Grandma & the Texas Sheet Cake recipe

My Grandma was such a unique person, she was a pioneer in so many ways! She married my Grandfather in 1929, he was literally a "one arm house painter."

Grandpa lost his left arm when he was 19 from a misfiring shotgun. He was hunting on horseback and was in the woods alone. After the injury he passed out on his horse & the horse took him back home. He always laughed and told me" I survived WWI and blew my own arm off!" He was so funny, loved life & never let his lack of a left arm slow him down.

They lived in rural Central Texas on a farm, raised cattle & cotton. Grandpa was the county Tax Assessor & House Painter.  Grandma was a preacher! What a combination...

Grandma was such a serious soul. It was hard to get her to laugh, she was so intense about everything. She loved her family incredibly and wanted to help everyone around her. She was going to being a school teacher but felt that God wanted her to be a preacher.

She would have made a good teacher but I would have felt so sorry for those students! Grandma was a strict disciplinarian to say the least. So God knew what he was doing when he lead her down the path to preaching. Although it wasn't common in those days for a lady to preach, no one ever called Grandma ordinary!

During the 1940's they pastored a church in Beat Five, Texas. She would always tell me "I left all the dealings to the men, I just preached & prayed!" And a great preacher she was!! She could make me shake in my shoes when she preached, mostly because I was afraid she would use me for an example in her sermons.

She taught me so much about being my best, but mostly she gave me unconditional love. She taught me to cook & show hospitality to everyone who entered my home. My love of cooking & feeding others comes from years of watching my grandmothers lovingly prepare food for their families.

Grandma was a stickler on the rules. I tend to see most things as black & white, I'm sure that came from her too! I appreciate this heritage more than I can say. She shaped me into the strong woman I am today.

Thinking about the holidays always reminds me of those who are no longer with us, but when we cook their recipes they live on in our minds.  My grandma always made a Texas Sheet Cake. She was so funny, she would put pecan halves on top so there would be 20 pieces with a pecan half on each one. We all expected that cake, and as you can see in the picture, even after she was well up in age she still felt like she had to make it. She said it just wasn't a holiday dinner if she didn't!

Holiday cooking is a heritage to pass on to our children & grandchildren. Start traditions with your families now & one day they will just have to have that "Texas Sheet Cake" memory of you for the holiday's.

I am happy to share this recipe with you, it's a common one but Grandma's was just a little better! Think that may be a childlike belief...but hey it's the most wonderful time of the year.

Grandma wouldn't use store bought pecans, they had to come from a friends tree & she had to shell them herself...wonder where I get the set in my ways behavior?

Texas Sheet Cake

CAKE

1 stick margarine

1/2 c. shortening ( these two can be replaced with 2 sticks of butter)

1 cup water

4 tablespoons cocoa powder

2 cups flour

2 cups sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

2 eggs

1/2 c. buttermilk

1 teaspoon vanilla

ICING

1/2 cup butter or margarine

4 tablespoons cocoa powder

1 lb ( 2 cups) powdered sugar

6 tablespoons milk

1 cup chopped pecans

1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. For the cake, combine the butter, water and cocoa in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Remove from the heat. In a mixing bowl, mix together the flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt.  Add the butter mixture all at once, and stir to blend.  Whisk eggs and buttermilk together, add to the batter and mix well.  Pour the batter into a 9x13 pan and bake for 20 minutes.

Just before the cake is done, make the icing: Combine the butter, milk, and cocoa in a large, heavy saucepan and bring to a boil. Add the powdered sugar and vanilla, mix well. Add the icing to the cake while it is still warm & pours easily then add the pecans. Grandma used halves, but I used chopped sometimes, hope she doesn't know!

Smoked Chipotle Turkey Breast

Smoked Turkey is one of my favorite meats. I love to eat it straight from the pan,& so does everyone else in our family! We smoke whole turkeys when we have lots of time, but if you want the smoked turkey experience & have less than a few hours to get it, try a half turkey breast.

Williamson Bros Bar-B-Q has a chipotle sauce that is really great. The chipotle taste is prominent but it also has a cumin and garlic note that is very pleasing. This sauce adds a smoky flavor to your meats from the inherent taste of the chipotle itself.

If you haven't tried chipotles, you should give them a chance. These little wet, wrinkled chili peppers come in a can & are packed in adobo sauce. It isn't necessary to remove the sauce, it actually adds incredible taste to any dish.
http://www.livestrong.com/article/416613-chipotle-pepper-benefits/?utm_source=popslideshow&utm_medium=a1

We marinated our half turkey bone-in breast in the refrigerator over night in a mixture of 2 tablespoons of Williamsons Spicy Chiptole BBQ sauce & 2 teaspoons of pecan flavored liquid smoke. If you have never used a smoke flavoring, you can find it in the grocery isle with the steak sauce, bbq sauce etc. I like the pecan because it doesn't overpower the other seasonings.

Injecting a mixture of half sauce & half olive oil into the breast will keep the meat moist while smoking. It's also healthier than butter, but if you need the butter...it's your call!

When you are ready to start smoking the turkey breast, remove it from the fridge & let it sit on the counter & come to close to room temperature. About 15-20 minutes will usually be enough time. While it is resting, start your wood pellets in your smoker box on your gas grill. I turn my grill to high & sit the smoker box in the back corner. Do not wet the pellets or wood.

I like to smoke my turkey breasts in an iron skillet. I do not wrap in foil, that tends to steam the meat & you don't get the results you are looking for.

After about 30 minutes the grill should have enough smoke to start the smoking process. Reduce the temperature to medium indirect heat. With the turkey breast in a well seasoned iron skillet, coat it on all sides with the sauce before placing it on the grill. 

What I like about Williamson Bros sauce is the consistency. It isn't thin, but it isn't thick & sticky. This type of sauce is the best for gas grill smoking because of the lower sugar content of the sauce.

During the smoking process I apply sauce to all the sides every 10 minutes.

Remember that you should have your grill on medium indirect heat. The temperature inside the grill should be about 300 degrees. The skillet should be sitting in the middle of the grill with no flame under it. Although this is only a breast, it can dry out quickly so keep it well marinated with sauce.

I cook my turkey breast to a temperature of 170 degrees. This usually takes about 30-45 minutes on my grill, but ever grill is different & the outside air temperature is a factor also. Just judge your doneness on that meat temperature...this is just a really great reason to go buy a cool meat thermometer!

 After it cools a little, I remove the meat from the bone, leaving the skin intact. You can remove the skin but it really adds to the taste & look of the smoked turkey.

We added Williamson Bros Spiccy Chipotle Bar-B-Q sauce to the top of the turkey breast. Simple turkey taken to another level. Healthy & delicious, we had baked sweet potatoes from the grill to complete this meal. Oh & we had salad...just hard to do on the grill! Although I am wanting to do the grilled romain lettuce so who knows...we just might do that!

Williamson Bros Bar-B-Q sauces impressed me in many different ways, but one of the things I loved was the low sugar content. Many people who are on a sugar restricted diet must avoid bbq like the plaque. Being a RN & working with diabetics I can say this sauce is a great choice for sugar & carbohydrate counts. Best part is they are really good!

Visit Willamson Bros Bar-B-Q website today!
www.williamsonbros.com

Successful Marriage Secrets

In 1974 I was an innocent 15 yr old girl who possibly was a little naive. I was raised very strictly but with incredible love from a Mom & Dad who were the best! My Dad was an Engineer for the Southern Pacific Railroad so he was gone overnight several times a week. Mom had her hands full with a teenager & my two sisters who were both under 5yrs old.  

Of course I was the perfect teenager who never caused any trouble. My Dad helped me buy a car at 16 yrs old & I had a job at the local grocery store. I went to high school at small rural school, so the "big city" was not influencing me much....until my Dad got a CB radio...yes I fell quickly then! 

In 1974 or so the Citizen Band Radio was all the rage! For those of you who were born after 1985, you may not remember CB's, but you had to pick the equivalent of a twitter name. We called it a "handle". that was the name you went by on the CB radio. I thought of lots of names, discussed it with all my naive friends & someone suggested"Shady Lady" for me! A boy I liked told me it just meant I liked to sit in the shade......... I fell for that one hook, line & sinker! What were my parents thinking, they wouldn't even let me wear pants or shorts!!!

So Shady Lady started modulating on the radio..tweeting in today's lingo. We had a base station in our home & my dad had a mobile CB in his car. I wanted a car & a mobile CB so I could drive around and talk on the radio to my friends. Didn't have a car or a mobile, so I settle for Dad's base station. The only problem with a CB radio was anyone & everyone could hear your conversations. There were different channels but it was easy to find people talking on other channels. Eavesdropping paradise!

One night "Shady Lady" was up at 1am talking on the CB to a boy...school was the next day & I lost track of time. My Dad just happen to be coming home from work that night earlier than I expected & he heard me talking. I heard a sound that made me want to crawl under the table. The sound the mic on Dad's CB made was a very recognizable bing. The next thing I heard was "Shady Lady you better be in the bed asleep by the time I get home" The sound of my Dad's voice when he took that tone would sends shivers down my spine...I went to bed & faked being asleep! He never had to do anything but speak to me!

On January 5th 1977 I was driving home from church on a Wednesday night. Of course I was on the CB radio being my ever talkative self. I was talking to several friends & a new voice broke in. Now CB etiquette required a new person to say who they were..well this person said "General"....Another friend told me..that was his really good friend, nice guy "he's okay".

http://pleasantfamilyshopping.blogspot.com/2008_07_01_archive.html

 I was driving up & down our "drag" in our little hometown. Everyone went to the Walmart parking lot to meet & talk so I said I was headed there. Not a lot to do in a small town but hang out talking!

Only picture I have of the bug car! Of course it was after our wedding!

When I pulled in a strange car pulled up, now by strange I don't mean unfamiliar..I mean strange. A 1971 El Camino with 108 inch long antenna's on both sides of the car, right behind the cab. Looked like a demented bug sitting there. This strange guy hopped out & came up to my car. He stuck his head in my car window & said "nice interior". I looked at him like he was an alien! He removed his head from my 1971 Dodge Challenger right before I punched him!

He got my phone number from his friend, called me that night & told me he was going to marry me one day! I couldn't stand him, so full of himself thinking I would marry him....we celebrated 34 years of marriage last Saturday!

Thank God for the CB radio...although social media has changed over the last 30+ years, true love has not.

Chicken Fried Steak Perfection

This blog post has been the most shared since I started blogging last year. Thought with the cool weather coming it was a good time to repeat it for those who missed it before. I will say that over the years I have become more open to trying all different types of foods. Once I even ate a Country Fried Steak with Brown Gravy.....


How do you make a perfect chicken fried steak? When we moved from Texas to Colorado in the early 90's I found out really fast to ask how a food is served before ordering. We went into a local chain restaurant that someone told us had great Chicken Fried Steaks. I was so excited, so we called up Texas friends who had moved with our company and went to dinner. We had moved about 2 months prior and I had been without this Southern delicacy for too long.

We were seated by the waitress and started searching the menu for the treasure of crunchy breaded goodness. I could just envision my plate coming out of the kitchen with a beautiful lightly browned, crunchy battered piece of hand pounded steak. My mind was swimming already in the sea of white creamy gravy. I saw the waitress round the corner with the huge tray up on her shoulders and we all knew the 4 Chicken Fried Steaks were almost to their destination. Slowly she lowered the tray and set the first plate in front of me. I try to keep decorum in most situations but before I could stop or my husband could throw his hand over my mouth..it just came out. I blurted out ...BROWN GRAVY!!!! Everyone's face at the table fell and they seem to all be trying to decide who was going to tackle me and cover my mouth. I apologized to the server and told her in much longer detail than I'm sure she wanted to hear how REAL Chicken Fried Steak should look. She explained to me that if you wanted the thick white gravy you had to ask for that, brown gravy is what they put on their Country Steaks. My husband put his hand on my knee because he knew that this would send me into orbit. The menu said Chicken Fried Steak and then it's really thin cut sirloin in cracker crumb breading with brown gravy...16 years later and it still makes my heart race. Some things in life just shouldn't be messed with and don't mess with a Texas Girls Chicken Fried Steak! Needless to say when we went back there I tried Colorado specialties and really enjoyed them. Some things are sacred to a Texan and shouldn't be changed.

A real Southern meal would include Chicken Fried Steak that hang off the edge of the plates. There should be plenty of white, thick creamy gravy all over the steak and on top of the mound of mashed potatoes. Fresh green beans cooked in bacon, onions and garlic always goes with my dream meal. Got to have cornbread or yeast rolls with butter just to round out the plate! Some do Texas toast but I love cornbread baked in an iron skillet so we usually have that. So the next time you go to order a Chicken Fried Steak..take my advice and ask questions if you want it to be the real deal!

Texas Chicken Fried Steak

2 pounds of 1/2 in tenderized sirloin or round steak,cut into 4-6 pieces
2 cups flour
2 eggs
2 cups milk
Salt/Pepper
1-2 cups Liquid oil or Shortening, I prefer canola or peanut oil

Cut steak into desired size pieces, salt and pepper and set aside. In a large bowl beat eggs with a fork until frothy, add 2 cups of milk and stir to mix. Add dash of salt and pepper to egg/milk mixture. In a large shallow pan mix flour and 1/4 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp black pepper. In a deep skillet
(I prefer iron) add enough oil to cover 3/4 of steak while cooking. Heat oil over medium high heat until a tiny bit of flour sizzles when sprinkled in hot oil. While oil is heating batter steak dipping first in egg mixture, then flour, then back to egg and ending with flour. Place in skillet and cook 5 minutes on each side. Never cook fried food on low in oil, that's what makes it greasy and not healthy for you! When done take out and drain on racks over paper towels. Not a complicated recipe but sometimes takes a few tries to get it just right. Enjoy!


Texas Chicken Fried Steak