Don and I became proud grandparents on March 29 when our daughter, Jaime, and her husband, Troy, had a baby girl, Taryn Dawn. Are we ever excited.
As I said to Alma, I don’t have to say anything more, because anyone who is a grandparent knows what I mean. They live in Calgary. Some of our readers can relate to the kilometres we travel to visit, some will have grandchildren close by, and others may have them in another country. Wherever they are, they are special. I now have a greater urge to have high speed internet and to learn to use MSN instant messaging (chat line) to communicate with my grandchild when she gets a little older.
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While in Calgary, I picked up a national bestseller that I enjoyed reading. I am going to get one for my mom for Mother’s Day. It is an inspiring story of Canada’s most popular cookbook author, Jean Pare. It describes what happened to her and how she became one of the world’s most successful cookbook authors.
Jean Pare, An Appetite for Life by Judy
Schultz can be found almost anywhere that Pare’s cookbooks can be found. It chronicles her life growing up in a small Alberta town, copying her mother’s recipes into a cookbook before marrying a local fellow who became an auctioneer, and raising a family while catering at those auction sales.
Pare experienced alcoholism, spousal abuse and marriage breakdown but used energy, courage and determination to become author of more than 100 cookbooks known all over the world.
A few of her favourite recipes are in the back pages of the book. Our family made many of theses at home while we were growing up: sour cream pie; hermit cookies, brown Betty, tomato soup cake, corn soup, oil and vinegar dressing, chiffon cake, devil’s food cake, brownies, cinnamon rolls and tea biscuits.
I’ve been trying some of them just for old time’s sake and to see if they are the same as we made them.
Jean Pare’s Brown Betty
6 cups sliced, peeled cooking 1.5 L
apple (such as Macintosh)
3/4 cup granulated sugar 175 mL
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour 310 mL
3/4 cup brown sugar, packed 175 mL
1/2 teaspoon salt 2 mL
1/2 cup butter or hard 125 mL
margarine, softened
Put apple pieces into a 10 inch (25 cm) round casserole. Sprinkle granulated sugar over top. Combine next three ingredients in a medium bowl. Cut in butter until mixture is crumbly. Sprinkle over sugared apple. Pat down lightly. Bake, uncovered, in 375 F
(190 C) oven for about 40 minutes until the apple is tender. Serve with cream or ice cream. Serves eight generously.
This was really tasty, and just the way I remember it. It didn’t need cream or ice cream.
Variations:
Rhubarb Betty: Use sliced fresh or frozen rhubarb instead of apple, and add a touch more sugar. Better yet, add a few raisins and omit the extra sugar. Equally good.
Fresh Fruit Betty: Instead of apple, use sliced, peeled fresh peaches or quartered fresh apricots.
Deep Apple Betty: Sprinkle the apple with cinnamon before adding the sugar. Instead of the crumb topping, cover the apple with pie pastry. Cut slits in the pastry to allow steam to escape, and sprinkle with a bit of granulated sugar. Bake as above.
While visiting our daughter and her family, I made a batch of banana bran muffins that they usually make. It is a great way to use up overripe bananas and add extra fibre. So their favourite has now become our favourite.
Banana Bran Muffins
3 cups flour (part whole wheat) 750 mL
3 cups natural bran 750 mL
1 teaspoon salt 5 mL
3 teaspoons baking soda 15 mL
1 cup brown sugar 250 mL
3 eggs
1/2 cup oil 125 mL
3 cups buttermilk 750 mL
1 teaspoon vanilla 5 mL
2-3 mashed bananas
2 cups raisins, dates, nuts 500 mL
or chocolate chips
Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl. Beat the eggs in another bowl. Add oil, buttermilk and vanilla and mix together. Add to dry ingredients. Add well-mashed banana and raisins, dates, nuts or chocolate chips. Stir just enough to blend the ingredients, but not to have a smooth batter. Fill lined muffin tins about two-thirds full. Bake at 350 F (180 C) for 15 to 20 minutes, depending on muffin size.
Using cottage cheese
I was looking through some of Jaime’s cookbooks and was pleased to discover recipes calling for cottage cheese. We used the spread as a side dish, the dip with fresh vegetables and enjoyed the low fat version of stuffed potatoes.
Cottage Cheese-Cucumber Spread
1 cup finely chopped cucumber 250 mL
1 cup small curd cottage 250 mL
cheese
dash of pepper
minced chives
Mix cucumber, cottage cheese and pepper. Spread on crackers and garnish with minced chives.
Cottage Cheese Dip
1 carton (24 oz.) cottage 750 mL
cheese
1 envelope dry soup mix
1/3 cup milk 75 mL
Blend all ingredients, chill and serve with fresh vegetables, chips or crackers.
Cottage Cheese Stuffed Baked Potatoes
2 baking potatoes, baked
1 cup low-fat cottage cheese 250 mL
1 tablespoon chives 15 mL
1 teaspoon onion powder 5 mL
Bake potatoes in 425 F (220 C) oven for one hour. Cut potatoes in half lengthwise and scoop out insides. Return shell to oven and bake until crisp. Whip potato insides with remaining ingredients and put mixture into potato skins. Return to oven and bake until thoroughly heated. Makes four servings.
Source: The Four Ingredient Cookbooks … As easy as 1,2,3,4 by Linda Coffee and Emily Cale, published by Cookbook Resources, Highland Village, Texas.
Canola oil pie crust
Dear Team: Do you have a recipe for pie crust made with canola oil? Would this type of pie crust be more healthy? Probably the calories are still there, but is the fat better for you? I want to make meat pies using this recipe, but it could work for other pies, right?
I have been reading labels a lot and find that many prepared soups, canned and dry, contain MSG. I thought that was to be eliminated because a number of people are allergic to it. My husband, who is diabetic, gets high blood sugar when he eats Chinese food. Could this be the MSG? At some cafes it does not affect him. I have not asked if they use this additive.
I also noticed the canned mushrooms at our Co-op store are now imported from China. I was shocked. I know that mushrooms were grown in British Columbia by Money’s. Now even theirs are canned in China. That tells me that our growers could be out of business. I would pay more for made in Canada products. Would fresh mushrooms be Canadian grown or also from overseas?
As my kids would say, “mother, you get all fired up.” Hope that you can shed light on these questions. – N. H.
Dear N.H.: Canola oil is a popular and healthy choice because its saturated fatty acid levels are the lowest of any commonly consumed vegetable oil. Canola oil is high in monounsaturated fatty acids, second only to olive oil. It also contains an appreciable amount of the essential fatty acids, linoleic and alpha-linolenic acid. Canola oil is commonly used in vinaigrettes, marinades, for stir-frying and baking. This crust is suitable for meat pies as well as fruit pies.
Canola oil pie crust
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 375 mL
1 1/2 teaspoons granulated sugar 7 mL
1/2 teaspoon salt 2 mL
2 tablespoons cold 1% milk 30 mL
1/2 cup canola oil 125 mL
Sift together flour, sugar and salt. In a small bowl, beat milk into canola oil with fork until frothy. Form a well in the flour mixture. Add canola oil mixture and combine gently with a fork until crumbly. Pat in pie plate as you would for graham wafer crust. Add filling and bake according to filling recipe. Yield: two nine-inch (22 cm) shells or one nine-inch (22 cm) pie shell and top (eight slices per shell).
Source: Canola Cooks!, www.canolainfo.org.
As for your question about monosodium glutamate, or MSG, regulations published on Jan. 1, 2003, make nutrition labelling mandatory on most food labels. The rules also update requirements for nutrient content claims and permit, for the first time in Canada, diet-related health claims for foods.
So although foods purchased from grocery stores that contain MSG are labelled as such, when it comes to restaurants, the only way you know if the food contains MSG is if you ask. As you indicated, it is found in some soups, and also can be found in seasonings, snack foods and some fast food restaurants.
MSG side effects for some people range from headaches, migraines, tightness of the chest, burning sensations in the forearms or back of the neck to asthma attacks and skin rashes. Your husband’s blood sugar rise may be because the modern day form of MSG is usually made from fermented sugar beet or sugar cane molasses, similar to the way soy sauce is made. Originally, MSG was isolated from seaweed in the salt form of glutamate.
Source: Good Food: The Complete Guide to Eating Well by Margaret Wittenberg.
You asked about where our fresh mushrooms are grown. Last month I went by the mushroom factory in Winnipeg, and so I was not surprised when our local store manager said that is where he gets fresh mushrooms. You might like to ask your produce manager the same question.
Barbara Sanderson is a home economist from Rosetown, Sask., and one of four columnists comprising Team Resources. Send correspondence in care of this newspaper, Box 2500, Saskatoon, Sask., S7K 2C4 or contact them at team@producer.com.
