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My memories of Valentine’s Day as a kid involve two things: one, the paper decorations we always hung up in the windows (and can’t find in the stores anymore), and two, my mom’s Rolled Sour Cream Sugar Cookies, cut out in the shape of a heart.

I haven’t made cut out cookies by myself EVER. I don’t have a lot of room in my house. Cats tend to jump up on things. I didn’t have a rolling pin or a place to roll the dough. So, I didn’t do it. But I always wanted to try to recreate my mom’s cookies.

Over ten years ago, my sister gave me a computer file with recipes, including the Rolled Sour Cream Sugar Cookies. I had to convert it to a rich text file and clean it up, because the programs have changed since then. But I didn’t have the supplies to make them. Then, Last year, my sister gave me two rolling pins (my mom’s old rolling pin with peeling paint on the handles, and a heavy marble one), the mat she used for rolling out dough, and the old cookie cutters we used.

Since Valentine’s Day is coming up, and since we were about to get hit with our second blizzard in less than a week, I decided to finally make them. I told Lilia, I have never done this before, but it is always good to TRY NEW THINGS. She helped out immensely.

These are the cookie cutters we used:

They were quite tough to use– hard to pull back up. I don’t think it was just because I’m not an expert. I think I will get some plain metal cookie cutters in various shapes– I think that would be much easier.

Okay, on to the recipe. I actually googled to see if anyone else had the recipe out there, since I was not 100% sure I had it right (the files had added symbols between all the words and numbers!). I found a scan of the recipe card on a site called Noble Recipes, which has a note that it was from St. Lawrence Dairy– which was (or maybe is?) a dairy in Berks County, Penna., which makes sense. Here’s the recipe:

Rolled Sour Cream Sugar Cookies

2 cups sugar
2/3 cup butter
2 large or 3 small eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup sour cream

5 cups sifted flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon soda
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

Gradually add sugar to butter, creaming thoroughly; add eggs and beat until fluffy.
Add vanilla and sour cream.
Sift dry ingredients together and add, mixing to a smooth soft dough.
Chill thoroughly, then roll out 1/3″ thick on floured board, and cut in large 3″ to 4″ cookies.
Place on greased baking sheet and sprinkle with sugar. Bake in moderate hot oven (375 to 400 degrees) until lightly browned. Makes about 3 dozen fat, soft cookies. If you want crisp cookies, roll the dough very thin.

Instead of sprinkling with sugar, I decided to ice them. I used this recipe:
Sugar Cookie Frosting
Ingredients for 4 dozen:
• 4 cups confectioners’ sugar
• 1/2 cup shortening
• 5 tablespoons milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• food coloring
but I halved it:
Ingredients for 2 dozen:
• 2 cups confectioners’ sugar
• 1/4 cup shortening
• 2 tablespoons and 1-1/2 teaspoons milk
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• food coloring
•
Directions
1. In a large bowl, cream together the confectioners’ sugar and shortening until smooth. Gradually mix in the milk and vanilla with an electric mixer until smooth and stiff, about 5 minutes. Color with food coloring if desired.

I googled natural food colors, and found a suggestion to use Pomegranate Juice to color the icing pink.
Here is how they turned out. My disclaimer: I am not a food photographer. I’ve seen luscious photos of my friends’ meals and treats, but I cannot do it. I think part of it is that the cookies themselves are sloppy. The cookie cutters were VERY difficult. And I assigned the icing to Lilia and Joe. And, we don’t have a lot of room to store cookies and cool them– so the cookies stuck together once the icing was on. They still tasted pretty good!

We finally saw Food, Inc.
I already knew a lot of the facts in it, having read one chapter of The Omnivore’s Dilemma (I only read one chapter because it was recalled from the library before I could get through it), and having seen The Corporation. But it was very powerful, and makes me want to make even more changes. We already don’t eat much meat. We rarely cook anything other than chicken or turkey at home. I get the chicken and turkey from Trader Joe’s, and I think it doesn’t have antibiotics and hormones, but I’m sure it’s produced in large factory farms. And I’m not careful about the kind of meat I do eat, because my policy is not to be picky about what people serve me… but if I’m at a picnic, and eat a hamburger, I’m probably eating the kind of hamburger that has parts from hundreds of cows. So, maybe I should be more picky. I get cravings for meat when I don’t have it from time to time, so I don’t see myself become a vegetarian. Lilia used to love bacon, but at some point, I decided to tell her it was made out of pigs. She stopped eating it immediately, and hasn’t eaten it in a year or more. She says she will eat cows, but doesn’t often.
We joined a CSA this year, and had local vegetables for 26 weeks. We have signed up for it again next year. Joe already has a small garden out front– tomatoes, greens, garlic, peppers, and herbs.

But the scariest and saddest story in Food, Inc. was about the woman who became a food safety advocate after her two year old son died from e. coli in a hamburger. There have been a lot of stories about unsafe food– bagged spinach, peanut butter, hamburgers, tomatoes– and I was always thankful that we hadn’t bought anything involved in a recall. But one of those news stories did effect us, back in May 2007.

I was looking at my journal, and found these entries:
Thursday, May 24, 2007:
…Lilia ate chicken & noodles from my soup, some meatball, and some spring roll. And all of her Veggie Booty (her favorite snack). She was eating non-stop, it was adorable.
Sunday, May 27, 2007:
Lilia will be 15 months tomorrow! And she has her first tummy bug ever. It hit yesterday– she was super lethargic. And then she woke up in the middle of the night BURNING UP. Her fever (underarm) was only 101.7, so not too bad. I don’t have any pain relievers/fever reducers– they expired last year– so I just nursed her, gave her water, and crossed my fingers. Then she started with the Big D, which so far has not been TOO bad. She’s been mopey and clingy (to me), but is currently making her dad read ALL of her favorite books to her. So I’m hopeful this won’t last too long. Although Dr. Sears explains that intestines are slow-healing, so it could linger. Oh, this morning her temperature was 100.5. Much more reasonable.
Monday, May 28, 2007:
Saturday, it was hot, and we didn’t go out until late afternoon. We went for a little hike in Fairmount Park, and Lilia did not seem to be having any fun. I chalked it up to tiredness and the heat. We had to stop at 2 CVSes and the grocery store, and she was very tired looking– Joe said, She seems sick. Well, of course, she WAS sick.

Today, Lilia seemed better in the morning, and our pal M came over to hang out. Unfortunately, Lilia is not all better. I hope we don’t all catch it.
Aww, she just woke up with a cry, but is drifting back to sleep. Her eyes are purple from being tired and sick. I’m so glad we are still nursing, or she’d be starving!

Thursday, May 31, 2007:

Lilia is getting better. Still clingy and not quite eating a ton, but she’s definitely improving. She’s been waking up in the night crying though. That is not fun. Especially because nothing helps

June 28, 2007:
Robert’s Veggie Booty is recalled

Copyright 2007 by United Press International. All Rights Reserved.
–

So… it dawned on me… Lilia’s favorite snack food was recalled for salmonella. Lilia ate it before she got sick (not just the one day I posted about– she ate it constantly). I had been worried that we all would catch it, but we never did. It was never confirmed that she had salmonella, but her symptoms, combined with the fact that we never got sick, seem to indicate that she did have it.

She had an allergy to dairy when she was little, so I couldn’t give her goldfish or anything with milk in it. I didn’t feel bad giving Veggie Booty to her. I know it was just a snack food, but it had green stuff in it– veggies- and a little bit of calcium. I personally didn’t really like it, so I didn’t eat it. I couldn’t buy it at Trader Joe’s– they sold Pirate’s Booty, but not Veggie Booty, and I didn’t realize why until later– the green veggie powder has stuff from China, and TJ’s has a policy not to sell items from China. And that green veggie powder from China was the source of the salmonella!

If Lilia had any sort of compromised immune system, she could have been much sicker. I don’t even see Veggie Booty listed on Robert’s Gourmet’s website anymore, so maybe they don’t make it? I wasn’t sure if I should contact anyone about Lilia’s case. In August, 2007, I did email Robert’s to let them know they might want to add another case to their list.
They emailed back and told me to fill out a claim form for medical costs reimbursement. We didn’t have any medical costs– just an increased cost of diapers for a few days, and a few days of a holiday weekend spent tending to our sick girl–so I did not fill out the form. I found an article, about a family suing– there little boy had to be hospitalized.
This is the kind of stuff that makes me feel helpless. I know that I can never ever buy something from Robert’s Gourmet again… but how can I make sure that it isn’t going to happen with another snack we get? With the peanut butter scare, we know that it just isn’t China’s fault, so avoiding all things from China won’t solve the problem.

Ah, here we are in Michigan, just in time for today’s Friday Recipe. In honor of Thanksgiving next week, I am posting three recipes for my favorite Thanksgiving dish– Potato Filling. But, I must confess, that I have only made my own filling a few times, and I can’t remember which recipe I used! I’m not cooking for Thanksgiving, but I will have to make some soon– the problem is, I like it sooooo much that I tend to eat WAY too much. What is your favorite Thanksgiving dish?

This recipe came from Grandmother, via my sister:

Grammom’s Potato Filling Recipe
6 lbs potatoes
3 stalks celery
3 onions (what she had written down. She told me 1 large or 2 med for 5 lbs)
dried parsley (lots — I have written down)
pinch of sage (no more than 1/4 t)
1/4 t onion powder
1 t seasoned salt
1/4 t celery salt
3 slices bread – toast it and cut up
2 eggs

cook celery and onion in 1/4 C butter (she did these separately.. don’t brown)

add seasonings.. parsley can be added now or to the potatoes.

add the bread crumbs.

Can maybe use 1/2 C Milk (depends on potato consistency)

Cook potatoes in salt water. Mash. Add eggs. Then add other stuff.
Grease pan with oil (butter will brown)
Put small pats of butter on top of potatoes stuff
Cook at 350
If you refrigerate let it warm up a bit before cooking

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Here is another recipe that comes from my Grandmother:
Grammom’s Potato Filling Recipe, Version 2
(using 8-10 Med. Potatoes)

Cook in Salted Water 8-10 Med. Potatoes or 6 large potatoes
Cut up 1 large onion and 4 med. ribs of celery
Saute onions in 3 tbs Butter (actually, Grammom said NO, use more like an entire STICK)
Push to back side of pan and Saute Celery
Mix Celery and Onion together
Add:
1 tsp Seasoned Salt (lawry’s)
1/8 tsp. Pepper
1/4 tsp. Onion Salt (well… she ammended this to say POWDER)
1/4 tsp. Celery Salt (again, powder… maybe Garlic Powder)
1 tsp. Parsley
Turn heat to Simmer
Toast a slice of bread, break it up and add to celery/onion mixture
Put aside

Mash Potatoes, add 2 eggs
Add Celery & Onion mixture and a Pinch of Sage

If it seems dry, add a little milk or Potato water
Put in a buttered Casserole Pan
Dot top with Butter
Bake at 350 ° till lightly browned– Approximately 45 minutes.

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And here is a third recipe, this one comes from Joan.

Potato Filling
Serves 6
8 medium to large white potatoes, died in small pieces
2 eggs, well beaten
1 cup of celery, diced
1 cup of onion, diced
5 pieces of white bread, crust removed
1-cup warm milk
1 stick (1/2 cup) butter
1-teaspoon salt
Pinch of pepper

Cook the diced potatoes and while they are boiling melt the butter and add the diced celery and onion. Saute until very tender.

When potatoes are soft, drain bread in cold water and squeeze dry. Break apart bread into pieces and add to potato mixture.

Add warm milk, the mixture of celery, onions and butter, salt and pinch of pepper and vigorously mash the entire mixture for several minutes (use a
hand potato masher if possible) until smooth.
Note: You may have to add a little more milk or butter to make the consistency thinner. You want the mixture to be a little thin, not dry.

Put in buttered casserole and bake at 350 degrees for an hour.
The top should have a light crust, but the filling should be creamy and smooth.

Note: You can prepare this the day before. Keep refrigerated.
The baking time could increase because the mixture is cold.

Note from Joan: I used 1/2 n 1/2 , when I cooked the onions and celery , I let it cool, added eggs to this mixture before adding it to the potatoes. I also used a half can of celery soup.

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Enjoy!

Don’t Fridays seem like a good day to post a recipe? Maybe I’ll start doing that, and this will be the first installment of Friday Recipe. Might be the first of one, or hopefully the first of many. I don’t have that many recipes though… I’ll have to start adding new things to my small repertoire of meals.

I have made six dozen of these cupcakes in the last few weeks, and they disappear very quickly.

Apple Cupcakes
Makes 2 Dozen
Ingredients
* 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
* 2 teaspoons baking soda
* 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
* 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
* 2 cups sugar
* 2 large eggs
* 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
* 4 cups coarsely shredded apples, such as Macintosh (about 1 3/4 pounds)

Directions

*Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 standard muffin tins with paper liners; set aside.
*Whisk together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt in a medium bowl; set aside.
*Mix butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Mix in eggs and vanilla. Mix in apples. Add flour mixture; mix until just combined.
*Divide batter among lined cups, filling halfway; bake until tops are springy to the touch, 18 to 20 minutes. Remove cupcakes from tins; transfer to a wire rack; let cool completely.

This recipe comes from Martha Stewart. I peeled and shredded the apples in the Cuisinart. I mixed everything with my hand-held mixer– I don’t have a stand mixer. I don’t use the full amount of sugar– I think it’s too much. And I made the Brown-Sugar Buttercream frosting one time, but it was too buttery and my family did not care for it. We eat them plain, but maybe a cream cheese frosting would be good.

While at Trader Joe’s yesterday, I saw this interesting item…

A Brussels Sprouts Stalk!

Look at this thing:

Somehow I have been on this planet for thirty-mumblemumble years, and I never knew that Brussels sprouts grew on a stalk. I had only seen them in frozen packages or fresh containers. I always thought they grew just like cabbage, but were picked when really tiny! Of course, I had to buy the stalk. Tonight, Lilia and I picked the sprouts off the stalk, and I steamed them up. Yum!

Here’s the Wikipedia entry on Brussels Sprouts, in case you want to know more.