February was fun...

Oh Febuary, I was so in love with you this year! I never knew you could have so many endearing qualities.  In the past, it seems I've only known the desolation of your cold, gloomy days and blustery, assulting snow and ice.  But this time you came to me gently and your mild, sunny ways melted my heart.  I celebrated you like never before.

It's time to leave you now, February.  We even had one extra, glorious day together...Thanks for this beautiful sun-kissed day ~ I will not soon forget the warmth of your embrace. What a sweet surprise you have been! I needed you so!

Decadent Peanut Butter Pie*

‎"Pie is meant for sharing. Pie connects people. Pie knows no cultural or political boundaries. Pie makes people happy. And happy people make the world a better place. That’s why the world needs more pie." ~ Beth M. Howard

I stumbled into Beth Howard's blog as I was leafing through my Country Living magazine, where she was featured.  The title is what caught my eye:  The World Needs More Pie.  She also has a memoir that is due out in print shortly: Give Piece a Chance.  I'd never heard of her or her blog until this morning, but I did feel an immediate bond of sorts with her.  I am a pie baker, albeit on a much much smaller scale!  And she is right! Pie DOES make people smile.  Why IS that?

I think some people are just intimidated by pie making.  They think it is something mysterious and best left to the professionals.  Nothing can be further from the truth.  I think the thing I like most about making pies is not only is it a creative outlet, (a beautiful and delicious home made pie IS a work of art, is it not?) but results are fairly immediate and as Beth says, pies make people smile!  Rarely does anyone say, "sorry, I don't do pie", so the chances of having your masterpiece rejected are fairly slim.

So I thought I would put this recipe up today in case anyone wanted to make it for Valentine's Day this week.  My friend Jennifer brought a couple of these to our Thanksgiving dinner last year and it was LOVE at first bite!  I put one together this afternoon...it's chilling in the fridge right now!  Very easy to make and only takes a couple of ingredients.

Makes one pie, 6-8 servings/ prep time:  15 mins. / Ready in 2 hrs.

Ingredients:

1 cup JIF Creamy Peanut Butter plus 2 Tbsp (divided)

1 8-oz. package cream cheese, softened

1/2 c. sugar

1 12-oz. container (4 1/2 cups) frozen whipped topping, thawed (divided)

1 prepared chocolate pie crust

1 11.75 oz. Smucker’s Hot Fudge Topping (divided)

Directions:

1. Beat together 1 cup peanut butter, cream cheese, and sugar in large bowl with an electric mixer on medium until well combined.  Gently mix in 3 cups whipped topping until thoroughly combined.  Spoon mixture into pie crust.  Using a spatula, smooth mixture to edges of pie.

 2. Reserve two Tbsp. of hot fudge topping in the corner of a resealable food storage bag; set aside.  Microwave remaining topping on high for one minute.  Stir.  Spread topping over pie, covering entire peanut butter layer.  Refrigerate until set.  Spread remaining whipped topping (1 1/2 cups) over hot fudge layer, being careful not to mix the two layers.  

 3. Cut a small corner of bag containing topping.  Squeeze bag to drizzle topping over pie.  Place remaining 2 Tbsp. peanut butter in a resealable food storage bag.  Cut bag corner and squeeze to drizzle in opposite direction from topping.  Refrigerate until ready to serve.

So if you want something quick, yummy, and mysterious to serve on Valentine's Day, this would be it. And don't forget to smile!

* Decadent Peanut Butter Pie ©/® The J. M. Smucker Company

"Personality is what you are to others..."

Today is my mom's 83rd birthday!  And I want her to know I've not forgotten what she wrote in my autograph book more than 50 years ago:

"Personality is what you are to others, character is what you are."

So often we are judged by our outward appearances...our looks, our style of dress, how much we weigh, how we present ourselves publicly, and so forth.  As a teenager,  one of my close friends told me, "if it wasn't for your hair...you would be...nothing! Really?  I laugh at that memory now.  I know she was trying to compliment me and in an awkward way was saying that I did a pretty good job with my hair style and it was one of my best outward features.  

Sometimes even now friends make comments to me like "you need to get a life" or "you need to get out more often".  When I hear that sort of thing, I just accept that they are making a judgment about an aspect of my personality that they can see outwardly.

My brother Don, who happens to be fighting a very serious form of cancer, updated his blog recently and talks about risking intimacy in relationships. We don't always let the barriers down and allow others to see us up close and personal. Sometimes I hesitate to "show myself" because I don't want to seem like I am trying to draw attention to myself or make it look like I am asking for a pat on the back.  It's often more comfortable just to keep things between me and God.

I also don't like rejection (who DOES?!) and I've lived enough years now to fully know that not everyone will accept me for who I really am, what I have to say, or love me in spite of my best (and often flawed) attempts at communicating.  Still, being misunderstood is painful.

Having said all of the above, I want to share a couple things that gave me a lot of personal joy yesterday.  My hubby and I took a couple of hours to pick up donated casseroles, soups, and cookies from our church and deliver them to an inner city ministry.  We had opportunity to chat with the house mom and a young girl doing some community service as part of her legal obligation.  After that, we stopped at a local restaurant and picked up some food which we delivered to a friend who is staying day and night at the children's hospital with her special needs son who was admitted with breathing problems, and her 2 month old nursing daughter.  Her other two children are with their grandmother.  My friend isn't married and can't work, so finances are very limited and she simply could not afford to buy meals at the hospital.  

I haven't stopped to analyze why yesterday was so meaningful to me personally or why I felt such joy in serving others.  But if I had to guess, I would say it is probably because in spite of our own job uncertainty and my brother's health crisis, and a few other things going on that keep me on my knees, I realized again how very blessed I have been in so many ways.  There's just something about getting close enough to the real life situations of others that makes you realize you don't have it so bad, in spite of frustrating or even agonizing circumstances.  

So I want to say "thank you Mom!" for instilling in me very early on that character development is far more important than any of the things that people see about my personality.  

"...for man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart." I Samuel 16:7

When life gets tough, the tough get crafty...

I haven't felt a creative bone in my body for months now, but I thought I could use some craft therapy.  To be honest, I didn't think of it myself, but took the challenge of an acquaintance after I posted on a local Facebook swap group that I belong to that I was in search of a Valentine's Day wreath.  She showed me the one she made and so I set out to try to copy it.

I discovered it is a little late to be shopping the craft stores for Valentine's Day supplies so I didn't get as large a styrofoam heart as I wanted.  The one I got is about 13 inches across.  I would have preferred something up to twice that size.  Then I bought a large bag of red glass stones, the kind you see in vases or in fish tanks, a roll of red tulle, (my friend used red cellophane) and a roll of ribbon.  I already have a hot glue gun and glue sticks.

So first I covered the styrofoam heart with the tulle, tucking in the end on the back with a little dab of hot glue.  Then I simply covered the entire heart, front and back, with the stones.  You wouldn't have to put them on the back, but I'm just weird that way...

In all seriousness, this project took less than an hour to complete.  The glass beads made the wreath very heavy, so I was hesitant to put it on the outside of my front door.  We are having a lot of strong winds and some snow lately.  So I decided to find a place indoors to hang it.  This is a funky old desk in our living room, where I am also displaying some vintage valentines I got from the flea market a while ago...

To complete my Valentine's Day decor, I added a store bought banner...

And now will someone please pass the chocolates?

What are YOU doing to decorate for February???

Still opening Christmas presents...

Thought I'd lighten things up this wintry Saturday morning and share a recipe.  My sister Marcella gave me several of these wonderful "gift in a jar" goodies for Christmas and I had the chance to make the first one last night.  Here are the ingredients and instructions for filling the jar: 

Sand Art Brownies

5/8 cup all-purpose flour, 3/4 tsp. salt, 1/3 cup cocoa powder, 1/2 cup all-purpose flour, 2/3 cup packed brown sugar, 2/3 cup white sugar, 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, 1/2 cup white baking chips, 1/2 cup chopped walnuts.  

Mix 5/8 c. flour with salt.  Layer the ingredients in the order given into a wide mouth 1 quart jar, starting with the flour and sale mixture and ending with the walnuts.  NOTE: While the type of jar my sister used is really cute, the brown sugar hardened and was difficult to get out.  Microwaving hardened brown sugar softens it, but because of the metal clamps I wasn't able to do that.  So you might want to just use a regular wide-mouthed canning jar.

When ready to use the mix, follow these directions:

1.  Preheat oven to 350℉.  Grease one 8 or 9 inch square baking pan. (I think this disposable aluminum pan was more like 7 " square, so it made the brownies a bit thicker and required a little longer baking time.)

2.  Pour the contents of the jar into a large bowl, and mix well.

3.  Stir in 1 tsp. vanilla, 1/2 cup vegetable oil, 2 tbsp. water, and 2 eggs.  Beat until just combined. (I used a wooden spoon, not a mixer.)

4.  Pour the batter into the prepared pan, and bake in the preheated oven for 25-30 mins.  (I baked mine for about 40 mins.)

Oh my! these brownies are SO GOOD!  And it was easy and fun to make them!

Last week I had breakfast with my friend Leslie, who gave me the gift of this awesome tiered plate which matches my collection of Pfaltzgraff  (Yorktowne) dishes.  Even though it was just hubby and me enjoying movie night at home, I set our treats out on the dish.  Fortunately we didn't eat them all and I think I'll enjoy another brownie with my coffee this morning!

A new year brings new perspective...

One of the positive things about getting older is the ability to look back over our lives and see areas where we have grown and changed for the better. Often our physical eyesight weakens with age but our spiritual vision can become sharper than ever if we allow it. We understand things differently because we have lived longer and we have more information and experience.  Time has a way of softening and healing.  Perspective changes. Confidence grows.  Living each day becomes more intentional. I like to think that's what is happening with me.

Every now and then something really major happens that drives home the point even more profoundly.  When my brother got his cancer diagnosis a little over two months ago, the earth stood still for me.  Suddenly our joblessness seemed like a minor scratch on the record of life by comparison. All our focus shifted and priorities rearranged themselves.  I've never experienced a major earthquake, but I've seen before and after pictures.  One minute everything is neatly in place and things look normal.  Then the shaking and rattling begins.  A few seconds or minutes later, a building or a highway or a room is totally unrecognizable.  For the people affected, life is never the same.

Life will never be the same for me anymore either.  My brother's cancer is incurable.  Many of the drugs are new and experimental and risky. We know the worst is yet to come as he faces stronger chemo treatments and a bone marrow transplant using his own stem cells.  The unknown looms large even as we hope and pray that the treatment plan will cause this cancer go into remission for a long time. 

Moments and days have become more precious.  Finding the sacred in everyday living has become the new normal~~valuing relationships more than ever the new quest. Discovering all over again that things can make life beautiful and interesting, but people give life meaning.

Shortly after the holidays my brother came to stay with us for almost a week while his wife needed to make a trip with her high school students.  They only live 4 miles away, but he couldn't manage being alone for that long because of some mobility issues due to pain. He teased me that I hadn't babysat him in over 50 years! I can't begin to explain what a gift this special time together was for all of us. We laughed, we cried. We talked, we prayed. Then we talked and prayed some more.  We ate together, watched DVD's, received visitors, went to church.  With transportation help, he was able to work half days.  How often do adult siblings get an opportunity to share this kind of quality time? As I like to say, we got to talk in "complete sentences" ~ something that often is a challenge when our large family gets together with all the children.

One of the things my brother is teaching me is to look for what he calls "God moments". He's seeing them everywhere, and I am too. Hardly a day goes by that we don't hear of someone, directly or indirectly whose life has been impacted in a positive way because of my brother's situation.  Strained relationships have been healed.  Practical needs have been met.  Situations have fallen into place in amazing ways. People are blessing and being blessed.  The stories are his to tell.  But allowing God to use this cancer for His glory is my brother's heart's desire.  Here is a link to the blog he is writing.  

Memorial Day '10

Don ran in our town's 5K race.  He actually has 11 marathons to his credit.

Relaxing on vacation last June.  For the first time ever, all the siblings, spouses, and our mom went to the beach together.

Don has always taken good physical care of himself.  Here he is making all of us a juice drink.

Shortly before the diagnosis came, Don and Marcie went to see their oldest son graduate from the Navy's officer candidate school. We could never have guessed the pain he was having was due to a cancerous tumor crushing his L5 vertebrae.

 "I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you..." Ephesians 1:18a

Move over Olive Garden...

PASTA FORMAGGIO WITH GRILLED CHICKEN AND FRESH SPINACH

Yes I know...Not exactly a low fat way to start the new year!  But for me when life gets tough, I play in the kitchen!  Some friends took us to Olive Garden recently for our Christmas gift, and one of them had a very yummy looking dish. Of course I didn't taste it, but I tried to "study" it as much as I could.  This is what I came up with...and how I did it...

I took two chicken breasts that I had previously grilled on my George Foreman and had frozen.  I cut them in thin slices and set aside.  

Into a sauce pan I put 2 cups of heavy cream, 2 T. grated Asiago Cheese, 2 T. grated LeGruyee Cheese, and 2 T. grated Parmesan Cheese, 1 T. flour, 1 tsp. garlic salt.  I stirred this while cooking on low heat until the cheeses melted and the flour made the mixture a little bit thick.

Still keeping the heat low, I then added 2-3 ozs. of fresh baby spinach...

and the grilled chicken...and I turned the heat off...

In another pan I had boiled lasagne noodles, about 1/2 a box...

After draining the noodles, I put them into a casserole dish...and poured the sauce mixture on and carefully stirred it up so all the noodles were covered...

As if there wasn't already enough cheese in this dish, I topped the whole thing with grated Mozzerella...

and baked it at 350℉ for about 30 minutes until the Mozzerella melted...

and I garnished it with some more spinach leaves.  If we had any good tomatoes I would have chopped some and added that as a garnish as well to make it look prettier.  And if I had any fresh mushrooms in the house, I probably would have added some to the sauce.

This only took a few minutes to prepare for the oven.  I hope you'll try it.  Tell me if you do!