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Sister Beckys 7-Up Pound Cake

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7 Up Pound CakeMy sister Becky, got the recipe for 7-Up pound cake from my cousin Dee (Delores). Anyway, I got the benefit of their transaction and all I can say is delicious! My sister’s cake was made from scratch and was moist and luscious! There are some recipes online using a box mix too! I say whatever floats your boat (works for you) and tastes good!

 

Sister Becky’s 7-Up Pound Cake
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 1 – 10″ pound cake
Ingredients
  • 1 1/4 cup butter (softened)
  • 2 1/2 cups sugar
  • 3 larges eggs
  • 3 cups self-rising flour
  • 2 tsps. lemon extract
  • 1 cup 7-Up
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (165 degrees C). Heavily grease and flour a 10 inch Bundt pan.
  2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the lemon extract. Sift flour and add to bowl alternately with the 7-Up, mixing just until incorporated.
  3. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake in the preheated oven for 45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into cake comes out clean. Allow to cool on a cake rack for 30 minutes before removing from the pan.
Serving size: 1 pc

 

 

 

 

 

 


Roasted Zucchini and Yellow Squash

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Something special happens to vegetables when you oven roast them and oven roasted zucchini and yellow squash is a perfect example of this.  The food takes on a smoky, sweet, slightly charred taste that is nothing like how the same vegetables taste when steamed or boiled on the stove top  – simply yummy! If you have trouble getting your kids or family in general to eat their veggies, try this cooking method!You’ve got nothing to lose and oh so much flavor to gain!

Oven Roasted Squash

 

 

 

 

 

Oven Roasted Squash
Author: Sweet Mother
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 1 1/2 qt.
Ingredients
  • 2 lb. zucchini
  • 2 lb. yellow squash
  • 1 Vidalia or sweet onion
  • 1 Tbsp. creole or cajun seasoning
  • 1 tsp. salt
  • 1 tsp. pepper
  • 1/4 c. olive oil
  • 2 Tbsp melted butter
  • Optional Seasonings
  • Balsamic vinegar
  • Italian seasoning
Instructions
  1. Wash and drain the squash. Peel and wash the onion. Slice squash into 1/8 to 1/4″ rounds. Cut onion in half down the core then slice cross wise. Put cut veggies into an aluminum bowl. Sprinkle seasonings, oil and butter over vegetables and toss to coat evenly. Lay vegetables out on a sheet pan that has been fitted with a oil sprayed parchment pan liner. Roast vegetables for 30 mins. Remove pan from oven and toss veggies with a pair of tongs, being careful not to tear your pan liner. Return pan to oven and roast an additional 10 to 15 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool slightly. Serve.
Serving size: 1/2 c.
Notes
If you have the time, lay veggie slices out in a single layer, not touching and bake at 200 – 225 for an hour or two to make chips. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese and serve warm – yum!

Curried Carrots

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Ok – this recipe is how I’ve been fixing carrots for the kids where I work.  This preparation gives carrottts an exotic, spicy, sweet, savory kind of vibe. I really love carrots fixed this way, and I’m not a carrot lover. The kids eat them (more or less) too!  It reminds me of sweet potatoes, but I know they’re carrots. My recommendation, if you don’t serve sweet potatoes in some form for your holiday dinner table, try curried carrots. You’ll get the color and some of the flavor! Different and delicious!

Curried Carrots

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Curried Carrots
Ingredients
  • 2lb bag of frozen diced carrots
  • 1 pt. cold water
  • 2 Tbsp. curry powder
  • 1 Tbsp. ground cinnamon
  • 2 tsp. ground turmeric
  • 1/2 tsp. allspice
  • 1/2 c.brown sugar
  • 2 tsp. onion powder
  • 1 tsp. garlic powder
  • 2 tsp. salt
  • 2 tsp. black pepper
  • 4 Tbsp. butter
Instructions
  1. Bring 1 pint of water to a boil and add frozen diced carrots. Turn flame down to medium and allow carrots to cook five to 7 minutes. Add seasoning and butter. Stir well. Turn flame down to simmer. Allow to simmer 10 minutes Serve.

Who’s In The Kitchen: Chef Edna Lewis In Her Own Words

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Edna Lewis

Another one of my influences and a great African American female chef and historian Edna Lewis documented the fact that unless something is done, the history of southern food and how it was grown, cooked and served will be forgotten forever. She co-founded, The Society for the Preservation and Revitalization of Southern Food, to try to ensure that those ways be preserved for future generations to know, learn and understand.

Chef Edna Lewis is considered to be the authority on Southern cooking and she was also a pioneer of the farm to table movement. Born in Freetown, Orange County, Virginia, on April 13, 1916, the granddaughter of a freed slave.  Chef Lewis considered southern food the only truly regional cuisine of this country, like jazz and the blues… true American art forms! Chef Lewis cooked her sought after dishes for the rich and famous at Café Nicholson in New York City and because she believed in good, fresh, simple food, the same dishes will be equally at home on your table being served to your family. It was as much what she fixed as how she fixed it. The lost art of home cooking from scratch can be found again! Among many other awards and honors that she has received, two which would be known to all the foodies reading this, in 1995 chef Lewis was awarded a James Beard Lifetime Achievement Award (their first ever) and in 1999 she was awarded the title of Grande Dame by Les Dames d’Escoffier, an international organization of female culinary professionals. A true farm to table cook, chef Lewis believed in fresh food, simply prepared as the basic recipe for an outstanding meal. To read Chef Lewis’ bio, click this link to The Edna Lewis Foundation , to go to her foundation website, created in 2012.

As I didn’t get to talk to chef Lewis personally, the videos and her cook books help give me a deeper understanding of who chef Lewis was. Better than just reading about her. We get to hear a little bit of her story – in her own words! Incredible!

http://https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cl6JVMoMN44

This is a series of photos of chef Edna Lewis. Some are from her cookbooks and some from life moments. Please take note of the last photo, it’s a stamp – yes a U.S. postage forever stamp commemorating the life of this great chef.

This is a short interview with Chef Lewis and gives insight into not only who she is but into her concept of the food she cooked. Chef Lewis seemed to me to be s a woman of quiet,  unassuming disposition who filled the space around her with elegance and wisdom. Enjoy!

http://youtubeid=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34hEzh-D7Qo

A few years ago, when I first started researching Chef Lewis, I found a play online called “Dinner with Edna Lewis” from Southern Foodways. According to the information on the page: “For several years now, we’ve capped off our fall symposium programming with a Sunday-morning fine arts performance—a chitlin ballet, a collard operetta, a pitmaster puppet show. In 2013 we premiered Dinner with Edna Lewis, a one-woman play written by Shay Youngblood and performed by Detra Payne. If you weren’t with us at the symposium, you can now watch this original interpretation of the late chef and writer Edna Lewis.”

Shared from: http://www.southernfoodways.org/dinner-with-edna-lewis/

http://http://vimeo.com/78759139

Chef Edna Lewis: Awards and Honors

Awards and Accolades

  • 1986 – Named Who’s Who in American Cooking by Cook’s Magazine
  • 1990 – Lifetime Achievement Award IACP (International Assoc. of Culinary Professionals)
  • 1995 – James Beard Living Legend Award (Their first such award.)
  • 1999 – Named Grande Dame by Les Dames d’Escoffier, an international organization of female culinary professionals.
  • 1999 – Lifetime Achievement Award from Southern Foodways Alliance (SFA) (Their first such award.)
  • 2002 – Barbara Tropp President’s Award (WCR – Women Chefs & Restaurateurs)
  • 2003 – Inducted into the KitchenAid Cookbook Hall of Fame (James Beard)
  • 2004 – The Gift of Southern Cooking nominated for James Beard Award and IACP Award
  • 2009 — African American Trailblazers in Virginia honoree at the Library of Virginia (in Richmond)

Cookbooks

  • The Edna Lewis Cookbook (Ecco 1989)(Out of Print)
  • The Taste of Country Cooking (Knopf 1976)

the_taste_of_country_cooking

 

  • In Pursuit of Flavor (Knopf 1988)

in_pursuit_of_flavor

 

  • The Gift of Southern Cooking (with Scott Peacock)(Knopf 2003)

The_gift_of_southern_cooking

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edna Lewis. (2014, November 6). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 02:48, November 23, 2014, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Edna_Lewis&oldid=632707482

Sugardale Honey Baked Ham

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My ham of choice is Sugardale honey baked ham. I know that you may not have this brand in your part of the country or your part of the world, but I’m working on getting a link that you can purchase your ham through and have it shipped directly to you so stay tuned! When I started cooking, one of the most confusing things was trying to figure out how to buy a ham. What kind of ham, how big a ham, how to cook the ham. It was terrible! Well, hopefully, I have helped you solve a problem that it took me years to figure out. Sugardale hams are succulent, sweet and tender! I prefer the boneless option – no waste! I can still season my beans, greens, salads and soups with the left overs – so, win-win!  Today, I used a simple baking method. I was out of brown sugar so I rubbed honey over the outside of the ham, blanketed it with pineapple tidbits and maraschino cherries and baked it for about 2 1/2 hours. I removed the ham, let it rest then sliced and served it. Simply delicious – family tradition making ham!

 

Scalloped Potatoes

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Creamy, dreamy scalloped potatoes are the stuff that soul food aka comfort food is made of! And as we all know – soul food is the ultimate comfort food! Starting with a roux and a Mother sauce, with smoky ham and bacon flavor – yum! These potatoes are perfect with just about anything but they’re especially good with baked ham – in fact, it’s a perfect pairing! A simple, easy dish that looks and tastes like you spent all day cooking. Sure to become a family favorite – they’re that good!

 

 

Scalloped Potatoes
Ingredients
  • 5 lb bag of Idaho or russet potatoes
  • 1/2 c butter
  • 1/2 c flour
  • 1 tsp. salt
  • 1 tsp. black pepper
  • Sauce
  • 2 c. shredded parmesan
  • 1/2 c. shredded sharp cheddar
  • 1/2 c. shredded mild cheddar
  • 1/2 c. shredded Asiago
  • 1 qt. half and half
  • 1pt. milk
  • 1 pt. heavy whipping cream
  • 1 Tbsp. bacon base
  • 1 Tbsp. ham base
  • 2 tsp. onion powder
  • Sprinkling cheese
  • 1/2 c. shredded mild cheddar
  • 1/2 c. shredded sharp cheddar
  • 1/2 c. shredded parmesan
Instructions
  1. Peel and slice potatoes into rounds. Rinse potatoes and put in a 4 qt. stock pot with cold water to cover. Bring to a boil and cook about 3 minutes. Pour into a calendar to drain. Butter and spray a 9 x 11 baking pan. Add a layer of potatoes to pan. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Sprinkle with combination of parmesan, sharp cheddar and mild cheddar – about 3/4 c. total. Add another (final) layer of potatoes. Pour sauce over potatoes to cover. Sprinkle with remaining cheese. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes until top becomes a golden brown crust and dish sets. Remove from oven and allow to set 30 minutes minimum before serving.

Chocolate Chip Sweet Potato Muffins

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Chocolate Cip Sweet Potato Muffins is a think outside the box recipe. Why? Because most people wouldn’t think of combining chocolate and sweet potatoes! In my quest to prove that sweet potatoes are one of the most delicious and versatile tubers around I use this chocolate chip sweet potato muffin recipe as a delicious part of our sweet potato journey of discovery! We will have lots of delicious (and yes sometimes nutritious) fun along the way!  You’ll find that chocolate chip sweet potato muffins are just the thing for a special holiday breakfast or brunch, or just anytime you want something delicious! Yummy, mummy!

Chocolate Chip Sweet Potato Muffins
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 24 muffins
Ingredients
  • 2 c. white sugar
  • 1 3/4c. pureed sweet potatoes
  • 1 cup vegetable oil
  • 2/3 c. water
  • 4 large eggs
  • 3 1/2 c. AP flour
  • 1 Tbsp. ground cinnamon
  • 1 tsp. ground nutmeg
  • 1 tsp. allspice
  • 2 tsp. baking soda
  • 1 1/2 tsp. salt
  • 1 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips
  • 1/2 c. chopped, toasted walnuts or pecans (optional)
  • Streusel Topping
  • 1/4 cup butter, softened
  • 1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup AP flour
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour 1 large (24 each) muffin tin or 2 regular (12 each) size muffin pans. In a large bowl, combine sugar, sweet potatoes, oil, water and eggs. Beat until smooth. Blend in flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, baking soda and salt. Fold in chocolate chips and nuts. Fill muffin pans using a 2 oz scoop. Bake for 30 minutes, or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Cool, remove from pan/s and sprinkle with powdered sugar and cocoa.
Streusel Topping
  1. Combine butter, brown sugar, flour and spices in a small bowl using your finger tips to combine until crumbly and butter is well incorporated. Sprinkle about 2 tsp. evenly on top of each muffins and bake. Unused streusel can be saved in a zip lock bag in the freezer up to 3 months. Remember to write what’s in the bag on the bag and date it before freezing.
Serving size: 1 muffin
Notes
If you don’t want to use muffin pans you can bake this in 1 large cornbread/baking pan.[br][br]Optional Toppings: Streusel topping added to muffin tops before baking or confectioners sugar and cocoa sprinkled on baked, cooled muffins. I do both!

Best Ever Macaroni and Cheese

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Macaroni and cheese is a lot like gumbo or curry – everybody has their own family recipe or way to make it. I hope before it’s all said and done that we have family and friends that upload their special mac and cheese recipes, so you have lots to choose from! Let me start it off by posting our family macaroni and cheese recipe which is 75% my Mom and 25% me. At least that’s the way I feel about it, or as they say that’s my story and I’m sticking to it! I consider macaroni and cheese as one of soul food’s 7 elite side dish recipes, which to me are ( in no particular order)…

  • 1. collard greens (greens in general)
  • 2. cornbread & rolls
  • 3. macaroni & cheese
  • 4. candied sweet potatoes
  • 5. potato salad | cole slaw
  • 6. stuffing
  • 7. other starches – mashed potatoes | rice, etc

Just give me those 7 sides and I don’t really care what kind of meat you’re serving – it’s all good! This mac & cheese is rich and creamy with a velvety cheese sauce made from 5 cheeses, heavy whipping cream and eggs. For a really creamy mac & cheese, you can leave out the eggs and it will give you a delicious baked and creamy mac & cheese! Soul good!

Update: I don’t know what I was thinking but I forgot some other VERY important sides that should also be added!!! I left out biscuits, beans, grits, corn pudding – and so many others, the list goes on!!! Don’t know WHAT I was thinking!!! Not! 🙂 In my own defense, I think my list above is holiday/Thanksgiving & Christmas centered. Please forgive me for all the delicious side dishes that I omitted that are truly stars in their own right!

Best Ever Macaroni and Cheese
Author: Sweet Mother
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 18 x 24 pan
Ingredients
    • 3 lb elbow macaroni – boiled and drained
    • 3 c. shredded sharp cheddar – divided
    • 1 1/2 c. shredded parmesan – divided
    • 1/2 c. shredded asiago – divided
    • 1 stick butter – melted
    • 1/8 c. butter – melted
    • 6 c. Velvetta cut into cubes and divided
    • 2 c. half and half
    • 2 c. heavy whipping cream or evaporated milk
    • 2 c. milk
    • 3 eggs (optional)
    • 2 tsp onion powder
    • 2 tsp salt
    • 1 tsp black pepper
  • Mixed shredded cheeses for topping
Instructions
    1. Add 2 c. each of milk, half and half and heavy whipping cream to a 4 qt sauce pan on low heat. Add 2 cup of original velvetta cubes and 2 c. of sharp velvetta, 2 c. sharp cheddar, 1 c. parmesan and 1/8 c. asiago to warming liquid. Pour cooked, drained macaroni into a large aluminum bowl. Add 1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese and 1 cup each of velvetta cubes, 1/2 c parmesan to bowl of macaroni and toss to mix. Add 1/8 c melted butter, salt and pepper and onion powder. Toss macaroni to distribute ingredients throughout.[br][img src=”https://sweetmotherskitchen.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/DSCN1223-150×150.jpg”]
    1. When cheese in pan has melted completely in the warming milk, add tempered, beaten eggs (optional) to cheese sauce. Spread remaining 1/8 c. melted butter in bottom of baking pan. Pour macaroni mixture into pan. Pour cheese sauce over macaroni mixture in baking pan until sauce reaches top of macaroni.[br][img src=”https://sweetmotherskitchen.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/DSCN1226-150×150.jpg”]
    1. Sprinkle top of dish with mixture of 1/2 c parmesan, 1/8 c asiago, 1 c shredded sharp cheddar) and bake at 350 for 45 minutes to an hour, until set or until temp reaches 165 degrees on food thermometer, and has a golden brown crust.[br][img src=”https://sweetmotherskitchen.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/DSCN12311-150×150.jpg”]
  1. Enjoy!
Serving size: 3 x 3″ hunk of mac & cheese love
Notes
I made eggs optional for this reason. If you add the eggs you will have more of an old school baked mac & cheese souffle dish. Without the eggs, your mac & cheese will be creamier because the eggs aren’t there to make it bind & set as much.

I Was Invited To A Throw Down

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I was invited to a throw down yesterday by my sister Becky. She told me to stop by after work to get something to eat because she was cooking. My two sisters Becky (Rebecca Suzanne) and Phyl (Phyllis Randa) and I all cook alike because all three of us were cooking “home schooled” by our Mom. Anyway, I was only too happy to stop by as Becky can truly “throw down” when she wants to. Not in the Bobby Flay “I challenge you to a throw down” way. I mean in the “come on over and eat cause I threw down” way!  Becky likes to pretend that  she “doesn’t remember how to cook” because she doesn’t do it as often as she used to when her kids were coming up! I figured out that if you pretend like you don’t remember how to cook, you get invited to eat other people’s cooking more than they get to eat yours! Smart, especially if you don’t love to cook as much as some of us do. Anyway as I was saying Sister Sue “threw down” yesterday!  Here’s the menu, which was quite fabulous for a “nothing special going on” Friday night meal.

The menu:

  • Baked chicken wings
  • Fried porgies
  • Stuffed peppers
  • Collards & cabbage
  • Macaroni & cheese
  • Potato salad
  • Tossed salad
  • Corn muffins
  • 7-Up pound cake & ice cream

And since I was so full that I refused to take a plate when I left, I’ll be going back for round 2 later today! (lol)

I”ll close this out with the words of Pharrell Williams, “Because I’m happy…  Clap along if you know what happiness is to you”

Beckys Threw DownDSCN1235DSCN1240

Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup

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Chicken Noodle Soup

 

 

 

 

Hi… My Name Is Chef Char And I Am A Soupaholic! It’s true – soup is my Achilles heel! I love soup and I love to make soup – year round! I don’t care if it’s 9 degrees or 90, I’ll still eat a bowl of steaming hot soup anytime! I’m sure I love soup so much because I can remember my Mom’s soup! Mommy was such a fabulous cook! There are many kinds of soup that I love and make but I’ll start with a true classic – homemade chicken noodle soup! It’s soooul good!

Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup
Ingredients
  • 1 – 3lb chicken (whole chicken cut in half or in pieces)
  • 2-4 whole bay leaves (2 if large or 4 if medium/small)
  • 2 c diced or sliced fresh or frozen carrots
  • 2 c diced celery (stocks and leaves)
  • 1/2 c butter
  • 4T chicken base
  • 1T onion powder
  • 2 tsp salt
  • 2 tsp black pepper
  • 2 lb egg noodles (cooked and drained)
Instructions
  1. Cut chicken in half or if you prefer into pieces. Rinse chicken and put into a 6 quart stock pot. Add cold water to cover and put on low flame. Add carrots, celery and onion. Simmer chicken until internal temperature reaches 165. Skim foam off chicken at it cooks. When cooked, remove chicken pieces from broth. Remove skin and bone and cut up chicken into medium sized diced pieces. Return meat back to pot with vegetable and continue to simmer. Add salt, pepper, onion powder and chicken base. Remove bay leaves. Add cooked egg noodles and butter to pot. Turn off heat under pot. Serve with biscuits or crackers.