Hope Tenders

 

January was bleak and quiet, a proper rest after months of holidays piling one 

on top of the next. A person can only eat so much sweet potato casserole*, even if 

the crumble topping is flawlessly crisp and thick.

February's unpredictable nature in this commonwealth may have you shoveling 

snow in your barn boots and sunbathing on the back porch in the same week. 

But as soon as January blows away from this Kentucky landscape, 

you'll find me peering under carpets of leaf mulch, looking for new garden growth. 

Already, the daffodils are inches above ground. 

Thyme plants (lemon and woolly) are greening up and nearly fragrant. 

Daylilies and irises, those workhorses, are 

pushing bold spikes of life above last year's litter.

And the star of February, the Lenten rose, is well on her way

 to making my heart content. Fragile pink blooms  

despite snow and freezing temps. It boggles the skeptical 

mind of this modern age. 

It's all about hope, isn't it? 

*

The sun will shine again, at its full strength.

* 

What we thought was long-gone might, against all odds, reappear. 

*

What seems dead really can become alive again. 

*

Gardeners are hope-tenders.

*Subscribe to my newsletter on Substack, and I'll send you my tried-and-true, much-requested sweet potato casserole recipe. The February installment of "Homeplaces" came out last week. Here's a link to take you there. Message me on Substack with your email address, and you'll have the recipe in time for Easter dinner. 

Simple Summer Icebox Pie

 I'm no culinary diva, especially in the summer. 

I'm happy with grilled meat and corn on the cob every night.

Simple is my favorite adjective for hot-weather food. 

And that's the best description for this summer pie. Grandma might've 

called it "icebox pie," since it sets up in the freezer. Typical icebox pies are 

high-calorie and loaded with fat, things I'm not absolutely opposed to, 

but if I can easily dodge those, I (probably) will. 

This casual concoction features Greek yogurt in place of cream cheese 

or sweetened condensed milk. Topped with whatever fruit you find 

in your garden or at the farmer's market, it's a win for sure. 

The variations are nearly endless and simply delicious.

Simple Summertime Icebox Pie

1. Make(or buy)a graham cracker or cookie crust. 

2. Gently combine and spoon into crust: 

one large container of vanilla Greek yogurt

one regular-sized container of whipped topping

3. Prepare fruit and layer on top of yogurt cream filling.

4. Chill in your freezer for about two hours. Allow to thaw for a few minutes before serving. 

The opportunities for upgrades are endless here ... think chips, drizzles, and mix-ins. 

Pondering the Season

Christmas is hanging out in my living room, 

trying its best to be shiny and bright. 

About 50% of the bubble lights are actually bubbling--not bad. 

Are there bubble light consultants? 

This might be the perfect seasonal side hustle.

1) Flick the glass stems--oh, so delicately, of course. 

2) Mutter, "Hmmm."

3) Unplug lights, wait 30 seconds, and turn them on again. 

4) Adjust glass stems to point directly at the ceiling

 and repeat steps 1- 3.

5) Collect $75.

Ginger cookies will be my main baked treat this year. 

There's nothing better to dunk in coffee.

Find the recipe and backstory here. 

THIS happened in November. 

I've spent a little bit of time figuring out how to sign a book--

a skill I didn't know existed. The one below is for 

a dear friend to gift to her brother's dogs. How fun is that?

You can check it out here.

At the end of the day--any day of the year--it's really about this.

Pondering the Incarnation and all its beauty is enough to 

fill every moment of the season. 

 

Buckeye Bliss

Peanut butter balls—buckeyes—are a Christmas favorite. 

If you have access to real buckeyes, you 

probably should not get a kick out of placing a few of those in the 

candy tin with these delicious peanut-butter-and-chocolate ones.

I wouldn't dream of showing up at a holiday gathering without 

a generous collection of these for the dessert table. 

It's easy to make these ahead and hide them in a 

cool spot until it's time to share. 

Good luck with that. 

After making these for decades, I'm happy to share more 

detailed directions for a double batch—my standard.

- Combine softened butter, peanut butter, and sugar to 

form a stiff dough.

- Roll into 1" balls and place on a waxpaper-covered cookie sheet.

- Chill in the freezer for about 15 minutes.

- While you wait, melt one square of candy wax in a double boiler until clear, then add two bags of dark chocolate morsels. Stir until smooth.

- With a toothpick, dip chilled balls in melted chocolate. 

- Store in the refrigerator so you get a nice snap when you take a bite.

It's all about the snap, folks. 

Enjoy!

*****

If you make these, I'd love to see you with your finished product!

Share them and tag me on Instagram. 

 

Four-Layer Cereal Treats or Lake House Snacks

If you take your clan to a lake house, they're going to want these. 

This weekend I saw someone in a float, munching one of these

and paddling along with the other hand. Sunshine, water, and a good snack—bliss!

These layered cereal treats are easy to make ahead, look special, transport well, and ...

they're so easy!

Prepare: 
Completely line two 9"x13" pans with parchment paper. Coat the parchment lining with cooking spray. 

Gather ingredients: 
1 stick butter, divided 
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
6 1/2 cups plain crispy rice cereal
6 1/2 cups cocoa-flavored crispy cereal
2 10-ounce packages of mini marshmallows

Instructions:
In a large non-stick pan, combine 4 T. butter, vanilla, and one package of marshmallows over low heat. Stir until the marshmallows are completely melted. Remove from heat and add the plain cereal. Stir until the cereal is coated. Divide the cereal mixture in half and spread each half evenly in the bottom of the pans using a buttered spoon back. Press it gently into flat layers. You should have two pans, each containing a flattened layer of vanilla cereal mixture.

In the same non-stick pan, combine remaining butter, cocoa, and one package of marshmallows over low heat. Stir until the marshmallows are completely melted. Remove from heat and add the cocoa cereal. Stir until the cereal is coated. Divide this mixture in half and spoon it over the first layers in each pan. Using the buttered spoon, spread and press it evenly over the first layers, making the second layers. You will have two pans, each with two layers—vanilla and chocolate.

While the layers are still warm, carefully lift one of the parchment linings with its two layers and place it lightly in the other 9x13 pan, on top of its two layers. Gently slide the parchment paper out, creating four layers. Press lightly to join the layers.  

Cool completely, then use a buttered knife to cut.
*Hint: Use a plastic knife to cut these or any kind of sticky dessert. The treat won't stick to a plastic knife and the pieces will be neat and tidy, with the layers intact.

Customize:
Sprinkle mini-chocolate chips before you transfer the topping layers and create a yummy filling. Look for strawberry-flavored crispy rice cereal and create a Neopolitan-style layered treat with three layers of color and flavor. The plain cereal will accept any flavor or food coloring to match the theme of a party or event. 

Seasons of Change

This is a month of events—graduations, weddings, and celebrations.

Thirty days of beginnings and endings in our family.

Scattered glitter from graduation party invitations is making my couch (and my face) shine.

A box of rehearsal dinner vases rides in my backseat and beats a glassy tune on every drive.

*

Some joyful hellos and a few tearful goodbyes are in store. 

I would quote Heraclitus, but I think the scriptures have it nailed:

"There is a season for everything, and a time for 

every delight and event ..." Ecc. 3:1

When we are fearful, let us remember that God and His goodness 

to us are unchanging; thus, we are ever secure in Him."

Read an excellent short devotional on change here. 

*Use only Ghirardelli pre-tempered melting chocolate to create bride

and groom strawberries. This is my solemn advice.

Game Night and Soup

There's lots to love about January game night.

Card games that feature loved ones laughing so hard that their eyes drip joy. 

Kitchen confidences shared over a steaming coffee pot while scores are tallied.

Flirty glances and idle threats lobbed across a table littered with dessert plates.

and ... SOUP! 

Here's what I suggest, but it does change every time. 

Consider this a (very) vague guideline for your soup. 

Personally, I've never made the same soup twice. 

I just cannot do it. 

January's Sunday Night Soup

1 large onion

1 cup carrots

1 cup zucchini 

1.5 cups potatoes

2 t. garlic

salt and pepper to taste

large box of broth

2 pounds chicken or beef

- Cook meat in large soup pot, keep the broth and cut finished meat into bite-sized pieces.

- Saute each vegetable separately, seasoning each to taste. 

Use more or less of each, whatever your crowd likes.

- Dump finished veggies into the large soup pot with the cooked meat. 

This can be time consuming, so feel free to light a candle, check the laundry, or smooch your 

spouse while vegetables cook. You could use a pan for each veggie, if you have that many, 

to cut down on prep time, but I like to end with the smallest possible pile of dirty pans.

- When all the meat and veggies are finished, add garlic to the pot and pour in 

enough broth to cover everything. Simmer until flavors combine. 

To make creamy broth instead of clear, check out this list. I use#7 - flour. 

Just Pick One

I've seen lots of buzz lately about cutting back and paring down.

 I watched 1.5 episodes of "Tiny House, Big Living." 

What the heck?

I HAVE a tiny house, but the show made me feel like I live in a castle. 

One of my writing mentors is excited about the book Essentialism, 

subtitled, "the disciplined pursuit of less". 

(There's a quiz at the link.)

And there was a whole THING about owning only nine (?) pieces of clothing, 

mixing and matching those hopefully coordinating pieces as an entire wardrobe.

The prevailing thought is that having less eliminates 

wasted thought, effort, and general life angst.

I may have more than nine pieces of clothing, but

this is something I've been able to apply to Christmas baking. 

In years past, I got out a stack of recipe cards and made a great variety of holiday essentials. 

Endless platters, boxes, and plastic containers of cookies, bars, and candies.

Now I pick one recipe for the season. 

ONE

No need for extensive lists of ingredients at the grocery. Limiting myself to 

one special recipe reduces cost, calorie consumption, and preparation time,

 leaving more space to focus on  Christmas truth. 

This year, I'm making Ree Drummond's dark and decadent Chocolate Cream Pie, with my own variations, of course.

You can find the recipe with her fabulous photo directions here.

Pigs and Plans

Do you smell something? 

You might be able to catch a whiff of sausage stuffing, 

the fragrance of baked bread, 

or the savory scent of gravy. 

Oh, I didn't cook all those things today, 

but the take-home leftovers are smelling pretty good right now.

I hope you enjoyed your Thanksgiving feast to the very fullest!

I'm hatching a plan over here ...

a series of blog posts, daily December visits.

 Every year, I search for a devotional to read during this festive, sacred month, the 

very end of our calendar year. I thought this year, it might be worth a try to do my own.

We'll see how it goes. Let me know what you think, or what you'd like to read here.

*

I plan to include some how-to's, like how to make a no-fuss Christmas memory catcher, 

and how to give a simple, priceless gift of words.  

**

A recipe or two might find their way into a post.

***

I'm working on group of shareable scripture photos.

****

And most importantly, of course, we'll ponder at the edge of the 

manger, and try to catch a fleeting glimpse of the incarnation miracle.

------------------------------------------

This pig nose brought to you from Redman Farms.

Summer Dinner - Upscale BLTs

I could eat BLT sandwiches every night. 

Ask my family - EVERY night.

I tried it, but quickly ran out of tomatoes. 

There's plenty of green and very little red out there. 

Is this what summer in Canada is like?

This is my first time growing basil. 

Aside from pesto, I wasn't exactly sure what to do with it, and there's so much of it!

A dear pal noticed my abundant basil bush and promised to share 

her  superspecial  basil mayo recipe. 

The one from her Tried and True, Lifelong Cookbook.

The one especially for BLTs.

This is my modified version - less basil, more hot sauce, extra mayo. 

Put these in the blender, and you'll wind up with a glorious, basil-green mayo. 

1 c fresh basil, loosely packed

1 c mayo

2 tsp lemon juice

1 garlic clove, minced

1/2 to 1 tsp hot sauce

Go all out and make specialty bacons for your sandwiches. 

I arrange my pound of bacon on a heavy cooking sheet and let it 

bake in the oven instead of frying it, which eliminates the stove-top mess. 

Before baking, sprinkle with ground pepper to make peppered bacon. 

Sprinkle brown sugar across your pan of uncooked bacon and you'll end up with 

sugared bacon that will make your family happyhappyhappy. 

Prepare to be bacon hero of the day. You might be carried around the backyard 

on the shoulders of delirious, bacon-eating admirers - who knows? 

I can almost hear the cheering crowd...

* Caution - add too much brown sugar and you'll have a scorched mess. 

And, do I have to say it?  Sourdough, people!

The meal theme for the last family gathering here was ... 

"BLT Blowout."

It was easy to knock out almost all the preparations ahead of time;

only the bacon required last minute attention.

Great articles with all the details of throwing a BLT party here.

JAM not JELLY

Have I ever mentioned the wonderful-ness of JAM?

In my extensive PB&J making career, I've found that jam is sooo much nicer than jelly 

at 6 a.m.  Jelly plops out of the jar and rolls around uncooperatively on the

bread, reluctant to spread - so annoying. 

Did your kid ever do that limp thing? You know, when you're holding their sweaty little hand 

and trying to lead them and they just fall to the ground, boneless?

Many aspects of raising small children are happily left behind!

Anyway, I'm thinking of that when the jelly really rebels,

and I find myself wishing I had bought easy-spreading  jam instead. *

 So for the first time ever, when faced with a gift of three heaping pints of blackberries, 

I MADE JAM! 

It wasn't very hard to do, but it is certainly hard to resist just eating it with a spoon.

I must be a grown up girl now - finding out about jam and hot flashes** in the same summer!

I'm trying to resist discussing biscuits right now. ***

Last week I shopped a farm-style fleamarket (complete with Amish)

and scored these peaches.**** Excuse me, they're Georgia peaches - this seems to be

key to jam making. At least that's what my More Experienced Friend says. 

And so after leaving them in the hot car for a few days, oops, and having newly acquired a 

Jam Confidence, my google searches turned up a recipe for

peach butter. Say that a few times. Accent the 'u'. Now you want some too, don't you?

Just trot yourself on over here, because there are jars in my fridge to share!

And bring some biscuits!

**** They look slimy, don't they! That's because they are. The whole boiling water/ice water thing

was amazing. The peels, at least my peels did not just "slide off like a coat", but still

they were easy to peel and left behind the shiniest, slimy peaches. 

It was a little yucky, I must say.

***You Kitchen Divas will just hate this, but I don't think any biscuit could be

much better than a KFC biscuit. I know! Processed, white flour, glutens galore (human hair???) -

but so soft inside and salty buttery outside. If a teenager was awake around here,

he'd probably be sent on a biscuit run right now!

**I think I'm too young for hot flashes. Hot flashes deserve their own post.

*Do you see yourself in this boneless, jelly-like rebel child? I certainly do, spiritually, for sure!

How many times has He tried to lead me toward something good, which may look quite bad,

 and I fall to the ground in an unwilling, struggling heap? So many times!

And yet, His patience is infinite, His mercy bottomless.

And so for encouragement to be more like JAM and less like JELLY

this   and   this   and   this.

Cupcake Happy Hour

It was Cupcake Happy Hour in St. Augustine. 

We left our place in line to tour Flagler College to participate.

Buy one get one free gets me every single time.

I won't tell you how many we bought, but here we are

making  really good use of our wait time  for a trolley to come around.

The icing was really good - the cake part was dry.

To true icing lovers, this is not really a fatal flaw, but it was just that for

my hubs, who is after  the whole package  in almost every situation.

In another part of town, just outside town, or maybe it was referred to as 'uptown', 

we found the Whole Package at Luli's Cupcakes - luscious icing AND super moist cake.

These cupcakes left us panting and licking our paper wrappers and bowls, too.

You see before you 'the Chocoholic' and 'Key Lime'. 

Oh Mamma!

We bought shippable cupcakes in a jar for our parents who held down the fort

and seriously considered them several times from an open refrigerator door.

Considered eating them ourselves, that is. 

Luli's will ship to you, too.

***Did I mention that they sold Icing Shots? 

Tiny cups of just the icing with whatever sprinkle additions. 

For a  $1 !!!

Sweet Talkin'

Sometimes you just need to talk about desserts.

While having dessert at Outback tonight

(many thanks to those wonderful souls who graciously gave us those gift cards)

and rating their featured cinnamon apple dish a disappointed '5' out of '10', 

Cinnamon Oblivion

My Wonderful Husband and I discussed our all time favorite list of restaurant desserts.

It's a short list of three:

(Even when the kids were small, getting time away together was a priority and eating was usually a happy part of that. Our special occasion date was a Progressive Dinner Date. We'd visit the restaurant with our favorite appetizer, enjoy that, get the check and drive to another spot and enjoy our favorite entree, then end the evening with our most loved dessert. It makes for a nice long night out, with three different crowds of people to gawk at and lots to talk about, besides organizing a game plan on Surviving Parenting.) 

#1  TGI Friday's Rockslide Pie

#2  Salty Dog Cafe's Key  Lime Pie

#3  Rafferty's Apple Walnut Crunch

Do you have a list of favorite restaurant desserts?

There's a whole other list of super special HOMEMADE desserts ....