Tips from Mom

flowers from Laura Brown-thank you!

Happy Mother's Day!

I learned so much from my mother, Marie. A home economics (home science) teacher, she had the social graces of Emily Post, the advice of Ann Landers, the culinary talents of Betty Crocker and the overall family devotion of Donna Reed, Carol Brady and Stella Dallas, combined. 

I got to thinking about those everyday lessons from Mom and these random tips popped into my mind:

Always close kitchen drawers when you are cooking or baking to avoid having to clean out any falling crumbs.

Turn the top sheet hem back over the blanket when making the bed to keep the blanket clean longer, since you change the sheets more often than you do the blanket. 

When you finish using the oven on those cool or colder days of the year, leave the oven door open a few inches to release the expiring heat into the room.

To prevent stretching out the tops of your socks, tie each pair of socks into a simple knot rather than stuffing one inside the other. 

Ever have a cake come out of the oven and be high in the middle? To help keep a baked cake flat, push the raw batter toward the sides, leaving a shallow hollow in the center, then bake.

If your sheets have a printed side and a plainer side, in the summer, when it's hot, lay the printed side up so the pattern shows when you've no need for a blanket.  In the winter, face the printed side of the top sheet down and cover it with your blanket.  Then, when you turn back the covers, the pretty pattern will be seen. 

Sure you can buy pre-made cinnamon and sugar to sprinkle on toast, but you have no control of the amount of sugar.  Save an empty shaker bottle and make your own, lessening the sugar or adding more, for that matter!

Store household extension cords in toilet or paper towel tubes.

Save shelf space by hanging your toilet paper. Find an old paint can lid, punch two holes in that lid with a nail, thread an eight foot cord/heavy string through and tie it securely against the lid.  Take an old fashioned clothespin and tie it to the other end of the cord.  String your rolls of toilet paper over the closespin and hang your contraption  on a nail inside the linen closet!  (We still use one of these at the family home and it brings a smile every time I see or even think of it.)

There you have some of Mom's common sense teachings.  I know you have more from your mother and some of your own.  Send them along to graciousjanemarie@yahoo.com and we'll add them to our list of helpful hints.

P.S. Readers often ask me if the characters in my novels are copied from real people I know.  The answer is no.  However, I will say that my dear mother was the inspiration for Miss Ella, the matriarch of the Dunnigan family of Fernandina on Amelia Island, Florida in the late 1800s...

Valentine Brownies

Shirlene Reeves, our contributing chef,  has created a simple, yet elegant, Valentine dessert. She's a scratch
baker and we all appreciate her efforts because scratch is so rare these days.  If you are unable to take the time to make scratch brownies, grab a box of brownie mix at the store.  As you can see from the picture, Shirlene had a heart shaped mini-brownie pan. Once baked, she placed her brownies on a pretty platter and gave them a light dusting of powdered/confectioners' sugar.  Add some whole strawberries as garnish and you've got a lovely holiday sweetie to share at home, work, church or to keep all for yourself (while you read a good romance novel...say something from The Goodbye Lie series, perhaps?)  Thank you, Shirlene. You've done it, again! 

If You Don't Have a

 Heart-Shaped Pan

Use one round cake pan and one square pan. When your cakes are baked, turn them out of the pans. Lay the square brownie so it looks like a diamond on a foil covered cookie sheet unless you have a large platter. One corner of the square brownie will be the bottom point of the heart. Next, take the round brownie and cut it in half.  Place a half-round at each diagonal top edge of the square brownie to form the shape of a heart.  Slather on chocolate frosting to keep it together. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and top with those fresh strawberries.  For one thick large brownie, use two boxes of mix.  For one thin large brownie, use one box. 

Goodbye Lie Diaries - Peeper's Bunny Buns

Fernandina, Amelia Island, Florida
1880s

Grandmother Peeper writes:

Easter is tomorra, sos the children and me made the family some cinnamon rolls ta look like bunny heads. First off, we took a portion a bread dough and mixed in a tish a cinnamon.  Next,we shaped a head and pinched off a little more dough ta make two long ears each.  Then I baked 'um in the oven, watching sos they didn't burn. We iced 'um with vanilla frosting and added raisins for two button eyes and one nose. They was very popular  and there's none left!  Next year, we'll make two batches for all them hungry youngin's a ours.

More important than bunny buns, is Easter and that our Lord raised hisself up.  It's a miracle and we're all blessed because he dun that for us.  Thank you, Jesus! I'm pretty old, so I'll be aseein' ya soon! 

*****.
Fernandina, Amelia Island, Florida
2014

Jane Marie writes:

Peeper, your bunny buns sounded so yummy, granddaughter, Ava, and I made some of our own. In our time, we are very spoiled, so I didn't have to go to all the effort to make bread dough from scratch like you did.  These days, you can go to the grocery and purchase a sleeve of dough with cinnamon already mixed in.  We sprayed a cookie sheet with non-stick spray, formed the bunny heads and ears, baked them for about 10 minutes at 400 degrees, I think it was, and frosted them with the icing that came with the dough.  We didn't have any raisins on hand so we used peanuts for the eyes and nose. Of course, some people who are allergic to peanuts should just leave the bunnies faceless.  They taste swell either way.

raw bunny buns - before

 

baked bunny buns - after

 

Happy Easter to you and the Dunnigans, the Duffys and Mrs. Ickles and Aunt Noreen, in particular.  The good Lord teaches us to pray for everyone, including the most difficult of people.  Sometimes it's a challenge, but then it's nothing compared to what He did for us.  May we all remember the meaning of Easter, the same as our parents, and their parents before them.  Let us carry on their faith, which is now ours.



 



P.S.  I also saw similar bunny heads on Pinterest.  I guess good ideas are not restricted to particular centuries...

(Grandmother Peeper is just one of the beloved characters from Amelia Island's Goodbye Lie Trilogy set in 1880s - available at www.GraciousJaneMarie.com , through www.Amazon.com and all bookseller outlets.)