A Couple of My Favorite Old Recipes

Here is an old recipe I got from my Jo, my sister, many years ago.  Jo, bless her heart, was such a good cook - much better than her older sister.  She could throw things together and they always turned out so yummy.  This recipe is such a good one but finding apricot pie filling is next to impossible.  Peach will do just fine.  As you can see, this makes a lot and would be great for a large crowd.  I am sure it could be halved nicely.  The ease with which it can be put together makes it really nice for a busy gal.  I know when I went back to Illinois for one of my high school reunions, this is what I put together for our picnic and it was so easy and eaten all up!!  Add the slice bananas just before serving. 

When we moved to the Kansas City area in 1972, our neighbors had zuccini in their garden.  I had never heard of it even though my dad had grown a good share of our food when we were growing up and grew many things in his garden that you don't normally see like Chinese cabbage, celery cabbage, peanuts, etc.  Wilsons had a surplus of the squash and gave it to all the neighbors.  The lady across the street made this wonderful bread - and I got the recipe.  Over the years, I have made this many times albeit not for a long time now.  It is a great recipe.  When we had our own zuccini, I used to grate and freeze it and then use it in bread.  Nice, yummy, moist loaf of goodness!  (Click to enlarge)

A Good Old Recipe

(This is a wonderful recipe for home baked beans - but I never put that much salt in - maybe a teaspoonful - and I chopped the onion.  There is also a quick method of soaking beans which entails boiling them and then covering and letting them set for a certain amount of time.  You can check in a cookbook or on the internet.)

When we moved to the Kansas City area, we had a nice old couple for neighbors - Mil and Jun.  At the time, Ray and I were in our early forties and the Wilsons were in their early 70's.  They were fun people - Mil and I went together and had our ears pierced - she bought diamond studs and I wore the junky type I still wear.  They never had any children, but they had good friends with a daughter and they were like family with them.   Mil gave me this recipe for baked beans from scratch and also told me how to fix barbecued brisket that they used to have on Christmas Eve. This is one heckuva delicious meal and one that I have made many, many times in the past 35 to 40 years.  The family loves it.  I haven't  made it much lately as I just don't cook like I used to.  Sherry has carried on with the brisket part and it's always really well received.  Around here, it's hard to find a whole brisket or the flat end but in the KC area they were out in the meat case all the time so you have to ask the butcher ahead of time to save you one.  The way Mil told me to fix that was to put aluminum foil in a pan big enough to hold the brisket and have plenty foil to seal it but  not wrapped tightly around the meat.  I always sprinkled lots of good stuff over it - salt, pepper, dill weed, Worcestershire sauce, dry mustard, paprika, minced onions, barbecue spice, etc., whatever you have in your spice cabinet that might sound good.  Then you bake it slowly -250 for 8 hours (get the connection - the same as the beans!) and then drain the liquid off and there will be a lot of that since the brisket really shrinks.  Add your favorite barbecue sauce and bake some more - use your judgment, I don't have a specific amount of time but you would raise the oven temperature.  My daughter shreds the brisket after it is baked and puts it in a crockpot with the sauce and uses it for sandwiches.  I always just sliced it and served it that way.  Regardless, this is a good meal - comfort food!  (Click to enlarge)