Birthday Cake

This time of year isn't complete
without my Great Grandma Snow's carrot pudding with lemon sauce.  I
remember she would make it every year for Thanksgiving and it would be in a big
coffee can with foil tightly covering the opening of the can.  Last
Thanksgiving was the first year I didn't have carrot pudding and it felt like
something was missing.  This year I decided to try and make it myself and
while I was grating, measuring and stirring, I was remembering my Grandma
Snow.  I remembered going to her house when I was little and she would
give me fig newtons.  She would show me how you could break them apart and
then put them back together (I thought it was amazing).  I remembered
having sleepovers and she would let me wear one of her nightgowns and she had
an electric blanket in her bedroom.  I remembered her playing the piano
and dancing around while she played.  I remembered her cuckoo clock
hanging on the wall in her front room.  I remembered she loved to
golf.  I remembered her white hair that had big soft curls.  I
remembered her standing in the kitchen doing dishes after a Sunday dinner of
roast beef, mashed potatoes, carrots, Jell-O and chocolate cake.  I
remembered kneeling by her side as she sat in a chair at my Grandma Dixie's
house telling her how much I loved her necklace and the next thing I knew she
was putting it in my hand.  It was a nostalgic kind of day as I made the
carrot pudding that she made for so many years and that I love so much!

This picture was taken when Noah
was blessed and I wanted a picture of five generations (My Great Grandma Snow, my Grandma Dixie, my Mom, me and my Noah).  Pretty amazing!  



The bottom picture is of my Mom,
me (I'm on the far right), my five sisters and two sisters-in-law.  In the
picture I'm wearing my Grandma Snow's necklace that she gave too me. 

 

Grandma Snow's
Carrot Pudding

2 cups brown
sugar

2 cups
shortening

4 eggs beaten
with 4 tablespoons of water

1 teaspoon lemon
extract

1 teaspoon
vanilla extract

4 cups grated
carrots

2 cups raisins

1 cup chopped
walnuts

2 1/2 teaspoons
salt

2 teaspoons
baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoons
baking soda

1 teaspoon
nutmeg

4 1/2 cups flour

5 quart canning
jars

In a large
mixing bowl, cream shortening and brown sugar until light and fluffy.  Add
eggs and beat until combined.  Add lemon extract and vanilla.  Stir
in grated carrots, raisins, chopped walnuts, salt, baking powder, nutmeg and
salt.  Mix to combine.  Add flour and mix until combined.

Spoon mixture
into quart canning jars, filling no more than 2/3 of the way full.  Cover
the tops of the jars tightly with foil and steam for two hours.  Serve
with lemon sauce.

Lemon Sauce

1 1/2 cups sugar

4 tablespoons
flour

3 cups of water

A pinch of salt

3 tablespoons
fresh lemon juice

3 tablespoons
butter

1 teaspoon
vanilla extract

1/4-1/2 teaspoon
rum extract

Dash of nutmeg

Combine sugar,
flour and salt in a saucepan and stir to combine.  Add water to pan and
bring to a boil.  Boil over medium high heat for 15 minutes.  Remove
from heat and add lemon juice, butter, vanilla, nutmeg and rum extract. 
Stir to combine. 

*I was a bit
freaked out when I saw that the recipe called for 2 cups of shortening.  I
called my mom and she said there was no other way.

*I used a steam
canner to steam my pudding, but I read a few recipes that placed the jars in a
soup pot with a lid and then filled the pot with two or three inches of water,
brought the water to a simmer and covered it with a lid too let steam.