Traditions - continued

I'm going to continue on the "Traditions" theme for the new few weeks because I feel it is important for our families to know where we come from and what types of traditions have been handed down from generation to generation.

I've talked a lot about my grandmother who gave up her citizenship for the love of her life. Her life was sprinkled with challenges as a young mother and farm wife. My grandmother kept a German diary and I still have excerpts of it in my history records. In fact my grandmother and grandfather spoke fluent "low" German known to Mennoites. During the growing up years my family didn't have very much money, however, my grandmother always fixed her favorite
Christmas foods during the holidays. She had such great stories of growing up, meeting her husband and the faith they shared.

One of those dishes that somehow appeared during the holidays was a raisin and prune dish. Its called Pluma Mousse (prounced Pluma Moss). I never liked it very much but my mother carried on the tradition of making this dish every Christmas even though she was the only one who ate it in our family. For those who love prunes and raisins, this dish is for you.

Pluma Mousse

1 cup prunes
1/2 cup sugar
3/4 cup canned milk or cream
3/4 cup raisins
3 heaping tablespoons flour
2 cups milk

Cook prunes in 3 cups of water until well done. Mash the prunes and add raisins plus 2 cups more water and cook a bit longer. Mix flour and sugar together, add cream and then mix everything together. Add 2 cups milk and bring to a boil. Add 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon and 1 tablespoon vinegar which improves the flavor (at least that's what my grandmother would say). This recipe makes about 1/2 gallon and will last all season. It can be eaten cold or hot like soup.

After writing this recipe, I still don't really care for this dish but I'm sure someone will.

Traditions

Remember the movie Fiddler on the Roof ? Every family has some type of tradition for the holidays. My grandfather came from Prussia when he was a teen and when he married my grandmother, my grandmother gave up her citizenship. Now that's true love. When my grandfather became naturalized, my grandmother was again granted her citizenship.

Both grandparents were steeped in traditions from the Mennonite "old country" and each year at Christmas my grandmother would pull out all the stops and make sure our family knew about our heritage and those traditions they loved. Recipes have been handed down for generations and each family has tweeked those recipes to how their own preferences.

My brother, Stan, said he wanted the recipe for Veranika because he didn't have one so this traditional pasta dish is for you, Stan. I make this periodically but wish I could make it more often. I don't remember how many rounds this makes but I remember how my uncle and dad would try to out-eat each other saying, "I ate 6 Veranika", or "I ate more than you".

Making your own family traditions is up to you. One tradition I started when our girls were small was to give Christmas stockings in their Christmas stockings. The girls loved it and would pull out their special socks in November. All their friends wanted to know where the cool socks came from year after year. I still continue to give Christmas socks for each family so this tradition continues.

Veranika

Pasta dough
2 cups flour
1 whole egg plus one egg white
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup sour cream

Put the 2 cups of flour on a surface and make a well in the center. Combine the wet ingrediants and pour into the well. Use your fingers to work the dough together to make a stiff pasta dough. Set aside.

Filling
1 cup cottage cheese
1 egg yolk
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 1/2 tablespoons chopped scallions

Gravy
1 cup heavy cream - pour in the bacon grease after the rounds have been fried
8 strips of bacon - fry these and set aside to eat with the rounds or you can chop them up and add to the heavy cream mix.


Roll out dough on a floured surface and cut into 4 inch rounds. Put 1 tablespoon of the filling in the center and fold over the dough in half sealing it with water. Drop the rounds in boiling water until they float to the top of the pot. Carefully lift out the rounds and fry in bacon grease until golden. After all the rounds have been fried, use 1 cup heavy cream and pour into the bacon grease and simmer. The best part is to take the rounds and pour the hot cream over them. Eat while hot.

Progress making a spash at the McCarter Household

Many of our friends know that Mike is very handy when it comes to plumbing or fixing things around the home. In fact, he built our living area with a friend doing the electrical, sheetrock, heat ducts; like I said, he did everything. Mike likes to dream about projects he wants to do for the house but getting them done usually doesn't happen because he's a procrastinator.

With that thought in mind, we are creating a sitting room where the den once was upstairs. The wall has been torn apart from the bedroom to the sitting room and all the flooring is gone. He finally is starting to work on the new sitting room and I'm happy about the changes that are finally taking place.

What does that have to do with recipes you might ask. There's a recipe I have that takes all day to make but the time it takes makes the sauce unbelievably good. I guess good things take awhile to make, just like our sitting room.

Spaghetti Sauce

1 large can tomato paste
2 cans of water (fill the tomato paste can twice)
1/2 cup good quality Ketchup
2 Tablespoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon Basil
1 teaspoon Oregano
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 Tablespoons Wostishire Sauce
1 Chopped Onion
1 cup mushrooms

Saute onions until tender and place in the crock pot. Place the heat on low. Then add everything except the mushrooms. Cook for 4 hours until thickened and add your cooked hamburger or cooked sausage. One hour before the sauce is done, add Mushrooms.

Serve on pasta or your favorite dish as a tomato based sauce. Sprinkle with cheese to top it off.
This was one of my mom's favorite dishes and I still use it today.

Memories

In our family, Thanksgiving is more important than Christmas because its a time when our family gets together and enjoys each others' company without all the clutter and excitedness of gifts, and children running around on sugar plum highs.

Thinking about last year, the memories are bittersweet. I knew it would be the last time my parents would be able to come to Thanksgiving so I tried to make it an extra special day where everyone sat at the table and come together as a family. Mike's grandmother has an old antique table with 8 leaves and when they are all installed, the table looks like one of those old time tables where you picture one person sitting at each end with miles of space inbetween. My mom made the tradition of always having baby lima beans at Thanksgiving while my dad would always eat only pumpkin pie with lots of whipped cream for dessert. Last year, mom said the lima beans were perfect. Dad didn't eat much but did finish off his small piece of pumpkin pie.

The recipe I'm sharing for Thanksgiving is a simple yet wonderful jello salad with a whipped cream topping. When family gets together for potlucks, the old tradition was that the newest bride would bring the jello salad. Pretty funny.

Pat's famous red jello salad

1 large box of raspberry jello
2 cups applesauce
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Make the jello according to the directions but only add half the water requested. When the jellow starts to set, add the applesauce and cinnamon. Let the jello set either in a mold or bowl. Top with real whipped cream - 1 cup whipping cream, 2 tablespoons sugar, 1 teaspoon cinnamon and a drop of vanilla. Whip until soft peaks form and top your jello salad. Enjoy and Happy Thanksgiving.