FAMILY RECIPE FRIDAY…..DUMPLINS FOR TURNIPS

NANA RECIPE

NANA RECIPE

I believe this is a recipe for dumplins, to be eaten with turnip greens. There seems to be a okra recipe started for okra fritters also.  Now, I don’t recall either of these ever being made at Nana’s house. Except, turnip greens. As turnip greens so, I usually do not like them. They can be rather tart. Her turnip greens had a sweet taste to them. I guess she added sugar.

This recipe was found in her 1950 Betty Crocker Cookbook. Along with several handwritten notes, and clipping for cookie recipes and this Boy Scout Week food guide from 1956. My dad was in Boy scouts, I still have his canteen. I don’t think he went to Boys Club.This would have been from a publication she ordered more than likely or a magazine.

Boys Club Week

Nana was never what I called a ” baker”. Although, she did make a great lemon pound cake and banana nut bread. Those were the two I always helped her make. But, when it came to meals, she always kept them balanced and healthy. Never a meal went by that you didn’t have a salad!

Nana was never ill a day in her life. Could this be attributed to healthy eating? I was looking through the BC cookbook. Quite informative and out of date. It speaks of making an attractive dinner table, balancing the foods for a healthy meal and how to store foods. I think most households now would not the ingredients to make anything from scratch. Their idea of eating together is all in one vehicle at a drive through.

Betty Crocker knew what she was doing. The 1950’s was a time of family get togethers, the birth of dinner parties and entertaining, and how to teach a new wife to make a home. Missing today is the family get togethers, maybe only at holidays and Sunday. Perhaps we should all look to the past to get our families more involved.

MOTHER’S DAY REMEMBRANCES

THESE ARE SOME MOTHER’S DAY CARDS I FOUND IN

GRANDMA’S THINGS, CARDS FROM MY PARENTS TO

THEIR MOMS.

HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY! TO MY MOM AND MOTHER-IN-LAW

CIRCA 1950’S

BLANCHE EWING DEAN AND MAMIE MCCALL PICKENS

WISHING MY MOTHER AND MOTHER IN LAW THE BEST MOTHER’S DAY EVER!

MY MOTHER

ALBERTA LOUISE DEAN PICKENS

LOUISE PICKENS MY MOM

MY MOM HAS BEEN AT THE HOSPITAL WITH MY DAD SINCE THURSDAY. WE ARE MAKING LUNCH FOR MARY NELLE WITH BROTHER SEAN AND SISTER SHANNON, AND DAD, THEN TAKING LUNCH TO MY MOM AND DAD AT HOSPITAL. THANKS FOR ALL YOU DO FOR US MARY NELLE!!!!! YOU ARE WONDERFUL!!

MY MOTHER-IN-LAW

MARY NELLE SMITH BLACK

MARY NELLE SMITH BLACK

THE BEST MOMS IN THE WORLD!!! HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY 2012!!!

MONDAY MOURNING, GREATS AND GRANDS

PEOPLE WHO HAVE MADE A DIFFERENCE IN MY LIFE……..WHEN I WAS A TEEN, I LOVED SPENDING TIME WITH MY FAMILY. GRANDPARENTS ESPECIALLY. I WISH MORE KIDS WERE ENCOURAGED TO DO THE SAME. SO MUCH CAN BE LEARNED FROM THESE GIFTS. I AM MENTIONING IN THIS POST BOTH GRANDPARENTS AND GREAT AUNTS AND UNCLES. GREAT AND GRAND IS WHAT THEY TRULY ARE. 

MY NANA…MAMIE CHRISTINE MCCALL PICKENS, ONE OF THE LAST TIMES I SAW HER. SHE PASSED AWAY MAY 1, 2000. I WILL ALWAYS REMEMBER THE GAMES WE PLAYED, THE CAKES WE BAKED AND THE MANY FLOWERS WE PLANTED.

MY PAPA….HARVEY HERSHEL PICKENS, I ALWAYS REMEMBER HIM IN THE YARD. HE GREW EVERYTHING IN THAT CITY YARD, GREEN BEANS, EGGPLANT, PEPPERS, TOMATOES AND SQUASH.HE PASSED AWAY AFTER A FEW SHORT MONTHS OF ILLNESS, OCT 9, 1984.

MY GRANDMOTHER, BLANCHE ELEANOR EWING  DEAN….MY MOM AND I SPENT A WEEK WITH HER BEFORE SHE PASSED AWAY IN NOVEMBER 2000. WE TALKED ABOUT FAMILY HISTORY, WENT THROUGH PHOTOS AND GOT A FEW STORIES. I LOST TWO GRANDMOTHERS JUST 6 MONTHS APART. WE DID NOT LIVE NEAR HER, BUT , SUMMER VISITS WERE FUN! BAKING, WALKING AND VISITING NEIGHBORS. SHE HAD LITTLE , BUT, GAVE PLENTY.

MY AUNT ANN IS AN EXCEPTION TO THE REASON FOR THE POST. I PUT HER IN BECAUSE SHE WAS A POSITIVE INFLUENCE ON ME. WE HAD A GREAT TIME TOGETHER BACK IN MARCH OF 2008. SHE HAD BEEN DIAGNOSED WITH CANCER, AND HAD THE MOST POSITIVE OUTLOOK ON LIFE. WE ENJOYED TALKING ABOUT THE FAMILY HISTORY AND LOOKING AT PHOTOS. I WAS ON A GENEALOGY QUEST THAT TRIP. SHE TRAVELLED THE WORLD AND I ALWAYS LOVED LISTENING TO HER STORIES OF PLACES SHE HAD BEEN. THIS IS A PIC TAKEN WHILE ANN AND HUSBAND TOM WERE VISITING ME WHEN I LIVED IN FRANKLIN PENNSYLVANIA. I THINK IT WAS 1988.

MY AUNT ODESSA AND UNCLE THEO, TWO REMARKABLE PEOPLE. WE WOULD SPEND TIME WITH THEM IN PLANT CITY WHEN I WAS YOUNG, AND WHEN UNCLE THEO PASSED AWAY, I FELT I HAD LOST A FRIEND. THEY BOTH WERE WONDERFUL PEOPLE.

AUNT RUTH AND UNCLE TOM EWING. WHEN WE WOULD TRAVEL TO PENNSYLVANIA, I WOULD STAY WITH THEM ON THEIR FARM, SOMETHING MY MOTHER USED TO DO AS A CHILD. THEY HAD A HORSE, NEIGHBORING DOGS AND ALL THE ICE CREAM AND BLACK RASPBERRIES YOU COULD EAT!!! AND THE BEST SOUR CREAM CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES!

AND LAST, BUT, CERTAINLY NOT LEAST, MY GREAT AUNT RUTH PICKENS. I ALWAYS ADMIRED HER. SHE DRESSED IMMACULATELY. ALWAYS FUN TO BE AROUND. SHE DIDN’T VISIT AS OFTEN AS WE WOULD LIKE THOUGH. SHE WAS ALWAYS OFF IN A BIG CITY SOMEWHERE.

SPEND TIME WITH YOUR ANCESTORS, YOU NEVER KNOW WHAT GREAT INFORMATION YOU WILL RECEIVE, AS WELL AS THE TIME ENJOYED TOGETHER.

SUNDAY SUPPER

AND OTHER FAMILY TRADITIONS……

I always remember Sunday supper at home, Nana’s or Grandma Dean’s house. We only saw Grandma Dean when we went to Pennsylvania, but, the entire family would be there. Dinner at home usually consisted of pot roast, mashed potatoes and carrots and dinner rolls. Sometimes, just sometimes, my dad would make fried chicken. We have tried to do traditional Sunday British fare as well,  making Yorkshire Pudding, which is not a pudding at all. It is more of a batter that puffs up in a muffin pan, and in the center comes out almost hollow, with a nice natural place for gravy!

Families each have their own traditions. Church, supper together, Sunday drives and watching football if is is that season!

Below is a photo of a holiday dinner at Nana and Papa’s house. It looks to be about 1969. Not all of us were present at the table for the photo. Looks like butterbeans and turkey!

Easter 1969
Papa, Daddy, Mother, Nana, Mike and Aunt Ann.