A Centennial Cookbook from Minnesota

I picked up this little cookbook at the thrift store last year sometime, and was looking through it recently. It was published in honor of the centennial of the Diocese of St. Cloud, Minnesota (1889 to 1989). It contains the usual assortment of recipes from the '70s and '80s--red velvet cake, millionaire's pie, hash brown casserole, etc. But it also has lots of old German, Polish, Irish, Italian, Czech, French and English recipes from all 147 parishes in the diocese.

There are lots of pictures of Archbishops and Bishops, chapels, convents, monasteries, and pictures of all the churches of the diocese, most of which were built in the 1800s and are beautiful.

My favorite part of the cookbook, though, is in the back. There are recipes from "Special People and Churches." Recipes from mothers and grandmothers of bishops, recipes from convents and monasteries, priests, sisters, and even a couple from the White House and the governor's mansion are included.

Here's Grandma Polak's Jellyroll recipe from Josephine Polak, grandmother of Bishop Jerome Hanus.

Beat 6 eggs 'til nice and light. Add 1 tsp. vanilla. Gradually add and beat in 1 c. sugar. Sift together 1 c. flour, 1/2 tsp. salt, and 1 tsp. baking powder. Fold this into egg mixture. Grease an 11-inch plus by 17-inch plus pan. Line with waxed paper. Grease and flour the waxed paper. Pour in batter. Bake in 350 degree oven 20-30 minutes. Have ready a clean cloth, a dishtowel will do. Sprinkle it with powdered sugar. Invert cake on cloth, peel off the waxed paper. Spread quickly jelly on the cake and roll up. Leave in towel to cool. If you don't care for the jelly, just roll up the the roll, including cloth. When cool, unroll carefully. Put in softened ice cream or any other custard filling. Reroll. Put into freezer if you used ice cream.

And here is Father Geno's Tootsie Roll Bar.

Mix:

1 c. brown sugar

3/4 c. butter

2 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

Add:

1 3/4 c. flour

3/4 tsp. salt

1 tsp. soda

Melt 6 oz. chocolate chips and combine with 1 can sweetened condensed milk.

Grease 9X13 pan. Pat 2/3 of the batter on the bottom, add the chocolate mixture, cover with tiny pieces of dough. Sprinkle with nuts. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes.

Fr. Eugene Doyle, Tintah

One more. Here's Louie's Easy Porkchops. His note at the end made me laugh out loud.

Put 3/4 to 1-inch thick pork chops in an iron skillet or baking dish into which they will just fit. Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste. Spread a rounded tsp. of brown sugar on each chop and wet sugar with lemon juice. Put a round slice of lemon on each chop and skewer with a whole clove. Pour over all equal parts of ketchup and water, well mixed.

Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven 'til tender, about 1 1/2 hours. Pour or skim fat off, put chops on a platter and pour darkened, thickened sauce over them.

Note: This is the sort of dish you can prepare in the morning, stick in the fridge and tell some culinary incompetent who is staying at home to put in the oven at 350 degrees at 4:25 (plus, perhaps, some baking potatoes) and you can come home at 5:45 and have everything on the table by 6.

Bro. Louis Blenkner, St. John's Abbey

I don't know how an old cookbook from Minnesota ended up in a thrift store in San Antonio, Texas, but I'm glad it did. :o)

Wednesday With Reece

Reece was so sweet yesterday and today. He is always so happy to be at our house, and it lifts my heart to see him walk in the front door, smiling and talking.

Here he is watching Pingu on my iphone. He is usually not allowed to touch my phone, so he was delighted when I handed it to him and let him hold it while he watched. :o) (Don't you love his little hands)?

After supper we played with his Hot Wheels City while Papa went to the grocery store. He came back with cookies and candy and a "present" for Reece--more Hot Wheels, of course.



Our home school unit for now is "forest animals," and I got a bunch of library books with that theme to read. We read some of them, but still have plenty left.

He wasn't interested in the book about beavers, so we haven't built the beaver dam yet, but I'm looking forward to doing that with him.

I didn't find all of the books on the list for this unit, but I think these will do. They are: Bedtime For Bears, Box Turtle At Long Pond, Otters Underwater, In The Deep Dark Forest, Every Autumn Comes The Bear, Raccoons And Ripe Corn, Rabbits And Raindrops, Can't You Sleep, Little Bear?, The Tale of Timmy Tiptoes, Bears In The Forest, The Beaver Pond, Over In The Meadow, Small Green Snake, and Father Bear Comes Home (a Little Bear book. He loves Little Bear). We're a bit heavy on the bear books, but he likes stories about bears.

He was a sweetheart at Great Gran's today. We stopped on the way at McDonald's (yes, again!) and took her some lunch, too. Then they played with some cut-out cars and bears we had made. Then Reece wanted to walk Teddy, so the three of us took him out.

We met one of Mom's neighbors with her son and grandson. It was Patricia, whose husband Ralph wrote the book Tad. She said that Ralph is not doing well at all. I think that is why some of their children are here from out of state. They are the sweetest couple, and I'm really sad that he is so ill. Please send up prayers for him. Thank you!

Reece has met Patricia before. She gave him some candy when we delivered a cake to them for Christmas. Their interaction was so sweet. Reece talked to her and her son and grandson, and showed them a dandelion he had picked. Patricia gave him a big hug. I hope we brightened her day.

Sometimes Reece gets upset when it is time to leave Gran's, or when he realizes that I'm taking him home, but today he seemed to be looking forward to seeing Aubrey (his little sister). He kept asking me what I thought she was doing, and I'd give him a different answer each time. When we got to his house, he went right in and went looking for Aubrey to see what she was doing. :o)

Ron has found a gated arbor at Lowe's that he likes, so we are planning to go out to eat this evening, then stop and pick up the arbor.

Thrifty Thursday

I actually bought this stuff on Monday, but what the heck. I'm showing it to you on Thursday, so Thrifty Thursday. :o)

I think I got some pretty good bargains. That round plastic thing on the left is a food dehydrator. You can barely see it's box behind the Cootie game. All the parts are there, and it works, so I'm planning to dry a lot of fruits and veggies from the farmer's markets this summer. The booklet says you can make jerky and yogurt in it, too.

On top of the FAO Schwartz bead barrel is a mandoline, to slice and julienne foods. I'm going to make some sweet potato fries, and who knows what else. It has all its parts, too.

The bead barrel has hundreds of different kinds of beads--wooden ones, plastic, alphabet--and strings to string them on. Good for teaching little fingers manual dexterity. The girls will enjoy them, too, for making necklaces and bracelets.

The rest of the stuff is from the toy aisle at the thrift store. The Sound Studio kit has a drum, tambourine, kazoo, horn, slide whistle, a stringed instrument like a zither, and some maracas. I think the grands will have fun with it.

In front of it is the Cootie game, with all four cooties and all their parts, and the instructions. Reece and Aubrey have already been playing with the cooties.

In front of the Cootie game is a Bingo game and a box of Double 12 Dominoes, all intact. Then a Scrabble game and Mastermind. I bought the Scrabble set mostly to use in craft projects as we already have one. It would be good for "spare parts," too. The 550 piece puzzle was packaged with some of the other games--a lagniappe. :o)

The counting bears and cups, blocks and the baby ball were all in one bag. Reece has some counting bears, but we didn't have the colored cups for sorting. And the blocks match a set of blocks we already have, so now we have more of them. Camryn enjoyed playing with the little plastic ball when she was here. Don't worry, I scrubbed it in hot, soapy water. I'm a freak about cleaning the stuff I buy at thrift stores.

They were having a sale on children's books. Buy 5 for $1 (yes, 5 books for $1), and get 5 more FREE! So, 10 books for $1. You just can't beat that. Unfortunately, they were pretty picked over, but I did manage to find 10 that we can use.

I love the illustrations in some of them, particularly the one open in the front. It is David McPhail's Animals From A To Z.

Make Way For Ducklings (Robert McCloskey) has already become one of Reece's bedtime favorites. You can never have too many Mother Goose and other nursery rhyme books. And for my budding scientists, an insect book and a book about the body.

The Baby Brown Bear's Big Bellyache book includes lots of other familiar Little Golden Book characters in the story--Shy Little Kitten, Poky Little Puppy, Saggy Baggy Elephant, Tawny Scrawny Lion, Scuffy the Tugboat, and Tootle the Train. Too cute. :o) Danny and the Dinosaur (Syd Hoff) and The Runaway Bunny (Margaret Wise Brown) are classics that the little kids will love. I'll save the Thanksgiving book until November. Did I ever tell you that books are one of my favorite things? I want my grandchildren to love them as much as I do.

Old Fashioned Christmas Favorites

I checked out this book when I was at the library a few days ago. It is chock full of ideas for Christmas decorating, handmade gifts, recipes and holiday menus. It also has lots of memories and traditions from hundreds of families, which is the section I most enjoyed.

Here are a few of the traditions I particularly like:

Because the holidays are so busy and the grandchildren seem to receive so many gifts from Santa, my husband and I started a tradition of having the grandchildren open their gifts from us on Christmas Eve. After church, the children come home, settle down with hot chocolate and cookies, and open their special gifts from Gram and Grampa. This way it makes the holidays seem a little longer and more special. It gives the children a chance to realize what Gram and Grampa gave them instead of the gifts being lost in the excitement of Santa's gifts. People on fixed incomes can't afford large gifts, especially when they have several grandchildren, so this special time makes their gifts see more important and much more fun. When some of the grandchildren live far away, this also makes a special time on Christmas Eve to remember the grandparents who sent the gifts.

We have a tradition in our family that was started many years ago by my mother, called "Santa's Sleigh." We have a Santa doll and a little wicker sleigh, which sit on a table filled with tiny, but brightly colored, decorated packages. There is one package in the sleigh for each friend and family member who will be sharing Christmas dinner with us. The gifts are not opened until Christmas evening when we are having dessert. Then one of the children gets to pass out a gift to each person. It could be a pair of earrings, a small bottle of cologne, or a toy. The gits are small, but everyone looks forward to opening them, especially the children, because even after all of the festivities of Christmas Day they know that they will still have one gift left to open.

Each year my father would read from Dicken's A Christmas Carol to us in the evenings before going to bed. This would take a full week and the story would end on Christmas Eve.

And a recipe that looks yummy:

Scottish Shortbread

1 C butter, softened
1 C margarine, softened
1 C powdered sugar
4 C all-purpose flour
1/2 t baking powder
1/4 t salt

Preheat oven to 300°. Mix butter and margarine until creamy. Gradually add the sugar. Next add the remaining dry ingredients. Turn the dough out onto counter and knead gently about 10 times. Shape into a rectangle on a large cookie sheet. Pierce at 2 inch intervals all along top of shortbread. Bake for one hour. Once properly browned, cut immediately into small rectangles. Leave in pan to cool for 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container.

When It Rains, It Pours

So much for hoping that Katy has a mild case of Parvo. She is very sick tonight, and I'll take her to the vet for the IV fluids tomorrow morning. I've tried giving her water with the turkey baster, and we got her some Gatorade (for the electrolytes), but she can't keep anything down. I'm worried that she will get too dehydrated, so off to the vet again. :o( This stuff is a horrible, nasty illness. My poor babies.

Sister is better. She's still not eating much, but she does eat some, and will drink water on her own. She's also regaining her energy, and is more active. The vet said that in a couple of days she will be ravenous, and want to eat everything in sight. I hope he's right!

Do you ever think that bad things come in bunches? Seems like that's how it happens around here. Today on the way to Mom's, the transmission in my car stopped working. I had noticed that it was shifting funny, and told Ron a few weeks ago that something was wrong, but we didn't do anything about it. So today as I was driving along, the car engine would rev, but the gears were slipping. I knew I wasn't going to make it to Mom's, so turned around and was almost home--within a few blocks--when I had to stop at a stop sign on a hill. When I tried to go, the car just would not go, no matter which gear I put it in. So I had to call a tow truck. The car is sitting in the driveway now, useless piece of...junk.

Ron came home and took Mom's meds to her on the way back to work. He got a ride to work tomorrow, so I'll be able to keep the truck to take Kate to the vet and go to Mom's. Cars are such a pain in the you-know-what.

In spite of everything that is going on, I'm in good spirits. Reece is here tonight (he's with us every Tuesday night), and oh my, that little boy makes me happy. He's been as good as gold all evening.

At bedtime I was reading to him. One of the books we got from the library is Eating The Alphabet by Lois Ehlert. It's one of the books that relates to our lesson theme of being healthy.

Anyway, did you know that the word papaya is the funniest word in the world? Reece got so tickled when I read that word! We were making the sounds the letters make, and he likes the "p-p-p" sound of the letter P. But papaya had him absolutely cracking up! He kept repeating the word, then would erupt in laughter, and so would I. I bet no one has ever had so much fun reading that book as we did tonight.

I thought he would be too wound up after all the laughing to go to sleep, but he was asleep in a matter of minutes after the light went out. What a sweetie!

Please continue to pray for Sister and Katy, especially Katy. Thank you so much!

Wednesday With Reece

The small town just north of ours has opened a new public library. Reece and I went over there this morning for pre-school story hour. I didn't get to look around much, but what I did see looks wonderful! I've always loved libraries.

Reece enjoyed story hour, but was more interested in watching the other children than in listening to the story. I didn't mind. He isn't around groups of children very much, and he was learning the ropes. :o)

Halfway through the story he wanted to leave. He had seen blocks and puzzles outside the door to the story room, and wanted to go play. So we went out and he played with the puzzles and blocks and watched the other kids some more. We were there until everyone left, and he still didn't want to leave the library.

I got a library card and we checked out a few books, then went to see his Great Gran. He was nearly asleep when we got there and said that he wanted to take a nap. As soon as we got inside her apartment, he went to the bedroom and crawled up onto the bed. I covered him with a blanket, he smiled and asked me to lie down, too. So I did and he went to sleep for over an hour. He's never done that before. It was so sweet. He woke up all happy and rested, so I guess he really needed that nap.

He came back home with me. His sisters had doctor appointments this afternoon, so I kept him until his daddy came to pick him up around 5 PM. I loved spending the day with him. We stopped at Taco Cabana and picked up lunch, then he watched a video, played in a big empty box while I cleaned up the kitchen and played with his cars. We were reading one of his library books when his daddy got here.

One of his favorite things to do lately (since the car trip to Arkansas) is to go on a "Bear Hunt." Last night we found a neat Bear Hunt video on You Tube. You can find everything on the internet!

Vintage Kid's Books

Here are the books and phonics puzzle I got at the thrift store.

The puzzle is a floor puzzle and has huge pieces. I think Reece and Jacob will like it. :o)

The little Richard Scarry book will help Reece with counting, but it's the other two books I really like.



The book jacket on The Little River Of Gold is pretty ratty, but it looks perfect without the jacket.






























It was published in 1947.






I love the old fashioned illustrations. The inside covers have drawings in color, but the illustrations inside the book are black and white.








The jacket on the other book, God Gave Me Eyes, is in bad shape, but the cover underneath is not bad. The book has a copyright date of 1942.

What I love about it are the illustrations by Ellen Segner. Aren't they beautiful?

I will probably keep the book as is, but the pictures could be framed for use in a child's room.






The little verse by Olive W. Burt is lovely, too.

God gave me eyes that I might see
The wonder of a blossoming tree,
My dolly's face, my story book,
And how the various creatures look.

God gave me ears that I might hear
The laugh of brooklets ringing clear,
My kitten's purr, a violin
And Mother, when she calls me in.


God gave me a nose that I might learn
The perfume of each flower in turn,
Of fragrant foods prepared to eat,
The dusty smell of new cut wheat.

God gave a tongue that I might know
The flavor of all fruits that grow,
The taste of honey from the bee,
And good things Mother cooks for me.

God gave me a sense of touch that I
Might do my work, feel wind pass by,
Might know the sun's caressing heat
And dusty roads beneath my feet.

I thank You, God, for making me
So that I hear and feel and see;
And since these dear gifts came from You
I'll use them as You'd want me to.

Wild Things

I've always been a book lover, and I enjoyed the books my kids and I read together as much as they did. And now I get to do it all over again with my grandkids. :o)

Today Lily and I went book shopping. She just turned six and will be in first grade in the fall, so we bought a couple of beginner readers so that she can practice. I told her that by the time she goes home, she will be able to read one of the books to her daddy when she sees him again. She likes that idea.

While we were shopping we found a copy of Maurice Sendak's Where The Wild Things Are and bought it for Reece. He is spending the night tonight, so I read it to him at bedtime and he loved it. It was fun to read it to a child once again.

He was surprised to see Lily here today when his daddy brought him over. He looked for Caelen and Ahlyssa. But in a short time, he was playing with her and following her around. She is so sweet with him. They went with me to visit their Great-Gran and kept her entertained while we were there. I'm sure we'll have lots of fun while Lily is visiting. In the words of Max, "Let the wild rumpus start!" :o)

Big Dan and Little Ann

We decided on Wilson Rawls' Where The Red Fern Grows as the book we will read together while the Grands are here. We read the first two chapters at bedtime tonight.

My dad loved this book. He could have been the boy in the story. He grew up in northeastern Oklahoma, the setting of the book, and strongly identified with the main character. I loved it too, and was thrilled when Caelen and Lyssa found it among my books and asked me to read it to them.

They saw a play at school based on the book, so they are already familiar with the story, and know that it has a sad ending.

When I finished the second chapter tonight and said that was all until tomorrow, they protested and wanted me to read more. My voice is hoarse from talking so much while our company has been here this past week, so I told them we would have to wait until tomorrow. They were sweet about it.

I'm exhausted. Everyone is asleep, and I have one more load of laundry to put in the dryer, then sweet dreams.

We Love To Read

My youngest grandson, Reece, likes books. Right now his favorites are The Teeny Tiny Woman and Green Eggs And Ham. He also likes Goodnight Moon and a paperback about Thomas the Train, plus lots of little chubby books about puppies, kittens and shapes. :o)

Our copy of The Teeny Tiny Woman is illustrated by Benrei Huang. Reece likes the pictures. They are colorful and the faces on each character are sweet and friendly. This is especially important in this book because it's just the teeny tiniest bit scary for an almost 3 year old. :o)

Take a look at some of Benrei Huang's illustrations here. They are really nice.

I bought the book at the thrift store for 45 cents. I love a bargain. I bought myself a couple of fiction books for summer reading, too. Mine are Survivor by Tabitha King and Trace by Patricia Cornwell, hardcovers for 99 cents each. (*edit: Trashed the King book--X rated and not worth even 99 cents).

Oh my kids loved to read when they were little. Kelly (and Josh, too) loved Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House series. Jason read every Three Investigator book (and anything else) he could get his hands on, and they all loved the Narnia books, and the Ring trilogy as they got older.

Now I'm reading their old favorites to my grandchildren. Last summer I read Charlotte's Web and Heidi to my granddaughters. This summer I'd like to start the Little House On The Prairie series with them. But maybe first we'll read Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, or The Secret Garden or..........may I should let them choose. :o)