RECIPE JOURNAL: YOGURT POUND CAKE

YOGURT POUND CAKE

1 cup butter, melted
1 cup vanilla (or plain) low-fat yogurt
2 cups sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla or lemon juice or other flavoring*
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 1/2 cups flour
1 Tablespoon lemon rind*
Fresh strawberries and powdered sugar for garnish

Place melted butter in a glass bowl. With a whisk, mix in yogurt, sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Then add salt, baking soda, flour and lemon rind.
Place in a greased and floured bundt pan.
Bake 1 hour at 350º.

Let cool for 30 minutes before removing from pan.
Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve with fresh strawberries.

*This recipe can be adapted:
Use Grand Marnier and grated orange rind (instead of vanilla and lemon rind)
Use fruited yogurt instead of vanilla or plain
Add mini chocolate chips or chopped dried fruit

NOTE: This recipe journal is an attempt to work my through my grandmother's extensive recipe collection (on 3x5 cards, old news clippings, and random slips of paper) to determine what's worth keeping and what should pass away with time, consigned to random memories of family holidays and those dreaded potlucks. Last week's recipe was Chicken and Artichoke Hearts.

This recipe, however, is a definite keeper. Too bad we can't live on cake alone.
Sharon

STUDY IN STONE FACES

PSALM 139:1-14 NRSV*

The Inescapable God

Of David. A Psalm.

O Lord, you have searched me and known me.

You know when I sit down and when I rise up; 

you discern my thoughts from far away.

You search out my path and my lying down,
and are acquainted with all my ways.

Even before a word is on my tongue, 
O Lord, you know it completely.

You hem me in, behind and before, 

and lay your hand upon me.

Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; 

it is so high that I cannot attain it.

Where can I go from your spirit? 

Or where can I flee from your presence?

If I ascend to heaven, you are there;

if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there.

If I take the wings of the morning 

and settle at the farthest limits of the sea,

even there your hand shall lead me, 

and your right hand shall hold me fast.

If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me, 

and the light around me become night,”

even the darkness is not dark to you; 
the night is as bright as the day, for darkness is as light to you.

For it was you who formed my inward parts; 
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.

I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. 

Wonderful are your works; 
that I know very well.

Sharon

*Psalm 139 from the Catholic Women's Devotional Bible, New Revised Standard Version, page 768, Zondervan, Grand Rapids, MI, copyright 2000.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Roseanne Keeley Wray and her son {my husband} Patrick.

Happy Birthday, Mom!
I'm blessed to have you for my mother-in-law, and the children love their Nana! Hope you have a wonderful day!
Love,
Sharon

MULTITUDES ON MONDAYS {250-258}

One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are, the New York Times Bestseller by Ann Voskamp, is one of the most beautifully written books I've ever read. More lyrical poetry than prose, Ann's heart-wrenching journey challenges us all to find beauty, grace, and gratitude in even the smallest things. In the process of listing one thousand things to be grateful for, I've found my own field of vision has become narrower yet more intense, forcing me to slow down, adjust my focus, and pay attention to right now. 

{I've been keeping this list since January which is why this visual list begins with 250.}

#250 First white Guinevere rose in my garden.

#251 Cold morning, hot tea, and blue and white napkins made by a dear friend, Mary Lenaburg at Passionate Perseverance.

Handmade napkins 

#252 Nail polish remover minutes before leaving for school.

#253 COMMUNITY SERVICE PROJECT: "Feed the Birds"

#254 A weekend away at the 2011 Washington Romance Writers Retreat: “In the Company of Writers”

at Carradoc Hall, Leesburg, VA.

{#255 My wonderful husband who made this possible!}

#256 Laundry and weapons. What every mother longs to see after being gone all weekend.

#257 Mother bird protecting her nest.

#258 Pink gardening shoes on a wet May morning.

Join the community at A Holy Experience.

Hope to see you there,

Sharon