Another Sad Day....

We received news of a dear friend, Randy Miller, going home to Jesus.  He is a fellow vendor in our trade show world and died during the booth set up of the Florida’s FPEA Homeschool convention.   His homecoming to Jesus is not sad but those left behind has brought tremendous sadness and grief.

Many of you may know this man at the home school convention, but only as the guy at Miller Pad.  This company offers a wonderful bounty of paper and art supplies.  They have had their business for over 20 years and have been faithful servicing the home school community.  I know you have been blessed if you have stopped by their booth.  In fact, I encourage you to stop by their booths at the future home school conventions to support this family.

Another twist to the grief many are sharing at the moment....many don't realize that vendors at conventions you attend have become 'family' with each other.  We see each other every weekend in different states.  We sweat with each other setting up our booths and tearing down our booths.  We visit with each other during the slow times of the home school conventions; we visit with each other at the end of the day; we visit with each other when the convention ends and before we take off to the next state.  Our kids have become friends and look forward to the next time they get to hang out together.  We are family.

Many of you simply know this vendor as the Miller Pad Booth who had wonderful bounty of paper and art supplies; but we know them as Renee and Randy Miller.  Randy was a quiet, gentle man who was so kind.  Just recently, he guarded my back in moving my truck and trailer!  I had to maneuver into a tight squeeze and he was there to help me get out.  A seemingly small thing but when you are exhausted and setting up a huge booth, do you really want to take care of someone else's problems?  Randy did.  He was such a kind man. 

Please pray for this family as they walk through the grief of the sudden death of husband, father, grandfather, and friend.  I am grateful we can all bond together to lift up a fellow family to Jesus.

If you are not going to a home school convention, you can shop online for their great products at:
http://www.millerpadsandpaper.com/

A sad day for Oklahomans

Many are watching/hearing the news that tornadoes have hit Oklahoma.  We are Oklahomans and grieve with those who have lost loved ones and their homes.

We are fine here in Skiatook (just outside Tulsa, OK), however, I did have 3 funnels make an appearance during the storm!  God was watching over us....

It was actually really weird.  I didn't even know there was bad weather happening.  The kids had just finished mowing our property and had come in for showers.  I had 2 grandkids here watching a movie, so we didn't have the news on to even know there was bad weather coming. My son says..."There is a guy in on our drive sitting in his car."  I go outside with my son to check it out.  The guy says, "I just love watching the clouds and saw your vantage point was cool."  He stayed a few moments, then left.  I look up at the clouds and see the rotation; tell my son go get the pantry/storm shelter ready and get the kids in the pantry w/ bike helmets; and tell mom to get in the pantry.  In case you are wondering why bike helmets, I put them on my grandchildren to protect them from any possible falling debri.

I stayed on the drive trying to determine the weather...the clouds....I see 2 small funnels come down over the trees south of us, but they quickly sucked back up to the clouds.  This is a first time ever here in at our Skaitook home!  Then, a bigger funnels starts to come but goes back up into the clouds.  The wind hits hard and strong....the clouds/storm moves east.  This whole episode lasted probably 20-30 minutes.  Crazy, but that is Oklahoma weather for you.  Anyway, we are fine, the storm is over BUT there is so much damage in OKC. :(  Time to pray for the needs of the people.

Nashville, TN & Des Moines, IA...Good to see ya!

We have different teams at different conventions and have so enjoyed getting to see lots of you.  If you haven't stopped by yet, come see us at The Teach Them Diligently convention in the Grand Old Opry Convention Center in Nashville, TN OR...the NICHE convention at the Iowa Convention Center.

We are making bread in our booths and you can come smell the aroma and tastes great bread.  You can see the 'wares' in real life rather than the internet pics AND you get to see us!  We love to visit and get to meet you all in person.  Come on by and sit a spell.

Blueberry Streusel Muffins

My daughter made these scrumptious muffins for our family...me!  She knows I love blueberries and this muffin really hit the spot.  Best of all, it was easy to make, especially for me as my daughter made them.  She told me they were easy to make as well, so don't be afraid to try them.

 

For Mother's Day we went to my sister-in-law's home who treated us to a luscious chocolate cake.  You will never see that recipe on my blog as it was a 12 step process and used a dishwasher load full of utensils to make it happen.  I thoroughly enjoyed eating her chocolate cake and told her I would come to her house any day to eat it!!  Thus, I LOVE the fast and easy recipes which this blueberry streusel muffin makes for your family.

 

BLUEBERRY STREUSEL MUFFINS

 

Ingredients:

1/3 cup raw sugar   
1/4 cup butter
1 egg (beaten)
2 1/3 cup sifted pastry flour
4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cup fresh blueberries

Streusel:
1/2 cup raw sugar
1/3 cup sifted pastry flour
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 cup butter

Cream sugar & butter; add beaten egg.  Combine flour baking powder & salt; add to creamed mixture alternately with milk.  Stir in vanilla. Fold in blueberries.  Fill 12 cup stainless steel muffin pan. 
Combine streusel first 3 ingredients & cut in butter.  Sprinkle over muffin batter.  Bake 375 degrees for 25 minutes or until golden brown.
Makes 12 muffins.

Note from Paula: You can use the Bosch Flour Sifter to make a cake consistency flour.  This will yield light and fluffy baked goods...heavenly blueberry muffins!  

Happy Mother's Day

 Happy Mother's Day

I hope you all have a Happy Mother's Day...celebrate with your mom...celebrate with your spiritual children...celebration is really in the form of appreciation.

I think there is so much emphasis on 'getting' something for mom that the reason for the gift is forgotten...appreciation!  Some have moms they really see the sacrifice and love that all the media and greeting cards portray and others struggle because they never knew or experienced that 'type' of mother.  The point isn't to stir up loss or bitterness but to embrace where we are in life and rejoice/appreciate the those that made us what we are today.  If not your birth mother, is there another mentor/mother image who has helped to form your life.  A teacher? a Sunday school teacher?  A neighbor? An elderly woman?  Thank them and use this occasion of "Mother's Day" to show appreciation to them.

I think thankfulness and appreciation are forgotten words in our fast paced, it's all about me world we are living in.  We look at ourselves as these self-made people not seeing the 'mom' who did indeed sacrifice for our benefit.  Take a moment and pick up the phone or write a note to say, "I am thinking of you....I appreciate you....Thank you!"

For those moms who didn't get the appreciation call or 'rise up and call her blessed' moment, God knows your work and has counted it.  You will see your reward!  Remember, life is a vapor and we will be face to face with Jesus and He will acknowledge those works of love!

Again, I say.....

Happy Mother's Day!

Slow Cooked French Toast!

Have you ever wanted a new and different idea for Mother's Day.  There is always the traditional breakfast ideas, but this one is soooo different!!  I must admit, I don't think I would make it for breakfast as it only has to cook about 3-4 hours which means I would be getting up way too early in the morning to have this breakfast ready for breakfast.  I have become a morning person but this would be over the top.  I would be like all those doughnut shop/bakery people who get up at 2 a.m. to 3 a.m. to have those fresh baked goods ready for us to consume.  I just don't have the DNA to do that.  Kudos to those who do get up and have those fresh pastries ready for us.

So how would I use this luscious recipe?  I would make it for the dessert finale of the Mother's Day Meal.  It would be cooking through the morning and be hot and ready for dessert.  I can't tell you how good this breakfast...dessert is.  My kids kept asking me when it would be ready as the smell permeated the house.  Then, it was like holding back a starving animal from its food.  My kids were far from starvation but you would have thought they hadn't seen food in years the way they dug into this breakfast dessert!

Humm?  Am I recommending this dish?  YES!!!  It is worth trying.  So without further ramblings...here we go! 

Slow Cooked French Toast
Found & Adjusted from Taste of Homes

1 1/2 cup raw sugar
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup butter
12 slices whole wheat bread
2 cups fresh blueberries
6 eggs (slightly beaten)
1 1/2 cups whole milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp salt
garnish with fresh blueberries and whip cream

Step One: Butter inside of the crock pot.  Mix raw sugar, cinnamon and melted butter.  Put 1/4 of sugar mixture on bottom of the crock pan.  Put 4 slices of bread on the bottom.  Cover with another 1/4 sugar mixture and sprinkle with blueberries; Repeat this step with each layer of bread.
  

 

Step Two:
Mix eggs, milk, vanilla extract, salt.  Pour over the bread mixture.

Step Three:
Turn crock pot on Low Setting.  Cook for 3 to 4 hours or until egg mixture is solid/cooked.

Garnish with whip cream and blueberries.
Note from Paula:  If your mom is not a blueberry fan, try peaches...strawberries.  This is a fun, delicious breakfast OR dessert for Mom!  Can I say YUM!! Enjoy!
Don't forget the Mother's Day Sales!!  You can see them at www.paulasbread.com! 
 

More help tips on the why your bread has issues!

1. Help!  There's a hole in my baked bread!!

Just this week, I cut into a loaf of bread and there in its full glory was a hole in the center of the loaf!  I considered taking a pic to let you know it happens to all of us even those who have been making bread for over 30 years!! Don't despair in making bread.  So why the hole?  There are three culprits causing the hole. 
 
-The first is not 'slapping' your bread to get the air pockets out of the formed loaf.  I always give my dough a good 'spanking' to tighten the dough.  This slap will make the gluten of the dough tighten and keep air pockets from forming.
 
-The second is letting your bread rise too high and fast.  Sometimes I have had my bread in a warm spot and it rose really fast with an almost airy look.  The end result is usually a hole in the center. 
 
-The third is not kneading your bread dough enough.  Sometimes when I add extra vital wheat gluten to my whole wheat bread recipe, I need to knead the dough a little longer (1-2 minutes) just to let the gluten thoroughly work.  Just remember, if you are not using a Bosch Universal Mixer, you will need to knead your bread dough for about 20 minutes!!

Both of these were the case for the bread that I cut into this week.  I had let it rise too much outside the oven AND I had not bothered to slap my dough nor press it firmly into the bread pan.  Sometimes haste in baking is not a good thing. :)

Don't throw the bread away!!  You can make it into croutons or blend the bread in your Bosch Blender to make bread crumbs.

2. I have too many loaves rising and they won't fit in my oven at the same time. Help!!

You can form the extra dough into pizza crust or other bread delectable OR you can form them into a loaf in the bread pan but put the dough in the fridge.  This will slow the rising and allow the other bread to bake.  When your oven has room, remove the slowly rising bread dough from the the fridge and let it rise till ready for the oven.  I always try to make as much bread as possible since I already have all the ingredients out.  Don't let a small oven inhibit your bread making endeavors.