We have a NEW winner!!!

Congratulations to Mrs. Pear!!!! She is the winner of the book A Life That Says Welcome by Karen Ehman!!!!

Mrs. Pear, please email me as soon as possible with your mailing address so that Mrs. Ehman can send you your autographed copy of her wonderful book!!!

Congratulations!!!!!

Merry Christmas!!!

And the winner is.......

Update: kimlessig, please email me by this Sunday, December 27th, so that I can get your mailing address. If I do not hear from you by then, I will need to draw another name.

Congratulations to......

kimlessig said...
This looks like a really nice keepsake book.
Hope to win.

I am confident you will love this book, kimlessig!! Please email me with your full name and mailing address so that Mrs. Ehman can get the book mailed to you!!

Merry Christmas!!!!

Corn Chowder and a GIVEAWAY!!!!!!!

Mmmmmmm... nothing warms me up better than a bowl full of soup, stew or chowder. Today's recipe isn't just any old regular corn chowder, however. It's from an awesome book I just finished entitled A Life That Says Welcome by Karen Ehman- a book about hospitality and welcoming others into your home and your life.

Mrs. Ehman kindly shared some of her favorite recipes in her book. Corn Chowder is just one of them and it is DELICIOUS!! All four of us LOVED it!!! Let me get to the recipe...

Corn Chowder
In a large pot combine:
4 cups chicken stock (or 4 cups water with bouillon cubes to taste)
6 cups diced, peeled Yukon Gold potatoes
1 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup diced celery

Cook over medium heat for 30 minutes or until potatoes are tender. Then add:
3 T butter
1-2 cups finely chopped leftover ham
1 1/2 cups leftover corn
2 cans cream of chicken soup
1 1/2 cups sharp cheddar cheese

Just before serving, add:
8 ounces sour cream

Thin with a little milk, if needed. Stir well. Serves 8-10.

YUMMMMMM!!!! Warm and delicious AND my family loved it. What can get better???

Okay... so there's the recipe.... NOW for the GIVEAWAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

For everyone that leaves a comment before SUNDAY NIGHT, DECEMBER 20th, before 8:00 pm EST, you get ONE entry.

If you blog about this on your blog, too, then you can be entered TWICE!!!!!

What is the giveaway???? Mrs. Ehman is graciously giving an AUTOGRAPHED copy of her wonderful book, A Life That Says Welcome!!!!




Y'all will be so encouraged and challenged with this book! I love it and I am sure y'all will, too!!!!

Please enter right away!! Sunday night will be here before know it!!

Southern Living at Home...

My real life friend, Melissa, at Desiring to be a Godly Woman, just started selling Southern Living at Home!!!

If y'all have never seen any of their products, please go visit her website. WOW!! Lovely things for your home, for sure!!!

Perfectly Easy Dinner Rolls...

I know I'm not the only one around the web to have discovered Pioneer Woman's cooking site called Tasty Kitchen. There are some seriously YUMMY looking recipes on there!!!

Recently I made the Perfectly Easy Dinner Rolls and they are just that- perfectly easy!! They are definitely the easiest rolls I have ever made AND they were tasty, too!!!

Here they are before rising and baking. And remember, the recipe says to roll these into smooth balls. But hey, I had a 3 1/2 year old helper and, well, this is as smooth as they get. (And I'm pretty sure they were extra tasty because Elizabeth was helping! smile!!!)



Perfectly Easy Dinner Rolls...

Prep Time 20 Minutes
Cook Time 15 Minutes
Servings 24
Difficulty Easy

Ingredients
1 cup Warm Water (105F To 115F)
2 packages Active Dry Yeast
½ cups Butter, Melted (1 Stick)
½ cups Sugar
3 whole Eggs
1 teaspoon Salt
4 cups To 4 1/2 Cups Unbleached All-purpose Flour
Additional Melted Butter (optional)

Preparation Instructions
Combine the warm water (I usually go to 115F) in a large bowl. Stir in the yeast and let stand for 5 to 8 minutes for a good proof. Stir in butter, sugar, beaten eggs and salt. Beat in 1 cup flour at a time (I use a wooden spoon) until dough is too stiff to mix (some flour may not be needed). Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours or up to 4 days in a lightly greased bowl.

Grease a 13- x 9-inch baking pan (I use butter). Turn out chilled dough onto a lightly floured board. Divide dough into 24 equal-size pieces. Roll each piece into a smooth round ball; place balls in even rows in the prepared pan. Cover and let dough balls rise in a warm location until doubled in volume, about 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

Preheat oven to 375 F. Bake until rolls are golden brown, 15 to 20 minutes. Brush warm rolls with melted butter, if desired. Break rolls apart to serve. You can obviously make clover leaf rolls from this recipe.

And here is the end result. Seriously yummy dinner rolls!!

So sorry...

To all of you that comment on my blog as "anonymous", I am so sorry, but I have had to stop allowing anonymous comments. I've gotten TONS of comments with links to businesses, places of ill repute, even just plain old weird comments. All of these I have had to go back and delete. I am simply tired of going MANY times a day and deleting the comments. Perhaps in the future I will be able to allow anonymous comments again, but for now, I will not.

I am very sorry. I do pray that all these spam comments stop posting on blogs. So sad.

His,
Mrs. U

Table manners...

(photo found here)

Since the Christmas season is upon us and many of us will be invited to other homes for meals, I thought it might be of interest to read up on table manners.

Thank you, Mrs. S., for sharing this on your blog!!

Table Manners

1.) A meal begins when the host or hostess unfolds his or her napkin. Guests should then do the same. Place your napkin on your lap, completely unfolded if it is a small luncheon napkin or in half, lengthwise, if it is a large dinner napkin. The napkin rests on the lap until the end of the meal. The host will signal the end of the meal by placing their napkin on the table. Once the meal is over, you too should place your napkin neatly on the table to the left of your dinner plate.

2.) When your host or hostess picks up their fork to eat, then you may eat. Do not start before this unless the host or hostess insists that you start eating.

3.) Once used, your utensils, including the handles, should not touch the table again. Always rest forks, knives, and spoons on the side of your plate or in the bowl.

4.) Pass food from the left to the right.

5.) Always say please when asking for something. Be sure to say thank you to your server or host after they have removed any used items.

6.) Taste your food before seasoning it.

7.) Do try a little of everything on your plate.

8.) Don't blow on your food to cool it off. If it is too hot to eat, take the hint and wait.

9.) Keep elbows off the table. Keep your left hand in your lap unless you are using it.

10.) Do not talk with your mouth full. Chew with your mouth closed.

11.) Do not blow your nose at the dinner table. Excuse yourself to visit the restroom. Wash your hands before returning to the dining room. If you cough, cover your mouth with your napkin to stop the spread of germs and muffle the noise. If your cough becomes unmanageable, excuse yourself to visit the restroom. Wash your hands before returning to the dining room.

This rule is especially important as we are able to enter a bad flu season!

12.) Whenever a woman leaves the table or returns to sit, all men seated with her should stand up.

A few General Rules

1.) Arrive at least 10 minutes early unless otherwise specified. Do not arrive earlier as your host or hostess may not be ready for you yet.

2.) Turn off your cell phone or switch it to silent or vibrate mode before sitting down to eat, and leave it in your pocket or purse. It is impolite to answer a phone during dinner. If you must make or take a call, excuse yourself from the table and step outside.

Challenge for TONIGHT!!!!

Anyone up for a challenge tonight? Why not take a few minutes and do the 27 Fling Boogie from Flylady!!!!

27 Flling Boogie....

We do this assignment as fast as we can. Take a garbage bag and walk
through your home and throw away 27 items. Do not stop until you have collected all 27 items. Then close the garbage bag and pitch it. DO NOT LOOK IN IT!!! Just do it.

A job for a "big girl"...

Yep, that's my sweet Elizabeth carefully putting all the cleaned silverware back in its proper place. She LOVES to do this!! She is a "big girl" now with a big girl bed, wearing panties (even during nap time!!!) and getting big girl jobs to do around the house. She couldn't be happier!!!

Gingerbread Scones...

Thanks to Heritage Schoolhouse, we had a yummy breakfast this morning of Gingerbread Scones and piping hot coffee. Mmmm! Definitely the best way to start off a day!!!


Gingerbread Scones
8 servings

2 cups flour
3 tablespoons brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 cup cold butter
1/3 cup molasses
1/4 cup plus 2 T milk
1 egg, separated
sugar

Combine flour, brown sugar, baking powder, ginger, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs; set aside. Combine the molasses, milk and egg yolk until smooth; stir into the flour mixture just until moistened. Turn the dough onto a floured surface; knead gently 6-8 times. Pat into an 8 inch circle; cut into 8 wedges and place 1 inch apart on a greased baking sheet. Beat egg white until frothy; brush over scones. Sprinkle with sugar. Bake at 400° for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from pan to wire rack. Serve warm and enjoy!

Question for fellow Blogger users...

For those of y'all that have blogs with Blogger, have you had problems lately with people commenting on old posts? Some comments are super weird and some are a bunch of links to strange websites. Some of them have been names you can click on and go to a not-so-decent blog and some have been from "anonymous". Thankfully all comments, no matter how old, all come to my inbox so I immediately delete all odd comments from my blog. Still, I'd love to know if I'm the only one experiencing this problem.

Thai-Style Chicken Pumpkin Soup...

I can't even begin to tell y'all how WONDERFULLY DELICIOUS this soup was!!! It was soooo good that I have no picture to show you. It smelled so incredible that I had to get it in bowls as soon as possible so we could eat!! No time for bloggy photography today!!!

This is a picture of the recipe in the magazine. So good! So fresh! All of us LOVED it!! It has all the flavors that our family adores- garlic, ginger, lime, cilantro (I'm a big time cilantro fan!!!!). This definitely will be on our table again soon!!!


Thai-Style Chicken Pumpkin Soup
(from Crock-Pot’s Slow Cooker Recipes “Crocktober 2009 Issue”)

1 T extra virgin olive oil
6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts cut into 1 inch cubes
1 large white onion, thinly sliced (I used a yellow onion)
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 T minced fresh ginger
½ to ¾ t crushed red pepper
2 stalks celery, trimmed and diced
2 carrots, peeled, trimmed and diced
1 can (15 oz) solid pack pumpkin (NOT pumpkin pie filling!!)
½ cup creamy peanut butter
4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
2 cups water
½ cup mango nectar
½ cup fresh lime juice (I used the stuff in a bottle)
3 T rice vinegar
½ cup minced fresh cilantro, divided
½ cup heavy cream
1 T cornstarch
2 to 4 cups hot cooked rice (We used Basmati. Jasmine also recommended)
3 green onions, minced
½ cup roasted unsalted peanuts, coarsely chopped
Lime wedge (optional)

1) Heat oil in large skillet over medium heat. Add chicken and cook, stirring occasionally, about 3 minutes. Add onion, garlic, ginger and red pepper flakes; cook for 1 to 2 minutes or until fragrant. Transfer to crock-pot.
2) Stir in celery, carrots, pumpkin, peanut butter, broth, water, mango nectar and lime juice. Cover; cook on LOW 8 hours or HIGH for 4 hours.
3) Stir in rice vinegar and ¼ cup cilantro. Stir together cream and cornstarch in small bowl. Stir into soup. Turn on HIGH. Simmer, uncovered, 10 minutes or until soup thickens.
4) To serve, put rice in soup bowls. Ladle soup around rice. Sprinkle each bowl with remaining cilantro, green onions and peanuts. Squeeze fresh lime juice over soup, if desired.

Wrong Thyme of the year....

Just what IS this jumbled mess of a dead plant? It's supposed to be the herb thyme. Oh dear. Obviously I've done something wrong. HA!

I had wanted this to grow indoors in my eastern facing kitchen window. Y'all have any ideas about growing thyme indoors? I LOVE this herb!!!

What a happy face...

I snapped this as Elizabeth took her very first bite of a Krispy Kreme doughnut. What a happy face!!!

Adoption update...

I know I mentioned a while back that we are in the process of adopting again. This time we are going to be pursuing a domestic adoption. This means our next child will be born here in the USA.


Today we had our home visit with our caseworker. BOY WAS I NERVOUS!!! But she is such a sweet lady who clearly loves the Lord, it is so easy to talk with her. She visited with us for our official in home meeting and then she even stayed for lunch with us. What fun!!


What's next? Well, our paperwork is all done now and we will be waiting for the official letter from our agency saying our homestudy is complete. Once that happens, our family profile (basically a scrapbook with pictures of our family and basic information about us) will be made available for birthmothers to look at. In this adoption, a birthmother will actually have to choose our family (with China, the huge government agency, CCAA, matches up a child's file with a family file). It could take a few weeks or even a few years. It all depends on whether a birthmother likes our family or not.


We will also be contacting groups about adoption grants. If y'all know of anyone that handles adoption grants, would you mind sharing that with me? We would really appreciate any help we could get!! :)

Anyway, if y'all think about it, please pray for us. We do need funds to cover the adoption and to purchase things for a newborn baby (Elizabeth was 9 1/2 months when we got her, so we don't have any newborn things). If the call came in the next few weeks, we would have to say "no" because we don't have all the money we need.

I can't wait for the day when I will be able to show pictures of our new little one!!!

Flee from these things...

Yep, that's my son! Joshua has a blog up and running and, y'all know how it is, I just HAD to share with you!!!

“But flee from these things, you man of God, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance and gentleness. Fight the good fight of faith; take hold of the eternal life to which you were called, and you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.” ~ 1 Timothy 6:11-12

The Betty Crocker Creed...

I found this over at Project Home Economics (LOVE it there!!!). It is from an old Betty Crocker cookbook. Oh, how I agree with all of these statements!!

The Betty Crocker Creed -

I believe homemaking is a noble and challenging career.

I believe homemaking is an art requiring many different skills.

I believe homemaking requires the best of my efforts, my abilities and my thinking.

I believe home reflects the spirit of the homemaker.

I believe home should be a place of peace, joy and contentment.

I believe no task is too humble that contributes to the cleanliness, the order, the health, the well being of the household.

I believe a homemaker must be true to the highest ideals of love, loyalty, service and religion.

I believe home must be an influence for good in the neighborhood, the community, the country.

Spiced Apple Cake...

I surely have been baking a good bit lately!! I can't help myself, it's just so much fun!! This was another tasty recipe from Joy the Baker. Yum! Elizabeth LOVES apples so this cake really made her happy!!!

Spiced Apple Cake
(from joythebaker.com)

Sauteed Apples

2 tart apples (about 1 pound)
2 Tablespoons butter
2 Tablespoons sugar

Cake

12 Tablespoons butter, at room temperature
1 cup packed light brown sugar
4 egg yolks, at room temperature
1 3/4 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1/2 teaspoon clove
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 cup plus 1 Tablespoon sour cream
1/4 cup raw sugar (or granulated if you don't have raw on hand)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and place a rack in the center of the oven. Butter and flour an 8-inch spring form pan and set aside.

To sautee the apples: peel, core and dice the apples into 1/4-inch cubes. Melt the butter in a saute pan over medium heat until butter beings to bubble. Add the diced apples and cook for one minute, stirring with a wooden spoon. Add the sugar and continue to cook for 2 minutes. Turn the heat to low and cook the apples, uncovered for 4-5 minutes until they are softened. Remove from heat and allow to cool. You'll only use the sauteed apples for the recipe so you can discard any liquids that may have accumulated.

To make the cake: cream the butter, sugar and spices in a stand mixer fit with a paddle attachment until light in color and fluffy. This may take 6 to 8 minutes. Stop the mixer occasionally, to scrape down the sides of the bowl and continue beating until mixture is light and fluffy.

Add the egg yolks one at a time and continue beating until fluffy and glossy.

Measure out the flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda. With the mixer set on low speed, add half of the dry ingredients to the batter. Mix until no flour streaks remain. Add the sour cream all at once and incorporate. Add the rest of the dry ingredients and mix until no traces remain. Fold in the cooked apples with a rubber spatula. The cake batter will be thick.

Spread the cake batter into the prepared pan and distribute evenly. Take a knife and run it in a singular circular motion through the batter 1-inch from the edge of the pan. This will help the cake to rise evenly. Sprinkle the cake with the raw or granulated sugar and bake for 60- 70 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Allow to cool for 10 minutes before removing the sides of the spring form pan.

(I added the glaze on top. 1 cup powdered sugar, 1 T milk, 1/2 tsp vanilla and a sprinkling of cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice to taste! YUM!!!)

Ah Caramel!!!!!

When we were in Ontario visiting friends, we were introduced to Ah Caramels. Y'ALL!!!! GO TO CANADA AND BUY SOME OF THESE LITTLE BABIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Soft cake inside with a creamy white filling and an oozing middle of caramel all surrounded by chocolate!!! Oh my!!! Why hasn't the good ole' USA shipped these in yet???

Our wonderful friends sent us home with a Costco sized box of them. We left their house Sunday afternoon and were home Tuesday night. The box was empty Wednesday morning. Oh my.

Could this little girl have played a part in eating all of them? Hmmmmmm.....

Small town living...

You know you live in a small town when the latest big "thing" to do is visit the new grocery store that just opened!!!

It's been the latest talk around town for a week and a half now, so this morning we headed into town to visit the new and improved grocery store that now offers breakfast, lunch and dinner, too!!! We each had our choice of biscuits and Elizabeth had her beloved bacon and grits. FUN!

What's the new big "thing" going in in your town??

Extreme Chocolate Fudge Brownies...

I'm not sure what it is about vacation, but after we get back from a trip, it always seems to take a while to get back into the swing of things. And so the blog has not been updated because we were visiting friends just outside of Ottawa, Ontario. It was WONDERFUL to see our friends and really get to spend time with them. They are a godly family, for sure, and it was well worth the long drive to see them.

So to get life back to normal, I HAD to make something sweet, right? :) Here's a TO DIE FOR brownie recipe that I found over at Arlene's blog. Y'all, GO MAKE THESE TONIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Extreme Chocolate Fudge Brownies

1/3 cup butter
3/4 cup sugar
2 Tbs. water
1 cup chocolate chips
1 tsp. vanilla
2 eggs, beaten
3/4 cup flour
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt

Preheat oven to 325* Grease an 8x8 dish.

In a large saucepan over medium heat, bring butter, sugar, and water to a boil; stir often until sugar is dissolved (about 3 minutes). Remove pan from heat. Mix in chocolate chips. Stir until melted. Beat in vanilla. Carefully whisk in eggs. Add dry ingredients and stir 'til just moistened.
*add 1 cup chocolate chips here, if desired*

Spread batter into dish. Bake 35-40 minutes. Don't overbake these babies! Start checking 5 minutes before earliest bake time. Sides should just be pulling away from edges of the pan and the center should be set.

These definitely taste better if allowed to cool completely. But, seriously, who has that kind of willpower?! ;o) Enjoy!

Snickerdoodles...

It's no secret, I love cookies!! Elizabeth, unfortunately, has the same gene in her body- the Cookie Monster gene!!!! It's just something we must bear, I suppose. Sigh.

Smile.

To cope? We bake, of course!!! And as much as we enjoy baking, we also enjoy giving them away, too!! Keep a few for yourself and gift a neighbor with a few!! Fun!!

These Snickerdoodles are WONDERFUL!!! Thanks to Smitten Kitchen for providing such an incredible recipe!! They were still crispy the day after we baked!! YUM!!!

Whoopie Cookies...

I do realize that most people that eat these little lovelies call them Whoopie Pies. However, I make them small, so we refer to them as Whoopie Cookies around here.

These are T-R-O-U-B-L-E, I'm telling ya! Don't say I didn't warn you!!!!!


Whoopie Cookies

Cookie:
2 cups all purpose flour
2/3 cup cocoa
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup hot water
2/3 cup milk
1/2 cup shortening
1 cup sugar
1 egg

Frosting:
1/4 cup softened butter
1/2 cup shortening
1 tsp vanilla
3 cups powdered sugar
3 to 4 T milk

To make the cookies, heat the oven to 350 degrees. In a medium sized bowl, stir together flour and cocoa and set aside. In a small bowl, dissolve baking soda in hot water and then add the milk and set aside. In another bowl, beat the shortening and sugar with a mixer until fluffy. Add the egg and beat another minute. Mix in half of the dry ingredients and then half of the wet ingredients; repeat.

Drop the batter by heaping teaspoons, about 2 inches apart, onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 8 minutes. Cool thoroughly before removing from cookie sheet and make sure they are completely cooled before icing.

For the frosting, use a mixer and cream the butter, shortening, vanilla and powdered sugar until fluffy. Add the milk, 1 T at a time until the frosting has a creamy consistency.

Fill the flat side of the cookies with frosting and put two together to form a sandwich cookie.

Makes 2 dozen. And BOY do they disappear FAST!!!!!