Speedy Sweet Potato Snack

Speedy Sweet Potato Snack
Dorcas Annette Walker

This year I decided to try and grow sweet potatoes in my garden again. Usually I just buy a box at a produce stand as I enjoy having my own canned sweet potatoes year round. I couldn’t resist buying some though the other weekend to tide me over until my own sweet potatoes are ready for harvest. Not only do I like canned sweet potatoes, but I also enjoy eating fresh ones as well. These summer days when I am busy in the kitchen canning, I love to grab a sweet potato and nuke it in the microwave to make what I call my Speedy Sweet Potato Snack.

Sweet Potatoes are not related to regular potatoes. They are classified as a trailing perennial plant whose tubers are eaten instead of the roots. There are only two types of sweet potatoes; the northern drier yellow fleshy ones and the southern moist bright orange colored flesh often referred to as yams. Sweet Potatoes were cultivated in ancient times by the Aztecs, grown in Peru as early as 750 B.C., and introduced into Europe in the 16th century. In the 18th and 19th century sweet potatoes became popular due to Louis XV and Empress Josephine’s fondness for them. Native Americans were already growing sweet potatoes when Columbus arrived in 1492 and were the main source of nourishment for early homesteaders and soldiers during the Revolutionary War. During World War I the UDSA used sweet potato flour to stretch wheat flour. Since 1843, the first Monday in April, Benton, Kentucky holds an annual three-day Tater Day Festival devoted to sweet potatoes.

The sweet potato is the 6th principal world food crop; 90 percent grown in Asia. In the United States the sweet potato is chiefly cultivated in the south. Mississippi claims to be the sweet potato capital of the world. 1.8 billion pounds of sweet potatoes were produced in 2007; in 2004 98,300 acres of sweet potatoes were planted in the U.S. Although mainly harvested from August through October they are available in supermarkets year round due to being stored in controlled warehouses. It takes six to eight weeks after harvest for sweet potatoes to reach their peak in sweetness. Sweet potatoes are considered to be the most nutritious vegetable high in vitamin A, C, B6, iron, potassium and fiber.

My Speedy Sweet Potato Snack has the warm buttery taste of candied sweet potatoes that melts in your mouth. This Speedy Sweet Potato Snack can also be used with a main meal or eaten by itself. You can add marshmallows, raisins, or eat the sweet potato plain with butter and salt. Preparation time for my Speedy Sweet Potato Snack is 3-5 minutes and this recipe serves one.

Speedy Sweet Potato Snack

1 medium sweet potato
2 tb margarine
¼ c br sugar
cinnamon

Poke holes in the sweet potato with a fork, warp up in a paper towel, and microwave until soft. Cut in half and spread 1 tb of margarine on each side. Divide up the br sugar and garnish with a sprinkle of cinnamon!

Weekly tip: Sweet potatoes should not be refrigerated unless cooked, always use a stainless steel knife when cutting a sweet potato as a carbon blade will cause the flesh to darken, and select only smooth plump dry potatoes!

Dorcas Annette Walker is a published author, columnist, speaker, freelance magazine writer, and photographer from Jamestown, Tennessee. Contact her at: dorcaswalker@twlakes.net. For more recipes check out her Creative Tennessee Mountain Cookin blog at: www.dorcasannettewalker.webs.com

Peachy Pizza

Peachy Pizza
Dorcas Annette Walker

In the orchard my plum trees and pear tree branches hang heavy with ripening fruit nearly touching the ground. Last week I picked wild blackberries and made up a dozen pints of blackberry jam. Soon my house will hold the aroma of cooking plum jam and another pantry shelf will fill with a new color adding to the existing rainbow of canned goods. In case you haven’t figured out by now I’m rather proud of my pantry. My grandmother stored all her canned stuff in her basement on rows of shelves. For years I dreamed of a pantry as I stored boxes of canned produce throughout the house under beds; tomatoes were in my daughter’s room while the green beans resided under my son’s bed.

Finally the day came when my husband lined the walls of the small room next to my kitchen (originally Dwight’s bedroom) with shelves. I involved the entire family in helping me put my canned harvest on the shelves dithering over whether to organize by vegetables and fruits or color. Even though my family was used to my wild flights of fancy, they soon began shifting impatiently and rolling their eyes over my intense concentration of where each item should go. We’d fill a couple of shelves only for me to change my mind and want to switch the jars around. My kids soon disappeared convinced that I had gone off the deep end for good while my husband tried to reason with me that the point of building all the shelves was for me to fill them not to dither over where food product went. Today any visitor is treated to a tour of my pantry whether they are interested in foodstuff or not. In my mind I can’t understand how anyone cannot appreciate the vivid colors of my pantry. Now that Dawn is married and stores her canned goods under her beds she is an avid admirer of my pantry.

While there are fresh peaches still to be had my Peachy Pizza is a perfect summer dessert, although you can use canned or frozen peaches year round. The Peachy Pizza is lush and filling starting with a sugar cookie crust, topped by a creamy cheese filling, and finishing off with sliced peaches in a clear glaze. For a softer crust leave sit overnight. Preparation time for my Peachy Pizza is around thirty minutes (not counting cooling time) and this recipe serves twelve.

Peachy Pizza

2 c self-rising flour
1 stick of margarine
1 c sugar
½ c chopped pecans
1 (8 oz) cream cheese
½ c powdered sugar
1 (8 oz) cool whip
1 (3 oz) peach jello
1 c water
4 tb cornstarch
4 c sliced peaches

In a small bowl mix together flour, margarine, half a cup of sugar, and pecans to form a dough. Spread on a pizza pan and bake at 350º for fifteen minutes. Beat together cream cheese, powdered sugar, and cool whip until smooth. Spread over cooled crust. In a small pan mix together jello, rest of the sugar, water and cornstarch. Bring to a boil and cook until clear. Fold in the sliced peaches and let cool before spreading on top of the filling. Chill the pizza before serving. Garnish with cool whip and a slice of peach!

Weekly tip: Peaches are best eaten fresh within days of being picked. Otherwise store peaches in the refrigerator for up to a week then can, dry, or freeze for long-term storage!

Dorcas Annette Walker is a published author, columnist, speaker, freelance magazine writer, and photographer from Jamestown, Tennessee. Contact her at: dorcaswalker@twlakes.net. For more recipes check out her Creative Tennessee Mountain Cookin blog at: www.dorcasannettewalker.webs.com

Summer Potato Salad

Summer Potato Salad
Dorcas Annette Walker

The scorching hot “dog days” of summer are upon us. For those of you who don’t live in the mountains “dog days” are when you are extra careful walking in the woods to watch for snakes as this is the time of the year when they shed their skins and are more likely to strike out with their fangs. The name comes from the ancient Romans, who considered Sirius to be the “dog star” because it was the brightest star in the constellation shining between early July and August and responsible for hot weather when rainfall is at its lowest levels. During this time my dogs hide out under the back porch seeking a cool spot to snooze the day away while I stay indoors enjoying the modern convenience of an air conditioner. The mind feels sluggish and the body slow as the heat outside rises with temperatures that stays humid even when the sun has set.

So I only work outside in my garden first thing in the morning while it is still cool. The experts are now informing us that gardening is beneficial to your physical and mental health. They figure that forty-five minutes of gardening can burn that many calories and is as good as thirty minutes of aerobics. How my farmer grandparents would shake their heads and laugh to see all the hype going on today about tanning beds and aerobic classes. Every time I turn around another weight loss or body building gym is opening up. All a person has to do to get a tan and a plenty of exercise is to plant and maintain a garden. Instead of staying indoors riding circles on an exercise bike hoeing rows of corn is guaranteed to give you a full body workout. No weight-lifting equipment can compare with eating fresh corn off the stalk that you have grown yourself or digging into a hill of new potatoes.

My Summer Potato Salad is a brand new recipe that originated from an idea I read about. This Summer Potato Salad has the tangy taste of a freshly tossed garden salad. My son, who generally doesn’t care for potato salad, actually took a second helping of my Summer Potato Salad. You can add shredded carrots, radishes, black olives, diced red and green peppers, fresh peas, green beans, or substitute your favorite salad dressing. Preparation time for my Summer Potato Salad is around thirty-five minutes (not counting cooling time) and this recipe serves eight.

Summer Potato Salad

8 medium size potatoes
1 tsp salt
1 small onion and clove of garlic minced
1 tb minced chives
½ c bacon bits
salt & pepper
2 c mayonnaise
1½ c blue cheese salad dressing
1 c ranch salad dressing

Cover and boil potatoes with salt in water for twenty minutes until the potatoes are soft. Rinse in cold water and let the potatoes cool. Peel and cube into a medium-size bowl. Add onion, garlic chives, and bacon bits. Sprinkle on salt and pepper to taste. Mix in mayonnaise, blue cheese and ranch dressing until well blended. Cover and chill. Garnish with a sprinkle of paprika and serve on a lettuce leaf!

Weekly tip: White potatoes are low in starch and are good for boiling; yellow potatoes or Russet potatoes are high in starch and are good for mashing and baking; while red and yellow potatoes are best for steaming, boiling, soups, stews, roasting or scalloped!

Dorcas Annette Walker is a published author, columnist, speaker, freelance magazine writer, and photographer from Jamestown, Tennessee. Contact her at: dorcaswalker@twlakes.net. For more recipes check out her Creative Tennessee Mountain Cookin blog at: www.dorcasannettewalker.webs.com

4th of July Cake

4th of July Cake
Dorcas Annette Walker

Here on the mountain we celebrate the 4th of July with a bang. Our town is decorated with flags, there is a Demolition Derby, and we finished off the evening with lots of fireworks bringing out the patriotic spirit in all of us. For one evening feuds and ill will are laid aside as from every hollow and ridge each family unites in observing our nation’s birth. To celebrate the fourth this year, I came up with a quick and easy 4th of July Cake.

My neighbors also celebrate the fourth with lots of noise. When we first moved out here in the woods on a dead end gravel road it was a quiet and ideal place to raise children. Times changed when a rental trailer was moved in at the end of the road. Then the breakup of the neighbor and his wife- with her moving into a trailer beside the house and bringing in fellows, who loved to party- definitely livened up our area, especially when they would start yelling and shooting at her husband. You could hear the bullets hitting his tin roof. Our neighbors beside us finally got tired of having a Wild West show right in front of their house and moved. Each 4th of July my neighbors up and down the road start their fireworks during daylight hours so by the time it gets dark they have run out. Then they grab their guns and proceed to try and outshoot each other keeping up a volley of shots up until way past midnight. Any stranger wandering into the area might think that a war was in progress. My animals and I make sure to stay under cover and keep a low profile each year during my neighbor’s enthusiastic 4th of July celebrations while my flag waves a silent salute from the front porch.

My red, white, and blue 4th of July Cake is a perfect dessert to help celebrate Independence Day with its light moist fruity taste that is sure to be a hit with your family. Instead of one large cake, you could make individual cupcakes. Preparation time for my 4th of July Cake is fifteen minutes (not counting baking time) and this recipe serves at least twelve.

4th of July Cake

1 white cake mix
1 c blueberries
1 c raspberries
1 (8 oz) cool whip

Mix together the cake mix like the directions give. Pour the batter into a greased 10-inch round cake pan. Sprinkle one half of a cup of blueberries and raspberries on the top of the batter. Bake at 350º for 45 minutes until done. Flip up-side-down, cool, and frost with the cool whip. Use the rest of the berries to garnish the top of the cake!

Weekly tip: Insert a toothpick or knife into the center of the cake when baking to test if it is done. When the toothpick or knife comes out clean the cake is finished!

Dorcas Annette Walker is a published author, columnist, speaker, freelance magazine writer, and photographer from Jamestown, Tennessee. Contact her at: dorcaswalker@twlakes.net. For more recipes check out her Creative Tennessee Mountain Cookin blog at: www.dorcasannettewalker.webs.com

Homemade Sticky Buns

Homemade Sticky Buns
Dorcas Annette Walker

Ever since the first time I made up a batch of my Homemade Sticky Buns when my father-in-law came for a visit, he always requested them afterwards. My house seemed to shrink every time the Walker clan arrived. First you’d hear a vehicle honking as soon as it turned into our driveway and next my father-in-law sergeant’s booming voice announcing the obvious fact that they were there. Even the entire neighborhood stood at attention during his visits. After retiring from the military my father-in-law still “barked” his requests. Being brought up in a quiet household it was years before I quit jumping at each roar of my father-in-law’s voice next to my ear whenever we conversed. The walls would vibrate with noise and confusion as each Walker shouted at the top of their lungs all talking at the same time.

I’d find refuge in my kitchen cooking and baking nonstop to satisfy all the hungry mouths. My father-in-law viewed each dish or dessert that I prepared with exclamations of delight like a starved man. So I figured it was my duty as part of the Walker family to try and fill up my father-in-law while he resided under my roof. Once the prayer had been said mealtimes quickly resembled a military attack as hands would grab the food nearest to them in a regular blitz motion despite my feeble efforts to pass each dish around the table. When everyone finally settled down to their own individual plates to commence eating my husband would ask me why I didn’t have anything on my plate. My father-in-law would look over in my direction in amazement and retort, “What’s the problem? All she has to do is ask!” I never became skilled at aggressively battling for food when my in-law’s were around. Instead I was always happy to settle for anything left after the first major skirmish.

My finger-licking Homemade Sticky Buns- what some call cinnamon rolls -will bring a smile of pleasure to your household. Nuts, raisins, or dried fruit can be added as well. Instead of making up a batch of rolls from scratch, I started using frozen bread dough. In a pinch you can also use frozen rolls or store bought frosting as well. Preparation time for my Homemade Sticky Buns is around three hours and this recipe makes one dozen rolls.

Homemade Sticky Buns

1 frozen bread roll
1 tb margarine
½ c brown sugar
cinnamon

Let the frozen dough thaw for one hour. Then roll out the dough thin in a rectangular shape. Spread margarine, layer the brown sugar, and then sprinkle on cinnamon. Roll up lengthwise and cut into one inch pieces with a sharp knife. Place each spiral in a greased 9 x 13 baking dish, cover with a paper towel, and let rise for two hours until doubled in size. Bake at 350º for fifteen minutes until lightly browned.

Frost with:

1 c powdered sugar
1 tb shortening
2 tb milk
½ tsp vanilla extract

Beat all the ingredients with a Wisk until smooth and spread over the sticky buns. Garnish with a sprinkle of cinnamon!

Weekly tip: To help bread or rolls rise you can turn on your oven at the lowest setting for a couple of minutes with a pan of hot water, set them in sunlight or a warm spot, or use a heating pad underneath turned on medium!

Dorcas Annette Walker is a published author, columnist, speaker, freelance magazine writer, and photographer from Jamestown, Tennessee. Contact her at: dorcaswalker@twlakes.net. For more recipes check out her Creative Tennessee Mountain Cookin blog at: www.dorcasannettewalker.webs.com