grandma

Grandma’s Gingersnaps

23429134205_2edfe768e2_nRight around the time that fall hits, it seems our tastes change. We long for those comforting foods– you know, the ones with all the butter and cream? Haha. And also the ones filled with warm spices.

These gingersnaps from my grandma’s recipe box fit the bill perfectly. In my family, these have always been called “gingersnaps,” but the truth is that there isn’t anything “snappy” about these cookies. These are soft and chewy and filled with molasses. They’re just plain delicious. A cookie by any other name, right?

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Mother’s Day Cards 2012

SPOILER ALERT! If you are my grandma, or my husband’s grandma, STOP READING THIS POST. These cards are for you. But I wanted to share some new ideas for Mother’s Day cards in time for other people to be inspired by them.

Anyway. I had intended to take many more in-process shots, but things went all pear-shaped in the middle of it, and I thought for a while that I was going to have to scrap them and start over. But I managed to recover and bring them back from the brink.

Given all the hecticness (pretty sure that’s not a real word) of my life lately, I wanted to make cards that were fairly simple. Nothing along the lines of the quilled cards I made last year. (more…)

A Tale of Two Turtle Bars

Well, friends. I have to tell you something.

I’m not perfect.

Phew, glad I got that off my chest.

Sometimes, I make recipes (usually new ones, but sometimes ones I’ve used before) and I just don’t get it right. This is one of those times.

My grandma makes these turtle bars, and they might be my favorite thing she makes. Definitely top 5. So after we got all my grandma’s recipes last year, I couldn’t wait to make them. (more…)

Bread & Butter Pickles

Well, as you may have noticed, I never got to my last-minute Halloween craft. We bought a car instead. Hooray. But that meant we got home late and missed most of the trick-or-treaters. Which means we have loads of leftover candy.

Which means I will have gained 10 extra pounds by the end of the week.

Anyway.

People generally come down on one side or the other when it comes to pickles: dill or sweet.

I generally like both types, but my all-time favorite kind of pickle is the bread & butter pickle. I have no idea why they’re called that, but they’re delicious so I don’t ask questions.

Bread & butter pickles are on the sweet side of the debate, but they’re different from regular sweet pickles. I think they have much more dimension of flavor. They’re filled with onions and garlic and mustard seed and turmeric and celery seed. So when I came across my grandma’s recipe for them, I couldn’t think of a better way to use my cucumber crop. (more…)

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