On Beauty...

"He who has lost the love of the beautiful

has already lost his soul."

~Bishop Fulton J. Sheen

Make Doughnuts With Left-over Mashed Potatoes!

I'm serious!

They are very tasty!

 Your children will wrinkle up their noses at you incredulously when you tell them what you used to make them.......but you will know that deep down inside they are thinking you are the most amazing mother in the whole world;) And shortly after dinner every single doughnut will have vanished, in spite of your cherished secret hope that you might be able to have just one (...or maybe two;) left-over to enjoy with your coffee the next morning. Oh well. You really didn't need them, right? ;)

Ready?

You will need:

2 eggs;

1 cup of granulated sugar;

2 cups of cold mashed potatoes;

(~It is okay if they have salt, pepper, and butter in them.......mine even had a bit of horseradish, but no one noticed;)

3/4 cup of buttermilk;

2 Tbs. of melted butter;

1 tsp. vanilla (or almond) extract;

4 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour;

4 tsp. baking powder;

1 tsp. baking soda;

1 tsp. salt;

2 tsp. ground nutmeg;

1/8 tsp. ground ginger;

oil for frying;

(~I used canola.)

additional sugar for coating them, if desired.

(~I mixed some cinnamon in with mine.)

In a large bowl, combine eggs and sugar. Add potatoes, buttermilk, butter, and vanilla. Mix well. In another bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, nutmeg, and ginger. Add to egg mixture and mix well. Cover and refrigerate for one to two hours.

On a lightly floured surface roll dough to 1/2 inch thickness. Cut out doughnuts with a doughnut cutter, or cut into half-inch slices. Heat several inches of oil, in a large pan, to around 375 degrees F. Fry doughnuts for two minutes on each side or till golden-brown. Drain on paper towels. When cooled, roll in sugar if desired.

Enjoy!

A Bit of Yellow.....

....for the dining~room table.

Counting my Blessings....

I have been given so many.

On Reverence

"Was it not Canon Sheehan who identified reverence for God, His temples, His ministers, His service,

as religion;

 reverence for one's fellow man, his rights and person,

 as justice and charity;

reverence for oneself

as purity?"

~Fr. Edward F. Murphy

in Yankee Priest

A Full, Fast Lent

I cannot believe that lent is already over.......it simply flew by! Some years it seems to drag on a bit, but certainly not this one. A few little updates: 

Big Brother and Miss Posy started piano lessons a little over a month ago, and I have been loving it. Every Tuesday morning, at eleven o'clock sharp, their teacher shows up at our door. How wonderful is that? Big Brother and I can actually play a little duet together now! What fun!

The weather has been very cold, but my crocus' are all blooming and my tulips and daffodils are coming on bravely. I can hardly wait to see them blooming.....

On Holy Saturday, along with the early evening, there came a chicken. I'm serious. None of our neighbors own chickens. And it bore an eerie resemblance to the toy chicken my Knight and I are still hiding in random places for the other to find (~It last turned up in my change purse....;), but the worst part was that it was badly wounded (~we think it must have been carried off by a coyote). Titus just watched it, most confused, and I called my Knight in a panic.......he was at the store, of course;). He calmly instructed me to put the dog in the kennel, and said that he would assess the situation as soon as he came home. I did as instructed, after giving myself a little pep-talk. Don't ask me why, but it was mildly terrifying having a wounded chicken roaming the yard. I was glad that it had gone around to the other side of the house when I went out. Poor thing. My knight decided he would have to put it down after he had examined it....seemed to be the only humane thing to do. So depressing. Like some portent of doom. I gloomily informed him afterwards that maybe it was an omen. That I'd never get any chickens. Never ever. He smiled and told me I was being silly. But I don't know......Just a week before, Blue had woken in the middle of the night crying that a chicken was sleeping on his head. ~Honestly! I suspect there is some fowl play afoot.....

So there you are!  

Easter Monday

I'm back.........and I'm very very tired. ;)

But we had a lovely Easter, and hope you all did as well!