Our moms went to school together from Kindergarten on up through graduation in the little town of Springville, UT. These two women, my Mom and Mother-in-Law are the most important women in my life. They truly are amazing people, each with a wonderful outlook on life. I have chosen them to be my first interviews on The Good Blog.
MARY COX
My Mom |
When I asked her about her life, she said "It has been good." Then she thought a few minutes and said, "Well remember that year that your Dad left, Kelly (my sister) was in her bad car accident, Grandpa Harrison died, and your brother left on his mission?" I told her I remembered that year. She said "That wasn't a great year. That was hard." I asked her how she got through those hard times. She told me "I didn't always do good getting through those hard things. But I would say hard work got me through it all!" My Mom, Mary Connie Constance Conover Cox works hard, serves others, and makes the best Chocolate Chip Cookies I have ever had!
FAVORITE RECIPE-CHERRY RINGS
I thought Mom would choose her Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe to share on The Good Blog, but instead she picked her famous Cherry Rings. Mom makes these every Christmas to hand out to friends and neighbors. It has become a tradition in my sisters and my home as well. These really are yummy and an incredible treat. When I was making them for the Good Blog my kitchen smelled like Christmas and home.Cherry Rings
Dough:
Mix 1 Tablespoon yeast with 1/4 cup warm water. Set aside and let foam.
I mix 1 Cup Crisco and 3 Cups flour until it looks like small peas in my Kitchen Aid.
Add:
2 Beaten eggs
1/3 Cup Powdered milk mixed with enough water to make 1 Cup
1/4 Cup Sugar
1 Teaspoon Salt
Add in the yeast mixture
Slowly add 1 and 1/2 Cups Flour
Knead together and let raise about 2 hours in a covered bowl.
After it rises, punch down and divide into thirds.
Roll each third into a rectangle shape. Cover dough lightly with melted butter. (I use a pastry brush, Mom uses her hands). Sprinkle on a mixture of cinnamon, sugar, and brown sugar.
Mom sprinkles on chopped walnuts, I don't because of boys with allergies.
Spread Cherry Pie filling on one side of the rectangle and roll over until
you have formed a cylinder shape.
Next, Fold edges under and form into a horseshoe shape. Slit the top to within 3-5 inches of the bottom of the horseshoe.
Let Raise for 15 minutes, then bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 30 min or
until Golden Brown.
While they are cooking I make a glaze on the stove made of melted butter, powdered sugar, and milk. I never know the exact measurements of this, it depends on how much I want,
how thick I want the glaze.
Spread glaze over Cherry Rings while still warm.
Finished Cherry Rings. They are so good, especially warm out of the oven with a glass of milk. |
I broke with tradition two years ago and made "Mini Cherry Rings."
When I have ruled up the dough into a cylinder I cut them like you would
cinnamon rolls. These are so good, but I still make the big rings too.
These are approved by Mary Connie Constance Conover Cox!
MOM'S FAVORITE BOOK:
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Mom's Favorite book is Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. She also loves The Exodus by Leon Uris. I couldn't get an image to come up here of The Exodus. These are both 2 of my favorite books also. |
CAROLYN MURDOCK
My Mother-In-Law, Carolyn Murdock |
I live next door to my Mother in law. Can you believe it?? Who does that? Well, I do and I love it. Carolyn is such a wonderful, calm, non-evasive person that she makes it easy to live by my Mother-in-law. I am lucky to have such awesome neighbors.
Carolyn and her husband Kent have raised 6 children. 3 boys and 3 girls. They raised them in the old family farm house. The house sat on a beautiful 40 acre farm on the East Bench of Springville, UT. There was only one bathroom and a tub with no shower. Yep, 8 people with no shower and only a tub. All of my in-laws are pretty patient people! Carolyn raised her family with not the greatest health. She struggled with chemical sensitivities for years. For a while she wondered if her not feeling well was all in her head. But with study, persistence, blessings, and a never quit attitude she has figured out a way to live life healthy. She and my Father-in-law are two of the healthiest people I know. They are not fanatical about their health, they are just smart about it.
The Farm house has since been torn down for development and the farm sold. That is why I live next door to my in-laws. My husband built them a house next to us. They bought five acres next to our house so we all would have somewhere to put the horses. Carolyn has done well with her new house. We were all worried that the new smells would aggravate her chemical sensitivities, but she has done great. I think moving out of the old house which probably had some mold, and it had a coal furnace in it for years, which the coal dust would bother her has helped. Her diet and supplements also help.
I asked Carolyn what helped her the most through all her health troubles and she said "My family. My family kept me going." I would add that her faith kept her going too. She has great faith in The Gospel of Jesus Christ. I admire my mother-in-law. She has an amazing way about her. She also has a way with toast. There is a legend in the family that Carolyn is the best Toast maker in the galaxy. The story goes that her dad told her when she was a little girl that she makes the best toast around! Well that gave her confidence in the toast making business. Her sister told me that she remembers one early morning their dad asking Carolyn if she would get up and make toast. Carolyn was a little bugged by this because it was early and she said " I wish I wasn't such a good toast maker!" Oh the burdens of success! All of the grandkids love Grandma Carolyn. They all think they are her favorite. And, they all love her toast-of course!
FAVORITE RECIPE-MEAT ROLLS
Carolyn can make other things besides toast. She makes some of the best pies I have ever had. Her Pecan Pie is my favorite. I could eat a whole pie. I'm not saying that I have, just that I could. Carolyn choose to put her Meat Rolls on The Good Blog. I was so happy. They are delicious. I have watched my Mother-in-law share these with many people. I have never made them and I had a ball making them. They are pretty simple, but taste like you spent hours in the kitchen. These Meat Rolls are another good reason I am grateful to have Carolyn in my life.
Items you need for Meat Rolls:
Bacon, strips of steak, 1 cup water chestnuts, 1 onion,
Bar-b-que sauce. I added salt, pepper, and Tony Chachere's
Tenderize steak, (I used a Petite cut Sirloin Steak 1 1b.) cut into strips a little smaller than the bacon. Drain water chestnuts, and cut onion into chunks. Lay out each bacon strip. On each bacon strip layer a steak strip. On the steak put on a chunk of onion,
then a water chestnut.
I don't know if Carolyn does this, but I added salt, pepper and a little Tony Chachere's for extra flavor.
Roll up. Go slow and make sure the onion and water chestnut stay inside the roll.
Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes
Take out of oven. I transferred all of my rolls to a glass
baking dish. This helped keep the bacon grease down.
Then I poured bar-b-que sauce over each roll, covered the glass dish with tin foil.
I put them back in the oven to cook for 20-25 more minutes.
These are so very delicious. They are one of our favorites around here.
This was the first time I have made these tender little morsels. They are
really fun to make and very easy! These are another reason why I love
my Mother-in-law.
CAROLYN'S FAVORITE BOOK:
Carolyn loves any book written by Gerald Lund.
LOVED reading this!!!!! Yay!!!! I am excited to see what's next...... I am sooo trying the recipes this weekend! ����
ReplyDeleteOops question marks were smily faces... Haha
DeleteHey Jenna! Thanks for reading. The cherry rings are so yummy, but take a while. I love to play in the dough! Meat Rolls-yum-o. We tried to save some for leftovers but we ate them all. I hope you are feeling well!! Sure love you two!
DeleteThis is awesome! Loved reading it! Such a great idea
ReplyDeleteThis is awesome! Loved reading it! Such a great idea
ReplyDeleteI must say this was fun! I love everything about this blog. These are two good ladies! Love ya Molly
ReplyDeleteI loved learning about your moms! Love this blog!
ReplyDelete