Snow Day Tradition

When our little Ms. W woke up this morning, huge, gigantic
snowflakes were falling from the sky.  We snapped this picture
a little later, once the morning light made it possible to see
the beautiful blanket of snow we have this morning.

It has continued snowing all morning and is probably 4" deep now.

When we started homeschooling years ago,
I decided that on snow days,I needed a tradition
for my girls, since we had no reason to cancel school
due to snowfall..  We still did our schoolwork, but to
make the snow day seem special I always fixed them
chocolate gravy and biscuits for breakfast.  They were
allowed to play in the snow while I cooked
this yumminess for them.

There is absolutely nothing healthy about this meal,
nothing whatsoever,other than it's good food for your
emotional state of being. You see, in my opinion
chocolate in any form,  
makes me really happy, so, I believe it's
a really good mood enhancer. 

If you are inclined to try this for yourself,
here are the recipes I promised,
this should be enough for a family of four
(or a few more...)


Southern Baking Powder Biscuits
3 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon sugar
2 tablespoons baking powder
6 rounded tablespoons shortening or butter,
(I use real butter)
1 cup milk

Preheat oven to 400*. Put a couple tablespoons butter w/ a little drizzle of cooking oil
to grease your biscuit pan, BUT don't forget it and let your butter scorch.
The drizzle of oil will help keep the butter from scorching as quickly,
but keep an eye on it.  You want your pan hot, but not smoking.
While the pan is warming up- 

Sift together the dry ingredients.
Work in the butter/shortening with a pastry blender or fork.
Add enough milk to make a soft workable dough.
Knead the dough until smooth.
At this point you can either use a tablespoon size serving spoon,
and spoon out dough to make drop biscuits, or you can roll your
dough out onto a lightly floured surface, to the desired thickness
and cut your biscuits out with either a biscuit cutter or flour the rim
of a small rim glass and cut your biscuits out with that.

Turn your biscuits in the pan, once you've put them in there to
cover the top and bottom with the melted butter/oil.

Bake @ 400* until golden brown and puffy.

 

CHOCOLATE GRAVY
6 tablespoons cocoa
4 heaping tablespoons flour
1 1/3 cups of sugar
pinch of salt
1 cup water
1 1/2 cups of milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2  tablespoons butter

In a saucepan, thoroughly combine all dry ingredients.
Once thoroughly mixed add water, mixing a little at a time,
until smooth.  Add milk, same way, add a little until smooth
and thoroughly combined.

Cook on medium heat, stirring constantly.  It'll take a while for
it to thicken, once it does however, if it starts to get too thick,
like a pudding, add a little milk to thin and make it the
consistency of gravy.

Add vanilla and butter once it has reached the right consistency.

Serve over hot biscuits fresh from the oven.

I hope you thoroughly enjoy!

I learned last week, that it's not nearly as fun to eat
chocolate gravy and biscuits all alone, 
I honestly prefer sharing 
this with the ones I love most.

  

Home Alone, part 2

My family did it again,

they left me home alone the other day...

And I did exactly what any Southern housewife would do, 
when she's home alone, and has just finished a conversation 
with a dear cousin about the following goodness, 
which honestly has been a family tradition 
for 3 generations now...


I made some chocolate gravy,
just for myself...
I've never eaten this alone.  


In the past I only had this with 
my siblings.  In this home, I've
only had it with my children.


Never alone!

And I made some 
homemade drop biscuits.

A woman in the south is known
by her biscuits, and the most 
important thing she must do is
achieve a "good crust".

My mother informed me, that in order
to attain that crust, one must put butter 
in the biscuit pan and then heat it up in 
the oven before putting the biscuits in 
the pan to bake.  That way the bottoms 
start to cook as soon as the biscuit dough
hits the heated pan.  
(But be sure not to let your pan get too hot, 
or else the butter will scorch.)

Drizzle your chocolate gravy over your
warm biscuits, and add a couple pats of
real butter on top.



  


 







Serve with a glass of ice cold milk.


Be sure to invite a charming friend 
over to enjoy this Southern delicacy 
with you, such as Emma perhaps?















Once Emma and I were finished with our
visit, which was a very short one, 

(I honestly didn't have the time she needed, 
to give her my undivided attention that day and 
I certainly didn't have time to find out just 
how Mr. Knightly felt about her, 
that'll  just have to wait for another day),

I headed to the sitting room 
(the former dining room)

and brought together the 
pieces I've been collecting
for the area I'm working on 
above the coffee bar. 















I have been picking up items on
clearance, when I happen upon them,
a few things here and there, 
not spending much at all.

I've repainted a wooden shelf I'll be using,
it used to be red, it needs just one more
coat of white paint and then it will be 
ready to hang.


It dawned on me, that I've created a bird theme 
in our home, without even really planning to.
I just love birds, and when I see a little something
on clearance with a bird, I'm drawn to it.  


Last week, I sat down with my youngest 
daughter, to decide what I would like for her
to paint, to hang in our living room.

Here are the beginning stages of what she is
doing for me-




















We are such outdoor enthusiasts, 
and love bringing the outdoors in, 
whenever we can.  


I really do love birds!


She is going to do two panels for me.  


Once she finishes them, and I finish the
coffee bar area I'll try to remember to share
pictures.  


I have finished painting the back of the cabinets that
face our sitting room and it looks nice 
(where I started painting in Home Alone pt. 1)
But, Mr. C would really like for me to finish 
the laundry room before starting another project. 

So, the cabinets have to stay 
olive green a little longer.  

In our laundry/utility room,
I'm going to have to do a textured ceiling, 
mud and sand the walls in a few spots, and then
paint that room.  He's been waiting a long time
for me to get motivated to tackle all of that. 


I have to admit, I'm not excited about the amount
of work that room needs, but I know once I get it
done I'll be glad Mr. C insisted I deal with it first.


The cabinets have to wait, but, maybe they are the
motivation I need to push me to get the 
laundry room finished.  


Anyway, that is how I spent a portion of my 
day home alone.  I would share the recipes in
this post, but this one is too long as it is. 
Next post I will share the recipes.





"My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the LORD: my heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God.   Yea, the sparrow hath found an house, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, [even] thine altars, O LORD of hosts, my King, and my God.   Blessed [are] they that dwell in thy house: they will be still praising thee. Selah"  Psalms 84: 2-4   

God Will Take Care of You

Today I have friends and family who are snowed in, 

some are in areas where they are iced over. 

I have a friend who has a newborn grand-daughter in ICU who 

has already had 3 open heart surgeries, in her first few 

days of life, and now this same friend has a husband who 

is a lineman, and yesterday he was sent out of state to help in the 

hardest hit areas of our country where power has been lost.  

Men from all over the U. S. will go and help those in need.

And so as I think on these things, and pray for friends and loved ones,
I am reminded that-

Our God is always in control, and He will take care of His own.

This is so sweet, I pray it blesses you all just as it did me.
How precious for this little guy to be learning to sing such good
songs along with his Daddy and Momma. 

(Please pause the playlist on the sidebar before playing the video)