My wonderful mother-in-law who introduced me to Fullmer tacos!
The first time I had a Fullmer Taco was a lifetime ago — but I well remember the day, because they were so odd. The occasion was dinner at Kelly’s family home. Tacos were on the menu and that sounded good to me. But, in fact, they were the strangest tacos I’d ever eaten. They had all of the typical taco ingredients, minus the chili seasoning, but the special ingredient that made them different was the addition of salad dressing on top. Yes, I know, it does sound strange, but it is, in fact, a delicious combination. So without further ado, for future generations who may not have grown up eating these, here’s the scoop.
Fullmer Tacos
Soft flour tortilla shells
1 lb lean ground beef, browned and seasoned with plenty of salt and pepper.
Shredded lettuce
Diced tomatoes
Shredded Cheese
Salad Dressing – Ranch and Catalina are family favorites, but whatever dressing floats your boat.
Warm a tortilla directly on top of low flames if you are using a gas range (just be careful not to burn your fingers when you flip them over); if you are using an electric range, use a pan to warm the taco shell.
Assemble the taco, topping it with your choice of salad dressing. Roll, eat, repeat until full.
Other optional toppings include avocado, sour cream, and olives – except never for Kelly, he detested olives, and I didn’t even regularly buy them until after he died, but I love them on tacos. Enjoy your tacos, even though people who are not members of your family may think you are weird for eating them this way.
Pausing my apple picking, atop a ladder, to enjoy a fresh-from-the-tree apple; and the original copy of my apple pie filling recipe.
When I was cleaning out my recipe cupboard (yes, I have a shelf in one of my cupboards for all of the recipe books I rarely use), I found my apple pie filling recipe, which I got from my sister-in-law, Sally years ago when we were both new brides. The picture shows the front and back of the approximate 2″ x 3″ scrap of paper it’s written on. For years I had it memorized because I made applesauce and apple pie filling every year from the apples produced on our five apple trees. Then life happened and I didn’t make it for several years, and more life happened, and I didn’t make it, and then I forgot the recipe. Life calmed down, and for the last several years I have made pie filling again. I ended up searching online for a recipe, and I found one that was good. But I am pretty sure this one (with a few modifications I’ve made since I first used it) is better.
We used to go through a ton of applesauce, and I canned it by the quart and added sugar and cinnamon. Canning applesauce and pie filling was one of the projects that Kelly always helped me with. We worked well together as a team when it came to canning. He was of course always much more of a perfectionist than I am, and his apple slices were always more uniform, and the peel was completely taken off. I miss standing side-by-side in the kitchen working together, the kids begging him to let them crank the handle of the Victoria strainer.
These days I fill pint bottles rather than quarts with applesauce, and I give away both applesauce and apple pie filling as gifts at Christmastime. The apples come from my five apple trees (organically grown because I never take the time to do anything with them. My boys prune the trees every year or so, but that’s about it). My favorite part of the whole process is the wonderful smell that fills my house with cinnamony goodness, and of course the ping when the jars seal. Homemade is so much better than what you can get in the store. Enjoy!
Update 2016
PS: One of these days I will add my applesauce recipe, but for today, I will add some pictures of this year’s endeavor. Jason and his boys have been helping me tonight. (And they get to take the applesauce home with them!)
Apple Pie Filling
8 quarts of apples
8 cups water (or a mix of apple juice and water)
2 cups Ultra Gel or Clear Jel
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon of ground nutmeg
1/2 c. lemon juice plus 1/4/ c. lemon juice for apple preparation
4 1/2 c. sugar
4 drops of yellow food coloring for color if desired
Instructions
Use firm, crisp apples (my favorite is the granny Smith variety). If apples lack tartness, use an additional 1/4 cup of lemon juice for each 6 quarts of slices.
Yield: 7 quarts
Wash, peel, and core apples. Prepare slices 1/4-1/2 inches wide and place in cold water containing 1/4 cup lemon juice for every 4 cups water (or water containing ascorbic acid) to prevent browning.
For fresh fruit, place 6 cups at a time in 1 gallon of boiling water. Boil each batch 1 minute after the water returns to a boil. Drain, but keep heated fruit in a covered bowl or pot.
Prepare your quart jars, make sure they are clean and that you have the lids and rings ready to go because once your filling is ready, you will want to fill the jars quickly. Heat some water and place your lids in the hot water until you are ready to use them.
Combine sugar, spices, and Ultra Gel, in a large kettle or stock pot with water and apple juice. Stir and cook on medium-high heat until mixture thickens and begins to bubble. Add lemon juice and food coloring, and boil 1 minute, stirring constantly. Fold in drained apple slices immediately. Fill quart jars quickly, leaving 1 inch headspace. Adjust lids and process in a water-bath canner according to the recommendations below.
Processing time varies depending on the size of your jars and your elevation. This handy home canning processing chart is a great guide, and if you don’t know what your elevation is off the top of your head, you can find it at What is my elevation .com
Freezer Instructions: Alternately this recipe can be placed in freezer bags and frozen for several months. Place approximately 4 cups apple mixture to fill one standard size pie.
If you’ve never done home canning before, this is a good basic guide.
Use the filling the same way you would commercially prepared pie filling. And check out my recipe for a super easy crockpot fruit cobbler.
December 2015 — For over two decades, I’ve made clam chowder for Christmas Eve. This year, I am going to be with my daughter, Melanie , and her family in Oklahoma, for Christmas. So before I leave, I am doing the clam chowder (and broccoli cheese too) tonight for my kids who live close by.
Today as I was preparing the vegetables, my mind drifted to memories of Kelly and I chopping the vegetables, working together to make the soup. He was always so precise, cutting the potatoes into uniform small pieces. And me, if I was the one cutting the potatoes, thy ended up in haphazard chunks. But they were still good to eat. I make the chowder with butter and cream most years, a rich wonderful blend. In leaner years, I used butter and half-n-half or milk, along with the potatoes, celery, onions, and of course the clams, and it was still good. Some years I made cornbread to go with it and got the cute little oyster crackers, other years it was saltines and toast, or fancy crackers and dinner rolls. And of course my Christmas dishes, which I earned through selling Tupperware. Boy were they a fancy touch for our table. Add eggnog in fancy glasses, and it was Christmas.
But always the soup, clam chowder, the recipe and the tradition handed down from Kelly’s parents. I remember many Christmas Eves spent at their home, Farrell and Nanette in the kitchen, chopping the vegetables and making the chowder for Christmas. Farrell chopping precisely, and Nanette making sure everything else was ready.
In the years since Kelly died, making it each year keeps me close to the promise of forever. Until then, I will continue to make it for my children and grandchildren, a legacy from their father’s family of warmth and laughter and good food.
Soup, a humble dish, fills hunger and sustains life — much like our Savior, who was born in humble circumstances, fills our lives and sustains us, if we will but let him in.
Christmas Clam Chowder
(My take on Nanette’s original recipe.)
6 – 8 potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 onion chopped
3 – 4 stalks (ribs) of celery diced
1 carrot peeled, grated
1 can minced clams (or use fresh if you prefer & can get them)
1 can chopped clams
1 1/2 cube butter
1 quart half-n-half (additional milk if needed)
salt and pepper
flour
Melt 1/2 cube of butter in saute pan; Saute onions and celery in butter just until tender. Set aside. In a large pot of salted water, boil the cubed potatoes just until they are tender. When potatoes are nearly done, start the white soup base. In heavy bottomed soup pot melt 1 cube of butter over medium-low heat until it is completely melted, stirring constantly with a whisk. Add about 1/3 cup flour, whisking quickly to prevent lumps from forming. As the flour/butter mixture thickens slowly add half-n-half starting with about 1/4 cup, and slowly increasing the amount, whisking after each addition, letting the sauce thicken each time, continue adding and stirring until sauce is thick and bubbly. Reduce heat. Add potatoes, onions, celery, and drained clams. Stir in shredded carrots. Add salt and pepper to taste. If sauce is too thin, mix a tablespoon of flour into a half a cup of the soups liquid stir with a fork or small whisk and add back to simmering soup to thicken. If the sauce is to thick, thin with additional milk. Keep the heat low so the soup doesn’t scald on the bottom
10 ounces fresh spinach – rinsed and torn into bite-size pieces
1 quart strawberries – cleaned, hulled and sliced
¼ c. almonds, blanched and slivered
In a medium bowl, whisk together the sesame seeds, poppy seeds, sugar, olive oil, vinegar, paprika, Worcestershire sauce, and onion. Cover and chill for one hour.
In a large bowl, combine the spinach, strawberries and almonds. Pour dressing over salad, and toss. Refrigerate 10 – 15 minutes before serving.
When the children were young, many of our meals consisted of pasta, vegetables, and well, pasta and vegetables. Kelly was always concerned with the kids getting enough nutrients, and eating their vegetables. My daughter Melanie once recalled sitting at the dinner table long after everyone else had finished because she refused to eat the three green beans on her plate, and her father refused to excuse here until they were eaten. It was an impasse, and I don’t recall the ending. But, the consumption of veggies by his children was important to Kelly.
Thus, when he made spaghetti sauce, he had a habit of adding vegetables to the sauce, shredded carrots for example, were disguised in the sauce, and the kids ate it up, without ever realizing they were eating a bunch of cooked carrots. He added onions and peppers, minced broccoli even. But then, one day he went too far —even for me. Continue reading →
Cutestuff Cooks 