Great-Grandma Ruth's Shrimp Cocktail

4 cans small shrimp
3 16 oz bottles of catsup
1 Tablespoon horseradish
1 Tablespoon worcestershire sauce
1 1/2 Tablespoons prepared mustard
dash of garlic salt, pepper, salt
juice of 2 lemons
1 cup celery

Serves 20

Orange Rolls

1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons grated orange peel
2 teaspoons orange juice
1/3 cup melted butter
1 dozen brown 'n serve rolls

Mix sugar and peel.  Blend in orange juice and butter. Separate rolls.  Generously dip top and sides of each roll in sugar mixture and set upright on cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.  Bake according to package directions on rolls (usually 400 degrees for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown).

Orange Rolls is a heritage recipe from Ruth Johnson.

Rice Pudding

1 cup boiling water

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup rice (pearl rice if possible)

Combine and cook 7 minutes.

2 cups milk

2 cups Half and Half

4 Tablespoons butter

Add to rice mixture and stir.  Simmer on low 1 hour, stirring frequently.

2 eggs, beaten

1/2 cup + 2 Tablespoons sugar

Slowly stir into simmering mixture.

(Might want to temper those eggs first.)

Stir and cook for 2-3 minutes longer.  

Remove from heat, cool for two minutes.

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 raisins

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg (or grated orange rind)

Slowly stir in vanilla, raisins, and nutmeg.

Rice Pudding is a Heritage Recipe from Grandma Carlene (Palmer).

Applesauce Chocolate Chip Cookies

My Grandpa Carl and Grandma Ruth Johnson

2 cups sugar
1 cup shortening
4 eggs

4 cups flour - sifted (560 g)
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons baking soda
2 cups applesauce

1 package chocolate chips (12 ounces)

Cream sugar and shortening. Add eggs, one at a time, until well blended.  In a separate bowl, combine flour, spices, and salt, stirring well. Add to creamed mixture. Combine soda and applesauce. Add to mixture. Stir in chocolate chips. Bake 12 minutes in a 350 degree oven.

Makes about 6 dozen. You may 1/2 the recipe if desired. (See measurements below.)

Enjoy! Grandma Ruth

(Grandma would wash the styrofoam meat trays and use them as a tray to freeze her cookies--first wrapped in plastic wrap, then foil. I usually ate her cookies frozen. Somehow they are still soft enough to bite into.)

Notice it was Apple Sauce, two words back then. But later it became one word. :)

Here are the ingredient measurements for half a batch:

1 cups sugar
1/2 cup shortening
2 eggs

2 cups flour - sifted
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoons baking soda
1 cups applesauce

1/2 package chocolate chips (6 oz.)

Lemon Pound Cake

Anna Lou Hutchings' recipe

Cake
1 pkg yellow cake
1 3-oz pkg lemon jello
4 eggs
3/4 cup oil
1 cup water

Glaze
3 cups powdered sugar
9 Tablespoons lemon juice (always fresh)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray 9x13 pan with Pam.*  Combine all cake ingredients and mix well.  Pour into pan and bake for 40 minutes.  Mix glaze ingredients until smooth.  Prick cake with fork and pour half of glaze on cake.**  To serve, pour a puddle of glaze on plate, then place cake slice on puddle.

*This is Pam.  Lovely, isn't she.  I butter and flour the pan.  Alone.  :)

**I let the cake cool completely before pouring on the glaze.

Chewy Oatmeal Cookies

Grandma AnnaLou's Recipe

1 scant cup butter (scant?  I just used 1 cup)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
3/4 teaspoon soda
1/3 cup boiling water*
2 1/2 cup flour
2 cups oats
1 cup each raisins and nuts
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Blend fat,** vanilla, sugar, salt and eggs.  Dissolve soda in water,*** mix with egg/fat mix.  Mix flour with oats.  Add to fat mix.  (Hmmm, this must be where you add the raisins, nuts, and chocolate chips.**** And notice the last sentence in parenthesis!)  Drop onto sprayed cookie sheets.  Bake at 350 degrees 10-12 minutes.  (Let dough chill for 30 minutes).

*I wonder why it needs to be boiled?  I was a little concerned that it would "use up" the magic properties of the soda (I admit to a lack of any chemistry knowledge whatsoever), or that it might "cook" the eggs or something, so I drizzled it in slowly (on low speed or you're going to have water flinging everywhere and in your eye--thank goodness I wear contacts!).  It did look a little curdly at first, but ultimately mixed in well.

 **This must be an old recipe--using the word "fat" without fear that anyone might object. 

***Great Grandma Ruth's Applesauce Chocolate Chip Cookies call for the soda to be dissolved in applesauce.  I wonder if this ensures even distribution or something.

****Of course you can pick and choose which add-ins you want.  If you are Dad, it's just raisins and nuts--the chocolate is an abomination.  If you are the little girlies, chocolate chips only.  If you are me, chocolate chips and toasted walnuts--but really, the raisins are quite tasty in this cookie, so maybe I'd say 1 cup chocolate chips, 1 cup toasted walnuts, 1/2 cup raisins.

Grandma Carlene's Cranberry Bread

2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup orange juice
2 Tablespoons water
2 Tablespoons melted shortening (I use extra light olive oil)
1 egg, beaten
1 cup walnuts
2/3 cup cranberries (halved)

Mix all ingredients together (I whisk together the first 5 ingredients, then add the next 4, mix until just combined, then fold in the last two).  Grease and flour loaf pan.  Bake for 1 hour 10 minutes at 300 degrees.  Loaf should be golden and spring back.  Remove from pan while hot.  Butter all sides immediately.  Wrap in plastic wrap.  Refrigerate for 3 hours.  Can be frozen after seasoned in the fridge.


Double to make 3 smaller loaves (8 1/4 x 4 1/2).
(One batch will make 2 7" x 3" loaves.)

Peanut Butter Blossoms

I made these to take to the little girlies piano recital. It is a recital after all, so the extra time it takes to make these beauties are worth it. These are the cookies I would always ask Grandma Carlene to bring to school for my birthday (yes, at the end of the school year since I have an August birthday--and yes, kiddies, once people could bring homemade goodies to give out at school--let's hope someday sanity will again rule and your mom will be able to do it too). And, don't ask me why, I always liked pushing down the kisses after they had melted for awhile to make that cool little ring around the kiss! That one in the picture is kind of small, if you want a bigger one, wait a little longer to push the kiss down! :)


Peanut Butter Blossoms

1/2 cup shortening (I don't use shortening. I've made these successfully replacing this with butter, this time I used 1/4 cup lard and 1/4 cup butter. I was wondering if the lard would help with the light and flakiness of the cookie. I'm not sure it made a difference.)
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup sugar, plus more for rolling dough into
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
2 Tablespoon milk (Sometimes I find the batter to be crumbly and not roll into a ball easily. That was the case this time, so I added an additional Tablespoon of milk, and that fixed everything.)
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 1/2 cups flour
1 bag chocolate kisses

Mix first six ingredients. Add soda and flour. Roll into balls. Roll in sugar. Place on greased cookie sheet or parchment paper (I barely flatten them with a glass with the hopes they don't crack quite so much, but it's really not necessary.). Bake at 350 degrees, 10-12 minutes (I like 10 better than 12). Take from oven and immediately place (firmly) chocolate kiss on top. (Then, wait a minute and lightly press down on the kiss for a cute little ring in the chocolate!) :)

See! The rolls are empty like Jesus' tomb! These are really fun to remind everyone what the true meaning of Easter is all about. That Jesus Christ was resurrected! He overcame death that we all might live!

Easter Breakfast Rolls

AnnaLou Robertson

Prepare these rolls the night before Easter for part of a delicious Easter-morning breakfast.

1 pkg. (12) frozen roll dough

6 T sugar

1 t cinnamon

12 large marshmallows

¼ c melted butter

Combine sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl and set aside. Let roll dough thaw, then press each one into a flat circle. Put a marshmallow in the center of each roll. Wrap the dough around it, squeezing the seams so they are closed and try to make it look like a ball. Brush the rolls with melted butter. Sprinkle sugar mixture over rolls. On Sunday morning , preheat oven to 350 degrees. Take rolls out of fridge and bake for 15 minutes.