Sunday Scripture

"And the apostles said unto the Lord, increase our faith."  Luke 17:5

Friday Happenings

The sun is shining bright today, and I am more than thankful.  Our 5 year old came upstairs yesterday  morning and sighed loudly.  With a big smile on his face, he exclaimed, "Now, this is what a REAL morning is suppose to look like!"  There were bright streams of sunshine floating into our windows, and it impressed him.

Fridays at my house are used to get the house in tip top shape in preparation for the weekend.  We usually have our two oldest boys' girlfriends around our dinner table.  I always look forward to spending time with them over the weekend. Tonight I am making a big Mexican feast.  I am going to practice making homemade tortillas without having one of those nice tortilla presses.  I am hoping to get a lot of extra things accomplished today.   I am always more motivated to clean when the sun is shining.  By the way, the above picture was taken last April.  No, we don't have beautiful wildflowers blooming yet!!!  I am looking forward to when the spring flowers do bloom!!!

grace and peace,
julie

Breakfast on a Budget

I just saw a Yahoo story that was titled "Supermarkets Suffer in this Recession".  We have been laughing because Walmart's profit fell recently, and we figured that our not spending much grocery money there has made an impact!   They too must have felt our budget slashes!  I imagine we aren't the only ones cutting back on food spending.  We have never been huge convenience food eaters, but we usually have some in our house.  Take cereal for example.  My kids don't like it for breakfast, but they like it as an after school snack.  I have seen one of my kids go out the door hungry because he just couldn't stomach the cereal for breakfast, but then come back in the afternoon eating a large bowl of it.  We no longer buy cereal. That  was the first area I cut out to slash our budget. 

This lack of cereal eating puts a strain on me.  I hate cooking breakfast.  There I said it.   I don't even like to eat it, why would I want to cook it?  I have various reasons for not liking the making of this meal.  The state of the kitchen is at the top of the list.  If the kitchen is still messy from the previous night's dinner, I don't want to cook in a dirty kitchen.  If the kitchen is spotless clean, I don't want to cook in it first thing in the morning and mess it up!  Most of my kids have to be out the door by 7:30 a.m. which means I have to be in the kitchen and cooking by 6:30 a.m. to have them fed in time to walk out the door.  That is yet another reason that I don't like to cook this meal.

What do we eat for breakfast?  Well, oatmeal would be at the top of my list... you know, it is quick, cheap, hot, and QUICK.   It is a one bowl miracle.  Some of my kids won't eat it.  My husband doesn't even like it.  There goes that idea right out the window.   I have to feed him too!  We eat a lot of eggs.  Everybody likes eggs here.  Pancakes are another good standby.  I keep Self Rising flour and buttermilk in stock all the time.  This way I have the basic ingredients for homemade pancakes or biscuits.  If I make either of these for breakfast, we usually have leftovers that the kids snack on after school.  I make a lot of breakfast casseroles.  In keeping with the thought of saving money, I try to avoid recipes that require lots of extra special ingredients.  If the recipe calls for canned crescent rolls, I am not making it right now.  I make homemade muffins often.  I am always on the lookout for a good muffin recipe.  I keep homemade granola in the pantry.  My kids snack on this, and some of them will eat it with milk for breakfast.  I am no longer buying bagels.  I can make large biscuits to replace the bagel sandwiches, and my kids haven't complained at all.  One of their favorite breakfast items is a sausage, egg, and cheese biscuit sandwich.  I also make breakfast burritos.  I use lots of my homemade bread from the previous night's dinner to round out the next morning's breakfast.  French toast or cinnamon toast can be made with a loaf of whole wheat or sourdough bread.  My family enjoys breakfast bowls...which is nothing more than fried potatoes, scrambled eggs, cheese, and some meat layered in a large bowl.  My kids have also discovered my mom's Egg Shakes.  These are simple and quick.  I started making these for my power lifter son when we had our own fresh eggs.  After we lost our chickens, he still drinks them with grocery store eggs.  All of my kids drink them with grocery store eggs which I know you aren't suppose to consume raw, but we do.  Crack two eggs into a large glass.  Add some good vanilla, some sugar to taste, and a little bit of milk.  Stir with an immersion blender (also known as a stick blender).  Add more milk and stir again.  Fill the rest of the way with milk and drink.  You can add bananas too if you like. 

All of these ideas require effort on my part.  I have to plan ahead.  Before I go to bed, I usually know what I am going to make the next morning.  Sometimes I will go ahead and set out the casserole pan that I will be using or measure out the dry ingredients for the recipe.   I might even brown the sausage the night before if I need crumbled sausage for a casserole.  Ideally, these are things that I would do every night to make breakfast cooking easier the next day.  The truth is that I am not an evening person.  I struggle just to make sure the kitchen is in order before going to bed. Sometimes I will bake a batch of muffins in the afternoon.  Of course, I have to hide them until the next morning!  Also please keep in mind that I save money by having farm raised meat in my freezer.  I have enough sausage to last awhile.   I don't buy much bacon any more.  We all miss it, but we can make do with all the sausage.   I also try to keep sweet breads and homemade biscuits stashed in the freezer.  The biscuits do lose something after they are frozen, but if we are in a time crunch they can be a life saver. 

I will also share soon about some of the ways we handle snacks in our house now that the budget is so tight. 

grace and peace,
julie

Simple Things

The snow is still falling here.  It isn't that luscious snow that produces mounds of sledding fun.  Instead, it is just that cold bitter stuff that gets in the way.  Things have been a bit stressful around here with the grey skies and a few major decisions that need to be made.  Sometimes without the sunshine, the hard things of life seem bigger than what they really are.  Sunshine makes everything look better! 

Last night I stepped into the shop to get a package of meat out of the freezer.  While I was there I looked at my plants.  Then without thought, I started tending to them.  I spent several hours out there immersing myself in the dark life giving dirt.  When I was finished, not only had I transplanted all of my cabbage plants, planted 50 more broccoli plants, and added extra dirt to the other plants, but I also had taken the time to gather my thoughts and relax.  It was therapeutic for me as well as my plants.  I had no agenda so I was free to stop when I was ready.  Sometimes we need to step away from all the things that overwhelm us and just take a moment to enjoy the simple things of life.  Did I mention I am ready to enjoy some sunshine again?

grace and peace,
julie

An Introduction to Slashing the Grocery Budget

Feeding a large family can get expensive.  Ask me how I know.  We have cut our grocery budget in half over the last few months.  My grocery budget is generally based on the amount of my husband's salary.  When his salary is high, we have the luxury of spending more money on food.  We will enjoy more variety and things that are higher priced.  It is still cheaper to eat that way than taking the whole family out to nice restaurants or even fast food places.  When Michael's salary is lower and things are tight, I can adjust the way I cook to accomodate our checkbook. 

The first thing I look at when cutting the grocery budget is the stuff that we choose not to live without.  Milk and dairy is at the top of that list for us.  In times past, meat has been at the top of the list.  However, now since we have our own meat tucked away in the freezer we don't have to worry about that. The other items that are high on the list are fresh vegetables and fruit.  We try to buy our fruit in season.  It tastes so much better that way, and it is a lot cheaper!  In the summer months, I go to the roadside stands or the farmer market to purchase our fruit.  The best way to purchase it is to go to a U-pick farm and gather the bounty.  We have a farm here that sells blueberries for $7 a gallon if you pick them.  The last thing on my list would be the items found in the baking aisle at your grocery store.  If you have flour, sugar, oil, and eggs, you can make a lot of things that will help stretch your grocery budget.  If you look at the sidebar where my daily dinner menu is located, you will notice that I almost always have homemade bread as part of the menu.  I don't even really like bread that much so I don't do this for me.  I do this because it helps stretch my main dish.  It saves money, and it is good for my family especially if it is whole wheat bread.  My kids also snack on the bread that I make.  If they want something sweet, they can toast it and add homemade jam or honey.  If they want something savory, they can add butter and garlic or fresh herbs and have garlic bread. 

Before I ever step foot into the grocery store, I take time to plan my meals.  If there are no convenience foods sitting around the house, I must plan for the fact that my kids are going to want to eat three meals plus snacks.  That means I have to cook three meals and have snacks readily available for them.  I try to keep things tucked away in the freezer so that they can have a homemade snack when needed.  We also keep popcorn kernels that can be made quickly for a good snack.  I also try to have leftovers in the refrigerator for the kids to eat when they get hungry.  That one doesn't always work, but I try. 

Over the next few weeks, I am going to write some posts sharing some specific things that I have cut from our grocery shopping to save money.  I am also going to share some things that our family keeps on hand for snacks, and some ideas for breakfast.  Did I mention that I hate to cook breakfast?  Until then...

grace and peace,
julie

Sunday Scripture

"Be not afraid, ye beasts of the field: for the pastures of the wilderness do spring, for the tree beareth her fruit, the fig tree, and the vine do yield their strength."  Joel 2:22

Spring Garden

This picture was taken earlier this past week.  While my garden was being blanketed with huge flakes of snow...

My future spring garden plants were growing happy in our shop greenhouse. 

Our little broccoli plants are doing nicely.  I just paid over $2 at the grocery story for a head of broccoli.  That makes this one tray of broccoli worth over $12!  I have 4 of these trays growing now, and I will be planting another 50 plants in the next few days!

I still have to transplant these little romaine lettuce plants.  Each plant will equal one head of romaine lettuce.  Today at the store, I paid $3.38 for a pack of three organic romaine lettuces.  That will make one salad for our family.  I have at least 75 lettuce plants to transplant.  That is like pocketing $75 with my grocery store savings come this spring.

Missy loves the snow, but she wasn't happy about being left ouside by herself!  She would rather be in the shop with me!

grace and peace,
julie

Teaching Reading

I have taught all of the above children to learn to read.  Much of my time as a mom was spent with a book and a kid on the couch.  All of my kids are excellent readers, and all of my kids love to read.  When Jacob entered public school this year, he came home one day and gave me a big hug.  He thanked me for taking the time to teach him to read.  He said that there are a lot of 7th grade kids who struggle with reading.  Jacob is the child that wanted to learn to read, but had a hard time sitting still for the lessons.  We would work on phonics for 10 minutes and then he would go bounce on the trampoline for 10 minutes.  When he came back in, we would work 10 more minutes and then he would go back outside to bounce.  This was my school day with him for years.  It made the school day longer, but in the end it was well worth the effort.  He brought home his report card yesterday.  He made a 100 for his reading grade!  Not only is he good at reading, but he enjoys it.  Our oldest son has decided that he is going to major in English for college.  He wants to be an English teacher for high school.  He too enjoys reading! 

What makes  a child like to read?  Start them young and make it fun.  I attribute my love of reading to my mom.  She too spent countless hours reading aloud to me as a child.  When I had my own children, I always left a basket of books in our living room.  Our baby was encouraged to get out the books and enjoy the pictures.  When my kids were younger, I always read aloud to them.  This wasn't school time. This was fun time.  I chose books that would be above their reading level, but they always had a great story line.  Jacob loves The Little House on the Prairie series of books.  He has never read one for himself.  I read them to him and his sister to make the story come alive for them when they were too young to read them alone.  My older boys will  sit down on the couch if they hear me reading to their younger siblings.  Reading aloud still draws the older kids into being mesmerized by a good story.  I love the fact that our college son comes home and discusses his reading assignments with me.  We have lively discussions about college topics and we have a good time with it.  What books do I recommend?
The Little House on the Prairie series
The Boxcar Children books
The American Girl books
Where the Red Fern Grows
Along Came a Dog
The Golden Goblet
Charlotte's Web
Lion Witch and the Wardrobe series
Fahreneit 451
Animal Farm
These are just a few books off the top of my head...but they are all well loved by our children.  Happy Reading!!!

grace and peace,
julie

Sun Come Back and Play

With four days of sunshine these last few days, I feel like I have bloomed just like this beautiful flower.  I didn't realize just how much the lack of sunshine was affecting me.  I have accomplished a lot these last few days, and I have enjoyed the journey.  Today the clouds have set back in, and the rain is heading our way.  I don't know when we will see the glorious sunshine again.  Yesterday was spent outside just enjoying the beauty of the day while getting things done in the yard and barn.  The kids also enjoyed the day by fixing and jumping on the trampoline and riding the four wheeler.  I think we can make it a few more days until the sun decides to come back and play again. 

grace and peace,
julie

Seeds to Plants

My seeds germinated nicely in our bathtub.  Now, they can be moved to the shop to grow under the full spectrum grow lights.  The cold of the shop won't bother little plants at all.  It isn't freezing in the shop since it is attached to the house.  It is just too cold to germinate seeds down there.  We can work in the shop comfortably wearing a sweatshirt on most days.

As you can see from this picture, most of my seeds sprouted into little plants.  This was good considering my seeds were several years old.  I do keep them in the refrigerator while we aren't using them.

Here is a picture of the grow cart that Michael made.  If you look at the shelf with the plants, you can see that the lights are very low to the plants.  They are almost sitting on top of the plants, but they aren't touching them.  This is a very important step in growing young plants under grow lights.  If you leave the lights far away from the plant, the plants will grow leggy.  They will not grow a sturdy root system.  Instead, they will put all of their energy into growing the stem long to reach the light.  These plants will never mature into good plants because their root systems are so weak.  We hang our lights on chains that can be moved up and down as needed depending on the size of the plants.  We can also add more lights to double our growing area.  We just don't need them right now, and the full spectrum grow lights are expensive.  I am sure I will be purchasing them when we are growing our next batch of plants.  I will let my little plants grow a bit more in their tray to let the root systems get stronger.  In the next few days, I will be transplanting each plant into its own little pot.  This is when the work really starts!

grace and peace,
julie

Summer Eye Candy

The diagnosis has been determined:  Cabin Fever...and now the prescription for healing: sunshine, and a little summer eye candy reminder!  Hope you enjoy the thought that spring and summer is on its way!!

Remember what the green grass looks like? 

Remember the times that we had fresh flowers filling all the corners of our house...

And coffee pots full of fresh cut flowers from the garden?

Remember the taste of fresh garden vegetables?  It won't be too much longer now!  Let's forget the extra work that the garden brings and the whole canning process.  Let's just enjoy the thought of sunshine on our face and a backyard full of edible beauty!

grace and peace,
julie

Diagnosis: Cabin Fever

I am getting cabin fever.  I have come to realize that I am not much different from a flower.  I need sunshine to grow and produce.  The weatherman promised we would see sunshine tomorrow.  I am too the point that if he is wrong this time I might just have to go find him and smack him upside the head!  The public school kids have used up all their snow days.  That means that any more days needed for snow will have to come from either their spring break or the summer break.  In the past nine years, they have never come close to using up their allotted snow days.  I guess the Farmer's Almanac was right with their prediction of a bad winter.  On the upside of things is that perhaps all the cold will wipe out our spring and summer bug population!  My little bathtub seeds are starting to sprout.  They will be ready to move under the grow lights in the next few days.  I am sure that when the heat of summer comes and the garden is in full swing, I will wish I had a good dose of cabin fever.  But for today,  I just need a little ray of sunshine!

grace and peace,

julie

Refrigerator Yeast Rolls

I love my regular yeast roll recipe.  My mom gave it to me.  You can find it here ,and here you can find the step by step instructions for making yeast rolls.  This recipe that I am going to share isn't quite as good as my mom's recipe.  Why would I make them you ask?  My answer is simple...TIME.  This recipe is designed to be made ahead and stored in the refrigerator up to 5 days.  It makes enough dough to make two or three batches of rolls depending on the amount you need per batch.  I had this dough tucked away in my refrigerator this morning.  Within 5 minutes of walking into the kitchen, I was rolling it out and making Cinnamon Rolls. You can find the step by step method of making cinnamon rolls here.  I eliminated the step of mixing the ingredients together and letting them rise for the first rising.  That saved me at least an hour if not more.  A word of caution...since the dough is cold when you start working with it, it will take a bit longer to rise.  I always warm my oven a little to help the rising of the rolls along the way.  (Pam, I am sorry it has taken me so long to get this recipe to you...hope you enjoy)!
grace and peace,
julie

Refrigerator Yeast Rolls

1 cup shortening
1 cup sugar
2 teaspoons sat
1 cup boiling water
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
2 envelopes active dry yeast
1 cup warm water
6 cups Bread Flour

1.  Combine first three ingredients in large bowl; stir in 1 cup boiling water.  Cool.  Stir in eggs.
2.  Combine yeast and 1 cup warm water in a glass measuring cup.  Let stand 5 minutes. 
3.  Stir yeast mixture into egg mixture.
4  Gradually add flour, stirring until blended.  Knead until dough as come together.  I use my kitchen aide mixer for this.
5.  Cover dough and chill at least 4 hours.  Dough can be chilled up to 5 days in the refrigerator. 
6.  Whenever you decide to bake, pinch of one third of the dough.  You can use more or less depending on the amount of rolls you want to make.  To fill my round pampered chef baking pan, it takes almost half the dough. 
7.  Roll dough out on a flour surface.  Cut into rolls and place on lightly greased baking pan. 
8.  Let rise at room temperature about 1 hour or until doubled in size.  (This is where I use a warm oven.  It helps them to rise quicker.  Just make sure your oven isn't too warm)!
9.  Bake at 375 for 10 to 12 minutes or until golden.

The Circle of Life

When I was a child, I wanted to go with him every chance I could.  I didn't care where we went, I just wanted to go.  One of my favorite places to go was out the long winding roads that eventually ended with smell of coal.  I loved when he would take me out to the mines.  It didn't happen often, but it was a treat each and every time.  I would beg him to take me.  It never dawned on me that this man might want to have a few moments of solitude.  I never once considered that he might not want to clean up the vomit that often times spewed all over his truck due to my chronic disease of car sickness.  When he began to take photos out in the woods, it was only natural for me to once again invite myself to be his shadow.  It was during those precious times that my love of the outdoors was sealed forever in my heart.   With camera bag on his shoulder and tripod in his hand, he would call, "Julie Bell, do you want to come along?"  I loved those times.  He would wander off taking pictures, and I would be allowed to discover the beauty that God had created in whatever area we happened upon for that day.  I knew that with one soft shout that he would be by my side if I needed him so I could relax and enjoy without having fear.  We spent many hours hiking and exploring the banks of the Green River or the beauty of the Falls of Rough.  We traipsed up and down areas of Western Kentucky that someday I would come to realize was my heritage.  He would teach me about the history of the mines and if I listened real close, he would share his memories with me. 

Those moments were always an adventure for me.  I never knew exactly where we would be going.  I just knew that I loved going.

That part of my childhood developed not only a love of the outdoors, but it also brought out my love of the old ways.  I loved finding old buildings or barns.  My favorite was an old church by the name of Hopewell Church.  It was a place that I could actually go into and sit on the pews and dream of the days gone by. 

Yesterday, I asked my own man child if he would like to accompany me to take some pictures.  I am still a little unsure of being in the woods alone.  That is one thing that I have never outgrown.  He smiled and said, "That sounds like fun, Momma."  We left in his truck with my camera bag slung over my shoulder.  He asked me where I wanted to go, and he maneuvered the icy roads with great caution.  We spent the afternoon enjoying the beauty of the outdoors while I told him stories of me being a child doing this same thing with his Papaw.  This man child loves old barns too.  He was quick to point out places that he saw as beautiful.  We laughed and promised each other that we would do this again in spring.  We would carve out his heritage right here in our mountains of East Tennessee.

grace and peace,
julie

Planting Seeds Without a Greenhouse

I fianlly got my seeds planted for my early garden.  I wanted to show you the process of making do with what you have when what you really want is a REAL greenhouse.  The Bible says confession is good for the soul so now you know that I drool over REAL greenhouses.  I have dreams about them, and I desire to have one in my own backyard very much.  Alas, it isn't to be in my life.  The wind blows  way to hard for a greenhouse to survive so I have learned to operate with these conditions in my life.  What do we have?  We have a two car garage that is attached to our home.  It is my husband's workshop, mechanic shop, extra freezer storage, and our makeshift greenhouse.  It isn't the ideal situation especially for a woodworker who loves having his shop clean and orderly, but it is what it is and it will have to do for now. 

When I start seeds, I first decide what needs to be planted.  If you live in our area, now is the time to plant: Cauliflower, Broccoli, Cabbage, and Lettuce seeds.  These are the early garden plants for your spring garden.  I start with a floating tobacco seed tray.  If you look at the upper picture, you will seeds that it is a large tray with cells that have holes in the bottom.  This way I can float my seeds in water so I don't have to water them by hand until I have transplanted them. 

Since we don't have a lot of extra room in the shop, I used the back of the 4 wheeler as a table to hold my tray while I was planting.  It was already dirty so it didn't matter that I got a little more dirt on it.  See, I try to keep my husband's clean and orderly desires in my thoughts when I work in his area!  This tray held all the seeds that I planted.  I marked where each seed group ended and another group started.  Marking is very important when planting seeds.  (Ask me how I know)!  In the past, I have used popsicle sticks as markers.  These work well and they are cheap.  I didn't have any so I just marked on the side of my tray.

The next stop for my tray of seeds is in our upstairs bathroom.  Yes, Ladies, you heard me correctly.  During planting weather our bathtub is out of commission.  I float my trays of seeds in the bathtub.  I so wish our shop area would work for this, but it isn't heated so it is too cold to germinate seeds.  Remember, when you want to grow plants from seeds you need moisture and warmth.  The soil should remain damp, and it should also be warm.  You can buy seed mats to help keep your darling seeds warm, but I have never wanted to spend the extra money.  Don't worry we do have an extra shower so at least my family will stay clean.  We just have to give up our bubble bath time in order to grow seeds.  It is a hard life that I have chosen, but it must be done!

After the seeds have grown into little tiny plants, they are removed from the bathtub and brought back down to the shop.  In the above picture, you can see our new growing center.  It's a bad picture I know, but you can use your imagination.  It is a large shelf with 4 shelves.  Michael has put full spectrum grow lights on the upper two shelves.  We still have to purchase the grow lights for the bottom two shelves.  They are expensive so we will wait to purchase them until we need them later in the season.  The shelf was purchased a little over a year ago for Michael's shop.  He had all of his auto mechanic stuff nice and organized there.  He sacrificed for my grow cart and donated the cart for our seeds.  He was nice about it, but I don't think he wanted to give it up.  If you look at the picture, you can see tinfoil trays.  I have a plan for these.  I wanted plant trays to sit my plants in so that they could be watered from the bottom.  Those trays were expensive.  There was no way I could justify spending over $100 for plastic trays.  I bought these disposable cookie sheets.  They aren't as deep so I will have to water more often, but they were under $1 a piece.  I can do a little extra watering to save money!

And our shop comes complete with a wonderful shop dog.  Missy loves being out in the shop as long as we are out there with her.  She hates being out there when we are locking her away from house guests!

She helps herself to the scrap wood pile and chews until the chore at hand is completed.  Apparently, I decided to do my planting during nap time because she was having a hard time staying awake to chew her new found toy. Lucky for her, it doesn't take very long to plant 200 seeds.  It takes way longer to transplant them all into their own little containers, but that will be another day!
grace and peace,
julie

It's Snowing Again, But I Have a Plan

Once again it is snowing outside.  I don't think it is going to be one of those great snows that you actually enjoy by going out to sled and throwing snowballs.  However, I could be wrong.  I didn't take the weather man very seriously this time.  Last time he said at least a foot of snow would hit, and we didn't even get enough snow to cover the ground.  I bought enough milk to last a whole week just in case.  Instead of playing in the snow we sat around drinking milk and playing cards.  This time I didn't even buy extra milk.  We are down to our last two gallons.  That means we have enough milk to last about a day and a breakfast  so we will probably be stranded out here for at least a week.  That is just the way it usually goes, but as long as  I have cream for my coffee I am good. 

I have tried for the last two days to get out in the shop to plant my seeds.  I have to get this done, and it just seems that there is always something more pressing that captures my attention.  Today my plan it to assign all the kids cleaning jobs upstairs.  That will free me up, and I will take one eager helper, and it will not be the 5 year old, to help me in the shop.  I am sure this will not line up with the snow day/school's out children's mentality.  But I am the mom and it is my plan and it will work if I can get them out of bed!!!

grace and peace,
julie

Homemaking Thoughts

I am good at this...

and this...

and this...

and this, but not this...

No, I am not good at this.  This took me about a month of hard practice and many times trying to get just one quilt square.  This was last year, and I just want to say I was so thankful when garden season rolled around and I had other things to be creative with on a daily basis.  The goal was that I would come back to this someday, but not today or even this year. 

This year my daughter is learning to knit.  She took to it very easily, much like she took to quilting class.  I was the absolute failure there.  I personally think she took to quilting class because the teacher felt sorry for her having a mother like me. The teacher played favorites and spent a lot of time helping Hope.  I had a plan to show that teacher that I wasn't inept in the homemaking department.  I was going to make several loaves of bread and a homemade pie and give it to her.  I may not be able to quilt, but I would show her I could at least cook.  Instead, I just quit the class because it was garden season.  I should have taken her a huge basket of produce! I chickened out in the end because I never did master anything in the class! 

I digressed...this year Hope learned to knit.  She had lots of extra time during ballet rehearsals, and one of the older girls taught her.  She has spent much of her time these past few months knitting.  She enjoys it so I decided that she could teach me to knit.  She spent about an hour with me.  She wasn't a very patient teacher.  She tried, but in the end she decided that I was unable to knit.  I would have to find some other poor teacher other than her because she wasn't cut out to teach me.  I have found a girl willing to help me learn to knit.  She seems very patient and kind.  She even smiled when I told her of my lack of abilities in this part of homemaking.  I think this might just work.  I am looking forward to spending some time with her soon.  But just in case it doesn't go so well, I at least have this excuse to get me out of it...

grace and peace,
julie

Date Night

We have missed her.  She usually spends Friday and Saturday evenings at our house.  Her new college schedule and work schedule and weather issues have kept her from us for the last several weeks.  It just doesn't seem the same.  My kids have complained.  My husband has complained about her absence.  The other evening he was saying, "We have enough kids, why should I miss one that isn't even ours!"  However, we do miss her, and we are all looking forward to her coming out to spend our Friday evening with us.  It goes without saying that our oldest son is always happy to spend time with her, but he does get to see her at school.  This evening will find us eating a hearty supper around the dinner table, and sitting together talking over the happenings of the last few weeks.  I am sure that a competitive game of cards will also be on the docket for tonight, and perhaps a funny movie.  I sure have missed my son's date nights and his girlfriend!  I am glad that we are back on track!!!

grace and peace,
julie

I Am Ready

Last night I finished my seed inventory.  I was shocked at just how many seeds I still had from the last few growing seasons.  I will be able to save a lot of money by using what we have.  I have kept the seeds in the basement refrigerator so they should be fine.  I may not get as good of yield as if they were brand new, but I have plenty to plant extra. Every year I try to grow something different.  This year I really want to grow sweet potatoes.  I was going to do that last year, but in our area the plants were extremely expensive for some reason.  The man at the feed store was confused by the cost as well, and I decided it wasn't worth it.  Perhaps this year will be different.  I have taken the time to find a supplier of my parent's favorite tomato, Jet Star.  I am going to order a packet of those along with Super Sweet 100 Tomato Seeds.  These are the only two hybrid tomatoes that I plant.   I have never tried to grow Jet Star since we have been in Tennessee, but I remember the flavor of my dad's!  I also love the flavor of Super Sweet 100 cherry tomatoes.  They are like eating candy!  The other hybrid plant that I grow is Ambrosia Cantaloupe.  I have tried heirloom cantaloupes, and we don't like them.  Ambrosia is a wonderful cantaloupe that is well worth the effort of finding the seeds.  One year that we grew them, they were so prolific that we were eating them for breakfast!  The last several years they haven't grown that well for us.  I am hoping that this year will break that bad streak. 

Sometime over the next few days, I will place my seed order. I have all of my seeds that need to be started now: (Broccoli, Cabbage, Cauliflower, lettuce, and spinach). Michael will also be assembling my grow cart, and as soon as I can I will post pictures of it.  I should be back in the seed growing business in no time!

grace and peace,

julie

Strawberry Cake Roll Recipe

For our Christmas day dessert, I made this delightful Strawberry Cake Roll.  It had a lighter taste to it than the  rich Black Tie Mousse Cake that I also made.  I had never made this cake before, but it sounded good.  I was trying to recreate a cake that my mom used to purchase from the Amish.  It was a sponge cake roll, just like this one, but the filling was totally different. It was made with strawberry jam.  My next attempt at this cake will be to omit the whip cream filling (although it was wonderful), and try it with just a homemade strawberry freezer jam filling.  One thing that surprised me about this cake was the fact that it stayed nice over several days in the refrigerator.  I made it the day before Christmas Eve.  We started eating it on Christmas day, and we ate on it for several days thereafter.  I would have thought that the whip cream filling would have separated, but it was still great.  This would be a lovely Valentine's dessert or it would grace the table of a baby shower beautifully.  Hope you like it!

Strawberry Cake Roll

4 eggs, separated
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cup sifted cake flour  (I didn't have that so I used regular All purpose flour sifted several times)
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
Powder Sugar
1 cup whipping cream
3 Tablespoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
1 (10 oz) package frozen sliced strawberries, thawed and drained
1/4 cup strawberry jam
1/4 cup light corn syrup

Grease a 15x10 inch jelly roll pan, and line with wax paper. Grease and flour wax paper; Set aside.
Beat egg yolks until thick and lemon colored.  Gradually add 3/4 cup sugar, beating well.  Stir in 1 teaspoon vanilla.
Combine flour, baking powder, and salt. Gradually add to sugar mixture, beating just until blended.
Beat egg whites until stiff peaks form.  Stir gently into combined flour and sugar mixture.
Spread batter evenly in prepared pan.  Bake at 375 for 10-12 minutes. 

Sift powder sugar in a 15x10 inch rectangle on a tea towel.  When cake is done, immediately loosen from sides of pan and turn out onto sugar tea towel.  Peel off waxed paper.  Starting at narrow end, roll up cake and towel together; cool on a wire rack, seam side down.

After the cake cools, beat whipping cream until foamy; gradually add 3 Tablespoons sugar, beating until soft peaks form.  Add 1/4 teaspoon vanilla; beat until mixed.  Fold in strawberries.  Unroll cake, and remove towel.  Spread cake with strawberry filling, and reroll.  Place on serving plate seam side down.  (I cut my roll in half and placed side by side on my serving plate). 

Combine jam and corn syrup in a small pan.  Bring to a boil stirring constantly. Remove from heat; brush mixture over cake roll.  Chill until time to serve.  Best if left for several hours before serving.  Right before serving, I sprinkled mine with a bit of powder sugar for garnish.

grace and peace,
julie

The Many Beds of the English Mastiff

Come into our home and you will see this often.  It isn't just the littlest of the family that curls up with the English Mastiff. 

No, you will also find her curled up with the oldest and the youngest at the same time.  My question is how can a 200 pound dog, a 180 pound man child, and a 45 pound kid fit in a twin size trundle bed?

You might even find her curled up by herself on the end of the recliner.

But the one person you won't find Missy curled up with is Hope.  Hope isn't that fond of Missy.  She gives her the evil eye and a loud shriek.  She calls her things like, "Dog, Mutt, and Beast".  Missy is smarter than Hope.  Missy waits until Hope leaves for school.  Then Missy crawls into her bed and lounges about for the whole day enjoying the room of a princess.  She enjoys the feather mattress and the soft purple comforter.  She loves to lay her head on the matching pillows.  I think she even drools on them intentionally.  Then when she hears Hope walk back through the front door after a long day at school, Missy quickly gets out of her room.  She leaves the impression that she has just been laying in the hall all day.  Hope asked me one day, "Mom, why is there always dog hair in my bed?"  I only smiled because I wasn't about to give away the secrets of the English Mastiff.

grace and peace,
julie

The Gardening Time is Coming!!!!

I am gearing up for our spring garden NOW.  I have sounded the alarm, and if you live close to our zone and you want to garden... you better start getting your seeds in a row! Of course, I am a little behind my own garden goal starting point.  Last  year my husband disassembled my grow center.  He needed the space for his shop.  The seed growing center was made out of scrap material and it was only intended to get us through one growing season until he could do something different.  Now that he took it all apart, he will HAVE to do something different.  He found grow carts at garden supply companies, but the cheapest we found cost $229 without the lights.  Basically it was a $229 shelf with nice trays to hold the plants.  That doesn't fit into our budget so we needed an alternative.  He decided to get a metal shelf from Lowe's.  It cost $70 for the shelf unit.  I will be looking for disposable cookie trays with a lip so I can water the plants from the bottom.  We still have some of our light fixtures that we used in the  past, but he will have to buy some more because this shelf will hold so many more plants than my other little grow area.  For about $150, we should have a very nice growing station including the full spectrum lights that make the plants grow!!!  Due to the wind in our area, we cannot have a greenhouse.  This is our way of taking some lemons and making some lemonade!!

He asked me just a few days ago if I would rather spend the money on the shelf  and lights or just buy our plants this year.  I told him I would love to just buy our plants from a local nursery.  We started adding up the amount of plants that I plant every year, and the cost of the plants were enormous.  (I plant over a hundred tomato plants)!  We decided that it was much more feasible for us to grow the plants from seeds than it  was to buy them from a local nursery.  (If I were growing a small garden, I probably would buy my plants from the local nursery).  A little money spent now yields a whole lot of produce in the spring and summer months.  I think that is a good investment!

grace and peace,
julie