Too Hot to Cook!

There have been no new posts this week due to the heat wave here in northern Indiana. Highs of 99 with heat indexes of 115 degrees means no stove or oven for me. Eat out!

I do have a recipe from Kevin that his mom, Jenny Spivey, made for hot, don't want to cook days. Tuna salad on a bed of lettuce. Easy and cool! Thanks Kevin!

Aunt Kathy's Sloppy Joes

Today Kevin and I spent the afternoon painting our deck in the backyard. I wanted to make something easy for dinner and ready whenever we were done painting. Sloppy Joes fit the bill.

My Mom got this recipe from her sister Kathy. I remember when she first made them for us. I thought they were so delicious that I did not want to eat any other kind of Sloppy Joes. I did not have this recipe until I got Mom's recipe box. Now I can make them whenever I want. This recipe is a sweet BBQ sauce so don't expect the spicy bold taste.

This card was written by my Aunt Kathy. This recipe was made often!

Sloppy Joes
1 1/2 lb. ground beef
1 can corned beef
2 onions
1 cup ketchup
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 T. worchestershire
1 1/2 tsp. chili powder
1/4-1/2 cup water
1 T. flour
Brown hamburger & onion. Put in crock pot. Add all other ingredients. Cook about 4-5 hrs on low.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip Cookies

Susan, Aunt Kathy and Bobby McDonald

For the 4th of July party at Aunt Louise and Uncle Steve's lake house, Aunt Kathy made Mom's Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip Cookies. Mom has a note in her cookbook above the recipe saying "Cindy and I LOVE these cookies!" The quote said it all. Everyone loved the cookies!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip Cookies

1 cup butter
1 1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 teas. vanilla
2 cups flour
2/3 cup cocoa
3/4 teas. baking soda
1/2 teas. salt
12 oz. peanut butter chips

Cream butter or margarine, sugar, eggs and vanilla until light and fluffy. Combine flour, cocoa, soda and salt. Add to creamed mixture. Stir in peanut butter chips. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto greased cookie sheet. Bake 350 for 8-10 minutes. Cool 1 minute before removing to rack. Makes about 5 doz. if you only make them small size.

Chicken and Waffles

Tonight we are having Chicken and Waffles. Christal and Brian always request I make this for their friends to try. Christal just got married and is moving to Alaska next week. Therefore, I have to make them one more time for her and so her new husband Sean and try them. And everyone usually makes a funny face when the kids mention to their friends chicken and waffles for dinner, but so far all their friends have LOVED it.

Pastel Pound Cake for the Fourth of July

Kevin and I are invited to Aunt Louise and Uncle Steve's lake house on Sunday, July 3rd for a Fourth of July celebration. Today I made a Pastel Pound Cake to take with us. I don't remember this cake. It was very easy to make. It calls for any flavor of jello. I used a yellow cake mix and cherry jello to make a red cake for the Fourth of July. I also added red, white and blue sprinkles in the cake then decorated it with the same sprinkles.

Here is the recipe card

Pastel Pound Cake
1 package white or yellow cake mix
1 box jello-any flavor
3/4 cup water
1/2 cup salad oil
4 eggs
Put cake mix in bowl and add rest of ingredients. Beat 3 min. Bake in 10" tube pan 59-55 min at 350 degrees. Cool for 15 min before turning out. Sprinkle with powder sugar.

Introduction

Welcome to Carol Ann's Recipe Box. My Mom passed away a year ago at the age of 70. As I was cleaning out the kitchen, I saw her recipe box in the cupboard. This was the box she would open regularly to create wonderful meals and treats for us. The box had changed over the years. At one time, it was a metal green box. Now it is a gray plastic box. I took the box home with me because I did not want the many years of recipes to be lost.

I recently scanned each recipe card. My intention of the scanning project was to put a book together for my two sisters. In scanning the process, I found many of the recipe cards were written in my Grandmother's and Aunt's handwriting. Some of the recipe cards were typed. Other recipes were clippings from newspapers, boxes, magazines, mimeograph copies, and handwritten slips of scrap paper. As I was scanning the recipes, I would look them over. Some of the recipes I did not understand the ingredients or the name. I called on friends to help decipher the recipe and we would end up in a long discussion about similar recipes, memories of the recipe, and family. This led me to start a blog about my Mom's, Carol Ann's recipe box.

As I make the recipes from the box, I'll put the recipe on the blog with a thought about it. Feel free to add your comments about the recipes. Happy cooking and enjoy Carol Ann's recipes!

Susan