Sugar or lemon?

Ah, sugar and lemon you say?




Those are two things often served with tea, of course. But if I asked you which one would you rather be, would you need to think about it for a while?

These six things the Lord hates, yes seven are an abomination to Him: a proud look, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that are swift in running to evil, a false witness who speaks lies and one who sows discord among brethren. Proverbs 6:16-19.

I'd like to share with you an excerpt from Tea time with God which I really enjoyed on the topic of sugar and lemon (or how sweet and/or sour our words can be).



Afternoon tea is traditionally a time for reflecting on the day and chatting with friends. Perhaps because it comes at a low-energy time of day, we may be more careless in our conversation and include not-so-kind opinions about others.



At the very time sugar and cream are being slipped into the tea, verbal raspberries, lemons and sour grapes may slip into the conversation.

Consider sharing this little poem with your tea-mates at the beginning of your time together.

I Know Something Good About You

Wouldn't this world be better
If folks whom we meet would say
"I know something good about you"
And treat you just that way?

Wouldn't it be splendid,
If each handshake, good and true,
Carried with it this assurance:
"I know something good about you?"

Wouldn't life be happier,
If the good that's in us all,
Were the only thing about us
That people would recall?

Wouldn't our days be sweeter,
If we praised the good we see;
For there is a lot of goodness,
In the worst of you and me?

Wouldn't it be fine to practice,
This way of thinking too;
You know something good about me,
I know something good about you?

- Author unknown

How perfect of a poem for teatime or anytime, don't you think? I hope you enjoyed it.

So, again I ask you: sugar or lemon - which one would you rather be? There's plenty of room so come and jump in the sugar bowl with me! ;)

Many sweet blessings!

Savoring time

Lately, I have been busy as a bee! Busy with life, wondering how come time goes by so much faster than when I was a young girl. Is it just me or does it seem like days and weeks (even years!) simply seem to fly by nowadays?

Since there isn't a time machine out on the market that can help me slow down the minutes of my days, I will just need to slow down and savor them as I know they will be memories soon.

Over the past few months, we've been enjoying Little League baseball games, one of our son's favorite sports. This keeps us busy with weeknight practices and Saturday games and we love every minute of it!


In the midst of everyday life, homework review, school activities, various sports functions, dinner, laundry, errands, and so on, I do find it relaxing to sit down for a few minutes to enjoy a cup of one of my favorite teas. Have you ever tried this one?



And if I'm blessed enough to enjoy my tea along with some friendly conversation, then you guessed it, there's always a little something sweet to go along with it!



Or if I don't have anything baked, a little chocolate is always wonderful. Which one would you go for? I'm a dark chocolate fan myself.



But trust me, my life isn't all tea and sweets and a neat little tearoom to enjoy it in. With an active boy and a husband who lives and breathes sports too, it's hard not to trip up over balls sometimes!

When you have a 7-year old boy, you need to do things a 7-year old boy enjoys doing and sharing a lovely teatime isn't on his list these days! No, a lot of times I find myself playing catch in the backyard, cheering over every little and big fish that he catches (and releases), and sharing some of the humor that makes a little boy laugh the kind of laugh you just want to bottle up! In fact, that's what we have in this book:



If you haven't read it you must, especially if you have a little one in your life... or a dog with flatulence issues! It is such a cute story about this great dog Walter. I was at Barnes and Noble laughing so hard I just had to buy it!

But, in the midst of the busyiness of life, family and home, I hope I never forget that the only reason I am this blessed to have a family that keeps me busy from morning until night and to have a home that takes forever to clean is absolutely by the great grace of God. To Him, I owe everything. And I need to spend more time reading His word, hiding it in my heart.



Lord, please help me to slow down and savor each moment of my life, today, tomorrow and always. In Jesus' name, Amen.

May your days be filled with lots of joy and laughter, with the love of your family and friends and with satisfaction in all your accomplishments, big and small.

{Hugs}

A Krispy Kreme hug, anyone?

Yes, this dessert is just like a sweet Krispy Kreme hug! It's the perfect way to end a mothers' day brunch or any other meal for that matter.

I first made it a couple of years ago and it was such a hit that everyone asked me for seconds... and the recipe! But be warned, it's extremely sweet. With the main ingredient being the original glazed Krispy Kreme donut, what else could be expected?!

I saw Paula Deen make this recipe one day and I just had to make it. A viewer of hers sent it to her and boy, am I glad he did!

It's a super-easy bread pudding, oops, I mean donut pudding. From someone who absolutely doesn't like bread pudding, take it from me: this isn't your mama's bread pudding! If you'd like to try it, you can find the recipe by clicking here. Note that the glaze calls for rum and although I substitute regular milk, I'm sure it's delicious either way.

And as we approach mothers' day, I'd like to wish all of you moms, moms-to-be, and hope-to-be moms, a wonderful mothers' day. I just learned that there's a brand new mom right in my own backyard, quite literally! Here, take a look:



Aren't they so sweet? When I see her with her babies, I'm reminded that although not all moms are human, we share some common characteristics. A mom is a mom regardless of whether she has hair, fur, feathers, or fins!

Thank you for stopping by today and many sweet blessings to you and yours! :)

Lemon dreams

I must have had lemon dreams last night as I woke up this morning with lemon on my mind. Of all things... lemon!

Photo courtesy of Country Living Magazine

Yes, I woke up and thought of so many wonderful ways that a lemon can turn any dessert into something light and fabulous. Sure, lemon chicken sounds pretty good. But I have a soft spot for desserts and that's the path I'll be taking you on today. Ready?

It all began with visions of a lemon meringue pie...



But then these cute-as-can-be lemon creme cupcakes came along and reminded me of why cupcakes can turn any ordinary into a party.



Speaking of a party, doesn't this cake look delicious?



But maybe you're one of those strange people who couldn't care less for cake. Do you think a lemon bread pudding topped with whipped cream might be just the right thing for you?



Oooh, aaah, that bread pudding looks like such a great dessert! It's unpretentious and doesn't have to look pretty. But if pretty is what you're looking for, can I tempt you with these lovely tea cookies?



Or these adorable tassies?



And for a yummy partner to a morning glass of orange juice, I think we should seriously consider these lemon poppy seed muffins.



I probably would make them in a regular muffin pan but mini muffins look so cute, dont' they?!

Now if it wasn't for a lack of time, inclination or proper occasion (all right, it's mostly the lack of talent I'll admit!), I might attempt this Martha Stewart lemon experiment...



But I'm seriously scared to! I'm sure it's absolutely delicious but it's so out of my league it's not even funny. And would you believe that all of the other scrumptious desserts I've shared with you today can be found in one simple place? Can you guess where?

Ta-da! They're all on Betty Crocker's website which you can go to by clicking here. Yes, they're all Betty's recipes and you know what that means? It means they're right up my alley!

Now, I'd love to have you share with me which of these treats is calling your name. Make yourself comfy and I'll pour us some ice cold lemonade. I just made it! ;)



Would you care for a lemon ball to go with your lemonade?



Or a lemon bar?




I say try them both, life is short!

Well, thank you so much for visiting me today and for letting me share my lemon dreams with you. I hope you won't be surprised if you start craving lemon desserts too!

{Hugs} to each of you and sweet blessings to you and yours!

Hello birdie!

In recent years, I've come to love birds. I admire them for always waking up in a good mood and ready for a song. In a way, I love that birds always seem joyful and carefree.



I love that they sing regardless of their circumstances and look out for each other. Whenever I throw some bread by the lake behind our house, the first bird that notices it will fly near the bread but before he eats any of it, he will call his feathered friends over as if to say "hurry, there's a free meal over here guys!".



I don't have an actual bird feeder since I am, after all, *the* bird feeder! But I do have a few bird houses indoors in my tearoom for the pretend birds that fly in. :)

This little bird house below was actually the inspiration behind my tearoom. The colors, flowers, coziness. It came from this little $12 bird house, perfect for any single female birdie...



I also like this one with a vaulted ceiling.



But for a family of three, don't you think this one is perfect?



"A bird doesn't sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song".

- Maya Angelou, American poet



Thanks so much for visiting me. Wishing you many joyful songs to fill your heart today and always!

Apricot oatmeal bars

One of the things I enjoy most about being a mom is cooking favorite meals and baking special treats. The following recipe is for one of my son's favorite snacks, and mine as well. He loves it as an after-school snack, or for a treat in his lunch box. I like it anytime!

The recipe is from Williams Sonoma's "The Kid's Cookbook" which is full of wonderful recipes that are easy to prepare and pleasing to kids and adults.


If you make these oatmeal bars, you just won't believe how fantastic your house will smell when they're in the oven!

Here's the recipe:

1 1/2 sticks butter (3/4 cup), melted and cooled to room temperature
2 teaspoons soft butter for greasing foil
1 cup firmly packed dried apricots
1 1/2 cups old-fashioned quick-cooking rolled oats
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat your oven to 350F. Line the bottom and sides of a 8 or 9-inch square baking pan with foil extending over the edges. Grease the foil with butter (bottom and sides).

Chop apricots into 1/2-inches, approximately.

In a mixing bowl, combine rolled oats, flour, brown sugar, salt and cinnamon. Mix until well blended and no lumps of sugar remain.

Add the chopped apricots, melted butter, and vanilla to the bowl. Stir until well blended. The dough will be moist and crumbly. Dump the dough into the buttered pan and press very tightly with your fingers.

Bake until golden brown, approximately 35 minutes. Cool completely, then lift the foil from the pan and peel it from the bottom and sides. Cut into squares or rectangles.




I have a few on hand and I'll be sharing them with my family in just a bit. I hope you get to try them soon and enjoy them with your sweet blessings!

:)

A lesson of love

Lately, I have been enjoying once again this lovely book of devotionals. As I read today the story of Cat and Griz, I was reminded that their fascinating story had appeared on the national news many years ago. You may have heard of them as well, as they had become a very unlikely pair of best pals: a young kitten and a grizzly bear.



Here is the devotional that I read today from that book, and I hope that it blesses you as much as it has blessed me. :)


No longer enemies

The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, the leopards shall lie down with the young goat, the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. Isaiah 11:6

The orange kitten was hungry. The grizzly bear was lonely. The man was apprehensive.

The cat weighed no more than 10 ounces when he first slid under the fence into the bear's pen. The man was almost in a panic thinking the hungry gizzly would kill him with one swat and eat him for dinner - carnivorous bears make much larger animals a part of their diet.

The grizzly, whose name was Griz, had come to the Oregon Wildlife Center in 1990 when he was just a cub. Hit by a train while foraging on railroad tracks in Montana, he suffered severe head injuries and was deemed unfit to return to the wild.

The kitten was one of four kittens abandoned at the center early in the summer. Volunteers were able to find homes for the rest of the litter, but Cat, as he was now called, somehow eluded them.

Then one day in July, Cat turned up in Griz's pen. Afraid to do anything that might alarm Griz, the man just watched, expecting the worst. As the 650-pound grizzly was eating his midday meal, something extraordinary happened. The bear very gently picked out a chicken wing with his forepaw and dropped it near Cat.

From that moment on, Griz and Cat became something of a slapstick animal act. Cat would lay in ambush, then leap out and swat Griz on his nose. Griz would carry Cat in his mouth. Cat would ride on Griz's back, and sometimes Griz would lick Cat.

Their friendly relationship defies both the patterns of nature as well as their own troubled life histories. Griz never took advantage of Cat's weaknesses, and each animal has accomodated the other's needs.

What a lesson Griz and Cat offer! We can help each other break free from the patterns of our past that keep us from loving each other. As we pray for and care for others with the love of Jesus Christ, we obtain healing by the grace of God, both for them and ourselves!

(Tea time with God, Honor Books Publishers, pages 20-21)

As I read this devotional today, I thought "how amazing is it that we can take a lesson from a couple of animals?". Indeed, we can simply remind ourselves that although we're all different from each other, and we may have experienced difficult and hurtful relationships, we can all choose friendship and love with one another over animosity and bitterness.

May love fill our hearts today and always!

Mini chicken pot pies

One dish that's especially comforting in cold weather is chicken pot pie. I make it year-round but it's even better when the air is bit chilly. The pictures will show when I recently made it using turkey and it's wonderful either way.

Makes one 9-inch pot pie or 3-4 individual pot pies

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter
1/4 cup flour
1 cup milk
1 1/2 cups chicken broth
Salt and pepper to taste
2 1/2 to 3 cups cooked chicken (or turkey) breasts, cubed
1 1/2 to 2 cups carrots, cooked and sliced
1 1/2 to 2 cups frozen peas, thawed
1 egg white
Pie crusts

Preheat your oven to 400 F. In a saucepan, melt the butter and mix in the flour. Add the milk a little at a time, while whisking continually. Add the broth, and salt and pepper.

Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer 5 minutes. Stir in the cooked chicken, carrots and peas.



Fill in 3-4 individual oven-safe bowls with the chicken mixture.



Brush an egg wash (1 egg white mixed with 1 tablespoon of water) on the rim of each bowl. Top with a pie crust, using a knife to cut off any extra.


Below are the pie crusts I use and due to the size of my bowls, I need one crust for each pot pie. If you prefer to do a traditional pot pie, simply use a crust on the bottom of a regular-size pie plate, fill it with the chicken mixture and top it with another crust. Make a couple of slits on the top and bake it the same way.


Brush some egg wash on the pie crust which will make it a beautiful shiny golden brown when cooked. Using a knife, make a couple of slits in the crust. Instead of slits, I usually put each family member's initial on their pot pie but a heart would be nice too.



Put the bowls on a baking sheet and bake at 400 F for 20 minutes, then reduce the temperature to 350 and bake another 10 minutes. Be careful that you do not burn your crust! Then take them out of the oven and let them cool on a rack for a minute.



Now dig in and enjoy! :)

Joy

Do you consider yourself a joyful person? Are you feeling joyful today? If so, then you may not have heard that today is known as the most depressing day of the year! Oh my.

Yes, apparently there is such a thing and it's based on things such as the cold weather, increasing debt (credit card bills coming in from Christmas purchases), and new year's resolutions that have already been broken.

But could joy be a deliberate choice and not a reaction to various elements in our life? I think it can be. After all, I don't know one single person who has no problems to overcome, no issues to spoil their joy and no difficulties to rob them of their comfort or peace of mind. And yet, for many of them joy has won and fear has lost.

"It really is possible to color a dark canvas golden, even with the tiniest of brushes. You just keep on dabbing the paint, and sooner or later you transform the surface with brightness. In the same way, if you keep on making joy choices, small and large, your heart will eventually display a joyful tint that is more durable than you ever imagined."

- Thomas Kinkade, a.k.a. The Painter of Light



Despite the cold weather and the difficulties you may be facing, may joy warm your heart and be yours today and always!

{Hugs}

I'm a little teapot...

This is the day the Lord has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it. Psalm 118:24

And this is the cute little teapot and teacup set that my husband and son gave me last year for Mothers' Day.



Isn't Wooly the cutest little sheep? And do you suppose she's reading the Word?

While I'm at it, let me show you just a couple of my other favorite teapots. They're actually tea for one sets, with the base serving as the teacup and the top being the the teapot itself.



I like how pretty it is inside and out. :)

And below, here's another one I like very much. The colors are some of my favorites and I find it soothing just to look at it!



Time to put the kettle on and enjoy a cup of tea. Hope you get to do the same!

Share a smile!

A few years ago, I started making a snack for my little boy called "cat smiles". It combines three of his favorite foods: apples, peanut butter and marshmallows.



I found the recipe in this tea party book that I own, which is full of cute tea party ideas and fun themes:



In case you're wondering, the "cat smiles" name has to do with Alice in Wonderland. In the story, the Cheshire cat keeps popping up and then disappearing. When he does disappear, what's the one thing he always leaves behind? His smile, of course!

You can make a cat smile for your little ones today by spreading peanut butter on an apple slice, then lining up mini-marshmallows on it for the cat's teeth, and topping it with another apple slice that was also spread with peanut butter. If you don't care for peanut butter, you could also make it using this:



And what's not to like about Nutella? It's great on everything!

Cat smiles are such a fun after-school snack and they're sure to bring a big smile to your child's face... and yours!



"Take some more tea," the March Hare said to Alice, very earnestly.
"I've had none yet," Alice replied in an offended tone, "so I can't take more."
"You mean you can't take less," said the Hatter: "it's very easy to take more than nothing".

- Lewis Carroll, "Alice in Wonderland"