Weekend Cooking; The Geranium Farm Cookbook

by Barbara Cawthorne Crafton & 10,000 Geranium Farmers

(2006)               136 pages

At our church Christmas Bazaar we have a beautiful book table with used books from our members.  It is a wonderful way to share and recycle the books we have read all year.  We are a well-read and well-fed congregation as recipe books take up an entire table.

This year a had this one in my stack and my intention was to give it to my mother as she is a true cookbook collector.  I read through it one night though and fell in love with the uncomplicated recipes.  I love to read through the vignettes interspersed throughout the book as well.  I loved this quote from one

Baking Friday Afternoon

I could hardly believe my ears: Rosie requested that we bake a pie on Friday afternoon.  Always say yes when your teenager wants to do something with you-anything this side of legality.  It could be years before it happens again. (48)   ~  Barbara Cawthorne Crafton

Words of wisdom there!

I've made these two recipes from this book so far-both excellent.

Curried Olive Spread

1 block of cream cheese, light or otherwise
1 cup pitted, chopped green salad olives (more or less to taste and you can use exotic olives if you prefer)
1 T. curry (more or less to taste)

Cube the cream cheese, then put cheese and olives in a food processor.  Blend until mixture is slightly lumpy. Stir in curry. Can be served immediately, but sitting in the fridge for an hour or so allows the flavors to blend.  Serve with crackers, celery sticks, or toasted bread squares.

My grandmother gave me this recipe when I entered the working world. She told me there would be many occasions where I would be expected to bring an appetizer to a dinner, and this one was quick, easy, and tasted delicious.  After all, she mused, working women were busy and didn't have all day to create fabulous food...(108)  ~ The Rev. Laurie Brock, Mobile, Alabama

Can't resist grandmother advice either!  I served this dip with a loaf of my fresh homemade bread.  The dip made enough for leftovers and I've been eating that as a snack with gluten-free crackers all week.

Corn Spoon Bread

1 cup (organic) milk
1 T. (unsalted) butter
1 cup cornmeal
1 can creamed corn
2 eggs, separated
1 T. (sea) salt
1 T (freshly ground) black pepper

Scald the milk in a saucepan.  Melt the butter into the milk.  Add the cornmeal and cook until thick. Stir in the creamed corn.  Beat the egg yolks with the salt and pepper.  Stir the yolks into the corn mixture.  Beat the egg whites to stiff peaks.  Fold the egg whites into the corn mixture.  pour into a well-greased quart baking dish.  Bake at 350* for 50 minutes to 1 hour or until a wooden skewer inserted int eh middle comes out clean.  Serves 6-8
This is a favorite recipe of mine from my Indiana childhood.  ~The Rev. Gerald W. Keucher, New York, NY (123)

I have a thing about creamed corn-a childhood food memory-so this appealed to me on that level.  I made it for a church potluck and by the time I made it through the line it was gone, bowl scraped clean just as it should be at a potluck.

Link for Geranium Farm.  This post is linked to Beth Fish Reads Weekend Cooking meme.  Drop over and see what she is dishing about and many other food-related posts.

In other family news our new refrigerator has been ordered but is back-ordered.  My hope is that it arrives somewhere in the vicinity of the first two weeks of Feb.  Back order seems to happen with all appliance purchases now.
I'm reading Claire Marvel by  John Burnham Schwartz - beautifully written, taking many post-it's to mark my favorites.
I watched Burlesque last night and loved it-don't know why it took me a year.  Cher and Christina Aguilera were wonderful.  I watched Eat, Pray, Love also yesterday and while it dragged in spots was uplifting to me. Made me savor my own loves.  So decadent to watch two movies in one day-it was a "free" day in a way.