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SOUTHERN DUMPLIN'S
4 cups flour
¼ cup cooking oil or shortening
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup sweet milk or chicken broth
Fill a shallow bowl with flour, making a well in the center. Place other ingredients in the well. Work and kneed as for pie crust. (Note: measurements are not critical. Add more flour if needed or more, liquid if needed for proper consistency.) Roll on board until thin. Cut criss cross in about 2 inch pieces. Drop on top of chicken that has not quite cooked tender. There should he enough broth to cover the dumplings. Add more water if necessary. After adding dumplings, add about 3 tablespoons of butter and sprinkle with black pepper. Cover with lid and cook slowly for about ten minutes. (Mrs. Richard Tillis, Dubuque, Iowa)
FINGER PAINT
Mix enough cold water will 1 cup corn starch or laundry starch to make a thin smooth paste. Add 1 cup Ivory Flakes and ½ cup soft. Place in double boiler with 1 quart water and cook until thick, adding one teaspoon glycerin. Beat with egg beater. Store in baby food jars and color as desired with powdered paint.
PUMPKIN BREAD
3-1/3 cups sifted flour
2 teaspoons soda
1 ½ teaspoons salt
3 teaspoons cinnamon
3 teaspoons nutmeg
1 cup oil
4 eggs
2/3 cup water
2 cups canned pumpkin
3 cups sugar
Sift together dry ingredients, including sugar, into mixing bowl. Make a well in dry ingredients and all remaining ingredients. Mix together until smooth. Divide better into three conventional bread loaf pans that have been greased and floured. Bake at 350° degrees for about one hour or until done. Cool slightly in pans. then turn onto racks to finish cooling. (Mrs. Donald Hastings, Cedar Rapids)
SETTING COLORS AFTER DYEING
YELLOW, TAN, and BROWN: 1
cup vinegar to 2 gallons water.
BLUE, LAVENDER, and GREEN: one
ounce alum to 1 gallon water.
RED PINK and BLACK: 1 cup salt
to 2 gallons water.
Soak two hours before washing. (Anna Tabbert, Osage, Iowa) Are you on our mailing list? If you wish to be on our mailing list to receive the monthly bulletins your request must be sent before the 20th of the month to be on the list in time for the following month's mailing. There is a charge of $1.00 a year to cover the cost of postage and handling. Be sure to include your Zip Code Number with your address. Bulletins will still be available each month by sending a self addressed stamped envelope if you do not wish to be on our mailing list, if possible, use the long business size envelope please. OUR ADDRESS, THE OPEN LINE, WMT RADIO, CEDAR RAPIDS, IOWA 52406.
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PEANUT BRITTLE
2 cups granulated sugar
1 cup white Karo syrup
½ cup water
2 cups peanuts (raw or salted)
2 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 or 2 teaspoons baking soda
Cook sugar, syrup, and water to crack stage or 290° on candy thermometer. Add peanuts and cook until golden brown. (Peanuts may be added when candy reaches 238° or soft ball stage then cooked on to crack stage). Remove from heat. Add butter, vanilla, and soda. Stir briskly and pour out thin on buttered cookie pans. As it cools, pick up sheet of candy and crack into pieces with a silver knife handle. (Mrs. Brown, Cedar Rapids)
LEMON CRACKERS
½ ounce (about 2 tablespoons)
pulverized Ammonium Carbonate (Baker's Ammonia)
1 cup milk
½ cup shortening
1¼ cup sugar
1 egg well beaten
½ ounce of Lemon Oil or
1 ounce Lemon extract
5 cups flour
Place chunks of Baker's ammonia between two sheets of wax paper or two layers of cloth and pound with rolling pin to crush. Soak the ammonia in the milk about ½ hour or until dissolved stirring often. Cream shortening and sugar. Add egg, lemon flavoring and milk mixture. Stir in flour. Chill. Roll out to ¼ inch thickness and cut into 3 inch squares. Prick with floured fork. Bake on greased sheet. Bake at 375° until light browned. Makes 3½ dozen. (Mrs. Elsie Amish)
HAMBURGER BITS
3 slices bread
¾ cup milk
1 medium onion, minced
1 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon popper
¾ pound ground beef
Tear bread in small places. Add milk, onion, and seasonings. Mix well. Add beef. Beat well with fork. onto greased baking sheet with low sides, drop bits of mixture from teaspoon, close together. Broil under medium heat six minutes. Do not turn. Fat drippings can he used to make gravy, if desired.
TO MAKE A CAKE
(D. L. Winkler)
Light oven; get out utensils. Remove
blocks and toys from table. Grease pan, crack nuts.
Measure 2 cups of flour, remove
Johnny's hands from flour, wash flour off him; re-measure flour.
Put flour, baking powder and salt
in sifter. Get dust pan and brush up pieces of bowl Johnny knocked on floor.
Got another bowl. Answer doorbell.
Return to kitchen. Remove Johnny's
hands from bowl. Answer doorbell.
Return to kitchen. Remove ¼
inch salt from greased pan. Look for Johnny. Grease another pan. Answer
telephone.
Return to kitchen and find Johnny.
Remove his hands from bowl. Take up greased pan and find layer of nut shells
in it. Head for Johnny, who flees, knocking bowl off table.
Wash kitchen floor, table, walls,
dishes. Call baker. Lie down. (Sent in by Mrs. C. L. Lau, Fayette, Iowa)
COOKED SALAD DRESSING
½ cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon dry mustard
½ teaspoon paprika
1 rounded tablespoon flour
3 unbeaten egg yolks
1 heaping tablespoon butter
1 cup water
½ cup vinegar
Combine dry ingredients. Add beaten egg yolks vinegar and water. Cook over a slow fire until thick. Cover and keep in refrigerator. Thin with cream or rich milk. Miracle Whip can also be mixed in. (This recipe was taken from a book published in 1936) (Mrs. Floyd Mastain, Waterloo, Iowa)
BAKED TURKEY IN A BROWN BAG
Lightly salt inside and outside of dressed turkey. Stuff if desired. Place to brown grocery bag, breast side up. Fasten end of bag with safety pins. It must be closed tightly. Place on rack in uncovered roaster or on cookie sheet in preheated oven. Bake at 300° thirty minutes per pound.
ALTERNATES: Butter outside of turkey lightly if desired. This will give the skin a different texture than if not buttered. For faster baking time, bake at 400° for 18 minutes per pound. This is for convenience only as flavor and juiciness is sacrificed slightly at the higher heat.
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HOW TO KEEP CAST IRON SKILLETS FROM STICKING
A cast iron utensil should never be scoured. If it is scoured, the seasoning may be removed and rusting or a metallic taste may result. The utensil should just be washed in soap and water and thoroughly dried after each use. Make it a practice to preheat the utensil for a minute or two and then add the grease and food in that order. If that is done, the preheating will open the pores of the metal and permit the grease to go in them and eliminate the sticking. if for any reason your cast iron utensil should show rust, or cause a metallic taste, reseasoning will always correct the trouble. Here is a suggested method to reseason a cast iron utensil.
First, the utensil should be thoroughly scoured on the inside with steel wool or a metal scouring pad. Then washed in soap and water and completely dried. Second, it should be thoroughly coated with unsalted fat, preferably suet, and placed in a moderate oven for about 2 hours, Third when taken from oven, the excess fat wiped off with a paper towel or cloth, & the utensil is ready for many years of happy use.
HINTS AND HELPS
Popped chicken grease is sometimes removed easily with Palmolive soap. Rub soap into stains, then launder as usual.
Pewter wool is best for cleaning piano keys. It is similar to a fine grade of steel wool and probably can be found at a jewelers or a firm selling musical instruments. Do not use regular steel wool. Piano keys are made of Ivory or plastic and a coarse abrasive would scratch them.
For black frosting for party cupcakes, add blue food coloring to your favorite chocolate frosting.
If you don't like to wash pans after poaching eggs, try this. Take a square piece of aluminum foil and shape it around the bottom of a glass tumbler to make a cup shaped container. Break an egg into each "cup" and place cup in a pan containing about 1-½ inches of boiling water Cover pan and steam eggs to desired hardness over low heat. When eggs are served, "cups" are discarded and there is no pan to wash.
To keep hamburgers from sticking, sprinkle salt in bottom of the pan. Freezer wrapping paper on top shelves of freezers will make defrosting easier. For people who live in old houses that have weather stained glasses, they can be cleaned usually with a good rust stain remover. (Whink is usually mentioned first on the Open Line). Squirt a little on a paper towel and rub it over the glass.
When you are washing delicate glassware and china, place a thick turkish towel in the bottom of the sink or dishpan. It's a good way to prevent needless chipping.
To remove dirt or grease from a rug, sprinkle corn meal on the area and scrub with a stiff brush (dry). Then vacuum the area. The soil will disappear without leaving a ring.
Put rubber washers under the two back legs of a sofa to prevent skidding on polished floors every time someone sits down on it.
Prevent picture marks on your walls by sticking a thumbtack on each corner of the back of the frame. Allow the tacks to extend about 1/8 inch. This will allow circulation of air behind the frame and prevent marks.
When the phone rings or something else needs handling when you have messy hands from baking, solve the problem of getting the phone messy by slipping on a handy plastic bag over your hand.
Lemons that have become hard and dry may be restored to some degree of freshness by soaking in lukewarm water overnight. Juice from lemons can be extracted easier and you got more juice if you first place them in a bowl of hot water after taking them out of the refrigerator.
When you bake a pie for your church or club supper, label it with alphabet cereal. Just press the letters spelling out the kind of pie into the top crust with the light touch of a rolling pin.
To remove nut meats whole, soak nuts overnight in salt water before cracking.
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1 - 2 - 3 CARMEL CORN
1 part oil
2 parts sugar
3 parts unpopped corn
Heat heavy skillet and melt sugar in oil, add popcorn, cover and pop. (Mrs. John Empen, Preston, Iowa)
OLD FASHIONED POTATO DUMPLINGS
First boil a pan of potatoes with skins left on the day before. Next day peel the potatoes and grind.
6 cups ground potatoes
2 tablespoons salt
2 eggs (whole)
1 sifter full of flour (approx.
6 cups)
3 tablespoons shortening.
Put large pan of salted water on to boil. mix salt, eggs, and shortening with ground potatoes. Then add flour and mix well. Shape in a roll and break off chunks about the size of a baseball. Roll this in your hands until it is round and smooth. Makes about 14 balls. Place balls in boiling water. Cook for 45 minutes after water returns to boil. Remove from boiling water with serrated spoon and drain on aluminum foil, turning as they dry.
Cut up and add to cooked kraut a few minutes before serving or slice and brown like hash brown potatoes. An egg or two may be added while frying. (Mrs. Ilene Crabtree, Marion, Iowa)
YORKSHIRE PUDDING
1 cup flour
½ teaspoon salt
2 eggs beaten
1 cup milk
Sift flour and salt. Add milk to beaten eggs. Add dry ingredients and beat smooth. Pour into pan with hot beef drippings. Bake in hot oven 400° for 30 - 40 minutes or with meat at 375°. (Hazel Shaper, Chicago, Illinois)
CHOCOLATE COATING:
Melt 4 squares semi-sweet chocolate and ½ piece paraffin over hot water. Keep it thin while using. If desired, double the recipe and add ½ bar of Hershey's sweet cooking chocolate. (Mrs. William Bell, Tipton, Iowa)
* * * * EMpire 5-9405 * * * *
MRS. DAHMER'S SCONES
3 cups flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt (rounded)
½ cup white sugar
½ cup shortening
white of 1 egg beaten stiff
1 cup milk
½ cup raisins (soaked in
warm water and then drained)
Sift flour, baking powder, salt and sugar together. Cut in shortening and add drained raisins. Add milk to stiffly beaten egg white and make a soft dough by adding and mixing with dry ingredients. Divide into 5 or 6 pieces and shape and pat on floured board to ½ inch thickness. Mark each scone with a cross (+). Beat egg yolk with 1 teaspoon water and brush tops. Sprinkle lightly with sugar. Bake at 400° about 15 minutes or until brown. (Mrs. Roy Dahmer, Cedar Rapids, Iowa)
EDITH HANSEN'S MULTI-COLORED LOGS
Roll newspaper tightly. Tie with a string. In a 4 or 5 gallon jar, mix: 1 gallon water, 4 pounds blue stone (crystal form), 4 pounds copper sulfate (powder form), and 3 pounds rock salt. Soak the logs in this solution 3 or 4 weeks, turning end for end each day and stirring the solution. Add more water if necessary. Then remove and spread to dry. (Mrs. Leslie Turner, Manchester, Iowa)
BAGELS
¾ cup water (warm)
1½ teaspoon salt
1½ teaspoon dry yeast
1½ tablespoons sugar
3 cups flour
Mix first four ingredients and stir. Add 3 cups flour and mix well. Knead smooth, for about ten minutes. Place in greased bowl. Let rise 15 minutes. Punch flat and square 1 inch wide. Roll with heel of palm to form ½ inch diameter strips. Wrap each loosely around 3 fingers of hand, pinch off ends of dough. Overlap ends ¾ inch, press together to form ring. Roll to secure and make even. Cover & let rise 20 min. Drop bagels, 1 at a time, into 1 gallon boiling water to which 1 Tbsps. sugar has been added. Simmer 7 minutes or until they float. Remove & cool on towel. Bake on baking sheet 30 - 35 minutes at 400° turning once. Makes about 6. (Mrs. Schuster, C.R.)
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