Logan's 5 years old? or is he?

I was just reminded of something funny Logan did, so now I have to write about it.
A few weeks ago, I made a cake. (not for any particular reason) So Logan decided that he wanted to celebrate his "pretend birthday." I put candles on the cake and we sang "happy birthday" to him and everything. After that he said "I'm 5 now right?" "I said well........not really, your are still 4 until your real birthday." (in May) He started arguing with me, so I said "okay, you can be whatever you want." If you ask him now, how old he is, he will always say "5", and if you tell him he is really only "4", then he will say "my mom said I can be whatever I want!"
At least he had determination!

Our Prophet Has Passed

My heart is broken and rejoicing all at the same time. Broken for me, and all of us, and rejoicing for him. President Gordon B. Hinckley is, and always will be one of the most influential men who has ever lived. His humor, his dedication to the Lord, his un-ending service, his work ethic, his unconditional love, his positive attitude, and the way he naturally made people feel comfortable with him, are just some of the reasons I love him. He will be deeply missed.

I imagine he is rejoicing with his wife Marjorie Pay Hinckley, with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, with our Heavenly Father, with his family members and friends, and with the apostles and prophets past. I love this man with all my heart, and am greatful to have known him.

Miguel is alive!

We had a wonderful blessing the same day we had the big snow storm! Miguel got in an accident on his way home from work. He actually spun around on the freeway and was facing the wrong direction. Luckily no other cars hit him, he just hit the divider. We are blessed in 2 ways. First Miguel didn't get hurt at all, second his car is still in driving condition. We called the insurance when he got home, so we could get his car fixed, and were reminded that we don't have collision insurance on his car anymore. We had forgotten we did that.
I am so greatful Miguel is fine, he is my world! He is the fun, excitement and joy in our family.

Thank you for keeping him safe, Heavenly Father.

Bean Barley Chocolate Chip Cookies

Another bean, barley creation. YUMMY!!!!

Tiffany's Table LLC ©copyright 2007-2008 all rights reserved.

Carrot, Pineapple Cake with some secret ingredients

I made this cake today. Everyone really liked it, its very good!

The secret ingredients are navy beans and barley that I soaked overnight and then cooked together until soft. I frosted it with homemade cream cheese frosting, sweetened with raw honey. Who wants the recipe? Okay here it is....................

Carrot Bean Barley Cake

1 stick butter
1 cup raw honey
3 eggs
1 cup barley, bean puree
1 cup pineapple chunks
½ cup reserved juice from pineapple chunks
2 cups grated carrots
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups fresh-ground whole wheat flour
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp sea salt

Cream butter, honey and eggs in a large mixing bowl. In a blender puree barley and beans with the pineapple, and pineapple juice. Pour bean mixture into butter mixture. Stir in grated carrots, and vanilla. In a separate bowl mix dry ingredients together, add the dry ingredients, to the wet ingredients and mix, just until blended. Pour into a greased 9x13 inch pan and bake in a pre-heated 350° oven for 35-40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Cool and top with Buttery Cream Cheese Frosting.



Barley, bean puree

1 cup small navy beans
1 cup barley
Enough water to cover

Soak beans and barley overnight in water, or for at least 7 hours. Drain, pour into a medium sauce pan, cover with water and cook until tender. Refrigerate. Use 1 cup in this recipe, and add the rest to your favorite soup recipe. Tiffany’s Table LLC ©copyright 2007-2008 All rights reserved.

Setting goals

Okay, I have learned a new way of goal setting. Maybe you already knew about this, but it is new to me.
When setting goals, ALWAYS write it down, and NEVER use ANY negativity in your wording. For example: If you goal is to lose weight, DO NOT write down, (or THINK) "I need to, or want to lose weight." Your subconscious mind will read that as: "Oh, no I am going to lose something, so I better hold on to it...................and..................what is it you are trying to (lose).......weight? So your body will tell you to "hold on to your weight" because it doesn't want to lose something. Very profound, isn't it!!!
Instead you should write down, and say to yourself, "It feels so good to be healthy and active and have the body I enjoy!"
Another example "I want to get out of debt" Again, the words are focusing on the wrong thing, (debt) therefore, your subconscious mind will also. Instead you should write down, and say to yourself, "it feels so good to be independently wealthy, I feel free now, knowing that I own the title to my car and the deed to my home, and always have $xxxxx amount of money in the bank."
***Another "key" to this of course, is to also thank Heavenly Father for these gifts, but do it with the feeling that it has already happened. You HAVE to feel the feelings "as if" it has already come to pass.
I have put this to the test, and will let you all know what happens. The goals I made are somewhat long term goals, so you will have to wait, but I have faith in this process, and have "felt" the feelings already, so I know it will come to pass, I just don't know the exact date!
I hope you will try this!!

Logan's back

So................for the last few days Logan has been sick. Fever, a little cough, congestion, you know the drill. Well whenever he gets sick he likes me to sit with him all day and hold him. Its really great for the first day, because my extremely active 4 year old, sits still long enough for me to cuddle with him, I like that. Then after the first day of sitting, watching cartoons and more sitting, I start to go a little crazy. So last night I was praying that he would get better, and thinking "I wish my happy, crazy, NOISY little boy was back, I miss him, it is too quiet in the house." My prayer was answered and my wish came true, Logan yelled at me this morning! I'm not sure I was totally thrilled with that, but it is his way. If he has the least amount of frustration, it comes out in LOUD sounds from his body. He kindof reminds me of my brother Terry. When he was little, we would all be sitting there playing or whatever, and all of a sudden he would just scream, like if he didn't he might explode! It's funny to think of that now. Sorry Terry (and Stef), does Terry still do that?
Anyway, the point is, my little boy is back! I'm happy. His appetite is back as well, thank goodness! He hardly ate anything for 2 days.
I love you Logan!

SNOW!!!!!!

This is what we woke up to this morning! 13-14 inches of snow!!! The kids and the dog had fun!
Notice how much snow is on the neighbors car.

Tiffany's Gluten-Free Bread

Tiffany’s Gluten-Free Bread

1 cup brown rice flour
¼ cup lentil flour
1 cup masa harina
¼ cup tapioca flour
½ tsp sea salt
½ tsp baking soda
2 tsp aluminum-free, Gf, baking powder
1 cup water
1 tbsp instant yeast
1 tbsp raw honey
2 eggs
¼ cup grape seed oil
1 tbsp raw, apple-cider vinegar

In a large bowl mix water, yeast and honey, allow to rest while preparing other ingredients or about 5 minutes. In a separate bowl mix dry ingredients together. Stir eggs and grape seed oil into water mixture. Add dry ingredients and cider vinegar. Mix until well blended. Spoon into two, greased, medium sized bread pans. Cover and let it rise for 1 hour. Bake in pre-heated 350°F oven for 30-40 minutes.


Alternative cooking method:

After dough has risen. Heat a cast iron skillet, to medium low. Butter the pan lightly, then carefully spoon out 1 heaping tbsp of dough onto skillet, (slightly spread out each one) add as many as you can fit into the pan. Cook on low heat for 5 minutes per side, then turn again and cook an additional 3 minutes per side with a lid on.

©Copyright 2007-2008 Tiffany's Table LLC

Emerald's new pj's

As you can see, I made a HUGE mistake in the length across the shoulders. I used 2 different patterns and then changed them, so I didn't take the shoulder length into consideration. Ooopps! Emerald is still willing to wear them, and likes them, so that's what counts. I kept the pattern that I made and may try making a dress with the same pattern, maybe? I was surprised how much I had to re-learn as I was going, but then it all seemed to come back to me.

I would have gotten it done sooner, but it took me 2 or 3 days of "thinking" and getting myself ready to thread my serger. Not a fun task! In the end it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. As I said before, this is supposed to be for fun and learning. I definately learned, not quite sure about the fun. I really want to get better at this though, so I have to keep trying.

If anyone knows of a good book that explains the basics of sewing and "how" to put things together, like what order to sew things together etc, please pass it along.

THE JACKRABBIT FACTOR a story, by Leslie Householder

I have another exciting and great book to recommend to you all. This book is an absolutely EASY read, written in a "story" version to get the point across. It focuses on how to get what you want out of life. At the back of the book is even ideas in helping you to write down your own goals and how to "word" it right. I loved this book because it is so simplistic, yet very profound at the same time. I would love to hear from any of you who read this book.

Jane

My latest obsession is................................................Jane Austen movies and books
In the last 2 months I have watched Jane Eyre, Pride and Prejudice (the 6 hour version) and most of Persuasion. I can't wait to see the others. I am going to the library this week, so I think I will get one of the books also.

The only problem with this is, now I want to wear a dress?????? How weird is that? I am not normally big on dresses. Maybe its because I am down to one pair of jeans, without holes or paint stains on them. Also with a dress, they are more like one size fits all, jeans are so HARD to find a good fit!

Anyone else having dress issues? Or Jane Austen obsessions?

The last type-set version (I hope)

I finally got the type-set version back again. It took a day longer than I thought it would. I was a little concerned it got lost somewhere.

This version has color pictures and looks great! It makes me more excited for the real thing. I will finish up my part this weekend then return it on monday. I think this will be the last time we need to do this. YES!

I am hoping (faithing) the cover to be done by monday, so I will have a chance to look at that also. Then we can send it to press!

It really is almost done!

Type-set back again and again and again

As for the book, it is still in progress. I will be getting it back from the publisher once again this week, to re-check the last adjustments that were made. I am hoping this will be the last time. I was going to go and pick it up today, (30 minute drive one way) but it was like a blizzard outside, so I just asked them to mail it to me. I will return it to them on monday, as I have to go and pick up milk, (60 minute drive one way) and the publisher is on the way. This way it saves me one trip.
I haven't seen what they have done with the front cover yet. All I do know, is that, they wanted less of the background from the picture I gave them, which will only take up some of the front cover.

Sewing

As I have been reading my friends blog, I am now inspired to start sewing again. Let me tell you what usually happens. I get out all of my sewing stuff, try to make something, am not 100% satisfied with it, put away all of my sewing stuff, and wonder why I ever got it out in the first place, then hide whatever I made. This time I am going to have a positive attitude, not expect perfection (like I should be as good as a world renowned designer) and just consider this a learning experience.
I actually have this really cool pattern making book. It has over 300 patterns and you custom make them to fit each person. Its called Lutterloh if anyone has ever heard of it. The only problem with it is, it doesn't come with instructions for each pattern on how to sew them together. Which is a problem for me because I am not experienced enough to know all of the steps. I sometimes use an old pattern with directions to guide me, and that works well as long as the patterns are somewhat similar.
So this time I am making a nightgown for Emerald, I'll take pictures when I am done. In the past I have made a few cute things for her that have turned out, so there is some hope for me yet.

My best self

Okay here is a list of "truths" in my life that make me my best self. Let me explain what I mean about "truth" first.

When you find out a truth for yourself, then you are held accountable for knowing that truth.
Example: One truth for me is that if I eat chocolate (more than just a little tiny taste) I will get grumpy a day or two later. So "my truth" is.......... that if I eat chocolate my body will hold me accountable for eating chocolate when I already know what it will do to me. Crazy? I don't think so because I have tried to get around this one many times!!!

So, here is my list:
1-pray daily
2-scripture study daily
3-smile hourly (something I literally have to remind myself to do)
4-eat right
5-get enough sleep (this one is important for me)
6-walk at least 4 times per week
7-get some sun daily if possible (one of my favorites is, a big bright sun on a 40° day)
8-spend time with husband (it seems like its never enough)
9-spend time with children
10-get away from children (just for a minute)
11-have goals
12-have a hobby
13-good friends (which I do have)
14-be focused about moving forward (spiritually, mentally, temporally)
15-quiet time

That's not too much to ask ............is it?

Architecture of all Abundance Chapter 2

I know I may be jumping the gun a little this month, but I need the reminder right now.

These quotes are taken from; The Architecture of all Abundance by Lenedra J. Carroll

The greatest event is that sudden stroke of grace which shows us who and what we are, beyond the world of appearances, beyond conditions and circumstances, beyond fear and resistance, beyond desire and fulfillment, beyond the images and beliefs of the mind. The most wonderful event is to collide with the unifying silence beyond all this, untouched by all this, Here in this silence we encounter our truest potential, already realized. Here in this silence. This silence, which, while beyond all things, is ever present, surrounding us, holding us, sustaining us, feeding us. Entering the deep forests of this silence is the greatest and most wondrous of events.---------------------------------Robert Rabbin

It is the journey into silence that leads to a stillness that can inform our actions and our lives with peace and with abundance............................................................................................................
there are many routes inward: prayer, meditation, nature, solitude, contemplation, workshops, sacred writings, dance, ceremony, poetry, music, chanting, gardening, the practice of religion.

Homework Assignment

1-Practice silence
2-What are the rewards?

Coming to Know

When you need divine help: some ideas to follow that have worked wonderfully for me.
More Homework
1-Know the question
2-Focus on the question in "silence"
3-Hold the question, lightly and quietly, no straining
4-Figure out your own system for "Coming to Know"


Sit quietly, doing nothing. Spring comes, and the grass grows by itself.------------Zen saying

My prayer is that someone out there will gain something from this. As I said before, this book has changed my life, and continues to do so.

Want to learn more about the power of faith?

A friend of mine let me borrow this book, it is amazing! It really shows the power that faith has. We all should tap into this more.

To Him That Believeth by Frederick W. Babbel

Some excerpts from this book;
James E. Talmage
Faith includes a moving, vital, inspiring confidence in God, and the acceptance of His will as our law and of His words as our guide in life. Faith in God is a principle of power, for by its exercise spiritual forces are made operative; and by this power phenomena that appear to be super-natural, such as we call miracles, are wrought.

5 Things we need to learn to develop powerful faith.

1-be persistent
2-act "as if"
3-work for it
4-doubt NOTHING
5-faith is a gift of God

I would like to add--------COMPLETE TRUST IN THE LORD, IN EVERYTHING!

Kristina's Apple Pudding Cake

Kristina’s Apple Pudding Cake


1 cup fresh-ground whole wheat or spelt flour
½ cup plain yogurt
¾ cup raw honey
½ cup butter
1 egg
3 medium apples shredded (peeled if not organic)
1 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp nutmeg
¼ tsp sea salt
1 tsp baking soda

Pre-heat oven to 350°F. In a mixing bowl cream honey, butter and egg. Add yogurt, apples, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt and baking soda. Blend in flour. Pour into a greased, square baking dish. Bake for 45 minutes. Serve hot with Vanilla Ice Cream, (page ) or at room temperature with Sweetened Whip Cream (page ).


I have decided to start adding recipes to my blog. The page( ) thing, is for my book so just ignore that. As soon as I figure out how to list the recipes on the side of my blog I will do that. Hope you all enjoy these. This particular dessert is very rich, so a small piece goes a long way. We like it warm with cream or ice cream with it.

Taken from "At Tiffany's Table" due to be out around February 2008. ©Copyright 2007-2008 Tiffany’s Table LLC, all rights reserved.

This may not be copied without the permission of the author. You can contact me by e-mail. migntiff@comcast.net