Recipes continued

Here's a few more basic recipes that Mama Marva made frequently but didn't use a written recipe for. I figured that some of the grandchildren who are teenagers or in college might like to know how to make them. (Most of these recipes I just made up--if someone out there knows a better way to make them, please post corrections.) = )

Mashed Potatoes
Peel, cut into small pieces, and barely cover with salted water 1 1/2 to 2 potatoes for each person expected to come for dinner (MM always made lots). Boil for about 15-20 minutes, or until soft (you can test them with a fork). Drain the water (you can save the water to add nutrition to breads, cakes, etc.). Using the whipping attachment of an electric mixer, beat the potatoes with 1/4 to 1/2 cup butter (or more) and 1/2 to 1 cup heated milk or cream (or more-the amounts depend on the amount of potatoes you cooked). (It's good to heat the milk in the microwave before adding it so the potatoes will stay hot.) If you don't have an electric mixer, you can just use a manual potato masher and mash them with the butter and milk in your cooking pot. Pile up the whipped potatoes in a large serving bowl and garnish with a pat of butter and a little paprika or fresh parsley (optional). If you are a garlic fan like I am, you may wish to add some garlic to the potatoes while they are cooking. You can also make them richer by adding cream cheese to the potatoes when mashing them.

Meat Gravy
Use drippings from meat (beef or pork roast, chicken, or turkey). Skim off fat, returning 3-4 tablespoons fat or oil to pan. Stir in 1/4 cup four until well blended while cooking over low heat. Slowly stir in 2 cups liquid (drippings, plus milk for chicken gravy or water for beef gravy). Season with salt and pepper. Heat on medium heat stirring occasionally for 3-5 minutes, or until slightly thickened. Yields 2 cups.

Oven Pot Roast
(I don't really know how to make this as well as Mama Marva--I'm just guessing how she does it.)
Buy a good quality beef roast (like rump roast, I think--it should have some fat marbling in it to make it tender.) Wash it off and brown the outside of it in 1 Tbl. oil in a heavy skillet. Season the outside of it well with salt and pepper and one or two bay leaves. (You can also buy a Schilling or McCormick seasoning mix for pot roast that comes with a plastic roasting bag, which helps make it more tender. Or dry Lipton onion soup mix also makes a good seasoning.) Put roast in a large, covered oven pan (Mama Marva liked to use a clay roasting pan that she had) with seasonings and 3/4 c. water, and bake at 325 degrees for 40 minutes per pound for medium well done meat (or until meat thermometer shows that the internal termperature is 160 degrees). (Bake for a shorter or longer time, about 10 minutes per pound, for rare or well done meat.) Uncover the roast for the last half hour of roasting to ensure browning. You can add vegetable pieces, like onions, carrots and potatoes, and roast them along with the meat, so that they absorb some of the savory juice. Or you can make gravy from the drippings (see above).

Navy Beans and Ham
Soak 2 cups dry navy (white) beans overnight in 6 cups water. Add a 1-2 lb. piece of ham with the bone still in it (it can be mostly bone--leftover Sunday or Easter ham is good), one minced or whole onion (MM usually left it whole, and then we onion lovers got to fight over who got the onion), a few stalks celery, cut into small pieces, 2 Tbl. brown sugar, 2 tsp. salt, 1/4 tsp. pepper, and one more quart water. Simmer until beans are tender and soup starts to thicken. If desired, partially mash the beans. Sprinkle with fresh chopped or dried parsley, if desired, and serve with hot whole wheat bread or rolls. Delicious on a winter day!

Whole Wheat Bread
(Mama Marva used to make us a lot of delicious whole wheat bread. I don't think I have her recipe, but here is a recipe that might be somewhat similar that I found in a recipe book. If any of you have the recipe that she preferred, please pass it on.)
1. In large mixing bowl combine, stir, and let stand:
1 cup hot water
1 cup dark brown sugar or
1/2 cup molasses + 1/2 sugar
2. In small bowl sprinkle
2 Tbl. or 2 pkg. dry yeast over
1 cup warm water and
2 Tbl. honey or sugar
3. Add to the first mixture and beat well:
3 cups warm water
4 tsp. salt
6 cups white flour
yeast mixture (from Step 2)
4. Stir in, then knead on floured board:
6 cups whole wheat flour, approx.
1 cup cracked wheat (optional)
5. Cover. Let rise in a warm place until double in size (about 1 hour). Punch down. Shape into loaves, place in greased bread pans, and let rise until double again (about 30-40 min.).
6. Bake at 375 degrees for 45-50 minutes. Yield: 6 loaves

Grape Punch
Stir together 1 12-oz. can frozen grape juice, 1 6-oz. can frozen lemonade, 6 cups (or 4 juice cans) water, and 1 cup 7-Up or Sprite until frozen juice is dissolved. Add ice and serve. Tasty and refreshing!

Frosted Jello Salad
(This is one of those famous Mormon jello salads that I used to love when I was younger)
2 sm. (or 1 lg.) pkgs. lemon Jell-O
2 cups boiling water
2 cups 7-Up or Sprite
20-oz. can crushed pineapple
1 cup mini marshmallows
2 lg. bananas, sliced
Dissolve Jell-O in boiling water. Stir in 7-Up. Chill until partially set. Drain pineapple very well, saving 1 cup juice for topping. Fold pineapple, marshmallows, and bananas into Jell-O. Pour into 9x13" pan and chill until firm.
Whipped Cream Topping
1/2 cup sugar
1 Tbsp. flour
1 cup pineapple juice
1 egg, slightly beaten
2 Tbsp. butter
1 cup whipping cream, whipped
1/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese
Combine sugar and flour in a saucepan. Stir in juice and egg. Cook over low heat until thickened. Revove from heat; add butter. Let cool; chill. Fold into whipped cream. Frost Jell-O mixture and sprinkle with cheese just before serving.

Elephant Stew
(I got this out of Woodland 3rd Ward Relief Society recipe book compiled in 2001)
1 medium sized elephant
brown gravy (lots)
salt and pepper to taste
2 rabbits (optional)
Cut elephant into small bite-size pieces (this will take about 2 months). Reserve trunk; you will need something to store the pieces in. Add enough brown gravy to cover. Cook on kerosene stove for about 4 weeks at 465 degrees. This will serve about 3,800 people. If more are expected, the rabbits may be added. Do this only if necessary, as most people do not like hare in their stew!

Ha! Ha! ; ) I just wanted to see if anyone actually reads this.

More recipes

I'm going take advantage of a few spare minutes at school to write another blog. (I hope I don't get in trouble for using this library research computer to do this--it says no chatting or MySpace allowed!) I have thought of a few more of my favorite Mama Marva recipes, most of which I'm sure she doesn't have in her recipe file because she just knew them by heart. I'll share some of them here with you all.

Mama Marva used to make quite a few things with white sauce (I'm sure she learned this from Grandma Painter). Since these first three recipes involve white sauce (it's just basically a milk gravy), I'm putting the basic recipe for it first:

Medium White Sauce
Melt 1/4 c. butter over medium heat in a skittle. Add 1/4 c. flour, 1/2 tsp. salt, and 1/4 tsp. black or white pepper and stir to make a floury paste. Slowly add 2 cups milk while stirring constantly and continue to heat on medium (not high) heat. Continue stirring (to avoid lumpiness) while mixture thickens (about 5 to 10 minutes). Makes 2 cups. To make the white sauce thinner or thicker, add more or less milk.

Creamed Peas and Potatoes
(this was one of Grandma Painter's favorites)
Wash (but don't peel) and boil about 2 pounds new (little) red (russet) potatoes in salted water for about 10 minutes. (If the potatoes are larger in diameter than a quarter, cut them into smaller pieces. In another pan, boil 1-2 pounds fresh, shelled peas (if you don't have fresh, you can use frozen) for about 5 minutes. Drain the water off the peas and potatoes. (You can reserve the water to make homemade bread. It adds vitamins, flavor, and risability to the dough!) Add the peas and potatoes to 2 cups of thin to medium white sauce and heat through. Delicious!!

Creamed Tuna on Toast
(Mama Marva used to make this a lot when I was little, but she finally stopped making it when she found out after years of serving it to us that Papa Ken doesn't like it. I still like it, though.)
Make 1-2 cups of medium white sauce. Add 1 or 2 cans of drained tuna. Serve over hot toast or (even better) over hot baking powder biscuits (you can use Bisquick for this). This makes a quick and filling dinner.

Creamed Egg on Toast
Hard boil 1-2 dozen eggs. Triple or quadruple the White Sauce recipe. (Steve Adams also adds a couple of teaspoons of sugar to the white sauce.) Chop up and add the boiled eggs. Serve over buttered (or unbuttered) toast. It is the Adams' family tradition to have this every Easter and Christmas morning, and on some other special occasions as well (Pa A is the one who usually makes it).

Basic Potato Soup
Peel and cut about 6 good-sized potatoes into small pieces. Barely cover the potatoes with salted water (with about 1 tsp. salt) and boil for 10 to 15 minutes. In a separate skillet, sautee one chopped onion in 1/4 cup butter. Add the onion to the boiled potatoes (don't drain the potatoes!). Add about 2 cups milk or cream (this can be a combination of skim milk, powdered milk, whole milk, evaporated milk, or half and half--whatever you have on hand. Of course, the creamier, the tastier!) Cook on medium heat until slightly thickened (another 15-30 minutes). Season with salt, pepper, parsley, and/or dried dill weed. Good additions to this soup are celery (boil with the potatoes), corn or peas (canned or frozen), bacon (fried and crumbled), ham, and grated cheese. Serves about 6. Easy, economical, and yummy on a cold night!

Potato Chowder
(Here is a richer potato soup recipe I like from the Woodland 3rd Ward Relief Society recipe book)
4 cups (about 4 medium) potatoes, peeled and diced
2/3 cups celery, chopped
1/2 cup onion, chopped
2 1/4 cups water
1/2 cup butter, divided
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1 1/2 cup milk
1 tsp. dried dill weed
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1 can (16 oz.) cream-style corn (you can also use frozen)
1 cup diced cooked hamor curmbled fried bacon
Combine potatoes, celery, onion, water, and 1/4 cup butter in a large soup kettle. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer for 10 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Remove from heat and set aside. Do not drain. In a large, heavy skillet, melt remaining butter. Stir in flour salt and pepper. Gradually add milk; stir until thickened and smooth. Add dill. Stir sauce into potato mixture. Add cheese and stir until melted. Stir in corn. Add the ham or bacon. Heat through. Serves 8.

Well, I gotta go. I'll put on a few more recipes later.

KUDOS

Kathryn just received her LSAT (law school entrance test) scores. She scored 171 out of 180. According to Lary, the average score at Harvard is in the 160's. Way to go, Kitty!

Spellbound!

See what I have to live with? Witchy Woman--La Bruja--aka Ms. Pockets!!

Location and meal schedule for our family reunion

Okay, somebody else besides me better start blogging, or I'll be accused of hogging the blog. Oh, well, it'll be the first time I've ever been accused of trying to communicate too frequently. I'm at school right now on a break between classes and couldn't resist looking up that cute Halloween background Julie put on our blog.

I already posted the proposed dates for our next family reunion (Monday, July 26, at 12:00 p.m. through Thursday, July 29, at 1:00 p.m.), but I didn't state the location. Since we will be going to the Rollo and Hazel Woodward family reunion at Beaver Lodge in Logan Canyon right afterwards, I thought we could all crowd into Papa Ken's house for our Ken and Marva Woodward reunion prior to that like we've done a couple of times previously this year. I asked Papa Ken, and he said that would be okay with him. I thought that one day we could go to a place like Willow Park (it's a big park with a little zoo) for some games and activities, and on another day we could go for a hike in Logan Canyon and/or to Bear Lake. Be thinking of some other activities you would like to do and let me know. I think the talent show is a must.

Here is the schedule of assignments I have come up with for people to be in charge of meals:

Monday, July 26
Breakfast: YOYO (your on your own)
Lunch: Papa Ken
Dinner: Jayne

Tuesday, July 27
Breakfast: Steve Adams
Lunch: Jennifer W.
Dinner: Sharon

Wednesday, July 28
Breakfast: Lary Duque
Lunch: Susie
Dinner: Linda

Thursday, July 29
Breakfast: Rod Burgess
Lunch: Mike

Being in charge of a meal doesn't mean you have to prepare it all yourself--you can ask whomever you want to help you. I imagine most people will ask for help from their immediate families, but those of you with smaller families (like Mike and Susie) should feel free to ask for help from other families. I like Lary's idea of having a cookoff using selections from Mama Marva's favorite recipes for the meals. In the near future I will try to compile a list of suggested menus you can choose from (first response gets first pick). I think Papa Ken's lunch on Monday should be his famous fruit smoothies (he could very well win the cookoff with that one!), and I think Mike's lunch on Thursday should be a make-your-own sandwich bar.

I know the reunion is still over nine months away, but I am trying to turn over a new leaf and prepare for things ahead of time. (Actually, I think it's really because my thoughts are very much turned toward family at this time.) Hope you are all well. More details about the reunion will be forthcoming.

Papa Ken is getting some R & R

Just a quick post to let you all know what's up with Papa Ken in case you've been trying to get a hold of him and haven't been able to. He called me tonight from Page, Arizona, to wish me a happy birthday. He left on Tuesday for what I thought was going to be a short fishing trip with a man from his ward, but I guess he changed his mind and decided to go on an extended road trip. He said he has been driving through some beautiful scenery through the Uintah basin and the national parks in southern Utah and is now near Glenn Canyon dam in northern Arizona. He says the fall weather has been beautiful and he is enjoying his trip. I think he's been planning this trip in his mind for a while now, so I'm glad he's able to just get up and go and have the flexibility to come back whenever he wants. He has his cell phone with him if you'd like to call him, but sometimes he'll probably be out of range. (I think that's what happened when I tried to call him a couple of nights ago.) And he doesn't have his voice mail set up on his cell phone yet. He seems to be enjoying having some alone time for a little while.

I'm glad you're able to get out and see some beautiful sights, Papa Ken!

Love you,
Your first born in the wilderness

Preliminary 2009 Family Reunion Info

Since I agreed to be our next Ken and Marva Woodward family reunion chair, I'm going to try to put off my procrastinating tendencies and start early to get it organized. (That way no one has an excuse of not enough time to plan for it.) Since we agreed to do it just before the big Rollo and Hazel Woodward reunion next summer (which, as I understand, will be from the afternoon of Thursday, July 30 until the evening of Saturday, August 1, 2009), I thought we could have our official reunion for 3 full days from noon on Monday, July 27, through 1:00 p.m. on Thursday, July 30 (and from there go straight to the Rollo and Hazel Woodward reunion). I realize that many of you may want to go earlier to be there on the weekend before, and that will be great, but the earlier gathering can be more a more informal time to chat and be together without organized activities. Those who arrive early will either be on their own or can to coordinate with each other as far as meals are concerned. I will be sending you schedule for organizing the reunion meals very shortly. Please let me know (by commenting on the blog or by e-mailing me) whether you think you will be able to make this reunion so I can begin to make more firm organizational plans. Thanks! Mama Jayne

Halloweeeen...

Thought we could use a little halloween spirit...

recipes

Okay, I thought I published recipes, but they didn't make it, so I'll try again.

For those of you who are serious about making meatloaf, here is an addendum to the Mama Marva recipe collection:

A Better Meatloaf

2 lbs. ground beef
1/4 c. Parmesan cheese
1 clove garlic, minced
3 T. parlsey, chopped fine
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. cracked pepper
3 T fresh basil, chopped fine
1 medium onion, chopped
1 c. oats
1/2 c. ketchup
1 T. Worcestershire sauce

Mix all ingredients together. Bake at 350 degrees F for 1 hour in a large loaf pan.


Now, a recipe for Linda:

Herb Spinach Bake

1 1-0z. package frozen spinach, cooked and drained
1 c. cooked rice
1 c. shredded cheddar cheese
2 slightly-beaten eggs
2 T. butter
1/2 c. milk
2 T. chopped onion
1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. rosemary
2 cooked chicken breasts, chopped

Combine all ingredients and bake at 350 degrees F for 30 minutes.


Finally, a recipe for Jennifer (Woodward)

Pasta with Spinach

1 lb. bowtie pasta (or other variety), cooked and drained. Add a little spaghetti sauce to keep pieces separate

Filling:

2 10-oz. boxes chopped frozen spinach, cooked and drained
1 c. parsley, chopped
1 c. bread crumbs
1 c. Parmesan cheese
2 cloves garlic, minced
4 T. olive oil
6 beaten eggs

1 lb. Italian sausage or ground beef, cooked
2 jars spaghetti sauce

Spread a layer of spaghetti sauce in a 4-qt. baking dish. Add a layer of pasta, a layer of sauce, a layer of filling, and another layer of pasta. Repeat layers and bake at 350 degrees F. for 30 minutes.

recipes, cont.

I forgot to sign my name on recipes. Sharon

More Tech Support...

Turns out, you don't have to sign in with the woodwardblog username in order to make posts. Here is the list of steps you have to take in order to make posts under your own name/account:

1) First, make a gmail email account of your own (some of you already have gmail accounts of your own)
2) then sign into the woodward blog under the WOODWARDBLOG username (not your new gmail account username)
3) click on the "new post" link.
4) Then click on the "settings" tab at the top of the page,
5) and under the settings, click on the "permissions" link up there.
6) Now click on "add authors" and a box will appear.
7) Type in your new (or existing) gmail email address in the box.
8) From there, go to your new gmail account and open the email it sends you.
9) Click on the link in the email, it will lead you to the blogger website where it will prompt you to write the password of your new gmail account. Enter it and now you will be logged into blogger with your own account instead of woodwardblog. Get it?

hopefully this wasn't too confusing. If it is, just proceed to use the woodwardblog account to write your posts.
I have already done these steps and added myself as a "contributor" to this blog, so at the bottom of this blog it will say "Posted by Jules" instead of "Posted by Woodward Clan"

Thanks and love to you all.

This is Papa Ken - Thank all of you for showing all the love you showed for Mama Marva and for all of the love and support you have given me and continue to give me. I love you all very much. Love, Papa Ken.

Painters

Julie here. Here are some pics annie took that I know some wanted to see.

Blog#1

Has anyone ever figured out who put the mouse in Papa Ken's shoe that family reunion?

Anyways...the funeral was beautiful. I felt the Spirit strongly. I was glad we had all the support we did. Thanks for everyone in participating, it made it that much more special. I don't think I saw one dry eye. I know it was very hard for me, but I know we will see Mama Marva again.

Kudos to Julie for taking so much of her time to make the funeral special and for making this blogging site.

Love and Miss All,
Sarah Elizabeth

Hi

This is a first for me, too!

Yay for Julie for getting this started!!! Weirdo Prez comes through again!! :-) I think this will truly be a scrumptrulescent experience, even if I am a technological pygmy.

It was so good to see all of you this past weekend! Today the house seems kind of empty with just Josh, Steve, and I here with Papa Ken. I hope you have all made it home safely. I know it will be hard to get back into your everyday routine of school, work, etc. this week. (It will be hard for me, anyway.) Good luck on your new job in Spain, Rod!

I thought Mama Marva's services were beautiful, and I think she was very pleased. Josh, Sarah, Steve, and I went to their ward on Sunday, and many of the members commented to me about how beautiful the service was. They were especially impressed with the musical numbers. I thought the talks were excellent as well.

Hopefully, you got a CD that Julie burned of the funeral service. If you got away before she managed to get it to you, we will be sending it to you by mail. Steve also has some video recording of part of the family service we had at the beginning and of the rehearsal of the musical number the grandchildren sang, and we will try to get that to you by mail as well. I think you all got copies of the printed funeral program (if not, Papa Ken has extras), but one thing that was not included was the program for the little family service we had at the beginning. I think Mama Marva wanted us to have a written record of this as well, so I will try to send a printed copy as an e-mail attachment to you since I think I have all of your e-mail addresses. If you don't get it within the next few days, that means I probably don't have your e-mail address, so you should e-mail me at jaynewa@sbcglobal.net.

Thanks so much, Linda and Shari, for the wonderful packet of Mama Marva's favorite recipes! I hope others will continue to add to them if they think some other favorite creations of Mama Marva's. I agree with Lary's comments that we should include a cookoff competition as part of our next family reunion in July. I haven't done anything yet to start organizing the reunion, but I will let you know some preliminary details soon.

Sorry if this blog is too long-winded. I tend to be that way. I figure a long BLOnG is better than no BOG at all. Everybody else, start blogging!! If technological pygmies like Papa Ken and I can do it, all you technological giants out there better start doing it, too! : ) I hope some you people with the know-how will start posting a few pictures as well.

Mama Jayne (I guess I am the new family matriarch)

My First BooBoo

Now is the time for all good bloggers to come to the aid of Papa Ken

A PaA First

I've never written on a blog before. I'm still trying to figure out what a blog is...B(ig) LOG,

B(oring) LOG -- a log is some kind of a record isn't it (like a tree that fell over a long time ago and is now old and petrified)? I really think it was some slip of the tongue and the teacher was too embarassed to admit the error.



In any event, thank you Mama Marva for bringing this new adventure - - you're influence continues! Now we have family reunions in nature's space and family BeLOnGs where we can all get together in the web space.



It was so good to see everyone once again. Oh, if you don't know who I am, my last name begins with A.

Blog is up and running....

WELCOME TO THE WOODWARD FAMILY BLOG. Julie here. My status has apparently been promoted from Weirdo President to Family Tech. So, in an effort to stay connected my first assignment has been to create a blog that will pretty much replace our family newsletters. Here you can post updates, pictures and letters you'd like to write to the fam. I will try to keep it as basic as possible in order to service those of us who are technologically impaired (or as Kathryn might say, "you are a technological pygmy.") So come one, come all.... to the one blog that will excede your most scrumptrulescent dreams.