Grandma's Molasses Cookies

One of the favorite traditions of Thanksgiving holidays at Grandma's house in Midland was always the stockpile of molasses cookies in the dining room. I think Grandma must have made them and frozen them for weeks in advance!

We haven't had a Thanksgiving with everyone all together since Grandma died in 2007. But I think all of the families are still enjoying the same favorite foods in our respective locations!

Molasses Cookies

3/4 c shortening
1 c sugar
1/4 c molasses
1 egg
2 c flour
1/2 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp ginger

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking soda

Melt shortening and cool.

Add sugar, molasses and egg; beat well.

Sift together flour, soda, cloves, ginger, cinnamon, and salt. Add to first mixture. Mix well; chill.

Form into 1-inch balls. Roll in sugar and place on greased cookie sheet 2 inches apart.

Bake at 375 degrees. Remove from oven when they crack (for chewy cookies) or until they fall for a more crisp cookie. (8 - 10 minutes)

My sisters and I have made 5 batches in 2 days! (Lest you think we've lost all sense of moderation, please know that we have not eaten all of the aforementioned cookies; we have shared the bulk of them with friends and family!) Each batch makes less cookies than one would think and our Grandma tended to make a double batch.

Another book recommendation!

Yesterday I finished reading Dollar Noncents by Peter Allison. I loved it! It’s a simple and straightforward look at what the Federal Reserve does and how it creates money. Some parts of that truth were so hard for me to believe that I had to go back and re-read the passage slowly to get my mind around it. It helped to talk through the ideas out loud with my sisters as we drove from Waco to Midland for Thanksgiving.

The book addresses fractional reserve banking and how banks make money by loaning out the same capital over and over again. And how that invariably leads to inflation, which amounts to theft from the people who put their money in the bank to begin with. Banks profit (in an unethical manner) and people lose (all the while, oblivious).

I mostly appreciated that Mr. Allison is writing as a Christian and that he evaluates the whole issue from a Biblical perspective. He doesn’t assume the Federal Reserve is right because they’re big or because no one has stopped them yet… and he helps the reader to understand how sinful the whole system is.

You can get this book on Amazon or Barnes & Noble. It’s great for a beginner like myself. And probably also good for someone who knows a lot about the Federal Reserve and our banking system, but hasn’t heard it addressed from a distinctively Christian perspective before.

Mr. Allison is very knowledgable on this subject (and others!) and he maintains a blog at dollarnoncents.blogspot.com. You can also learn more about his book here: www.dollarnoncents.com.

We Published Our First Book!

My sisters and I made a memory book for our parents' 30th anniversary and gave it to them this weekend when we were all in San Marcos. It turned out well and they really appreciated it. I think little touches like the thickness of the pages and the quality of the book jacket made it seem really professional. On the other hand, the content was personal and not professional by any means. But I think it was better that way. :)

You can see a digital version of the book here:

http://www.mypublisher.com/bookshelf/friendbook.php

Order # M1271346

Happy (Belated) Anniversary to my Parents!

Somehow I let November 17th get away from me without posting a tribute to my precious parents and their 30 years of marriage! I recently spent a lot of time reflecting on their marriage and their parenting and I am more grateful than ever for the choices they made and the household they established. I am eternally grateful to God for putting me in the David Johnson family and for blessing me with the Christian heritage I now benefit from. My parents are a testimony of love and faithfulness!

I'm looking forward to seeing them and my three sisters in San Marcos this weekend...

Demand Media Thanksgiving Resources

Stuff we're doing at work...

"Prepare a stunning Thanksgiving dinner using traditional and unconventional recipes from the holiday experts at eHow. Was the turkey a little dry last year? Professional chefs dish their secrets for a juicy bird and recommend wines perfect for pairing. Tired of the same old stuffing? Mix it up this year with a recipe for oyster stuffing. Kids will gobble up eHow's arts and crafts ideas, and you can get creative, too, with instructional guides on homemade pumpkin pies, fresh flower centerpieces or even chic napkin folding techniques."

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Crispy Coconut Chicken

Despite my earlier post about the Spinach Casserole and the 100 Meals for $5 or Less cookbook, I am becoming slightly more concerned with cooking healthy instead of cooking cheap. It's a slow transition, but I'm trying to make changes in my diet as I learn more.

Recently I started reading about the benefits of coconut oil and started experimenting with it. I've made chocolate substitutes with it, included as a nutritional supplement in everything from smoothies to my coffee, and have cooked with it. Here's one of the recipes I tried - and LOVED - earlier this week.

Crispy Coconut Chicken

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1/4 cup unsweetened coconut flakes

1/4 cup ground almonds

1 egg, beaten

2 Tablespoons Virgin Coconut oil

4 cups mixed greens

Rinse chicken and pat dry. Cut the chicken into strips and set aside. Mix coconut flakes and ground almonds together on a dinner plate. In a medium-size bowl, beat the egg. Dip the chicken strips in egg and roll each strip in the coconut-almond mixture. Heat the coconut oil in a pan and saute the chicken strips until completely opaque through the center. Serve over a bed of mixed greens with lemon-olive oil dressing or a vinaigrette.

Serves 2.

This is a recipe I stuck to, except for the suggestion to use a lemon-olive oil dressing. I didn't have lemons, but I did use some olive oil. Honestly, though, I think this was fine without any added dressing. The chicken was good and moist and was really all the flavor that the salad needed. I did sprinkle some extra unsweetened coconut on the salad.

So good! This is a new favorite.

Harris Hope Group

This Wednesday I visited another Hope Group. It's a relatively new group, led by Jeffrey and Emily Harris. This week, dinner was prepared by Tim Margheim and Sue Hughes. And the discussion was focused on Sunday's sermon about Jesus driving out the money changers from the temple. You can hear that sermon here: The Lord Claims His Temple - Luke 19

And you can find Tim's pancake recipe here: Southern Living "Chicken-and-Potato Pancakes" Recipe