This is one of my all-time favorite recipes to serve for brunch or a Sunday morning breakfast.  The Jam and Cream Cheese Braid is also beautiful for Holidays!  My grandma used to make this on Christmas and it quickly became a family favorite.  I tend to make it quite often because it’s SO easy and looks like you spent hours in the kitchen.

The recipe involves yeast, but DON’T be afraid!  I know working with yeast can be intimidating, but all you need to remember is that yeast likes the same temperature that we do.  When you are dissolving it in water, you want to use water that is the temperature of bath water.  If it’s too cool the yeast won’t activate and rise.  If the water is too hot, it will kill the yeast.  Test your water with your finger.  If you wouldn’t set foot in a tub of water that temperature, adjust it until it feels just right.

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I’m going to share a few things this magazine says on the very first page of every issue:

*We believe there is a movement happening in our generation.

*We believe it is the epitome of days gone by.

*We believe that this back-to-our-roots movement embodies families moving toward sustainable options.

*Whether we live in a big city or a wide-open prairie, we are embracing natural products, mindfully made things, and the renaissance of lost arts and skills.

*We believe that our culture is coming full circle.

*We desire a more authentic lifestyle, similar to those lived out in the households of quieter times – where family values prevailed; ingredients were simple; mason jars, quilts, and shiplap were commonplace; neighbors were friends; and time well spent trumped task lists.

Friends, this is me. I swear they were inside my head when they wrote this. Do you believe these things too?

I subscribed to the magazine as fast as I could and even bought a few back issues. Picture a kid waiting by the mail box when grandma says she sent you a card with birthday money inside. That was me. I was checking the mail all the time. I could hardly wait to get my magazines. When they arrived, I poured through them and they did not disappoint. I saved every single one in a cute little wooden box in my family room. I usually don’t save magazines, but these felt more like books. Then, I got the letter in the mail. The letter that said, “Sorry, we will no longer be producing The Farmhouse Movement magazine.” Nooooooo!!!!!! I had just found my people and it was already over! They do have a website and the letter said that new things were in the works. I will anxiously await their next bit of work.

Then I ran across a new magazine. Farmhouse At Heart has many of the same ideas as the Farmhouse Movement. It talks about the sweet joys of homesteading, back-to-basics gardening, cooking, and crafting. All of these things are right up my alley. It’s part of a bigger company of magazines, which is ok. I really liked The Farmhouse Movement, knowing I was supporting a small business.

So, I picked up Farmhouse At Heart and I was thoroughly pleased. It’s one of those magazines that comes out once in a while, but you can’t subscribe to it. That makes it much harder to get my hands on, but I’ll do my best.

To be honest, the farmhouse dream for me includes an actual farmhouse, room for animals (chickens, dogs, and bunnies), and enough space to have a large garden. My current garden is quite small and its sunlight is blocked by the neighbor’s large trees. Herbs and lettuce are my best bets in my garden space right now.

I think, with our current state of affairs (#pandemic2020), people are finding that they really are capable of doing things the good-old-fashioned way. Flour has been sold out for months at the grocery store. I haven’t been able to find yeast at all and finally had to do a bulk order and split it with a few neighbors. That tells me that people are baking again. Garden centers are still open because they sell vegetable starts and they are considered essential. They have lines wrapped around buildings to get inside. The local butcher is not taking large orders. They are limiting the amount of meat each customer is allowed to buy because they are selling out. Families are learning how to make their own cleaning products because the cleaning aisle at the grocery store is empty. We are sort of being forced to ask our grandparents how to do things (or just google it). Honestly, living through this pandemic is tough, but it makes me so happy to see families spending time together, bread being baked, and seeds being planted. We are getting back to the basics and I’m ok with that.

Happy homemaking!

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I decided that my Snickerdoodle cookie recipe needed some updated pictures today.  My brain has been playing tricks with me lately and movement is not my friend.  I was trying to think of things to do that didn’t involve reading, scrolling, watching tv, videos, excessive movement, or too much thinking. (#strokebrain)  Photography seems pretty harmless and I can type with my eyes closed, for the most part.  Plus, I just found out that my son’s girlfriend and family haven’t tried Snickerdoodle cookies.  Crazy!

Happy baking, friends!

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Every time I make these muffins (which is quite frequently) I have to look up the recipe, so I decided that it was time to put it on my blog.  Blogging kind of took a back seat when I had a stroke, so maybe this will jumpstart my writing and photography again.

I first made applesauce muffins when I was in junior high.  We made them in my Home Economics class and I loved them so much that I saved the recipe.  I think I kept that recipe for about 15 years and made them many times before losing it.  Over the years, I found a couple other recipes that did the trick.  Then, Pinterest came along and Rebecca, from Simple As That posted her recipe.  The recipe I use is basically the same as Rebecca’s, but I did make a few minor tweaks.

The biggest tweaks I made to Rebecca’s recipe are in the applesauce and the cinnamon sugar.  My mom makes our applesauce every Fall.  She adds cinnamon and sugar into the applesauce as she’s cooking it, so our applesauce has more sugar and more cinnamon than All Natural Mott’s Applesauce.  My family also likes a little more cinnamon in the topping, so I increased that.  There is also a pinch more salt than Rebecca’s recipe.  I guess it’s just personal preference.

My daughter has requested that I always make 24 muffins, instead of just 12.  Twelve muffins only last about a day in our house.

We are lucky enough to have a friend share their farm fresh eggs with us.  This recipe calls for 4 eggs, so I’m happy to have plenty!

The fact that I get to bake these in my grandma’s muffin tin makes my heart happy.  I remember baking cupcakes and muffins with her and thinking that this pan was so “old” and she should really get a new one.  Now, I’m so happy to have this antique pan. I’m glad she never replaced it.

Happy baking!

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As most of you know, I had a stroke 2 months ago.  The stroke was centered in the Cerebellar region, which controls balance and motor function.  I look fine, when I’m walking (most of the time), but I have a dizzy feeling in my head and sometimes sway, find myself off balance, or take a little tumble.  Grocery stores are the WORST!  Turning my head as I walk causes all sorts of problems like extreme dizziness and nausea, and you’re constantly turning your head to look for the items you need when you are in the aisles.

(Side story… words are really hard since my stroke and aisles took forever to figure out.  Isles? Ailes? I finally asked my husband.  Aisles isn’t normally a word that would have challenged my brain.)

Back to the story. My physical therapist gave me some homework.  She said to walk down the mall on a day when it’s not too busy.  Walk, looking straight ahead, and once in a while go ahead and glance into a store.  She thought that would be a good step toward being able to do the grocery store more than 5 minutes.  It started out ok.  I started with the outdoor portion of the mall because outdoors are always better for me.  Unfortunately, there was stamped concrete and the business was too much for my brain.  I sat down in a little chair because I was starting to feel like I was going to fall over and… HEY, there’s Williams Sonoma.  It sucked me in, Friends.  I started to look for some gifts I needed and spotted the Bees Wrap on the sale rack. I have to tell you, I have been looking for Bee’s Wrap for about 2 years. I saw it in a magazine.  I have put it on my Christmas list many times, but no one can ever find it.  So, when I saw the Bee’s Wrap sitting there, I had to buy it.

I bake a lot of bread, so the Bee’s Wrap bread wrap was the way to go.

Saving the environment, one Bee’s Wrap at a time!

(Another side story: Going to the mall as my physical therapy assignment didn’t work out so well for me.  I wound up with the headache to end all headaches, which put me back at the walk-in-clinic to get help with the pain.  There are very few things I can take for pain, so they tried a shot.  No luck.  They finally found some meds that worked, but sheesh!!! One little trip to the mall and they were just about ready to send me back to the ER for another MRI and and IV to administer pain meds.  I’m thinking it’s because I didn’t follow the rules.  I went into two stores and looked around.  On the plus side, I found Bee’s Wrap and got a cute new shirt. I know, I know, next time I’ll follow the rules.  “Strokes are nothing to mess with.  Your brain takes time to heal.  Rest is important.  Always stop the activity when you begin feeling too dizzy or nauseated to continue.”  Those are the doctor’s words.)

My son, who doesn’t really care much about kitchen related purchases, commented on how fresh the two day old banana bread tasted.  I was just happy that the bread wasn’t wrapped in plastic wrap. To wash and reuse the Bee’s Wrap, the directions say to wash with cold water and a little dish soap, hang to dry, fold to store, and reuse for about 1 year.  Friends, I’m saving the planet one Bee’s Wrap at a time.  I know you want to do the same!

Happy Bee’s Wrapping!

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We live in the same area as my sister and sister-in-law, so the kids all go to the same schools.  Once in high school, they are the Glacier Peak Grizzlies. We have a niece who graduated in 2016, a nephew in 2017, another niece in 2018, my son in 2019, and another niece in 2020 all from Glacier Peak.  Then, we get a little break until my daughter moves up to high school.

I might be borrowing my sister-in-law’s graduation cap cookie cutter quite a bit.

I think they turned out pretty cute!  Jenny, over at Jenny Cookies, uses buttercream for her frosting.  I’ve always used powdered sugar and milk and just mixed those two ingredients together to get the consistency I wanted.  I think I may shift over to buttercream.  I didn’t realize there were so many different buttercream frosting recipes.  Whenever I’ve used buttercream, I’ve just used the Wilton recipe.  Whichever frosting recipe you choose, I’m sure Google will help you discover lots of options.

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Now that my kids are older (my son turns 17 tomorrow and my daughter is 13), I’ve taken back a little time for myself.  They are off doing their own things, spending LOTS of time at sports practices, plenty of time chilling in their rooms, and a good chunk of time doing homework.  Sadly, when they have spare time they don’t usually say, “Hey, mom, do you want to play a board game?”  Nope, those days are gone.

So, how do I spend my time?  I really love to cook.  I enjoy looking through cookbooks, Pinterest, and blogs to find new recipes.  If I can cook with ingredients grown in my own garden, this makes me even happier.  As much as I love to cook, I must confess something.  There are days when I ask myself, “WHY, oh why, do my children want to eat 3 times a day EVERY single day?”  I try not to use too much processed food as I’m cooking, so that makes things a bit time consuming, but I have a hard time keeping every meal on the healthy side.  I really love cheese, and cooking with butter and cream just makes things taste better.  It’s a work in progress to find healthy meal options, but I’m trying. (If I don’t try hard enough, my naturopath gently reminds me at every appointment.)

I’ve always loved to bake.  Cookies and bread tend to be my favorites.  Lately, I’ve tried to change things up and try whole wheat breads or flourless cookies.  When my kids were younger, we’d have Cookie Friday.  Our district dismisses early each Friday and I’d always have cookies ready for the kids when they got home from school.  There would usually be a handful of friends and neighbors and sometimes a cousin or two.  Those were the good old days.  Now the kids just hurry home so they can take naps.  Ah, teenagers.

Sometimes (most times) I really wish I lived in a sunnier location so I could happily enjoy my garden day in and day out.  To say that I love to be outside is an understatement.

Most of my edible garden space consists of herbs and veggies that don’t require full sun.  My neighbor’s trees have grown so tall that they shade my veggie garden.  I’m barely able to produce tomatoes any more, so I’ve just given up on things that needs tons of sun.

My basil and mini tomatoes have been moved to a plant stand on the deck.  The deck gets a good amount of afternoon sunshine and the heat reflects from the house onto the plants. Basil is probably my favorite thing to grow and we eat a lot of pesto in the summer time.

I have my fair share of perennials in the center of my yard.  I love that I don’t have to replant them every year.  Every few years, I get to divide them.  Score!  Free plants!

The best part about gardening is the end of the day.  I love the “golden hour” in my yard.  After spending the day getting my hands dirty, I absolutely love putting my feet up and enjoying the view.  I do miss the days of the kids playing on the swingset or jumping on the trampoline, but there is also something incredibly relaxing about the quiet of the backyard.

Sewing and quilting are my winter hobbies.  When I can’t spend time outside because of the relentless rain, my sewing room is my happy place.

My mom taught me to sew when I was about 7 years old and I insisted that both of my kids learn to sew.  I make all of my own home decor items.  I love making curtains, valances, pillows, and quilts.  I love the personal touch handmade items have on a home.  I’ve even been designing my own quilt patterns with a quilting program for the computer.

I’ve had to start changing pillows and quilts out seasonally because I’m running out of space. I’ve started putting zippers into my pillow covers so they are each to wash and change out frequently.

This was one of my favorite projects.  When my daughter was younger she picked out a fabric line that she thought was pretty.  I bought the fabrics and she chose a pattern that she liked.  We painted her room a color that coordinated and her new room was born.

I love looking through blogs and seeing cohesive quilts that all have the same feel, but I can’t seem to stick with one theme.  I love vintage/scrappy, French General, warm and cozy, and also whatever is new and trendy.  As much as I like the cohesion, I also like to try new things when it comes to quilting.

I don’t even know where to begin when it comes to photography.  I love trying new things with my camera.  My favorite subjects are my own kids and my YoungLife kids.  My YL kids are Juniors in high school and I feel so lucky that they’ve allowed me to follow them around with a camera on my neck, capturing memories of Summer camp and school dances.

Of course, these two have my whole heart and they know to always pack “picture clothes” every time we go to the farm or the beach.

How about you, friends?  What’s your hobby?

I’m sharing a few of my favorite photography items that are sold through Amazon.  I’m part of the Amazon Affiliates program and if you choose to purchase through Amazon, I get a teensy-tiny portion of the sale.

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I’ve been baking cookies on Friday for as long as my kids have been in school.  I thought it was a great treat after a long week, and my kids usually had friends over after school.  My kids go to school with their cousins, from both sides of the family, and they’d often find their way to my house on Friday afternoon for warm cookies.  I tried to time it so the cookies were still warm when they all arrived.

When I went back to work full time, I started baking on Thursday night so cookies would be ready for the kids after school. Some weeks, I just couldn’t do it.  Teaching full time is exhausting and, for those of you who don’t know me in-real-life, I’m sick ALL the time.  Sometimes there is no energy for cookie baking.  Well, I’m back working part time this year and I’m happy to say that Cookie Friday is back in full force!  (I’ve also been trying to LIMIT myself to only baking on Friday. I’ll let you know how that goes. I really love to bake!)

This recipe is my classic Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe.  This time I just swapped out the chocolate chips for M&M’s.  As a side note, I don’t do this very often because the M&M’s have dye in them and there is one member of our family who does not react well to dyes.

Here’s the recipe:
1 Cup Crisco shortening (original, not butter flavor)
3/4 Cup brown sugar
3/4 Cup white sugar
Mix until soft and fluffy.

Add:
2 Eggs
1 and 1/2 tsp vanilla
Mix just until blended.

Dry ingredients:
2 and 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 and 1/2 tsp salt
Mix it up and add a bag of M&M’s or chocolate chips.  With M&M cookies, I find that they are prettier if you also add a few candies to the top just before baking.

Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes

Welcome back, Cookie Friday.  Welcome back.

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