Carrying on the traditional....18. Make Grandma's Kolache cookies correctly.

If you have been reading my blog since the beginning, you know by now that my cooking skills are not that great.  Why is that?  Because I never cooked while I was growing up.  My mom cooked good meals but she was never a baker.  That job was my Grandma Perry’s.  She would send tons of Christmas cookies every year no matter where we lived.  I loved every type of cookie she made but the Kolache were my favorite.  Sadly, my grandma passed away in November 2012.  I never had the opportunity to make the cookies side by side with her.  Though she probably would have never allowed me in the kitchen with her.  My mom and I attempted to make a batch at Christmas last year with no success.  Instead of cookies we ended up with a smoking hand mixer.  It was very important to me to learn this recipe and carry on the tradition to my future children.  On Mother’s Day 2013, my mom and I decided to try again…. 18. Make Grandma’s Kolache cookies correctly. 

1.  Start a blog


2. Go to the Presidential Inauguration / visit DC


3. Run a destination 1/2 Marathon


4. Compete in Mrs. Missouri pageant

5. Eating a raw oyster


6. Ride a mechanical bull


7. Cook a traditional Thanksgiving dinner by myself

8. Shoot a gun/target shooting


9.  Go Mushroom hunting

10.  Learn to sew / make something I can wear

11. Visit a state I have never been to


12. Drive 100 mph on the German Autobahn

13. Learn to play craps


14. Eat at Oklahoma Joe's BBQ


15. Complete one Pinterest craft project


16. Take a walking tour of a Civil War Battlefield


17. Learn to make a pie from scratch


18. Make Grandma's kolache cookies correctly

19. Take a shot of Jack Daniels


20. Drink a beer the size of my head at Hofbrauhaus Munich

21. Do at least one pull-up


22. Visit Graceland


23. Take a train ride/ weekend trip to Herman, Mo.


24. Make homemade pasta


25. Run a 8 min/mile 5K


26. Take ballet class from the KC Ballet


27.  Reach my Weight Watchers goal weight 

28.  Visit the castle that inspired Walt Disney


29.
  Eat authentic Chicago deep dish pizza 

30.  See the Eiffel Tour sparkle

Like most recipes from our grandparents’ generation, the Kolache recipe was not completely written down.  The ins and outs of each recipe were all inside my Grandma’s head.  And like most families, we didn’t think to ask for specifics until we could not ask anymore.  My Grandma Perry was a wonderful cook and even better baker.  Her cookies were delicious! Since my goal from this bucket list was to become a better cook, she was the perfect inspiration.  Since her passing in November of last year, my mom made sure that our family got copies of her recipes so we could continue the traditional of her wonderful meals and desserts.  The Kolache is the first recipe I wanted to tackle because it is my favorite. 

I had no idea what made these cookies so amazing until a read the recipe.  I was shocked at the short list of ingredients:  flour, ice cream and butter.  Real butter!  No wonder they were so good.  

One of the mistakes my mom and I made during the first attempt was no allowing the ice cream to soften.  Another and more important thing we remembered this time was to use a Kitchen Aid mixer.  The mixer is the most important piece to be successful when baking theses cookies. 

Mixer…check…softened ice cream…check…pound of butter…check.  We were ready to go!   We added all of the ingredients according to the recipe.  

Next, the recipe reads, “Chill dough”.  It doesn’t say for how long, of course!  We decided that an hour would be sufficient.   We balled up the dough, added our filling and they were ready for the oven.  Easy as pie : )  

It was difficult to be patient while the cookies cooled but this is very important.  Otherwise the filling burns the crap out of your mouth (I learned this from first hand experience). 

The recipe is quite simple and we made it though this time with only a few tears.  I had a wonderful time with my mom and we will remember this experience for a long time.  We will never know if we are baking the cookies exactly like Grandma did and that is ok.  Now we have a new traditional that we will carry on and this time we will write it down! 

Until next time…

XOXO,

Abby 

Kapow!....8. Shoot a gun/target shooting

As the month of May approached, I started to hammer down on my bucket list in hopes I would cross everything off before July 3^rd.  Mother’s Day weekend, Justin and I traveled home to the Springfield area to visit with family.   My sister-in-law, Amanda, asked me if she could take me target shooting for first time.  Amanda had worked as a Conceal and Carry clerk for Green County and owned a gun previously.   Since she had experience handling guns I felt comfortable learning from her.  Plus it gave me the opportunity to spend time with family and include them in on my bucket list journey.   Both Justin’s mom & dad joined us as well.  We headed to an outdoor range in Springfield to cross off #8. Shoot a gun/target shooting

1.  Start a blog


2. Go to the Presidential Inauguration / visit DC


3. Run a destination 1/2 Marathon


4. Compete in Mrs. Missouri pageant

5. Eating a raw oyster


6. Ride a mechanical bull


7. Cook a traditional Thanksgiving dinner by myself

8. Shoot a gun/target shooting


9.  Go Mushroom hunting

10.  Learn to sew / make something I can wear

11. Visit a state I have never been to


12. Drive 100 mph on the German Autobahn

13. Learn to play craps


14. Eat at Oklahoma Joe's BBQ


15. Complete one Pinterest craft project


16. Take a walking tour of a Civil War Battlefield


17. Learn to make a pie from scratch


18. Make Grandma's kolache cookies correctly

19. Take a shot of Jack Daniels


20. Drink a beer the size of my head at Hofbrauhaus Munich

21. Do at least one pull-up


22. Visit Graceland


23. Take a train ride/ weekend trip to Herman, Mo.


24. Make homemade pasta


25. Run a 8 min/mile 5K


26. Take ballet class from the KC Ballet


27.  Reach my Weight Watchers goal weight 

28.  Visit the castle that inspired Walt Disney


29.
  Eat authentic Chicago deep dish pizza 

30.  See the Eiffel Tour sparkle

I have never been a fan of guns.  Growing up, my dad did not own a gun and I was never around people who owned guns.  Even growing up in a small town in Southwest Missouri, I never was around guns.   It may be surprising to some people, but I went 29 years without even holding a gun.  Shooting a gun is not something that ever sounded like fun to me.  In the last couple years, I have started to learn a little more about guns from my work group.  It seems like everyone but me in my work group shoots guns either for target practice or hunting.   They all give me a hard time and I sometimes feel like the odd gal out in conversation.  As I have mentioned in prior blog posts, I am pretty liberal.  I learn toward more regulation or gun control especially after all of the recent gun related tragedies.   I realized that I shouldn’t pass judgment on gun owners and their “rights” without experiencing the act of shooting for sport.  My expectation was that I was going to enjoy target shooting.  The power and stress relief of shooting sounded exhilarating.  

In addition to our plans to target shoot, I also signed up to run a half marathon that Saturday.  The Go Girl Run was a lot of fun and I ended up finishing with a personal best of less than 2 hours, 1:58:31.  GO ME!

The shooting range was about 30 minutes outside Springfield.  Once we arrived, I was taken aback by the sound.  I should have put my earplugs in before we got out of the car.  I thought I had heard gun shoots before but this sound was different.   There were only 4 target stations at this range and the short-range stations were occupied when we arrived.  While we waited, I got my eye and ear protection on.  

There were a wide variety of guns people were shooting that day.  At one end, there were shotguns and pistols.  On the other end, long range, there was what looked like machine guns.  I felt really tense hearing the sound coming from the automatic guns.   It sounded like a war zone. 

We got set up at the short-range station and Amanda loaded up the gun.  We shot a 9mm hand gun. 

Everyone took a turn shooting the gun before I did.  I wanted to watch as well as get comfortable with my surroundings.  I was quite surprised at how anxious I felt just standing there.  My father-in-law, Kevin, gave me a run down of safety tips and how to hold the gun.   I aimed and fired and immediately wanted the gun out of my hands.  The force of the gun after the shot almost knocked me off my feet.  I was terrified.  At that moment I never wanted to feel that again.  I lowered the gun and handed it off to whoever was closest to me.   My heart was racing afterwards.  That was not the exhilaration I had expected.  I sat back and watched the rest of my family take more turns.  An even closer range station opened up and we moved.  I decided to give it one more try.  I held the gun a little more tightly and braced my shelf for the backfire.   Honestly, it was not as scary once I had my stance correct.   I shot a few rounds at our target and actually hit it once!  Not too bad for my first time though I can tell you it wasn’t because I aimed.  It was definitely luck and that the gun was pointed towards the general direction of the target. 

While we were shooting, Justin mentioned that the group at the long-range station was shooting illegal automatic weapons.  I watched them as the held the guns at their hips like gangsters and I felt terrified.  Is that what it sounded like to the innocent people watching “The Dark Knight Rises” in Aurora, Colorado or to the children at Sandy Hook Elementary?  I personally do not understand why anyone needs to own a gun like that.   From where I stood, there was no sport or skill in shooting that gun.  It was for pure adrenaline.   To me, they looked ridiculous and I was embarrassed for them.  Pardon my judgment.

I can understand why people enjoy target shooting.  Hitting the target takes a lot of skill and patience.  My eyesight is not that great, so I could never find any pleasure in shooting targets.  I simply cannot see them that great.  Once I got the hang of shooting I did feel more comfortable holding the gun itself.  I did not like the environment of the gun range.  The sound made me extremely anxious.  It wasn’t fun for me at all.    

After my experience at the gun range, I now know for sure I do not want to own a gun.  If I am ever in a situation where a gun may be necessary, I would do more harm than good.  I am glad to have had this experience because I know how I feel.  And that feeling is anxious and terrified.  I also feel more strongly towards gun control.  And I’ll leave it at that. 

I enjoyed spending the time with my family and also learning a lot more about myself.  It was a good experience and do not regret doing it.  I am pretty sure it will be a while before I pick up a gun again.  But at least I can say that I’ve done it. 

Until next time…

XOXO,

Abby

I am a domestic Goddess! #7. Cook a traditional Thanksgiving dinner and #17. Cook a pie from scratch

I often feel like a broken record when I type up my experiences for my bucket list.  The same sentiment surrounds each and every item on my list.  I set out to accomplish things I have never done but knew I wanted to experience before I turned 30.   Justin & I have been married now for three years but have been together for nine years.  From the beginning, Justin has always been the cook in our home.  Strangely enough, he enjoys cooking.  Even after a long day at work he will come home and wants to cook.  How did I ever get so lucky?  Because my spouse loves to cook I never try to cook.  Occasionally I will feel a need to be domestic and cook dinner; it is rare.   When I put together my 30 by 30 I definitely knew I had to add a few cooking excursions to the list.  In the 29 years of my life, I have never cooked a Thanksgiving turkey.  In my younger years while living at home with my parents, I was responsible for making green bean casserole.  To anyone who has made this dish, you know it is super easy.  One can of soup….one can of green beans….one can of fried onions…Viola!  Green bean casserole!  If I were to think I a meal that is challenging I think of cooking a turkey.  I remember watching my mom cook turkey throughout my life and it always seemed challenging.  As I now know as an adult, my mom’s skills in the kitchen may have been lacking (accept my apology, Mom, I mean know disrespect but you know it is true).  Cooking Thanksgiving turkey does take preparation, time and patience.  I cheated a bit and used my husband as a source of information instead of flying completely solo.   Thanks to a fun suggestion from a co-worker, I started to plan the 1^st Annual Friendsgiving, which coincidentally fell halfway to Thanksgiving Day.  As expected, my experience was just that…7. Cook a traditional Thanksgiving dinner by myself. 

Since apple pie is as American as Thanksgiving dinner, I decided to attempt a “two for one” and knock out 17.  Make a pie from scratch. 

After I had made the decision to host “Friendsgiving”, I knew I had to invite a big group.  Thanksgiving is known as the time to spend with family and friends.  Since my family lives far away, I invited our closest friends over for dinner.  Our final count was 9 people (plus a newborn and a 4 yr. old).   I researched the amount of turkey required per person and learned to plan for 1 lb. per person.  Due to being out of season we had slim pickings at the grocery store.   I ended up buying a 12 lb. turkey and planned to have left overs. 

Like all families, our group was very diverse.  I already mentioned the newborn and the 4 yr. old plus a vegetarian and a gluten free diet added up to a non-traditional, traditional Thanksgiving dinner.  My gracious friends offered to bring side dishes to help me in my turkey adventure.

I decided to make my pies in advance.   I was tempted to wear a dress and heels as I baked to get into my domestic goddess role, but decided on red lipstick instead. 

I only learned after my attempt at piecrust from scratch that even Justin struggles to make one.  Of course he doesn’t tell me this until am almost in tears.    

The recipe I choose was from Food Network Magazine’s Thanksgiving issue.  I believe it was titled, easy piecrust.  Lies, lies, lies!  I followed all of the steps as written and did not end up with dough that would roll out.  I improvised by mashing it together like it was Playdoh.   It worked though it wasn’t pretty. 

BUTTER!!! 

The dough all wrapped up and ready to chill.  

While my dough chilled,  I started peeling the apples.   

More butter!

All sliced and buttered!  YUM YUM! 

This is where the recipe started to fail.  After chilling in the fridge, my dough was a sticky mess.   I could not figure out the right amount of flour that would roll out the dough without sticking to the rolling pin.  This was the most frustrating part of the entire pie experience.

I finally resolved to pie the crust together because it would not roll into one round piece.  About this time I had swore off baking for the rest of my life.  

Not to attempt the lattice.  This was even more challenging.  In the end I was sticking to pieces together and hoped they would cook together.  

After my struggle with the lattice I realized I forget the last amount of butter for the inside of the pie.  So I stuck it on top of the lattice.  Justin reminded me that it would melt, duh!! 

A close-up of my apple pie before it hit the oven

And finished!  It looked & tasted delicious

The apple pie part wasn’t too bad.  Peeling and coring the apples was a pain but I wanted to use fresh apples.  I cooked down the apples on the stove, added the sugar, flour, etc. and poured on in. 

I made a chocolate sugar almond pie with a pretzel crust in addition to the apple pie.  I made the pretzel crust from scratch and it was equally as difficult.  I used honey wheat pretzels, which turned out more like a graham cracker crust.  The pie itself was pretty easy to make and it ended up like a pudding pie.  The con to this pie is that the almonds I bought were delicious on their own.  I ended up eating the rest of them in one sitting.  So good!

Here is the end result.  Per my husband's request, I also made a pumpkin pie.  

In the end, the apple pie was my favorite.  It tasted amazing.  The process of baking the apple pie was more fun and what I imagine baking to be (if that makes sense…).  I am excited for fall to buy orchard apples in town and make the pie again.  The chocolate almond pie was also good and quite easy.   But I am more of a fruit pie kind of girl.  I wish my spouse would eat other fruit pies like peach or blueberry.  Oh well, apple will have to do until I have more people to cook for.

The first thing I did after purchasing my turkey was named him Fernando.  I felt my experience would go much smoother if I gave my bird a name.  We had a connection and worked together well.  I started thawing the turkey a day before our dinner.   That was not enough time, of course, so Justin set up a thawing bath in our kitchen sink. 

Once thawed, it was time to remove the nasty bits that are hidden inside the bird.  I pulled out what I thought was the bag of parts but Justin quickly informed me that was not everything.  So I kept digging.  It was still a little frozen which made it difficult to dig deep inside the bird.  My hand was so cold!  Finally I looked in front of the turkey and found the neck!  It was the most disgusting feeling ever!  I’m not sure why I screamed but I did.  I have dissected a few animals in my day but when I saw the neck I freaked out.  I quickly threw it in the sink and them move it to the trash. 

All in to locate the nasty bits

I was told it was be in the chest cavity so I kept digging.  Fernando was quite chilly on the inside

Not only was it gross but it was also frozen.  Must get out of hands as fast as possible!

Justin couldn't capture my final reaction fast enough so I am a blur.  The neck was disgusting!

I again chose a recipe from Food Network Magazine’s Thanksgiving issue to cook the turkey.  I went with a simple recipe for my first time.  I was quite amazed at all of the different ways to season a turkey.  Since we were celebrating halfway to Thanksgiving, I wanted the bird to taste traditional.   I stuffed Fernando we onions, carrots and apples and seasoned him with salt, pepper and A LOT of butter.  Once the bird was in the oven, the cooking part was a breeze.  I did learn that our meat thermometer does not withstand oven temperatures.  Oops! 

After cooking for about 4 hours, it was time to carve him up!  I managed to get as much meat off the bones as possible.   It was time for dinner! 

The lesson I learned from my cooking experience…I need to be more patient.  With time I have become a better cook.  I also learned that I am happier when I am successful.  Oh and that I can improvise and it can still taste good.  No one noticed that the lattice on my apple pie was pieced together.  All that mattered was the taste and that a bottle of wine is accessible to calm my nerves. 

I had fun with this one.  Justin & I enjoy entertaining friends at our home and all too often he is the one making the food.  I learned that there is no need to be fancy with the meal.  Simple seasoned turkey and homemade apple pie does the trick.  Next time, I am definitely buying the piecrust!

I piled it high!  What an amazing meal!

It was definitely a successful 1st Annual Friendsgiving