The Birthday Girls of August- Tater Tot Hotdish and Nacho Dip

This past week, on August 19th, was the birth day of two of our favorite ladies, Grandma Warnygora and Auntie Lou.  I was off on a toot with my sisters so I apologize for not getting this post up sooner.  But rest assured I was thinking about both of them on that special day!  They have touched our lives in many ways.  Even though Grandma is no longer with us, I know that they both have a hold on our hearts!  This mother and daughter duo have taught us so much by example about kindness, generosity and love.  I, for one, am so grateful God brought them into our lives!

Since this post honors 2 great girls, I'll be giving you 2 great recipes!  It's a two-fer!!!  The first recipe is from Grandma.  She never wrote it down for me, so I'll be telling you as she told it to me.  This is one of Emily's all time favorite recipes.  You guessed it:

Tater Tot Hotdish!

1 1/2 - 2 lbs of ground beef, browned and drained

2 cans cream of chicken soup (or 1 can cream of chik and 1 can cream of celery soup)

1 can milk

salt and pepper to taste

1 bag frozen peas

1 bag frozen tater tots

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease a large casserole dish and set aside.  Combine the soups, milk and salt and pepper with the ground beef in frying pan, add more milk if mixture seems too thick.  Transfer to the prepared casserole dish and spread evenly over bottom of pan.  Top with a layer of frozen peas. (Now this is controversial at our house:  Neil & Em like the peas, Ty and I do not!  So I only put peas on one side on the dish.  At this point, Ty and I like to add a layer of shredded cheddar cheese.  Emily is not a fan! So again, I just put the cheese on one side.)  Next dump the entire bag of tots over the meat and peas, piling evenly. (Grandma placed them all in nice even rows, traditional Minnesota style!)  I like to sprinkle a bit salt over the tots.  Then it's ready for the oven, so bake it for 1 hour or until the juices are bubbling up and the taters are nicely browned.

*I looked up this recipe online.  Oh My Goodness!  There are soooo many variations and most of them are just plain wrong!  Stick with Grandma's recipe and you will be happy every time!

And now for part two, the recipe from Auntie Lou!  This recipe became a favorite of ours the first time we tried it.  Not only that, but all our friends love it too!  I'm reminded of Lauren Christiansen eating it until she was "dip sick".  And it's jumped family lines, I hear the Stude boys have even adapted it to their own tastes!  Grab a bag of chips and get ready to enjoy!

Largent Nacho Dip

1 pkg cream cheese, softened

1 can nacho cheese soup

1 can chili with no beans

In a microwavable bowl, stir the cream cheese until smooth.  Blend in the cheese soup, followed by the chili.  Cover and microwave until heated, stirring often.  Serve immediately with chips or fresh veggies.  Pour in another container to serve if desired.

* Nacho cheese soup has gotten hard to find.  I substitute regular cheese soup.  Sometimes I add a bit of taco seasoning or salsa to give it a bit more zip!

Enjoy these recipes and think of Grandma & Auntie Lou every time you serve them, with love!

Happy Birthday Ty! Our little boy is 21!

Yesterday we celebrated your 21st birthday Tyler!  I enjoyed being with you for the day.  But I have really enjoyed being with you for your life!  You have had a good one!

Of course, you've heard the stories.  You were born at North Memorial Hospital on 8-9-89 (cool birth date!).  Emily had gone to the Albinson's in the wee hours of the morning and Dad and I spent the day awaiting your arrival.   You were born at 3:33pm and I guess you could say you took my breath away (they had to put me on oxygen shortly before you were born =).  We named you Tyler Eugene, for your Grandpa Warnygora.  Emily fed you your first bottle and you gave her a brand new baby doll.  You were friends right from the start! 

As a tiny baby you displayed some characteristics that have followed you throughout your life.  You were good natured, such a happy baby!  You were patient, willing to wait while we got your bottle prepared.  You were relaxed, not a fussy baby, you didn't demand unneeded attention.  You were flexible, always willing to go along with whatever our family was doing.  Those traits have grown with you and we love the man you have become!

I have been trying to soak in every moment with you this summer, realizing that it may be the last time you live at home.  We don't know what the future holds for you, but God does!  For 21 years we have been praying for His guidance for you.  We are looking forward to seeing what God has planned for you.  Enjoy your senior year at North Park, listen to God, drink in all the opportunities that come your way, make the most of this year with God!  

For this birthday you asked for rhubarb meringue dessert instead of birthday cake.  Rhubarb seems to be a new discovery for you this year.  I have enjoyed it's tart goodness since I was a little girl growing up on the farm.  Grandma mentioned in her birthday letter to you that you were just one month old when they had the auction at the farm.  Since you have no memories of Grandpa's farm, maybe that's why it took you so long to discover rhubarb!

Rhubarb Meringue Dessert

Crust

1 cup cold butter

2 cups flour

2 tablespoons sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Using a mixer, combine the  flour, sugar and cut in the butter until crumbly.  Press into a greased 9X13 baking dish.  Bake for 20 minutes, then cool on a wire rack while preparing the filling.

Filling

2 cups sugar

1/3 cup flour

1 teaspoon salt

6 egg yolks, beaten

1 cup whipping cream

5 cups sliced fresh or frozen rhubarb

Separate the 6 egg yolks from the whites, refrigerate the whites until to make the meringue.  In a bowl combine the sugar, flour and salt.  Stir in the egg yolks and cream.  Add the rhubarb.  Pour over the crust and return it to the 350 oven to bake for 50 to 60 minutes or until set.

Meringue

6 egg whites

1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

3/4 cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

In a mixing bowl, beat the egg whites and cream of tartar on medium speed until soft peaks form.  Gradually beat in sugar, a tablespoon at a time, until stiff peaks form.  Beat in vanilla.  Spread over hot filling.  Bake for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown.  Cool on a wire rack.  Refrigerate for 1-2 hours before serving. Refrigerate leftovers. Happy Birthday Ty! We love you!

 

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.