The Monday Recipe Blog

Yummy Splenda Peanut Butter Cookies!!

Oklahoma is a peanut producing state - During peanut season, when my dad would visit peanut farmer friends, they would pull up several huge peanut plants and throw them in the back of his truck to bring home to his peanut-loving kid.  I would set to work pulling fresh peanuts off the roots of those plants, putting them on a cookie sheet and roasting them in the oven.  Wow, were they good!!  They were never around long enough for my mother to make fresh peanut butter, but Peter Pan peanut butter was always in the cabinet, and she put it to use often making peanut butter cookies....

Do you love peanut butter cookies, but hate the massive amounts of sugar they contain?

White sugar is hazardous to your health - it increases your chances of diabetes and packs on pounds, among other things.

Splenda is a sugar substitute that many people love. It has no calories and does not raise blood sugar. Compared to white sugar, it is a good choice if you need a sweet fix.

Below is a recipe for traditional peanut butter cookies made with Splenda and a touch of honey, but no white sugar...

Yummy Splenda Peanut Butter Cookies:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

With an electric mixer, beat the butter substitute and peanut butter in a large mixing bowl until creamy, about a minute.

Add in the egg substitute, vanilla and honey. Beat on high speed for 1 1/2 minutes. Add the SPLENDA Granulated Sweetener or generic and beat on medium speed approximately 30 seconds.

In a small mixing bowl,combine the flour, baking soda and salt. Add the flour mixture to the peanut butter mixture. Beat on low speed until well-blended, about 1 1/2 minutes. Mixture might be crumbly, and that's ok.

Roll tablespoons of dough into balls and place on a lightly oiled cookie sheet, about two inches apart. Flatten each ball with a fork, pressing a crisscross pattern into each cookie.

Bake 7-9 minutes or until light brown around the edges. Cool on wire rack.

Makes 24 cookies.

Note:  These are great dunked in cold, fresh milk!

Predict The Weather By Using Nature!

Happy birthday, Mom!

Well, we're getting into the interesting part of winter, and Oklahoma has already experienced a record-setting snowfall and blizzard.  Nice.  Nature has a way of letting us know what kind of weather is making its way toward us if we just understand the signs. Our farmer forefathers knew all of this, of course, but we have lost this passed-down knowledge over the years as our weather forecasting became easier and more sophisticated.

The nature method of weather forecasting was surprisingly accurate, and still is today. This article will tell you how the farmers used nature to predict how the weather….

The first twelve days after Christmas will indicate what each month in the next year will be like. A mild day the day after Christmas means that January will be mild. A stormy day on the fourth day after Christmas means that April will be stormy, etc.

If it hasn’t rained in a long time, and the rain starts before 7:00 A.M., it will be over by 11:00 A.M.

If it rains on Easter Sunday, it will rain on the next seven Sundays.

If it starts raining on the first day of the full moon, it will keep raining until the moon quarters.

There will be nice weather if you hear a screech owl.

There will be nice weather if smoke rises.

When crickets sing the temperature will get warmer.

If the first snow stays on the ground for three days, another snow will come along to add to it.

A late frost indicates a rough winter is ahead.

It will rain if:

Cows lie down in the pasture.

Earthworms come to the top of the ground.

The ants cover up the hole on their mound.

There is a ring around the moon. The stars in the ring indicate how many days away the rain is.

Birds are flying low.

The sun sets with clouds.

The number of days old the moon is at the first snowfall will tell you how many times it will snow this season.

Lots of rain and two frosts close to each other indicate that cold weather is approaching fast.

With this knowledge, you can now predict the weather as well as your farmer ancestors. Let’s all hope for a nice, peaceful January and February for everyone this year.

 

The Friday Dog Blog

What a great Friday!! Here's a dog to top it off....

We know this guy, it's Stefanie's Flash, at his birthday party. Hats on dogs are always good, and this one would even make the Grinch smile!

Learn To Recognize Symptoms Of Common Illnesses

What a great Wednesday!  How about a health post?

Sometimes our bodies will indicate a serious illness if we know how to read the signs that we are given.Many symptoms of serious illnesses are very common. If you see these symptoms bunched together, this might indicate that your illnesses is something more than just a temporary irritation. The following are seven rather common ailments, and some symptoms that could indicate them....

Concussion: (generally caused by a blow to the head)

Confusion.

Headache.

Blurred vision or pupils with unequal size.

Head injury with dizziness.Vomiting.

Migraine:

Headache and nausea or vomiting.

Throbbing pain on one side.

Headache and sensitivity to light.

Headache and problems seeing.

Meningitis:

Stiff neck.

Headache.

Fever.

Nausea and vomiting.

Glaucoma: (This can be diagnosed by a test at your Optometrist's office)

Blurry vision.

Enlarged pupil.

An ache around the eyes.

Watery eyes.

Sinusitis:

Fever.

Stuffy nose.

Headache.

Sinus pain.

Stroke: (Time is extremely important here - Get to a hospital quickly)

Drowsiness.

Headache.

Weakness or problems moving one side of the body.

Brain Tumor:

Headache.

Vision loss.

Seizure.

Nausea or vomiting.

With many illnesses, you will not experience every symptom. If your symptoms indicate that you might have one of these illness, please seek medical attention as soon as possible…

The Monday Recipe Blog

How About Some Old-Time Pulled Molasses Taffy????

Back in the 1800’s, all the way through the Depression, pulling taffy candy was a family tradition in homes of all incomes and circumstances. Taffy-pulling was a time-honored routine when the weather turned cold and the holidays rolled around. Kids absolutely loved it, particularly since candy was in short supply in those days.


What follows is an old recipe for Okie Molasses Taffy….

Ingredients:

5 teaspoons butter (don’t substitute), softened and divided
¼ cup water
1 ¼ cups brown sugar, packed
2 Tablespoons cider vinegar
¼ teaspoon salt
1/3 cup molasses, unsulphured
1 pair scissors, greased

Use 3 teaspoons of butter to grease a 15”x10”x1” pan and set aside.

Combine the water, vinegar, salt and brown sugar in a saucepan, and cook over medium heat. Bring to a boil and cook, stirring constantly, until it reaches the firm-ball stage (your candy thermometer will read 245 degrees). Add the molasses and the rest of the butter. Continue to cook, uncovered, until it reaches the hard-ball stage (your candy thermometer will read 260 degrees), stirring occasionally.

Remove immediately from the heat and pour into your prepared pan. Take a spatula and turn up the edges a little to make it easier to get out when cool. Wait until it’s cool enough to handle, this will be 4 or 5 minutes. Butter your fingers well. Form the taffy into one or more balls. Now start pulling.

Working fast, pull a lump of taffy between the fingertips of one hand and the other until it's about 15 inches long.

Now double it up and pull again. Continue pulling until the candy is porous and hard to pull.

Stretch the candy into a rope about 3/4 inch in diameter.

Cut with the greased scissors into 1-inch pieces.

Wrap each piece in waxed paper and twist the ends. Store the taffy in the refrigerator in an airtight container. Before you serve your molasses taffy, remove it from the fridge for 30 minutes.

This is always best if your entire family gets in on the act of pulling, cutting and wrapping the taffy!

Many who grew up in Oklahoma remember the pulled taffy days - it's a time-honored tradition in the Sooner state.

Never Separate Your Laundry Again!

Organization is everything when it comes to doing a job, whether it's at the office or at home....

Doing the laundry is a dreary job. Adding to it is the time spent in separating it, piece by piece. People generally wash several loads of laundry at a time - white clothes, dark or bright clothes, light clothes and denim.

This means that each piece must be evaluated and thrown into a separate pile before even starting the laundry, unless...You can set up a system that will separate the laundry before it gets to the laundry room.

If you follow this guide, it will cut at least ten minutes off of every laundry session - and who couldn't use some more time?

Here goes:

Purchase four tall trash bins without lids for each bedroom. They can be the same color, or different colors, your choice. If you have far less clothes in a designation, such as white clothes, you can purchase a small bathroom bin for that category.

Make 4 labels for each set. Use a Sharpie and paper and apply the labels with postal packing tape to ensure that they stay where you put them. The labels should read something like this:

White

Light

Denim

Dark/bright

Or, however you separate your laundry.

Tape a label on each bin. Line the bins up in an inconspicuous place in the bedroom, or better, in the closet if you have room.

Instruct each family member to throw their clothes into the correct bin when removed. When laundry day arrives, gathering and separating the clothing is as easy as emptying the bins.

This is a good system to teach your children. They will thank you for it years from now. It also encourages your older children to do their own laundry when their bins are full by making it much easier for them.

Happy Laundry Day!

The Friday Dog Blog

Happy Friday, everyone!!  Annie has just finished ringing in the New Year with her owners, Linda and Jim.  Looks like she may have celebrated a little too hard, but her message to you is heartfelt and right on top of her head....