SAGE In The Rugged Hills Book One records a family's survival in the raw, rugged and uncivilized Ozark mountains from 1859 to the 1890's. Lenny, one of the main characters, has a heart as deep and dear as any you could imagine, yet she struggles with a mighty enemy -herself. She mostly internalizes this war, while carrying the mighty load of a pioneer woman, matchlessly! Below are some of her favorite recipes, often whipped up from shear imagination, as the big box stores were Sci-Fi then. Enjoy!
The Old Granny Woman's Tea Cakes
1 cup sugar
1 cup flour
2 tsp. baking powder
2/3 cup butter
2 tbsp. cream
Make dough by mixing all ingredients in a bowl. Pinch out a small amount of dough and shape into ball then roll in flour. Press ball on a baking sheet. Repeat until all dough is used. Sprinkle with sugar. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes.
OLD PAN DOWDY
Pare, core and slice enough tart apples to fill the bottom of a flat baking dish about 2 inches deep.
To prepare fruit add;
1 cup sugar
1 tsp nutmeg
1 cup cold water
2 tablespoons butter
Cover with plain pie crust rolled one inch tick. Bake in a slow oven about two hours, then cover and let set where dish will keep hot for one hour without further cooking. When done apples will be deep red. Remove crust carefully and invert on round platter. Cover with cooked fruit and serve with cream sweetened with maple sugar.
HICKORY NUT CAKE
1/2 cup butter
1 - 1/2 cup sugar
3/4 cup milk
1/4 tsp salt
2 cups flour
3 tsp baking powder
1 cup hickory nuts
4 egg whites, beaten stiff
Cream butter. Add sugar gradually while constantly beating. Add milk and 1 cup of flour, mixed and shifted with backing powder and salt. Mix nuts with remaining cup of flour, add to cake batter and fold in beaten eggs. Pour batter into greased pan. Bake one hour at 325 degrees.
MISS BETH'S POT POURRI
(For Grandmother's Old Rose Jar)
"Gather ye rose petals while you may", early in the morning with dew still on them, spread them in the sun to dry. Stir them around twice a day for a week or so to make sure no moisture remains, for if they are put into the jar with the slightest dampness, they will mildew. It is also a good idea to cut off the white bottom of the petals. Use only an earthen jar. Lay dries rose petals in the bottom, sprinkle lightly with salt, a pinch of orris root, cinnamon, and one clove. Put down another layer of petals and repeat. When all petals are used in this manner sprinkle a few drops of rose oil. Dried leaves of lemon verbena and rose geranium give piquance, and you might like a bit of thyme.
A mixed Pot Pourri is made with petals of roses, cloves, pinks (the tops only with the white part cut away), sweet peas, flag lilies, bachelor buttons and ragged robin. To these petals when dried add such herbs as you fancy; balm, thyme, sweet rue, and cinnamon, orris root, a piece of vanilla bean and sandalwood oil. The brilliant blue of bachelors' buttons, which do not fade in drying, make this mix a beautiful rainbow.
VINEGAR OF THE FOUR THIEVES
(Thomas Jefferson's Recipe)
Take lavender, rosemary, SAGE, wormwood (of the tarragon family), rue and mint, of each a larger handful; put them in a pot of earthenware, pour on them 4 quarts of very strong vinegar. Cover pot closely and put a board on top. Keep it in the hottest sun for 2 weeks. Then strain and bottle, putting in each bottle a glove of garlic. When it has settled in the bottom and become clear, pour it off gently: do this until you get it free from sediment. The proper time to make this is when the herbs are in full vigor, in June. This vinegar is very refreshing in crowded rooms, in apartments of the sick and is particularly grateful when sprinkled about the house in damp weather. Vinegar has many uses, from making a room smell sweet, to giving the right sour snap to salad, never forgetting its uses as a beverage.