Re-creating G'ma...

As we have been gardening this season and canning most anything we can throw into a mason jar I have been dipping into my memories and finding recipes that my Grandma used to make. Some have involved a few lesser known/used fruits and veggies and some I am trying recipes to recreate tasty memories that I have.

This spring I was privy to a friends stand of rhubarb and harvested quite a bit...with it I made Rhubarb Jam, a Roasted Rhubarb Vanilla Compote, and a Rhubarb Pie...oh and a very sad looking, but tasty batch of rhubarb thumbprint cookies. I shared the rhubarb with some of my not so young neighbors and I think I may have received at least two marriage proposals. It seems none of them had eaten rhubarb since their youths either and were enamored by the reprisal of the tart stems.

Rhubarb Meringue Pie=Yum!

We have also learned the joy of liberating aka foraging for tasty food items. Two come to mind...we made beautiful Queen Anne's Lace Jelly and while I don't think G'ma ever made this, I bet she would have...Just a a side not when making QAL jelly make sure you know the difference between QAL and Hemlock unless of course you want to go that route. BUT I IN NO WAY ENDORSE THAT. AT ALL. EVER!

Queen Anne's Lace Jelly

And if you are curious what Queen Anne's Lace Jelly tastes like...to me it is like a floral honey combination. I really like it. It also seems to pair well with of all things tomatillo/habenero salsa with a dab of cream cheese on a cracker. It is so cool to say that we grew the tomatillos and the habeneros. Although I won't claim any of the peppers and I swear we have the hottest jalepenos you have ever eaten. Insanely hot jalepenos. Not sure why...maybe they wanted to be more like the cayennes?

We have also liberated quite a few elderberries...and since my parents have made a million jars of elderberry jelly we made elderberry syrup which we will use in the winter because it is supposed to be one of the best cold and flu preventatives you can get...also it is good with vodka.

I also made the most beautiful elderberry pie. I still have lots to learn about making pie crust look good. I can sure make it taste good but my rolling pin skills leave lots to be desired. The Richland County Fair would laugh me right out of the baked goods building. The crust may have been a wee bit ugly, but damn it tasted good and was just the right amount of buttery and flaky to the elderberries beautiful purple tartness. Score one for the pie! I also shared this with the neighborhood grumpy old men and got some pretty awesome reviews...G'ma would be proud.

Before I topped it with the extra crust...

My helpers hoping I might drop something tasty.

Still a little shady, but damn it tasted good.

And my final homage to G'ma in this post is a milk pie. I had another crust left and decided to use it today between roasting tomatillos and trying my hand at making marinara sauce...so what is a milk pie? I believe some people call it a chess pie also, but it is kind of like a custard in a crust. Milk, eggs, sugar yep that is pretty much it stir it up and pour it in and bake and poof you have pie. My five minutes of internet research showed this to be a Pennsylvania Dutch recipe? Who knows...all I know is it is damn tasty. G'ma would love it...and I am finding it fun to try and find recipes for the memories I have. I will have to share this with some of my family and see if they remember it too...

Right after I took the Milk Pie out of the oven.

Yep I ate some...it was good.