Nice Day for a Walk

I took a very early lunch break this morning and went for a walk. I had to wait for the sun to come out, but it was wonderful. 

The sun was warm and the leaves were making noise. But the flowers are still out as well because it hasn't hit super cold in the morning... just kind of cold. ha ha  There are 2 more weeks until Daylight Savings and I'm trying to take advantage of the light after work as well. 

I listened to a podcast on the history of Halloween and learned about soul cakes, which were handed out to children and poor people going door to door, and which seems to be the origin of trick or treating. So of course, I googled to see if I could find a recipe. 

They turned out pretty good. The recipe called for British mixed spice, which seems to be like the US pumpkin pie spice, but I used my King Arthur Flour yuletide cheer spice instead. And then I didn't have dried currants so I used my dried tart cherries from the farmer's market. It's no chocolate chip cookie, but tasty in their own way. I froze most of them to take to family dinner. 

Again, just trying to take a little time each day to appreciate the season. 

Conference Weekend

This weekend has been just what I needed: a break from the stress and worries I’ve been carrying. I decided that I actually needed to listen to conference a lot more than I did 6 months ago. I missed whole sessions of that one. 

Saturday I got up and did some cleaning, but made sure to be near where I could hear the tv. So some cleaning and laundry in the morning. My sister had a weird health issue pop up on Friday and so on Saturday after the 1st session of conference I went and picked up some prescriptions for her because she can’t drive yet. Then I took her twins with me to Hobby Lobby. I have made enough wreaths that I needed another wreath hanger. I got 2 just to be prepared. LOL Then we went to lunch and I had the kids out for the 2 hours between the sessions. I can’t do a lot for Amy and the kids like my mom did because I work full time, but I can periodically give her some alone time and space. It rained all day Saturday and I actually had fun getting out in the rain. 

By the time I got back home, conference had started so I did miss a lot of the first talk. But then I listened and started baking. Yesterday was pumpkin chocolate chip bread. After it cooled, I cut into it and it’s delicious. The recipe made 2 loaves so one is wrapped up in the freezer. By the evening session I was just finishing laundry and did the dishes and a puzzle. 

Last night it got cold! I don’t know what the temperature was but I was under my heavy blue jeans quilt for part of the night. I wasn’t really thinking I’d bake more today. Two loaves of pumpkin bread are plenty. But the cold got to me. I made a puffy pancake and homemade hot chocolate for breakfast. During the first session of conference I made up some no knead peasant bread dough to rise. And then….I made up a batch of mom’s chocolate chip cookies. Ha ha I do not need cookies or cookie dough but oh well. It will freeze and I can take it to neighbors or something later. My house has smelled heavenly all weekend. 

I’m really glad I cleaned on Saturday. That leaves Sunday free for rest. The only chore I had is dishes. During conference today I’ve been cross stitching. I do like it. I should get it out more often. I’m stitching pillow cases that mom had bought. I have 2 or 3 different ones. This one is straight cross stitch so nothing fancy and I almost finished it. I’m leaving it out for this week. If I put a movie on one night I can get it all the way done. 

As for what I learned in conference? I think the message I heard is to love everyone and treat them kindly and with respect. To serve where I can and to not forget my Savior and what he has already done for me and for the world. None of the crazy is a surprise to Him and the plan has been in motion since the beginning. I can take comfort in that. Basically, I need to show by my actions that I am a disciple of Christ. 

And Now, September

Yay! Summer is over, even if not quite officially. Even if September 2 doesn’t look or feel any different from August 31. It’s here. Fall will officially be starting soon. 

Peaches are getting ripe and I will soon be eating my fill. I met my sister at the farmer’s market this morning. It was my last time for this year’s summer market. I got a few ears of corn, strawberries, and some dried tart cherries. I figured those would be good for fall/winter. My mom has already given me onions and carrots. I still haven’t been in the mood to cook at all, even though I really need to. Again, cooler weather will be here and soon I can make soup. Ha ha it’s like I feel like fall will solve all the problems. It’s not true, but I seriously love the last 4 months of the year, October and November being the most favorite. 

Another Weekend

I had a great weekend with the family. I spent Friday night sleeping on the trampoline at my sister’s house. Two of my nieces, 1 nephew and the cat decided to join me. LOL – I wouldn’t have been there by myself, of course.  The cat kept my feet warm until the middle of the night when I was too far out of my sleeping bag and then I realized I was laying there all cold because I didn’t want to wake the cat. So I finally moved and he woke up and then walked around on top of us for a few minutes and found a new place to sleep. Then I was warm the rest of the night. The only other big problem is that now everything is covered with dew in the morning and we were wet. Savannah actually thought it had rained on us. So note for self: if we do this next year, it has to be during the warm part of summer. 

 

Hard to tell, but there are water drops all over the grass

We got lots of candy at the Peach Days parade and then I went home and took a nap for the afternoon. After that I was pretty lazy the rest of the day. On Sunday, I took some of the peaches we got and made another galette. It doesn’t look like much, but it was tasty with vanilla ice cream. My mom had “autumn” colored sugar crystals and they were good in theory, but not so much after they baked.

It rained on Sunday and now I am super ready for fall weather. I have a list of books I want to read, I have hot chocolate ready to be drank, my sweaters are hanging in my closet, I have a bunch of new soup recipes to try, and I ordered some fall/winter scent perfume samples. LOL, I’m ready, I tell you!

Mother’s Day

Yesterday, my mom and I drove up to Park City. We went shopping and had lunch. Mom had never been to the Olympic Park or historic Main Street so I showed her around. It’s changed quite a bit since the days she would go up there to ski as a teen/young adult.

It rained off and on the whole day. Utah is so beautiful this time of year. We took the “back way” to Park City on the way there, up I-84 through Morgan. The rain stopped long enough for some sunshine to come through and everything was wet and green. Park City didn’t have much sun, in fact we had a bunch of fog roll in but it was still beautiful also. The rain didn’t stop us from having a good time...and spending too much money. :)  We’ve decided to go back with the family sometime this summer.

Last night I had the urge to make grandma’s crescent rolls so I mixed up the dough to refridgerate overnight and then rolled them out this morning. I was just thinking about mother’s day and how I don’t remember mom actually teaching me how to make the rolls but I know I helped at times. Some of my happiest childhood memories are of the holidays and the table being full of pans of rolls raising, covered with those white potato sack dishtowels. I liked to peak under them to see how big the rolls got. She would get up at 5:00 am to roll them out and let them raise and cook for dinner (we always had Thanksgiving dinner around 1:00 pm or so). My mom has always been an early riser. I remember waking up during the summer months and hearing her go in and out of the back door as she picked vegetables from the garden and brought them inside. She always did it early before the sun got too hot. I don’t get up that early to make rolls and mom’s rolls are better, but I like that I can carry on the tradition of making rolls for family gatherings.

Chocolate Cake Castle



I made my birthday cake again this year. I found the chocolate cake castle on Pinterest and thought it would be fun to try. My niece helped me build the towers. 

 

 



 

 

The picture online used Hershey's small candy bars but I don't really like Hershey's so I went with some Andes mints. I should say the cake is Hershey's Ultimate Chocolate Cake from their website. I don't like Hershey's candy bars (there's just better tasting and less waxy out there, IMO) but they do have some good recipes. This was great tasting cake, if I do say so myself. 



We cut into it and pretended it was a fort that got destroyed in a battle. I'm going to say it might not look like the picture from Pinterest, but it's pretty darn close. We're calling this one a Pinterest win.

It's not quite my birthday yet, but this was the family celebration. Mom made Navajo tacos for dinner, which is one of my favorite things to eat. Then we had cake and ice cream. I've been sick and still am not feeling great but it was a good time with the family.

Cheesecake

This year I decided to get sick for Thanksgiving. I got a cold the day before and it stayed with me for over a week. It didn't help that the week after Thanksgiving I had to go to Kentucky for work. I'm finally feeling a lot better and wanted to post a picture of the cheesecake I made for Thanksgiving.

I got the recipe from this website. It was pretty easy to make and was very rich and tasty. My sister did the actual piping of the snowflake with the pattern provided on the website. I have to say it was a thumbs up all the way around. My mom had to take it to the dialysis center on Saturday to give away. We just don't have the people to eat it up and nobody could handle more than a small piece at a time anyway.

Chocolate Oreo Cake

I decided I needed to test out a Pinterest recipe for my birthday cake.

Recipe is here: Chocolate Oreo Cake

I'm not the best cake maker. I prefer things like brownies and cookies where it's ok if there is a mess getting them out of the pan.

I'm obviously not a food photographer either, but I snapped this with my phone. You can't tell from here that the cakes had issues coming out of the pan. The frosting and oreos around the bottom hid it pretty well. But it tasted soooo good. It was moist and chocolatey and I had a hard time finishing my piece. It will satisfy die-hard chocolate fans for sure. Yum!

Grandma's rolls

For as long as I can remember, my mom has made my Grandma Walter's crescent rolls for special dinners like Thanksgiving, Christmas, big family dinners, my birthday, etc. They are my very favorite rolls. Mom always got up early (sometime between 5 and 6 am) to roll them out so they could rise and then be cooked before it was time to use the oven for other things. To this day, seeing them sitting on the table under the white dish towels as they rise makes me happy.

I always used to think they were hard to make or took a lot of time. I remember there have been times when my mom made the rolls for my aunt's Thanksgiving dinner. Then I decided one day to take the plunge and learn to make them myself.  Well, they are super easy to make, and require no kneading. I think they might seem a little labor intensive because the dough has to be refidgerated over night and then they have to be rolled out and have to have about 5 hours to rise. Of course, I plan it out so I don't have to get up early to roll them out, but even that takes only about 30 minutes.

Mom still makes them better than I do, but she has 30+ years of practice on me.  Even without all the practice, they are dang good!

Waffle Cookies

It would be hard for me to choose my favorite cookie between chocolate chip and waffle cookies. Ha ha...warm chocolate chip cookies with milk are like food for the soul. But I do love me a waffle cookie, which are also best served warm with milk. :)

Our recipe comes from the 10th Ward Cook's Corner cookbook that my ward put together in 1981. We've made them in my family since I can remember. In high school, a friend and I ruined my mom's waffle iron by trying to cook chocolate chip cookies in it. Since then I've stayed with the tried and true and it really can't be beat.

Waffle Cookies

Melt 1 cube margarine and add:
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
4 tsp cocoa
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup flour

Mix all the ingredients together. Cook on pre-heated waffle iron on medium heat by dropping one spoonful of batter on each square. Cook for 3-4 minutes. Frost while warm. This recipe makes about 16-20 cookies, depending on how small they are. I usually double it when I make them.

Frosting:
powdered sugar
cocoa
vanilla
milk
butter or margarine

I don't have measurements because I just dump in the bowl and mix. It used to drive all of us crazy that my mom couldn't give us the actual measurements, but we must have learned well because now my sisters and I make frosting the way mom does. :)

A few notes:
Butter can be used instead of margarine, but the taste changes slightly, of course. I've also tried baking chocolate squares when I was out of cocoa and they make a rich chocolate flavor, but change the texture of the cookie slightly. And finally, I prefer homemade frosting instead of store bought kinds. The frosting melts a bit because you put it on the warm cookie and store bought frosting seems to change a bit when it sets back up.

YUM!!!