This stuff, in spite of the tuna fish, is very good heaped on Ritz crackers. With a little cream cheese, it’s even better.

The best part was the fun we had putting it together. The recipe came from Annie Keefe’s sister who lives in Butte, and who makes it every year to give as Christmas gifts I think, until now, it was a family secret recipe!

In a VERY LARGE pan (we used the blue canning kettle) mix the following:
2 heads cauliflower, finely chopped
5 green peppers, finely chopped
2 large jars pimentos
1 quart dill pickles, finely chopped
3 cans string beans
2 small cans mushrooms
1 large jar stuffed olives cut crossways
1 can black olives cut crossways
3 cans water-pack tunafish

Mix in another LARGE pan and pour over the veggie mixture:
3 pints chili sauce
3 pint bottles cocktail sauce
5 pint bottles catsup
Mix well and pack to within 1 inch of the top of canning jars. To each jar add:
1 bay leaf
1 tsp. vinegar
1 tsp. oil
a dash of pepper

Seal and process for one hour in a boiling water bath. Be sure the jars are covered with water. This recipe is expensive to make and pretty messy but it’s worth all the trouble and makes a nice addition to a Christmas goody box.

This recipe will make 18 to 20 pints, or 36 to 40 half pints.

Ted and Karen make several gallons of this every year. Probably more now that Ted is raising tomatoes in his little greenhouse.

Combine, bring to a boil and boil gently, stirring often, for about 30 minutes:
15 pounds ripe tomatoes
2 cups chopped celery
3 large onions
3 cloves garlic, minced
Whirl in a blender, a small amount at a time, or put through a food strainer, discarding the pulp.

Then add:
¼ cup sugar (or more to taste)
2 tablespoons salt
¾ teaspoon pepper
2 teaspoons horseradish
1/3 cup lemon juice
Worcestershire to taste

Add a few drops of Tabasco if you like it hot. (Remember, a little goes a long way.)


This can be put into freezer containers for freezing, or you can prepare 6 quart-size canning jars. Fill jars to within ¼ inch of the top, and process at 15 pounds pressure for 30 minutes.

Karen says that if the mixture is too thick, it can be thinned with a small amount of beef broth before serving.

This is a good way to use up the last of the green beans from the garden. Ted and Karen use big beans and can them in quart jars. This recipe came from Jennifer Straw, one of my co-workers at Blue Shield.

4 pounds green beans
5 cups white vinegar
5 cups water
½ cup salt

For each pint jar, add:
¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper
½ teaspoon whole mustard seed
1 clove garlic
½ teaspoon dill seed or one stem of fresh dill

Wash beans thoroughly. If beans are small, leave whole, otherwise cut in half or to height of jar. Pack into hot, clean jars. Add spices. I put the dill in the bottom of the jar.

Combine vinegar, water, and salt and bring to a boil.

Pour over beans, leaving ½ inch head space.

Process in boiling water bath 5 minutes.

Should make about 7 pints.

This is just as good, or better, than any you can buy.

Combine:
1 envelope dry onion soup mix
1 cup ketchup
¼ cup vinegar
½ cup water
2 heaping tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons dry mustard

This is Grandma’s recipe for chokecherry wine. It’s different from any other wine recipe I have seen. Jim and I have used the same formula to make other fruit wines.

One year we made currant wine which was really not very good – so it sat on the shelf for a couple of years. When Jim was making venison sausage, he decided that perhaps it might be good to add a little wine for moisture so he dumped in the last bottle of the currant wine.

Then he decided to taste what was left in the bottle, and realized that it had aged into a very nice mellow wine Well, it did make some mighty fine sausage.

The formula for the wine is:
1 part ripe chokecherries or other fruit
1 part sugar
2 parts water

Mix together in a large crock, cover with a dishtowel, and let stand in a fairly warm place to ferment. Stir occasionally. When the berries sink to the bottom of the crock, the fermentation is complete.

Make a sugar syrup of one cup of sugar to a half cup of water and heat and stir just until the sugar is dissolved. Siphon off the wine and add the sugar syrup until it is sweetened to your taste.

Pour into quart fruit jars, place new lids and screw bands on the jars, and process in boiling water just as you would if you were canning fruit. Process for 15 minutes.

This procedure prevents any further fermentation of the sugar that was just added and you have a sweet wine. The alcohol content can be potent, depending on the amount of sugar in the fruit and the sugar that was added.

Let the wine sit in a cool, dark place for a couple of months, and then, hopefully, you will have some good wine. If not, you can always make sausage with it.

Soak 4 pounds of Great Northern beans overnight.

Cook for about an hour and then add a sauce made from the following:
2½ cups ketchup
2½ cups brown sugar
3 tablespoons dry mustard
2 teaspoons pepper (black or white)
2½ teaspoons salt
A couple of finely chopped onions

Put a chunk of salt pork or bacon in each pint canning jar. Add beans and sauce. Adjust lids on jars and process in pressure cooker 75 minutes at 10 pounds pressure. According to Stephina, this should make about 18 pints, more or less.

Stephina was Aunt Lena’s only child. Stephina’s father passed away when she was a small child. and she was sent to live with her grandparents so that Aunt Lena could go to work.

Stephina and her husband, Clarence Peterson, raised 7 children.

He passed away in 2000 and Stephina continues to live in Butte. unt Lena later married Archie and, after his death, Joe.

Boil the following for 10 minutes:
6 cups shredded zucchini
1 cup water

Add:
6 cups sugar
½ cup lemon juice
1 cup crushed pineapple

Boil for 6 minutes, then add:
1 large package peach or apricot Jell-O
Quickly pour into 8-oz. Kerr jars and refrigerate when cool. I’m not sure how long this jam will keep in the refrigerator.

I suppose it could be frozen or processed in a hot water bath for 15 minutes or so to seal the jars.

This fudge is absolutely delicious.

The big problem is finding the Hershey’s raspberry chips.

The grocery stores tell me that they aren’t able to get them.

This year I made the fudge with regular chocolate chips, using some natural raspberry flavoring I found at a specialty store. It worked just fine, but I don’t think it’s going to last until Christmas.

In a large, heavy saucepan, mix together and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until it comes to a full rolling boil.

Boil and stir for 5 minutes.
2¼ cups sugar
½ cup plus 2 tablespoons evaporated milk (one small can)
¼ cup butter

Take off the heat and add:
1 package of raspberry chocolate chips
7 ounce jar marshmallow crème
1 teaspoon vanilla
Stir until smooth and add
Chopped walnuts

Pour into 8- or 9-inch pan which has been lined with foil and greased lightly with butter or Pam. Let set up in refrigerator and then lift out of the pan and cut into squares.

This is almost as good as what comes from the Parrot Confectionery in downtown Helena.

The recipe is one of Grandma Olson’s Christmas recipes.

She always added almonds.

In a heavy pan, boil the following ingredients for 5 minutes:
2 cups brown sugar
1½ sticks of margarine
½ cup white Karo
1 teaspoon salt

Add:
1 teaspoon of butter flavoring
½ teaspoon of soda.
(Another recipe I have calls for vanilla and coconut flavoring instead of butter flavoring.)


Pour the syrup over:
16 cups of popped corn placed in a large roasting pan
Stir to coat the corn and then bake for one hour at 250, stirring every 15 minutes.
Nuts can be added before pouring on the syrup.
To cool, spread out on waxed paper and separate into chunks the size you like.
Mary Jo also makes a version of caramel corn and Jim looks forward to receiving his share each Christmas.

Mix together in a large container:
1 large can frozen lemonade, reconstituted
1 package cherry Kool-Aid
1 cup sugar
1 large bottle Seven Up
1 large bottle cranberry juice cocktail

Pour over ice.

At Barbara and Bill’s wedding, I think someone may have added a little vodka to the punch at the last minute.

Combine:
½ cup cocoa
4 cups powdered milk
½ cup powdered cream
1 cup powdered sugar
¼ teaspoon salt

Mix together in a large covered container.

A double batch will fill a three-pound coffee can.

To serve, put 1/3 cup in a mug and add hot water. The addition of a couple drops of almond flavoring to each cup will turn it into Amaretto Chocolate; a few drops of peppermint will turn it into a Peppermint Patty. A couple of drops of vanilla in each cup is also good.

Combine:
2 cups Tang orange juice mix
1 cup sugar
1 cup instant tea
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 package lemon Kool-Aid

Mix all the ingredients together and store in a tight container.

To serve, put one or two spoonfuls in a cup and add hot water.

Barbara received this recipe from Dianne. They are nice to have on hand in the refrigerator and keep for quite a while.

Combine in a large bowl:
8 cups cucumbers, sliced thin
1 onion, sliced
1 cup of thinly sliced celery

Mix with:
1½ tablespoon salt
Let stand for an hour or so. Mix together and pour over the vegetables:
2 cups sugar
1 cup dark vinegar
1 teaspoon celery seed
1 teaspoon mustard seed

Place several sprigs of fresh dill in the bottom of the container. (This wasn’t included in the original recipe but we like it.)

Let stand in the refrigerator several hours before using. I have a two-quart crock that is exactly the right size for this amount of pickles.

Combine and let sit over night:

5 cups chopped rhubarb
3 cups sugar

In the morning, bring to a boil and cook 10 minutes

Then add:

1 3-oz. package of strawberry Jell-O.
Pour into jars and seal. Store in refrigerator.

This recipe was also sent to me by my cousin, Marian Miller, who was Aunt Margaret’s daughter. She lives on a farm near Towner, North Dakota.