GRAMMY- Part 5

 

Well it's no Kilgore Creek (where Craig's MawMaw lives), but we pretended we were all there as we gathered in the kitchen, cut cucumbers, sterilized jars, prepared the pickling mix, and made some 

DILL PICKLES!

I loved having this woman in the kitchen with me this summer.

She is a wealth of knowledge- and I tried to take good notes on all the great new things I learned

Here are a few:

• Soaking your peeled potatoes in water before cooking them helps remove the starch
• Salt your water when making boiled potatoes to add flavor & boil on low heat until tender
• Make sure your oil is heated before cooking chicken, etc... that way less oil will be absorbed by the food you are making.
• Add sugar to the water when boiling corn on the cob (not salt)
• Adding a Tbsp. of sugar to your yeast will help it to grow
• Hershey's Chocolate Syrup + Coffee = Mmmmmmm
• When making angel food cake- don't use plastic or wooded bowls/ utensils or it won't rise
• How to make homemade yeast donuts- awesomeness!
• When leaving dough to raise, grease the bowl AND dab oil on top of the dough so it doesn't dry out.  Then cover with saran wrap.
• Always sift flour- don't shake down or pack
• Toothepaste = Jewelry Cleaner
• Hot Water (1) : Vinegar (2) = Ant Killer
• and MUCH MUCH more that I didn't get to write down...

Thanks for sharing your wisdom!

We made Gail's famous Chicken Pot Pies.

They were AMAZING!

Play-Doh Fun:

And then there was Gail's moment of glory...

Craig had a cut and finally gave in to his mother's ever persistent advice:
"You just need salve and a band-aid"

Yep- it was feeling better already ;)

She was a trooper through monsoon season.

Enduring a soaking wet all (see it in the background)

AND

Late nights without power

(We decided to make the most of it and just pow-wow on her bed 

and chat it up with our lantern giving us some light)

Riley was safe in Grammy's arms:

While Levi & Papa had a soccer match in the kitchen:

He LOVED it:

Look at that skill:

Watching & Taking careful notes:

One of my favorite moments of these two:

Levi also wanted to share his love with Riley- so here he goes laying a big ol' kiss on her:

Love the way he adores her, and LOVE that Grammy got to be a part of it, too :)