Tag: Recipes

Grape Nuts

I’m reading a historical fiction novel, The Magnificent lives of Marjorie Merriweather Post (1887-1973). She was an American businesswomen, socialite, and philanthropist. She was the only child of C. W. Post who invented Grape Nuts cereal (in 1897) and Postum, a supposedly healthy, decaffeinated hot-powdered drink, intended to replace coffee (in 1895). Postum Cereal Company (now Post Consumer Brands, shortened to Post) was the original name of her father’s company, located in Battle Creek, Michigan, where Marjorie grew up. After his death, Marjorie inherited the company at age 27. For much of her life, Marjorie was known as the wealthiest woman in the United States.

Fast forward 125 years and Post bought out Northfield’s beloved Malt-O-Meal cereal company. Although Grape Nuts is still made, it is not made in the Northfield plant. (But the hot Malt-O-Meal cereal still is.)

In later years, Marjorie bought smaller food companies and combined them into one business called General Foods.  It’s an interesting read.

We have these two antiques: an Instant Postum tin (5″tall), and a Malt-O-Meal sample box (3″tall)

As I was reading, I remembered my mother use to make a quick bread using Grape Nuts. They are hard, nutty kernels, but tasty. I decided I wanted to make that bread again. I remembered I liked it, especially toasted. I could not find my mom’s hand-written recipe in my collection, so I looked online and found a different recipe for a quick bread made with Grape Nuts. I made one loaf. It turned out OK, but it was not as good as I remembered my mom’s to be.

A loaf of Grape Nuts bread using a recipe off the internet.

I reached out to my brother and he found my mom’s Grape Nuts bread recipe in their recipe box. So, I made her recipe and it was yummy. I’ve included the recipe below. 

Two mini-loaves of Grape Nuts bread, using my mother’s recipe.

Now, I have to decide if I want to try Postum. 😉

**********

Ruby’s Grape Nuts Bread Recipe

1 Cup Grape Nuts
2 Cups Buttermilk
1 ½ Cup Sugar (originally 2 cups sugar...I reduced it)
2 eggs, beaten
½ tsp salt
2 tsp baking soda in 2 tsp. warm water
4 Cups flour
1 tsp baking powder

Soak grape nuts in buttermilk for 15 minutes.
Add sugar, eggs, soda and salt.
Stir in flour and baking powder.
Put in greased loaf pans and let stand 10 minutes.
2 large pans or 4 mini loaf pans.
Bake 350* for 1 hour for larger loaves.
Bake 350* for 30-35 minutes for mini loaves
.

Valentine’s Day Dinner

Years ago, when our boys were young we started a Valentine’s Day dinner tradition; heart-shaped French Toast. I’d buy a loaf of day-old bread, use a cookie cutter to cut out the heart shapes – saving the crusts to feed the ducks at the pond near by- make French Toast batter to dunk the bread and cook them up.

Then along came electric heart-shaped waffle makers (I have very fond memories of eating heart-shaped waffles at my relative’s homes in Norway.)  I  bought a waffle maker and switched to heart-shaped waffles for Valentine’s Day dinner, which I continue to make each year even though it’s just the two of us now.

This year, when I was up north at my uncles paging through a magazine, I found Norwegian Waffle recipe that looked good. I wrote down the recipe thinking it might be similar to the recipe they use in Norway. We decided to try it on Valentine’s Day.

In the morning I checked the ingredients and had my husband stop to pick up a couple we didn’t have on hand, and I stopped at the co-op in town to get cardamom ( maybe the secret ingredient??? ) However, I was so excited to try this recipe that I didn’t pay any attention to the quantity it makes until we had already started the batter, and then we decided it was too late to turn back. Well, four cups of milk and four cups of flour, one and a half sticks of butter plus additional ingredients, makes a lot of batter! We could have had the neighborhood over! We laughed.

We decided to make up all the waffles and freeze them…hopefully they’ll be tasty toasted.

My Mother Gives Me Her Recipe

These are hand-written recipe cards from my mother…the booklet holds all the hand-written recipes I have from her.

My mom made a delicious roast. Every time she made one it turned out well – every time! But when I went to make a roast it never turned out as good as hers.   I wrote down her directions but they never seemed to work. It was a lot like this poem I’m posting below:

My Mother Gives Me Her Recipe  by Marge Piercy

Take some flour. Oh, I don’t know,
like two-three cups, and you cut
in the butter. Now some women
they make it with shortening,
but I say butter, even though
that means you had to have fish, see?

You cut up some apples. Not those
stupid sweet ones. Apples for the cake,
they have to have some bite, you know?
A little sour in the sweet, like love.
You slice them into little moons.
No, no! Like half or crescent
moons. You aren’t listening.

You mix sugar and cinnamon and cloves,
some women use allspice, till it’s dark
and you stir in the apples. You coat
every little moon. Did I say you add
milk? Oh, just till it feels right.
Use your hands. Milk in the cake part!

Then you pat it into a pan, I like
round ones, but who cares?
I forgot to say you add baking powder.
Did I forget a little lemon on the apples?
Then you just bake it. Well, till it’s done
of course. Did I remember you place
the apples in rows? You can make
a pattern, like a weave. It’s pretty
that way. I like things pretty.

It’s just a simple cake.
Any fool can make it
except your aunt. I
gave her the recipe
but she never
got it right.

My mom passed away a few years ago so we have not had a delicious roast since – seriously – but I do have some of her recipes cards that include measured ingredients and directions, and they are grease stained with ruffled corners, but they are written with her own handwriting. I keep them in a special booklet and there are some of her recipes I make that do turn out well.

I make her Ginger Snaps. They are my favorite! I ask people “How can a freshly baked, out of the oven ginger snap possible be bad for you?”