Category Archives: My Life

Spilling the Beans on My DNA

DNA strand

DNA strand from pixabay moving to the Ancestors in Aprons newsletter.

MOVING DNA INFO TO THE NEWSLETTER

I will NOT tell you about DNA tests and DNA results at Ancestors in Aprons website.  Where will I spill the beans??

I have recently received the results of my Ancestry DNA test. And guess where I come from?  (Hint: You can find out in a previous newsletter, and updates in this week’s newsletter

Aside from the fact that trying to understand what the DNA report says, and the fact that it provides an enormous distraction from the ancestors I’m trying to write about here—

Well, it is fascinating.  But I have decided that although I am distracted, Ancestors in Aprons is not going to get distracted  by this new toy. Ancestors in Aprons is about stories. So I may mention my new findings if DNA analysis can add some understanding to the stories I’m telling, but it will not become a major topic.

I’m not hiding anything from you. I’m just sharing in a different place.

SUBSCRIBE TO THE WEEKLY ANCESTORS IN APRONS NEWSLETTER

If you want to*:

  • Follow my DNA journey;
  • Get a summary of each week’s posts;
  • Take a peek at past posts;
  • See an updated list of ancestral surnames in my line;
  • Cook like an ancestor from a list of categorized recipes;
  • Peek behind the scenes at how I work with other people to do research;
  • And read frequent bonus content.

Now using DNA to help tell the story of my family. Subscribe to the newsletter for Ancestors in Aprons. http://eepurl.com/w0msD

*Even though there is a long list of valuable content–it takes up only a small space in your mailbox.

If you’re not sure, you can take a look at last week’s newsletter here, and find out where I come from or this week’s newsletter and what family names I’m matching with.

Chocolate Swirl Bars–A Slice of my Life

Most kids love to cook. Once when I was a Cub Scout den mother, I asked the boys whether they would rather do a science experiment or cook something–cooking won by a landslide.  This recipe for Chocolate Swirl Bars meets the kid-friendly test.  The measurements allow you to work a bit on math if you want.  Relatively few ingredients means it is easy to mix up.  And best of all, they LOVE the action of swirling the chocolate into the peanut butter dough.

chocolate swirl bar

Bar cookies with peanut butter and chocolate chips.

Note: If you’re making chocolate swirl bars with grandchildren or a group of kids, be sure to check for peanut allergies before you start. Unfortunately, one of my grandsons and one of my great-grandsons would be unable to eat these.

I know they are popular with kids, because my youngest son started making them when he was in eighth grade.  He liked making the chocolate swirl bars, and turned it into a business.  We discussed the cost of the ingredients, which he had to figure out and then return to me from his earnings.

The inspiration for starting a business could have come from Junior Achievement–a school program that helped kids in high school start their own business.  His older son had quite a company going, supervising a group of kids who made macrame’ plant hangers back when macrame’ was all the rage.

At the time, my husband also acted as an advisor for a J.A. group at another high school.  I still have a spatter guard for a skillet and a hamburger press, both made by teens, as reminders of those projects.

But COOKIES! A much better business, in my humble opinion.

My son baked a batch and took small samples of the cookies door to door in our neighborhood, fed them to the neighbors and took orders for a dozen cookies.  I don’t know how long before his interest flagged, but it may very well have been the beginning of a lasting talent in salesmanship.

Whether you cook them yourself, or find some kids to do the baking, you’ll find that the only problem with these chocolate swirl bars is waiting until they are cool enough to come out of the pan. The smell is heavenly. The taste likewise. Can you eat just one?

Other kid-friendly cookie recipes:

Peanut butter cookies

Pumpkin Cookies

Rhema’s Raisin Bars

Peanut Butter-Chocolate Chip Swirl Cookies

Serves 24
Prep time 20 minutes
Cook time 40 minutes
Total time 1 hour
Allergy Egg, Peanuts, Wheat
Meal type Dessert
Easy to make Peanut Butter- Chocolate Chip Swirl Bars look great and taste as good as they look.

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup Peanut butter
  • 1/3 cup butter (softened)
  • 3/4 cups brown sugar (tightly packed)
  • 3/4 cups white sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla
  • 1 cup flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 10-12 oz chocolate chips

Directions

1. Beat well the first four ingredients.
2. Beat in eggs and vanilla.
3. Combine flour, baking powder and salt in separate bowl, then beat into the peanut butter mixture.
4. Spread into greased 9" x 13" pan. Sprinkle chocolate chips on top, as evenly as possible.
5. Bake 5 minutes at 350 degrees. Remove from oven, and draw knife through batter to make marbled effect with chocolate.
6. Return to oven and bake for 30-40 minutes in preheated 350 degree oven, until brown on edges, and almost solid in center. (Will continue to firm up out of oven.)
7. Cool on wire rack for ten minutes, then cut in squares. Put cookies on a cooling rack until completely cool. Freeze or store in airtight container.
8.

Note

You can use either semi-sweet or dark chocolate chips and either smooth or crunchy peanut butter in these delicious cookies.  Kids love to make them and get creative with the marbleing.

Guacamole served with corn ships

Dip Into a Happy New Year with Guacamole

Here’s a Slice of My Life entry that should have come earlier, so you could make Guacamole for New Year’s Eve and Bowl Game parties. But here’s to partying all year round.

When we moved to Arizona from Ohio in the mid 1960s, I started adding Southwestern dishes to my menus.  At restaurants, I frequently have to skip guac because it has onions. I was happy to read that original Mexican quac generally does not have onion–just the Americanized versions.  Although lime might be more common than lemon, I use lemon because that is what I have on hand.

The best hint here, is in how to remove the seed–easily with a deep cut of the knife.

So here’s the process:

Cutting the avocado

Cut into the avocado, pushing the knife into the seed. (Don’t push so hard you’ll squish the other side of the fruit.)

remove seed from avocado

Remove seed from avocado, by lifting up with knife. (I slide the knife through tines of a fork to gently remove the seed and discard it.)

Open the cut avocado

Open the cut avocado and scoop the fruit into a bowl.

Avocado Guacamole Ingredients

Easy Guacamole ingredients: avocado, lemon, garlic salt, hot sauce.  mash together with fork so it still has some lumps. Restaurants with table-side guacamole makers get creative and add all kinds of things. You can experiment, too. Hotter, cooler, more ingredients.

Guacamole served with corn ships

Guacamole served with corn chips.

Happy New Guacamole to you!