I've gotten a couple of requests for this recipe, so here it is. I especially like to use my own dried apricots. When I freeze the loaves, I make sure and freeze small portions of eggnog in separate containers so that I can make the glaze when it's needed.
EGGNOG BREAD
4 3/4 C. all purpose flour
3/4 C. sugar
4 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
2 beaten eggs
2 3/4 C. canned or dairy eggnog
1/2 C. cooking oil
3/4 C. chopped pecans
3/4 C. snipped dried apricots
Eggnog icing
1. Stir together flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and nutmeg in a large mixing bowl. Combine eggs, eggnog, and oil; add to the dry ingredients, stirring just till combined. Stir in chopped pecans and snipped apricots.
2. Turn into two greased 8x4x4-inch loaf pans. Bake in 350 degree oven for 55 to 60 minutes or till a toothpick inserted near centers comes out clean. (Cover with foil after 40 minutes if the bread browns too quickly.)
3. Cool in pan for 10 minutes. Remove bread from pan; cool on wire rack. Drizzle eggnog icing over cooled bread. Makes 2 loaves.
Eggnog icing: Stir together 2/3 C. powdered sugar and 2 to 3 tsp. eggnog to make an icing of drizzling consistency.
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Better Late than Never
I have a couple of special recipes that I make every Christmas. One recipe is for cranberry coffee cake and the other is for eggnog bread. It's hard for me to imagine Christmas without these goodies. This past Christmas, my energy level was very low. I had to choose which of these items to bake because I just couldn't make both of them. The eggnog bread didn't make the cut. Guess what? Christmas still happened. I think I was the only one who noticed that I hadn't made the eggnog bread.
Yesterday, on January 26, I made the eggnog bread. The eggnog that I'd gotten on clearance after Christmas was about to expire. My schedule has been so full this week that I considered not making the bread at all. Truth be told I argued with myself about it for a couple of hours as I did my other chores, but I just couldn't let it go. I lost the argument with my logical "just cut your losses" self and I made the bread. Now I have four loaves of eggnog bread in the freezer. I would have had five loaves, but Jude got into one. The other kids were ecstatic. "Now we have to eat that one!"
I always like to have a few loaves of quick bread in my freezer. You never know when you'll need a last minute hostess gift or a little something to take to friend who is having a difficult time. Once the two older girls questioned me on this point. "Why are you making that if you don't know who you're going to give it to?"
That very day, just a few hours after they asked me that question, we had a friend come to our house for an emergency home repair which he did as a favor for us. Guess what he got as he was leaving? My point was proven and my methods haven't been questioned since.
Yesterday, on January 26, I made the eggnog bread. The eggnog that I'd gotten on clearance after Christmas was about to expire. My schedule has been so full this week that I considered not making the bread at all. Truth be told I argued with myself about it for a couple of hours as I did my other chores, but I just couldn't let it go. I lost the argument with my logical "just cut your losses" self and I made the bread. Now I have four loaves of eggnog bread in the freezer. I would have had five loaves, but Jude got into one. The other kids were ecstatic. "Now we have to eat that one!"
I always like to have a few loaves of quick bread in my freezer. You never know when you'll need a last minute hostess gift or a little something to take to friend who is having a difficult time. Once the two older girls questioned me on this point. "Why are you making that if you don't know who you're going to give it to?"
That very day, just a few hours after they asked me that question, we had a friend come to our house for an emergency home repair which he did as a favor for us. Guess what he got as he was leaving? My point was proven and my methods haven't been questioned since.
Trouble Man
Our Jude has graduated from cute baby to Mr. Trouble Man (well, he's still cute). Jude has an uncanny ability to find markers around the house. He takes the cap off the marker and then bites the tip with his teeth, pulling the tip from the marker. He then mouths the tip until his lips and tongue are a brilliant blue--or green or red (that color sure triggered my mommy alarms).
Once we found that he had swallowed a small sea shell (don't ask how we figured it out). Today he took a bite out of a small Nerf ball. Yesterday Jude helped himself to a loaf of bread I had just baked. He pulled it from the table and sat down on the kitchen floor and dug right into the loaf. A little while later, Grace heard a suspicious sound coming from the dining room and found Jude sitting next to a huge pile of Rice Krispies. He was just having a little snack.
I know what you're thinking, "That kid's not a trouble maker, he's just hungry." It's true, he is hungry--all the time. The little guy has quite the appetite and it's a rare occurrence when he turns down anything that's offered to him to eat. I guess he needs the energy to fuel all the bookcase climbing and table top dancing he's been doing lately.
Once we found that he had swallowed a small sea shell (don't ask how we figured it out). Today he took a bite out of a small Nerf ball. Yesterday Jude helped himself to a loaf of bread I had just baked. He pulled it from the table and sat down on the kitchen floor and dug right into the loaf. A little while later, Grace heard a suspicious sound coming from the dining room and found Jude sitting next to a huge pile of Rice Krispies. He was just having a little snack.
I know what you're thinking, "That kid's not a trouble maker, he's just hungry." It's true, he is hungry--all the time. The little guy has quite the appetite and it's a rare occurrence when he turns down anything that's offered to him to eat. I guess he needs the energy to fuel all the bookcase climbing and table top dancing he's been doing lately.
Monday, January 25, 2010
Week in Review
Made dinner for three men from Chicago (here for Matt's work), cleaned something too yucky to mention off the carpet, started new Bible study (The Truth Project), tore apart my house day after day looking for an overdue library dvd (turned out they had it the whole time), watched Matt disco dance (just like John Travolta sans the white leisure suit) at Subway, had Shabbat dinner here with a full ten foot table (eleven kids, four adults), gave Jude a haircut (and my knuckle, too), got everyone else ferried to and from Great Clips for $6.99 haircuts, cleaned something too yucky to mention off of a child's bed, reviewed finances with Matt (yes, we're still married) and got caught up on the laundry (once--for about two hours).
Saturday, January 23, 2010
My Super Duper Shopping Trip
I've been "extreme couponing" for about six months now. I'm not as die hard a shopper as many of the gals I read about--I just don't have the time for it. However, every once in awhile, I walk away from the store having played the "game" pretty well and anyone who knows me knows I love to get a good deal.
Well, in December I walked out of Walgreens with a bounce in my step. I had even impressed a very hard to impress clerk with the deal I had put together, which I entered in a coupon blog contest. I didn't win, but I did get an honorable mention. Pretty neat for little ol' me. (P.S.--the one thing not mentioned on the blog was that I got back $7 in register rewards to use on my next shopping trip, so it was like they paid me $2.42 to take the stuff out of the store. :)
Well, in December I walked out of Walgreens with a bounce in my step. I had even impressed a very hard to impress clerk with the deal I had put together, which I entered in a coupon blog contest. I didn't win, but I did get an honorable mention. Pretty neat for little ol' me. (P.S.--the one thing not mentioned on the blog was that I got back $7 in register rewards to use on my next shopping trip, so it was like they paid me $2.42 to take the stuff out of the store. :)
Monday, January 18, 2010
Sunset
Grace took this photo of the sun setting the other night. The endless creativity of our God never ceases to amaze me.
Visitor Comes A Callin'
The other day the friendly neighbor cow knocked over a section of fence and came right into our backyard. I guess he wanted to drop by and chat with the chickens. Unfortunately, the chickens weren't very impressed with the cow's overtures. You can see from the picture that the chickens are trying desperately to get into the chicken house. Unfortunately for them, the chicken house was closed. I'm sure they were thinking, "Of all the times!"
We surmised the cow must have given up on the chickens at some point and tried to see if there were any people he could visit. We found a huge pile of evidence on the porch by the sliding glass door.
We surmised the cow must have given up on the chickens at some point and tried to see if there were any people he could visit. We found a huge pile of evidence on the porch by the sliding glass door.
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Funny
I got home from Walgreens the other day and had to chuckle when I looked at my receipt. No, the man who helped me didn't look Hispanic. He didn't look like Jesus, either.
Room Switch
This is old news to a lot of you, but we switched the kids' rooms around a few months ago. I promised pictures awhile back, so here you go.
We put all the girls in the room that Paul and Lydia formally shared. Since we have an aversion to bunk beds after Joel broke his leg when he fell off the bunk bed ladder, we had to do some figuring to get three beds into that room. We ended up taking the closet doors off of the closet and scooting Gracie's bed into the little enclosure. We also repainted the walls, which were a VERY sunny yellow. We changed the color to a more subtle yellow.
The room that was formerly shared by Elizabeth and Grace is now the girls' dressing room. They each have a dresser in that room and Elizabeth and Grace both have their hope chests in there. This is also the bedroom that has the small bathroom off of it, so it works well when the girls shower and get dressed for the day (if only that process were a little quicker). The girls also sew, craft and study in that room. Lydia mostly just makes messes there, as she does her third of the bedroom, which is a constant source of frustration for her two older sisters, but what are little sisters for anyway?
We moved the three boys to the other end of the house into the bedroom next to the master. Paul has his bed, Joel has a toddler bed, and Jude has a crib. This arrangement seems to be working quite well except that Joel and Jude aren't exactly neat and tidy, which is a constant source of frustration for Paul, but what are little brothers for anyway?
I also reframed all the kids' name plaques. Each child has a frame with his or her name, the name's meaning and an applicable Bible verse. These plaques hang above each child's bed. I finally made Jude's name plaque-fourteen months after his birth--better late than never. Here's a close up of Joel's name plaque:
We put all the girls in the room that Paul and Lydia formally shared. Since we have an aversion to bunk beds after Joel broke his leg when he fell off the bunk bed ladder, we had to do some figuring to get three beds into that room. We ended up taking the closet doors off of the closet and scooting Gracie's bed into the little enclosure. We also repainted the walls, which were a VERY sunny yellow. We changed the color to a more subtle yellow.
The room that was formerly shared by Elizabeth and Grace is now the girls' dressing room. They each have a dresser in that room and Elizabeth and Grace both have their hope chests in there. This is also the bedroom that has the small bathroom off of it, so it works well when the girls shower and get dressed for the day (if only that process were a little quicker). The girls also sew, craft and study in that room. Lydia mostly just makes messes there, as she does her third of the bedroom, which is a constant source of frustration for her two older sisters, but what are little sisters for anyway?We moved the three boys to the other end of the house into the bedroom next to the master. Paul has his bed, Joel has a toddler bed, and Jude has a crib. This arrangement seems to be working quite well except that Joel and Jude aren't exactly neat and tidy, which is a constant source of frustration for Paul, but what are little brothers for anyway?
I also reframed all the kids' name plaques. Each child has a frame with his or her name, the name's meaning and an applicable Bible verse. These plaques hang above each child's bed. I finally made Jude's name plaque-fourteen months after his birth--better late than never. Here's a close up of Joel's name plaque:
Helpmeet Check Up
This past summer, I was blessed to be in a Bible study with my sister-in-law and a friend. We went through the book "Created to Be His Helpmeet," by Debi Pearl. We dug into God's Word and got His perspective on women and His beautiful plan for us to be helpmeets to our husbands. Even though the study has ended, the gals and I have been trying to get together every other month or so to take each others' "spiritual temperatures" in regards to how we are doing in the helpmeet department.
We had one of those get togethers the week before last. We asked each other about our attitudes and actions towards our husbands. We questioned each other about what we've been doing to help our husbands. We also confessed our mistakes and failures to each other and vowed to ask forgiveness from the Lord and from our husbands and then get back to the business of doing "God's work God's way."
The conversation the girls and I had over dinner that night gave me the inspiration to get an idea that had been rattling around in my head for awhile out of my brain and into action. Matt has been a huge blessing to me this past month. He's been a rock on which I could lean and as well as a comforter to me. I wanted to bless him in some tangible way--thus my idea.
My thought was to take a lunch to his place of work so that he could share it with his buddies and coworkers. Unfortunately, life got in the way and foiled my plans several times and I began to give up on the idea, but my night out with the gals gave me the impetus I needed to try again. Last week Grace and Elizabeth helped me get a lunch together to take to their Daddy at work.
Notwithstanding a cooking mistake which sent me frantically on a last minute run to the store, the girls and I were able to get a lunch of spaghetti pizza (my friend Julie's recipe), Caesar salad, garlic bread and Oreo ice cream cake to Matt's workplace. Everyone enjoyed the lunch and Matt was blessed, which was my intention from the beginning.
We had one of those get togethers the week before last. We asked each other about our attitudes and actions towards our husbands. We questioned each other about what we've been doing to help our husbands. We also confessed our mistakes and failures to each other and vowed to ask forgiveness from the Lord and from our husbands and then get back to the business of doing "God's work God's way."
The conversation the girls and I had over dinner that night gave me the inspiration to get an idea that had been rattling around in my head for awhile out of my brain and into action. Matt has been a huge blessing to me this past month. He's been a rock on which I could lean and as well as a comforter to me. I wanted to bless him in some tangible way--thus my idea.
My thought was to take a lunch to his place of work so that he could share it with his buddies and coworkers. Unfortunately, life got in the way and foiled my plans several times and I began to give up on the idea, but my night out with the gals gave me the impetus I needed to try again. Last week Grace and Elizabeth helped me get a lunch together to take to their Daddy at work.
Notwithstanding a cooking mistake which sent me frantically on a last minute run to the store, the girls and I were able to get a lunch of spaghetti pizza (my friend Julie's recipe), Caesar salad, garlic bread and Oreo ice cream cake to Matt's workplace. Everyone enjoyed the lunch and Matt was blessed, which was my intention from the beginning.
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Saturday, January 9, 2010
God's Word
Six years ago, I was going through a really difficult time in my life. The Lord had allowed a very good thing to be taken away from me. He was taking me to a place of deeper dependence on Him and Him alone. One night during that time, I took a walk in the snow. As I looked up and saw the snow heavily falling, the Lord brought Isaiah 55:10-11 to my mind.
"For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven
and do not return there but water the earth,
making it bring forth and sprout,
giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;
it shall not return to me empty,
but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,
and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it."
One night last week it snowed here. I bundled up at 9:00 p.m. and took a walk. I walked quite a distance, relishing the quiet stillness of a world gone silent in snowy white. I reminded myself that God's word does not return to Him void, but it accomplishes the purpose for which He sent it forth.
"For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven
and do not return there but water the earth,
making it bring forth and sprout,
giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;
it shall not return to me empty,
but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,
and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it."
One night last week it snowed here. I bundled up at 9:00 p.m. and took a walk. I walked quite a distance, relishing the quiet stillness of a world gone silent in snowy white. I reminded myself that God's word does not return to Him void, but it accomplishes the purpose for which He sent it forth.
Sunday, January 3, 2010
Chickens and Eggs
Our new little chicks are now grown up chickens and they're producing a lot of eggs. We're getting approximately fifteen eggs per day--even more than what our family can eat. Matt is teaching the rudimentary elements of running a business to Paul. Paul is required to record the chickens' watering, feeding and egg laying data in a notebook daily. Paul has begun selling eggs for $3/dozen (which really doesn't even cover the cost of the feed, but we thought that price was high enough). Anyway, if you live locally and are interested in free range eggs, give us a call or shoot us an e-mail. We have eggs coming out of our ears around here.
Saturday, January 2, 2010
Annual Picture
We finally managed to take a picture of the kids a few days ago. Paul and Joel were playing cowboys when I announced that it was picture taking time. They weren't very excited about the change in plans. Lydia was wearing one of the frilly frocks from the dress up box and despite my suggestion that she change her clothes, she was determined to keep the dress on. The dress looked a little like something a woman of the West would have worn, so I decided to roll with it. Since half the kids were already in Western attire, I told the two big girls to go put on shawls and hats and then I tied a bandana around Jude's neck. We then moved on to getting everyone to be still and smile.
The baby cried and refused to cooperate. Various complaints ranging from "He's touching me!" to "She's not smiling!" were voiced. I finally resorted to giving Jude cut up gum drops to get him to stop crying. Then Joel squealed because he wanted gum drops, so between Daddy's camera shots I was shoving pure sugar into the boys' mouths. It worked great until Joel started bouncing. Joel always bounces after he eats sugar. I ran to the fridge to get some cheese for him to eat in an attempt to stop the Tigger action.
Anyway, here's the final shot. Paul and Grace were going for the authentic serious look of the old time Western pictures. Everyone else had their eyes open, so we called it a day. As Matt said, "all's quiet on the Western front"--until we to do it all over again next year.
The baby cried and refused to cooperate. Various complaints ranging from "He's touching me!" to "She's not smiling!" were voiced. I finally resorted to giving Jude cut up gum drops to get him to stop crying. Then Joel squealed because he wanted gum drops, so between Daddy's camera shots I was shoving pure sugar into the boys' mouths. It worked great until Joel started bouncing. Joel always bounces after he eats sugar. I ran to the fridge to get some cheese for him to eat in an attempt to stop the Tigger action.
Anyway, here's the final shot. Paul and Grace were going for the authentic serious look of the old time Western pictures. Everyone else had their eyes open, so we called it a day. As Matt said, "all's quiet on the Western front"--until we to do it all over again next year.
Surprise Gift
My parents surprised me on Christmas Eve with this weather vane. I've wanted a proper weather vane for so very long. I can't wait to see this copper beauty on our shed (after Matt builds the cupola for it, that is).
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