A Day In The Kitchen With My Mom

Last evening my Mom hinted to me about her doing her apples today. So this morning I grabbed my coffee cup and headed over to help her. She had about a bushel so it seemed like playing for me. Since I ussually do 7 bushels.

She doesn't even cut the seeds out.

As you can see she still has canned apple sauce. So she wanted to freeze this. Had to chuckle to myself cause we never had frozen apple sauce growing up but she said how much she likes it.;) to cute!

This is her other side of the canning storage. Wonder where I got my canning skills from?

She has a little kitchen in the garage for these kind of things.

She also had a brand new machine she was excited to try out. Its an Electric Strainer. Here my Amish Mom is way more with it then the non Amish me. I still have the old fashion crank one. Even though I hook it up to one of my husbands drills to have my apple sauce done in a flash.

 I heard about this Electric Strainer when I was on the Live Tv canning show. (Did a blog on it last summer) So my Mom found one at True Value in Millersburg. It is also a meat grinder. It worked great! But would recommend getting one that has bigger funnel on top that you can but in more apples. Oh and they have a solar battery pack that she could run it off of. Sure you were wondering if we ran cords from my house.ha

It's all cooling off before I put it in her freezer.

Next we made Dressing as we always called it growing up. But most of you probably call it Stuffing. She had these two bags of toasted bread frozen and toasted another day. She thawed it out this morning. And she informed me that if I ever make it that I can't toast in in oven the English < (how Amish people name the people that are not Amish) way. You will have to toast it in pan with butter.

Loved this cool chopping machine that chopped the carrots in no time.

So simple and fast. You can tell your mother n law thats what you want for Christmas. They can buy it at Walnut Creek Cheese.

Then she showed me exactly how to cut the celery.

While she peeled the potatoes.

Then I chopped fresh parsley.

Next she put her eggs in a huge bowl and

beat it up. This time I would probably win on the modern beater.:)

Loved how she just started pouring the salt and pepper and milk in with out any measurement. She truely is a women after my own heart or I guess vise versa. If you ever attended my canning classes you will know how hard it is to get an exact recipe from me.

She had it all added together and I asked her doesn't chicken go in there and she grinned with her dibbles and headed for the canned chicken in the canned storage area in her garage.

I'm sure she would have remembered.

The big bowl was filled to the brim.

Then she puts them in these containers to freeze. It's just the right size for her and Dad. All she has to do to prepare it is thaw it out and fry in butter.

 

 

 

DRESSING

 

4 loafs toasted bread

3 cups finely chopped carrots

4 cups finely chopped potatoes

3 cups finely cupped celery

big handful of fresh chopped parsley

6 eggs

4 pints cooked and chopped chicken with the juice

about a gallion of milk

3 T. black pepper

4 T. salt

Next I went home to catch up on phone calls and laundry and decided to whip up the first cutouts of the year. You know its a good recipe if the page is all sloppy and worn. It's a family favorite.

Ended up taking them over to Mom to bake and frost. Was fun doing them in her new kitchen. She thought the butter lumps weren't blended in dough right and asked me let me guess you just dumped things in? and shook her head and said I could never do that with cookies. I answered by saying just a little:0

Then of course we had to sit and rest and look at our pretty cookies.

 

SOFT SUGAR COOKIES

 

2 cups butter(melted;))

6 eggs

4 cups white sugar

2 cups sour cream

2 tsp vanilla

2 pinches salt

10 cups flour

2 tsp soda

6 tsp baking soda

chill and roll out with flour and is very soft. Key is to not over bake at 350. They shouldn't brown in oven.

 

Icing

 

4 oz cream cheese

3/4 bag powdered sugar

1 stick butter

 lil milk

dash almond extract

 

 

Feel like I will need to put a lock on ours. They are so good!

If you ever wonder where I get my crazy side here ^^^ it is. We took this picture and send it to my daughter Felicia and said we are so sad that she won't come eat a cookie instead of going to her workout. Guess what she showed up but still hasn't ate a cookie. Wish I had her willpower. Love cooking along side of my Mom.

And we finished off the day by having Dad and her over for dinner. I served some her dressing, cubed steak with mushroom sauce,salad,mashed potatoes,gravy, and of course apple sauce too.

Hope you had a good day too in what ever you did.

Feeling blessed with the Mom I have!