Let's Plan A Wedding!

My son, my first born, my sweet Jake, will take this beautiful, 

Godly woman, Micah, to be his wife in just a few short weeks!

Since Jake was a young teen he has dreamed and prayed for

a soulmate to build a life with. He has found his soulmate in Micah!

We are thrilled to welcome her into our family and consider 

ourselves extremely blessed to call her our daughter

and sister. Gratitude is our word of the year! 

I have had so much fun watching them plan for 

the day they become husband and wife.

Below are a few of my favorite 

selections we have chosen to help us decorate

our tables for the Rehearsal Dinner!

Click through the photo to see the vendor!

Mama's Sauce

My sauce is a happy sauce!

It is a recipe that combines the tricks and tips

of many chefs! It is a recipe that has most definitely 

evolved as I have aged. Most importantly I have learned

that the longer I leave it alone, and let it do it's own thing,

the better it comes out! So as you take a look at the ingredients

and instructions, remember to "make it your own" by adding/subtracting,

tossing and turning it all up so it becomes YOUR sauce.

Just enjoy the process and have fun feeding your people.

Ingredients

2  14.5 oz cans of good diced tomatoes (San Marzano is my choice)

3  14.5 oz cans of crushed tomatoes                        "

1  14.5 oz can of tomato sauce                                 "

1  empty tomato can filled with red wine          

5  cloves of garlic peeled and crushed

1/2 of a bell pepper cleaned of seeds - do not chop

1 cup of fresh basil and more for garnish

1/4 tsp crushed red pepper

1 tablespoon of white sugar

sea salt and pepper to taste

freshly grated Parmesan  

Start with a great pot. A pot that is heavy like a dutch oven.

Your going to cook this all day so you don't want to have to 

babysit your sauce in a pot that will easily burn food.

Add all of your ingredients except basil into you pot and bring to a low boil.

Stir it well, cover and reduce heat to a low simmer.

Simmer all day if you can or at least 5 hours. In the last hour add the basil.

Ladle over your favorite pasta with fresh basil and parmesan and you are GOLD!

If you want to add Italian sausage links to this sauce then you will want to 

first sear the sausage links first in the same pot with a little amount of olive oil.

Do not cook the sausage all the way through just brown outside and then 

add all of the remaining ingredients to the pot and simmer all day. 

Meatball lesson will be on another day! 

Last tip!

Do not underestimate the amount of entertainment 

a small human in a high chair can bring when presented

with a plate of pasta and a LOT of red sauce!

Isabella Louise enjoying spaghetti!

Too Much To Pray About

 

My mind is weary.

It will not silence, decompress, pause, coast,

relax, suspend or even simply idle long enough

for my thoughts to slow down for me

to process them. So they land all over me covering 

me like a heavy, wool, not so comfortable blanket.

The kind of blanket that you bring out for those

 last minute camping trips where everyone ends up 

sleeping in the car sitting up or those slumber parties when 

you were 12 and everyone brought fancy sleeping bags but

the basement was so cold the blanket was grabbed from

the closet in desperation at 2 in the morning when we were

 too lazy to run upstairs and turn the dial on the heater to make

 it kick on. The scratchy, heavy, musty and disliked but

necessary blanket. You don't want it but kicking it off means

you have to deal with the uncomfortable situation. 

That about some up how I have been dealing with my thoughts

for the last 6 almost 7 months now. And I can tell you it's not fun yet

I am still not ready to kick the blanket off. So how do I handle this?

How does anyone handle "THIS"? 

It's hard to say really.

We are traveling down roads most have never traveled.

There is no blueprint, no booklet of instructions and yet we

are forced to create a new "normal" and in a very short period

of time everything, well almost everything, has reluctantly changed.

We adapt, alter, about face, change course, shift gears, and just put 

it all in reverse. And for most of us change can be challenging.

So it's hard and we rebel a little and then we rebel a lot.

I can only rebel so much and then I tend to let it all cover me like

 the dreaded blanket. I can tolerate it more than the usual person due to my

stubbornness and strong will and then at some point I start to get annoyed 

and I am forced to make a move so I begin by throwing one foot outside 

of the blanket.Then the other foot and then one big kick and the 

flood gates open. Yep, that's me. The bound up and wound up

 thoughts rapidly and violently break the damn and I am forced to swim. 

First I let the rushing thoughts take me. I give in but my head stays afloat.

Next I grab a broken branch so I can rest a little while I tread from time to time.

Then when I am finally ready and mad and strong enough I start to go against 

the current, fighting my way back to the riverbank. It may take awhile and I will surely 

need many breaks and may even have a few setbacks but I know where I am headed 

and put forth the effort to get there. Once I am there I rest. I rest and rest knowing

I am okay. Knowing someone and something greater has me and I let go.

I give "THIS" to God.

I finally give ALL of "THIS" to God.

But until I am ready to kick the blanket off, I pray.

I pray for my own healing and for every single person who is doing

 the very best they can to deal with "THIS".

We will ALL be okay.

We will ALL get to the riverbank in our own time

and in our own way.

But in the meantime pray with me.

Pray for yourself first so you can then be strong

enough to be there for your family and others.

Pray desperately for our world.

Give "THIS" to God.

God Bless you all so very very much!

If you are looking for a safe, beautiful and loving community

to pray with please join our community at 

Many Hail Mary's At A Time

We welcome you with open arms!

There is something very special planned for the month of October!

Share with us your prayer intentions  HERE!

We pray the rosary live every day at 6:45am central time @manyhailmarysatatime .  

If you cannot make the live time we will be posting the rosary we pray every day on Instagram and also on our YouTube channel. We have so many great guests scheduled for you to learn more about how to pray, how to meditate and share the power of the rosary. ~Kristin

Sprite / 7Up Biscuits

2 cups of Bisquick Baking Mix

1/2 cup sour cream

1/2 cup Sprite or 7Up

1 stick of melted butter

• Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
• Mix by hand sour cream into your biscuit mix in a medium bowl. 
• Stir in 1/2 cup 7 Up (any clear carbonated drink will work). Dough will be very wet, don't worry. If dough is too stiff add a few more tablespoons of Sprite. (see photo above) 
• Melt butter in a 9 inch pan. It can be round or square. I stick my pan and butter in the oven for a few minutes to melt the butter. Don't burn the butter.
• Drop dough by a huge spoon on top of melted butter (see photo above).
• Bake for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown.

Popeye's Stew

My grandfather, Popeye, named by me, a couple of times a year 

in the winter months would set up in his workshop a cooking station.

He would bring in a big cast iron pit where he would build a fire

and hang his huge black pot over it in which he would cook stew.

He would let this stew simmer all morning while he and his

invited crew of menfolk would sit in the garage and play 

dominoes and drink Shiner beer just long enough

for the stew meat to be tender enough to melt in your mouth.

As young children we would bop into the garage to snuggle up 

next to Popeye and or my Dad to watch the game and then scurry

off back into Granny's house to run in the kitchen so we would not miss

what was happening in there either. It was a constant back and forth.

Inside the "women", done with aprons, cooked potatoes, maybe some green beans, 

some sort of salad, homemade pickles, white bread and possibly some 

cornbread but not always. Of course there were way too many 

desserts to count. Each dessert brought in proudly by the owner 

already sliced for sharing and covered with Saran Wrap so no one 

would steal a pinch before after supper. It was truly delightful and 

some of my fondest memories of my childhood. 

Here is my version of Popeye's Stew. It is not exact as he never wrote it down

but we think we have duplicated it pretty close to perfection.

I make mine in a big pot on the stove, in MY KITCHEN!

Popeye's Stew

5 pounds of Stew Meat

2 Tablespoons of Chili Powder (Less if you prefer it milder, more if you like it HOT)

1 large yellow onion chopped

2 Tablespoons of minced fresh garlic

1 Bay Leaf

1 Tablespoon of Bacon Drippings or Lard (Yikes!)

Salt and Pepper to taste

Water - enough to nicely cover meat and add when it evaporates

Cook meat and 1/2 onions in Bacon Drippings over medium heat until half done and still pink inside. Add remaining ingredients and bring to a low simmer. Cover, venting slightly, and simmer on low for 3-4 hours. Stir every 30 minutes and check liquid level. You don't want liquid to evaporate and burn the stew. The liquid level is important as you always want to have enough covering the meat. Once you have reached your desired tenderness serve it up with your favorite bread and enjoy!

Jesus I Trust In You

Jesus 

I

Trust 

In

You

The Bible tells us we need to leave all of our

fears, concerns, difficulties, sorrows and hardships

at the feet of Jesus our Savior.

We are taught to trust that Jesus will protect us,

love us and grant us everything we need

to allow us to successfully navigate this life here on earth.

And yet to do this, really do this, hand it over to Him,

walk away and move forward knowing He has this, He has us,

is a very challenging thing for most of us to do.

I personally want to try to fix "it". 

I want to do everything I can to make things okay.

But sometimes no matter what you do it may

never be okay. And that is when we are forced to

relinquish control to The Father, The Son and The Holy Spirit.

Jesus I trust in you.

This is what I should recite from the moment I awake 

and then again just before I close my eyes at night.

Why is it so hard to trust, truly trust that God will 

provide for us all that we need so that we may do all that is necessary 

to live our life in such a way as to glorify Him, bring others to Him 

and upon our death, return to Him for eternity.

Please know that living on this earth is hard hard work. 

It is sometimes difficult to trust, and leave it all at the 

feet of Jesus. It is even more difficult when our world is out 

of control as it is right now. When we are in pain, suffering 

or confused by the acts of those surrounding us it is even

more challenging to trust. It is in these times, these frightening

times, where we MUST trust in Jesus. It is in these times we are 

experiencing right now where we must pray for God's mercy

on our world. Pray for our leaders and pray that people will 

turn back to God. That all men and women will love themselves 

and each other. Our prayers need to be direct and frequent.

We must pray with urgency and determination.

And above all we must trust that the Holy Spirit will 

dwell inside us, that Jesus will never abandon us and 

God our Father will protect us and call us home when

our life mission here is complete.

God bless each of you in a very special way today so 

that you may feel God's loving presence in your life.

I apologize for the ads in the middle of my post.

I am trying desperately to figure out the code to remove them. 

Mama Holli's Southern Pimento Cheese

In Texas we can get fancy and serve this up on special crackers at 

Baby and Wedding Showers,  or we just slap it on some bread while we

sit in the shade watching our kids yell "Mama, look at me!" for the 100th time

in the swimming pool, all while pretending that it really isn't

Hotter than H-E double hockey sticks!

Wherever you are when you consume this southern staple

you will be sure to enjoy it and your hot summer days will just melt away!

Also throwing a cold long neck in the picnic basket will help!

Pimento Cheese

4 ounces of cream cheese softened

1- 8oz bag of shredded Sharp Cheddar Cheese

1- 8oz bag of shredded Monterrey Jack Cheese

1- 4oz jar of pimentos drained and chopped

1 jalapeno finely chopped

1/4 Cup of Mayo

Black Pepper to taste

1/4 Cup of Pecan Pieces (optional)

1/4 Cup of chopped Cilantro (optional)

In a medium size bowl mix together cream cheese and mayo.

Add cheese, pimento and jalapeño and mix together until combined.

At this point you may add pecans and or cilantro if you wish.

Sprinkle with black pepper and give it a final toss around the bowl. 

Refrigerate covered for at least an hour before serving.

Serve it up on some yummy bread as a sandwich or as a dip with crackers or FRITOS!

Yes I said Fritos! 😆

More Cheese Please?

Go Here for the Marinated Cheese Appetizer!

Marinated Shrimp Appetizer

Marinated Shrimp Appetizer!

My sister, Mama Joy makes a

mean shrimp appetizer!
This is her special recipe!

It is served cold with crackers, bread, chips

or some just use a big fat spoon to
make sure all the yummy
marinade makes it to their mouth!

Ingredients

2 pounds of medium shrimp

(boiled using a shrimp boil mix

peeled and cooled)
We use Old Bay Shrimp Boil

1/2 cup olive oil

2 T red wine vinegar

2 T fresh lemon juice

1 tsp Worcesterhire Sauce

1/2 tsp salt

1/8 tsp black pepper

1/8 tsp white pepper

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

1/2 tsp tabasco sauce

3 green onions minced

2 garlic cloves minced

1/2 sweet red bell pepper diced

1/2 green bell pepper diced

1 celery stalk diced

In a bowl whisk oil and vinegar together.

Add remaining ingredients and stir.

Place shrimp in your serving bowl.

Cover shrimp with marinade and
chill covered for about 2 hours before serving.

Bring to room temperature and serve

assorted crackers and breads.

Thanks Mama Joy!

More Recipes HERE!

Drunken Rum Cake

This is my son, Jake's all-time favorite cake!

Hands Down!

He just loves this cake and usually gets

to dig into one pretty much whenever 

he comes home for a visit.

It really is easy and the longer you can 

keep your peeps from cutting into it 

the more moist it will be.  No, you can't get

drunk from this cake but you will double in weight 

if you make a habit of baking this puppy!

Ingredients

• For the Cake
• 1 1/4  cup pecans or walnuts (chopped and toasted)
• 1 (18 1/2-ounce) yellow cake mix
• 1 package instant vanilla pudding mix (3.4 ounces)
• 4 eggs
• 1/4 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 cup cold organic whole milk
• 1/2 cup canola oil
• 1/2 cup  dark rum (I use Bacardi)
• For the Glaze
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup dark rum (I use Bacardi)

To make the cake, preheat oven to 325 F. Grease and flour 12-cup bundt pan.

Sprinkle nuts on the bottom of a pan. Combine all cake ingredients 

into a mixing bowl.

Beat on high for 2 minutes with electric mixer. 

Pour into prepared bundt pan. Bake for 1 hour. Insert a toothpick to make sure it is ready.

Cool in pan. Invert onto serving plate. Prick top with a fork many times. The more holes the more spaces the rum sauce can hide!

Melt butter in a saucepan.

Stir in water and sugar. Boil for 5 minutes, stirring constantly.

Remove from heat and stir in rum. 

Spoon glaze over top of  cake. Use a spoon to put 

extra dripping back on the cake. Repeat this until almost all of the 

rum sauce is on the cake.

Let it set up for a few hours or dig right in, no one will tell!

Coleslaw with Cilantro, Peach, Jalapeño and White Wine Vinaigrette

I love this coleslaw!
It is perfect for summer meals and will compliment
pretty much just about anything!
Serve it up with grilled seafood, fajitas,
burgers or dump it  all over your fried shrimp tacos!
Yes I said dump!
YUM!

Citrus Summer Coleslaw

1 head of fresh organic cabbage finely sliced

or in the bag already prepped

1/2 cup of cilantro diced

1 medium jalapeno finely diced

2 medium peaches diced

1 carrot thinly shaved

2 green onions chopped

1/2 cup of chopped walnuts (optional)

Dressing

1/2 C white wine vinegar

1/2 C olive oil

3 Tbls fresh squeezed juice from an orange

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

1/4 tsp white sugar

In a small bowl whisk all dressing ingredients until blended. Pour over the slaw, cover and refrigerate for at least one hour before serving. If adding the walnuts do so just before serving. 

Calling All Angels

Do you believe in angels?

I do

I truly do

I believe that we are surrounded by angels 

as we navigate this life here on earth.

I believe we each have guardian angels.

Multiple angels who stand guard for us daily.

I also believe we can command our angels

to go to those who need them in critical moments.

Several days ago I commanded my guardian angels

to go be with my sweet Dad who is battling this

horrific COVID virus miles away from me

and all alone. He is alone just like so many

others who are battling this virus without

the support of loved ones by their side.

So I sent my angels.

You can do the same.

Just tell them where to go and just like that

they GO.

The angels can be with my Dad while I cannot.

He will feel their peaceful presence.

He will know he is not alone.

My angels will join his and together

they will create an army around him.

An army of love and light.

God's love

God's light

Angel of God 
My guardian dear 
To Whom His love 
Commits me here 
Ever this day 
Be at my side 
To light and guard 
To rule and guide. Amen

God bless those who are suffering from this
virus and may you feel God's perfect love
for you now and in the difficult days ahead.

Beautiful Angel Card

Compliments of The Graphics Fairy

Beautiful Bountiful Beets

I have to admit I have a love/hate relationship with beets.

I want to really love them but I kinda just like them.

I hate them when I peel them after a nice bake in the oven 

and the dark purple shades of color end up on 

my fingers and everywhere else in the kitchen.

But once all the work is done, and I do mean work, 

then I really love them!

If you are smart you will pick out the golden colored beets or 

the slightly pink beautiful beets and plop those babies in your 

buggy instead of the dark purple ones.

I really do not taste the difference and my 

hands and towels are cleaner for it.

Wash them under cold water, pat dry and wrap each individually

in foil and place them on a metal pan and send them

to the oven for about an hour at 375 degrees.

Check for doneness with a fork and let them cool before

handling. Once they are cool then carefully 

peel off the skin and discard.

The fun part is slicing them and discovering 

the beautiful spirals of color inside.

What you do with them next is really your preference.

You can throw them into a salad, add them to a charcuterie board,

eat them right then or toss them in a beet salad pictured below.

However you decide to serve them up you will

surely not be disappointed.

Beet Salad

3 Beets baked, peeled and diced

2 chopped green onions

1/2 cup of mayo

1 Tbs of white wine vinegar

Salt and Pepper to taste

Toss and cool covered in the refrigerator for one hour before serving.