Red Velvet Wisdom

In celebration of the hectic holiday known as Thanksgving, Dena and I wanted to share with you stories and recipes from our family.   Now I’m not entirely sure how we got the tradition of the Thanksgiving auction started, but I’m pretty sure it had something to do with the fact that our Papaw loved any kind of an auction, and as he got older and less capable, he wasn’t really able to go.  So one year Dena got the bright idea that we would have an auction of sorts.

Now in order for this to happen, a few months before the actual holiday, Dena told everybody to start buying little random inexpensive items to put in this auction.  Then she had some play money printed up and everybody got the same amount to spend.  Now at first we were sort of hesitant, but we soon got into the game when we realized that among the random toys, dollar store trinkets, and holiday candy was a plate full of Geneva’s homemade fried pies.  Now you have to be calculating,  because in addition to the pies there may be some sort of makeup, or card game, or Christmas ornament that you need, and you don’t wanna blow it all on pies, even though it may sound like a good investment at the time.

It wasn’t long before we were all screaming like we were on the New York stock exchange and fighting over gummy worms from Dollar General like they were gold.  Call it a competitive gene we all have, but we became very determined in our quest to get whatever items we were wanting off the auction block.   Needless to say, the auction went very well, and so was carried on to the next year, where Dena got the BRILLIANT idea to put a little goody basket full of 5 hour energy drinks on the auction block.  Our siblings were so ecstatic to see their already overly-active kids bidding rabidly on something that would provide them with hours and hours of sleepless fun.  Of course the most hyper of them all threw every fake dollar he had in and was the big winner.  Dena is still apologizing over that.

Now as much fun as it is to buy trinkets from various discount outlets, my personal favorites are the things that people make, and by things I mean food.   I have already mentioned the fried pies, but other favorites have been homemade divinity, and loaves of banana nut bread.  I could eat a whole loaf all by myself.  I mean that I would, or have, but I could if somebody twisted my arm.  So here is the recipe, just in case you get the urge to make a loaf, and then take it out of the oven and cover a warm slice in butter and eat it.  And then repeat the process over and over.

Banana Nut Bread

• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 cup of sugar
• 3-5 ripe bananas
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup butter (softened)
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup of chopped walnuts (or more if you prefer, or you can omit it entirely for those with nut allergies)

Preheat oven to 350.    Mash bananas and add softened butter.  Beat eggs and add to mixture.  Add remaining ingredients and mix well.  Pour into a loaf pan (make sure to spray with some sort of non-stick cooking spray).  Bake for 45 minutes.  At the 45 minute mark check the middle of it with a toothpick.  Another option would be to put this in several small loaf pans and bake for 35 minutes.    Wrap it in some brightly colored cling wrap and it’s a perfect little gift!

One of the whole reasons we decided to start this site was to promote a cookbook I am working on of Mama’s recipes.  Not only will it have her recipes, but also some of my favorite stories and pieces of advice that she has passed down to me through the years.   One thing I have discovered is that a lot of her recipes are deceptively easy.  They are easy in the sense that they may not have all that many ingredients or steps, but the deceptive part appears to be in the technique.  A seasoned cooking vet like Mama can take a few random things and turn them into something amazing, and a rank amateur such as myself can barely take a kit step by step and make it come out correctly.   I clearly did not get this gene or skill or whatever it is, but I’m hoping to redeem myself in some capacity by at least getting her stuff down on paper so that my generation can at least have a shot at TRYING to cook something decent.  Now I won’t give away all the chapters and details, but I will say that one of the chapters is called “My Favorite Things That Mama Cooks.”   This chapter will encompass my absolute favorite things that she makes along with my favorite stories of all time about her.  There are a lot to choose from, of both recipes AND stories.  For this post I picked a recipe that appears to be super easy, but of course if you somehow manage to not do it correctly, you will fail miserably!

I should tell you that when I told Dena about this recipe and how much I loved it when Mama would make it for me, Dena SWEARS that never in her entire life did Mama make her these cheese pennies.  I told her Mama made them for me all the time when I was little, but this is probably because I am her favorite.   Or it could be because I was home alone with her so much as a child she got bored and started making up random recipes to entertain herself.  Anyway, I hope you enjoy this little cracker-type creation, and be on the lookout for the Red Velvet Wisdom book that will be available on Amazon in the next month or so!

Cheese Pennies

• 1 lb of grated cheddar cheese
• 2 cups of all purpose flour
• 1/2 stick of margarine (softened)
• hot sauce

Take the cheddar cheese, and sift in flour.  Add margarine and about 6 drops of hot sauce (more or less depending on  your preference).  Mix with hands until batter is stiff.  Roll the batter into a ball then divide the ball in half.  Take one half of the ball and roll it out like a snake, until it is about as big around as a quarter.   Repeat with the other half off the batter.   Take both rolls, and wrap in wax paper.  Place in the refrigerator and allow them to chill thoroughly.  After they are chilled, unroll and slice with a very sharp knife (about 1/4 of an inch thick).  Place on a cookie sheet and bake for 8 minutes at 350.

Picking up from the last time, Halloween in Dixie is never dull. We had been invited to my sister-in-law’s mother’s house (Granny, for future reference) for a Mexican feast. The food was divine. There was fresh guacamole, salsa, and hot from the stove tortilla chips. They were serious about their Halloween food! Also were three huge pans of enchilladas, both beef and chicken.

Sadly, I did not get any pictures of the food. What came over me?

Our youngest family member celebrated his first Halloween.

Maybe next time I’ll be more focused on the food.

Yesterday was busy all day long. Joy called me three or four times and each time I was in the middle of something and told her I would call her back when I got a chance. Sadly, I didn’t slow to down until she had already left for a party.

Our day started with an early lunch. We decided to surprise Mama with a lunch from one of her favorite places in town.

You can pretty much guess what they serve here.  Chicken fried steak seems to be what  they are well known for. They also have a mean pie case.

The pictures don’t really show how crazy big those strawberries are in that pie. They also sell them whole, along with chocolate, coconut and banana pudding. My daughter like it because they have Blue Bell Ice Cream.

In each booth you have a bottle of honey to pour over fresh, hot rolls or cornbread they bring to your table before your food ever arrives. The bread basket is always in plentiful supply.  We took our order to go so we didn’t have access to honey.

We headed over to the rehab place where our mom is getting better each day. Thankfully, she got the right doctor in charge of her care.  She does want it clarified that her rehab is not a drug/alcohol rehab and her therapy is exercising, not talking.  Really, couldn’t everyone use a little talking therapy?

Little Boo got a chicken fried steak dinner. It was huge and her only complaint? “The potatoes had bumps in them.” Shhhh…. don’t tell her that mine don’t have bumps because they come from a package.

Mother and I shared a salmon croquette dinner. I despise cooking these so I always get this when I go to Dixie Diner. Two patties come with a meal so there was plenty to share. Soon, Mama’s lunch arrived from the rehab cafeteria. She said that some days, it is really good.

This day, not so much. She said that the meat, “looked like a science experiment gone wrong.” Oh well. At least she had snacks for later.

Boo is like her dad. They both fall asleep after a big meal. Chicken fried steak is like an ambien to them. She crawled in the empty bed and took a little nap before we headed out shopping.

I never can find anything at Old Navy, so we made a quick trip the mall, and then home.  Later tonight I’ll add part two of our Halloween adventures.