By Andy Bedwell
GRANDMA
(gran’ mg) n.
1. A grandmother
2. A woman who loves unconditionally
3. One who teaches, motivates, and encourages
4. One who gives big warm hugs, tells great stories and bakes chocolate chip cookies!
This month we are paying homage to those memories of our grandma’s kitchens. We grandchildren are the luckiest people around to have Southern ladies who knew how to cook. Some of life’s sweetest memories are centered around meals that over time became our family traditions.
When times were lean, our Southern grandmothers prepared what they had to cook for their families. So much of what they knew and taught us about love and friendship started in their Southern kitchens. I hope the recipes this month may cause you to pause and fondly remember your grandmother or if you are younger, think about the tradition you want to start that can be passed on to the next generation.
Granny Mac’s Holiday Vegetable Salad
1 can English peas, drained
1 can cut green
beans, drained
1 can wax beans, drained
1 large green
pepper, chopped
1 medium jar
pimentos, drained
1 cup celery, chopped
2 green onions, chopped
1 cucumber, coarsely grated
1 cup vinegar
½ cup oil
½ cup sugar
salt and pepper to taste
Combine vegetables. Mix vinegar, oil, sugar, salt, and pepper. Pour over vegetables and marinate several hours in the refrigerator.
Andy’s Note: I believe you can now buy this salad in the can. My grandmother had this in her refrigerator a lot, and so did several of my aunts. I always like to spoon this on top of a salad. This is also an old recipe and so good.
Granny Mac’s Crusty Top Pound Cake
2 cups sugar
1 cup Crisco shortening
5 eggs, one at the time
2 cups cake flour
5 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
Cream together the sugar and Crisco and then add eggs one at a time, beating one minute after each addition. Add remaining ingredients and beat, beat, and beat. Bake one hour at 300 degrees for an ole timey crusty top.
Andy’s Note: I think I re-member this cake was called the Baptist Pound Cake. I remember baking this cake when I was a beginner cook and while it was cooling my kids would sneak in the kitchen and eat the crusty top. Or it may have been Doug!
Grandmother Icy’s Strawberry Pudding
Alternate strawberries and vanilla wafers in a bowl.
½ cup sugar
1 ½ cups milk
pinch of salt
2 tablespoons s
elf-rising flour
2 egg yolks
½ teaspoon vanilla
In a saucepan, mix sugar, flour, milk, egg yolks and salt. Bring to a boil until thickened. Remove from heat and cool. Pour over wafers and strawberries. You can prepare meringue if desired.
Andy’s Note: For this delicious summer dessert, you better double this recipe. It is like a banana pudding substituted with strawberries. I like to sugar my strawberries and let them saturate in the juice. When I make this for Doug, I use one package of cooked sugar free pudding, unsweetened strawberries, sugar free vanilla cookies, and top with sugar free Cool Whip. He loves it!
Grandmother Icy’s One-Two-Three-Four Cake
3 cups flour
4 eggs, separate
2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 cup shortening
1 cup sweet milk
Beat egg yolks with one cup sugar. Beat shortening and other cup sugar, mix and add one-half cup flour. Alternate the milk and flour that has been sifted with the baking powder and then add the stiffly beaten egg whites. Bake this in layers at 325 degrees for 25-30 minutes. This can also be baked in a tube pan.
Andy’s Note: Under this recipe, Grandmother Icy had written that this recipe had won first prize in a cake contest in South Caro-lina in 1928. Gosh, that is even before my time. My grand-mother made this very often.
I hope you are enjoying these recipes, because I surely am. The papers on which these recipes are written are priceless with all of their chocolate and butter stains.
Happy Grandmother Cooking, Andy Bedwell
“Southern Cooking with Andy Bedwell” can be purchased at The Messenger on Rainbow Drive.