Cooking in the West

As the COVID numbers rise, so do the fears that we may have to go back to more restrictions. It is hard to put a cork back in an open bottle, so it will be interesting to see if we are faced with trying to do so. Most families are concerned about reopening of schools in the fall. Schools are making plans to open and trying to determine what that will look like.

School closures caused a tremendous hardship for working parents. Being a working mother is no picnic. I know this, because I was one for 21 years. Even though it has been 13 years since my last child graduated from high school, I still remember the perpetual state of exhaustion that is the normal state of being for working mothers. When you add the stress of becoming a full-time teacher of your children and the need to disinfect every surface and every family member on to working remotely, it adds a new COVID dimension to exhaustion.

When I visit the schools in my county, I look into the haggard faces of the teachers who are working mothers, and I wonder how I survived those 21 years. Working mothers do not get a lot of sleep, because there just isn't time for it. They have to put in a minimum of eight hours at the job site and still plan menus, shop, cook meals, and clean up after them. They have to pay bills without quite enough money to do it, because they have to buy diapers, formula, and day care. Later on they will exchange those bills for an extra car payment and college tuition costs.

They have to do mountains of laundry. They have to keep the house and yard looking presentable. They have to get the kids to daycare or to school (when school is/was normal). They have to get the kids to piano, basketball, 4-H, and every other activity in town (if it has not been COVID canceled). They have to facilitate the sale of everything from calendars to fruit baskets. They have to oversee homework, baths, and research projects. They have to schedule dental appointments, doctor appointments, and hair appointments, and they have to serve as chauffeur to those appointments. They have to remember everyone's birthday, anniversary, and favorite flavor of ice cream. They have to teach their children everything from internet safety to the birds and the bees.

They have to dress, groom, and find the elusive shoes of children who cannot do this themselves. They have to be strong enough to wrench themselves away from the child they left screaming at daycare. They have to give spit baths good enough to remove projectile spit up from their outfit by the time they reach the workplace. They are supposed to arrive at the workplace with shaved legs, manicured nails, waxed eyebrows, and heels that make a chiropractor swoon.

In addition, they are expected to work through hormonal imbalances, mood swings, and pain inflicted upon them by the sins of Eve. They are expected to make 25 dirt cups before breakfast on the day of the party that their child forgot to tell them about until the morning of the party. They have to make at least one middle of the night emergency room visit per quarter. They are expected to iron out the wrinkles that the dryer fails to fluff out. They have to read bedtime stories that put the child to sleep before they nod off themselves. After the birth of my second child, I remember sitting in the recliner for two full days before I could work up enough energy to face summer vacation after finishing out the school year and managing a toddler and a newborn.

They must attend an average of three meetings per week for church or community service organizations. Some time in their 20 hour work day, they are supposed to find quality time to spend with their spouse. If the working mother is also a ranch wife, she has to add such things as chores, heifer checks, feeding a crew when necessary, baling hay, and everyone's favorite--going to town for parts--to her to do list.

At special times of the year such as Christmas, she is supposed to bake cookies, decorate the house, write Christmas cards, buy, assemble, and wrap presents, and perhaps paint the living room before the in-laws arrive for the holidays. Whew, just typing this list made me tired, but it underscored the reason that women my age typically don't give birth to children. Those primary reasons are that they don't have the energy, and they are likely to forget where they left their babies!

As a tip of the hat to my own working mother, who was 38 years old and running a guest ranch when I was born, I am sharing my mother's favorite cookie recipe, a unique recipe for Banana Chocolate Chip cookies. My other featured recipes are from another hard working mother, Kelsey Proue of Big Timber. Thanks, Kelsey!

Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies:

2/3 C. sugar

1 C. ripe mashed bananas

2 2/3 C. flour

2/3 C. Crisco

1/3 C. milk

2 eggs

1 t. vanilla

2 t. baking powder

2 2/3 C. flour

1/2 t. salt

1/4 t. soda

1 pkg. milk chocolate chips

Cream shortening and sugar. Add eggs, milk, vanilla, and smashed bananas. Add flour, salt, soda, baking powder, and chips. Drop on a greased sheet. Bake on top rack at 350 degrees for 10 minutes until lightly browned on bottoms. These cookies will be soft.

Kelsey Proue's Orange Salad:

1 small pkg. Tapioca Jell-o Cook 'n Serve

1 small pkg. vanilla Jell-o Cook 'n Serve

1 small pkg. orange Jell-o gelatin

2 C. boiling water

8 oz. Cool Whip

2 small cans mandarin oranges, drained

Put all three Jell-o packages into 2 C. boiling water. Let cool. Refrigerate 2 hours until set. Mix in Cool Whip. Add two small cans mandarin oranges. Refrigerate until serving.

Kelsey's Homemade Oreos:

2 boxes Devil's Food cake mix

2/3 C. oil

4 eggs

Mix together and shape into marble sized balls. Bake at 350 degrees for exactly 9 minutes on a cookie sheet.

Filling:

6 oz. cream cheese

2 C. powdered sugar

1/4 C. butter or margarine

1 t. vanilla

Mix together and wait until cookies are cooled. Sandwich together with filling in the middle. Refrigerate before serving.