CONTEST!!

First of all, a big thanks to my sister-in-law, Nancy, who has my brother begging her to make some of Grandma's favorite recipes and meatballs were her specialty and Nancy has picked up on the talent as well! You will see more of Nancy's Talents on this blog in the future!

Hopefully we will see a post from my sister Kristie on Grams delicious fudge and Christmas Candies!

OK so I absolutely love love love contests and I am going to do these periodically...so to kick off Christmas Cookie Baking time I am going to give a way to one of you a Betty Crocker's "Cooky Book." My grandma had one just like this book and they are reprinting these books just like Grams' and I received one for Christmas from my very thoughtful mother-in-law, thanks Grammy Pilgrim! This "Cooky Book" takes me back to my childhood, looking through Gram's book and dreaming of all the cookies she would make from them...the pictures make you want to bake the cookies right away! YUM!!

(This is a picture of my book, a new one will be shipped directly to your house in time for holiday baking)

So here is how to win this fun book! **The purpose of this contest is to first see who is looking at our blog so we can select recipes that suit you, secondly it is too get people commenting and interacting with our recipe blog and third expand our readers. All you need to do is comment on this blog. Each time you comment on the blog your name will be placed in a draw, one entry per comment **(one entry per post so that we can see your thoughts and comments on recipes or format...we want to start some interaction we love feedback and requests....which a few of you have already been doing and we have loved it!) You can get additional entries, one additional entry for adding your name to our list of followers. You can get additional entries one for each new person you bring to the blog. When you bring a new reader, they need to comment and mention your name in the comment so I know who sent them... I will then add one more entry for you and add them to the list of entries and so on....Depending on the response to this contest I may get crazy and draw out multiple winners, each getting their own "Cooky Book." Since the nature of this contest is to help share Grandma's Recipe blog with others, this contest will run starting October 28th, 2008 until Midnight November 15th, 2008. On the morning of the 16th I will do the drawing(s) and winner(s) will be posted by that evening with instructions for me to privately receive your shipping address!

Good Luck! Let me know if you have any questions!!!

**The asterisk signifies clarifications I made on 10/29/08 per questions on the comments. If you want addition entries start spreading the news of our blog and tell people to leave a comment with your name....those are unlimited entries! I am so excited with your responses so far and we do want more readers so "start spreading the news" and make sure they let us know who told them so you get more entries!!

Norma's Meatballs!

Hello, Nancy here with a Norma Sanders recipe! I'll admit it, I do not really enjoy baking. I suppose I am just lazy and the thought of getting all the baking items, measuring utensils, mixing bowls, and having to wait for things to rise, rolling dough, kneading dough, cleaning all the dishes while it bakes, just to have dirty serving dishes makes me cringe. I do bake, but not often. However, I do enjoy cooking, especially easy recipe's with a grand result making it seem as if you slaved away all day. Which brings me to Norma's meatball recipe. I made them last year for Valentine's Day since it is one of Jake's favorite dishes from his Grandmother, and it was a hit and quick family favorite.

These meatballs are very simple, but you do cook them long and slow so you have to be sure to start them an hour or 2 before dinner time. Here is what you need:

1 lb Ground Beef (I suppose you could use turkey if your a health nut)
1/2 lb Ground Pork. (I like to use Jimmy Dean Hot Sausage, gives them a little kick!)
1/2 cup Uncooked Rice (I've used brown rice, no one will notice and its super healthy)
Salt and Pepper to taste ( I also add a dash or 2 of Italian seasoning.)
Can of tomato soup

So you basically just dump the meat, rice, and seasonings in a bowl and mush it together until mixed. Make sure your meat is thawed, but chilled. If its room temperature, the balls kind of fall apart. Here is a picture before I mixed the ingredients, I recommend using your hands. Its kinda icky, but its a lot quicker than a spoon.

When its nice and mixed, form into balls and brown in a frying pan on medium heat. While they are browning, dump the tomato soup in a large pot and fill it about 2/3 full with water. Whisk it up and heat to boiling. Once you have browned both sides, place the meatballs in the tomato soup bath, reduce heat, cover and let them simmer for a couple hours.

Yum! Gramma Sanders liked to serve hers over mashed potatoes, Jake thinks because Grampa Sanders preferred potatoes to pasta, but my family prefers spaghetti (or in this picture's case, Rotini) I just drain the soup then add my tomato sauce directly to the meatballs and heat for a few minutes more until the sauce it hot.

Add a quick salad and a bread stick and Ta-Da! Eat your heart out Olive Garden! Its nice to keep the memories of passed friends and family alive by passing on their favorite dishes and recipes. Good luck and enjoy these yummy (and easy!) meatballs! Thanks Norma!

Gluten or Dough Enhancer...

This post was prompted by a question from my friend Candee:

"Okay, so I have been trying to master whole wheat bread and I am so inconsistent. Do you add gluten to your dough or dough enhancer? My recipe is almost the same, minus the gluten, and I always seem to make BRICKS!!! So please, fill me in on the intricacies of whole wheat bread."

So my mom and I have been researching this topic for the last couple of days to help you to overcome your bread brick issue and help you with your bread inconsistencies. This is what my mom has found; wheat bread is naturally a heavier bread and sometimes some recipes can turn out like "bricks." The recipe listed below in the Pull Aparts Post is strictly a food storage recipe. The bread made from this recipe will be heavy. However after many years of researching and practice, my mom has found a recipe that calls for a dough enhancer and she thinks you can purchase dough enhancer in your area, maybe google it. (My mom uses Kitchen Kneads recipe and dough enhancer: http://www.kitchenkneads.com ). Gluten is suppose to aid the yeast but with such a heavier flour the dough enhancer working in conjunction with the gluten and yeast aids to make a lighter fluffier bread.

Here are some helpful hints my mom also thought of:

• If your baking in colder weather typically your house will be cooler, double you rise time if that is the case. House temperature can very from time to time and that can cause inconsistencies.
• Do not add too much flour. Bread dough should be sticky and by adding too much flour you can make a very stiff dough. If you are having trouble handling the sticky bread be sure to keep the your favorite non-stick spray or oil close by. I prefer oil, my mom prefers Pam Spray.

Let me know if you need more info! Good luck with making "lighter loaves!"

Whole Wheat Bread Pull Aparts...

This recipe is from the kitchen of my Mom. Dad always requested homemade bread because his mother made it and those smells and tasted reminded him of her. Mom has an old wheat grinder and I remember grinding the wheat to make fresh whole wheat bread. Because Mom only made this on occasion this is such a treat for me! Like my Dad it reminds me of my mom, the lovely smells and the taste of the fresh warm bread smothered in honey out of the oven! YUM... My picky eaters just love the pull aparts and would not eat wheat bread otherwise. So the pull apart recipe is a great way to get the picky pants in your family to eat wheat!




Wheat Bread

2 T Yeast
½ cup warm water
1 T sugar

5 cups hot tap water
7 cups ground whole-wheat flour
Mix until blended.

Add:
2 T salt (I think this is too much- so I used 1 T).
2/3 cups oil
2/3 cups honey
1 more cup of flour

Add yeast mixture and blend thoroughly. Add 3-4 cups more of flour and then knead for 10 minutes. Oil hands and place into sprayed pans. Cover with damp cloth and let rise for 40 minutes.
Bake 350 for 40-45 minutes.


Pull Aparts

Mix 1 cup of sugar with 4 tsp of cinnamon and ½ cup melted butter. Roll 1 ½ inch balls in butter and the sugar mixture. Fill it until 2/3 full and let rise. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes.

Donuts in the fall!

I don't know if it is because of the heat caused by the hot oil and fall temperatures in Hamer made it naturally colder or why but Grandma usually did these in the fall. I remember the smell! Hmmmm....Yumm..... So naturally every fall when it starts to get me craving those same smells and tastes. Just as I did, Jayson looks forward to our donut fest and just as I did, he can't wait to lip the frosting drippings. So here is one of my favorite donut recipes grandma used:

Glazed Donuts

Dough:

1 pkg dry yeast
¼ luke warm water for the yeast

• Use about a tablespoon of sugar with yeast mixture set aside (I usually set aside somewhere warm).

1 cup boiling water
¼ c butter
½ c sugar

• Pour boiling water over butter sugar salt and vanilla.

Mix in a separate bowl:

1 cup canned milk
2 eggs beaten
1 tsp. vanilla

• Add canned milk eggs yeast to sugar butter mixture and ½ of the flour.
• beat by hand not mixer until well mixed.

5 cups of all purpose flour

1 tsp salt

• Add rest of flour and mix well again. (just five cups that is it and remember you already added 1/2 cup)!
• Cover dough and let rise until double.
  

• Roll out ½ inch thick; cut with large doughnut cutter
• Mom and Gram used a clean large jar lid.
• Allow the cut out donuts to rise again.
• Heat oil. (I use a fry daddy and grandma used a pot on the stove. She would always test the oil with a donut hole.)
• Fry until golden on both sides.
• Let oil drain on a paper towel. (I usually place paper towels on a cookie sheet).
  
  
  

Glaze:
1pkg powder sugar
boiling water to desired
1tsp vanilla

Mix items together until you have a thin glaze mixture. Add water to desire. I prefer my donuts to have lite glaze so I water mine down pretty good. Also as you go the mixture will thicken so I always keep the water on the stove boiling while I glaze so I can add more boiling water to keep the same consistency. I dip fried donut in glaze and let the glaze roll off for a few seconds and usually I have a dowel that I purchase for cheap at WalMart that was really in expensive that I keep clean for this purpose. Place donuts on elevated dowel to let the glaze dry. *Note the pictures and the space in between each donut so they can all dry. (I had to get creative because my dowel got lost in our move so I used a tree stick with foil wrapped around it so it was clean in the picture below).

***These recipes are user friendly; however please do note that I do include Jayson (my 5 year old) in on the fun BUT only during the icing part due to HOT oil. Please be cautious and careful of the heated oil, it splashes and can burn anyone within reach! Remember always to be safe and cautious in the kitchen especially when children are involved!