No Bakes (Mountain Bars)

Submitted by: Anonymous

Ingredients:
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 cups quick oats
1 cup ground coconut (optional)

Instructions:
Boil sugar, milk, butter, and cocoa powder for one minute, then take of stove. Add peanut butter, then add vanilla and oats. Stir, then scoop on to cookie sheet(s). (Note: when you add the vanilla and oats, you can put some coconut in it, too.. about 1 cup).

Just A Reminder

A quick note to remind you that there is less than two weeks left until the submission deadline for the Maidens of Virtue Poetry Contest! Remember, entries must be received or postmarked by April 30th, 2007 to be valid.

Click here to submit an entry electronically.

Some More Recipes

The BEST Apple Pie
Ingredients:
Filling
4 cups or more sliced apples
½ cup sugar
4½ tsp. cornstarch
¼ tsp. salt
Juice of ½ a lemon
Cinnamon, to taste (optional)

Crust
¼ cup cool water
2 cups flour
1 cup (2 sticks) butter
¼ tsp. salt

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 450°F. Combine sugar, cornstarch and salt in a small bowl. Peel and slice apples, tossing as you go with a spoonful of the sugar/cornstarch mixture and a squeeze of lemon juice, until you have used it all. Add cinnamon if desired.
For the crust, remove 1/3 cup flour from the 2 cups and mix the 1/3 cup in a bowl with the ¼ cup cool water, until it forms a paste. In a large bowl, cut the butter into the remaining flour and salt with a pastry blender or fork. Mixture should be crumbly. Add the paste to the flour/ butter mixture and stir using the back of a fork (or a dough hook on a kitchen mixer) until dough forms a ball.
Divide dough into 2 equal pieces. Heavily flour rolling surface and rolling pin. Roll out bottom crust to 1/8 inch thick; place in a 9-inch pie plate. Fill with apples and dot with butter (optional). Roll out top crust, place on top and crimp edge with a fork. Pierce the top of the pie a dozen times. Bake at 450°F for 10 minutes, then reduce heat to 350° and bake another 50 minutes. Let cool completely before cutting.
The crust recipe can be used for any pie, including savory pies, such as chicken pot pie, etc. I was a novice at pie baking when I first used this recipe, and the crust came out perfect!


Great Grandpa Herald's Winter Potato Soup
Contributed by: Tiffany
Have a large iron soup pot nice and hot. Have a pound of thick sliced bacon cut into quarters. Fry until crispy around the edges. Fry 1 large or two medium onions in the bacon fat. Add garlic at the last if liked, last add 7 medium russet potatos cubed. Brown slightly and have 4 cups of hot water ready to go. Add this to the pot, allow to boil up and add two cups scalded milk. Stir down and season with lots of black pepper. Cover and simmer until the soup is thick rich and bublly. Serve with good homemade bread and hot cider.
Make this when the wind howls and the snow flies outside.


Banana Bread
Ingredients:
2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
½ cup (1 stick) butter – very soft
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 cup mashed ripe bananas
1 Tbsp. vinegar plus milk to make ½ cup liquid

Instructions:
Sift flour, baking soda and salt; set aside. Grease loaf pan. Cream butter and sugar until smooth. Add eggs one at a time. Add flour mixture alternately with bananas and liquid, beating well after each. Pour into loaf pan. Bake at 350°F for 50 to 60 minutes or until done.

A Great Deal...

For a long time we have been keeping our eyes open for cast iron skillets at a reasonable price. Cast iron is supposed to be healthier to cook on (as long as it is not coated with a non-stick finish) and lasts forever. We had found some, and though they were inexpensive, we hadn't yet ordered them. Mom wanted to hold off a little longer just in case something better came along.
Well, our little bit of extra patience paid off! Mom received an email with a great deal - a set of 3 pans (7, 9 and 11 inch), for only $9.99! Plus, there was a coupon code that brought the price down to $7.49! So we got 3 sets, one for use now, and one for me and one for my sister to put in our hope chests.
I thought I'd pass on the deal... so here is the link: http://www.boscovs.com/StoreFrontWeb/Product.bos?itemNumber=20784&type=Product, and the coupon code is: PR247.

Happy cooking!

Work & Play

By Miss Emily Grace Wengerd

I like to work as well as play,

But work sure does more good,

And every time I work for Mom,

I'm doing what I should.

And when I play instead of work,

When Mom says that I may,

It sure feels good to run around,

Enjoying all my play.

Sometimes when Mom gives me a job,

I'd rather not do work,

But it is good to faithful be—

My duty not to shirk.

Used by permission of Keepers at Home Magazine - 1.800.852.4482

A Special Night for Mom & Dad

I just wanted to share with you girls an idea of how to create a special surprise for your mom and dad. My sister and I did this for our parents, and they really liked it!
In order for it to be a surprise, you will need to have your parents gone for the evening. Maybe you can drop a subtle hint that your dad should take your mom out for dinner or something. The night when we did our surprise, Dad took Mom out, so we had the evening to prepare.
The idea is to make their bedroom look like a room at a hotel or a bed-and-breakfast. We did the bed-and-breakfast. First, we cleared out any clutter that was hanging around and moved it into the spare bedroom. Then we put a pitcher of (silk) flowers on their dresser. In the bathroom, we folded two sets of towels the way they do at hotels: Take the largest towel (the bath towel) and fold it in thirds; then fold it in thirds again, with the edge inside (see illustration). Set it on the bathroom counter (if it isn't firm enough to stand by itself, you can fold it in half again). Now take a hand towel (not the washcloth), and fold it in thirds, as you did in the first step of the bath towel. With the edge down, lay it over the top of the bath towel, lengthwise. Now take the end that is on the outside, and partially open it up. Fold the bottom up, and tuck the sides around the back, forming a pocket. Now take the washcloth, "accordion" fold it, then pinch it in the middle and fold in half. Stick it in the pocket so that it fans out of the top. Voila! (Now, did that make ANY sense??).
After that, if you have any miniature shampoo and conditioner bottles, maybe from those little bags they give you at the airport if you're flying overnight, put those on the counter in front of the towels too, or in the shower. Another nice touch would be to put a still-in-the-wrapper bar of soap on the counter and/or in the shower.
For the actual bedroom, you can create some ambiance by lighting a few candles and putting on some quiet, classical music. If you happen to have live flowers handy, especially roses, you can sprinkle some of the petals on their bed. Be sure to dim the lights!
My sister and I wanted to put a chocolate on each of our parents' pillows, because they do that in high-end hotels. Alas, we didn't have any in the house! Not being easily daunted, however, we melted some chocolate chips, poured it into 2 heart-shaped molds, and put them in the refrigerator to harden. When they were done, we wrapped them in foil and put them on the pillows.
For the final touch, I made up a brochure to look like a bed-and-breakfast brochure. We just moved to our new house, and were considering names for the house. One of them was Fairview, so I made the name of the B & B the "Fairview Bed & Breakfast". The brochure is folded in thirds. Below is a sample of the brochure I made. When making your own, make up creative names for the different rooms and "amenities". For instance, at our house, the kitchen table, where we generally eat breakfast, has a deck outside the window and there are always chipmunks running around out there; our cats go crazy watching them! So I called this "The Chipmunk Ridge Breakfast Parlor" and I assure you, my parents got a kick out of it! The "Conservatory" is really a small greenhouse, "The Beach at Glacier's Mirror" is our pond. Do you get the idea? Make it sound like a resort, while at the same time giving it a humorous twist. Click on the images to enlarge.

^ This is the front and the inside flap of the brochure.^

^This is the inside of the brochure.^

Alright, the last thing we did was to make a small card which we set by their telephone that reads, "Please Dial {insert your phone#} for Room Service."

Well, I hope you have fun creating a special evening for your Mom and Dad!

Scripture Name Acrostics

Here's a great idea for a cute and fun project. Take a name (you could also do a word if you wanted to), and then fit a Scripture verse to each letter of the name. For example, "Kathryn":

Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life. (Prov. 4:23)
As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. (Ps. 42:1)
Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. (Prov. 3:5)
He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God? (Micah 6:8)
Righteous lips are the delight of kings; and they love him that speaketh right. (Prov. 16:13)
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. (Ps. 23:4)
Not unto us, O LORD, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy, and for thy truth's sake. (Ps. 115:1)

These would make very nice gifts; create a Scripture acrostic in the receiver's name, print it out on feminine paper in a pretty font (unless you are giving it to your dad or brother!) and then place it in a frame.

Enjoy making up your own acrostics!