Jun192010

A Mosiac of Moments

By Country Gal | June 19, 2010 | Posted in Children, Cooking and Food, Deep Thoughts, Memories | Tagged , , | Comments (4)

Every day is full of moments – little snapshots of life.

Most are mundane, a few are unique, and some are blog worthy.

Here are a few of my most blog worthy moments recently -

1. A Monster Moment - This is the summer that Angel Girl is going to learn to bake independently. She just needs the practice doing the same thing several times to gain confidence – and my trust. We started with bread.

She made her second batch last week but she was in a hurry. I thought she had finished making out the buns very quickly and she hadn’t used very many baking sheets. When I checked them before they were baked I could see why – they were huge! Some of the buns measured 5 inches across.

Monster buns! Yes, her brothers teased her, and yes they loved them!  Can’t wait for batch number 3!

2. Proud Momma Moment: We went to a friend’s house this week to pick pie cherries. She has a little 3 year old with Down’s syndrome. As we were finishing up I heard someone singing our special swinging song and went to investigate.

There was Matt under the tree with the swing in it. He had, of his accord,  gently put their girl in the swing and was pushing her – singing “Swing, swing way up high, swing so high you touch the sky…”

Their little girl was just grinning from ear to ear.

I didn’t realize he even remembered the song.

3. Not So Proud Parenting Moment: At my niece’s wedding, she had the youngest cousins, including my Buddy, act as gift pages. Just before the wedding started they were escorted in and sat with my youngest sister and her husband in the front row. Jan and I were directly behind them.

Buddy had just been seated for a few moments when he suddenly jumped up and dashed back down the center aisle of the church. I was still processing the fact that he ran out of the church when he came running back in – holding a cold bottle of water.

He ran right down the aisle, just as the groom was escorting my parents down. He managed to dodge around  them just as the photographer snapped their picture.

Then he settled back in his seat, opened his water and prepared to enjoy the show! I was very embarrassed until I realized he was sitting with my youngest sister – everyone would just think he was hers! :)

4. Old Lady Moment: I wore a new (to me) pair of shoes to that same wedding. By the time we got to the reception I had some very nice blisters forming.  Since I knew I would be standing and cutting cake for some time – I had my darling husband take my dress shoes to the van and bring in my tennis shoes.

Yes, I put my tennis shoes on for the rest of the evening.  If any one noticed – they were too polite to say anything! :)

I’m sure they were all jealous of my comfort!

How about you? What were your memorable moments this week?

Care to share them?

By Country Gal | Posted in Children, Cooking and Food, Deep Thoughts, Memories | Tagged , , | Comments (4)
Jun182010

Oatmeal Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

By Country Gal | June 18, 2010 | Posted in Chocolate, Cookies and Bars, Cooking and Food | Tagged , , , | Comment (1)

chocolate chip peanut butter M & M cookies Everybody has a signature cookie – the go-to recipe that never fails.

This one is mine.

The original recipe “Oatmeal Crispies” came from my Grandma Griner and were a staple in her kitchen when my mom was growing up.

Later they were a staple in my mom’s kitchen. She added chocolate chips and would often bake them as bars.

Now that I’m the mom – I did some more substituting to make them my own.

I added peanut butter in place of some of the margarine and I added baking powder.

The result is my signature cookie – and it is a staple in my kitchen!

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies  (aka Auntie M Cookies)

1 cups peanut butter
1 cup butter or margarine
2 cups brown sugar
4 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
3 cups flour
2 teaspoons soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
6 cups oatmeal
2 cups chocolate chips or M & M’s or combination

Cream together the peanut butter, margarine, white sugar and brown sugar.

Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each. Add the vanilla.

In a separate bowl mix the flour, soda, baking powder, salt and oatmeal.  Add to the creamed mixture and mix well. The dough will be very thick.

Stir in the chocolate chips and M & M’s.

Drop by teaspoonful on ungreased cookie sheets and bake at 350 degrees for 6-8 minutes or until just starting to brown.

You can grind the oatmeal in the blender before you add it to the flour mixture. It gives a great oatmeal flavor without the extra chewiness.

These travel well and keep really well in the freezer.

Enjoy!

By Country Gal | Posted in Chocolate, Cookies and Bars, Cooking and Food | Tagged , , , | Comment (1)
Jun172010

And Prince Charming Got His Girl

By Country Gal | June 17, 2010 | Posted in Thrifty Ideas | Tagged , | Comments off

The wedding is over.

For a few hours on Friday evening we were all held captive by the love story of my radiant niece and her prince charming.

Through-out the ceremony and the reception I heard many comments on how beautiful everything was – and how delicious the food was.

I just smiled.

I knew that my very frugal sister had worked very hard to create all that beauty and deliciousness – all on a budget.

My amazing mom (you all know her as Nana), with the help of my sister and niece, made all seven of the bridesmaid dresses, and the wedding gown.

Instead of renting tuxes for all seven of the groomsmen, my mom made matching blue vests and silver ties for them to wear with their own black pants, black shoes and white dress shirts.

The attendants, wearing all that beautiful blue and silver, were all the decorations needed to bring color to the front of the church.

The couple had friends provide the music – which was wonderful! They also spent a lot of time planning the ceremony itself – making it meaningful and personal.

For the reception, my sister turned a barn-like room into a romantic and almost intimate space using borrowed tablecloths, candles and twinkle lights. Never underestimate the power of twinkle lights and candles!

For table skirting, she bought twin size white sheets at Wal-Mart for $4 a sheet, cut them in half and pleated them right on the tables using masking tape to hold them. She used a borrowed tablecloth to cover the top of the table – including the masking table.

Then there was the food! My niece and my sister put in lots of hours to make everything from scratch. My sister made hundreds of homemade rolls, and gallons of pulled pork that was served with barbecue sauce on the side.

They hosted a “potato party” and several of their friends came to help them peel, cook and mash hundreds of potatoes to make make-ahead mashed potatoes. They doctored them up a little with cheddar cheese and toasted garlic before being placed in aluminum foil pans and frozen – ready to be baked for the reception.

They did buy prepackaged salads to save time – but added a fancy dressing and croutons to dress it up.

The kitchen help was made up of friends from church who volunteered to help make their day special.

I can’t forget the cake! My niece worked for several years at a high-end bakery that is famous for it’s decadent desserts. The owners made the cake for her – free of charge.

It was luscious! As one of the cake cutters, I stood there for an hour and cut pieces of the three different flavors – decadent chocolate, raspberry vanilla and caramel.

All those layers of ganache!

I so wanted to lick my fingers! :)

It really was a beautiful wedding.  The sanctuary was filled with love – the food and the wedding garments were made with love – and the couple was celebrated with love.

Isn’t that what it’s all about?

By Country Gal | Posted in Thrifty Ideas | Tagged , | Comments off
Jun152010

Gluten Free Chocolate Cookies

By Country Gal | June 15, 2010 | Posted in Chocolate, Cookies and Bars, Cooking and Food | Tagged , | Comments (0)

My mom, known to you all as “Nana”, has finally emerged from behind the sewing machine to return to the kitchen! Today she shares a yummy gluten-free chocolate  cookie recipe…

gluten free chocolate cookies

The last couple of months have been spent sewing bolts of white & blue satin into dresses & vests to be worn at our granddaughter’s wedding last week.

Not a lot of time was spent baking! We keep a “stash” of homemade soup & desserts in the freezer – frozen in individual containers for busy times like this.

This frozen “stash”,  along with our “stash” of home-grown veggies, became our meals for the last few weeks.

Needless to say, our stash had dwindled down to the less than desirable variety and since Papa needed something packed everyday in his lunch – he suggested we take an afternoon and build up our “stash” of cookies in the freezer.

I couldn’t complain since we seamstresses also needed nourishment with our afternoon tea break.

I pulled out our “stash” of recipes collected from magazines this winter. Each of us picked a new recipe to try.

This recipe caught my eye because it was chocolate (of course) and flour-less. You have to work to get the egg white mixed into the other ingredients, but do not beat the whites first, just keep stirring & pressing.

The cookies are crisp on the outside and very chewy in the center with a rich chocolate flavor! They add a nice variety to our cookie “stash!”

Chewy Flour-less Chocolate Cookies (gluten-free)

1 3/4 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup cocoa
2 tsp cornstarch
1/4 tsp salt
2 egg whites
1 cup coarsley chopped pecans or walnuts, toasted

Preheat oven to 300 F.

Mix together sugar, cocoa, cornstarch, & salt. Gradually add egg whites, stirring with a spoon until mixture forms a dough. (Mixture should be thick enough to form into balls; if not add more powdered sugar and cocoa. Add nuts; mix well.

Form dough into 15 balls. Place on greased baking sheet. Bake 16-19 minutes, until glossy and crackled. Remove from pan. Cool completely

Yield: 15 cookies
per cookie: 110 calories, 7 g. fat, 0mg chol.,1 g prot.,16 g carbs., 1 g fiber.,45 mg sodium.

Happy “stashing!’
Nana

By Country Gal | Posted in Chocolate, Cookies and Bars, Cooking and Food | Tagged , | Comments (0)
Jun152010

It’s Raining, It’s Pouring…

By Country Gal | June 15, 2010 | Posted in Gardening, Spring | Tagged , , , , | Comments (9)

It’s raining, it’s pouring…  but this old woman is not snoring – she’s fretting and frustrated!

We have seriously had too much rain. The National Weather Service reported that we have had over 11 inches already in June. That averages out to almost an inch a day. Over 6 of those came at once on the infamous Chuck Norris Saturday – and we haven’t dried out since.

The weather radio seems stuck. “A chance of rain before midnight, some locally heavy. A chance of rain after midnight…”

It’s become almost a joke. Almost.

Your heart goes out to the farmers who should be finishing up their first cutting of hay and starting their second.

Garden Flood

It also goes out to my poor garden. My tomatoes and peppers have been in for almost three weeks now and they are not growing. They look yellowed and forlorn. Shall we talk about my green beans?! They have also been in for 3 weeks. Only 4 seeds germinated. I guess I’ll replant for the third time.

Garden River

Don’t I have a lovely river running through it?!  I guess I shouldn’t complain – some farmers can almost float a bass boat in their fields.

Grass

And here is my corn patch -overtaken by grass – it seems to like the wet weather. Trust me – there is corn growing in there – somewhere.

But all is not lost! There are still things to be thankful for. The cool wet weather has meant a longer and more abundant asparagus harvest and the red raspberries are just coming on now. We had our first wild black raspberry this week – and I see one lone blossom on one hearty pepper plant.

YEAH

Let’s count some more blessings… the corn germinated pretty well and looks good (if we can just get the grass out of it!) The local Amish store had several nice watermelon and cantaloupe plants for sale that replaced everything the ones that didn’t come up from seed (which would be all of them!)

And the rain just stopped for today. The sun is out and the birds are singing.

If only this would last….

I’ve linked this post up over at the Tuesday Garden Party at An Oregon Cottage

By Country Gal | Posted in Gardening, Spring | Tagged , , , , | Comments (9)