 |
| Grandmother's buffet in her new, updated kitchen |
 |
| Her legendary frozen chocolate chip cookies (recipe follows) |
 |
| Downtown Weatherford, Chloe remarked how much she liked the decorations |
 |
| Another shot |
When we're home (Oklahoma City) for Thanksgiving, it's been a tradition to go to Weatherford to my dad's parents house the Friday after Thanksgiving. Grandmother and Grandad have had their farm forever, I wish knew the year on it but I'd say before 1945. He farms several thousand acres of cotton and wheat and has 100 head of cattle. In the 1970's Grandad used to do a lot of his farm work via horseback which is when I started my undying love of horses. In junior high during the summers, I'd spend weeks and even a month in Weatherford. I would ride around bringing up cattle and to the "mound" which I'm sad I didn't get a photo of, dang it. I wish I'd have taken a photo of them too to put on this blog but I was too busy eating and socializing. But those summers were wonderful for me. I loved every minute on the farm. I'd start my day before dawn, Grandad would already be out, Grandmother would have a little breakfast of eggs, toast and orange juice set out for me. I'd go to the barn and saddle up Buck or Prince and run around doing chores. Buck, a bay thoroughbred, was 16 or so back then and a gentle giant. His only hang up was he was always ready to back to the barn for feed. We'd ride around the lot, turn for home and he'd do a full sprint to get back to the barn. Prince, a gray thoroughbred, was my Aunt Janet's horse and equal in age to Buck. I didn't ride him as much because he was so darn fast and excellent and taking the bit in his teeth and controlling the rider, it worried my Grandparent's if I'd ride him. I have fallen off both these horses numerous times through the years, thank goodness no harm done, and Buck stepped on my foot one time. It hurt so bad but I was too embarrassed to tell Grandad about it so I just tried to walk normally but during dinner that night I burst into tears because the pain was so bad. They both couldn't believe I kept it under wraps but I didn't want to not be trusted around Buck, I loved him. I didn't ride for a few days after that and then I was back on. If I had a scanner, I'd show you the photos of Buck and Prince.
But to today's wonderful dinner made by Grandmother and her sister Marge who lives across the street. She had a good, moist turkey, oyster dressing, broccoli casserole, potato casserole, regular dressing, green beans with bacon, her homemade bread and Aunt Marge's noodles. Both Grandmother and Aunt Marge are legends in the kitchen. During those summers, Grandmother would make a great Taco salad , homemade cinnamon rolls, breads, pies (chocolate was my favorite with her homemade meringue) and I'd always go over to Aunt Marge's and get her blond brownies. Thankfully Grandmother made Craig and I a cookbook of all her recipes. I love that cookbook and she added some blank sheets in the back of it that I have used to add my own recipes I've found.
For dessert, Grandmother had pecan and apple pie and a German chocolate cake that she said took forever and really dirtied up her kitchen. This diabetic did have a half a slice of pie and a half of a half slice of that chocolate cake and can report it was divine. I was surprised Chloe had some cake because of her dislike of coconut but she absolutely loved that cake. Chloe is a big fan of the sweets just like her mom.
We headed on out after a great game of spades between Kathy and I and notorious card cheaters my brother Craig and Jackie. We won and they complained about our record keeping and I complained about their card counting. Thank God for blind nill.
It was another great week spent in Oklahoma with my mom, my friends and family and the next day at the annual OSU/OU game. My grandparents sent all three of their kids to OSU but that can be forgiven. And 13th ranked OU beat 9th ranked OSU 47-41.
Grandmother's Cookies
Mrs. Field's Cookies (that's the title of her cookie recipe)
Cream together:
2 C. margarine (1 lb), I always use unsalted butter, that's 4 sticks btw
2 C. sugar
2 C. brown sugar, packed
Then add:
4 eggs, I use at room temperature
2 t. vanilla
Then Mix together:
4 C. flour
5 C. Oatmeal, blended in a blender until it turns to powder, measure first then blend
1 t. salt
2 t. baking powder
2 t. baking soda
24 oz. bag chocolate chips
1-8 oz. Hershey bar grated, I use my big cheese grater
3 C. chopped nuts, I omit this because of Chloe
Mix all ingredients. Bake on ungreased cookie sheets. For large cookies, make golf ball sized balls 2 inches apart and bake 375 degrees fro 6 minutes. Makes 112 large cookies. Store in freezer.
Grandmother's note: I make mine smaller, baking about 10 minutes at 375 degrees. Also, do not over bake. Bake cookies on top rack of oven to prevent over browning of the cookie bottom.
Grandmother stores her cookies in the freezer and they are so good cold. I freeze my own cookies because of her tradition. She's always good too about sending a loaf of bread and a sack of these cookies. What a nice tradition!
No comments:
Post a Comment