Applesauce Cake

1 1/2 cups Sugar
2 1/2 cups Flour
1 1/2 teaspoons Baking Soda
1/4 teaspoons Baking Powder
1 1/2 teaspoons Salt
3/4 teaspoon ground Cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground Cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground Allspice
1/2 to 1 cup Raisins
1/2 cup chopped Nuts

1/2 cup Coconut oil/Butter/Shortening
2 Eggs
1/2 cup Water
1 1/2 cups Applesauce


Heat oven to 325°F. Grease & Flour (or just spray with Pam) 13x9-inch pan or a Bunt pan.
In large bowl, mix all the "dry" ingredients. then add the rest of the ingredients, (with electric mixer) beat "1/3 of a minute on low speed". Stop and scrape down the sides, and beat on high speed for 3 minutes.  

 Spread batter in pan.  
 Bake 50 to 55 minutes or until cake pulls away from sides of pan.

After it cools, top with Powdered Sugar or Cream Cheese Frosting!  

 ~Happy Eating!

Adrienne

(P.S. this is the cake that we made for Mrs. Hunter's surprise party)

Little Kids 2

I'm sorry that I did not get these photos posted sooner~ in fact, I thought that I did...oh, well!

I hope that you enjoy them~
I took them (during the Hale's Uncle Roy's funeral) when Faith & Elizabeth helped me watch the Mittens and their cousins!

 

 

Yup, cute little kids- not too bad, and lots of fun!

Marvelous Muffins (Wheat-Free)

Marvelous Muffins (or Pancakes) 
(almost cheat free, for the "Gatherer" of the GenoType Diet world)

2 Eggs*  (beat them well)
1/2 cup Oil
6T. Milk

1/2 cup Oat flour
1/2 cup Barley Flour
1/2 Tbs. Gelatin
1/4 cup Xylitol
1/2 Tbs. Baking Powder
1/2 tsp. Salt
1 tsp. Cinnamon

(optional: 1/4 cup Raisins or Craisins & 1/4 cup chopped nuts)

Pre-heat your oven to 400.
Mix up, and pour into 8 sprayed muffin papers...(or make pancakes..all they need is butter!)
Bake 15-20 minutes.

(These guys freeze well...but that does not help me much, because I love frozen muffins...so they are all gone before I know it!)

* 6 muffins only need 1 Egg, but if you want pancakes or 8 Marvelous Muffins, you need 2 Eggs.

~Happy eating!

Adrienne

Funeral Day

There is no "good day" for a funeral.   There are better days and worse days. Today was a worse day.

I've been to quite a few funerals in my short life- Grandparents, a Great-grandfather, my God-mother, and those of assorted Older Friends and Friend's Relatives.


Today, I went to a new kind of funeral: the funeral of my Friend's Father...it was really hard- Mr. Shetler was only a little older than my Dad.  The father of 9 of my childhood friends.

I cried a little during the memorial service, and I would have cried more if I let myself...I thought that I was recovered...but then around dinner time the dam broke, so to speak....I told Mom that I felt like I could cry for hours, or even days.    Crying for my friends & their Mom. Crying for me, just thinking about the fact that I'm not ready to loose my parents- how would I handle that (not very well I'm afraid)?  Crying because I just could not help myself.

.....After dinner, Dad said that he wanted a brownie, and Mom & I agreed with him, so I made our favorite brownie recipe: Taste of Home's Speedy Brownies*, and I remembered that the Shetler's got the recipe the same time we did, and it was their favorite brownies too....Megan and I made them together at least once. (that was fun!)  ...And the brownies led to many happy remembrances of times with their family. =)
 

  (I swiped these Forget-me-nots off one of those "wallpaper" sites)

Please keep your eye out, I'm going to have a fundraiser for the Shetler family soon.

*Find the "Speedy Brownie" recipe HERE.

These are the changes we made: add 1t. instant coffee & an extra 1/4c Cocoa. use only 3/4c Chocolate chips: stir 1/2c in & sprinkle 1/4c on top. Sometimes we add 1c chopped nuts.

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 Mumford & Sons - "Not In Nottingham"

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I was reading...

...during the sing-song time at Church today.
 
That was not a new thing for me to do- I actually read during that time almost every time I'm in Church.  I've been slowly but surely (re)reading through the book "Beautiful Girlhood" revised by Karen Andreola (buy it here).

Today I started the second to last chapter, "A few faults discovered", and on pages 199-200 I found the following convicting bit that I would like to share with you.

  (Please keep in mind that this also applies to women, boys, and men.)

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    "Another fault is an inordinate love for pretty things. I say "inordinate",  for there is a proper appreciation for those things that are beautiful that is allowable in every one. But she who has too great a love for these things sets great value upon their possession. Pride and vanity follow close in the wake of a love for personal adornment. Money that should go for more necessary things is given for things beautiful. The girl becomes dissatisfied with the home and surroundings as she finds them, developing a deep dislike for what should be dear to her, all because they do not meet her ideal of beauty.
   Such a girl needs to learn to look well to the good that is about her. Where love is real beauty can be found. There is nothing more beautiful than a happy satisfied heart. If your love for pretty things so fills your heart that you cannot see the good that loving hands and hearts would bring to you, then you need to give serious attention to that which is obstructing your vision. 
    There is a spirit of discontent that makes the girl restless and uneasy. Now, I would not have you fully satisfied with things just as they are, so that you do not strive to improve; but that dissatisfaction that keeps a girl fretting about her fate spoils her happiness now and unfits her to appreciate what may be in her future."

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I never really thought that I had this problem...I do like pretty things and nice clothes (doesn't everyone?), but I will confess that the things that really bother me are the things I'll probably never have- like a bright, cute Scandinavian house...or a house from the '20's-50's.    Or even pretty kitchen/household stuff. 

This all comes down to discontentment and covetousness.

Exodus 20:17 
"Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's."

   Ouch.

Oh, Father- 
Please forgive me for not being content with the many wonderful things that you have given to me- that my life holds. Please forgive me for not trusting you to always care for me- I know that your word says "...I have not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread." 
And "Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God? But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore: ye are of more value than many sparrows."

Thank you Lord, for your loving care and grace, and for showing me the error of my ways.
 For your will I pray, in Jesus' name, Amen.

(Psalm 37:25b & Luke 12:6-7)