Category Archives: Circleville

Found a new recipe for Thanksgiving/Pumpkin Nut Casserole

Posted in Breads, Breakfast, Circleville, Lunch, sandwiches by

 

This is so good you need to put it with your Thanksgiving recipes. I was just making it because I’m going through these cook books to find 31 different ones to make and what a treat! It’s delicious and simple. What more do you need at holidays when you’re fixing so many things. And it would freeze well, if you can keep it from your family long enough. It’s better than the picture and you could do this instead of the sweet potato casserole. The glaze is the best part and could be used on other recipes as well. These next two recipes have dates, which I love, but you could use raisins or both, if you’d prefer. Again they freeze well.

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I think the typed recipes straight from the book are so adorable too! 

 

North meets South / French Clafoutis 

Posted in Circleville, Dessert, Garden by

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On my recent visit to Ohio to visit my childhood friend, Joy McRoberts Limbach, I found growing in her garden these beautiful red raspberries. Well, immediately I thought of how wonderful French custard would taste poured over and baked on top of her Ohio raspberries and the Georgia peaches I had brought with me.  There is a special union when peaches and raspberries are put together. Try this for your next dessert. You won’t be disappointed, I promise.

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                                                              (Oops! This was so good we almost didn’t get a picture!)

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ELEANOR SPICER WAS MUCH MORE THAN A FIFTIES HOUSEWIFE / Zucchini Bread and Apple Crisp

Posted in Breads, Circleville, Dessert, Other Stories by

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They call her generation the “greatest generation” and with good reason. People who were born around the 1920’s to 1930’s have such pride in their country. They salute the flag and stand and sing when they hear The National Anthem. They’ve seen war and depression. They stood in lines for essentials like bread and ladies hose, which were very important to the women of that day. They had to work hard for everything they had. So therefore, they appreciated everything they earned. When the fifties came along and everyone could take a deep breath and enjoy life, they did.

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TV shows from then were The Donna Reed Show and Father Knows Best which showed mothers staying home and raising children and running the household. Mrs. Eleanor Spicer did this with ease. Even with keeping up with her children Stephen Craig and Anne Claire’s needs and washing and ironing before the iron free fabrics came out. She cooked every day and baked wonderful pies and cakes and cookies and breads. Depending on which day of the week you were there, you would see her counter fill up with the variety of her sugar creations. Friday was the day I often got to come over so I was lucky to get to sample many of her different baked things, that is if there were still some crumbs left!! One of my favorites is the zucchini nut bread. Here is her recipe written, of course, in her own handwriting.

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Although Mrs. Spicer was very good at running her household, she was very involved in many other projects as well. She was an active member of the First Presbyterian Church in Circleville, Ohio and prepared some of her finest foods for functions there. She also managed to play bridge and we all know that’s not the easiest of card games. Eleanor enjoyed writing for the Historical Society and was a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution ( DAR ). She worked at the polls during elections and belonged to The Republican Party. But I have a favorite memory of a position she held and that was of my Girl Scout leader. She took this unpaid job, as I’m sure she did all of her other unpaid positions, very seriously! For us girls to earn any of our badges we had to do exactly as the book stated. I can remember hiking in the parks around Circleville, like Old Mans Cave and Deer Creek. If the book said three miles we didn’t walk even a few steps short of that either. We learned the importance of following rules and felt the pride when we completed the task. There were no badges for trying, only in completion. And I feel sorry for the kids today that get unearned trophies. They will never feel the pride I do, even today, when I look at my badges with such a sense of earned accomplishment. Thank you Eleanor Spicer for taking the time!

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Here is another one of her family favorites, Apple Crisp.

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Our mother’s baby sister, Aunt Wanda Tacy / AND Her 24 Hour Salad

Posted in Circleville, Dessert, Family Stories, salad by

 I thank our parents for allowing us to know our relatives like we do. Our parents always made the effort to travel to see their relatives and to open their home to any and all relations that would come visit and by doing that  we all had the privilege to get to know each other so much better.

I’ve been watching the new TV series ” Who Do You Think You Are” and I can honestly say I’ve heard our family stories through the years. Especially on my mom’s side. Mom was very close to her maternal grandmother, Jenny Catherine Hinkle Eye, and  listened to her stories very well. Now that our precious mother has gone to heaven it is my responsiblity to keep the stories going.

Aunt Wanda Belle Tracy was the youngest of three children and she took on the fair skin, light hair and blue eyes of her father, Claude  James Tracy’s side of the family. Both her siblings had dark brown hair and olive skin, from their mother, Dessa Marie Eye’s side. When I was born she was still living at her parents home. So when my sister and I went to stay the summers with our grandparents in West Virginia she was there. She was a teenager and very busy dating and being with her cousins. Before the knowledge of the sun being bad for you I can remember Aunt Wanda and her cousin Bonnie Mullinax getting blankets and tanning in the sun behind the snowball bushes in the front yard.

Even though my aunt had several suitors with all of them trying to win her affection with jewelry and flowers; which my sister, Rose Carol and I enjoyed very much, she had already given away her heart to her high school sweetheart, Bob Tacy.  He also brought her gifts and brought us candy. He was very smart like that. He was a football player and she was a cheerleader. After high school, Aunt Wanda went off to college at Asbury University and got her degree in elementary education and Uncle Bob joined the navy. Four years passed and they still felt the same love for each other. They are still the same sweethearts today as they were back then. And he still brings her flowers and jewelry. We all thought it was just real funny that she only had to drop one letter from TRACY to TACY when she married him.

They raised two sons in a Christian home, taking them every Sunday to Sunday school and church. Tim, the oldest lives in Dallas, Texas and Mark now lives in Chickamauga, Georgia. Uncle Bob has always teased him since he lived in Chattanooga, Tennessee for many years, that he had just learned to spell Chattanooga when he moved to Chickamauga. The Cherokee Indians had large reservations in this part of the country, hence all these Indian names.

After teaching 3rd and 4th grades for 30 years in Circleville, Ohio,  Aunt Wanda retired. As a retirement project and since she had the birth dates of her last class she sent birthday cards to every student till they graduated from high school. I think that’s remarkable and I hope some of them remembered her birthday on March 26th. It’s never too late!!

Aunt Wanda has always enjoyed cooking and shared many recipes through the years. The one she is known best for is her 24 hour salad. She always made this for holidays and we were known to scrape the bowl clean by the end of the day. It’s nice too that you make it ahead and that’s one thing less to do for those holiday meals.