Coconut Cake

Some of the very best recipes in the Deep South are passed from cook to cook. They're written on little slips of paper, usually with no directions other than ingredients. It's assumed you know how to throw it all together and make the ingredients come out tasting wonderful. What they don't tell you is that most really good cooks kind of alter things as they go. At least in the South. That we get the recipe ingredients written down is a big deal.



Now that I've totally freaked you out, let me assure you that this recipe comes complete with ingredients and directions. It was passed from one cook to another on a little slip of paper. I've added the directions. It's a wonderful cake. I know you'll enjoy it.

Coconut Cake

1 box white cake mix
1 box intant coconut pudding
3 eggs
1 cup oil
1 cup water
1 tablespoon coconut flavoring
1 tablespoon vanilla



Mix all ingredients together, blending well. Start with the cake mix and pudding, add a little water and oil until you've added it all. Add one egg at a time, blending thoroughly after each. Then finish with the flavorings.



Grease and flour three to four cake pans. Divide the cake batter evenly among the pans. Bake at 375 for 20 to 25 minutes. Remember that oven temperatures vary. You'll need to check it, especially the first time, to see how long this cake takes in your oven. Then you can jot down the time for when you make it again. And you will want to make it again. When the layers have finished baking, remove them from the pans and cool on racks.

Icing

1 box confectioners sugar
1 cup white crisco
1 tablespoon coconut flavoring
1 tablespoon vanilla flavoring
1 12-oz. package frozen coconut, thawed
3 egg whites



Beat all ingredients, except the coconut, together until it's smooth. Stir in the coconut. Frost your cake. I recommend storing the cake in the refrigerator.

Coconut Cake

Orange Salad

Some folks love congealed salads. Are you one of them? My mother is. She's forever searching for a recipe that everyone will eat. This one comes pretty close.



It's also really good for that extra dish when you're serving a crowd. And it's a good make-ahead dish for when you need to take something somewhere but don't have time to bake it and take it while it's warm. This goes in the refrigerator until it's firm and then on to wherever you need it. That's perfect for a busy schedule.

Orange Salad

1 small box of orange jello
1 small can of Mandarin oranges (8.4 oz. size)
1 small can crushed pineapple
1 can Eagle Brand milk
1 9-oz. tub of Cool Whip
1 cup chopped nuts (We use pecans)



Drain all the fruits, saving all the juice. Bring the juice to a boil. Dissolve the jello in the juice, then add all the other ingredients. Mix well. Pour into a dish. Place dish in the refrigerator until firm. I prefer to make it a day ahead.



Enjoy!

Chili for Hot Dogs

Shhh. This is a secret recipe. Many years ago Andrews Sweet Shoppe made this chili and put it on their famous chili dogs. The old timers, like my Mother, still talk about going there for the chili dogs. Sadly, Andrews Sweet Shoppe is no more. They even closed the gift shop in December. But this recipe lives on. Thank you, Joyce, for giving it to my Mother before you died. It is still eaten and enjoyed by many.

Hot Dog Chili

1 1/2 lbs ground round beef
1 package Lipton Onion Soup mix
3 "shakes" Worcestershire Sauce
2 teaspoons chili powder
onion, finely chopped, as desired -- use as little or as much as you like
black pepper, as desired
salt, as desired

Mix beef with a little water and stir until soupy in a boiler, then brown. Stir in other items and simmer. You can make this chili as thick or thin as desired by cooking out the water or adding more. Mother prefers it thick. She says that's how it was served when she was a child.

Pecan Pie

In the Deep South, pecans are part of everything. Okay. I exaggerated. We do cook some things without nuts. It's just that pecans and peanuts are everywhere. They're both big crops in this part of the world. Most of us have pecan trees and some folks -- not us anymore -- grow peanuts. It's that old adage of using what you have.

This recipe came from my Mother's Mother. Gran was a wonderful cook. Pecan Pie is a staple but not everyone can make a pie you want to eat. I know. It's shocking. This recipe is wonderful.

Pecan Pie

1 cup corn syrup

1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup chopped pecans
3 eggs
1 tablespoon flour
1 tablespoon butter or margarine
4 tablespoons milk
one unbaked pie crust

Beat the eggs until they are well blended. Gradually add all the other ingredients. Pour into an unbaked pie crust.

Bake 40 minutes in a 350 degree oven.

Enjoy!

German Sweet Chocolate Pie

This pie is scrumptious! You have to eat it slowly so you can savor each bite. My Mother found the recipe years ago on the back of a package of chocolate. Sometimes the company's that sell products have the best recipes. Yes, I know. They're just trying to sell more of their products. In this case, it works.

Have you ever thought about those folks who do nothing but cook and eat all day. They develop recipes so that the rest of us can eat well. I wonder how many dishes of food they throw out before they get it just right. Or maybe they're so good at what they do, that everything is wonderful. I admit that I've thrown out a few things over the years. I made pies one time. I don't even remember what kind they were. I just remember they were awful. Some things the dogs like. I once made a Chicken Pot Pie that I hated. I don't know why I was surprised that it tasted so awful. I don't even like pot pies. But it sounded good so I figured I would try it. Bad mistake. But the dogs loved it so nothing went to waste.

You won't have that trouble with this recipe. Just don't wait for your slice. This pie goes fast.

German Sweet Chocolate Pie

1 package (4 oz) Baker's German Sweet Chocolate
1/4 cup butter
1 14 1/2-oz can evaporated milk
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 unbaked 10-inch pie shell OR 2 unbaked 8-inch pie shells
1 1/3 cups coconut (Baker's Angel Flake Coconut works great)
1/2 cup chopped pecans

Melt chocolate with butter over low heat, stirring until blended. Remove from heat; gradually blend in the evaporated milk.

Mix the sugar, cornstarch and salt thoroughly. Beat is the eggs and vanilla. Gradually blend in the chocolate mixture. Pour into pie shell.

In a separate bowl, combine the coconut and nuts. Sprinkle this over the pie filling.

Bake at 375 degrees for 45 minutes. Filling will be soft but will set while cooling. Cool at least four hours before cutting.

Apricot-Nectar Cake

This recipe came from my Grandmother. I know this because it says so on the little recipe card I've been using for many, many years. Honestly, though, I don't remember her ever making this cake. I'm sure she did. It's just that when I think of her cooking -- and she was a really good Southern cook -- I always think of her biscuits. Nobody ever made homemade biscuits the way she did. I wanted so badly to learn how. I had the flour bowl and all the other ingredients. But she didn't know how to teach anyone else how to make them. She just sort of threw ingredients into her flour bowl and out came the best tasting biscuits ever. So that recipe is lost. At least this one isn't.

This is a cake my Mother made on a regular basis. I always enjoyed making it because it's good and it tastes like it requires more effort than it does. I love to cook but sometimes time is an issue. When it is, try this. You'll love it and so will your guests.

Apricot-Nectar Cake

1/2 cup Wesson oil

1/2 cup sugar

4 eggs

1 cup Apricot Nectar

1 box Duncan Hines Lemon Supreme Cake Mix

Mix all ingredients, blending well. Pour into a tube pan. Bake at 325 degrees for one hour and 15 minutes.

Lemon Glaze

1 1/2 or 1 3/4 cup powdered sugar, sifted

juice of two lemons

Mix powdered sugar and lemon juice. The exact amount of powdered sugar depends on how much juice you get from the lemons. Remember that this is a glaze. You need to be able to pour it over the cake -- and then enjoy your super-easy cake.

Apricot Nectar Cake

Carrot Cake

We've been searching for what seems like forever for two jars of junior baby food carrots. My mother uses them to make Carrot Cake. So do I. It works. They taste fine in the cake and no one knows you cheated unless you tell them.

There comes a point, however, when it's time to throw in the towel. Just give up. Grate the carrots. Put them in the food processor. Just get on with it! I reached that point about a year ago. I was alone. My mother never gave up hope. So we've searched for junior baby food carrots in Target and Walmart. We've done so at the commissary (repeatedly!) and at more supermarkets than I care to remember. No junior baby food carrots.

The other day Mother came in and -- you guessed it -- she produced two jars of junior baby food carrots from a brown paper bag. They were suddenly at the commissary. I don't know if the folks out there simply decided to start selling them or if the pleading talk I had with a baby food company rep influenced their decision. I don't even care. We've got the carrots. Now, maybe, we'll get the cake.

Carrot Cake

2 cups sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup Crisco oil
4 eggs
3 cups grated carrots OR 2 jars junior baby food carrots

Sift flour, baking soda and salt. Mix with sugar. Beat in oil. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each. Add carrots.

Cut wax paper to fit cake pans. Use margarine on each side of wax paper, then place the wax paper in each pan. Grease sides of the pans.

Divide batter equally in three or four cake pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes or until cake starts to pull away from sides.

Frosting

1 8-oz package cream cheese, softened
1 stick margarine, softened
1 box confectioners sugar
1 cup chopped pecans
1 teaspoon vanilla

Blend cream cheese, margarine and sugar. Add vanilla. Stir in nuts until well blended.

Frost cake.