RECIPE SWAP: A VARIETY OF RECIPES DURING THE FAIR

We're right in the middle of the SEMO District Fair. One would have to ask just how many different foods can you serve on a stick? As we walked around there were corn dogs, cotton candy, steak on a stick, ice cream bars and a number of other foods. It seemed as though the possibilities were endless. But after all of the looking, we still had to go "home" to the Grace United Methodist church stand for the famous fish. It just can't be beat.

I have several recipes to pass on to you this week. We had a nice variety sent in this week, so let's get right to the good stuff.

Zucchini pancakes will help use up all of the zucchini available right now. A reader from Altenburg had a recipe she uses to do just that.

Zucchini Pancakes

2 cups grated zucchini

3/4 cup buttermilk baking mix

2 eggs

1 teaspoon salt

Mix ingredients in order listed. Scoop out and fry in a non-stick skillet until browned.

Valerie Marler of Jackson, Mo., has a recipe for fruit salad she borrowed from a cookbook that belonged to her mother. In reading through the recipe, I can understand why it is one of her favorites.

Fruit Salad

1/2 cup sugar

2 tablespoons cornstarch

1 (20 ounce) can pineapple chunks, drained, reserving juice

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 tablespoon grated orange peel

1/3 cup orange juice

1 (11 ounce) can mandarin oranges

2 medium firm apples cut up, unpeeled

2 sliced bananas

Stir sugar and cornstarch together in saucepan. Blend in 3/4 cup pineapple juice, lemon juice, orange peel and orange juice. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until mixture thickens and comes to a boil. Boil and stir 1 minute. While hot, pour over fruit in bowl. Refrigerate uncovered several hours or overnight.

Another Altenburg reader has a carrot cake recipe that is "the real thing." A little bit of trouble, but well worth the effort. The cream cheese icing just makes this cake. It is even better after a day or two. Be sure to keep refrigerated.

Old-Fashioned Carrot Cake

1 cup flour

1 cup wheat flour

1-3/4 cup sugar

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup oil

3 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 cups shredded carrots

1 cup chopped walnuts

1 cup coconut

1 (8 ounce) can crushed pineapple, undrained

Grease and flour 2 9-inch pans or a 9x13-inch baking pan. Combine all ingredients and mix well. Pour into prepared pans and bake 40 minutes at 350 degrees or until toothpick comes out clean.

Cream Cheese Icing

2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened

3/4 cup powdered sugar

2 tablespoons lemon juice

Cream these ingredients together. Then add 1 teaspoon of lemon peel, and combine well. Spread frosting on cooled cake, or between layers of a layered cake.

Recently, a reader was looking for recipes for pickled eggs. Area readers have shared a variety of different recipes. We may save a couple for next week, too.

Pickled Eggs

18 eggs

2 cups white vinegar

1-3/4 quarts water

2 teaspoons salt

Spice Bag:

1 small dry red pepper

1 tablespoon mixed pickling spices

Simmer eggs 30 minutes. Make pickling solution of remaining ingredients. When boiling, add peeled eggs. Bring to a boil again. Pack into hot sterilized jars. Cover completely with pickling solution and seal. Eggs may be pickled with beets for color. You may also color by adding fruit coloring to the pickling solution.

Pickled Eggs II

Prepare 6 hard-cooked eggs. Shell and stick into each egg 4 cloves.

Boil 2 cups vinegar.

Make a smooth paste of:

1/2 teaspoon ground mustard

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

And a little cold vinegar. Add to boiling vinegar. Stir about 1 minute. Put eggs in glass fruit jar and pour boiling vinegar over them. Cover and refrigerate about 2 weeks.

Pickled Eggs III

Simmer:

2 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon mixed pickling spices

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon celery seed in 2 cups vinegar

1 cup water.

Cool. Strain over 12 shelled hard-cooked eggs. Add 1 clove chopped garlic. Marinate eggs, covered, in refrigerator 2 to 3 days. A little beet juice may be added for color.

We also had a request for a Ro-Tel style tomatoes to can at home. A reader writes in that when she cans tomatoes, she adds a small can of chopped green chilies to each pint of tomatoes and processes them as usual.

There are no requests this week, but we still have some pending from the past couple of weeks.

Have fun at the fair, and I will see you next week. Happy cooking.

Susan McClanahan is administrator at the Cape Senior Center. Her cookbook collection tops 2,000 books. Recipes published are not kitchen-tested by the Southeast Missourian staff.