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I’m going to be bringing you a recipe that isn’t a sweet soon, but I wanted to have this delicious recipe to you before Valentine’s day in case you’d like to make it for your sweetie’s breakfast. Assemble everything the night before and then just pop it in the oven in the morning and breakfast is served!

Before I go into the recipe you know I have to chat though! Yesterday evening while I was making supper I got a phone call from my friend, Tim (or Teeeyuhm as is the proper Slabama pronunciation). Tim and I have known each other for several years and lately we’ve been working on our first project together, a Southern lifestyle radio show that we’ll be distributing through several channels (including the internet, so anyone reading this will be able to download it and listen free).
I’ve spoke about it briefly on the Front Porch and got some great input from y’all there! We filmed our first few shows two weeks ago but then never put them out there once we got them produced because – dun Dun DUN!

Some friends of ours who are Dj’s listened to them and liked us (there’s just no accounting for taste these days ya know) and invited us to come record our show live in their studio. Out of this we’ve also managed to get advertisers and a producer, which is pretty dern cool for not having a single show air yet!  So that is where I’ll be this Saturday morning, recording and likely feeding people in a radio studio. This time around you should hear the final product hopefully within a week.
Oh wait, I had a point…

So Tim was acting as a go between to set up a time that we would be there to record. I asked him if we could do it in the morning since that is a special day for me and I wanted to spend the bigger part of it with the kids.

He said “Oh sure, the morning works best for me, too. So you wanna meet say around ten?”

I laughed at him. You know, because I’m just that kind of friend.

“Tim, 10 o clock is not morning. 10 o clock is practically lunchtime”

Tim spoke in his defense that he wakes up at 6:00 AM each morning but he can’t be creative until at least ten. After I explained to him that my grandmother refers to his getting up at 6:00 AM as “just a laying up in the bed until six” I finally managed to talk him down to 9:00. Now my goal is to eventually shame him into 8:00 a.m. ~giggle~

Yeah, I’m definitely a morning person. I have a multitude of reasons for this BUT
It’s not that I’m better than anyone else, therefore I rise in the morning…AND
It’s not that I don’t like sleep (sleep and I have a very committed relationship)…AND
It’s not that I want to one up everyone else with my wakeup time or that I really and truly have to start work at 4:00 AM.

The truth of the matter is I’m a major construction project so I’ve got to get to work early. No, I don’t mean makeup and hair, although that takes a good bit of work as well.  I mean Me, as a person, myself, I’m under some serious construction. In order to be a better person, to live up to whatever meager potential that has been placed within me – I’ve got some serious work to do so I gotta get going on it early.

Being a positive person? That takes work. Making sure I have a filter in place so I don’t say everything I want to say? That takes some serious work (and sometimes i have to sit on my hands so they won’t type!). Having my head in the right place so I don’t even think ugly things to begin with? Better make sure we have a full crew present on site each day by 5:00 am at the latest. 

Loving others? Okay, that comes easy. It’s so very easy to love other people and I’ll admit that part comes naturally for me. But being the kind of person I was meant to be? Disciplining myself on a day to day basis to fill the shoes that were placed before me?  – that takes some work. So I gotta start early.
Coffee anyone?

11111

You’ll need: Eggs, Strawberry Preserves*, Cream Cheese, Vanilla (not the gallon I have pictured here, just a little bit will do), Milk, and a loaf of French Bread.

*If you aren’t crazy about strawberry preserves just get your favorite, but this sho nuff is some good stuff with the strawberry in there!

Make sure your cream cheese is good and soft and place it in a mixing bowl with about 3 Tablespoons of preserves.

Mix that up with your electric mixer until good and blended.

Like this.

Now take your loaf of bread and cut some big old honking slices out of it.

We want our slices to be anywhere from an inch and a half to two inches thick.

Using a knife, cut a little pocket into each one, making sure you don’t cut all the way through to the bottom or all the way through to the sides. We just want a little pocket in the very center that we can stuff our cream cheese mixture into.

Oh, by the way, you can totally use fat fee or low fat cream cheese or that other thing folks use in place of cream cheese called neufetchel or something like that.

You can also use sugar free preserves if you want. It’s a free country

Here are our slices all stuffed and ready to go.

Spray a 9×13 baking dish with cooking spray.

This is a deeper than normal baking dish but you can use a regular one if you like, it will be just fine.

Place them all on their sides in the baking dish.

Mix your other ingredients really well.

I just use a fork to do this with..

Slowly pour liquid over bread slices. I pour a little over the top of each one until I run out.

Cover and place in the refrigerator overnight.

Sometimes I make this as a special treat as part of our supper and then I just assemble in the morning and let sit in the fridge, covered, all day.

When ready to bake, remove cover and bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes, or until golden.

At this point my assistant food stylist had set the plate out and arranged some strawberries for me and said “Here, get a picture of me so they know I helped”

Here she is, in her rhinestone tiara. We had just got back from going out shopping together and she wore the tiara the entire time.

I asked her, before leaving, if she thought she should take it off or wear it and she said “Oh Mama, it’s just the same thing as a headband, only sparklier!”.

I’ll be danged if that isn’t a smart kid!

And here is the lovely final photograph she helped arrange!

To prepare your strawberry syrup, simply take some strawberry preserves and place them in a microwave safe cup or small pitcher and follow the instructions in the recipe below. This makes a delicious and super easy syrup!

MAKE THIS SUGAR FREE – simply by using sugar free preserves! 

Note: There is a print link embedded within this post, please visit this post to print it.

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I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed reading your comments in the post my mother wrote yesterday.

I dearly love any time I get to hear from you but I especially enjoy the comments here on Southern Plate because I get to save them here and I have a much better chance of getting to write back to you.

Are you a construction project, too? Do you think you’re going to make this french toast soon? What is the best part of each morning for you? I’d love for you to answer any of these questions or just drop a “Hidy” in the comments below!

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For more Valentine’s Recipes, be sure and check out:

• My Sweet Valentine’s  (cookies that are the actual Valentine!)
• Valentine’s Cupcake Toppers (video) - This has my kids in it and wow, they’ve grown so much since then!
• Mama’s Milk Dunkin’ M&M Cookies for Valentine’s Day - A childhood favorite, use those Christmas M&M’s!
• Cinnamon Love Knots (using frozen bread dough!)

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~The Wolf Within~

An old Grandfather, whose grandson came to him with anger at a schoolmate who had done him an injustice, said, “Let me tell you a story. I too, at times, have felt a great hate for those that have taken so much, with no sorrow for what they do. But hate wears you down, and does not hurt your enemy. It is like taking poison and wishing your enemy would die. I have struggled with these feelings many times.”

He continued, “It is as if there are two wolves inside me; one is good and does no harm. He lives in harmony with all around him and does not take offense when no offense was intended. He will only fight when it is right to do so, and in the right way.”

“But the other wolf, ah! He is full of anger. The littlest thing will set him into a fit of temper. He fights everyone, all the time, for no reason. He cannot think because his anger and hate are so great. It is hard to live with these two wolves inside me, for both of them try to dominate my spirit.”

The boy looked intently into his Grandfather’s eyes and asked, “Which one wins, Grandfather?”

The Grandfather solemnly said, “The one I feed.”

A Native American tale told many times around the Sacred Fire.
Author Unknown

June is National Dairy Month! To celebrate it, we were invited to visit an Alabama dairy farm courtesy of the Southeast United Dairy Association. We had a WONDERFUL family day and I’m so excited to bring you along with us in today’s post!

This is Mr. and Mrs. Childers, who celebrate their 47th wedding anniversary next Tuesday.  They were so kind to invite us to visit their dairy and you couldn’t hope to meet a nicer couple. They are a friendly as the day is long.

Mrs. Childer’s grandfather began the dairy in 1945.  He had purchased some jersey cows and bred them to sell but when the calves started coming they found they didn’t have a buyer so they built a barn and started milking instead. When Mrs. Childer’s father came home from the war he just sort of stepped in and took over taking care of the cows and eventually built up the herd.

Mr. and Mrs. Childers met when they were both attending Auburn and were married in 1964. They both graduated in 1966 and moved home to start their own small dairy. By then, though, her father’s barn was in need of remodeling and some new equipment so the couple decided to merge the two herds and ended up with over 400 cows, in a rather crowded neighborhood. Mr Childer’s says “We got a lot of notice from the neighbors so we decided to move over to another location and built a brand new facility in 1983.”

And that is the facility we had the opportunity to visit.

We began our day in the break room, eating Mrs. Childer’s delicious oatmeal cookies and washing them down with ice cold milk (of course!) then we moved on to the milking room. (I’ve already asked for the recipe and will bring it to you soon!)

The dairy is a true family business, with two sons and several grandchildren helping out now. This is my family with Mrs. Mary and her husband (Mary works for the the Southeast Dairy Association), Mister Childers, his granddaughter Anna and his grandson Murphy (front right).

As we went through the farm, little Murphy, age four, caught me gazing up in admiration at a long line of cows getting ready to be milked and he softly pulled me down to his level and proudly said “Them’s my cows.”

Katy Rose checking out the milking process

Each cow is equipped with a sensor on their ankle.

As they come in to the milking stations the computer instantly reads that, picks up what cow it is and records all of the milk production and several other areas of data on the cow.

If the cow is determined to be ill or in distress in any way, they are then tagged in the computer and given special care to ensure they get well again. Instead of being milked, they are led out of the barn and a special gate (connected to the computer) opens when they get near it to send them to a section of the farm where they are looked after.

Okay, so it is much more technical than that but that is the jist of it.

It is amazing how well cared for the cows are and how sterile your milk is.

Did you know that the dairy industry is one of the most heavily regulated industries in the United States?

This is everyone headed out to the big barn, which is kind of like a little cow barracks

Murphy and his cows.

I just love this photo of the Childer’s daughter in law, Leigh Ann and her younguns, Murphy and Anna.

I love this photo of Miss Mary talking cows with Katy Rose. She looks like one of those Normal Rockwell kids

Here are the cows in what basically amounts to their beds. They just kinda roam in and out of the fields and shade as they want. Not a bad life!

Brady and Mister Childers talking about the cow business.

Mooo!

Don’t you just love black and white cows?

They have a pretty good setup here!

This is a big old pile of soil and fertilizer. There is a pretty involved drainage process throughout the farm and all of the water used to wash out the areas is then sent to a pond. The pond water is then filtered out, sediment removed to this pile, and reused. This pile then gets spread out over the fields where food for the cows is grown. Pretty cool.

Here is one of those drainage canals which is taking the water to the pond. I love how self efficient it all is.

And now for the best part!  BABY COWS!

Brady and Katy loved getting to meet all of the calves. The first one mooed as she went to pet it and she said “Mama, that cow growled at me!”

I said “Katy Rose baby, cows don’t growl, they moo.”

To which she replied “Well you didn’t hear that one then!”

Katy Rose and Murphy

This is Katy checking out the calf “crib”

Isn’t that the sweetest thing?

I highly recommend searching in your area to see if there is a dairy farm your family can visit. We had such a fun day!

I wanted to take this little baby home with me

Later on the Childers gave the kids popsicles while they continued with their cow gazing.

I just love this place!

Special thanks to Miss Mary for arranging this tour for us!

We had a FABULOUS day!

Happy Cows from from Happy Farmers

You can get your own coloring page like this by clicking here.

If you color one, ask your parents to post a photo of you and your picture on my Facebook page so we can see what a great job you did!

Be sure and check out the other great free kid’s activities they have, too!

Pour one more!

Experts reccommend three servings of milk a day but studies show that most people are falling short. An easy remedy to this problem is to “Pour One More” glass of milk a day for better health and stronger bones!

Here are some yummy ways to add more milk to your diet:

• Coffee drinker? Make it a latte! I love adding whole milk to my coffee. To make the coffee extra creamy and smooth, I pour the milk into my cup first and microwave it for about thirty seconds before adding in my coffee.
• Thrill the kids with Smoothies! Smoothies are a favorite of the whole family. They can be made with yogurt, milk, and a variety of your favorite fruits. For a quick and easy smoothie recipe, check out my Bananaritas by clicking here. You can also check out my recipe for Orange Juice Specials (similar to an Orange Julius) by clicking here.
• Yogurt! We all love Yogurt and each of us has a favorite. My husband likes Yoplait. Katy Rose likes Trix yogurt. Brady likes that Yoplait smoothie yogurt, and I love the Fiber One and Activia Light yogurts (key lime pie is my favorite!). That new greek yogurt is also very good, especially with some honey stirred in.



Pour One More today!

Be sure to search on the internet for great National Dairy Month Events in your area!  This weekend in my hometown of Huntsville, Alabama the Burritt Museum is having a Dairy Day. Click here for details.

You can also visit Working Cows Dairy online, Alabama’s own organic Dairy Farm

And be sure and check out Wright Dairy as well!

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**GIVEAWAY**

June Dairy Month Giveaway from the Southeast Dairy Association




To celebrate National Dairy Month, EVERY DAY THIS MONTH the great folks at the Southeast Dairy Association are giving away all sorts of great prizes like t shirts, hats, and even grocery gift cards! To enter, check out their facebook page for details!

Go say hi to them and get more details on their Facebook page by clicking here!

(Be sure and tell them I sent ya!)

Happiness cannot be traveled to, owned, earned,

worn or consumed. Happiness is the spiritual experience of living every minute with love, grace, and gratitude.

– Denis Waitley

Thank you, Jenny, for submitting this wonderful quote. If you’d like to view some of the hundreds of others that have been submitted, or add your own, please click here.

Disclaimer: This post was not sponsored by anyone and I wasn’t financially compensated. We did have a great family day, though, and no amount of money can buy that! I hope you get to visit a dairy farm soon, it’s a great experience.

When I was a girl, my mother was a saint. I was one of those children who talked contantly (Never saw that one coming, huh) and was always right up on her with questions and endless conversation. I can’t ever remember a time, even now, when I haven’t been trying to figure the world out, finding some new angle almost daily to view it through and gain a better understanding of the whys and what-fors of any given situation.

I was one to question, examine, and then declare my findings. Again, much how I do now. But folks, I can tell ya, My poor mama needed a break from time to time and she always came up with wonderful ways to keep me busy while giving me something else to figure out.

Most of these actiities have become habit for me now, ways I busy myself in the odd need to be doing multiple tasks in order to focus. My friend, Jyl is night and day different from me in this respect. She actually focuses on one thing at a time, just like my husband. Mama is like that, too, so I’m really surrounded by people who stand in place doing one appointed task while I buzz around them talking away with the speed of my thoughts. I imagine it leaves us both a little tired.

Recently I was on the phone with Jyl talking over some things I have coming up with Southern Plate and while talking to her, I walked into the kitchen and got all of the fixin’s out to make a little butter. I poured my cream into a mason jar, screwed the lid on good and began shaking away. ~swish swish swish~

After a few minutes of talking while I swished in the background Jyl asked, “What are you doing?”

“I’m making butter.” I declared, as I continued swishing while I walked around the house talking on the phone.

Did you know I can’t stand still or sit while I talk on the phone? Doing only one thing at a time is very difficult for me and always has been. Of course it’s ADHD but it is certainly not a disorder, it’s a gift, a talent, and a blessing. The only reason it is called a “disorder” is because other folks beat us to the punch in declaring themselves normal and us abnormal. If we wouldn’t have been so busy up and leaving Europe and creating an entirely new country based on an entirely new governmental concept, we could have gotten to declare the rest of the world “OTATD” or “O-Tats” for short, One Thing At A Time Disorder. ~grins and giggles~ But that is a post for another day so back to what I was saying about butter..

Jyl sounded incredulous “You’re doing what?”

“I’m making butter, I’m going to spread it on some saltines.”

“Are you talking about actually churning butter?”

“Yeah, but in a mason jar. Haven’t you ever made butter?”

This is when it occured to me that Jyl, being the quiet person that she is, most likely never annoyed her mother like I did and therefore was never given the fascinating task of making butter in a mason jar. Since I can’t see her ever being able to annoy people to the extent that I do, I guess it is up to me to take the initiative and show her how it’s done so this post was born.

Tomorrow begins National Dairy Month and this is a great post to help us kick that off so yesterday, me and the kids made butter. This is a GREAT activity to do with kids, or to let them do on their own to buy you a few minutes of quiet in the kitchen while you cook. Even adults enjoy the “neatness” factor of making your own butter with just some whipping cream and a mason jar!

All you’ll need is: Heavy Whipping Cream and a jar or two.

I usually use the larger jars but these little eight ounce ones are easier for little hands to hold and do just fine.

Fill your jar 1/2 to 3/4 full, but no more than that. Your cream needs space to shake around a bit.

Put the lid on well and then start shaking!

This will take anywhere from ten to thirty minutes, but your butter will most likely be ready in twenty minutes or so. It all depends on how much you shake it. Little hands will take frequent breaks

Now let me tell you what is gonna happen here so you don’t think you’re shaking your arms off for nothing:

First, the liquid is going to completely coat the jar as you shake and you’ll hear it just a shaking back and forth

Then, the liquid is going to get really thick, still coating the jar, but as you shake you won’t really hear it shaking anymore and you’ll begin to doubt me. Hang in there, I promise there will be butter soon enough, just keep shaking on faith . You can open the lid if you want and see that your cream is just really, really thick. Then…

After about fifteen or twenty minutes, you’ll notice the sides are no longer coated and it pulls away from the sides a bit.

You’re almost done!

A few minutes later you’ll feel solids shaking around in there and the liquid and solids will separate completely. Now your butter is ready.

When you open it up you’ll see this.

Pour that out into a strainer or colander so the liquid can drain out the bottom.

This is Brady and Katy’s jar both emptied.

Now adding a little salt is optional but I like to.

This is just a little kosher salt that I’m going to stir in.

You will need to add this to taste so start small.

Stir in salt, if adding it.

Spoon butter into small ramekin, cover, and refrigerate.

It will harden as it gets cold.

Enjoy!

Doesn’t this look good? I love it on Saltines!

Making Butter At Home (Fun activity for all ages!)

• Whipping Cream
• Mason Jar
• Salt (optional)

Fill jar 1/2 to 3/4 full with cream. Place lid on tightly. Shake for ten to thirty minutes, or until you hear solids shaking around and can see through the glass that the solids have separated from liquid (read up in post for more details of what the shaking stages will be like). Pour into colander to separate liquid from butter. Place butter in a ramekin or bowl and stir in salt, if desired. Refrigerate until hardened. Enjoy!

Did your Mama have creative ways to keep you busy as a child?

My Mama Reed used to have her grandkids shuck corn and snap beans on the front porch. They loved feeling needed!

I’d love to hear what your parentsand grandparents did in the comments section below!

We had a WONDERFUL time this past weekend when we got our own private tour of a working dairy farm in Alabama.

Stay tuned to my next post for details and photos!

Subscribe by email so you don’t miss a single post. It’s free and you won’t ever get an email from anyone other than me. Click here to subscribe.

What you DO speaks loudly, I can’t hear what you say.

~A quote Nick Saban used in his book, How Good Do You Want To Be?

Submitted by JoAnn. We have a great collection of positive and uplifting quotes which I’d love for you to read through and enjoy, or add your own! Submit your quote by clicking here!

]]> http://www.southernplate.com/2011/05/make-your-own-butter-fun.html/feed 160 http://www.southernplate.com/2011/05/mamaspotatocakes.html http://www.southernplate.com/2011/05/mamaspotatocakes.html#comments Mon, 23 May 2011 15:30:58 +0000 Christy Jordan http://www.southernplate.com/?p=14863 Pin it

This is a recipe I’ve wanted to bring you for almost three years but am just now getting to it today. The reason I have waited so long for Mama to do this post is because nobody makes potato cakes like my Mama . These things are so good they’re almost sacred. Knowing how much I love hers, I wanted her to be able to show you how she does it. Here is what she says about them:

This was my Mama Reed’s recipe.  She was a wonderful grandmother who worked hard all day long and never let anything go to waste.  She must have made extra potatoes because I can’t see her having enough left over to feed 10 kids plus herself and Papa Reed.  Kids usually love these so I would think they would eat 3 or 4 at least and probably more since half the kids were boys and worked on the farm.  After my mama and daddy got divorced Mama Reed had me help her with supper everyday and then Daddy and I would eat there.  I see now that she was doing this in order to teach me how to cook and I am so grateful for it.

I have so many of her recipes in my head that I need to write down.  Now I am thinking about making roast beef hash like she showed me and ham hash like Granny made.  Guess I need to lay out that ham bone that had so much meat on it and start chopping ham! If y’all don’t mind, I’ll come back and do a post on those one of these days, too.

Note to Christy: Did you know that I learned how to cut up a whole chicken thanks to Mama Reed and if I was really hungry I could catch it and wring it’s neck, then pluck it and singe the little pin feathers off it!  Now that’s something not everyone knows how to do!!

You’ll need: Flour, Leftover cold mashed potatoes*, Eggs.

Whatever flour you have on hand (self rising or all purpose) is fine for this but you really really really really ~insert about ten more “really”‘s here~ need to use real mashed potatoes. Save those instant ones to thicken your stews with and use in the crust on my taco casserole recipe.

We gotta make these puppies up right!

To your mashed potatoes, add egg and mix up really well. Then add flour. Stir it up really well with a fork until well blended like this. It will be very thick and sticky.

You can also add some finely diced onion at this point as well if you like but Mama leaves that out because this is one of the grandkid’s favorite things to eat and they aren’t that big on onions. Kids are weird this way – give ‘em ten years or so and we think they’ll come around!

Heat just a little bit of oil (about two tablespoons, it doesn’t take much) in the bottom of a skillet and place over medium  heat for two to three minutes, or until hot.

This is important because if you don’t heat your oil first, your potato cakes will be greasy.

Scoop out heaping spoonfulls of potato mixture into the hot oil.

Dip the back of your spoon into the oil and then press down with it onto the potato cakes to flatten them a bit.

Fry until browned and then carefully flip them over and brown on the other side.

This photograph is a bit shaky but that is probably because a slew of grandkids ran through the kitchen as Mama was taking it. Between Austin, Jake, Lane, and Elle, her house stays hoppin’! On those occasions that we go to visit and throw our kids into the mix, it’s a wonder Mama’s walls are still standing!

Add this recipe to ZipList!

Mama’s Potato Cakes

Ingredients

• 2 cups cold leftover mashed potatoes
• 1 whole egg
• 1/4 cup flour (all purpose or self rising)
• 2 T. finely diced onions, optional

Instructions

1. Mix egg into mashed potatoes with a fork until well blended. Add flour and onions (if using onions) and mix well. Mixture will be very stiff.
2. Pour approximately 2 T. oil into skillet and heat over medium heat.
3. Scoop out heaping tablespoons of mixture into hot oil. Dip back of spoon into oil and mash potato mixture to flatten to about 1/4 inch thick. By dipping the back of the spoon into the oil, the spoon will not stick to potatoes making flattening them much easier. Fry until browned and then flip and continue to brown patty on other side.
4. Remove to paper towel lined plate to serve.
5. Note from Mama: I do not use onions in my potato cakes since my grandmother never did. It is strictly personal perference. But if you do, make sure to dice them fine so that they will cook in the short amount of time it takes for patties to brown.
6. *Makes about ten potato cakes

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To read more about Mama Reed, check out these posts:

For every Goliath… there is a stone.

Click here to submit your positive or motivational quote.

]]> http://www.southernplate.com/2011/05/mamaspotatocakes.html/feed 139 http://www.southernplate.com/2011/05/srawberry-bread.html http://www.southernplate.com/2011/05/srawberry-bread.html#comments Tue, 17 May 2011 14:58:26 +0000 Christy Jordan http://www.southernplate.com/?p=14673 Pin it

Before the show, I wasn't dressed for the show yet because I didn't want to spill coffee on my shirt! Lol. For reference, I am 5'5"

I had a great time at QVC this past weekend and want to thank everyone who tuned in to watch! I have never seen a more organized television station in all of my life, those folks have it down to an exact science! Everyone is so nice, too, you could not ask for a friendlier group of people. I gave David multiple hugs for you all, just as I promised I would!

Did I mention this is gonna make one loaf of bread? Oh I didn’t? Well this is gonna make one loaf of bread

If you can talk you can sing.

If you can walk you can dance.

Submitted by Megan Hache. Submit your quote or read others by clicking here.

My Katy Rose (Karo)  loves Chocolate. She especially loves double chocolate anything. The Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies earned me the title of the Best Mother In The Entire World and these muffins brought home a second honorary crown from the taste buds of my kids. After I got back from the Today Show, I was anxious to get up early the very next morning and make them a treat. I dearly love being home with my kids so I can do things like this for them.

Until I was twenty seven, I had never even flown on an airplane. That first time involved a trip to Disney World with two year old Brady, who was our only child at the time. We got airfare super cheap back then, $100 round trip for each of us, so it ended up being cheaper than driving. Ricky was also going for a conference so his portion was paid for along with our hotel room. All that was between me and getting to take my son to Disney for the first time was a little bit of gravity defying courtesy of Huntsville International.

Man was that some flight. I’ve never hidden terror so well. I spent the entire time mentally going over every possible crash scenario and how I would get little Brady out of it alive (Ricky was a big boy, he was on his own). I never dreamed in a million years that flying would become normal to me. Now, after this past year, I am one of those people who get on the plane and settle in for a nap before it even takes off. I’ve only seen a small fraction of the country in my book tour travels but its far more than I ever dreamed of or expected to see in my entire lifetime. I’ve met some wonderful people, gotten and given more hugs than I can count, and found that my theory about the world is true : The world is, by and large, made up of really good people.

But you know the main thing I learned on my travels? I do not have the wanderer’s soul I once thought I did. Hand me a globe and tell me to point out anyplace in the world I’d like to go and I’ll stick that thumbtack right smack dab on North Alabama every time. I used to not be like this. I used to want to see things an go places, but as I’ve grown older I’ve realized that there isn’t a place my heart wants to go unless I can turn and look into the eyes of my family and share it with them.

Call it blessed, call it luck, call it enlightenment, but either way you look at it I fully realize how much fuller my life will be for me having been given a chance to learn this lesson. You may not be able to visit twenty cities in a month like I did, but I bet if you take a moment to think about it, to imagine doing just that, you’ll find your arms aching to hold your family and your appreciation for them all the more greater.

Contentment. I think that is one of the greatest gifts and it is one that you have to give yourself, but it often comes for some people in wistful strains while looking through the rear view mirror. Today I want to urge you to turn around and check out what is right in front of you now. Because what is in your windshield now will surely pass you by, too. Moms, Dads, Grandparents, I know you’re tired. I know you work long days regardless of whether or not you get a paycheck, but these are the days. This is it. They’re eating and making messes and distracting you and dancing and talking nonstop, but before you know it that house will go silent and that refrigerator could be holding just enough food for one.

So take a breath, in and out. Close your eyes. Feel the love around you.

“We tend to forget that happiness doesn’t come as a result of getting something we don’t have, but rather recognizing and appreciating what we do have.” ~Frederick Keonig

Now go make ‘em some double chocolate muffins.

You’ll need: Vanilla (not a gallon like I have pictured though), Milk, Chocolate Chips, Margarine, Cocoa Powder, Self Rising Flour, Egg, and Sugar.

I’m using semi sweet chips but you can use any kind you want, really. You can also use butter if the thought of using margarine makes you feel as if you will most certainly go to some horrid place where folks who use hydrogenated oils and such go. Personally, I know a lot of people in that place and I happen to know that if I go there we’re gonna have some fine eatin’!

Place your sugar, flour, and cocoa powder in a bowl.

Don’t worry if your cocoa powder is lumpy, mine was so its in good company

Melt your margarine in the microwave. You can use butter if you prefer.

To the margarine, add your milk, vanilla, and egg and stir that up.

**If your margarine is fresh from the microwave you need to add your milk first so it will cool the margarine on the off chance it is hot enough to cook your egg.

Now pour that into your dry ingredients.

and start stirring…

until it looks like this

Add in your chocolate chips

and stir some more. If it is a little lumpy, thats fine.

You can cook this either in a greased muffin tin or muffin papers. I’m using muffin papers right now. 

Bake at 400 for twenty minutes. Serve them with love.

Note: There is a print link embedded within this post, please visit this post to print it.

“Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not.

Remember that what you now have was once among the things

you only hoped for.”

~Epicurus, Greek Philosopher

Catch up on Life At Bountiful by reading these posts:

• Wow, That Was An Intensive Interview!
• Christmas Miracles In Alabama
• Family Snapshots From Disney
• Behind The Scenes At The Today Show

]]> http://www.southernplate.com/2011/01/double-chocolate-chip-muffins.html/feed 89 http://www.southernplate.com/2010/08/diy-appreciation-gifts-for-school-work-or-friends.html http://www.southernplate.com/2010/08/diy-appreciation-gifts-for-school-work-or-friends.html#comments Sat, 07 Aug 2010 16:24:33 +0000 Christy Jordan http://www.southernplate.com/?p=10231 Pin it

My kids start school on Monday. ~takes a deep breath~ and while it will be a big day for them (and me!) it is also a big day for their teacher’s as well. Did you realize that when our kids are in school, their teachers spend more time with them during their waking hours than we do? I know we all appreciate the love and dedication they put into their jobs. I really like to bake things, but with a lot of schools no longer allowing that, I thought I’d bring you a few inexpensive thank you gifts just to show your appreciation.

These gifts are great year round, for a holiday, teacher appreciation week, first day of school, or my favorite : the no-special-reason gift. They are also great for coworkers, friends, or just anytime someone you know could use a little perking up.

Lets start with the easiest, and the only printable I’m offering that is teacher specific:

This is an updated spin on the apple (but apples are still great!). I think this one is my new favorite and of course, the least expensive. While you’re out shopping for school supplies, pick up a box of breakfast bars and print out this sheet to be ready with thoughtful little gifts to make that first day a little easier for your child’s teacher. This wrapper fits perfectly on a breakfast, granola, or snack bar. Just print the label, trim the ends a bit, and tape around your bar. See the end of this post to print these wrapper labels.

Jar Gifts

In this post I’m doing two different things with pint jars but you are limited only by your own imagination! I also have two labels to print that will work with a multitude of jar fillings and are great to use for any recipient.

Survival Kit

I asked the teachers on the Southern Plate Facebook page what they’d like to have for a welcome back gift and many of them said things like breakfast bars, drink mixes, etc, because they get so busy with the kids that they forget or simply don’t have time to eat. This is an all in one survival kit that you can easily customize.

My jar includes a granola type bar, breakfast bar, two drink mixes for bottled water, and a few peppermints. I’ve got two sets of labels to choose from below, if you’d like to print the ones I am using.

Who doesn’t need chocolate?

This is another cute little idea. Fill a jar with chocolates and attach one of the labels  below to the inside of the lid. You can use any type of chocolate you like, or even their favorite candy. This is also a great “Thinking of you” gift for co-workers, moms, anyone you can think of!

For the fabric, I just traced a saucer onto some fabric and then cut out the circle.

Print my labels by clicking below. Place the jar ring around the label and trace a circle as a cutting guide.

Click here for “Sanity Preserves” Labels

Click here for “In Case Of Emergency” Labels

Click here for Teacher Bar Wrapper Labels

No matter what you decide to do or who you decide to give a “thinking of you” gift to, give it with a warm heart and it will be well received!

“What we do for ourselves dies with us.

What we do for others and the world remains.”

~Albert Pine. Submit your quote here.

I’m working on filling up my bacon grease jar today so I followed my mother’s advice and decided to make her breakfast pizza, starring bacon. In it’s original form, this recipe could feed an army. Literally. Mama made it on those mornings my dad or brother had friends over getting ready to go fishing, camping, canoeing, you name it. I made it a bit smaller but still large enough to feed company. If you like, you can use the small can of crescent rolls and half everything else to make it an 8×8.

After I post this I’ll be hitting the ground running. We already have crepe paper twisted and draped in the living room and kitchen. Balloons in a rainbow of colors litter our living room floor and the layers of my son’s soon-to-be-lego cake are waiting for me to decorate on the kitchen counter (I’ll post pictures on Facebook). That’s right folks, my son went and got another year older despite my pleas not to. He turned eleven yesterday and we’re having a slumber party with his cousins tonight (all boys – the cupboards will be bare by morning!).

Yesterday when he woke up we had the den all decorated and little strips of crepe paper hanging from his door. He came out with a huge grin on his face and we all sang as he blew out the candle in his birthday biscuit – an old family tradition. We spent the day together and ended it by seeing the Star Wars exhibit at the US Space & Rocket Center which I feel quite certain would be really something for anyone with the slightest interest in Star Wars or anyone who had watched just one of the movies – since I don’t fit into either one of those categories I am happy to report that it is also fun for mothers who want some pictures of their kids having a good time.

My kids enjoying the Star Wars thingiemajigger that is currently in our town.

So today as I rush around (and squeeze in an eye exam for my little girl who will surely pick the loudest colored eyeglass frames available) I’m feeling all nostalgic and emotional. My babies are growing up. Katy Rose even has the nerve to start Kindergarten this year. For eleven years I’ve had a baby at home and now they are both going off and having little lives of their own. They’re growing up on me and no one will listen when I try to stop it. ~sighs~

Thank goodness they come back home when I set the dinner table. A Mama’s secret weapon .

You’ll need: frozen shredded hash browns(can use cubed), shredded cheddar, eggs…

You can also add your favorite things into this. Veggies, sausage, different cheeses, have fun with it!

and bacon of course!

Go ahead and fry that up.

You know, you can cook up a few packages of bacon at once and just store the cooked bacon in the refrigerator to make meal prep easier. When I do this, I try to use mine within a few days.

Open your can of crescent rolls and place them evenly in the bottom of a greased 9×13 inch pan.

Eh, that looks even enough for me.

Spread your hash browns over them. The hash browns are still frozen, don’t worry about thawing them.

Salt and pepper to taste if you like. I’d start with about 1/2 teaspoon of each.

Crack all of your eggs in a bowl and beat them up well.

Pour the eggs over your hash browns.

Now that your bacon is done, crumble it up a bit and sprinkle over the top of your eggs.

Like so!

Bake this in an oven at 35o for about 45 minutes, or until set in the center.

Sprinkle cheese over the top and return to oven just until cheese melts.

Now for the good part! Lets preserve all of that miraculous substance that is bacon grease, or drippings if you prefer.

I let mine cool in the skillet first, then pour it into a mason jar.

Now a lot of people strain off their grease but I actually scrape the pan just to get all of the little bits in mine. Then, when I’m making cornbread and such I dip my spoon waaaaaaaaaaay down to the bottom so I have the yummy bits in my batter.

A lot of folks have asked how I store my bacon grease. I’ve never seen anyone in my family who didn’t store theirs right on the counter. However, I started storing mine in the refrigerator a few years back. It solidifies but its just fine, you can scoop it out and put it right in the pan when you need it. I find that refrigerated bacon grease is a lot more convenient for me because there is no worry of messy drips when you spoon some out of the jar. If you need liquid bacon grease (like what I add to cornbread batter) you can scoop out what you need and heat it slightly in the microwave. It just takes a few seconds to get it liquified again. Bacon grease can go rancid so storing it in the refrigerator can prolong it’s shelf life considerably.

Tipnut says you can even freeze bacon grease, which I hadn’t thought of before. I guess because I tend to use mine up before I have a surplus. Now that I think about it, though, my goal is to have TWO mason jars full and put one in the freezer. Oh my, what a bounty that would be!

This is my bacon grease jar straight from the fridge, right after I added the new grease on top of the old. We’re getting there!

I think I need to cook some more bacon though…

Bacon Breakfast Pizza, all ready to serve up!

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Bacon Breakfast Pizza

Ingredients

• 1- 8 count can crescent roll dough
• 3 cups shredded hash browns (can used cubed)
• dozen eggs
• 1 cup shredded cheddar
• 6 slices bacon (more or less, depending on what you have on hand)
• Salt and Pepper to taste
• Optional: Other toppings of your choice. Examples are: Onions, mushrooms, other meats, other vegetables, etc

Instructions

1. Cook bacon and set aside. Spray a 9x13 inch pan with cooking spray. Place crescent roll dough in the bottom of the pan, pinching seams together to seal. Spread frozen hash browns over dough. Salt and pepper to taste (I start with 1/2 tsp of each). Beat all eggs in a bowl and pour over hash browns. Sprinkle crumbled bacon over. Place in oven at 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes, or until set in center. Sprinkle cheese over top and return to oven just until melted. Serve warm.

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Note: There is a print link embedded within this post, please visit this post to print it.

While we try to teach our children all about life,

Our children teach us what life is all about.

~Angela Schwindt   Submit your quote here.

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I hope you’re all gearing up for a Happy Father’s Day. Today I thought I’d bring you a few recipes to help show your appreciation for all of the hard working dads in your life beginning with a few of my husband’s favorite dishes and treats!

Homemade CinnaBuns

Is the dad in your life a fan of those mall cinnamon buns? This homemade version is sure to knock his socks off, and my shortcut makes them easy for everyone. Don’t forget to put a pinch of cinnamon in the cream cheese icing for that little extra oomph of flavor!

Slow cooker pork roast and veggies

This is my husband’s all time favorite meal and so very easy to prepare!

The post for this recipe also includes some great make ahead ideas to have a great meal for Father’s day.

Read about the wonder of simple things and a simple cake

And if you’re looking for a lighter tasting dessert using fresh berries and fruit, this simple cake is a wonderful way to serve them!

Haven’t found just the right recipe yet?

Browse Southern Plate’s index of over 400 recipes by clicking here.

For our Father’s day, I’m cooking a big breakfast, and an even bigger supper!

What are your plans? Share your ideas and inspire us in the comments section!

My father used to play with my brother and me in the yard.

Mother would come out and say, “You’re tearing up the grass”

“We’re not raising grass” Dad would reply, “We’re raising boys”

~ Harmon Killebrew

HAPPY FATHER’S DAY!

Gratefully,

Christy