Hello everyone, This is Christy’s mama. I wanted to take a few minutes to sit and visit with you on this exciting week leading up to Christmas.

I hope you are organized and right on time with all your Christmas plans. Or, you may be more like the rest of us.

We all start out with the best laid plans. By this time of the season, we had hoped to have all the gifts purchased and wrapped, all of the decorating done, the calendar all planned, and the groceries purchased for the Christmas baking. The reality is that I have a few gifts bought, none of them wrapped, a few baking needs purchased and I noticed there are a few days when I should be in two places at once. It is the same every year and every year I resolve to do better next year.

I read in a magazine a few years ago about a lady who was stressed one Christmas because everything was pushed to the last minute. From that year on, she made sure that her house was decorated and all the gifts bought and wrapped by the first of December. Then she was able to relax and enjoy the baking and festivities with the rest of her family. I admired her for being able to do that and hoped to learn from her.

What I ended up learning was that I am not capable of being that lady. No matter how much I try to stay on schedule, life happens. Opportunities come about that are just too good to pass up, shopping with friends, dinner out, visiting with family, or just sitting and stitching. Somehow though, everything gets done and the kids don’t seem to notice that decorations are not perfect or that a few of the cookies are store bought ( put the store bought cookies on a pretty platter and the kids marvel at the new recipe and how good they are!).

Now to get back to the purpose of my little story. One thing I do to make the holidays a little more organized is mark the holiday recipes that my family loves and expects with a highlighter. Then I can easily turn to them and make a few that everyone expects. I am attaching links to the ones that have become tried and true recipes for our family. These are the ones that we usually have every year and the ones that we all love.

I hope that you take the time to relax a little and reflect on the true reason we celebrate Christmas. It’s not really about all the rushing and gift buying. Christmas is to celebrate our Savior’s birth and spend time with friends and family. When everyone is gathered together, no one notices if the ornaments are perfectly hanging from the tree or if the tablecloth is pressed. Look at the gleam in the little ones eyes and experience the magic of the season. When you do this, everything will be put back in perspective and you will see that you are exactly where you should be on your “to-do” list after all.

Have a Merry Christmas and enjoy your friends and family.

Now I’m off to bake red velvet cakes and wrap gifts! Enjoy the season and remember, Mama loves you!

Must do recipes in our Family:

• Red (green) velvet cake (Christy explains why we make ours green in her cookbook, page  170)
• Mini Cheesecakes (Christy’s cookbook Page 169)
• Holly Jollies (we always make a TON of these for teacher and classmate gifts)
• Cut Out Cookies for Santa (We’ve been making these since Christy was a baby)
• Peppermint Bark
• Peanut Butter, Chocolate, and/or Cinnamon Fudge (One recipe, three flavors can be made)
• Fruitcake cookies
• Creole candy (Christy’s Cookbook, page 159 )
• Microwave Chex Mix

“Happiness will never come to those

who fail to appreciate what they already have.”

~ Unknown

It’s Mama again. I thought I’d stop by for a little visit and to encourage you to think about something that’s been on my heart lately.

Do you have a little guilty pleasure that you reward yourself with?  Everyone needs something that they do for themselves.  People, especially women and moms, do so much for their families and co-workers that sometimes, they forget to do something for the most important person, themselves.

I had a friend who amazed me once with her guilty pleasure.  She had a family and worked full time.  She told me that about twice a year, she took a vacation day and did not tell her family.  She spent the whole day doing whatever she decided to do with no interruptions!  I was, at first, horrified!  How could she not tell her family?  What if they needed her?  Then I realized that it was exactly her point.  If they knew, they would all have something for her to take care of for them.  (Since she was off all day with nothing to do!)

My grandmother worked from sun up until sun down.  My mother still remembers her guilty pleasure.  She always put on her little pot and had a cup of coffee each morning. I know it had to have a little guilt associated with it since coffee was something she had to purchase.  They were on a limited income to say the least.  I am glad to know that she did this one little thing for herself.  She is an example that we all need to follow. It left a smile on her daughters face 82 years later to remember that she had that cup of coffee each morning.

I am not so bold.  I am still working on putting myself first for just a few seconds everyday.  I do go to a quilt retreat a couple of times a year for a few days.  We socialize with friends we only see during that time.  We make quilts and swap patterns and techniques.  It is really a fun way to rejuvenate myself even though I am usually working on gifts for others or quilts for grandkids or my kids.  The point is I am participating in a hobby and love that we all share.  Meals are cooked for us and the towels are replenished.  No laundry to think about or homes to clean for a few days.

I also make little frozen fruit cups for myself to enjoy midday when I want a special snack.  It took awhile for me to get in the habit of making them.  I had to realize that being able to go to the freezer and take out my little comfort food, thawing it in the microwave and sitting down by myself to enjoy a special treat was worth the small effort that it took.  It was something that I did for me and I was worth it!

Look around and pay attention to yourself.  Decide on some little guilty pleasure that you  would enjoy.  It doesn’t take much to make you feel special.  It doesn’t have to be a whole day off by yourself. Just a cup of guilty pleasure coffee is fine if it starts your day off right and makes you feel special.  You need to feel special if you are going to take care of the needs of everyone else in your life.

Take a few minutes and let me know what your guilty pleasure is.  If you don’t have one yet, think about what yours would be and then set out to make it happen.  After all, we all need to take time for ourselves everyday so that we can better take care of all that is put on our plates.

Do something just for you today, because you’re worth it and remember, Mama loves you and I’ll see you soon!

~Mama

If you’re on Pinterest or Facebook, I’d love it if you could use one of the buttons above -Thanks!

Southerners are known for our love of bacon grease and the zeal with which we save this “Liquid gold” but I’ve found that a lot of folks are saving bacon grease without really knowing what to do with it so I decided to write this post in hopes of giving you some ideas and letting you know how it was used in days gone by – and can still be used today.

I’d love for you to chime in on the comments thread if you have other uses not listed here and I’ll come back and add them in with credit to you of course!

Interesting facts about Bacon Grease

*Bacon grease is one of the most flavorful oils.
*Bacon grease is used as an all purpose flavoring as well as a base for many recipes.
*One teaspoon has 38 calories.
*It’s Green! By reusing Bacon Grease, you save money, avoid waste by not using store bought oil when you don’t need it, and have more flavorful results than by using other cooking oils.
*I did a series of posts entitled “Oh My Bacon Grease!” when my husband threw an ENTIRE jar of bacon grease away. I posted recipes using bacon and replenished my stash by week’s end.

How To Use Bacon Grease

Substitution For Oils In Recipes And In Frying – Bacon Grease can be used in place of oils in recipes and in frying.

Greasing Muffin Tins or Cast Iron Skillets for breads - Before you put your cornbread or hoe cake batter in that skillet, grease it with a little solidified bacon grease. To make this mess free, fold a paper towel in fourths and cover your index and middle finger with it. Dip your covered fingers into the bacon grease and wipe the inside of your skillet. Toss paper towel away when done.

Make Milk Gravy - Milk gravy begins with a base of two tablespoons bacon grease. Heat them in a large skillet, add two or three tablespoons of flour and cook until flour is browned. Slowly add milk while stirring constantly and continue cooking until gravy is thickened over medium heat. For photos on making gravy, click here.

Cornbread - Many cornbread recipes call for a tablespoon or so of melted bacon grease added to the batter for extra flavor. This makes such a big difference that it’s worth it to save your baking grease for cornbread alone! Click here for my recipe.

Seasoning Dried Beans - Traditional beans are seasoned with a ham bone or bits of ham to add flavor. If you find yourself without any of these, just add two or three tablespoons of bacon grease to the cooking water and they’ll taste just as good. Click here for my recipe.

Fried Corn- Fried corn is often called Creamed Corn. No matter what you call it, adding a tablespoon of bacon grease makes it better than ever! Click here for my recipe.

Green Beans - Whether they’re from the can, garden, or freezer, green beans taste just like Grandma’s when you add a tablespoon of bacon grease! Click here for my recipe.

Any Other Vegetable You Can Think Of! -  Just about any type of vegetable can be made better with 1/2 to 1 tablespoon of bacon grease added while cooking. Try it with cabbage, greens, I’ve even seen folks fry green tomatoes in it!

Wilted Greens - Fry up some bacon and set it aside. Pour a little bit of the hot grease over fresh dark greens and then top with crumbled bacon for a wilted lettuce salad like we had in the old days.

Frying Eggs – I really and truly will not make fried eggs without bacon grease. I place a tablespoon or so in my skillet and let it melt, then fry my eggs in it.

Delicious oven fries - Spread some bacon grease into the bottom of a jelly roll pan. Cut potatoes into long wedges with the skin still on them and sprinkle with kosher salt. Place on top of the bacon grease and put in a 400 degree oven until browned, about 45 minutes to an hour. Turn every fifteen minutes to get evenly browned and allow the bottoms to oven fry in that delicious grease.

These are just SOME of the countless uses for bacon grease and I’d love to hear more ideas fro you in the comments section at the bottom of this post!

How to store bacon grease:

Allow to cool slightly and then pour into a container. It is important to have one specific container for just bacon grease and make sure not to put any other type of grease in it. Many people strain theirs but my mother and I don’t. I enjoy all those little yummy bits of bacon and since I store mine in the fridge or freezer, they’re fine in there.

My grandmother always kept a metal soup can on the back of her stove with her grease in it.

Counter Top or Refrigerator?

Bacon grease is traditionally stored on the stovetop or next to the stove, but nowadays we don’t use it nearly as often as folks used to so it is best to store it in the refrigerator. If left on the counter indefinitely, bacon grease will go rancid. This used to not be a problem because it was used and replenished so often back in the old days. If bacon grease goes rancid, you WILL know it and you will Not want to use it. The refrigerator guards against this and your bacon grease will last for months and months and months!

Having said that - If you prefer to keep your bacon grease on the counter, more power to ya! Your kitchen = your rules.

Another bonus to storing bacon grease in the fridge: Room temp bacon grease remains a little on the liquid side. Refrigerated bacon grease solidifies and becomes the consistency of shortening, making it super easy to measure and scoop out whatever you need for recipes.

Did you know that you can freeze bacon grease?

Every now and then a jar will fill up and I just seal it and put it in the freezer. Then, I start another jar in the fridge. It never hurts to have extra Bacon Grease can last indefinitely in the freezer if sealed well.

Interesting Bacon Grease History

During WWII, Housewives were encouraged to save their bacon grease and turn it in to help with the war effort. Disney even got on board with a propaganda movie to help promote this. You’ll notice Minnie about to pour the bacon grease over the dog food – many people still swear by this. I wouldn’t reccommend a whole skiletful but a tablespoon or so is said to help give them a shiny coat. It is also neat to note that in the film the government suggested keeping bacon grease in the refrigerator to keep it from going rancid, as we discussed above. This wouldn’t have been a problem if it was being used every day, but since it was being stored up for a longer period of time, it was needed, much like we store it today.

Photo Gallery of YOUR Grease Jars!

I asked if anyone would like to send me photos of their grease jars from home and WOW, what an exciting response! I’ve spent about two hours going through them and uploading them to this post. More keep pouring in so I’ll try to add more as time allows later. Thank you so much! I have really enjoyed getting to see these and hope you will too!

Okay so I’m going to start with two of my photos and then I’ll move on to the ones y’all were so kind to send.

This is an example of a range set from the 1930′s – 1950′s. The center piece is the grease jar, but I use it for a salt crock because it is too rare for me to be pouring hot grease into it when I can just as easily use a mason jar. The salt and pepper shaker beside it are reproductions, and not very good reproductions at that, but I don’t have the originals and I wanted to show you what a typical range set looked like.

This is my current grease jar. I have more in the freezer

Now on to yours!! I loved getting to see all of these and know you will, too!

When it comes to storing up bacon grease, Becky Young doesn’t play around!

Alicia from gatewaytosaving.com keeps it simple in a half pint canning jar. Notice all those yummy bits!

Amanda Kornegay is another canning jar gal See that fresh layer on top?

Angie Blake uses an old jelly jar

See how we recycle?

Angie Gilchrist has an old spaghetti sauce jar plum full!

…and now we know that Beth Hamilton uses the same spaghetti sauce as Angie Gilchrist I love her list behind the mixer!

Kat Norman’s used to belong to her grandmother.

 This is my Mama’s grease jar. it is designed for a soup can to fit inside to hold the grease.

Brenda Parker with her red lid topped Ball canning jar

Carolyn Berryhill has a vintage model with a convenient pouring spout!

Charlene Pinke keeps it simple with a coffee cup

As does Cynthia Brandon. Nothing like using what you have on hand and what works!

Jenny Hester uses an old pickle jar

Jenn Preble looks to be using a spaghetti sauce jar as well.

I’m with y’all, I just hate to throw those things away because they’re such good jars!

Heather Dedeaux has a handy dandy bowl to scoop out of

Ginger Grayson looks to be using an old Cheez Whiz jar (perhaps) but I love the short fat size of it and wide mouth opening for scooping!

Donna Gordon has one of the vintage grease cannisters

Dianne Ledet doubles up!

Debbie has another vintage grease pot with a spout and strainer

Jill S has a nice jar of refrigerated bacon grease with a lovely scoop missing that likely made a yummy breakfast!

Rowena Giddings and her well used jar.

Some good cookin’ going on in that kitchen…

Ross Jordan has a cute jar with a reminder from whence it came…

Rose Daily has a beautiful little ceramic container.

Renee HS Calls hers the “Bacon Bliss Bowl”

I love this container Paula Papen!

Melissa Jensen keeps hers in gladware containers – and I LOVE how she has two of them! One filled up and she kept on going! lol

Lisa V shows us the inside of her fridge, with the bacon grease center stage!

I’ve often thought about photographing the inside of my fridge and showing y’all but I’m afraid it would cause nightmares for all of the neat and organized folks…

Laura Morris with another fridge shot. Hey! I have that same salad dressing!

Laura Bailey’s jar looks kinda like a candle

You can actually use bacon grease to make candles ….or you can fry your veggies in it. I’d choose my stomach any day. You can buy candles

Kathy Malphrus posed her big old jar of grease right next to some actual bacon! Now that is a sight for sore eyes!

Sandy Rooks has a pretty stainless grease pot

How could you not love Tom Miller’s “Bacon Butter” pitcher?

Tinnah N Has another well used recycled jar. Way to go, Tinnah!

Teresa Leonard has several jars proudly posing behind some fresh bacon

I buy those big old packages, too!

I believe Tammy Bish said this jar was from her mother

Stephanie Carlton has some good looking solid grease in there!

I have MANY more pictures to post but have to get some other work done first so check back later for more of your pics! 

Be sure and tell me how you use bacon grease in the comments section below! 

“If it can’t be fried in bacon grease, it ain’t worth cooking, let alone eating.”

~ Southern proverb

  I come from a long line of proud, hard-working country people, and despite what you might see on television from time to time or hear about ever now and then, we country people are definitely not stupid or ignorant. My ancestors may have talked differently from others but they were soft spoken gentle people.

A while back, I happened upon a documentary on Appalachian people. I try not to call Christy when these are on because more often than not they subtitle folks as they talk and nothing gets her riled faster than seeing Southerners subtitled…

This particular documentary really stood out to me, though, because I recognized a lot of phrases used by my grandparents, phrases that I’m often corrected on nowadays because folks simply don’t understand them. As it turns out, the words make perfect sense (and always have), it’s just that they were somewhat foreig – what things were called in England and Scotland years earlier and passed down generation by generation.

A prime example is a phrase I’ve heard all of my life. My grandmother (Lela) always complained that we kids were “A messin’ and a gomin’ ”.  I always wondered what “goming” was.  A man on the documentary explained that goming was making a real mess or being messy.  Brings to mind how we were always in the kitchen fixing us a snack and leaving a mess behind-“goming”.

My grandmother “toted stuff in a paper poke”.  Translated that means carrying things in a paper sack.  Times were hard and my grandmother carefully folded her used paper pokes to be reused whenever she got any.  They were reused until they were soft and floppy.  Unknowingly she was practicing saving the earth. Country folk recycled long before it was popular.  Every now and then I toss a plastic throwaway container in the trash and I can’t help but pause to think of how my grandmother would have loved and cherished something as simple as a plastic container.

Country people rose with the dawn, worked the fields all day, raised all their own food, and preserved it to feed their families through the winter.  They made every piece of clothing their family had and even recycled outgrown clothing into clothes for younger children or quilts to provide warmth on long winter nights.  Nothing was wasted.  Every scrap, thread, and piece of string was valued and saved.

I am often corrected for saying “warsh” instead of wash. Christy tells me that her kids have told her she is supposed to pronounce her father’s title “Da-dee” instead of “Deh-dee”.  We aren’t supposed to say ain’t, pokes, “coo-pun” instead of q-pon and the likes. Often, I am torn between using what I know as proper grammar and holding on to the speech and values of my beloved ancestors.  It feels as if I am turning my back on them if I change my ways.  On the other hand, if I don’t I am perceived as backwards or uneducated. Many a Southerner (or folks from any region with a specific dialect for that matter) struggle with these same feelings.

From my ancestors, I have learned values, how to work hard, and integrity that no school could ever teach.  Just like Northerners speak differently, so do I and I will continue to do so. I am proud to be from great loving hardworking stock.  I can never turn my back on my heritage but I will try to tone down the “ain’t” at school assemblies for my grandkids as long as they’ll sit and listen to my stories of the people they come from – I figure that is a fair trade off. It is my hope to pass on the integrity with which my ancestors lived every day.  I may sound more like them than future generations will, but I only hope I can be half the person that they were.

When asking my Mother what should I do in a sticky situation, she would answer…

“In your heart of hearts you already know the answer. You just have to listen to your heart.”

~Advice from Dawn Tierney’s mother that Dawn submitted on our Give a Penny Page.

Today my mother, Janice Davis, shares her memories of the summer days before air conditioning! I sure enjoyed reading this and hope you will, too. Gratefully, Christy

Do you remember the days before air conditioning?  We got  our first air conditioner when I was five years old and we moved into our new home.  I remember the noise that it made.  Until we got used to it, the sound was deafening.

Before we moved into the new home, we lived in a small house in a close knit neighborhood.  We had a box fan that was installed into a window in the living room.  All of us kids would sing into the fan.  It made singing a great pastime as it threw the words back out at us.  It didn’t hurt that we also had the cooling breeze in our faces.

My grandmother had a small oscillating fan that sat on a table in her living room.  We loved to put our finger on the center circle of the fan as it spun around.  The grownups always fussed at us and told us that we were going to cut our fingers off and not to do it.  I think the danger of it is what encouraged us to always give it a try. No one ever cut their finger off that I knew of though – but that isn’t to say that today’s fans couldn’t accomplish such a thing (in other words, don’t try this at home!).

We lived next door to my grandmother.  I remember one day that my cousin and I wanted to play in my house.  My grandmother kept us during the day and we weren’t allowed to go in house because my parents were at work.  We decided that if we were sweating really bad that my grandmother would be worried that we were too hot and would allow us to go there to cool off (We had air conditioning but Mama Reed didn’t).  We went to the hose and doused ourselves from head to toe with water.  I’m sure my grandmother knew what we had done but she let us go next door to play.  I can still remember us trying to decide how wet we should be in order to be convincing enough.

Thinking back about the hot days of summer,  I didn’t really remember the heat so much as the memories of the summertime days.  Playing with friends and family and enjoying the carefree days  took over the memories of how hot Southern summers were.  I hope that you have nice childhood summer memories also.

All of these are memories that our children will never know.  I don’t remember thinking that it was so hot outside or anywhere else we went.  There was no air conditioning in stores, churches or restaurants.  Everyone was used to the heat and seemed to cope pretty well.

Kids would get up in the morning, eat breakfast and then head outside for a day of play.  There was no reason to stay inside since the temperature inside was usually at least 10 degrees hotter than outside.  We ran, played in the hose, built clubhouses, and caught honey bees in fruit jars.  Heat sure didn’t slow us down any!

Now parents have to try to get their children to go outside and play.  Children nowadays are used to being inside where the air conditioning keeps the house nice and cool but I can’t help but think they’re missing out on one of the best parts of a childhood.

Do you remember the days before air conditioning?  Do you remember playing in the hose because it was hot enough to fry an egg on the sidewalk?  Did you have a large box fan in your window?

I look forward to reminiscing with you in the comments below and remember, Mama loves you!

Love,

Mama

Life is too serious to be taken seriously.

Submitted by Stephanie. Submit your quote by clicking here.

My granddaughters, Katy Rose and Elle, with my father.

Hello from the Deep South, home of magnolias, sweet tea and sweltering hot summers!  I am Christy’s Mama and have been invited to share a little wisdom gleamed from my years of experience.  Some of it may come in handy and others may just be a little bit of rambling thoughts from my cobwebbed brain.  You can take either with a grain of salt.  If you have any comments or suggestions along the way, they will be welcomed.  Remember, I am getting old so coddle me a bit.  Well, here goes!

Today I want to talk about our living ancestors. Do you have a grandparent, older aunt, or uncle living?  If so, call today and set up a time for a visit.  It doesn’t have to be in person if they live a little far off from you.  A phone call will do nicely.  I’m sure you will be pleasantly surprised by the outcome and I’m sure your relative will be more than willing to talk with you.  They are some of your family’s most precious resources- connect with them!

Is there a favorite food you enjoyed as a child that was prepared by someone in your family?  Have you ever wondered about how family traditions started?  Or have you ever thought about tracing your family tree?  Your older relatives are the easiest way to solve these mysteries and sadly, once these relatives pass on, their knowledge goes with them.

Take a week or so, to think about growing up and some of the memories that come to mind.  Make a list of questions you would like answered.  You will probably be surprised at the things you think of.  Christy hears of so many people that enjoyed a certain food when they were small and long for just one more taste of it.  Most of the time it is an everyday food that was prepared from memory and just can’t quite be duplicated.  All it would have taken was a few minutes to watch it being prepared and taking a few notes.  But when that relative passed on, the  recipe was lost forever.  Don’t let this happen to you.

If you have ever thought of taking up genealogy as a hobby, your relatives are your best and easiest by far resource for getting a great start.  Ask about grandparents, parents, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc.  Take detailed notes and list any names, locations, birth dates, marriages, deaths, etc.  Let your relative talk about whatever crosses their mind.  You will learn much more than names and dates.  You will learn about the where and why that made your family what it was.

If you are able to, take older relatives back to where they lived and went to school, church, etc.  It is amazing the stories that they will recall.  I have done this with my mother who is 80 years young and even though I had asked questions a thousand times with no answers, it was amazing some of the things she remembered when taken back to the places where she had carried on her day to day life.

Also ask your older relatives if they have any old family pictures.  Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words.  By sure and list who the people are in the picture.  Believe me, I am speaking from experience.  You will probably forget Aunt Sophie’s sister’s name and where they were when the picture was taken.  Nowadays, it just takes a quick trip and a little cash to get a picture copied.  The old pictures don’t mean a thing if you don’t know who is in them.  Old pictures are some of my most prized possessions and I’m sure they will become some of yours too!

To get you started, take a minute and think about what you would have liked to know from relatives who have  passed on.  Then, you may just realize the importance of taking advantage of the resources you have before they are gone.  We are all busy and even though we have good intentions, it seems like we have a hard time getting around to some of the important aspects of our lives.  Please make an appointment to take care of a little family business before it is too late.  This is just a little advice from me to you.

I’d love to hear some of the wisdom or family history you have uncovered just by taking the time to talk with your living relatives. Please feel free to chat with me in the comments section below. I’ll read them all and look forward to answering!

I’ll be talking with you from time to time but until then, remember Mama loves you and I’ll see you soon!

~Mama

Me and my husband, Bill (Bill and Janice Davis)

“There are only two lasting bequests we can give our children – one is roots, and the other, wings.”

~Hodding S. Carter