Good Friday…

                                                       

Blessings,
Julie

Muffin Recipe….

                                                     

As promised, here is my bran muffin recipe.

I was never a bran muffin fan, until someone shared this recipe with me. It will change your life! Not really, but it is good!

 

THE ULTIMATE BRAN MUFFIN RECIPE

 

2 cups Bran Flakes

2 cups Shredded Wheat

1/2 cup boiling water

Pour water over cereal.

 

5 cups flour

2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. baking powder

5 tsp. baking soda

Sift dry ingredients together.

 

1 cup canola oil

2 cups sugar

4 eggs

Mix well; Add to dry ingredients.

 

1 qt. buttermilk

Add to flour and egg mixture. Mix well. Then add cereal.

 

Fill greased muffin tin or cups 3/4 full of batter.

 

 Before baking, top with a mix of chopped pecans, slivered almonds, brown sugar & old fashioned oats.

 

Bake 375* 15-20 minutes.

Muffin mix can be kept in fridge up to 1 week.

 

I usually let the mixture sit in the fridge for an hour or so, just so the ingredients have time to meld together, then I just cook what I need and put the batter back in the fridge for the next batch. The longer it sits, the better it gets.

 

You'll notice that I did not give amounts for the topping. I just kind of judge the amount. You could ommit the topping altogether, if you prefer.

 

I hope you try this recipe, and if you do....I'd love to hear about it!

 

Blessings,

Julie

Keep Holy the Sabbath….

 
 
 
 

Good morning everyone! Happy Sunday to you.

I love Sundays! They are my favorite day of the week, for sure.

 

My husband and I always cook a large family dinner on Sundays. We have always done this, even though it is just the two of us now. Some things you never learn to downsize on. The leftovers come in handy throughout the week, though.

 

This week has been busy as usual. I posted a few pictures. I made some of Faye’s delicious rosemary bread. You can find the recipe here. Take some time to check her blog out, while you’re there. She has all kinds of great recipes.

 

My husband mixed up a batch of bran muffins. They are AWESOME! I promise to post the recipe in the next day or two.

 

We also made a large pan of lasagna. I love lasagna! We had it with the rosemary bread. DELICIOUS!

 

As you can see, the new puppy is doing great. He LOVES the snow. I just hope he starts doing better in the potty training area soon. He and Hollie are fast becoming best friends.

Our little granddaughter is loving the snow, as well. She insists on wearing her father’s trapper hat when she goes outside to play. She loves the soft fur on her little cheeks.

 

Well friends, I do hope you are having a wonderful Sunday in your corner of the world. For us it is truly a day of rest and family.

 

“If you turn back your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight and the holy day of the Lord honorable; if you honor it, not going your own ways, or seeking your own pleasure, or talking idly; then you shall take delight in the Lord, and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth; I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”  Isaiah 58:13-14

Blessings,
Julie
P.S. Don't forget to visit Michelle at Simple Pleasures. She is going to be auctioning off some really great items! You can find her blog on my sidebar.

Keeper’s Meeting…

 
We had our monthly keeper’s meeting last night. It was a lot of fun, but I did forget to take some pictures. These are a few, but I confess…some were posed. I even set my camera in the middle of the table thinking that would help remind me. I guess we were having so much fun, I didn’t even think about it.
We gathered together and formed two groups; Janice took one group in the kitchen, while I took the other in the dining room. Then we switched out.
  

My group made pillowcases. We had so much fun! I can’t wait to see how many of the ladies go home and create some of their own. They are so easy to make. Four lucky ladies got to take a pillowcase home. CONGRATULATIONS to Denise, Madeline, Robin and Sheila! 

 
 

Janice’s group made homemade butter and ricotta cheese. YUM! Everyone took a sample home to try. Janice is so smart! Who knew making your own butter and cheese was so easy?

We are all enjoying our keeper’s meetinsg so much. It’s fun to learn something new, and even more fun to share it with friends!

Are you learning something new? I have heard it’s really good for your brain. I know that mine can use all the help it can get. LOL!

Leave me a comment and let me know what new things you are learning. I love hearing from you!

Blessings,

Julie

Our Sunday Drive Upcountry….

                                                             

There is lots of ice fishing going on up North. I, myself, have never been,

but my husband has and loves it. I think I would fear falling through the ice!

 

                           

This is the view outside the restaurant window where we were seated. A beautiful view of Long Lake. It’s about an hours ride or so from home.

 

                        
        
                                
                                     

Joe and I stopped at the Lakeview Restaurant to have a bite to eat.

We had a lovely salad, shared a bowl of French onion soup, and both of us had the baked stuffed haddock. YUM!

We brought half home with us, because there was so much of it. Lunch for tomorrow!

 

                     

 

These are some of the towns we visited along the way. Can you read what it says on the Madawaska sign? It says that it’s the most North Eastern town of the United States. Yup! We were pretty far North!

 

                                                                           

 

We saw a lot of beautiful Catholic churches. I love old churches, don’t you?

 

                   

 

Joe and I love going for long drives on a nice Sunday afternoon. Today was the perfect day….it was in the 40’s.

Spring is coming, isn’t it!  

 

      

 

We found a Marden’s Surplus store along the way, so we stopped in to do a little shopping. I found a couple things to put away for some upcoming birthdays. Some things you just can’t pass up, you know. Don’t you just love a good bargain?

 

Well, this is where it all ends…7 hours later and we arrived home safely. Now it’s time to put supper on the table.

Oh, what a lovely ride it was!

 

Thank you for stopping by. I love hearing from you, so be sure to leave me a comment and let me know what you’ve been up to.

A BIG welcome to all of you who are new to Our Little Red Saltbox!

Stop by again!

Blessings,

Julie

A Beautiful Story....

I would like to share my neice's new blog with you.

 In this blog, she will take you along on her journey to have another child through the beautiful world of surrogacy.

I will warn you though, you better have a box of kleenex

nearby!

 

Betsy, Craig & their sweet daughter Elizabeth

 
 Our story begins back in the fall of 1988 when we first met in kindergarten. Little did we know that when Craig played Peter Rabbit and I played Mother Rabbit in the kindergarten production of the famous Beatrix Potter play, we would someday be high school sweethearts and now happily married for over eight years.
We both grew up in large families, so we dreamed of having at least two-three children. We were delighted when I became pregnant with Elizabeth in the spring of 2009. I had the most wonderful pregnancy I could ask for. I felt amazing the entire time and couldn't wait to meet our new bundle of joy. I ended up going eight days over for Elizabeth, but she was well worth it.

For having such a "text book" pregnancy, I expected my delivery to be the same; sadly I was wrong. After a long labor, I finally gave birth to a healthy baby girl. With both sides of the family there to welcome Elizabeth, Craig and I both thought it was the happiest day of our lives. Within minutes, our world was turned upside down, facing something new parents shouldn't have to.

I unexpectedly started to hemmorage and had to be rushed into emergency surgery. I had a condition called placenta accreta, where my placenta grew into my uterus and would not detatch after labor. In order to save my life, the doctors told my family he would have to perform a partial hysterectomy, give me 10 units of blood, and fly in platlets from Eastern Maine Medical Center. Due to the amount of blood I lost, the doctors were worried about organ damage, specifically my heart, as well as kidney failure. In order to help my body recover, they placed me into an induced coma and put me on a ventilator until they felt my body could handle functioning on its own again, if at all. To the surprise of all the medical staff, I woke up with nothing more than a very sore abdomen. My family wanted to wait and tell me about the hysterectomy after I had time to recover a bit, but minutes within getting my ventinator tube removed, a nurse informed me what had happened. Of course I was upset at the thought of not being able to carry another child, but at that point I had enough faith and strength to say "thank you" to God instead of "why me?" I also knew I needed to focus on my recovery and finally get to hold my baby girl, Elizabeth. Read more of their story here.

Blessings,
Julie

A Little of This & That....

 

Our eldest son turned 28!

Where, oh, where did the time go?

We had a nice dinner; some

Thai food that my husband made per Matthew's request.

 

 

 

Our youngest son Andrew and his

lovely girlfriend came over.

You can see that Andrew is very much in love with the new

puppy.

 

Robin, Janice and Marianne

 

My sister and a couple friends and I all went

snowshoeing. We had a great time. We didn't go far, but

we got plenty of exercise breaking a trail.

The weather was perfect...40*. 

We all made a date to go again next week.

I can't wait!

After our little snowshoe journey, we came in and just enjoyed each other's company. Marianne brought her braided rug, so that Janice and I

could see how she does it in a bit more detail. She also showed us how to make a hooked rug.

She is much better at it than I am, but I'll get there with some practice.

I showed the girls how I made yarn out of t-shirts. That is what I am using to make my hooked rugs. Marianne uses wool, but this still gives the same look, but is much less expensive. Who doesn't have an old t-shirt or two hanging around? Until I can really master it, I think I will just continue using my t-shirt yarn.

 

 

Oatmeal is my favorite breakfast food.

Do you like oatmeal? I find it's especially good on cold

winter days. My mom always said it'll keep you full, because it

sticks to your ribs.

I found a great oatmeal recipe here.

It calls for whole milk, but I just used 1%.

I think you could pretty much add whatever you want

for fruit. I just might try some apples and walnuts in it next time.

 

Well, we got hit with another storm yesterday. Nothing new around here, I guess.

Poor little Angus has all he can do to keep his head above the snow.

He's completey tuckered out by the time he comes in.

 

 

I actually went out this morning and shoveled a large area

on the lawn for him to go out in. The things we do for our pets!

 

I hope you are having a lovely week in whatever part of the country you are in. Drop me a little note, I'd love to hear from you and what you've been up to.

 

Blessings,

Julie