God picked another apple from my family tree this past week. Anna Mae Platt, 96, of Butler, Indiana, passed into eternity last Tuesday morning. She was the youngest sibling of my mother and the last of my direct ancestors, named after her grandmother, and always went by both names. She was survived by 6 nieces, which included my sister and myself. She lived a very active life until the last three years when she became a resident of Laurels of DeKalb in Butler. She retired from Indiana and Michigan Electric Company after approximately 40 years of service at the age of 60. She also was the organizer of the local Red Cross Blood drive for many years at which she diligently gave her best. Her parents were two of my favorite “old people”, (They both died 20 years younger than I am!!) Grandma and Granddad Dick, formally known as Mr. and Mrs. Richard Platt.
For 45 years she was an expected guest at my family’s Christmas celebration. It was the time of our three hour fast before receiving communion and we started having a 6:00 A.M. breakfast, then the kids opened their gifts then we all went to Mass at 10:00. I got an inspiration that since she had never spent Christmas morning with a bunch of kids, I invited her to come to our breakfast. She readily accepted and was a guest for the next 25 years or so and never missed a Christmas morning. After my family grew too much to get into my home, she still came to our celebrations until she could no longer care for herself and had to go to the nursing home. She always brought a huge box of “unnecessary” groceries that we did not buy because of the difficulty of spreading one wage to cover the needs of eleven people. She thoroughly enjoyed watching the kids go through the box, elated over the marshmallows, box mixes, sugar coated cereal, Quick chocolate drink mix, etc. She stated later that it was not nearly as much fun when I finally went to work to help out with the family finances and we did step out of our rigid budget occasionally.
She was a unique individual, happiest when she was in charge and will be greatly missed. May she rest in peace.
I will give you two of her favorite recipes. They happen to be in my cook book, but there are a lot of new readers who would not have one since that was published in 1992. (incidentally we sold 900 of them!) The bread recipe she made by the dozens and gave them away. I still enjoy it and bake it occasionally since I have the uncontrollable desire to sit down and eat the whole thing while it is still warm. It can’t be beat if you toast it and spread it generously with real butter.
DILLY BREAD
1 package yeast
¼ cup warm water
1 cup cottage cheese
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon minced onion
1 tablespoon butter
2 teaspoon dill seed
1 teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon soda
1 unbeaten egg
2 ¼ to 2 ½ cups flour
Soften yeast in warm water. Heat cottage cheese to lukewarm. Add all ingredients, adding flour last. (From my upbringing, I think all bread needs to be kneeded, so I do.) Cover and let rise in a warm place for 50 to 60 minutes. Mix down, turn into a greased glass loaf pan. Let rise 30 to 40 minutes. Bake 45 minutes at 350 degrees until crust is golden brown. Brush top crust with butter.
This is delicious toasted and served with soups and is a great way to use cottage cheese that has slipped past the “use by” date”. I freeze the cottage cheese and make the bread at a convenient time.
A real favorite of hers was broccoli noodle soup and I made it frequently for her while at the nursing home. She would eat this even after she refused to eat most food that was offered to her. Hope you like it that well.
BROCCOLI NODLE SOUP
¼ cup chopped onion
1 tablespoon butter
3 ½ cups water
1 tablespoon instant chicken bouillon
¼ teaspoon garlic powder (I use more)
2 cups fine egg noodles
1 (10 oz.) package frozen broccoli
2 cups milk
1 can (10 ¾ oz.) cream of chicken soup
½ pound Velveeta Cheese
salt and pepper to taste
In a large Dutch oven, sauté onion until tender, but do not brown. Stir in water, garlic powder and bouillon. Add noodles. Cook uncovered, for five minutes. Add frozen broccoli. (I use fresh broccoli, cook until crisp tender and add broccoli and water that I cook it in.) Return to boiling, cook for three minutes. Stir in milk and chicken soup. Add cut up cheese and cook over low heat until cheese melts, stirring occasionally.
Again, rest in peace Aunt Anna Mae, you will always live in our memories.
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