Zucchini Bread-Paula Dean style

If you are anything like me, you can use as many zucchini recipes this time of year as you can get. This one is so moist and sweet that you will be glad you made it. I like this toasted with cream cheese and a hot cup of tea. I bake mine in loaf pans but you could just as easily bake this in a 9x13 pan. This is What’s Cookin on Beaty’s Creek today.

Needed:

3-¼ cups all-purpose flour
1 ½ t salt
1 t nutmeg
2 t baking soda
1 t cinnamon
3 cups sugar
1-cup vegetable oil
4 eggs-beaten
2/3-cup water
2 cups grated zucchini
1 t lemon juice
1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

Mix dry ingredients (except for nuts) in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, mix wet ingredients. Fold into dry, and add nuts. Bake in 2 loaf pans at 350’ for 1 hour, or until done.

Fried Crawdads

I had never eaten a fried crawdad until I married my husband and this is now my favorite way to cook them. The cornmeal gives them the best taste and with a bowl of pinto beans, there is nothing finer. This is What's Cookin on Beaty's Creek today.

Needed:
3 pounds of *see note below* clean SMALL crawdads with third tail piece and head removed
4 cups of white cornmeal
1 cup of all purpose flour
Salt to taste
Oil for frying

Place about a 1/4" of oil in a cast iron skillet and heat over a medium burner. Now place the cornmeal, flour and salt in a mixing bowl and mix well. After cleaning crawdads, place in the cornmeal mixture and coat well. Just as you would do when frying fish. Cook in a single layer in your skillet and brown on each side for about 5-10 minutes per side, depending on your heat source. That usually happens in about 10 minutes at my house but make sure you don't burn the little critters. Seems odd to eat shell and all but this is because you only fry the small size crawdads. When eaten this way they have a nice crispy crunch similar to fried shrimp.


*This is how we clean our crawdads after we have cleaned our crawdads, Hee hee. Bring water to almost a boil in your tea kettle. Now pour hot water over your prepared crawdads and mix them around in the water. Pour water off and then cook crawdads as you like.

Homemade Salami

My mom made this every Fall and I always loved it with a strong mustard and some crackers. This is a lot like summer sausage so if you are a fan of it, you may want to try this. You can make this with venison but I used hamburger this time. This is What's Cookin on Beaty's Creek today.

Needed:

4 pounds hamburger or venison
2 T Garlic Powder
2 T Accent
1 T Onion Salt
1 t Liquid Smoke(NO MORE THAN A TEASPOON!!)
2 T crushed (or whole) Peppercorns

Mix all of the ingredients together very well. Now form into 4 logs and wrap tightly with Saran Wrap and place in the fridge for 24 hours. Bake at 225' for 3 hours. Cool completely before eating or slicing.

Jalapeno Jelly

This jelly is so good poured over some cream cheese on your favorite cracker...Yummy! Be careful when you make this, the fumes from the vinegar and peppers will take your breath away. I left my kitchen exhaust fan on high. This is What’s Cookin on Beaty’s Creek today.

Needed:

2 pounds of jalapeno peppers
1 ½ cups apple cider vinegar
6 cups of sugar
1 box pf pectin

Cut tops off of peppers and place jalapenos in your food processor and process until fine. Now add your vinegar and process a little more. Now place this mixture in a heavy bottom pot and add pectin, mix very well. Now you will add your sugar and boil for 2 minutes. Watch your jelly very carefully because it can boil over quickly and oh what a mess that is. Ask me how I know this….. I strained my jelly but you don't have to. I like jelly opposed to jam in this case. Pour into sterilized jars and seal. Process in a hot water bath for 12 minutes.

Canned Tomatoes

When tomatoes are coming out of your ears what do you do??? You can them. I can a ton of tomatoes each year and by winter's end, I'm out. Tomatoes are one of the easiest things to can and are the very first garden item that I ever canned. I use my canned tomatoes for chili, salsa, baked tomatoes, tomato dumplings and many other things. They are so good sprinkled with sugar and eaten right out of the jar too. This is What's Cookin on Beaty's Creek today.

Needed:

20 pounds of tomatoes
10 t lemon juice
10 quart jars-sterilized


Place tomatoes in a large stock pot and cover with water and bring to a boil. Boil for 5 minutes and then remove tomatoes from pot. I place mine in a large bowl to cool. Once cooled core and peel tomatoes, the skin will just slip off. Place 1 t of lemon juice in each jar and pack with tomatoes. When I say pack I mean PACK your tomatoes in. Now place your flats in a pan and pour water over them and bring to a low boil for 1 minute. Seal jars with flat and ring. Place in a water bath after canned and process for 12 minutes.

Pear-Licious Cake

This cake comes from Paula Dean's Kitchen Classics cookbook. Raven loves to cook and actually cooks quite well so she took the reins on this recipe. I just don't let her cook that much and probably should give her the kitchen more often. To me this cake tastes like a moist apple cake but better, make any sense? Anyway this is a good cake that I am sure you will enjoy. This is What's Cookin on Beaty's Creek today.


Needed:

1 1/4 cups oil
2 cups sugar
3 eggs
3 cups all purpose flour
1 t salt
1 t baking soda
1 t cinnamon
1 t vanilla
2 cups chopped canned pears, well drained but save the juice for glaze
1 cup pecans-chopped


In a mixing bowl, combine the oil, sugar, and eggs, and beat well. Sift together the flour, salt, baking soda, and cinnamon. Add this to the creamed mixture and stir until blended. Stir in vanilla. Fold in the pears and pecans. Grease and flour a 10 inch tube pan or Bundt cake pan and spoon in batter. Bake for 1 hour and 20 minutes at 325'. I had to bake mine for 1 hour and 30 minutes so just make sure your in done. Cool cake completely and then pour glaze over top. Glaze recipe follows.

Glaze:

1 T butter-at room temperature
1 1/2 cups powder sugar
2-3 T juice from pears

Mix butter and sugar first and then add juice a little at a time until you can pour it.

Grandmother Paul's Sour Cream Pound Cake

I like to watch Paula Dean on the Food Network and decided to try some of her recipes. Stay tuned, there will be more. I bought the Kitchen Classics Cookbook for my dad and of course borrowed it and found some good recipes. This pound cake is good on it's own but with homemade ice-cream would be the bomb!! This is What's Cookin on Beaty's Creek today.

Needed:

2 sticks butter-softened
3 cups sugar
1 cup sour cream
1/2 t baking soda
3 cups all-purpose flour
6 eggs
1 t vanilla

Cream butter and sugar together, add sour cream. Sift flour and baking soda together. Add to creamed mixture, alternating with eggs, one at a time, beating after each. Add vanilla. Pour into a greased tube pan or angel food pan and bake at 325' for 1 hour and 20 minutes. Let cool completely before removing from pan.