Pistachio Cake

Pistachio Cake
Dorcas Annette Walker

Springtime is full of color as the earth warms up. It is my favorite time of the year and this week Spring is official on the calendar. One reason I love springtime is due to the fact that I am addicted to color. If you don’t believe me just check out my website at: www.dorcasannettewalker or ask any of my family. I enjoy dressing in bright colors and each room of my house is a different color blending together like my flower beds outside. I especially revel in the soft green spring colors that appear outside my windows forming buds on the trees while the carpet of grass comes back to life again turning the world into a mass of green hues. There is something soothing to me about the color green.

I was fascinated the first time I saw my friend, Tonda Miller, make a Pistachio Cake. I always gravitated toward cooks and kitchens whenever I was out on the road traveling with my husband in evangelism. Camp meeting kitchens always welcomed another hand and you never knew what new recipe or tip you might discover. Tonda and I have a long history of friendship as both our husband are ministers and we’ve been in numerous revivals and camp meetings together. Tonda is also a camp cook. I loved whenever we were together as we both enjoy experimenting with ideas, sharing recipes, and trying new dishes out.

The first thing that caught my eye about the Pistachio Cake was its soft green color layered with green icing to match. Not only was the cake good to look at, but it tasted scrumptious, and was moist. The secret to the green coloring was using pistachio pudding. I couldn’t wait to get home to try the recipe out myself. Every time I make a Pistachio Cake it always brings lots of comments and second helpings. What I love about this cake is that it is simple to make and can be made ahead of time. This recipe for Pistachio Cake takes only around ten to fifteen minutes to prepare and serves sixteen.

Pistachio Cake

1 pkg yellow cake mix
1 pkg instant pistachio pudding
3 eggs
1 c cooking oil
1 c 7-up or Sprite
½ c pecans chopped
Combine all the ingredients together in bowl and beat with a mixer for two minutes. Pour batter into a greased bunt pan and bake at 350º for forty-five minutes. Cover and cool.

Icing:

1 pkg instant pistachio pudding
1½ c milk
8 oz container cool whip
Mix ingredients together and beat for five minutes. Cut the Pistachio Cake into three layers and ice. Refrigerate until ready to serve. May garnish with green sprinkles!

Dorcas Annette Walker is a freelance writer, author, columnist, and photographer from Jamestown, TN. If you have any cooking tips or favorite recipes you are welcome to contact me by mail at: Dorcas Walker, 929 Wildwood Lane, Jamestown, TN 38556 or email me at: dorcaswalker@yahoo.com. For more information about the Walker family and Dorcas’ books check out her website at: www.dorcasannettewalker.com or htpp://dorcasannettewalker.blogspot.com for other Creative Mountain Cookin recipes.

Seven-Layer Salad

Seven-Layer Salad
Dorcas Annette Walker

Spring is the time to start gardens. Even if a person doesn’t have a garden spot to grow a lot of stuff, planters are ideal for mini gardens. Lettuce needs to be planted early to do well. I’ve always had a garden spot for lettuce, onions, and radishes. Today we can buy ingredients for a fresh salad year round in the store, but there is nothing like the joy of walking outside to pick fresh lettuce or herbs to make a salad. Over the years my large garden spot has been changed to a flower bed and herb garden. Even so I plan on squeezing some lettuce and a few radishes in my herb garden between the parsley and chives this spring. One can never have too many plants.

There are all kinds of Seven-Layer Salad recipes to choose from ranging from mild salads to more of a western-style salad that can be used as a main dish. I even found a recipe for a Seven-Layer Salad for the birds that sounds good enough to eat- check it out below! Either way no matter how picky your family is when it comes to eating salads there is bound to be a Seven-Layer Salad recipe that will temp the taste buds. The great thing about making a Seven-Layer Salad is that this salad can be made ahead of time- even a day earlier. So mix and match the following ingredients to your heart’s content. If you need a quick casserole add more layers from some of the ideas below. My mountain style Seven-Layer Salad is simple to prepare, taking around twenty minutes or so to fix, and serves ten.

Seven-Layer Salad

Layer:
6 c lettuce broken into bite-size pieces
1 c broccoli
1 c cauliflower
1 c frozen peas

Spread 2 c mayonnaise or salad dressing (both are similar in flavor although salad dressing is usually a bit sweeter than mayonnaise) over the top to the edges to seal in the salad, which will keep the salad nice and crisp.

Sprinkle on top:
1 c shredded cheddar cheese
½ c bacon bits
Cover and chill in refrigerator until time to serve. May garnish with croutons!

Variations for Seven-Layer Salad:
- In place of lettuce use mixed salad greens, fresh spinach, Romaine lettuce or Iceberg.
- Layer in: cucumber slices, shredded red cabbage, diced tomatoes, black olives, Bermuda or green onion rings, mushrooms, sliced celery, grated carrots, slivered radishes, red or green peppers, chunks of hard boiled eggs, or a diced avocado.
- Top with: grated Parmesan cheese, feta cheese, croutons, chives, or a sprinkle of paprika.
- Western style salad: layer lettuce, crushed Fritos or tortilla chips, chopped tomatoes, cheddar cheese, one can of Mexi-beans or pinto beans (drained) one large jar of Italian salad dressing, and top with red onion rings.
- Bird Seven-Layer Salad: layer chopped greens, cubes vegetables (such as Brussels sprouts, zucchini, cucumber, green beans, red or green peppers, etc.), chopped broccoli and shredded carrots, uncooked pasta, drained canned pinto beans, and top with frozen mixed vegetables!

Dorcas Annette Walker is a freelance writer, author, columnist, and photographer from Jamestown, TN. If you have any cooking tips or favorite recipes you are welcome to contact me by mail at: Dorcas Walker, 929 Wildwood Lane, Jamestown, TN 38556 or email me at: dorcaswalker@yahoo.com. For more information about the Walker family and Dorcas’ books check out her website at: www.dorcasannettewalker.com or htpp://dorcasannettewalker.blogspot.com for other Creative Mountain Cookin recipes.

St. Patrick's Mint Brownies

St. Patrick’s Mint Brownies
Dorcas Annette Walker

I’m always collecting recipes that catch my eye that I stash in a pile to try out sometime. While browsing through my recipes, I saw a recipe for mint brownies and my imagination kicked in. I changed the brownie recipe to honor St. Patrick’s Day and whipped up a batch using my husband as a taste tester. He didn’t want to stop with one brownie. I had to admit these brownies were not only colorful but luscious too.

St. Patrick’s Day honors St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland who died on March 17th. Interestingly enough St. Patrick’s Day has been celebrated with greater fanfare here in America than over in Ireland. The total number of immigrants from Ireland lawfully admitted to the United States for permanent resident since 1820 is 4.8 million. The first St. Patrick’s parade, made up of Irish soldiers serving in the British colonial army, took place in New York on March 17, 1762. In 1995 the Irish government struck by the strange paradox of America, Canada, and Australia making a bigger holiday out of St. Patrick’s Day than the Emerald Isle itself began a national campaign to transform St. Patrick’s Day into an authentic Irish celebration. Corn beef and cabbage is the traditional Irish meal for St. Patrick’s Day. Today people celebrate St. Patrick’s Day by wearing the color green, shamrocks, and clover with three leaves in memory of Ireland.

Brownies are easy to make as a quick dessert or snack. These St. Patrick’s Mint Brownies are rich and moist topped off with a cool tasting creamy icing. Preparation time for my St. Patrick’s Mint Brownies is close to 45 minutes (baking time included) and serves around sixteen.

St. Patrick’s Mint Brownies

1 box of Brownie Mix
1pkg thin chocolate mints
Mix up and bake a batch of brownies as directed. As soon as brownies are done spread a layer of chocolate mints on top. Cover and let the mints melt.

Icing:

2 c powdered sugar
½ c shortening
¼ c milk
¼ tsp peppermint extract
¼ tsp almond extract
couple drops of green food coloring
Beat together with Wisk until smooth. Spread over cooled brownies. Cut into squares and serve!

Dorcas Annette Walker is a freelance writer, author, columnist, and photographer from Jamestown, TN. If you have any cooking tips or favorite recipes you are welcome to contact me by mail at: Dorcas Walker, 929 Wildwood Lane, Jamestown, TN 38556 or email me at: dorcaswalker@yahoo.com. For more information about the Walker family and Dorcas’ books check out her website at: www.dorcasannettewalker.com or htpp://dorcasannettewalker.blogspot.com for other Creative Mountain Cookin recipes.

Split Pea Soup

Split Pea Soup
Dorcas Annette Walker

March is always unpredictable weather wise. The month tantalizes a person with warm spring days that make you itch to get outside and begin gardening, only for the weather to turn wintry and cold overnight. You never know from day to day just what the weather will be like. For a blustery chilly day Split Pea Soup is a great dish to warm you up and tide you over until the weather turns warm again. In honor of St. Patrick’s Day I’m going to be using green foods in my recipes this month.

Split Pea Soup is made of dried, split peas, which have a great source of folate, fiber, iron, and protein as well as being low in fat. Here in the United States Split Pea Soup is merely one of many kinds of pea soups. Some people eat Split Pea Soup with corned beef and cabbage on St. Patrick’s Day to celebrate the color green. England gave us a well-known nursery rhyme about pea soup, which appeared first in 1765; Pease porridge hot. Pease porridge cold. Pease porridge in the pot. Nine days old. Pease is the archaic form of the word pea. Pea soup is a common dish throughout Germany and the Netherlands often containing bacon, sausage, or smoked pork and eaten with rye bread. According to one source the Greeks and Romans were selling hot pea soup in the streets of Athens around 500 to 400 BC. The second week in November is National Split Pea Soup week. One cookbook alone features over one hundred and fifty recipes using split peas.

My first introduction to Split Pea Soup was at my grandmother’s table. She would simmer on the stove all afternoon a huge pot of Split Pea Soup filling the house with a mouth-watering aroma. As a finishing touch my grandmother would drop spoon biscuits into the boiling soup that would rise to the top and puff up. It was a hardy and filling dish. My Split Pea Soup recipe takes three hours to make serves around eight, and leftovers can be frozen. You can also make Split Pea Soup in a crock-pot on a busy day. Put in all ingredients of my recipe (reduce water to fit crock-pot) in a crock-pot and cook on high 4 to 5 hours or on low 8 to 10 hours until all ingredients are cooked and soft.

Split Pea Soup

Take one meaty ham bone and cover with around 16 c water in large pot.
(I freeze leftover ham bones and meat scraps for soups.)

Add:
1 lb of dried split peas
1 tb dried onions or 1 small fresh onion diced
1 tsp salt.
Bring to a rolling boil and cook for 2 hours stirring often.

Add to soup:
5 carrots peeled and sliced
4 medium sized potatoes peeled and diced
Cook until soft and simmer for another hour or until ready to serve. (Add water if soup gets too thick.) Serve hot with homemade bread or rolls. Garnish soup with carrot curls!

Dorcas Annette Walker is a freelance writer, author, columnist, and photographer from Jamestown, TN. If you have any cooking tips or favorite recipes you are welcome to contact me by mail at: Dorcas Walker, 929 Wildwood Lane, Jamestown, TN 38556 or email me at: dorcaswalker@yahoo.com. For more information about the Walker family and Dorcas’ books check out her website at: www.dorcasannettewalker.com or htpp://dorcasannettewalker.blogspot.com for other Creative Mountain Cookin recipes.

Ole Fashion Pickled Beets

Ole Fashion Pickled Beets
Dorcas Annette Walker

This month I’ve used recipes with red foods. For the last week I’ve chosen pickled beets that can be used as a salad. I usually can pickled red beets during the summer to store in my pantry. For those of you who don’t have pickled beets on hand I’ve broken down my pickled beet recipe using store-bought canned red beets that is quick and easy to make. A family favorite is adding hard boiled eggs to the pickled beets. Every time my sister and I make up red beet eggs we are reminded of our mother and her colored eggs.

Like I’ve said before our mother didn’t do a lot of cooking as we grew up due to working fulltime to keep our family going. Once in a great while my mother would make up pickled beets with hard-boiled eggs as something special. One Easter she decided to make up pickled beets and eggs as a secret to go along with the Easter dinner. My sister and I were thrilled. My father’s background was Mennonite and we were raised very strict about observing holidays. No Christmas trees or Easter egg hunts were allowed in our home. I’ll never forget the look of triumph as my mother brought the dish of pickled beets and eggs to the table with a flourish to crown our simple meal and set it down before my father. He took one look and sternly asked, “What is this?” My mother looked surprised and replied, “Why pickled beets and eggs, dear.” My father frowned and pointed an accusing finger at the dish. “We don’t believe in coloring eggs for Easter. How worldly can you get?” In trying to make our Easter dinner festive, my mother had done the unthinkable. She had colored eggs! My father refused to eat the colored eggs and wouldn’t touch the pickled beets. Even today, years later with my father gone, every time I go to eat a pickled egg I remember my mother’s colored eggs.

The garden red beet is one of the most important vegetables due to its high fiber including riboflavin, iron, vitamins A, and C. Wisconsin, New York, and Texas are primary beet producing states, although beets are grown extensively from Michigan to Idaho and out in California. Beets are grown during the cooler months to yield dark red roots and is used as crop rotation. While the red beet is mostly grown for its fleshly root both the foliage and roots of the red beet are edible. Four distinct types of beets are grown. The leaf beet, known as Swiss chard, with its leafy green tops are highly nutritious. The mangel-wurzel red beet is a succulent feed for livestock. The root is used as fodder in Europe and Canada. The foliage is also used as feed. The sugar beet with selective breeding provides about one third of the world’s commercial sugar production. The extracted beet sucrose, dissolved in water, is refined and granulated- much like sugar cane- to make sugar.

Ole Fashion Pickled Beets

Place in glass bowl:
2 cans of red beets with juice
Microwave for two minutes or until dissolved:
1 c sugar
1 c vinegar (white or dark)
Add to red beets and stir. Mix in:
¼ tsp cloves
For colorful red beet eggs add peeled, hard-boiled eggs to pickled beets. Cover and chill for a couple of hours before serving. My Ole Fashion Pickled Beets recipe takes around five minutes to prepare and this recipe serves six.

Dorcas Annette Walker is a freelance writer, author, columnist, and photographer from Jamestown, TN. If you have any cooking tips or favorite recipes you are welcome to contact me by mail at: Dorcas Walker, 929 Wildwood Lane, Jamestown, TN 38556 or email me at: dorcaswalker@yahoo.com. For more information about the Walker family and Dorcas’ books check out her website at: www.dorcasannettewalker.com or htpp://dorcasannettewalker.blogspot.com for other Creative Mountain Cookin recipes.

Homemade Chili

Homemade Chili
Dorcas Annette Walker

Cold winter days invariably finds me at my kitchen stove making up a big pot of chili. Not only does a bowl of chili warm up one’s insides, but there is something tantalizing in the aroma of handling dried herbs that brings back summertime memories of growing gardens and fresh flowers. As I mix and cook with herbs I am encircled in a cocoon of warmth despite frigid temperatures outside my kitchen window.

There are many debates and contests on the best way to make chili as well as heated arguments on exactly where chili originated. The earliest description of chili written down was by J. C. Clopper of Houston, Texas. General consensus dates the beginning of chili to the mid 1800’s with the Texas trail cooks who had to feed hungry cowboys using whatever ingredients was on hand; beef, buffalo, venison or rattlesnake that they mixed with chilies, wild garlic, onion, and herbs. Nonperishable trail food was made by pounding dried meat, fat, Chile peppers, and salt into chili bricks that could be soaked in water and cooked up making a hearty stew. One tale is told of a range cook who collected wild oregano, Chile peppers, wild garlic, and onions to make his chili. To ensure he had the native spices wherever he went he planted gardens along the paths of cattle drives in patches of mesquite to protect his herbs from marauding cattle. On the next trip he would harvest his herbs hanging peppers, onions, and oregano to dry on the side of his chuck wagon blazing a trail of spicy gardens across Texas.

My introduction to making homemade chili came shortly after I was married when a friend’s cousin came to visit the college campus, where my husband and I lived, from a culinary school up in New York. He cooked with herbs I had never heard of before and loved to experiment. As soon as we met I was intrigued. When he found out that I cooked mainly from scratch he began asking me all kinds of questions about my recipes. The rest of his visit consisted of one big cook-off in my kitchen where we huddled over the stove all day experimenting with mixing various herbs, debating the merits of different blends of foods, and trying out new recipes that my husband and his college friends devoured. It was pure bliss. All too soon his visit ended. I’ve long forgotten the fellow’s name, but my love and fascination with herbs has stuck throughout the years.

Chili recipes are as diversified as microwaves. No two are the same. Everywhere I’ve traveled each bowl of chili tastes different. Cooking up a batch of homemade chili is an excellent time to experiment with herbs personalizing the recipe to match your taste buds. My Homemade Chili recipe is considered mild. Preparation time for my Homemade Chili is around an hour and this recipe makes almost two gallons (around 28 servings). Chili freezes well and makes a ready-made meal for busy days. A slice of homemade bread or hot cornmeal muffins goes well with a bowl of chili.

Homemade Chili

Brown 2 lbs of hamburger in the bottom of a two gallon cooking pot with:
1 tb dried chopped onion or 1 small fresh chopped onion
1 tsp garlic salt
shake in salt and pepper

Add:
6 quarts pureed tomatoes
2 cans of hot chili beans
¼ c sugar
1 tb dried parsley
1 tb dried oregano
1 tsp crushed dried red pepper
Bring to a boil and cook for at least an hour (cook longer if you prefer a thicker soup). May garnish with sour cream and shredded cheddar cheese!

Dorcas Annette Walker is a freelance writer, author, columnist, and photographer from Jamestown, TN. If you have any cooking tips or favorite recipes you are welcome to contact me by mail at: Dorcas Walker, 929 Wildwood Lane, Jamestown, TN 38556 or email me at: dorcaswalker@yahoo.com. For more information about the Walker family and Dorcas’ books check out her website at: www.dorcasannettewalker.com or htpp://dorcasannettewalker.blogspot.com for other Creative Mountain Cookin recipes.