Thankful for family

This post is about my family and how thankful for them I am. Growing up, I remember that my Dad was always taking moving pictures with his moving camera. Any special occasion, you'd find my Dad with his trusty camera keeping a record of the goings on of the Reimer and Thiessen families.

My brother, Jon, had these memories put on 3 DVDs and gave them to family members recently. Watching them has been bittersweet as the memories flood back of growing up on the farm with a large family, Grandparents, Aunts and Uncles and their families on both sides. There was always a lot of food around especially at Grandma and Grandpa's house. Dinners at Grandma's house were huge and she had lots of food. Families would gather on the holidays, but also at least 1-2 times per month just sharing fellowship and love with family. So on this blog, I'm going to share a recipe that my Grandma would usually make for large gatherings. She made the best Whole Wheat bread and rolls. When family arrived at her house, you could smell these rolls just coming out of the oven most of the rolls didn't make it to the dinner table as somehow, they all disappeared mysteriously.

Grandma Reimer's Whole Wheat rolls/bread

2 cups scalded milk
1/3 cup molasses
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup warm water for 2 packages of yeast
2 eggs

4 cups whole wheat flour
3 - 3 1/2 cups white unbleached flour

Mix the oil, molasses with the scalded milk and let cool. I usually put the milk in the microwave for 3 minutes until a thin film appears on the top. When cooled, beat in 2 cups whole wheat flour and beat the dough until elastic. Add the warm water with the dissolved yeast (prepare this while you're scalding the milk.)

Work in the rest of the flour until it becomes a thick bread like dough. Let the dough rest for 10 minutes and then turn out onto a floured surface and knead until elastic and dough doesn't take any more flour. Let rise in a warm room until double in size. Punch down and let rise again until doubled in size. Shape round rolls and place on parchment paper and let rise. Bake at 400 degrees until light golden. Cool on wire racks and enjoy.

Makes about 2 dozen rolls.

Thanks Grandma Reimer.....Love ya

God's gift - Grandchildren

Two years ago, one of our daughters married the love of her life and had twins last year. With the holidays fast approaching, I wanted to wish this special couple Happy Anniversary and Mike and I are so blessed to have two more grandchildren.

Holidays can be a stressful time, but it can also be a time where families connect and share with each other. Even though Jeanne and Mark are in Washington DC several thousand miles away, I hope their family enjoys the holidays together. Mike and I miss those twins dearly and wish the family lived closer.

One of the things I enjoyed doing with another grandaughter, Aleshia, when her family visited so long ago was to make sugar cookes. These cookies are not your everyday sugar cookie. The recipie has been handed down from my grandmother to my family and now I'm sharing that recipie with you all. I remember making these cookies with my grandmother and somehow she would always pull them out of the freezer after a huge Thanksgiving meal and share them with family. These cookies would be the first of many Christmas cookies we would enjoy. I try to make them in time for Thanksgiving like my Grandmother but sometimes they get eaten before Christmas and I have to make more. This is a large dough batter so be prepared to make lots of cookies. Freeze them ahead so you can pull them out any time. There's nothing better than a cold frozen cookie. YUM.....

Grandma's sugar cookies

1 1/2 cups butter softened
3 cups sugar
2 eggs
Cream these ingrediants together until fluffy

Mix dry ingrediants together
5 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
5 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 cup milk

Mix the dry ingrediants alternately with 1/2 cup milk until the mixture is blended. Doug will be soft.

Refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight. Roll the dough out to 1/4 inch and cut into your favorite shapes. Bake at 375 degrees until golden brown or about 10 minutes depending on the thickness of the cookie.

Frost with any type of butter cream icing or your favorite icing and sprinkle with colored sprinkles. This makes a lot of cookies so you can cut the recipie in half.

Hunting Season is Here Again

For those of us who have husbands who enjoy the sport of hunting, this is one of the big weekends when our spouses get together to play (aka hunt). Yes, my husband is one of those boys who likes to hunt. He related a story to me when he was younger he and a cousin talked his mother into letting the two boys have an adventure. The adventure was to be left out in the Mt. Hood wilderness for one week on their own at the age of 12 to fend for themselves. My husband and his cousin survived that weekend in the woods and my husband's mother picked my husband and his cousin up at the end of the week.

Surviving the hunting season for me or those wives left behind becomes interesting. I decided to spend some time in Central Oregon, and had the joy of getting together with all my sisters to celebrate a birthday. The sisters talked about cooking and I had a chance to let them know about my blog and I would be providing recipies in my blog.

Since having an adventure is on my mind, I decided to make another one of my original recipies. I hope you enjoy it as much as our community group has enjoyed it. Of course I had to make it when I got home from Central Oregon today.

Decadent Orange/Coconut brownies

1 cup softened butter
1 cup dark brown sugar
1/3 cup white sugar
zest of one orange
2 teaspoons orange flavoring

Cream the above together and add 2 eggs. Continue to cream the ingrediants.

Add
1/2 salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup flour
1 1/2 cups coconut

Bake in a 8x8 square pan at 350 until lightly golden and the center is set - about 20-30 minutes.

Frost when cool:
1/2 cup butter softened
2 cups powdered sugar
zest of one orange
1 teaspoon orange flavoring
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
milk or cream to make it frosting consistency

Frost. Serve with French vanilla ice cream. This is soooo good.