Making a House a Home

Oh boy!! This is a HIT with me!! Yummy blueberries in a delicous cake with just a hint of lemon in the glaze!!! YUMMMM!!!!

I'm not sure where I found this recipe, but I've made it several times and I always love it!!

Blueberry Yogurt Cake
2 1/2 cups blueberries
1 T plus 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 t baking powder
3/4 t salt
1 stick butter (at room temperature)
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 t vanilla
4 large egg whites
6 ounces plain lowfat yogurt

Glaze
1 1/4 cups powdered sugar
1 T lemon juice
1 T water

In one bowl, toss berries with 1 T of flour.

In second bowl, whisk flour, baking powder and salt.

In third bowl, beat softened butter until smooth. Beat in sugar and vanilla until creamy. Add egg whites and beat until smooth. Beat in flour alternating with yogurt. Gently fold in berries. Pour into greased bundt pan. Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 50 minutes. Be sure and test "doneness" of cake by inserting a toothpick into the cake. If the toothpick comes out clean, the cake is ready!! Let cake stand 10 minutes before turning out.

Once cake is completely cool, stir together ingredients for glaze. Add water as needed for glaze to be drizzling consistency.

Enjoy!!!

I received this email about two weeks ago...

Dear Mrs. U,
I enjoyed today's blog posting on creating a "SenseSational" home. Would you ever consider creating a blog entry on the single woman and her home? Some encouragement as to why she should bother doing ANYTHING to/or in her home? What you (and your readers) wish you had done or known before marriage and family, etc. etc. etc. It's so easy to see the point in creating a beautiful, restful "sanctuary" for a husband and children, but when it's just you..........why bother? It's easy to think your time would be best used elsewhere. I bet you could offer ALOT of encouragement, tips, and advice to many women.

:)
anonymous - HA!

Just so that y'all know, I know who this "anonymous" person is...


Please allow me to introduce my sister, Miss F.,pictured here with Elizabeth. (I was going to share more lovely pictures of her, but I'm pretty sure she would kill me! LOL!!).

Okay, ladies, so what advice can you offer to her as well as to all single ladies? It's easy to see why single ladies with children should care for their home because they want to teach their children. But what about single ladies, living on their own with no children? Why should they even bother to "make their house a home"?

To be honest with you, I have never even thought of this before. That's why I'm coming to all of y'all. Please be sure and share ideas to encourage Miss F. in her homekeeping endeavors.

Oh, and by the way, if any of y'all know a SUPER GODLY single man, let me know!! Mr. U and I will be more than happy to check him out before allowing him to speak with Miss F!!! (Oooh... my blogging days are over... she's going to kill me for sure now!!!!)

I sure do love my sister.:)

I have had the hardest time with my broom ever since we got our new floor put in. The old floor was lighter in color than this one and I guess I couldn't see the dirt as easily. Now I see every tiny little speck that's on the floor. Could be the new floor color, sure, but I suspect it could also be the fact that Elizabeth is always picking up the tiniest little pieces of dirt to give to me that causes me to notice!! (Hey, at least she's finally past the stage of putting it all in her mouth!! Now she just hands me all the dirt! LOL!!!!)

So, what's a girl to do? The good ol' broom was NO HELP at all!! It seemed to just scatter the dirt rather than helping direct it into a pile to be disposed of!!! No fun!!!

After much looking around, I discovered this...


It's called the Vileda (or O-Cedar) Hardwood Pro™ Microfiber Dust Mop and it's wonderful!! Here's the details from their website:

-Ideal for hardwood floors and other flooring surfaces

-Soft microfiber attracts and holds dust, dirt, and hair

-Rotating head and adjustable handle for hard to reach areas

-Machine washable mop head

It's the BEST!! It cuts my sweeping time in half, too! Can't beat that! And I just throw in the mop head in the wash each week but I do NOT use fabric softener otherwise it will repel the dirt instead of attracting it. Can you believe that I actually LIKE sweeping now? WOW!!

Oh and I'm not the only one around here that likes to use this thing... :)


The handle on this is adjustable, so I can use it at the regular length or I can shorten it for little Miss Elizabeth to use. She LOVES it!!!!

Well, we're home!! We got home Friday night and I had mountains of laundry to do. I KNOW all of y'all understand that!!

We actually weren't on "vacation". We were at a week long conference that we go to every summer in Birmingham, AL. It's on the campus of Samford University and it's hosted by Beeson Divinity School. It's called Pastor's School and they have classes and wonderful speakers for the whole family. We look forward to going each year and seeing the same sweet friends over and over. It's a blessing for sure!! And this year we got to introduce everyone to Elizabeth. They were so happy to finally meet her- they had prayed for her for two years!! :)

While we are there, we stay in the dorms on campus. It's a lot of fun and reminds me of my days in college. Oh, and we get to eat in the campus dining hall and BOY DO THEY HAVE SOME AWESOME FOOD!!!! When I was in college, everyone avoided the dining hall because it was pretty much tasteless- but not at Samford!!!! They have incredible food and I REALLY over ate all week long! And the desserts!!! Oh dear, don't get me started!!! I gained 5 pounds just last week!!!!

And before I forget, if anyone reading this lives in Birmingham, do you KNOW how blessed you are to be near O'Henry's Coffee??? I fell in LOVE with this place!!!

Our family will be off on vacation this week. I hope everyone has a wonderful week with their families!!

Be sure and take some extra time in the Word this week!!!

Yes!!!! That icky bag of, what used to be, lettuce was in MY refrigerator!!! And do you know when I discovered it? I discovered it when we had a dear friend over for dinner!!! She was in the kitchen with me, helping with the meal. I reached into the vegetable crisper to pull out some newly purchased romaine lettuce when, lo and behold, I pulled out this disgusting bag of very old lettuce!!!!! I had to laugh to cover my embarrassment!!! It was horrible!! And, to make matters worse, I had two very old tomatoes in there, too!! They were, well, horribly nasty!!!

Hence, this post.

Ladies, please, Please, PLEASE go through your refrigerator WEEKLY and discard any old produce. Also, please check all of your leftover containers to make sure you aren't growing any penicillin in there (yes, I've been guilty of that before, as well). I don't want anyone to be as astonished as I was at the discovery of this repulsive find. So, head to your refrigerators today and make sure everything is fresh!!!

Also, while you are in the refrigerator, you may as well clean it. Clean it, as in use soap and water and wash it out. Never done that before? You're in luck! I happened upon this site just yesterday and the author gives clear steps to clean it in a flash!

Let's all get our refrigerators in top shape with NO old veggies inside!!!

Mrs. Pear is doing a fabulous job of sharing about her method of freezer meals. She gives very clear instructions and some to-die-for-recipes, too!!! Y'all be sure and head on over and learn about this wonderful way to bless your family with homemade food AND save yourself time as well!!!

In case you have ever struggled with neatly folding fitted sheets, here's a video for you. To be honest with you, I sort of just semi folded mine and sat the fitted sheet on top so that no one could see my poorly executed attempt at folding. I tried to comfort myself with the fact that at least I DID try to fold it, however bad the end result was. I have actually heard of people that didn't bother to fold them at all. They just wadded them up and stuck them in the back of their linen closet!!

When I found this video, I followed her instructions and now I can happily say that I can neatly fold a fitted sheet!!!!!


Are you able to fold a fitted sheet?? If not, try following this ladies helpful advice. :)

About a month before Mr. U and I married in 1998, I had the opportunity to attend a seminar with Christian author and interior designer Terry Willits. She gave many ideas for little touches here and there that you could make around your home to make it more "SenseSational". She has writte several books, but the one I was blessed with purchasing that night was "Creating a SenseSational Home".

What exactly is "SenseSational"? It is using your five senses to enhance your home. For example:

sight- fluff your pillows
taste- try a new recipe
hear- play a CD of beautiful music
touch- dust your furniture
smell- fill a vase ful of fragrant flowers

I'm sure there are a million ideas that you could come up with in these areas, and Mrs. Willits shares a good number of them in this book!!

I must confess, I've read this book before years ago when I first purchased it. However, I didn't really appreciate it like I do now. So, I've pulled it out and I am re-reading it. There is so much wonderful information to glean from this book.

Here's just a little peek at Mrs. Willit's thoughts from the first chapter:

Throughout Scripture, God is referred to as our spiritual refuge. We are told to run to him for safety, security, rest, replenishment, comfort, and never-ending love. In the same way, I believe God created our homes to be our physical refuge. He knew we would need a corner of the world to call our own. We go to our homes in hopes of finding physically many of the same qualities God offers us spiritually- a restful place, safe from the storms and stresses of the world, filled with love, comfort, and absolute acceptance. A warm bed, an encouraging word, a tasty meal, a crackling fire all give comfort, security, and love. Home is to be the refuge we run to after doing battle in the world. It should be where we are reminded of who we are, to whom we belong, and what really matters in life. Home needs to be a safe place where we house not only our bodies, but our hearts and our souls.

How do YOU make your home SenseSational?

Do you have this book? If so, please share what you've learned!!

Our family loves all types of meatloaf, but this recipe is TOPS in our home!! It's sooo easy and soooo delicious!! It's even great reheated the next day- IF you actually have any leftover!!!

Mrs. U’s Meat Loaf Pie

1 ½ pounds lean ground beef
1 cup milk
1 ½ cups Italian bread crumbs
1 tsp garlic powder
½ cup ketchup
2 cups shredded cheddar (we like extra sharp)
½ tablespoon dried oregano

In a bowl, combine ground beef, milk, bread crumbs and garlic powder. Mix well and press into the bottom of a prepared 9 inch pie plate. Bake at 375 degrees, uncovered, for 35 minutes. Drain if needed. Spread ketchup over meatloaf, half of the oregano, top with cheddar cheese and then sprinkle the other ½ of the oregano on top of the cheese. Return to the oven for 3-5 minutes longer until the cheese is melted.

Serves 8

What do I like to serve with this? Mashed potatoes and green beans, of course!!!

(As always, every oven is different. The first time you make this, you may want to cut into the meat to make sure it is done before adding the ketchup, cheddar and oregano. Adjust cooking time if needed.)

Today and Friday and time for Kelli's Show and Tell Friday!! There are so many wonderful blogs to visit, so y'all please head on over there and see who is participating! I LOVE Show and Tell Fridays even when I'm not able to take part!!

For my Show and Tell Friday, I would like to share with y'all a few of the flowers that the Lord has grown in our garden this year. I haven't spent nearly as much time with the flowers this year as I have in the past. I still haven't quite figured out how to watch Elizabeth AND pull weeds at the same time. Next year, though, watch out!!! I'll be super ready to really play in the dirt!!!

This is one of the blooms on my hibiscus plant. They have HUGE blooms that are bigger than my hand is long!!! Such a lovely deep, rich, red color, too.

This is one of the oriental lillies that are blooming currently. I had some pink ones bloom a few weeks ago and now the whites one are all blooming. Interesting how God has them timed to open like this. :)

These are some of my black-eyed Susans. I think these are such happy flowers. They grow very easily around our home- who doesn't love easy to grow flowers!!!!


Thank you for visiting with me and seeing just a few of the flowers that God has grown in our yard this year!!

Aaahhh... don't you just LOVE when you find a fabulous new blog? You just want to run out and tell everyone you know about it!! So... I am!!!

I discovered Muffins, Buns and Biscuits recently. I loved her posts so much, that I went back and read them all!! No, I am not joking. She has some very wonderful posts about being ladylike and, well, I'm saying no more. You just need to go pay her a visit and find out for yourself. :)

And while this isn't a blog, I did want to let you know about it. I've read and loved So Much More: The Remarkable Influence of Visionary Daughters on the Kingdom of God by Anna Sofia and Elizabeth Botkin. I just found out they are in the process of making a documentary entitled "Return of the Daughters". The link has snippet of the project that they hope to release later this year.

Another soon-to-be-released film that has my attention is "The Monstrous Regiment of Women". You can click on the link and view the trailer. I am sure this will be an eye opening piece.

I hope y'all enjoy visiting some of these new-to-me places today!!!

My mom makes the BEST Chicken Pot Pie!! She doesn't make it a traditional way with pie crust on the top and on the bottom. She makes a simplified version that is my family's FAVORITE!!! There is a crust on top that is yummy and flavorful and the juice thickens up and has the perfect hint of spices in it.

Mom's Chicken Pot Pie
4 to 5 chicken breasts, cooked and diced
1/2 stick of butter
3 (14 oz) cans of mixed veggies
1 can cream of chicken soup
2 cups chicken broth
poultry seasoning, to taste
freshly ground pepper, to taste
garlic powder, to taste
1 1/2 cups self rising flour
1 1/2 cups milk

Melt butter in a 9x13 pan in your oven that is heated to 350 degrees. Once the butter is melted, remove pan from oven and add drained veggies. Season to taste with poultry seasoning, freshly ground pepper and garlic powder. Place chicken on top. Combine cream of chicken and chicken broth and pour this over the chicken in the 9x13. Season again. Mix flour and milk and pour on top (this will form the "crust"). Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.

Serve this with a big salad and, of course, I always welcome dessert with any meal. :)


NOTE: I did not have any cream of chicken soup when I made this the other day so I made a substitute. This is probably much healthier than buying the canned stuff anyway!!!


Cream of Chicken Soup Substitute
3 T Butter
3 T Flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup chicken stock, water or milk

Melt butter in heavy saucepan. Blend flour and salt into saucepan while cooking and stirring until bubbly. using a wire whisk to prevent lumps, stir in liquid ingredient choice slowly. Medium thick sauce is comparable to undiluted condensed soups and makes approximately the same amount as a 10 oz can.

John and Jennie Mangrave had eager plans when they married and took over the old farm. But their great faith dwindled as the first years passed. John worked later and later in the evenings. Jennie took more and more of the heavy tasks upon her own shoulders and had no time for the home and children. They were no further on, and life had degenerated into a straining, hopeless struggle.

Continue reading here...

I just found this at Growing Up Gracefully. Lovely.

Crystal over at Biblical Womanhood is giving away a 10 volume set of Ballantyne books!!! What an incredible giveaway!!!! Be sure and go by and enter before this coming Saturday- I know I am!!!

When Mr. U and I were first married, our town had a quaint coffee shop called Calico Coffee. At first, we visited every once in a while. Then it turned to weekly visits and before we knew it, we were there at least twice a week!!

We went in for breakfast. The owner had WONDERFUL coffee (and offered endless cups, too, if you ate in her shop!!) and big, Texas sized muffins. Yum!! I can still smell the fresh coffee brewing, the warm muffins coming out of the oven and hear Andrea Bocelli playing over her sound system.

Unfortunately, the coffee shop closed a few years ago. But the owner was kind enough to share a few of her recipes with me!! Mr. U's favorite, by far, and her best-seller-muffin was the Sausage Cheese Muffin. Y'all, it is SOO delicious!! Maybe you should surprise your family one morning with this scrumptious offering.

Sausage Cheese Muffins

3 cups Bisquick *
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1 cup grated cheddar (feel FREE to use MORE cheese!!!)
1 pound sausage (we use hot)
1 1/3 cup milk

Brown sausage and onion until brown. Drain. Stir together Bisquick and cheese and then sausage/onion mixture. Stir in milk and mix well. Pour into prepared muffin tins (we use Texas size muffin tins). Bake at 350 degrees for about 25 minutes or until they are golden brown on top.

* I will almost always use 3 cups of self-rising flour and then cup in about 1/4 cup of Crisco instead of using Bisquick.

Note: ALWAYS watch your oven! Oven temperatures vary so your oven may cook slower OR quicker!!!

Let me start by saying how SHOCKED I am that so many people wanted to enter my giveaway! What FUN I've had visiting some wonderful blogs of, hopefully, some new friends!!!

If y'all, noticed, there were 286 comments but actually 315 entries!!! WOW!!

Here's a picture of Miss Elizabeth and the whole bowl full of entries!!!

To be honest with y'all, Miss Elizabeth is teething quite badly right now and just didn't want to put her hand into that bowl!! LOL! So my dear sweet son, Joshua, did the drawing in her stead. And the name he drew was..................

Michele at My Blessings From Above!!!!! She was entry #184!!!

CONGRATULATIONS, Michele!!! You are going to be receiving some lovely prizes!!!

Everyone be sure and head on over to Michele's and congratulate her!!! And while you're there, get to know her and her sweet family!!

And year two of blogging officially is underway...... :)

Just a little reminder. In case any of y'all have not already signed up for the giveaway (see post directly below this one), PLEASE do so!! The drawing will be at 8:00 EST TONIGHT!!! Don't miss out!!

Oh y'all! I am sooo very excited!!! On June 30th, I will celebrate 1 whole year of blogging! So... to celebrate, I'm having a GIVEAWAY!! And the prizes are FABULOUS, let me tell ya!!! What am I giving away????

- a set of Martha Stewart Everyday Towels (like I mentioned here)...
- a pair of earrings of YOUR choosing from the Etsy shop of new jewelry designer and real life friend, Melissa...
- an autographed copy of "Queen of the Castle- 52 weeks of encouragement for the uninspired, domestically challenged or just plain tired homemaker" by Lynn Bowen Walker that I reviewed here (and mailed to you FROM THE AUTHOR HERSELF!!!)...
AND...
- a 2 year subscription to Victoria Magazine graciously sent to you courtesy of Hoffman Media.

YES!! YES!! YES!!! One very blessed lady will win ALL that!

How? Just leave a comment here on my blog and you will be entered ONCE into the drawing. If you kindly comment about my giveaway on your blog, you will be able to enter TWICE!!! The drawing will be done on Saturday, June 30th at 8:00 pm (EST) by my wee one, Elizabeth.

So don't just sit there, enter! Please!! I am just dying to bless someone with all these wonderful gifts!!!

I know that I've shared before how baking soda is my favorite cleaning supply, but I discovered another use for baking soda a few months ago!!

When Elizabeth came home, she barely fit in the kitchen sink for her bath. So, I knew that it was time for the regular bathtub. I do have a seat for her to sit in while bathing, so I was fine with that. But I was VERY concerned about how the cleaner that I used to clean the bathtub would do with her baby skin. I wanted to use something as gentle as possible for her skin yet something that would clean the bathtub, too. After just a little thought, I remembered how much I LOVE baking soda!!! I made sure that the tub was slightly wet, poured about a cup of baking soda all over the tub (I buy the big 12 pound packages of baking soda at Sam's, in case you are wondering how I have so much!! LOL!) then started scrubbing. Baking soda cleans PERFECTLY!!!! Not only does it shine, but it also scrubs away all the icky blue residue that our water leaves in the bathtub!! WOOHOOO! I am SOLD!! Now I have a safe and very cleansing product to make sure my bathtub is clean AND my baby's skin won't get irritated!!!

This is my "to do" list for today. It contains the major things I need to focus on accomplishing today.

I discovered the quote that I have written out yesterday while reading a post on A Christian Home. The quote says...

"It is shocking to find men and women speaking fluently about
religion, and yet their houses are a disgrace to Christianity." - Charles Haddon Spurgeon

Now is Mr Spurgeon referring to cleaning? Probably not. :) He's talking about how we live out Christianity in our everyday lives. We can talk about the Lord all day long, but do our lives REFLECT CHRIST TO THE WORLD????

Dear sisters in Christ, honestly look at your life today. Does your family see Jesus Christ in you? Are you a godly example to them? Or are you all talk? Do they see that you live what you say?

Note: Thank you, Jodi!! She found the link to the full sermon by Mr. Spurgeon here.

My sweet friend, Melissa, has started a new blog entitled Lady Beautiful. The site says it is...

"A place where Christian ladies can trade tips and talks about health and beauty with other Christian women. You are the contributor."

Did you see that? YOU are the contributor!!! If you have any health and/or beauty tips that could be helpful to fellow sisters-in-Christ, share with Melissa and she will post it. Do you need any beauty advice? Ask Melissa!!

Ladies, I have been around the blogosphere for a year now and I have read some FABULOUS tips from a good many of y'all! I personally would LOVE to have them all in one place for reference!! Just one expample... last week I was visiting with Mrs. B over at her blog and she shared a wonderful tip about choosing the perfect lipstick shade!!

So, ladies, head on over to Lady Beautiful and PLEASE share your tips! I am ready to learn from all of you!

I finally made this cake this weekend!!! I've been looking at this recipe in my cookbook and saying I was going to make it for about 5 years now!! I found the recipe in the cookbook The Pastors Wives Cookbook and it sounded so delicious, I just knew my family would love it. It is a SIMPLE cake to make and SOOO moist and tasty!!!

Peach Cake

2 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil (I used light olive oil)
2 eggs
4 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp each of salt, nutmeg, allspice and cinnamon
1/2 tsp cloves
1 (29 oz) can peaches and juice
1 cup nuts of your choice (optional)

Place everything in your mixing bowl. Using a mixer, mix until peaches are chopped. Pour into a prepared bundt pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour and 10 minutes.

A few weeks ago on Ladies Against Feminism, Lady Lydia shared her review of the movie "North and South". This is based on the novel of the same name by Elizabeth Gaskell, who also wrote the novel "Wives and Daughters" and it, too, was made into a movie.

Because I loved "Wives and Daughters" so much, when I found out about "North and South", I knew that I wanted to watch it.

Mr. U sweetly bought the movie for me and as soon as it arrived, we settled in to watch it. It's four hours long, so we watched it in two nights. The first night, I thought "Is THIS an Elizabeth Gaskell movie? Did we get the right one?" I wasn't immediately drawn into the movie like I was in "Wives and Daughters". But the second night, I understood what the first two hours were about. The first two hours of the movie were necessary to set the tone, to tell you about the background of the characters and the time period. I was VERY happy to know all the details which made the second half of the movie that much more captivating.

Most of the movies I love like "Pride and Prejudice", "Emma" or "Wives and Daughters" are set in the beautiful areas of England where lovely landscaped views abound. "North and South" offers a few beautiful views, but mostly it takes place in dark, grey, industrial England- a time that I thought was boring, dull and lifeless. I must say that Mrs. Gaskell did a fabulous job of presenting this period of England's history in a very interesting manner. I left the movie wanting to know more about what really happened during that time period.

I did love the story and don't want to give away any of the details. I must say, though, that I was a little shocked at Margaret Hale's (the main character) head strong and independent thinking and acting. I expected more of a demure character, but I suppose that even assertive women lived in that time period as well as today.

I do recommend this movie. My family and I all watched it together (well, okay, my 13 month old did not watch it with us) and we all enjoyed discussing the time period, the feminist leanings, the manners and customs, etc. when the movie was finished. I also always enjoy watching a movie that makes me want to be a little more ladylike when I'm finished watching it.

I would definitely watch this movie again and would love to hear from you if you've seen this and hear what you think about it.

This is my first Works for me Wednesday!! I've been reading them for a while and finally decided today to jump in, too.



Ever since I knew we were going to bring Elizabeth home from China, I started looking at prices for Dreft detergent. It's not that cheap. Plus, what IS it that makes it preferrable for use on baby clothes? There's no scent. So I decided to start using All Free Clear. Not only does it have no scent, but it's clear of dyes and it's the #1 detergent recommended by dermatologists and allergists!!

But what about fabric softener?? Who wants clothes that are full of static cling?? I use distilled white vinegar!! Just use the same amount that you would normally use of regular liquid fabric softener and you'll get soft, static free clothes!! And don't worry, there is NO vinegar smell on your clothes when they come out of the dryer- only fresh, clean clothes!!!

So that's What-Works-For-Me!!!

(To learn more about why we adopted and why China, please click here for the link.)

I am so blessed!! Who would have ever in a million years thought that blogging would lead to such neat opportunitites!!!!

What in the WORLD am I talking about? Well, I was contacted in mid May by Mrs. Miller from Hoffman Media. This company publishes Southern Lady, Taste of the South, TeaTime, Cooking with Paula Deen, Sew Beautiful, and Just CrossStitch. They also publish some beautiful books. And Hoffman Media is the company that will be bringing back Victoria Magazine!!! Hip hip hooray!!

Mrs. Miller would love to know what you love about these magazines? What would you change? I know that MANY of y'all subscribe to these magazines or purchase them as soon as you see the newest edition on the newsstand. I know that she visits this blog, so please share anything about the magazines that you love or would change. Just think... YOU could help make the magazines even better than they are!!!

Mrs. Miller sent me a huge box full of magazines and an incredibly tempting book about cakes! YUM! These are just a few of the magazines she sent me. The others are currently out on loan (Goodness knows that I can't GIVE these magazines away! There are too many wonderful recipes and beautiful photos in them!!!). :)

Here is the book Cake Expressions. Beautiful decorating ideas for cakes and some mouth-watering recipes in there, too!!!

So please, y'all, be sure and share your thoughts about all the magazines that Hoffman Media publishes!

Just what IS a dough scraper? According to Wikipedia it is...

A dough scraper is a tool used by bakers to manipulate dough and to clean surfaces on which dough has been worked. It is generally a small sheet of stainless steel (approximately 3"x5" or 8 cm x 13 cm) with a handle of wood, plastic, or simply a roll in the steel blade along one of the long sides.

Bakers and pastry chefs use this tool to help pick up, turn, and portion dough. When finished, the dough scraper can be used to scrape up the little bits of dough that have dried onto the kneading surface during the forming process. It can also be used in a more generic kitchen role to transfer sliced or diced foods from cutting board to pan.

This tool is known by a variety of names, including dough scraper, dough cutter, dough knife, pastry cutter, bench scraper, board scraper, and bench knife.

Some modern varieties of this tool have blades of nylon or silicone and even feature both straight and curved edges. These are intended primarily for the use of scraping cutting boards and bowls rather than working dough. These uses have introduced further variants of the name, including terms such as bowl scraper or chopper, scooper, scraper.

I LOVE my dough scraper!! I never would have purchased one on my own. Mine came when I bought a pasta maker a few years ago. I now use it ALL the time. When I make biscuits, I use it to scrape all the dough off the counter when I'm done. When I'm making rolls or bagels, I use it to divide the dough into even sections. When I'm making French bread, I use it to divide my loaves into two equal parts. I do use my dough scraper all the time!

Do you have a dough scraper? If so, do you use it?

(Note: A commenter asked what size the dough scraper is. I guess it does look kind of large in the photograph. It is 5 inches by 4 inches and fits perfectly in your hand.)

Yep, that's a birthday cake alright!!! Mr. U's birthday was yesterday and we spent the day together just having fun!! We bought him a new grill for his special day and he's all ready to fire it up this Sunday for Father's Day. I'm telling you, this man can GRILL!!! I think he'd give Bobby Flay some fierce competition!!!

Each year for his birthday, he requests the same meal- Chicken Parmesan, Mashed Potatoes and Peanut Butter Cake for dessert. (Notice, he conveniently leaves out anything veggie related. He keeps telling, me that potatoes are veggies, but I still put them in the starch/bread category... I digress...).

Peanut Butter Cake is FANTASTIC!!! And I wish with all my heart that I could share the recipe with y'all, but I can't. It's a secret family recipe! No, really! It REALLY is!! When Mr. U's mother gave me the recipe, she made me triple promise that I would NEVER share it with anyone except family members. I think I CAN tell you that it is a MUST that you use Jif Peanut Butter. Other than that, I cannot share a thing. But if y'all ever want to let me know y'all are coming over, I'll be happy to make one and share it with you!!!

So this was my "Show and Tell" for today... PLEASE visit Kelli over at There's No Place Like Home for more WONDERFUL blogs to visit!!!

By far, THE most important part of my blessed job as a homemaker is making sure that I spend DAILY time in the Word and in prayer with the Lord. I love my family, I love taking care of my home, but, above all, I love God. Cultivating my relationship with Him has got to be THE top priority of my day.

So, for my fellow Christians reading this, have YOU spent time in the Word today? If so, what is the Lord teaching you?

Here are the rules:

Each player lists eight facts/habits about themselves. The rules of the game are posted at the beginning before those facts/habits are listed. At the end of the post, the player then tags eight people and posts their names, then goes over to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know they have been tagged and asking them to go read your blog.

1. I am allergic to penicillin.

2. I am scared of horses. (they are so BIG!!!)

3. I cannot pick ONE favorite dessert. It's a tie between my grandmother's German Chocolate Cake and a Chocolate Extreme Blizzard (with extra stuff) from Dairy Queen. This week, anyway. Next week I may change my mind. :)

4. I was a MAJOR Truth wannabe. I just KNEW they needed me to sing with them!!

5. I do not bite my nails. It disgusts me. I tried it when I was in 4th grade because my friend Natalie Collins bit hers and I thought she was cool. I couldn't even bite off one nail. HAHA!!

6. I type all the time. Like, even when I'm not at a typewriter keyboard. I guess I have imaginary keys with me or something. I suppose it could be classified as "air typing". HA!!!

7. I am a BIG TIME DIET COKE FAN!!!!

8. When I was little, all I ever wanted to be when I grew up was a wife, mother and teacher. What a blessing that I get to be all three now!!!

I had a VERY hard time thinking about these 8 things about me. To me, I seem kind of boring. :)

I am going to tag everyone who hasn't been tagged yet!!!!!

Oh YUM!!! After visiting Mrs. Pear's place on Friday, I decided I HAD to make her Land of Nod Cinnamon Buns. OH BOY are these babies good!!!!

I did make some changes, though. I didn't have any frozen roll dough on hand, so I decided to use homemade. I made my Potato Roll recipe and used that instead of the frozen dough. I omitted the raisins, too, because Mr. U isn't crazy about them. I, however, think it would have been WONDERFUL with raisins, pecans and maybe even some orange zest in there!!!!

Here's my Potato Roll recipe. I use the bread machine to do all the kneading for me.

Potato Rolls
1 ¼ cup warm water
3 T vegetable oil
7 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
2 T mashed potato flakes
3 cups bread flour
1 ½ tsp yeast

Place ingredients in bread machine, set to "dough" cycle. When complete, divide the dough into 20 pieces.

Okay... now start the Land Of Nod Cinnamon Buns...
Place the pieces in a greased bundt pan, mix all the Cinnamon Bun ingredients together (except for the butter) and sprinkle on top. Drizzle melted butter all over. Let this rise in the oven for about 45 minutes and then bake at 350 for 25 minutes.

Here is Mrs. Pear's recipe. With either recipe, you will be SOOO happy that you decided to share this scrumptious delight with your family! And they will be happy, too!!

Here's a piece just for you...

It's Friday!!! So that means that Kelli is hosting (or should that be hostessing?) Show and Tell Friday!!! What fun!!

I would like to share with y'all my grandmother's ring. A few years ago, she gave my sister and I each a ring that had been special to her. She wanted to give them to us while she was still alive so that she knew that we would get them.

My grandmother is still alive (she's 87) but not in good health at all. I'm so glad that she gave this beautiful ring to me so that I always have something that I can "put my hands on" to remind me of her.

Yep, these bananas look just right for banana bread. I have the BEST recipe, too. So unless Mr. U gets to them first (he LOVES bananas really freckled like these are), I'll make some banana bread for the family! YUM!

Banana Bread
1 stick butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup whole wheat flour
3 large bananas, mashed
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup pecans or walnuts, coarsely chopped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease your 9x5x3 bread pan. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy then add your eggs in, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Sift all purpose flour, baking soda and salt together and then stir in the whole wheat flour. Add to creamed mixture, mixing well. Fold in bananas, vanilla and nuts. Pour into pan and bake 50 to 60 minutes or till tooth pick comes out clean. Cool in the pan 10 minutes and then turn out.

Go from this...

to THIS... in your own home!!!!

Yes, that's right. You do NOT have to use those bags of microwave popcorn anymore!! You can make your own DELICIOUS homemade popcorn! It's very easy and very inexpensive!!!

Directions:
In the bottom of a heavy pan, pour oil into the pan to the depth of 1/8 inch. Heat the oil on medium high . Drop one kernel into the oil and when that kernel pops, add enough popcorn kernels to cover the bottom of the pan in a single layer. Cover and shake until all kernels are completely popped. Salt and butter to taste.

This takes minutes to do, makes a TON and is very inexpensive!!! Your family will LOVE the smell of homemade popcorn wafting in from the kitchen. So y'all pull out a board game or pop in some old home movies and enjoy a big bowl of your own homemade popcorn!! Yum!

Hi y'all!!!

On a recent post entitled Cleaning Cabinets, Pamela asked,

"I was wondering if you had some good cleaning tips for cleaning and mopping the kitchen floor.This is the job I dread the most.
Thank You."

Oh Pamela!! I feel your pain!!! Mopping is my most dreaded chore, too! I have found that, for me, the BEST thing I can do to help with mopping is to do it weekly. Otherwise, the dirt will build up, I'll start feeling guilty about conviently "forgetting" to mop, and before I know it, the floor is horribly dirty. I sweep daily (sometimes more than daily- we live in an area with a lot of sand) so I think that helps keep the floor a tad cleaner and people aren't always stepping on something icky and mashing it into the floor.

When I do mop, I enjoy using a big bucket full of hot water, a sponge mop, and Pine Sol. Whenever I smell it, I smell my grandmother's house. It's AMAZING how powerful the sense of smell is, isn't it? My grandmother always had her house clean as a whistle. When we went to visit her, you were greeted by the smell of freshly mopped floors- the Pine Sol!!!

I would LOVE to hear from others that are reading this. Can y'all offer some advice to Pamela to help with mopping? For that matter, there may be many of us that don't look forward to that particular job, so many of us will probably benefit from all the help we can get!!

Ah, the good old potato masher!! I'm sure most of us have something very similar in our drawers, right? Or are you one that purchases potato flakes in a box to make "homemade" mashed potatoes?? If so, please reconsider. This inexpensive cooking essential is just what you need to make perfect mashed potatoes every time!!!

According to Wikipedia...

A potato masher or bean masher is a food preparation utensil used to crush soft food for such dishes as mashed potatoes, apple sauce, or refried beans.

The potato masher consists of an upright or sideways handle connected to a mashing head. The head is most often a large-gauge wire in a rounded zig-zag shape, or a plate with holes or slits. Designs made from a single piece of wood are also known.

I use my potato masher for regular white potatoes, for sweet potatoes, to make applesauce, to mash strawberries before making strawberry preserves and even to make homemade baby food.

I rarely post on the weekends because I am usually busy with family. Yes, I AM still busy with family, but I wanted to be sure and point out two edifying posts I recently read.

Melissa over at Desiring to be a godly woman has a wonderful post about adoption.

Amanda Grace over at A Touch of Grace has a really encouraging post about studying the Word.

Thank you, Melissa and Amanda Grace, for giving me some really good things to think about this weekend!!!

Oh y'all!!! Hurry on over to Pinks and Blues Blog before 8pm TONIGHT and enter this fabulous contest!! The prize? A Dooney & Bourke bag and some Victoria's Secret perfume!!