“The LORD bless thee, and keep thee; the LORD make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee; the LORD lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.” Numbers 6:24-26

God gave these words to Aaron, the priest, and his sons to use in blessing the children of Israel.  As I read this passage a few weeks ago, I thought how appropriate it would be as a blessing for our family.

I was excited to find these verses as a print on Etsy.  I found an inexpensive mat and frame at Target and my husband hung it on the wall in our living area.

Beyond that, I want to make this an ongoing tradition in our family.  For years, when my mom mailed me a card or a letter, she would include the words of 3 John 4, ” I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.”  I want to do the same with this blessing for our children.

Numbers 6:27 says, “And they shall put my name upon the children of Israel; and I will bless them.”  It’s exactly what I want for our family – God’s blessings! 

With this print on the wall, we can now see God’s words of blessing every day.

Do you have any Scripture posted around your home?

Last night, my house was filled with the smell of an apple pie baking.  Wish I could send the scent out to you this morning!

Our eleven-year-old got the recipe for this apple pie in one of her homeschool co-op classes.  They made personal-sized pies in class one day and she brought it home to share.  It was the best apple pie I’d ever tasted.

She is now the official apple pie maker in our house.  She’s baked it for us three times – one of those being at Thanksgiving, when she and I decided that making it together would be our new Thanksgiving tradition.  I am simply the sous-chef – helping to peel the apples, setting out necessary ingredients, and washing the dishes.

The reason she was baking one last night was for my husband to take to his office Christmas party today.  Here’s hoping a leftover slice makes it back home! 😉

[I believe this recipe originally appeared in 300 Years of Carolina Cooking. And just to be clear, my daughter doesn’t like apple pie.  She happily bakes it…but doesn’t eat a bite.]

Carolina Apple Pie

Pastry for 2-crust pie, unbaked
5 to 6 large apples, peeled and thinly sliced
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon white vinegar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 Tablespoons flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 Tablespoons butter

Place apples slices in large bowl and toss with sugars, vinegar, cinnamon, flour, and salt.  Place bottom pastry in pie pan, add apples, and dot with butter.  Lay top crust over apples and cut four slits in the top.

Bake in preheated oven at 425 degrees for 10 minutes.  Reduce heat to 350 degrees and continue to bake for 30-40 minutes or until top crust is golden brown.

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It’s the time of year when I make good use of my slow cooker! After soccer practice or an afternoon of running errands, it’s so nice to come home to a meal that’s ready to eat. These hot foods are definitely comforting on a cold night, too.

Here are ten of my favorite slow cooker recipes.

1.  Cajun Chicken Pasta

2.  Hearty Slow Cooker Chili

3. Spicy Shredded Pork

4.  Italian Beef Pot Roast  (Couldn’t find this exact recipe online, so I’ll share mine soon.)

5.  Crock Pot White Chicken Chili

6.  Crock Pot Macaroni and Cheese  This is great to take to potlucks.

7.  Slow Cooker Sausage Jambalaya  (A four-ingredient meal!)

8.  Marinated Chicken Wings

9.  Slow Cooker Beef Stew

10.  Whole Chicken in a Crock Pot

What’s your favorite slow cooker meal?

I never claim to be an interior decorator.

However, I love having our household items organized.  While I could blow the budget at The Container Store, I have found a free alternative – shoe boxes.

I usually save our empty shoe boxes and have found several ways to use them as organizing tools.

In the top of this closet, a small shoebox holds extra light bulbs while a large one holds appliance instruction manuals and warranty information.

In a boots shoebox in the top of our daughters’ closet, hats are stacked.

My older daughter used a shoe box lid along with several empty jewelry boxes to organize some of her jewelry in a drawer.

Card games are corralled in a box in a hallway closet.

Hair brushes and accessories live in a box in the cabinet underneath the bathroom sink.

Is there an inexpensive tool you’ve found useful for organizing items in your home?

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I found this recipe while looking through a church cookbook at my mother-in-law’s house last weekend.  It sounded unique and used ingredients I already had in my pantry, so I decided to try it.  The candy was surprisingly good; both children liked the taste and it was hard to eat just one!  This takes only a few minutes to make and would make a great little last-minute food gift.

Saltine Candy

2 cups sugar
2/3 cup  milk
6 tablespoons peanut butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon butter
1 sleeve saltine crackers, crushed

Place sugar and milk in a medium-sized saucepan and bring to a boil  Boil for three minutes.  Remove pan from heat and stir in other ingredients.  Drop by teaspoonfuls onto waxed paper.  Once cooled, store in an airtight container.

(Unfortunately, I did not write down the name of the  person who contributed this recipe, but it came from a cookbook published by Abundant Life Baptist Church in Hartwell, GA.)

In the past couple of months, I’ve developed a fondness for plain yogurt topped with granola.  I eat it for breakfast or as a snack at least once a day.

My favorite granola is Bear Naked Fruit and Nut which costs $4.49 at my Publix.  It’s only $3.50 at Walmart, but I don’t shop there very often.

I’ve tried several different granola recipes and this one, which I adapted to suit my taste, comes fairly close to the flavor and texture of what I was buying.

4 cups old-fashioned oats
3/4 cup flaxseed
1/2 cup coconut
3/4 cup almonds (or you could use other nuts)
2 tablespoons maple syrup
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons honey
1/2 cup coconut oil
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup sweetened dried cranberries

Directions

1.  Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Lightly grease a large baking sheet (or I’ve also used a 9×13 casserole dish since it keeps the granola better contained when I stir it.)

2.  Combine the oats, flaxseed, coconut, and almonds in a large bowl.  In a saucepan, combine the maple syrup, honey, oil, cinnamon, and vanilla.  Bring just to a boil over medium heat, then pour over the dry ingredients and stir to coat.  Spread the mixture evenly onto baking sheet.

3.  Bake until crisp and toasted, 20-25 minutes.  Stir once halfway through.  Remove from oven, add in the raisins and cranberries, then allow mixture to cool completely before storing in an airtight container.

Admittedly, the ingredients in granola are expensive in themselves, so I haven’t done a cost analysis to see if I’m actually saving any money by making it myself.  However, this recipe does make a larger portion than I get in the package at the store.

What have you been snacking on lately?

The Amazon link in this post is an affiliate link.

While  talking to another mother recently, she shared how her eleven-year-old daughter had made pancakes for breakfast on Mother’s Day.  It convicted me about how lax I’ve become in following the Cooking Class I planned for our daughters this year.

Since we’ve finished our school year, I determined that I would get the girls into the kitchen this summer.  Yesterday, my eleven-year-old made our usual Tuesday morning breakfast of fluffy pancakes with minimal supervision.  Then my nine-year-old did a great job on her first attempt at making grilled cheese for lunch.

Today, our nine-year-old made these Chocolate Chip Mini Muffins.  I like that these treats come in a small size and our girls enjoy eating them as a snack or with breakfast.

Chocolate Chip Mini Muffins

1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup coconut oil or butter, softened
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup white whole wheat flour (or all-purpose)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips

In a large bowl, cream sugar and oil or butter until fluffy.  Add egg, milk, and vanilla; mix well.  Combine dry ingredients in a separate bowl.  Gradually add to liquid mixture, mixing well.  Fold in chocolate chips.

Spoon about 1 tablespoon of batter into each greased or paper-lined mini-muffin cup.  Bake at 375 degrees for 10 minutes or until muffins test done.  Cool slightly in pan before removing.

I hope my motivation for helping our daughters become more independent in the kitchen will last!

Have your kids been cooking lately?

My decorating ideas are few and far between, but here’s one that I’m really enjoying.

Our daughters have had several jewelry boxes over the years.  They work well for small pieces of jewelry, but now that our girls are older and have some “real” jewelry, we needed a way to store it neatly.

Around Christmas time, I looked at some jewelry trees, but didn’t see one that I liked.  Plus, it would have to sit on the top of their dresser, which is already prime real estate.  Then I saw this idea in a magazine – hanging jewelry on a cork or memo board.

Each of our girls already had a board, so we simply added push pins from which we hung the jewelry.

The wooden jumping jack needed a place to hang out,too!

The boards serve as wall decor in their bedroom and allow the girls to instantly see what jewelry is available to wear.

Better Homes and Gardens and Southern Living are two of my favorite magazines to read, so I’m thinking the idea may have come from one of those.

Where do you get ideas for decorating your home?