Recipes that appear in Idea Alley have not been tested by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
Gail Kelley writes:
"My Aunt Nora Watson was one of six siblings, the McNew sisters from Lonoke. All the girls had very different personalities. For some reason, most of the family gravitated toward Aunt Nora. Her home became a meeting place for get-togethers, holidays, and just catching up on things. I remember her vibrant persona and her cooking.
"One of my favorite dishes was a salad that went so well with meats. ... Aunt Nora did not write down all the recipes she made. My mother, Gertrude, was one of her younger sisters. Gert, as she was called, was meticulous about documenting everything in life that she deemed important. That is why we still have Aunt Nora's White Salad recipe to pass down to friends, loved ones, and the community. Enjoy."
Aunt Nora's White Salad
1 egg yolk
1 tablespoon flour
1 tablespoon butter
4 teaspoons vinegar
Dash salt
20 regular size marshmallows, divided use
1 pint whipping cream
1 large can crushed pineapple, drained
1 large can fruit cocktail, drained
1 cup chopped nuts
In a saucepan, combine and cook egg yolk, flour, butter, vinegar and salt, stirring until smooth and hot. Remove from heat. Stir in 10 of the marshmallows, stirring until melted. Let cool.
Meanwhile, cut the remaining marshmallows into pieces.
Whip the cream to stiff peaks. Add the cooled sauce to the whipped cream, then add the marshmallow pieces, drained fruit and nuts. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
"Many months ago, an oatmeal muffin recipe was featured in Idea Alley. I recognized it immediately as the base recipe I use for many various muffin recipes," writes Lari from Paron.
When baking large batches of muffins for freezing, Lari notes that she doubles the basic oatmeal muffin recipe, divides the wet ingredients in half, adds pumpkin and cranberry to one bowl and mashed banana to the other bowl. Then mixes in the flour mixture to both bowls, and adds blueberries to the banana mixture bowl. The process creates "two totally different tastes without much extra work."
Cranberry Pumpkin Oatmeal Muffins
1 cup rolled oats
1 cup sour milk (see notes)
2 tablespoons oil OR 1/3 cup soft butter
1/2 to 1 cup brown sugar (depending on desired sweetness)
1 egg
1 cup pumpkin puree (canned or homemade)
1/2 to 1 cup whole cranberry sauce
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole-wheat flour (see notes)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1 teaspoon salt
Heat oven to 400 degrees.
Place oats and sour milk in a large mixing bowl and let soak 10 to 15 minutes. Mix in oil or butter, then the sugar, and the egg into the soaked oats. Stir in pumpkin and cranberry sauce. Sift dry ingredients and gradually add to oat mixture. Mix well. Fill muffin tins 2/3 full. Bake 20 to 25 minutes.
Notes: To make sour milk, add 1 tablespoon vinegar to regular milk. Lari uses skim milk and adds the vinegar and lets the mixture stand while she gathers the other ingredients.
May use only all-purpose flour if desired.
Variations
Blueberry Oatmeal Muffins: Omit pumpkin, cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie spice. Instead, dredge 1 cup blueberries in flour. Add to muffins after all other ingredients. Follow remainder of recipe, adding 1 teaspoon vanilla to wet ingredients prior to the addition of dry ingredients.
Blueberry Banana Oatmeal Muffins: As above, except add 1 to 2 medium overripe peeled and mashed bananas to wet ingredients. Nuts can be added to all the above as well.
Send recipe contributions, requests and culinary questions to Kelly Brant, Idea Alley, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, P.O. Box 2221, Little Rock, Ark. 72203; email:
kbrant@arkansasonline.com
Please include a daytime phone number.
Food on 09/02/2015