I have been in the baking mood. Have you? It seems like that it has rained here for weeks. I am not complaining though…because in Missouri…we sometimes have really, really dry summers. I think that it’s just throwing everyone off a tad…because it looks like fall outside. Of course then you step out into the humidity and you are all like “Nope. Still summer.”
Ethel, the mixer above, (I just named her this week.) is my right hand gal in the kitchen. My husband bought her for me, for Christmas one year…and talk about excited! She is definitely a workhorse. She twirls my egg whites and sugar into meringue…while I just stand there…filing my nails. (Just kidding…I don’t have nails…to file. Well…I have fingernails…just not long ones. Didn’t want to freak you out.) 😉
Do you have a stand mixer? They are amazing. If you don’t have one…I highly recommend saving your egg money or your quarters or just being really good so you can get one at Christmas. They are truly wonderful for those hard to stir batches of cookies. I just give ol’ Ethel the flick of a switch and she does it for me.
This week we have made zucchini muffins and cherry cobbler. I’m kinda in the cookie baking mood right now though, which is funny because I am more of a pie baking kind of gal. One pie and you are done. When you bake cookies…you are in the kitchen for like, ten years. (Okay..slight exaggeration.) I’m telling you..it’s this rainy weather. No wonder people diet in January. From the first day of fall until then…they are baking cookies. 😉
I hope that you have a wonderful Thursday, Dirt Roaders. I hope that you bake cookies and pies and that your little kids smile with crumbs around their mouths. I think that the Proverbs 31 lady would approve. I would say that she had yummy things waiting on her crew when they came home. I love to do that. I love…loving my family through food.
Waving at you with my oven mitt on… (not really)
p.s. A big shout out to my friend Sue Joyner. Your words of encouragement…brought home by my husband yesterday…were wonderful. Thank you for your kindness. It was just what I needed. I shall….blog on. 😉
Along the Dirt Road 
I laughed until I cried (still laughing and crying) when I read “I have fingernails.” I just can’t wait to come home to all those pies and cookies tonight!! ROFL I love you and keep up the happy blogging!
Thanks for the acknowledgement on your blog….I do enjoy all the adventures and the wonders of your family. You know that I am crazy about your husband(as a co-worker, of course, who isn’t) and your family is so inspiring. so BLOG on….I will continue to peek in on you each day. You are a gifted informer and more than that a wonderful, interesting woman in this world. Thanks for sharing.
Sue….You are making me have a lump in my throat. Thank you so much for the kind words of encouragement. Keep peeking and being such a good friend to my hubby. He speaks very highly of you. I will keep sharing the wonder that I see all around. 🙂 ~k.
Your canning abilities bring the wonders of my mother back to me. I remember washing the beets and pulling the skins off for her. Her kitchen was a back porch with an open fire outside for the beets to stew and release the smell I remember so well. Then the canning, the smell, the aroma of the spices, I could smell your beets as I looked at the jars sitting in your farm house. The pickles in the jars make me think of the cukes my mother put in the stone jars and then put a plate on them and a rock, HA!!!, she knew that that rock would roll away when the brine would start smelling like a pickle……we couldn’t resist them. She was much like you in her belief that the good Lord provided the opportunity to reap the harvest, feed the family, and enjoy the wonders of his world. I miss her being here on the earth to help with the training but thanks for bringing all the good canning memories back in your blog.
Sue…you are making me tear up again. 😉 Your momma sounds like my kind of gal. I think that part of it is from spending lots of time with our grandmothers. For some reason…even as a little girl…they always captivated me with their outlook on life. They let me look through a window into another time…and then taught me things that made it possible to reach in and get some of that for today. I do have to say…that I had a very satisfied feeling yesterday…when I could hear the popping. I even had the Mr. in there helping me. He is such a good sport. 😉 I would say that your momma’s pickles…were second to none. It’s amazing that every woman has her own technique. Thank you so much for the kind words….because all in all…the true purpose of this blog…is to inspire. 😉 Have a blessed day! ~k.