Usually one bakes and decorates cookies during daylight . . . but with our holiday schedule, we ended up doing this holiday tradition at night! It was a warm and cozy evening of flour & much sprinkles.
my kitchen
01/14/2013
01/06/2012
breakfast
Nothing too exciting. Just a little breakfast baking in the early morning. Nightgown girl in position for stirring. Boy in the tractor p.j.s manning the melting.
Mama, overseeing the operations and in awe of the fact that there was no bickering or arguing, and even no fighting over the spoon. Really.
It was a nice, peaceful breakfast of 'nilla bars and milk. Yum.
02/28/2011
in my kitchen
Whenever I want to make some comfort food, I head to one of my very favorite cookbooks: Favorite Recipes of the Sandhills. This special book that I inherited from my great-grama is compiled of type-written and photocopied recipes from women who lived in the Sandhills of Nebraska. Yummy recipes such as klummel-klop meatballs, baking powder biscuits, two pounds o' butter banana bread, chocolate pudding, rice custard . . . these - and many more - are found within the very worn pages.
Also within the pages, part of the reason I love this book so very much, are dozens of recipes my grama wrote on scraps of paper and used envelopes.
Isn't it magical how someone's writing can instantly conjure up special images and memories of that person? So often when I see handwriting fall farther and farther down the list of priorities in education I wonder what will happen when children no longer have the ability to 'leave their mark'. Will we even have handwritten paper trails tucked away in special books or envelopes for others to enjoy?
I love this recipe because it was one my Grama obviously collected from my other great-grandma, Astrid, who lived just down the creek.
I don't know who Ella was . . . but there is the recipe for her buns! I'll have to ask my mom . . .
I love this one . . . Grama was never very good at spelling. Zukennia is a very creative way to spell zucchini, though!
I grabbed this book off the shelf because the kids and I wanted to make some chewy oatmeal cookies. The last ones I made were, um, crunchy and dry because I couldn't find the recipe I usually use. So I was searching for a better one. I had no more than opened the book when this recipe fell out:
And once again a familiar cursive hopped off the pages. This was written by my gramma Bonnie and it was just the recipe for which I was searching! We mixed up a batch, ate spoonfuls of dough and 12 minutes later . . .
Yum. Just what we were looking for!
Pretty amazing what some handwritten notes in an old cookbook can provide. Lots of good food, memories and traditions for new little people. Thanks to all my grandmas!
02/26/2011
in my kitchen
While we strive to maintain our daily rhythm of activities, our weeks take on a pattern of their own. We tend to work on one project or type of work for a while until we feel it complete - or we need food, which is the case for our newest transition. For instance, we've been spring cleaning and purging the house while stuck indoors in this very arctic weather, and now it's time to head for the kitchen.
I ordered a new dish drainer. (I know, you're thinking, "yippee.") You may recall that doing dishes is one of the few household chores I don't really care for. So I bought a new dish drainer hoping I would be instantly transformed into loving washing pots and pans.
Not really. We just needed a new one.
Anyway, I was inspired by this post - it's the same dish drainer! - so I made two little cotton canvas/terry mats to catch all the drippies.
Even better than my fun mats is that fact that August loves emptying it as much as he loves emptying the dishwasher. Now that's some serious "Yippee!!"
