Dec.30th, a special treasure

My last posting for this year , I would like to write in memory of a dear old friend.

Bobby was a kind soul who loved to visit our family. The children all loved him , when they would see his  white Ford truck coming , the sound of Bobby’s here , with the banging of the kitchen door , gave me enough time to put the coffee on before he arrived in the kitchen.

He loved to tell stories of when he was young. We all truly enjoyed everyone. Life wasn’t easy for him here in the south , but that didn’t  get him down , he just made do.

He would also bring me a big bowl full of fresh farm eggs when he had too many . I was delighted to trade him fresh bread for eggs!!

Then one day he walked into the kitchen with an old quilt in his shaking hands. ” Here I want you to have this”, were his words, with a look that pleaded , please like it!! Like it … I was delighted to have the old quilt. It was old and worn with the fabric beginning to dry rot , not a wonderful work of art . It was a quilt that held love!

Bobbys aunt had made it and had given it to him .  He said that he know that his family that would go though his things after he died, would just throw it out .( he never had children, so it would of been his sisters left).I promised him I would treasure it as long as I lived! The dear old man’s face shone with gratitude .

The quilt was made around 1950. Here are some pictures of this special treasure!! 

Blessings to all for a Happy New Year! , Deb

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Dec.21st. Bread making

I love to make bread. I love the way it adds a lovely smell to the kitchen, but most of all I love to watch the family totally enjoy the warm bread. They eat it with such delight, that always warms this cook’s heart.

I make an oatmeal bread for it holds the moisture in the bread longer.

2 T. Of yeast

4 cups of warm water

1/2 cup of sugar

1/2 cup of oil

1T. Salt

9 cups of flour

2 cups of oatmeal

.Dissolve yeast in the warm water. Add sugar, oil, salt,and 3 cups of flour , all the oatmeal , then mix well. Finish out using the rest of the flour in the kneading of the dough. Let rise for an hour, shape into loaves . Again let it raise until double. Bake at 350 for 25 – 30 mins.

dough being kneaded.

Bread raising ready to be made into loaves.

Loaves in pans

Bread ready to be removed from pans. I use butter on tops and sides for added softness to the crust.

The mincemeat cookies that I posted about last week were a “hit” among the family!

Wishing all a Merry Christmas! Deb

Dec. 13th,Homemade mincemeat filling

A post from A hundred years ago wrote a article on mincemeat . It was made mention that mincemeat filling was also used in cookies!

Now I love mincemeat, but Grandma just used it in pies. She made wonderful pies. I loved to pull up a stool to the counter, and watch her bake or cook. That’s where I learned that you scraped the bowls clean for it was wasteful not too.

I decided to make a batch of mincemeat ,then make some cookies using the mincemeat filling instead of a raisin filling. I have the mincemeat in the frig setting a few days so the spices mix well into the meat.

I would like to share my recipe that is great grandma’s recipe.

I cook the meat without salt for several hrs. It doesn’t have to be real tender for it needs to be ground.

while the meat is cooking I soak the raisins in a little water … Just enough water that you can see it in the bowl. About 3/4 of the raisins are covered!

Then I put oranges , lemons, apples and citron in the blender, along with the cider, if I don’t have cider ,I just use 1 1/2 cup of applesauce.i also tweaked the recipe a little and add a fourth cup of butter rum.

When the meat is done , I then chunk up the meat for grinding. The kitchen aid grinder attachment works good for me.

i grind the meat into the large kettle that I put the blended fruit. After I run the meat though then I do the raisins.

Ground meat

spices are then added with the molasses and sugar. Once again I tweaked the spices. I like the cinnamon and a little ginger in it. Mix well and put on stove to cook.

Here is the recipe for the dough that I will make next week.

Happy baking!! , Deb

Nov.30th. Thanksgiving thoughts

We had a lovely day on Thanksgiving.

I’m so thankful for all the blessings that God has bestowed on me and to my family. I’m blessed in that God has been faithful in all his promises. I’m also blessed to have a special needs child, who has taught me so much. She doesn’t question God why she was made the way she was. She is full of sunshine when she is feeling good, and when she’s in pain a very uncomplaining person.

I am blessed with many kind friends- close by friends , friends from afar, and my blogging friends. 🙂

I cleaned out a closet that held clothes from my youngest son. I made him a throw for on the foot of the bed. I used his shirts that he out grew on the front and on the back I used his t-shirts.

Happy sewing!, Deb

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