JENNIFER IS ENGAGED!!!- Jan's Banana Bread

What???   Jennifer is engaged!!!!

I can tell by the looks on your faces that Jennifer has done it again!  This girl is full of surprises and has kept us delighted for years!  Next summer she will be a married woman!  She is the first of your close childhood friends to get married and I feel a little like George Banks who looks across the table and sees a little girl instead of the beautiful young lady she has grown up to be.

 So, I thought this would be the perfect time to take a look back at our friend Jennifer Dwight.  I've had a tough time choosing which photos to use, there are so many good ones. Have fun enjoying Jen!

 Jennifer was one of the first friends the two of you made when we moved to Northbrook.  She came to Tyler's 3rd birthday party a few weeks after we arrived.  Then Jen and Emily started kindergarten together that fall and became part of  "one big family" at Westscott.  Together you two girls took on the world; school, play dates, softball, church, sleepovers, birthday parties, camp, band, Maple Jr high, choir, Springfield, cheer leading, confirmation, Washington DC,  Glenbrook North High School and CHIC.  You name it- you did it together.

    As a family we enjoyed spending time with Jennifer.  She would come over to play and keep us all entertained.  We will always remember the night she brought a whoopee cushion and kept us laughing for hours!  We all enjoyed our 2 mission trips to Ecuador.  Is that when Jen began saying "Hola Ty-Ty"? Some fun Ecuador memories with Jen include; watching "The Flintstones" in Spanish,  playing word games with Pastor Craig in the back of the bus, potty stops in sketchy places, Jen eating "snot fruit", sifting dirt, the local church kids serenading us, picking rocks in the river, leading VBS, riding in the crazy little cart to cross the river and begging for Pizza Hut.

 Spending time with Jennifer was always a trip.  The three of you got along so well, the girls always included Ty so it was like you had two sisters.  At one point Jen and Em began calling Tyler Cheats Quimby.  For a while this drove Ty crazy but somehow it just became funny.  Another name from Jen is Ishbu, an imaginary personality she made up on a Jr high mission trip to Minneapolis.  She had everyone in the van laughing all the way home!

 Jennifer has a great sense of humor and she she loves to dress up.  She showed up at a Halloween party dressed as Elmo, even her face was red!  But her favorite go-to costume is an old lady,  wearing one of her grandma's dresses, with powdered hair and large fake boobs,  she works her way through the room making everyone smile.  This past Halloween you two girls dressed as a Jr. high couple, she showed up as the boy, her boxers hanging out, with a note for you, "Emily, would you be my girlfriend?"

We look forward to lots more fun with our friend Jennifer.  She is going to keep life interesting for Bob. I'm sure she will take her sense of humor with her, hopefully she will take her mom's recipe for banana bread.  It's easy to make and always brings a smile.  Just like Jen!

Jan's Banana Bread

1 1/2 cups oil

2 cups sugar

4 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla

2 1/2 cups flour

2 teaspoons soda

2 teaspoons salt

1/2 cup milk

4 ripe bananas, mashed

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Cream together oil, sugar, eggs and vanilla.  In a separate bowl mix dry ingredients together and, alternating with the milk, add to sugar/oil mixture.  Mix well.  Add mashed bananas.  Bake in greased, floured loaf pans for 45 to 60 minutes, until toothpick comes out clean.

* This makes a lot of batter.  Makes good muffins if too much for your pans.  

* You can add 1 cup mini chocolate chips for yummy chocolate banana bread.

Update!

Hi!  I hope you are enjoying my blog as much as I am enjoying writing it.  I recently learned that some of you are only reading the emails which means you are missing the best part!  At the bottom of each email is the underlined phrase "Hey Mom, could you make.....?  Just click on it and it will take you to my blog.  Hope this increases your enjoyment!

Also, some of you have told me you have been unable to comment.  Blogger/ Blogspot has recently updated their settings, Ty and I made some changes and he was able to leave my 1st comment!  So please leave a comment, I'd love it!  Thanks so much for reading my stuff!  Love you =)

Happy Birthday Carri! - Pasta Salad

Today is Carri's Madison's birthday!  Get ready to celebrate!  Happy Birthday Carri!  This is a day we do not want to over look!

We have known the Madison's for 8 years.  Carri and JT moved to Glenview while JT was with the Navy and soon they began attending Northbrook Covenant.  We are soooooo glad they did, because it gave our family a chance to get to know them!  Soon, Carri and JT began working with the youth group at church.  They quickly became a reliable, steady presence in the lives of kids.  They touched lives by just showing up!  They began showing up at everything, choir concerts, baseball games, band concerts, Soundstage, civil war re-enactments, band concerts, they were every where that was important to you kids! As a parent it was great to watch the impact the two of them were making. 

Carri fell into the role of "older sister" or very young aunt to most of the kids at church.  She did this well and because of her easy going personality you all listened when she gave her opinion.  You all enjoyed her love when each year she and JT called the night before school started to wish you a good 1st day of school.  You will never forget to "make good choices",  Carri's  reminder as kids headed out for the night.  Carri encourages everyone of you to give it your best when she says"Love God, Love Others, Shoot for C's".  David is grateful to be known as "her son".  And where would Ty be today if Carri hadn't kept after you to "quit smoking"! 

So today, I salute Carri Ann Madison.  Lover of Jesus, wife of JT,  mother of Lily, caretaker of CJ, fellow Starbucks addict, encourager, shopping partner,  baker of brownies, compassionate soul, guilty partner in enjoying "the Bachelor / Bachelorette", knitter, beautiful vocalist, dog-sitter, deaconess, musician,  co-devotee of "DWTS"& "The Hills", fashionista, consumer of MnM's and DEAR FRIEND!

In honor of Carri's special day I requested the recipe for her pasta salad.  Happy Birthday Carri!

Carri's Pasta Salad

1 pkg tri color rotini, cooked

1 brick colby jack cheese, cut into small chunks

1 cucumber, large dice

cherry tomatoes

pepperoni (optional)

1 bottle Wishbone Italian dressing 

Mix pasta, cheese, veggies and meat.  Pour on enough dressing to moisten.  Toss salad. Chill (Carri says it is better cold =).  Add more dressing before serving if it seems dry.  You can add other veggies if desired.  Yummy!

Grandma Renshaw's Coconut Cream Pie

This week I baked a recipe from my Grandma, Margaret Ackerman Renshaw. Since you never got to meet her I thought I'd tell you a little about her and Grandpa, Alfred Renshaw.  Margaret was pretty cool so I'll have to save some of her story for other posts.

My grandparents weren't able to have children.  Some relatives were visiting and told them a sad story.  Another couple, also related, had a newborn baby girl.  But the new mother had died the day after the baby was born, leaving the father with a small boy and a tiny baby.  He felt he couldn't take care of both children and was looking for a good home for the baby.  Alfred and Margaret decided to adopt the baby and so my Mom,  Elizabeth Ann Schrader became a Renshaw and moved to Rushmore Minnesota.  And that is were my story takes place.

We all lived on a farm.  Grandma & Grandpa lived on the farm with us. Actually, I guess it started out as their farm, Grandpa & Dad began farming together after Mom & Dad got married.  There were 2 houses on our farm, we lived in one and they lived in the other.  When I was born our family was living in the "little house" which was a newer, smaller house that sat close to the road.  I guess this house was built for my parents to live in when they moved to the farm.  The "big house" was the original farm house and Grandma & Grandpa lived there.  I guess my Mom grew up in that house but I never heard any talk about that.

One of my earliest memories was the day our family moved into the big house and G & G moved into the little house.  Our family had gotten too big to fit comfortably in our cozy home so we just swapped houses!  All I really remember about that day was carrying my little rocking chair to the big house.  I don't remember living in the little house but I have pictures to prove I did.  Here I am celebrating my 3rd birthday in the little house!

 So, Grandma & Grandpa were our closest neighbors, we saw them everyday.  Grandpa came to our house twice daily for coffee break, in the middle of the morning and mid afternoon, on the farm this was called "lunch".   Here is the breakdown of meals on the farm: breakfast, lunch, dinner, lunch, supper, followed by a large dessert before bed.  We ate a lot!

Most days I saw Grandma because I was sent to her house for some reason.  Shirley and I were Mom and Grandma's  errand runners.  If Mom needed to give something to or borrow something from Grandma, we would go running across the yard to deliver or pickup whatever was needed. I loved to see Grandma so I didn't mind being sent, except at night when I was always worried a wolf might get me, although I have never seen a wolf on the farm.  Crazy kid!  Grandma had some toys at her house that we could play with if we needed to hang out for a while.  There were blocks, and a toy car that was kept under her china hutch.  If Grandpa was around we would play with the car.  Grandpa was getting old and slowing down, so he would sit in his comfy chair across the room.  We would roll the car to him and he would stop it with his foot, then lean down and push it back.  

Grandma always seemed to be baking.  I guess a lot of the treats she baked came to our house because the two of them could not possibly have eaten all of that food!  She made great cookies, angel food cakes and especially pies!  Her pie crusts were amazing, practically a food group by themselves!  Of course, her secret to tender, flaky crusts was lard.  You don't hear about lard much these days, not so good for your arteries!  But if you need to make a really fabulous pie crust from scratch, lard is the way to go.  She always made some extra crust or perhaps she just rolled it so thin that she had some leftover.  The leftover crust would be laid out on a cookie sheet, sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar, baked and served up warm to the errand runners.  Lucky us!

Grandma's pies came in lots of flavors but the ones I remember the most were lemon meringue, coconut cream and apple .  All delicious!  I don't think I have ever had apple pie as good as Grandma's apple pie. I'm not sure what else she did to make it so special but it was truly amazing!  She also worked wonders with meringue and custards, so smooth and creamy. Perfection!

I got to thinking about her pies this week and realized Aunt Shirley had given me Grandma's coconut cream recipe.  Alas, no recipe for the crust!  But the creamy coconut custard went together easily and a store bought crust did its best to fill in for the memorable pastry, topped off with a beautiful meringue.  The guys and I have been gobbling it up, sorry it won't last until Emily gets here!  But here is Grandma's recipe so you can make it yourself, enjoy!!! 

 Grandma Renshaw's Coconut Cream Pie

Custard

1 3/4 cups milk

1/4 cup white corn syrup

4 T cornstarch

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 tsp salt

3 eggs yolks

 1 tsp vanilla

1 cup coconut 

Meringue

3 egg whites

1/4 tsp cream of tartar

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla

  Add coconut and vanilla.  Let cool  while you prepare meringue.  Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Pour custard into pie shell and then spread meringue over warm filling.  

Bake for 15-20 minutes.  Let cool and then refrigerate.  

*This pie tastes better the second day.

*The custard was very sweet,  next time I might experiment with slightly less sugar.

Enjoy this pie with a cup of coffee at lunch or anytime of day!

Grandma Anderson's Coffee Cake

For the first time Dad and I are going to Worthington without you. It is bound to seem very strange. I'm sure you will be fine. But we are not used to being there without you. Grandma keeps asking if "you'll be coming after all". We will be staying with Grandpa & Grandma. You and the Tonn's will not be there to entertain us. This could be interesting!

There are some pretty predictable things that most trips to Worthington include. We will talk about baseball. We will be going out to the Stude farm, Curt and Nancy are building a new house. We will go to Indian Lake Baptist for Sunday church. Dad and I will do some walking (or in Dad's case, running) around town. Dad hopes to get back to that little Mexican bakery and I will try in vain to find a Tazo chai latte. We plan to take G&G out for dinner somewhere, Grandma has a new/old place in mind. We will spend a lot of time watching Grandpa work the remote, I'm bringing 2 books and 4 magazines. I'm sure they will have saved a stack of newspapers for Dad to read so he better bring his glasses! There might be some drives in the country or to see some changes in town. But the one thing we can count on is food, food, and more food!

Grandma is big on feeding everyone until they are stuffed, and then feeding them again, and again, and again. Don't get me wrong, she is a very good cook. And, she certainly can feed a crowd! She is just really bad at estimating what a normal stomach can hold in a day. Grandma often is heard to say "There is not enough left to save, someone needs to eat it up"! So, trust me, we will be eating, a lot!

One of Grandma's classic creations is her coffee cake. This moist, lightly spiced cake, which is really more of a dessert, appears at the breakfast table on most of our visits. It is a favorite of Uncle Dwight's, so she always has it on hand when he is in town. It's very comforting to have a big slice of the cinnamon-y pastry when the family is all gathered for Anderson Christmas. It has become a tradition for us overnight guests.

Now, I have never baked it myself but I do have her recipe, so it's time to share it with you. Enjoy a big slice! Or two. Or three. Someone needs to eat it up!

Grandma Anderson's Coffee Cake

1 pkg yellow cake mix

1 pkg instant vanilla pudding

3/4 cup oil

3/4 cup water

4 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

Combine and beat for 8 minutes.

Topping:

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 tsp cinnamon

chopped nuts, if desired

Grease sides and bottom of a 9 X 13 cake pan or angel food pan. Pour in half of the batter and sprinkle with half of the topping. Cover with the remaining batter and sprinkle with the rest of the topping. Bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes.

4-H Memories- SnickerDoodles

The 4-H Pledge

I pledge my Head to clearer thinking,

my Heart to greater loyalty,

my Hands to larger service,

and my Health to better living,

for my club, my community, my country and my world.

When I was growing up on the farm, all of us Anderson kids were members of 4-H. Most farm kids were 4-H club members and attended weekly meetings. Our local club was called The Rushmore Central Hustlers. I'm not sure that is a very good name these days but I checked online and they are still using it. Hmmmmm.

At the 4-H meetings we learned about a variety of things from our leaders or other kids in the club. Topics could include livestock, farm machinery, sewing, foods, gardening and well, you get the idea. You could focus on certain areas of interest and then bring your "projects" to the county fair for exhibition and judging. Ribbons of different colors were given to designate placement in the competition. We always hoped for the dark purple grand champion ribbon. If you did well at the county fair you might win a trip to the Minnesota State Fair!

Aunt Shirley and I usually brought the following entries to the county fair:

* a poster about safety or health

*one or more baked items

* a clothing item we had sewn

* 2 or more hogs

and occasionally

* an updated household item or piece of refinished furniture

Although Grandpa raised beef cattle and hogs, he had given up on letting us little girls show cattle at the fair because it had been too hard for Aunt Janice. I always felt a little cheated, but I gotta admit that showing our hogs was a lot of work. But, it was also the most fun!

I have great memories of the county fair, so it was a big disappointment last summer to see how much it has changed. Somehow, selecting a store bought outfit to exhibit is just not the same as sewing your own garment for competition! One of the highlights of the county fair, back in the day, was the Dress Revue. Girls would model whatever garment they had sewn and walk across the stage at the grandstand, kind of a country girls fashion show. The younger girls would start out with an easier project, like an apron. Each year you would try a more difficult sewing project. The picture above (taken in the 1970's) is of me in the last outfit I remember sewing for the county fair. Check out the swoopie bangs, oh my!

The same was true for baked entries. Each age group was given a recipe to make, so we were all competing to bake the best example of the same item. For example, Beginning Foods competitors would start with baking powder biscuits and then move on to snickerdoodle cookies the next year.

One year, Aunt Shirley and I decided to divide and conquer. She would do all of our sewing projects and I would do our baking. This seemed like a good idea because she was the better seamstress. I got frustrated easily if things didn't go so well. Plus, I have always loved baking. Okay, to be honest I don't think it ever entered my mind that this was cheating, sorry to set a bad example. Anyway, I set to work on perfecting that year's assigned recipe: Angel Food Cake. Aunt Shirley sewed a nice dress for me to enter but it only earned a Red ribbon, about equal to a D on a report card. But, the cake I baked for Shirley got the Reserve Grand Champion ribbon! One of the best ribbons I have ever won at the county fair! Aunt Shirley is still a better seamstress than me, but I can bake a prize winning angel food cake from scratch any day!

The recipe I want to share with you is not for angel food cake, why bother when you can buy a perfectly good box mix! No, sometimes the easy, beginner recipes are the best ones to share!

SNICKERDOODLES

2 3/4 cups flour

1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp baking powder

1 cup butter

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/3 cup sugar

2 teaspoons cinnamon

Beat the butter and 1 1/2 cups sugar until creamy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Scrape down the sides of the bowl occasionally. Mix in the vanilla, salt and baking powder. Add the flour and mix until dough is smooth. If dough is too soft, cover and refrigerate for 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Shape the dough into 1 inch round balls. In a small bowl mix together the sugar and cinnamon. Roll the balls in the cinnamon sugar and place on cookie sheets about 2 inches apart. Bake for 8 -10 minutes, or until light golden brown around edges. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool. Makes about 6 dozen cookies. This easy recipe will earn you a blue ribbon any day!

Swedish Brownies

Today at church we said goodbye to Pastor Paul & Cheryl Bengtson. Pastor Paul has done a fabulous job as our interim pastor. They came to us while our church was trying to bounce back from a very difficult situation. And they brought JOY with them! We had been without it for a long time and it has been wonderful to feel joyful again. Paul and Cheryl seem to have touched the lives of everyone at church in a very short time. It was great to see the outpouring of love for them today as people shared how they have been affected by Paul and Cheryl's ministry.

I will always think of hugs when I think of Pastor Paul. He hugs everyone! He certainly is good at making people feel included and welcomed. I know he made efforts to befriend both of you, although he may always call Tyler "Kyle"! I'm sure we will miss his big laugh and easy friendship.

One Sunday, Paul & Cheryl invited Dad and I over to the little blue house on Greenview for lunch. We had a great time getting to know them better. Cheryl served a dessert we had never had before. She introduced us to Swedish Brownies! There is no chocolate in these yummy bars because they are Swedish, they are blonde! They have become my new favorite, hope you like them too!

Cheryl Bengtson's Swedish Brownies

2 cups sugar

4 eggs

2 tsp almond extract

1 cup butter or margarine, melted

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

2 cups flour

Mix in order given. Spread in 9x13 pan. Sprinkle generously with sugar (and 1/2 cup sliced almonds if desired). Bake 30-35 minutes at 350. Enjoy with your favorite Swede or North Parker!