Bill Weeks' Grape Jam
4 cups mashed grapes-including seeds and skins (use Concord grapes)
4 cups sugar
4 Tbsp water
Stir all ingredients together, bring to a boil and cook 18 minutes. put mixture through strainer, discarding seeds and skins. Pour into hot jars and seal.
For current processing times refer to a canning guide such as The Ball Blue Book.
This recipe was sent to me by my cousin Jenny but I have made it many times and I remember my dad, Bill, making it. The strainer he used was a Foley mill. It works great to remove seeds and skins.
Sugar Cookies
4 eggs
1 lb.oleo
2 1/2 cups sugar
3/4 cup milk
1 tsp. vanilla
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
7 to 8 cups flour
cream sugar and eggs and oleo.
add vanilla and milk-stir
separately-sift flour and salt and baking powder
add together and mix
chill dough overnight
roll out 1/4 inch thick-cut shapes
bake 400 8 to 10 minutes
Note* This one says 'my mom's sugar cookies' and it was my mom's. so this must be grandma birds sugar cookies - Jenny Janiskee
Jenny's mom was Bonnie Selley, daughter of John E. and Thelma Weeks (Grandma Bird)
Beefed Up Noodle Dish
Red Beets
I love pickled beets. They are so easy to make. You can make them up and store them in the fridge or you can process them in pint or quart jars. Here are two recipes for you to try.
Please refer to a current canning guide such as The Ball Complete book of canning for specific questions on canning techniques.
#1
Boil beets, slip skins, quarter and pack in quart jars.
Add one tsp salt, two Tbsp. sugar and 1/4 cup vinegar.
Finish filling with water and process in a hot water bath for twenty minutes.
#2
Pickled Beets
6 quarts beets (cut up)
4 C water
5 C vinegar
4 C sugar
2 Tbsp allspice
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
2 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp whole cloves
5 bay leaves
2 Tbsp salt
Put into pint jars, leaving 1/ 2" headspace. Wipe rims of jars, center lids that have been boiled to soften rubber, screw on rings as tight as you can with just your hands. Process jars in hot water bath for 30 minutes.
Note - This recipe can be made sugar free by simply adding sucralose (Such as Splenda brand) according to directions. I usually substitute about 3/4 as much sucralose as sugar, even though it says cup for cup. This past year we did ALL of our beets this way and no one can tell the difference (yes, I do tell them in case they have an objection to artificial sweeteners). My mother is diabetic and this has been a wonderful discovery!
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Dolly Catterfeld became a dear friend to my parents when they were newly married and come to live in Saginaw. She telephoned them out of the blue and introduced herself as a family friend. Her parents were dear enough evidently to my father's grandparents that he named his son John Eastman Weeks using her maiden name Eastman. This is a recipe that Dolly shared with my dad for a chili sauce that is wonderful in place of store bought brands in recipes and as a dipping sauce for beef, pork and fish. This is good for canning in pint jars.
This is as my parents copied it
Fruit Chili Sauce
(Especially good with fish)
20 ripe tomatoes
8 peaches
8 pears or apples
1 qt vinegar
4 cups white sugar
6 onions
2 Tbsp salt
1 red pepper
2 tsp pickling spice in bag
chop fine - boil 2 hours
From Dolly Catterfeld (1883 - 1961)
Note - I set it on a low boil for a bit longer, until the sauce was about the consistency of thin ketchup. I think the size and denseness of the tomatoes will have a big effect on cooking time. I don't think you can really over cook it. You probably don't want to be able to stand your spoon up in it though :)
Chicken Noodle Soup
One roasted chicken from the grocery store (or use fresh chicken)
One large onion
Several ribs of celery - up to half a stalk
6-10 carrots
salt and pepper to taste (I add this at the end just before serving or let each person add their own.)
Noodles
2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
2 extra large eggs or three small
1 Tablespoon cold water
If the chicken is roasted: take off most of the meat and set aside - Put carcass into 4 qt stock pot and fill about 3/4 with water. Bring to boil and let simmer for a couple of hours. You could also put this into a crock pot in the morning and let it go til you are about 1 hour away from dinner (This is good if you are using fresh chicken).
While this is cooking peel carrots and cut into small rounds, wash and thinly slice celery and coarsely chop onion.
Strain broth through colander into 8 qt stock pot and add more water to make about 3 quarts. You may add bouillon if desired. Add vegetables.
Make the noodles:
Whisk the eggs, salt and water until light.
Add flour and stir to form noodle dough.
It should be somewhat light and sticky.
Don't worry about getting doughy(just take any rings off) and hold the dough in your left hand and scrape small pieces off (no more than a fat teaspoon or so or your noodles will be huge!) your hand into the pot using a table knife. I scrape it off my hand to the edge of the pot then flick it into the soup. Dipping the knife into the broth helps it to let go.
Once all the dough is in the pot, bring it to a boil, then turn down to a low boil and set the timer for 20 minutes.
During the last few minutes add about two cups of the chicken that you took off the carcass earlier. You just need to heat the chicken up.
Salt and pepper to taste.
Serve with bread and butter. Make it perfect: Get your bread machine going and have fresh bread too!
