Bourbon Balls

3 cups finely crushed vanilla wafers (about 1 box or 75 cookies)

2 cups powdered sugar

1 cup finely chopped pecans or walnuts (about 4 ounces)

1/3 cup cocoa

1/2 cup bourbon (or your favorite liquor)

1/4 cup light corn syrup

Powdered or granulated sugar

Mix crushed wafers, powdered sugar, nuts, and cocoa. Stir in bourbon and corn syrup. Shape mixture into 1-inch balls. Roll in powdered sugar. Refrigerate in tightly covered containers several days before serving. Makes about 60 servings. 

NOTES

• When I make this recipe, I generally use pecans rather than walnuts, but they are both tasty. 
• I have made this recipe many different ways over the years. Simply substitute your favorite liquor for the bourbon. I have used whiskey, bourbon, Jim Beam Red Stag Dark Cherry bourbon, cinnamon whiskey, dark rum, pineapple rum and other flavored rums, creme de menthe, Grand Marnier, butterscotch schnapps, orange cream rum, etc.  You get the idea!  😀
• I have never rolled the balls in granulated sugar. I always use powdered sugar, but I’m sure both are good. 
• I have been using this recipe for 16 years and it is just awesome. 

Cornbread

When I was growing up, we had cornbread almost every night for supper and it was one of the first things that I learned to cook. Grandma Burnette had a stool in her kitchen that had two steps on the front of it and I would stand on that so that I could reach the counter to stir the cornbread after she put all of the ingredients into the bowl. As I got a bit older, she taught me to mix the ingredients myself.

One of our favorite ways to eat the cornbread was in milk & cornbread. My parents and grandparents would just crumble the bread into the milk and eat it with a spoon. I never really like it much like that, so I would dig the inside of the cornbread out, eat that, and then dip the crust into the milk.  I LOVED that!!!

Our favorite brand of cornmeal.
Produced at a mill in North Carolina.

When I went to elementary school, one of the lunches that we would be served consisted of pinto beans (nowhere near as good as what we fixed at home), stewed tomatoes (nasty no matter where they are cooked), and cornbread.  The cornbread at school was just gross. It was made of yellow cornmeal and had a hint of sweetness to it. (Cornbread isn't supposed to be yellow or sweet!)  I hated it! When they served that particular lunch at school, I was so sad because I would not eat any of it. Back then, the lunch menu was not posted in advance, so it was always a surprise! In fact, it was this lunch that finally convinced me that I just needed to pack a lunch each day, which I continued to do through high school.

My family always used this flour!
Produced at the same mill in North Carolina
as the cornmeal.

Our cornbread just had four ingredients plus water:

1.  About 1/2 bowlful of Tenda-Bake WHITE Cornmeal  (Yellow cornmeal is only suitable for animal food .  . . or that was the belief in my family and I have since learned that, in general, white cornmeal is traditionally a Southern thing while yellow cornmeal is a Northern thing.)
2.  A couple heaping tablespoons of Southern Biscuit Self-Rising Flour
3.  A splash of whole milk
4.  Enough water to make it the right texture

While mixing these ingredients together, there would be a cast iron frying pan in the oven with a couple pieces of streaky meat frying. If we happened to be out of streaky meat, we would use a spoonful of bacon grease. We had one particular frying pan that was used for nothing but cornbread. Once the cornbread was mixed up, we would take the pan out of the oven, remove the streaky meat, leaving the grease in the pan. Then we would tilt the pan this way and that to make sure that the grease coated the inside of the pan well and then poured the remaining hot grease into the batter, stirring it in really quickly. Then, we poured the batter into the frying pan and baked it until done at around 450F. 

Once the cornbread was done, we would turn it out on a plate and break off pieces to eat or to make milk & cornbread. We NEVER cut cornbread, because that would bring bad luck!  We always just broke off a piece with our hands.

Now, I am wanting some cornbread!

Oh yeah, and some of that streaky meat with the hard and chewy rind!

 Copyright 2013--All Rights Reserved--The Wheel & Distaff by Kimberly Burnette-Dean

Mystery Food

I had something to eat today that I have NEVER had before.

Do you recognize what these are?

I discovered that I am a HUGE fan and

I cannot believe that I have NEVER had one before!!

Yummy Fast Pickles

When I used to work at a living history museum one of my favorite things to prepare during hot weather was a fast pickle.  I would slice up cucumbers fresh from the garden and put them in a bowl of vinegar, sugar and a pinch of salt. I kept a bowl of these going all during cucumber season. All of my co-workers would come by and munch on those cucumbers because they were very refreshing when working outdoors in 90 degree, humid weather. I know that I made them really too sour for some of them, but they ate them anyway. Many a time we would get strangled on that strong vinegar! 

While I was playing on Pinterest yesterday, I ran across a recipe for Cathy's Fresh Cucumber Salad that sounded SO tasty that I had to run out this morning and buy the ingredients!  The original recipe sounds fabulous, but anyone that knows me KNOWS how I love sour or hot food.  Naturally, I had to start changing things up!

The first problem that I encountered was that the pickling cucumbers looked terrible.  They were shriveled up and just nasty looking. So, I got regular cucumbers and decided that I should peel the tough skins.

I prefer red onions and I thought that they would look pretty in the jar, so I used them instead of white onions.  I really wanted to get red bell peppers, but when I saw that the price of them was DOUBLE the price of green peppers, I decided that money in my pocket feels better than red peppers look!

The one thing that I did not count on was the fact that pickling season is in full swing.  I bought the last gallon of white vinegar and there was NO celery seed to be found in store. I decided that the mustard seed would be enough seasoning.

The recipe only called for 1 cup of vinegar which I boiled up with the sugar. It was not enough to cover the cucumbers, so I boiled more. Oh yeah, I also cut the amount of sugar in half because I like it SOUR!  I thought about adding a jalapeno to the jar just for that extra added zip, but decided I would save that for the next jar.

About an hour after I made them, I gave one a taste.  YUM! I put the jar in the fridge and came into work.  I can't wait to get home and try them after they have set awhile.

Pickles!

Ask me if I like pickles. Go ahead. These are just SOME of the jars of pickles that I have at home. Here is an interesting fact. My husband HATES pickles. So these are ALL mine!  BAA-HA-HA-HA!

My love affair with pickles dates back to when I was just a little girl.  My family raised almost all of the food that we ate, which means that our basement was always full of jars just brimming with tasty homegrown foods. My mom would usually make sweet pickles and pickled beets. I loved them both. Grandma, who lived across the road, made sweet pickles, bread & butter pickles and salt pickles.  I never really cared for the salt pickles because somehow in my mind, I thought that they were "adult food." Go figure!

We always went to town (Hillsville) once a week on Saturdays. Occasionally, Grandpa Burnette rode to town with us. My mom would get her hair done, I would take my piano lesson, and when Grandpa went with us, he would hang out at the courthouse and socialize with the other men who came to town on Saturdays. While in town, we would pick up staples like flour, sugar, meal, and a few other things that we did not produce ourselves.

On this one particular Saturday, Grandpa bought a jar of Mt. Olive Sour Pickles.  I had never heard of Sour Pickles before.  Later that day, after we were home, I went to Grandpa's house to play.  I remember that Grandma was in the kitchen cooking and I was in there "helping" her.  That jar of Sour Pickles was just setting there on the table. Grandpa came into the kitchen, opened the jar and chomped down on one of those sour pickles and just smacked his mouth exclaiming that they were mighty good pickles. Then he just threw back his head and started laughing . . . and offered me one.  Grandma immediately started scolding Grandpa saying that one of those pickles would make me have a stomachache. Well, you just have to understand. Anything Grandpa did, I had to do. He called me his "little tag-a-long."  I followed him everywhere and mimicked him all of the time. I HAD to eat one of those pickles.  I was a little scared. I took a tentative bite and made a horrible face. MAN, were those things SOUR!!  But, after a second nibble, I discovered that I LOVED sour pickles!  After that introduction, many was the time that Grandpa and I would sit on the front porch munching from a bowl filled with pickles!

After that, my Grandma would make me sour pickles when she picked cucumbers from the garden. It got to the point where she was almost using straight vinegar and very little sugar in those pickles in an attempt to make them sour enough for me and Grandpa. She said that they were so sour that they would make a pig squeal! I could eat a whole quart jar of those pickles and still be looking for more.

In the early 2000's I fell in love with Vlasic Sour Pickles. I ate them all the time. Unfortunately, Vlasic stopped making those pickles around 2005 and I was heartbroken.  They were THE BEST store-bought sour pickles ever.

I love all kinds of pickles with the exception of those that have a garlic taste to them. Yuck! I am always on a quest to find another really good sour pickle, so if you know of a brand, please, let me know so that I can give them a try!

With meals or as a snack, anytime is a good time for pickles!

Copyright 2012--All Rights Reserved--The Wheel & Distaff by Kimberly Burnette-Dean.

Saratoga Potatoes

This recipe is still commonly used today.  See if you can figure out what we call it!

Saratoga Potatoes

Pare and cut into thin slices on a slaw-cutter four large potatoes (new are best), let stand in ice-cold water while breakfast is cooking; take a handful of the potatoes, squeeze the water from them and dry in a napkin, separate the slices and drop a handful at a time into a skillet of boiling lard, taking care that they do not strike together, stir with a fork till they are a light brown color, take out with a wire spoon, drain well and serve in an open dish.  They are nice served cold.

from:  Buckeye Cookery and Practical Housekeeping.  Marysville, Ohio: Buckeye Publishing Company, 1877. p. 293.

"Bad dinners go hand in hand with total depravity, while a properly fed man is already half saved." (from the cover of the cookbook)

Grandma's Batter Bread

When I was growing up, my family cooked just about everything from scratch. The majority of the food that we ate came from our little family farm. A big breakfast, a big dinner, and then a lighter supper, usually consisting of leftovers from dinner, was the general order of things. A typical dinner or supper always consisted of a meat, potatoes, 2-3 other vegetables, and bread. Always bread. Usually cornbread, but occasionally we would have batter bread.

I used to pester my Mama & Grandma to let me help them cook.  My mom worked a full time job and usually a part time job too, so when it came to cooking, she just wanted to get the food to cooking as quickly as possible so that she could sit down and rest.  Grandma had a bit more time to let a little girl "help" which generally meant a big mess to clean up!  Grandma taught me how to read a recipe, but more importantly, mama and grandma both taught me how to cook from scratch, by simply throwing together whatever we had available to create something tasty.  Learning how different ingredients work together makes cooking without recipes so much easier. 

Thanks Mama & Grandma!

How did you learn to cook?

Grandma & Grandpa Burnette

Grandma's Batter Bread

1/2 cup shortening

3 cups self-rising flour

milk

Work the flour into the shortening until crumbly. Continue stirring and adding milk until it has the consistency of cake batter.  Pour into a pre-heated Dutch oven if baking in a fireplace or in a cast iron frying pan if using a modern oven and bake at 375F.  Bake until a broom straw inserted into the center comes out clean.

A sweet bread can also be made using the above recipe. Add sugar to taste. You may also add raisins, bananas, apples, nuts or other fruits.

Copyright 2012--All Rights Reserved--The Wheel & Distaff by Kimberly Burnette-Dean. 

Portobello Mushroom Pizza

I usually try to stick to more traditional recipes and information on this blog, but I just had to share this with you.  It is tasty with a capital "T" and healthy too!

Portobello Mushroom Pizza

1 portobello mushroom cap with the stem removed

oil spray

pizza sauce

mozzarella cheese

your favorite pizza toppings

Spray both sides of mushroom with oil and place on a foil-lined baking sheet. Bake for 30 minutes at 400F or until tender, turning once.

Remove from oven and top the concave side of the mushroom with the pizza sauce and cheese. Add your favorite toppings. I used thinly sliced onion, fresh slices of jalapeno, and turkey pepperoni. Put under broiler for about a minute or until the cheese is nice and bubbly.

This was SO good! I didn't miss not having a real pizza crust in this recipe. Now, I am planning other tasty toppings like crumbled bacon, Canadian bacon, olives, etc. After I finished eating it, I wished that I had made two!

Roasted Onions

Roasted Onions

These should be cooked in their skins; but before putting them into the oven, brush off all grittiness. Place in a moderate oven, cooking gradually until nearly done, then quicken the oven and brown.  Serve with plenty of fresh butter.
--from Godey's Lady's Book Receipts and Household Hints by Sarah Annie Frost, Evans, Stoddart & Co, 1870, p. 173.  (For more great 19th century recipes, check out the rest of this book on Google Books.)

(I have made this before and it is yummy! I cooked them in a 350F oven until they were fork-tender. Then, I turned the broiler on to brown them.  Watch it very carefully so you don't burn your tasty onions! I also seasoned them with salt and pepper to taste.)

Pound Cake--19th Century Style

See if you can guess how this cake got its name!  Most 19th century recipes for pound cake are very similar to the one below. This one came from Tyree, Marion Cabell. Housekeeping in Old Virginia. Louisville, KY: John P. Morton and Company, 1879.  In a time when eggs could be traded for other goods, using a dozen to make a cake for just the immediate family was quite a luxury. Butter was also used as a trade item so using eggs and butter was almost like eating your paycheck! Using sugar instead of a home grown sweetener, like honey or molasses, was also quite a treat.

Pound Cake

1 pound sugar

1 pound butter

1 pound of flour

12 eggs

Cream the butter; rub into it gradually the sifted and dried flour. Beat the yolks of ten eggs very light, then add the powdered sugar, beat again, add a wine-glass of brandy or one of good whiskey flavored with nutmeg, or the grated rind of a lemon; mix all together.  Stir in the whites of twelve eggs beaten to a stiff froth, just before baking.  It will take two hours to bake.



On the tenth day of Christmas my true love gave to me, ten lords a-leapin', nine ladies dancing, eight maids a-milkin', seven swans a-swimmin', six geese a-layin, five golden rings, four colly birds, three French hens, two turtle doves, and a partridge in a pear tree.

Cherry Bounce Revisited

My very first blog post on July 2, 2011, was about making Cherry Bounce. After the cherries, honey and bourbon were mixed, it was supposed to be kept in a cool place for approximately six months.  I figured that Christmas Day was close enough to six months for me to give it a try!

Cherry Bounce just after it was made back in July

It is suggested that it be drank neat, so that is what we tried. My husband says that it tastes like medicine, but I think that  it is sweet and smooth. I am a huge fan of Cherry Dr. Pepper and what would make more sense than to mix some of the Cherry Bounce with it?! Very yummy indeed.

The only cool place that I had to keep the Bounce was in the fridge.
That is why the jar is covered with condensation..

Since the recipe also mentions putting some of the cherries over ice cream, I thought that I would give one of the cherries a taste.  Ooooooo-WEEEEE!  That was a STRONG cherry!   Perhaps if the cherries were chopped up and then put on the ice cream, it might be pretty good.

The Bounce turned a deep garnet red.

Over all, I would give Cherry Bounce two thumbs up!

On the second day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, two turtle doves, and a partridge in a pear tree. 

Christmas Lore--Day 21

My friend, Penny, brought a cheese ball into work quite a few years ago and it was so yummy that I just had to have the recipe. I made it this past weekend to bring to work and to my knitting group. It was a hit! What makes it so great at Christmas time is that the cherries tint the cream cheese a pretty pink and then the red cherries and green onions look very Christmas-y! (I did have a photo of the cheese ball before everyone dug in, but unfortunately, I got the dreaded "card read error" when I tried to view the other photos.)

Cherry Cheese Ball

16 oz cream cheese, softened
small jar maraschino cherries, chopped & drained
8 oz crushed pineapple, drained real well
2 tablespoons green onions & tops, chopped very finely
2 tablespoons sugar
2 cups chopped pecans

Mix cream cheese, pineapple, cherries, onions, and sugar.
Roll into balls or logs and refrigerate overnight.
Roll in chopped nuts and serve with crackers of your choice.

Enjoy!

Christmas Lore--Day 16

Some 19th century Christmas foods

Christmas Feasting
Whether you are cooking dinner yourself, visiting others, or dining out, food plays an important role in our modern celebration of Christmas. Christmases past were no exception. Having a huge meal was a way of celebrating not only the holiday, but also the bounty that had been put away for winter eating.  A truly sumptuous feast would be placed on the table for family and guests.  In addition to several main courses and  fancy desserts, strong beverages were plentiful. Meats, game, fowl, seafood (near the coast), preserved vegetables, fruits and various baked goodies all loaded down the holiday table.  A traditional Christmas dinner may have included turkey, Virginia ham, roast beef, roast goose, partridges, venison and other wild game and mince pies. Oranges, lemons, apples, pears, figs, pineapples, sugared nuts, and candied fruit were available in abundance.

Much drinking took place during the holiday season. Age, sex, race, and social standing did not affect this component of holiday celebrating.  Hard cider, wine, rum, whiskey and various imported and homemade alcoholic beverages would have been consumed. Nothing said "welcome" like a big bowl of punch!  It is believed that the word "punch" originally meant that it contained five ingredients (rum, sugar, water, citrus, and spices.)  Eggnog was also a popular drink and unlike some of the "harder" drinks, it was deemed suitable for ladies.  They would often start serving eggnog before breakfast and continue throughout the day. To say that folks got a wee bit tipsy is probably an understatement! Here is my favorite quote taken from a young lady's diary about overindulgence during the holiday season: "Ches, Bettie and I have a joyful eggnog drink--I really got tight." **

I have quite a collection of 19th century cookbooks and there are many recipes for various alcoholic drinks.  In almost every one that I own, a recipe for "Roman Punch" is included.  Here is a version from a cookbook originally published in 1839:

Roman Punch

"Take twelve fine lemons, and two oranges, roll them on a table under your hand, to increase the juice, and pare off the yellow rinds. Put them into four quarts of water, and boil them till the liquid is reduced to three quarts; then take out the parings, dissolve in the water three pounds of loaf sugar, and set it by to cool. Mix in the whites of two eggs, boil it up again, simmer it well, and strain it, and cool it; then mix in the juice of the lemons and oranges, and stir in gradually one quart of rum or rectified whisky." (from:  Bryan, Lettice, The Kentucky Housewife.  Cincinnati: Stereotyped by Shepard & Stearns, 1839, p. 406).

Other popular punch recipes include eggnog and wassail.  There are also numerous recipes for cordials, beers, and wines. If you have the opportunity, please browse through any 19th century cookbooks that you encounter.  The food is decadent and absolutely delicious!  (Many 19th century cookbooks have been reprinted, so they are available in bookstores and libraries.)

I hope that everyone has a wonderful, tasty Christmas dinner!

**the above quote is from:  Baird, Nancy Chappelear, ed. Journals of Amanda Virgina Edmonds, p. 64. (as quoted in Four Centuries of Virginia Christmas.)  Ms. Edmonds was from Fauquier County, Virginia and was born in 1839.

Christmas Lore--Day 8

Pfeffernusse

Pfeffernusse is of German origin and translates to "pepper nuts," referring to the spicy taste of the cookies. Some recipes call for black pepper and either ground walnuts, hazelnuts, or almonds. Traditional recipes for pfeffernusse produce a hard cookie that would have to be dipped in a liquid to soften it up before eating.

The following recipe is one of my favorite cookies to bake at Christmas time. Don't worry, these cookies are edible without dipping! If you like gingerbread, you will like these.

Pfeffernusse Recipe

1/3 cup dark corn syrup

1/4 cup honey

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup shortening

1 egg, beaten

2  1/4 cups all purpose flour (unbleached)

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1/4 teaspoon ground allspice

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

powdered sugar

Combine first four ingredients in saucepan. Cook & stir until shortening and sugar melt. Cool. Stir in egg. Mix flour with soda and spices. Add to honey mixture; mix well. Form into balls using one level tablespoon of dough for each.  Place the balls on a greased cookie sheet. Bake at 375F for about 10 minutes. When the bottom of the cookie is a nice golden color they are done. Do not overcook. If you are using a dark baking sheet, reduce baking temperature to 365F. Cool. Sift powdered sugar over the tops.   Each batch makes about 45 cookies.

Christmas Lore--Day 7

United Kingdom Christmas stamp 

WASSAIL

Wassail is an ancient beverage and toast coming from the Saxons in England when the lords and ladies would cry out "waes hael" meaning "be of good health."  Originally, wassail was made from  mulled ale, curdled cream, apples, nuts, eggs, and spices.   (You can find numerous recipes, but I prefer the one listed below below because it does not have eggs as one of the ingredients.)

There are different wassailing ceremonies, but they can basically be grouped into three categories:  wassailing in the orchard, wassailing in the hall, and wassailing home to home

Wassailing in the orchard
This originated as a pagan agricultural festival to increase the yield of apples.  During the Christmas season, people would visit trees in various orchards and either sprinkle the wassail mixture on the tree or break a bottle of it against the trunk.  Some farmers began taking a wassail bowl to the barn to toast the health of their farm animals.

Wassailing in the hall
A bowl of wassail was carried into the room with great ceremony, a traditional wassailing carol was sung, and finally, the hot beverage was served.

Wassailing home to home
A group of carolers would go house to house singing.  At each stop, they would be treated to a cup of wassail.  There is some historical evidence that the carolers brought the wassail with them.  Other sources indicate that each home was expected to serve wassail.  In any case, I can imagine that the quality of the singing might have deteriorated as the night went on!

Wassail Recipe

2 pints brown ale (I use Newcastle)

1/2 pint dry sherry or dry white wine

3 oz. soft brown sugar

3-4 small or medium apples

1/2 lemon

1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground ginger

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

Preheat oven to 180F.  Wash the apples and cut the skin around the middle of each.  Place the apples, sugar and 4 tablespoons of the brown ale into an ovenproof bowl and bake for 25-30 minutes until the apples are tender.  Finely peel the lemon, removing only the outer waxy layer.  Remove the apples and add the remaining ale, sherry or wine, lemon peel, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg.  Simmer gently over a low flame for 5 minutes.  Add the apples and serve immediately.

YUM! Pumpkin Bread Recipe

Pumpkin Bread

3 1/2 cups flour (plain)

1 cup oil

4 eggs

1 1/2 tsp salt

2 cups pumpkin

3 cups sugar

1 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp ginger

2 tsp baking soda

1 cup pecans, chopped 

2/3 cup water

Mix oil, sugar & eggs well.  

Sift dry ingredients together, add to egg mixture.  

Stir in pecans.  Pour mixture in 2 greased loaf pans.   

Bake in a 350F oven for 1 hour & 15 minutes. 

(I sometimes substitute black walnuts because we always harvested our own walnuts when I was growing up and I adore them!)

Hamburger Baked Beans

Yeah, I know.  This is not a photo of baked beans. But it IS a pretty picture!

Here is another favorite recipe of mine that I usually cook for special occasions like Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter & family gatherings. I got this recipe from my mother-in-law, Evelyn Dean, who is a wonderful cook!

Hamburger Baked Beans

1 1/2 - 2 lbs hamburger--browned & drained

1 large can pork & beans (21 oz)

1 large can kidney beans (12-13oz), drained

1 cup ketchup

1/2 cup water

1/4 cup brown sugar

2 tablespoons prepared mustard

1/2 cup chopped onion

Mix all ingredients together and place in a casserole-type dish.   

Bake at 400 degrees for 45 minutes to one hour.

This recipe is great for family gatherings because it does not have to be served warm because it is good cold too!

I Love Sweet Potatoes!

My Grandma Vaughn made the best sweet potato pie in the whole world. I have always tried to make one that tastes like hers, but I have not been successful.  Oh, my sweet potato pies tastes good, but not as wonderful as hers!

I also love sweet potato casseroles, but NOT with those icky marshmallows on top!      YUCK! 

Here is my favorite Sweet Potato Casserole recipe that I make at Thanksgiving, Christmas & sometimes at Easter.

Sweet Potato Casserole

3 cups mashed sweet potatoes

1 cup brown sugar

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup melted butter (not margarine)

Topping

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup flour (I used self-rising)

1/3 cup melted butter (not margarine)

1 cup chopped pecans

Combine first 6 ingredients.  Pour into a buttered 1 1/2to 2 quart casserole dish.  

Mix remaining ingredients together and sprinkle over the top. 

Bake at 350F for 30-40 minutes, until hot & browned.

This recipe will put a smile on your face and a spring in your step!  :)

Tootsie Pops

When I was growing up, I loved to go to "Frazier's Superette", which was just a mile out the road from our house.  My Grandpa, who never had a driver's license, always walked to the store and I always begged to go with him.  Everyone knew Grandpa, so it was almost impossible to walk all the way to the store with out at least one person stopping with the offer of a ride.   Finally, one day, I told Grandpa that I wanted to walk ALL the way to the store, so we should turn down any offers of a ride.  We had barely gotten out of sight from home when the Kerns Bread truck stopped to offer us a ride.  Grandpa thanked him but explained that I was bound and determined to walk all the way.  (Just so that you can picture this, I grew up in a rural area and to get to the store, we were walking on Route 58 which was the main east-west road through that part of Virginia. At that time, while only a two lane road, it did have lots of traffic.....cars as well as tractor trailers.   In fact, Route 58 is still the longest road in the state of Virginia, starting at Virginia Beach in the east and ending at Bristol in the west.)

Anytime that Grandpa went to the store, he would always bring me a treat.  Or, if I was with him, I might get a scoop of ice cream. Hmmmmmm........I can still see Dewey or Helen bending down into the ice cream freezer to scoop me out some of that peach or strawberry goodness!  

Back then, one of my favorite types of candy were Tootsie Pops.   Heck, I STILL love Tootsie Pops! 

I always eagerly looked for the Indian shooting his arrow at a star on the wrapper.  At Frazier's store, if you found the Indian, you could take the wrapper back to the store and get a FREE Tootsie Pop!  

According to some online sources, the Tootsie Pop company never officially run this as a promotion.  However, Frazier's Superette did, and of course, that made me a happy little girl! 

For more information on the rumor and mystery surrounding this promotion, click here

Did you ever redeem your wrappers for a free Tootsie Pop?

Onion Pie

3 pounds onions                          salt & pepper
butter                                           4 slices crisp bacon
3 eggs, beaten                            1/2 cup grated cheese
1 pint cream                                 pie pastry for 2 crust 9" pie

Fry sliced onions in butter until golden.  Beat eggs and cream and add to onions.  Season.  Pour into pastry lined pie plate, sprinkle with  bacon and cheese, cover with top crust and seal.  Bake at 350F for 1 hour until top crust is light brown.

This pie is wonderfully filling and very tasty!    I use heavy whipping cream and yellow onions, but I am sure that you could use your favorite type of onion.