Tuesday, October 14, 2008

A recipe from my most special cookbook
--Old-Fashioned Noodle Pudding


Old-Fashioned Noodle Pudding
The Complete Everyday Cookbook Copyright 1971

5 tablespoons butter, divided
2 ½ cups peeled cooking apples, cut into ½-inch slices I used Golden Delicious
7 tablespoons sugar, divided
1/3 cup packed dark brown sugar
1 ¾ teaspoons ground cinnamon, divided
2 tablespoons finely chopped walnuts I omitted these
2 ½ cups drained, cooked broad noodles
½ cup sour cream I used lite
1 ¼ cups creamed cottage cheese, sieved I used 1%
½ teaspoon salt
2 eggs, well beaten

Melt 3 tablespoons butter in heavy skillet. Add sliced apples; sprinkle with 3 tablespoons sugar. Stir until apples are completely coated with butter. Cover, cook over low heat about 8 minutes.

Mix brown sugar, ¼ teaspoon cinnamon and nuts well. Spread mixture evenly over bottom of well-greased 8x8x2-inch pan. Add 2 tablespoons of butter to noodles and toss until well-coated. Add sour cream, cottage cheese, salt, eggs, cooked apples and their liquid and 2 tablespoons sugar that has been mixed with ½ teaspoon cinnamon; blend well. Put noodle mixture over brown sugar layer in pan. Bake in moderate oven (325 degrees) for 50 minutes, or until done. Immediately sprinkle with a mixture of 2 tablespoons of sugar and ½ teaspoon cinnamon over top and serve at once.

Makes 7 servings.
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First of all, thank you very, very much for all of the wonderful birthday wishes. I was tickled pink to see all of the comments. I know it's not possible or even necessary for readers to comment on every post but I'm only human - I got excited to see so many comments. I appreciated the lurkers coming out of lurkdom and of course I loved hearing from my regulars. That was the best birthday gift. I feel rejuvenated.

If you asked me which one cookbook I would rescue in a fire, it would be this one. Strange, since this is the first time I'm cooking from it, but this is probably the first cookbook I ever read. My mother had a copy of this cookbook, actually she still has it. Unfortunately, it's in pieces and there are no identifying parts left to it. Yet somehow, within one day, I found a copy of this cookbook to buy over the internet. I did that with only a general guess as to what year it was published and the names of a few chapters.

I've had it for at least a year, maybe two. I think I've been afraid to try any of the recipes since I didn't want to be disappointed but it doesn't really matter, it will always be a special cookbook for me. The recipes really aren't the point - even my mother only used it for a few baking recipes yet it still made quite an impression on me.

I've been wanting to make a noodle pudding for years. I remember my mom making it once. She made a lot of things only once that I've never forgotten. Noodle pudding is just one of those things that there are so many variations out there, which one to try first? I don't think my mom's had apples in it but this is still the one that caught my eye.

This was a good starting point. I don't think it needed the brown sugar on the bottom, certainly not that much of it. It wasn't quite as creamy as I had hoped but it could have been my fault for using the lite sour cream and lowfat cottage cheese. Next time I try a noodle pudding recipe, I'm going full-fat. I don't know when that will be though. I ate more of this than I would ever admit and it might be a while before I can look at a noodle pudding again. It's probably a good thing that I used the lower-fat ingredients.

Question of the Day: Is there a special cookbook that your mom or grandmother had that you remember?

7 comments:

cary's girl said...

I'm coming out of lurkdom again to post a comment - because I feel the same way as you when people post on my blog!

Anyway, the cookbook I remember from my mom is the red plaid Better Homes and Garden cookbook. As soon as I got married, I had to go out and get one of my own. I remember my mom's had pages falling out of the binder and she always had a million recipes she cut from newpapers stuffed inbetween the pages!

Randi said...

You made Kugel!!! Yay!! I love Kugle, I made one a few weeks ago and froze pieces since Robin wont touch it with a 10ft pole.

Bunny_lover said...

I have my mom's Betty Crocker's Picture Cookbook from 1956. My grandmother gave it to her when she got married. Since they are both gone now, it is very special to me.

Anonymous said...

I don't remember any cookbooks. I think maybe she didn't use any. I remember (I guess they would be called booklets/pamphlets). They would be published by a certain brand. And after soooo many years ago, Wanda and I still have some of them.

Jan

Anonymous said...

Unlurking again!

When I was a kid, I loved looking at "Sugar Spoon Recipes from the Domino Sugar Bowl Kitchen" because when it was open, it meant Mom was baking something yummy. Also it had very cute pictures which were fun to look at. My mom's copy is marked up, stained and falling apart - and she's still using it. I happened to find a copy on the internet and bought it. I still love looking at the pictures!

DancesInGarden said...

The "Plaid Binder". She gave us each one, and many of the recipes sound the same but taste different. I think hers was Betty Crocker, and ours are Better Homes and Gardens. Odd how close they are, but not the same.

It had good, basic recipes that were fine on their own yet provided a jumping point if you wanted to try variations.

Anonymous said...

An old Better Homes and Garden cookbook (maybe the same as cary's girl???). I remember her helping me make stew with dumplings out of it one year. Loved to page through that cookbook when I visited her. She is slowly giving me a cookbook or two every time I visit (she is now 93) and I treasure each one.

Sorry I missed your birthday. Happy Belated Wishes!