Catherine Love~ Ramblings from my Heart and Home

A Nice Cup of Hot Tea...

and a good book or two!  That's what I'd like to curl up with today.  It is yucky outside, though we did get some much needed rain.  Posting about seed catalogs on the Front Porch has made me anxious to sit down with my own stack of catalogs and do a little list making.  But first, I have some much needed homekeeping to finish up...

dishes

laundry

baking

and can't leave out the home education part ...

reading

writing

math

But, once those are done or "doing", then I'll get a chance to have some fun and do a little dreaming! 

I'm planning to bake some bread today and put on a big pot of soup for dinner.  I'm having to make some serious adjustments to my cooking as this house has a teeny tiny kitchen.  I can quite quickly create a state of chaos in there if I'm not careful .  My biggest challenges are lack of counter space and cabinet space.  There's nothing like taking a HOT pan out of the oven and realizing there is not a single empty space to sit it down on....  It's happened more than once, too. 

The sun is trying to peek out now, I may have to pop outside and check on my garden and pick some broccoli and carrots.  This broccoli soup recipe sounds very tempting today! 

Ham & Cheese Mini Muffins

Ham & Cheese Muffins

1/4 cup butter, softened

2 tsp. sugar

1 egg

2 cups unbleached flour

4 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp sea salt

1/2 tsp dry mustard (or more to taste)

1/2 tsp paprika

2 tbl. dry minced onions

1 cup milk

1 cup grated extra sharp Cheddar cheese

1/2 cup chopped cooked ham

Beat butter and sugar together until creamy.  Add egg and beat until just blended. 

Combine flour, baking powder, salt, mustard, paprika, and minced onion.  Add to butter mixture alternately with milk. 

Stir in cheese and ham. 

Spoon batter into greased mini muffin pans (or regular size pans if you prefer).

Bake at 375 degrees 15-20 minutes or until pick inserted in muffin comes out clean...the tops won't be brown, but the bottoms will.  Remove from pans immediately and cool on wire rack.  

Enjoy!

I made these last night for a Christmas fellowship, and they were pretty tasty!  I tweaked and tossed a few extras into a plain muffin recipe I had, and I like the results.  

For sweet muffins, increase sugar to 1/4 cup and omit the mustard, paprika, onions, ham & cheese.  I plan to try the sweet version with some dried cherries and nuts, and perhaps a little streusel topping.....

Blessed Christmas to you!!!

Christmas Cookies...Quick!

This "recipe" is for those days when you simply must have cookies, and in a hurry!  We made some yesterday; because the girls were begging to make cookies, and I was too busy to get the real Christmas Sugar Cookie dough made and pre-chilled.  They had fun, and they are pretty tasty, too. 

Cake Mix Cookies

1 cake mix (your choice of flavor)

2 eggs

2/3 cup cooking oil

Mix, roll into 1/2 inch balls and bake at 400 degrees until just beginning to brown (8-10 minutes).   

We used a butter cake mix and flattened the little balls a bit and added colored sugar, sprinkles, dried cherries, walnuts, etc. 

Christmas cookies in less than an hour! 

Hello From Amidst the Moving Boxes

..............Hello there, from what looks very much like total chaos!

Just popping in to say Hello.  We're still working on getting settled in to our new nest, and attempting to get the last of the "stuff" moved from the other house...I have no idea where it is actually going to go.....right now there is a tiny trail thru the living room and thru the bedrooms . 

I did find out that the boxes themselves take up more space than all the things in them, but it's pretty cramped around here already...  Perhaps its time to lighten the load a bit more. 

It should be warm today, praise the Lord!  And if I find a few moments, I plan to sneak out and plant a few seeds and flowers.  I have some empty space (thanks to the recent cold snap) in the garden that I want to fill up with cool season herbs and flowers. 

OK, I'm off to make breakfast (as late as we are getting started, I should just call it brunch and go from there)   and then rearrange some boxes so I can bring yet more boxes in...I'm getting just a tad bit claustrophobic in here...................I definitely need some time in the garden!

Chilly Days

Oh, it is downright C-O-L-D in my part of Texas this morning!  Same thing yesterday morning, and the afternoons haven't been much warmer.  I'm ready for a "normal" Texas day.....warm to hot & steamy!

The garden is hanging in there, our friend Mike has been covering up the tender things- squash, cucumbers, tomatoes.  Actually, the tomatoes have a temporary greenhouse with a light in it.  They still looked OK yesterday, but I'm not sure that last night did them any favors.  Being a bit more practical, I would have just picked the green tomatoes, brought them in to ripen, and planted something that won't mind the few cold snaps we get.  But, this is all new to our friend, and I'm having fun watching his gardening enthusiasm . 

We're still in the process of getting everything moved in here.  My we seem to have a lot of "stuff"!  Squishing a homeschooling family of 5 into a small 2 bdr mobile home is quite interesting, to say the least.  But, we've found a place for most of the books, so it is good .  When the weather warms up we'll probably be spending lots of time out on the patio, which will become our "outdoor living room".  Right now, its covered in empty boxes and assorted things that either don't fit in here or need to find a new home "just because" .

OK, time for tea (hot and steamy) and some Christmas music.  We're baking cookies today!!!