Pecan Pie

This is a picture of Anthony's Grandmother. Alejandra Revis Cisneros.

Her handwritten recipe.

The finished product.

Yum!

As a secret wedding shower present, my sister sent letters asking family and friends of Anthony and I to send her some recipes that they might like to share with us. Of course, along with pictures if they wanted. Let me tell you, my sister did a wonderful job of scrapbooking an entire large binder full of different kinds of recipes! Thank you so much Leticia!!

Out of the blue, Anthony asked if I would make his Grandma's Pecan Pie for Thanksgiving this year. Naturally, I said yes and went straight to my big binder. I took one look at the recipe and had doubts about how this pie was going to turn out. 

As you can tell by the picture, there are no instructions or anything. So, I made the decision to use a refrigerated Pillsbury Pie Crust and to just mix all the ingredients up in a bowl and pour it into the crust. I did actually mix the sugar and flour together and the pinch of salt was really, a pinch of salt :) I also used light syrup and may or may not have added about an extra ¼ cup of pecans. It IS a pecan pie after all!

All in all, I was worried about how this would come out since there were no instructions. I took it over to my moms and told everyone that although it looked good, I wasn't promising that it tasted good. My mom, of course, made her pecan pie (which I love) and so we at least had a back-up if mine didn't turn out good. Let's just say, it turned out fine. It was a little more custard like maybe? Or jelled differently? Not really sure how to explain it, but it was good! I guess maybe it was the flour that made the difference. Anyway, I'm sure I'll be making this one again. I never got to meet Anthony's Grandma, but I thank her for her recipe :)

Here's my interpretation of the recipe:

Pecan Pie

From: Anthony's Grandma

Alejandra Revis Cisneros

3 eggs

Mix ⅔ cup sugar + 2 Tablespoons flour

1 cup syrup

¼ cup oleo melted

pinch of salt

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup chopped pecans

Bake at 400° for 10 minutes, then lower to 350° and bake 30-35 minutes.

* I mixed the (white) sugar and (all purpose) flour together.

* I used light corn syrup.

* I added about an extra ¼ cup of pecans.

I hope you enjoy and give this recipe a second chance in your kitchen too.

Soybean Casserole

Let me just say that I was so excited when I found this recipe. I LOVE soybeans! I can eat them frozen right out of the bag. The shelled ones, of course. This was put into the "I definitely have to make" pile!

I wasn't sure what she meant by soaking and cooking the soybeans for 2 hours. I just used some frozen shelled beans and boiled them for about 15 minutes. I figured that was good enough.

I have to admit that I was a little disappointed in the finished product. It was too mushy for me. I think I would have preferred the soybeans to be left whole, but I'm not quite sure how it would have turned out with having eggs as a binder. Hmmm. It wasn't that bad though. Not sure I'll make this one again according to the recipe.

Here's my interpretation of the recipe:

Soy Bean Casserole

2 ½ cup soybeans soaked - cook 2 hours

Grind & add

3 Tbs oil

½ cup celery

1 egg

2 Tbs honey

½ cup tomato sauce

½ cup onion

bread crumbs

½ tsp sage

¼ tsp cayenne

Bake 1 hour at 375°

* I used frozen shelled soybeans and boiled them for about 15 minutes. Then I put them in my processor to grind them up, adding the oil to help thin them out a little bit.

* I combined everything and then sprinkled the bread crumbs on top to cover it all.

I hope you enjoy and give this recipe a second chance in your kitchen too.

Grandma's Tortillas

Grandma performing some serious rolling action!

Look at that perfectly rolled tortilla waiting to be cooked. 

We always knew there were fresh tortillas when the orange container was sitting on top of the toaster :)

This is the part where my rolled tortillas don't end up round anymore.

When the bubbles pop up, it's time to flip.

Now that's a pretty tortilla!

I always loved walking into the house and finding the orange container sitting out on top of the toaster. It either meant there were freshly made tortillas or scones inside. When I lived with her, my room was just on the other side of the kitchen. I will never forget waking up to the sound of her rolling tortillas. The distinct "clop clop" of the rolling pin as she rolled up, then down and took just a long enough pause as she rotated the tortilla. Then "clop clop" again with another pause to rotate...

Although I've tried making tortillas before, I cheated and used tortilla flour. Something my grandma did sometimes when she didn't have enough regular flour. Sorry Grandma for telling your secret!!!! Well, I tried making some using her recipe. This recipe called for kneading the dough for 15 minutes and then letting it rest for a bit. I don't remember my Grandma kneading anything for 15 minutes! This dough was so wet and soft. I had to use so much flour just to roll them out. It was bad. After I managed to get them all cooked, I called my mom to tell her how much of an epic fail the tortillas were. Somewhere in her laughter she managed to tell me that that must not have been the right recipe. We compared notes and I thought I'd give them another shot at a later time.

I have to say that with the few adjustments that were made, the next batch of tortillas were MUCH better! With the exception of the look of them, they tasted like my Grandma's tortillas. It took a few to figure out how long to let them cook and how hot the griddle needed to be. I remember my Grandma telling me that the griddle had to be hot enough but not too hot, and that each tortilla has a top and a bottom. Although I can't remember which side is which. Anyway, here's how my latest batch turned out:

My "round" tortilla waiting to be cooked. My Grandpa made my rolling pin out of a broom stick, I think. One side has a "K" the other side has "84", the year it was made :)

There's the bubbles. Time to flip!

A different tortilla, after the flip.

The finished product. I had to make a little one just for Anissa. She loved it! 

So, I'd have to say that with some more practice, I might be able to make tortillas that are round instead of square, in the shape of Texas or that look like the little ghosts from Pac-Man! Practice makes perfect, but they'll never be as good as Grandma's :)

Here's the recipe I used:

Flour Tortillas

From: My Grandma, Mary Vasquez

4 cups all purpose flour

5 tsp. baking powder

2 tsp. salt

¼ cup + a little canola oil

1½ - 1¾ cup hot water

I used just a tad over ¼ cup of oil and just over 1½ cups of water. 

Knead with fingers until all mixed together. Do Not Press! I had to add about 3 Tbs. of flour to get the dough not so sticky. I made my dough balls about the size of an egg and they turned out a pretty good size once rolled out. Make sure you flour your surface and flour your rolling pin. Once rolled out, put on the griddle. I had mine set to just under medium heat. Once the bubbles start to pop up, flip it. After a minute or two, the other side should be cooked. Kind of like cooking a pancake. Store in an airtight container. Enjoy!

Sorry if you didn't want your recipe shared Grandma! Yo te quiero mucho! :)

I hope you enjoy and give this recipe a second chance in your kitchen too.

I Love You Grandma!

I apologize for not posting any new recipes lately. My amazing, sweet and beautiful Grandma passed away recently. Although I miss her so much, I'm happy that we have such a wonderful angel watching over us!

It's only fitting that I post a recipe from my Grandma. There's only one problem. She never wrote anything down! If we wanted to know how she made something, we had to write it down while she made it. Trust me, my Grandma was an awesome cook! Tortillas, mole, cornbread dressing, scones, beans, rice, hot sauce. You name it, she made it...and it was good!! I have no idea what to make of hers. I've tried to make her rice many times and still haven't been able to get it right. Even with her standing next to me, I managed to mess it up. The tortillas didn't taste bad but they looked like anything BUT a tortilla! Back in April, I tried to make her dressing. I made the mistake of using sweet cornbread. Oops! The one time I tried making her mole (years ago), the bottom of the blender came off and most of it ended up on the kitchen floor. The little bit that made it into the pot wasn't bad though. What to make? What to make?

I'm sure I'll think of something of hers to make and share on here. Hopefully she'll be watching over me and guiding me so I don't screw it up. Either that or she'll be laughing her head off watching me try to recreate something that came so easy to her.

Whatever I decide to make, no matter how good it might turn out, it won't have that special "Grandma's touch" to it. Anthony says I make a pretty good pot of pinto beans and can re-fry them pretty well, but they're just "not Grandma's" beans.

What can I say? All I can do is try :)

Yo te quiero mucho Grandma! You behave up there in Heaven! :)

Bacon Muffins

Anthony decided that he wanted some bacon this morning for breakfast. I remembered that I had run across an interesting sounding recipe for bacon muffins. Not the healthiest sounding, I know, but I've never had a bacon muffin. So I thought, what the heck. Now, you would think that there's actual bacon in the recipe. There's not. It uses the bacon grease. Oh healthy police, please don't arrest me!

Anthony cooked the entire package of bacon and I used ALL of the grease from it. The dough was kinda thick and stretchy, if that makes sense. To be honest, I wouldn't call these muffins. Yes, I made them in a muffin tin but they're more like biscuits. Very dry and actually kind of hard. They would be perfect smothered in white gravy served with eggs and hashbrowns :) HAHA!

My interpretation of the recipe:

Bacon Muffins

From: Janie or Jamie

2 c. sifted flour

2 Tbs sugar

4 Tbs baking powder

½ tsp salt

⅓ c bacon juice

1 egg, beaten

1 c. milk

Sift into bowl: flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.

Stir into dry ingredients, egg and milk. Add ¼ c. bacon fat melted. Just before completely blended stir in grease (just enough) to mix.

Spoon into greased muffin tin ⅔ full. 

Bake 20-25 min. at 400°

* I was able to get 12 muffins out of this recipe.

* I didn't spray the muffin tin. I just used muffin liners and they worked fine.

* I baked them for 23 minutes. The toothpick came out clean :)

I hope you enjoy and give this recipe a second chance in your kitchen too.

Pineapple Icing

In my latest box of organized treasures, I found an icing recipe. It's a hot Texas summer, so who wouldn't love some pineapple?  To be completely honest, this recipe isn't exactly what I would consider to be pineapple icing. It would, however, be perfect as a filler between cake layers. When done, the consistency was kind of like a pie filling. So unless you're serving a sheet cake still in the pan it was baked in, this isn't a stable icing. I refrigerated it overnight and used it cold. I put the cake together the next day and after sitting out on the counter after about 10-15 minutes, the pineapple started to slide off. That's why there's just a picture of a slice and not the entire "hot mess" of a cake :)

Also, it was too sweet for me. I'd cut it back to probably just a cup of sugar, at the most. Even Anthony, my sweets man, said it was too sweet.

One last thing. It didn't say how big of a tin of pineapple to use. I believe I used Dole's 20oz can of crushed pineapple, juice and all. I forgot to write it down before I threw it out. Sorry!

Here's my interpretation of the recipe:

Yellow Cake with Pineapple Icing
From: Jack Everett

Duncan Hines Golden Butter Cake Mix 

Pineapple Icing

1 - Tin Crushed Pineapple

1½ Cups sugar

½ Stick butter

2 Rounded Tablespoons flour

Cook until it thickens & add 1 teaspoon vanilla.

* I baked the cake mix as directed making 2 - 9"rounds.

I hope you enjoy and give this recipe a second chance in your kitchen too.

So Close

We went to an estate sale this morning not too far from us. The kitchen was an immediate left as soon as you walked in the front door. Anthony pointed out a few cookbooks sitting next to the sink so I started looking through them. At the very bottom was a small red binder. I opened it up and immediately saw handwriting. Lots of it. Jackpot!!! Now, this sale was a family run sale. It wasn't being put on by a company. So, the daughter and son were there trying to get rid of their mother's stuff. I asked the daughter how much it was and as she flipped though it for a second, I knew she wasn't going to let it go. I was right. She got a little emotional and said, "I'm sorry, I can't let this one go. It's got my mother's handwritten recipes in it. I thought we went through everything and I guess we missed this one. I'm so sorry." Dang it! SO close. I told her that I understood. I guess it was bound to happen sooner or later. So, while it sucks that I missed out on such a treasure (and I'm telling you there was A LOT of goodies in there), I'm happy that it's staying in the family.

On to the next sale :)

New Box of Treasures

I'd like to introduce the newest addition to my Second Chance Kitchen! I found this treasure last Thursday (7/19/12) at an estate sale pretty much down the street from my house. Everything in a box? Yes please! Organized? Absolutely! Yay! I can't wait to dig into this gem and see what's inside! I have taken a quick glance and there are some clippings as well as handwritten beauties. Where to start, where to start?!?

Three Bean Salad

Front of card

Back of Card

After trying a few sweet recipes, I thought I'd try a vegetable side. My aunt makes a three bean salad so I thought I'd give it a shot. Although this one was similar, it was a little different. Next time I make it, I will probably cut back on the amount of oil and use whole green beans instead of the french cut style. Also, I couldn't find 1 pound cans of anything. They were all just under a pound. 

If anyone knows who Mari Hooley is, please let me know!

Here's my interpretation of the recipe:

Three Bean Salad

serves 10 

From the Kitchen of Mari Hooley

1 - 1 pound can French cut green beans

1 - 1 pound can yellow wax beans

1 - pound can red kidney beans

½ cup minced green pepper

½ cup minced onion

½ cup cider vinegar

¾ cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon pepper

⅓ cup oil

Day before, if desired: 

Drain beans; place in glass bowl.

Add: green pepper and onion

Mix: oil and vinegar with sugar, salt and pepper.

Pour over bean mixture; toss.

Refrigerate, covered until served.

I hope you enjoy and give this recipe a second chance in your kitchen too.

Coconut Macaroons

This recipe came out of a folder full of handwritten cards and newspaper clippings. It seemed simple enough and I've never had a macaroon with a twist of lemon so I was intrigued. They are actually pretty good. It was a little messy but I managed to spoon out 14 mounds of ooey gooey goodness. I actually baked them for 17 minutes, just because I like the more toasted aspect of a macaroon.

A word of wisdom: let them sit for just a few minutes on the cookie sheet before removing them. Not too long though, because they'll stick. (I even sprayed my cookie sheet before hand) Also, don't be a bonehead like me and place them on top of a paper towel on a wire rack to cool. I don't know what I was thinking! Needless to say, I had to perform paper towel removal surgery from the bottoms of them.

Here's my interpretation of the recipe:

Coconut Macaroons

Bake at 325° 12 to 15 min

2 c. moist coconut (5½ to 6oz)
½ tsp. grated lemon rind (packed)
1 tsp. lemon juice
¼ tsp. salt
½ c. sweetened condensed milk

1. Fluff coconut in a bowl.

2. Mix lemon rind, lemon juice, salt and condensed milk in a bowl. Drizzle over coconut and mix until evenly coated.

I hope you enjoy and give this recipe a second chance in your kitchen too.

** Update **
I've recently made another batch of these chewy Macaroons. Only this time I left out the lemon rind and juice and added 1 tsp of vanilla extract. They came out just as good! Next I think I'll try with lime instead of lemon :)

Buttermilk Pie

While recently going through a large box of recipes I got from an estate sale a few months ago, I ran across this one for buttermilk pie. Honestly, I'm not a big pie eater. I've never had buttermilk pie and Anthony's mentioned in the past that he likes it, so I thought I'd try this one out. I can't take credit for baking this one though. Anthony made it! I'd have to say that I liked it better the next day after being refrigerated. Then again, I'm the type of person who doesn't like fresh baked sweets out of the oven. I like them after they've had time to set and completely cool. Call me crazy, but that's me.

Anyway, the pie turned out good. We did have to cook it about an extra 10 minutes (at 350°) and it was a little on the sweet side. Anthony said he needs to tweak the recipe a bit by cutting back the sugar to probably 1½ cups. This is coming from a man who LOVES sweets so take it how you will. He knows what a buttermilk pie is supposed to taste like. So, although I thought the pie was good, I trust his judgement. 

The picture of the pie came out a little dark because he took it with his phone. Sorry about that!

Here's my interpretation of the recipe:

Buttermilk Pie

2 cups sugar

3 Tablespoons flour

1 stick oleo

1 cup buttermilk

1 teaspoon vanilla

(optional) 1 small can pineapple (crushed) or coconut or chopped pecans

3 eggs

Mix together all ingredients & pour into shell. Cook 425° for 10 minutes; then 40 minutes at 350°

*Again, we baked it for an additional 10 minutes at 350° and did not use any of the optional ingredients. We also used a Pillsbury refrigerated pie crust.

I hope you enjoy and give this recipe a second chance in your kitchen too.

The Beginning

Estate Sales. My husband and I love going to them. We really just like to look at the houses and see what kinds of things people like to hold on to. I like to look for handwritten recipes. It kind of saddens me that family members would let things like that be sold to strangers, but their loss is my gain. So, I want to give these forgotten recipes a Second Chance, in my Kitchen :)

I've collected a few sets of recipes and have decided to start this blog. That's right, the web needs another cooking blog. Although, I've never run across one like this one. My goal is to make some of the recipes I find and post them here, along with pictures of the original handwritten recipe and my finished product. Some of them have people's names and dates on them. I've decided not to edit them out of the pictures in hopes that, somehow, we can find out a little history behind the recipes. Wishful thinking, I know, but there's always hope.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy my journey!
~Kristy