Mother Mayberry

Well this article isn’t exactly what you’d think.  You see those infomercials for those steam cleaners and they look to be the 8th wonder of the modern world, but the huge jets of steam they have for the infomercial may not exactly be the case once you get the cheapie thing in your house, however, I digress, I won’t rant on infomercial magic, instead I’ll give you a little household tip for cleaning your bathroom.

Let a hot shower run for awhile, let it get all steamy in there, because it’ll be much much much easier to clean the walls, fixtures, and other things once the steam has helped to loosen the dirt a bit.

The only problem with this…you’re cleaning your bathroom in a mini-sauna.  This is not necessarily a bad thing, but it’s something to consider and be forewarned about.  I don’t want any angry emails coming my way because Mother Mayberry made you clean in a sauna.

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An apple a day keeps the doctor away!  I’m not entirely sure that old saying applies to Dutch apple cake, but wouldn’t it be nice if it did?  Let us pretend then and say that eating a nice big piece of Dutch Apple Cake is just what the doctor ordered.

Here’s the recipe and I’m sure you’ll absolutely love it!

Dutch Apple Cake

1 1/2 Cups Sifted Flour
1/2 Tsp. Salt
1/4 Cup Shortening
1/2 Cup Milk
2 1/2 Tsp. Baking Powder
3 Tbsp. Sugar
1 Tsp. Vanilla

Sift flour, measure, add baking powder, salt and sugar - sift again. Cut in shortening. Add vanilla and milk and make soft dough. Press dough into 9×13 (or smaller) pan.

4-5 Cups Sliced Apples
2/3 Cups Sugar
1 Tsp. Cinnamon
3 Tbsp. Butter
1 Tbsp. Flour (optional)
1 1/2 Tbsp. Lemon Juice

Cream butter, sugar, cinnamon and lemon juice. Mix with apples. Pour into dough. Bake at 400 degrees 40-50 minutes until apples are done.

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When I first started this blog a few weeks back I was worried where I’d come up with inspiration for writing new posts everyday, well, as luck would have it you end up finding inspiration from the strangest things.

My inspiration for today’s post is me watching The Mummy a few days ago, the dry skinned mummy made me think, he should have used lotion after his showers and his skin wouldn’t have been so dry.  Now that you know a mummified corpse inspired this post you won’t feel so bad about your own dry skin.

Here’s some helpful little tips and tricks you can use to remedy your dry skin.  First off you don’t want to soak in water, it’ll only dry out your skin more.  When you are showering make sure you’re using a super fatty soap as some of the stronger soaps will only make the matter worst.  A cautionary note, super fatty soaps can make for a super slippery tub, so be careful.

Once you’re done with your shower you want to use lotion, lots and lots of lotions.  Now each person might have their own preference but I personally like Aveeno Lotion and it leaves my skin feeling really soft after a shower.  You could also use certain oils, grape oil, almond oil, and natural oils.

Now if you don’t want to look like a mummy then you’ll follow Mother Mayberry’s advice.

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Every summer my garden in the back is stocked with tomato vines.  We have so many tomatoes that we have to can lots, give bunches away, and also eat copious amounts of them just so they don’t go to waste.  One of the favorite ways of preparing tomatoes is a nice tomato salad.  I like to consider this a salad for people that don’t like salads.  There’s not a ton of green, lettuce is not there, yet it’s a healthy, full flavored, and delicious salad.  It’s also extremely easy to make, if you manage to screw this recipe up, then you probably need a keeper and shouldn’t be on the internet.

Fresh Tomato Salad

Ingredients

5 tomatoes, diced
1 onion, chopped
1 cucumber, sliced
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1/2 cup chopped fresh basil
1/2 cup chopped parsley
2 tablespoons crushed garlic
salt and pepper to taste
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar

Directions

In a large bowl, combine the tomato, onion, cucumber, bell pepper, basil, parsley, garlic and vinegar. Toss and add salt and pepper to taste. Chill and serve.

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I absolutely love muffins.  They’re just that little bit of homemade goodness that you can’t really duplicate in store bought items.  Everything about making muffins brings you back to a simpler time.  Also, muffins really do play well in our busy schedules of today.  It’s so easy to just grab a muffin for breakfast, slurp down a cup of coffee and begin your day.

Raisin bran muffins happen to be really tasty, but also fairly healthy and full of fiber.  Now, I’m giving a word of caution, full of fiber, and it may leave you feeling full of fiber.  I’m not exactly sure how to politely describe that feeling other than…you’ll feel full of fiber.  Enjoy the recipe!

Raisin Bran Muffins

Ingredients

4 beaten eggs
2 cups sugar
1 cup salad oil
1 quart buttermilk
5 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. salt
5 cups plain flour
15 oz. raisin bran

Direction:

Mix together eggs, sugar, oil and buttermilk. Add baking soda, salt and flour, one cup at a time. Fold in raisin bran. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes. Keep mixture in refrigerator up to six weeks.

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