Pineapple-Crowned Fruit Pie

Pineapple-Crowned Fruit Pie

1 cup oats
1/4 cup sesame seed
Walnuts

1/4 tsp. salt
2 medium bananas, sliced
Lemon juice
2 cups sliced fresh strawberries
2 tsp. cornstarch
1 20-oz. can crushed pineapple
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Process oats, sesame seed and 1/2 cup walnuts a small amount at a time in blender container until of flour consistency. Mix in salt and 3 Tbsp. cold water. Press into 9-inch pie plate. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 to 15 minutes or until golden brown. Dip banana slices in lemon juice. Arrange in pie shell. Top with strawberries. Blend cornstarch and pineapple in saucepan. Cook until thick and bubbly, stirring constantly. Cook for 1 minute longer. Stir in vanilla; cool. Spoon over fruit. Chill for several hours. Sprinkle with 1/3 cup chopped walnuts. 

Makes: 6 - 8 servings.

*To make gluten free, use certified gluten free oats.

One of my recipes --- published years back in the Great American Heritage Cookbook --- which contained favorite recipes of home economics teachers. Walking down memory lane on this chilly winter day.

Tea and Isabella Beeton

Isabella  Mayson Beeton (1836 - 1865) was a remarkable woman who accomplished many things during the 28 years of her short life. She was born on Milk Street, Cheapside, London. Her mother was friends with a woman who had a son named Samuel Orchard Beeton. After the children grew up they married and started a family of their own. Samuel was a publisher of magazines and books. Isabella, being a good help-meet, contended not only with homemaking and parenting duties, but established herself as an asset to his publishing business. She wrote and published articles for magazines on the topic of household management and cooking. Over time she wrote a book that is known to this day as Mrs. Beeton’s Book of Household Management. It was a huge volume of over 1,112 pages. The book content included reliable information and advice, recipes, and engravings. Isabella Beeton is credited with being the first to show recipes with ingredients being listed at the beginning, the common format that is still used today. The book contents claimed to include information about everything needed to run a successful home for the middle classes. A well-written cookbook includes only recipes that the author and their assistants have personally tested. Mrs. Beeton’s was not an exception. Every recipe published was tried in her kitchen first. If she didn’t make it herself, her cook or kitchen maid prepared it for her. It was important to her that each recipe be practical economically and she was always careful to include how many servings a recipe made. Mrs. Beeton’s Book of Household Management was a best-seller. By 1868, more than two million copies had been sold.


Being a guide for all aspects of homemaking, the book was sure to include valuable information about the making and service of tea. Mrs. Beeton's instructions are below:


"There is very little art in making good tea; if the water is boiling, and there is no sparing of the fragrant leaf, the beverage will invariably be good. The old-fashioned plan of allowing a teaspoonful to each person, and one over, is still practiced. Warm the teapot with boiling water. . .for two or three minutes. . .then pour it away. Put in the tea, pour in one-half to three-quarters pint of 'boiling' water, close the lid, and let it stand for the tea to draw from five to ten minutes; then fill up the pot with water. The tea will be quite spoiled unless made with water that is 'actually boiling', as the leaves will not open and the flavor will not be extracted from them."


With that said, it's time for me to find my teapot and make a fragrant pot of tea. How about you?


Photo: a teapot cross-stitch that was given to me by a friend.

A Personal Handmade Cookbook

In my previous post I shared about some little books that I created with my kids when they were young. Each of them was self-bound using cardboard, floss, small ribbon, and ric-rac. But other kinds of bindings make great homemade books as well. This small cookbook is one I made about thirty-five years ago. It is tattered and stained, and although I could easily change the cover and put something new on the front, I choose to preserve each blemish on this treasured book. I made it as a class project for a Food Science class. Inside are recipes I valued at that time in my life, including recipes from friends, aunties, grandmothers, and my mother. It was made in the day before computers and word processing systems. Each letter was typed on a clunky electric typewriter on stiff tag-board pages. White out was my friend.

Although there are many other cookbooks and recipes in my files now, this is still my "go to" cookbook for pie crusts, cookies, cakes, and other family specialties. 

It's interesting to me that such a simple little cookbook can hold so many cherished memories and be bound not only with the metal three-ring clasps, but by a multitude of emotions and love as well. Little things become cherished treasures. 


What simple things do you cherish because they represent cherished memories for you? Is one of your cherished items a cookbook? I would love to hear about it.