2/2/12

I have never been in such a drastic need of a magic moment. So far there have been no impressive brain waves and other than the fact that I have two recipes chosen, I have no idea where this will lead. Besides it has to be finished this evening because I have tomorrow scheduled so full there is no room to procrastinate and hope for something better tomorrow morning.  I mentioned last week that I was going to diminish my supply  of cookbooks. Would you believe that I have l already sorted out over 5O? I still have more to go through.  Then If I go through the ones I have saved and discard half of those, I will be closer to what is a sensible amount to own. I bet Good Will won’t be thrilled to see me drive up to their back door.

As I chose a recipe from an old,  old recipe magazine, my mind went back to my childhood when canned salmon was a rare treat in our household.  We usually had it only once or twice a year during the winter months after Christmas.  I like it myself perhaps because of those memories of it being a special treat when we ate mostly what we raised on the farm and my mother canned. I recently proved to myself that the person who does not read is no better off than the person who can’t read.  One of my emergency meals that I keep in my pantry cupboard is a box of macaroni and cheese and a can of albacore tuna. I just reached into the cupboard, grabbed the box of macaroni and what I thought was a can of tuna.  It seems that my old mind had forgotten that I had found and could not resist some cans of the same size that were salmon!  I did not read the label until I thought that the contents looked different than they should and I already had added it to my entrée.  The rest of the story is that I liked it better than I did the tuna!  Some time when you feel adventurous try it.  You might like it.

I was very pleased with the favorable comments about the peanut butter squares that I decided to use another cookie bar recipe that I had clipped from a week end magazine, perhaps American Profile.

            GLAZED APPLE BARS
½ cup butter, room temperature
1 ½ cups packed light brown sugar
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1 egg
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 red apple such as Gala, chopped, peeled if desired
1 cup raisins
1 cup chopped pecans
½ cup 2% milk
   GLAZE
1 ½ cup powdered sugar
2 ½ tablespoons warm milk
1 tablespoon soft butter
¼ teaspoon vanilla
Cream butter and brown sugar with mixer. Add salt,
 Nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves and egg. Beat until well
blended. Combine 1 cup of flour and soda. Add to butter
mixture. Stir in apple, raisins, and pecans by hand. Add
milk and remaining flour. Spread in a lightly greased 15 x 10
jellyroll pan. Bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes until light
brown. Cool 10 minutes.  Prepare glaze, combine powdered
 sugar, milk, butter and vanilla. Mix well and spread over
cooled bars.  Cut to serve into 2 dozen bars.

                        SALMON CAKES
1 can (14 ¾  oz.) salmon
2  1/2 cups prepared mashed potatoes
2 egg whites
1 tablespoon chopped parsley
½ cup sliced green onion
Dry bread crumbs
Drain salmon and break into chunks. Mix together potatoes
with egg whites and parsley until well combined. Gently fold
in salmon and onions. Heat oil in large skillet over medium high
heat. Form mixture into ¼ cup patties. Roll in bread crumbs.
Fry 2-3 minutes on each side. It suggests to serve with Horseradish
Dill sauce.(maybe tartar sauce) 

For me, God did not intend for us to
eat horseradish or He wouldn’t have made it taste so bad.