Today in American history…Abraham Lincoln was born on February 12, 1809 at Sinking Spring Farm (which is located in Hodgenville, Kentucky).
He is truly my personal favorite President because I’ve always admired his strength and tenacity to succeed. Coming from humble beginnings and born in a log cabin in destitute surroundings, he taught himself at a young age to read and write.
When asked about his youth by John L. Scripps in 1859, Abraham Lincoln quoted a line from Gray’s Elergy: “’The short and simple annals of the poor’ That’s my life and that’s all you or any one else can make of it.”
He would eventually become a popular lawyer, served a term as a U.S. Representative from Illinois (1847-1849) and then served as our 16th US President (1861-1865).
Today in American history…our 40th U.S. President, Ronald Wilson Reagan, was born on February 6, 1911 in Tampico, Illinois.
To honor President Reagan on his birthday… I made some of his favorite foods in the kitchen. One of his favorites was Macaroni and Cheese (be still my heart!)
While doing research for recipes, I was fortunate to come across Nancy Reagan’s personal recipe!
President Reagan also loved baked apples. Great comfort food! So I made baked apples as well 🍎😋 I used the recipe from Baked with Love right here
And we couldn’t end without indulging in his ultimate favorite: jellybeans. President Reagan once said, “You can tell a lot about a fellow’s character by his way of eating jellybeans.”
Today in American history…Rosa Parks was born on February 4, 1913 in Tuskegee, Alabama.
I was at a funeral recently to honor a friend’s mother and he spoke so beautifully about how an ordinary person can make a difference – which his mother did in her lifetime.
My thoughts immediately went to Rosa Parks.
She was a seamstress at a local department store and also a secretary for the Montgomery, Alabama chapter of the NAACP.
Mrs. Parks was a quiet and reserved woman who could have easily faded into the background and fought silently for the civil rights movement.
But she didn’t.
Instead, she did an extraordinary thing and took a stand. Fought back. Made a difference.
On December 1, 1955, in Montgomery, Alabama, She refused to give up her seat on a bus in favor of a white person and was arrested for civil disobedience. She was doing her small part to fight against bus segregation. Little did she know, this act of fighting back and doing her part to try and make a difference would have such a huge impact. Her small act of defiance inspired the Black community to boycott Montgomery busses for nearly a year.
On November 13, 1956, the case of Browder v. Gayle resulted in a decision by the U.S. Supreme Court which agreed that bus segregation was unconstitutional under the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
Rosa Parks. An ordinary person doing an extraordinary thing to make a difference and how a small act can change history.
Today in American History… Franklin Delano Roosevelt was born on January 30, 1882 in Hyde Park, New York.
Before he became the 32nd President of the United States (March 4, 1933 – April 12, 1945) he also served our country in other capacities:
🇺🇸 Member of the New York State Senate (26th District) from 1911 – 1913
🇺🇸 Assistant Secretary of the Navy from 1913 – 1920 and
🇺🇸 44th Governor of New York (1929 – 1932)
In honor of his birthday today, I made one of his favorite desserts: Blueberry Pudding. He was known to enjoy Blueberry Pudding and also an avid lover of Fruitcake.
Blueberry Pudding
Ingredients
1 cup of fresh or frozen blueberries (I used frozen)
3/4 Cup Brown Sugar, divided
1 cup plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour, divided
1/2 Cup of cold unsalted butter, diced
1 cup whole milk
1 egg
2 teaspoons grated lemon peel
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract
Optional: homemade whipped cream
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9-inch pie plate.
Place blueberries in medium bowl.
In a small bowl, add 1/4 cup of the brown sugar and 1 Tbsp of the flour and mix well. Make sure to coat all of the blueberries.
Spoon the mixture into the pie plate.
In separate medium bowl, add remaining 1 cup of flour and the diced butter together and rub with your fingertips until well blended.
Mix in remaining 1/2 cup brown sugar.
Add the milk, egg, lemon peel and vanilla. Blend all of the ingredients very well!
Pour the batter over the blueberry mixture.
Bake un the oven until firm and golden brown – takes about 55 minutes.
Cool at least 10 minutes before serving.
Top with whipped topping or maybe vanilla ice cream for extra deliciousness! (I personally opted for homemade whipped cream – so delicious!)
Today in American history…former First Lady Michelle Obama was born on January 17, 1964 in Chicago, Illinois. She would go on to become the First Lady of the United States when her husband, Barack Obama, was sworn in as our 44th President on January 20, 2009.
Official White House Photo, 2009
In honor of Mrs Obama’s birthday, we made the cookie that she submitted to Family Circle Magazine in 2012 for the potential First Lady Cookie Bake-Off.
Mrs. Obama had submitted the cookie recipe to Family Circle Magazine for the cookie bake-off against Anne Romney.
For the contest, voters had the chance to vote which cookie they liked the most and it was predicted that the winner of the cookie contest’s husband would be elected to the Presidency. Mrs Obama’s cookie did win the contest that year and as they say…the rest is history.
Family Circle’s First Lady Cookie Bake-Off ran from 1992-2016. Here is the recipe Mrs Obama submitted to Family Circle Magazine in 2012.
White and Dark Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
2¼ cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 stick Crisco butter-flavored solid vegetable shortening (I used a stick of unsalted butter vs the shortening)
¾ cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
1 cup each white chocolate chips, milk chocolate chips (I used dark chocolate) and mint chocolate chips, or Andes mint pieces
2 cups chopped walnuts
Directions
Heat oven to 375 degrees. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda and salt. In a large bowl with an electric mixer, cream butter, vegetable shortening, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract.
Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. On low speed, beat in flour mixture. By hand, stir in white and milk chocolate chips, mint chips and walnuts.
Drop rounded tablespoons of dough onto ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 375 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on baking sheets for 5 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.
Today in American history…our 37th U.S. President, Richard Nixon, was born on January 9, 1913 in Yorba Linda, California on his parent’s lemon ranch.
To honor his birthday today, I wanted to share with you one of his favorite meals.
Meatloaf was absolutely President Nixon’s favorite food. He also enjoyed cottage cheese + ketchup for breakfast (but that’s another story!) So it’s an honor to have this recipe and eat something that President Nixon once enjoyed. It’s really special too being that it’s Mrs Nixon’s personal family recipe.
Former first lady Pat Nixon’s meatloaf recipe appeared years ago in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. In the article, it states, “This recipe for family-style meatloaf is from the Nixon administration and belonged to first lady Pat Nixon. It was so popular that the recipe was printed on White House stationery to be mailed on request.”
1 cup butter 1 cup granulated sugar 1 cup brown sugar 2 eggs 2 cups flour 1 teaspoon baking soda 1 teaspoon salt 2 cups instant oatmeal 2 teaspoons vanilla extract 1 package (12 ounces) chocolate chips
Directions
Blend the butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar. Beat in the eggs. Sift and add the flour. Add the baking soda and salt. Add and mix in the oatmeal, vanilla and chocolate chips. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto cookie sheet and bake for 10 minutes at 350 degrees. Enjoy!
Letter and picture courtesy of the George H.W. Bush Library and Museum.
Today in American history…George and Barbara Bush were married on January 6, 1945 in Rye, New York.
They were engaged directly before he was shipped overseas as a Naval pilot during World War II and the only communication they had for some time was through letters.
In a letter dated December 12, 1943, George wrote to his beloved Barbara:
My darling Bar,
This should be a very easy letter to write — words should come easily and in short it should be simple for me to tell you how desperately happy I was to open the paper and see the announcement of our engagement, but somehow I can’t possibly say all in a letter I should like to.
I love you, precious, with all my heart and to know that you love me means my life. How often I have thought about the immeasurable joy that will be ours some day. How lucky our children will be to have a mother like you —
As the days go by the time of our departure draws nearer. For a long time I had anxiously looked forward to the day when we would go aboard and set to sea. It seemed that obtaining that goal would be all I could desire for some time, but, Bar, you have changed all that. I cannot say that I do not want to go — for that would be a lie. We have been working for a long time with a single purpose in mind, to be so equipped that we could meet and defeat our enemy. I do want to go because it is my part, but now leaving presents itself not as an adventure but as a job which I hope will be over before long. Even now, with a good while between us and the sea, I am thinking of getting back. This may sound melodramatic, but if it does it is only my inadequacy to say what I mean. Bar, you have made my life full of everything I could ever dream of — my complete happiness should be a token of my love for you.
Wednesday is definitely the commissioning and I do hope you’ll be there. I’ll call Mum tomorrow about my plan. A lot of fellows put down their parents or wives and they aren’t going so you could pass as a Mrs. — Just say you lost the invite and give your name. They’ll check the list and you’ll be in. How proud I’ll be if you can come.
I’ll tell you all about the latest flying developments later. We have so much to do and so little time to do it in. It is frightening at times. The seriousness of this thing is beginning to strike home. I have been made asst. gunnery officer and when Lt. Houle leaves I will be gunnery officer. I’m afraid I know very little about it but I am excited at having such a job. I’ll tell you all about this later too.
The wind of late has been blowing like mad and our flying has been cut to a minimum. My plane, #2 now, is up at Quonset, having a camera installed. It is Bar #2 but purely in spirit since the Atlantic fleet won’t let us have names on our planes.
Goodnite, my beautiful. Everytime I say beautiful you about kill me but you’ll have to accept it —
I hope I get Thursday off — there’s still a chance. All my love darling —
Today in American history…George and Martha Washington were married on January 6, 1759 at her plantation home, the White House, in New Kent County, Virginia on January 6, 1759.
An 1849 painting by Junius Brutus Stears titled “The Marriage of Washington to Martha Custis”
Leading up to her marriage to George Washington, Martha Dandridge Custis was a young, wealthy widow residing in New Kent County, Virginia (about 35 miles outside of Williamsburg) with her two small children.
George Washington was a dashing military hero who would make the long visits from his home outside of Fredericksburg, Virginia to visit the charming and accomplished Martha in 1758. Within a few months of their courtship, they decided to plan a future together.
Martha Custis placed an order from London for beautiful purple slippers and a wedding dress that was to be “grave but not extravagant nor to be mourning.”
Martha Custis Washington’s wedding shoes, worn on her marriage to George Washington on January 6, 1759. Silk, linen, leather, metallic lace and sequins, and wood. (The Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association)
The Historical Homemaker 