1. What puts a spring in your step these days?
My knee is feeling a whole lot better and I've gotten back to walking longer distances. It's really encouraging! Soon we'll be seeing these on our daily walks:
2. April 2nd was National Peanut Butter and Jelly Day. Did you celebrate? Do you like PB and J? If so how do you like yours? What's your favorite kind of jelly?
I did not celebrate ... in fact I had no idea that National PB&J Day existed. I do like peanut butter and jelly. In general, I prefer jam to jelly. If using it in a PB&J sandwich, my choice would be grape, strawberry, or raspberry jam.
One of my favorite ways to use peanut butter and jelly (jam, really) is in the following recipe:
PEANUT BUTTER JAM BARS
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup butter or real margarine, softened
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1 egg
1 1/4 cup flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup raspberry or strawberry jam
Glaze:
2 tablespoons margarine
1 cup confectioners sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 to 2 tablespoons hot water
Combine sugars, butter, peanut butter, and egg. Sift together flour,
baking soda and baking powder; add to sugar mixture and mix thoroughly.
Remove 1 cup dough and set aside. Press remaining dough in an ungreased 13 x 9 x 2” baking pan. Spread jam over top of dough. Crumble reserved dough and sprinkle over jam. Bake at 350º for 20 to 25 minutes or until bars test done. Cool in pan on wire rack. When cooled, drizzle with glaze. Allow glaze to set before cutting.
For glaze, melt margarine in small saucepan. Remove from heat and stir in sugar and vanilla. Beat in hot water, 1 teaspoon at a time, until glaze is smooth and of desired consistency. Yield: 24 bars.
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| Photo from Land o' Lakes |
The recipe is one I got from my sister-in-law when all of our kids were young. The classic PB&J flavor is definitely a hit with kids of all ages. I borrowed the above photo from Land-O-Lakes because it looks very much like these bars only without the glaze. Their recipe uses a cake mix and looks good also.
3. What's a memory you associate with spring flowers?
I may have written about this one before but I don't think so. Decades ago when I was a teen, I belonged to a youth group that often did service projects for others. I'm quite sure this would never fly today, but we were invited to go to the wooded property of one family where Mayflowers (trailing arbutus) grew prolifically, and pick little bouquets of these early spring wildflowers to fill May baskets for elderly shut-ins. It was fun tromping around in the spring woods on the search for these pretty little flowers. They can be white, as seen here, or pale pink.
4. Three things on your spring bucket list? Do you have a spring bucket list? If not pretend you do.
Let me think.
1. Do some volunteer work here.
2. Open up our little camp for the season.
3. Take several loads of unneeded items to the thrift store.
5. One place you will travel this spring? (It might be Europe or it might be the grocery store)
We are hoping for a getaway. Possibly here:
6. Insert your own random thought here.
It's been a busy few weeks with eldercare. Always hard when the children sort of become the parents.
The bloodroot below is another early wildflower that will appear very soon. It always reminds me of my father-in-law (with the Lord since 2000) because he gave the plants to our daughter Carrie for her wildflower garden.
And that wraps up the Hodgepodge for this week! Why not head on over to From This Side of the Pond and snag the questions to answer on your own blog?
It has been long years since I have seen and smelled a Mayflower. Now that. was a great memory. I am sure that the older folks really appreciated their May baskets.
ReplyDeleteOh, I enjoyed this so much! I love your recipe for the PB&J Bars. I may have to try that. Another thing I love on my PB&J is Apple Butter. I often have PB&Apple Butter on cinnamon raisin toast for breakfast! I first learned about using apple butter with PB at the Christian Youth Camp that I attended as a teen and also served at as a counselor after high school. They had bowls of PB and Apple Butter on the tables for every breakfast! I love that you volunteer at TWNE camp. I've never been there, but I've heard of it and it certainly looks like a wonderful camp. I love youth camps and wish I were young again so I could go back! LOL. Oh, I love the May Basket idea. We did that as children, and I remember my mother talking about how she did that as a child too for May Day. And now, I love that you plan to go to York, Maine area. We visited that same lighthouse with our kids several years ago when our son Matthew was still living. I have some wonderful pictures of him and his family standing right there in front of that lighthouse. Precious memories. I can't wait for you to get your little camp back open for the summer! I know your family will make some wonderful memories there. Thank you for sharing all of this with us today. I enjoyed every bit of it.
ReplyDeleteYork Harbor Inn could definitely be on my bucket list if I lived in your area.
ReplyDeleteWhat a sweet teen project to pick those flowers for shut-ins. Those bars look delicious! Thanks for sharing the recipe. Your getaway spot looks amazing. Glad that knee is better and that you are more comfortable walking!
ReplyDeleteThose jam barslook really good. I love spring flowers. Mom always had beautiful flowers in her yard. The tiny purple and white violets take me to my childhood and early Spring. I would see them walking through the path with my neighborhood friend. Lovely photos,
ReplyDeleteI prefer jam as well; it's just...better!
ReplyDeleteThat recipe sounds amazing. My daughter used to make these yummy jam muffins (I can't remember if they had PB in them or not, but they were so good). Oh, that inn looks amazing. I might have to look into it. We are heading to the New England states in October for our anniversary.
ReplyDelete