Memories of Grandchildren exploring Grandma and Grandpa's house

The Christmas celebration is over, decorations are coming down, Christmas lights are finally off and the New Year will be here at the end of the week. The highlights this year were many. There isn't enough space to mention all of those highlights but I think attending Jonah's first birthday party and our family Christmas stand out the most.

Helping Sarah with all the preparations for Jonah's first birthday turned out to be fun as Sarah and I tried to figure out how to do things and make them work - like the green marshmallow trees. I laugh when I think of how we tried several things to make them stand up all by themselves and they turned out looking amazing.

Watching our three littlest grandchildren last week, seeing the wonderment in their eyes as they explored every nook and cranny of our house was precious. Noah and Chloe (2 1/2), and Jonah (1 1/2) noticed all the sparkly decorations, bows, greenery, and tree decorations. The three children shared toys, cars, books and other items together as each gift was opened and played with. The room seemed like chaos but this chaos was a controlled chaos and I sigh and just smile when I think of all that occurred during our special Christmas time with family.

I'm finding it hard to transition from Christmas to making any New Year's resolutions for the new year, but this next year I do want to focus on finishing my book and then hunt for someone to publish the finished product.

As for a recipe to share with this post, I am reminded again of that elusive little green marshmallow tree my daughter and I tried to make for Jonah's birthday. So if you find yourself wanting to make any green trees in the future, here you go with the recipe.

Green Marshmallow tree

1 bag of large marshmallows
12 oz of white premium chips
2 cups Rice Krispie cereal
1 bag of long pretzels
1 roll of Marzipan
green powdered color
brown color, either gel or powdered

Take some of the green color and toss with the cereal. This will turn the cereal green but keep the cereal dry.

Melt the chips until just melted.

Take a marshmallow and stick a pretzel in the middle, Next coat the marshmallow with the white melted chips. Immediately roll in the green cereal. Put the coated marshmallows into a container so they can stand up and harden.

Next, take a small amount of the marzipan and add the brown color to it. Do this by kneading in the color. Make a small ball of the marzipan and stick the pretzel end of the tree into the marzipan. Place the tree back into the container to again set and harden.

The trees should stand up by themselves and you've got something totally edible. Enjoy.

Christmas is here....Let the celebrating begin!!

This week is Christmas and first of all, I am reminded of the ultimate gift God gave to me in the form of His son, Jesus Christ. Without this gift I would be nothing and I would have nothing. Jesus has given me the strength to perservere when I thought all hope was gone. He also gave me the strength I needed to start a new life in 1985 with my daughter. Remembering back on those days of being a single parent to a 3 year old, I wanted the holidays to bring the best memories I could possibly give my child.

One of the traditions I had was to have my daughter go to bed on Christmas Eve and then when she was asleep, I'd jingle some bells and run into her room and tell her, "Santa just left and those were the reindeer I heard." She believed me until she turned older, and I think she didn't want to spoil my fun and didn't tell me for a few years just so we could jingle the bells and proclaim Santa came to our house.

I also remember those days when my dad would take my daughter shopping for a Christmas present for me. I was always humbled by my dad's actions because he would do this for Mother's Day as well.

When I started celebrating Christmas with my new "blended" family, I tried to make traditions by decorating EVERY (yes, I said EVERY) part of the house. I had theme rooms. Our living area downstairs was the Santa room with the tree; the family area where we spent most of our time was the angle and nativity area because this is why we really celebrate Christmas; and of course the kitchen and bathrooms were decorated with snowmen. I would even have our girls decorate their rooms with lights and fake trees so they would have something of their own. Of course their friends would come over and call my house, "the Christmas house" because of EVERY part of the house had something to do with Christmas.

Another tradition I started when our kids were small was to give each person (including the gentlemen) Christmas stockings in their Christmas stockings. (One of the first things I did when I remarried was to make everyone in the family their very own Christmas stocking. As our kids got married, I would make their spouse or their children a Christmas stocking to match.)

Since the kids have all left home, I haven't been decorating as much and in fact in the past few years, I haven't even done the outside lights. With the twins coming from Washington DC and our newest grandson coming from Washington State, I decided this year, I'd bring all the glory back to the house and make it kid friendly so the little ones will remember Grandma and Grandpa's house as a house of wonder and delight.

I'm also pulling out all the stops in the food area this year. We are having baby back ribs and turkey for our celebration plus Red Velvet Cake, cookies galore and all the favorites my family enjoys. So for this post, I'm going to give you my favorite sugar cookie recipe. I've mentioned before my grandmother would always put out sugar cookies at Thanksgiving time and I could never find the exact recipe she used, but I did find a recipe comparable. Enjoy and continue to make those traditions with your families as you celebrate this season of joy.

Grandma Reimer's sugar cookies

1 1/2 cups softened butter
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups sugar

Cream the above ingredients until light and fluffy.

Add 2 eggs and beat well. Add 5 cups flour, 4 teaspoons baking powder, and 1/2 cup milk and mix well. Regfrigerate for 3-4 hours until firm or overnight. Roll out to 1/4 inch thick and use your favorite cutters. Place on parchment lined cookie sheets and bake 10-12 minutes at 375 degrees.

Before these cookies are baked, you can sprinkle colored sugar on top or frost them and design them once they are cooled. Use a buttercream frosting.

Even Good cooks have a bad day!!!

Have you ever had one of those days when you go, "What was I thinking?" Sunday night I made cookies for the gun club as usual. I don't know whether it was because the time was the middle of the night, or I just "wasn't thinking," but I screwed up my own recipe. Looking back I just laugh at myself because even I make mistakes sometimes while cooking.

Even Good cooks have a bad day....

I made my original peanut butter cookies according to my own developed recipe because they are so good and I don't use a recipe book. I got to the flour mixture and I put in five cups of flour just like I usually do. The cookie dough didn't look quite right but I didn't think about it. After putting the cookies onto the cookie sheets to cook, I went to put the flour away.

Okay, so this is where the, "What was I thinking" part came in. I always keep a 1 cup measuring cup in the flour bin but when I got to looking at the cup, it said 3/4 cup. On no!!!! Instead of using 5 cups of flour I used 5 cups of 3/4 cup flour. No wonder the cookies looked different. Even my husband said they weren't as good as they normally were.

I immediately took the wrong sized measuring cup out of the bin and replaced it with the right size measuring cup. But I got to thinking, "Did I use the wrong amount of flour for my Thanksgiving rolls?" Or, "Was the last batch of cookies right???" Like I said before, I laugh at myself trying to figure out if I used the right measure of flour in the most recent items I've baked. You can imagine next time I make someting, I will make sure I use the right amount of flour and use the appropriate size cup for measuring.

This brings me to the recipe I'm going to share for this post. Christmas is right around the corner. Last year I shared some Mennonite German recipes. This year, I'm going to share my own original recipes I've developed over the years and the ones my family loves. This recipe does use only 3/4 cup of flour. (LOL)

Decadent orange brownies

1 cube butter melted
orange zest of two oranges, fresh
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon orange flavoring
2 eggs
3/4 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon salt

Mix the above ingredients in the order they are listed and pour into an 8x8 square pan. Bake at 350 minutes until the brownies are slightly set. When cool, frost with an orange buttercream frosting, cut into squares and serve with ice cream.

Orange buttercream frosting

2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup softened butter
splash of cream milk or cream
1/4 teaspoon salt
zest of one orange
1 teaspoon orange flavoring
1/2 teaspoon vanilla flavoring

Mix together and add enough milk or cream to spreading consistency. These are so good and since I don't like chocolate sometimes, the freshness of the oranges make this a good holiday treat.

Thanksgiving, Baby Limas and Butter Croissants

As I was sitting at the table yesterday during our Thanksgiving dinner and watching my family, I had bittersweet memories of my mom and dad who celebrated their last Thanksgiving with us two years ago. I remember mom saying, "These are the best baby limas I've had in a long time."

By this time, dad wasn't eating much and he apologized for not eating more turkey and all the fixings. Somehow though he managed to eat a whole piece of pumpkin pie with whipped cream.

There are some traditions in my family that started when I was a little girl and one of these was my mom would make her famous Butter Croissants and baby limas.

This year, 17 of my family members came to dinner and of course I had to fix the baby limas. Now I know most of you don't even know what baby limas are, but they are a smaller version of the butter bean and they are green, but they taste heavenly for those of us who grew up with them. I add a splash of cream, a pat of butter and pepper when I fix them. Since not everyone likes baby limas, I only made one package of them yesterday. What surprised me though was everyone was eating them and I only got a small spoon full when it came time for me to dish up. Even little Jonah ate them and he said, "mmmmm" which means he liked them too. Yay for baby limas!!!!

But back to my mom's Butter Croissants. I knew I was having a large crowd this year so I made a double batch at one time. I had never done this before and they turned out great. The recipe I'm sharing today as I look back on those fond memories of my parents is the Butter Croissants because they are easy and anyone can make them. Even those who don't know how to cook....you can't mess these up.

Mom - thanks for all the great recipes and especially these tasty morsals everyone has to have at Thanksgiving.

Butter Croissants

4 cups flour
1 cup cold Butter

Cut the butter into the flour until the flour looks like pie dough or the butter has been reduced into pea size morsals. Place the bowl in the refrigerator while you make the "wet" ingredients.

In 1 cup warm water, mix 1 package and set aside to grow a bit or 5 minutes.
In another bowl, mix 3/4 cup evaporated milk, 1 egg, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 cup melted butter plus 1 egg. Add 1/3 cup sugar. Now add 1 cup flour and mix well. A few lumps are okay.

Add the yeast mixture to the other "wet" ingredients and use a knife to mix the butter/flour mixture into the "wet" until the butter/flour is just moisetened. Do not overmix.

Cover and refrigerate over night or you can let this sit in the fridge for up to 2 days. Cut the dough into 4 equal balls. Roll each ball into an 8-10 inch circle and cut into 8 pie wedges. Roll each wedge from the large end to the small end and place on parchment lined cookie sheets. Repeat with each dough ball. Let rise at room temperature for 2 hours.

Bake at 325 degrees until light golden. Remove from pan onto a cooling rack. Makes 36 rolls. Enjoy hot out of the oven or save until later. To reheat the rolls, heat the oven to 325 degrees and put the rolls into the oven to heat for 5 or so minutes.

Our family likes these even frozen. Go figure..... but enjoy.

Kids Table

When I was a small girl, family get-togethers was routine. My family celebrated everything together from birthdays, anniversaries, holidays, or just eating together as a family. There were so many little cousins - of course there was the infamous "Kid's Table". Anyone under the age of 14 sat at the kids table.

If I count correctly, at one time there were about 10 of us sitting at the kid's table. We'd do more laughing than eating and there would never be enough food on the table so we'd have to go to the "Grown-up's Table" to refill our plates. I think we had more fun going to the grown-up table getting food than sitting at our own. Nothing changed though when it came to manners. We had to ask, "May I be excused?" when we wanted to get up from the table. Back in those days, we had to be polite and sit at the table and chat for awhile before getting excused. I never could understand that principle until I got older. It's called manners.

I was so excited when I graduated to the grown-up table, but in my mind's eye, I still secretely wanted to be seated at the kid's table having more fun than the grown-ups.

Fast forward 35 years and I hear my daughters talk about their fun times at their own "Kid's table". Some things don't change where kids' tables are concerned. When my daughters talk about their time spent at the infamous table, they relate they did so much laughing they couldn't eat. Sounds so familiar!!!

My advice to parents and kids alike - Parents, enjoy your adult time and Kids, enjoy the laughter and memories made during family dinners at the infamous "Kid's Table."

Sitting at the kid's table and not being excused until dessert felt like forever to me as a kid. When dessert was served, we'd all go to the grown up's table and ask to be excused. My recipe is for dessert and one I've simplified over the years. Even if you can't cook, you can still make this simple dessert and still get compliments for "Best Dessert Ever".

Chocolate Cream Pie

1 large box of chocolate cook and serve pudding mix
2 cups milk
1 cup cream
2 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon vamilla

Heat oven to 425 degrees.
Purchase a pie crust and bake shell until lightly golden. Remove and cool. In the meantime, make pudding mix according to directions except for the ingredients. Let stand for 5 minutes stirring at least twice. Pour into pie shell and refrigerate until cold.

Top with real whipped cream - 1 cup cream whipped until soft peaks. Add 1/4 cup sugar and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla. Spoon over pie and cut into wedges and serve. Make sure there is enough for those who are at the "Kid's table."

Marriage "check-up"

Recently my husband and I sat down to actually communicate about our relationship. He wanted to know if I knew anyone who had a "happy" marriage. So we talked about several couples we know whom we thought had a "real" marriage....happy with all the ups and downs a marriage poses plus stay committed and in love.

During this conversation my husband asked me, "Name a few things you think are important in a good marriage." My husband actually asked me my opinion on my thoughts. I thought was special because sometimes in the hustle and bustle of life, we sometimes forget to communicate. Here's the list I came up with:

Faith
Commitment
Communication
Love
Communication
Quality Time
Respect
Laughter

Hearing my husband seek my opinion about the health of our marriage is one of the things I love about him. Twenty one years ago, I almost threw a relationship with this man away. In my opinion, I didn't think there were any good marriages and I saw so many friends who stayed married even though they were not happy.

My husband had the patience of Job back then and stuck with me until God made me see what good husband material he really was. I'm so thankful God destroyed the walls I had in place to protect myself. Not only did God tear down those protective walls but He allowed me to fall in love. Although we've had our ups and downs, the love God gave to us is stronger than it has ever been. I still get butterflies and smile when I see my husband or even think of him. Thanks God for allowing me to share my life with a Godly man who loves me for who I am.

The recipe is simple this time around. It's a recipe for a healthy marriage.

Two who share a commitment to our Savior, Jesus Christ
Two who share laughter
Two who communicate and are committed to each other
Two who pray together
Two who respect each other and don't put each other down in public or even in private
Two who find time to spend quality time together

When was the last time you had a "check-up" of your marriage or relationship with a significant other?

Proverbs 31

Anniversaries and Fall

The leaves are turning all the colors of fall and there is just something in the cool air indicating Fall has arrived. My husband and I are so thankful for our children and two children plus a grandson will now have anniversaries in the fall.

Each couple celebrated their own weddings uniquely. Jeanne and Mark got married at a summer camp and I remember being so cold in the early evening and wanted to stand in front of the big fireplace where the air was warm and cozy. Jeanne and Mark wanted their friends from back east to, "experience all that Oregon offers." The camp was rustic and damp from the fall rains and perfect for this couple who wanted to do something different and original for their day. Some friends and family even spent the night of the wedding in the cabins but not those who wanted the comfort of the nearby hotel.

Jeanne and Mark celebrate their 3rd anniversary this month and we found out recently they will be bringing the twins home for Christmas. We haven't seen the twins for quite some time and I'm looking forward to spoiling them and giving them hugs and kisses as much as possible. Having all of them home will be special and we will cherish their visit.

Sarah and Patrick had a classical and traditional wedding, with a different twist on candles. They had pillars lining the aisles and also on the front stage. The flowers they had were beautiful too showing Sarah and Patrick's originality and vision. The reception was held at a winery on a hill. The sun was setting during the first dance and I remember looking out over the hills wondering at the beautiful sight of all the fall leaves and colors. They have been married 8 years (I think) and have one son. One of the things I will never forget was driving into the church parking lot on their special day and seeing all the leaves on the trees brown, orange and red. Since these were the colors of the wedding, the trees became part of the color palet.

Speaking of this one grandson, I had the privilege of watching him from Tuesday while his mom got ready for a trip through Friday evening. He was a joy and I learned he liked Stroganoff so I'm going to give you my recipe for a fast and quick Straganoff everyone will love.

Happy Anniversary Jeanne and Mark, Sarah and Patrick and soon to be Justin and Crystal.

Stroganoff

1 to 1 1/2 pounds ground beef (if you have any other type of steak, or beef you want to use, this is fine)
1 teaspoon salt while the beef is browning

Brown the beef in a bit of vegetable oil and while the beef is browning, bring pasta water to boil, salted liberally (I usually use 1 tablespoon salt per large stock pot of boiling water).

Once the water is hot, add any type of pasta your family likes. (I like the Farefalle or flat type of pasta.) Use 1/2 box or 1/2 package, or if you use elbow noodles, 2 cups. Cook the pasta to al dente since the pasta will cook a bit more in the beef sauce.

Once the ground beef has browned, add two cups of beef stock and simmer for about 10 minutes. Then add a slurry (a slurry is usually a thickener and for this recipe I use 1/2 cup COLD water and 1 Tablespoon cornstarch).

Add the slurry to the beef mixture and stir until thickened. Dont worry if the sauce is too thick as it will be thinned out by the sour cream. If you don't think the sauce is thick enough, use more slurry. At the end of the thickening, add 1 cup sour cream and stir until just blended. Cooking the sour cream will curddle the sauce and you want a creamy sauce.

Add the strained pasta to the beef mix and serve immediately. Feeds 4-6 people so if there are only two or three of you, put any leftover in the freezer for later use.

Variations:

You can always use any type of seasoning to "kick-up" the flavor like Onions, garlic, pepper flakes, basil or parsley.

Some people add 1 cup of frozen peas making this dish a one-pot meal.