Mama's Five-Flavor Cake

I made an easy and great cake over Thanksgiving, which is actually a little early for me. I usually bake this cake over the Christmas holidays. It's one of "Mama's" recipes. She used to make it for a few customers each year who couldn't get enough. I love it because I'm not much of a baker and it starts with a cake mix but SO TASTES 100% HOMEMADE. I believe Sandra Lee calls that "semi-homemade."

Five-Flavor Cake

Ingredients:

1 box yellow cake mix
1 sm. package (4 servings) instant vanilla pudding
3/4 cup chopped pecans
2 tsp. ground nutmeg
3/4 cup oil (I use canola)
5 eggs
1/2 cup water
1 tsp. each: vanilla, butter, rum, coconut, and lemon flavorings

First, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Then spray bundt cake pan and spread pecans in the bottom of the pan.

Mix together dry ingredients - cake mix, instant pudding, and nutmeg.

Add the wet ingredients - oil, eggs, water and flavorings. Beat with a mixer for about 2 minutes on high speed.

Pour into the prepared bundt pan and bake 45-50 minutes.
Meanwhile, about 10 minutes before the cake comes out of the oven, prepare the glaze.

Glaze:
1 cup sugar
1 stick butter
1/4 cup water
1 tsp. each: vanilla, butter, rum, coconut, and lemon flavorings

In a boiler on the stove top, combine all the above ingredients and boil for 3 minutes, constantly stirring. You need to stay by the pot and stir, because the ingredients will boil over in a skinny second.

Here's the finished glaze.

When the cake comes out of the oven, pour half of the glaze over it immediately. Let it sit in the pan 10 minutes.

Turn the cake onto a cake plate and drizzle the remaining glaze over the top.

The glaze puddles around the bottom. Delicious.

Let the cake cool completely before you cover it.

This cake is particularly good a day or two after you make it. It gives enough time for the glaze to fully penetrate the cake and make it extra moist.

It may not be the most beautiful cake in the world, but it is one of the most flavorful I've ever had.

Love,
TCB

Gracias. Merci. Grazie. Thank you.

My son brought home a list of "thank you's" from his church-school class this past Sunday.

Gracias (Spanish)
Merci (French)
Grazie (Italian)
Asante (Swahili)
Anku (Dutch)
Obrigado (Portuguese)
Klitos (Finnish)
Salamat tagalog (Filipino)
Thank you.

On this Thanksgiving week (my favorite holiday, by the way - devoid of gifty commercialism or continuous parties just delicious food, fun, family and friends), I am thankful for:

A nice, sturdy, house with a non-leaky roof

Plenty of food

Every single family member under my roof and under other roofs

Good health

A church to call my own with lots of friends there

My friends who live in other states and just down the road

My cell phone to call all those in other states (and those just down the road)

A reliable car

Enough money for gas for that reliable car

Rain

A job

My husband's job

A Savior who gives me hope.

Don't think this is the full list. It's just the beginning. When I sit and write it all down, I realize I don't have one reason to complain. If something is not right, I need to sit and read this list and realize that enough is just as perfect as it can be this side of heaven.

Happy Thanksgiving.
Love,
TCB

Adaptability

We ought to value adaptability as one of the character traits we aspire to have. If you think about it, adaptability usually breeds joyfulness. Adaptability is about flexibility and making the most of every situation. If you're able to do that, then you're able to feel joy in the moment and in your circumstances.

My weekend was all about adaptability.

First, my son had to participate in a swim meet Saturday. I was determined I was going to be the parent who sat in the stands cheering on my son, while Mr. Country Belle participated as the requisite parent volunteer. I thought after homeschooling all week, working, cooking, and generally schlepping my son all around town, I deserved to sit on my tushy and just watch.

Then the meet organizer climbed the bleacher steps, looked at me with puppy dog eyes, and said, "I need ONE MORE timer [to time the swimmers' races].

So I stood at the side of the pool for three hours and timed races. Adaptability.

My next plan of action on Sunday was to once again sit on my tushy, read the newspaper, and generally surround myself with nature on the backyard deck. After all, it isn't often we get the 76 degree sunny day in November the weather forecaster predicted for Sunday afternoon.

Then we returned from church and I was all ready for the backyard. And then it started to drizzle. And then it turned into a drizzly, slushy mess. And the clouds never lifted and it was 15 degrees below the forecasted temperature.

So I watched "I Love Lucy" with my son and cleaned out an entire kitchen cabinet and reorganized it. Then I prepared my table with Thanksgiving linens and decorations. Then I wrote an article for a client. Adaptability.

It's something I have to work on, as I love my big, deep rut of a life. But I think I did pretty well this weekend.

Happy week,
TCB

Learning from a Child

Who says you can't teach an old dog new tricks?

Well, admittedly, you can't teach THIS old dog new tricks. She's so old she sometimes doesn't even remember her OLD tricks. (Help! I've fallen and I can't get up.)

But you can teach ME new tricks (I refuse to call myself an old dog). I'll tell you what I mean: I am learning to read Latin.

I just love this homeschooling thing. I'm not teaching Latin (soooooo unqualified), but my son is taking an outside class with a retired minister. And I help my son study for quizzes. AND I KNOW ALL THE VOCABULARY HE KNOWS. Woo!_Hoo!

I don't know all the verb conjugations, but give me time. His brain is a lot younger than mine, but I will catch up. I have YEARS of good study habits on me.

My son also takes an outside art history class, something else I am totally unqualified to teach.

He gets excited about painting like Mary Cassatt.

And making "stained glass" like Louis Comfort Tiffany.

He just wasn't interested when I suggested I could teach him how to draw stick figures.

He also takes an outside Spanish class. I haven't learned much yet, but I do know the most important word in Spanish: the word for vacuum. I love telling him to use the "la aspiradora" in my Southern drawl.

I'm hoping all this brain exercise will decrease my chances of dementia in a few years. But after all, if I lose my mind, I'm sure it will be because of a myriad of other reasons.

Happy weekend! Keep learnin'.
Love,
TCB

More Beauty Products for Dry Skin

In my last post, The Short List of Beauty Products I Can't Live Without, I listed 3 of the products I use every day, without fail, on my dry skin. Here are the other 3 products I can't seem to do without:

#4 - No. 7 Protect & Perfect Beauty Serum - $19.95 at Target. It's an anti-wrinkle serum. Need I say more, ladies? And it adds a little moisture in the a.m. under makeup.

#5 - RE9 Night Repair Creme - $85 from arbonne.com. If you have dry skin, there's nothing like this night cream to ward away the dreaded flaky skin in the morning.

#6 - I like to follow my p.m. cleanser with RE9 Regenerating Toner, also from http://www.arbonne.com/. $35, and it won't dry out your skin when removing the last traces of makeup.

So there you have it. I'm not a frou-frou girl, but every woman ought to have a few weapons in her beauty arsenal.

'Till next time,
TCB

The Short List of Beauty Products I Can't Live Without

I don't consider myself a high-maintenance type of girl, but there are a handful of beauty products that I just simply can't do without. There are six of them to be exact. Some are slightly pricey but most are surprisingly affordable. Here are the first three beauty products that are a necessity for my dry and maturing (ahem) skin:

#1 - Aveeno Positively Radiant daily moisturizer - This little jewel can be found at most drugstores and even some nice grocery stores like Publix. For $15.99 (Publix price), it instantly (and I mean instantly) brightens dull morning skin because it contains soy. I once got a compliment from a guy friend that my skin looked radiant. Did you hear that ladies? A GUY noticed. The SPF 15 is a nice bonus.

#2 - Lacura Hydrating facial cleanser - This bad girl won't hardly touch your wallet at a budget-friendly $2.49 at Aldi. Great in the morning or evening, it is the perfect cleanser for very dry winter skin.

#3 - Olay Quench daily lotion (plus shimmer) - I have tried practically every lotion on the market - from the cheapest of the cheap to the mac-daddy expensive. This middle of the line product keeps my skin "ash" free in the winter and super soft. I really don't care what it costs. It's great and I refuse to switch. $7-$8 at most drugstore and grocery retailers.

I will round out the top six in the next post this week.

Have a great Monday!
Love,
TCB

My Favorite Bible Studies for Women

There are so many Bible Studies out there, and many are written and designed specifically for women. I'm listing a few that I really enjoyed and learned from. I am not including links because you can google the titles and authors and find them just about anywhere.

My all-time favorite Bible Study (so far) is "Daniel" by Beth Moore. I almost didn't enroll in this study at my local church. I thought, "I know all about Daniel and the lion's den. What else is there to learn from this short book of the Bible?" I couldn't have been more wrong. There is so much prophecy packed into this book, and I learned more about the Bible than I ever have in one class. I learned just as much about Revelation as Daniel in this fascinating study. It is a little pricey (if you try to buy the videos - which I highly recommend) - but many churches have it and may offer it or loan it out to members.

I also learned from:

"A Woman's Walk with God" by Sheila Cragg. She presents much good information about strengthening your spiritual life in times of trouble and in everyday living. Short reading passages are followed by fill-in-the-blank discussion questions that you can personalize. The study really made me think.

"A Woman's Heart: God's Dwelling Place" by Beth Moore. See a pattern here? Her style of teaching jives with my way of receiving. I've tried the audiotapes with her studies, but the visual DVDs are really the way to go.

Do you have a favorite Bible Study? I'd really like to hear so I can check out some new ones.

Have a wonderful weekend.
Love,
TCB