I’ve been feeling nostalgic lately. This time of year has me remembering all kinds of things. Nat King Cole has been featured a lot on my playlists. He was a favorite of my Daddy’s.
I’m trying to watch LSU play (?) Bama, right now. We just cannot manage a touchdown. Yeesh… Daddy graduated from LSU with a degree in mechanical engineering. I miss my Daddy.
The other week, two of my sons worked on Tilly, my Daddy’s Kubota tractor. She needed a new radiator and battery cables, so Lee and George fixed her up, and now she starts on the first try. Good job, guys! You’re Mama appreciates you. I know in my heart that my father would be proud to know that his grandsons are keeping the old girl going.
Here’s a nostalgic recipe for you, one I learned to make way back in Mrs. Deaton’s 8th grade home-ec class. Home Economics: Is that taught anywhere anymore? It should be. We’d all be healthier. I digress.
Old Fashioned No-Bake Oatmeal Cookies
Here’s what to do:
Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
In a 2 qt pot, cook 2 cups sugar, 1/2 cup butter, 1/2 cup milk, and a 1/4 cup cocoa powder over medium high heat. Stir till the butter is melted and these ingredients are mixed well. Bring to a boil that can’t be stirred down. Continue to cook for another 2 minutes. You’re basically making a fudge base.
Next, take the fudge mixture off the hot burner. Stir in 2 teaspoons vanilla, 1/2 cup of Smucker’s Natural Peanut Butter, and 1/2 cup of allergen free chocolate chips. Stir until peanut butter and chocolate chips are melted. Then, fold in 3 cups quick cook oatmeal.
Using a spoon, drop cookie mixture onto prepared cookie sheets. The size of your spoon will determine how big your cookies will turn out. Big spoon, bigger cookies. Smaller spoon, yadayada.
It’s halftime and LSU is pitiful tonight. A cup of Community Coffee and Old -Fashioned No-Bake Oatmeal Cookies have been the highlight of this Saturday night.
I’m trying to watch the LSU Football game against South Carolina. It’s been a rough one. So, I thought I’d make brownies….
Ingredients:
1 stick of salted butter
3 tablespoons of cocoa powder
1/2 cup allergen free chocolate chips
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2/3 cup self-rising flour
Sprinkles, if desired
What to do:
Preheat oven to 350° and grease a 9×9 pan.
In a 2 quart pot, over medium heat, melt butter, cocoa powder and chocolate chips, stirring to combine. Remove from heat. Add in sugar. Next, add the eggs one at a time, stirring each in quickly so they don’t curdle. Next, add in the vanilla. Lastly, stir in the self-rising flour until it combined; don’t over beat. Pour batter into prepared pan and place in the center of the oven. Bake for 30 minutes or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool and cut into squares. The chocolate chips make these brownies nice and fudge-like.
Bake for 30 minutes at 350°
The second half has been better. I think I can say so because of the brownie ala mode.
Desert Rose cup and saucer for holding dessert
It’s the third quarter and LSU is down by one point. We’ll, no, now they’re down by four points. The brownie ala mode makes things better.
In the 7 o’clock hour this morning, I gathered zinnias from the flower patch. The pail filled up and the butterflies waved their wings at me.
To the open car trunk, the flowers, a jug of water, a broom and the string trimmer were put. Off to Baton Rouge, I went to tend to the cemetery plots of some of my family members.
A stop in Denham Springs at their big Rouses is a must for pit stop and a snack and filler flowers. I chose alstromeria for bouquet making this trip. And a bag of Candy Apple Caramel corn cousins came along for the ride… Yep!
I drove way down Florida Blvd to North Foster and took the first left. Roselawn Cemetery is on the right. The ancient oaks were beautiful, majestic, as always. But it’s an historic cemetery and I guess the owners have a difficult time keeping enough staff to maintain all of the grounds. In recent years, I’ve learned to bring my trimmer and a broom.
The ancient oaks are beautiful, even through a cracked windshield. Ha!
I followed the narrow road the way my Mama taught me. The Baby’s grave was first. He sadly died in utero years before there were ultrasounds and sonograms. His parents were my Aunt Mary Margaret and Uncle Louis Boudreaux. Uncle Louis never said much, maybe because Aunt Mary Magaret kept the conversation lively. She had a friendly smile and spoke with a lisp.
“Mandy, would like a Co-Cola? There’th thum in the frig. Get yourthelf one.”
Did I ever tell y’all the story of Aunt Mary Margaret and Wide, Wide Main Thweet? Well, here goes:
Mary Margaret was the baby of her sibling group, coming way after her brother and three sisters. She put up a fuss one afternoon to ride with her brother Oscar, who was going to town on an errand. Riding along Main Street in Baton Rouge, Oscar completed his errand and started to head home. In the back seat of the family car that winter day, Mary Margaret wanted him to stop and get her some ice cream.
“It’s too cold,” Oscar told his baby sister, meaning the weather was too cold.
“I like it that way,” said Mary Margaret, meaning the ice cream.
“No, Mary Margaret.”
“But I’m hot. I want ithe cream.”
“I’m not getting you any ice, Mary Margaret, and roll up that window. It’s too cold to ride with the window down, and it’s too cold for ice cream!”
They continued the drive home in stoney silence. Opening the car door to get his pouting baby sister from the back seat, Oscar saw that his hat was missing.
“Mary Margaret, where is my hat?”
“Wide, Wide Main Thweet!”
Sweet Aunt Margaret.
After tending Aunt Mary Margaret’s and Uncle Louis’ grave, I made the big loop through the cemetery to the front where my grandmother and her two older siblings are buried. I really had to employ my string trimmer and broom in this part of the cemetery. Roselawn needs to hire more grounds keepers.
Let’s see; Oscar Bueto, the older brother in the above story, and his wife Ollie, Berenice Madoline Bueto (my mother is named for her) and my grandmother Irma Mae Bueto Austin are buried on the same row.
Grandma was a tough lady. When she was born, the doctor said this baby’s not breathing, it’s dead and laid my grandmother off to the side. Her mother snatched her up and shook her till my grandmother started breathing. I’m so glad my great grandmother didn’t take the doctor at his word… Grandma was scrappy, intelligent and, yes, always a lady. A great combination.
This is my great grandmother’s grave, before I cleared it l. I neglected to take a pic of it afterward. Her name was Maggie.My grandmother’s grave. I miss her.
The last grave in Roselawn to tend was of my cousin Mary Lou Boudreaux Spencer. She was another sweet soul and one of Aunt Mary Margaret’s daughters. I remember her coming to our house the night my father died. She was standing near the kitchen and I went and stood next to her and started to take her hand, but then I didn’t. Mary Lou said, “No, take it.” And she offered her hand and she held on tight to mine for the longest time. I’m crying as I write this now. I’m so thankful for the tenderness of a cousin.
Before heading to Resthaven Cemetery, I decided to take a respite from the heat and get a repast. Coffee Call, a Baton Rouge landmark, was doing just that; calling me. So, a nice cup of coffee and fresh beignets hit the spot. If you’re in Baton Rouge, you’ll find them on College Drive. You won’t be disappointed.
My last stop, when I do the cemetery tour, is always the grave of my parents. I only had my Daddy for sixteen short years. He was 47 when he died quite suddenly on a late Friday night. But Daddy gave my brothers and me so many fun memories and conversations around the supper table packed with wisdom. He’d tell us that he was the last of the good guys, straighten his cowboy hat and then light a cigarette. I believed him then; I know it to be true now. Sunday, August 11th would have been his 91st birthday.
How I miss him. He shows up in the faces of my sons and grandchildren and in the little nuances of their personalities. Isn’t that funny and wonderful at the same time?
So, why make the pilgrimage to Baton Rouge every few months and do the cemetery tour? I go because Mama went with her mother and she with hers. It’s tradition, of course, but deeper also. I go because I knew these wonderfully kind, compassionate people or I know the stories told about them, which makes me feel like I knew them personally. I go because it would make my mother happy.
Just some pictures of some things that make me smile. The little elephant cream pitcher was my mother’s. The flowers are from my scaled down flower patch.
The kitchen window ledge: my mother’s cream pitcher and a collection of vintage cream and sugar bowls.
Last year, due to a late spring freeze and then a long summer drought, there were no fresh, locally grown blueberries. This year, the weather has been perfect for berries. The mayhaws in May were plentiful, and now in June, the blueberries are bountiful.
Blueberries are in the freezer and four batches of jam are cooling on the kitchen counter. Their tops are pinging; always a happy sound.
Enough blueberry jam for us to enjoy and also to give to friends and family.Taste testing is my favorite.
To the recipe from the pectin package, I added a pinch of salt and a dash of cinnamon. The spice gives it another layer of complimentary flavor.
George passed through the kitchen while I worked at the stove. I had my modern blues playing. Filling my jam jars.
He didn’t miss a beat: “You jamming. Literally!” Ha!
Supper!
Blessings from the jam pot of the Exile’s Kitchen.
Yep, it’s mayhaw season. The tree is loaded. And so we’re tarps this morning.
After an afternoon processing juice, I’m loaded with jelly. I made a mistake on one jar; I’m not sure if it will set up, so there’s an X on the lid. If that jar doesn’t set, I’ll mix it in some brewed tea.
The little dish off to the side is the foam or sponge scraped from the freshly cooked jelly. Remember to spoon off the foam so your jars of jelly will be clear. Biscuits are on the menu for a light supper and that scraped off part will grace each one.
Are you making jelly this year? Last year the weather did not cooperate. Late freezes and big spring storms killed all the berries – mayhaw and blueberry – in the back garden. So, I’m really happy this year. I should have blueberries late May early June.
Just as I was getting supper ready last night, the power went out. I had my mouth all set for homemade tacos and “sopaipillas,” but I wound up eating Oreos and ice cream. The power came back on at bedtime, so I just put tacos on hold for Saturday. But when I woke up this morning, I thought about the tortillas I was going to fry for dessert last night. Why not fry them up for breakfast? So, I did.
Using an iron skillet, I melted coconut oil over medium heat. The skillet was big enough to fry the small tortillas two at a time. They drained on paper towels, then were sprinkled with cinnamon sugar. I dressed my plate with lite whip topping , a drizzle of local honey, and a ration of bacon.
A walk to the mailbox had me enthralled with the blooming camellias, dotting the landscape. Their colors really brighten up the late winter garden. I picked a big handful and arranged them in a favorite vase.
Earlier in the day, I cleaned house, did a mountain of laundry while listening to albums I found last weekend at TBones in Hattiesburg.
After housework, I got in the kitchen and used up part of a cake mix to make cookie ice cream sandwiches.
If the egg is left out of the cake mix recipe, you can have cookies instead. Here’s what I did:
In a medium bowl, I dumped in the cake mix ( I had about 3/4 of a box mix). I added about a 1/2 cup chocolate chips and a generous dash of cinnamon and ginger. Then I added 1/4 cup of brown sugar and stirred all the dry ingenious together to coat the chocolate chips well. Next, I stirred in half a stick of butter, melted, and enough water to bring everything together. I pressed the cookie dough into a 10 × 12 cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Then I baked it in a 350° oven till the top was golden – 15 minutes or so.
Then I took a round cutter and, well, cut out rounds. I figured this method would be the most consistent.
I put a dollop of my favorite ice cream on one cookie and topped it with another. Repeating till I ran out of cookies, I then put them on a plate and placed them in the freezer to harden up. Each cookie sandwich was then stored in its own baggy and back into the freezer for individual snack time.
Note: Cool cookie completely before adding ice cream. I didn’t wait long enough, and the ice cream began to melt. Learn from my mistake.
theexileskitchen 