Diva's Grandma Sarah's Blackberry dumplings

Diva’s Memories of Recipes Grandma's little helper, I would help her pick the berries.  One day I ate them all and brought her a bucket full of kittens instead:) Good thing she loved me Grandma Sarah's Blackberry dumplings
Inspiration: My German Grandma Sarah Rutz always had wild blackberries growing in her yard near Scottsbluff, NE.  It was an awesome treat for her to make her dumplings.
Ingredients: 1 quart Blackberries 2 cups water 1/2 cup sugar 2 TB butter ________ Dumplings: 1 cup flour 1/2 tsp salt 1~1/2 baking powder 1/2 cup milk 3 TB sugar 2 TB oil or melted butter	Instructions: Wash and cook berries until tender in a large heavy kettle.  May need to adjust sugar if not sweet enough. Cover and bring to a boil. Drop tsp's of dumplings into boiling mixture.  Cook 10 minutes without lifting the lid.
Variation:  Serve warm with cream me and Grandma Sarah at her house on E in Scottsbluff, NE in the 70's.  Right through that backdoor was where she did her magical cooking and teaching. her kitchen was 6x6, but the most awesome cooking came from her little space in the world.  Grandma has been gone since 1996, but every now and then when I cook her recipes, I smile and say hi Grandma:)

Diva's English Prime Rib

Diva’s Memories of Recipes English Prime Rib
Inspiration:  My dad's grocery store, Alexander's Super Market in Scottsbluff, NE catered dinners and they made the most wonderful Prime Rib.  My favorite was the end pieces with all the seasonings.  He always bagged it up and sent it home with me.  MM MM good. The store is no longer there since Dad past but the memories live on.  The Zemanek's motto was always to befriend everyone in town and put a smile on their faces every single day.  My brother was the meat cutter and would cut this to perfection and would prepare it for anyone who would ask.  Ask your butcher to tie it with a string as well and make slits in the meat by the bone.
Ingredients: 3~7 pound standing rib roast, tied 1/4 cup garlic powder 1 TB pepper 1/4 cup beau monde 1/4 cup worcestershire sauce 1 TB oregano	Instructions: Critical:  roast should be a room temp, leave out a couple hours before you put in the oven. Make a rub with the seasonings and worcestershire sauce and rub on all sides of meat. Preheat oven to 500 degrees F.  Put roast in an open pan fat side up.  Insert thermometer and make sure you don't have it be a bone.  Put in oven and Reduce heat to 375 degrees F.  Bake at temps below.  I only check once about half way thru baking process.  Do not open door again.
Variation: Estimate serving 2 people with 1 Rib To figure out the total cooking time, allow about 13-15 minutes per pound for rare and 15-17 minutes per pound for medium rare. (For example, with a 7 pound roast, you would expect 1 3/4 hours of total cooking time.) Roast in oven until thermometer registers 115°-120°F for rare or 125°-130°F for medium. Once the roast has reached the desired internal temperature, remove it from oven and let rest 20 minutes, covered with aluminum foil, before carving. The roast will continue to cook while it is resting. If you can't find Beau Monde here is a recipe to make it: Almost Beau Monde Seasoning Ingredients 1 tablespoon ground cloves 1 1/4 teaspoons ground cinnamon 1 tablespoon salt 1 tablespoon ground bay leaf 1 tablespoon ground allspice 2 tablespoons ground black pepper 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg 1 teaspoon ground mace 1 teaspoon celery seed 2 tablespoons ground white pepper Directions 1 In a small mixing bowl. Sift together the clove, cinnamon, salt, bay leaf, allspice, pepper, nutmeg, mace, celery seed and white pepper; mix well and store in a tightly closed jar.

Diva's Pumpkin Bread

Diva’s Memories of Recipes Pumpkin Bread
Inspiration:  This came out of one of my Aunt's church cookbooks in Scottsbluff, Nebraska.  This was inserted into one of the pages: The recipes in this book may not have been tested in laboratories, but their success has been established by friends, relatives, by church and civic groups and the most critical of all--- Husbands and Family!
Ingredients: 2 cups pumpkin 3~1/2 cups flour 1~1/2 tsp baking soda 1 tsp cinnamon 1/2 tsp cloves 1/2 tsp nutmeg 1 tsp salt 1 cup cooking oil 2/3 cup water 1 cup walnuts 3 cups sugar 4 eggs	Instructions: Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and mix well.  Pour into well greased and floured bread loaf pans. (will make 2 large and 1 small loafs) Bake 1 hour at 350 degrees F.
Variation: Yields 2 large + 1 small loafs

Happy Birthday Daddy in Heaven...My Tribute

I have been sitting here trying to think of something to write on my Daddy in honor of his birthday and the flood of memories are deep.  He was my ROCK, my PROTECTOR, and the most WONDERFUL Father and Grandpa anyone could ever have.

Dad, My son Adam & my baby nephew JD
My brother Randy is the one behind Dad partially seen with the beard
1983

Glen Marvin Zemanek was born December 30, 1936 to Dale and Margaret (Gartman) Zemanek in a little one room shack that was on the 160 acre farm in Bayard, Nebraska up on the hill. It still had the old cast iron red water pump right outside the door that worked in the 60's. Us kids use to play in the old farm house when we didn't get caught by Grandma to get out.  It was like a sacred building attached to other buildings that was used for storage by the time my brother Randy and I came along. OMG Grandma could stand on the steps and yell.... RANDY DALE & CHERYL ANN at the top of her lungs in a high screech and believe me we RAN.  It was a 1 room shack that was built by Grandad and I have no doubt that it was like a palace to their little family of 4. Many years later as the dust filled room sat empty, we still loved to think of how our Daddy was born in that little room shack.

The outhouse was down the hill equip with the Sear's & Roebuck catalog and we were still required to use it even though a bathroom was built in the new farm house in the mid 60's.  Grandad was a very frugal man and would not even allow us to flush the toilet but every 3-4 times, well except for #2's, but we had to prove it.  It had better still smelled.  But boy was Grandma proud to finally have a real running water bathroom in the house.

Dad graduated from Minatare High School in 1955 and went straight into the Army. He dated my mother Marge who was a local girl from Bayard.  They married not long after Dad entered the Army.

After he got out of the Army, he took care of the farm and a lady down the road's farm which we called Granny Nab.  She was no relation but she loved my Daddy too. Randy and I would ride our horse Champ over to Granny Nab's house all the time.  It was a deserted shack at that time.  Dad also worked in the other family business for Great Western Sugar.  He had always loved retail.   He opened Fairview 50 Grocery Store, outside of Scottsbluff, NE.  I remember the vintage coke machine, the minnow tank outside (people would stop on their way out to Lake Minatare to fish) and how he always loved to talk to people.  I was just a toddler at this time, but o no doubt about it, he loved that little store. 

Eventually he became laid up after falling out of a tree on the farm and breaking both legs & ribs and were forced to move to town.  After he recovered with my help at the age of 4, he worked for Kuner-Empson as a salesman and returned to Great Western Sugar as a fieldman. I would always ride in the car or truck with him and he would buy me candy cigarettes and let me light them on his car lighter.  I think we ruined several lighters and boy did the candy stink burning.

Dad married my step Mother Judi when I was 12 and when I was in high school he finally got his dream once again fulfilled and bought Alexander's Super Market in Scottsbluff, NE.

Dad, Judi and my baby daughter Bekah
1984

He had the Mitchell Cafe, bought the Mitchell Grocery Store, had a gas station, a mini storage, and drove the wrecker for the County. Busy Busy man, I called him Mr Monopoly after he bought his 18th rental.  Retail, People, and his family was his life. There was never a day that went by that I didn't feel his love.  

He passed in March of 1995 and is resting near Chimney Rock by Bayard, NE and the day of the funeral everyone told me that they saw him the day he passed and he smiled, sayed hi and spoke to them.  I swear he was everywhere that day.  He had the most beautiful smile and blue eyes that lit up no matter what. He worked very hard and was respected by all.  An incredible man who raised me and my brother and he is deeply deeply missed. He taught me life is precious, don't go to sleep mad at your loved ones, ALWAYS tell them you love them and never say goodbye... to this day I only say see ya to the ones I love.  I can't wait to see him again and get one of those famous hugs he always gave us and see that wonderful smile.  

Happy Birthday Daddy in Heaven... I will be watching for my penny <wink>

Diva's Guacamole Dip

Diva’s Memories of Recipes Guacamole dip
Inspiration:  this recipe was given to me by a lady in Scottsbluff, NE years ago.
Ingredients: 3 large avocados 1 garlic clove 1/2 onion 1 small jar picante sauce salt to taste	Instructions: Peel and pit avocados (save the pits), put in food processor with garlic and onion; puree.  Put in a bowl and mix in picante sauce and salt to taste.  Stir well.
Variation:  If not served right away, put the pits in the bowl and cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to eat.  The pits will help the dip from turning brown.

The Trip to town in Grandad's Truck in the 60's to the Creamery

The old pick up truck Grandad Dale drove took weekly trips to town with the cream we separated everyday from milking the cows on the Zemanek farm.  It was a treat to sit next to Grandad as he shifted the gears over the bumpy roads to town. Scottsbluff, Nebraska was where the Platte Valley Creamery was and still is to this day; and it seemed to take forever to get there...  You see, it was the anticipation of what was at the end of the journey that kept us hopping in the seat...

Home Made Ice Cream!


This was in the 60's and I remember it like it was yesterday.  Grandad would take me inside to let me pick out which kind of ice cream cone I wanted and take me by the hand and lead me back to the old truck and lift me up on to the tail gate to eat the most wonderful ice cream, dripping down my chin with a huge smile on my face.  The trip home I usually fell fast asleep up next to his chest and dream't of next week's ride to town.

My daughter and I still to this day NEVER go home without getting a Home Made tin roof sundae from there.  It's a treat I miss and have found memories of the ride to town next to my Grandad... He made his own Home made ice cream on the farm and it was absolutely wonderful too and I will share the recipe with you soon, but I think it was the trip in the truck being next to Grandad that made it special.  He has been gone since 1985 but his memory lives on in my heart.