Welcome!

Welcome to a piece of our sweet journey of life. This blog is about our family life-- my husband, my type 1 diabetic sixth grader, my spunky fourth grader, my first grader little girl, and myself! Enjoy!

Sunday, May 22, 2022

Strawberry Bread

The benefits of living near a strawberry patch include bountiful buckets of berries & reasons to try out various recipes. This one below is one of my favorites and one I hadn't made for years. Avery & I started our Saturday by baking it again and I dare say that this batch is the best yet. 


We use this recipe for Strawberry Cream Cheese Bread. 

Ingredients:

1 1/2 c cut strawberries

1/2 c softened butter (1 stick)

4 oz (half a block) softened cream cheese

1 c sugar  

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 c flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda 

1/2 teaspoon salt 

1/2 c buttermilk 


Instructions: (my changes are in italics)

Grease and flour a 9×5 inch loaf pan. Preheat oven to 350* F.

With electric mixer (or by hand!) cream butter, sugar and cream cheese until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time. Mix in vanilla.

In separate bowl, mix flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Blend flour mixture with butter mixture just until blended. Add buttermilk and only stir until just combined; do not over mix.

(To make your own buttermilk substitution, add 1/2 tablespoon lemon juice to a liquid measuring cup, then fill milk to 1/2c marking. Let sit for a few minutes.)

Carefully fold in strawberries. Dough mixture will be thick.

Bake in a 350°F oven for 50-60 minutes.

Let it cool for at least 15 minutes before removing from pan.

***

I had a great helper! I didn't bring my hand mixer with me to my parents' house so we stirred by hand. 


Anyone else noticing the price of eggs rising?! One day we'll have chickens on our property and hopefully (Lord willing!) we'll have a much more frugal source for eggs!









It is so delicious! It did end up taking a bit over 60 minutes to get a nice golden top which is a key indicator of a full bake all the way through. 


Let me know if you try it out!


Until Next Time,

Much Love, Reba


Sunday, May 1, 2022

New Favorites for a New Year

My birthday was just about a week ago and I decided to put together a list of favorites. Some of these are in the same categories (books, food, places, etc.) but they're still special to me. 



1. Views of bright green grass





2. Our land




3. Plush house slippers


4. Plush blankets


5. Reading (chick lit & historical fiction)


6. TV show: Gilmore Girls


7. The art of Calligraphy

(A student made this for me last week)




8. Peanut butter milkshakes (Cook Out or homemade is best)


9. Favorite pens for teacher work: Bic roundstic


10. Favorite paper type for notes, lists, lesson planning & journaling/story writing: Spiral notebooks


11. Favorite restaurant in Auburn: Bow & Arrow


12. Favorite thing to order at Bow & Arrow: Christens enchiladas





13. Favorite sports team (all sports) Auburn Tigers


14. Favorite college/university: Auburn University campus







15. Soft t-shirts


16. Stretchy jeans (Favorite Brands: Levi Totally Shaping and Wit & Wisdom)


17. The show Longmire


18: The book Simple Gatherings





19. Going to the beach (specifically the beach town I grew up going to)


20. Book: The Hating Game


21. Dvd: The Hating Game


22. Book: Evvie Drake Starts Over


23. Book: Talk Bookish to Me


24. Book: Just Haven't Met You Yet


25. Book: Beach Read


26. Book: Frontier Follies (gives me hope to eventually know what I'm doing on my land)


27. My wedge rubber boots for the land


28. My truck


29. My car


30. My light blue microwave in my classroom


31. Capri blue volcano oil for my diffusers





32. My "myPillow"


33. Faux silk pillowcase


34. Bogg Bags (the "baby" makes a great teacher work bag, and the "original" makes a great beach bag). 


I'll add more pictures of these favorites periodically. 


Until Next Time,

Much Love, Reba