Deviled Eggs and Macaroni and Cheese

This morning, my friend Carol and I walked at the Y the way we have been doing for over 10 years. Lately, we have both been pretty busy so it's been sporadic, but we always say our Y membership is cheaper than having to pay for therapy. We go round and round the track and talk about alot of different subjects, but we always end up talking about food. It really helps with the menu planning which really is the hardest part of cooking.

Today's food topic started out with chickens. Not cooking chicken but having chickens. In the backyard. And that got me to thinking about a really great picture that I have of my great grandmother - Elizabeth Ellen Peeler Hunt. If I can scan it sometime, I will add it to this post. I used to think that the Peelers just had to be Irish, but have learned that they actually emigrated in 1717 from Stuttgart, Germany. The original name was Von Buhler which changed to Buhler and then to Peeler.

The Hunts were no doubt English.

Elizabeth Ellen Peeler (Liz) grew up near Belwood, NC and married John Jackson Hunt in June 1873. They lived in Hollis, NC where they had eleven children - one, my grandfather, Robert Lee Hunt. They belonged to Mount Harmony Methodist Church and they are buried there along with alot of other family.

The picture that I have was probably taken in the early 1900's and is of Liz, standing outside holding a chicken upside down by the foot. The chicken is obviously no longer with us. This picture lends a shot of reality to the phrase -'wanting to wring his neck'!

Liz is dressed in a long dress, long sleeves and has on an apron with stains to prove she has been pretty busy all day. There is another chicken in the background running for it's life!

So, all this talk of chickens had me thinking about eggs and that got me thinking about two of our favorite recipes from the Easter Lunch. Actually we use these two recipes all through the year.

The first is Deviled Eggs. Our son, David, can eat a dozen by himself. Once my Dad made Deviled eggs to send to college with David. Driving in to Wofford College, David rolled down the windows and handed deviled eggs out to the campus security guards. They loved it. He said he was "networking grandpa style".

My Dad loves to make Deviled Eggs and so of course my Mom gets pulled in to that as well. It is a time consuming detail oriented thing to make, but they are so good. Mama says one of the keys is not to boil the eggs too long. If you boil them too long, the yellow yolks will turn kind of green and that isn't pretty. The first rule of their food is that is tastes good, but pretty is a real important component to all of Mama's food.

So here is the recipe for:

The Hunt's Deviled Eggs

Boil Fresh Eggs for 10 minutes
Leave in the pan of hot water for 10 more minutes
Pour off the Water and run cold water over until they are cool
Peel eggs and slice in half (you gotta be really careful not to get peels mixed in with the eggs!)

Slip the yolks out of the whites and mash the yolks up. You can also mash up a white or two because it is very likely that you will have some that are broken anyway. We do NOT like big chunks of whites so mash them up really good with the back of a fork.

Add salt, pepper, mayonaise, cider vinegar, and sweet salad cube pickles. This is the tricky part. We don't have amounts. You might have to try this a couple of times, but keep working on it. They are worth it. The pickles are somewhat controversial, but Dad, Mama and I, all think they make the difference.

When it's ready, spoon it back into the egg whites. Then, as Nishie would say, "sprinkle a litte porta rica on top" to really make it pretty. Nishie meant to say paprika, but it got such a laugh that even when she knew better, she always called it 'porta rica'. I am sure Nishie will show up again at some point in this blog.

The other recipe that eggs make me think of is Mama's Macaroni and Cheese. This is more like a souffle than a traditional mac n cheese dish. There is more egg and cheese than there is macaroni. Mama said she started with a recipe from the Jr Charity Leage Cookbook (this always means the first one with the rings in the top) but she has changed it alot over the years. She still changes her recipes all the time and recently started adding Monterey Jack cheese with Jalapeno to this recipe. Our sons, Jay and David, both love this one, and so do most of their friends. I try to remember to make this when there is a big crowd of college kids around.

Mama's Macaroni and Cheese Pie

5 eggs
1 1/2 cups milk
2 cups cooked macaroni
4 Cups Grated Cheddar Cheese
(I use extra sharp, but Mom and Dad use the Colby cheese in the round package. As Mama says, "That's why they make Chocolate and Vanilla!")

Add a little bit of Grated Monterey Jack with jalapeno - a new twist and it is good

Cook the macaroni. Grate the cheese. Mix eggs, milk, salt, pepper.

Put macaroni and cheese into casserole dish. Pour everything else over. Add a little more milk if needed so it barely covers the mac and the cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes - until the middle doesn't shake too much. It is very important NOT to overcook this. The exact instructions are "It needs to shake a tiny bit or it will be too dry".