Have You Heard Of Haymaker’s Punch?

Photos: iStock

Haymaker’s Punch is a homemade hydration drink familiar to Colonial Americans that throughout the years farmers continued to drink during long hot days of working out in their fields. Also called Switchel, its benefits in addition to hydration are electrolyte balance, aiding digestion, boosting antioxidants, probiotics, and energy, plus managing blood sugar. It’s easy enough to make:

Haymakers Punch

Ingredients:

4 cups of ice cold water

3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar (I think organic has a better taste, so I’ve switched.)

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 teaspoon dried ginger (or juice)

3 tablespoons of sweetener - Use honey, dark brown sugar; or Stevia to taste, i.e., whatever you like.

Optional: Sparkling water to top it off. Try 1 to 3 parts.

Directions:

Toss all the ingredients into a pitcher. Mix thoroughly and chill for a couple of hours for flavors to marry (as chefs say) before serving.

The Old Farmer’s Almanac recipe of Haymarker’s Punch is here. More old-fashioned natural hydration drinks are here.

Cocktail: FC-here

So I tried it. Although I don’t dislike it, I think it’s an acquired taste. For such as old drink that goes back 250+ years, it’s new to me! 

Healthier than soda, better tasting than lemon and hot water or vinegar and water (2 morning drink fabs). It has a tang but I don’t taste vinegar as much as ginger and lemon, so its more like a ginger-lemon ale. 

Sometimes we want a drink that is more than plain ole water, so I’m willing to give it a few tries. Certainly, I don’t hate it, and it may grow on me. How about you?

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Sweet Potato Pie

We made a sweet potato pie for Thanksgiving. Very easy and likely a tad healthier than store bought pie. I used this pie dough recipe previously shared. Mostly I buy pies at Fairway, but if I do bake a pie, I go all the way by making the crust too. If I go to the store because I don’t want to make a crust, I don’t return with a frozen shell but a delectable finished pie from Frairway, never going near the freezer. Done and ready to eat!

After making my crust, I made the sweet potato filling.

Sweet Potato Pie

30 ounces - about 4 cups microwaved, peeled and mashed sweet potatoes. {Feel free to use 2-15 ounce cans of sweet potatoes.  If using fresh mashed sweet potatoes you can add 2 teaspoons of white sugar. Canned ones are usually sweeten. If in light syrup, pour out the liquid.)

1 teaspoon pumpkin pie seasoning (or cinnamon)

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

A sprinkle of dried ginger

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/2 cup dark brown sugar

1 tablespoon butter, softened - Use 2 - 3 tablespoons if you wish.

1/2 cup milk - I used 1%, but cream or evaporated milk is creamier.

2 large eggs

Optional: I tossed in 1/2 cup of applesauce for moisture and mass since I didn’t use the cream and lightened up the butter.

 

Directions:

1) One by one, I tossed the ingredients into a mixing bowl and incorporated them with an electric mixer.

2) Pour into your prepared pie shell. I didn’t do it, but if you put foil on the dough/crust edges after it bakes for 1/2 hour, it stays moisturer while the rest of the pie finishes baking. I could eat my crust fine but would have taken this extra step for guests. Heck, I’d have used cream for them too. We try to lighten up desserts for just ourselves.

3) In a preheated 350 degree F oven, bake for 50 - 55 minutes.

Remove, cool and slice. Enjoy!

image: Google

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Thanksgiving In Manhattan

All photos except where noted: Dreamtime

I’ve spent all my adult life in Manhattan. My 1st Thanksgivng here I spent with my friend, Chris, a Julliard gratuate from New Orleans and met his lovely Louisiana Mama in his apartment. He lived in Hell’s Kitchen at the time, and after dusk, walked me back to Penn Station for safety. Other mutual friends attended his Thanksgiving dinner too, and we ate scrumptious food and exchanaged many amusing stories at the dinner table.

The next 8 Thanksgivings I walked across Central Park to spend Thanksgiving Day on the Upper West Side with the same friends, Don and LeAnn and their ballet friends. Don and LeAnn were together for 15 years before sadly divorcing. 

Then I accepted various Thanksgiving invitations ... 3 times spending it on the Upper East Side, once on the Lower East Side, once going to Princeton N.J. by train, once traveling by train to a N.J. town I no longer remember the name of, and a few times spending Thanksgiving with my friends, Sheila and Ken, who lived in Clifton Park, N.J. Sadly they are both deceased now. Sheila’s death was a shock! I’ve accepted her loss, but still think about it. A couple of years I also hosted Thanksgiving dinners in my apartment with different New York friends who have since moved away to other cities. We had wonderful times with none of us having to worry about long commutes home at night.

Truthfully, life is bittersweet and always influx. It never stands still, not for past, present, or future generations. Change is a certainty.

This year I’m again spending Thanksgiving Day in Manhattan. I’ll be with my senior Mom in my apartment. As a younger adult I always went to see my parents for Christmas, but thought I should establish my own Thanksgiving traditons. The two holidays are so close together also.

But life comes full circle, and now as my senior Mom’s caregiver this will be our 4th Thanksgiving spent together (not counting my childhood). I’m happy she’s healthy enough to walk indoors on a walker and can stay with me in my home. I’m grateful to be able to keep our dwindling family (we miss the ones who have passed) together. I learn new things about old people daily.

When I do have dinner guests to prepare for I enjoy having them over, and yet this year I’m thankful to have a more relaxing Thanksgiving without travel or the cleanup. Four days without any appointments of any kind sounds like bliss to me. We’ll likely order-in our turkey dinner and supplement it with more sides or desserts if we desire anything. We’ll watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade on televison (I went to it twice) followed by the National Dog Show. This year, it’s exactly how I long to spend Thanksgiving Day. If we feel like it, we may bake the first batch of our Christmas cookies ... or not! We’ll let our Thanksgiving Day unfold and spend it exactly as we wish, in the moment; well-fed; and perhaps some of it horizontially.😁

Photo: Istock

Our friends and family will visit us one or two at a time from Advent to New Year's, and we’ll love seeing them as we’ll be fully rested. We love❤️ New York City where you’re never bored or truly alone!🗽🏙🎄

🍁Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

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Rita Fox Makes Pineapple Soup

All Photos: Rita Fox

I publish more recipes over the summer than the rest of the year likely because of the fresh produce available and social events that happen during the long extended daylight hours. It makes many of us want to try new recipes! When my friend, Rita, sent me her mouthwatering photos of a batch of her Pineapple Soup, I asked if I could share them on THE SAVVY SHOPPER, and she said yes!
             

The recipe comes from a cookbook, “Taste of Home Best Church Supper Recipes" Rita picked up from a church yard sale.

Ms. Rita Fox has made other appearances on THE SAVVY SHOPPER because she’s a great cook, baker and is multi-talented!

Looking for an entertaining summer read? Rita is a romance writer with fans all over the world. Connect with author, Kally Masters, on FB. What’s more, she has published a winning cookbook of family recipes. I highly recommend checking it out too.

 

For the record, I've never heard of a fruit soup. What a healthy and versatile recipe! An ideal way to use ripe fruit, turn it into a refreshing drink (virgin or alcoholic ... you don’t have to tell), or a delicious summer dessert!

Rita made a big batch of her pineapple soup as easy nutrition for her 94-year-old mother. With her mother’s large family of adult children, in-laws and grandchildren ... and a 93 degree F summer day, I bet real money, it will not last long!🍍

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Saturday's Breakfast Courtesy of Simple Food

My senior Mom and I ate this dessert from Simple Food for breakfast. As I anticipated, it was too chewy to satisfy a cake or brownie craving. I'll post Simple Food's video below so you can see how easy it is to make and why I was so tempted to try it. 

Note: I don't let FB track my or your activities. Click here to watch if you don't wish to give FB such permission. 

Ingredients:

For the Cake --

1 1/2 cups rolled oats

1 cup warm milk

2 eggs

a pinch of salt

2 smashed bananas

4 tablespoons of cocoa

1 teaspoon baking powder

I added 1 scoop of Premier protein chocolate powder to the recipe.

For the Topping --

Dark Chocolate and walnuts 

We're not in my kitchen today so we didn't have a loaf pan. I used an 9" x 9" square baking pan and surprisingly got  more pastry than expected. I used butter flavored cooking spray, and it lifted out cleanly.

After baking, I let dark chocolate chips melt on top of the pastry while we waited for it to cool enough to eat.

Here's my review: If you crave a piece of cake or a brownie, skip this recipe. If you're trying to eat a bowl of oatmeal and want to dress it up, then wait about 40 minutes for it to bake, go for it!

Although we had no problem eating it (we were hungry waiting!), and it was nutrious, I doubt I'll make it again. Either I'll eat a bowl of oatmeal or have a piece of cake. Sometimes you can't have it both ways.

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What I'm Feeding My Senior Mom

Photo: Canadian Digestive Health Foundation

My Mom relies on me to make her food choices, but honestly, I liked it better when she had an appetite and all her faculties, and if she didn't eat, or eat healthily, it was her choice as an adult and not my problem. I should add that younger, she prepared and ate healthy meals. Now it's my job to plan and cook for her.

I support eating a healthy diet, and I also pity her because it's sad to grow old and lose your independence and appetite. She must follow my rules, and I can be an enforcer if necessary.:)

The following are my caregiver rules:

1) She must eat at least 2 meals a day! In her adult life, she never ate lunch, so I have to work with her lifelong habit and pack her nutritional requirements into 2 meals a day. But after I've done so ...

2) She must eat her dinner. Breakfast is never a problem. Too often she claims she's not hungry for dinner, but I tell her she must eat one. She's lucky to have someone in her life who is mean. Me! It is something a nursing home aide cannot do ... tell a senior she must eat food. In a nursing home, the meals roll in and out, eaten or not, often by separate aides.

3) She must eat the amount of protein her body requires daily and a variety of fruit, vegetables, and whole grains, as much as I can get her to eat with her reduced desire for food. I use skim milk and 4 ounces of fruit juice (no sugar added) to help meet her dietary needs. According to the National Library of Medicine, older adults may benefit from consuming 1.2 to 2.0 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight (or 0.54 to 0.9 grams per pound). This is in line with what other medical sources recommend. Three glasses of skim milk a day help get the job done! Eggs, too, are an easy-to-eat light meal.

3) No overloading on sugar. Everybody should eat a healthy diet, young, old, or in-between. Sugar is a treat, not a staple. In fact, sugar is bad for all of us and addictive. Many of us like sweets, but if a senior has arthritis, sugar causes inflammation, resulting in more painful joints. We cut down on sugar, eating it in moderation only: A row of dark chocolate, 2 cookies here and there, birthday cake, Christmas cookies, one portion of Halloween or Easter candy. So we don't feel deprived. I'm also a believer in the less sugar you consume, the less you crave it. Finally, it's as easy to like healthy food as unhealthy food. Cherries, strawberries, blueberries, peaches, and apples are all delicious snacks! Ditto for vegetables and a healthy dip such as spicy humus!!

A fortune in eggs.😳

It's payback time for both my mom and me. Once upon a time, she was the enforcer ensuring I didn't overload on sugar and ate a balanced diet, and now our roles are reversed. The egg has become the head chicken and enforcer. Be careful of the values you instill in your children. Chickens come home to roost!🐣😁

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Chocolate Peanut Butter Toffee

Both toffee photos: iStock

Although I cook and bake, I'm not a candymaker. Making candy is more precise and sometimes more dangerous than either cooking or baking. The mixture of ingredients gets very hot, 1st degree burns hot if it accidentally splatters on your skin! Because making candy is more exacting there's also a higher degree of disappointment and failure!

That said, I like toffee and will make this recipe if nobody else steps up. Sometimes called Christmas Crack, my family never consumes it for Christmas, but at other times of the year:

Chocolate Peanut Butter Toffee

Ingredients:

40 Saltine Crackers

2 sticks of butter (= 1 cup)
1 cup packed brown sugar
3/4 cup peanut butter (= 6 ounces)
16 ounces chocolate chips

A garnish of your choosing - See below.

Directions:

1) Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. (Before parchment paper, a greased sheet of aluminum foil was used). Lay the saltine crackers side by side on top of the parchment paper. Set aside to make the toffee.

2) In a saucepan melt the butter and sugar on medium heat on the stovetop. Stir until the mixture begins to boil. Next, let it simmer for 3 minutes without stirring.

3) Pour and spread the very hot toffee mixture evenly over the crackers then transfer to bake in a preheated 400-degree F oven for 5 minutes or until bubbly.

4) Remove the toffee from the oven, then spoon dollops of the peanut butter evenly over the toffee. Place the tray back inside a hot oven for a minute to help melt and spread the peanut butter over the mixture.

5) Top with chocolate chips. Place the tray back in the oven for another minute to melt and spread the chocolate.

6) Sprinkle the top with any of the following if you wish: white chocolate chips, chopped peanuts, or a sprinkle of sea salt.

7) Freeze the mixture for 1/2 hour or refrigerate for a couple of hours to firm up the toffee.

8) Break the Chocolate Peanut Butter Toffee into pieces. At last, it's ready to eat!

I don't know who added peanut butter or re-named the confectionary treat Christmas Crack, however, it bumped the toffee up a notch to decadence! I prefer it topped with chopped peanuts, but many others like a sprinkle of sea or kosher salt. You decide.

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Merry Christmas Everyone

Adoration of the Christ Child (1620) by Gerard Van Honthorst at The Uffizi Gallery in Florence Italy

Merry Christmas from THE SAVVY SHOPPER. I hope the week fills your life with love, peace, and joy. Whatever your faith tradition is or wherever you live on our globe, everyone is equally valued here, where we can share or learn about each other's cultures and holidays.

Inside my kitchen for Christmas ...

I made a Kentucky bourbon fruitcake (with walnuts, pecans, dried apricots, pineapples, cranberries, raisins, frozen cherries, and fresh blueberries). I baked the cakes the first week of December and have been soaking them with bourbon every few days, aging our treat for Christmas Day.

Know that I baked all these cookies in 2024, then returned to older blogs to switch out the Google images I originally posted, so don't be confused.:)

Four batches of cookies will do this year - Springerle, Scottish shortbread, pecan cookies, and coconut macaroons are enough for family, friends, and building staff.

We're keeping Christmas 2024 low-key. I'm happy to spend it with my senior mother and whoever drops by for homemade low-fat eggnog and treats. During Christmas week I'll walk with a friend down to see the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree but plan to stay close to home.

A neighborhood friend has her heart set on making us chicken coq vin as a Christmas dinner which we'll gladly accept. Usually for Christmas in my childhood home, my mom made a roast beef dinner. She grew up eating a stuffed roasted goose for Christmas but didn't carry on the tradition of serving any special meal. On December 25th, we simply ate a hearty balanced dinner often roast beef with either potatoes or 

Kartoffelklöße (potato dumplings), gravy, vegetables, and a salad with a loaf of grainy rye bread heated in the oven. It's still one of my favorite meals although I don't eat as much red meat as I did growing up since it's no longer doctor-approved. How we stayed healthy in the past is a mystery.:) 

In celebrating Christmas around the world ... or just joining your friends who do🎁👑🎄: 

Merry Christmas in 25 different languages

• Arabic: عيد ميلاد مجيد (Eid milad majid)
• Chinese: 圣诞快乐 (Shèngdàn kuàilè)
• Dutch: Vrolijk Kerstfeest!
• Farsi: کریسمس مبارک (Krismas Mobaarak!)
• French: Joyeux Noël!
• German: Frohe Weihnachten!
• Greek: Καλά Χριστούγεννα! (Kalá Christoúgenna!)
• Hawaiian: Mele Kalikimaka!
• Hebrew: חג שמח (Chag Sameach!)
• Hindi: क्रिसमस की बधाई (Krisamas Kee Badhaee!)
• Irish: Nollaig Shona!
• Italian: Buon Natale!
• Japanese: メリークリスマス (Merī kurisumasu)
• Korean: 메리 크리스마스 (Meli keuliseumaseu)
• Latin: Felix Nativitas!
• Polish: Wesołych Świąt!
• Portuguese: Feliz Natal!
• Russian: С Рождеством (S Rozhdestvom!)
• Spanish: ¡Feliz Navidad!
• Swahili: Krismasi Njema!
• Swedish: God Jul!
• Tagalog: Maligayang Pasko!
• Turkish: Mutlu Noeller!
• Vietnamese: Giáng sinh vui vẻ!

If your native tongue isn't on the list, please add it in the comments below. May the season's goodwill touch the world and last in the hearts and deeds of people throughout the year! 

Merry Christmas Everyone!🐑🐪

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