“The RoseBouquet”

For myself I usually just make energy bars (basically granola), which I merely press into a pan, chill, and cut. I also bake my high fibre super-duper deluxe muffins about every three weeks and they are a staple of my breakfasts. I cut them in half, and top each half with peanut butter, date puree and a slice of cheese. I also bake rye bread, because I like it for cucumber and raw veggie sandwiches. But these days I’m cramming in some conventional baking of sweets. It is sort of fun, but I also feel a bit guilty as I sample my baking, ’cause I know how much sugar and margarine went into them. After Friday night there will hopefully be no more temptation in my house.

Our Western Tract Mission is having our third annual spring Music and Dessert Night this Friday evening as a fundraiser and a way to mark our anniversary. We used to do a soup and pie supper for a few years, but that was so labour intensive that some ladies had to take off time from work to get all the big buckets of soup and noodles cooked ahead of time. We tried to nab every volunteer we could to bake all the pies needed as well. We usually had a good turnout but the women got weary of the time investment.

So we switched to a musical concert followed by a smorg of desserts, mostly squares and such. This is not so much work and brings in even more donations to the mission in the free-will offering. We all like this fundraiser idea better, but still some of women have to put in some time in advance to make some pans and sheets of squares and treats.

In my sister’s cookbooks (now mine) I found a recipe for a big batch of cookie mix. There are about 8 different recipes of things to make from that basic mix. I’ve done two batches now of sesame wafers. These melt in my mouth!

I did try another squares recipe with the mix, and it turned out quite well, with candied marchino cherries/fruit, and coconut, but I made the mistake of opening an old sealed (!) bag of nuts, and tossing in a handful at the end. Moments later I decided to sniff them. Ugh! Rancid. I baked them but that taste did not go away. Cancel taking those!

So I want to try another squares recipe today, and probably tomorrow, and Thursday too. I have found some back up recipes, and if I can snatch enough minutes over my lunch and supper hours I should have enough to bring a good load of desserts for Friday night.

We are having the Derksen family from Rosthern perform the musical program. They have six children all singing and playing various instruments. You can see a photo here; Derksen Family Of course, you are welcome to come!