My friend Danielle and I have daughters who are best friends. Scheduled to graduate the spring of 2020, last summer we began planning a party for the girls to end all parties! We had all kinds of ideas for our celebration.

And then corona.

Like many others, we had to change our plans. At first we were on hold indefinitely, but Mid-May we decided to go for it. We did all we could to make our party conducive to social distancing – by shrinking the guest list, making an outdoor space available, having individually wrapped snacks and plenty of hand sanitizer on hand.

Post party by several weeks now, I’m quite grateful that no one became sick because of partying with us.

The truth is- we didn’t really know how to help out girls graduate during a pandemic. With end of year events cancelled left and right, it seemed impossible to have any type of normalcy for our graduates.

But guess what? Our girls are anything but normal. With class and grace, they rolled with the punches and enjoyed their final days of school. I did not hear one complaint.

And THAT is how you graduate during a pandemic : with a healthy dose of positivity, and the ability to stay on the bright side of things. Maybe that’s a good way to survive life in general! Regardless, I’m proud of these girls, their maturity and flexibility during such a difficult time!!

Emily and Shannon, If you can handle this, you’re gonna really go places!

On March 12th, I came home from a dress rehearsal for a show that I never got to perform. It’s been postponed for a while now, but I have that sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach that I’m probably not going to play those charts anytime soon.

Sadness.

A few weeks later, in March, I found myself at Publix, decked out with a new mask, trying to follow the big one-way arrows on the floor. By the time I began the self-checkout I was near tears. Not until I was headed to the car did I realize I was mid panic-attack because of mask fatigue. That’s not an official term – just my own words to describe how I feel when I’ve kept a mask on too long.

More sadness.

Life’s new demands and unusually slowed pace has brought deep emotions to the forefront. Heartbreak over cancellations. Heads spinning because we are trying to do all the things correctly- even though the guidelines and finish line keep moving.

But, my own personality type requires me to see my glass half full. I need to find the goodness in a situation. Even during isolation, with Covid-19 knocking at the door, I find myself searching the skies for the clouds with silver lining.

So. I thought I’d share with you the good things I’ve noticed that have happened over these last two months at home with my people. Some are new habits or happenings in my kitchen. Some are new thought processes – but, none are meant to guilt you into thinking you should be doing them too. Primarily, I want to share so that you might be spurred to see the good where you are too. Beyond that – I need to feel productive each day. (But that’s a completely different topic for another day.)

“I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.” Psalm 27:13-14

Well its been a crazy couple of days around here. And I do mean CRAZY. Michael began a pretty big project – residing our house! We celebrated Mackenzie’s 11th birthday, we went to the Chester Frost beach and we got haircuts finally. So, trying to keep up with regular life wasn’t so simple.

But I have good news! I still managed to complete a baking challenge with my friend Theresa! And our ingredient was CHOCOLATE!!!

I also have bad news: my milk chocolate pound cake did not come out of the pan. So I made cupcakes from the same batter – and they were perfect. Well, as close as you can get to perfection. Theresa on the other hand turned out some beautiful Whoopi pies which were absolutely wonderful and they were devoured without hesitation. Mmmmmmm.

Below is all of the week’s deliciousness – chocolate or otherwise- that happened around here. In spite of corona virus isolation, its been a very good week.

Last week we decided to rise to an even bigger baking challenge! We made yeast our required ingredient -and let me tell ya – I have no regrets!

I decided it was time to bake my Grandma B’s sticky buns. These are not your ordinary Carmel-pecan sweet rolls. Oh no -these are different – filled with jam or jelly for the stickiness! And I have memories of them from my childhood.

Christmas morning breakfast on Maxwell crescent, I was 10 years old and my Grandma had made a pan of sticky buns for us. It was a special occasion because my grandparents were staying with us on Christmas AND we were having sticky buns! I remember what the rolls looked like, how they smelled and how the first bite tasted in my mouth. Warm, soft, gooey, sweet with cherry jam.

Friends, it has taken me 34 years to get around to making this deliciousness! I’m not sure what took so long – but this past week it was finally time!!

Because Grandma’s recipe was not in the family cookbook I called my Aunt Sharon for a sticky buns consultation. And she had just the information I needed. Well sort of … you see the recipe for sticky buns isn’t exactly written down. It’s more like a verbal tradition. Make dough, roll it out this particular way, fill up crevices with jam, and bake. Stir up icing to spread on when the buns are cool. That’s pretty much it. Not a lot to go on except personal experience and practice.

But I have good news for you – using Grandma’s recipe for bread dough I gave it a whirl – and by a whirl I do mean it looked like a tornado went through my kitchen, hitting me flour canister the hardest! But my batch of sticky buns turned out better than I had hoped!

Now up on the mountain, Theresa made us a batch of her homemade cinnamon rolls with orange creamy frosting and they were exceptional. I’ll step out on a limb here and say they are the best in town – better than any bakery for sure!!

I don’t really have any recipes to share with you today except this:

It would not be an overstatement to say that I love peanut butter. And I do mean LOVE. I purchase the XL jars of creamy Jif from Costco on the regular, being sure to never run out. Peanut butter is an absolute necessity around here and so, when it was time for our weekly baking challenge – which was themed “use something from your pantry” it was a no-brainer.

My options were unlimited. I really should have a whole board on Pinterest dedicated to the stuff. As I scrolled past my pins researching what to bake, I realized what needed to be done.

You see, previously, I’ve baked every kind of Bundt cake imaginable. Well, not really, but it felt that way during 2017 when I was baking a cake a week. But – do you know what I did NOT do in 2017? I did not bake a peanut butter bundt cake! Can you believe it?!? Unreal!

So, it was on – peanut butter bundt cake for the challenge. Beyond that decision, another choice had to be made – how should I glaze it? Should I do more peanut butter? Carmel? CHOCOLATE? There’s nothing better than Reese’s Cup-ish baked goods, am I right?!?

But, I wanted something different. Something old, and new. Something unusual and familiar. While I was day-dreaming about peanut butter, I remembered something I loved as a child and still do to this day. A peanut butter and honey sandwich. You know the kind – where the honey is smeared in to the peanut butter, but still coats the bread with a sugary crispness and you feel as though you might get caught eating dessert for lunch!? Yeah, that’s what I imagined for my cake.

Fortunately, the cake came out with a golden buttery carmalized coat after baking for about 90 minutes. And on top of that I brushed an inordinate amount of sweet cream honey glaze. That glaze combined with the rich saltiness of the peanut buttery cake was the perfect embodiment of a salty-sweet explosion in my mouth! It was exactly what I’d hoped for. Exactly.

Perfect with a glass of milk. Just like my childhood dessert for lunch.

Up on the mountain, my friend Theresa made shortbread! Rice flour was her ingredient from the pantry. There are many secrets that she could not share with me about her recipe for shortbread. But there’s one thing I can tell you. Her shortbread is completely amazing! Like – she could sell it- amazing.

This week’s baking challenge ingredient is yeast! We have to have used yeast and let our product rise at least once!! I can’t wait to share mine with you! Until then: go make some peanut butter cake! You won’t regret it!

Peanut Butter Bundt Cake:

• 1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
• 1 cup water
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Cake instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350. In a medium pot add the peanut butter, water, and butter and bring to a boil. Remove from heat.
2. In a separate bowl, mix together the sugar, brown sugar, flour, salt, and baking soda with a fork. Add to the peanut butter mixture.
3. Add the eggs, buttermilk, and vanilla to the bowl and mix well.
4. Stir well and pour (the batter will be fairly runny) into greased bundt pan. Bake for 75-90 minutes at 350 degrees.
5. When baking is complete, and you’ve cooled the cake for 15 minutes, invert the bundt from the pan. After it is completely cooled, drizzle with sweet honey cream glaze.

Glaze: a cup or so of powdered sugar – 2 tbsp of cream for starters, then add two table spoons of honey. From there, add what is needed to make the glaze a “drizzling” consistency.

**ideas for this recipe were taken from the recipe for Peanut Butter sheet Cake on the girl who ate everything blog.**

I’m a little late, guys! It wasn’t on purpose – but Easter weekend ran away with me. So, here I am on Wednesday afternoon ready to tell you about last week’s baking challenge with my friend Theresa!

Our special ingredient was blueberries. Now, I’ve baked with berries a fair amount – but honestly I wanted to try something totally different. Something I would have to think about and spend a little effort.

Hand pies. That’s what I decided on – and not just because Vivian Howard just aired an entire show about them. No, I needed to make an attempt because previously my hand pies were a complete failure. Epically bad.

So I studied up and found a recipe that, based on all the things I learned previously not to do, seemed legit. But who really knows until you try, right?

Turns out that it’s true: practice does make perfect. Well, or least it can greatly improve things. I was actually proud of these little babies. And everyone loved them. I heard rumors they were extra delicious warmed and topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Theresa went for a delicious blueberry coffee cake – made from an old family recipe! Man it was delicious. Of course, it’s a secret, so no recipe for you! A tantalizing picture will have to suffice.

Tomorrow is our next challenge. I’m taking the easy way out! Bundt cake! Except- I’m doing a New recipe! Betcha can’t guess what my special ingredient is!!

Good grief I love baking!!

PS: let me know if ya want the hand pie recipe!!

I can tell you it seems like we’ve all been handed lemons recently. Am I right? The normally sweet experiences of spring have been stolen right out from under our noses – our calendars have been stripped of graduations and parties, bridal showers, spring break trips and so much more.

What are we are left with? Distance. Alone-ness. Illness. And a vague feeling of -nothingness. We don’t even know what day it is, let alone if we have anything on the calendar. Because we don’t. This C-19 business is lemons – for everyone – especially the sick and the medical professionals, but also the general public who are just living day to day hoping they’ll find toilet paper.

So, last week, when my friend, Theresa, who always makes me laugh and is also my baking buddy, called me up and offered to pick up necessities from Costco for me while she was there – I responded with a hearty YES! (Meet Theresa – no, we did not bake in the same kitchen this week- this picture is from last year!)

And when she showed up at my doorstep with all the goods – plus lemons and raspberries (because she didn’t need as many as she bought) – asking if I wanted to do a baking challenge – my response was a resounding YESSSSSSSSS!

She and I baked last week. And we traded samples (at a distance, of course) of our lemon-raspberry goodies. SPOILER ALERT: We both won the challenge. It was so wonderful to do something I love – and remember that I can make lemonade when life hands me lemons. There is always a silver lining to be found.

Theresa made a Raspberry Custard Tart with a buttery sugar cookie crust and it was beyond fantastic. I don’t know if you can handle this much truth, but, I broke my “mostly no sugar” rule and ate many bites. quite a few times. I may have not shared very much with my family.

I made Aunt Belva’s lemon pound cake WITH raspberries. And it was very creamy and delicious if I do say so myself. Then, because I love Dark chocolate with raspberries I used the extra raspberries to make chocolate raspberry oatmeal muffins. They were pretty yummy, but were a little dry, so I’ll need to tweak the bake time if I make them again!

Friends, take time to look for your silver lining. Seriously -all is not lost. There’s always a way to make lemonade out of the lemons we’ve been given!

I don’t know about you, but the rain and clouds have been getting to me. Literally and figuratively, I suppose. How in the world are we supposed to make it through all of this staying at home and distance from friends and family if it is gray outside too?

I’m typically a glass-half-full, the sun will come out tomorrow kind of gal. Really, I am. But this is a little much.

Today I’ve been thinking about it. I don’t want to say everything’s rosy just for the sake of trying to feel better. I want to know that things are a little dark, but will get better. FYI : the answer is not in online news articles or watching the latest headlines on tv, or memes from friends or binge watching Netflix.

It just so happens that I thought of this old song. Maybe I heard it on a record we have, or I might’ve heard my father-in law sing it. (He’s also taught my children valuable statements like, “You can be mad or glad in the same pair of pants) … but, let me tell you – it’s not just about being sunny for the sake of wishing the clouds away! Here’s the 3rd verse:

Let us greet with a song of hope each day,
Tho the moments be cloudy or fair.
Let us trust in our Savior always,
Who keepeth everyone in His care.

Keep on the sunny side, always on the sunny side,
Keep on the sunny side of life;
It will help us every day,
it will brighten all the way,
If we keep on the sunny side of life.

There’s more hope in the third verse of that song than we can fathom. In the middle of this darkness, we can focus our gaze on this fact: we have a Savior we can trust, who cares for us at all times. Remembering that, my friends is the truest way to keep on the sunny side.

Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us. Romans 5:5

I went out to the back yard, while the air was hanging in damp cool drapes. There, peeking up at me, was one of the first Hydrangea leaves. Bright green, brave, looking for spring.

I want to be brave and look for spring too. But I’m in my house, and my heart feels less than courageous. There’s plenty to worry over, or be afraid of these days. “Huddle away” they tell us, and so my heart hunkers down in the dark, and my fears try to tuck me in for the long night.

But there are whispers of things hoped for, not seen. I can reminisce with Scripture I learned long ago, of what is to come; of how I can be brave, and long for the things that are true.

Isaiah 41:28-29…
Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
and his understanding no one can fathom.
He gives strength to the weary
and increases the power of the weak.

Matthew 6:25-28 …Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin.

His promises are as sure as the spring season that is here, dressing up the the flowers to parade in full bloom. These words are for my heart now, for hope, for peace, for strength. He is in control. He will provide. I have no reason to fear.