I went to clean and organize my car and realized the past year I have been using paper sacks or plastic bags to keep my trash in my car in because the actual “car trash can” is a complete waste of time and never gets used. I’m constantly frustrated when it fills up and tips over and I’m always saying I need something better. Today I did the something better!! It’s so easy and perfect I’m not sure why I didn’t think of it sooner. I went to Walmart and bought a large storage dispenser. The kind used for cereal with the flip top lid. Dropped a trash bag in and haven’t looked back. It fits perfectly, holds plenty and keeps odors and spills inside. I’m winning. Let me know if you try it and think it’s the perfect at trash can like I do. Here is the link to the Walmart one that I purchased.
Easter is coming and I always remember deviled eggs around this time. Probably because of all pâqued eggs (see Louisiana Traditions) that needed to be used up. This year I was ready for my deviled eggs a little early. No recipe but I did look at a few and they seem to vary a lot in ingredients. I only remember mayo, mustard, relish, salt, pepper and then paprika on top. I just throw all that together to taste but apparently there are several ways to do it. Share your recipe below in the comments. Next up… Hot Cross Buns. Milam approved 👍
I boiled 6 eggs sliced them in half and emptied the yolk into a bowl and whisk with a scoop of mayo. I continue adding mayonnaise until smooth and add a ample squirt or mustard. Whisk and taste. Add salt pepper and a table spoon of relish to taste. I taste it a few times until I get it right and then spoon it into the egg shell. Top with Paprika and enjoy.
I made this to print and put in a frame for Easter. Sharing in case you would like to do the same. I have a vintage porcelain bunny I’m dying to set beside this with a large vase of tulips behind it ❤️ Easter Blessings to you and yours.
This recipe is the easiest and it will fill your whole house with the most wonderful smell of the holidays. For me this smells like Christmas because my Nana always had some going on the stove all around the Christmas season. When I make this and lean over the hot pot to fill my cup up I take a deep breath and it feels like Nana’s house that she could walk into the room any minute. I can close my eyes for a second and long for her to be with me. Meanwhile my son is tugging on my leg wanting to try a sip and I say a quick prayer that I can pass this simple Christmas tradition down to him and make it a smell full of memories for him as well.
6 cups Apple Cider
6 Cups Cranberry Juice Cocktail
5 sticks Cinnamon
1 teaspoon of Whole All Spice
1 teaspoon Whole Cloves
Slice one Orange, peeling and all and simmer for 10 minutes
Let’s just start by saying I saw a thousand perfectly decorated flag cookies in my pinterest search for red white and blue cookies for the 4th of July and in my pre-two year old days…yes maybe, but nobody has time for that with a two year old so I figured I would just wing it and go with a loose version of the flag cookies I saw… and… I love it! It turned out perfectly messy and my two year old was able to help with the entire process from baking them to decorating them. This is a simple butter cookie recipe and while I would usually go with a thicker cookie, this one is the easiest recipe I have with minimal ingredients needed so the kiddo could help and we could get it done fast. These are not gourmet, these are everyday! It’s supposed to be easy quick and fun for the kiddo so while I know it could be more luxurious that’s not what I was after. We had fun and it was our cooking adventure for the day and we moved on in life to coloring because two year old attention span. I have included the Butter Cookie Recipe in case you want to give it a go. The icing is store bought and they actually turned out delicious and far exceeded my expectations. If you try them let me know.
**MOM Tip** Please note I put the exact recipe below but we really just throw everything in a bowl at once (even the unbeat egg) except flour and mix it up till fluffy and then add flour in a bit at a time and it turns out fine every time. What can I say we are rule breakers and usually short on time.
BUTTER COOKIE RECIPE:
Preheat Oven to 350 and cook time 10-12 minutes
• 1 cup unsalted butter room temperature (salted will work if that’s all you have, I have done it but I’m a rule breaker)
• 3/4 cup of sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt (if you have to use salted butter use a little less salt here)
• 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1 large egg yolk, room temperature
• 2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1. Beat the butter and sugar in until creamy ** I recommend a mixer**
2. Mix the salt, vanilla and egg yolk slowly into butter and sugar mixture
3. Add flour and mix just enough to incorporate
4. Put in refrigerator for aprox an hour ** you can skip this step if your in a hurry but they might be a bit sticky so I suggest dusting a surface with flour and pressing out or rolling out also grease your baking sheet
5. If you opted for the one hour in the fridge take out dough, roll between parchment paper and with floured cookie cutters cut out as many as you want to bake. I have also just plopped them out on a greased cookie sheet in balls and pressed them down with the bottom of a cup
6. Bake 10 to 12 minutes at 350 or until golden around the edges
Thanks a lot mom for just telling me now on my almost 42 birthday about curing the roux. Basically let’s break this down. Your going to make a roux or your going to buy a roux (lawd help your soul) and then your going to add your seasoning mix (onions, celery, bell peppers) to boiling water or add water and heat till it boils. Now the only simple thing you have to do is keep it boiling till the foam is gone. It’s called curing your roux. It basically boils off the flour if you listen to what my great grandmother told my mom who just got around to telling me. You just wait to add your meat till it’s gone. That’s it folks. I hate long post that talk for 12 days to tell you what you need to know. Make that gumbo y’all, you can do it!!
Me in college: the days are calm but the nights are wild
Me as a mom: the days are wild but the nights are calm
Beth Lanning
I love my life in all its stages but I love this stage the most as a mom even if I set the world on fire in my youth what is it but a flame that will die or fade …oh but if it has an ember passed on! A piece of me left on the earth to do Gods Will, what a true and ordained blessing that will be. If it can be accomplished it is truly life eternal, it is the fountain of youth, it is love and legacy and blood of my blood in Jesus everlasting. What bigger gift could be given? Oh how I understand the divine love of our God for humanity when I look at my son. When his precious smile partitions my heart in any request how it’s pricked also so deeply by the love of God for his Son, for humanity, an unworthy soul screams out it’s “thank you” over the innocent smile of a child. Oh Love the simplest of things, the hardest of things what a puzzle you are. Oh divine what a snare you laid for your foe so simple and so complex. Unless they come with the heart of a child, how easy and how hard?
I’m tired, I’m really, really tired. I’m in upper management at a major shipping company and it’s Christmas. By the end of the day I’m exhausted. I get home and all the way home I think about getting in bed and just going to sleep for the night as soon as I hit the door. I’m really tired but I’m a mom and that’s not really an option. So, as soon as I hit the door there are immediate concerns that need to be addressed: There are cardboard castles that need to be built and imaginations that need to be watered and books to be read and food that needs to be fed to growing little bodies. So that nap, yep, it just keeps getting pushed back and by the time its time to put this little growing child of mine to bed I always think I’m ready and I’ll have some “me” time and then fall asleep or just fall asleep and make that my “me” time. But something weird always happens when I’m rocking him in my arms to sleep. It’s our little quiet time of the day. This full of energy, non-stop boy is still for a minute in my arms and we smile at each other and I rub his head and hair and when he’s finally drifting off my to sleep soul never screams YES, (like an hour ago I thought it would) it always whispers, “just a few more minutes.” This bitter sweet flood comes over me where I want a little more time. I hope he opens his eyes just one more time and smiles before I have to lay him down or pass out on top of him from exhaustion. Sometimes I’m so tired my eyes are rolling and sinking right along with his but, there is always that feeling. So many times in these quiet moments I think of my Nana and I hope its because she’s somehow surrounding us. Sometimes I think of the veins at the back of her legs and sometimes I think of her hands or her clavicle bones at the base of her neck. Sometimes I just try to remember her smell and her hugs and the type of hair spray she used but shes always in these sweetest stillest moments lately. Maybe I’m sleep deprived and half sick and delirious but I wouldn’t trade it for the world. I would however trade it for a few more less tired moments exactly like these but that’s about it. Maybe its been so much like this the last two months because she always made Christmas time special and she’s in my mind always this time of year. I don’t know but for some reason it seems to make a special moment of the day even a little more special with thoughts of her after my son is pure passed out in my arms and I have to make myself lay him down when I really want to just sit in that chair and cuddle him all night. (run on sentence, I know, but lots of run on feelings in that sentence.) I don’t want to forget these moments. I’m tired so I might not remember my purse or keys in the morning but I don’t want to forget this. Moms all over the world are tired and lots are probably a lot more tired than me, so I count my blessings. I know no matter how tired we are its clinging to little moments that get us through. Moment present or past that make us better, that make us keep pushing. Clinging to moments of quiet or moments from years ago that are giving power to our everyday, the metaphorical coffee for tired moms everywhere, little moments that renew and refresh a tired body and spirit.
Merry Christmas just in case I don’t get back before then.
I have several church cook books from growing up – if you don’t know what I’m talking about your probably not from the south. That’s ok darlin, but your missing out on the best of life if you don’t have a few because they have everyone’s grandmas best recipes out of some church and they are all delicious comfort food kinda stuff. I was flipping through a few for a soup recipes and most of them have neat quirky little bits of advice or stories. I’m usually knee deep in cooking by the time I pull one out so I never took the time to notice before but her are some awesome tips I found today when scrolling through a few of these cook books:
Happy 1st Heavenly Birthday to my Nana. I turn 40 tomorrow and today the only thing this grown woman wants for her Birthday is to be able to put her head in her Nana’s lap. I guess when I was younger I thought heaven would be quite a boring place and then you get old and all the best people are there. Its where half your heart is. Today all I want is a glimpse of heaven with her there. I’m not ready to go but I’m a lot closer to understanding how far from a boring place it could be. Happy Birthday Nana. I hope today was your best Birthday Ever.
Lanning Adventures 