Banana Split

First:
3 cups graham (2 packs) cracker crumbs
1 1/2 sticks oleo

Second:
2 cups powdered sugar
2 eggs
2 sticks oleo
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla

Third:
2 cups pineapple (drained)
5 banana sliced

1st layer: cut 1 1/2 sticks oleo into crumbs and put in bottom of pan

2nd layer: beat powdered sugar, oleo eggs, and vanilla for 20 mins at high speed-then spread over cracker crumbs

3rd layer: spread pineapple over beaten mixture; cover with banana topping

1 container cool whip
1 cup chopped nuts
18-20 maraschino cherries

Spread cool whip over top; sprinkle with nuts. Place cherries on each serving and refrigerate over night

Applesauce Cake

1 cup dark brown sugar
1 stick butter
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 cup applesauce
2 cups flour
1 tsp. cinnamon
2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt

Cream sugar and butter. Add eggs and vanilla mix. Stir in applesauce and dry ingredients.

1 cup dates
1/2 cup candied pineapple
1 cup walnuts
2/3 cups cherries (dry)

Mix well-Bake 1 hour at 350 degrees.

Raisin Cookies

Filling:
1 lb. raisins
1 cup water
1 cup sugar
2 tbsps. flour
1 tsp. vanilla

Cook until thick on stove.

2 cups brown sugar
1 cup shortening and butter
1 egg
1 cup hot water
1 tsp. vanilla
5 cups flour
1 tsp. soda
1 tsp. baking powder

Bake 375 degrees for ten minutes.
Makes 3-4 dozen.

Hummingbird Food

4 cups of boiled water
1 cup of granulated sugar
A little red food coloring

Play Dough (Best)

1 cup corn starch
1 cup baking soda
1/4 cup cold water

You can add food coloring

Mix and cook over medium heat until mixture thickens to moist "mashed potato" consistency.

Cover with damp cloth and cool.

Knead & use cookie cutters!

Bread

4 cups warm water
1 cake of yeast
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 can of can-milk
1/3 cup shortening
1 1/2 tbsp salt


About 12 cups of flour makes 5 loaves.

Disolve year in warm water; add rest of ingredients. Add about 3 or 4 cups of flour and mix. Then just add a cup at a time until the dough leaves your hand clean.

Let it rise 2 times before panning it out. Bake at 375 degrees for 40 minutes

Meatloaf

hamburg (thawed)
1 chopped onion
small jar tomato sauce
a sleeve of saltine crackers (crushed)
1 egg
garlic
salt

Mix all by hand
350 degrees for 2 hours in a meatloaf pan

Potato Candy

1 med. size potato
2 lb. confectioner sugar
Peanut Butter

Boil potatoes with skin on until well done. Mash them, add confectioner's sugar until thick. Spread out on counter with flour. Spread peanut butter and roll as you would cinnamon rolls. Slice about 1/2 inch thick.

Peanut Blossoms

1 3/4 cup sifted flour
1 tsp soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup (firmly packed) brown sugar
1 egg
2 tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla
Candy kisses

Sift flour, soda, and salt. Cream shortening, peanut butter, and sugar. Add egg, milk, and vanilla. Beat well. Blend dry ingredients gradually-mix thoroughly.

Shape by rounded teaspoonfuls into balls. Roll in sugar and place on ungreased cookie sheets. Bake at 375 degrees for 8 minutes.

Remove from oven and place a candy kiss on top of each cookie, pressing down so that the cookie cracks around edges.

Makes 3 dozen.

Chocolate Covered Peanut Butter Balls (Adam & Michael's Favorite!)

2 sticks oleo (room temp.)
2 cup graham cracker crumbs
1 cup coconut
1 cup peanut butter
1 box powdered sugar (1 lb.)
1 tsp vanilla

Shape into small balls: set on cookie sheet to dry a little, then glaze with chocolate (see below).

1 (12oz) choco. chips
1/4 to 1/3 bar of parafin wax

Melt wax and choco. chips in top of double boiler, mix often.
Keep choco. hot
Roll balls in chocolate
Shake off excess choco. & set in wax paper to dry.

Makes 5 dozen.

[1 box of graham crackers = 5 cups]

Gram's Icing

1 cup milk
1/4 cup flour

Heat on stove until it comes to a paste, stiring constantly. Sit aside to cool.

Mix:
1 cup crisco
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla

Beat until the sugar is disolved (about 10 minutes).
Then add the milk & flour mixture

Sugar Cookies

1 1/2 cup sugar
1 cup shortening
2 eggs
4 1/2 cups flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/4 tsp baking soda
4 tsps baking powder
1 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla

Cream sugar and shortening, add eggs and mix well. Add dry ingredients alternately with milk & vanilla. Roll out on floured pastry cloth to 1/4 inch thickness.

Cut with cookie cutters and bake on ungreased cookie sheets at 350 degrees for 10 minutes or less.

Makes 5 dozen.

Mud Cake

1 1/2 cup sifted flour
3 tbsp. cocoa
1 tsp. baking soda
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
5 tbsp. cooking oil
1 tbsp vinegar
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup cold water

Put your sifted flour in the sifter, add to it the cocoa, soda, sugar, and salt and sift this right into a greased square cake pan about 9x9x2 inches. Now make 3 holes in dry mixture. Into one pour the oil, into the next the vinegar, and into the next the vanilla. Now pour your cold water over it all. Beat it with a spoon until its nearly smooth and you can't see flour.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 min.

Our Grandma

This blog is meant to be a memorial to our Grandma, Helen Adams. She passed away almost 3 years ago and I still remember exactly what her laugh sounded like and exactly what her hugs felt like. Sometimes when I think of something she would laugh at, I literally reach for the phone to call her, even though I haven't spoke to her in so long. She was so many great things; kind-hearted, warm, generous, and she loved unconditionally. Not like people pretend to be-but really unconditionally. She was beautiful-in all ways a person can be.

She was a great mother and grandmother too. There was a bond between the women in her family, while she was alive, that was pulled together by laughing, and stories, and gossip over dirty dishes. I looked forward to the holidays (any holiday!) mostly for the cleaning up. Not because I like cleaning up-believe me!-but because it was so much fun to hang out with great women and laugh and tell stories. We would never have been all together in that kitchen talking and laughing if it wasn't for two things: Her and her cooking. I wish with my whole heart that I could bring Her here. Although I can't, I do have the other piece. As the next bride in line-I inherited all her recipes. I will randomly pull one to share each day, in hopes to offer here a little piece of what Gram loved to do and what she was so amazing at. I hope that her legacy marches on through great food and a love for meeting in the kitchen and cleaning up.

"There was far more to tell. Had I been asked to speak of it, I would have begun with the story of the generation that raised me, which is the only place to begin. If you want to understand any woman you must first ask about her mother and then listen carefully...But the reason women wanted daughters was to keep their memories alive. Sons did not hear their mother's stories after weaning. My mother and aunties told me endless stories about themselves. No matter what their hands were doing-holding babies, cooking, spinning, weaving-they filled my ears...It is terrible how much is forgotten, which is why, I suppose, remembering seems a holy thing."
-The Red Tent by Anita Diamant