I love living in the south and I love the foods of the south!  When I moved to South Carolina for my first teaching position and job after going to college, the cook at the school introduced me to a southern favorite – rice with gravy.  I loved it.  However, it also helped to pack on pounds that I’d never had before!  So a little in moderation is a good thing!  

Cook one cup rice.  I use the instant kind.  Saute’ an onion and 3/4 cup celery in 2 tbl. butter.  Add the rice,  2 Tsp parsley, a little salt and pepper and 16 oz. baby carrots or frozen peas.  Place rice mixture into the bottom of a casserole dish.

 In another bowl, mix a can of Cream of Mushroom Soup and 2/3 cup sour cream.

 Place a cut up fryer or four chicken breasts on top of rice mixture.

These chicken breasts were huge, so I only had room for three.

 Top the chicken with the soup mixture.

Cover and bake at 350 degrees for one hour.

Uncover and sprinkle with paprika.  Bake for 15 more minutes, or until chicken is done.

Enjoy!

What regional food is your favorite?  

With love from my country kitchen,

Cars get lots of use and abuse, and as result, they deserve need lots of care and attention.  Aside from all the regular maintenance stuff that has to be done to the engine, the inside needs a female touch to keep it smelling nice.  Let me define “nice.”  It is NOT a pine tree fragrance or whatever other smell fragrance those plastic rear view mirror thingy’s come in!  How about a Macintosh apple fragrance?  Lovely. Clean Cotton or Bahama Breeze?  These are all fragrances put out by Yankee Candle.  Take a look at this:

That is a vent clip.  You simply slide it into your vent and voila!  It makes your car smell wonderful!  I have a sweet neighbor who gave me a package of these Macintosh clips.  I put it in my Jeep, and later when I was loading my groceries in my car, I thought, “I didn’t buy apples, but it sure smells like them  in here!”  Then it dawned on me that the delicious smell was coming from that Yankee Vent clip!

They come in a package of four and last for two weeks.  A package is $5 – so that’s eight weeks of a great smelling car for five bucks!  Not bad!

I also love how cute they are.  I’d say they’re a whole lot prettier than a pine tree hanging from my mirror!  Here’s another one I saw on their web site:

How cute is that?!

Refresh the smell in your car with something that will smell cute and provide a little decor and style for the car!

Be refreshed,

Ever wish you could hide from everything?  The people that are irritating you, the work load in front of you and the burden inside of you?  I was at that point last week. If you’d have seen me last week I was calm on the outside, but weary on the inside. Pitiful.  Sad.  Tired and worn.  

Then Sunday came.  I went to God’s house where we stood and read the Word of God together as a congregation.  I read verse 14 out loud, “The Lord upholdeth all that fall,and raiseth up all those that be bowed down.”  That was me.  Bowed down.  Wanting to hide, but so happy and joyful to be reminded that Christ will hold me and lift me up!  As the service continued, a sweet friend stood and sang this song and it made my heart flow over with peace.

This is my prayer closet – my place to Hide Away

Hide Away

VERSE 1 
Come, weary saints, though tired and weak 
Hide away in the love of Jesus
Your strength will return by His quiet streams 
Hide away in the love of Jesus

VERSE 2
Come, wandering souls, and find your home 
Hide away in the love of Jesus
He offers the rest that you yearn to know 
Hide away in the love of Jesus

BRIDGE 
Hear Him calling your name 
See the depths of His love 
In the wounds of His grace 
Hide away

VERSE 3 
Come, guilty ones weighed down with sin 
Hide away in the love of Jesus
The freedom you long for is found in Him 
Hide away in the love of Jesus

VERSE 4 
Come, hopeless hearts, do not despair 
Hide away in the love of Jesus
For ten thousand joys await you there 
Hide away in the love of Jesus

How do we do that?  How do we Hide away in Jesus’ love?  It sounds wonderful, but do we know how to do it?  It requires an intentional effort to indeed “hide away.”  The first thing in the morning we get to a spot alone with Him.  We run to Him with our burden.  We talk to Him.  We spend time with Him.  We read His Word.  We spend more time saturating our thoughts and our mind with Him than we do the world.  We turn off the noise and we reject all that is opposed to His Truth.  

As I’ve spent time with my Lord this week, my heart is indeed strengthened and my head lifted up!  Oh how sweet to Hide Away in Jesus!

How/where do you hide away to be with the Lord?  Are you carrying something He needs to carry for you?  Hide away with Him and lay it at His feet.  Be intentional.  That time will make a difference in your day, your walk with Him, and your influence on this world that so desperately needs the Lord!

Hidden in Christ,

I love all my pins on Pinterest for springtime, but realistically I know I can’t buy or make everything on that board.  What I do is look for inspiration.  I’ll take what I have, move it around, and come up with my version of that look.  Here’s what I’ve done so far…

That little bunny was found at the Dollar Tree! I’m borrowing the candlesticks until someone gets a home to put them in! Thanks, Alli!

This adorable tray was in another room, but for now it’s on my dining room table, along with my sweet little birdcage and my potted herbs.

The entryway

I borrowed this greenery from another room and added the bird’s nest that had been abandoned a few years ago.

My chalkboard signs – Jesus lives within my heart.

This is on top of the fridge

The only thing I purchased was the dollar bunny!  I love that!  Shopping at home is fun and fulfillling!

I also have a couple pictures on my phone from window displays at the mall I was at this week.  I’m hoping to use one of the ideas for my Easter table! 

Where do you get your decorating inspiration?  

From my country porch,

A sad truth – I did not cook Sunday dinner yesterday.   A Lovely truth – my husband took me out for dinner!  We only do that occasionally on Sundays because it’s just so much nicer after a busy morning at church to come home to the quiet of our own home than enter a noisy and busy restaurant.  However, due to a migraine yesterday morning, it was easier to grab a bite out.

When I woke up not feeling well, I was really glad I had made something the day before for us to eat for breakfast!  These muffins are simple and fairly healthy, but extremely moist and delicious!

I tweaked another recipe and came up with these lovely morsels.  Using frozen strawberries make them convenient and also a little different.  It’s normal to have blueberries in muffins, but sweet red berries make them extra special.  They smell SO good and taste even better!  I’ve been buying the big bag of frozen strawberries at Sams Club.  They’re more economical than the fresh ones (when they’re not in season) and they are really nice berries!  You could use fresh berries, too, if you have those on hand.

Strawberry Streusel Muffins
2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup white sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/3 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
2/3 cup strawberry yogurt (I used Dannon fat-free yogurt)
2 cups frozen chopped strawberries
2 tablespoons flour (for berries)

Topping
2/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons butter, room temperature

Instructions

Muffins
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line muffin cups with muffin liners or grease muffin cups lightly.
In a medium bowl, mix together flour, white sugar, salt, and baking powder.
In a separate large bowl, add vegetable oil, 2 eggs, and yogurt and whisk to combine.
Add flour mixture from step 2 to the liquid mixture in step 3 and mix just enough to combine.
In a separate medium size bowl (the one you used in step 2), combine strawberries with 2 tablespoons of flour. This is supposed to prevent berries from clumping together and sinking. Fold in the berries into the batter from step 4.
To make the topping:
Combine brown sugar, flour, cinnamon, and butter in a small bowl. Mix until you have crumb-like mixture.

Fill muffin cups with the muffin batter about 3/4 full. Sprinkle the streusel topping over muffins. Bake for about 20 minutes in the oven.

Strawberries, brown sugar topping….mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!

Someone in my house ate three at one sitting.  Yeah, they’re that good!

Have you tried any new recipes in your kitchen lately?  Think you’ll try these?

From my country kitchen,