Facing Mud Season

Before moving to Upstate NY, I had read a magazine article about “mud season”. I remember thinking…"interesting, but we all deal with mud.” At the time that I read that article I had lived in North Carolina my entire 28+ years. I never imagined living anywhere else. It was HOME…truth be told, it still is. But I digress. A little over 8 years after reading about mud season, I was on my way to live in New York. We arrived on May 5th. I think we missed mud season that year. I can’t be sure as I was deep in a self-pity party and  in a trance of sorts…..let’s just say that I REALLY did not want to move out of the south.

Now I have experienced mud season first hand. It is a season tucked between winter and spring.  Winter fights hard to keep its grip, but eventually the flakes stop falling. The snow slowly melts away, and in its place….MUD. Lots and lots of mud. You walk quickly to try to prevent yourself from sinking into it. It coats the bottoms of your shoes and boots (not just the sole). It is in your car…on your sidewalk…smeared on your welcome mat…and across your entry rug….Yes, across your floors. There is much vacuuming, sweeping, mopping during mud season.

 

Despite all the extra work (and my floors never ALL being clean at the same time…or for very long), I am glad when the mud appears. Like the robins, it is a sign that spring IS coming. It is getting the better of Old Man Winter….flowers and new leaves will be appearing.

 

Not as quickly as this southern chick would like, but still, there is hope. So I bravely face mud season with broom and mop in hand!

 

Blessings,

Cranberry-Orange Muffins

Makes 12 muffins

• 1 cup fresh or frozen cranberries, coarsely chopped (I pulse them in the food processor)
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 3/4 cup orange juice
• 1 tbsp. fresh orange zest
• 1/4 cup shortening
• 1 egg, slightly beaten

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
In large bowl, combine dry ingredients. Add shortening and blend. (you can cut it in with a pastry blender or a fork, BUT I just used my mixer until the shortening was blended in…)
Add juice, orange zest, and egg.

Mix until dry and wet ingredients are just blended. Stir in the cranberries.

(Can’t believe I forgot to take a picture of the batter while it was still in the bowl!) Spoon into papered or greased muffin tin.

Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Transfer your pan to a cooling rack for 5 minutes. Remove muffins from pan and place on cooling rack. If you have the patience you can let them cool for a few minutes. But personally, I like to break one open and spread some butter on it immediately!

YUMMY! I made the mistake of NOT doubling the recipe and they didn’t last one day. I had two for breakfast…then that afternoon I had one with my tea. The other 9? Boy Wonder ate them all before lunch!!! He’s a hard working farm boy….so I let him get away with it!
Enjoy!!!

A Beautiful and Tasty Day

It is a beautiful day here in the upstate of New York. The trees are frosted and gleaming at times when the sun can break the barrier of gray. Though the sun is fighting hard, the clouds seem to be winning. Tiny flakes of snow are slowly falling from the sky, falling so slowly that I am sure that they began falling sometime last week. Yes, it is beautiful.
 
It is also COLD….a nesting kind of day. So I made these:

SOMEWHERE in my vast collection of recipes, is my original recipe for these little jewels. Alas…I could not find it this morning. So I went online to search for it. I thought that would be quicker than searching through my files, notebooks, etc. I didn’t find the exact recipe, but with a few adjustments* this one turned out just fine.
*I used buttermilk instead of skim milk. I used BUTTER instead of margarine (don’t allow margarine in my house!). I used freshly ground nutmeg (it makes a HUGE difference). I also made a glaze from powdered sugar, cream, and a drop of vanilla extract (sorry…no exact measurements) for a few of them.
Yummy, yummy, good! And the same satisfaction as fresh donuts without all the work!!!
Have a wonderful and blessed day!!!

Christmas Past

Do any of you have one of these golden balls? or at least know what it is?

Each Christmas, when I unpack it, I travel back in time….to the wonderful, magical Christmases at my grandparent’s house. It is a piece of my personal treasure. I have no idea what it is worth, if anything, monetarily. I, however, will not willingly part with it….until it is time to pass it to the next generation.

I hope your Christmas was filled with happy travels back in time! Have a wonderful and safe New Year!

Blessings,

Join me as I travel back in time at:

Hurry…we’re already late!

It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas!

Inside….

…and outside.

This Kind of a Morning

….calls for some of this,

with some real maple syrup and a splash of cream…or maybe some brown sugar, cinnamon, and freshly grated nutmeg …and a splash of cream!
And to keep it real…..

This is what happens when you are happily snapping photos for your blog and forget to turn down the heat once your oats are boiling! Oops! Oh well…the oats are simmering on another burner, while I wait for the above portion of the stovetop to cool enough to be cleaned.
Hope you all are staying warm…seems like the entire country (including my beloved NC) is in a deep freeze.
Blessings!

Looking for My Christmas Spirit…

First of all…I will be copying this to all three of my blogs. So to you few followers of all…no, you’re not crazy!

Now on with the story….

I can’t find my Christmas spirit this year. I forced myself to put up our tree, hoping that just doing it would help. I still haven’t made my topper yet…but the tree looks nice. I didn’t however find my Christmas spirit by decorating it. Actually it made me a little sadder.

A few nights ago, I went to our community’s Christmas party. The company and the food were wonderful, as usual; but no….I didn’t find my Christmas spirit there either. I came home feeling a little sadder.

Last night, we went out to a very nice dinner with friends. Prime rib, filets, and other yummy things were ordered. There was no tiramisu on the menu…so I skipped dessert. I had a lovely time. We traveled to and fro in a winter wonderland as snow softly fell. I came home with no more Christmas spirit than when I left.

In talking to a few friends…and even reading a few other blogs, I am finding that I am NOT alone with this lack of Christmas spirit this year. My friends and I are VERY fortunate. Our husbands have good jobs, and they work hard. We all have everything we need and much of what we want. And we are smart enough to know how blessed we truly are…and we know that it is all by God’s grace. Which makes my our lack of Christmas spirit even MORE frustrating. We know why we are celebrating this season. We know that the greatest gift we could EVER receive is one that we have already accepted…the gift of salvation through Christ. So why these feelings? I don’t know. My friends and I have discussed possibilities…we are at a stage where our on children are older and we are likely years away from grandbabies. So perhaps we are missing the magic of Christmas through a small child’s eyes. Christmas is over commercialized….But I don’t think that is it. I long ago threw away notions of giving just to keep up with Joneses…I give for the true JOY of giving, not because I feel obligated to do so. My husband said that I just needed some snow…for which,  evil looks were sent his way. (At the time there was no snow on the ground….and I have a real love/hate relationship with snow, but that is a story for another time). Perhaps I am just more than usual missing HOME! Maybe it is just a combination of all those things and more.

Whatever the reason, I have come to the conclusion that my Christmas spirit…or at least that feeling that USUALLY envelopes me…may not show up this year. I may not get the urge to fill my home with the aromas of cookies, cakes and pies baking. I may not unpack the rest of my Christmas decorations. I may not even have many gifts under the tree….or make lots of candy treats for my family and neighbors. And it will be OKAY! I WILL do some baking and I WILL make some Oreo Truffles because my son loves them! But unless something BIG happens soon, I don’t think I will be doing my usual CHRISTMAS CRAZY.

With all of that said….maybe my job this year is to help someone else find their Christmas spirit. While I am truly blessed, I do not live in a happy bubble. I know that many out there are suffering. So instead of just my USUAL Christmas donations, I have decided to actively look for those that “need a little Christmas”. (I know this is turning into a small book…but bear with me…PLEASE)

My first “find”:

I am from NC…so every few days I check out the Charlotte Observer online to see what is going on back home. Today there was an article telling how one of the shelters in Charlotte has a goal of collecting a ton of dry oatmeal by Jan. 31 to help serve the increased need this year. DRY OATMEAL! A relatively inexpensive, easy, nutritious meal. Something that MOST of us take for granted---or even COMPLAIN about---on a cold morning! Since it is NOT convenient for me to donate to that particular shelter AND there are hungry people EVERYWHERE, I have decided to donate some simple dry goods, including oatmeal, to my LOCAL food bank. I hope to make it a regular habit…not just a once-a-year, make myself feel good thing. I CHALLENGE you to do the same AND to ask those you know to do the same. (If you have a blog, please share the challenge there.) I imagine that many of those in need today may have sat down with friends in another Christmas season and ate prime rib or a perfectly cooked filet….and never imagined that they would one day need to ask for a bowl of oatmeal! One day it may be I or YOU or someone you love. It is not this day however. So this day (or this week), I give and thank God that I can!

* I did a quick Google search and found that my little, itsy-bitsy town has its own food bank. I have lived here for 2 1/2 years and had NO idea…so maybe I have allowed myself to live in a happy little bubble!