Served warm, this fruit salad has a surprising twist of flavor.  We like to serve it with brunch, but you could use it as a side for an evening meal.  It’s nice to use in the winter when good fresh fruit is unavailable.

Baked Fruit Salad

1 can (29 oz) pear slices
1 can (11 oz) mandarin oranges
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup flaked coconut
1 tsp. lime zest

Drain mandarin oranges, discarding juice.  Drain pears, reserving 1/2 cup juice in a small bowl.  In an ungreased 11 x 7 inch baking pan, combine pear slices, mandarin oranges and lime zest.  Add brown sugar to pear juice and mix well. Pour over fruit.  Sprinkle with coconut.  Bake, uncovered at 350 for 20 minutes or until heated through.

My husband hates mandarin oranges but likes this salad because the lime zest adds unexpected flavor.  I like this salad because I tend to have all the ingredients on hand, which makes it easy to throw together.

Hope you enjoy it!

Hopeful Homemaker

Two thoughts hit me simultaneously.  “She’s so big!” and “She’s so little!”

She had climbed in the basket and just went to sleep.  I couldn’t have posed her more sweetly.

Sound asleep, while the whole family sat and watched her in wonder.  Babies are wonderful things.

Sweet Dreams, little one.

Jennifer

On a solid white background, this cloth features four large flower bouquets in the corners and smaller bouquets at the center of each side.  A ribbon, decorated with coordinating flowers, dances around the entire cloth, pulling it all together.

Measuring 47 by 53 inches, this cloth has no tag or markings of any kind.  It has a few faint stains, none of which detract from the beauty of the piece.  I love the rich green leaves and the happy flowers.

I’m looking at them wistfully, wishing for some time to sew.  I am craving creativity. Sometimes life is so intense that every minute must be spent just working to make our family function.  Now is one of those times.

Still, I’m longing to MAKE something!

Long sigh.

Back to the laundry.

Jennifer

by Robert Louis Stevenson, from A Child’s Garden of Verses

Robert Louis Stevenson’s collection, A Child’s Garden of Verses, is truly a classic.  I’ve mentioned one of my favorites, Bed in Summer, before.  It’s a beautiful collection of verse.

Jessie Willcox Smith is also one of my favorite illustrators.  Imagine my delight when I found an old hardbound copy that was a joint effort from those two individuals!  With thick pages and gorgeous illustrations, it is truly a gem.

It has a copyright date of 1905, and an inscription dated December 1919.  Old enough that the letter “u” is printed like a “v”.  When I hold it I can’t help but wonder at the journey this book has had through many sets of loving hands to mine.  Black and white illustrations are on every page with color illustrations sprinkled throughout.

A few of my favorites:

Of all the unique characteristics of this little old gem, I might love the endpaper the most.  Open the cover, and this is the first thing you see.

Instead of blank paper, it’s covered with a wallpaper style illustration.  It takes my breath away.

I’d like an entire wall of it, please.  Better yet, can someone please reproduce this in a quilter’s cotton?  I’ll take several yards.  Seriously, this would be so cute on the back of a quilt!  I’ve got to think of something awesome to do with it.  Scrapbook paper would be an easy one, but I don’t scrapbook anymore.  Ideas, anyone?

For now, happy reading!
Jennifer

This is one of those simple, inexpensive recipes that you can put together in just a few minutes, especially if I’m using leftover rice.  It’s also one of my food storage recipes.  It’s certainly nothing fancy, but my children will eat it.  I simplified it recently, and am happy with the results.

Ingredients:

1 can refried beans
1 tsp. cumin
1 can enchilada sauce (I used green)
1 cup cooked rice
1 1/2 cups cheese
3 flour tortillas

In a small bowl, mix together refried beans, cumin and cooked rice.

Spread 1-2 tablespoons of enchilada sauce on the bottom of a pie pan.  Lay 1 flour tortilla on top of the enchilada sauce.  Spread 1/3 of the bean mixture over the tortilla, 1/3 of the remaining enchilada sauce over the bean mixture, and 1/2 cup shredded cheese over the sauce.  Cover cheese with another tortilla, and continue to layer in the same order.  Repeat layers one last time, finishing with the last 1/2 cup of cheese.

Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 20 minutes or until bubbly.

Serve with sour cream, salsa and chips.

Note:  if you’re in a hurry and don’t have cooked rice, you can skip it and it will still taste great.  I make two of these for my family, and one batch of my green enchilada sauce is sufficient for both.  In fact, I usually have enough sauce left to add a 4th tortilla on top.  I then pour the remaining enchilada sauce over the tortilla and sprinkle with cheese.

Enjoy!

This week’s report:  101 steps.  Sheesh, for a number that high you’d think I’d have a clean house and happy kids!  (Nice try.)  Even so, it was a great week.

Highlights:

1.  I am working so hard (like everyone else) on healthy routines right now.  Yet in spite of all my efforts, my children are inclined to sleep in random places and at random times, and stay awake at night.  This little one has an excuse.  She’s teething.

2.  My oldest started 8th grade this week.  So far, so good.

3.  On Tuesday morning at 6:15 a.m. we went outside as a family and watched the moon set.  Gorgeous.  The air was cool and fresh, the moon so large and luminous.  A moment to remember.

4.  My husband and I celebrated our 14th wedding anniversary.  I love him so much.  He is my everything.

5.  I’m really focusing on shopping wisely, particularly at the grocery store.  I know that inflation and the cost of food is hitting all of us (and with all the worldwide problems with crops it’s going to get worse in the next few months).  Feeding a family of 10 is expensive!  This week my husband and I found a few great deals and came home with 320 pounds of food for only $160.00, an average of 50 cents per pound!  Some of it was food storage, but we also got some good stuff like shrimp, roast beef, cheese, etc.  I was so excited.

6.  We got two children through some kind of flu bug, and are hoping that no one else comes down with it.

7.  Our soccer seasons officially started, and in general we’re off to a good start.

8.  My four year old had quite a week.  Trust me, you don’t want more information than that.  My husband and I have both spent a lot of one on one time with him and we’re really hoping that it helps.

9.  This morning before we left for Church I was feeling particularly weary.  While the children got in the van, I knelt down and prayed.  I told Heavenly Father that I wasn’t feeling great and asked him to please help the children be calm today.  About half way through the meeting as we were experiencing all the usual issues plus some, I realized I’d said the wrong prayer.  I should have prayed for strength, because the calm never came.  I repented and we survived.  Later this afternoon as I was reading through some of Robert Louis Stevenson’s poetry I came across this illustration by Jessie Wilcox Smith and thought “I know what that feels like!”  (except I’m afraid I don’t look nearly as patient).

10.  I registered my teenager for lacrosse.  Why do I have butterflies in my stomach over this one?

I could go on and on, but I’m falling asleep as I type.  I’ve been wondering this for years, but I’ll wonder it again:  Will there ever come a day in my life when I won’t measure how I feel in terms of degree of exhaustion?  I can handle this week’s exhaustion.  It’s a happy kind.

Have a great week!

Jennifer

I like to serve these biscuits as appetizers, after school snacks or as a side for soup.   If you want to, you can make homemade biscuits for use in this recipe, but it’s nice to be able to put them together in just a few minutes.  When I use refrigerated biscuits it’s also easy to involve my children in preparing this dish.

Ham & Cheese Biscuit Bites

2 tubes refrigerated biscuits (20 total)
8 oz softened cream cheese (I prefer neufchatel)
1 cup grated cheddar cheese
1 cup diced fully cooked ham
1 small can diced green chiles OR 1/2 cup chopped roasted red peppers

In a bowl, mix cream cheese.  Add cheese, ham and chiles or peppers.  Stir to combine.  Spray 2 muffin pans with non stick spray.  Open biscuits and flatten each biscuit.  Place in muffin pans and press to make sure each biscuit covers the bottom and at least 1/3 inch up the sides of each mold.  Scoop a spoonful of cream cheese mixture into the center of each biscuit, distributing mixture evenly between all 20 biscuits.

Bake at 350 until biscuits are cooked and mixture is bubbly, approx. 12 minutes.

Remove from oven and let cool 2-3 minutes.  Remove from pan and serve warm.

Yum!

Hope you like them!

Jennifer

Man, I love this girl!

Hopeful Homemaker