A Week Of Cake Recipes: Red Velvet Cake

Red Velvet Cake is synonymous with the South. It is a delicious part of the South. For it to be a true Red Velvet Cake, it has to have Cream Cheese Icing. Or at least my family thinks so. Anything less and the cake just isn't the same. This recipe came form Cook's Country TV. It is a fool proof recipe that gives the cake the perfect red color and the cream cheese icing is to die for. You can't go wrong with this recipe. 

Red Velvet Cake

The Cake:

• 2 1/4 cups of all-purpose flour. (I use 1 1/4 cup of white and 1 cup of whole wheat.)
• 1 1/2 tsp of baking soda
• pinch of salt
• 1 cup of buttermilk
• 1 Tbsp of white vinegar
• 1 tsp of vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs
• 2 Tbsp of cocoa powder
• 2 Tbsp of red food coloring
• 12 Tbsp of butter, softened (1 1/2 sticks.)
• 1 1/2 cup of sugar

The Icing:

• 16 Tbsp of butter, softened (2 sticks)
• 4 cups of powder sugar
• 16 oz. of cream cheese, cut into smaller pieces
• 1 1/2 tsp of vanilla extract
• pinch of slat

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour 2 9" round pans.

In a bowl; whisk together the flour, baking soda, & salt. 

In another bowl or large measuring cup; whisk the buttermilk, vinegar, vanilla, & eggs together. 

In a small bowl, mix the cocoa and food coloring together with a spoon until a smooth paste forms. 

In a mixing bowl, beat the sugar and sugar together until light and fluffy, for about 2 minutes; scraping down the bowl as necessary. 

Add 1/3 of the flour mixture and incorporate. Add half of buttermilk mixture and incorporate. Scrap down the bowl. Repeat the steps, ending with the last 1/3 of the flour mixture. 

Scrap down bowl, then add the cocoa mixture. Beat until well incorporated. Use a big rubber spatula to give the batter one more big stir. 

Pour into greased pans. Bake at 350 degrees for about 25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. 

Cool in pan for 10 minutes then turn out onto a cooling rack to cool completely. While the cake is cooling, make the icing. 

In a mixing bowl, combine the butter and powder sugar. Beat until light and fluffy. 

Add cream cheese one piece at a time and beat until all of it is incorporated. Beat in the vanilla and pinch of salt. 

Refrigerate the icing until you are ready to use. 

When the cake is completely cooled, spread about 2 cups of icing on one cake layer. Top with second cake layer. Spread the rest of the icing over the top and the sides. 

Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve. 

This cake is a taste of the South and with the cream cheese icing it makes it out of this world. Give this cake a try. I know you will LOVE it! 

Living a simple life and loving every minute of it! 

A Week Of Cake Recipes: Hershey's Perfectly Chocolate, Chocolate Cake

Hershey's Perfectly Chocolate, Chocolate Cake is the best chocolate cake recipe out there. Well, I think so anyway. I found the recipe on a box of Hershey's Cocoa and tried it. It is moist and chocolaty. This is the recipe I go to when I need to make a chocolate cake.  Of course, I have tweaked the recipe to our tastes and dietary needs. 
 

Hershey's Perfectly Chocolate, Chocolate Cake

• 2 cups of sugar
• 1 3/4 cups of flour (I use 1 cup of white and 3/4 cup of whole wheat.)
• 3/4 cups of cocoa
• 1 1/2 tsp of baking soda
• 1 1/2 tsp of baking powder
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup of milk
• 1/2 cup of vegetable oil (I use olive oil.)
• 2 tsp of vanilla extract
• 1 cup of boiling water

All the ingredients you will need.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour pans, whether they are 3 8" round pans or one 9" X 13" rectangular pan, or bundt pan. This recipe will make around 30 cupcakes. 

In a mixing bowl, combine all the dry ingredients. Whisk to combine and to get rid of any lumps.

All the dry ingredients combined.

Add the eggs, milk, oil, and vanilla. Beat on until combined.  

Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Beat for 2 minutes on medium speed. Be sure to scrap down the bowl at least one time during the mixing. 

The dry and wet ingredients combined.

After the 2 minute beating, add the boiling water. The batter will be runny and that is the way it is suppose to be. 

The batter will be runny after you mix in the boiling water.

Pour in greased and floured pans. Bake at 350 degrees. If using round pans, bake for 30 to 35 minutes. Rectangular pan, bake for 35 to 40 minutes. Bundt pan, for 50 to 55 minutes. For cupcakes, bake for 22 to 25 minutes.

I was making cupcakes with this recipe when I was taking pictures. We were going to make chocolate fudge cakes with them.

Remove from oven and place on cooling racks. Cool in round or rectangular pan for 10 minutes before removing from pan, then cool completely on cooling racks before putting on the icing. Cool 15 minutes in bundt pan before removing it. Remove cupcakes when they come out of the oven and place on a cooling rack to cool completely.  

Out of the oven and ready to remove from the pan.

Cupcakes removed and cooling.

Using olive oil instead of vegetable oil makes this recipe super moist. Make sure your toothpick or skewer inserted in the center comes out completely clean before removing them from the oven. 

If you are a chocoholic like I am, then you will want to top this cake with Hershey's Perfectly Chocolate, Chocolate Frosting. However, a good vanilla icing is just as yummy. I especially like using this recipe to make cupcakes so we can top them with vanilla ice cream, chocolate syrup, homemade whipped cream, and a little shaved chocolate. Talk about YUMMY! 

This makes me happy!

Living a simple life and loving every minute of it!  

A Week Of Cake Recipes: Golden Yellow Cake

I found this recipe in one of those little pamphlets food companies will sometimes print and give out to the public for free. This yellow cake recipe was featured in a Crisco pamphlet called "It's A Piece Of Cake." It is just your classic, basic yellow cake recipe. 

Golden Yellow Cake

• 2 cups of sugar
• 2/3 cup of Crisco
• 3 eggs
• 1 1/2 tsp of vanilla extract
• 2 3/4 cup of all purpose flour (I use 1 1/2 cup of white and 1 1/4 cup of wheat.)
• 2 1/2 tsp of baking powder
• 1/2 tsp of salt
• 1 1/2 cups of milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour 2 - 9" round cake pans or a 9" X 13" rectangle pan. 

In a mixing bowl, combine the sugar, Crisco, eggs, and vanilla. Beat until they are light and fluffy. 

In another bowl; combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. Whisk together to get rid of any lumps. 

Add flour mixture and the milk to the sugar mixture. Beat until well combined. Make sure to take the time to scrap down the bowl a few times to make sure you have all the ingredients are in the batter. 

Pour batter into your desired pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 to 45 minutes for the round pans or rectangular pan or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. 

Remove from oven and place on a cooling rack for 5 minutes to cool in the pan. Remove from pans and place back on cooling racks to cool completely. 

Top with your favorite icing or if you want a classic combo, top with your favorite chocolate icing. 

If you want to use this recipe to make cupcakes, it will make about 36 cupcakes. Less if you like to eat batter like me. The cupcakes will need to bake for 20 to 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. 

This is a simple cake to make and a yummy classic cake. Enjoy!

Living a simple life and grateful for every moment of it!  

A Week Of Cake Recipes: Lemon Pound Cake

Everyone has their favorite pound cake flavor. Ours is lemon. This is the most requested cake by DH and DD, especially around strawberry season. Lemon Pound Cake topped with fresh macerated strawberries topped with homemade whipped cream is just too yummy for words.

Lemon Pound Cake

• 2 sticks of butter, softened
• 1/2 cup of shortening ( I use Crisco Baking Sticks.)
• 3 cups of sugar
• 6 eggs
• 1 cup of milk
• 3 cups of all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 small bottle of lemon extract (or 1 tsp of vanilla extract.)

 

All the ingredients you will need.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. 

Cream together the butter and shortening. Add sugar, then beat until light and fluffy. 

Cream together the butter and shortening.

Scrap down the sides of the bowl before adding the sugar.

Add the sugar.

Beat until light and fluffy.

Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each addition. 

By putting all of the eggs in a measuring cup, you can add one egg at a time, without having to break each one when you need to add them.

Add one egg at a time, beating after each addition.When all the eggs have been added, beat until light and fluffy. 

In another bowl, add the dry ingredients and whisk to combine. 

Whisking the dry ingredient together will help get rid of any lumps.

Now add the dry ingredients and the milk; alternating between the two. Mix well. 

Before adding the dry ingredients and the milk, make sure you scrap down the sides of you mixing bowl.

When you have added the last of the flour and milk and have combined them, scrap down the bowl one more time to get any flour clinging to the sides of the bowl in the batter.

Beat for about 2 minutes or until everything is combined and the batter is light and fluffy.

Add the small bottle of lemon extract and beat for a few seconds to make sure the extract is evenly distributed. 

Add the lemon extract and beat.

The batter is ready for the oven.

Pour batter into a greased and floured tube or bundt pan. Bake at 325 degrees for 1 hour and 20 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean. Place the tube or bundt pan over a bottle to cool. 

By placing the tube pan over the top of a bottle the bottom part of the pan will fall off when it is cool enough.

When the bottom of the tube pan falls off, continue to cool the cake on the bottle. (If using a bundt pan, cool for about 10 minutes before removing the cake.) When it is completely cool remove the tube part of the pan and place the cake on plate and continue to cool for about 30 minutes without placing a lid over the plate just to make sure the cake is good and cool. 

The cooled cake ready to be cut.

Slices ready to be devoured.

The color and texture of this cake is just perfect.

This is one cake I don't use half white and half whole wheat flour in, because it just doesn't work. It makes the cake to dense and heavy. If you want just a plain pound cake, just change the lemon extract in this recipe to 1 tsp of vanilla extract. 

Give this cake a try, especially with strawberries and whipped cream. I think you will love it as much as my family does. 

Living a simple life and that is enough for us!  

A Week Of Cake Recipes: White Cake

All week I am going to share my favorite go-to cake recipes. These are the recipes I use when I want to make cake for a celebration or for a simple dessert. All of them are fairly easy to make and all of them are delicious. 

The first I am sharing is a simple white cake. This cake is a dense cake more bread like in consistence. It isn't overly sweet, which makes it a great cake to pair with a sweet icing. The recipe doesn't make a big cake. It will make a big one layer 9" round cake, but isn't suitable to try to make it into two layers. It also will make a good size cake in a smaller rectangular pan like an 8" X 11" pan. This recipe will make somewhere between 15 and 18 cupcakes. I really am not sure of the amount, because it depends on how much batter I eat. (Yes, I eat raw batter and haven't got sick in all my 40 some years.)You can make it a yellow cake by adding the egg yolks to the mixture.

White Cake

• 2/3 cup shortening
• 1 cup of sugar 
• 3 egg whites 
• 2 cups of flour (I use half white and half whole wheat.)
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. of salt
• 3/4 to 1 cup of milk (I usually pour milk between the two measurements, so really about 7/8 cup of milk.)
• 1 tsp. of vanilla extract 

Preheat oven the 350 degrees.

In a mixing bowl, cream the shortening and sugar together. Add unbeaten egg whites and beat well. 

In another bowl, add all the dry ingredients and whisk together. 

Add the dry ingredients to the sugar mixture a little at a time alternating with the milk, mixing as you go.

When the dry ingredients and the milk have been added, add the vanilla. Continue mixing until well blended. 

Pour batter into a greased and floured pan. bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. 

Remove from oven and place on a cooling rack. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then turn out the cake and continue cooling it on the cooling rack. 

This cake will not disappoint. It is just one of those tried and true recipes that are simply a must have for a home cooks recipe collection. Give it a try and let me know how it turns out! 

Living a simply great life and thankful for every second of it! 

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A side note: There is something weird about this recipe when it comes to the amount of milk it needs. Sometimes, it needs more than the 3/4 cup milk the recipe calls for. I can tell by the consistency of the batter. However, I have found that the 7/8 cup of milk works the best so I use that measurement the most.

Simply Useful: Dryer Sheets

Dryer sheets are one of those simply useful products I like to keep on hand. However, I don't use them for our laundry. A long time ago, we tried to get rid of all the paper products we could. Since dryer sheets were an expensive product to buy and use for laundry, they were one of those products we cut out. Yet, I found another use for them that doesn't cost as much because we are not buying them as often. I use dryer sheets as sachets. 

When spring rolls around, I wash and put away all the big blankets we used during the winter. As I put them up in storage, I tuck a dryer sheet in the folds. This helps keep the blankets smelling fresh and will still smell fresh when I pull them out when winter rolls around again.  I also use them in the sheets, blankets, and towels that we store in our camper to use when we go camping. So as we pull out our camping items to use, they all smell fresh and clean.

Tucking a dryer sheet in the folds of a blanket will keep the blanket smelling fresh.

Dryer sheets are also nice to tuck in the folds of clothes you are storing. They won't stain or damage the clothing. I have them tucked in the baby clothes of DD I have safely tucked away in a container. I also tuck them into the clothes we don't wear all the time; like our swim suits and snow gears. 

Dryer sheets are one of those things that have many uses and are simply a great thing to have on hand. Try them in the clothing or linen items you are storing. I think you will like the way they smell when you pull them out again. 

Loving the simple life we lead and looking forward to where it will take us!  

Simply Useful: Tissue Paper

Tissue paper is one of those things I always try to keep on hand. I use it not only for wrapping gifts, but for storing breakable items. All of my holiday decorations are packed away in boxes until I need them. After many, many years; they still look great and I have rarely lost one due to breakage. I always try to use white tissue paper, but in a pinch I will use colored paper. 

Getting ready to pack away some keepsakes using tissue paper.

Here is how I go about packing those items to be stored for safe keeping. First, I find a sturdy box to place the items in. Next, I start wrapping the items in tissue paper and place them in the box.

Starting the process.

I keep wrapping and packing the items. I fit them together to help with the cushioning factor. When I can, I will place a smaller wrapped item inside a bigger wrapped item. Fitting and packing the items close together help prevent the items in the box from sliding around which can lead to breakage. 

Fitting the items together and packing them tight.

I have had such success with wrapping things up with tissue paper. It is better than old newspapers and it relatively cheap, especially if you buy it at at dollar store. Tissue paper is just one of those simply useful products!

Living a simple life and loving every minute of it!  

Old Bed Linens Get A New Life

Blankets, sheets, and pillowcases are other items that can be easily reused and repurposed. All of us have them and when they are no useful on the bed, they can be useful somewhere else. Here are some of reuses and repurposing ideas, we have come up. 

Old Blankets

• They are great to use when getting up leaves. Lay them on the ground and rake the leaves onto it. By pulling up the 4 corners toward the middles, you have a handy bundle to carry the leaves off to where you are going to dump them. 
• Use them for bedding for pets. Laid on top of a cushion of towels, a blanket provides plenty of material for an animal to snuggle down in.
• Use them as a ground cover when you are having a picnic. It will provide a layer of protection between you and the ground. It makes a clean surface to lay the food out on. 
• Use them when moving furniture. Lay them on the floor, then lay or set the piece of furniture you want to move on it. The blanket will enable you to drag the furniture across the floor by pulling on it. It will also help prevent making any scratches on the floor. 
• If your shade tree mechanic needs something to lie down on when he is under a car, an old blanket is a very useful thing to have around. 
• Old blankets are just the thing to lay down on a sofa or a couch when you have pets. They can claim the blanket as their own not realizing you are protecting you furniture from getting hair all over it. 

Old Sheets

• Old top sheets a great for adding another layer of warmth in the winter. A few winters ago, we had a very cold winter. We were using all of our throw blankets and still needed an extra layer of warmth. So those old top sheets came in handy. 
• They are also great to take camping. Whether you camp in a tent or a pop camper, old top sheets are great to have on hand when you need an extra layer of warmth. 
• Ladies when it comes to that time of the month accidents can happen when you are sleeping. Laying a doubled up old top sheet down on top of your bottom sheet will provide an extra layer of protection to help you from having to change your sheets in the morning or messing up your mattress. 
• Both the bottom and top sheet of an old set of sheets can be used to get up leaves. 
• Old sheets are another great source for bedding for pets. 
• When storing furniture, old sheets are perfect for covering the furniture up. We used a lot of them when we moved furniture out to put down our laminate flooring. 
• Old sheets make great drop cloths when you are painting or doing some kind of work that requires a layer of protection.
• When a late frost is expected, we use old sheets to cover up delicate flowers and veggies in our garden beds. 

Old Pillowcases

• When you need to wash some delicates on your washing machine, place them inside an old pillowcase. Secure the opening with a piece of string or a rubberband. That way they will be protected from being caught on something and pulled out of shape. 
• If you need wash some of kids stuffed animals, place them in an old pillowcase and secure the opening. This will keep them from getting beat up in the washing machine. It also helps contain any of those little parts that may come off during the wash. 
• They make a good sack to carry apples or other fruits and veggies in. 

I haven't used as many old pillowcases has I have blankets and sheets. The ideas listed above are things that I have done and I am speaking from experience. Curious to find more use for them, I started doing a little research and found some very useful info. The links for what I found out are listed below.  

1. 10 Creative Ways To Reuse Old Pillowcases
2. Cool And Creative Ways To Reuse OldPillowcase 
3. 5 New Uses For Old Pillowcases
4. 12 Ways To Use Extra Pillowcases 
5. 30 Ways To Re-Use Pillowcases 

Old bed linens simply have to many uses to be thrown away. So start looking for ways to reuse and repurpose yours today. 

Living a simply life and loving every minute of it!

Old But Still Useful

For some reason, I feel like I might be referring to myself with the title. LOL! Oh, well, on to the real subject of this post - old, worn-out bath towels, hand towels, wash clothes, kitchen towels, dish clothes, and cloth napkins. Our first impulse is to throw these items out when they become worn, get frayed edges, or get holes in them. Don't do it! They can be reused and repurposed in so many ways. Here are some of the ways we reused these items.

Bath Towels 

• Use them as bedding for your pets. They make nice cushioning and can be easily washed. In the building, the cats sleep in a night I drape them over surfaces to keep them from getting dirty from muddy footprints, lots of hair, and cat litter debris. 
• Use them to dry your animals off when you give them baths. 
• Use them to line the bottom of pet taxis on trips. This way if the animal gets sick it will make for easy clean for the pet taxi. The pet maybe another story. 
• Use them to lay on the ground to provide you a clean, dry place to sit while working in your gardens. 
• Use them for any spills or to clean up other messes that would ruin something else. They are old and can be easily replaced.
• Use them in the wintertime as a mat in your laundry room or mud room to set wet, dirty snow boots on. The towel will soak up any water and help to keep your floor clean. 
• Use them to line tubs or boxes that you are storing breakable items in. They will provide a cushion layer that will help protect your delicate items. 

Hand/Kitchen Towels/Cloth Napkins

• Hang one near your outdoor water spigot to dry you hands on if needed. Since they are old it won't matter much if they are out in the elements. Put one near your rain barrel for the same purpose. 
• Great for drying things off such as outdoor furniture. 
• Use them for messes and other clean up jobs that would ruin a good towel. 
• Useful as grease rags for the shade tree mechanic. DH almost exhausted our supply when he rebuilt an engine. 
• Use them to wipe your dirty hands or tools on when you are working out in your garden. 
• Use them to wipe down your car after you wash it. 

 

Wash/Dish Cloths

• Use them to wash those really messy, mildew items that can be found outside. I use them to wash flower pots, litter boxes, windows, buckets, and rain barrels.
• Use them to wash your vinyl siding, windows, and over hangs.
• Use to wash your cars with or as grease rags. 
• Use them to wrap breakable items in for storage. 

The uses I have shared are only a few of things that you can do with items like these. Their usefulness doesn't have to end when you no longer can use them in the bathroom or kitchen. We use them until they are almost falling apart. Since, they can easily be washed they can be used over and over again. 

 

Giving old things a new life and purpose is simply a good thing! 

Recycle, Reuse, & Repurpose

Recycling, reusing, and repurposing is something all of us should try to do. We throw so much stuff away that could be recycled and remade into something new. Not to mention things that could be used for something else or reused in a new way. 

So as part of the ways we are trying to be "Simply Green" household, I am going to share some of the ways and things that we recycle, reuse, and repurpose. So be on the lookout over the next few days as I share ways to bring new life to some tried old items. Some of them you may have not even thought of that could be reused or repurposed.

Living a simple life in such a way to preserve the beauty world God gave us to care for and live in. Loving life and enjoying every minute of this simple life we live! 

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I also have a page on Pinterest where I have pinned some really neat ideas on the 3 R's of living "simply green." You can find the page at "Pinterest - Recycling, Reusing, & Repurposing."

A Recap Of Our Week Of The 4th

Our week began at 11:00 on the Friday before the 4th, when DH got off from work. He came home, ate some lunch, then headed out with DD for an eye appointment. Later, that evening we went out to eat at a local Mexican restaurant that open in our area recently. The food was good, plus, I didn't have to cook. 

The next morning, DH was up early and started working on his project list. Several of those projects were little home improvement projects that I will share with you at a later date.  I went outside to walk the dogs and do a few little jobs outside. For lunch, we got to enjoy our first fresh homegrown tomato sandwich. It was DELICIOUS! Later in the heat of the day, we watched a few episodes of JAG and The Americans. For supper, I fixed a meatless taco salad to go with grilled steaks. We had fresh peaches macerated in sugar for dessert.

In the South this is the food of the gods.

The meatless taco salad I mentioned in summertime meal ideas. It is easy to make and so good to eat.

Fresh peaches are a must in the summer.

After church on Sunday; we came home, had a snack, then settled down for a Sunday afternoon nap. Boy, did we needed one and enjoyed every minute of it. Spent the rest of the day piddling at a few things and watching more tv. 

Monday morning, DH got up early and got busy. He spent most of the morning washing/waxing my car and cleaning the inside of my car.  I spent the morning cleaning house. In the afternoon, we went up to my parents' house for an Independence Day celebration and to celebrate my SIL's b-day. We stayed up there until well after dark watching all the fireworks going off around us. My parents' house sits on a hill and is the perfect place for fireworks viewing. 

DH accompanied me to the doctor's office on Tuesday morning for some routine blood work I had to have. He had a few insurance questions to ask about some changes we are thinking of making. Afterwards, he took me to get 2 chocolate covered kreme filled Krispy Kreme doughnuts. He knows how much I hate needles and doctors, so he thought of a way to make it all better. After dropping me off at home, he headed to his parents' house to finish up a project he had started one and to work on a few more. 

Back home, he grabbed a quick lunch before we headed to my grandma's house to pick for furniture my daddy had made for her and was now giving to us. This is the grandma that has Alzheimer's and is a full care facility. Due to financial difficulties, my mother and her siblings are looking to sell the house and land. I also took my camera to take pictures of the house I spent a lot of my childhood in and a house full of precious memories. 

This is the family room. I spent a lot of time in this room watching "Dallas" on Friday nights with my grandpa and grandma. On Saturday mornings, I would settled down with a bowl of cereal to watch Saturday morning cartoons. We had a lot of discussions and arguments with aunts, uncles, and cousins in this room. This floor has seen a lot of little baby foot steps and spit. Now it is empty of people, but full of memories.

My grandma cooked many, many meals for her 5 kids and the growing brood they went on to have. She also fixed a lot of meals for the great-grandchildren her grandchildren blessed her with. She was a great cook. I would love to have one more home cooked meal made by her.

This sofa is in the living room. The living room is where we would sit to open all of our Christmas presents and soon drown in a mountain of wrapping paper. I opened many, many presents sitting on that couch. 

My daddy bought and refurbished the sewing machine for my grandma with the understanding when she no longer needed it, it would go to our DD. It now has a new home behind our sofa.

The curio cabinet was built by daddy as well. My grandma collected angels and displayed them in here. We turned it into an entertainment cabinet for our bedroom.

It was so hot and muggy that afternoon, my daddy was afraid we wouldn't get it all moved before a storm broke lose. We just got the last piece in our house and were rested when it started raining. Soon after, we got a gull washer. 

Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday were relatively uneventful days. Wednesday morning, DH continued working on little projects, ran more errands, and mowed grass. I worked on getting the house put back together after moving in the new pieces of furniture. DH went with me Thursday morning to get groceries. After lunch, he took DD to one of her favorite stores - a bookstore - to do a little shopping. He had band practice for church that night. Friday, DH finished up on the last of his projects. I finished getting things back in orde. We spent a quite evening at home. 

Saturday morning, I woke up with a migraine that I had felt coming on for the past two days. My morning got off to a slow start. DD on the other hand, got up, and started on her Saturday morning cleaning before she went with her grandma (my MIL), her uncle (my BIL), and some of her cousins (my cousins by marriage) to see an early showing of "The Secret Lives Of Pets." DD really enjoyed it. They went to Chick fil A for lunch. DH knowing I was up to speed that morning, decided that since DD was out for the afternoon he would take me out for lunch. We went back to the Mexican restaurant we had ate at a few days before. The rest of the afternoon was spent watching tv while I napped off and on trying to keep my migraine from getting worse. Evidently, I did quite a bit of snoring too, since DH was kind enough to point it out to me. Snoring is one of those weird things I do when I have a migraine.  

Sunday morning, I stayed at home while DH and DD went to church. I was still wrung out from the migraine that I had had. I also took the time to do the chores I didn't get to the day before. The rest of the day was spent watching tv and getting things ready for DH to go back to work. As night time rolled around, we went to bed thankful for the week we got to spend together and all the things we got done. 

Ours is not a fast-paced life, but a simple life that is full nonetheless. Living a simple life and thankful for every moment of it!  

Snapshots: Part 3

Spring quickly faded into summer and before we knew it, it was July. It has been a busy past few weeks for us. Between home improvement projects, family gatherings, gardening work, and discussing changes for our family; life has seemed to fly by. So here are a few of pictures from our simple busy life. 

Our spring veggies are gone now, but we managed to put up 3 pints of sugar peas and take full advantage of all the lettuce we grew.

My hydrangea plant bloom beautifully this year. I picked these and placed them in the middle of some hosta leaves for a centerpiece to go on our kitchen table.

On Father's Day morning, I set the table w/ our best china, silverware, and glasses. DH's place setting had an extra decoration, a surprise gift from DD and I.

We are now feasting on cucumbers, yellow squash, and onions.

The garden is looking lush and green, despite the dry spell we had for a while.

We have been taking full advantage of using our grill in the heat of the summer. Here is our first attempt at grilling shrimp. We went simple and just brushed it with some garlic butter.

To go with our grilled shrimp, I fixed fettuccine alfredo with mushrooms and a salad.

We grilled some squash steaks along side our strips.

I paired them with creamy tomato pasta. Yummy!

After a dry spell we have plenty of rain and very warm temps which are making all my potted flowers happy.

Simple Beauty!

My flower beds are full of blooms and beauty. What a view we have!

Different views of our cottage flower garden.

 

Another storm is a brewing.

Here are all the goodies we have gotten from the garden in the past few weeks. Yes, those are homegrown 'maters you see and they are delicious!

Miss Oakley has spent most of these hot, humid summer days on the couch, which is right under the ceiling fan.

Here is the latest apple I have added to my collection, a white apple. The best part about it that it cost me $2.00. I found it on the clearnce aisle at Hobby Lobby. I thought it was a thrifty find!

It isn't a crazy busy life we live, but one filled with the simple pleasures that can be found only in a simple life!