May is such a wonderful month!
Not too cold, not too hot, beautiful May is just right in so many ways.
Mostly, the month of May is just right for getting out and going places, for seeing and doing good things and for making all kinds of joyful happy things happen.
All of this most recently arrived calendar month’s 31 all-new days still are out there just waiting for us to enjoy.
May’s meals planning can be an especially nice-and-easy activity because we can let it take us in any and all directions, none of occasionally cold January’s steaming hot warmer-upper foods essential, nor July’s and all summer’s way-too-steaming hot days’ cooling meals needed.
Just now, with beautifully temperate May just beginning, almost anything at all, good food at any temperature, is just fine. If it looks good in our cookbooks, we’ll give it a try.
The theme of this week’s Kitchen Kapers’ recipes selections is joyful foods. We can serve up just about anything we’re in the mood for cooking and eating, just as long as preparing it is a joyful task for us and as long as
what we are serving is really good foods, which fit in fine with this merry month of May’s festive and joyful attitude.
What indeed could fit that need any finer than the first recipe below for this week’s Kitchen Kapers, which is from Janet Connelly’s Southern Fried Green Tomatoes? That will always be a favorite food for many of us.
Enjoy as well Sister Carol’s Spinach Balls and Irene Collins’ Stuffed Zucchini, and all this week’s other recipes selected for the joy they can bring to our tables and our lives.
JANET CONNELLY’S SOUTHERN FRIED GREEN TOMATOES
Recipe from
Apopka First Presbyterian Church’s Treasures and Pleasures
1 medium green tomato per person
Salt and pepper, amounts to your taste
White cornmeal, as much as needed
Bacon drippings, enough to coat skillet
Slice tomatoes about one-fourth-inch thick, season with salt and pepper and then coat both sides with cornmeal. In a large skillet, heat enough bacon drippings to coat the bottom of the pan and fry tomatoes until lightly browned on both sides.
MARY KAY FOSTER’S
MAMIE EISENHOWER’S TOMATO PUDDING
Recipe from
Apopka First Presbyterian Church’s Treasures and Pleasures
2 cups bread cubes
1/2 cup melted butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup tomato puree
1/4 cup water
Place bread cubes in bottom of a casserole. Pour melted butter over bread cubes. In a pan, stir together sugar, puree and the water. Pour over mixture. Bake at 350 degrees uncovered for 20 to 30 minutes.
SISTER CAROL’S SPINACH BALLS
Recipe from
St. Francis of Assisi Church’s
A Book of Favorite Recipes
2 packages frozen chopped spinach
2 cups Pepperidge Farm herb stuffing
6 beaten eggs
1 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon oregano
2 teaspoons garlic powder
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
3/4 cup (or less) melted butter
Cook and drain spinach well. Mix everything together. Chill mixture before forming balls, then shape into balls about the size of walnuts. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Baked spinach balls can be frozen.
IRENE COLLINS’
STUFFED ZUCCHINI
Recipe from St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church’s
A Book of Favorite Recipes
6 to 8 washed zucchini squash with ends removed an cut in half
2 pounds ground meat
Salt and pepper, amounts to your taste
1 tablespoon parsley
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 teaspoon basil
2 eggs
3/4 cup bread crumbs
1/2 cup Romano cheese, grated (plus more for topping)
Brown the meat and drain it. Add salt, pepper, parsley, garlic and basil to the meat while it is browning. In a bowl, combine the ground meat and remaining ingredients.
Cut the zucchini in half lengthwise and scoop out the squash, leaving one-half-inch inside the shell. Cook the scooped-out zucchini in two tablespoons oil until soft and add it to the ground meat mixture. Fill the shells and put them in a baking dish. Cover with cheese and bake in 9” x 13” casserole dish covered with lid, for an hour and a half at 350 degrees. Remove cover for the last 10 minutes to brown.
MARY BRAUN’S
SCALLOPED TOMATOES
Recipe from St. Francis of Assisi’s A Book of Favorite Recipes
2 cups thinly sliced onions
4 tablespoons butter or margarine (not oil)
1 tablespoon sugar
Salt and pepper, amount to your taste
2-1/2 cups finely chopped tomatoes
1/2 cup soft white bread, cubed
1/4 cup regular bread crumbs
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Saute onions in butter until limp but not brown. Sprinkle with sugar, salt and pepper. Arrange in a 9- by 13-inch baking dish and add the tomatoes mixed with soft bread cubes. Combine the regular bread crumbs with the cheese and spoon over the top and bake for about 20 minutes or until topping is browned.
MYRT HUBBARD’S AND
FRANCES BENTON’S
TURTLE CAKE
Recipe from
Treasures and Pleasures
1 box German chocolate or devil’s food cake mix
1/2 cup milk
1 (14-ounce) package of caramels
1/2 stick margarine or butter, melted
1 (6-ounce) package semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped pecans
Prepare cake mix as directed on box. Pour half the cake mix into greased and floured 9- by 13-inch pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Turn oven to 250 degrees.
In heavy saucepan, mix milk, butter and caramels and cook mixture over low heat until caramels are melted. Pour caramel mixture over cooked cake.
On top of the caramel mixture, sprinkle the pecans and the chocolate chips. Pour remaining cake batter on top. Bake at 250 degrees for 20 minutes, then bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. Cool cake and cut into squares. Serve cake with whipped cream if you wish.
ANNA BELLE McKINNEY’S
SWEET POTATO PIE
Recipe from Apopka Citizen
Police Alumni Association’s
Sharing Our Finest Cookbook
Dash of lemon
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups sweet potatoes
1-2/3 cups evaporated milk
2 eggs, slightly beaten
Mix all ingredients. Place in casserole dish. Bake at 375 degrees for 40-45 minutes.
HABITAT FOR HUMANITY’S
WALNUT WONDER CAKE
Recipe from
Partners In The Kitchen
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup regular white sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 cup margarine, softened
1 cup additional white sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup sour cream
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
Combine the brown sugar, the one-half cup white sugar, the cinnamon and walnuts. Mix well and set aside. For the batter, in mixer bowl, cream the margarine and one cup sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla. Mix well. Add sour cream alternately with sifted mixture of flour, baking powder and salt, mixing well after each addition. Layer the batter and brown sugar mixture, half at a time, in nonstick 9- by 13-inch baking pan.
Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes.
