My Mother's Note Book: The Recipe

The Note Book

              

I am always amazed at what I find when I am sorting through various things.

I found in the most random place a recipe that my mother had written out for me years ago.  It was faded and slightly beat up with stains on it obviously used many times.
I have used this recipe on and off through-out the years and used variations of it.
I think I am the only one who really liked it.  I do not know where she got it and I have not gotten rave reviews on past creations.  It could of been passed down to her from her English heritage or an adaptation into the German culture to which she wedded.

The Recipe

MOUSE
1/2 pkg. of cut up dried fruit
w/a little sugar
and 2 c.water.
Boil until tender
Add 2 c.or more
milk w/1 T.cornstarch per c. milk.
Bring to boil &
take off stove.
Add 1 tsp. vanilla and 1/4 tsp.
cinnamon(optional)

So being raised in Mexico, I got to thinking of ATOLE.  I really liked atole and there are many variations of it.

"Atole is a popular, grain based hot drink in Mexico, which celebrates the use of corn. In some ways it bears resemblance to gruel, and the drink may be thick or thin depending upon a person’s tastes. Recipes for this beverage date back to pre-Colombian times. Like many of the Latin American foods we enjoy today, it is a tribute to the ingenuity of the Latin American people as another inspired recipe that made use of the main grain source in Latin America.

This beverage consists of cooked cornmeal and water mixed with cane sugar blocks, which are called piloncillo.porridge like drink. Cinnamon is then added, and other ingredients can produce the final result. Chocolate and fruit are the most common additions. The atole is thoroughly blended and then heated.

Piloncillo

This makes a thin or

When chocolate is used, and this is one of the most popular variations, it is called champurrado. Chocolate atole is especially enjoyed during the Christmas season. Both chocolate and fruit atole are both commonly served on the Day of the Dead, which is the first of November. Some recipes suggest ladling pureed fruit on the top of the drink instead of blending it with the other ingredients. Tamales typically accompany the beverage, although it can also be eaten or drunk by itself as a breakfast meal."

So as the holidays approach one thought leads to others and the memories I acquired by living in another culture keep accumulating.
I just may try making some atole this coming week.