Joplin Clean Up

We spent a day in Joplin last summer and I was so moved by the experience I had to write about it. The Bolivar Herald Free Press printed my story, so now I'm a published author! Whoo-hoo! Joplin still has a long way to go, but the city is making progress.  If you have time, read my story and let me know what you think.

JOPLIN RECOVERY AND CLEAN UP EFFORTS　
As the brewing storm approached, we watched the Weather Channel with trepidation, praying for those in the path of this storm. The television coverage of the devastation from the F5 tornado, which plowed through Joplin, Missouri, is what spurred my husband and I to heed the call for help on this hot day in June.
The young man in charge of our group seems a bit nervous; this is a leadership first for him. He thanks us for coming today and reminds everyone to put on sunscreen, and please pick up a face mask. The group waits patiently, sipping bottled water wondering what to expect as we sit near the check-in tent at the university admiring the green and serene landscape around us here.
We are directed to get on the school buses that are waiting to take us to the work area; these are the short buses. You know what that means. It seems appropriate that I get on one of these. Challenged with the task ahead as I head off to help with this disaster clean up effort. This is a life-school I am not familiar with; I must be a slow learner, because I cannot encompass the scope of this disaster. Tornadoes knock down trees and peel off a few shingles; but this F5 has pulled up the grass, twisted gigantic chunks of metal, and even shifted buildings off their foundations! House after house, block after block, mile after mile, just like the newscasters have told us it would be, but it is so different to see in person. Looking across the vista there are so few standing walls. Only a few tree trunks are left, looking like odd sentries placed here and there. Amazingly, now one month later, they are sprouting. Wasn’t it Churchill who said, "Never, ever, ever give up"? I relish that optimistic little reminder to myself.
The buses deliver us to the high school and into the oversight of more young Americorps workers who give us the safety instructions. I’m trying to pay attention to those instructions, "Drink lots of water, put on sunscreen, wear the dust mask, gloves, and eye protection. Sign in and stay with your crew leader," but am distracted by all this wreckage. The top of that building is missing, the sign on the ball field is twisted around what is left of a light pole, the windows of the school are blow out, the walls are riddled with holes from flying debris bullets and yellow safety tape warns us to keep out. More instructions…"Pick up shovels and rakes. Push a wheelbarrow and follow the leader. Wait, leave a couple of wheelbarrows for the next group coming in". Then, silently our group walks into this disaster zone, each of us awestruck, taking pictures, whispering "Oh my!" We walk for blocks past devastation and cars that might have participated in a roller derby smash-up fest. We walk too far, this road is blocked by big trucks and other work crews. We back track to our designated work area on Missouri Street. Where do we start? There is so much stuff…junk…twisted metal…dirt… We pick up a tool and literally dig in. Think of the people who lived here – there is no basement, no inner room in which to take shelter. Dear Lord, how did they survive? We know the answer…159 have not.
　
Everything looks as if it has been run through a mulcher/shredder and mixed with dirt. The debris cloud that Dr. Forbes the severe weather expert tells us about must be this stuff. We see bricks, dry wall, wires, building material; the pieces of people’s lives, all obliterated. Here are someone’s shredded bits of possessions…glass, a long piece of video tape, a hard drive still attached to this twisted metal, the padlock ripped from what ever it was holding, a brick tossed here, a splintered piece of cabinet there, an empty Jell-O box, over there the little packet from inside, a quarter to toss back onto the house foundation, the base of a tea cup "made in China", a hand painted little sign buried under the rubble that says "Someday I will find my prince", a bath towel, a dolly missing one leg, a mangled teddy bear... We scoop up endless shovels full of this dirt, brokenness, and debris until each wheelbarrow is filled to over flowing. We scoop, scrape, dump, and repeat. We feel a small victory when one area is cleared. We move this carpet of "tornado poop" into sorted stacks of trees, bricks, metal, construction material, or debris dirt.
The smells come slipping into our noses even though we wear our face masks. It is a musty, dusty, mildew, rotting, decay, and sometimes even a dead smell of some poor small animal or perhaps the contents of a refrigerator left for a month in the elements. We try to remember to stay up wind of the raking, scraping, and dust blowing that happens with every shovel dumped into the wheelbarrow. It should never be a surprise to see the cockroaches skittering across this unlivable landscape, but it is to me anyway. There is a little mouse running across the yard. It has survived a tornado, and just when it must imagine it can’t get any worse, it gets squashed now by a shovel, it’s mouth gasping, wide eyed and tossed into the pile of debris. Across the yard someone sneezes and there is a chorus of "God bless you" with no pause in the work. From a distance, I can imagine we look like a bunch of ants trying to push the dirt out of our anthill.
The volunteers have come from all across the country and locally too. Like in the movie Close Encounters of a Third Kind where the characters are all compelled to get to Devil’s Tower in Wyoming, we come to this Good Samaritan’s vacation destination. The volunteers seem to share an inner urging to come and help, to contribute our time, provide a small civic duty, and try and make this world a little better with a few hours of our manual labor. I thank God that this disaster wasn’t mine and in gratitude donate my efforts. We meet a couple from Louisiana who took their week of vacation from work to spend it working on clean up and sleeping at night on cots in a Baptist church just outside of town. This vacation story was often repeated as we volunteers worked and chatted with each other. A father and son from Milwaukee, another couple from Kansas City who parked their RV at a campground this week to come here and work, a 76 year-old man from Walnut Grove - all of them work without ceasing, all coming together for the good of Joplin.
The volunteers embrace various jobs – raker, shoveler, wheelbarrow hauler, chain sawer, and large scrap carrier etc. The Crew Leader with the walkie-talkie keeps checking on everyone making sure we drink water, thanking us for the work we are doing. We volunteers work for hours just chatting with each other. "Where are you from, how long have you been here, where is the water, where is the porta potty, when is lunch, there’s a church van with refreshments, the sweat dripping is in my eyes, Yes, doesn’t that sting? And there isn’t a clean scrap of my T-shirt to wipe it off either."
The scavengers are always present too, like buzzards on the side of the road cleaning up dead carcasses. They drive beat up old cars and broken down pick up trucks, following the volunteer crews, picking up the salvageable twisted metal pieces hoping to garner a few dollars from the sale of debris. The big trucks lumber along to collect the remnants of the hot water tanks, washers, dryers, and refrigerators that weren’t shredded and sucked away.
There are so many volunteers, working relentlessly, seemingly undaunted by the challenging landscape of so much to do. Like little ants we plunge in and start sorting, piling, scraping, and digging. Instructed to clean up only the front yards and the sides, but not to go on the homeowners’ foundations or back yards. We bring the debris to within ten feet of the street. The big trucks come later to pick it up…after the scavengers have come by to take the things of value or to retrieve the appliances.
We work and our hunger grows but the couple from Louisiana is encouraging. "Wait till you taste the jambalaya. These church ladies have been cooking all week, and they are good cooks". This morning we have cleared off five front yards and progressed almost to the end of this street. The pace of work slows, and it’s time to go get lunch. We walk back the few blocks to the high school and see the lunch tents in the parking lot. Thankfully, there are porta potties. We have been drinking our bottles of water. But oh my goodness, the condition of the Hillbilly Porta Potties is deplorable. They are full, stinky, and swarming with flies. If only I could find a tree to hide behind instead. At least I still have my face mask to wear in there!
After a good lunch and time to rest in the shade we are revived. Our group returns to finish the clean up on that side of the street. It’s time to get a ride on the short bus back to our car at the university campus. My lesson of hard work, compassion for those who need help, restoration of the belief in the goodness of our fellow Americans, and knowing that there is still so much more work to be done in Joplin is learned. I know God is good; the city of Joplin will recover.
　

Baking today!

I got inspired to bake something I've not tried before. One recipe I found on the back of the bag of flour and I don't know where I found the other one.  I had to run to the store to get started - of course! I needed two tablespoons of pineapple juice for the carrot cake, and since they are currently just 99 cents I bought a fresh one and just pressed out the juice I needed from a small piece of fresh sliced. Yum! The cherry bread called for maraschino cherries. The recipe didn't say to drain them, but I did.  I also used some of my cinnamon glazed pecans in each recipe and just chopped them up in my food processor for the recipes.  Do you want some of these yummies?  I know how to package and ship and will be happy to do so upon request - accompanied by money works best! Or you can make some yourself using the recipes below. Enjoy!
Special Cherry Pecan Bread

2 cups all-purpose flour, sifted	¾ cup chopped pecans
1 teaspoon baking soda	1 10-ounce jar maraschino cherries,
½ teaspoon salt	drained and chopped
¾ cup granulated sugar	1 teaspoon almond extract
½ cup plus 1 tablespoon butter, divided	1 tablespoon water
2 eggs	½ cup powered sugar
1 cup buttermilk

Preheat over to 350° F. In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside. In a large bowl, cream granulated sugar and ½ cup butter. Add eggs and beat until light and fluffy. Slowly add dry ingredients and buttermilk, alternating until well mixed. Stir in nuts, cherries, and almond extract. Pour batter into a greased loaf pan. Bake 55 - 60 minutes. Turn out onto wire rack to cool. In a small bowl, melt remaining 1 tablespoon butter. Add water, powdered sugar, and 1 drop almond extract. Stir well and spoon over warm bread. Makes 1 loaf.

CARROT CAKE
2 eggs
1 cup sugar
½ cup vegetable oil
1 ½ cups grated carrot, about 3-4 carrots
2 tablespoons pineapple juice
½ cup chopped nuts
1 ¼ cups flour
2 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
½ tsp. cinnamon
½ tsp. nutmeg
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 9x9 inch-baking pan. Beat together eggs and sugar until creamy. Stir in vegetable oil until well combined. Add grated carrots, pineapple juice, and nuts. Mix well. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Mix well. Add flour mixture to carrot mixture; stir until just combined. Pour into greased and floured baking pan and bake for 30 minutes or until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean. Allow cake to cool, then frost with cream cheese frosting. 

Favorite Cookies

I always enjoy making these Oatmeal Raisin Cookies.  I can pretend they are a health food because of the oats and raisins.  My mom used to try and convince me to let the kids eat these cookies for breakfast.  She did weigh 200 to 300 pounds most of her life and thought this was a good idea, but I didn't. God bless her! She did know how to enjoy life! I enjoy a good breakfast and a mid-morning snack and that's when I prefer to enjoy these cookies.  My friend Ann at KYOO asked me for these cookies - while she was on the air doing Swap Shop.  It's hard to refuse a request like that.  So...since I had baked these yesterday for the Polk County Bike Club (PCBC) meeting and had cleverly bagged up a dozen just in case, I took off in my car and delivered her cookies. She threw her head back and laughed and laughed! I enjoy shipping my treats or in this case delivering them so that I can share the bounty which I've been blessed to have. If you need cookies, you can bake them yourself, or for a small fee, will send some to you too!

OATMEAL RAISIN COOKIES
¾ cup shortening
1 cup brown sugar
½ cup granulated sugar
1 egg
¼ cup water
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon cloves
¼ teaspoon ginger
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
½ teaspoon soda
1 cup raisins
3 cups oats
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Mix thoroughly shortening, sugars, egg, water, and vanilla. Stir in remaining ingredients.
Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls 1 inch apart onto greased baking sheet. Bake 12 to 15 minutes or until almost no imprint remains when touched with finger. Immediately remove from baking sheet. Store in tightly covered container.
Makes about 5 dozen cookies – 74 calories each.

Lemon Cake - refreshing summer or winter!

Today I'm mixing up some lemony goodness for our next Youth Group gathering. I can make this cake in advance because it freezes up so nicely for use when I'm ready. It's especially tasty if you get fresh lemons for the icing, but I'm cheating today and using ReaLemon from a bottle. Unfortunately, this is not a vegetarian friendly recipe due to the Jell-O ingredient. The smell emanating from the oven is mouth-watering! I can bake this upon request as a 9x13 we get to eat it all or two 8-inch squares for an eat now and later dessert.

LEMON CAKE

1 box Lemon Jell-O (4-serving size) – mix with one cup hot water & let cool. If you’re in a hurry set the bowl (preferably metal) in cold water. You don’t want the Jell-O to gel.
Mix together:
1 Lemon Cake Mix (don’t be too concerned about type or brand)
¾ cup Vegetable Oil
4 Eggs, slightly beaten
Add prepared Jell-O to above mixture and mix as directed on the cake-mix box.
Pour batter into greased-and-floured 13 x 9 baking dish or pan. [I use two 8-inch baking dishes so I can freeze one of them.] Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes (40 minutes for 8" pans) or until cake tests done.
Remove from oven, poke lots of holes in the cake with a fork, and immediately pour icing over the cake.
ICING:
Mix well: 6 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice and 1 1/2 cups sifted powdered sugar

How do you handle agitation?

We had so much fun at Youth Group on Sunday night talking about agitation and shaking jars of heavy cream. It took about 45 minutes of agitating to make butter. We had plenty of time to talk about things in life that agitate us and how we need to ask for the Lord’s help in dealing with those things. But if you think of it, bliss follows agitation like a rainbow follows rain. So for a bit of bliss…we ate fresh baked bread with butter, honey and/or jam. Also, as a result of making butter from cream, I was left with a bit more than 2 cups of buttermilk. I shouldn’t have been surprised that using real buttermilk versus the powdered version (I keep powdered on hand for this recipe) made for fluffier, tastier cookies. Nothing like the real thing for real goodness! Enjoy! I can make and ship these to you – for a fee of course. J

BUTTERMILK COOKIES

1 cup shortening 4 ½ cups flour
2 cups sugar 1 tsp. vanilla
2 eggs 2 tsp. baking powder
2 cups buttermilk with 1 tsp. soda mixed in
Beat shortening and sugar. Add eggs and vanilla. Beat well. Add other ingredients and mix well. Chill 1 hour. Drop on lightly greased or non-stick cookie sheet. Bake 12-15 minutes at 350º. Cool and frost with powdered sugar icing.

Soup kind of day

I saw this recipe in the pull out called Relish in our local paper and decided I should give it a try. Today is a cool cloudy kind of day and that makes it a soup kind of day for me! I followed the directions and it's simmering on the stove now, filling the air with a mouth-drooling scent. Even JoPapaBear said it smells good and the spoon of broth he tasted was "yummy". So it seems promising.  Here's the recipe if you want to try it or if you want, come on over for lunch!

Mushroom, Beef and Barley Soup½ pound sirloin steak cut into 1 ½ inch pieces
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup diced onion
1 cup diced carrots
12 ounces fresh mushrooms, coarsely chopped
½ cup uncooked barley
10 ½ ounces beef broth
5 cups water
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon ground black pepper
Heat oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add beef and saute until brown. Add onion and carrots; saute about 7 minutes. Add mushrooms; cook, about 8 minutes
Add barley, broth, water, salt and pepper; stir to combine. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer 40 minutes or until barley is tender. Makes about 6 cups. 296 calories per cup

Cheesy Chicken Enchiladas

This is a great way to use left over chicken. Other wise this recipe takes a while longer to make because you'll have to cook and chop chicken! Today, I was glad I had some chicken in the freezer ready to go. Sometimes, I chop up the meat we have left over after dinner and put it in a labeled container in the freezer. Planning ahead! I have often doubled or quadrupled this recipe depending on the crowd I expect to feed. Tonight, I followed the recipe and since it's just Papa Bear and I, we'll enjoy these enchiladas again in a couple of days.  I served refried beans, lettuce, black olives, and chips with this. And for dessert, I spread butter on flour tortillas and sprinkled cinnamon sugar on top. Using a pizza cutter, I sliced each into four triangles and then baked these for about 10 minutes at 375. Easy, crunchy dessert!

CHICKEN ENCHILADAS

　
½ cup chopped onion
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tablespoon oil
2 cups chopped cooked chicken
1 can (4 oz) chopped green chilies
¼ cup chicken broth
2 teaspoons chili powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
4 oz cream cheese, cubed
6 flour tortilla (6 or 8 inch)
¼ pound Velveeta, cubed
2 tablespoons milk
½ cup chopped tomato, divided (I use salsa)
　
　Microwave onion, garlic and oil in 2-quart microwave-safe casserole on High 2 – 3 minutes or until tender, stirring after 2 minutes. Stir in chicken, chilies, broth and seasonings. Microwave on high 4 minutes or until thoroughly heated. Add cream cheese; stir until cream cheese is melted. Spoon 1/3 cup chicken mixture onto each tortilla; roll up. Place, seam side down, in 8-inch square microwave-safe baking dish. Microwave Velveeta, and ¼ cup tomato in medium microwave –safe bowl on high 2 to 3 minutes or until Velveeta is melted, stirring after each minute. Pour sauce over tortillas; top with remaining tomatoes. Microwave on high 6 to 8 minutes or until thoroughly heated, turning dish after 3 minutes.
Makes 6 servings.

Raw Apple Cake

Today, I'm baking a cake I have been craving since I was a teen. Can you believe I've had this recipe and the memory of this delicious cake for so many years and never attempted to make it? I can't eat a whole cake by myself so since this is Community Dinner night at the Methodist church, I'll have a whole room full of people to enjoy this cake and save me from myself! Victor Esser was Dad's first cousin and friend. Amazingly, Walter Lammers was also a good friend of Victor's.  What a wonderful turn of events that after Dad passed away, Mom would meet Walter at Victor and Eunice's anniversary party! So glad the ingredients in my cabinet matched the recipe - mostly. I had to chop up my candy coated pecans and substitute them instead of walnuts. This cake smells delicious! I can make this cake for you upon request. :-)
RAW APPLE CAKE(From Eunice Esser)
1 ½ cups sugar
1 stick butter
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1 ½ cups flour
¼ tsp. salt
2 tsp. cinnamon
½ tsp. nutmeg
3 cups raw diced apples
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 cup raisins
1 cup candied pineapple – diced fine
1 cup coconut – diced fine
1 tsp. soda
1 tsp. baking powder
Caramel icing2 ¼ cup brown sugar moistened with cream (I substituted milk)
Stir and boil until softball stage is reached. Cool. Then add
½ stick butter
Pinch of salt
1 tsp. vanilla
Beat until of spreading consistency. Add more cream if needed (I substituted milk)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream sugar butter and eggs. Beat until fluffy. Add vanilla. Beat in sifted flour, salt, and spices. Add diced fruit and nuts. Last add soda and baking powder. Spread evenly in greased 9x13 pan. Bake approximately 45 minutes or until done. Cool cake and then frost with caramel icing.