Siberian Wallflowers

This week I had to drive into Silverton, Oregon for a doctor appointment. The drive was beautiful, lots of beautiful farm country, cute baby farm animals, interesting barns and houses. When I came upon this scene, I was breath taken. Such a beautiful color, on the way back home, we had to stop for a picture. We only had my hubby's phone camera, but I just had to have this picture. We pulled over by the Field, the minute we stepped out of the van, the air was filled with the scent of these flowers. This field of flowers was planted by a seed company, and luckily they had a sign post of what was growing- Siberian Wallflowers.

This beautiful field of flowers reminded me of Matthew 6:25-34 Were Jesus is talking about not worrying.

Especially Matthew 6:28-29 -And why do you worry about your clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.

Also Matthew 6:34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Matthew 6:25-34 is one of my favorite passages in the Bible, as I tend to worry more than I ought to. Seeing this field of beautiful flowers was a nice reminder. I hope everyone has a wonderful Sunday, and a nice Father's Day!

Passing Down Recipes

One of the activities that I have planned for this summer is to organize my recipes, as well as help my daughter, who will be 16 years old next month, start her own recipe notebook. I started keeping my recipes in a notebook about a year ago, but still have not completed transferring all of my recipes into the notebook. I have old hand written passed down recipe cards, some printed out from the computer, some ripped out from magazines, as well as many bookmarked in cookbooks. The notebook I originally chose was too big, and difficult to manage, so I decided I would break my recipes into two notebooks, one for cooking, and one for baking. I bought my daughter a matching notebook, I will start her with one for now.

Today we had fun designing the covers for our notebooks on the computer. I started her off with some of our favorite cookie recipes, and a few others. I like to put the recipes in plastic page protectors, that way they can easily be wiped off if they get splashed on while cooking. I usually take out the plastic recipe page from the notebook, and hook it to the fridge with magnets, so I can easily reference it while cooking, or bring it right to the counter. I plan on working with her a few times a week on making copies of different recipes to add to her notebook, as well as cooking and baking some of these recipes with her.

Sarah is already very good at baking cookies, and muffins, this summer I would like to have her start cooking more of our main dishes. I have always loved cooking and baking, and enjoy working with my daughter in the kitchen passing down family recipes as well as trying new ones.

Right now I am off to bake a batch of Oatmeal Scotchies with Sarah (using the classic recipe from Nestle Toll House Butterscotch Chips). She will be bringing them along with lunch for a day of fishing with her dad, brother, and good friends tomorrow. Hope everyone is having a nice week!!

Brown Sugar Bacon Crumble Muffins

School let out last Thursday, and I have been having a wonderful time hanging out with the kids. My daughter loves watching Cake Boss, and we were looking for something to watch and came across a show called Cupcake Wars. We have enjoyed watching a couple episodes, and I have been inspired by all of the different flavor combinations they come up with for the cupcakes- some sound gross and others interesting like a Maple Bacon Cupcake. I was inspired by the idea of bacon in a sweet muffin, so today I made the family Brown Sugar Bacon Crumble Muffins, and they were delicious! Here is the recipe.

Brown Sugar Bacon Crumble Muffins

Preheat oven to 400 F.

Muffin Batter
2 cups Flour
1 T Baking Powder
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup melted butter
5-6 pieces cooked bacon coarsely chopped

Crumble Topping
1/2 cup melted butter
1 cup flour
1/2 c. brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
4 pieces cooked bacon coarsely chopped

Mix all of the ingredients for the muffin batter in one bowl until combined- do not over beat- I mix mine by hand until everything is well incorporated. Set aside.  I am thinking about adding cinnamon to the batter next time as well.

Mix all ingredients for crumble topping in one bowl until combined.

Spray muffin pan with cooking spray- both the muffin cups and top of pan, as the muffins rise above top of cup.

Fill muffin cups 3/4 full, then cover top of each muffin with crumble topping. Bake for 20-25 minutes at 400 F. or until knife inserted in the center of muffin comes out clean.

These taste wonderful the bacon and the brown sugar really balance each other out- these would be great for a breakfast or brunch. I will definitely be making these again!!
Linking to:

Gooseberry Patch Fresh-Baked Round Up

The June Garden

June is the month that my garden really gets going. The rain has finally let up and the temperature is warm enough to get those summer veggies growing and the flowers blooming. Getting out in the garden to work in some sunshine always boosts my energy! I just love it. This last week I finished getting in the rest of the seeds and transplanting my starts. Take a look at all the flowers and herbs blooming and growing throughout the garden.


First this week I noticed the Irish and Scottish moss in bloom- I just love all the tiny little white flowers.



The bees are buzzing through the thyme's blossoms. My golden oregano is a beautiful color.



I love the purple flowers on the sage.


This little tree planted itself shortly after we had our fence built, it is too close to the house, and the fence, and at some point we will have to keep it very pruned or remove it- but I continue to be amazed how well this tree is growing all on its own- much better even than the shrubs that I planted carefully in prepared soil. I love the bright green of the new growth.



I look forward to the bright pink flowers on the Dianthus every year.




The Creeping Jenny is making its way around the shrubbery, I love its golden to chartreuse green color, sometimes I have to cut it back, but it is a great ground cover otherwise.



Here is how the Giant Weed from my previous post is doing- it is huge- I am amazed that in such a short time it is bigger than shrubs that I have had growing for nearly six years. It looks like it will have 4-5 flowers maybe more fairly soon. I will continue blogging the progress of this amazing weed all summer.



The Blueberries are doing well, it won't be long until we have all the blueberries we need for pancakes and muffins and a good Blueberry buckle.



I am doing my tomatoes in pots this year, just got them all in with their bamboo tripods for support. The green beans are more than an inch high, the summer squash have sprouted as well. Still waiting on the hubbard, and acorn squash and pumpkins to sprout, as well as the zinnias.



My bachelor buttons reseeded themselves from last year and are a beautiful purple blue color.

I am excited to continue watching my garden progress throughout the summer, I am endlessly fascinated by the miraculousness of gardens.

And the Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground-trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. Genesis 2:9a

Gnomes in the Garden

I just love garden gnomes. I know they are considered kitschy, but I think garden gnomes are great. Gnomes always look so industrious and friendly. So today, my post is about some of my garden gnomes, as well as some that decorate my house during the spring and summer.


This is a new gnome in the garden he is standing in the pepper patch.


Another new gnome has found a spot by the summer squash.


This is a wonderful maple tree that has six miniature gnomes living in its shade, next to some toadstools amongst the Irish and Scottish Moss.


Here are three of them close up.


This little gnome makes his home amongst the moss in the rock garden- as you can see the moss is in bloom!



These are my wonderful gnomes candle holders from Yankee Candle last year- I was so excited when I saw these!



These three colorful gnomes were spotted by my children in a seasonal discount section of Target- both of my children new that I would love them, and pointed them out right away.


This is a wonderful handmade wooden gnome and his home that we found in a great little Waldorf toy shop we found one day, he has been tucked into the bookshelf ever since.


This is a simple little purple gnome that I needle felted to match our Amethyst.



This is a classic book all about gnomes, I love the illustrations, as well as all of the fun facts. This book is written by Wil Huygen and illustrated by Rein Poortuliet.

Gnomes are fun to put out through the garden, tucked in to little garden spots, fun for the kids to see, hope everyone considers adding a gnome or two to their garden this year :)

Fried Corn Meal Mush

Last week I talked about the pantry staple- rice. This week I want to talk about corn meal. There are so many uses for corn meal, a very useful addition to any pantry. With it you can make corn bread, corn muffins, and corn meal pancakes-my second favorite pancake, my first one being my hubby amazing pancakes. There are wonderful Tamale pies that can be made using cornmeal, it can be used in breading chicken, making polenta, and I'm sure many other wonderful recipes.

My all time favorite Corn Meal recipe is Fried Corn Meal Mush. My mother made us this for special breakfasts, and was one of my favorite treats. It takes a little forethought, because you have to pre-make the mush and chill it in the fridge before frying, but it is well worth the effort. I use the recipe right off the box.

Alber's Fried Corn Meal Mush

3 1/2 c. water, divided
1 tsp. salt
1 1/4 c. corn meal

Combine 2 1/2 c. water and salt in saucepan. Bring to a boil. Mix cornmeal with remaining water (1 cup) in a small bowl. Add cornmeal mixture slowly to the boiling water, stirring constantly. Reduce heat to low, cook, stirring constantly, for 5 minutes or until mixture is thickened. Be cautious of hot splattering mush- as long as you are stirring it shouldn't bubble up on you too much.

Now at this point you have Corn Meal Mush (which can be eaten like any hot cereal) to turn it into fried corn meal mush, pour into a cooking spray coated 8 x 4 loaf pan. Refrigerate for about an hour or until set (over night works too).



Remove from pan, cut into 1/2 inch slices. I like mine a little thinner as you can see in the picture, I like mine to be crisper, so the thinner slice works better for that- everyone has their preference so I would try both at first.





Fry in a lightly greased skillet over medium-high heat for 4-5 minutes or until lightly browned on both sides. I like to fry in butter, although watch that the butter doesn't burn if you choose butter, also the thinner pieces that I like are more prone to breaking when flipping, thinner pieces have to be flipped carefully.





I would suggest making a double batch in two loaf pans if you are feeding more than four, or hungry teens- we only made one batch for our family of four, because my children are teens they eat adult size portions, it was just enough, but we could have had more, I will probably make two loaves worth next time.
Serve with syrup. Very yummy!! I hope everyone gives this recipe a try, as well as adds corn meal to the pantry. Have a beautiful weekend!

Jesus' Ascension Craft

Tomorrow- June 2, 2011 - marks 40 days from Easter Sunday. In the book of Acts Chapter 1 (Acts 1:1-11) one can read the story of how, 40 days after Jesus' resurrection, he was taken up into Heaven. Forty days after Easter is known as Ascension.

One fun way to teach children this story is with a fun craft. All you need are scissors, glue, some white and blue construction paper, about a foot and a half of ribbon or yarn, a paper cup, and a printout of Jesus (if your child is artistic, they may enjoy drawing Jesus).

First cut into the bottom of a cup a small slit for the ribbon,flip the cup upside down, then glue blue paper on the outside of the cup (it would be much easier to buy blue cups if you plan to do this for more than a couple children), then cut out cloud shapes from white construction paper, and glue them around the cup to represent the sky with clouds- (Acts 1:9 says- After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid them from their sight.)

Then print out a picture of Jesus that will fit inside the cup- I used a fairly large cup, I printed out a picture of Jesus from DLTK Bible website's Jesus mini book- here is the link you can copy and paste:
http://www.dltk-teach.com/minibooks/jesus/index.htm
I used the picture on page 7, I printed it in color then reduced it to 70 percent, you may have to reduce it further to fit your cup. Or you could color your own picture of Jesus. Cut out the picture, then put the picture on top of the blue construction paper and cut around the picture shape so you have a backing paper for Jesus' picture. Also cut out a cloud for the top piece, like shown in the picture, and a slightly larger copy of the cloud in blue construction paper. Using a glue stick, spread glue on the blue paper that fits Jesus' picture, then lay the bottom end of the ribbon or yarn on the blue paper, and then glue the picture of Jesus on top of the blue paper, sandwiching the ribbon in between the two papers.


This picture Shows how the ribon is sandwiched in between the picture and the blue paper.

Thread the ribbon through the hole in the bottom of the cup, so that by pulling the ribbon, you can pull Jesus up into the cup.


This picture shows Jesus part way up into the cup- he is able to be pulled all the way in.

At the top of the ribbon sandwich the ribbon between the white and blue cloud shapes, so that the ribbon will not fall back through, and so you have something to hold to pull Jesus up into the cup. Write on the cloud- He Lives! See top picture)

I have to give credit to craft book writers, it is not easy writing craft instructions, I think with the pictures, and my attempt at instructions, you can get the basic idea of this craft.

Along with this craft- read the story in Acts 1:1-11. I often find interesting discussion questions at this website, along with other great activities for a variety of Sunday school lessons, here is a link to a lesson about ascension at Sundayschoolsources.com
Lesson: Jesus Ascends

If you need an additional lesson activity, I love the mini books from the Take Home Bible Reproducible book, which I often use along with my lessons, definitely a useful book to have on hand if you regularly teach Sunday School, or to supplement your home school Bible classes. You can find more information about that book below at my Amazon Affiliate link.



The story of Jesus being taken up to heaven is an interesting one to share with children, hope everyone takes a few minutes to read this story in Acts tomorrow, and has fun making this craft. Have a great week!