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75-Year-Old Singles Out His Need For Dishes For 1

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By JEFF HOUCK

The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 10, 2008

Herbert Wadsager of Brandon has a simple request.

"I am writing to see if you know of any single recipes, or if there is a book out," he writes. "I am a 75-year-old single guy who can follow directions."

Anyone have a simple single-serve recipe to share with Herbert?

More Nutty Pies

Elizabeth Walker of Sebring had been looking for a refrigerated pie recipe that uses crushed Brazil nuts for crust, regular meringue and creamy custard filling flavored with vanilla rum.

Jeffrey May came to her rescue last week with a Cashew Banana Cream Pie. This week, Grace Patterson of Tampa sent a Martha Stewart recipe for Almond Shortbread Crust.

"I think that Brazil nuts could be used instead of almonds," Patterson writes. "Make a vanilla pudding, flavor with rum, add meringue. How hard is that?"

Found Poundcake

Valerie Brown of Odessa wanted an orange poundcake. Reader Gail Robertson of Tampa came through.

"I remember my granny making this when I was a teenager quite some years ago. She sometimes used orange Jell-O, which I preferred; it was sweeter," Robertson says. "I remember this being kinda tart. I think I have seen orange extract in the store for substitution."

Recipe Follow-Up

A few weeks back, we shared a recipe from a church cookbook coordinated by Julia Ballenger from Westminster, S.C. (Another recipe, for apple butter, appears on this page.) We included information for how to order the cookbook. Ballenger says readers from all over Florida contacted her for a copy. She has seven cookbooks left out of 440. If anyone else wants one, Ballenger asks that you e-mail her at jbballenger@yahoo.com before sending money.

"I love the idea that people like to read and use cookbooks," she writes. "I have really been using my recipes in the book, and there is a lot of easy and good recipes also."

An Icing Mystery

Heather Adkins of Tampa is looking for a recipe for brown sugar icing.

"My grandmother used to make an awesome chocolate cake with this icing, and no one in the family can re-create it," Adkins writes. "The icing will harden on the cake so that it crackles when cut. ... My family and I would be grateful if anyone can solve our brown sugar icing mystery!"
ALMOND SHORTBREAD CRUST

40 shortbread cookies (about 18 ounces)

11/4 cups blanched whole almonds, roasted

5 tablespoons sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place cookies in the bowl of a food processor with metal blade, and process until fine crumbs form. Add about 3/4 cup nuts with the sugar and salt; process until fine crumbs form. Add butter and process until mixture comes together.

Coarsely chop remaining nuts and stir into mixture. Press into bottom and sides of two 8-inch pie plates to form a crust. Bake until just turning golden brown.

JELL-O CAKE

1 3-ounce package yellow cake mix

1 package orange or lemon Jell-O

3/4 cup vegetable oil

4 eggs

1 cup boiling water

1 teaspoon orange or lemon extract

Dissolve Jell-O in 1 cup boiling water and add to cake mix; add oil and mix well. Add eggs (one at a time) beating well after each one. Add extract. Pour into a greased and floured tube pan, and bake approximately 1 hour at 325 degrees until cake springs back to the touch. Remove from pan at once. Drizzle with a glaze made with 1 cup powered sugar and 4 tablespoons lemon juice.

ALL DAY APPLE BUTTER

Enough apples to fill a crock pot heaping full

4 cups sugar (give or take, depending on the apples)

4 teaspoons cinnamon

1 teaspoons ground cloves

1 teaspoon salt

Peel and core apples, and pour remaining ingredients over them. Cover and cook on high for about 1 hour. Lower the heat and cook all day, until mixture is thick and dark. Mix with a potato masher to make smooth. Put in freezer jars and freeze until ready to eat.

Looking for a recipe? Write to Jeff Houck, The Tampa Tribune, P.O. Box 191, Tampa FL 33601; or e-mail jhouck@tampatrib.com. Keyword: Recipes, for more recipes and to check out our archive.

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