Dream the impossible.....Cookies????

I swear, my mother didn't throw anything away. Honestly!! She kept empty boxes in the hopes she would use them again "some" day. My dad wasn't much better because when I was going through their personal papers, I noticed their original bill of sale for the farm they lived on for 50 years. I also saw receipts from their wedding back from the 1940's, the first furniture they owned with copies of the payments plus the receipts for mom's china and fostoria.

That wasn't the only thing my parents were good at. Dad loved to travel and his dream was that one day they would go to Europe Europe and possibly visit some of the places their ancestors lived. So my parents started a savings account right after they were married and put away $25 per month every month in the hopes of going to Europe. On their 25th wedding anniversary, their dream came true because they had enough money saved up to pay for their dream trip. I admire them both for sticking to their dream and never letting it die or even using the money for emergencies.

Well, I have a dream of going back to Hawaii for our 20th Anniversary. So I came up with the idea to make cookies for the gun club my husband runs each week, and the money I get from my cookies will be used and saved for our trip to Hawaii. I'm dreaming big! Once a week, I send a basket of cookies to the club with my husband and he comes home a few days later with money I've actually earned from my cookie sales. So yeah, its not much, but I remember how my parents saved money for their dream trip and because of that, I'm confident (even though it will take a few years to get enough money for the trip) my husband and I will get the opportunity to celebrate our 20th anniversary in Hawaii.

I have a basic cookie recipe I use, but the one that is requested most is the Ranger Cookies I've tweaked to the way I like them and I guess others like them as well. I hope you enjoy them too.

Ranger Cookies

1 cup softened butter
1 cup brown sugar (I use dark brown because it gives the cookies a better taste)
1/3 cup white sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda

Cream the above ingredients together until soft and fluffy.

2 eggs

Add one egg at a time and beat until fluffy.

2 cups flour
1 cup oatmeal
1 cup coconut
1 cup chocolate chips
2 cups Corn Flakes

Add the flour and mix this in before adding the other ingredients. Add all the other ingredients and mix well. Drop by spoon fulls onto a parchment lined cookie sheet and bake at 375 degrees for 10-13 minutes until the center is light golden brown. This recipe makes about 2 dozen, but since I make them for the club, I use a regular sized ice cream scoop and make giant cookies. This batch will make 12 large cookies. If you want to double the recipe like I do, you will get 24 cookies.

Enjoy.....

DAFFODILS!!!!!!!!

You wouldn't think it was spring with the snow we had in Salem yesterday morning or the fact that it was 33 degrees out this morning. What I did notice was the Daffodils in the yards as I was driving around yesterday.

One Sunday morning when the two of our girls were young, our family was on our way to church. It was one of those "Sunday mornings" when things at home didn't go quite as well as I wanted. When I saw the Daffodils at church, I piped up and said in a loud voice, "DAFFODILS!!!!!" The girls thought this was so funny the family cracked up laughing. Every Sunday thereafter when we got to church and saw the Daffodils, the family would go, "DAFFODILS" in that loud crazy voice I used when I said it the first time. Then to make matters even more funny, every year after in the spring when the girls or my husband saw Daffodils for the first time, they would all go "DAFFODILS" together to remind me of my craziness.

I love it that my family remembers those days of laughter and "reminds" me periodically of what I said, especially in the spring. Special family moments like these will be remembered for a long time.

Spring is also a time when we share new beginnings and Easter. God says that when one becomes a Christian, "old things are passed away and behold, all things are new". Even though the world has declared Easter a time of bunnies, eggs and newness in Springtime, I love the fact that to a Christian Easter means so much more. God made the ultimate sacrifice when He gave us His son, Jesus Christ to die on the cross for our sins and rose again for me, His child. Thank you Jesus for Spring, Easter and new beginnings.

During the spring, I like to do the usual spring cleaning, but I also enjoy some spring cooking. Here is a family recipe that I developed and hope you enjoy as much as our family.

Sizzling Chicken Salad

Using chicken tenders, cook in a small amount of olive oil just until the chicken is 1/2 done. Remove from skillet.

In skillet add 1/3 cup soy sauce, 1/2 teaspoon ginger, 1/3 cup brown sugar and the joice from 1 can pineapple. (Any size will do). Mix these ingrediants and put the chicken back into the skillet to complete the cooking process. Simmer everything together and just before serving, add the pineapple into the skillet heating through the pineapple.

Layer salad greens onto a plate and add the HOT chicken mix on top of the greens. Sprinkle with shredded carrots, shredded parmesean cheese and croutons. You can also add tomatoes and hard boiled cooked eggs. Top off with your favorite Ceasar salad dressing. Serve the salad right away.

The chicken wilts the salad greens a bit and the taste is wonderful.

Enjoy.

The language of Music

When I was a small child, my mother thought it would be a good idea for me to study piano. I began taking lessons every week until I was a sophmore in high school. Through this, I learned my language of love was music. I thought my teacher was too slow so I'd cheat and mark off pages that I could play and went through several books before my teacher found out. That's when I decided to stop lessons and play on my own because I knew I had enough "learning" to last a lifetime. I played piano for the high school choir, church, and even small groups. I loved my piano and even taught piano when I lived in the south.

I thought I knew everything there was about the piano, but when I started playing keyboard for a church's worship team, I was challenged to the "nth" degree and learned a whole lifetime of learning again. Being on the worship team blessed my socks off and I even met my husband while playing on the worship team. I played on this team every Sunday for about 7 years when my new husband and I decided we needed to make a change to another church. I gave up playing the keyboard for the worship team and always felt I wasn't serving up to my capacity at church. I'd often wonder what I could do to serve at church.

A new opportunity opened up for me to serve and low and behold, it was okay because I would still have a connection to the worship team at church. I know it was a long stretch, but I feel making breakfast for our worship and production teams at church is my way of being a part of the team. Music is still a big part of my language of love and whereas you will find my husband listening to "talk" radio, I have my radio tuned to a Christian station where I get music all the time. I'd much rather listen to music any day than listen to "talk" or other forms of radio.

Because I get to serve our Sunday morning groups, I get the opportunity to try some fun recipes and even make new ones that I personally develop. Here is one recipe I developed this last weekend that was a hit. I hope you enjoy it.

Cinnamon Struesel Raspberry Coffee Cake

3/4 cup softened butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3 teaspoon baking powder
Cream these ingredients together until soft and fluffy. Add
3 eggs
Continue to cream the mixture.

Dry ingredients
3 cups flour

1 1/2 cups milk - Add the flour alternately with the flour ending with the flour.

Pour batter into a 9 x 13 oblong pan.

Use 1 can of raspberry filling (or you can use a jar of Raspberry jam). Drop by spoon fulls onto the cake and then swirl the raspberry to make a marble effect.

Struesel topping

1 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1/4 cup flour
1/3 cup cold butter

Cut the butter into the dry mixture and sprinkle on top of the cake and bake the cake at 350 degrees. It will take about 30-40 minutes. Let the cake cool. The raspberry filling and struesel mix and you'll find that it settles onto the bottom of the pan with a little struesel left on top. There won't be any leftovers if you take this treat to a get-together or even if you want to indulge and listen to your favorite music with a cup of cake and coffee by your side.

Enjoy

Servanthood and Cheesecakes??

You might ask how does Servanthood and Cheesecakes go together. Serving others for me is a passion. Some might say, "Why spend time doing things for others when you could do the same thing and get paid for it?"

My answer to that is in the New Testament, Jesus told His followers to treat others better than themselves. This statement is called the "Golden Rule". There are many ways to do things for others. An example is I provide breakfast for our church's worship and production crews on Sunday mornings, plus I have the opportunity to provide meals when there is a need in our church family. Another way I serve is by helping our friends and family. Serving can be in the way of sewing, cooking or just helping where needed. When I have the opportunity to serve others, God blesses me in ways I can't explain. I have a chance to show others God's graciousness and love and this can lead conversations into "why serve?" It provides an opportunity to share my testimony and how God has changed my life for the good.

What do I get in return? A simple "Thank you" is enough to warm my heart and let me know that my actions are appreciated. Or when I make something to eat and someone says, "That's the best I've ever had" or "That's so good."

My friends who know me know that I love to help our family and friends when a need arises. This past month, I've had the opportunity to do some little things for a bride and her family. The joy on their families' faces was all I needed to know that my "helping and serving" were so appreciated. I made almost 300 mini cheesecakes and several people wanted the recipe so here is the one that was requested the most: Lemoncello.

Last but not least, I want to thank my daughter who worked hard on my blog site updating and building some cool things to look at. Thanks Sarah.

Lemoncello Cheesecake

1 8 oz package of cream cheese - room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
1 package instant lemon sugar free pudding mix or regular lemon instant pudding mix
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup Lemoncello liquor (yes, you heard me right) It just doesn't have the same flavor if you leave this ingrediant out.

Mix the cream cheese sugar and vanilla until creamy and fluffy. Add 1/2 cup milk and continue mixing, then add the Lemoncello liquor. The last step will be to add the instant lemon pudding mix. Beat until all ingrediants are blended and smooth.

Cookie crumb crust. I used "Mother's Iced Lemon cookies" that I put in the processor to make crumbs. I then added 2 Tablespoons of sugar and 1/4 cup melted butter. Mix until all blended.

If you have mini cheesecake pans, use these and press 1 tablespooon in the bottom of each cup. If you don't have the pans, go ahead and use a muffin tin lined with cupcake liners. You may need a bit more crumbs if you use a muffin tin so use your own judgment. Pour the cheesecake batter over the crumbs and freeze until firm. When you're ready to eat these cheesecakes, take them out of the freezer and let them stand for 30 minutes or so. Use a whipped cream topping flavored with lemon flavoring and powdered sugar to top off the confection. This recipe will make about 10-12 mini cheesecakes depending on how full you fill the cups. If you use a muffin tin, it will make about 6-8 cheesecakes. Enjoy.....

A different kind of anniversary

I have a different kind of anniversary coming up on February 10th. I tell this same story every year so my family doesn't forget the power of God's gracious gifts and prayers being answered.

In 1979 I lived in Lawton, Oklahoma. For some reason (another story for a later blog), I wasn't able to get pregnant and after being married for 7 years, we put in an application for an adoption of an older child. Being 32, I felt that my baby years were over but I still wanted a child. After about 2 1/2 years, I got a call on a Monday afternoon around 4 pm from the adoption agency. The caller announced we were getting a baby and we should pick the baby up on Wednesday around noonish. I kept telling myself to breathe....and yeah, the screaming started. I couldn't believe we were going to get a little baby girl. The called wanted to know if she should call back after I calmed down a bit and I empathically said, "NO", stay on the line. I started to ask questions, "boy or girl", "age?" "Weight?", etc. The panic started because I was going to have this newborn one month old baby girl live with us in 30 hours. How does one plan for an instant baby? Again panic mode set in and I cleaned house fervently and didn't sleep all Tuesday night. On Wednesday, we headed out on one of Oklahoma's worst snow and ice storms and drove to Tulsa.

The most beautiful baby came into my life. Talk about love at first sight!!!!! I had one box of disposable diapers, one can of formula and one blanket. This baby girl had only the clothes on her back and a baby rattle from her foster parent who took care of her from the day she was born. Her first night in my home, she slept in a dresser drawer. Who says you need all the fancy nursery stuff......

The 10th of February is this child's adoption anniversary and every year I tell her the same story. Only this year, I'm sharing it on my blog. So how does one segway into a recipe from all this??

Here's the recipe for this post.

Recipe name - God's blessings

1 person who loves the Lord beyond all else
1 person willing to seek God's will in their life
9 years of prayer
1 prospective mother's heart
1 longing mind for an older child but would still love a baby even more
Searching the scriptures daily
1 person willing to make the sacrifices for a child
1 person who is selfless

Accept God's gift of Jesus as your Savior. Nurture this gift through prayer and Scripture.
Let God do His work and wait until God is ready to give answers because God knows what's best for me. Once God gives the answer, mix all other ingrediants and continue to grow in God's love passing this love down to family and friends.

Okay, so this is a stretch, but you get the idea. God gave me the desires of my heart after 9 years of waiting to be a mother this child has blessed me in so many different ways. God knew the type of child I needed and when to give me this child. She is now a mother herself and she has an inner and outer beauty that comes from God.

Thanks God for your gift of children. (I now have a total of 9 children, 16 grandchildren and 3 great-grandchildren.) My quiver is full.

Proverbs 3:5&6

Friendships that last forever.......

Growing up on the farm, I had one friendship that has lasted through the passages of time. I never knew what it was like to have a friend that would support me through thick and thin. During my time with my ex-husband, I had the fortunate opportunity to build a few friendships lasting until this day and I'm thankful for those friendships.

When I returned to Oregon in 1985, I didn't know what God had in store for me and my little girl. Everything was new and different being a single parent. I watched my little girl turn from a toddler into a grade schooler and then into a middle schooler. Changing it up again, I met a man who would be the love of my life and he had several children who came to the new relationship. I have built friendships with each one of the children I know will last a lifetime. But what do you say to young children in helping them build their own relationships with their friends.

I suggested these guidlines to help our children build those friendships that would last a lifetime: 1) find someone who is acdemically on the same page as theirself; 2) find someone who has similar tastes and outlooks on life; 3) and finally find someone who has the same values and morals they share.

One of my daughters has had the privilege of building several friendships in her lifetime including one where she and her husband played "Match-Maker". The "match" was a hit and now the friend is getting married to my daughter's husband's best friend. My benefit in all this has been to pray for this couple and watch both couples cement those friendships lasting a lifetime. I also get to help and make life a bit easier for the bride-to-be and her family helping with little things. God put these friends together with their special partners and I'm so thankful God has given these couples friendships lasting a lifetime.

This next weekend, there will be a bridal shower for the bride-to-be and she requested I make a certain pastry she fell in love with at our house. This Austrian treat is not sweet but very good. I hope you enjoy this pastry as much as our family and friends. May God bless you with those around you who will be your friends for a lifetime.

Austrian Twists

3 cups flour
1 cup cold butter
1 package yeast
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup sugar

Mix the dry ingrediants together including the yeast. Cut the butter into the flour mixture until it resembles peas. Set aside

In a separate bowl mix 8 oz (1 small carton or 1 cup) sour cream plus 3 egg yolks. Mix into the flour mix until just moistened. This will be a semi-dry dough. Refrigerate overnight or 4-5 hours.

Take out the dough from the fridge and mix 1/2 cup sugar with 1 tablespoon cinnamon. To this add 1 cup chopped walnuts. Set aside.

Cut the dough into four portions. Roll each portion into a circle 8-10 inches in diameter and sprinkle with 1/4 of the cinnamon mixture. Cut the dough into 8 pizza wedges. Roll up from the large end to the small end creating a small croissant. Place the small rolls onto a parchment lined cookie sheet. Repeat for the remaining 3 pieces of dough.

Bake immediately in an oven set for 375 degrees until the rolls are lightly golden. Serve warm or cool. They are good either way. Makes 36 rolls.

One year ago......

I've been trying to put off posting this month because of the events of one year ago. The losses are still raw and fresh, and I find myself thinking about both my parents quite a bit.

Last year, our family lost my mother on January 8th and then two weeks later to the day and almost the exact time, our family lost my father. Each one of my family has been dealing with these losses in their own fashion. Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's were bittersweet because this was the first year without the patriarchs of the family. In writing this post, I want to honor both parents and say that I learned much growing up.

My mom taught me how to sew, cook and clean. Most importantly, she taught me how to give 100% to my family and love them dearly. During her last days, she would repeatedly stated, "Your father and I tried to be good parents but we weren't perfect. We just loved our children." My father taught me how to chase cows, sheep, and goats (lol). Plus he taught me about passion and how much I emulate him by being stubborn. Yeah, Dad, you taught me that.

Anyway, knowing my parents loved me was important. I hope that when I'm gone, my children will know that I'm not the perfect parent, but I love my children and family.

Okay, so how do I follow-up this with a recipe? My mother made this awesome dessert called Apple Oatmeal bars because she didn't have any other name for it. The bars are technically called a "Brown Betty". I hope you enjoy these bars as much as our family.

Apple Oatmeal Bars

1 cup flour
1/2 salt
1 1/2 oatmeal
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon soda
1/2 cup butter

Mix the dry ingrediants together and cut in the butter until the mix resembles peas. Spread 1/2 of the mixture in a 9x9 square pan. Press to form a crust. Put aside.

2 1/2 to 3 cups sliced apples
1/2 cup sugar
1 Tablespoon cinnamon (remember I like cinnamon but you can cut this down if you like)

Pour on top of the crust and dot with 2 Tablespoons of butter. Complete the bars by pouring the rest of the dry mix on top of the apples.

Bake at 350 for 40-45 minutes

Cut into squares and serve warm or cold. I usually serve the bars warm with a cinnamon flavored whipped cream (recipe follows).

Cinnamon flavored whipped cream.

1 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Whip the cream until soft peaks form, then add the rest of the ingreadiants. Serve over the warm apple squares and watch the cream melt into the bars. The result is one yummy dessert you will enjoy any time of the day.