Blueberry Picnic Cake

Here's a tasty summertime dessert that I discovered while we were in Oregon. In fact, my sister, Mary, made it! And its really good! I made it yesterday for prayer meeting and people there seemed to like it too so I am sharing it with my bloggy friends.

3 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1 cup butter, softened
Grated rind of one lemon
1/2 tsp. allspice
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 tsp. salt
3 eggs, separated
1 1/2 cups milk
2 cups blueberries

Mix flour and sugar in a large bowl; cut in butter until crumbly. Reserve 1 cup of this mixture for topping. Add lemon rind, allspice, baking powder and salt to remaining mixture. Mix egg yolks into milk and add to dry ingredients beating until smooth. Beat egg whites until stiff. Fold gently into batter. Pour into greased and floured 9 X 13 inch pan. Scatter blueberries and reserved crumb mixture over the top. Bake in preheated 350 degree oven for 40 minutes or until golder brown. Enjoy!

Chicken Curry

This recipe is from my sister, Mary. Now I want to tell you that when you see recipes posted on this blog that say they came from my sister, Mary, you can be sure they are good! And if you like curry, you will definitely love this dish. So let's get started.

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons cooking oil
4 chicken breasts (I cut them into strips)
2 tablespoons curry powder
2/3 cup water
2 tablespoons heavy cream
2 onions
2 apples, cored and sliced OR 1 apple and 1/2 cup applesauce
1/2 cup raisins, optional (I omitted them. Andy does not like raisins.)
salt and pepper
Fresh parsley for garnish

Heat oil in large pan. Salt and pepper both sides of chicken breasts. Brown chicken in hot oil. Stir curry powder into water and add to chicken in pan. Add onions, apples and raisins. Cover and cook for 35 minutes. If desired, add cream and cook another 10 minutes. Serve over cooked rice. Enjoy!

Split Pea Soup Extraordinaire--By Request

I can say that, the extraordinaire part, because this is really not my recipe. When I was in Oregon about six weeks ago to visit my family, various members of said family made comments to me about my sister, Mary's split pea soup. Things like, "Have you ever had Mary's split pea soup?" or "You really have to have Mary's split pea soup sometime!" or "Mary makes the best split pea soup!" So I finally asked her exactly what the deal was with this raved-about split pea soup and she said the secret ingredients were potatoes and garlic. "Okay," I said, filing that away for future reference. Well, I had a ham bone in the freezer so last week, I decided to give it a try. Here's the exact recipe:

Boil a ham bone with lots of ham scraps still attached in about a gallon of water for a couple of hours. Remove bone and strip it of usable ham chunks cutting them into bite-sized pieces. Set ham chunks aside adding more of them, if necessary.

Add approximately four and a half cups of dried split peas to the ham broth and bring to a boil. Boil for two minutes; then remove from heat, cover and let stand one hour. Stir about one cup of chopped onion, two cloves of minced garlic, and salt and pepper as desired into peas. Cover and simmer until peas are tender, about one hour. Skim fat if necessary.

Add ham chunks, three medium carrots (sliced) and three medium potatoes cut into half inch cubes to soup. Heat to boiling, reduce heat. Cover and simmer until vegetables are tender, about 45 minutes.

Well, that split pea soup was everything it was cracked up to be! Andy loved it that night and I thought it was pretty darn good, myself! The next day, I was having tea with my dear friend, Kim, and I mentioned that the night before I had made the best split pea soup I ever made. Being the excellent cook that she is, Kim's ears perked up even though she is the only one in her family who likes the stuff. The next day I dropped some off for Kim's dining pleasure at lunch time and that is where the request part comes in. "You've got to post that recipe!" she said. So here is...with endorsements!

Swiss Potato Pancakes

I just had these pancakes for the first time a couple of weeks ago when visiting my sister, Mary, in Portland, Oregon. A birthday brunch for my nephew, David, was the occasion but I wouldn't wait for a special celebration to fix a batch. They are different but a definite winner in my book!

Let's get started:
4 medium size potatoes, peeled, shredded and well drained
1 cup (4 ounces) shredded swiss cheese
1/4 cup chopped onion
3 eggs
1/4 cup flour
1 t. salt
1/8 t. pepper

Combine all ingredients and mix thoroughly. Heat enough oil to just cover bottom of large, heavy skillet, adding oil as needed to fry pancakes. Drop (this is the hard part) 1/4 cup batter into hot oil to form 4 inch pancake. Cook over medium high heat till golden brown and crisp on both sides. Serve immediately with chilled applesauce.