Grandma Butterbaugh’s
Lye Soap
Mix a 13 ounce
can of lye with 5 cups COLD water. Let cool (lye makes the water hot). Use an old wooden spoon or wooden stick to stir. Keep
fingers out of the lye, it will burn. Warm 3 quarts of old grease that has been strained through an old silk stocking. Warm
it until it is melted with no crystals left in it. To the melted grease, add 1/3 cup sugar, 1/2 cup of 20-Mule Team Borax
and 1/2 cup ammonia. Stir until everything is well dissolved.
Add the lye water
to the grease mixture when both are about the same temperature.
Stir off and on
until it starts to set – this may take most of the day. Pour into granite pan, about 7”x14”x4”. Soap
will be about 3” deep. Let set.
Cut into bars when
it is set, but leave in pan for a few days. Do not use the soap until it is very very hard – about 2 to 6 months.
Ahh. I remember
the smell well.
Karen’s Chicken
Imperial
Heat in electric
skillet at 350 degrees until mixed and warm:
1 cup sherry
4 tablespoons butter
4 teaspoons Worcestershire
sauce
2 teaspoons oregano
leaves
2 teaspoons curry
powder
1 teaspoon dry
mustard
1 teaspoon garlic
powder
1/2 teaspoon paprika
5 to 6 dashes Tabasco,
or other hot pepper sauce
Add 4 to 6 skinless
boneless chicken breasts to the warm liquid; cook 20 to 30 minutes until done.
Mom’s Clam
Chowder
In a large heavy
kettle sauté 6 slices chopped bacon until crisp. Turn off heat, do not drain.
Add to the kettle
3 Tablespoons chopped green onion (include tops), 5 medium peeled cubed potatoes (1/2 inch cubes), 2 tablespoons chopped green
pepper, 1 rib sliced celery, 1 finely sliced carrot, 1 mashed garlic clove, 2 cups water, 1 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon black
pepper, 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce, and 4 drops Tabasco.
Bring to a boil,
simmer for about 15 minutes until tender, stirring and mashing slightly.
Heat 2 cups chopped
clams with juice for 3 minutes, add to vegetables.
Add 2 cups cream
and heat. Do not boil after adding cream.
Karen’s Eggs
from Hell
12 hard-boiled
eggs, peeled and cut in half
1/2 cup sour cream
3 tablespoons lime
juice (or white vinegar)
1/4 cup chopped
green onions
4 Jalapeno chilis
– stemmed, seeded, and minced (see note)
2 Tablespoons chopped
cilantro
Jalapenos and radishes,
thinly sliced
Separate yolks
from whites, set white aside. Blend together yolks, sour cream, and lime juice. Stir in green onions, Jalapenos, and cilantro.
Season to taste with salt and pepper. Fill egg whites, garnish with Jalapeno and radish slices.
Note – For
a milder flavor, Wimps can use a 4 ounce can of diced green chilis.
Great Grandma Spencer’s
Boston Brown Bread
1 cup white flour,
sifted
2 cups whole wheat
flour
3 teaspoons soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons brown
sugar
3/4 cup dark Karo
or Brer Rabbit molasses (green label)
2-1/4 cup buttermilk
(or sour milk, see note)
1-1/2 cup raisins
Mix all together.
Fill three #2 cans
and one #2-1/2 can. Two-thirds full.
Cover with oil
paper and tie.
300 degrees - steam
3 hours, then dry in oven 5 minutes.
(#2 cans are green
bean cans and #2-1/2 cans are large peach cans)
Note – Sour
milk – Add 1 tablespoon vinegar or lemon juice for each cup of milk, let stand for 5 minutes.
