Recipes

Maple glazed carrots
Serves four-be sure to make enough, everyone will want seconds!

  • 1 lb of carrots, peel if you like, cut into ¼” slices
  • ¼ cup butter
  • 1 cup orange juice
  • ¼ cup maple syrup-dark robust provides the most maple flavor, but any grade will work
  • ¼ tsp salt
  • ¼ tsp cinnamon

Place sliced carrots in a heavy 9” frying pan, add butter, orange juice, salt, cinnamon. Cover and cook at a simmer for 40 minutes, adding water or more orange juice if needed. When tender, add maple syrup and simmer for 5 minutes more until glaze thickens. 

Maple dressed spinach salad
Serves four-like the carrots-there are never any left overs.

  • Four cups washed, stemmed young spinach
  • 2 strips cooked and crumpled bacon SAVE THE DRIPPINGS!
  • 1 hard boiled egg
  • 3 Tbsp balsamic vinegar-or any other favorite vinegar type
  • 3 Tbsp maple syrup-dark robust provides the most maple flavor, but any grade will work

Toss the spinach, egg and bacon. Combine the vinegar, syrup and warm bacon drippings. Dress the salad immediately before eating, it wilts fairly quickly.

Frank Ryan’s Andamma Bread

Two large or four small loaves

Thank you to Mary Kay Wood of Kirby, Vermont for this recipe. Even if you don’t make the bread, the recipe is fun to read-all of the original comments are included. 

Place in your largest bowl:
¼ pound butter
1 teaspoon salt

Bring to a boil in a saucepan:
2 cups water-add ½ cup yellow corn meal, stirring vigorously. Remove from heat at once and pour the mush over the butter and salt. Let cool to lukewarm.

Add 1 pkg yeast to ½ cup warm water and allow to work while the cornmeal cools.

Mix ¾ cup dark robust syrup (for this recipe-it really does need to be dark robust) into the lukewarm mush and then add the yeast also.

4 cups flour, stirred thoroughly into above. Give it all you have. Then you and the dough rest for about 10 minutes.

Place 2 cups flour on the kneading board and spread in a generous circle. Turn dough onto flour and liberally dust the top with more flour (this will keep your hands from getting covered in sticky dough). Knead for about 10 minutes, incorporating sufficient flour to keep dough from sticking. Return dough to the large bowl which has been washed and buttered, let rise in a warm place- 1 to 2 hrs is normally long enough. It should double in bulk.

Knock down dough with hands, turn it onto a board, knead it into shape for only a second. Cut into two or four equal size pieces.

Shape lovingly and press into buttered bread pans. Let rise until doubled, about 1 hr.

Place in a preheated 400 deg oven for 5 minutes, and then WITHOUT PEEKING turn heat to 350 deg and bake for 35 to 40 minutes for small loaves, a little longer for large loaves. It is a matter of judgment. 

Frank Ryan’s recipe is the best I know of and only faintly related to the poor cousins in the grocery store. Frank’s family of fine boys have thrived on the homemade product.

Raspberry Maple Spritzer

  • 1 quart of strong, homemade raspberry (or other berry) tea-still slightly warm.
  • 1 liter of cold raspberry or other berry flavored seltzer water
  • Maple syrup to taste (1-2 tsp/serving)

Put syrup and warm tea in a tall glass, fill about 1/3 full. Stir really well to mix in the syrup before you add cold seltzer-otherwise the syrup pools in the bottom of the glass.

Add seltzer to fill glass to 2/3 and fill remaining space with ice cubes.