Pregnant Cookies

I grew up going to my grandma's house in Kansas every Thanksgiving. Since I've been married we have traveled to St. Louis to be with Tyler's family for every Thanksgiving. This is the first year we will not travel to be with family and I have been feeling a bit nostalgic.

As a kid, my cousins, my brother and I would help my grandma make her famous "Filled Cookies". This is the first year I have tried to make them myself and I had some good help from BiggiE and Moose.I felt like we were making a tribute to the pioneer days with this old fashioned grinder we used to chop up the raisins.

Here's a peek at the finished product. I took this plate of cookies to bible study and my friend, Sally, said, "Look, you made pregnant cookies -- just like you."

In case you're interested in the recipe:

Grandma's Filled Cookies
2/3 cup margarine
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp.vanilla
2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
4 tsp. milk
Allow margarine to soften to room temp. thenbeat until creamy. Add sugar vanilla and beaten egg-mix well. Add dry ingredients alternately with milk. Mix well then chill for at least three hours or overnight (tightly covered)

Filling-
1 and 1/2 lb. raisins chopped in the food chopper. I don't know if blender or food processor would work. I have an old food grinder that your Dad gave me.
to the ground raisins add about 2/3 cup of water, mix until it is smooth then add 2 tbs flour to 1/2 cup sugar whichmhave been stirred together. (if you don't stir them together first lumps will form which you may not be able to eliminate). Cook over medium heat until bubbly and thickened, stirring constantly, ( that is important as they burn easily. If you feel them beginning to stck even a little, reduce the heat.) Remove from heat and cool. when cool, roll out a third or so of the dough to thickness of a nickel. Cut out with cookie cutter, place a dozen or so on greased cookie sheet one inch apart. Put half of a teaspoon of filling on each cookie, place another cookie on top of each one, flatten a little so that the edges of the top and bottom cookies are even and press each cookie around the edges to seal so that the filling does not run out. Bake in a 350 degree oven for approx. 12 minutes or until lightly browned. Then chow down- wait a bit for the cookie to cool as the filling gets very hot.

Grandma's Letter -- Part II

One thing I have always admired about my Grandma is that she is a learner. Being in her 80s has not changed her love of life and desire to grow. I found this excerpt of her recent letter inspiring:

"I am well physically and to my amazement spiritually, I am growing. I thought that when I got to this age I could just coast on in without any effort. Wrong! There is always room for improvement and still work to do.

Yes the work is changed to fit the body with less energy, fewer teeth, deafer ears, blinder eyes and aching joints. It's so easy to let the clay get too hard to mold by just sitting on the wheel and not allowing the potter to re-form."

I pray that I can be like her 50 years from now.

A Moose or a Squirrel?

It is still Fall here in Northern California. The leaves are changing and scattering across the roadways. The boys and I enjoy walking around the neighborhood across from our house and there are plenty of leaves to collect or crunch. The main objective seems to be collecting acorns. Every time we return from a walk they unload their stash of nuts like little squirrels.

I have been consistent about requiring the acorns to remain outside. In fact, we have a small box halfway full of nuts on the back porch. (There are either going to be some starving squirrels in the neighborhood this winter or they are all going to move to our backyard.) When we came home from our last walk I was distracted by my desire to warm up with some hot chocolate and forgot to have the boys take their cache outside. Later that evening I noticed a sprawl of acorns across the living room. "Boys, you need to do something about these acorns, " I admonished.

The next morning I grabbed a travel mug for my tea and this is what I found:

I guess Moose is more a squirrel than I thought.

Homemade Handmade Holiday Carnival

Grandma's Letter -- Part I

I received a wonderful letter from my Grandma the other day. There is something special about a handwritten letter on flowery stationary. It felt like a warm hug from one of my favorite people. Below is an excerpt:

"You may not remember about my regard for cats. They have never been a favorite. At every opportunity I have thrown stones at them or scared them away by some other method, until now there is only one which insists that around this house is definitely the choicest place in town.

In spite of the occasional rock pitched in his/her direction, no food and no other signs of welcome, he/she has refused to abandon the area. Even if I am only watching him/her from the picture window in the kitchen, if he/she sees me, he/she looks straight at me and meows as if to say, 'Well, have you changed our mind about me yet?'

After watching this creature for a couple of years I have come to the conclusion that he/she is really sort of cute. Entertaining that thought was a big mistake. Seeing the poor thing shivering from cold or bedraggled by rain, has warmed the cockles of my hard heart. The heart-softening began by giving it a name and on occasion talking to it. It is a pretty soft gray and has a crooked tail. I should have named it Ziggy or something like that. But no, it was just referred to as 'Gray'.

As time went by I began to feel that is should have a more sophisticated name, since having been so persistent. So I have changed the name to 'Grigio'. Isn't that classy? Well not as much as you might think because it means gray in Italian.

The next step is putting out a little food, only table scraps, no boughten food absolutely!

Even old people can change and that is good."

Lack of Theological Training?

The other day BiggiE was flipping through his picture bible. He must have been in the story of Ezekiel's dream because there was a picture of a staircase with angels going up and down. BiggiE looks up at me with excitement and says, "Look, Mom, man-bats!"

Getting Crafty

Inspired by my crafty friend, Michelle and specifically her crafty friend, Amy, I got a jump on Christmas presents by making these hats for my nieces and nephew. They were the perfect knitting project for this beginner because hats are super easy to knit and hats that are all the same color, well, you could nearly do it with your eyes closed. (Well, not me, but I can imagine a more seasoned knitter clicking away without looking.)

The boys were happy to model for me and shouted "Merry Christmas!!" at the top of their lungs. With baby Jelly Belly set to arrive in the next several weeks I am so happy to have my Christmas gifts wrapped and (almost) sent.