Schedule change

Myrna wrote: Could you work out our schedule so that we could leave a bit early on Saturday? We have a Senior grandson at TimpView High who has an important role in the play. We can't go Friday and would like to go on Saturday. It starts at 7 p.m. so we would have a tough time getting there and getting a seat before it starts if we leave at 5 p.m. It takes about 45-55 minutes from Manti to Nephi and then about 40 minutes from Nephi to Provo. We would then need to fight Provo traffic to get to TimpView. The play is also on Thursday but I have school board meeting and I hate to try to make up the meeting afterward by listening to the tapes. It is possible, however. So if it is difficult for you to do, then let me know.

My daughter-in-law in Hurricane is very, very ill and we may also have to go get her kids. (Our youngest son's wife.) He is trying to hold down the fort but I don't know how that will go. We have to let him do what he can but I will tell you it would be easier on me if he would let me help. I don't know how long they will keep her so we may be looking at a LONG week or two.


Eileen wrote: Dear Myrna,

I am so sorry about your daughter in law.  Life is so hard. I am sorry that she is sick. 

Sickness is one thing. I worry about other things with family. Wish these kids could find a better way to handle life's ups and downs. This is coming from one who has 2 granddaughters in the UT county jail on drug charges.

I have texted Bro. Maxwell to see what he wants to do about the temple schedule.  We had you portraying 3/4 at 3:30.  He'll get back to me and I will let you know as soon as he does.  I don't believe getting off early will be a problem.    

Keep your chin up, my dear friend!!

Love you
Eileen  aka Sis. Lofthouse

Melanie's Favorite Pancakes

One of my favorite cookbooks is, "The Mormon Diet,' Ethel C. Updike, Dorothy E. Smith, and Earl F. Updike, 1992, distributed by CFI (Cedar Fort, Incorporated), 925 North Main Street, Springville, UT, 801-489-4084. I bought it about fifteen years ago, while I lived in Missouri. I use it frequently. It is a Word of Wisdom cookbook, with limited meat, white anything and no sugar. My favorite parts are the soups and salads, but also, they have fabulous breads and breakfast foods.

My all time favorite recipe from this book is the oatmeal pancakes.

1 c. flour, half whole wheat, half white (I use 3/4 c. whole wheat and 1/4 c. white, just to bind the batter together better)
1/2 c. uncooked oats, quick or old fashioned (I use the old fashioned)
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 c. almond milk
2 egg whites, beaten
2 Tbs. applesauce

In a medium bowl, combine the dry ingredients. In a pyrex cup, mix the beaten egg whites and the applesauce together. Add to the dry ingredients, and mix until just moistened. You need to let the batter sit for about five to ten minutes, to let the oatmeal soften a bit. Cook as you would normal pancakes, watch carefully, they tend to brown more quickly.

I eat them with peaches, apples slices, berries, whatever. They really are the best pancakes for me. Howard and Mikaela aren't fans...probably too healthy for them.

Mel

Granny Sycamore Copycat‏ From Kirsten

Kirsten wrote: Ok, so I found a recipe that is really yummy and for those of us who cannot stock up on Granny Sycamore's white bread, here's a copycat version that I have tweaked a bit. Enjoy!
By the way, the original copycat (does that make sense) recipe can be found here:
http://robbygurlscreations.blogspot.com/2011/06/robins-perfect-homemade-bread.html
her loaves come out a little squat, so I use her original recipe to only form one loaf.


Granny Sycamore Copycat
3 C. All Purpose Flour
1 - 1/4 oz. Pkg. Fast Acting Dry Yeast (or 2.5 tsp SAF yeast)
1 1/4 tsp. Salt
3 Tbsp. Sugar
4 Tbsp. Butter, Melted
1/4 C. Non-Fat Dry Milk
1/4 C. Mashed Potato Flakes (or potato pearls that have been processed to powder)
1 1/8 C. Luke Warm Water
1 1/2 tsp. Vital Wheat Gluten or dough enhancer
A Pinch of Sugar


1. Proof the yeast with warm water and a pinch of sugar.  
2. Combine flour, salt, sugar, non-fat dry milk, potato flakes and vital wheat gluten into your mixer. Mix together.
3. Add dough enhancer to proofed yeast.  Measure out your 4 tbsp of butter and stick in the microwave for about 20 seconds.
4. Pour melted butter into yeast mixture add this to your mixer.
6. Knead for 10-15 minutes.  
7.  Transfer dough to greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap (that has also been “greased”).  Place in warm area and allow to rise for 1 hour or until dough has doubled in size (I learned a trick from ATK, set your oven to 200 degrees before you even start gathering your ingredients.  Allow to come to temperature and sit at 200 for 10 minutes.  Turn off oven and let cool slightly.  You will be left with a perfect proofing oven.) 
8. While the dough is rising, grease a loaf pan. 
9. Punch dough down, then place dough on a lightly floured surface.
10. Roll out to a little bigger length than your bread pans, then fold in all 4 sides to match the length and width of your loaf pan.
11. Place the dough folded side down in the loaf pan and cover VERY lightly with saran wrap. Then place the loaves in a warm place. 
13. After the bread dough has risen to twice its size in the loaf pan, place it in the preheated oven (350 degrees) for 15-20 minutes or until instant read thermometer reads 175 when placed in the side of the loaf.
14.  Remove from oven.  Using a stick of butter, run butter along the top crust of the loaf.  Immediately remove loaf from pans and allow to cool for 15-20 minutes on a cooling rack.  


Kirsten

Todd wrote: That last sentence doesn't make sense. Allow to cool for 15 minutes.
Like that's going to happen. :)

Kirsten wrote: hahahahaha! I now double the recipe and let one get "ripped into" and the other to cool accordingly! :)

Shawn wrote: I'll have to try it with some whole wheat flower. Toren eats a peanutbutter and jam sandwich for lunch every school day, and he only likes it on Granny Sycamore's whole wheat bread (also has to be some kind of blackberry jam without seeds).

How NOT to gain sympathy

Yesterday, at church, I stood up to bear my testimony. As I was walking to the front of the church, I realized that John [ed. note--surname was left off on purpose] was walking up the other aisle. He deferred to me and I went first. There he was sitting behind me. I noted that Brad Johnson seemed quite uncomfortable, also. (Dad had stayed home with a really bad cold.) I have no idea why, but I went back down and sat where I had been sitting. I should have just walked out but I was too dumb to do that. At any rate, he was his usual rambling self but did bring up my name, the newspaper letter and than moved on Joe [surname removed to protect the innocent] (I muttered, "If he mentions certain person, I will get up and sock him." I was by Sister White, and so I had to apologize. She hadn't really heard what I said, however.) but he did not go into detail except to say that he was being prosecuted and was having a very difficult time. He didn't mention any young people by name but he did say how there was a dark side to the church in this town and that he would not sustain Don Eyre. He said that Jared Eldridge and the attorney's office were persecuting him. He said that he usually sat in the back of the church near Annette and his step-son would come and sit with him. He said his daughter had convinced him to come back to church and he was trying to do so. He started rambling about his troubles and the bishop told him, quietly, that it was time for the meeting to end so he ended and left. Brad told me afterward that he was about to get up and call the police but decided to stay put. The bishop asked me, afterward, what he was talking about concerning me, the letter, the tape recorder, Joe and a cover-up. John had not made any of the connections clear. Only that while he was at my house working on the letter he had taken out his tape recorder to turn over the tape. Jenny, Brad's wife, said she thought we were taking it all too seriously. "I think, confused as he is, he forgot to set his clock and was in the wrong ward," she said. His stepson and former wife live in the 8th ward. Apparently he goes to that ward and sits at the back somewhere in the neighborhood of Annette. At any rate, Brad said that he is not to be in the same building with Brad because John has a restraining order and he told the bishop that as well. He said the bishop's face went pale when John was walking up the aisle and that he seemed really uncomfortable. I was OK with Jenny's explanation until my RS first councilor called me last night. (She was Ams RS president when they were at university.) She asked me about it. Then she said that her friend told her that he also showed up at the 6th ward and did the same thing. He is trying, I guess, to get sympathy.

From Grammy and Gramps

I think that I am finally happy that I live among cowboys. It has taken some time for me to feel that way but, over the years, I have been in great meetings where humble and spiritual cowboys have taught great lessons. 

For example, at sacrament meeting one week ago, Bro. Davis, first counselor in the bishopric, told of his experience with his cell phone. He is the new church cattle ranch manager for the cattle ranch in our stake. He replaced Bro. Don Berezay when he died. At any rate, our ward is having, at the St. George Mission President’s request, a bring-a-friend-to-church-day on November 11. There is an assignment that goes with the request--we are to pray each day for inspiration, we are to read certain scriptures, we are to seek the spirit--then we are to approach the person with love and respect and ask them if they would like to attend church with us on that day. 

Paul Sutorius, our retired seminary principal and gospel doctrine instructor, said that, if they refuse, we should continue to be friends but that when we approach them we should teach them how to recognize the spirit when it inspires them. There is a list of scriptures we should use: 1 Cor. 2: 11-14; Moroni 10: 4-5; John 14: 26; Alma 32: 28; Alma 5: 45-46; and 3 Nephi 18: 18-20. 

At any rate, Bro. Davis was out rounding up cattle with Mitch Durban, Berezay’s son-in-law, when one of the calves decided to take off away from the rest of the cattle and make a run for it. Davis said that he knows from experience that the only thing to do is to chase the cow and work to cut it back to the rest but that it often leads through rough ground and tall brush. It cuts at the flesh of the cowboy and tears at his clothes. He did get the calf back to the herd but, at that time, he realized that the cell phone he had in his pocket was gone. He knew that it might seem a trivial and unimportant thing but to him it was vital. It had the contacts he needed for the church and for the other church business activities involved with his job. Those could be replaced but it would take time that he could ill-afford. So still in his saddle, he prayed and reminded Heavenly Father that the cell phone, in the eternal scheme of things, was not very important but that to him, Bro. Davis, it was. He asked him to help find it. Then he yelled to Mitch and told him to mind the cows while he looked for his phone. The problem was that he had been all through the brush in a zigzag manner and one stand of brush looks much like another. Still he looked as best he could for 45-minutes. Then it occurred to him that since he wanted help for this project, he should ask in a more formal way. So he got off his horse and knelt and offered a formal prayer. He got back on the horse and rode a short distance and there the phone was shining in the sun. He got off his horse, picked it up and then knelt again to thank Heavenly Father.

Bro. Davis said he wanted us all to know that we were important to Heavenly Father. He took time for each of His children and, if they wanted His help, He was there. “If He would help me find something so unimportant to anyone but me, He will help each of us with any of our problems. All we need to do it ask.”

He then said that the people we wanted to come to church with us were so important that He would help us reactivate them or convert them if we asked for His help and if those people were then ready. However, He was going to send us to the people who were ready. They would be the ones who would be inspired to accept our offer just as we had been inspired to seek them out. Gramps and I enjoy your missionary letters. 

We feel your great spirit in each of your letters and we are so happy that you are serving our Father in Heaven. The only way that any of us can ever truly feel the peace of the gospel is by living it. "Living the gospel does not mean the storms of life will pass us by, but we will be better prepared to face them with serenity and peace." Joseph B. Wirthlin, Ensign, May 2000.

We love you. We hope that you got your Halloween card in time. Grammy doesn't yet know how long it takes to get things to you.

Lots of love, Grammy and Gramps

Juice in place of sugar

Just remember that in baking, sugar is considered a wet, liquid ingredient, not a dry ingredient. So you can substitute an equal measure of concentrated apple, pear or grape juice for the sugar in a recipe, just like it's done in health-food baked goods. Do a trial run and see how it goes, then adjust up or down. Or write the manufacturer of the concentrated juices and ask for recipes.

Wheat Mills

Melanie wrote: I grind my own wheat flour. I have a fabulous grinder. It processes quite a bit in such a short time. There are a lot of different brands of wheat mills on the market, maybe you should invest in one. We are also using almond flour and the oat flour. Can you eat graham crackers?

Julie has a great pancake mix recipe that I love. I use oat flour and whole wheat flour, as well as the chopped oatmeal. I love it! I don't remember how much sugar is in it, but it is minimal. Maybe you should have her give you the recipe.

Good luck and happy eating.

Myrna wrote: Julie and AnnMarie bought mills just like yours. Julie was telling me that I should get one. I think that she said Kirsten also had one like yours. My old wheat mill died. Have you tried coconut flour? I bought one of those small packages at the grocery. I used a little with the whole wheat flour to make some pancakes (with unsweetened applesauce for the sweetener). It was a bit dry, I think because of the coconut flour, so I had to add more. Dad and I really like the rye Wasa flatbread. We have been having it with our almond butter for our afternoon snack. I have one cracker and Dad has a couple. It reminds him of a bread/cracker they ate in Denmark. I didn't have that while I was there. We did have the rye bread in Denmark quite a lot. It was made at the bakery daily. It doesn't rise much and is very dense. It was good.

Julie said that you can also use applesauce for her pancake recipe to replace the sugar. Bless his heart, Jim wants to cut out sugar also. Julie and I have been trying all sorts of deserts. Jim's Aunt just loaned Julie a cookbook that uses fruit and juices for sugar. They have tried the banana bread and Jim said it was really good. We are going to buy one if we can find it.

Dr. Maturlo's office gave me a new glucose meter. It seems to be better than the one I bought. I saw Christine Hansen this last visit. She is  the P.A. My blood levels were continuing to improve. That made her happy and she said she thinks that I am doing fine and, for now, can stay off meds. I just need to continue to be strict. No sugar and nothing white. She went over the carb counting with me again and I think that I have that down pat now. That helped. It also helped that Dad went with me. He had been bucking me a bit, thinking I was too strict with myself. My feet still have a lot of feeling which is one thing that they will continue to monitor. Every other day I do a fasting blood sugar measures blood glucose after you have not eaten for at least 8 hours. On the other days, I do a 2-hour postprandial blood sugar measures blood glucose exactly 2 hours after you start eating a meal. I do lunch one day and dinner the next. The fasting one has bounced around a bit. It should be around 110 and mine will be anywhere from 80 to 112. The 2 hours after a meal one is supposed to be less than 160 and mine has been around 104 to 112.

Losing weight has helped. I am stuck at 135 though.

I exercise a lot. I walk for one hour now. I go up Turkey hill and all over, after that. I can do a block in 1.5 minutes. I don't know what that means. Good or bad? Some days Dad goes and some days he doesn't. Oops. I am supposed to be in bed. Good night!

The reason why there are so many cake recipes all at once.

What all of you don't know about the plethora of cake recipes is that I called Mom in a panic on Wednesday night after work when I realized I had somehow lost all of her best cake recipes.  I had to make a cake for a funeral before I went to work early Thursday morning (but after I taught a lot deacons the Citizenship in the Nation merit badge Wednesday night).  Fortunately, I got her 1, 2, 3, 4 cake recipe and frosting with coconut and made that late at night.  But I realized that I didn't want to be in that predicament again so I asked her to send them out again.  This time, I am doing this the old fashioned way and writing every single one of them on note cards and putting them in my recipe box.  
Ams

Grinding Flour

Melanie wrote: I grind my own wheat flour. I have a fabulous grinder. It processes quite a bit in such a short time. There are a lot of different brands of wheat mills on the market, maybe you should invest in one. We are also using almond flour and the oat flour. Can you eat graham crackers?

Julie has a great pancake mix recipe that I love. I use oat flour and whole wheat flour, as well as the chopped oatmeal. I love it! I don't remember how much sugar is in it, but it is minimal. Maybe you should have her give you the recipe.

Good luck and happy eating.

Our Health

Oh, now that is shocking news about the type two.  What ever were your symptoms or had you made an appointment to get checked?  We are doing fine. Wally and I both went to a specialist, a dermatologist he sees annually and I too had an exam; moles, tags, and what seems a poor complexion for some old gal!  We are in good shape, but I did get a topical prescription for the face.  When I went to pay it was generic l.5 oz and was a cost of $120.00 USA. This Dr maybe somewhat of the high end, a specialist, of course. Bought the topical and we talked about the cost and time of our back to back and dual appointment each just l0 minutes long.  Wally's co pay was $20 and mine $30 so don't know what the real fees charged to insurance have totaled yet,  just that it was $170 for 20 minutes out of pocket!!  Laurel and Tom are near finished with their pool and fence also required.  Probably busy getting plants for the landscape out by the pool and etc.  Laurel and Cyd had lunch for her little sisters birthday while they were in Price. Seems like it would be lonely somewhat for Cyd without Laurel, but she seems to be a trooper or okay with Mike of course and daughter Terri. I worry some about her, but I worry about a great deal of things. She knows I am still available for her anytime she may need me.

  Our little Dandalynn is so adorable and very busy by now.  Now at 14 months her walk has certainly increased to an almost running gate.  She has some word vocabulary, no sentencing yet. Maxine will be going in for more surgery soon.  Think it is for her hip again.  I will be talking to Robert L soon.   Take care and Love,  Char and Wally