Lime Salad

Lime Salad

Dorcas Annette Walker

Lawn mowers are buzzing and garden plots are being tilled and planted here in the mountains. I always reveled in the freedom this time of the year from a mother’s point of view that allowed my kids to play outdoors without the time consuming task of putting on coats and hats of winter days. Springtime also takes me down memory lane of my days as a youngster when spring meant the beginning of toughing bare feet by daring each other to walk across gravel, the exhilarating feel of soft grass under our feet for the first time, and racing about in sheer ecstasy without the burden of cumbersome coats and hats. It was a time of fascination as we discovered all kinds of spiders and bugs crawling around. We thought nothing of pulling off ticks that somehow mysteriously latched onto our skin after a day of outdoor pleasure. Bug spray was an unknown factor.

Today things have changed quite radically. When I discovered a tick on my foot after kicking off my shoes several years ago at an outdoors Sunday dinner in the western part of the state I wasn’t alarmed. The next day my foot swelled up and a red streak ran up my leg so I went to my local doctor. At the time Lyme disease was not known to be active in Tennessee and I wasn’t showing the symptoms of the bull’s eye that was characteristic of Lyme disease. Little did I know that from that day forward my life would be changed forever. The Lyme spirochete travels rapidly throughout the body embedding inside tendons, muscle, the heart, and the brain triggering multiple sclerosis, fibromyalgia, Alzheimer’s, chronic fatigue and other degenerative diseases. Only a minority of cases show the bull’s-eye rash and a positive Western Blot antibody test- the criteria used to make a Lyme diagnosis. Antibiotics only put the Lyme biotic into remission and can trigger again without warning. I had finally put the nightmare days of searching for answers of what was happening to my body after being infected with a tick behind me with relief. I didn’t have time to be sick as I helped my daughter prepare for a wedding, traveled with my husband around the United States, and home schooled our son for his high school years. When Dwight graduated I turned my attention to writing full time with great anticipation. Suddenly my body began going to pieces for no apparent reason. My doctor ran tests that didn’t identify anything matching my symptoms. I slowly got worse. My husband kidded me that I was going through the change of life stage. I pushed myself to keep going, but my body refused to cooperate. Despite increasing medication I became bedfast and unable to function normally. After eight months of continuous antibiotics, my Lyme has finally gone back into remission. It has been a long slow haul to get back on my feet again. Today I have continuous bone pain with bouts of chronic fatigue, arthritis, and fibromyalgia. Everywhere I go I warn people to make sure and spray before spending time outdoors. Children are especially vulnerable as they play outside during summer months. For more information about Lyme disease visit my website at: http://www.dorcasannettewalker.com/ or contact me by email.

My Lime Salad is a decorative addition to any meal with its cool zesty taste. It is easy to make and uses only five ingredients. This Lime Salad embodies the warm days of summer and can be served in different creative ways: by itself in a glass dish, put into a mold, with fruit, nuts, or on lettuce. The Lime Salad takes only ten minutes to prepare then can be left to sit in the freezer until stiff and cooled until firm in the refrigerator while other tasks are done. This recipe of Lime Salad serves ten.

Lime Salad

Mix together in a microwave bowl:
2 (3 oz) boxes of lime jello
1 (20 oz) can of crushed pineapple
1 (8 oz) cream cheese
Microwave for three minutes until the cream cheese is melted stirring often with a Wisk.

Add:
1½ c cold water
Place in freezer for about two hours until the mixture becomes stiff.
Then add:
1 (12 oz) can of evaporated milk
Mix thoroughly and chill in the refrigerator until firm. Garnish with cool whip and serve!

Weekly tip: To slide out a molded salad with ease first spray the mold with a cooking spray or rinse with cold water. Also rinse the salad plate with cold water before turning out so that if the salad is off center you can slide the molded salad on the plate to center it!

Dorcas Annette Walker is a published author, syndicated columnist, freelance magazine writer, and photographer from Jamestown, Tennessee. Contact her at: dorcaswalker@twlakes.net For more information check out: www.dorcasannettewalker.com

Coconut Pecan Cake

Coconut Pecan Cake

Dorcas Annette Walker

I love springtime as the earth becomes ablaze with color. It is fascinating to watch the barren ground burst forth with life overnight as the temperatures slowly rise; a miracle I never tire of experiencing. Even Sandy, our aged chocolate lab, perks ups and acts young again while Lucy Lou, my mixed poodle that was abandoned and rescued, races madly in circles and rolls around in the new grass. Another mystery is the green eggs Emma and Agnus, our two Dominique hens, lay. The poor dears can’t help that they are so ugly, so in return they give the most colorful and intriguing eggs. I used some of Emma and Agnus’ eggs to make a Coconut Pecan Cake, which is the perfect springtime dessert.

In the 6th century Arab merchants brought coconuts to Egypt from East Africa, but it wasn’t until the 15th century when Portuguese explorers, who came across coconuts in the Indian Ocean Islands, were credited with giving the coconut its name. Coconut means monkey face due to the three round indented markings or eyes at the base of the coconut. The Nicobar Islands used whole coconuts as currency for the purchase of goods until the 20th century. Coconuts are the largest seed known, although botanically they are classified as the fruit of the coconut palm. Coconuts are native to Malaysia, Polynesia, and Southern Asia spreading quickly throughout the tropics of the Pacific and Indian Oceans due to the coconut’s light fibrous husks that allows the coconut to drift on the ocean to other areas where it propagates. The coconut palm blooms thirteen times a year so that even though it takes a coconut one year to mature fruit is constantly forming yielding a continuous harvest with the peak season being between October and December. The average harvest from one coconut palm is sixty coconuts with some trees yielding up to three times that amount. Coconuts can be stored at room temperature for up to four months. In Sanskrit the coconut palm is known as the tree which gives all that is necessary for living because nearly all the parts of the coconut palm can be used. The coconut fruit is used for its milk, meat, sugar, and oil and furnishes its own dish or cup. Coconut cream is concentrated coconut milk. The husk was burned by the natives for fuel, but today the seed fiber is used to make brushes, mats, fishnets, rope, lumber, and fertilizer. A potent fermented drink is made from the coconut palm sap. Coconut oil is used in commercial frying, to make candles, margarines, as well as soaps and cosmetics. The coconut meat is used in pies, cakes, custards, and other baked goods. Processed coconut is sold in bags in a flaked or dried form and in cans, sweetened or unsweetened. Coconut contains calcium, potassium, and B vitamins and is said to lower cholesterol and heart disease. Its lauric acid is reputed to boost the immune system.

My Coconut Pecan Cake makes an elegant dessert that is luscious and light. Pecans blend with the coconut to make an intriguing taste, but can be optional. The Coconut Pecan Cake can be made in either two or four layers. Preparation time for my Coconut Pecan Cake takes only fifteen minutes (not counting the baking and cooling time) and this recipe serves twenty.

Coconut Pecan Cake

Mix together in a large bowl for two minutes:
1 yellow cake mix (any brand)
1 pkg (3.4 oz) instant vanilla pudding
4 eggs
½ c cooking oil
1½ c water

Fold in:
1 c shredded coconut
½ c chopped pecans
Pour into two, 9 inch greased cake pans and bake at 350º for thirty minutes until done. Cover and cool completely.

Icing:
1 (16 oz) container of cool whip
2 c shredded coconut
Spread cool whip over first layer and sprinkle with coconut. (For four layers cut the two layers in half.) Add next layer and cover with cool whip and coconut until entire cake is iced and sprinkled with coconut. Chill and serve. Garnish the top of the cake with tinted coconut!

Weekly tip: To tint coconut place one cup of coconut in a baggie. Dilute a drop of food coloring in ½ tsp of water and drizzle over coconut. (More food coloring and water can be added for a darker shade.) Seal the baggie and shake until the coconut is evenly tinted!

Dorcas Annette Walker is a published author, syndicated columnist, freelance magazine writer, and photographer from Jamestown, Tennessee. Contact her at: dorcaswalker@twlakes.net For more information check out: www.dorcasannettewalker.com

Heavenly Coconut Cream Pie

Heavenly Coconut Cream Pie

Dorcas Annette Walker

There is something about a Coconut Pie that I find irresistible. It doesn’t matter how many other desserts there are around if there is a Coconut Pie I find myself taking a piece. (For those of you who hate coconut bear with me this month.) In fact I consider myself an unofficial connoisseur of Coconut Pie simply by the virtue of many years experience. I’ll have to confess there were a few pieces of Coconut Pie along the way that I shuddered over wondering how on earth the cook managed to ruin what should have been a delectable dessert.

Have you ever done something that frequently comes back to haunt you? Every so often, without fail, as a crowd of people sits around relaxing and talking after a huge meal invariably someone will mention that they think I hardly eat anything compared to the rest. That is the cue for my husband to say, “Well one time believe it or not, Dorcas ate an entire pie!” I’ve given up trying to explain as my husband’s statement always sets off an uproar, but between you and me I’d like to set the record straight. I only ate half a pie, my sister ate the other half, and it was under very stressful circumstances. I was expecting at the time when one evening my sister stopped by for a visit. Both of our lives were in the midst of a drastic upheaval. My husband and I were in the process of moving south to take a church in the foothills of North Carolina- what seemed to me like the ends of the earth. For the first time in our lives my sister and I would be separated indefinitely. Due to the unusual circumstances in which we were raised, with our father often in the hospital at death’s door and our mother having to work full-time to keep our family going, my sister and I were closer than most sisters. We had gone through experiences together that kids our age had no idea of. Crazy as it sounds we had become each others security. No matter what happened in our world we always had each other to depend on; now all that was changing. My husband had gone on to bed as Lois and I talked and cried together. After a couple of hours we were hungry. That morning I had made two Coconut Cream Pies so I got one of the pies out and we both had a piece. One piece let to another as we chatted. Sometime in the early morning hours near daybreak we discovered to our shock that between us we had eaten the entire pie; something we had never done before or since. I tried to hide the evidence, but my husband discovered that one pie was gone. Despite making thousands of Coconut Pies since, my husband has never let me forget the one pie that my sister and I ate.

My Heavenly Coconut Cream Pie is the deluxe edition of all the Coconut Pies that I have made after years of experimenting. This Heavenly Coconut Cream Pie recipe is simple to make and has a light mellow texture. Even my son, who doesn’t like Coconut Pie, couldn’t resist tasting my Heavenly Coconut Cream Pie on the sly and confessed to me that he actually liked it. My Heavenly Coconut Cream Pie takes only fifteen minutes to prepare and serves eight. I couldn’t resist making two Heavenly Coconut Cream Pies. Now if I just can find the perfect spot to hide a pie…

Heavenly Coconut Cream Pie

1 (9 inch) deep pie crust baked

Mix together in a small bowl:
1 pkg (3.9 oz) instant vanilla pudding
1½ c milk

Fold in:
½ (8 oz) container of cool whip
¾ of 1 c toasted coconut
Pour into the baked and cooled pie shell. Spread the remaining half of the cool whip on top of the pudding. Sprinkle the rest of the coconut on top of the cool whip. Chill in the refrigerator and serve!

Weekly tip: A quick and easy way to toast coconut: place coconut in a microwave bowl and microwave on high for three to five minutes stirring frequently!

Dorcas Annette Walker is a published author, syndicated columnist, freelance magazine writer, and photographer from Jamestown, Tennessee. Contact her at: dorcaswalker@twlakes.net For more information check out: www.dorcasannettewalker.com

Homemade Granola Cereal

Homemade Granola Cereal

Dorcas Annette Walker

Growing up my breakfast was always a bowl of hot oatmeal- something that I absolutely positively hated with a passion. I was told many times how good it was for me, but I was never fully convinced. Some mornings my bowl of oatmeal seemed more like a form of punishment while eating under my father’s eagle eye to make sure that every bite was swallowed. Once we finished our bowl of oatmeal we could have some applesauce that sat tantalizing within sight. Today’s child psychologist would probably raise their hands in horror over such treatment saying that making a child eat something he didn’t want would scar him psychologically for life. All I knew was that once I was grown I would never ever eat another bowl of hot oatmeal. Guess what I now eat each morning for breakfast? Both my sister and I start out our day with a bowl of hot oatmeal- I like the instant fruit oatmeal packages. My father would be proud.

Unfortunately, with tight daily schedules I found it quicker and more convenient to give my children cold cereal for breakfast instead of cooking oatmeal convincing myself that with the vitamins added it was healthier for my kids. I even used cold cereal as a bedtime snack. I also found that cold cereal was a handy in-between meal snack when we were traveling- those were the days before trail mix. Thankfully both my kids survived their modern upbringing despite viewing eating hot oatmeal as a foreign practice from out of the dark ages. I was quite excited when a friend of mine told me she found a recipe for making homemade granola cereal. Here was a way to add oats to a diet that even the younger generation could not resist. I just wish I could have found this basic recipe when my kids were small. At least it’s not too late to educate my grandkids.

Instant or cold cereal is largely an American invention, but through popularity is marketed around the globe. The first breakfast cereal was invented in 1863 by James Jackson, who was a staunch vegetarian. Despite its high fiber content, his cereal was inconvenient as the bran nuggets had to be soaked overnight to make them tender enough to eat. In 1877, John Kellogg invented a ground-up wheat, oat, and cornmeal biscuit for patients suffering with bowel problems then by accident started using flaked cereals known as Wheat Flakes and Corn Flakes that instantly became popular. In 1897, C.W. Post introduced Grape-Nut’s soon followed by Raisin Bran. By the 1930’s puffed cereal was on the market. After World War II cereal companies began to target children using different mascots and advertising fortified cereal with vitamins. Today breakfast cereals are marketed to attract the attention of all ages.

The exciting thing about making a batch of Homemade Granola Cereal is that you can add or delete ingredients using the basic recipe to individualize your family’s preferred taste. The possibilities are endless. My Homemade Granola Cereal is filling and nutritious. Homemade Granola Cereal is easy to make and this recipe can be halved for a smaller amount or the extra cereal frozen until you need it. This recipe of Homemade Granola Cereal takes one hour and five minutes of preparation time and makes over a gallon of instant granola cereal.

Homemade Granola Cereal

1 (2 lb) box of Quick Oats
*Old Fashion Oats can be substituted for a coarser-type cereal.
½ lb shredded coconut
1 lb brown sugar
1 lb almonds
1 (12 oz) box/pkg raisins
*If you wait to add the raisins until after the cereal is baked they will be softer.
1 tb cinnamon
1 tsp salt

Mix ingredients in a large baking pan and then add:
4 tsp vanilla
1½ c cooking oil
1 c honey
Stir in liquid ingredients and bake at 350º for 1 hour- stirring every fifteen minutes. Use the top oven shelf for a toasted cereal. Stir frequently as the granola cereal cools- about a half an hour. When the granola cereal is cool, store it in an air-tight container. You can add dates, cranberries, or any other dried fruit to this recipe!

Weekly tip: Granola cereal can be used as a topping over apples when making Apple Crisp, eaten with yogurt and fruit, or munched dry by itself as a snack!

Dorcas Annette Walker is a published author, syndicated columnist, freelance magazine writer, and photographer from Jamestown, Tennessee. Contact her at: dorcaswalker@twlakes.net For more information check out: www.dorcasannettewalker.com

Coconut Custard Pie

Coconut Custard Pie

Dorcas Annette Walker

In today’s modern world with all kinds of ready-made instant desserts to choose from in nearly every store you enter, I am sure it is hard for the younger generation to fathom a time when all desserts were homemade. I’m surprised, with all the drive-thru food available, that no one has started a franchise drive-thru selling desserts where one could view a list of pies and cakes (for the nutrition conscious have low-fat and fruit items), make a order, pay at one window, and then pick up the dessert at the end. It would be an instant hit in today’s society. In fact there are times when I feel overwhelmed with all the choices now available. Shopping trips have become a challenging exercise in brain power trying to decide on which product to buy amidst loaded shelves of identical items with different brand names and varying prices- not to mention low-fat, low-cholesterol, and sugar-free all vying for my attention. Invariably I end up with a couple of other bewildered souls cluttering up an aisle as we dither over which product to chose. Just about the time we reach for the product of our choice, some young person will whiz down the aisle whipping in and around us with a loaded cart, talking nonstop on a cell phone attached permanently to their ear, while we hold our breath and scramble to get out of the way. When the dust settles we have forgotten which item we were reaching for in the first place and the choosing process begins again.

Custard is a mixture like cooked eggnog, similar to a cooked pudding only more solidified, which is often baked in containers of hot water to help control the heat. The eggs are what thicken the mixture. The color of the shell and lightness or darkness of the yolk makes no difference in the food value of an egg. Our Dominique hens actually lay green eggs- no joke! Custards were often served as a dessert at the end of a meal. Growing up custard was a special treat for us. For some reason no one else in my family is as thrilled over eating custard as I am. I’ve found that the younger generation tends to turn their noses up whenever a custard dessert is mentioned. They think it is too bland compared to all the other desserts they have been exposed to.

So I’ve learned to camouflage custard. Such as this old recipe of Coconut Custard Pie that I’ve forgotten now when I first started making it. Every time I made my Coconut Custard Pie for a get-to-gether’s I’ve had interesting results. It brings back memories to the older generation, while intriguing the younger. I’ll never forget the first time I took my Coconut Custard Pie as a last minute quick dessert to a Sunday revival dinner. I couldn’t believe the impact it made as to me it wasn’t a large or fancy dessert. The older evangelist had tears in his eyes when he came over to personally thank me for bringing my Coconut Custard Pie. He said that he hadn’t eaten one of those pies since his grandmother died and confessed to eating three pieces.

My Coconut Custard Pie is an easy one-step dessert to make. All you need is a blender and pie dish. The recipe makes its own pie crust. This is an ideal no-fail recipe for a new cook to try. My Coconut Custard Pie is a filling dessert with a light custard coconut taste. The Coconut Custard Pie takes only five minutes to make and serves eight.

Coconut Custard Pie

Put into a blender and blend on high until all ingredients are mixed:
½ stick of margarine
1 c sugar
4 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
½ c self-rising flour
1½ c milk
1 c shredded coconut
Pour mixture into a buttered 10 inch deep pie dish. I take the end of a stick of margarine, unwrap the paper part way, and rub the stick of margarine directly onto a glass pie dish. Bake at 350º for one hour. Chill and serve!

Weekly tip: When breaking eggs, swish your finger inside the shell to remove all the egg white. You’ll be surprised at how much is still left inside the shell. This will help to increase the texture of your dessert!

Dorcas Annette Walker is a published author, syndicated columnist, freelance magazine writer, and photographer from Jamestown, Tennessee. Contact her at: dorcaswalker@twlakes.net For more information check out: www.dorcasannettewalker.com

April Fool's Day Frosting

April Fool’s Day Frosting

Dorcas Annette Walker

My father wasn’t one to pull pranks or make jokes. In fact I viewed my father as being a stern parent whose wrath I didn’t want to fall upon my head. So us kids became fair game for my father’s one prank of the year on April Fool’s Day. No matter how hard we tried to be on the alert, my father was a master at catching us off guard. Ironically enough my father’s birthday was April 1st and he lived up to the tradition of fooling everyone, most notably the medical profession by outliving the many predictions given. When born the doctors said that my dad would never live to see his teen years, then never reach his twenties, the thirties, or forties, with his severe bleeding condition. My father often bragged that he had more lives than a cat- referring to the numerous times doctors gave up on him. One such incident remains vivid in my mind. While I was in grade school they tried to operate on my father. After eight hours of surgery the surgeon came out to tell my mother that he was going to close the incision as my father was losing blood as fast as they gave it to him no matter what they tried. My grandparents came out to help my mother prepare for a funeral only for my dad to come home in a couple of weeks so weak he couldn’t even walk by himself. By my teen years, my dad’s episodes of being in the hospital at death’s door didn’t even faze me as I knew sooner or later he’d sign himself out and come home. After I was married, one time my dad got an internal shoulder bleed, waved off our protests, and drove three hours across the state to where a hemophilia clinic was only to pass out inside the emergency room door after staggering inside. The bleeding had spread across his chest nearly suffocating him. A couple days later I received a frantic phone call from the specialist in the evening with the news that my father was planning on signing himself out of the hospital. After two hours of arguing with my dad, I finally convinced him that if he wouldn’t let us come and drive him home to at least wait until daylight hours. So when my father died at age fifty-nine it was quite an adjustment to the entire family to realize that he was really was gone. Even though several years have passed since my father died, April Fool’s Day brings lots of memories to mind.

I discovered what I call the April Fool’s Day Frosting in the early days of my marriage. I was thrilled with the simple ingredients and easy-to-make instructions. Those were the good ole days before store-bought icing was available. The recipe seemed to be a no-fail icing with a marvelous texture. Even my husband was impressed when I served the light-green frosted cake for dessert. The next day my husband asked me what had happened the cake when he went to get another piece. I thought he was kidding (my husband is known for his pranks) when he said the icing was gone. I couldn’t believe my eyes. There sat the cake minus the frosting with only a faint green trace of color left on the chocolate cake. I even accused my husband of eating the icing- he did have a sweet tooth! I was totally floored to discover that my beautiful frosting had disappeared overnight. On the spot I named it April Fool’s Day Frosting. We have laughed about the incident many times since. In honor of April Fool’s Day, I’ll share my recipe with you making no promises or guarantees of whether it will disappear or remain.

April Fool’s Day Frosting

Beat 1 egg white until foamy.

Add:
1 c sugar
½ c pineapple juice
Whip on high for 10 minutes until the frosting stands in soft peaks. You can add a couple drops of food coloring if you desire. Ice cake and serve!

Weekly tip: Add a pinch of cream of tartar as you beat egg whites to add a firmer texture!

Dorcas Annette Walker is a published author, syndicated columnist, freelance magazine writer, and photographer from Jamestown, Tennessee. Contact her at: dorcaswalker@twlakes.net For more information check out: www.dorcasannettewalker.com