luncheon meat 3 times on the diagonal, cutting only 3/4 of the way through.

Halve pineapple slices; insert in cuts in meat.  Place meat atop applesauce; arrange sweet potatoes around meat.  Combine remaining ingredients.  Spread over meat, pineapple, and potatoes.  Bake at 400F for 35 - 40 minutes.  Makes 6 servings.

These flavors might be ok, but it's hard to believe that ANY luncheon meat would do...

I learned I am not actually having asthma issues this week - but the return of costochronditis. I had this in January, though milder then. It's a painful joint inflammation all the way around my rib cage. I'm pretty wiped out, but am feeling more like myself now that the steroids and things have been stepped down. There isn't much to do for this one other than rest. The doctor said I need to get rid of all stress. I actually laughed, but am going to do my best to stay calm. All the time. Right.

Handwritten Recipe Wednesday: Baked Corn & Beef and Pizza Hot Dish

In one of my collected boxes of handwritten recipes I've acquired from antique stores and eBay there are lots of easy dinners and desserts. My kind of cook. I'm struggling with some severe asthma this week and easy anything is the only way I can manage. I did find it interesting that this person worried so much about the cost, even to chart out ingredients on the back. Here's Baked Corn & Beef: Serves to approx. cost. $.33:

Baked Corn & Beef

3/4 lb. ground beef

1/4 green pepper

1 onion (browned)

1 egg

1 can corn

Tomatoes to cover.

brown onion green pepper & beef

add egg but do not cook

place in layers with corn in oil(ed?) baking dish cover with the tomatoes. Bake 20-30 minutes. 

I typed it in as is. Usually the temp is 350 or so when not listed. The beef has been cooked already but the egg needs to be in the oven, so keep that in mind.

 What would the price of these ingredients be now? Sheesh.

Here's Pizza Hot Dish
1/2 Bag egg noodles (oh boy)
1 # (lb?)Hamburger browned (with?) t. onion
2 can pizza sauce & cheese (there must be one that comes with cheese flavoring - you may want to skip it)
1 C. cheddar cheese Soup (has to be a can or a cup)
Mozzarella Cheese on top
Put cheese on just before done just long enough to melt.
Again, this has to be in the oven at 350 or so. This must all just be mixed up except for the mozzarella on top. 

Big-wheel Burger Skillet

This interesting looking dish is from the Better Homes and Gardens Meals in Minutes, 1963 cookbook. What could be more appetizing sounding than the Big-wheel Burger Skillet?

1 tablespoon instant minced onion
1/2 cup milk
1 1/2 pounds ground beeg
1 slightly beaten egg
1/2 cup quick-cooking rolled oats
2 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon coarsely ground pepper
Kitchen Bouquet (I had to look this one up.  According to Wikipedia, it is a browning and seasoning sauce. It can be used as a gravy base. It is also used by food stylists for a variety of appearance effects, including 'coffee' made by adding a few drops of Kitchen Bouquet to a cup of water^[1] and lending a browned appearance to poultry.^{[2])   Oh boy.)}



1 8-oz. can (1 cup) spaghetti sauce with mushrooms
1 8-oz. can (1 cup) kidney beans
Buttered, toasted French bread slices
Soak onion in milk 5 minutes; mix in ground beef, egg, rolled oats, salt and pepper. Mound in 10-inch skillet. With wooden spoon handle, score in 5 or 6 wedges. Brush top lightly with kitchen bouquet.
Combine spaghetti sauce and kidney beans (with liquid) Pour over meat mixture or till done. Serve wedges on French bread slices; spoon sauce over. Serves 5 or 6.

I thought an easy dish after eating all weekend for Easter might be what my family needs tonight - but perhaps this isn't it!

Meringue Berry Basket for Easter

Happy Easter to my readers who celebrate this day. We began the celebration last night at my home with the family and a wonderful dinner. I'll post photos of the lamb cake my sister-in-law made which turned out beautifully. But I saw this photo in my Hallmark 1978 Holiday Cookbook. This basket is charming, but a ton of work. Little ones would be fun for folks, but making this would take a lot of your day.

Meringue Berry Basket
6 egg whites (3/4 cup)
1/2 tsp. cream of tartar
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
Fresh whole strawberries
Whipped cream

Cover 2 baking sheets with unglazed brown paper.  On one, draw an 8-inch circle and 2 matching curves, each about 8 inches across at the open ends and about 4 inches high.  (After baking, the curves will be joined to form the basket handle.)  On the second sheet of paper, draw two 8-inch circles.

Warm egg whites slightly by placing the bowl in warm water.  Add cream of tartar and beat until stiff but not dry.  Sift sugars together to combine; gradually add to the egg whites, beating until stiff.

Spoon the meringue into a pastry bag fitted with a 1/2-inch round tip.  Pipe the meringue onto the single outlined circle, making a solid base; build up the edge to about 1 inch in height.  Pipe the meringue onto the 2 curves that will form the basket handle.  On the second tray, pipe the meringue onto the outlines of the circles, forming 2 rings.  Each ring should be at least 1/2 inch high.  Reserve a little of the meringue in the bag.

Bake in a 190F oven (or even lower, if possible) until the meringue shapes are dry and can be lifted from the paper easily - about 1 1/2 hours for the rings and curves, 2 1/2 hours for the base.  Turn off oven and let base dry in oven 15 minutes longer.  Remove and cool.

Place meringue base on a serving plate and "cement" one of the rings to it with some of the remaining meringue; "cement" second ring to the first.  Seal the handle halves, flat sides together, with dabs of meringue; set aside until basket is filled.

Fill basket with strawberries and set the handle in place, securing it with the last of the meringue.  Serve with a bowl of whipped cream.

Retro Crafting Friday: Perky Platter Trims and a Centerpiece For Your Easter Table

From Better Homes and Gardens Holiday Cook Book, 1959, here are some tips for "Perky Platter Trims" and "For Your Easter Table:"

Perky Platter Trims
Turnip Lily:  Cut two thin turnip slices; curve to shape flower.  Slip in carrot-stick for center.  Anchor with toothpicks.  Crisp lilies in ice water.  Arrange with parsley.

Deviled-egg Flowers:  Notch small end of each egg to make petal-like openings.  Remove yolks; make deviled filling.  Refill white, using pastry tube.  Slice piece off bottom if egg is wobbly.  Chill till serving time.

Cranberry Tulips:  Using a tulip cooky cutter, stamp out shapes from slices of canned jellied cranberry sauce.  Place each cranberry tulip atop a slice of canned pineapple. (Who would want to eat this?)

For the pictured table centerpiece: Graduated squares, made of narrow painted slats (joined with brads) can be interlocked as shown, or telescoped or zigzagged. Paint plastic foam eggs and string on ribbons; fasten to squares.  Slide eggs up and down to most interesting position.  Arrange flowers where squares join.

Easter Lily Cookies & Petal Tartlets

Over the past few years on this blog, I've done lots of Easter cakes, cookies, etc., from my cookbooks. Do a search of Easter or take a look at early April posts from last year at least. But I do have a few more I have not written about yet.
This is The Complete Holiday Cookbook from the 60's, and it has several Easter menus, including "Dressed-Up Easter Monday Supper." That menu is supposed to include:  Creamy Mushroom Bisque, Slice Ham, Egg Salad Sandwiches, and desserts including Easter Lily Cookies. This one could really have used a photo, but I think I can figure it out:

Easter Lily Cookies
1 cup egg yolks
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla
Pinch of salt
1 cup flour
Beat egg yolks until light; add sugar gradually, beating constantly.  Add vanilla and salt.  Stir in flour with spoon.  Drop batter onto grease baking tin and spread out, making a flat circle 2 1/2 to 3 inches in diameter.  Make 3 or 4 circles.  Bake at 375 degrees until tinged with brown, 10 to 13 minutes.  Remove pan from oven and place on oven door; quickly shape cookies into lilies.  Serve filled with whipped cream and garnish with cherries. 

I think these are supposed to be 3-D cookie - the petals would gently be formed up like little cups. Perhaps this would be better done in muffin cups, like these, from the Betty Crocker Hostess Cookbook, 1967:

Petal Tartlets

½ cup shortening (part butter or margarine)

½ cup sugar

1 egg

¾ tsp. vanilla

1 ½ cups self rising flour

1/8 tsp. soda (baking soda)

Strawberry, cherry or apricot preserves

Mix shortening, sugar, egg and vanilla.  Stir flour, salt and soda together; blend into shortening mixture.  Mix thoroughly with hands.  Refrigerate dough several hours or overnight. Heat oven to 400F.  Roll dough 1/8 inch thick on lightly floured cloth-covered board.  Cut with 3-inch round scalloped cutter.  Ease rounds into muffin cups. Fill each with ½ tablespoon preserves.  Bake about 12 minutes.  Cool a few minutes before removing from muffin cups.  Set each tartlet on a washed green leave, if desired.  Makes about 18 tartlets.

Handwritten Recipe Wednesday: Grandma Curtin's Pound Cake

My parents sold their house a couple weeks ago and we've been cleaning out. I got Mom's recipe box and her cookbooks. I found this recipe for Pound Cake in my Mom's writing, with a note that it is Grandma Curtin's recipe on the back. This looks delicious.

Pound Cake

1 cup butter or margarine

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup powdered sugar

4 eggs, separated

1 tsp. vanilla

3 cups sifted cake flour

2 tsp. baking powder

½ tsp. salt

1 cup milk

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy; add egg yolks and vanilla and beat well.  Add sifted dry ingredients alternately in thirds with milk, beating well until smooth after each addition. Fold in stiffly beaten egg whites. Spread mixture in lightly greased 10-inch tube pan. Bake at 350F for 1 hour, 15 minutes.

I enjoyed doing my Celebrations show at the Grayslake Area PLD yesterday morning. Then I went to work in my vintage clothes. Only a few folks noticed. One friend asked if it was a new dress. I said "Yes, and no..."

Easter Bunnies and Cherry Easter Eggs

This is not a photo of either Easter Bunnies or Cherry Easter Eggs, but there are no photos of those. This is from a Southern Living Holiday Cookbook, 1960's. I put the recipe for these fondant eggs up last year, at this link:

But these recipes look good too.

Easter Bunnies
1 pkg. cake mix
2 tbsp. shortening
1 1/2 c. confectioners' sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla
Red food coloring
Coconut
Cherry morsels
Cinnamon
Prepare the cake mix according to package directions. Place in paper liners in muffin pans and bake according to package directions.  Cool.  Cream the shortening and sugar in a bowl.  Add the vanilla and enough food coloring to tint pink.  Frost each cake and dip in coconut.  Make eyes with cherry morsels and mouth and with cinnamon.  Cut ears from pink construction paper.  Make whiskers from chenille pipestems and fasten to cake. (I'd use licorice...)


Cherry  Easter Eggs
1 lb. confectioners' sugar
1/4 lb. butter
1 c. shredded coconut
1 c/ chopped walnuts
2 drops of vanilla
1 8-oz. jar maraschino cherries
2 lge. milk chocolate bars
Mix the sugar and butter in a bowl until mixture resembles cornmeal.  Add the coconut, walnuts and vanilla and mix.  Drain and chop the cherries and stir into the coconut mixture.  Shape into 6 eggs and refrigerate until cold. Melt chocolate bars in a double boiler, then spread on eggs with a knife.  Refrigerate for at least 24 hours.

Spring Bonnet Cake

This delightful spring cake is from the Better Homes and Gardens Birthdays and Family Celebrations book, c1963. While it does have elaborate gumdrop and marshmallow art like a lot of my vintage books, it really is charming.


Chiffon Layer Cake
2 egg whites
1/2 cup sugar
2 1/4 cups sifted cake flour
1 cup sugar
3 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1/2 cup salad oil
1 cup milk
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
2 egg yolks

Beat eggs till foamy.  Gradually beat in 1/2 cup sugar.  Continue beating till very stiff and glossy.  Sift remaining dry ingredients into another bowl; add salad oil, half of the milk, and the vanilla.  Beat 1 minute at medium speed on mixer or 150 strokes by hand, scraping sides and bottom of bowl constantly. 
Add remaining milk and egg yolks.  Beat 1 minute longer, scraping bowl constantly.  Gently fold in egg-white mixture with down-up-and-over motion, turning bowl. 
Bake in 2 paper-lined 9x1 1/2 inch round pans in moderate oven (350F) 25 - 30 minutes.  Cool thoroughly; remove from pans.

7 minute frosting
2 unbeaten egg whites
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons light corn syrup or 1/4 tsp. cream of tartar
1/3 cup cold water
Dash salt
1 to 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
Place all ingredients except vanilla in top of double boiler (not over heat); beat 1 minute with electric or rotary beater to blend.  Place over boiling water and cook, beating constantly, till frosting forms stiff peaks, about 7 minutes (don't overcook).  Remove from boiling water.  Pour into mixing bowl, if you wish.  Add vanilla; beat till of spreading consistency, about 2 minutes.  Frosts two 8 or 9 inch layers.
Pineapple 7-minute Frosting (for Spring Bonnet Cake):  Substitute canned unsweetened pineapple juice for water in 7-minute Frosting.  Tint frosting pale yellow with yellow food coloring.

Spring Bonnet Cake
Fill and frost layers of Chiffon Layer Cake with Pineapple 7-minute frosting. 
Marshmallow Daisies:  Press big soft marshmallows lightly to flatten a bit; snip petals; center with small yellow gumdrops (toothpicks tack them in place).
Gumdrop Bows:  Between sheets of waxed paper, roll out 2 large green gumdrops in long strips (have sugar on both sides of candy).  Cut strips lengthwise in half; trip 1/2 inch wide.  For each loop of bow, bend one end of strip back and tuck behind Marshmallow Daisy in center of hat brim (frosting will hold in place).  Complete bow by adding two strips with pointed ends.

That gumdrop process is insane, but I see it a lot in my vintage cookbooks. Just get some spearmint gummy leaves. Although if any of you want to make gumdrops into a bow, I'd love to see it - please send along photos!

We could use some spring here. The weather is cold and rainy, and after my older son was sick all week, now my little guy has a high fever. I got up early to do some writing this morning and he was up a few minutes after me. I could use a cake like this!

Retro Crafting Fridays: Pies!

I loved Home Ec in 7th Grade. I aced the sewing, and developed a love for that hobby that has lasted my entire life. The cooking part, however, while fun, was harder for me. I would miss key ingredients like flour in cookies, etc. Ah, irony. But I did love to sew things with a food theme. We started Home Ec with the To-Sew pillows. Remember these?

 OK, it's a Pizza Pie, but still - very cute. I made the computer pillow complete with rope cord and felt plug in class. I think it had an alien like Space Invaders on its felt screen, too. But I also did an Ice Cream Sundae which they no longer have. These two pictured were around when I was doing this, though. I recently ordered the watermelon kit for my son and learned that they suggest gluing some of the pieces rather than hand stitching around each or using the machine as a safer option for littler crafters. Still , these are a great intro to sewing for tweens. You can still get these kits at: the link I highlighted here. What ones did you make? My sister made the hamburger, and my brother made the shark. I remember we hid that around the house - I would find it in my bathtub, etc. After I finished my pillows I got to make an extra credit stuffed animal or two. I made a fur soccer ball and then a gingerbread man. It started then... 

But I found someone on Etsy who makes really really cute pie pillows out of felt. I was looking at these while working on my Pie Party show a few months ago, and my husband walked by and said "No." It may be that I was figuring which couch would match them, but really, how could he be sure?

Anne Ylvisaker's Launch Day Pie

This is the last day of Anne Ylvisaker's posts celebrating the launch of her new book, The Luck of the Buttons. Anne and I met over 10 years ago at a national writing convention when neither of us could figure out how to assemble our nametags, and I always feel that befriending her there was the most valuable thing I garnered from that conference! I hope you read and enjoy her wonderful book. As it is set in 1929, it will charm readers of all ages. Tomorrow we will continue the pie theme with some pie crafts, too! -AA

This is my daughter’s senior year in high school and besides being a year of college applications, college decisions, dances, senioritis and the like, I’m also finding that it is a year of last minute lessons. Nearly daily I think of some piece of wisdom I haven’t passed on, some skill I haven’t yet taught her. I feel like I’m cramming for a test: Daughter Launch, The Final Exam.

Maria and I made pie on Tuesday to celebrate the launch of The Luck of the Buttons. We dithered for several days over what kind we would make, not landing on custard until the day of. But one thing was certain, we’d need a standard pastry crust.

So on Sunday, while Dan and I were out, Maria decided to make the piecrust on her own and put it in the freezer to be ready for pie making after school on Tuesday. I had told her my mother’s story (see Tuesday’s post). How hard could it be? But here’s the kicker. She didn’t know to use the Betty Crocker recipe. Yes, seventeen (“nearly eighteen” by her count) years of mothering and I had left piecrust out of the curriculum. Me? Forget pie?

Maria found a crust recipe in a book I will not name. She made four balls of dough (ever the over-achiever!) and tucked them in the freezer. Yesterday after school, we met in the kitchen, divided the tasks, and set the oven to 450. You roll out the crust, Maria suggested, and I’ll mix the custard.

The dough crumbled at the first press. I patted and cajoled, thinking it needed simply to be warmed up, but it only got crumblier. So I swept the whole works into a spare pie plate to get it out of the way and took another ball. This one fared a little better in the rolling, but when I folded it for transfer, it split into several pieces.

It occurred to me that this was a very Button-like experience. Granny would have muttered, “Just our luck,” and poked someone with her cane. But we took a Tugs-like attitude and persevered. We mashed both crusts into the pie plates with our hands, patching as needed. We poured in the milky filling and baked.

While the results would not have won any state fair ribbons for beauty, the custard was perfection, firm but not cracked, with a soothing vanilla/nutmeg flavor. And I’ll be darned if that crust wasn’t flaky.

Betty Crocker’s Custard Pie

Pastry for 9-inch One-Crust Pie (though we found that the filling filled two shells)

4 eggs

2/3 cup sugar

½ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg

2 2/3 cups milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

Heat oven to 450. Prepare pastry. Beat eggs slightly with hand beater; beat in remaining ingredients. Pour into pastry-lined pie plate. Bake 20 minutes.

Reduce oven temperature to 350. Bake until knife inserted halfway between center and edge comes out clean, 15-20 minutes longer.

Anne Ylvisaker Week: Pie Worthy

 Anne's Pie Party continues today with Pecan Pie - a favorite mentioned often at the audiences of my programs. She quotes from my favorite chapter in the book, too - about pie! I'm off tonight to Plainfield PL to talk about Vintage Spring Holidays where we will not have pie but will have other delicious treats. Yum!-AA

            I suppose it is not a surprise, given my crust-lust history, that when I was stuck while writing the second scene of The Luck of the Buttons, pie eased my way. For the record, I find good luck pie-worthy as well, but the Button family, having not so many occasions for good luck, had to take what they could get.

From The Luck of the Buttons, an excerpt from the chapter Pie Worthy:

There was pie on the table when Tugs returned. Pie in the Button family meant trouble.

            When Uncle Norton sliced off his left foot with the scythe while trying to mow hay for the horses after having gotten into the cups, the Buttons baked pie-plant pies and gathered at Uncle Norton and Uncle Elmer’s farm to carry on about the sorry state of farm utensils and the difficulty of working the land. Now Uncle Norton sat on the porch spitting sunflower shells over the rail while Uncle Elmer wrestled the farm by himself.

            When a card playing con man suckered Uncle Elmer out of his seed money and he had to plant with last year’s leftovers, which he did too hastily, and a storm washed all those seeds away, the Buttons baked up oatmeal pies and cursed the queen of spades, mother nature, and even Mother Goose for good measure.

            There were apple pies for fall funerals and custard pies for the measles, mumps and broken bones. Fiona Button, like Aunt Mina and Tugs’ own mother technically only a Button by marriage, had once traveled all the way to Georgia and returned with a suitcase full of pecans begging to be baked into flaky crusts. It was nearly a month before anything pie worthy happened and when it did - marital trouble - Fiona and Albert - the pecans were passed around and the family was together eating pecan pie for enough evenings in a row that Fiona and Albert called a truce and mended their differences.

            Now not only was there pie on the table, but Aunt Mina was there with a fork in her hand and eight year old Gladdy by her side.

I went through a pecan pie making phase myself once, a better stress reliever than drinking or gambling, I suppose. I used my trusty vintage Betty Crocker recipe and a bulk bag of pecans:

Pecan Pie

Pastry for 9-inch One-Crust Pie

3 eggs

2/3 cup sugar

½ teaspoon salt

1/3 cup margarine or butter (no vote needed: BUTTER!), melted

1 cup corn syrup

1 cup pecan halves or broken pieces (again, not taking votes here: halves)

Heat oven to 375. (I love this about Betty: we heat the oven. We don’t preheat it!) Prepare pastry. Beat eggs, sugar, salt, margarine (butter) and syrup with hand beater. Stir in pecans. Pour into pastry-lined pie plate.

Bake until set, 40 to 50 minutes. Cool slightly. (about the time it takes to walk around the block should be enough). Serve warm or refrigerate.

And a note: don’t forget ice cream. Pecan Pie must be topped with vanilla ice cream. It will melt down the sides and form a puddle around the base. A spoon and finger may be necessary to shovel up any remaining crust flakes floating in ice cream soup.