real pancakes

As promised, I am following up on my “real food” article with more recipes to replace the processed foods we all rely on so often.
Everybody loves pancakes, but not everyone loves the work and mess involved in making them from scratch. So, here is an alternative to the ever-popular pancake mix in a box. Make the mix [...]

fingerprints on the window

My back door is a single French-style door, with a solid pane of glass that goes nearly to the floor. A few days ago I noticed that it had been a while since I last cleaned it. With 3 young children and a dog, the glass is rarely clean. I wiped away the smudges, fingerprints, and [...]

what happened to real food?

When you walk through the grocery store, which aisles are the most crowded?  Hands down, #1 is the freezer section. #2 is the junk food aisle. Sadly, for the sake of time and convenience, we are filling our families’ bellies with junk. The next time you pull out that frozen pot pie, take a look at the label. [...]

flowery cake

My mom’s birthday is today, and so I used this opportunity to practice a few cake-decorating skills. This one is a spice cake with cream cheese icing. Recipe follows…

Light and Fluffy Cream Cheese Icing

1 1/2 cups heavy cream, whipped
1 pkg. cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 c. sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Beat cream cheese and butter until [...]

chicken and smoked sausage jambalaya

Here is another one of my Louisiana favorites.
Chicken and Smoked Sausage Jambalaya

1-2 pounds chicken, cubed (I use a combination of thigh and breast meat)

1 pound smoked sausage, sliced

1 onion, diced

1 bell pepper, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 bay leaves

cajun seasoning

2 cups rice

4 cups chicken stock

Coat the chicken in cajun seasoning, set aside. In a large, heavy pot, cook sausage over [...]

it has happened

I knew this day would come, despite all my efforts to prevent it. This same day comes to all parents, almost always long before they expect it to. This is the day that I realize that my baby has turned into a toddler. I think God must do something to moms to make us forget [...]

two cents

My 5 year old loves to be a part of any conversation. It doesn’t matter what the subject is, or how far over his head it may be, he always has something to contribute. We were sitting down to dinner in a restaurant tonight, and the boys were busy coloring their little activity placemats. My [...]

eating us out of house and home…update

I think Amber the Goldendoodle is secretly reading my blog while I’m asleep. A couple weeks ago I wrote about her destructive behaviors. She must have read my title, because the next time we left her alone she actually did eat the house. She started chewing on the door frame and baseboards around our front door.
Oh, and do [...]

wisdom from ‘Nemo’

I love to find little bits of wisdom in unexpected places. A friend and I were discussing some of the difficulties people have with prayer, and I thought of a great parallel we can find in the movie Finding Nemo.
Do you remember the scene where Marlin and Dory have just been dumped out of the [...]

the heart of a boy

This morning my 6 year-old son returned from taking something out to the trash with a very disheartened look on his face.
“Mom,” he says, “I have something to tell you, and it is not good news.”
I take a deep breath, close my eyes and brace myself. I can only imagine what he saw on [...]