#dump rice from my bowl into my brother's because i never finish

[swarmkeepers]

3 & 4 for the abernant sisters? 👀 (my sister and i have been trading food we don't like that we know the other likes our whole lives and thinking of the abernants learning that kind of thoughtless intimacy between sisters... listen to me sola i know i'm predictable but listen)

3 & 4. quietly picks out the things you don’t like to eat on your plate and transfer it to theirs without you needing to ask them to & quietly gives you the things you like to eat from their own plate + adaine & aelwyn  (prompts linked here)

(post-sophomore year, in the chaos that is a mordred manor dinnertime. at lydia and ragh’s dinner table there will be rice and there will be lumpia because my diasporic half-orc agenda continues (and also if family style asian home cooking isn’t the epitome of saying i love you through food i don’t know what is, the prompt made me do it!). thank you ket i hope i did your favorite elven sisters justice)

In the house that no longer exists, Aelwyn sat at their father’s right hand, across the table from her sister. 

In this house that Aelwyn sometimes cannot really believe exists, she sits next to Adaine, sliding next to her sister on the bench they have claimed for their own because Kristen and Fig cannot be trusted to sit on a bench for fear that they will stand on it to make proclamations, or try to vault spectacularly over it instead of sliding into their seats. 

When Adaine was little she used to kick her feet under the table, restless and reckless and making it her own fault when she stubbed her toe on the table legs or banged into Aelwyn’s feet. 

Aelwyn has forgotten many things about her own life (She has lived so little of her lifespan. She wonders if what she has already forgotten will fade away, just a few months in a sea of other forgotten memories as she ages, or if she will remember their absence forever). 

But these little annoyances from childhood remain—annoying and endearing and just so, so Adaine—clear as day from when she was little too, still petty enough to remember those slights clearly. (Aelwyn wonders what memories Adaine has that she might call just so, so Aelwyn. She can’t think of anything worth remembering.)

Now Adaine doesn’t kick her sock feet but just pulls them up on the bench to tuck them under her as she sits. Something in the back part of Aelwyn’s mind reminds her that this is bad manners, but most of her honestly agrees that this is necessary at this dinner table, where the extra few inches of reach let Adaine beat Fig to the last of Lydia Barkrock’s excellent eggrolls. Aelwyn is learning things every day, lessons that come much harder to her than the effortlessness of abjurative spellwork or dragonfire conspiracies or how to flirt and act at Hudol parties. Now Aelwyn is learning to sit next to her baby sister at dinner without commenting on her feet on the chair; to dodge Ragh Barkrock as he carries a giant steaming pot of rice out to the table; to silently flick up a little arcane ward between Fig’s hand and the plate of eggrolls just in time for Fig to be distracted by Adaine starting to reach for the last one; to not be surprised when Fig starts half-jokingly hollering at Adaine for it. 

There are so many quiet things to learn and Aelwyn thinks maybe she needs to start a new spellbook to remember them all. There are so many quiet things to learn between her and Adaine, and there are so many loud things to learn about living in Mordred Manor in the bunk under her baby sister’s. On any given day Aelwyn doesn’t have nearly enough of them prepared, or maybe it’s that she doesn’t have enough slots to do all of them yet, but she wants to have them all to hand in a spellbook to try again and again and again until they come cantrip-easy. 

Next to her, Adaine is crowing gleefully with her eggroll in hand as Fig rolls her eyes and settles back in her seat. Aelwyn snaps back into focus (little things. One thing at a time) to find Ragh piling far too much rice on her plate, and she hurriedly shakes her head in a “no thank you that’s enough” because Ragh always says “tell me when to stop” and doesn’t pay attention to whether you’ve heard him. He just grins and tries to give her an elbow-bumping RVS secret handshake while also holding a very heavy pot of rice with the other arm, and Aelwyn will never have his dex but she does try to elbow bump him back. Adaine just leans over and scrapes half of Aelwyn’s rice onto her own plate, and Aelwyn’s fingers twitch to cast the same little ward to stop her. “What in the world are you doing?”

Adaine just puts Aelwyn’s plate back down, half her rice gone. “Stealing your rice!” she says as if it’s simple as anything. “Ragh gave you too much and I know you never eat more than one scoop, so I’m taking it.” She picks up a clump of rice she’d dropped on the table in the transfer—Aelwyn had noticed, and it was bothering her—and just reaches for the sauce bowl, pouring sweet chili into a little pool on her own plate and then adding a glob to Aelwyn’s own plate without even asking.

A year ago in their father’s house that no longer exists, Adaine wouldn’t have dared. Here and now in the manor, Aelwyn’s just confused. 

“Adaine!”

Her annoying, endearing little baby sister just shrugs at her. “Aren’t you going to want it for your eggroll?” 

Aelwyn looks down at her plate to see, sure enough, half of Adaine’s prized spoils of her little war with Fig on her own plate next to the rice, an eggroll broken in half with crispy skin and juicy filling. 

“You’re welcome,” Adaine says smugly, in the exact same tone that she uses to loudly declare victory over Fig in little dinner table skirmishes.

It’s good food, Lydia’s cooking unquestionably the best in the house, and eggrolls secretly are Aelwyn’s favorite of the non-waybread foods she’s started eating more of ever since moving into the Manor. Aelwyn knows more manners than to not take it. And knows better than to not say thank you.

“Thanks,” she mumbles, and Adaine just shuffles over on the bench a little to rest her head on Aelwyn’s shoulder as she munches on her own half. 

Aelwyn is learning many things but she thinks she knows what to do here, just leaning her head over on top of Adaine’s and smooshing her cheek into the top of Adaine’s hair. Adaine can probably hear her chewing and it’s probably horrifically bad manners but Aelwyn doesn’t care to remember that right now.

Here, in this house that Aelwyn pinches herself a little to remember actually exists, her baby sister is pressed into Aelwyn’s side, picking food off her plate and trading back Aelwyn’s favorites in turn. Aelwyn dips her eggroll in sweet spicy sauce and lets herself not care about manners and thinks that for once she’s sure that this moment is worth remembering. 

from the prompt list linked here! i’m closing prompts from this particular list simply because i have so many excellent ones to get through

[bbyheedeungie]

You have me now | Cat hybrid!Jungwon AU

Pairings: Jungwon x Reader ft. Bang Yedam

Genre: fluff, angst

Warnings: depression, slight nudity

Word count: 1.7k

Synopsis: Going through some tough times in your life, you come across someone who is struggling as well. And now you never thought you'd find solace in your cat, Jungwon.

Author's note: this is my longest fic yet! I got very emotional with this one. Btw, thank you for all your support! 😭❤may all of you have someone to depend on in your darkest times.

Dark gray clouds cloaked the skies, with vicious thunders warning everyone that heavy rain threatened to pour mercilessly. It was 5pm, your last class had ended long ago but your teacher had to make you stay to discuss important matters with you; your failing grades in his class. And to make matters worse, your boyfriend had just broken up with you through a text.

As you make your way through the gates of the school, you groaned as the cold rain engulfed you within seconds.

"Guess this day can't get any better huh."

You make a sprint for it, not caring about getting your socks muddy anymore as your arms make a futile attempt to shield yourself from the rain.

Amidst the harsh cry of downpour, you were stopped at your tracks by the sound of weeping meows, not too far away. And there it was, under a tree was a small kitty crying in sorrow as the cardboard box which was probably supposed to be its home melted away in the rain.

You've never been one to keep pets, but you've always had a soft heart when it came to animals that is why without hesitation, you scooped up the poor kitty in your arms and ran home.

You were dripping wet, shivering as the warmth of your apartment slowly welcomed you and your companion. You settled the kitty on a rug as you took a warm shower and changed into an oversized shirt and sweatpants. When you finished drying yourself, you notice that the kitty barely moved an inch from how you left it, still shivering.

"Hey kitty, you'll be okay now." you cooed and stroked its wet head and ears. It looked at you cautiously yet gratifyingly and you were shocked at how much emotion its eyes held. Almost like a human.

"That's kinda odd. But you have very beautiful eyes though." you smiled.

Never having owned a pet, you were honestly unsure on how to take care of it. And so, together with your wet books, you blow dried the kitty with your hair drier. You giggled as the kitty flinched lightly and its fur stood up, probably new to the sound and sensation of your hair drier. Your laugh fades as your eyes train upon the scars all over the poor kitty's body. You could have easily missed it because of its dark fur but as it dried more, it became more visible. You knew battle scars when you see them. As your fingertips lightly grazed your scarred wrists, your heart can't help but ache for the small cat.

"I won't let anyone or anything hurt you again. I'll take care of you from now on, okay? You can depend on me." you assured and it meowed in response, tilting it's head sideways as it blinked at you a few times.

At dinner time, you rummaged all of your cabinets for anything you can feed to the small cat. The rain hadn't ceased yet, withholding you from going outside to buy proper cat food. For the time being, you decided that a can of tuna will suffice.

You placed the bowl of food in front of the kitty, taking a few seconds before it cautiously moves closer to it to sniff it.

"Well go on, don't be picky." You raised your eyebrows, placing your hands on your hips. The kitty meowed and did that thing again, tilting its head and blinking at you before dipping it's head into the food. It only took a few minutes for it to finish eating and you felt like a proud momma. Poor little thing must have been very hungry.

That night you decided to let the kitty sleep above your blanket, settling into its place at the foot of your bed. Suddenly, the sound of raindrops have never felt so calming as you slept soundly that night for the first time in weeks.

The morning welcomed you with bright sunshine beaming through your windows. You hummed in content as you snuggle closer to the warm body that cradled yours.

Your eyes shot wide open at the sudden realization and shoved the person away from you. You stumble out of your own bed and stare at the gorgeous boy that blinked at you confusedly.

"Come back to bed, I want to sleep some more." He whined sleepily, tilting his head as he blinked at you. Why did it seem familiar to you?

You combed through your hair profusely, trying to stay calm as you rake your thoughts on what had happened last night. Did you got drunk and brought a boy over? Your blanket covered his body up to his neck but you were sure he wasn't wearing anything underneath, remembering how warm his skin felt on yours. You slap yourself internally and took a deep breath.

"Umm hey, I'm gonna have to ask you to leave. Last night was a mistake." you said awkwardly, fiddling with your fingers. He blinked at you, seemingly hurt.

"I'm sorry, did I do something wrong?" He said sadly and sat up and attempted to reach out to you, your blanket sliding down to his hips. His entire torso was now in full display and you quickly stopped him.

"No, stay! Don't come near." You shrieked as you look away with your hands covering your eyes.

"Do you regret taking me in last night?" He asked bitterly, looking down to his hands.

"What, what do you mean?" You remove your hands from your eyes and glance at him, your eyes quickly falling to his scarred torso.

Just like—

"Oh! Did my human form freak you out? I'm so sorry, I'll change back."

My cat. Under the covers, was the kitty you took in.

To say that your morning was eventful was an understatement. You told him to change back to his human form and had him wear one of your oversized shirts in which he happily sniffed before putting on, and a pair of shorts that your brother had left when he last visited you. And now both of you are seated at the kitchen table, eating kimchi fried rice and eggrolls for breakfast. It has been 5 minutes of awkward silence when he decided to clear his throat.

"I guess I should introduce myself." He said shyly, his eyes glued to his plate.

"Please do." you nod, trying to stay composed.

"I'm Jungwon, and I'm a hybrid."

You take in a shaky breath. A freaking hybrid.

"I grew up in the animal shelter, where I was separated from my parents since birth. I don't know if they're hybrids as well." his fists clenched under the table and he took a deep breath, his eyes closed tightly. You quickly notice his discomfort.

"Hey, it's okay—"

"At the animal shelter, they didn't treat me well. The workers often lashed out me and hurt me when I couldn't obey them. And I didn't know why but I had this instinct of not to show them my human form. Honestly, this has been my longest time as a human." Jungwon said ruefully, ashamed to look at you in the eyes.

"When I was old enough, I escaped and ran away. I swore to myself that I am never going back to that place. And then I ended up under that tree, drenched and starving and you appeared and you—" he choked, his tears trickled down his face and you quickly sat up fron your seat, rushed to his side and engulfed him in a hug.

"Hey, you don't have to be alone anymore. You have me now, okay?" You said as you stroked his hair comfortingly.

Once he'd calmed down, you introduced yourself as well.

"I'm Y/N. I guess I haven't told you my name last night." you chuckled. He shook his head.

"No, but I kinda peeked at your school ID while you showered. Sorry about that." He said sheepishly, scratching the back of his head.

"No need to be sorry for." you giggled.

Your conversation was abruptly cut off by the sound of your doorbell.

"Huh, who could that be?" you muttered to yourself, leaving Jungwon at the kitchen.

You opened the door, revealing your ex-boyfriend, Yedam.

"Hey, I was worried when you didn't text me back." You scoffed at him.

"Why would you even worry about me? Didn't you dump me?" you couldn't help it but you were angry at him. How he treated you so lowly that he thought you didn't even deserve a proper break up, that just a text message will be enough.

"Hey, you can't blame me. Y/N, your grades were failing, you were diagnosed with depression. You were falling apart—"

"And you decided I'm too much for you to handle. Yedam, leave." Your voice broke, your tears threatening to fall.

"Y/N wait—"

"Y/N asked you to leave." a voice spoke behind you, his hand reaching out to rub your back comfortingly. I'm here Y/N, I'm right here for you.

He didn't like the way the man you were talking to was making you feel. He could sense how upset you are and it pisses him off.

"Who are you? Back off man, this is none of your business." Yedam tried to brush him off.

"Any business of Y/N is my business too. Y/N, is this guy troubling you?" He asked you, his beautiful cat-like eyes look at you with tenderness and then shoots menacing glares at Yedam.

"No, not all." You smiled at Jungwon, and Yedam saw it. How your eyes sparkled as you look at the boy. You were happy. And when your eyes flew back to him, it was empty.

"Yedam, we're over. This conversation is over too. I hope you live a good life and thank you for being part of mine. That is all." You stated, feeling proud of yourself for handling things so well. For being strong.

"Bye then." Yedam said, turning his back to the both of you not before shooting Jungwon a look and muttering "Punk."

Once you close the door, you let your tears stream freely. Jungwon worriedly wipes away those tears.

"That human makes me want to claw his eyes out. I hate him for making you hurt like this." he scowled. You only smiled at him.

"Y/N, you don't have to be alone anymore. You have me now, okay?" he said, repeating your own words.

[blue-and-dog]

More Sengoku Basara OC Writings!

Dinner Time (Nanahime and Yoko)

[[MORE]]

The pirate queen, scourge of the seas! Feared by all! She challenged the gods and won! She crushed her enemies! She commanded a crew of the finest, the strongest, the bravest!

She stood at the helm of her mighty ship—terror of the seas! Now that none in Japan stood against her, there was no choice but to continue to new lands! Adventure awaits!

With a crouch, she prepared to leap from the helm into the seas—

“Yoko, get down from there! Preferably not by jumping!”

Yoko snapped back to reality, the little girl crouching down to see her mother’s slightly-agitated gaze.

“Y’know, we specifically told you you’re not allowed to jump from the roof after what happened last time.” Nana held up her arms as she drew closer. “C’mon, I’ll catch you. Just climb; it’s time for dinner.”

“Comin’!” Yoko turned around, beginning to climb down and letting go; Nana caught the six-year-old under the arms with a grunt.

“Geez, you’re gettin’ heavy....” she laughed a bit, setting her down and taking her hand. “Okay, let’s go before the food gets cold.”

“‘Kay!” Yoko fell into step beside her mother, humming a bit as they headed into their home. “Think daddy’ll be back tonight?”

“Mm...probably not. You know your dad; he could be another few days, another few weeks, or show up within an hour.”

“I wonder if he’ll bring me a neat shell again this time,” Yoko thought out loud, “I don’t mind if he doesn’t, though.”

“Just want ‘im home in one piece?”

“Mm-hmm. Then we can wrestle again.”

“Am I not a good enough wrestling partner anymore?”

“That’s not true!” Yoko immediately replied, flustered, “You’re still fun! I like to wrestle you!”

“I’m just teasin’, squirt.” She messed up her daughter’s hair a bit. The pair said hi to passing crew members and guards as they went, before finally, Nana used her free hand to slide open the door to where they would be dining: a large, square room with a single round table in the middle and three somewhat-flat cushions (though one of the regular occupants was currently away). Waiting at two of the seats were a hearty bowl of steamed white rice, and somewhat-neatly assorted fillets of fresh ocean fish—Nana had even cut off the tail fin of the fish and stuck it near the far right of Yoko’s rice, having given it a bit of a whale shape (never mind that whales weren’t fish).

“Dinner!” Yoko cheered, immediately sprinting to her spot and jumping onto the little cushion meant just for her; the cushion slid a bit, but snagged on the wood floor before it could send the girl careening across the room. Yoko immediately snatched up her chopsticks and went to pick up the tail fin and pop it in her mouth—

“Ah, don’t eat that part. That’s for decoration.”

“Oh. Okay!” Yoko set it aside, instead swiping up the rice bowl and digging in voraciously.

“Please don’t choke.” Nana sat down with a laugh and a sigh, beginning to eat her own portion of the meal. After a while of eating in silence, Yoko swallowed a mouthful of rice, taking a deep breath.

”Mommy, what kinda stuff do you do as daddy’s first mate?”

“Hm?” Nana had a fillet halfway in her mouth. Chewing and swallowing, she cleared her throat. “Well, lots of things.”

“Like what?”

“Let’s see...” she put her chopsticks to her lips as she thought for a moment. “I’m head of the household, officially, so I handle anything goin’ on around the house. I also handle inventory for your daddy’s ship; make sure the crew has enough food and supplies. Lotsa physical work, too, like helping with building and maintainin’ the fleet. Then there’s handlin’ relations with the clans your dad allied with—“

“Those are the days you gotta dress up nice, right?”

“Ugh, yeah. Anyway, there’s all that, and basically keepin’ your dad from doing anything stupid. ‘Bout a fifty percent success rate, there.”

“And you gotta make me little brothers so Daddy has heirs, right?”

Nana paused as she looked at her, then squinted. “You were supposed to be asleep when we were having that conversation.”

“I know how babies are made, mommy. You told me.” Yoko stuck her nose up, “Don’t be surprised.”

“Listen here, you...” Nana started, then snickered. “You’re gettin’ too old, too fast.”

Yoko let out a giggle, then went back to eating, while Nana watched for a moment.

Those big green eyes, full of curiosity. So familiar to her.

Sometimes, when Yoko looked up at her mother with those big green eyes, Nana could see Fukurou there, for one, fleeting moment.

How would you feel, seeing your daughter now, Fukurou? she thought.

“Mommy?” Yoko spoke up again. “You’re not eatin’.”

“Oh, you’re right. Whoops.” Nana popped another fillet in her mouth.

“It sucks Daddy’s not here to eat this with us.”

“He had plenty of food packed; I’m sure he’s fine.”

“But it’s not like when you make it fresh! Daddy’s missing out!”

“Look at you, worrying over your dad. He’d be so flattered. Complete turnaround from when you first met him.”

“Really? I can’t remember a time I didn’t like Daddy.”

“Ohhhh, there was a time when you didn’t like him at all. You were really young, though; I’m not surprised you don’t remember.”

“How old was I?” Yoko leaned in a bit, now at full attention.

“Mm....” she swallowed some rice. “...three? It wasn’t long after Mommy and all her friends decided to become pirates. I think I was working on something that required two hands, but you were being clingy and wanted me to hold you, so I was managing with one hand. The cap’n—your dad, as you now know him—came by, saw what I was doing and asked if I wanted him to hold you while I was finishing up. I told him it wasn’t a good idea because you got fussy with people you didn’t know, but he insisted it’d be fine. So, I decided, fine, I’d let him hold you for a few minutes. Well, no sooner do I pass you to him and he says hello, that you scream, ‘NO!’ and—“ she started to cackle, “You smacked him in the face as hard as your little hand could. Which, luckily, wasn’t very hard.”

“I hit him!?” Yoko sounded distraught. “I’d never hit daddy if we weren’t playing!”

“Well, he started laughing after that and just held onto you despite the fact you started squirming and flailing—I think he kinda saw you as a challenge. Did seem kinda disappointed at your reaction, though.”

“When did I start liking him?”

“I’d say about a month or so later. I was talking to him about something, and you just walked over, looked up at him and said, clear as day, ‘Aniki, up!’ and held up your arms. I swear, he must have been waiting to hear that, because he scooped you up immediately. Plus, scored him some points in my book, with how much he took to you after that.”

“Is that when you fell in love with him?”

“Mm....nah. I can’t really pinpoint a time that happened. That’s the thing about falling in love, kiddo; sometimes, it’s just kinda...there.”

Sometimes more than once. And with multiple people. But she doesn’t need the details.

After dinner was eaten, Yoko scurried off while Nana went to wash the dishes. As she entered the empty kitchen, she went over the dinner conversation in her head, and again, her mind went back to Fukurou.

“Hey, if it’s a girl, let’s name her Yoko, okay?”

“Yoko? Not against it, but why?”

“We can use the character for ‘ocean.’ We met on the beach. It fits, yeah?”

“Yeah...you’re right, it does! That’s actually pretty cute.”

She smiled a bit. Him and his symbolic names. Such a dork.

He was her former lover.

He was exuberance and life and adventure all rolled up into one. Never sat still, never stopped thinking of new things to do. Never stayed in the same place. Always found something to love about the places he went.

As she finished drying the dishes, though, she paused. A pang in her stomach, and it wasn’t the food doing it. With a sigh, she headed back to the quarters she shared with her husband, going to the closet where she kept her few belongings. Sliding it open, she pulled out a small leather pouch, opening it and dumping the contents into her palm—a round, amber stone on a leather string—the string was long since broken. Raising it to eye level, she turned it over in her hand, a frown crossing her features.

The kid’s doing fine. We all are.

She closed her fist around it, giving it a squeeze.

I promise, I’m okay.

She sat against the wall, staring across the room blankly for a while, still holding the stone in her hand.

She wasn’t aware how much time had passed, until Yoko opened the door again.

“Mommy, I’m going to bed! It’s story time!”

“Huh?” Nana snapped back to reality. “Oh...! Right. Sorry. Are you all set?”

“Mm-hmm.” Yoko nodded, lying completely.

“Hey.” Nana crouched in front of her. “Are you lyin’ to me?”

“...no.” Yoko looked away.

“You didn’t wash up!” She put her hands on her daughter’s cheeks. “You gotta wash up, kiddo! Or else you could get sick, and that would be,” she smushed her cheeks, taking a faux-sinister tone. “Sooooo baaaaaad.”

“Stoooop!” Yoko whined, pulling away. “I’ll go wash my face, fine!”

Nana laughed as Yoko scurried off, heading to her daughter’s room—the room was filled with odds and ends; various little “treasures” Yoko had picked up from playing with friends, going on “adventures” with her parents, or just wandering around. But displayed proudly on a small shelf were four seashells, each different shapes and colors—gifts given to her by her stepfather...her “daddy.”

“Here I am....” Yoko arrived moments later, crawling onto her futon.

“Alrighty, so what story do you want?”

“...actually...instead of a story...”

“Hm?”


“...can I ask you about my daddy? The daddy who made me?”

Nana felt her stomach flip as Yoko asked. “...you wanna know about your birth dad, huh?”

“You don’t gotta tell me everything if you don’t wanna, but....I at least wanna know what he was like.”

Nana didn’t know this feeling. It wasn’t dread. She knew Yoko would want to know more eventually. Fukurou didn’t live to see Yoko; didn’t get to watch her grow. And as those big green eyes stared back at Nana...

“...well....I can’t deny you that, huh?” Nana smiled a bit. “...okay.”

One day, Yoko would have to know what happened. But...at least for now, she could tell her who he was.

[diinofayce]

Like A Whisper In The Night - 13

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x OFC (Layne Hardin) | Word Count: 2,613 | Warnings: Swearing probably, fluff, angstyfluff? | PREVIOUS CHAPTER

The group all settled around the kitchen table, Wanda and Vision serving everyone large bowls of a yellow meat sauce over rice. It had the consistency of curry, but was much sweeter and very rich. Layne picked at it and mixed it around in her bowl as she tried to get the first few bites to sit calmly in her rolling stomach, it had been over a week since she had eaten anything substantial, but she wanted to show the team that she could handle herself. It was Bucky, who watched her with intense eyes from across the table, that finally stood and went over to the fridge. He came back with a small pack of applesauce and a spoon, ripping off the tinfoil lid and setting it down in front of her and pulling her bowl of Wanda’s lunch to him.

“Small bites, doll,” Bucky said softly. Layne flushed and cast her eyes around the table, the others acted like they didn’t notice and so Layne sent Bucky a timid smile of gratitude. He smiled back and dumped the food from Layne’s bowl into his and Steve’s.

Layne took tiny slow bites of the applesauce, finding that sat way better in her stomach as she picked at the torn flesh on her knuckles, the android laying torn apart on the floor behind them.

“Are we going to tell me what is happening?” Thor finally asked through a mouthful of rice.

Steve cleared his throat and wiped his mouth off on a napkin, trying to collect his thoughts on how to best go about explaining everything the God of Thunder had missed. It was Layne who reached over Natasha to her left to extend her small battered hand to Thor.

“I’m Layne Hardin; I take over people’s minds, make them tell the truth, and can make them relieve their worst memories. This is my friend Susanna Sweet, she is not an Avenger, but she did a very good job holding down Hulk for me so I could force Bruce back in control the other day so we might keep her.” Sue choked a little on her food and elbowed Layne softly in the ribs which she ignored. Thor blinked at Layne for a moment before taking her hand in his large meaty one and shook it furiously.

“Excellent! A great addition,” he boomed. He looked over at Susanna to Layne’s right and smiled. “You held down the big green guy? That is fantastic. We must battle later.”

Layne smirked as she saw Sue go a brilliant shade of red out of the corner of her eye and continued to pick at her applesauce.

“Um. Yeah. I’m not planning on staying much longer,” Susanna waved him off, trying to deflect. “I’m just staying to make sure Layne is back on track and then I have a job to get back to.”

“So if I stay a hermit you wont leave?” Layne teased, giving her friend puppy dog eyes. Sue chuckled and shook her head, already more than overly familiar with Layne’s antics.

“You mentioned something about her brother?” Thor asked Steve and Layne bristled.

Steve and Bucky both carefully watched Layne’s reaction as she froze at the mention of her sibling down in lockup. She shook herself slightly and went back to eating her applesauce and staring intensely at the table as if it was the most fascinating thing in the room.

Steve licked his lips before proceeding with caution. “Yes. Layne’s older brother is also an Inhuman, they seem to have similar powers based on a hereditary chain. He is also quite knowledgeable in the world of robotics and it seems he has been making androids to look like that woman. She’s the daughter of the scientist who experimented on the Maximoff twins,” Steve answered. Wanda shifted uncomfortably at both the reminder of Dr. List Sr and her deceased brother.

Thor had a small frown on his face and he looked across from him to address his brother. “Why did you not contact Heimdall to send me to you sooner?” Thor asked and Loki shrugged.

“A good thing I refrained, brother. Who would have been there to defeat that,” Loki replied sounding bored as he motioned to the pile of scrap behind them.

A clatter of silverware came from one end of the table as Tony put his fork down and wiped at his face with the napkin from his lap. “What I’m curious about, Hardin, is how come when you gave us a debrief on your brothers abilities you didn’t tell us he could also take over minds and bodies like you can.” He was, of course, referencing the trouble her brother caused when he took over Steve’s body on their arrival back to the tower.

Layne squeezed her eyes shut, she was hoping no one would realize and it would never come up. That was a bleak hope, though, as she was surrounded by people who only survived by being extremely observant. “Because he couldn’t,” Layne answered quietly. “Just like I knew absolutely nothing about robotics or mechanical engineering or any of that until last week.”

Tony squinted his eyes at her and chewed on the little patch of hair on his bottom lip. “Care to expand on that?” he retorted.

“As soon as Ava List attached this enhancer to my brain it was like it caused a neuro-sync with Daniel. If you closed all the blinds I could probably disappear into the shadows like he can. But I can tell you that he’s baking under the lights you’re pouring into his room, how he’s slowly going insane because he can’t sleep because of them. I know what you’re feeding him every day, I can feel that he’s chewed his fingernails down to the quick and has resorted on chewing on his skin around them, and I know that he’s planning his escape even though it’s futile. As soon as I looked at that android I knew exactly how he built it, I knew what was important, what to remove so it can’t be activated, that Thor only did artificial damage and that it was a ticking time bomb until I pulled that chip out,” Layne’s chest was heaving as she worked herself up to a panic attack. It was Bucky’s hand reaching across the table and wrapping around her wrist that gave her something to anchor to and calm down.

The team looked at her with dropped jaws and wide eyes, Layne flushed and covered her eyes with her hand to block them out.

“So  you gained each other’s extra abilities?” Natasha asked, trying to wrap her head around everything.

Layne lowered her hand and chewed on her bottom lip in thought. “It…doesn’t feel like an extra ability? It feels like it was supposed to be something I could do and that he could do…we just I don’t know…learned our abilities differently?” Layne tried to explain.

“Like a video game,” Sam piped up. “You have the same skill tree, but you both went down different branches of it, but once you have the skill points there’s no reason you can’t unlock that branch.”

Layne nodded. “Yeah. Exactly. It’s like we combined our skill points.”

“This means that Daniel has knowledge of everything we’ve been working on in the lab. The super solider serum, my problem with the big guy, even data on the blood that Loki donated,” Bruce commented, looking worried. Layne sighed and nodded in confirmation. “Can you…delete…memories?” Bruce asked.

Layne shrugged. “Like extract a memory permanently?” She thought back to her ex-boyfriend back home, how he followed her around for months showing up at her apartment and work until she had basically wiped herself from the grid. Until he found her again and she snapped, delving into his mind and pulling out every memory of their time together and destroying it. She thought about him sitting in the mental health ward at the hospital as he drooled down his shirt. Maybe it was the sheer quantity, taking out two years worth of memories, or maybe it was her erratic emotional state when she did it either way she wasn’t looking to repeat it.

“I can, but it’s too risky,” Layne conceded. “I’ve done it once, the results were less than satisfactory.”

Bucky studied Layne’s face carefully, watching the emotions flick through her eyes with her recollection. He watched as she picked her words, Bucky didn’t know if she had always been so flippant or if this was a new development to her personality. His gaze flickered over to Susanna who didn’t seem concerned in how Layne was acting so he chocked it up to just another aspect of Layne he wasn’t familiar with. Layne had this way of skirting around her truths, she never lied but would never go out of her way to give details unless pressed. It was something that Tony had noticed months ago with her, always demanding her to ‘expand’ or ‘explain further’ and she usually would without a second thought. It just made Bucky wonder into her past, what had happened that Layne only ever spoke in halves?

Layne could feel Bucky’s eyes locked on her, his gaze burning into the side of her face as she talked to Bruce and Tony. She clenched her jaw in discomfort and finished the last bit of her applesauce before flicking her gaze to his. Her caramel eyes were rimmed with amber fire and Bucky quickly looked away, knowing he’d been caught.

“When do I get to see Danny?” Layne asked suddenly, setting her spoon down gently.

Bucky and Steve looked at each other, Steve then turned to Tony who shrugged. “Whenever you want, Layne,” Steve answered softly.

Layne stood, pushing her chair back. “Excellent. He’s in lock up five, right?” She turned and strutted off without waiting for confirmation. Bucky immediately stood and glared at Steve before rushing off after her.

Thor clapped his hands on the table, a broad smile taking over his face. “So, Lady Susanna. About that battle?”

~*~

Bucky rushed into the elevator with Layne before the doors closed. “What do you think you’re doing?” Bucky asked more harshly than he meant to. Layne’s face bunched up and she took a deep breath before answering carefully, her tone clipped.

“Going down to see my brother. What are you doing?”

Bucky slammed the emergency stop button on the elevator and Layne sighed, crossing her arms over her chest and leaning against the railing. She was preparing herself for the lecture that she was sure was coming. Layne knew she did herself a disservice by locking herself away in her room because now everyone was treating her like fragile glass. Which she kind of felt like, but at the same time she was determined to stay glued together and just be normal functioning glass. Or maybe just chipped, relatively okay glass.

What she did not expect was for Bucky to cradle her face with his hands and crash his lips into hers. The taste and feel of him immediately overwhelmed her senses, she unfolded her arms and grabbed onto his waist, pulling him flush against herself as she opened her mouth to him to taste him further. Bucky kissed her desperately, holding onto her for dear life like he was afraid she would disappear. Layne let Bucky take control, his tongue brushing against hers and his thumbs sweeping over her cheekbones. He slid his flesh hand up and tangled itself in her hair, his metal hand sliding down her body to rest at her hip. Bucky pulled away, realizing they both needed to breath, but bit softly at her bottom lip with his departure.

“I have never been so afraid in my life,” Bucky said suddenly, his voice deep and rough. He opened his ice blue eyes to stare deep into Layne’s warm brown ones; he held onto her like a life line, as his eyes roved her face memorizing every line, freckle, and scar. The way her lips were red and swollen from him and the way her blood had rushed to her cheeks in surprise, how silky her hair felt in his fingers and how warm her skin was beneath his metal thumb as it traced up under the hem of her shirt.

“Of the elevator?” Layne asked dumbly, her brain failing to catch back up after the sudden attack of one James Buchanan Barnes.

“Of losing you. Of not being able to tell you I’m an idiot and ask you to go on a date with me. Of never being able to kiss you again. Of not getting a chance to try to do something right for the first time in a really long time.”

Layne took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Yeah, but you found me.”

“Because of you. We were failing at every corner, I don’t want to fail when it comes to you.” Bucky removed his hands from Layne and set them on the railing on either side of her and taking half a step back so that he could lean down and rest his forehead on Layne’s shoulder.

Layne reached up and threaded her fingers through Bucky’s hair, fiddling with the hair band absentmindedly. “Bucky…I am less afraid of anything Hydra can do to me than I am of hurting you. Of fucking this entire thing up so horribly you’d never look at me again,” Layne confessed, her heart aching in her chest. “I’m like a poison when it comes to relationships.”

Bucky turned his head so his face was pressed against Layne’s neck, he inhaled the soft blackberry and vanilla scent of her body wash and the mango of her shampoo, she basically always smelled like a smoothie and it was one of his favourite things. “You can’t poison a relationship, doll. I adore you exactly as you are. I just want to be allowed to be the person that gets to watch you go and become the greatest, truest version of yourself. Because I think you’re swell and beautiful and strong and I would be beside myself if I got to call you my girl.”

Layne’s heart was pounding in her chest at his proclamation. Everyone in her life had always tried to change her, to mold her into their perfect idea of Layne Marie Hardin. No one had ever said ‘I think you’re exactly how you should be’, not even close. She was never smart enough, or pretty enough, or thin enough, or witty enough. And here was this broken boy soldier telling her that she was swell. Tears fell from Layne’s eyes unbidden and Bucky felt them hit his nose causing him to look up with worry.

“Doll?”

“You’re just the bees knees, James Barnes,” Layne said with a watery chuckle, swiping at her cheeks with the back of her hands.

Bucky looked at her unsure and swiped his thumbs under her eyes to knock the tears off her eyelashes. “Is that you saying you’re going to be my girl or you making fun of me?”

Layne let out a full laugh this time and stretched up to kiss Bucky softly on the lips. “Both. You’re a real stand up guy.”

Bucky blushed furiously and kissed her back, trying to keep the corners of his mouth curving up. “Shut up, Layne.”

“Hey, guys. Whatever is happening is cute and all, but other people need to use the elevator. So if you don’t get this tin box moving I’m going to have FRIDAY over ride it.” Tony voice sounded through the little speaker on the wall of the elevator and Layne smirked, reaching around Bucky to hit the emergency stop button and get the elevator moving again.

NEXT CHAPTER

[mikhailsbluecarnation-blog]

Geborgenheit nacht and Okayu

A/N: This is platonic sokudomatsu fanfic!

Osomatsu and Choromatsu lied down under kotatsu, they felt hungry and catch a slight cold, their brothers are away for walking outside under snowy night.

Osomatsu rolled slightly and stretched his arm, “Choromatsu…big brother is hungry…”. Choromatsu turned his head and nod slightly, “Me too, do you want to make soup?” He nudged Osomatsu a bit and warmly smiled a bit, Osomatsu got excited and quickly stand up, “Let’s make Okayu! We have rice and onions! Let’s go to downstair, Choro!” He rushed to downstair and waited for him.

Choromatsu wore his mask and nodded, he coughed slightly then helped Osomatsu wore his mask, “Wear this first okay?” He wore a fluffy jacket and walked downstair. “Okayu uh….rice, water, onion and ah! Big brother Osomatsu, do we have pickled plums or shredded seaweed? It is for toppings” he nudge him with his elbows and snickered. Osomatsu confidently smiled and nod, “Of course! Big brother knows everything and have everything for Okayu!” He warped his arm on Choromatsu’s shoulder and giggling like a kid.

“Big brother Osomatsu can you measure the rice? I will cut the onions and look for pickled plums” Choromatsu opened some jar and found it, he then cut the onions. Osomatsu nodded and pour the rice into a cup then soaked it inside a cooking pot before closing the lid. Choromatsu gave him the chopped onions and pickled plums for eating later Osomatsu prepared chairs for them for waiting until okayu finished.

Choromatsu took a sit, “Big brother Osomatsu, there is no way we can wait an hour for this. Let’s make ocha to warm ourselves” he said as he turned his head to him. Osomatsu rubbed his bottom nose and nodded, “this is true. What about Shoga-yu? We have ginger and honey” He opened the fridge and got a ginger and snap it to half with his hand.

“BIG BROTHER OSOMATSUUU!!” Choro shouted his lungs, “Use knife! Use knife! Don’t snap it like that!” He sighed but ended up with laugh, Osomatsu got his hands hurt and red then he dump them with cold water, “It hurts, Choromachuuu” he whined a bit. Choromatsu could not stop himself from laughing while grated the ginger and boiled it with honey and tea, “hahahha Big brother Osomatsu never change” he gave him the cup of tea and sat down while keep laughing.

Osomatsu dried his nose and his hand and check the pot lid to find Okayu was made well by them, “Let me check it, Choromatsu”. “Success for Okayu!” He high fived Choromatsu and smiled widely. “Let’s eat!” He poured Okayu into bowls and put seaweed on his bowl, Choromatsu used pickled plums instead like classical typical Japanese meal. They carried their food and drinks upstair and eating under kotatsu while playing games.

An hour later, Karamatsu opened the door, “Sorry for waiting, my brothers! I, Karamatsu bring Crème brûlée-eh..” Karamatsu found his beloved brothers sleeping after eating, Karamatsu smiled and placed their sweets on top of kotatsu. Karamatsu checked their fever and they are healed already.

“It was a rather cozy and comfy night for the first and third, I guess” Karamatsu said it to Toty who sneaked behind them. Todomatsu pouted, “I hope they won’t become a cow because they sleep after eating” he stuck his tongue out and giggled.

~The End!~

(Author’s note - Culture trivias: Shoga-yu is ginger honey tea and Okayu is rice porridge to get rid of colds. Also, there is a supersition in Japan if someone sleep after eating then they will turned into a cow! Woah! Also Geborgenheit means A comfortable-cozy feeling in German)

[hellogreenweb]

Family History Through Food

Nothing goes together quite like food and family. Traditions, moments, loved ones, memories, seasons and more can be remembered through tasting a dish your Great Grandma would make every Thanksgiving or a breakfast dish your dad would make every Saturday morning. Family history whether written, spoken, recorded or tasted can be tangible through food – no better way to cement memories and build bridges than through something that we must do day in and day out! Whether that be around a small counter top or a large dining room table we know that daily nourishment can mean a lot more than just filling up our stomachs.

Today we are featuring some amazing food bloggers who are sharing some of their favorite family recipes, not only because they taste wonderful, but because of the special memories they hold for each of them. Read on to find out why they love these recipes and the memories and goodness each recipe holds for them. And lucky for us, the recipes are included!

Jen Sattley @carlsbadcravings

 Every Fall growing up, us 5 kids (and all the neighbors, family, friends and anyone else blessed enough to be a recipient of Mom’s pumpkin bread) would eagerly await the arrival of pumpkin cans lining grocery store shelves so mom could make her famous Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread.  The house would fill with the magical Fall aroma of pumpkin and cinnamon and we knew it was going to be a magically delicious day.  But mom wouldn’t just make one loaf, but three beautiful Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread loafs.  We would devour as much as we were allowed and the rest would be gifted to neighbors and friends.  And then she would make more.  My very favorite memory of Fall.

This recipe for Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread is over 50 years old.  It comes from my mom’s brother’s elementary teacher who sent home homemade pumpkin bread and the recipe to all the children in his class.  With just a few adjustments by my mom over the years to make it perfect, this Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread has stood the test of time against any other pumpkin bread recipe.  In my opinion, it is simply the best!  So get ready to be loved, adored and applauded for your “famous” supremely moist, Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread riddled with chocolate chips, Fall spices and new memories to share.

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread

INGREDIENTS

Bowl One

6 eggs

4 cups granulated sugar

1 29 oz. can pure pumpkin

1 cup Vegetable oil

Bowl Two

4 1/2 cups AP flour

1 tablespoon baking soda

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cloves

1 1/2 teaspoons ground nutmeg

add later:

2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips (or half chocolate chunks)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

Grease and flour three 8 1/2” x 4 ½” loaf pans or use a cooking spray with flour in it.

In a very large bowl, add eggs and gently whisk. Mix in sugar, pumpkin and oil.

In a separate large bowl, mix together all Bowl Two ingredients (don’t add chocolate chips).

Mix the Flour Mixture into the Pumpkin mixture just until combined, being careful not to overmix. Fold in chocolate chips. Evenly divide batter between 3 loaf pans.

Bake at 325 degrees F for 65 – 75 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Let bread cool on wire rack for 10 minutes then remove bread from pans. Let bread cool completely on wire rack before slicing.

Store bread in an airtight container for up to 5 days.

Brooke Eliason @femalefoodie

One of my favorite family recipes comes from my beautiful maternal grandmother, Sayo Black. Because of her Japanese heritage, we have called her “Grandma Japanese” since my siblings and I were young kids. We love her ability to cook and share parts of her asian culture and, although this fried rice recipe isn’t an authentic Japanese dish, she has always been willing to prepare this family favorite throughout the years. She often makes double or triple batches of her fried rice for large family gatherings and jokingly comments “I’m cooking for an army”!

As a family, we have enjoyed this recipe on Christmas Eve, as a stand-alone meal, for leftovers (which we fought over relentlessly as children), or served inside an omelet for breakfast. I love that when I make this fried rice I am reminded of the great times I have shared with my Grandma Japanese as she thoughtfully chopped fresh vegetables, cooked each ingredient one at a time, and always let me have the first taste.

 Fried Rice

7 cups cooked sticky Japanese (pearl) rice, cooled completely (see tips below) 1/2 cup chopped onion (yellow or white) 1/2 lb chopped ham (about 1 1/2 cups or two thick deli slices) 2 cups cabbage, sliced thin 4 tablespoons butter, separated 2 tablespoons vegetable oil salt pepper soy sauce 1/2 bunch green onions, chopped white and green parts

Using a large non stick pan, cook each of the vegetables, separately, in a small amount of oil and butter. I use about 1 teaspoon for each vegetable/meat. Salt and pepper each vegetable. Transfer to a bowl or plate after the vegetables and meat have been cooked one at a time. It’s OK to let the vegetables and meat inter-mingle at this point. After cooking all of the vegetables and meat, add about 2 tablespoons of butter to the Teflon pan. Over medium heat, add the cooked and cooled rice a little at a time, breaking apart clumps with two wooden spoons until the rice is evenly distributed in the pan, and the butter is mixed in well. Add all of the vegetables and meat to the rice. Toss lightly in pan. Season again with fresh ground pepper. Add the soy sauce, a little at a time. We don’t like to drown the rice in soy sauce, so I only use about 2-3 tablespoons to 7 cups of rice. Taste, add salt and more pepper, if desired. After heated through, add fresh chopped green onions. Turn the heat off. If you continue to leave the heat on, your beautiful fried rice will end up as gummy rice.

Tips: -Make sure the rice is cooked and cooled completely before starting to make fried rice. It is best to make the rice the day before. If you use hot rice when making fried rice, your dish will turn out to be a sticky, gluey mess. -Make sure to use Japanese, or pearl rice, which is short and plump, not a long grain rice. -When “mixing” the rice and other ingredients together, do not stir this like it’s a cake batter- toss the ingredients, like you would a salad.

Becky http://ift.tt/1dSJQk2

I grew up on homemade hot cocoa. Every year my mom would get out the biggest bowl that she owned and we would dump in a few simple ingredients. Then, she’d let my sister and I have turns with a giant whisk, stirring, while also creating a little cloud of cocoa around us. Once it was made all we needed was a cup of hot water and we could mix this in for a quick treat. Also, on occasion, more frequently than I’d like to admit, we would just sneak straight bites of the powdery cocoa mix, only to be found out by our coughing and laughing.

Last year, I created my own hot cocoa mix recipe so that year after year I could replicate this sweet memory with my kids. We enjoy it with a big homemade marshmallow on top or just on its own, always with warm cosy feelings inside and gratitude for foods passed down from generations.

Homemade Hot Coco Mix Recipe

Ingredients

8 ounces organic cacao, or unsweetened cocoa

16 ounces organic powdered sugar

16 ounces non-fat dry milk powder

Instructions

Add all ingredients to a large bowl and use a whisk to combine. Transfer to a large jar to store. This will last a couple months in a dry cool area.

To make hot cocoa: Add 1/2 to 1 cup of hot water* to 1/2 cup of hot cocoa mix. Whisk to combine.

Recipe Notes

You must use hot water to adequately melt the chocolate into a liquid. If servings kids, mix the cocoa with hot water then add an ice cube to cool it down.

Mel @melskitchencafe

I was very close to my paternal grandmother, Venice Walker, as a child, even though my family lived hundreds of miles away from where my grandmother lived (Rexburg, Idaho). Whenever she and my grandpa would come visit us in Texas or Oklahoma, she would inevitably plan an afternoon to make my dad his favorite treat on the whole planet: raisin filled cookies. I have to be honest, they are probably my LEAST favorite cookies ever (mostly because: where’s the chocolate??) and you’ll never find a recipe for them on my blog (sorry, grams), but my grandma would labor over these cookies! They took forever. A homemade sweet dough was made and rolled out and then cut into circles, creating a sandwich for the homemade raisin filling. Because I loved being around my calm, quiet, kind, always-listening grandma, I would immediately join her in the kitchen to help (bonus, she didn’t have to worry about me snitching the dough or the filling because I didn’t like the cookies!); I probably spent at least half my childhood making raisin filled cookies with my sweet grandma! And I loved every minute.

I can still remember from a very young age watching my grandma in the kitchen (hers or ours) making creamy peas and new potatoes, whole wheat bread, raisin filled cookies, or canning chili sauce. She was an unassuming, hardworking, resilient woman who quietly moved through life serving others and often showing her love to others by making and giving them her homemade food. Even more remarkable, my grandmother suffered from very poor health after she had a stroke when she was in her early 30’s (with many small children of her own to care for). Standing for long periods of time was hard, and she often had debilitating back pain and would sit in the kitchen waiting for her bread to rise or her jars to finish canning while laying back in her plastic lawn chair with a rag over her eyes to block the light. But she never stopped cooking…and serving. And to this day, even though she is no longer here, I know without a doubt that my desire to share good food (and recipes!) with my loved ones (and strangers!) is because of the example my grandma set for me. It was nothing she sat down and taught me, nothing she directly said…just a cumulation of all the thousands of sweet moments I observed and remembered.

One of her most famous concoctions was her jarred chili sauce. It’s not salsa. It’s not spaghetti sauce. It’s not jam. No, no! It’s a zesty, spicy, sweet, chunky blend that is ridiculously delicious eaten over eggs (my favorite!) or yes, even with tortilla chips. The recipe has been oft-made, much-loved, and greatly cherished. Every year I make a batch of this chili sauce, even though I’m the only one in my immediate family right now who eats it, mostly because the process and smells and work and finished satisfaction remind me of my grandma, and those memories are precious and sweet to me.

 Grandma Walker’s Chili Sauce

 8 quarts tomatoes, peeled

6 large onions, ground

3/4 quart vinegar

3 cups sugar

3 red peppers, ground

1 teaspoon cloves

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 tablespoon allspice

2/3 tablespoon salt

Cook in microwave (I do it on the stove now). Not written: Simmer sauce for an hour. Can in steam or water bath for 15 minutes.

Thank you to these women for sharing a little more of their family heart and these delicious recipes we can’t wait to try! Now you can get sharing your own stories. We love these resources offered by Family Search on how you can create or carry on your own food traditions and share those food stories! This article shares why it’s so important and how food can pull families together, this site is full of resources to help you get started and this site helps you share those stories with others. Thank you to Family Search for all of these great resources and to these women for sharing a piece of their family with us!

Family History Through Food posted first on http://ift.tt/2ulDYg7

[hellogreenweb]

Family History Through Food

Nothing goes together quite like food and family. Traditions, moments, loved ones, memories, seasons and more can be remembered through tasting a dish your Great Grandma would make every Thanksgiving or a breakfast dish your dad would make every Saturday morning. Family history whether written, spoken, recorded or tasted can be tangible through food – no better way to cement memories and build bridges than through something that we must do day in and day out! Whether that be around a small counter top or a large dining room table we know that daily nourishment can mean a lot more than just filling up our stomachs.

Today we are featuring some amazing food bloggers who are sharing some of their favorite family recipes, not only because they taste wonderful, but because of the special memories they hold for each of them. Read on to find out why they love these recipes and the memories and goodness each recipe holds for them. And lucky for us, the recipes are included!

Jen Sattley @carlsbadcravings

 Every Fall growing up, us 5 kids (and all the neighbors, family, friends and anyone else blessed enough to be a recipient of Mom’s pumpkin bread) would eagerly await the arrival of pumpkin cans lining grocery store shelves so mom could make her famous Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread.  The house would fill with the magical Fall aroma of pumpkin and cinnamon and we knew it was going to be a magically delicious day.  But mom wouldn’t just make one loaf, but three beautiful Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread loafs.  We would devour as much as we were allowed and the rest would be gifted to neighbors and friends.  And then she would make more.  My very favorite memory of Fall.

This recipe for Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread is over 50 years old.  It comes from my mom’s brother’s elementary teacher who sent home homemade pumpkin bread and the recipe to all the children in his class.  With just a few adjustments by my mom over the years to make it perfect, this Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread has stood the test of time against any other pumpkin bread recipe.  In my opinion, it is simply the best!  So get ready to be loved, adored and applauded for your “famous” supremely moist, Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread riddled with chocolate chips, Fall spices and new memories to share.

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread

INGREDIENTS

Bowl One

6 eggs

4 cups granulated sugar

1 29 oz. can pure pumpkin

1 cup Vegetable oil

Bowl Two

4 1/2 cups AP flour

1 tablespoon baking soda

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cloves

1 1/2 teaspoons ground nutmeg

add later:

2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips (or half chocolate chunks)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

Grease and flour three 8 1/2” x 4 ½” loaf pans or use a cooking spray with flour in it.

In a very large bowl, add eggs and gently whisk. Mix in sugar, pumpkin and oil.

In a separate large bowl, mix together all Bowl Two ingredients (don’t add chocolate chips).

Mix the Flour Mixture into the Pumpkin mixture just until combined, being careful not to overmix. Fold in chocolate chips. Evenly divide batter between 3 loaf pans.

Bake at 325 degrees F for 65 – 75 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Let bread cool on wire rack for 10 minutes then remove bread from pans. Let bread cool completely on wire rack before slicing.

Store bread in an airtight container for up to 5 days.

Brooke Eliason @femalefoodie

One of my favorite family recipes comes from my beautiful maternal grandmother, Sayo Black. Because of her Japanese heritage, we have called her “Grandma Japanese” since my siblings and I were young kids. We love her ability to cook and share parts of her asian culture and, although this fried rice recipe isn’t an authentic Japanese dish, she has always been willing to prepare this family favorite throughout the years. She often makes double or triple batches of her fried rice for large family gatherings and jokingly comments “I’m cooking for an army”!

As a family, we have enjoyed this recipe on Christmas Eve, as a stand-alone meal, for leftovers (which we fought over relentlessly as children), or served inside an omelet for breakfast. I love that when I make this fried rice I am reminded of the great times I have shared with my Grandma Japanese as she thoughtfully chopped fresh vegetables, cooked each ingredient one at a time, and always let me have the first taste.

 Fried Rice

7 cups cooked sticky Japanese (pearl) rice, cooled completely (see tips below) 1/2 cup chopped onion (yellow or white) 1/2 lb chopped ham (about 1 1/2 cups or two thick deli slices) 2 cups cabbage, sliced thin 4 tablespoons butter, separated 2 tablespoons vegetable oil salt pepper soy sauce 1/2 bunch green onions, chopped white and green parts

Using a large non stick pan, cook each of the vegetables, separately, in a small amount of oil and butter. I use about 1 teaspoon for each vegetable/meat. Salt and pepper each vegetable. Transfer to a bowl or plate after the vegetables and meat have been cooked one at a time. It’s OK to let the vegetables and meat inter-mingle at this point. After cooking all of the vegetables and meat, add about 2 tablespoons of butter to the Teflon pan. Over medium heat, add the cooked and cooled rice a little at a time, breaking apart clumps with two wooden spoons until the rice is evenly distributed in the pan, and the butter is mixed in well. Add all of the vegetables and meat to the rice. Toss lightly in pan. Season again with fresh ground pepper. Add the soy sauce, a little at a time. We don’t like to drown the rice in soy sauce, so I only use about 2-3 tablespoons to 7 cups of rice. Taste, add salt and more pepper, if desired. After heated through, add fresh chopped green onions. Turn the heat off. If you continue to leave the heat on, your beautiful fried rice will end up as gummy rice.

Tips: -Make sure the rice is cooked and cooled completely before starting to make fried rice. It is best to make the rice the day before. If you use hot rice when making fried rice, your dish will turn out to be a sticky, gluey mess. -Make sure to use Japanese, or pearl rice, which is short and plump, not a long grain rice. -When “mixing” the rice and other ingredients together, do not stir this like it’s a cake batter- toss the ingredients, like you would a salad.

Becky http://ift.tt/1dSJQk2

I grew up on homemade hot cocoa. Every year my mom would get out the biggest bowl that she owned and we would dump in a few simple ingredients. Then, she’d let my sister and I have turns with a giant whisk, stirring, while also creating a little cloud of cocoa around us. Once it was made all we needed was a cup of hot water and we could mix this in for a quick treat. Also, on occasion, more frequently than I’d like to admit, we would just sneak straight bites of the powdery cocoa mix, only to be found out by our coughing and laughing.

Last year, I created my own hot cocoa mix recipe so that year after year I could replicate this sweet memory with my kids. We enjoy it with a big homemade marshmallow on top or just on its own, always with warm cosy feelings inside and gratitude for foods passed down from generations.

Homemade Hot Coco Mix Recipe

Ingredients

8 ounces organic cacao, or unsweetened cocoa

16 ounces organic powdered sugar

16 ounces non-fat dry milk powder

Instructions

Add all ingredients to a large bowl and use a whisk to combine. Transfer to a large jar to store. This will last a couple months in a dry cool area.

To make hot cocoa: Add 1/2 to 1 cup of hot water* to 1/2 cup of hot cocoa mix. Whisk to combine.

Recipe Notes

You must use hot water to adequately melt the chocolate into a liquid. If servings kids, mix the cocoa with hot water then add an ice cube to cool it down.

Mel @melskitchencafe

I was very close to my paternal grandmother, Venice Walker, as a child, even though my family lived hundreds of miles away from where my grandmother lived (Rexburg, Idaho). Whenever she and my grandpa would come visit us in Texas or Oklahoma, she would inevitably plan an afternoon to make my dad his favorite treat on the whole planet: raisin filled cookies. I have to be honest, they are probably my LEAST favorite cookies ever (mostly because: where’s the chocolate??) and you’ll never find a recipe for them on my blog (sorry, grams), but my grandma would labor over these cookies! They took forever. A homemade sweet dough was made and rolled out and then cut into circles, creating a sandwich for the homemade raisin filling. Because I loved being around my calm, quiet, kind, always-listening grandma, I would immediately join her in the kitchen to help (bonus, she didn’t have to worry about me snitching the dough or the filling because I didn’t like the cookies!); I probably spent at least half my childhood making raisin filled cookies with my sweet grandma! And I loved every minute.

I can still remember from a very young age watching my grandma in the kitchen (hers or ours) making creamy peas and new potatoes, whole wheat bread, raisin filled cookies, or canning chili sauce. She was an unassuming, hardworking, resilient woman who quietly moved through life serving others and often showing her love to others by making and giving them her homemade food. Even more remarkable, my grandmother suffered from very poor health after she had a stroke when she was in her early 30’s (with many small children of her own to care for). Standing for long periods of time was hard, and she often had debilitating back pain and would sit in the kitchen waiting for her bread to rise or her jars to finish canning while laying back in her plastic lawn chair with a rag over her eyes to block the light. But she never stopped cooking…and serving. And to this day, even though she is no longer here, I know without a doubt that my desire to share good food (and recipes!) with my loved ones (and strangers!) is because of the example my grandma set for me. It was nothing she sat down and taught me, nothing she directly said…just a cumulation of all the thousands of sweet moments I observed and remembered.

One of her most famous concoctions was her jarred chili sauce. It’s not salsa. It’s not spaghetti sauce. It’s not jam. No, no! It’s a zesty, spicy, sweet, chunky blend that is ridiculously delicious eaten over eggs (my favorite!) or yes, even with tortilla chips. The recipe has been oft-made, much-loved, and greatly cherished. Every year I make a batch of this chili sauce, even though I’m the only one in my immediate family right now who eats it, mostly because the process and smells and work and finished satisfaction remind me of my grandma, and those memories are precious and sweet to me.

 Grandma Walker’s Chili Sauce

 8 quarts tomatoes, peeled

6 large onions, ground

3/4 quart vinegar

3 cups sugar

3 red peppers, ground

1 teaspoon cloves

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 tablespoon allspice

2/3 tablespoon salt

Cook in microwave (I do it on the stove now). Not written: Simmer sauce for an hour. Can in steam or water bath for 15 minutes.

Thank you to these women for sharing a little more of their family heart and these delicious recipes we can’t wait to try! Now you can get sharing your own stories. We love these resources offered by Family Search on how you can create or carry on your own food traditions and share those food stories! This article shares why it’s so important and how food can pull families together, this site is full of resources to help you get started and this site helps you share those stories with others. Thank you to Family Search for all of these great resources and to these women for sharing a piece of their family with us!

Family History Through Food posted first on http://ift.tt/2ulDYg7

[hellogreenweb]

Family History Through Food

Nothing goes together quite like food and family. Traditions, moments, loved ones, memories, seasons and more can be remembered through tasting a dish your Great Grandma would make every Thanksgiving or a breakfast dish your dad would make every Saturday morning. Family history whether written, spoken, recorded or tasted can be tangible through food – no better way to cement memories and build bridges than through something that we must do day in and day out! Whether that be around a small counter top or a large dining room table we know that daily nourishment can mean a lot more than just filling up our stomachs.

Today we are featuring some amazing food bloggers who are sharing some of their favorite family recipes, not only because they taste wonderful, but because of the special memories they hold for each of them. Read on to find out why they love these recipes and the memories and goodness each recipe holds for them. And lucky for us, the recipes are included!

Jen Sattley @carlsbadcravings

 Every Fall growing up, us 5 kids (and all the neighbors, family, friends and anyone else blessed enough to be a recipient of Mom’s pumpkin bread) would eagerly await the arrival of pumpkin cans lining grocery store shelves so mom could make her famous Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread.  The house would fill with the magical Fall aroma of pumpkin and cinnamon and we knew it was going to be a magically delicious day.  But mom wouldn’t just make one loaf, but three beautiful Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread loafs.  We would devour as much as we were allowed and the rest would be gifted to neighbors and friends.  And then she would make more.  My very favorite memory of Fall.

This recipe for Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread is over 50 years old.  It comes from my mom’s brother’s elementary teacher who sent home homemade pumpkin bread and the recipe to all the children in his class.  With just a few adjustments by my mom over the years to make it perfect, this Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread has stood the test of time against any other pumpkin bread recipe.  In my opinion, it is simply the best!  So get ready to be loved, adored and applauded for your “famous” supremely moist, Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread riddled with chocolate chips, Fall spices and new memories to share.

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread

INGREDIENTS

Bowl One

6 eggs

4 cups granulated sugar

1 29 oz. can pure pumpkin

1 cup Vegetable oil

Bowl Two

4 1/2 cups AP flour

1 tablespoon baking soda

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cloves

1 1/2 teaspoons ground nutmeg

add later:

2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips (or half chocolate chunks)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

Grease and flour three 8 1/2” x 4 ½” loaf pans or use a cooking spray with flour in it.

In a very large bowl, add eggs and gently whisk. Mix in sugar, pumpkin and oil.

In a separate large bowl, mix together all Bowl Two ingredients (don’t add chocolate chips).

Mix the Flour Mixture into the Pumpkin mixture just until combined, being careful not to overmix. Fold in chocolate chips. Evenly divide batter between 3 loaf pans.

Bake at 325 degrees F for 65 – 75 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Let bread cool on wire rack for 10 minutes then remove bread from pans. Let bread cool completely on wire rack before slicing.

Store bread in an airtight container for up to 5 days.

Brooke Eliason @femalefoodie

One of my favorite family recipes comes from my beautiful maternal grandmother, Sayo Black. Because of her Japanese heritage, we have called her “Grandma Japanese” since my siblings and I were young kids. We love her ability to cook and share parts of her asian culture and, although this fried rice recipe isn’t an authentic Japanese dish, she has always been willing to prepare this family favorite throughout the years. She often makes double or triple batches of her fried rice for large family gatherings and jokingly comments “I’m cooking for an army”!

As a family, we have enjoyed this recipe on Christmas Eve, as a stand-alone meal, for leftovers (which we fought over relentlessly as children), or served inside an omelet for breakfast. I love that when I make this fried rice I am reminded of the great times I have shared with my Grandma Japanese as she thoughtfully chopped fresh vegetables, cooked each ingredient one at a time, and always let me have the first taste.

 Fried Rice

7 cups cooked sticky Japanese (pearl) rice, cooled completely (see tips below) 1/2 cup chopped onion (yellow or white) 1/2 lb chopped ham (about 1 1/2 cups or two thick deli slices) 2 cups cabbage, sliced thin 4 tablespoons butter, separated 2 tablespoons vegetable oil salt pepper soy sauce 1/2 bunch green onions, chopped white and green parts

Using a large non stick pan, cook each of the vegetables, separately, in a small amount of oil and butter. I use about 1 teaspoon for each vegetable/meat. Salt and pepper each vegetable. Transfer to a bowl or plate after the vegetables and meat have been cooked one at a time. It’s OK to let the vegetables and meat inter-mingle at this point. After cooking all of the vegetables and meat, add about 2 tablespoons of butter to the Teflon pan. Over medium heat, add the cooked and cooled rice a little at a time, breaking apart clumps with two wooden spoons until the rice is evenly distributed in the pan, and the butter is mixed in well. Add all of the vegetables and meat to the rice. Toss lightly in pan. Season again with fresh ground pepper. Add the soy sauce, a little at a time. We don’t like to drown the rice in soy sauce, so I only use about 2-3 tablespoons to 7 cups of rice. Taste, add salt and more pepper, if desired. After heated through, add fresh chopped green onions. Turn the heat off. If you continue to leave the heat on, your beautiful fried rice will end up as gummy rice.

Tips: -Make sure the rice is cooked and cooled completely before starting to make fried rice. It is best to make the rice the day before. If you use hot rice when making fried rice, your dish will turn out to be a sticky, gluey mess. -Make sure to use Japanese, or pearl rice, which is short and plump, not a long grain rice. -When “mixing” the rice and other ingredients together, do not stir this like it’s a cake batter- toss the ingredients, like you would a salad.

Becky http://ift.tt/1dSJQk2

I grew up on homemade hot cocoa. Every year my mom would get out the biggest bowl that she owned and we would dump in a few simple ingredients. Then, she’d let my sister and I have turns with a giant whisk, stirring, while also creating a little cloud of cocoa around us. Once it was made all we needed was a cup of hot water and we could mix this in for a quick treat. Also, on occasion, more frequently than I’d like to admit, we would just sneak straight bites of the powdery cocoa mix, only to be found out by our coughing and laughing.

Last year, I created my own hot cocoa mix recipe so that year after year I could replicate this sweet memory with my kids. We enjoy it with a big homemade marshmallow on top or just on its own, always with warm cosy feelings inside and gratitude for foods passed down from generations.

Homemade Hot Coco Mix Recipe

Ingredients

8 ounces organic cacao, or unsweetened cocoa

16 ounces organic powdered sugar

16 ounces non-fat dry milk powder

Instructions

Add all ingredients to a large bowl and use a whisk to combine. Transfer to a large jar to store. This will last a couple months in a dry cool area.

To make hot cocoa: Add 1/2 to 1 cup of hot water* to 1/2 cup of hot cocoa mix. Whisk to combine.

Recipe Notes

You must use hot water to adequately melt the chocolate into a liquid. If servings kids, mix the cocoa with hot water then add an ice cube to cool it down.

Mel @melskitchencafe

I was very close to my paternal grandmother, Venice Walker, as a child, even though my family lived hundreds of miles away from where my grandmother lived (Rexburg, Idaho). Whenever she and my grandpa would come visit us in Texas or Oklahoma, she would inevitably plan an afternoon to make my dad his favorite treat on the whole planet: raisin filled cookies. I have to be honest, they are probably my LEAST favorite cookies ever (mostly because: where’s the chocolate??) and you’ll never find a recipe for them on my blog (sorry, grams), but my grandma would labor over these cookies! They took forever. A homemade sweet dough was made and rolled out and then cut into circles, creating a sandwich for the homemade raisin filling. Because I loved being around my calm, quiet, kind, always-listening grandma, I would immediately join her in the kitchen to help (bonus, she didn’t have to worry about me snitching the dough or the filling because I didn’t like the cookies!); I probably spent at least half my childhood making raisin filled cookies with my sweet grandma! And I loved every minute.

I can still remember from a very young age watching my grandma in the kitchen (hers or ours) making creamy peas and new potatoes, whole wheat bread, raisin filled cookies, or canning chili sauce. She was an unassuming, hardworking, resilient woman who quietly moved through life serving others and often showing her love to others by making and giving them her homemade food. Even more remarkable, my grandmother suffered from very poor health after she had a stroke when she was in her early 30’s (with many small children of her own to care for). Standing for long periods of time was hard, and she often had debilitating back pain and would sit in the kitchen waiting for her bread to rise or her jars to finish canning while laying back in her plastic lawn chair with a rag over her eyes to block the light. But she never stopped cooking…and serving. And to this day, even though she is no longer here, I know without a doubt that my desire to share good food (and recipes!) with my loved ones (and strangers!) is because of the example my grandma set for me. It was nothing she sat down and taught me, nothing she directly said…just a cumulation of all the thousands of sweet moments I observed and remembered.

One of her most famous concoctions was her jarred chili sauce. It’s not salsa. It’s not spaghetti sauce. It’s not jam. No, no! It’s a zesty, spicy, sweet, chunky blend that is ridiculously delicious eaten over eggs (my favorite!) or yes, even with tortilla chips. The recipe has been oft-made, much-loved, and greatly cherished. Every year I make a batch of this chili sauce, even though I’m the only one in my immediate family right now who eats it, mostly because the process and smells and work and finished satisfaction remind me of my grandma, and those memories are precious and sweet to me.

 Grandma Walker’s Chili Sauce

 8 quarts tomatoes, peeled

6 large onions, ground

3/4 quart vinegar

3 cups sugar

3 red peppers, ground

1 teaspoon cloves

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 tablespoon allspice

2/3 tablespoon salt

Cook in microwave (I do it on the stove now). Not written: Simmer sauce for an hour. Can in steam or water bath for 15 minutes.

Thank you to these women for sharing a little more of their family heart and these delicious recipes we can’t wait to try! Now you can get sharing your own stories. We love these resources offered by Family Search on how you can create or carry on your own food traditions and share those food stories! This article shares why it’s so important and how food can pull families together, this site is full of resources to help you get started and this site helps you share those stories with others. Thank you to Family Search for all of these great resources and to these women for sharing a piece of their family with us!

Family History Through Food posted first on http://ift.tt/2ulDYg7

[hellogreenweb]

Family History Through Food

Nothing goes together quite like food and family. Traditions, moments, loved ones, memories, seasons and more can be remembered through tasting a dish your Great Grandma would make every Thanksgiving or a breakfast dish your dad would make every Saturday morning. Family history whether written, spoken, recorded or tasted can be tangible through food – no better way to cement memories and build bridges than through something that we must do day in and day out! Whether that be around a small counter top or a large dining room table we know that daily nourishment can mean a lot more than just filling up our stomachs.

Today we are featuring some amazing food bloggers who are sharing some of their favorite family recipes, not only because they taste wonderful, but because of the special memories they hold for each of them. Read on to find out why they love these recipes and the memories and goodness each recipe holds for them. And lucky for us, the recipes are included!

Jen Sattley @carlsbadcravings

 Every Fall growing up, us 5 kids (and all the neighbors, family, friends and anyone else blessed enough to be a recipient of Mom’s pumpkin bread) would eagerly await the arrival of pumpkin cans lining grocery store shelves so mom could make her famous Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread.  The house would fill with the magical Fall aroma of pumpkin and cinnamon and we knew it was going to be a magically delicious day.  But mom wouldn’t just make one loaf, but three beautiful Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread loafs.  We would devour as much as we were allowed and the rest would be gifted to neighbors and friends.  And then she would make more.  My very favorite memory of Fall.

This recipe for Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread is over 50 years old.  It comes from my mom’s brother’s elementary teacher who sent home homemade pumpkin bread and the recipe to all the children in his class.  With just a few adjustments by my mom over the years to make it perfect, this Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread has stood the test of time against any other pumpkin bread recipe.  In my opinion, it is simply the best!  So get ready to be loved, adored and applauded for your “famous” supremely moist, Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread riddled with chocolate chips, Fall spices and new memories to share.

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread

INGREDIENTS

Bowl One

6 eggs

4 cups granulated sugar

1 29 oz. can pure pumpkin

1 cup Vegetable oil

Bowl Two

4 1/2 cups AP flour

1 tablespoon baking soda

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cloves

1 1/2 teaspoons ground nutmeg

add later:

2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips (or half chocolate chunks)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

Grease and flour three 8 1/2” x 4 ½” loaf pans or use a cooking spray with flour in it.

In a very large bowl, add eggs and gently whisk. Mix in sugar, pumpkin and oil.

In a separate large bowl, mix together all Bowl Two ingredients (don’t add chocolate chips).

Mix the Flour Mixture into the Pumpkin mixture just until combined, being careful not to overmix. Fold in chocolate chips. Evenly divide batter between 3 loaf pans.

Bake at 325 degrees F for 65 – 75 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Let bread cool on wire rack for 10 minutes then remove bread from pans. Let bread cool completely on wire rack before slicing.

Store bread in an airtight container for up to 5 days.

Brooke Eliason @femalefoodie

One of my favorite family recipes comes from my beautiful maternal grandmother, Sayo Black. Because of her Japanese heritage, we have called her “Grandma Japanese” since my siblings and I were young kids. We love her ability to cook and share parts of her asian culture and, although this fried rice recipe isn’t an authentic Japanese dish, she has always been willing to prepare this family favorite throughout the years. She often makes double or triple batches of her fried rice for large family gatherings and jokingly comments “I’m cooking for an army”!

As a family, we have enjoyed this recipe on Christmas Eve, as a stand-alone meal, for leftovers (which we fought over relentlessly as children), or served inside an omelet for breakfast. I love that when I make this fried rice I am reminded of the great times I have shared with my Grandma Japanese as she thoughtfully chopped fresh vegetables, cooked each ingredient one at a time, and always let me have the first taste.

 Fried Rice

7 cups cooked sticky Japanese (pearl) rice, cooled completely (see tips below) 1/2 cup chopped onion (yellow or white) 1/2 lb chopped ham (about 1 1/2 cups or two thick deli slices) 2 cups cabbage, sliced thin 4 tablespoons butter, separated 2 tablespoons vegetable oil salt pepper soy sauce 1/2 bunch green onions, chopped white and green parts

Using a large non stick pan, cook each of the vegetables, separately, in a small amount of oil and butter. I use about 1 teaspoon for each vegetable/meat. Salt and pepper each vegetable. Transfer to a bowl or plate after the vegetables and meat have been cooked one at a time. It’s OK to let the vegetables and meat inter-mingle at this point. After cooking all of the vegetables and meat, add about 2 tablespoons of butter to the Teflon pan. Over medium heat, add the cooked and cooled rice a little at a time, breaking apart clumps with two wooden spoons until the rice is evenly distributed in the pan, and the butter is mixed in well. Add all of the vegetables and meat to the rice. Toss lightly in pan. Season again with fresh ground pepper. Add the soy sauce, a little at a time. We don’t like to drown the rice in soy sauce, so I only use about 2-3 tablespoons to 7 cups of rice. Taste, add salt and more pepper, if desired. After heated through, add fresh chopped green onions. Turn the heat off. If you continue to leave the heat on, your beautiful fried rice will end up as gummy rice.

Tips: -Make sure the rice is cooked and cooled completely before starting to make fried rice. It is best to make the rice the day before. If you use hot rice when making fried rice, your dish will turn out to be a sticky, gluey mess. -Make sure to use Japanese, or pearl rice, which is short and plump, not a long grain rice. -When “mixing” the rice and other ingredients together, do not stir this like it’s a cake batter- toss the ingredients, like you would a salad.

Becky http://ift.tt/1dSJQk2

I grew up on homemade hot cocoa. Every year my mom would get out the biggest bowl that she owned and we would dump in a few simple ingredients. Then, she’d let my sister and I have turns with a giant whisk, stirring, while also creating a little cloud of cocoa around us. Once it was made all we needed was a cup of hot water and we could mix this in for a quick treat. Also, on occasion, more frequently than I’d like to admit, we would just sneak straight bites of the powdery cocoa mix, only to be found out by our coughing and laughing.

Last year, I created my own hot cocoa mix recipe so that year after year I could replicate this sweet memory with my kids. We enjoy it with a big homemade marshmallow on top or just on its own, always with warm cosy feelings inside and gratitude for foods passed down from generations.

Homemade Hot Coco Mix Recipe

Ingredients

8 ounces organic cacao, or unsweetened cocoa

16 ounces organic powdered sugar

16 ounces non-fat dry milk powder

Instructions

Add all ingredients to a large bowl and use a whisk to combine. Transfer to a large jar to store. This will last a couple months in a dry cool area.

To make hot cocoa: Add 1/2 to 1 cup of hot water* to 1/2 cup of hot cocoa mix. Whisk to combine.

Recipe Notes

You must use hot water to adequately melt the chocolate into a liquid. If servings kids, mix the cocoa with hot water then add an ice cube to cool it down.

Mel @melskitchencafe

I was very close to my paternal grandmother, Venice Walker, as a child, even though my family lived hundreds of miles away from where my grandmother lived (Rexburg, Idaho). Whenever she and my grandpa would come visit us in Texas or Oklahoma, she would inevitably plan an afternoon to make my dad his favorite treat on the whole planet: raisin filled cookies. I have to be honest, they are probably my LEAST favorite cookies ever (mostly because: where’s the chocolate??) and you’ll never find a recipe for them on my blog (sorry, grams), but my grandma would labor over these cookies! They took forever. A homemade sweet dough was made and rolled out and then cut into circles, creating a sandwich for the homemade raisin filling. Because I loved being around my calm, quiet, kind, always-listening grandma, I would immediately join her in the kitchen to help (bonus, she didn’t have to worry about me snitching the dough or the filling because I didn’t like the cookies!); I probably spent at least half my childhood making raisin filled cookies with my sweet grandma! And I loved every minute.

I can still remember from a very young age watching my grandma in the kitchen (hers or ours) making creamy peas and new potatoes, whole wheat bread, raisin filled cookies, or canning chili sauce. She was an unassuming, hardworking, resilient woman who quietly moved through life serving others and often showing her love to others by making and giving them her homemade food. Even more remarkable, my grandmother suffered from very poor health after she had a stroke when she was in her early 30’s (with many small children of her own to care for). Standing for long periods of time was hard, and she often had debilitating back pain and would sit in the kitchen waiting for her bread to rise or her jars to finish canning while laying back in her plastic lawn chair with a rag over her eyes to block the light. But she never stopped cooking…and serving. And to this day, even though she is no longer here, I know without a doubt that my desire to share good food (and recipes!) with my loved ones (and strangers!) is because of the example my grandma set for me. It was nothing she sat down and taught me, nothing she directly said…just a cumulation of all the thousands of sweet moments I observed and remembered.

One of her most famous concoctions was her jarred chili sauce. It’s not salsa. It’s not spaghetti sauce. It’s not jam. No, no! It’s a zesty, spicy, sweet, chunky blend that is ridiculously delicious eaten over eggs (my favorite!) or yes, even with tortilla chips. The recipe has been oft-made, much-loved, and greatly cherished. Every year I make a batch of this chili sauce, even though I’m the only one in my immediate family right now who eats it, mostly because the process and smells and work and finished satisfaction remind me of my grandma, and those memories are precious and sweet to me.

 Grandma Walker’s Chili Sauce

 8 quarts tomatoes, peeled

6 large onions, ground

3/4 quart vinegar

3 cups sugar

3 red peppers, ground

1 teaspoon cloves

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 tablespoon allspice

2/3 tablespoon salt

Cook in microwave (I do it on the stove now). Not written: Simmer sauce for an hour. Can in steam or water bath for 15 minutes.

Thank you to these women for sharing a little more of their family heart and these delicious recipes we can’t wait to try! Now you can get sharing your own stories. We love these resources offered by Family Search on how you can create or carry on your own food traditions and share those food stories! This article shares why it’s so important and how food can pull families together, this site is full of resources to help you get started and this site helps you share those stories with others. Thank you to Family Search for all of these great resources and to these women for sharing a piece of their family with us!

Family History Through Food posted first on http://ift.tt/2ulDYg7

[hellogreenweb]

Family History Through Food

Nothing goes together quite like food and family. Traditions, moments, loved ones, memories, seasons and more can be remembered through tasting a dish your Great Grandma would make every Thanksgiving or a breakfast dish your dad would make every Saturday morning. Family history whether written, spoken, recorded or tasted can be tangible through food – no better way to cement memories and build bridges than through something that we must do day in and day out! Whether that be around a small counter top or a large dining room table we know that daily nourishment can mean a lot more than just filling up our stomachs.

Today we are featuring some amazing food bloggers who are sharing some of their favorite family recipes, not only because they taste wonderful, but because of the special memories they hold for each of them. Read on to find out why they love these recipes and the memories and goodness each recipe holds for them. And lucky for us, the recipes are included!

Jen Sattley @carlsbadcravings

 Every Fall growing up, us 5 kids (and all the neighbors, family, friends and anyone else blessed enough to be a recipient of Mom’s pumpkin bread) would eagerly await the arrival of pumpkin cans lining grocery store shelves so mom could make her famous Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread.  The house would fill with the magical Fall aroma of pumpkin and cinnamon and we knew it was going to be a magically delicious day.  But mom wouldn’t just make one loaf, but three beautiful Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread loafs.  We would devour as much as we were allowed and the rest would be gifted to neighbors and friends.  And then she would make more.  My very favorite memory of Fall.

This recipe for Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread is over 50 years old.  It comes from my mom’s brother’s elementary teacher who sent home homemade pumpkin bread and the recipe to all the children in his class.  With just a few adjustments by my mom over the years to make it perfect, this Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread has stood the test of time against any other pumpkin bread recipe.  In my opinion, it is simply the best!  So get ready to be loved, adored and applauded for your “famous” supremely moist, Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread riddled with chocolate chips, Fall spices and new memories to share.

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread

INGREDIENTS

Bowl One

6 eggs

4 cups granulated sugar

1 29 oz. can pure pumpkin

1 cup Vegetable oil

Bowl Two

4 1/2 cups AP flour

1 tablespoon baking soda

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cloves

1 1/2 teaspoons ground nutmeg

add later:

2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips (or half chocolate chunks)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

Grease and flour three 8 1/2” x 4 ½” loaf pans or use a cooking spray with flour in it.

In a very large bowl, add eggs and gently whisk. Mix in sugar, pumpkin and oil.

In a separate large bowl, mix together all Bowl Two ingredients (don’t add chocolate chips).

Mix the Flour Mixture into the Pumpkin mixture just until combined, being careful not to overmix. Fold in chocolate chips. Evenly divide batter between 3 loaf pans.

Bake at 325 degrees F for 65 – 75 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Let bread cool on wire rack for 10 minutes then remove bread from pans. Let bread cool completely on wire rack before slicing.

Store bread in an airtight container for up to 5 days.

Brooke Eliason @femalefoodie

One of my favorite family recipes comes from my beautiful maternal grandmother, Sayo Black. Because of her Japanese heritage, we have called her “Grandma Japanese” since my siblings and I were young kids. We love her ability to cook and share parts of her asian culture and, although this fried rice recipe isn’t an authentic Japanese dish, she has always been willing to prepare this family favorite throughout the years. She often makes double or triple batches of her fried rice for large family gatherings and jokingly comments “I’m cooking for an army”!

As a family, we have enjoyed this recipe on Christmas Eve, as a stand-alone meal, for leftovers (which we fought over relentlessly as children), or served inside an omelet for breakfast. I love that when I make this fried rice I am reminded of the great times I have shared with my Grandma Japanese as she thoughtfully chopped fresh vegetables, cooked each ingredient one at a time, and always let me have the first taste.

 Fried Rice

7 cups cooked sticky Japanese (pearl) rice, cooled completely (see tips below) 1/2 cup chopped onion (yellow or white) 1/2 lb chopped ham (about 1 1/2 cups or two thick deli slices) 2 cups cabbage, sliced thin 4 tablespoons butter, separated 2 tablespoons vegetable oil salt pepper soy sauce 1/2 bunch green onions, chopped white and green parts

Using a large non stick pan, cook each of the vegetables, separately, in a small amount of oil and butter. I use about 1 teaspoon for each vegetable/meat. Salt and pepper each vegetable. Transfer to a bowl or plate after the vegetables and meat have been cooked one at a time. It’s OK to let the vegetables and meat inter-mingle at this point. After cooking all of the vegetables and meat, add about 2 tablespoons of butter to the Teflon pan. Over medium heat, add the cooked and cooled rice a little at a time, breaking apart clumps with two wooden spoons until the rice is evenly distributed in the pan, and the butter is mixed in well. Add all of the vegetables and meat to the rice. Toss lightly in pan. Season again with fresh ground pepper. Add the soy sauce, a little at a time. We don’t like to drown the rice in soy sauce, so I only use about 2-3 tablespoons to 7 cups of rice. Taste, add salt and more pepper, if desired. After heated through, add fresh chopped green onions. Turn the heat off. If you continue to leave the heat on, your beautiful fried rice will end up as gummy rice.

Tips: -Make sure the rice is cooked and cooled completely before starting to make fried rice. It is best to make the rice the day before. If you use hot rice when making fried rice, your dish will turn out to be a sticky, gluey mess. -Make sure to use Japanese, or pearl rice, which is short and plump, not a long grain rice. -When “mixing” the rice and other ingredients together, do not stir this like it’s a cake batter- toss the ingredients, like you would a salad.

Becky http://ift.tt/1dSJQk2

I grew up on homemade hot cocoa. Every year my mom would get out the biggest bowl that she owned and we would dump in a few simple ingredients. Then, she’d let my sister and I have turns with a giant whisk, stirring, while also creating a little cloud of cocoa around us. Once it was made all we needed was a cup of hot water and we could mix this in for a quick treat. Also, on occasion, more frequently than I’d like to admit, we would just sneak straight bites of the powdery cocoa mix, only to be found out by our coughing and laughing.

Last year, I created my own hot cocoa mix recipe so that year after year I could replicate this sweet memory with my kids. We enjoy it with a big homemade marshmallow on top or just on its own, always with warm cosy feelings inside and gratitude for foods passed down from generations.

Homemade Hot Coco Mix Recipe

Ingredients

8 ounces organic cacao, or unsweetened cocoa

16 ounces organic powdered sugar

16 ounces non-fat dry milk powder

Instructions

Add all ingredients to a large bowl and use a whisk to combine. Transfer to a large jar to store. This will last a couple months in a dry cool area.

To make hot cocoa: Add 1/2 to 1 cup of hot water* to 1/2 cup of hot cocoa mix. Whisk to combine.

Recipe Notes

You must use hot water to adequately melt the chocolate into a liquid. If servings kids, mix the cocoa with hot water then add an ice cube to cool it down.

Mel @melskitchencafe

I was very close to my paternal grandmother, Venice Walker, as a child, even though my family lived hundreds of miles away from where my grandmother lived (Rexburg, Idaho). Whenever she and my grandpa would come visit us in Texas or Oklahoma, she would inevitably plan an afternoon to make my dad his favorite treat on the whole planet: raisin filled cookies. I have to be honest, they are probably my LEAST favorite cookies ever (mostly because: where’s the chocolate??) and you’ll never find a recipe for them on my blog (sorry, grams), but my grandma would labor over these cookies! They took forever. A homemade sweet dough was made and rolled out and then cut into circles, creating a sandwich for the homemade raisin filling. Because I loved being around my calm, quiet, kind, always-listening grandma, I would immediately join her in the kitchen to help (bonus, she didn’t have to worry about me snitching the dough or the filling because I didn’t like the cookies!); I probably spent at least half my childhood making raisin filled cookies with my sweet grandma! And I loved every minute.

I can still remember from a very young age watching my grandma in the kitchen (hers or ours) making creamy peas and new potatoes, whole wheat bread, raisin filled cookies, or canning chili sauce. She was an unassuming, hardworking, resilient woman who quietly moved through life serving others and often showing her love to others by making and giving them her homemade food. Even more remarkable, my grandmother suffered from very poor health after she had a stroke when she was in her early 30’s (with many small children of her own to care for). Standing for long periods of time was hard, and she often had debilitating back pain and would sit in the kitchen waiting for her bread to rise or her jars to finish canning while laying back in her plastic lawn chair with a rag over her eyes to block the light. But she never stopped cooking…and serving. And to this day, even though she is no longer here, I know without a doubt that my desire to share good food (and recipes!) with my loved ones (and strangers!) is because of the example my grandma set for me. It was nothing she sat down and taught me, nothing she directly said…just a cumulation of all the thousands of sweet moments I observed and remembered.

One of her most famous concoctions was her jarred chili sauce. It’s not salsa. It’s not spaghetti sauce. It’s not jam. No, no! It’s a zesty, spicy, sweet, chunky blend that is ridiculously delicious eaten over eggs (my favorite!) or yes, even with tortilla chips. The recipe has been oft-made, much-loved, and greatly cherished. Every year I make a batch of this chili sauce, even though I’m the only one in my immediate family right now who eats it, mostly because the process and smells and work and finished satisfaction remind me of my grandma, and those memories are precious and sweet to me.

 Grandma Walker’s Chili Sauce

 8 quarts tomatoes, peeled

6 large onions, ground

3/4 quart vinegar

3 cups sugar

3 red peppers, ground

1 teaspoon cloves

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 tablespoon allspice

2/3 tablespoon salt

Cook in microwave (I do it on the stove now). Not written: Simmer sauce for an hour. Can in steam or water bath for 15 minutes.

Thank you to these women for sharing a little more of their family heart and these delicious recipes we can’t wait to try! Now you can get sharing your own stories. We love these resources offered by Family Search on how you can create or carry on your own food traditions and share those food stories! This article shares why it’s so important and how food can pull families together, this site is full of resources to help you get started and this site helps you share those stories with others. Thank you to Family Search for all of these great resources and to these women for sharing a piece of their family with us!

Family History Through Food posted first on http://ift.tt/2ulDYg7

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Family History Through Food

Nothing goes together quite like food and family. Traditions, moments, loved ones, memories, seasons and more can be remembered through tasting a dish your Great Grandma would make every Thanksgiving or a breakfast dish your dad would make every Saturday morning. Family history whether written, spoken, recorded or tasted can be tangible through food – no better way to cement memories and build bridges than through something that we must do day in and day out! Whether that be around a small counter top or a large dining room table we know that daily nourishment can mean a lot more than just filling up our stomachs.

Today we are featuring some amazing food bloggers who are sharing some of their favorite family recipes, not only because they taste wonderful, but because of the special memories they hold for each of them. Read on to find out why they love these recipes and the memories and goodness each recipe holds for them. And lucky for us, the recipes are included!

Jen Sattley @carlsbadcravings

 Every Fall growing up, us 5 kids (and all the neighbors, family, friends and anyone else blessed enough to be a recipient of Mom’s pumpkin bread) would eagerly await the arrival of pumpkin cans lining grocery store shelves so mom could make her famous Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread.  The house would fill with the magical Fall aroma of pumpkin and cinnamon and we knew it was going to be a magically delicious day.  But mom wouldn’t just make one loaf, but three beautiful Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread loafs.  We would devour as much as we were allowed and the rest would be gifted to neighbors and friends.  And then she would make more.  My very favorite memory of Fall.

This recipe for Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread is over 50 years old.  It comes from my mom’s brother’s elementary teacher who sent home homemade pumpkin bread and the recipe to all the children in his class.  With just a few adjustments by my mom over the years to make it perfect, this Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread has stood the test of time against any other pumpkin bread recipe.  In my opinion, it is simply the best!  So get ready to be loved, adored and applauded for your “famous” supremely moist, Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread riddled with chocolate chips, Fall spices and new memories to share.

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread

INGREDIENTS

Bowl One

6 eggs

4 cups granulated sugar

1 29 oz. can pure pumpkin

1 cup Vegetable oil

Bowl Two

4 1/2 cups AP flour

1 tablespoon baking soda

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cloves

1 1/2 teaspoons ground nutmeg

add later:

2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips (or half chocolate chunks)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

Grease and flour three 8 1/2” x 4 ½” loaf pans or use a cooking spray with flour in it.

In a very large bowl, add eggs and gently whisk. Mix in sugar, pumpkin and oil.

In a separate large bowl, mix together all Bowl Two ingredients (don’t add chocolate chips).

Mix the Flour Mixture into the Pumpkin mixture just until combined, being careful not to overmix. Fold in chocolate chips. Evenly divide batter between 3 loaf pans.

Bake at 325 degrees F for 65 – 75 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Let bread cool on wire rack for 10 minutes then remove bread from pans. Let bread cool completely on wire rack before slicing.

Store bread in an airtight container for up to 5 days.

Brooke Eliason @femalefoodie

One of my favorite family recipes comes from my beautiful maternal grandmother, Sayo Black. Because of her Japanese heritage, we have called her “Grandma Japanese” since my siblings and I were young kids. We love her ability to cook and share parts of her asian culture and, although this fried rice recipe isn’t an authentic Japanese dish, she has always been willing to prepare this family favorite throughout the years. She often makes double or triple batches of her fried rice for large family gatherings and jokingly comments “I’m cooking for an army”!

As a family, we have enjoyed this recipe on Christmas Eve, as a stand-alone meal, for leftovers (which we fought over relentlessly as children), or served inside an omelet for breakfast. I love that when I make this fried rice I am reminded of the great times I have shared with my Grandma Japanese as she thoughtfully chopped fresh vegetables, cooked each ingredient one at a time, and always let me have the first taste.

 Fried Rice

7 cups cooked sticky Japanese (pearl) rice, cooled completely (see tips below) 1/2 cup chopped onion (yellow or white) 1/2 lb chopped ham (about 1 1/2 cups or two thick deli slices) 2 cups cabbage, sliced thin 4 tablespoons butter, separated 2 tablespoons vegetable oil salt pepper soy sauce 1/2 bunch green onions, chopped white and green parts

Using a large non stick pan, cook each of the vegetables, separately, in a small amount of oil and butter. I use about 1 teaspoon for each vegetable/meat. Salt and pepper each vegetable. Transfer to a bowl or plate after the vegetables and meat have been cooked one at a time. It’s OK to let the vegetables and meat inter-mingle at this point. After cooking all of the vegetables and meat, add about 2 tablespoons of butter to the Teflon pan. Over medium heat, add the cooked and cooled rice a little at a time, breaking apart clumps with two wooden spoons until the rice is evenly distributed in the pan, and the butter is mixed in well. Add all of the vegetables and meat to the rice. Toss lightly in pan. Season again with fresh ground pepper. Add the soy sauce, a little at a time. We don’t like to drown the rice in soy sauce, so I only use about 2-3 tablespoons to 7 cups of rice. Taste, add salt and more pepper, if desired. After heated through, add fresh chopped green onions. Turn the heat off. If you continue to leave the heat on, your beautiful fried rice will end up as gummy rice.

Tips: -Make sure the rice is cooked and cooled completely before starting to make fried rice. It is best to make the rice the day before. If you use hot rice when making fried rice, your dish will turn out to be a sticky, gluey mess. -Make sure to use Japanese, or pearl rice, which is short and plump, not a long grain rice. -When “mixing” the rice and other ingredients together, do not stir this like it’s a cake batter- toss the ingredients, like you would a salad.

Becky http://ift.tt/1dSJQk2

I grew up on homemade hot cocoa. Every year my mom would get out the biggest bowl that she owned and we would dump in a few simple ingredients. Then, she’d let my sister and I have turns with a giant whisk, stirring, while also creating a little cloud of cocoa around us. Once it was made all we needed was a cup of hot water and we could mix this in for a quick treat. Also, on occasion, more frequently than I’d like to admit, we would just sneak straight bites of the powdery cocoa mix, only to be found out by our coughing and laughing.

Last year, I created my own hot cocoa mix recipe so that year after year I could replicate this sweet memory with my kids. We enjoy it with a big homemade marshmallow on top or just on its own, always with warm cosy feelings inside and gratitude for foods passed down from generations.

Homemade Hot Coco Mix Recipe

Ingredients

8 ounces organic cacao, or unsweetened cocoa

16 ounces organic powdered sugar

16 ounces non-fat dry milk powder

Instructions

Add all ingredients to a large bowl and use a whisk to combine. Transfer to a large jar to store. This will last a couple months in a dry cool area.

To make hot cocoa: Add 1/2 to 1 cup of hot water* to 1/2 cup of hot cocoa mix. Whisk to combine.

Recipe Notes

You must use hot water to adequately melt the chocolate into a liquid. If servings kids, mix the cocoa with hot water then add an ice cube to cool it down.

Mel @melskitchencafe

I was very close to my paternal grandmother, Venice Walker, as a child, even though my family lived hundreds of miles away from where my grandmother lived (Rexburg, Idaho). Whenever she and my grandpa would come visit us in Texas or Oklahoma, she would inevitably plan an afternoon to make my dad his favorite treat on the whole planet: raisin filled cookies. I have to be honest, they are probably my LEAST favorite cookies ever (mostly because: where’s the chocolate??) and you’ll never find a recipe for them on my blog (sorry, grams), but my grandma would labor over these cookies! They took forever. A homemade sweet dough was made and rolled out and then cut into circles, creating a sandwich for the homemade raisin filling. Because I loved being around my calm, quiet, kind, always-listening grandma, I would immediately join her in the kitchen to help (bonus, she didn’t have to worry about me snitching the dough or the filling because I didn’t like the cookies!); I probably spent at least half my childhood making raisin filled cookies with my sweet grandma! And I loved every minute.

I can still remember from a very young age watching my grandma in the kitchen (hers or ours) making creamy peas and new potatoes, whole wheat bread, raisin filled cookies, or canning chili sauce. She was an unassuming, hardworking, resilient woman who quietly moved through life serving others and often showing her love to others by making and giving them her homemade food. Even more remarkable, my grandmother suffered from very poor health after she had a stroke when she was in her early 30’s (with many small children of her own to care for). Standing for long periods of time was hard, and she often had debilitating back pain and would sit in the kitchen waiting for her bread to rise or her jars to finish canning while laying back in her plastic lawn chair with a rag over her eyes to block the light. But she never stopped cooking…and serving. And to this day, even though she is no longer here, I know without a doubt that my desire to share good food (and recipes!) with my loved ones (and strangers!) is because of the example my grandma set for me. It was nothing she sat down and taught me, nothing she directly said…just a cumulation of all the thousands of sweet moments I observed and remembered.

One of her most famous concoctions was her jarred chili sauce. It’s not salsa. It’s not spaghetti sauce. It’s not jam. No, no! It’s a zesty, spicy, sweet, chunky blend that is ridiculously delicious eaten over eggs (my favorite!) or yes, even with tortilla chips. The recipe has been oft-made, much-loved, and greatly cherished. Every year I make a batch of this chili sauce, even though I’m the only one in my immediate family right now who eats it, mostly because the process and smells and work and finished satisfaction remind me of my grandma, and those memories are precious and sweet to me.

 Grandma Walker’s Chili Sauce

 8 quarts tomatoes, peeled

6 large onions, ground

3/4 quart vinegar

3 cups sugar

3 red peppers, ground

1 teaspoon cloves

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 tablespoon allspice

2/3 tablespoon salt

Cook in microwave (I do it on the stove now). Not written: Simmer sauce for an hour. Can in steam or water bath for 15 minutes.

Thank you to these women for sharing a little more of their family heart and these delicious recipes we can’t wait to try! Now you can get sharing your own stories. We love these resources offered by Family Search on how you can create or carry on your own food traditions and share those food stories! This article shares why it’s so important and how food can pull families together, this site is full of resources to help you get started and this site helps you share those stories with others. Thank you to Family Search for all of these great resources and to these women for sharing a piece of their family with us!

Family History Through Food posted first on http://ift.tt/2ulDYg7