Spicy Magnolia

A Little Link Love

Hi, Internet peeps!  Just wanted to post a little reminder that I'm not blogging this week (and trying to not be connected to email as well).  I know I'm gonna miss you, but the break will feel good (and hopefully help my creativity for future posts).  I'm enjoying time with my Momma getting ready for Thanksgiving.  We spent 2.5 hours today at the grocery store, leisurely making our way through the new H.E.B. Plus that opened near their home (for some reason, it's so much more enjoyable than the H.E.B. Plus near our home that I refuse highly dislike shopping at), and we've already made the mashed and sweet potatoes.  The beginnings of the stuffing are underway as well!  I'm learning how to make stuffing this year, and I spent a good amount of time snapping green beans.  All to say, I'm keeping a running list of all the fun things I'll share with you after the holidays...if you find those kinds of details amusing.  <grin> 

Did any of you catch the preliminary episode of 24 last night?  AWESOME I tell ya, awesome!  It's so good to have the heroic and death defying Jack Bauer back in our lives.  If I'm laying in a hospital bed on January 11th when the show resumes, dadgummit I'm still gonna be watching that show!

Here are some things you should take a moment to check out:

Tina at Antique Mommy hosted a Homemade Handmade Holiday Carnival that you should venture on over to check out (click here).  I so badly wanted to have something ready to include, but it just didn't happen.  You'll find some wonderful decorating and gift ideas for the holidays.

Our friend, J.R., recently read through the book of Acts and diagrammed the geographical movement of the early church and wrote a post about it on his blog.  I found it very thought-provoking and fascinating; he asked some poignant, reflective questions at the end of it, and it's worth taking a few minutes to read (click here).

If any of you are searching for baby names like we are, Emily recommended nymbler.com.  It is so much fun and an awesome website to peruse if you have a few names you like and want to see other baby names that are similar.  It's really cool!  By the way, thanks for all the baby name suggestions!  Without mentioning any of the commenters' names, there were a few names suggested that we're mulling through! 

BooMama's 2008 Tour of Homes is coming up December 15th!  While I'll not have much to contribute because I'm not planning on decorating much at all this year (I'll maybe put out Gaga's hand-painted nativity scene and a wreath on our front door), I can't wait to check out all of the beautifully decorated homes and get ideas for future decorating.  So mark your calendars, 'cause it's gonna be good!

Finally, there were a couple of you who asked for the Mushroom/Spinach Brunch Bake recipe I wrote about in the last post.  The recipe is a-comin', it's a comin'! 

For all you Americans, a very Happy Thanksgiving to you!  I wish you and your family a most memorable and special holiday reflecting on the many blessings and provisions that have been bestowed upon you this year.  May we go forth with thankful hearts always!  Oh, and one more sentiment:  I truly am so thankful for each of you: all of you dear friends and family who read the blog, those of you new friends I've recently made, and to all you of whom I don't know who come by and take a read, I truly am thankful for you.  You make blogging fun!

Ok, I really need to pull myself away from the computer and start my bloggy vacation.  It's so hard, but I just gotta do it.  I think I'm missing an important part of learning how to make the stuffing, and for the sake of future Thanksgivings, I gotta go lickity-split!  <grin>

A Birthday Bash

Today is a very special someone's birthday!  She's a wife, a mother, one of the hardest workers I know, a dear friend, an exceptional encourager, a cheerful giver, a deeply compassionate soul.  She has the purest servant's heart; a deep, sacrificial love for her family; and a tender, enduring strength.  She is beautiful inside and out.  She is someone I share a priceless bond with.  She's my momma.  My dear friend.  And today, she is the Birthday Girl! 

My Daddy did an awesome job planning for her birthday!  Thursday, Momma received a box of cookies from The Cookie Bouquet at work, and yesterday he dropped off a note in her car letting her know all of the surprises he'd put together to make this birthday extra special, starting off with a manicure on her way home from work. He told her to pack an overnight bag and be ready by 9 a.m. this morning to start their journey.  First stop:  our home in Austin for a birthday brunch.  Then they'll head onto Salado for an evening getaway, and hubby and I will have a house of 4 dogs!  <grin>  But let me tell you, now that I can and it's no longer a surprise, that I had the most fun planning the brunch for Momma!  The menu:

• Mimosas (unfortunately, not for myself)
• Spinach/Mushroom Brunch Bake (this was the egg casserole the girls made for my shower and it was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!!!)
• A choice of cranberry orange or apple cinnamon scones served with either butter, clotted, Devonshire cream (heavenly!) or strawberry jelly
• Macerated Winter Fruit (I withheld some of the fruit without the liqueur for myself...such a bummer!)
• Hot tea and coffee
• And to top it all off:  Gaga's-Out-of-This-World German Chocolate Cake! I put real flowers on it, something Momma and Gaga have done to our birthday cakes in the past; it's such a beautiful touch.

We wanted to really make this a special birthday for Momma, especially as it's the first one she's celebrating without her dear momma, my Gaga.  So it was an honor to put the brunch together for her and to decorate for it with some of Gaga's pretties and handmade flowers she'd use for centerpieces. 

The parents are already off to Salado, and so far, our house remains intact and peaceful, even with four puppies.  They are quite excited about their puppy sleepover tonight!  Such good buddies they are!

Happy Birthday, my precious Momma!  You are a priceless gift to me, and I'm so thankful for you!

(you can click on the images to enlarge and use your arrow keys to go up and down or side to side)

 

 

33 Weeks and Counting

The baby in the "Polka counter" is gonna cover up the momma bird REAL soon!  I can hardly believe that we only have 7 more weeks until our due date.  That is crazy unbelievable!  It feels just like yesterday I posted that counter when we were only 12 weeks along in this new journey of ours.  For those of you who want to participate in the bloggy giveaway where you guess Polka's due date and time (i.e. January 4th at 12:53 p.m.), you can read this for more info and then leave a comment there before 10 p.m. TONIGHT.  After 10 p.m. (CST), comments will be closed and then you'll be oh, so sad to realize you missed out on such a fun opportunity! 

It's been a delight to read your guesses...and so many people are guessing that Polka is a baby girl <grin>.  We already have our baby girl name picked out.  As for a baby boy name, we have to start from scratch because it kinda got taken, and in this particular case, it really wouldn't work to have a duplicate name.  When I found out it was taken, albeit unintentionally, I still burst into tears on the spot.  So, maybe I should open comments up to receive any baby boy name suggestions my Internet peeps have to offer.  Now that would be fun.  And we could use all the help we could get at this point!  Bring it on.

Some fun preggo things to note:

• This baby is takin' off with growth spurts...I'm huge!  And it's harder to get up and move around gracefully.  I feel the weight of this sucker on my belly and we still have 7 more weeks...with at least 4 more pounds of weight for Polka to gain.  Holy cow!
• By the time hubby got home last night, I'd had 7 windows in our house open for a number of hours, despite how the temperature dropped drastically down to the 40s or 50s.  I was oblivious to the cold; the fresh, cool breezes sweeping through our home felt wonderfully refreshing.  As hubby walked in, however, he said, "It's freezing in here!  You have all the windows open?!"  Coming from the guy who is a walking heater, who sweats at the faintest increase of his heart beat, his comment was unfathomable to me.  I am usually the polar opposite:  a walking freezer who needs the heater who was made perfectly just for her.  Haven't needed the heater in months.  "It was a classic reenactment of Father of the Bride II", so said the heater bundled up in his coat.  We closed the windows before he declared it would be a necessity for him to put a second layer on with gloves.
• All my life I've had fairly vivid dreams.  Since being pregnant, the vividness and emotion of my dreams has exponentially increased!  Take for instance two of my dreams last night.  They ranged anywhere from me being off the wall angry and irritated over stupid things, like Matt not running in the morning like he said he would, (this was actually scary to me because I was really mad and throwing things) to crying in joy having dreamed that Amanda named her little girl "Meghan".  Ha, ha, ha!  I think I'm ready to not have such highly colored dreams.
• Hubby is quite enthralled with my belly...cause it's gotten super big for one thing.  But seriously, nearly every time he touches it, he comments on how surprised he is that it's so firm and tight.  I guess he pictured a pregnant belly looking and feeling more like Santa Claus' bowl full of jelly!

My Humongous 33 Week Preggo Belly

Happy Friday, Internet peeps!  Don't forget to leave your guesses for the bloggy giveaway and again, bring on those baby boy name suggestions!  <grin>

The Foodie's Fall Cornucopia, Week 9: Fresh Cranberry Muffins

Greetings, Internet peeps!  Well, the last 9 weeks of sharing recipes with you has been quite fun for me, as I hope it has been for you.  If you didn't see it, my friend Lindsey posted another recipe of hers on last week's post, and you want to be sure to check it out.  It looks amazing! 

I'm taking a break from blogging all next week.  I'm headed down to my folk's place a couple of days early to hang out with my Momma and get ready for Thanksgiving.  So this post will conclude The Foodie's Fall Cornucopia series, and I hope it's a good finale for you!

I continue to be on a fresh cranberry kick, and thanks to Cooking Light, I have another recipe to add to my repertoire.  If you're looking for something simple to feed your family and/or house guests next week for breakfast, this will be a treat they'll love.  I made some using my gluten free baking mix so I could take them with me next week and eat them for breakfast, and they taste delicious!  If someone asks to have one, which I know my hubby will, I'll have a hard time sharing.  <grin>

As the food editors at Cooking Light write, "Feel free to use your imagination with this basic muffin recipe by substituting your other favorite fruits and flavors for the cranberries and orange rind. Some options we like: blueberries and lemon rind; chopped apple, pear, or pineapple and cinnamon; or mashed bananas and allspice."

Fresh Cranberry Muffins

Serving size:  12 muffins

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2/3  cup sugar
• 2  teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup chopped fresh cranberries
• 2/3 cup 2% reduced-fat milk
• 1/4 cup butter or stick margarine, melted
• 1 teaspoon grated orange rind
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• Cooking spray

Preheat oven to 400°.

Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl; stir well with a whisk. Stir in cranberries; make a well in center of mixture. Combine milk, butter, rind, vanilla, and egg; add to flour mixture, stirring just until moist. Spoon batter into 12 muffin cups coated with cooking spray. Bake at 400° for 18 minutes or until muffins spring back when touched lightly in center. Remove muffins from pan immediately; place on a wire rack.

Note: These muffins freeze well. Bake them ahead, cool completely, and store in freezer bags. To serve, thaw at room temperature. Reheat in aluminum foil at 300º for 10 to 15 minutes or until thoroughly heated.

If you've posted a fall recipe recently on your blog, feel free to come share it with us by posting your specific URL link using Mr. Linky below.

As a recap, here are all the vast, seasonal flavors we've enjoyed together the last 9 weeks. 

Acorn Squash with Applesauce

Cooked Apples

Waldorf Salad

Holiday Chicken Salad

Pecan-Topped Pumpkin Bread

Roasted Green Chile and Potato Soup

Cranberry-Glazed Sweet Potatoes

Baked Squash

I'll be hittin' the grocery stores with ya'll next week, and puttin' on a trusty apron ready to get down to business!  I'm in charge of a salad and at least one pie for our Thanksgiving feast.  Should I go with a jellied salad or a green leaf salad?  I can't wait to take in the wafts of all the trimmings in the oven!  Happy almost Thanksgiving, and thanks for helping make The Foodie's Fall Cornucopia series such fun (a special thanks to Lindsey for all her shared recipes)!  <grin>

Heavenly Glimpses

Some days, the part of my brain that is specifically created to come up with blog ideas to write about seems to freeze, or rebel, or just go into hiding for a little while.  It's very frustrating when I get to the point of racking my brain trying to figure out something to write that is at least of some interest to a few of my readers.  Do they want to know about Matt's embarrassing moment texting the wrong woman?  Would they like to see another belly shot or know about my miserable new pregnancy side effect?  Or know about the freakishly long time it took me to wrap Christmas presents this weekend?  What about that book I'm reading and the emotions that it's stirring up in me can I convey in a way that makes the slightest bit of sense?  Is there something I'm learning or a song I've listened to recently that has impacted me?  Strike after strike and I'm out of grand ideas.  Or maybe there's one good idea in there but not enough energy in me at the moment to formulate comprehensive thoughts.  Alas, it's a sad day for a blogger like myself who can't come up with squat...until I hopped in the shower!

That's right, Internet peeps:  this idea came to me while I was in the shower this morning.  Not only is it something I'm excited to write about, it's something I hope to purposefully put into practice more often.  I'm currently in a Bible study reading Exodus.  At the end of the homework each week, a common question asked is, "What attributes of God did you find in the chapter(s) you read this week?"  It's an awesome question to ponder because it gets your eyes focused on the character and truth of who God is, in all of His beauty, mystery, and glory.  As I was getting ready to run some errands, I had the idea that I should track all of the attributes of God that I see throughout my morning and early afternoon and post them in my blog for today.  What a thing to do to get me to look for the Lord all around me and be in an attitude of worship!  Whether it was in the loving way my hubby responded to me, a worship song I was listening to that helped me fix my eyes on Jesus, an answer to prayer, or simply the beauty of the day, I was more mindful than I have been in a long time to look for Him throughout my comings and goings, to anticipate in great expectancy the glimpses He would give me of Himself.  So here are some of the attributes and characteristics of God that I give thanks for seeing so far this day (and little words or phrases, mostly just for me, that will help me remember why I glimpsed that particular attribute):

Ready to receive and embrace (Matt's good morning, joyous hug)              
                 Faithful (the sun rose)                     Enough (a Fernando Ortega worship song)                        Kind (the lady at the doctor's office)                 All sufficient (the song, "In Christ Alone")         Helper (answered our specific prayer for Matt today in helping him tremendously)
                                                        Companion (keeping me company in the car while driving)
                        Worthy to be worshiped and adored (seeing glimpses of Him today)

        Intentional (reading a blog this morning that was definitely for me, reminding me of truth I really need to put into practice)

  

Giver of laughter (Matt and I laughing at my "Just dunk" comment instead of "Just duck")
Beautiful Creator (it's gorgeous in Austin today, a perfect fall day)       

             Freeing (the sales lady who was so free to be herself and engage in conversation with me)
Creative (all the different people on my errands who are so uniquely created and beautiful)
One who opens eyes and hearts (helped me see people today more like He does)
Giver of good gifts (getting to talk to Momma and Daddy, which I don't get to do very often during the week, and the emails from friends and family)

And my day is not over!  I wonder what other attributes I'll get to see of Him throughout the rest of today.  How has He revealed Himself to you today?  Is there a particular attribute of God you're hoping and trusting He'll show you? 

I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe...
(Ephesians 1:17-19a)

Surprises Revealed

Hi, Internet peeps!  Hope you're doing well this Friday mornin'.  Ok, so I promised a lot for this post, and I'm here to fulfill.  First, the final tally for whether Polka is a boy or girl.  Out of the 49 people who voted, 41% voted that Polka is a boy and 59% say that Polka is a girl.  Matt cheated and voted for a boy twice, so the boy vote outweighs the girl votes slightly more than it should.  We're past the part where it was really tempting to find out the gender at every doctor's appointment; now we're just greatly anticipating the fun revelation we'll experience together at Polka's birth!

Second surprise...Matt came up with this great bloggy giveaway idea and I love it!  For the next week, you have a chance to submit a guess about Polka's birth day and time.  Whomever gets the closest to the actual day and time will win a nice prize!  You can choose between a $40 gift card to Amazon.com, Starbucks, or in honor of Polka, Babies R' Us or Gymboree (either for clothes or the play & music classes).  Our official due date is January 9, 2009, but we all know that very well may not happen.  We could have a December baby and receive an extra tax deduction (Matt's preference), or we could have a baby who takes his/her sweet time gettin' here (my preference).  <grin>

Between now and next Friday, November 21st at 10 p.m. (CST), comments on this post will be open for you to submit your guesses.  Leave the date and time of birth (i.e. January 9, 2009 at 11:02 p.m.) you think Polka will come into our arms.  And for kicks, and in case there is a tie, leave your guess on gender as well.  Of course, we'll have to wait a bit to find out who the actual winner is, but in case Polka comes really early, let's go ahead and get started!  Guess away, Internet peeps!

And finally, here are pictures of Polka's nursery!  We took pictures at different times of the day to see what lighting was best, so some pictures turned out better than others.  If you want to see the fabrics up close, you can click here to see the swatches.  The pictures sure don't beat seeing it with your very own eyes though!  I'm still so grateful for all the love and work that went into it by my folks and Matt!  The nursery is in the nicest, cleanest state it will probably ever be in, and I'm thoroughly enjoying it as is!  The glider turned out well, too.  It's in the upstairs game room and is quite comfortable.  The pack n' play we're using as a bassinet is all ready and made up as well.  After Thanksgiving, we'll pack up our hospital bag and install the car seat.  As of today, we're 32 weeks along.  Time's a tickin' folks!  Time's a tickin'!

Hope ya'll have a fabulous weekend, and I look forward to reading all of your guesses!  Thanks for all of your encouragement and sweet words over the past 20 weeks; they have meant so much! 

Tagged! I'm It!

Kimberly at Maher Family Grows - And Baby Makes Four tagged me for the "Seven Random Things About Myself" meme.  That's my first time using the word "meme".  It's a cool word.  And since I don't have anything better to write about today, let me throw some information about myself to my Internet peeps for fun.  Hopefully it'll be fun.  Sometimes I'm not that interesting and feel pressure coming up with these types of random facts.  But I'll give it a go, 'cause I'm really excited that this was the first time I was tagged!

1. I screw up idioms and common phrases.  Not on purpose, but somehow I manage to mix the words up or put in words that don't belong.  Matt gets a great kick out of this.  Two perfect examples:  instead of saying, "The ball is in your court", without fail I always say, "It's in your ball court."  Or, as Matt pointed out to me after the fact, I wrote in this post, "He (Matt) was like a kid in a candy jar!"  Well, it's either supposed to be a COOKIE jar or a candy STORE. 
2. I LOVE to travel!  Thanks to my grandmother, Gaga, I've got a serious travel bug, and I know it's going to be passed along to Polka, too!  Poor hubby is going to have to shell out money for us to continue to see the world.  Maybe we should just buy our own plane.  Ha!  Since I was 11, I've been to the following countries:  Mexico, Canada, England, Spain, Trinidad, Grenada, Belarus, Nicaragua, Panama, Australia, Madagascar, Mauritius, Zimbabwe, Zambia, South Africa, Malaysia, the Philippines, Guatemala, Bangladesh, and Ireland.  I'd love to hit more of Europe and the Middle East.
3. Cereal will never satisfy me for breakfast.  Growing up, my momma would make me and Mackie a hearty breakfast everyday.  Could have been pancakes, waffles, French toast, breakfast burritos, ham n' cheese on English muffins, or biscuits or toast and eggs.  Rarely did we have a bowl of cereal.  And to this day, breakfast has to be one of my biggest meals of the day.  If I start out with anything less, I'm grumpy and unsatisfied.  She trained my taste buds and body to be used to a mighty fine breakfast!  But I'd so much rather her be around to fix it for me than do it myself.  It just doesn't seem to taste the same way when I do it.
4. I don't know how to sew a button on, which means I don't know how to sew AT ALL!  After seeing all that Momma hand-made and sewed for Polka's nursery, or reflecting on all she made for us kids growing up, or knowing that I have to give her our clothes to repair, I'm in DIRE need of learning how to sew!  I hope to have a personal hands-on training session from my momma some time soon, or Polka and hubby are in crazy kinda trouble.  And all those buttons I'm keeping to put on our clothes will have hope to regain their purpose.  A safety pin ain't workin' no more.
5. I've become more of a computer/Internet junkie than I ever expected...and I love it!  Between blogging, reading other people's blogs, trying to keep up with the latest blog technology, Twittering or Facebooking, it's opened up a whole new world!  I've almost surpassed Matt's level of geekiness!
6. I sucked my thumb until I was eleven.  Argh.  So painful to admit.  To the whole Internet sphere.  But yes, it wasn't until my first orthodontist appointment when the doc told me, "You gotta stop that," that I was motivated to quite one of my most favorite things. 
   
7. I've accidentally dropped my keys in an out-house.  And I'm not talking about the floor of the out-house, but the disgusting pit that no one ever even wants to look in...where repugnance lives.  In college I was on a camping trip with a student fellowship group I was involved in and while pulling my pants down, I heard a big "plop" (sorry, I know it's gross) and knew something horrible had just taken place.  Sure enough, my keys had inexplicably jumped from my pocket to the bottomless pit of pure revulsion.  The fellas in our group kindly and innovatively pulled the keys from the top of the pit where they got stuck using a long stick...and this all happened when it was dark outside.

So there ya have it.  Now, enough about me.  Let's get some other people in on this meme!  I tag Sara and Lindsey. 

Surprises Ahead

So...last night me and the hubby went to our nursing class!  Aside from the combination of the dark room and the monotone voice of the speaker that nearly put me to sleep, it was very informative and helpful.  And it wasn't too embarrassing for the hubby; he even had the courage to ask a question, a very good question, I might add. 

Ya'll, we only have 58 more days to go until our due date!  I've loved seeing the votes on the poll on whether you think Polka is a boy or girl.  I'm going to close the poll on Friday, so if you haven't voted yet and still want to, get your vote in now and we'll see what the final tally is.  Friday is a special day because not only will we have the final poll results posted, but I will announce one of the best Spicy Magnolia giveaways ever!  And that's not it!  I will also have pictures of our nursery!  That's right, my folks came into town last weekend and we had a blast finishing Polka's room, and it's more than I could have ever imagined it to be!  My Momma made everything so special, and the love that has been poured into that room from the four of us is priceless.  I can't wait to show it to you; I've been savoring it to myself all week, but Friday is the day for the surprises to be revealed, so make sure you check it out.   

I've got the weekend pretty much to myself because Matt will be working all through the night Friday and will be on-call on Saturday.  I'm hittin' the ground running on Friday to tackle Christmas shopping!  I have a high aim to get 90% of it done and the packages mailed out by Thanksgiving.  We'll see how it goes.  If my brother keeps dragging his feet on his Christmas list, he's not gonna get nothin'! <grin> And then I'm gonna order pizza.  A pineapple and pepperoni pizza.  And watch a chick flick.  With my puppy.  And then sleep with my puppy.

I've been listening to Christmas music lots and praying for creativity and thoughtfulness in picking out gifts for family, gifts that would be more than just something I'm buying to check it off my list.   I want to be purposeful and thoughtful in the gift giving.  There's nothing like giving a gift to someone that's just right, a gift that you're so excited to give to them because of the thought and time you've put into it.  It still might be something on their list, but nevertheless, I want to be thoughtful in what we're picking out for them.  There are a few gifts I've given that I've been ecstatic about giving because of the thought and time I put into it:  Gaga's parakeet, my parents' box of remembrances, my Daddy's poem, Matt's prayer kneeler.  Is there a special gift you've given to a loved one that gives you the pure, sheer delight and excitement of giving it to them because you know it's the perfect gift for just them? 

The Foodie's Fall Cornucopia, Week 8: Cranberry-Glazed Sweet Potatoes

Anyone's mouth starting to water at the thought of the upcoming Thanksgiving feast that's ahead for us in the States?  Mine is!  I'm already coming up with a game plan to enjoy as much food as I can without making myself sick.  You see, Polka is in my tummy in such a way that I have to eat very small meals throughout the day; I can't eat my normal sized portions because I would be VERY uncomfortable.  Polka is taking up all my tummy room.  So I'm planning on eating Thanksgiving dinner all throughout the day, if possible, because there's no way I'll be able to eat how I normally eat Thanksgiving dinner without being extremely miserable...and immovable. 

One of the seasonal veggies I've grown particularly fond of over the past few years are sweet potatoes.  I came across the following recipe for Cranberry-Glazed Sweet Potatoes on the Cooking Light website, and it caught my eye.  And I'm so glad it did!  It's super easy...and all done in the microwave!  I used it as an accompaniment to a roast (the leftover meat will be used for French dips later this week) and a big green salad.  You could substitute the salad for green beans, or the roast for pork or turkey.  I highly recommend this recipe; the sweet combination of the potatoes and cranberries are great culinary accents together.

Cranberry-Glazed Sweet Potatoes

• 6 medium peeled sweet potatoes, cut into 1-inch pieces (about 3 pounds)
• 1/2  cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons margarine or butter
• 2 tablespoons orange juice
• 1/2 teaspoon  salt
• 1 cup whole-berry cranberry sauce
• Orange rind (optional)

Place potatoes, covered, in a 2-quart casserole dish; microwave at HIGH for 10 minutes or until tender. Combine sugar, margarine (or butter), orange juice, and salt in a 2-cup glass measure. Microwave at HIGH 3 minutes, stirring every minute. Add sugar mixture and cranberry sauce to potatoes; toss gently. Microwave at HIGH 10 minutes or until heated through, basting with sauce twice during cooking. Garnish with orange rind, if desired. 

Serves 8.

Usually, I find that recipes short-change the amount of sauce, so to be on the safe side, sometimes I double it, which I did in this case.  I doubled the amount of brown sugar, butter, orange juice, and salt, and I also used the whole can of cranberry sauce instead of just 1 cup.  Of course, this alters the nutritional value, but we certainly enjoyed it!  <grin>  I think there would be enough sauce, however, if you didn't double it.

Have you posted a favorite fall recipe recently?  Link to your specific post below using Mr. Linky; we'd love to see it!

I hope you all have a wonderful Tuesday, ya'll!  And Happy Veterans Day!  On this very important day, may all those who have served or are currently serving in the American Armed Forces know you are appreciated, honored, and greatly respected.  Thank you.  Thank you so much. 

My Celebrity Collage

I came across something fun last week on another person's blog.  Forgive me, but I have no recollection of whose blog it was.  Last week, I wrote over 70 "thank you" blog comments or emails to all the people who left encouraging comments and advice for me on Antique Mommy's post entitled What Every New Mom Should Know.  My discovery of this "something fun" was on one of the commenter's blogs, and I don't remember whose.  Anyhoo, I found a program through My Heritage called Celebrity Collage. For you celebrity junkies like myself (ha!), you'll enjoy this immensely!  The program allows you to submit a picture of yourself and then it matches you up with your celebrity look-alikes.  Cool, huh?

Here is mine.  I don't know who a third of the people are.  Can any of you fill me in on who Martine, Kristin and Alexa are?  And the fact that I look similar to a 14 year old actress was a little depressing.  Some of them I have no idea how I got matched to their features (maybe because of my face from the angle the picture was taken?).  Needless to say, it gave me a good laugh.  Try yours out by clicking here and leave me a comment to let me know who you got matched up with.  I'm so curious!

MyHeritage: Celebrity Collage - Pedigree - Descendants