Mother's Day



Mom's favorite recipes









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Our mothers, grandmothers and for that matter all of the women who have touched our lives will, in some way and at some time, have touched our culinary souls. To give tribute to these wonderful ladies, friends and family have sent us recipes and memories of the women who still share so much everytime we prepare one of their recipes.

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Quick Jump to Recipes in this Section
Cucumber Tea Sandwiches ~ Memories by Hannah Marta Edahl Monsimer
Lori Smith Stafford Shares ~ Mom's Rhubarb Pie and Grandma's Cheesecake
Hank Turney Reminisces ~ Oat Cakes
Pat West Remembers ~
Mom's Real Easy, Never Fail, Awfully Good Applesauce Cake

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Cucumber Tea Sandwiches
To prepare a butter spread-
Beat until soft: ¼ cup butter and slowly add ½ teaspoon grated onion. You may also choose to add lemon juice, Worchester Sauce, and/or dry mustard to suit your taste.

To prepare cucumbers-
Peel a chilled cucumber and slice it into paper-thin slices.

To make sandwiches-
Spread butter mixture on white bread slices, then arrange cucumber slices, overlapping the edges. Once sandwiches are put together, remove all four sides of the bread crust with a sharp knife. This will leave you with soft edges to your sandwiches. Now cut your sandwiches into fours; they look nice when cut on the diagonal giving you a pretty triangle sandwich shape or you might prefer squares or oblongs.
Wheat or other breads could be used, but my mother always used white bread for this recipe.
Wrap your tea sandwiches in a tea towel until served. Do not prepare them too far ahead of the party because the cucumbers will become soggy.

Note: Those leftover strips of bread crust are great for making stuffings or they can be toasted into croutons for soups and salads.

SOME BACKGROUND:

My mother, Olive Bowes Gethin-Davies, was born in Abergavenny, South Wales, Great Britain, and met my father, Dr. Edwin Waldamar Edahl, at a hospital in England during World War II. My father had served in World War I as a U.S. Army bacteriologist, then went on to become a physician in the 1920's. When WWII broke out, he re-enlisted in the Army, serving in the European Theater from 1943-1946, as a Major in the U.S. Army Medical Corps. He served in England, France and Belgium. My father was born in Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A., and was a first-generation Norwegian-American. His parents, Ole and Marta, both hailed from Voss, Norway, and emigrated to the United States in the late 1880's. After the death of my grandmother and his retirement from his book store and stationery business, Grandfather Ole returned to Voss where he died in 1960 at age 93.

In September of 1953, my parents took me to Europe where we visited twelve countries and I had the opportunity to meet my three living grandparents for the first time; Hannah and George Bowes Gethin-Davies in South Wales and my Grandfather Ole Edahl in Norway.

We made our journey across the Atlantic Ocean on the Queen Mary and returned back to New York City on the Queen Elizabeth three months later. The voyage took five days each way. I remember that on the way over, the wintry Atlantic Ocean was very stormy and most of the Oueen Mary passengers became sea sick, so my dear father went to work helping the ship's doctor. My dad would work all day helping fellow passengers feel better and he would even let me help, too. My jobs included bringing blankets, pillows and glasses of water to waiting patients. Thankfully, my dad and I never did get sea sick.

My dad would work all day, then shower and dress for dinner. After eating our dinner and dessert, my parents and I would listen to the orchestra and my father and I would go out on the ballroom floor to dance to the beautiful waltz music that he loved so much. My father began teaching me ballroom dance steps as soon as I could walk, so although I was not-quite five (I had my 5th birthday that year in South Wales), I already had several years of dance training from my dad. My father was a wonderful dancer and loved being out on the dance floor; but my mother did not care to join him. She preferred sitting and listening to the music instead. So my dad and I would dance the night away.

When the three of us returned to our cabin each night, the steward would bring us a tray of cucumber sandwiches and a pot of tea with a small pitcher of cream, a dish of thin lemon slices and a bowl of sugar cubes with a small pair of silver tongs. I would usually add cream to my tea and so would my dad; my mother usually preferred hers with just a slice or two of lemon and a cube or two of sugar. We had these lovely sandwiches as our bedtime snack on the way over to Europe on the Queen Mary, then again on the way home on the Queen Elizabeth.

I know that these cucumber sandwiches reminded my mother of her homeland and when we returned to my father's medical clinic in West Texas, our home was in the back part of the complex; my mother would sometimes make these tiny sandwiches and brew up a pot of tea. I always felt that she did this when she was feeling homesick for South Wales.

My father passed away less than two years after we returned from our European adventure. My mother stayed in Texas and was naturalized an American citizen shortly after my father's death. She passed away four years ago at her home in Arlington, Texas. I know that although my mother never returned to the land of her birth; whenever she felt like it, she could make a tray of cucumber sandwiches, brew up a pot of tea and remember the lush green of her native Wales!

Sincerely, Hannah Marta Edahl Monsimer
Las Cruces, New Mexico, U.S.A.

A footnote from Ann ~ I have been on a quest for years to add information to our family tree. It was sheer luck and coincindence that Hannah, too was on the hunt. Although our maiden names are spelled differently, Edahl and Edall, the similarity in other details would seem to tie our families together.

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Our quilting and scrapbooking friend, Lori Stafford of Airdrie, Alberta, Canada sent us these family favorites.

Mom's Rhubarb Pie
The following recipe for Rhubarb Pie was given to me by Lorne's mom, in 1999. It is a wonderful pie. I won 2nd prize in a church pie contest here in Airdrie. I actually beat out several Grandmas - all experienced pie makers!
My mother-in-law is Darlene Stafford and she was raised in Rosedale, Alberta, Canada.

• 1c. brown sugar
  
• 1/4 c. flour
  
• 1c. whipping cream
  
• 2 c.(or more-deciding on how high you want it to be)of rhubarb

Mix sugar and flour. Add cream and rhubarb. Pour into pie shell. Bake at 375F for 10 minutes. Turn oven down to 350F, and bake for 20 minutes. Mix sugar and cinnamon together, and sprinkle over pie when it comes out of the oven. Enjoy!

Grandma's Cheesecake
This recipe is for no bake cheese cake and is from my Mom. It was our special Easter dessert, for as long as I can remember. It was so fancy, compared to the every day fare we had growing up. We knew it was a special day when we got this dessert!
My mom is Patricia Smith (nee Popp). She is from Yorkton, Saskatchewan, Canada.

Crust:

• 1 1/4 c. graham crumbs
  
• 1/4 c. brown sugar
  
• 1/4 c. margarine

Mix together crumbs, sugar and margarine. Pat into 9" pie plate.

Filling:

• 1 c. whipping cream
  
• 8 oz. cream cheese
  
• 1/2 c. sugar

Beat whipping cream. Add cream cheese and sugar. Pour on crumb crust. Top with pie filling. Refrigerate.

Top with 1 can cherry pie filling (or any flavor you choose!)

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The Turney Clan


Margaret (Cotter) Turney was born July 1st. 1911 in Nelson, B.C. Canada and later married William (Bill) Turney in September 1935, Clinton, BC.



In reminiscing about his mother, Hank (Henry) Turney remembers her saying "These Oat Cakes taste far better made with bear grease".

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Oat Cake Cookies
Ingredients:

• 3 cups of flour
• 1 cup of sugar
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp soda
• 1 1/2 cups lard (must be lard)
  ( original recipe called for bear grease )
• 3 cups oatmeal
• 1/2 to 3/4 cup water

Directions:
Mix flour, sugar, salt and soda together. Work in lard as for pastry. Add oatmeal and 1/2 cup of water. Continue to mix. If mixture seems dry, add remaining water 1 Tbsp at a time to reach pastry consistency. Roll to 1/8" thick on a well floured board. Cut into 2" squares or use a cookie cutter. Bake on ungreased cookie sheet for 10 minutes at 350 degrees. Freezes very well. Serve plain, with butter and jam, cheese, peanut butter or whatever you fancy.

Number Of Servings: Five to eight dozen depending on method of cutting out.

Preparation Time: 20 minutes

Footnote from Ann ~ While working on the initial pages for Comfy Country Creations, we had included this recipe which had been passed to us from Aunt Margaret. Her son, Hank and I had not been in contact with each other for over twenty years and you can imagine my surprise when I received and email with the comments "You have made this man very happy. I have been trying to reproduce this recipe for a long time". Once again, family is brought together. Our paternal grandmother, Edith May York Turney Edall, is our connection.

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Katie (Colby) Hendrickson lived in Asotin, Washington. This favorite recipe is shared with us by her daughter, Pat West, who resides in Clinton, British Columbia, Canada

Mom's Real Easy, Never Fail, Awfully Good Applesauce Cake
Ingredients:

• 2 cups flour
• 1 1/2 cups of sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp soda
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 Tbsp cocoa
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp cloves
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp allspice
• 1/2 cup liquid shortening
• 1 1/2 cups unsweetened applesauce
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup chopped nuts
• 1 1/2 cups seedless raisins

Optional
~1 package chopped dates
~1 package candied fruit
~or whatever you choose

Directions:
In a bowl, sift together the first nine ingredients. Add next two indredients. Mix together and beat for 2 minutes. Add eggs and mix for 2 minutes more. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well.
Pour into a greased and floured 9" square pan or two bread pans. Bake at 350 degrees F for about 1 hour.

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