Category: My Roots

Family Favorites · Holidays · My Roots

Thanksgiving Leftovers…Yummy Turkey Vegetable Soup…

cathysmaha3 Comments

My Mother grew up in the depression and had a knack for making the most out of everything.  Every year, she would make a large pot of Turkey Vegetable Soup after the big day.  The aroma of the soup allowed us to relive Thanksgiving Day all over again.  I love to add caraway seed (if you are Czech…it’s a true passion).  Yum!

Turkey Vegetable Soup
Turkey Vegetable Soup

TURKEY VEGETABLE SOUP

1 Turkey Carcass (leftover from holiday meal)
Diced Potatoes
Pearl Barley
Corn
Green Beans
Green Peas
Diced Onion
Diced Celery
Diced Carrots
Diced Red or Green Peppers
Bits of leftover dressing
(Whatever you feel like throwing in the pot!)
Pinch of oregano, parley, thyme, dill, caraway seed
Salt & pepper to taste

  • Remove carcass/meat/skin from broth.  Strain broth.  Return bits of turkey to the broth.  Chill overnight.
  • Skim fat from broth.  Bring broth to slight boil.
  • Add vegetables, herbs, and seasoning.  Simmer until vegetables are tender.
Fresh Vegetables and Barley chopped and ready

The soup freezes so well and provides you with a taste of Thanksgiving long into the winter.

Do you have a favorite turkey soup that is tradition in your family?

Family Favorites · My Roots

Best Pumpkin Pie in the WORLD!

cathysmaha2 Comments
Pumpkin Pie Starts Here

How many GOOD pumpkin pies have you tasted in your life?  If you are like me, very few. Our family has the good-fortune of having the best pumpkin pie recipe in the history of the world…or so we think.  This recipe was handed down from my great-grandmother and, perhaps, even further back. They made their crust from scratch but I must confess, I like the Pillsbury refrigerated pie crust just fine.

Growing up, I loved all of the traditional Thanksgiving fare, but Pumpkin Pie with whipped cream was the highlight of the day.   My Mother would make multiple Pumpkin Pies because everyone wanted more than one piece.  It is fitting that today one of the pies was baked in my Mother’s pie pan.

Once you taste this pie, you will never go back to a commercially prepared pie.  It is so easy…so delicious.  Try it out this Thanksgiving and your family will sing your praises. I would love to hear feedback on your experience with our family recipe!

The Best Ever Pumpkin Pie

BEST PUMPKIN PIE

1 cup sugar
1 heaping teaspoon flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
pinch ginger
pinch salt
1 cup pumpkin
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup milk
pie crust (I use refrigerated crusts)

  • Mix sugar, flour, cinnamon and ginger until well mixed.
  • Add pumpkin and beat well. Add 2 beaten eggs and beat until very smooth. Add milk and mix well.
  • Put prepared pie crust into pie pan.  Finish the edges.  In this case, I have used a fork to finish the edges.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  • Put prepared pie crust into pie pan.  Finish the edges.  In this case, I have used a fork to finish the edges.
  • Pour in unbaked pie shell. Bake at 350 degrees until knife inserted in center comes out clean (about 45 minutes to 1 hour).
Pumpkin Pie Ready for the Oven
  • Cool pie.  Slice and serve with whipped cream.  Refrigerate remaining slices of pie (if you have any).
Family Favorites · My Roots

Pumpkin Bread … an Autumn Tradition

cathysmaha2 Comments

November is not complete without Pumpkin Bread. When I was growing up, Pumpkin Bread was often baked in tall tin cans so that the finished product of round slices was pretty for women’s clubs and gatherings.  I am fine with the traditional loaf and it tastes equally as yummy.  The bread freezes so well.  I like to freeze several loaves to share during the season with friends and family.  It’s tradition!

PUMPKIN BREAD

3 cups sugar
1 cup salad oil
4 eggs beaten
2 teaspoons baking soda
3 1/2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
2/3 cup water
2 cups canned pumpkin
chopped nuts (optional)

  • Combine sugar and oil in a large bowl. Add 4 eggs and beat until completely mixed.
  • Sift together flour, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg. Add dry ingredients alternately with water. Mix well. Add pumpkin and mix well again.

  • Pour into greased loaf pans and bake at 350 degrees for 65 to 75 minutes.  Enjoy!

Family · Family Favorites · My Roots

Kumla…not your ordinary dumpling

cathysmaha18 Comments

My Mother was very adventurous in her rural Iowa kitchen.  She loved to cook traditional Bohemian dishes from my Father’s family; German, Dutch and Norwegian dishes from friends and family.

I don’t know where my Mother discovered Kumla but it is a hearty dish that will warm the cockles of your heart.  A mandatory nap following consumption of Kumla may be appropriate.  It all begins with homemade ham broth.  Potato dumplings are made from raw, grated potatoes and boiled in the broth.  Traditionally, the dumplings are dipped in a dollop of butter.

While I have eaten Kumla for 50+ years, I did not know the history.  After surfing the web, I learned it is a traditional Swedish/Norwegian dish often served during the holidays with butter or with lingonberry.

KUMLA

peeled potatoes, ground with fine grinder
salt
1 egg
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
flour

  • Place ham in a large pot and cover with water.  Bring the water to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer the ham about 2 hours. Remove the ham, and skim any foam off the broth.  I like to cool and the refrigerate the broth overnight and skim off any fat before proceeding.
  • Finely grate or grind potatoes. Sprinkle well with salt and work through potatoes. Let set 5-10 minutes. Press moisture out by placing potato mixture into a sieve to remove the starch. Discard starch.
Kumla–grating the potatoes
  • Add egg and baking powder. Work in all the flour that you can until firm and not sticky.
Kumla–roll into small balls
  • Drop by teaspoon full in boiling ham broth in heavy metal pot. Cook on low heat for 45 minutes to an hour. Test Kumla by cutting one in half.
  • Serve hot. Traditionally we dip dumplings in butter. Even better when they are warmed up!

Perhaps Kumla will become a favorite for your family!  If you are already a Kumla lover, what is your story?

My Roots

Cooking from the heart

cathysmaha2 Comments

Once upon a time, a little girl named Cathy sat in her Mother’s kitchen in rural Iowa, watching her Mother make amazing dinners every night with items from the garden or raised on their farm.  The smell of baking bread, when walking through the door after school, is forever engrained in my memory.  My Mother would tell stories about the food she was preparing and memories of her childhood and my Grandmother’s cooking.

I come from a long line of great cooks who cooked from the heart.  A pinch of this. A pinch of that.  My Mother was one of six children raised in a 5 room home.  Grandma Susie cooked all of her meals over a wood cookstove with all water coming from a water pump.  Just think what she could do with today’s conveniences.

Recipes and sharing of recipes is truly a gift for our families.  It brings us together to create memories and traditions.  Even in the hustle bustle of career and family commitments, this is a tradition I hold dear.

After several years, I compiled a cookbook for my family and close friends including my favorite recipes and short memories of many dishes.  Little did I know that my daughters would cherish these comments. The picture below is the cover of my cookbook and captures daughters Megan and Sarah helping to make a cake when they were little girls.  They loved to be a part of the process, especially when it came to a dessert and licking the bowl.

In addition, I started a family Christmas newsletter several years ago that always included a special recipe.  Friends and family have commented each year about how much they look forward to the newsletter and have adopted recipes shared as some of their favorites.

After retiring last year from a corporate sales leadership position, my daughters encouraged me to take my stories and recipes to the web.  I hope that you will join me on this journey and become an active part of this website and discussion.  What stories can you recall from wonderful aromas and occasions in your family?  What stories and traditions is your family weaving?