Sugar Cookies

Okay, so I totally stole this from Martha Stewart, so the link is below. If you're wondering what a stick of butter is, I'll save you the googling time: 1/2cup. I used margarine instead of butter, and I certainly didn't follow those high maintenance instructions. Cream margarine and sugar. Add the wet stuff followed by the dry stuff. I think I made them smaller, but her picture looks like my picture in terms of size. I baked them for ten minutes. Martha's oven must not be very efficient.

Giant Sugar Cookies

Potato Salad

Nothing says 'summer picnic' like potato salad. You could, of course, leave out the bacon...or you could jump in the lake and swim a little longer! This recipe makes enough dressing for a rather large salad - enough to share with your sister-in-law who doesn't like potato salad, but thinks this one is divine!

Ingredients

5 lbs red baby potatoes

1/2 small red onion, finely chopped

1/2 package bacon, fried and crumbled

2 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped

1/2 cup fresh dill, chopped

1 1/2 cup mayonnaise or Miracle Whip

3 tbsp grated Parmesan

3 tbsp ranch dressing

2 tbsp mustard

4 tsp white vinegar

1/2 tsp garlic powder

Salt & Pepper, to taste

1. Boil the potatoes until they are tender; cool.
2. Cut potatoes in halves, thirds or quarters, depending on how big you want the pieces.
3. Throw in red onion, bacon, parsley and dill.
4. Mix together remaining ingredients to make a dressing and stir it into the salad.
5. Chill before serving. It's best if you leave it overnight to let the flavours blend.

Grilled Corn

I experimented with grilled corn last summer and was pleasantly surprised. It takes longer than the traditional boiling but I think it's worth the extra time. I did find that the leftovers the next day were a little tough - an excuse to eat it all up for dinner!







Ingredients
Corn on the cob, husks removed
Butter or margarine
Salt and pepper

1. Place the corn on a piece of foil.
2. Spread butter on the corn and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
3. Wrap up the corn in the foil.
4. Grill 45 to 60 minutes, turning every 15 to 20 minutes.

I kept burning one side of the corn because when I was turning it, I couldn't figure out which side was already cooked. The solution to my dilemma was to label the sides of the corn from 1 to 3 with a sharpie. It's okay if you think I'm weird.

Vanilla Syrup

You know those bottles of syrup lining the shelves at your favourite coffee spot? (Unless you're a redneck and the most exciting thing at your favourite coffee spot is roll up the rim.) I accidentally made it one day while I was making baklava. It's a long story. You can use whatever flavour you can find. Vanilla, of course, is the easiest get. However, if you know someone who sells Watkins products, the sky's the limit! I use this syrup to sweeten homemade yogurt.

4 cups water
8 cups sugar
1/2 cup vanilla

1. Boil water and sugar to 100°C (use a candy thermometer)

1. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla.

1. Pour into glass bottles. This recipe will fill two bottles like the one shown below.

Chocolate Crinkles

I found many different versions of this recipe on my favourite recipe websites. This version is my favourite because it uses oil instead of margarine, butter or shortening. (Just because oil is quicker to measure and my life is too busy.) Sometimes, substituting oil for margarine changes the taste and makes cakes or cookies bland in comparison. This is an exception.

Ingredients
1 cup cocoa
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup oil
4 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
Icing sugar (confectioner's sugar) for coating

1. Mix together cocoa, sugar and oil.
2. Beat in eggs one at a time.
3. Stir in vanilla,
4. Add flour, baking powder and salt.
5. Chill two hours.
6. Roll dough into balls and coat with icing sugar.
7. Bake at 350 F (180°C) for 8 to 10 minutes. It's difficult to tell when they're done because of the chocolate colour. Take them out the oven sooner rather than later or they'll be hard.

Rejoice for Winter is Past

My lover spoke and said to me, "Arise, my darling, my beautiful one, and come with me. See! The winter is past; the rains are over and gone.

Song of Solomon 2:10-11

For someone who loves to write, I seem to be the absolute worst blogger when it comes to finding the time to write down all the things in my spirit. My silence over this past winter is not because I have nothing to say. I am simply speechless listening to what God is saying. So for the two or three people that actually read this blog, have patience with me. I shall return to write it all down. For now, just know that God is far from silent. I start to write it down and then something happens:

I stop. I pause for just a moment. And then I am overwhelmed.

Selah.

At the end of March I was driving home and looked up to see Canada geese flying overhead. Tears filled my eyes and I whispered, "winter is past". As the words escaped my lips, I knew that I had just declared something far more significant that the seasonal transition from winter to spring. 

Aslan is on the move...

Ginger Cookies

Ingredients

3/4 cup margarine
1 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 tbsp water
1/4 cup molasses
2 1/4 cups white flour
2 tsp ground ginger
3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
Extra white sugar for coating

1. Cream margarine and sugar.
2. Beat in egg, then water and molasses.
3. Add dry ingredients.
4. Shape dough into balls and then roll them in white sugar.
5. Place them on a cookie sheet and flatten slightly with the palm of your hand.
6. Bake at 350 F (180°C) for 8 to 10 minutes, depending how big you make the cookies. They shouldn't turn brown on the top or around the edges. If they are over-baked, they will be hard.