homemaking

Around the Table

August 13, 2014 by Edie Wadsworth 48 Comments

“How to announce the return of comfort and well-being except by cooking something fragrant. That is what her mother always did. After every calamity of any significance she would fill the atmosphere of the house with the smell of cinnamon rolls or brownies, or with chicken and dumplings, and it would mean, This house has a soul that loves us all, no matter what. ” Marilynne Robinson

We’re losing one from around our table this weekend.

I’ve been a mom for 24 years and I haven’t always known how sacred a thing it is to gather with my people around the table. This place where we feed them, listen to their stories, laugh at their jokes, and occasionally sit quiet because life with its grief and anger has gotten the best of us. This place where we teach them what it means to bow in thanks for daily bread. This place that breaks our backs because how can we possibly cook one more meal? This place where we’ve never been more aware of our shortcomings, but we just keep showing up to feed them anyway.

And then the long days turn into fast years and you face that first meal without that one you love.

In my mind, I try to avoid counting down the dinners because there’s a wall of tears that doesn’t need reminding.

Just 4 more dinners. How to say what these years have meant? How to hold such weighty things in our hands and hearts?

I remember how I’ve despised this job sometimes—the planning, the shopping, the cooking, the cleaning. Why are they always hungry every. single. day?!

I never saw the day coming that they’d go and an empty chair would leave my heart heavy.

This is no small thing what we do everyday, mamas. This meal is important. This table is sacred.

Sometimes we’re feasting and sometimes we’re just getting by but the time together around this table is changing us all.

We are so blessed by those who’ve come and gone from these chairs.

I hope you’ll linger extra long around the table tonight.

And remember that the time and effort you spend here feeding these people, with food and love, is so very special.

You are meeting your neighbor’s need in the most beautiful, life-giving way.

Bless you for your labor. It is not in vain.

And bless the ones who must leave.

We love you and it has been our privilege to share this table with you.

*******************************

(I keep this quote close to me in the kitchen. It helps me remember.)

If you’re short on time for planning, let me offer this one little suggestion. Over the next month, add the meal you make for dinner to your iPhone calendar and then *repeat* it on your calendar every month. If you eat out, maybe add what you would like to have cooked for that night. (There’s no shame in your game!) A month from now, you’ll have a month’s worth of meals in your calendar and all the sudden, you’ll be a meal planning genius! I’ve got a whole meal planning series on my blog, but this little tip will get you started with almost no work!

Here’s what I’d love to know from you—what are your struggles when it comes to family dinners? Have you found any solutions that you’d share with the rest of your internet sisters?

S’mores Bars

August 6, 2014 by Edie Wadsworth 25 Comments

Well. I can’t give you a good reason why we’ve been friends all these years and I’m just now getting around to sharing this recipe. It’s a good one—one that we make it several times every summer, in between all the actual s’mores making and the monster cookies.

My peeps LOVE these and once you taste them, you’ll see why.

(I hate to even mention this but I may be one of 3 people on earth who doesn’t like s’mores. I don’t really like them. I’m sorry. I apologize to all you s’mores loving people out there. I love watching the kids makes s’mores but that is one sweet that doesn’t tempt me.)

BUT. S’mores bars? I’m completely powerless. I don’t know how to make you understand but it’s true.

You also could cut this recipe in half and make it in an 8×8 pan but I usually make the whole thing and either give away or freeze.

What you’ll need:

1 cup butter, room temperature (2 sticks)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs
2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
6-8 regular sized Hershey’s milk chocolate bars (8 if you want chocolate in every bite, which I do!)
1 1/2 cups marshmallow creme/fluff (7 1/2 oz jar)
A handful of miniature marshmallows (for garnish if you’d like)

What you’ll do

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease an 9×12-inch square baking pan.
In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light. Beat in egg and vanilla. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, graham cracker crumbs, baking powder and salt. Add to butter mixture and mix at a low speed until combined.
Divide dough in half and press half of dough into an even layer on the bottom of the prepared pan. This dough can be hard to spread, so I use a butter knife dipped in warm water or the ball of my hand dipped in warm water. It spreads so much better if you do this.
Place chocolate bars over dough, breaking the chocolate (if necessary) to get it to fit in a single layer no more than 1/4 inch thick.
Spread chocolate with marshmallow creme or fluff.
Place remaining dough in a single layer on top of the fluff. If you put the dough evenly onto the bars in spoonfuls then use a wet knife to spread it, it’ll be much easier. Be patient. This part can be tricky. Just go slow and keep wetting your knife to spread the dough evenly.
Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until lightly browned. Cool completely before cutting into bars.

Here are a couple of extra photos to show you what I did.

When I cover the bottom half of the dough with chocolate, I try to cover it pretty fully.

Of course you are free to use less chocolate, but I would not recommend it. I’m not the kind of person who ever chooses less chocolate but you’re probably a better woman than me, so do what your conscience will allow.

Then you spread the layer of marshmallow cream over the hershey bars. It seems impossible when you first start but just be patient and it will spread.

After that, take the other half of the dough and put spoonfuls of it over the marshmallow cream, making it easier to spread it out. If you stand near the sink and keep wetting your knife with warm water, the dough spreads pretty easily.

Once the dough is spread, sprinkle a few miniature marshmallows on top and sprinkle with some of the leftover graham cracker crumbs.

Hope you try this one! These are some amazing bars!

Or you could just pin them and save yourself the calories!

S’mores Bars

5 from 8 votes

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Ingredients

1 cup butter room temperature (2 sticks)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs
2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
6-8 regular-sized Hershey's milk chocolate bars depending on whether you want chocolate in every bite.
1 1/2 cups marshmallow creme/fluff 7 1/2 oz jar
1/2 bag miniature marshmallows

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease an 9x12-inch square baking pan.
In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light. Beat in egg and vanilla. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, graham cracker crumbs, baking powder and salt. Add to butter mixture and mix at a low speed until combined.
Divide dough in half and press half of dough into an even layer on the bottom of the prepared pan. This dough can be hard to spread, so I use a butter knife dipped in warm water or the ball of my hand dipped in warm water. It spreads so much better if you do this.
Place chocolate bars over dough, breaking the chocolate (if necessary) to get it to fit in a single layer no more than 1/4 inch thick.
Spread chocolate with marshmallow creme or fluff.
Place remaining dough in a single layer on top of the fluff. If you put the dough evenly onto the bars in spoonfuls then use a wet knife to spread it, it'll be much easier. Be patient. This part can be tricky. Just go slow and keep wetting your knife to spread the dough evenly.
Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until lightly browned. Cool completely before cutting into bars.

How I Plan the Perfectly Imperfect Staycation

June 28, 2014 by Edie Wadsworth 25 Comments

This is our 3rd year of official stay-cationing and we have come to LOVE IT. Home is actually our favorite place to be so stay-cations are our love language. But even if you’re not planning a full vacation at home, this might encourage you for the occasional summer company. Here’s are some tips on preparing for some festive time at home!

Ready the House

Do your cleaning ahead of time just as if you were about to leave on vacation. I don’t know about you, but when I leave for vacation, I like to leave my house pretty spotless. You know, in case the plane crashes and my mom and sister have to come and sift through all my chotch-keys, I’d at least like the place to be clean. And I find that giving yourself a few hours of focused cleaning (on the bathrooms, kitchen, and places where guests will stay) is usually enough. I rally the troops and we clean like there’s no tomorrow so that it has that welcoming vibe and smell! Then, next week when it all looks like chaos? Who cares? We’re on staycation, remember?

And while you’re readying the house, don’t forget to ready yourself. Maybe you need a pedicure? Some new flip flops? A cute sundress?

Prepare as if you were headed to Key West.

Change Your Mindset

You have to keep reminding yourself that you’re on stay-cation, because it’s easy to slip into your old routines.

Can’t the laundry wait? Maybe we should ditch dinner plans and go out? Leave the dishes til morning?

YES, yes, and yes! YOU ARE ON STAYCATION. Don’t forget.

Kids wanna stay up late and eat popsicles at midnight? Well, of course.

Momma wants to get up early and read all morning? I can’t think of anything better.

Everybody sleeps in til 10 and we decide to start the day at Waffle House for brunch? Sure, we’re on staycation.

Staycation is like vacation—low on rules and high on fun, rest, and relaxation. You’ll have to keep reminding yourself, trust me.

Pencil in Your Festivities

We’re lucky to live on the lake so we have very little planning to do. Hang out at the lake everyday—that’s our plan.

But. I do like to festive it up by having some fun photo booths, by having festive food, and by RELAXING enough to enjoy it all!

Maybe you’ll do a day trip or two. Maybe you’ll stay up late and star gaze. There’s always homemade ice cream and picnics and campfires and (if you’re at our house) plenty of corn hole.

Have a loose schedule and then follow your stay-cation whims wherever they take you.

Plan Your Food

Don’t like to cook? Order out all week. We’re foodies, so part of the fun for us is planning ahead and enjoying some good food together.

Also? We live in Bean Station, not exactly a metropolis of delicious eateries, although there is that one gas station where Stevie sometimes takes me for a date.

Anyhoo, I love a good menu plan and it gives us a guideline for the week. We ditch it whenever we feel like it but you have to start somewhere.

Sunday

Brunch—Quiche Lorraine, Chocolate Banana Bread, Cantaloupe and Berries
Supper—Boat to Marina (yay!)

Monday

Breakfast—Dutch Babies with berries, Sausage Hash
Lunch—BLT’s with eggs over medium on the sandwich because WINNING
Supper—Shrimp Boil, Bake Monster Cookies for the week

Tuesday

Breakfast—Bagels, Lox, and Egg Sandwiches
Lunch—Picnic on the boat
Supper—Smoked Ribs and Homemade Pizza, and homemade ice cream

Wednesday

Brunch—Quinoa and Egg Casserole, Tomato Tart
Supper—Puffy Taco Bar, Homemade Guacamole and Homemade Salsa

Thursday

Breakfast—Blueberry Coffee Cake, Omelettes
Lunch—Paninis and Summer Vegetable Soup
Supper— Bruschetta & Leftovers and prep for the 4th

Friday (the 4th)

Burgers, Brats, Hotdogs
Cowboy Beans
Grilled Potato Salad
Pasta Salad with Basil Vinaigrette
S’mores Bars
Rainbow Cake

Saturday

Breakfast—Waffles
Lunch—Chopped Thai Chicken Salad
Dinner—Marina

Okay, so tell if you’ve ever tried the stay-cation. I’d love to know all about it!

(p.s. I had to make a quick road trip with my sister for family illness so the podcast is coming, just late.)

(pps. I’ll be taking some time off from blogging beginning some time next week to dive into book writing and enjoy my people for the summer. I’ll be sending out some short updates via my newsletter, so subscribe here if you haven’t. I’ll also still be on Instagram and Facebook, if you want to follow me there!)

Best Ever Blueberry Coffee Cake {with Lemon Glaze}

June 25, 2014 by Edie Wadsworth 40 Comments

Well. I’m 3 days into recovering from food poisoning. I no longer wish to die, so that’s always a plus. I got out of bed almost like normal for the past two days. I’m still slightly nauseous but am overall on the mend. I haven’t been able to exercise all week, which usually negatively affects by writing, but I have to say I had way too much fun yesterday writing a few pages about camping with my family in the 70’s. I laughed until I cried and thought how overly cautious and over involved we seem as parents compared to our parents back in the day. You know, back in the day before sunscreen, healthy snacks, water bottles, and picture perfect campfires with s’mores. Before Pinterest, when camping trips actually had very little to do with kids at all. Back when nobody gave a hoot about whether or not the kids were having a good time. I have to say that I’m actually not sure we’re doing our kids any favors. But, I digress.

(Side note: If anybody has any slightly traumatizing camping stories from the 70’s, I’m all ears. You’ll have to wait a year or so to hear mine!)

Which somehow brings me to coffee cake. Maybe because I’m finally hungry? Who knows.

My girls were headed out this morning to a friends house to swim and I made them whip up some homemade goodies to bring to the family before they left. They’re used to this from me so they didn’t complain and got right to work. One of my friends had recently made this so it’s been on my mind, especially with all the berries so fresh and plentiful in the house lately. I was looking up the recipe and noticed how very bad the photo was so I decided to repost it with better photos and with the capability of easy printing. My very delightful youngest daughter made it with almost zero help from me and I had a few bites and must say that it is all shades of DELIGHTFUL. Hope you’ll try it this summer!

What you’ll need:

For the cake—

1/2 cup butter,softened
8 ounces cream cheese
2 ounces almond paste (or 1 t. almond flavoring)
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 1/2 c. flour
1 1/2 t. baking powder
1 1/2 t. salt
1 3/4 cups blueberries tossed in 1 T. flour and 2 T sugar

(Hint: I added about 1/2 cup of blackberries from our blackberry bush in addition to all the blueberries and it was divine!)

For the lemon glaze:

2 cups powdered sugar
2 T. lemon juice
2 T. heavy cream
1 T. softened butter

What you’ll do:

Preheat oven to 350.
Combine butter, cream cheese, almond paste and sugar; beat until fluffy.
Add eggs and then flour, baking powder, salt and mix well.
Then fold in blueberries.
Bake in a well-greased bundt pan for 40-50 minutes or in 2 loaf pans for 40-50 minutes.
While it cools, combine ingredients for glaze and stir until smooth.
Drizzle over pound cake and enjoy!!

Best Ever Blueberry Coffee Cake {with Lemon Glaze}

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Ingredients

For the cake

1/2 cup butter softened
8 ounces cream cheese
2 ounces almond paste or 1 t. almond flavoring
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 1/2 c. flour
1 1/2 t. baking powder
1 1/2 t. salt
1 3/4 cups blueberries tossed in 1 T. flour and 2 T sugar

For the glaze

2 cups powdered sugar
2 T. lemon juice
2 T. heavy cream
1 T. softened butter

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350.
Combine butter, cream cheese, almond paste and sugar; beat until fluffy.
Add eggs and then flour, baking powder, salt and mix well.
Then fold in blueberries.
Bake in a well-greased bundt pan for 40-50 minutes or in 2 loaf pans for 40-50 minutes.
While it cools, combine ingredients for glaze and stir until smooth.
Drizzle over pound cake and enjoy!!

Don’t forget the camping stories. I need some comic relief.

{Flourless} Monster Cookies

June 6, 2014 by Edie Wadsworth 35 Comments

There’s a good chance that a batch of these monster cookies will be made in my kitchen every weekend from now till the end of August. Why, you ask? Well. There’s two good reasons. The first reason is—these are the signature cookies that my beloved 12 year old makes and when someone else offers to make food around here, I do NOT, I repeat, I DO NOT interfere. The second reason is really four reasons wrapped into one. These are the quintessential party/energy food when you live on the lake and your days and nights and meals get all mixed up, because a) they can pose for breakfast in a pinch, what with all the oats and peanut butter, b) they can pose for lunch in a pinch, what with all the oats and peanut butter, c) they can pose for dinner in a pinch, what with all the oats and peanut butter, and d) they make the perfect middle of the night snack when the sky is too bright with stars to even think about sleeping.

All in all, this is a survival cookie. That a 12 year old can make. That tastes almost exactly like a beautiful summer hike. Only better. That freezes perfectly well. That could well save you from having to leave the lake too soon on a perfect summer day. And? No gluten is employed in the making of these cookies, in case you’re trying to stay away from flour. Add them to your weekend to do list and you’ll see what I mean. Also, this week? I was shy a whole jar of peanut butter and substituted the rest with Nutella and I must say, THIS IS HIGHLY RECOMMENDED in the event your find yourself in this desperate situation. Or even if you don’t.

What you’ll need:

1 stick of softened butter
1 cup sugar
1 1/4 cup brown sugar
1—16 oz can creamy peanut butter
3 eggs
4 1/2 cups oats
2 t baking powder
1 cup M & M’s
1 cup chocolate chips
1 t vanilla
pinch of salt

What you’ll do:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Cream butter and sugars well
Add eggs, peanut butter and vanilla and mix well again
Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well
Scoop them with a cookie scoop (or drop them with a spoon) onto an lightly greased cookie sheet
Bake for 11-13 minutes at 350
Let them cool on the cookie sheet for a few minutes before transferring
Or eat them warm off the pan, which is usually my preference!

Go visit my recipes page for more tried and true favorites!

Also, I just started a podcast series on Creating a Life You Love so head on over and join the fun!

{Flourless} Monster Cookies

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Ingredients

1 stick of softened butter
1 cup sugar
1 1/4 cup brown sugar
1 —16 oz can creamy peanut butter
3 eggs
4 1/2 cups oats
2 t baking powder
1 cup M & M's
1 cup chocolate chips
1 t vanilla
pinch of salt

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Cream butter and sugars well
Add eggs, peanut butter and vanilla and mix well again
Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well
Scoop them with a cookie scoop (or drop them with a spoon) onto an lightly greased cookie sheet
Bake for 11-13 minutes at 350
Let them cool on the cookie sheet for a few minutes before transferring

Fresh Tomato Tart

May 29, 2014 by Edie Wadsworth 22 Comments

NOTHING says summer like fresh tomatoes. Can I get an amen? And if it’s not summer where you are, please consider moving to my good state. We’d love to have you! Fresh tomatoes may be my favorite thing in all the world. I’ve got about 7 different varieties in my garden as we speak and if that weren’t enough, I live in the tomato capitol of the South. We drove to a tomato farm on the other side of the lake last week after church and have been in hog heaven all week. I’ve had tomatoes in every possible combination. I made this fresh tomato tart while our company was here last week and it was everything I ever dreamed of. [Read more…] about Fresh Tomato Tart