• 1/2 C butter, 1/2 C Orange juice, 3/4 C Sugar, 2 tsp grated orange peel

1. Put the first four ingredients in 9x9 pan and put in oven to melt.
2. Meanwhile, mix biscuit ingredients.
3. Roll out in a rectangle.
4. Spread soft butter on dough then sprinkle liberally with cinnamon and brown sugar.
5. Roll up dough, cut into 1 in. buns, place in pan on top of melted ingredients.
6. Bake at 350 degrees 30-35 min.

My mother, Wendy Sanders, was adopted by George and Fern Sanders shortly after coming into this world in Shelby, Montana, February 29, 1956. Her father, George, was the pastor at the local Methodist church, and her mother Fern was a housewife who helped in the church. They raised Wendy on the somewhat "liberal" principles of the Methodist church and the fresh vegetables George grew in his garden. After a childhood of moving around the state of Montana, Wendy settled in Ronan with two children. She was a single parent who always found a way to keep her head above water and her children connected to both sides of their family. Also, there is one thing about Wendy that causes her to stand out in rural, cattle country Montana; she is a strict vegetarian.

Wendy has been a vegetarian for the past twenty-two years. She started out by cutting back on her meat consumption. Then, one day at a local restaurant, she ". . . ordered a turkey burger, I looked at it and I thought, 'this is no better than a hamburger.' That was the moment of my epiphany. It was a really gentle moment; it wasn't like I was frustrated and felt a strong urge to quit. It was just, like, that's enough, you have to stop eating meat." From that point until now, she has never voluntarily eaten meat.

Wendy has repeated the reasoning behind her vegetarianism so many times over the years that it rolls from her mouth like an old familiar hymn. "I believe every living creature has a soul and I don't have the right to determine if that soul should live or die." That is the quick version of her philosophy. The longer version consists of the dangers and cruelty involved in the meat processing industry, health reasons, and her belief in reincarnation.

Along with Wendy's vegetarian philosophy, she also sees the importance of holding on to traditions that are important to both her and her children. Though the recipe for Upside-down Orange Biscuits is vegetarian, it comes from her children's father's side of the family. Her ex-husband, Sam Weaver, was raised in Western Montana in the Kalispell and Missoula areas. Upside-down Orange Biscuits were a favorite from his childhood. His mother Dorothy Weaver would bake them on special occasions, and they held an important connection for Sam to his family. Wendy got the recipe from Dorothy during her marriage to Sam. After their divorce, she continued to make the recipe as one of many ways of maintaining a connection to Sam's family for her children.

Upside-down Orange Biscuits have been a part of Wendy and her two children's Christmas morning traditions for many years now. For Christmas, they would wake up at their mother's and open presents to the smell of these wonderful hand-made treats. The recipe is a vegetarian way of showing that tradition can be kept alive no matter how foodways, or relationships, may change.