Rae Udy

RECIPES: Grandma Toots’ Applesauce Cake, Grandpa Tom’s Grapefruit Salad, Grandma Phoebe’s Taffy, Grandpa Melvin’s Mushrooms

By Rae Udy

Grandparents Day is celebrated September 11 this year. When I think of my Grandparents food always comes to mind.
My Grandma from my mom’s side was named Elizabeth but everyone called her Toots. She grew up in the southern Idaho town of Malad City. Her teen years were spent as a cook for a trail drive and she would often say she could easily whip up a meal for two or two hundred. Grandma Toots was a cook who never measured anything. She would scoop up flour with her hands and add ingredients “by touch and feel� until the batter was the right consistency. Grandma Toots’ Applesauce Cake appeared at almost every family get together I can remember.
Her husband, Grandpa Tom, loved to ‘live off the land.’ Every spring he would hike up to a certain mountain stream to collect fresh watercress for his favorite salad. The grapefruit and watercress offered a tart and tangy taste the family looked forward to every year. Grandpa Tom was a carpenter in Malad and many homes still contain the cabinets he built.
My grandparents on my dad’s side lived their whole life in the Plymouth, Utah area and were happily married for over 65 years. Grandma Phoebe was always busy canning something from the garden but she is best known for her taffy candy. She always said pulling taffy was her exercise. Grandma Udy was organist for her church for many decades and loved playing piano for her family.
Grandpa Udy was a hay and grain farmer for most of his life and loved to gather fresh mushrooms growing on his land. I wouldn’t recommend gathering your own mushrooms but I think you will like Grandpa Melvin’s Mushrooms as a side dish or to top baked potatoes.
Although my grandparents are no longer living they will always be remembered when I make one of their favorite recipes.

Rae, right, and her sister JoAnn hug Grandma Udy.

GRANDMA TOOTS’ APPLESAUCE CAKE

½ (one-half) cup soft butter
½ (one-half) cup honey
1/4 (one-quarter) cup dark molasses
2 eggs
2 ½ (two and one-half) cups unbleached white flour
1 teaspoon each – baking soda and ground cinnamon
½ (one-half) teaspoon allspice
¼ (one-quarter) teaspoon each – nutmeg and salt
1 ½ (one and one-half) cups applesauce
¾ (three-quarters of a cup) each – raisins and walnuts
Cream butter, honey and molasses until light and creamy in a large mixing bowl. Add eggs and beat until blended. Mix flour, soda, spices and salt together in another bowl. Alternately add small amounts of flour mixture and applesauce to creamed mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Beat well after each addition. Stir in raisins and nuts. Pour batter into a lightly oiled and floured thirteen by nine inch baking pan. Bake in preheated 350 degree oven for forty minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Remove from oven and cool on rack. Spread with your favorite Cream Cheese Frosting and arrange additional walnut halves on top or serve warm or cold with low-fat whipped topping. Serves 12.

GRANDPA TOM’S GRAPEFRUIT SALAD
1 large pick grapefruit
2 Tablespoons chopped walnuts
1 teaspoon honey
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 cup fresh watercress or spinach greens
Wash watercress in cold water until clean. Wrap in paper towels to dry. Divide onto two small salad plates. Cut grapefruit in half and cut sections of grapefruit with a sharp knife. Arrange grapefruit pieces on watercress and top with chopped walnuts. Drizzle salad with honey and lemon. Serve immediately. Yields two servings.

Grandma Toots and Grandpa Tom Kent celebrate their 43rd anniversary.

GRANDMA PHOEBE’S VINEGAR TAFFY
2 cups sugar
¾ (three-quarters) cup white vinegar
¼ (one-quarter) cup water
1 Tablespoon butter
Mix together in saucepan. Boil until syrup forms a firm ball when dropped in cold water. This is the secret. If you don’t cook it long enough it won’t set up when up stretch it. If you cook it too long it will be brittle. Pour into a buttered dripping pan to cool. Start stretching as soon as it’s cool enough to handle. Stretch and pull with lightly buttered hands until taffy is white. Lay out on a clean dish towel. Put a little flour on towel, then it won’t stick. When taffy is firm, break or cut into bite-size pieces. Yields about three dozen pieces.

GRANDPA MELVIN’S MUSHROOMS
2 Tablespoons peanut oil
2 cups fresh mushrooms, washed and wiped dry
½ (one-half) cup chopped onion
Heat oil in a skillet. Add mushrooms and onion. Stir fry until mushrooms begin to brown. Serve hot as side dish or topping for baked potatoes. Yields two cups.

Grandpa Melvin and Grandma Phoebe Udy at granddaughter Delpha’s wedding.