Texas Recipes

Subject: Texas Recipes Wed 21 Nov 2007, 4:57 pm

Sam Houston White Cake

3/4 cup butter or margarine
1-1/2 cup granulated sugar
3 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon almond flavoring
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup water
6 egg whites
1/2 cup granulated sugar

Cream butter until soft and light. Gradually add 1-1/2 cups granulated sugar and continue creaming several minutes to incorporate as much air as possible. Sift together flour, baking powder, salt. Add vanilla, almond flavoring to milk and water. Add flour alternately with liquid to creamed mixture; beat well after each addition. Beat egg whites until soft peaks form; gradually beat in 1/2 cup granulated sugar and beat until stiff but not dry; fold into batter, blending well. Pour into 3 greased and floured 9-inch layer pans. Bake in preheated oven at 350 degrees f. for 25 minutes. When cool, fill and frost with Chocolate Frosting. Makes 12 servings.

Chocolate Frosting

3 (1-ounce) squares unsweetened chocolate
4-1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup hot water
1/2 cup melted butter or margarine
1 teaspoon vanilla

In double boiler, melt chocolate over hot water; reserve. Combine remaining ingredients. Add some melted chocolate and beat in well. Continue to beat in chocolate and powdered sugar until desired chocolate color, flavor and spreading consistency are obtained. Spread between layers and over cake. Fills and frosts three, 9-inch layers.

~~ taken from the Imperial Sugar '150th Anniversary Cookbook' (1993)

http://www.tngenweb.org/tntable/tabk3.htm

http://imperialsugar.com/fw/main/Sam_Houston_White_Cake-86.html?ModKey=mk$cmsc&LayoutID=31&CntID=707

http://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/new_york_city/entry/sam_houston_white_cake/

The Big Apple??
_________________
The woman of the frontier made the best of her situation, for she had developed a respect for the land that gave her freedom as well as the courage to live in it.
~~~ from the perspective of Anne Seagraves

Subject: Re: Texas Recipes Wed 21 Nov 2007, 5:08 pm

PS. Check out the ogham stone which may be seen on the 'About' portion of the [/i]Big Apple[i] website Smile

_________________
The woman of the frontier made the best of her situation, for she had developed a respect for the land that gave her freedom as well as the courage to live in it.
~~~ from the perspective of Anne Seagraves

Subject: Re: Texas Recipes Fri 23 Nov 2007, 1:48 pm

That sounds like one hefty cake. Have you made it?

Subject: Re: Texas Recipes Mon 26 Nov 2007, 7:47 pm

No, I have not yet pig

Had known of this recipe for quite some time, but have been waiting for a really BIG occasion on which to make it. Maybe this Christmas?

Sam Houston was quite a tall gentleman, I believe (approaching 6'4" or so?), with nary a hint of over-poundage carried on his active frame, and this such an iced and layered creation was likely a welcome and well-tolerated addition to his supper table Razz

There is also this variation ~ Margaret Houston's White Cake, with a lemon curd twist:

http://tinyurl.com/3yjah5

Also found on the Sam Houston Memorial Museum website are some wonderful, traditional receipts from Margaret's and Aunt Eliza's kitchen.

Eliza, by the way, was a slave who lived had lived with Margaret from girlhood. The two were very close, and Eliza accompanied Mrs. Houston from Alabama to Texas in 1840. She survived the passing of her mistress in 1867 to yellow fever, dying in 1898.

According to Madge Thornall Roberts, the great-granddaughter of General and Mrs. Houston:

"Eliza asked to be buried in Independence next to Margaret. This was done, and her tombstone reads 'Faithful until death.'"

(Star of Destiny, page 362).
_________________
The woman of the frontier made the best of her situation, for she had developed a respect for the land that gave her freedom as well as the courage to live in it.
~~~ from the perspective of Anne Seagraves

Subject: Re: Texas Recipes Tue 27 Nov 2007, 6:06 pm

We love three layer cakes ! One for daddy, one for daddy, and one for me & the kids !

Subject: 1-2-3 Pecan Loaf Thu 28 Feb 2008, 9:49 am

Here is a scrumptious dessert that is just perfect for that special family meal, gathering or celebration. It appeared in the August 30, 1953 edition of a publication which I think was called 'Texas Weekly' ~ and which may have been provided as an insert in either the 'Dallas Morning News' or the 'Dallas Times Herald' newspaper. An advertisement for Spry Homogenized Shortening, it was clipped by my grandmother, and gathered into a notebook of receipts which my mother created while a student at Dallas' Hillcrest High School.

"1-2-3" Pecan Loaf: Easy as 1-2-3! One baking can keep you in dinner or lunchbox desserts several days. The rich orange frosting is extra easy because it's uncooked. Pure Spry [shortening] makes frostings extra creamy.

Ingredients: 2 cups sifted cake flour, 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar, 2 1/4 teaspoons double acting baking powder (or 3 1/4 teaspoons tartrate powder), 3/4 teaspoon salt, 1/2 Homogenized Spry [or substitute other shortening], 3/4 cup milk, 1 teaspoon vanilla, 1/2 teaspoon orange extract, 2 eggs, unbeaten, 1/2 cup pecans, chopped very fine.

Follow One-Bowl Method [of mixing, beginning with dry ingredients ~ and adding pecans at end] .... Bake in Sprycoated loaf pan 9" x 5" x 3" in moderate oven (350 degrees F.) l hour and 10 min. Cool.

Orange Cream Frosting: Blend 2 tablespoons Homogenized Spry, 1 tablespoon butter or margarine, 1/8 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon grated orange rind, 1 tablespoon orange juice. Beat in 1/2 cup sifted confectioners' sugar; add 1 tablespoon orange juice. Add 2 1/2 cups sifted confectioners' sugar, alternately with scalded light cream (about 3 1/2 tablespoons), beating well after each addition. Spread on cake. Decorate with thinly sliced pecan halves.

As for Spry Homogenized Shortening ~ it was marketed here to the "Woman who's 'too busy to Bake!'

"With so much more expected of women -- and so many outside interests -- it takes a lot of clever planning today to keep a family healthy and meal-happy. You simply have to find time-saving methods."

1-2-3 Pecan Loaf has an old-fashioned taste and aura about it, however ~ now as it must also have had in 1953. I have made this cake several times and all were pleased by the results (though Crisco superseded Spry in my pantry).

For more about Spry, and about 'Aunt Jenny,' who represented the company:

http://tinyurl.com/2m96u2

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aunt_Jenny

http://www.ghosttraveller.com/spry.htm (not exactly complimentary of Aunt Jenny)

_________________
The woman of the frontier made the best of her situation, for she had developed a respect for the land that gave her freedom as well as the courage to live in it.
~~~ from the perspective of Anne Seagraves

Subject: Re: Texas Recipes Fri 29 Feb 2008, 4:32 pm

That looks good and a lot easier to make than the 3-layer one. Laughing

The orange flavor to the icing with the pecans sounds interesting.

Subject: Mrs. Daisy Mims' Poor Man's Fruitcake Tue 04 Mar 2008, 12:59 am

In October of 1974, recipes and life stories of local women were gathered by the Dallas Public Library into a cookbook entitled, 'Like Wine and Cheese ... Older is Better.' The interviews were conducted at area retirement homes, and placed on tape by Sue Murch.

Here is one such wonderful entry:

Mrs. Daisy Mims

Mrs. Mims was born and raised in Fort Worth. Her mother had never taught her to cook, so her husband cooked their first meal after they were married, and taught her to cook. She met her husband on a streetcar and decided immediately that he was the best looking man she had ever met. They were married three years later.

"One of my neighbors gave me this recipe. She lived next door to a fire station. and she baked cakes for the firemen. They looked forward to her baking for them. She was a widow and she didn't have much else to do, and it was a pleasure for her to do that for them. She gave me this recipe, and as I don't like fruit in fruitcake, why this hit me just right. And I have used it since, well -- I've been in Dallas since 1928, and I used it many years before I came here.

"I have three grandchildren, and it's a must that they have this on Christmas each year from their grandmother!"

Poor Man's Fruitcake

2 cups sugar
1 cup buttermilk
3 whole eggs
1 cup preserves (cranberry or apricot
is good -- or half and half)
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 cup butter or Crisco
1/2 tsp. soda
3 cups flour
1 cup nuts, chopped
1 cup raisins
1 tsp. nutmeg

Flour raisins and nuts before adding. Mix ingredients together and bake at 325 degrees.

Ice with chocolate frosting.

This little cake is a delight!
_________________
The woman of the frontier made the best of her situation, for she had developed a respect for the land that gave her freedom as well as the courage to live in it.
~~~ from the perspective of Anne Seagraves

Subject: Re: Texas Recipes Wed 05 Mar 2008, 10:09 pm

Too many cakes can overwhelm even the most appreciative sweet tooth, wouldn't you say? Surprised

So, here is the recipe for a salad dressing which long-graced the tables of a classic, Texas cafe:

I haven't tried it out, yet .... but hope to do so very soon sunny

The page above comes from the 'Ford Treasury of Favorite Recipes from Famous Eating Places.' This charming cookbook was published during the years between 1946 and 1950. It was distributed to customers by "your local Ford dealer with the hope that it will serve you well both in the family car and in the kitchen."

I am uncertain about whether this Kelley's restaurant may have a connection to Kelley's Country Cooking, which currently may be found at six locations across Southeast Texas:

http://tinyurl.com/2v2ls3

But their menu practically purrs, 'comfort food' I love you

Here is a tiny bit more about George Kelley, who 'raised his own steaks' back in the 1940s at his ranch down in Hempstead .... and his connection to the Houston Fat Stock Show and Livestock Exposition:

http://www.houstonhistory.com/rodeo/rodeo2.htm

Further information about Mr. Kelley, his ranching career and his restaurant would be gratefully received cat

_________________
The woman of the frontier made the best of her situation, for she had developed a respect for the land that gave her freedom as well as the courage to live in it.
~~~ from the perspective of Anne Seagraves

Subject: 'True Women Cookbook' Sat 08 Mar 2008, 9:15 pm

I don't have a copy of this title yet myself, but the 'True Women Cookbook: Original Antique Recipes, Photographs, & Family Folklore,' by Janice Woods Windle, might be a nice companion to keep in the kitchen while one is reading the novel upon which it is based. The cookbook is available through amazon.com.

_________________
The woman of the frontier made the best of her situation, for she had developed a respect for the land that gave her freedom as well as the courage to live in it.
~~~ from the perspective of Anne Seagraves

Subject: Old Fashioned Rice Pudding Wed 19 Mar 2008, 5:50 pm

Ya'll have all probably made this but my mother put it on a recipe card before I married so it's pretty old. Rolling Eyes

It's good too, especially when you have a little patient who's got a weak tummy.

1/3 c. Rice
1/4 tsp. salt
1/3 c. sugar
4 c. milk, scalded
1 c. seedless raisins, if you want
2 tbsp. butter

Mix rice, salt, sugar in small baking dish. Add milk and raisins, stir. Pat with butter. Bake in slow oven at about 3oo until rice is tender, about 1 1/2 hrs. Stir it a few times. while cooking. Serve hot or cold with plain cream, we like it warm.

Serves 4-6

Subject: Assemble A Group Of Christians Mon 31 Mar 2008, 10:50 pm

Little scraps tucked into yellowing pages ... Grandmother's clipped and Scotch-taped recipe, drawn from the local newspaper, still clinging to the inner sleeve of her worn copy of 'Farm Journal's Country Cookbook': so much can be gleaned of the past from the written traces emanating from our ancestors' kitchens. Clues of women's lives, especially, may be found at stove- and hearth-side .... if we are observant enough to watch and 'listen' for them, and patient enough to piece together their fragmentary whispers with the more resounding voices.

Signposts along this 'evidence way' are these:

'Recipes for Reading: Community Cookbooks, Stories, Histories,' edited by Anne L. Bower, 1997 (available online via NetLibrary),

and ~

' Eat My Words : Reading Women's Lives Through the Cookbooks They Wrote,' by Janet Theophano, 2002.

In addition, churches often include their histories and genealogies -- lengthy or short -- along with the recipes contributed by members of their congregations .... in the cookbooks which their committed members banded together to publish. Such is the case of the celebratory, spiral-bound volume, 'First United Methodist Church, Van Alstyne, Texas: 1847 - 1997 ~ Sesquicentennial Cookbook and Church History.' I, for one, am especially enamored of a cookbook which treats me to a reading of the past while, propped up, also shares its mysteries of 'Morning Glory Muffins' (contributed by Holly Hardwick)

Hear, ye housewives and chefs:

"In 1847, a small group of pioneers gathered in a frontier cabin to worship and study the teachings of Christ. They founded the Old Liberty Class of Methodism. From this humble beginning evolved the First Methodist Church of Van Alstyne ....

"Collin McKinney, Texas Patriot and signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence in 1835, brought his large family and the family of his deceased brother, Daniel, to this area ....

"Meeting in the log cabin of William and Bexie Creager near the Grayson and Collin county line, the Old Liberty Class was established .... The six charter members were three children of Daniel McKinney including, Rebecca (Bexie) McKinney Creager and husband, William Creager, Hiram Carroll McKinney and wife, Sarah Ann Rattan McKinney and Martha (Patsy) McKinney McBride. Another member whose identity has been lost to history could have had the name of Holcomb or Ornstadt. Men who organized this stalwart group were Joe Biggs of the Dallas Methodist Circuit and M. F. Cole, a blind man who was well known in the church as late as 1910.

"The year 1855 saw a great revival in the little church when at the end of a regular quarterly meeting a torrential rainfall prevented members from returning to their homes. The Rev. Y. S. [Younger Scott?] McKinney, son of Collin McKinney, held the first protracted meeting which lasted three weeks and resulted in sixty conversions. The Rev Y. S. McKinney, son of Collin McKinney, held the first protracted meeting which lasted three weeks and resulted in sixty conversions.

"In 1854, the Liberty settlement evolved into the Collin [and Grayson-?] county town of Mantua. Lots in the 25 acre townsite were sold to finance the area's first school, the Mantua seminary. Businesses and houses began popping up around the square of this bustling prairie town." (page 143)

And, there has been so much more .... this single Lord's Day shared by a pastor of First United Methodist Church, Van Alstyne:

"Palm Sunday, 1989 -- A dark, stormy morning -- Rev. Dennis Wilkinson was in the pulpit reading the passion narrative with intense emotion. His voice built through a measured crescendo culminating in a shout, 'Crucify him! Crucify him!' No sooner had the last word left his mouth than there was a flash of lightening outside, a tremendous crack of thunder, and the church became completely dark except for the two candles on the altar table. After a seemingly long, deafening silence, the lights came on, and a stunned congregation heard their equally stunned but recovering pastor say, ' ... and if you want to argue about the story, THAT'S who you have to deal with!'" (page 151)

A recipe ~ shared by a gentleman parishioner:

"ASSEMBLE A GROUP OF CHRISTIANS

"My grandmother sent me a recipe for the kitchen in any home or church that was used in the Volunteer Fireman's cookbook in Horseshoe, Texas.

"Add
1 cup friendly words
2 heaping cups understanding
1 cup courtesy
1 cup patience

"Stir carefully and remove all malice and ego.

"Add:
a dash of wit and humor
a pinch of warm personality
a handful of forgiveness
an ounce of praise

"Mix until well blended. Cook slowly, keeping temperature low. Season to taste with a spice of life. Top each serving with a goodly amount of kindness, charity and temperance. A lot of love and tolerance improves the flavor. Serve in generous portions." (pages 127 and 128)
_________________
The woman of the frontier made the best of her situation, for she had developed a respect for the land that gave her freedom as well as the courage to live in it.
~~~ from the perspective of Anne Seagraves

Wrangler Joined : 18 Nov 2007 Posts : 13

These recipes are so nice to see and I really liked the Sam Houston cake. I should say it looked good and I want to make it when I get the time..............

Subject: Re: Texas Recipes Thu 03 Apr 2008, 12:58 am

Teresa, I still haven't made Sam Houston Cake.

But perhaps for San Jacinto Day ... this year? cat

_________________
The woman of the frontier made the best of her situation, for she had developed a respect for the land that gave her freedom as well as the courage to live in it.
~~~ from the perspective of Anne Seagraves

Wrangler Joined : 13 Mar 2008 Posts : 23

You ladies shure know how to make a fella hungry. geek