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Shrove Tuesday Doughnuts
Shrove Tuesday occurs right before Ash Wednesday heralding the beginning of Lent. It was a day of feasting for the fasting that would take place during Lent. 1 cup sugar 1 tsp. soda 3 eggs 1 cups milk 1 cup cream 1 tsp. salt 1 tsp. baking powder Flour to make a soft dough 2 tablespoons shortening (optional) Mix and chill. Roll out and cut into 2 by 3-inch pieces. Slit each strip twice in the center and then pull ends through the slits and then deep fry them until they are browned. Sprinkle with sugar or powdered. Sugar. Coloring Easter Eggs the old fashioned way. Purple or brown tones – dry onion skins were wrapped around the egg and covered with a damp cloth soaked in white vinegar. Red could be obtained from red veggies – Beets… Coffee or tea was used to stain eggs Also crepe paper – readily tossed around at weddings, showers and other parties in the days before Pinterest. “Easter time was kuchen and dying Easter eggs. We had all our own eggs and Mom would dye them with egg dye. My dad would, when we were six or seven years old, hide them in his pocket. He would lay them outside so we would come across them. Gosh, we found Easter eggs. Mom dyed them so we didn’t know when we were at school. We thought the Easter rabbit brought them,” Adeline Moch said. Ellen Tuttle said, “We didn’t have dye for any eggs. But Mom could make the prettiest Easter eggs. Rabbits didn’t get in the house. They laid those eggs under the plows and in the weeds. We would hunt Easter eggs for a whole week. She used tea and stuff like that to dye those. I was 14 before I knew there was no Easter bunny or Santa Claus. I believed until I was fourteen years old.” Traditionally the Catholics did not eat meat on Fridays during Lent, even meals served at schools observed the traditional no-meat Fridays and fish was often served. Meals without meat also included dishes of noodles and prunes or fleisch kuechla with fruit soup. “Fry bread done mostly during Lent because you couldn’t have meat on Fridays so that was a meal on Fridays. A guy would come around and sell the fish. It was winter and you could buy a big box full. The guy had the ice in there already and they kept a long time,” Bernice (Kiefer) Nagel said. “We made noodles and colored eggs and my mother would always make little chickens with eggs. They would have little tail and a beak and she would use allspice for the eyes and she would hang them up in different places,” Mavis Erlenbusch said. GOOD FRIDAY – prunes and noodles. HOME-MADE EGG NOODLES As made by Martha (Rott) Ringering b. 1901 Richville Twp, Logan Cnty, N. Dakota. Recipe from Connie Dahlke INGREDIENTS: 3 cups stirred white flour 1 tsp salt 1 tsp baking powder 1 large egg 9 Tbsp water DIRECTIONS:Measure flour, salt and baking powder into mixing bowl. Break egg into flour and stir in ½ cup of the water, mixing to form a very stiff dough (will need to mix with your hands toward the end). Only use last tablespoon of water if mixture is very dry. Knead 5 minutes until dough is smooth and elastic. Divide dough into two parts and shape each part into a narrow rectangle no more than ½-inch thick. Cover dough pieces with plastic wrap and let rest 10 minutes. On lightly floured surface, roll out dough, one part at a time, until very thin – aim for length rather than width of dough strip. Each dough part should make a thin dough strip 6-7 inches wide and 19-20 inches long. Starting at long edge, roll dough strip into a loose roll and cut with a sharp knife into ¼” wide noodles. Unroll noodles, smoothing out where needed. When all noodles are ready, drop a handful at a time into 2-3 quarts of seasoned boiling water and simmer for about 20 minutes, stirring once or twice to keep noodles separated. Remove noodles from broth with a slotted spoon and drain well. May serve as a side dish topped with fried bread crumbs, or use in soup or a casserole. EASTER BREAD Easter eggs are made from sweet dough, yeasty and baked in a coffee can… if you can find one. Filled with candied cherries, almonds, lemon flavoring, other candied fruit Frosted with loads of sweet colored frosting. Is Russian in origin AN XV is marked in the top meaning Christ is Risen. INGREDIENTS: 2 packs yeast ½ cup warm water ¾ cup scalded milk; cool 1/3 cup sugar 1 tsp. salt 2 eggs ½ cup shortening ½ cup raisins ½ cup cut-up mixed candied fruit ¼ cup chopped almonds 1 tsp. grated lemon peel 4-1/2 to 5 cups flour DIRECTIONS: Dissolve yeast in warm water in large bowl. Stir in milk, sugar, salt, eggs, shortening, raisins, candied fruit, almonds, lemon peel and 3 cups of the flour. Beat until smooth. Stir in enough remaining flour to make dough easy to handle. Turn dough onto lightly floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes. Place in greased bowl; turn greased side up. Cover; let rise in warm place until double, 1 to 1.5 hours. Let rise 40 to 50 minutes. Punch down; divide into halves. Shape each half into round bun-shaped loaf. Place in two well-greased 3-pound shortening cans; or 46-ounce juice cans. Let rise until doubled. Heat oven to 375°. Place cans on low rack so midpoint of can is in the middle of the oven. Bake until tops are golden brown, 40 to 45 minutes. If top browns too quickly cover with aluminum foil. Cool 10 minutes; remove from cans. Spoon lemon icing over tops of warm bread, allowing some to drizzle down sides. Tim with tiny decorating candies if desired. 2 loaves. Lemon Icing 1 cup powdered sugar 1 tablespoon warm water 1 teaspoon lemon juice Mix powdered sugar, water and lemon juice until smooth; glaze consistency. Add a little water if necessary.
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Asparagus can be found in most grocery stores this time of the year as one of the earliest spring veggie crops
If you are old enough you will remember a book called "Stalking the Wild Asparagus" by Euell Gibbons. It is still available here. Euell also promoted Grape Nuts back in the day. Which reminds me. I think I need to buy some next week. Asparagus should be purchased and consumed as soon as possible. Select closed budded stalks that are still crisp. Thicker spears are more tender than the small ones and are super good grilled or roasted in the oven. Here are my five ways to eat asparagus. 1. Raw in salads 2. Blanched and chilled. Boil in salted water till tender and then plunge in cold water to stop the enzymes from leaching all the flavor. 3. Grilled -- Toss 1 pound asparagus with 2 tablespoons olive oil, salt, and pepper. Place over a grill preheated to high heat and cook, turning occasionally, until well-charred and tender, 5 to 8 minutes. If desired, cut lemon in half and place cut side down on grill until charred, about 3 minutes. Transfer asparagus to a large plate, drizzle with remaining olive oil, sprinkle with lemon (if desired), and serve immediately. 4. Oven Roasted – toss with olive oil and seasonings and place on cookie sheet in 500 degree oven … toss with parmesan cheese. 5. Braised – sear in pan with a little oil, toss in a lump of butter, cover and steam. Drizzle with lemon juice… After enjoying asparagus, you may notice that your urine has a "haunting" smell. It is not known why some people are more prone to this than others, but worry not. It is actually pulling toxins from your body. Rather than stalking the wild stuff, you can grow your own. It is a perennial and best planted from stalk, not seed. It takes a while to establish an asparagus patch and the male plants are better tasting. Female plants are the ones that spend all their energy on berries. Here's some advice from the Farmers Almanac folks on growing your own asparagus. (https://www.almanac.com/plant/asparagus#)· Plant crowns deeply to protect them from the deep cultivation needed for annual weed control.
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Sue B. Balcom
Writing, or maybe talking, comes naturally to me and under the guidance of a great newspaper editor I have acquired skills that led me to author four books. Archives
January 2023
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