May is an outstanding month bringing us so many special days filled with prodigious tradition.
May 25 is Memorial Day. Mother’s Day was May 10. Both always inspire heartfelt significance for all Americans every year.
And, for senior generations, every day of the month of May has been filled (whether we noticed or not) with deep meaning as well.
That is because the 31 days of May are Older Americans Month.
Older Americans Month was declared more than a half-century ago, way back in 1963, when today’s seniors were kids, still only youths in their early 20s or even younger, so very far from yet being the senior generations we are today.
In recognition of this very special Older Americans Month of May’s designation honoring all senior-aged Americans, this week’s Kitchen Kapers’ recipes all are from a very special cookbook published back in the early 1990s.
It is titled Older Americans Cookbook: From the Past To The Present.
This is a much appreciated cookbook that has been in the Kitchen Kapers collection for a long time.
The book is autographed by its author Carole Arthurs along with her handwritten note on the book’s opening page, “Happy cooking! Enjoy! Feel free to use any (recipe) you wish in The Apopka Chief.”
This treasured cookbook was discovered and purchased by Neoma DeGard Knox of The Apopka Chief staff for Kitchen Kapers.
Enjoy all of the book’s fine recipes below, starting with Zellwood Station resident Glendine Hamilton’s barbecue sauce which she described in the cookbook as “best ever!”
On the cookbook’s page with her Zesty Bean Soup, the book’s author Carole Arthurs hand-wrote a three-words-only recommendation: “Try this! Great!”
That recipe for Zesty Bean Soup is, of course, included below.
Enjoy adventuring with this week’s interesting recipes from our featured cookbook, “Older Americans Cookbook.”
And, if the mood to create and publish recipes ever strikes you, write and publish your own cookbook! There can never be too many! Just do it!
GLENDINE HAMILTON’S
BAR-B-QUE SAUCE
2 cans tomato puree (21 ounces)
1 can (10-1/2 ounces) vinegar
1 heaping cup sugar
1 teaspoon dry mustard
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon Cimarron (cinnamon)
2 tablespoons hot sauce
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 medium onion, grated
1 clove garlic
1 walnut-sized lump of butter
2 level teaspoons salt
1 dash of black pepper
Optional: wine may be added
Mix together all ingredients. Cook for one hour.
CAROLE ARTHUR’S
ZESTY BEAN SOUP
1 lb. package dried beans (15-bean variety package)
3 cups water
Salt and pepper, amounts to your taste
1 lb. Ground beef or ground sausage or Italian smoked sausage, sliced
Garlic powder and Blackened Seasoning, amounts to your taste
Bay leaf
Hot sauce (optional)
1 can chicken broth
1/4 cup picante sauce
1 large onion, diced
2 stalks celery, diced
1 can tomatoes
Sort and wash beans. Soak overnight. Drain. Put in large cooking pot. Add water and bring to a boil. Add seasonings and the onion and celery. Brown the meat. Rinse off fat and add the browned meat to soup. Add the chicken broth, picante sauce and tomatoes. Cover. Simmer slowly for two to three hours.
OLDER AMERICANS’
COOKBOOK’S
BLUEBERRY COFFEE CAKE
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup margarine
Additional 1/4 cup margarine
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup milk
1 egg
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups flour
2 cups fresh blueberries
Crumble together and set aside to use for topping the 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon, 1/4 cup flour, 1/2 cup sugar and just one of the two 1/4 cups margarine.
For the cake, mix together the other 1/4 cup margarine, 3/4 cup of sugar, 1/2 cup of milk, and one egg.
Mix together and add to cake mixture the two teaspoons baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon salt and 2 cups flour. Beat all together. Fold in the 2 cups fresh blueberries.
Spread mixture in a 9- by 12-inch or two 8- by 8-inch greased layer pans. Sprinkle with the topping. Bake at 375 degrees for approximately 40 minutes.
GWEN L. HOWELL’S
GOURMET GOULASH
1 pound ground beef
1 cup chopped onion
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 teaspoon salt
3 cups (4 ounces) uncooked noodles
1-1/2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1-1/2 teaspoons celery salt
1 can beef broth
1/2 cup water
1/3 cup chopped green pepper
1 cup sour cream
1 (3-ounce) can mushrooms
Dash of pepper
1 number-two can tomato juice
Place onion, ground beef, garlic, salt, celery salt, and black pepper in frying pan. Cook until brown. Add noodles.
Combine juice, Worcestershire sauce, broth and water. Pour that mixture over noodles. Cover. Simmer for 20 minutes. Add green
pepper. Cook mixture for 10 minutes.
Stir in drained mushrooms and sour cream. Heat this Gourmet Goulash mixture and serve.
RUTH BOLHUIS’
EXCELLENT PEANUT
BUTTER FUDGE
3 tablespoons margarine
2 cups sugar
1 cup evaporated milk
1-1/3 cups peanut butter (creamy or crunchy)
1 cup miniature marshmallows
1 teaspoon vanilla
In electric fry pan, combine margarine, sugar and milk. Cook at 280 degrees for five minutes. Turn off heat. Add peanut butter, marshmallows and vanilla. Stir until blended. Pour in square buttered 9- by 9-inch pan. Cool and cut.
