‘Dining with the Daltons’ and ‘Virginia Hospitality’ still favorites at my house

By Lynn R. Mitchell

Call me old school all you want but I like a hard copy recipe when cooking in the kitchen. While perusing my cookbook selection, I pulled two well-used ones from the shelf, leafing through the pages for recipes as my eyes scanned for just the right one, then closing the books to find the dog-eared pages and opening to those. At some point I mentally acknowledged these two cookbooks were Virginia through and through, as am I.

 

“Dining with the Daltons” was published by Mrs. John Dalton — Eddy — while her husband was Virginia Governor from 1978-82, is personally inscribed by her, and includes a collection of her favorite recipes. In it you can find Mrs. Dalton’s Virginia Apple Cake. There’s even a recipe from Mamie Vest for “Mamie’s Walnut Pumpkin Pie” with the added note from Mrs. Dalton, “Mamie Vest has won prizes with her recipes. She has worked on most of John’s campaigns.” I didn’t know Mrs. Vest in those days when I was fresh out of high school and working in Richmond but these days she and I are Facebook friends which proves it certainly is a small world. Both recipes are very seasonal for this time of year in Virginia — pumpkins and apples.

Apple Crisp Lite

By Lynn R. Mitchell

All the Virginia apples we’ve bought the past few weeks have gone into fall recipes that are always popular at this time of year. I’ve cooked apples that we’ve eaten with meals but today I made a lighter version of apple pie’s cousin, Apple Crisp. It was good — the flavor was nice — although a bit drier than most crisps (next time I’ll add some liquid), and perhaps needs a smidge more butter to moisten the oatmeal in the topping. I also increased the amount of cinnamon. We had it with vanilla ice cream after grilling pork chops. In the cool autumn air while dining on the deck, it was a good ending to a good meal. Happy baking!