Pumpkin Roll

I'm not a big fan of pumpkin but this is a very good dessert for the cold nights of winter and the holidays.

Pumpkin Roll

¼ cup confectioner sugar approximately to dust cloth with

¾ cup plain flour

½ teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon cinnamon

½ teaspoon nutmeg

¼ teaspoon salt

3 large eggs

1 cup sugar

2/3 cup canned unseasoned pumpkin

1 cup chopped pecans

Filling:

1-      8 oz. package of cream cheese at room temperature

1 cup confectioner sugar

7 tablespoons butter room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla

Confectioner sugar to dust top with

Preheat oven to 375 degrees Grease jelly roll pan and line with wax paper. Grease and flour paper. Sprinkle a thin cotton towel with confectioner sugar. Use adequate amount to cover towel so the cake will not stick when rolled.

Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt in small bowl. Beat eggs and sugar in large mixing bowl until thick. Beat in pumpkin. Stir in flour mixture and spread into jelly roll pan. Sprinkle with nuts.

Bake 11 to 13 minutes or until top of cake springs back when touched. May take longer depending on type of pan used. Test for doneness at 11 min.

Turn out immediately onto cotton towel covered with confectioner sugar. Remove wax paper. Roll up cake in towel starting with small end. Place on cooling rack.

Beat cream cheese and 1 cup confectioner sugar, butter and vanilla until smooth. Unroll cake and spread with cream cheese mixture. Reroll cake without towel.  Wrap with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2 hours or overnight. Sprinkle with confectioner sugar when ready to serve.

Orange Citrus Bars

Orange Citrus Bars

2 ¼ cups plain flour

½ cup confectioner sugar

1 cup cold butter cut into cubes

2 cups sugar

4 eggs

1/3 cup orange juice

½ teaspoon baking powder

Zest of 1 orange

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Crust:

In a large bowl combine flour and confectioner sugar. Cut in butter with pastry blender or fork until crumbly. Press evenly into bottom of 13 x 9 x 2 pan. Bake 20 minutes until lightly brown.

Filling:

In a medium bowl whisk sugar, eggs and juice until well blended. Stir in flour and baking powder and ¾ of the orange zest.

Pour on top of hot baked crust and bake 25 minutes or until set. Cool the bars and then glaze with the following glaze.

Glaze:

Mix together 3 ½  cups confectioner sugar, ½ cup orange juice, or enough to make a smooth creamy glaze, add the remaining orange zest and mix well. Pour over cool bars. Let stand for about an hour before cutting.

Fresh Florida Oranges!



Somewhere along Indian River in the late 40's. I love this picture I found in Granny's box! Zoom in and see the people and fruit lined up on the ground. This is how they shipped alot of fruit to packing houses from the groves. Barges came up the river to load the fruit and take it to a packing house set up to pack the fruit for interstate shipping by truck.



I'm not sure who this little guy is. But he is a cutie! A distant cousin or uncle I guess.

 My Great Grandfather, Henry Sims, lived in South Florida in the Ruskin Area. This was my Granny's father. He moved there after seperating from my Great Grandmother in the late 40's. I know the least about his family. I am now beginning to gather more information. He has a nephew, the son of his youngest brother still living in Ruskin. I am contacting him today if possible, to ask if he has any family information. 

Henry is the tallest and we may assume the oldest child in this family portrait. Houston, Henry's brother, is pictured on my Great Great Grandmother Sims lap. I don't know the other brothers and sisters. I met Uncle Houston in Ruskin. He farmed tomatoes there.

My Great Grandfather Henry was raised in Jackson County Florida, close to where my Dad's farm is now. I believe they lived somewhere between Marianna and Graceville, Florida.
I don't know what happened to my Great Great Grandfather who is absent in this picture. I don't know his name either.....I hope this oldest living cousin can help fill in the blanks a little.








 

Henry and Eddie Sims. Henry's only son. Eddie did not have any children. He worked for the Barnum and Bailey circus for a while as a driver. He also worked for Johnny's United Shows, who was the featured attraction for the National Peanut Festival in the 60's. This picture was taken in Granny's living room around 1968.







Roasted Peanuts

I always have raw shelled peanuts in the freezer. Daddy was always bringing home a gallon bag from the peanut mill in the fall when he was working there on a dryer or elevator. I roasted some peanuts yesterday for the first time in a very long time. Here's how Momma taught me to do it.

For the peanut brittle.  Place a layer of peanuts in a jelly roll pan and cook at 350 for 4 min. Just long enough to heat them up and make the husk pop. Let them cool. Take peanuts in your hands and rub the peanuts together, between your hands....this is to rub husk off the nuts. Take the jelly roll pan and a bowl outside in the wind. The wind will blow the husk away. Pour peanuts from pan to bowl allowing wind to blow husk away. If you find no wind get someone to help you and have them help you blow the husk away as you slowly pour the nuts from the jelly roll pan to the bowl and back from bowl to pan. Keep repeating until most of the husk are removed.

To have fully cooked roasted peanuts cook at 350 for 12 min. stir halfway through. I use a heavy dark jelly roll pan. You can use cast iron too. Any heavy metal pan will work. You can remove some of the husk after the peanuts have cooled. Use the method I described above.

Usually raw peanuts are refrigerated or frozen in the grocery. Ask your grocer they are probably in the frozen food section.

If you have raw peanuts in the shell wash and completely dry. Then roast 350 for 12 to 15 min. Stir after 6 min. Break one open at 12 min and test for desired roast flavor. Remove from oven and pour into a bowl to cool. The nuts continue to cook for about 5 min. after being removed from the oven.

Pea Picking Cake

This is an old recipe Momma has always made. I asked her why it’s called Pea Picking Cake and she said because they always made it during pea picking time. So I guess you could call this a good summer time cake. Actually it’s good anytime! 

 Memories......
Picking peas was sometimes a family affair. We all picked a couple of bushels each time, early in the morning and then everyone sat around on the porch and shelled peas with Granny's old oscillating fan blowing on us.
When enough peas were shelled, either Granny or Momma put a big pot on to cook for lunch and we had peas, fried corn bread, fresh sliced tomatoes, and of course a big glass of ice tea and usually fried chicken and potato salad.
Either Momma or Granny would blanch the peas and prepare them for the freezer as they were shelled. By the end of the day they usually had somewhere between 20 to 30 quart bags.
When the peas were shelled and the hulls were cleaned up is when the pea picking cake came on the scene! Delicious! :)

Pea Picking Cake

1 box Duncan Hines Butter Cake Mix

1 cup less 2 tablespoons Crisco vegetable oil

4 eggs

1 - 11 ounce can mandarin oranges include juice

Beat all ingredients for cake together for 4 minutes. Bake at 350 degrees in 3 layers for 20 to 25 min. Cool completely.

Icing:

1-3 ¾ oz Jello instant vanilla pudding

1-15 ½ oz. can crushed pineapple in heavy syrup, include juice

1 9 oz. container cool whip

Mix all ingredients and frost layers. Store in refrigerator, if you have any left!