Aunt Bee's Recipe Box

Surprise, surprise, surprise!

Now that is has been almost two years, I think it's time for a post. Even though I have less free time than I used to have, I have truly missed writing. My posts, I'm guessing, will just need to be a lot shorter, and I'll get to the point more quickly. (I know. A huge sigh of relief just escaped some of you.)

It's no secret that I'm a night owl, and I have a really hard time waking up in the morning. But, the doctors are trying to help me out a bit to see if we can change that. However, something that has helped me perk up a bit is the fact that our local CW station (channel 11) plays two episodes of The Andy Griffith Show each morning. One plays at 6:00 am, and the second is shown at 6:30 am. Sha-zam! (I hope that wasn't meant as a bad word to Gomer.)

If I haven't already shared this fact on the blog, then you must know that The Andy Griffith Show is very important to our family. When Aaron and I would go to Grandma and Grandpa's house, very frequently we'd find Grandpa or both of them watching the show. There was a time when there were at least three episodes shown on the channels that were available in Canton. Within seconds of a show beginning, it seemed Grandpa could recognize what episode it was. And, then Uncle Roger caught on. And, you can ask about any of my cousins and they can name at least a handful of their favorites. Knowing what is going to happen doesn't steer us from watching it one bit. We just love the show, and we loved watching it with Grandma and Grandpa.

In an episode that was shown earlier this week, Professor and Lecturer Hubert "Hugh" St. John visits Mayberry. He pursues Aunt Bee because he believes she is so similar to his deceased wife. During one of the dinners, Professor St. John talks about having more of Aunt Bee's Nesselrode Pie. So, that piqued my curiosity, and I did some research. It led me to this blog and the recipe. And, that led me to search about the origins of the pie recipe, Count Nesselrode, chestnuts, optional ingredients and many more related topics. Nesselrode Pies have almost completely disappeared from today's cookbooks, but it seems to have been quite a hit a few decades ago. Well, I'll be dogged!

After a dear friend pointed out that the Mayberry version of the pie contains raw egg whites (which would be an especially big concern to Grandma Stremmel,) I am going to put off making one right away, fiddle with the recipe a bit, and make it after a specially ordered, important ingredient arrives. (I want it to be an authentic Nesselrode Pie to see what all of the hype is about.) If you already knew what a Nesselrode Pie was without researching it, more power to ya!

So, instead, I'm going to try to make another Mayberry recipe for church this weekend. And, then that search started me on another search: trying to find as many Aunt Bee & Mayberry recipes I can find. I don't have any of the cookbooks, and I'd love to have them. But, in an effort to obtain quite a variety of the recipes published through the years for a very cheap price ($0), my big project of the week has been tracking down recipes on the internet. And, next I'll head to the library. And, then I plan to offer up the collection to all of the church friends and family who I know love The Andy Griffit Show, cooking, or both. Stay tuned. But, after working on it about 4 days in the evenings and all day so far today, I have 102 pages (11 point font, single spaced) of these delicacies pasted or typed. So far, so good. If you know you'd like a copy when I finish it, leave me a note here on the blog or send me an email which is provided in a link on my blogger profile page.

Well, already, this has gone on too long. So, it's time to nip it in the bud.

I don't chew my cabbage twice. And, you ain't heard the last of Strem.