Recipe for Baked Whole Pumpkin

Soon family and friends will be gathering for Thanksgiving. The following recipe is an early American recipe. It is a very interesting way to serve a pumpkin. In the old days it was called a "pie". When I have served it I have called it a pudding because it has turned out more like a pudding than a pie.
Try it and see what you think!

Ingredients:
1 cooking pumpkin, 5-7 pounds
6 eggs
2 cups whipping cream
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon molasses
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ginger
2 tablespoons butter

Cut the lid off the pumpkin and remove the seeds. Mix the remaining ingredients together except the butter. Fill the pumpkin with this mixture and top with the butter. Cover with the lid and place on a baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 1-1 1/2 hours or until the mixture is like a custard.
When serving, scrape some of the meat from the pumpkin with each serving.

Panther Victory! 1-5

It feels good to be blogging again. When school started back, my schedule got a little crazy! Keeping up with students at four schools is fun but sometimes hectic.





The start of school also means the start of football season. It can be exciting following a team. This Fall I have attended some high school games and some professional games. I am a Carolina Panthers fan. You might have heard they have had a rough start this season. Until Sunday, their record was 0-5. They have a new quarterback and one of their best players has been out with an injury.


Many Panthers fans had become frustrated with watching their team lose every week. It must have been hard on the players and coaches too!


This past Sunday brought a ray of hope with a win over the San Francisco 49ers. The margin of victory was not huge. We won by a field goal. Staying positive when you are in a struggle can be hard. Praying for guidance and then trusting that God will be with us can help bring us peace in difficult times.


It seems like sometimes what God is asking us to do is to just keep showing up. Every Sunday, win or lose, the Panthers players are required to show up ready to play. For them, showing up ready to play last Sunday meant victory.

Chamomile Tea

"I am sorry to say that Peter was not very well during the evening.



His mother put him to bed, and made some chamomile tea; and she gave a dose of it to Peter!



"One table-spoonful to be taken at bed-time." "



from The Tale of Peter Rabbit

by

Beatrix Potter



Sometimes when our children are away at college they get sick and it can make us as parents feel worried that we are not there to take care of them. It can be very helpful to put some cell numbers of your college student's friends in your phone. If some of their friends are willing to give you their numbers this can give you some peace knowing you can call them and ask them to check on your child or maybe take them to the school infirmary.

Birthday Boys

Wishing a Happy Birthday to B-Man and Jameser!



It is Birthday week at my house. Every year during the third week of August there is an abundance of birthday cake. My oldest son, B-Man celebrates on the 24th and my middle son, Jameser celebrates on the 28th and mine is the 27th.



This is the first year we are celebrating with one big birthday celebration, but that may not stop us from having three cakes! HAHA



Happy Birthday Boys!

Last Days of Summer

The summer of 2010 is quickly coming to an end but there is still time to have some summer fun. Try some of these. I would love to hear from you about how much progress you have made on your summer reading!

1. Go for a swim in your local pool.
2. Drink a smoothie.
3. Attend an outdoor concert.
4. Walk outside barefoot.
5. Drink a glass of homemade lemonade.
6.Put your toes in the sand.
7. Bring a seashell home from the beach.
8. Fall asleep in a hammock.
9. Finish your summer reading.
10. Have a picnic in the park.

Ice Cream Shops

Making Banana Splits at home can be a blast but sometimes it is even more fun to take a road trip to your favorite ice cream parlor. On Saturday, Rockin Ray, our son MBC4, my parents and I took a road trip to Tony's Ice Cream Parlor in Gastonia ,NC. It is worth the drive even if it involves a hotel stay!
Rockin Ray had a banana split, MBC4 and I indulged in a hot fudge sundae and my parents split a milkshake.

Tony's has been a family favorite of ours for many years. You might enjoy checking out Tony's web site.

Yum Yum!

A Garden Poem

If you decided to try having a garden this summer, I hope you are beginning to reap the harvest.
We have enjoyed blackberries, raspberries and many herbs.

The following poem is one of my favorites from childhood. I hope it brings back fond memories for you too!

MISTRESS MARY

Mistress Mary, quite contrary,
How does your garden grow?
With cockleshells, and silver bells,
And pretty maids all in a row.

by Mother Goose

Banana Split

On Sunday we had some friends and family come over to watch the World Cup Soccer Final. The game was very exciting but I think the think the part of the afternoon everyone enjoyed the most were the banana splits we served. My husband Rockin Ray came up with the idea and they were a great summer treat.

Here is the recipe:

1 banana sliced in half the long way
Put three scoops of ice cream down the center of the banana slices ( using three different flavors taste great)
Spoon three tablespoons of chocolate syrup over the ice cream
Top with whipped cream and a tablespoon of nuts

Birthday Girl

Happy Birthday Tiney!



Today is my daughter's birthday. She is in graduate school and works a full-time job.

Tiney was home over the weekend and we celebrated with friends and family.



The birthday cake just had to have pink flowers!

Pleasant Words

Proverbs 16:24

Pleasant words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the body.



Sometimes when I am tired or in a hurry, I do not always say pleasant words. Proverbs reminds us that pleasant words can bring sweetness to the soul and healing to the body.



Have a blessed day!

Summer Reading

My son who will be a senior in high school next year, reminded me on Monday that he needs to purchase his summer reading books. Although he may not think it is as much fun as I do, I always enjoy the annual trips to buy the summer reading books. I am not sure who first came up with the idea of a summer reading list for students but whoever did must have been a genius.

On my desk there is a stack of books I have been working my way through for the past year. I decided to create my own summer reading list and hope to finish reading all the books on my desk by Labor Day.

Do you have a few books you have been wanting to read too?

If you do, please send a comment and let me know what is on your Summer Reading List 2010.

Mud Pies

A favorite summer memory for me is making mud pies. When I was a child, after a summer rain shower I would put on my swimsuit and go outside to play in the mud puddles. My mother would give me aluminum pie pans to play with and I would make mud pies. Here in North Carolina we have dirt that is called "red dirt". I had fun making pies and decorating them with sticks and leaves.

The recipe below for mud pie might not be as messy to make as the ones I made but I can promise you it will taste better!


Mud Pie
1 chocolate graham cracker pie crust
1 container coffee ice cream
1 1/2 cups fudge sauce

Allow ice cream to soften and press into pie crust. Place in freezer until firm. Cover with fudge sauce and place in freezer until sauce is firm.
Serve with a generous portion of whipped cream!

Stop And Smell The Roses

Yesterday was Mother's day and I hope all of you moms were able to celebrate in some way with your children. On Mother's Day, many people wear rose boutonnieres in honor or memory of their mothers. This is such a special tradition! Although we should honor our parents everyday, it is great to have this particular day set aside to say thanks for being my Mom and to stop and smell the roses.



Psalm 106:1

Praise the Lord!

O' give thanks to the Lord for He is good;

for His steadfast love endures forever!





P.S. We did not have a winner for the Starbucks card last month. I hope to have another contest in the near future.

Let's Get Together

April 15th is coming soon! While you are busy getting your taxes ready, take a break and send me a suggestion. The drawing for the $10 Starbucks card is April 15th. Please post an idea of something fun for parents and college students to do together this summer. Each time you send an idea, your name will be entered into the drawing. You can enter as many times as you wish. Just keep those ideas coming!

Wake Up Call

Hello Sunshine!
Sometimes we can use a wake up call to help us get going in the morning. I am including a recipe today that can help sleepy college students or parents wake up. It is quick and you can add a fun twist to it by freezing the cup of bananas before putting them in the blender. Bananas freeze well if you cut them up and put them in a freezer bag.

Morning Shake
1 cup milk
1 cup sliced bananas
1/2 cup orange juice
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Put ingredients in blender, cover and whirl until smooth. Serve at once.

Recipe for Pita Pizzas

One of the features I am including in my blog is recipes for college students.

The first recipe is for Pita Pizzas. Tonight is one of the Final Four basketball games and this would be a perfect night for a delicious pizza.

Enjoy!


Pita Pizzas

Ingredients:
6 pita pockets (whole wheat)

1 medium jar of spaghetti sauce

1 lb. mozzarella cheese

mushrooms, onions, peppers or other toppings

Spread sauce on pita bread, top with cheese and your choice of toppings. Bake at 400 for 10-15 minutes, until bubbly.

Coffee Break

The winter months have passed and the skies here in North Carolina are turning Carolina blue. This is the time of year when college students are making their plans for summer. Some will stay at school and take classes, others will find jobs and some will take classes and work. Summer vacation can be a fun and productive time.



As parents of college students it can give us some much needed time to reconnect with our children. When mine come home I enjoy spending one on one time with them. Many students start drinking coffee in college. A fun outing this summer would be to take your son or daughter out for a Coffee Break. Even if you or your child don't drink coffee, many coffee shops offer drinks such as teas and smoothies.



Please send in your ideas for spending one on one time with a college student. I would love to hear from parents of college students, college students or anyone else with great ideas. On April 15th I plan to put all the names of the people who have posted comments with suggestions into a drawing. The winner will receive a $1o Starbucks gift card. You can enter more than once, so keep those ideas coming!



P.S. You must be registered as "Follower" to enter the drawing.

Morning Glories

Ecclesiastes 11:6

In the morning sow your seed, and at evening withhold not your hand, for you do not know which will prosper, this or that, or whether both alike will be good.


Many years, ago my husband and I lived in Columbia, South Carolina. Our next door neighbors were a retired couple named Vera and Inky (a nickname for his formal name of English). We lived in a small duplex and Vera and Inky lived in a cozy cottage style house. There was a chain link fence separating the two yards.

Inky loved to work in his garden. In the spring and summer, he would start working in his garden early in the morning. About noon he would go inside for lunch and to get a reprieve from the heat. Late in the afternoon he would come back out to continue planting , fertilizing and watering his garden.

My favorite flowers he planted were Morning Glories. They grew on the fence and early on summer mornings I would look out my window and see the beautiful purple flowers opened wide, looking toward the sky. In the heat of the afternoon, they would close up and rest. The next morning, just like Inky, they would be back again.

This pattern of work and rest, planting and harvesting, reminds me of parenting. There are times we are up early, planting seeds for a future harvest and there are times of rest. We hope when our children go to college this will be a time we see the flower bloom.

Early one morning a few years ago, I noticed morning glories growing on our wooden fence in our yard here in North Carolina. We had not planted them. My husband said that birds or the wind may have brought them. I like to think they blew here from Inky's yard. I look forward every summer to seeing their pretty purple petals.

Taking Care of Business

It has been a little over five months since I posted anything on this blog. In the months since my daughter left for grad school and my oldest son left for his first year of college I have been busier than I thought I would be. I have two teenage sons at home and although I do not have as many responsibilites as I had when I had four children at home, there is still plenty to do.



My hope for this blog is that it will be a place where parents of college students can make comments and suggestions about adjusting to this new phase of parenthood.



I am sure many of you are busy taking care of business at home and at work, just as I have been the past few months but my plans are to blog more often and I hope my words encourage you.



Proverbs 22:31

The horse is made ready for the day of battle, but the victory belongs to the Lord.