Praline Sweet Potatoes

Only the most important part of my Thanksgiving meal!!
I detest really don't like the ones with marshmallows.
No offense to those who do, but if you haven't tried these, you don't know what you're missing.
Those who think they don't like sweet potatoes should still make these. It really should be labeled "dessert". YUMMYY!!

Praline Sweet Potatoes

• 4 cups cooked mashed sweet potatoes
• 1/2 c. sugar
• 2 Tab. vanilla
• 4 eggs
• 1 c. cream

Mix above ingredients together. Spread in a buttered baking dish.

To Make the Topping:

• 1 stick butter
• 1 c. brown sugar
• 1/2 c. flour
• 1 c. chopped pecans

Mix topping ingredients together and spread on top of potato mixture.
Bake at 350 until topping is slightly browned , about 30 minutes.

Enjoy!

I Want a Search Engine

I love Google search. Anything I want to know....sometimes more than I want to know,

I can find with a quick "type and click".

Alas, the search engine which would be the most helpful to me doesn't exist, yet. I want a search engine for my house.

Maybe one for the car too. NO, not a GPS, a search engine.... you know, to find lost stuff within the car itself!

Sometimes I could use one for inside my head, when I forget things.

Yes I know, I'm a nut. It doesn't stop me from REALLY wanting a search engine for my very own.

Can you get me one for Christmas? I'll try to be good and declutter before it arrives so the poor dear doesn't blow a gasket. Or I'll take my very own Sherlock Holmes. He'd look at the scene of the crime and say, "I wish to draw your attention to the curious incident of the dog in the night-time."
     "The dog did nothing in the night-time."
     "That was the curious incident," he would remark.

Alfredo & Basic White Sauce

Lots of yummy "soupy" and "saucy" things can be made from starting with a basic white sauce. Nearly all sauces, puddings, cream soups, and gravies have these in common:

milk/cream/milk substitute content
oil/butter/fat content
flour/corn starch/other starch substitute thickening content
Some have eggs or egg yolks

When you make a basic white sauce you can add nice things to make different sauces: fresh or dried herbs, fresh ground pepper, garlic, toasted nuts, pesto, curry, bouillon, cheeses.... the list is endless. This is so easy, and you can make Alfredo Sauce with it!

Basic White Sauce

• 4 Tab. butter
• 4 Tab. flour
• 1/2 tsp. salt (leave out if using bouillon)
• 2 c. milk or half and half (half heavy cream-half milk)

In a large saucepan melt butter. Stir in flour and salt. Add milk all at once and whisk continuously over medium heat until thickened. See, wasn't that easy? I told you so.

For Alfredo Sauce just add 1/2 cup of Parmesan and/or Romano cheese. You can saute a little pressed garlic in the butter before adding the flour to really make it more yummy.

The delicious Romano sauce that we had in Europe was basically the above Alfredo Romano Sauce, with just a touch of red sauce in it, poured over tortellini. I think it had some thin, tiny, pieces of ham or Canadian bacon on top.

Pizza Fridays

Friday is Pizza Day at our house. Rarely we order a pizza, more often I make it. This Friday I was feeling under the weather,
so 15 year-old son said, "I can make the pizza, mom."

????? Wow! So I sort of stood/leaned there and told him how to make the dough. He made very nice pizza, even sauteing the mushrooms! I took photos once before, but didn't post the recipe, so here ya go. Get your pizza makin' pants on.

Mamma Cha's Pizza Pie Dough

• 2 c. unbleached white flour
• 1 c. wheat flour
• 1 pkg. yeast (2 1/4 tsp)
• 1 tsp. salt

Stir that dry stuff together. Add:

• 1/4 cup oil around the sides of flour
• aprox. 1 1/2 c warm water (enough to make a really, wet, sticky, mess)

Beat this vigorously with a big spoon or mixer until the dough becomes elastic. (That's the gluten protein strands forming. Science, for you homeschoolers) Gluten Free Recipes Here Then stir in enough flour to make a non-sticky ball. Maybe 1 more cup. I'll get back to you on that after this Friday. For pizza dough I usually knead the dough right in the bowl adding flour as I need it.
Drizzle oil on the nice firm ball of dough and flip to coat it. Set it aside to rise a little. The more it rises, the more soft the dough becomes, but for pizza it's fine to use it within a few minutes. This is a pretty good bread recipe if you rise it 2x. Very similar to my bread machine bread recipe.

Oil up your cookie sheets or pizza pans. This dough will cover 2 big cookie sheets nicely. I stretch half the dough to the length of the pan, then lay it in there and start spreading by pushing down and out. Too much "out" and you'll tear the dough.
I'm not the pizza guy we met in Savannah.

So the order for putting it together is:

• oil your pans
• dough your pans
• sauce
• cheese
• meat, and some veggies if you want them in the middle
  
• cheese
• pepperoni and/or onions, green peppers, mushrooms, peperoncini or banana pepper rings......
  

For sauce I use Del Monte Four Cheese Spaghetti Sauce. Not pizza sauce. One can covers both pizzas, if you like plenty of sauce. I've made pizza sauce, this is easier.

Falling Faces

If you're over 30, have you ever made the horrifying mistake of leaning over and looking at your reflection in a mirror which is laying on a counter? Go do it, I'll wait for you to come back, laughing and crying hysterically......

Not a pretty sight, is it? Well, that's what small children see when we lean over them!
LOL! Now, lean over your mirror, slightly stick out your tongue, shake your face vigorously and say, "Bbbbblllllah!"
It's enough to frighten children and tiny pets. Maybe scar them for life!

What happened to my face? I'm glad I'm not too terribly vain. It would scar ME for life. I'm sure that God lets our vision worsen as we age so we can't see each other's outer flaws clearly. I need failing vision for people's inside flaws too.

I'm so thankful that God looks on the inside and not the outside, even though, I'll admit, sometimes the insides of me aren't very pretty either.

"Charm is deceitful and beauty is passing,
But a woman who fears the LORD, she shall be praised." - Proverbs 31:30

"...the LORD does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart." - 1 Samuel 16:7b

Maybe you missed this

Sometimes things are reported and we miss important details as we scan the articles.
I read that there are going to be elections in Iraq soon.

The UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said:
"....there is potential for election-related violence and instability, as witnessed recently in Mosul, where attacks in early October forced nearly 10,000 Christians to flee their homes..."

It's terrible that people had to flee their homes, but did you see 10,000 CHRISTIANS! Whoo-Hoo!

The Greatest Artist

All the leaves could turn brown and hang on the trees until spring buds pushed them off. Why is it necessary for them to lose their chlorophyll and change into the beautiful rainbow of color we see every fall? God set this tree painting extravaganza in motion with creation and we enjoy it every year.

When we try to paint or create anything beautiful, it is but a murky copy of what the Great Creator did and does.

If we allow Him the paintbrush of our lives He can paint joy where there was despair, a clean heart where there was guilt and hopelessness, love and forgiveness where there was bitterness and hate. Why wouldn't we want that?

Mom as Peacemaker

Over the years I've gently coaxed family members toward each other when words of forgiveness or encouragements need to be spoken. I think it's a momma's job to help the children to respect their father. Also to gently speak to our husbands (never in front of the kids) about using kinder words, clearer words, encouraging words, with the children. Asking them how we can also do better.

I encouraged children who would come to me with a complaint, or hurt feelings to go with me to speak to Dad. I might start the conversation with, "Dad, A____ , feels very hurt and wants to talk to you."
That would lead Dad to say something like, "I'm very sorry I hurt your feelings, I just don't want you to....."

I recall an evening when my husband was sitting outside in the dark worrying about one of our teenagers. I spoke to the offender and told them where Dad was and why, and suggested they go out there. Up until then I think our teen had the mistaken idea that Dad was unreasonable. Knowing that he was very seriously concerned, because of love, changed everything.

A young one of ours harbored bitterness for YEARS over what they felt was an unjust swat from Dad in front of a cousin who laughed about it. I'd had enough of hearing the story rehashed and told the stinker that even if the spanking was unjust, it was TIME to get over it and FORGIVE. They were a young Christian, after all. I shared Ephesians 4:31-32 "Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you."
(Don't we all need to memorize and put that to practice?) We prayed about it together and finally there was a release of all that bitterness.

Encourage your kids to honor their fathers by speaking and acting honorable toward him yourself.

Being Careful With Our Words

I have proof that God has a great sense of humor.

A few years ago I knew I was going to be spending extended time with someone who rubbed me the wrong way. It never mattered how carefully I worded things, my words would be interpreted to mean something entirely different than what I'd meant. I decided to pray earnestly that the Lord would help me with my words, that I wouldn't speak one word that wasn't necessary and kind. I asked the Lord to help me be understood and help me to keep my mouth shut.

On the 13 hour trip to this person's home I developed a scratchy throat and arrived with barely any voice at all! Isn't God good?!! I could barely speak above a whisper, and could only smile at the conversations going on around me. I was amazed and chucked the whole visit at the sense of humor of the Lord.