This recipe brings back memories of long ago. My mom Jane made this recipe and when I was married, another life time ago mom created a recipe book for me as a gift. This is one of many recipes she included.

1 1/2 lbs ground beef (I use very lean)
1/2 C milk
1/2 cracker crumbs
1 small chopped onion
1 egg
salt and pepper

Mix well and spread the mixture on a cookie sheet; partially freezing or chilling very well. Cut into squares and brown in a skillet. Place browned squares in a 9X13 pan. Combine mushroom soup and a half can of water, pour this over the meat and bake covered for one hour @ 350.

This is tasty, simple and inexpensive!

This is a recipe my mom used to make when the rhubarb was fresh from the garden.

6 C chopped rhubarb
2 eggs
1 1/2 C sugar
5 Tbsp flour
1/4 tsp salt

Mix the sugar with the rhubarb; add eggs and flour as well as salt. Pour into an unbaked pie shell. Top the rhubarb mixture with another crust and seal it. Make small 1/2 inch slits a few times in the crust. Sprinkle with sugar and bake at 375 degrees for 50 to 55 minutes. Store in the refrigerator.

Norma’s Perfect Pie Crust

This is my aunt Norma’s recipe for pie crust, this recipe makes six to eight pie crusts.

4 1/2 C flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 Tbsp sugar
1 lb shortening
1/2 C water
1 tsp vinegar
1 egg

Sift dry ingredients together. Blend shortening into dry ingredients with a pastry blender or fork until mixture is about the size of tiny peas. Combine water, vinegar and egg, add to flour mixture. Blend well , form into six or eight balls. Store in refrigerator and use as needed, or roll out and freeze for later use. Bake as directed in your pie recipe.

This is a recipe I remember from childhood.

Cherry Fluff

1 C hot water
1/2 box cherry jello
1 pkg cream cheese
1/2 C sugar
1 tub of cool whip

Crust
1 box of graham cracker crumbs
1/2 C sugar
1/2 C butter

Combine hot water and cherry jello, stirring well and then set aside to cool.
Blend sugar, cream cheese and add in cooled jello.
Mix cool whip into this mixture.

For your crust combine the graham crackers, sugar and butter then mix well. Press this mixture into the bottom of a greased pan.
Pour the jello mixture on top of the crust and cover the dessert. Allow it to set up in the refrigerator for at least an hour before serving. This is a dessert kids will love!

This recipe is thanks to Richard and Sheila Taitano, friends I’ve known since Guam. Richard makes this for every Guam reunion and just a bite brings back all my wonderful memories of Guam. Thanks Richard!

Richard Taitano’s Chicken Keliguan

1 whole chicken cut and BBQ’d, to remain juicy.
If you prefer you may substitute a fresh cooked rotisserie chicken.
Debone the chicken and chop it into fine pieces. Keep the skin to add later to the Keliguan, this gives it a lot of added flavor.
chop 1 onion and set aside or substitute 24 green onions.
one fresh coconut husked, cracked and shredded, (this takes time…so plan accordingly. Richard recommends buying a couple extra, sometimes they have sat too long in the store and are dried out when you crack them open.
salt
lemon powder, a product from Guam, if you have access to it,
otherwise you may substitute the juice of 2 lemons
hot peppers to taste
Take the set aside chicken skin and cook it a bit to make it more crispy, you may use a toaster oven for this. Chop it into fine pieces.

Mix the chicken, grilled chicken skin, onion, lemon powder, peppers and salt together, when well mixed add the coconut and you have a Guam dish to remember! This tastes even better after letting it sit. Hafa Day!

This is an amazing recipe that I have used to make chocolate truffles for family and friends. They are simple, decadent and a little reminder of life in Europe.

Chocolate Truffles
8oz softened cream cheese
3 C confectioner’s sugar, sifted
3 C semisweet chocolate chips, melted
1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract (only necessary if you choose to use no alcohol)
ground walnuts or pecans for rolling truffles in, optional.
cocoa powder
grated coconut, for rolling truffles in, optional.
rum or bailey’s and grand marnier or another that you prefer.

Beat cream cheese until smooth in a medium size bowl. Gradually beat in confectioners sugar until well blended.
Stir in melted chocolate and vanilla until no streaks remain.

Divide this chocolate mixture into separate small bowls according to the liquors you choose to add. I divide it into three small bowls, one for adding rum, one for adding bailey’s and another for adding grand marnier. I added at least 1/8 of a cup of alcohol..or more..see what the mixture can handle while still staying nice and thick. After adding the alcohol and stiring the mixture completely, cover it and place in the refrigerator for one hour.

After one hour, shape into truffle balls and coat the truffles in either cocoa, nuts or coconut. Store in a wax paper lined tin, or on parchment paper or in zip loc bags. Store in a cool location or in the refrigerator. They do get soft if they get warm so it’s best to keep them cooler. These will be a huge hit! My friends and family LOVED them! Enjoy!

This is a favorite of grandma Eula’s and she says it tastes like pecan…I’ll let you know. I plan to try it!

Eula”s Oatmeal Pie
1/4 C butter
1/2 C sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp salt
1 C dark corn syrup
3 eggs
1 C quick rolled oats
1 9 inch pie crust (unbaked)

Cream together butter and sugar and then add the cinnamon, ground cloves and salt. Stir in the corn syrup and then add the eggs one at a time, stirring after each addition until blended. Stir in the rolled oats. Pour the entire mixture into your pie shell and bake at 350 degrees for about one hour, until a knife, inserted into the pie comes out clean. During the baking the oatmeal forms a chewy, nutty crust on top, pie is rich and delicately spiced!

Grandma Eula Hall on the right, on her 90th Birthday.

Fresh Apple Cake
4 C fresh apples (peel and dice)
2 C sugar
1 C nuts (chopped)
3 C flour (sifted)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon or nutmeg
2 tsp soda
1 C oil
2 eggs (well beaten)
1 tsp vanilla

Mix apples, sugar and chopped nuts. Let it stand 1 hour, add dry ingredients to apples. Add oil, eggs and vanilla. Don’t use a mixer, stir by hand. Bake in a greased loaf pan for 1 hour at 350 degrees.

This is a recipe I discovered in a magazine or cook book a few years ago, when I lived in Berlin, Germany. It is AWESOME for those who are Thai food lovers. Enjoy!

Charcoal Grilled Thai Chicken
2 lbs chicken pieces
4 garlic cloves
3 bunches of cilantro chopped
2 stalks of lemon grass or juice of lemons if you don’t have access to lemon grass; lemon grass would be the better choice.
3 Tbsp lime juice
2 Tbsp light soy sauce
1 C coconut cream or coconut milk

Mix the marinade ingredients in a shallow pan and add the pieces of chicken. Marinade 1 hour and then grill the chicken.

Click on pictures to enlarge

Dad with Rascal in 1998 or 1999

Dad’s Boiled Cabbage and Sausage Supper
This was one of the few recipes my dad made himself at home. He loved this!

2 Tbsp of butter
1 lb turkey sausage
1/2 head of cabbage
1/2 onion
2 lg potatoes thinly sliced

Partially boil the cabbage.
When the cabbage is partially cooked drain it and add it to the sauce pain with the 2 Tbsp of butter.
Add turkey sausage, sliced onions and potatoes.
Cook this on 6 1/2 if you have an electric stove.
Cook for 35 minutes.