Fare Exchange: Searching for recipes from vanished Chattanooga area restaurants

Good morning, readers. Today the requests are black and blue and white - and how about a little red as well?

K.W. wants to know where to pick blueberries and blackberries in the Chattanooga area. And Fran Skipper admits to "always hoping for a response from your readers when you ask for old favorites from bygone restaurants, and my mouth still waters thinking of the baked custard from many years ago served at Miller Brothers Cafeteria. It's too bad when good old recipes are lost never to resurface again."

So let's add to your list this list: Please share your favorite recipes from Loveman's Tea Room, Miller Brothers Cafeteria, S&W Cafeteria, Tomlinson's Restaurant, Fehn's Restaurant, Gulas Restaurant and Town & Country.

And here is one final request, from G.W.: homemade raspberry preserves.

Skipper found the chipped beef dip you sought and sent it along with fond hopes for baked custard, and perhaps another sentimental Chattanooga favorite or two. Here is her dip, which she is glad to be reminded about. As she hit "Send," she sent herself off to the kitchen to make a batch.

Chipped Beef Dip

8 ounces cream cheese

2 tablespoons milk

2 tablespoons dry onion flakes

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 1/2 ounces chipped beef (in jar)

Dash pepper

1/2 cup sour cream

2 tablespoons butter

1/2 teaspoon garlic salt

1/2 cup chopped pecans

Soften cream cheese and add milk. Stir in all ingredients except sour cream, butter, salt, and nuts. Fold in sour cream and put in large oven-proof bowl.

Heat pecans, butter and salt separately, then spread on casserole. Bake 20 minutes at 350 degrees. Serve with your choice of corn chips.

The recipe below would be more enticing if you could see the color photo that accompanied it. It came from the laptop of Bryant Haynes, who tasted it at the hands of Claire Haynes, who got it from Mari VanderWoude, who found it on Facebook. Well, you get the picture. And now you get the recipe, described as "thinly sliced veggies topped with cheese and then roasted."

Vegetable Tian

1 medium yellow onion

1 teaspoons minced garlic

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 medium zucchini

1 medium yellow squash

1 medium potato

1 medium tomato

1 teaspoon dried thyme

Salt and pepper to taste

1 cup shredded Italian cheese

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Finely dice the onion and mince the garlic. Sauté both in a skillet with olive oil until softened, about five minutes.

While the onion and garlic are sautéing, thinly slice the rest of the vegetables.

Spray the inside of an 8-by-8-inch square or round baking dish with nonstick spray. Spread the softened onion and garlic in the bottom of the dish. Place the thinly sliced vegetables in the baking dish vertically, in an alternating pattern. Sprinkle generously with salt, pepper, and thyme.

Cover the dish with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Remove the foil, top with cheese and bake for another 15-20 minutes or until the cheese is golden brown.

"In answer to Yeast of the Ridge's request for low-sugar peach recipes: I have made this for years, and it is really good. I think it came from Southern Living magazine." So wrote Camille from Hixson.

Spiced Peaches with Nutty Dumplings

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup sugar, divided

2 tablespoons chopped toasted pecans

1/4 cup milk

1/8 teaspoon butter flavoring

2 cups fresh peaches (about 1 1/2 pounds), peeled and sliced

2/3 cup unsweetened grape juice

1/4 teaspoon apple pie spice

Combine flour, baking powder, salt, 2 tablespoons sugar and pecans. Stir well. Stir in milk and butter flavoring and set aside.

Combine peaches, grape juice, remaining 2 tablespoons sugar and apple pie spice in a large saucepan; stir well. Bring to a boil. Drop the batter in 4 mounds at a time into boiling peach mixture.

Cover and cook over medium heat for 10 to 12 minutes or until dumplings are done.

Makes 4 servings

Margaret McNeil, food blogger, "saw the request from Yeast of the Ridge for peach recipes that don't use much sugar. Orange Peach Soup is a chilled summer soup that only uses 3 tablespoons of sugar. Unlike other peach soup recipes, this one doesn't use sour cream or wine. If you'd like to see pictures or read more about this soup, please visit my food and cooking blog at margaretsmorsels.blogspot.com/2011/07/summer-soup.html"

Orange Peach Soup

2 pounds fresh peaches, peeled and sliced

1 tablespoon lemon juice

2 1/2 cups water, divided

3 tablespoons instant tapioca

3 tablespoons sugar (plus more for sweetening, if needed)

Dash of salt

1 (6-ounce) can frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed (undiluted)

Fresh mint sprigs (for garnish)

Combine peaches and lemon juice in a blender container; process until smooth. Set aside.

Combine 1 cup water, tapioca, sugar and salt in a large saucepan. Bring to a boil, stirring frequently. Remove from heat and stir in remaining ingredients, including the peach puree.

Cool to room temperature. Cover and chill completely.

Taste the chilled soup to see if more sugar is needed. Add 1 teaspoon of sugar at a time, if necessary, and process in a blender until smooth. Serve garnished with fresh mint sprigs, if desired. Makes 6 to 8 servings.

Just a Dash...

Today's dash came from Lynne Kyle, and it involves a "quick recipe for deviled eggs."

"Get a jar of sandwich spread (by the mayonnaise) in the store. Boil the eggs. Take the cooked yolks and mash them up. Simply mix several spoonfuls of the spread to the yolks (the consistency needs to be spreadable). Put the mixture into a plastic bag with one corner cut off and spread it onto the divided whites. Complete it with a sprinkle of paprika on each egg.

"This is the 'bring a dish' I take to various functions. (The spread already has the ingredients needed.)

"Another tip: The World Market near Hamilton Place sells wonderful spices and exotic salts at a very reasonable price. Most of the spices start at 99 cents."