From My Grandmas Kitchen

If you've spent any time with me you probably know how much I cherished my

Grandma Ethel.

To me she was a gem above all gems.

A tough as nails shell with a heart of gold

an embrace that you would melt into.

 We may be a little bit alike.

This past weekend I was sorting through her recipe box and came across her 

famous recipe for

sourdough pancakes.

Memories flooded back

to the days I would go and

spend the night with her in Knappa at the old Johnson farmhouse.

After dinner she would fill up a giant bath of bubbles

and set out a long nightgown for me to slip on afterwards.

At bedtime I would get nestled under the heavy quilt that covered the old cast iron bed frame in the bedroom next to the parlor.

She would snuggle me in tight and kiss me goodnight.

When morning came she would already be in the kitchen getting breakfast going.

I never remember eating a bowl of cold cereal at her house.

The smell of bacon would fill the old house.

Grandpa Cliff would usually already be outside feeding the cows, but he would be back in time for breakfast.

She would pull up a stool and let me beat the egg whites as she prepared the pancake batter.

She would always let me help.

This is something I am terrible at as I like cooking alone.

 I really need to work on letting the kiddos come alongside me!

After sorting through her recipes last Friday I made plans that

today, Sunday, I would try my hand at her sourdough pancakes.

I found a recipe for sourdough starter on a homesteader page I follow on Facebook.

1 cup flour

1 cup water heated to 90 degrees

1/8 teaspoon yeast

mix with wooden or plastic utensil.

I used a mason jar and a wooden spoon handle and tucked it in the fridge.

Today when I pulled out the recipe to get started I realized I was supposed to start it last night.

Well, because I am impatient I tried it anyways and it worked 

splendid!

Next time I will do it the correct way.

Mix the night before
2 cups flour
2 cups milk

7 tbsp of starter -use plastic not metal measuring-

Let stand overnight- I assume on the counter

Next morning return 7 tbsp back to starter mix, cover and put back in the fridge.

Separate 4 eggs and beat whites until stiff peaks

 Stiff peaks means when you take the beater out the peak doesn't bend at the top

Combine in the bowl of flour, milk, starter

4 yolks

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

3 tsp baking powder

3 tbsp oil

3 tbsp sugar

wisk together then

fold in egg whites leaving chunks.

When you pour the batter on the hot griddle those chunks rise to the top

and when you flip them over the puff to about 1" thick!

Grandma Ethel used to serve with a bowl of white sugar for sprinkling so that is what I topped them with.

I taste tested them before I set them out for breakfast and when they crossed my lips

it got me in the feels

The lump in my throat kind of

feels.

They tasted just how I remembered...

It's probably been since I was 12 that I had these delicious cakes of goodness!

 27 years later.

The kids gobbled them up and Jer even ate more than he usually does and he isn't a big pancake fan.

The Farm Manager even made a comment tonight about how good they were.

I decided on January 1st after sorting through her recipe box  that I am going to write a book.

My first will be a compilation of my grandma's recipes with stories of us.

This means I am going to get to spend some time in the kitchen recreating all those wonderful and sometimes odd recipes that she loved enough to scroll onto a notecard.

I will also be learning how to let little hands help in the kitchen so that they have memories that creep in unexpectedly and hopefully flood their hearts like mine has been today.

I have the stool ready.

Blessed Is Me...