Today......

Today is restful compared to yesterday!!

Yesterday was full of bread making and canning

and making several pans of Enchiladas, some

for the Shepherd's House on Monday

and one for our dinner and one for

a freezer meal (yay!! love it when that happens!!)

Today...I am blogging....studying for our Titus 2

Group tomorrow....this afternoon we get to go to

a friends for our monthly "Sewing Circle" (no one really

sews anymore, but sometimes.....)

Then come home take a "homemade" pizza crust out of the

freezer, spread it with some of that "homemade" spaghetti

sauce, top with "cheapo" pepparoni from Costco that is in

the freezer and some cheese that

is already grated and in the freezer.

WOW!

How easy is that?!?!?

My kind of day. :D

I ran across this quote this morning...it is so good for so

many circumstances in life, I just have to share it....

it is from an old magazine from 1993...

I think that word "inconveniences" can be translated to

mean anything that we are dealing with...

it could be something in our past, it could be illness,

unemployment,.....anyway, here it is.......

"God uses all those inconveniences to plant

tender seeds of endurance when

you are not even looking.

And before you know it, tiny sprouts of

perseverance and contentment

begin to crop up where resistance

and impatience used to thrive. You hardly

notice itin the beginning, but one day there it is -

the sweet flower of long-suffering

bloomingright there in your very irritation.

God has us here inthis flower garden of

patience, long-suffering,

and perseverance."

Have a great weekend!! See you Monday!!

Spring Fling!!

Remember I said I had another tea since I had been on here.....

Spring Fling!! A Healthnut Tea

My color theme was mostly purple and green, but I could

not pass up these very SPRINGY daffodils since they

were 2 bunches for $3!!!!!

The tables were drapped with a sheer green cloth in the

middle topped with purple pansies......

The little bag is actually a bath bag. That was the take-
home gift for the ladies. Filled with luscious smells
and lavender......
My....there is that beautiful cabinet that my
dear sweet husband made for me.....
it just keeps showing up in the pics :D

Touches of spring all around......

Love this little butterfly candle holder. There is a

set of 3...each table got one. They were a gift

to me several years ago and I have had fun

using them....especially at Spring Teas!!

Oh, yes,....and there was food.....

Menu

Spring Greens with Strawberry Vinegrette

Boysenberry Whole Wheat Scones

Cucumber on Dilled Whole Wheat Canape

Yogurt Cheese and Sprouts on Wheat
Pepper Roses

(instead of more bread for a healthy tea :) I

found these cute little roses, filled

with cream cheese

and parsley.

Mmmmmm, then dessert!!

Carob Confections

Apple Carrot Cake

Honey Pound Cake

Whole Wheat Shortbread

Strawberries

And the finale...

Rhubarb Sweetie

(all of the desserts were made with either honey

or Stevia or Turbinado)

One of the ladies brought me this sweet gift,

it is actually a salt and pepper shaker.

Happy workers!!

Next to me in the purple is my daughter and then

her friend who both helped serve at tea. And then

her friends sister stayed to help clean up.

Thank you girls!! Your the best!!

This was one of my favorite teas, this is how we eat

anyway, so it was all very good to us!! LOL.

New Background

Well.....there you have it!! I will try this for awhile.

I could not find ANYTHING "springy" that suited

me or that I liked.......so here it is,

just thought it would be a fun one for awhile

since I will be sharing some recipes, canning and such.

Winter Preserving

Well, I guess technically it is Spring!! But it is still very

cold here like winter!!

I enjoy canning in the winter when it is not so hot.

Here is my recipe for some easy Spaghetti Sauce to can

and have on hand. Very nice to open a jar for spaghetti or

pizza or chili or soup or.........whatever you like!!

Spaghetti Sauce
1 can Tomatoe Paste

(the large almost gallon size, I get this at

Costco for around $3)

2 cans of water

1/4 C Italian Seasoning (to taste)

(I buy this in bulk from my food co-op, so

it is not very expensive)

2+ T Salt (to taste)

(also in bulk from food co-op)

Mix all together and warm in pan on top of stove,

stirring occasionally to keep from scorching.

Warm your jars and lids.

Fill jars, wipe rims, put lids on.

Cook in boiling water bath for 20 minutes.

This makes 8 or 9 quarts.

I have not calculated the cost of my seasonings exactly,

but this comes out to be right around 30-40 cents

for a quart. I do not know about your area

but we do not ever see a sale like that!!

TIP: When you bake your bread, roll out a couple

pizza crusts for the freezer, nice to be able to just take

those out, use this sauce, do some toppings, have

grated cheese in the freezer and VOILA! Easy Pizza!

Other things that are fun to can in the winter are

soups, beans and meats and things that you do not

have to do something with right now because it

is ready in the garden.

Yummy Muffin Recipe

This is a Chocolate Chip Bread recipe that can be changed

to use whatever you have and you can make bread

or muffins. It calls for mashed banana, I keep "old" dark

bananas in the freezer. If I am thinking ahead, I peel them

and stick them in ziplocs or I just toss them in the freezer

peel and all, then zap them in the microwave about

20 seconds and can peel them and mash them for

the recipe. Never throw away an old banana!!

Recipe: Just About Anything Bread/Muffins

(Makes 1 Loaf or 1 dozen muffins)

1. Set aside 1/2 - 1 C Chocolate Chips or Raisins or Nuts or

Berries or "just about anything"

2. Blend and set aside:

1/2 C plain yogurt

1 tsp baking soda

3. Blend in order:

1/4 C oil

3/4 C honey

2 eggs

1 C mashed banana

1 tsp vanilla

4. Blend in another bowl:

2 C whole wheat flour

1 tsp salt

5. Alternately blend dry and yogurt mix into liquid, fold

in chocolate chips or raisins, etc. last

6. Fill pan, bake, til knife comes out clean in center

7. Cool 10 minutes, remove from pan, if bread, lay on

side to cool.

These are with raisins, because that is
what I had on hand. :D
Yummy for a Sunday Morning!!

Also, just a side note: Slightly sweet muffins arevery good with some soups or macaroni andcheese for lunch or dinner.

Valentines Tea

During the daytime tea everything was "PINK"...even the

food was pink.

Our daytime menu consisted of.....

Cranberry Whip (pink*)

Heart Shaped Scones

Heart Shaped Cucumber Sandwiches

Strawberry Cream Cheese Sandwiches (pink*)

Broiled Salmon & Chedder on Canape (pinkish*)

Linzer Hearts (pink*)

Chocolate Truffles

Berry Tarts (pink*)

and the finale....

Black Forrest Torte (oozing with pink*)

The ladies enjoyed themselves, lingered and slowly filtered
out as we began preparations for our next
group, the couples.......who were greeted
by twilight glows in the yard as the arrived....
Hurricanes along the walkway in the snow :)........

I was sooooo EXCITED to find these roses!!

I found them at the Dollar Store!! They were a dollar

each, but that is less than half of what that normally cost.

The Couples menu was almost the same, only they

had Greens with Strawberry Poppy Seed Vinegrette and

with the sandwiches they had beef or chicken pasties

and with the finale....they had choices,

Black Forrest Torte or Apple Upside Down

Torte with Caramel Sauce or Cheesecake with

Rhubarb Sauce. :) Yum!

For the couples, I added these table toppers to give

them a more "elegant" feeling......

I was happy to be able to use something I had on hand,

my sister-in-law gave me a whole roll of this decoraters

fabric, I also plan to make curtains out of it!! :) But I

thought it went well and was fun to dress up the

tea tables for a "Candlight Tea".

And those "little bit bigger" red teacups I bought for

the gentlemen...well, they worked very well.

Happy couples!!

Happy Tea Time!!

We all had fun, none of my helpers were available, so my daughter served as usual, but my husband had to help us, especially with pouring tea!! It was funnyat first, but he was AWESOME!! It actually added a touch of class having agentleman serve tea. The ladies especially loved it.

I'm Back...........

Although, I am not sure where I have been!! LOL.

Just busy, living life and taking care of the family!!

Anyway, I am sorry for those of you who are so kind to

check in regularly that there has been nothing new since

Valentines Day.....but I will take the next few

days to catch up, I promise. :)

I loved this winter cheer in my kitchen window.......

It bloomed just in time for the Valentines tea,

gave us a touch of fresh red.....

So, where have I been, what have I been up to??

On Valentines day I did two teas....

one for the ladies at noon.

and one for couples that evening......

I am still canning.....I am trying to stock up on some meals
and have a back up if I should not be able to use my
freezer or the electricity would go out or something.......

This is, from the left, kidney beans, spaghetti sauce
and chili without beans.
I am thinking I could use one of each and have a pretty good chili.

In this time some where we had another Titus 2 meeting.
We talked some about gardens, brought healthy, easy kids snacks
to share and had "Gramma Belle" come to help with
our crocheting. She loved it so much, we are
going to her house next time. :)

We have also been keeping our daughters dog for a bit, she can
not have animals where she is renting.....our only grandchild..... :)
Oh me, then since I talked to you last....I have done another tea!!
Spring Fling, Health Nut Tea
and of course, I keep on baking.....
Sunday morning Banana Raisin Muffins.

My husband has been very slow for work but he has just enough
to keep us going mostly. And we are very thankful and
Praising God for providing work in May that will help us alot.
We are looking forward to that. In the meantime,
we keep going, keep busy, and most of all keep our
eyes on Jesus the only one who can work all this out.

I am planning on getting some recipes on here soon, as well as
more canning info. Right now, though, I am "home alone".... :),
so I think I shall go spread all my stuff out on the table and make
a plan for my garden!! Just bought seeds and want to try some
early covered with plastic, so I need to make a plan.

I will show you all these things as they happen, as well as
catch up on some of what has already happened.

Hope your still with me....are you enjoying spring weather where
you are? We will have a "spring" day, then a snow day....
that is why I am not too worried about changing my background

yet...it looks "springy" to me :) our joke is for the rest of the world

April showers bring May flowers....i

n our part of the world April (snow) showers
might bring a few May flowers. :D