Applesauce Cake

Applesauce Cake

Hi Everyone!

It has been A...WHILE since I've posted so I thought I would post a favorite recipe of mine.  I have had many requests from people who bake themselves and don't need "MotherBirdie"! If you don't know who that is, it's me!  I bake for people locally who don't have time or interest in baking but want something homemade.
If you are an "Instagramer", you can find me @motherbirdie to see what I make.

"Applesauce Cake"

1/2 C. butter
1 1/2 C. sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 C. applesauce
2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 C. hot water
2 1/2 C. flour
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp.. salt
1 /C. "Craisins" (optional, I place mine on top of finished cake)

Cream sugar and butter. Beat in egg and applesauce. Combine soda and hot water in small bowl. Sift dry ingredients and add alternately with the hot water to sugar mixture.
Bake in 2 prepared 8" rounds @350 for 20 minutes and do knife insert check for doneness.

Cream Cheese Frosting

1/2 C. butter

1 8oz pkg. cream cheese 

1lb. box powdered sugar

1/4 tsp. salt 

1 tsp. vanilla

Mix butter and cream cheese till smooth.

Add remaining ingredients (slowly as to not instantly change your kitchen into one giant sugar cloud!)

  

I hope you enjoy!!

Thanks for visiting!!

Lemon Blueberry Cake

1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1/3 cup melted butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
2 tsp. lemon zest
2 Tbs. lemon juice
1/2 cup milk 
1 cup blueberries tossed in 1 Tbs. flour

Glaze

2 Tbs. melted butter
1/2 cup powdered sugar *see note
2 Tbs. lemon juice
1/2 tsp. vanilla

Mix dry ingredients and set aside.
Blend butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla, zest and lemon juice until well combined.
Gently alternate dry ingredients and milk and stop as soon as it's combined

Toss blueberries in the 1Tbs. of  flour and fold into batter.

Pour into greased 8" pan and bake at 350 for 40-50 min. Test by inserting knife in center and comes out clean.
Cool then glaze. Let it sit for the glaze to soak in.

Makes 8"  one layer cake. 

*Note: I have made the glaze with granulated sugar when I have run out of powdered and it's just as delicious, just different texture.

I hope you enjoy this refreshing dessert...

Thanks for visiting!

Ball Canning Jars

I have a thing for the blue "Ball" canning jars.  Not the new ones that are pretty too.  The oldies...


I don't can with them, I use them for different decorative needs.  
More often than not there is a fresh flower arrangement going on in at least one.
I have even used them for drinking glasses for outdoors too.

When I first started to collect them, it pained me to spend anywhere from $12-16 dollars, for ONE!
Now that my collection has grown to 9 plus, I see them and think..." $15? that's not bad" !

The lids will vary. Some are the old zinc type and some are the glass.  Glass is my favorite but of course, I've broken a few.

Recently I ran across a pin on Pinterest that showed the values of these little darlings.

I'm guessing this one is 1900-1923

Recently I ran across a pin on Pinterest that showed the values of these little darlings. Thank you Karen M. Vincent from "Minnetrista" on Pinterest.

I'm not sure of the value difference between the zinc & glass lids.

Hope you enjoy these little pretties and appreciate the fun ideas you can do with them!

  

Thanks for visiting!

Fig Refigerator Jam

When I think of figs, I think of my younger years, my mom loved them and had planted a tree as soon as we moved into our new home in Phoenix.

Yuk!

To a teenager they were not oranges, my new fun fruit I could pick off the tree in our yard.  They were too sweet, gritty and weird.

It's been a loooong time since that first taste. 

I must have done some growing and changing because, wow! I love them now!

My bestest friend has 2 trees in her yard. Huge, old trees that are full of fruit. Isy and I picked a few bags full yesterday and it became a new love!

Simple, easy fruit that you rinse, chop, add sugar, water and lemon juice to make a delicious refrigerator jam that is awesome with bread or cheese and crackers etc.

 

 

"Fig Refrigerator Jam"

1 lb. figs 

1/2 c. water

3/4 c. sugar

1/2 tsp. lemon zest (optional)

 

1/2 c. lemon juice

In a medium sauce pan, combine all ingredients.

Bring to a boil then reduce heat & cover.

Simmer approximately 1 hour.

Remove from heat and mash with a potato masher.

After cooling, place in jam jars and store in the refrigerator.

Keeps up to 2 weeks 

Thanks for visiting!

 

Homemade Ice Cream

You know it's too hot to bake right?
Next best thing is homemade ice cream! 
I have used this recipe for at least 30 years and I've only messed it up by using only "low fat" ingredients.
There are so many recipes out there but this one is easy, and uncomplicated if you have your own ice cream maker. Mine is the kind that churns (pictured). It's a Hamilton Beach and has lasted a long time. Inexpensive too!
Be sure and have at least 1-2 bags of ice on hand and "rock salt" or "Ice Cream Salt" by Morten.

  Ingredients for Vanilla Ice Cream:

4 eggs

1 can evapotated milk (not low fat)

1 quart 1/2 & 1/2

1 quart heavy whipping cream

2 cups sugar

2 TBS. vanilla

Freeze your empty ice cream maker canister ahead of time.

In medium sauce pan cook your eggs in the evaporated milk for food safety reasons till it boils, stirring constantly. Then remove immediately and place in a freezer safe container to cool it down.

Once it's cooled, add remaining ingredients and add all to ice cream canister and begin the churning process according to your individual ice cream maker instructions.

 Top with favorites and enjoy!

Hellooooo!!!

I have been away from the blogging world for awhile but I think I will get back to it!

I know I've missed out on a lot of beautiful things out there, I will try to get caught up a little.
In the mean time, this blog will be part of my business "Motherbirdie Bakes"! So if you're seeing a lot about baking, cooking, just food in general you will know why.

The website for Motherbirdie is http://motherbirdiebakes.com . Also on Facebook Motherbirdie Bakes. Please feel free to visit but the most activity is on Instagram... Motherbirdie .  I would love to get to know you in any of these locations.

I love to do more than baking!  My posts will reveal that. 

 One of my favorite baking orders was for Scout & Briar. Part of it is because one of the 2 lovely women that started this company is my daughter Heather.  
They launched their business this last late winter/early spring here in Phoenix with a fun party at North Italia Restaurant. It was a beautiful evening with fun supportive people who are also in the creative world here in our beloved Arizona.
If you would like to visit Scout & Briar's website go to scoutandbriar.com , you won't be disappointed! You can also peek at the photos by going to http://www.scoutandbriar.com/#!Scout-Briar-Launch-Party-with-Tiny-Prints/j4f10/574f21030cf25085214e3846
Tiny Prints was very helpful in making this party a success!
 I hope I will see more of everyone soon!

A Rose By Any Other Name

I thought I would just send some encouragement out there today.

Today is a day for many to start all over again. Run, hit the gym or go on a diet because they blew it over the weekend. Or maybe to be a better parent because their kids weren't perfect at school last week. 

And oh no!!! You didn't find some new recipe to wow your family or companion with? For shame!

I get exhausted of all the expectations everyone is putting on themselves.

How about this:

Don't look in the mirror today. Take a good look at your soul.  Get off social media for a sec and listen to the birds or just make a phone call, not a text, but a call or actual visit to a friend or family member to chat. We have lost personal connection with even our most dear to the cold silence of texting and other media. Life is busy but it's also fast and if you don't get personal with it you will find it won't get personal with you either. 

Spend that time you have fretted over what to wear, how many calories you can burn doing who knows what, and sit down for heaven's sake and appreciate what you "do" have.You. You have you.  We are built to commune.  There is a void in our hearts that can only be satisfied with one thing that is perfect and that is God Himself.  When we don't fill that first we just get frustrated with "trying" to fill it with stuff that doesn't satisfy it because it just can't. You know I'm right.

Be quiet for a bit today. Promise yourself that you will not be comparing yourself with the Barbie's & Ken's next door. BTW...They're comparing themselves to you too. 

Appreciate your own appearance. Your own children. Your own home, it is "home".  
Your cooking is always better than money thrown at a restaurant, there's no comparison to eating as a family in your own home, if it's just a husband and wife (that's us) or if you have a bunch of kids to feed. 

Commit to focusing on the real stuff this life has to offer, people! If you don't have them. There's nothing else!

Celebrate people for who they are. Not what you want them to be or what you expect yourself to be. Just enjoy what's been given.

You might not be a rose, you could be lavandar or a lily, a dahlia or even more like a succulent blossom, amazingly strong resilient.

What ever you are...

You are that beautiful flower that The Lord has made. Perfect, unique and NOT necessarily called a rose but by any other name, you "ARE AS SWEET!"

Thanks for stopping by!

Master Bedroom Help

Hi Friends!
I haven't posted in awhile and I've been missing this!  
Life has a way of marching on and I lose track of time. Next thing you know it's time to make dinner...one of my least favorite things to do.
Anyway, I'm asking for a little in-put from you all. We have lived in this house a long time. Designs come and go. I got really tired of our bedroom so I decided to just start taking stuff down without much of a plan for what I really wanted.
I'm the kind of person who wants to do it right the first time so I don't want to just throw something up and call it good.
There are so many creative people out there and I thought it would be fun to get some thoughts outside my circle.
Here is a picture of what was up on the large wall. I didn't take "before" photos of the other sides of the room. Darn. 

Now...

 I love my bed, it stays. As well as the "Originals" sign above it.  It has significant meaning to us.

I also love the Mr. & Mrs. pillow that I purchased at TJ Maxx. I'm hoping to find a white coverlet to replace the cream ruched duvet that I had on there. I'm so so done with duvets. They are a pain and never look right.

 The leather chair stays too. 

 I bought the wood lanterns in the niche from Marshall's Home Goods and I haven't removed the price tags yet because I'm not sold on the look. Too much? I thought the timer candles would make for nice romantic ambiance in the evenings. But I might like another idea.

Ok, now it's your turn...What are your thoughts & ideas?

November in Scottsdale

November for so many people means a big change in weather, trees are almost bare, jackets and beanies are a must and Thanksgiving is on it's way!

Not so much here in Scottsdale.  There is definitely a change is weather from the 90's to the 70's!

The trees are still green and there are those that survive our summers that are now changing colors.

It's time to hit the open air farmer's markets, bike to our favorite local restaurants and eat out on the patio.

The nights are chilly by our standards, in the 50's, so we need to bundle up! Lol!

"Old Town Scottsdale Farmer's Market"

We put our fresh flowers on the patio for "alfresco dining" 

(that's code for I don't want to sweep up the crumbs, bird food!)

Saturday mornings are meant for riding bikes and hitting up our favorite breakfast joint halfway through our ride.

Thanksgiving is less than 2 weeks away! 

I hope to share my table setting with you before it gets here.

I hope you enjoyed your visit!

Easy Peasy Doughnuts

Easiest Doughnuts EVER!

Would you like my recipe for the easiest doughnuts ever? 

Here ya go...

1 (or however many doughnuts you want to make) can store bought canned biscuits

Crisco

Melt the Crisco (enough to make at least 3" deep) in a deep sauce pan and keep it pretty hot.  Take one biscuit at a time and cut a hole in the middle with a small round cookie cutter or anything that will cut about a 1" circle. Save those cutouts, those are your "donut holes" :)

Using tongs drop your biscuit into the hot Crisco and cook until browned on one side then turn over and cook the other side.

Repeat with all of your biscuits and holes.

Dip in cinnamon and sugar mixture or powdered sugar

&

Voila!

Dining Room Refresh

My Dining Room

I was getting super bored with my dining room.  It was starting to feel a little out of date.  I still absolutely love my furniture although I am considering reupholstering my chairs. That scares me a little. Anyway, that's for another day.
I like glam, my hubby does not.  Here is where I compromised.  I did a little on the wall.  
Here is a before picture from last Thanksgiving's post.  

Since then, we made a few changes.  The beautiful picture over the buffet was our Christmas gift to each other last year. It's called "The Bow" from Z Gallerie.  One of my favoritist stores in the world!  We had eyed it for a very long time but couldn't justify the cost in these harder times and just before Christmas we decided instead of dropping money on a bunch of unnecessary "stuff", we would give that to each other.  

Merry Christmas Honey!

Well, now it's the end of August and I wanted to pay a little attention to this special room.

Target had these fabulous mirrored frames that didn't look like the rest of the world's.  

So I decided to revamp a wall with sepia toned wedding pictures. Our parents, us and our children that have married.  We have one more that is still single so I went ahead and purchased the frame for his future portrait and placed a copy of 1Corinthians 13 in it. That's the chapter about love.  If you  haven't read it, it's a beautiful design on marriage as well as life.

Then I moved my Corinthian column to the other side of the cabinet to place a lamp that I took from another room where it was under appreciated and voila!  More light!  I love lamps and light You can control your ambiance so much with them.

I found the large metal "Trophy" at my other addiction, TJMaxx.

Bye bye chalkboard, it was fun while it lasted.

I have a blank table at the moment but never fear!  There is something in the works! A little "earthy glam". Your='re welcome Honey. XO

Target is still my favorite "$100 Store" !!

And Z Gallerie? Well let's just say the $ signs multiply but it's worth it!

Thanks for visiting!!

"To Be Frugal or Not To Be Frugal"...That is the Question!

Frugal...Ugh!  I hate that word.  It usually means I can't do or have something.  Go out to eat or go on a trip.
BUT!! It actually means that I can do those things even more often than I think if I would just make a few changes.
Recently I was very excited to hear that there was a new "gel" nail polish out that didn't require the special light you have to cure it with.  Well, my favorite "$100 Store" carried it! Target here I come!  Now in the name of Target Love, this is not to bash that store.  It's my go to for just about everything. (I wish they carried everything but they don't) 
This brought to mind, how much money I dump into that store on a weekly basis on "non frugal, yet to be listed items", nail polish, lipstick, spatula, candles, etc, etc...
Then it brought to mind my mom.  She was an upper middle class lady that had her hair and nails done probably once a week (she had 6 kids, she deserved it). But... did we have a new candle, new dishes, new nail polish, new lunch bag, new tee shirt, new, new, new... every week.  No way!  
This is no way shape or form to put us on some sort of guilt trip.  I thought it might be encouraging to start a few new ways to see your money grow, spend time with friends and get creative.
Here's what I mean by that.
See this picture?

Front and center is the fore said gel polish. Cost $14.99 for the start up box set of 2.  The new bottle of red to add to my collection was $7.99. Now that's a total of $22.98. Plus tax.  Can't get away from that.

See the basket of misc. polishes.  Now there's a bunch of waste.  I think there are a total of 2 that I actually use. AND by the time I get to them again they'll be thick and not worth their weight in pennies.  By the way, The gel brags that it lasts up to 2 weeks.  Yay!! Nope, not even 2 days for me.  Sorry.  

The encouragement I have for you in this one is.  Buy ONE bottle of your absolute favorite, doesn't matter if it costs $2 or $12.   Now use it.  Use it again, again and again.  Oh! and if your friends love it loan it to them and borrow  their favorite.   You could even have a "Polish Party" one afternoon or evening to try them out to see which brand you love most with your friends.  Sometimes it's not the expensive ones that last longer.  

Having said all that, I spent $24ish bucks on polish this month.  That doesn't include any pedicures.

So today I'm starting an envelope to save $25 I would have spent on the pedicure, do it myself (waaaaahhh, I'll get over it) and next month I'm going to add $40 to it for misc, polish or pedi junk.   Think it'll add up?

Thanks for visiting!

Conversation Etiquette

Conversing Well is an Art!

• Never! Interrupt! Always wait for the person speaking to finish. AND, try not to appear like you can't wait for them to finish so you can talk.
• Always! Ask questions. Nobody likes a one sided conversation. You will actually find that the other person could very well be interesting. It also helps in keeping the conversation moving.
• Avoid! Drifting.  Keep eye contact when the other person is speaking. I can totally tell if someone is listening or not by eye contact and their "uh huhs"!
• Keep it Clean! Bad language is always tacky.  Unless you're a sailor straight off the boat, you might want to think twice about your choice of words. You can make a poor impression really fast with the shortest of words!
• It Takes Two! Try not to talk about yourself. It's good to answer questions about yourself or give tidbits but you don't want to come off as arrogant or self absorbed when you it's all about you.
• Repeat! Try to repeat the person's name once in awhile.  If they are a new acquaintance it will help you remember their name and it will also help them feel like they are important to you.
• Hope this has been encouraging!
• Thanks for visiting!
• 
  

Etiquette for Guests

We occasionally get invited to each others homes for celebrations or just casual get~togethers.  

It's a very nice gesture to bring the hosts a small gift.  Fresh flowers are always perfect but if you like to be different,  there are other suggestions.  I would advise not to go over the top though, people always feel the need to reciprocate and you don't want it to get competitive.
Here are some other suggestions.

1.  Candle (be careful of scents though)

2.  Plant, a fresh herb from a local nursery is always fun

3.  Box of chocolates

4.  Package of fun cocktail napkins

(subtle hint for next time)

5.  The ol' standby, a bottle of wine :)

(This beauty was a gift for keeping our G'kids for the weekend while our kids went to Napa)


If you haven't made this a habit in the past, it's never too late to pick it up!  
Better yet, invite someone to dinner this weekend!

Thanks for visiting!

Reviving a Lost Art Form, Etiquette

Etiquette is a very intimidating word to some people. It says "Proper". Well, in 2014, A LOT  of  people are not "into" what's proper but what works for them, leaving a wake of problems that can resonate into generations to come.

I happen to love etiquette.  It's safe.  It doesn't mean you HAVE to do it that way and only that way.  It's a guide to helping you do things the way to protect you and the people surrounding the event.  Preventing problems.  Now that's my kinda help!

This book, "Amy Vanderbilt's Complete Book of Etiquette" has been in my possession since I planned my own wedding.  36 years.  My Mom and I used it to plan my wedding and I have gone back to it so many times over the years for other celebrations and events, including my own children's weddings, baby showers etc.  It is very well worn. 

I am sure there is an updated version but I love this one.  I still have a napkin from my wedding and something my Heather had drawn as books mark in it. 

I am not a stuffy, do it right or else kind of person... but I am sensitive and concerned about doing things right.  People are very important to me so I like to plan parties and events.  If you give me too much time to think, there will be an event in the not too distant future!

I would like to revive a little bit of this special art in memory of my mom.  She was a lady.  Mom taught me from a very young child the qualities of being polite and kind.  To always think of others.

Hopefully you will enjoy this and it will be helpful.  I would like it to have a trickle down affect to children, so it definitely won't be too stuffy!

More posts to come!

Thanks for visiting!

Tooth Fairy Door

I found how to do this on a blog from a friend a few years ago and couldn't resist!
The first one I made was for my granddaughter Kyle...

Not the best pic since it was from my phone a year and half ago.
 Now one of my younger grandsons is starting to lose teeth. So here's #2...

This one is simpilar but I like it for a boy.  His favorite color is yellow. This yellow screams 
"YIELD" to me.  But Gregory will love it.
There are no set rules to a "Tooth Fairy Door" that I know of so I'm going to make up my own.

1. The closed door is set out by a parent the night of the big event near their bedside. This allows the fairy to come in and give a special reward for such a great tooth.
The message behind this is that you are inviting the fairy in that night for the exchange.

2. When "The Fairy" comes, he/she opens the door, takes the tooth and leaves their gift under the child's pillow and closes the door behind.

3. Parent puts the door away after the child gets their prize.  The door gets put away until the fairy is invited in for the next "loss" :)



Here's a picture of the goods. I purchased everything from Hobby Lobby.

I hope you enjoy this imaginative time with your children!

Thanks for visiting!