A Family Tradition....Boiled Raisin Cookies

Every family has their own few meals, or treats that most of the family likes. In my family (The Hess') We have the boiled raisin cookies, chocolate strawberry cake, taco rice skillet, and a personal favorite of mine is beef burgundy! My mother doesn't like the chocolate strawberry cake anymore, because all my siblings, my father and I ask her to make it for all our birthdays almost every year, and she got a little sick of it :) I am going to do the next few posts on some of these Hess family traditional food, so if any of you Hess', or cousins can think of any other Hess type foods let me know and I will cook and post about them!!

Over the last couple of years, someone discovered that the boiled raisin cookie recipe that my great grandmother wrote down was wrong!!We knew there was a correct one somewhere though! I had one in my recipe box, but I wasn't sure if it was the correct one or not, so I looked online over a ton of boiled raisin cookie recipes, and compared them to the recipe I had, for the most part, the ingredients were very similar.  Finally my dad told me that my sister in law made some that were right, so I got the recipe from her and decided to make some for my little family (Hubby and I) Turns out the recipe I had was correct. :)

Boiled Raisin Cookies
1 C sugar
1 C water
1/2 C crisco
2 C raisins
2 eggs
3 C flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt

First, in a large pot, boil the sugar, water, raisins, and crisco. Boil for 3 minutes. After that, you need to let them cool (this takes a while!!) I pour it into a different bowl to help cool it faster. DON'T DRAIN THE RAISINS!! The next step is to add the eggs,so you NEED TO BE SURE THE RAISIN MIXTURE IS COOL!!!! If you don't, you will have scrambled eggs and raisin water..... so like I said add the eggs to a COOLED raisin mixture (And only add 2 eggs. Since I had looked up a bunch of different raisin cookie recipes, I somehow got confused and put 3 eggs into my batch....O also don't add the eggs to the flour mixture because you are too impatient to wait for the raisin mixture to cool down, like I did, in my second batch.....)
 Next mix the dry ingredients together, in a separate bowl, then add to raisin mixture.

 Plop cookies onto a greased cookie sheet and cook at 350 for 9-12 minutes!

The cookies were a little dry and "cake-y" because of the added egg. For my second batch where I added the eggs to the flour in stead of the liquid, made the cookies lumpy..... Next time they will be 100% perfect :)   I hope.....

Puppies, snow and best friends!!!!!!

I had the best weekend ever this weekend!! Leon and I rode up with my brother and his wife to Washington, my sister in law has family in the same town that my best friend lives in!!!! My brother dropped us off at my friends house, then they were going to pick us up Sunday afternoon, to head home. On Saturday, my friend Kristine, her FIANCE Robert, Leon and I went up to Lake Cushman, on the way up it started snowing!!! First snow all year! :) My grandparents had a house up in the hills looking out on to Lake Cushman, that we called "The Lake House" that was, and still is probably my most favorite place in the whole world, even though they sold the house when I was probably 8 or 9. I loved that house so much!!! Anyways, we drove past it and up to the driveway, but there were 2 cars in the drive way, so we just looked from the driveway. The house is still the same! Same color tan with brown trim, the Lake House sign is no longer hanging above the garage, but everything else looks the same!

This picture shows the house, and the shed  (both have not changed!) where the hay bales, and bows and arrows were stored...I miss this place!!!!

After we saw the Lake House, we kept driving up around lake Cushman, and walked out over a bridge over the lake, and on the way to the bridge, we saw a TON of Elk doo doo, I mean A LOT of it!!!! It was pretty fresh too. When we were out on the bridge (which was FREEEEEEZING cold, and a very strong wind was blowing!!!) we were taking pictures and then one of the guys (I don't remember which one) yelled "ELK!!" we all thought he was joking, then we all saw them, lots of them, like 30!! The guys saw 4 bulls, and like 25-30 cows!!! I have never seen elk in real life, it was soo amazing!!

 This is Leon, Kristine, and Robert, on the way to the bridge

 This is the very very low Lake Cushman

 Little did we know there were lots of elk in the grass to the left of the picture

 Kristine and I

 Don't know if you can see this, but the elk are in the middle of the picture, right where the horizon line between the grass and the trees are

 My Hubby and I (it was soooo FREEEEEZING on the bridge!!!!!)

 Kristine and her hubby to be Robert

 The next few pictures are of elk, see if you can spot them!!

 On the way back from lake Cushman, we all stopped at the place where Kristine is thinking of getting married, and this is them being goof balls in the driveway, in the snow :)

 Geese in the snow

 View from balcony, when we arrived, and below is the same view about 20 minutes into our visit...

We all had such a great weekend, but I do believ I am correct when I say that Kristine and I enjoyed it the most going over wedding plans ;) I hadn't been up to her place in 2 years, and we haven't seen each other since my wedding, it was time for a visit :) We left a winter wonderland up in Washington, only to come home to another winter wonderland, and my new puppies!!!!!

Like I said in an earlier post, my Blue Heeler, Duke got the neighbor man's dog prego. We were planning on getting the 2 puppies (1 for me, and I'm raising 1 for my sister in law who lives in Idaho) However I convinced my hubby to get them Sunday night when we got back, I just couldn't wait any longer!!!! My puppy is the grey one, named Moose, and my sister in law's is the black one, named Brisko! I will post more pictures of them eventually, but right now I want to play with them instead of just take pictures of them :)

Here are some snowy views from around our house this morning!

Cording A Bow, a man and woman's relationship (and work relationships)

So I was reading today and I came across this little poem or saying, or whatever it is.....

Cording A Bow

As unto the bow the cord is

So unto the man is the woman

Though she bends him, she obeys him

Though she draws him, yet she follows

Useless without the other.

So the whole submission thing is hard to explain, I think this saying says it best in short and sweet kind of way.   When you experience the blessing from ultimately doing what your husband thinks is best, this little saying makes perfect sense. I think that men tend to not get as worked up about things as women do (usually) so I think it is a very good idea to take your husbands advice, even if it is hard to do.

 For example, at work I was surprised by a task I was asked to do all day long. Usually it is a job that is split up between employees, but on that particular day I was asked to do it all day long. It's a job I don't mind that much, but all day long can get exhausting, and I was upset that I had to do it all day, and none of the other girls who knew how to do it, were asked to take part in the duties. So all day long I had a bad attitude, and was frustrated! Not a fun day..... Of course I told Leon all about it and I figured he would be on his wonderful hard working wife's side, but he wasn't! Some of the things he said to me (in a loving way) were, " Was it in your job description that you were never supposed to do that task all day long?" "Are you the boss" "Are you being too picky about your job? Some people would love to have your job, and the flexibility you have at work" Leon has had employees who have tried to run things, not do what he asks, and argue, so he could feel for my manager.I was not really happy about his advice, he said that I just need to get a better attitude and do what I am asked to do.

So the next week on the way to work, I was mentally preparing myself to be asked to do that same task all day long, and I just need to get over it and do what the manager asks, and be OK WITH IT! So at work I asked the manager what I was supposed to do today, and she told me, and I asked, "all day" and she said yes. I said OK and I walked away and started doing my duty. The manager came over to me and we talked a little bit about some stuff, she asked me what could be done to help ease my duties and I told her that if she wanted me to do this all day that I was going to do it, because she is the boss, I'm not, and I just need to do what she says. I had told her that I had talked to Leon about it and that it was his advice I am following, and she told me that I would get very far in life with that kind of attitude. I could tell she was very pleased, and I was too, because I was pretty upset with her last time, and now I was happy with her and myself that I now had this positive attitude about doing what I was asked, and that I was now on good terms with her. That was probably the best day ever at work! Even though there were other things at work I would rather be doing all day.

If I wouldn't have taken Leon's advice, I would have been bitter, about everything she would have asked me to do in the future. I would then probably hate work. I know this was a woman to woman encounter, but without listening and actually TAKING my husbands advice, the outcome would have been way different. In the Bible it talks about how the head of woman is man, and that she needs to submit to him (again in a loving way!) I don't recall the Bible talking about submitting to your boss at work (If it does please correct me!) however the same principle applies, at work the manager and boss are in charge and I need to do what they ask because it probably is for the best. Same with at home, and Church, my husband ALWAYS has whats best for me in mind, and I should do what he suggests, because he loves me and cares for me, and would never make or ask me to do something that would end up badly.

Anyways, again I am shown the true blessing to submitting to your husbands will, or being the cord to his bow :)

                                 

Bill's Pecan Pie

Before I start talking about the pie, I have to share about my dog, Brody. This picture below describes Brody, and the neighbor's dog, Roxy.

Brody is the grey Aussie looking dog (he is half aussie half heeler) on the right, and Roxy is the black spot in the grass to the left of the tires. Her owners dont like her coming over here, and Brody tends to like to stay around our house (Sometimes he will wander over there if we are gone) I can just imagine what they are both thinking...."Man I wish I could go play. My friend is just right over there, maybe they will come over here if I wait long enough....."

And this is the trouble they get into when they decide to play with each other, digging in the neighbors fescue field, which is fenced off for sheep that haven't arrived yet. I think I have some training to do, before the sheep arrive. Anyways, Brody is now sitting on my porch looking over to Roxy who is standing across the street in the grass looking at Brody. I wonder what they will do next...Back to the Pie.....

I call this Bill's pecan pie, because I found a recipe somewhere, and I just thought I would make it and try it out, I don't like pecan pie, I don't like pecans, or custardy things, and pecan pie to me, is both. However I made this pie and Bill LOVED IT!!!!! Apparently it is not as sugary as every other pecan pie he has tasted, and I found out that he likes the more finely chopped pecans as opposed to pecan halves. So this is my finely chopped, low sugar (for a pecan pie), hubby's favorite pecan pie, but that's too long of a name :) This is the pie I have made the most in my life, and I don't even like it....the things we do for the ones we love..... The cooking utensils and bowls all look really really dirty, because I took pictures of me making the second pie (I made 2)

 Crack 3 eggs into a bowl, and add the molasses, and mix together. HINT: spray your measuring cup with cooking oil to make the molases come out WAY better and faster than if you didn't pray :)

 Melt the butter, then add to the mixture, also add 1 tsp vanilla extract.

 Then add the FINELY CHOPPED PECANS, or however you like it, to the egg mixture :)

 In a seperate bowl mix the flour and crisco together, then when well mixed, add the water, then roll out on a floured surface.

 I wish that I could say that I roll out perfectly round pie crusts, like my husbands Aunt (who is a professional baker) but I cant. They are terribly irregular shaped! When you rolled the crust out, wrap it over the rolling pin, then drape it over the pie plate (This is way easier that trying to life up the crust with your hands and placing over the pie plate.

 I trimmed the edges of the crust to make it more circular, then I pinched them like below, to make the pretty crust!

 I have no idea how to describe it in words how I do it, so the pictures will have to do.....

 All the pecan pie recipes I have looked at say to cover the crust with foil for the first half of baking, and uncover for last half of baking time, but I did that a couple times and I noticed my crusts were really really light and I like them light golden brown, not off white, so this time I used no foil, but I kept checking the crusts to see if they were getting burned, and they weren't, so I baked them all 40 minutes with no foil. If you do the same, check your pies, OFTEN just to be sure :)

 The mess....

 I wish this picture would be turned the right way, but here are my finished pies!!!!

The Recipe makes 1 pie

3 eggs
1 cup dark corn syrup
1/2 cup sugar
2 Tbsp butter
1 t vanilla extract
1 cup finely chopped pecans
 Bake at 350 for 40 minutes

My crust recipe is
1 cup flour
1/3 cup crisco
pinch of salt
1/4 cup cold water