Of scones, warm days, and terrariums

Yes I have taken the plunge and delved even deeper into the addicting world of the internet. I now have my own pinterest account and it has proved to be dangerous. :) I have been having to limit my time on the computer even more. One idea popped up the other day to make a terrarium and I had to try it. Here are the results.

My rosemary plant in the sunlight with some vintage lace to give it some air. 

Scone Recipe for "Classic Cream Scones"

2 cups all purpose flour           1 large egg
1/4 cup granulated sugar          1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 teaspoons baking powder       1/2 cup currants (optional)
1/3 cup unsalted butter, chilled    1 egg mixed with 1 teaspoon water for glaze (optional)
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 heavy whipping cream

Directions

Step 1-Preheat your oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit first. 

Step 2- In a large bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. 

Step 3- Cut the butter into 1/2 inch cubes and distribute them over the flour mixture. 

Step 4- With a pastry blender or two knives used scissors fashion, cut in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. 

Step 5- In a large bowl, stir together the cream, egg, and vanilla. 

Step 6- Add the cream mixture to the flour mixture and stir until combined. 

step 7- Stir in the currants if you are using them. 

step 8- With lightly floured hands, pat the dough into 1/2 inch thickness on a lightly floured cutting board or on the counter. 

Step 9- Using a floured 2 1/2 inch diameter biscuit cutter or glass cut our rounds from the dough and place them on the prepared baking sheet. 

Step 10- Gather the scraps together and repeat until all the dough has been used. 

Step 11- Lightly brush the scones with the egg mixture, if desired. 

Step 12- Bake for 13-15 minutes or until lightly browned. 

Step 13- Remove the baking sheet to a wire rack and cool for 5 minutes. Using a spatula transfer scones to the wire rack to cool. Serve them warm or cool completely and store in an airtight container. 

This recipe yields about 14 scones. 

I had a craving for something sweet and English the other day and I made plain scones with blackberries on top. We have berries all year round because we freeze them so they are accessible all the time. Yum!

How to make a terrarium on pinterest via Atlanta.

My user name on pinterest is SingingDaily91 if you are on there and want to find me. 

Enjoy the recipe and do try out making a terrarium if you have time or have the desire.

A Birthday Alternative to Cake (tart!)

Hey Ya'll! 

My sister Bethany had a birthday in September and I decided to make her a gluten free and sugar free alternative to a birthday cake. I thought to myself what would sound good and taste yummy for a b-day celebration that was just as good as cake? 

Then the idea came to my head, why not do a fruit pudding tart?! I had always dreamed of making some small personal tarts for myself and friends and family, but there was never an occasion. Now was my chance.

So I went to the dictionary/resource of all resources Google. :) I Googled fruit tart and up came this lovely blog. Then I wanted to do an arrangement of fruit on top that was different than her lovely tart. It was pretty, but I did not have raspberries and I wanted to use the fruit we had in the freezer and fridge.  I wanted to be frugal and not have to go to the grocery to buy anything and I did not have to.

So once again I went to Mr. Google and found some fun pictures for inspiration. Yes I know I should start using Pinterest and I might have found something even more epic, but alas I do not want to succumb myself to the temptation to be addicted to that lovely attraction. Although it sounds lovely, it could turn into a not so lovely addiction for me. ;) I regress.

Anyways, so I found this, this , this, this, and this to be very inspiring and helpful in figuring what design I wanted to do with the fruit I already had available.

Here are a few pictures of the 3 different tarts I made over the course of two different days of celebrating.

My dad even thought they were delicious and so did the birthday gal and my mother. We were all happy even without sugar or wheat in there. It was still tasty with a little honey in the vanilla pudding I made from scratch that filled the middle.

I used the crust recipe from the Gluten free fix blog and I used the Creamy vanilla pudding recipe from the Heavenly Homemakers blog. Both are so so so yummy! I substituted the almond meal flour in the crust for raw almonds, which I just chopped up into fine flour in our Vitamix. I also substituted honey instead of sucanat in the pudding since we are doing sugar free tarts. You really should make them sometime with or without the sugar. ;)

I hope you all are having a lovely day! And just to be honest this is the first day in quite sometime I have gotten up when its still dark outside to start my day and I am very excited about all the things I have gotten accomplished before 10am. ;) Am I the only one who has had a hard time getting into a good morning routine of getting up early? Its only by Gods grace and help I was able to. Praise the Lord for His help!

God bless,

Rebecca

Super Natural Everyday

Hey everyone,

I know I have been in a blogging slump for a while not really knowing what to post about since so much is going on and its hard to choose a topic to post about. I thought why not talk about something I enjoy, cooking and baking! :)

I have rediscovered the book Super Natural Everday Day by Heidi Swanson as I looked around the kitchen for some new ideas of what to eat for breakfasts and lunch. Today I made a favorite of mine from her book called the Open Face Egg salad sandwhich. I will share with you my version of this wonderful idea. When you have tons of eggs as we do right now they need to be used in the best ways possible and I believe that means, scrambled eggs, hard boiled eggs, egg salad and much more. :)

My recipe for Egg Salad

6 brown eggs
2 tablespoons dried or fresh chives for color
1/2 mayo (homemade if desired)
1/2 teaspoon of salt

I boil my eggs for 10 minutes and then I put them immediately into a bowl of ice cold water. Then I let them sit for 10 more minutes to cool down. Then I peal my eggs carefully and then I rinse all the little tiny egg shell peices off of them. Then I mash the eggs in a bowl and add my mayo, chives, and salt. Sometimes I do not add salt depending on how it tastes.
I love to put my egg salad on a nice peice of whole wheat honey bread I have made or on crackers. Its even good on pita or by itself. Whatever you have on hand use it. Lots of recipes for egg salad add lots of different things I did not have, so I have concocted this version that is easy and with things I had on hand.

I also tried her really yummy millet whole wheat muffins last week and was pleasantly surprised. I can't share the recipe with you, but I will share photos. :)

I put them with yummy scrambled eggs done in my good old cast iron skillet and some purple grapes. My sister, mother and I loved them with butter on top. So if you want healthy cookbook that is also full of deliciousness get Heidi's book Super Natural Everday. I guess I sound like a commercial, but its so great. :)

Have a great rest of your Tuesday everyone!
In Christ,
Rebecca

Gluten free Breakfast Cookies

 I found this recipe for Breakfast cookies at Gluten Free Goddess. My sister loves them and so do I! Ever since we found Karina's blog we have been loving her cookie recipe and pumpkin pie recipe over the holidays. I might also add that I did change the recipe a little for us. We can have milk, so I used organic raw milk in our cookies instead of rice milk. I also used regular old nestle chocolate chips instead of making our own, hey it won't hurt us one bit. :) Might as well have the real chocolate in my opinion! :) I also used the first measurement of flour as white rice flour and the second measurement of flour as sorghum flour and it tasted great.

I made these cookies again for like the 5th time in the last few months Saturday. My sister Bethany is now trying not to eat gluten, but of course she still loves a good cookie, so this recipe is perfect. I love them too and I can have gluten! These cookies are so yummy, so if one person in your family can't have gluten those who can don't be disapointed! You will love these and be able to eat them too, maybe even 2 or 3 will pop into your mouth. :)

Have a lovely Tuesday!
In Christ,
Rebecca

A Belated Merry Christmas

Hello everyone!

Merry Christmas 3 days late! I hope your Christmas Spirit filled and once again you all realized as I did the need for the real meaning of Christmas to be preached, Jesus Christ was born to die for us!

My family and I had a quiet Christmas, just the four of us together. It was lovely! Here are a few photos of Christmas morning and Christmas day.

 As is tradition in our home, my mother and I made monkey bread for breakfast Christmas morning. She did most of work getting up real early to get it together and I just put sugar all over the dough and put it into the pan and she put it into the oven. She also made a breakfast casserole pictured below that morning. Its also traditon for us to eat this dish Christmas morning.

 " The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John bore witness about him, and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.’”) For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father's side, he has made him known."

(John 1:9-18 ESV)

 Then for lunch mother also made enchilladas and mexican rice and Beth and I put together a fruit plate. I love all the colors!

 Here are a few pictures of our home. I am not sure I have shared what it looks like really. But here is the kitchen and living room where we spend most of our days. Mom puts all the Christmas cards around the doors to decorate every year as is another Christmas tradition of ours.

 We decided to not go through all the trouble of having a huge tree this year and we got a nice small one. Mom put it atop the piano and we were all pleased. We decorated our tree 1860s style with period ornaments we had made at living history events. So this year we had a historical tree. :)

And lastly here is the rest of the kitchen where we made cookies and all the Christmas food this year as we do every year. I love how the sunlight always pours into the kitchen each day. Praise the Lord for another year almost done! I have been pondering as of late how time is so short and how God is still faithful no matter what. Praise God for Jesus His Son coming to earth that we might be saved. John chapter 1 is a favorite chapter of mine lately and I posted if above for you all.

Merry Christmas and God bless all of you!
In Christ,
Rebecca

Becca's Bakery Winter Flyer

A friend of mine named Lindsey W. designed this flyer for my bakery, I love it! I also am now shipping bread and fudge and caramel corn in the USA. So if you are out of state, just email me and I can tell you shipping prices if you can't come to my front door, but still would love to order.

In Christ,
Rebecca

Homemade Crackers( Recipe now included!)

 It all started a few christmas's ago when a friend of ours made homemade crackers, yes you Jennifer dear. :) My mother said," I want to do that!" She dreamed of making crackers from scratch for years, but did not get around to trying it until yesterday. :) I helped her make the doe and roll out the crackers. We cut them out with christmas cookie cutters just because it was fun! :)

 We baked them and ta-da! We had gluten free crackers that my sister, mother, and I could all enjoy for our lunch. We ate them and said," That was too easy and these are so much better than crackers from the store!" My mother told us we should make these when we have friends over for christmas. We might just have to make a few hundred more crackers soon as we ate most of these yesterday. :)

Gluten-Free Herb Cracker Recipe
Ingredients- 1/2 cup arrowroot starch or cornstarch ( we used cornstarch)
1/4 cup almond meal ( we did not have any so we used fresh almonds ground up in our Vita Mix, you could also grind them up in a food processor)
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1/4 teaspoon fresh cracked pepper
4 tablespoons olive oil
2 Tablespoons of herbs ( we used 1 tablespoon rosemary and 1 tablespoon thyme)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cream of tarter
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt to sprinkle on crackers ( we omitted this)

 This recipe makes 5 dozen small crackers
What to do-
1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Farenheit
2. Place dry ingredients in bowl. Blend. Add oil and water to form a dough ball. If dry, add more water to moisten.
3. Use cookie cutters to cut shapes or cut w/knife into even squares. Prink crackers with fork and sprinkle with kosher salt. Transfer crackers to non greased cookie sheet or stone.
 4. Bake for 15 minutes. Turn crackers over and bake 5-7 more minutes until golden brown.
5. Cool and store in air tight container.
Tip- If crumbly, add water to moisten. A 5" by 3" rectangular sheet of dough makes nice flat-bread crackers.

Enjoy your gluten free yummy christmas crackers!

So that was part of our day yesterday in between me sewing a bonnet to sell next monday as my family is going to be speaking in Washington D.C. about the history of the American Civil War, and in between my mom accompanying me on the piano as I sang my songs for my vocal exam and my dear father was my audience. Then that night I went and had my vocal exam and scored an A-! I am so happy! God is so so good to me and I am reminded as I might have said yesterday in yesterdays post, I am so not steadfast in love, but He always is! It boggles my mind at how amazing our God is.

In Christ,
Rebecca

Baking, baking and more baking

 As you can see I have been baking up a storm this past month. I got a few customers now that I have started my own home bakery. Lord willing I will get my parents consent to start selling at local farmers markets. I would appreciate the prayers about that decision! Its a lot of work, but I believe the Lord is leading me in the direction of starting my own business instead of college.

Tuesday I made a cherry pie for my dad as an experiment to see how it tastes and how easy it would be to sell. I believe its a winner! I love the way it looks and I can't say for the taste yet, but will be trying it with a cup of tea tomorrow. I had a vocal exam today, so I have not had a chance to sit down with a good book and read and eat a peice of pie. :) My mother told me how her mother always made a cherry pie for christmas, so this pie will be the special christmas pie for Becca's Bakery.

Hope you all are having a great first day of December! I must say the Lord is blessing me beyond measure, I am sitting here in a warm comfy bed with heat and am just in awe of his provision. He is from everlasting to everlasting a God who is faithful I have been reminded with all the little things that have come into place these past months. I got an A- on my vocal exam today! I sang well according to the deans of the college and my vocal teacher was pleased with my singing. All I had to say was praise God! He is faithful and so many people have been praying for me and of course God answered those prayers. :) He has also helped me to start getting my baking business going despite some road blocks and more doors as my dad says that will need to be pushed on to see if God will open those doors.

In Christ,
Rebecca

Pies, pies and more pies plus bread

 Dear readers, I realize I have not been posting as much, but I have good reason. :) First of all I am spending less time on the computer and more time with the Lord and my family and last of all more time baking. :) I am starting my own home bakery! Its so exciting! So here are some photos I have taken for the brochures that a friend of mine is making for me to start my business.

 The pie above is a gluten free pumpkin pie, which I love love love! I can eat gluten, but I even loved it. My sister needs to eat lesson gluten so I am trying out lots of gluten free recipes.

 This pie above is a whole wheat pumpkin pie, which is the recipe I have used since I was 12 and I made my first pumpkin pie. To tell you the truth I did not make it correctly the first time. :) I put in a whole cup of salt instead of sugar and a teaspoon of sugar instead of a teaspoon of salt. Ooosp! :) But thank goodness I had time to make another one before thanksgiving dinner that day. ;)

 Whole wheat bread rolls, which are just so yummy! Even if we make them not for holidays we use them as sandwhich rolls or just to grab and go for a quick snack. Yum!

 Whole wheat apple pie I believe is my favorite! I just love it! This one has honey instead of all the sugar and I could not really tell the difference, did not miss the sugar. So yes I am doing sugar free options as well as gluten free options for my customers. Lord willing my business will be off to a good start this week for thanksgiving customers. If you get a chance please pray that the Lord would be the center of my business and that I would not get discouraged if I do not get much interest at first. thanks!

In Christ,

Rebecca

Homemade Pretzels

 Back in October readers I was very very busy baking and I still am! I am starting my own in home baking business. So you will be seeing lots of photos of things I have made. So keep your eyes peeled. I will be posting recipes as well from the best baking blog-heavenly homemakers.

 This mouth watering recipe was so so good that my sister and I were eating them for breakfast, lunch, and dinner literally! Lots of butter and salt and you got a yummy nutricious for us snack or meal. :)

 They did not turn out too pretty compared to the ones over at Heavenly Homemakers, but they sure did taste so good! I had trouble doing the pretzel twist method, this was my first time making pretzels, so I made some in heart shapes as well. I got tired of doing the twist. ;)

The pictures are not the best, but I thought it was about time I shared them. I am still trying to get back into the swing of things with the time change and having been gone from home for 9 days straight. I can't believe its November!

In Christ,
Rebecca

Making dinner at my house

I have been experiementing a lot I believe my family would say in the kitchen lately. i decided to make homemade hamburger buns a few months ago, but never got the photos up until now. I found the recipe over at heavenly homemakers blog. It was fun to cut them out almost like cookies, with a glass jar. I made sliders as i call them, they are mini hamburger buns, instead of the ginormous ones most people eat.

 I even made strawberry lemonade and it was delicous! Its making me want summer to come back looking at these photos from August. :)

 The fruit of our labor below. It was perfect with fruit salad. My dad was so pleased, he keeps on saying to everyone whenever the subject of hamburgers comes up that my daughter Becca makes the best sliders. ;) Glad you liked them Daddy! I can always count on you for an honest opinion, truly! Whenever something does not taste good he tells me. :) Which actually happens more than not.

Next I will be post pictures of cookies and bread. Coming soon! Baking is a favorite past time of mine and I plan to now actually take pictures of the food after I make it. Usually we love how it tastes we eat it all before I remember to take pictures. :)

In Christ,
Rebecca