Southern Pralines

During the Christmas holidays while looking for a quick recipe to make for a Sunday School Christmas party I ran across this and I LOVE Pralines so I decided to give it a try.

As I get older it seems my hands get slower they were great but looked like I didn't get them out of the boiler fast enough. Maybe next time Honey would help me scoop them out?

Southern Pralines

Ingredients

• 2 cups of granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1/2 cup light corn syrup
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups pecans

Instructions

Combine first 5 ingredients in a heavy saucepan; mix well. Cook over medium heat, stirring until sugar dissolves; cook until mixture reaches soft ball stage (232 degrees). Remove from heat; add vanilla and beat until creamy. Stir in pecans. Drop from a spoon onto waxed paper; let stand until firm.

Makes about 1-1/2 to 3 dozen, depending on how large you make 'em!

The original recipe was taken from Deep South Dish

Thanks for stopping by y'all and please come again soon!

Merry Christmas Y'all

 

God has blessed us with a great year!

The old farm place in Noxubee county was hit by a tornado back in April and completely wiped out. We went through a tough transition but God is merciful and we are doing well.

Honey has had problems with his sugar but after diet adjustments and prayer he is feeling much better.

I am feeling better than ever before. My headaches are very few this day in time after giving up caffeine and the use of saccharine.

Our kids are doing great the grand-children are growing up and changing every day which is bitter sweet but we wouldn't have it any other way.

REMEMBER friends, in spite of all that is going on in our world today GOD IS STILL GOD AND HE CAME TO SAVE THE WORLD! John 3:17

Merry Christmas Y'all and thanks for stopping by. Please come again soon!

Merry Christmas Y'all

We've had a great holiday season so far!

We started our celebrating with the "Annual Roy Martin Christmas Parade" in our hometown which is always great.

 Santa Claus

Then we assisted with our annual "Breakfast with Santa". It was so much fun. It's like a Christmas carnival at our church.

 Santa and his Elves

We've had Christmas dinner with our church family and attended the adult and children's programs. Both programs were top notch and I hear the dinner was fabulous, my piece of pie sure was.

Our last event was dinner with the Good family and celebrating our grand-daughter Lida's 2nd birthday. It's always fun when you get a lot of kids together.

 NOT a picture perfect moment!

The two youngest

My two big girls, Lida and Austin!

Now we are beginning to celebrate with our children. None of us together but each family separately because we are scattered all over the USA. I'll post photos and details of these celebrations after the first of the year.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you and your family! 

Let's remember the REAL meaning of Christmas it's not all about the presents and food!

Thanks for stopping by y'all and please come again soon!

My Christmas

This has been a fun Christmas holiday, living in a new neighborhood there has been so many new things to do. We were able to do a lot of them but we only scratched the surface. I'm already looking forward to doing even more next year.

Here are a few photos to show what all has been happening this last month.

We attending two different concerts "A Visit with the Chapman's" and "Chris Tomlin's Christmas Tour" they were great. We also attend a few MSU basketball games and a "New Orleans Saints" football game.

We took Punkin to breakfast with Santa. She enjoyed the pancakes but she didn't care much for Santa maybe because it was past her nap time.

We attended several parties and a cantata which were all lots of fun also.

For Christmas Honey and I went to the farm to be with our younger children. We missed our older children sooo much but hope to spend next Christmas with them!  We left the hills on Thursday so that we could get the camp house cleaned up some before my Dad arrived to stay with us and also so that Ash and I could do some cooking.

So here is our Christmas on the farm!

Punkin just wanted to eat on Thursday night, well eat and open presents. We had to watch her really close so that we had some presents to open on Christmas morning. Ash received a package in the mail so they opened it and Punkin carried it all to PePaw, never mind that it was "Mother Love" products that PePaw could never use, it's the thought that counts right?

Papaw Thacker joined us on Friday morning and  Punkin entertained him. She read to him and talked his ears off. Papaw says she's speaking Chinese, we'll sure be glad when she converts it to English so we can understand her.

Then Christmas morning finally appeared and you can tell we had one happy little girl.

 

Sydney even got a present and Punkin couldn't understand why she wouldn't take it.

I was awful with my photo taking this year. When writing this blog I realized that I didn't take any of food or our fun activities. Ben and Ash both got new Wii games. I enjoyed playing Monopoly but when it came to war and dancing I just set on the sofa and observed. We had a fun lazy day and spent most of it eating and sleeping.

Friend I hope you have a fun, lazy Christmas too!!!

To see more photos click HERE!

Garlic Shrimp and Grits

I just had a thought, holidays weren't meant to be like this!

Honey and I have been extremely busy. Last Thursday night we went to Pine Lake and saw Chris Tomlin and Louie Giglio in the "Glory in the Highest" tour. It was great and I wouldn't have missed it for the world after the concert we went to my Dad's for the night, then picked up Punkin and kept her for a couple of days. We were able to take her to breakfast with Santa Saturday morning and it was so much fun. It's not everyday that you get to do these things with your grand-children.

Sunday we attended the Christmas cantata and then spent the afternoon with Ash and the baby. All afternoon I was stressed because of all that I had to do. Our computer is out and we are trying to set up a new one, I am days behind on paying bills, payroll taxes are due, Honey has new glasses to pick up, I have prescriptions that I need to have filled, the house needs cleaned, my washer isn't working correctly, we have a business meeting in a few days and on top of it all I have only sparsely decorated for Christmas. Earlier I had shared with my family that I was overwhelmed with it all. Christmas isn't supposed to be like this, this is not the reason for the season.

So while the family slept I made an executive decision, I took out a few more decorations and decided that there will be no tree this year. At first I felt bad because this is the first year that I have not put up a tree but we are leaving to go on a trip next weekend and we are having Christmas at Ben and Ash's when we get home. Besides, spending time with my family is the most important thing right now and I was wasting my time worrying.

After I made this decision I felt so much better, and I started to straighten up the house and think about cooking supper. Now after spending all afternoon fretting I had no meat thawed and had no idea what I was going to cook. Then I remembered that I had bought the ingredients to try a garlic shrimp and grits recipe that I had copied from Southern Living magazine. It was a cold night and so this sounded really good and man oh man it WAS!!! We all loved it and so I want to share it with you.

Garlic Shrimp and Grits
Servings: 4

Ingredients:
1 pound unpeeled medium size shrimp; cooked
3 c. water
1 c. whipping cream
¼ c. butter or margarine
1 tsp. salt
1 c. quick-cooking grits; uncooked
1 c. (4 oz.) shredded extra sharp cheddar cheese
2 garlic cloves; minced

Instructions:
Peel shrimp, and devein, if desired. Bring 3 cups water, cream, butter, and salt to a boil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to medium, and whisk in grits. Cook, whisking constantly, 7 to 8 minutes or until mixture is smooth. Stir in 1 pound shrimp, cheese and garlic, and cook 1 to 2 minutes or until thoroughly heated.

Garnish with chopped fresh chives, peeled and cooked shrimp, freshly ground black pepper if desired.

This is so good and EASY that I plan to make it often in the future!

The true meaning of Christmas

This is my one and only Christmas wish!



The true meaning of Christmas is love. John 3:16-17 says, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him." The true meaning of Christmas is the celebration of this incredible act of love.

Whether you know me personally or through my blog God has given me a special love for you. I know the journey those with food allergies or intolerance's go through and I am grateful that we have each other!

I also realize how hard everyday life can be even though you may not have food allergies or intolerance's and it is encouraging to me to see that I mm not alone.

So may you have a Merry Christmas and the Happiest New Year yet!!!! I look forward to our spending time together in 2011!!!

A Polar Express Christmas

I have always wanted to wear my pajamas on Christmas day. When Emma wore her's to school (Day Two) I was sooo jealous. Our family was small this year so Ben and Ash graciously volunteered to host Christmas and we had "A Polar Express Christmas."

The house was decorated so cute and the food wasn't bad either.

We had a lot of down time, time to relax and rest! Ash isn't pictured above but she had her time also. After lunch we set back to watch a movie and most of us ended up taking a nap.

We all opened gifts! Even Sydney had some things under the tree! Punkin liked the colors and sounds of the paper rattling but the gifts really didn't interested her.

Of course it was ALL about Punkin! She was soo much fun she would laugh and try to talk, then she would get mad at all of us. I think she has the Good's temper? LOL Her favorite thing from us was a bow on one of my gifts from "Sassy Designs"(thanks Natalie). She loved her "Praise Baby" cd and play center from Mom and Dad, they knew just what to buy!

The little Good family, aren't they cute?

And, the big Good family, well excluding the kids, grand-kids, and grand-dogs. Hey we may be older but we still have fun!

I didn't have too cook a lot but I did, we had way more food than we could eat. I started out to make a few things and baked for days. Although it wouldn't be Christmas unless we had tons of food not just Christmas day but everyday through the week. That's part of it you eat, and eat, and eat, and when you are full you eat some more. This is the only time of year that I allow everyone to gorge all week long. Look below for some of the recipes that I used.

I took this from a Southern Living magazine when I was visiting George and Mary and it is wonderful! I used all gluten-free ingredients.

Upside Down Apple Cake

Ingredients:
1/2 cup chopped pecans
2 lg. Granny Smith Apples, peeled n cut into 1/2-in. thick slices
1 Tbsp. lemon juice
2 tsp. vanilla extract, divided
3/4 tsp. gr. cinnamon, divided
1/2 cup butter, softened & divided
2 tsp. brandy (I omitted the brandy)
1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
3/4 cup granulated sugar, divided
2 lg. eggs, seperated
3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup sour cream
2 cups all-purpose baking mix (I used Pamela's Gluten-Free Baking/Pancake mix)
1/8 tsp. gr. nutmeg
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350. Bake pecans in a single layer in a shallow pan 8 to 10 minutes or until toasted & fragrant, stirring after 5 minutes. Increase oven temperature to 375.
Toss apple slices with lemon juice, 1 tsp. vanilla extract, & 1/2 tsp. cinnamon.
Melt 1/4 cup butter in a 10-in. cast iron skillet over low heat. Remove from heat; stir in brandy. Sprinkle with brown sugar.
Sprinkle pecans over brown sugar mixture. Arrange apples in 2 concentric circles over pecans.
Beat 1/2 cup granulated sugar and remaining 1/4 cup butter at medium speed with an electric mixer until blended. Add egg yolks, 1 at a time, beating just until blended after each addition. Add milk, sour cream, & remaining 1 tsp. vanilla, beating just until blended.
Whisk together baking mix, nutmeg, & remaining 1/4 tsp. cinnamon in a medium bowl. Add nutmeg mixture to butter mixture, beating just until blended.
Beat egg whites in a large bowl at high speed until soft peaks form. Gradually beat in remaining 1/4 cup granulated sugar until stiff peaks form. Fold into batter. Spread batter over apples in skillet.
Bake at 375 for 50 to 54 minutes until a wooden pick inserted halfway into center of cake comes out clean. Cool in skillet on a wire rack 10 minutes. Carefully run a knife around edge of cake to loosen. Invert cake onto a serving plate, replacing any topping that sticks to skillet on cake.

I took this recipe from a blogger I follow, "Gluten-Free Krums" and they were very good. A bit crumbly due to being gluten-free but very good and EASY!!

Click here for Flour-less Peanut Butter Blossoms

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas!!! I'll share more recipes in the future.

My Mom's and My Christmas Traditions

I love Christmas. I love the excitement in the air of the festivities. Christmas is a time when most are happy and ready to receive! It may not be just gifts given, sometimes it's other things.

My Mom was BIG on Christmas and always made it loads of fun for our family. We decorated like it was going out of style!

We always baked Onion Bread and took it to the elderly in our community. They loved Momma's onion bread and I hated it although Mom made the time spent baking and delivering it a lot of fun. Now that I think back maybe the little old ladies hated it too but if they did they never let my Momma know it.

Every year we made my Great Grandmother's "Fig Cake" recipe.  Now, we all loved fruitcake but NO WAY Momma had to make Fig Cake instead because it was her Grandmother's recipe and she had always had it growing up. I hope I don't do this to my children?

We drove around Jackson as a family at least one night during the season and looked at the Christmas lights. Dad really didn't enjoy looking at lights with us probably because we could look for hours and we wanted him to drive real slow. Dad use to drive really fast to get it over with and boy did he catch it from all of us. We also visited historical places to look at the decorations.

On Christmas morning we got up early, opened gifts and ate "Sausage Balls" a tradition I have continued through the years although we don't get up early anymore!

Mom would set the table for Christmas day like no other time of year. I remember the last Christmas that Momma was able to serve us she served her fruit salad in wine glasses. During the meal she broke one of the glasses and she was worried that there was glass in some of the food. We as a family tried to assure her that the food was all ok but with her being nervous due to her last accident she dropped another glass and broke it in the midst of two dishes. Without a doubt this time there was glass in some of the food and no one would be able to eat any more of it. Poor Momma cried and cried, we can laugh now but then it was not funny.

Even after I got older, married and had a child of my own Momma saw to it that we did these things and because of that Ashia had a taste of Granny Margaret's Christmas cheer. Oh how I wish I had my Momma back here to make onion bread, fig cake and a disaster of our meal.

These are just a few of my Christmas traditions:

I love Christmas music I could listen to it all year long, but I don't because I want it to be special during the holiday season. This year I bought  "The Hymns and Carols of Christmas"  by Jim Brickman. It is wonderful, I can't believe I didn't buy it earlier! By the way I love Jim Brickman's music!

I love buying my kids that special stocking for my house. Each child and most of the grandchildren have a stocking that in one way or the other makes me think of them. I haven't bought for the new grand-babies yet I'm waiting on them to develop a personality of their own. It just wouldn't be Christmas without my hanging the stockings.

I love soft peppermint not just for Christmas but anytime of year. But when else do you find a container like this? I'll enjoy this for a while if I don't give most of it away! During the Christmas season I always have lots of candy and snacks around the house.

I love Christmas stories, movies etc. I always buy my grandchildren a book at Christmas and write them a special note inside. What better way to spend time with the grandchildren than to read them a book! A friend of mine recently posted a story that is so true and I'd like to share IT with you!

I love Christmas villages.  I know many people leave them out all year, but my village was once my mother's village, so i keep it safely tucked away until Christmas then I bring it out and set it up for all to enjoy.

I love Christmas trees, they are beautiful and each one has so much history on it.  This year we debated on whether to have a tree or not, because we will not be having Christmas at our house.  Although Steve and I felt it wouldn't be Christmas without a tree, so here it is!

I love nativity scenes.  This one is extra special to us because my mother hand-painted each piece.  Look at THIS neat page that I found on the nativity.

I love Christmas cards and send out around sixty each year!  I run to the mailbox everyday in anticipation of who may have sent me a card. For those of you who have THANK YOU if you have not but would like to drop me a note and I'll gladly send you my address!

I have blogged about candles being one of my obsessions. I love buying and burning candles and can never have enough. I always have tons of candles out at Christmas and burn them continually. The candles above were bought a few years ago just to use in centerpieces, they cost too much to burn.

Share with us your favorite Christmas traditions we'd love to hear from you!

The Best of the 6th Annual Ornament Party

Last Thursday night was my sixth annual ornament party. I had the first party the year that I married Steve as a way to get to know ladies in the community, I think I had twelve ladies to attend that one. Then one of the parties we had around forty-five guest, that was a lot for my living room. We set anywhere imaginable and made it happen and what a blast we had. This is an event that we look forward to every year. In January we began the search for the perfect ornament for next year. My friends take this party very seriously!


This year the party was held in the fellowship hall of First United Methodist Church of Macon. I hated to move it from my house, it's just always so personal in a home, but we are expecting a new grand-baby anytime and my house is also due some renovations so I decided that I had better not count on having it there.


Once again the party was a huge success, we had 24 in attendance. A few of them were ladies who had never been before and everyone seemed to have a great time. It's such a blessing to have friends you can be yourself and have fun with.

Here are a few of the photos from this years party.

The food was great as always and my friends made sure that there was some things I could eat! We enjoyed our time of fellowship together.

We each enjoy choosing and showing off our ornaments in hopes that no one else will like them enough to steal them!

It's exciting to see what others get.

We have to make sure someone applies a sticker so that it can't be passed over three times.

We learned something new this year about the pickle ornament.

I think the ladies had a story of their own.

LEGEND OF THE CHRISTMAS PICKLE
A pickle is used as decoration on the Christmas tree seems odd at first, but it is an old German tradition. When decorating the Christmas tree, it is traditional to hang the pickle last, hidden among the branches. The first child on Christmas Day to find the Christmas pickle receives a special blessing for the year and an extra gift! Great tradition to share with your family this year and for years to come!

If you have never attended an ornament party you should give it a try we love them and plan on many more!

GALS (God's Amazing Ladies in Service)

This has been a fun week thus far. Monday we all went to lunch then Steve and I chased parts while Ashia and Ben went to Eupora and picked up Austin's newborn photos. She has grown sooo much since then it's hard to believe she was ever that small!

On Tuesday I went over and watched Austin for a while for Ashia. She was so cute, she laid down on a pillow and cooed and laughed. I swear she was trying to tell me something but I never did get it. She is really at a fun stage right now.

Tuesday night we had our GALS (God's Amazing Ladies in Service) Christmas party. We have had secret sisters for a year now and at this time our sisters were revealed!

I made Betty Crocker's "Chocolate Chip Cookies" and took. They didn't look great but they tasted good. I understand others have had similar problems and say that you need to add flour to the mix, maybe I'll try that next time. Steve has enjoyed the leftovers! :)

 

 The finished product! You can buy these mixes at your local Kroger.

 

I was Lynda's secret sister. Lynda lives down the street from us across from Ben and Ashia. It's a miracle that I didn't get caught, or Ben didn't, putting things in her mailbox. 

 Mrs. Ann was my secret sister but she was sick and didn't make the party. Mrs. Ann has sent me tons of happies, cards, and gifts. THANK YOU MRS. ANN!! I love you!

 

Ashia was Pooh's secret sister!

Ashia's secret sister was Natalie. Natalie is a friend of the family and I just knew that Ashia would figure it out but she didn't. If you know Ashia you know it's very hard to keep a secret from her but we did it!!!