A Proverbs 31 Kind of Day

Seriously, is there anything better? I really don't think there is. When it gets down to the basics of life . . . bread is it! Even Jesus refers to bread in teaching spiritual lessons! "I'm listening!" My cherubs love bread. My cherubs love homemade bread. But let's get realistic. Who really has time for that? Oh, there are some "easy" recipes. It's true. And I use them. Occasionally. But my go-to homemade bread and rolls: Rhodes! It's right there in the freezer section. Usually on the bottom shelf. I honestly don't understand that -- but whatever! I grab a package or two to have on hand for when I'm needing that "fresh baked bread" without all of the effort! Fresh Bread Rhodes bread loaves Pam Butter Take out the number of frozen loaves that you wish to bake. Spray a bread loaf pan with pam. Place one frozen bread loaf...

Say that 3 times fast! Meaty morning muffins. Meaty morning muffins. Meaty morning muffins! Finding something different for breakfast is always my quest. I don't like sending the cherubs off to school without a descent breakfast. It must be how I was raised. Umm . . .I don't remember that! Which is my point!  I don't remember what my mom fed me for breakfast when I was in school .  . . and my cherubs won't remember either. So why do I worry about it? I have NO IDEA ! But I do! So!  Because I do -- you get to have a new recipe to try! That was good for something! Morning Muffins 4 slices bacon 2 cups flour 1 T. baking powder 1/4 tsp baking soda 2 TBSP sugar 1 TBSP wheat germ 1/2 tsp. salt 2 eggs 1/3 cup milk 1 cup creamed corn 1/4 cup melted butter 1/4 cup oil. Preheat oven to 375.  Prepare a 12 cup muffin pan. Mix dry ingredients together.  In a separate bowl, mix the wet ingredients.  Make a well i...

My sweet cherubs! We're 8 to 5 around here. I'm not talking a work day. I'm talking my cherubs! For the first time, my cherubs' uniforms are the same . . .navy and khaki!   I've got one in grade 8 and one in grade 5. That makes me official! OFFICIALLY, I no longer have a cherub in elementary school! We're on the brink of a full-fledged potential of hormonal outbreak! My cherubs! My sweet babies! Growing up! It's sweet. As in bitter sweet! The Mr. reminded me this weekend that our oldest cherub will be "gone" in 5 years. When we say "gone" we really mean no longer residing at our house but fully consuming every ounce of finance we'll throw his way. Many of you have already paved that road for us. But in our small-world minds; in our own self-absorbed parent-moments; our cherubs are growing up fast! Today was the first day of school. This is my cherub with ...

I love all of my cookbooks. Some I love more than others. Some I use more than others. One that I use alot is by the Cake Mix Doctor. What I like about the Cake Mix Doctor is she usually starts with a cake mix and goes up from there. There's a long story as to why I made this cake last week. But a hint as to why I made it:  The Mr. forgot to tell me that I needed to send some "treats" to work with him the next day. Oh yeah. Not just "treats" -- but his secretary was leaving and this was the staff good-bye. Oh yes. In a scramble, I looked through this great cake cookbook and decided to give this recipe a try. The cherubs were so glad I did -- it's delicious! Banana Buttered Rum Cake 3 medium-size ripe bananas, or 2 large ripe bananas 1 package (18.5 ounces) plain butter recipe golden cake mix 1 package (3.4 ounces) vanilla instant pudding mix ½ cup light or dark rum ½ cup water ¼ cup vegetable oil 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract...

I couldn't get a picture taken . . . I couldn't get my photo editing program to work . . . I was frustrated and I'm posting it anyways! You may be asking, "why would you want to make your own cherry pie filling?" I'll refer you to the earlier post where I made mention that the Mr. brought home 11 pounds of cherries, because, and I quote, "it was a good price!" Now, I will say, this is good for more than just pie.  We've eaten it on toast with a smear of cream cheese, on p.b. & j sandwich, with a cream on a scone, and with pork.  All pretty tasty! Homemade Cherry Pie Filling 6 cups fresh pitted cherries, about 2 1/2 to 3 pounds ( I used Bing) 1/2 cup water 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice 1 to 1 1/3 cup granulated sugar 4 tablespoons cornstarch 1-2 tsp. almond extract, if desired Directions: In a saucepan over medium heat, combine cherries, water, lemon juice, sugar and cornstarch. Bring to a boil; reduce heat ...

Cherries are a great fruit. The Mr. loves cherries; especially the expensive cherries. That would be the Rainier cherries. But he doesn't always get those during cherry season! But he always gets several pounds of Bing cherries when they're in season. The other day, the Mr. went to the grocery store while I was away. Cherries were nearly $3.00 a pound  . . . OR!  He could purchase a flat of cherries for $10.00. He went with the flat. It made better financial sense. Ummm . . . .that'd be 11 pounds of cherries he sat on the counter! Yes. 11. You know how fast cherries can go bad. So he says to me. Me! "What can we do with these?" Funny! You bought them! Now you want we/me to do something with them? Those rhyming words get him mixed up all the time! "I'll pit them if you do something with them."  the Mr. kindly said! So with that information, I set out to "do something" with 11 pounds of cherri...

Have you noticed the new look? Different Colors? Different Fonts? Even a little different lay-out! I tried not to change the lay-out too much. Because it bugs me when I go to a blog and they've changed it . . .and I can't find things really easy and fast . . . like I normally do! Then I get frustrated. And I read the post, but I keep thinking about how I don't like the new lay-out. I didn't want that to happen to you. But I did add some things! The search button! Ohhhh!  That's kind of fun! I've tried it several times.  There was only one thing I couldn't find. I must have it under a weird label! But I'll look for it and make changes! And how 'bout that follow by e-mail thing? Kinda cool! Some of you have already signed up that way! When a new post is made, you'll receive an e-mail in your in box with the entire post! Then there's the Top 5 listing! That's the top 5 most looked at posts in the last 30...

Must be a slow cooking day, right? We've been on vacation for two weeks! That means no food in the house and laundry up to my eyeballs! So!  Here are a few of my favorite apps! 1.  "Songz" -- it's free.  My friend told me about it.  Pretty cool if you're into music. 2.  "GeoQpons" -- it's free.  My friend told me about it.  Pretty cool if you're into saving money. 3.  "Lose It" -- it's free.  My friend told me about it.  Pretty cool if you're into calorie count. 4.  "Card Star" -- it's free.  My friend told me about it.  Pretty cool if you don't want a bunch of those store cards hanging from your key ring. 5.  "Michael's" -- it's free.  Found it myself.  You don't have to kick yourself because you're buying something and you left the 40% off coupon at home . . .it's on this app!

Today! Friday, August 10, 2012 this little blog is 2 YEARS OLD!!!! That's right! Two years ago, I decided that I'd start a blog. I had no idea what I was doing . . . . . .and still don't! I started writing out recipes that people requested. Sometimes I'd make the recipe and take a picture, like the professional bloggers do. But I wasn't a professional. And I'm still not! Then I started trying new recipes, whether found or created by me, and posting that too. I worked to improve the pictures . . . all the while, not really realizing that people are reading. It had become a past-time of sorts. I'm not a writer. I'm not a baker or a chef. I'm just a mom. A mom who is happy in life; loves her family; enjoys cooking; and at the end of the day -- my kitchen is where we gather. We gather to laugh. To talk. To slow down, just for a bit. During the busy day, it's at the table where "family"...

I remember when the cherubs were little cherubs. They loved to dip croutons in ranch dressing. I loved for them to dip croutons in ranch dressing. That meant I got to eat some croutons. I love croutons! Who ever came up with serving dried out flavored bread on salads? I don't know, but I think I love them! What I don't like about croutons are the cheap, tiny croutons. Can't stand those! What I also don't like is the cost of croutons! The ones I like aren't all that expensive . . .  . . .until you look at the amount that comes in the bag! Remember the Caesar salad I made to take to dinner at a friend's house? I also made homemade croutons! That's one of those crazy things you do when your air conditioner is out! Heat the oven to 250 degree for 2 hours or until all the bread is dried out. Made perfect sense! Make yourself some croutons and impress your friends! This recipe may drive you crazy -- I have no amounts!  It'...

Disclaimer:  I am not particularly fond of Caesar Salad or the dressing. The croutons,on the other hand, I kinda like those. But not so much anything else. My cherubs, on the other hand, really like Caesar salad. Sometimes, I'm nice and give a salad choice. When I do that I make 2 Caesar salads for them and 2 different salads for me and the Mr. However, we were going to dinner at a friend's house and I agreed to take a salad. I gave them a choice. Her reply, "OH!  We like either!" My girl cherub was the deciding vote -- Caesar won! But because my friend is a good cook -- I had to go above and beyond and make homemade croutons . . .  .  . . AND homemade Caesar dressing! Since I don't have  a dressing recipe, I began to search. The basic difference I found:  either it's "real" and it's made with oil and egg yolk, or it's "kinda real" and it's made with mayonnaise as the base. Because my air is out a...