1 cup yellow corn meal
1 cup flour
1 egg
1/4 cup white sugar
1/2 cup butter
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon salt
4 teaspoon baking powder

Mix all dry ingredients together in mixing bowl. Melt butter and add to dry mixture. Beat one minute. Grease 9″ round baking pan. Pour batter into pan and bake about 30 minutes in 350 F oven.

Notes:
I grew up on Jiffy cornbread mix, so never learned to make cornbread from scratch. After realizing this deficit in my education, I searched high and low and finally found this one. It’s became a favorite and staple in our house.

My dad swears by baking any cornbread in a cast-iron skillet, but this recipe really works better in the cake pan. As long as no one tells him that I’m doing it. You’ve been warned.

Oh, this one doubles very nicely into a 9 x 13. Good for parties, big families over for dinner or bringing a new mom a meal. The only drawback is that it’s better to eat this hot out of the oven. Cornbread always seems to turn dry the day after baking, so plan to bake what will be eaten. Leftovers aren’t the greatest. Though it’s SO quick and easy that you don’t mind making more.

By Catherine Doherty

For over twenty five years, spent in the apostolate, I have been cooking in its various kitchens. Starting with the foundation of Portland Street, Toronto, on to the one in Ottawa, then to the Harlems of America, and back again to Combermere, the kitchen and I knew all about each other. For we spent many hours of each day together.

However this is not the only reason why this column is born. The real reason is our “budget.” Our rules provide that all members of the apostolate must use as a yardstick for their day-by-day life of poverty (which we embrace under promise) the same sum of money for food, fuel, etc., as that given by official relief agencies.

But often the money in our “kitty” was nowhere near that standard. Therefore a special ingenuity of love was needed to stretch food and dollars to their ultimate limits – and a little beyond. For this reason, slowly, over a period of many years, with constant prayers to Our Lady of the Kitchen, the patroness of all housewives and lay apostles – for wasn’t she a lay woman? – I and those whom I trained in the art of cooking have devised recipes that really fill young hungry stomachs at the least possible cost.

Many of our visitors have asked about these recipes. Gladly we share them.

In the year of grace 1955 we fed, all year round, some forty-odd people on less than ten cents per meal per person – and sometimes for twenty cents a day – a day of three regular meals – per person. All were pleased with the food and are still healthy and happy and working hard for the glory of God.

Thus it is evident that the budgets can be kept low if one has a fundamental knowledge of cooking, plus love and ingenuity.

Lately many friends have entreated us to write a cook book. I have been praying about that. Since I have so little time to sit down and write a book, or books, I cannot oblige at once. But what prevents my writing one or more recipes a month in Restoration? Nothing that I can see. Eventually maybe, by gathering them up, a book may be “amassed.”

Since the real inspiration behind the cooking, the loving and the stretching is Mary, the gracious Mother of God, I want to dedicate this humble column to her. Hence the title. Well – here’s the first “Cooking With Mary” recipe.

Carrot Loaf

Boil enough carrots to figure on half a cup (when mashed) per adult in your family. And the same amount of finely-cut onions.

Mash carrots well. Add shredded boiled onions.

For each half a cup of mashed carrots, add half a cup of mashed potatoes.

Add grated American cheese, the cheapest variety, to taste.

If eggs are in season, and cheap, add well-beaten eggs to the mixture; figuring on one egg per four cups of mashed vegetables. If eggs are expensive, forget them.

Add enough milk (powdered) to moisten well the whole mixture.

Add pepper, salt and favorite spices to taste.

Shape into a loaf.

Sprinkle with a wee bit of grated cheese.

Bake until firm at 350 degrees. Serve with sour white sauce or gravy.

Sour White Sauce or Gravy
For a family of four

One tablespoon of Lard, or any other fat you use in your cooking.
½ cup of white flour
½ cup of shredded onions
Salt, pepper, etc. to taste

Use enough pickling juice from any of your pickles to make a smooth gravy. If need be, it can be diluted with water. We save all our “pickling juices” in a specially-labelled jar and keep in the refrigerator until needed, using them for all sour sauces and gravies; also using them instead of vinegar for salads. Nice? Mmmmm!

Stir together:

2c flour
1c sugar – ½ brown ½ white
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp salt

Stir into the above mixture:

½ c raisins/dates
½ c nuts
½ c coconut
2c grated carrot
1 apple, peeled and grated

Beat together separately:

3 egg
1c oil
2t vanilla

Add wet mixture to the dry and stir everything together only until moist.
Bake 350F for 20 min. Makes 1 dozen.

4 eggs
2c sugar
1 ½ c oil or with ¾ c applesauce/yogurt
2c pumpkin
3c flour
2t soda
2t baking powder
1t cinnamon
1t salt
2c chocolate chips/dates/raisins

Preheat over to 350F. Lightly grease or paper line two 12 cup muffin pans.

Beat eggs and add sugar. Then oil and pumpkin, beat thoroughly.

Sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon.
Add to creamed mixture. Stir in optional ingredients and mix only until combined.

Bake for 15-20 min. Makes 2 dozen.

Notes:
This is the recipe I make again and again. In our summer garden, I grow hubbard squash. They taste just like pumpkin but are larger which translates into more yummy orange goodness inside of each one. I use them anywhere pumpkin is called – pies, muffins, breads, baked, everywhere. When they are done ripening, I bring them inside, hack them apart and bake them all in one day. Then I freeze 2 cup portions in ziploc bags and we have warm gooey muffins all winter long. Do I need to mention that the chocolate chip version is my favorite?!

½ cup wheat germ
½ cup hot water
¾ cup all purpose flour
½ cup whole wheat flour
1 ½ tsp baking soda
¼ tsp salt
¼ tsp ground cinnamon
¾ cup firmly packed brown sugar
¼ cup peanut butter, plain or crunchy
¼ cup shortening
1 large egg
½ cup milk
½ cup applesauce
Peanuts for decoration

Preheat over to 350F. Lightly grease or paper line a 12 cup muffin pan.

Place wheat germ in small bowl and pour hot water over it. Set aside.

In medium bowl, mix together flours, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.

In a separate bowl, beat together sugar, peanut butter, shortening, egg, milk and applesauce until smooth.

Add dry ingredients and wheat germ, mix until just moistened. Spoon into muffin cups, filling each about three–quarters full. Top each muffin with a few peanuts. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until risen and browned. Cool on wire rack.

Notes:
I substituted rolled oats for the wheat germ, buttermilk for the milk, and left off the peanuts on top. They still came out yummy. This one will become a favorite as the ingredients are always in my cupboard.

Anyone else end up with leftover muffin batter? No matter what recipe I use, I’m always left with extra. I don’t dare heap up the muffins for fear they will burn and not cook through. My solution has been to use a tart pan. I grease the cups and fill them just the same. They cook faster than the actual muffins, so you have to watch them. But they come out like mini-muffins, perfect little warm morsels just the right size for small hands and to take in lunches.

1 cup flour
1/8 tsp. salt
2 tbls. sugar
2 tbls. baking powder
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
oil for frying

Mix ingredients together, whisking with a fork. It should be the consistency of cake batter.

Heat 2-3″ oil, preferably in cast iron pot, to 350 degrees.
Take small spoonfuls of batter and drop into hot oil and fry until golden brown.

Drain on papertowels and dust with powdered sugar and/or syrup. Serve immediately.

Notes:
Almost forgot! Brenda says she prefers to use buttermilk, but any cream or evaporated milk would do as well.

Beignets do not keep for the following day. Make them fresh and eat them all!

Brenda told me that this is actually half of a “batch” that her mother made for Sunday morning breakfast. She made these right in front of us in ten minutes.