On being a Bulldog and bleeding maroon...

Most of my readers know that I'm a Bulldog, through and through. From the time I was a child, I was wearing maroon and white and cheering on Mississippi State. My parents took us to a few games as kids. I distinctly remember going to a home game against Tulane and getting in trouble for booing the other team. And a trip to the Liberty Bowl around 1991-1992. I don't think visiting the campus made as much of an impression on my sister because she doesn't remember going to games! He he!

In August 1998, I officially became a Bulldog. I started out as a young 18 year-old, and graduated with my bachelor's degree in May 2002. The four years I spent at State were some of the best of my life, and I was fortunate to spend it with my best friends in the world, who also attended college here.

One especially fantastic year was 1999. I was a sophomore, and that fall something remarkable happened - we had a really, really good football team! In fact, we went 8-0 before losing a game! We also went to the SEC Championships that year, which we unfortunately lost.

During that season, I had the incredible opportunity to work for ESPN during one of our televised games. I was a broadcasting major, and we got paid $50 to be assistants. My job assignment was to help run cable for a camera on the Bulldog sidelines. I had an all access press pass to the stadium, and was on the sideline for the entire game.

The particular game I worked was Kentucky. It was cold that night, and I distinctly remember wearing my favorite pair of jeans and a navy J Crew pea coat. (Which I still have....) It was an exciting night, and instead of expressing it with words, I will share this video of the end of the game.

As you can see, it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I was right there as this unfolded. On the sidelines. With our team! Not 10 minutes before that field goal was kicked, Scott Westerfield looked over at me and winked. I was chatting it up with Kelvin Love and Fred Smoot on the sidelines! It is definitely a night I will never forget!

We play Kentucky tomorrow night at home. Last year we beat them in a thrilling game in their territory, and are pretty evenly matched against them this year. This is going to be a big game for us, because after have several terrible seasons in a row, we are finally on our way back up. We are 6-2, bowl eligible, and still have to face Kentucky, Alabama, Arkansas and Ole Miss in our last four games. (Quick soap box - SEC is THE HARDEST conference in the nation. Had to get that off my chest.) Its a BIG GAME for us, and I'm really excited about spending that time with my family.

I have been a Bulldog all my life. From childhood, to my college years, and now as an adult and employee of this great university, I have always been a Bulldog. And no matter what, win or lose, I will remain a Bulldog because I believe in this university, I believe in its people, and I believe in its purpose to educate our state. Having a good football team is just icing on the cake!

Go Dawgs!

For the love of pumpkin...Part 2

This could turn into a 14 part post if I'm not careful! : )

We had our bi-monthly staff birthday celebration at the beginning of October, and one of our secretaries made the most delicious pumpkin dip! It's cold, creamy, sweet and all around fantastic! This is a great tailgating treat during football season or appetizer for a family gathering! Definitely something you should add to your to-do list! : )

Pumpkin Dip

Ingredients
2 pkgs. Fat free cream cheese, softened
1 can pumpkin
2 cups sifted powdered sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger

Directions
Whip cream cheese and pumpkin in large bowl until smooth. Stir in sugar and spices, mixing well. Cover and refrigerate for 1 at least hour. Serve with sliced apples, graham crackers, vanilla wafers, gingersnaps, etc.

For the love of pumpkin...

I love this time of year! Its one of my favorites! You know why?

Because we have football

Because I love the colors and smells of fall

Because it is guranteed that I will have lots of family gatherings

Because family gatherings ensure lots of baking needs

Because I get to change out the decorations of my house for various holidays

Because, because, because, because....

Because of the wonderful things [it] does....

(whoa...Wizard of Oz flashback there...)

But back to loving this time of year. One thing about this time of year is the abundance of pumpkin products available to the public. We have pumpkin coffee, pumpkin creamer, pumpkin cookies, pumpkin cake, pumpkin ice cream, pumpkin candles, pumpkin....everything. And as a lover of all things pumpkin, I especially enjoy this abundance.

So, last night, I ventured into the love of pumpkin with my baking, and ended up making pumpkin bran muffins. While watching the Cowboys lose. And about the time Romo broke his clavical, I put too much honey in my recipe. They turned out okay though! ; )

These are not sweet muffins by any means, but a somewhat healthier way to bake a muffin. If you don't like bran muffins, you will probably not like these. But I think they are quite tasty and a great way to start my day.

Because the recipe made nearly 2 dozen, I also froze two packages of them for later use. I debated on whether or not to freeze the baked

muffins or the batter, and ended up freezing the bread. If anyone can offer advice on freezing batter, please let me know!

The recipe came from www.verybestbaking.com, a great source for all of your baking needs! And since I called my mother, sister-in-law and solicited help via Twitter and Facebook...I have decided there needs to be a 24 hour help line for baking advice. Food Network, do you think you could take care of that? Because sometimes I have questions that my family cannot answer! Thanks!

Here's the recipe! Enjoy!

BestLife™ Pumpkin Spice Muffins
Ingredients
Nonstick cooking spray
2 cups wheat bran cereal
1/2 cup boiling water
1 cup pure pumpkin
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups skim milk
1/4 cup honey
1/3 cup granulated sugar
3 tablespoons canola oil
1 cup whole-wheat flour
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking soda
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped

Directions
Preheat oven to 350º F. Place rack in the center of the oven. Lightly coat a 12-cup muffin pan with cooking spray.

In a medium mixing bowl, combine bran cereal, water and pumpkin and let sit for at least 5 minutes.

In another bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, honey, sugar and oil. Combine egg mixture with bran mixture and stir till smooth.

Mix in flours, baking soda and spices. Stir just until dry ingredients are moistened.

Put a scant 1/2 cup of batter into each muffin tin. Sprinkle with walnuts and bake for about 20 minutes till tops are brown and a toothpick tests clean.

Cool in pan on wire rack for 10 minutes; remove to wire rack to cool completely.

Happy cooking!

Halloween Arts & Crafts

I got this great idea to make cat pumpkins from Good Housekeeping this year. I mean...who doesn't want cat pumpkins in their front yard? So, I set out to make them. Here was my process:

1. Find two regular pumpkins, 2 small pumpkins, and 4 tiny pumpkins.

2. Get some black spray paint, felt, hot glue, acrylic paint, ribbon, and sharp sticks.

3. Cut the stems off of the pumpkins, or get your neighbor to do it for you. (Don't judge. He offered.)

4. Spray paint pumpkins in black. Might take a couple of coats. Let it dry in between coats! : )

5. Once the black paint is dry, take the small pumpkin and stick it on top of the big pumpkin. (Difficult steps, I know.)

6. Take some kind of sharp stick and poke it through the top pumpkin into the bottom. I used small garden stakes. I took a hammer and just banged them right on down. I also stabbed myself with the sharp end in the process.

7. Take the tiny pumpkins and stake them into the bottom to make feet.

8. Get a light colored acrylic paint and make cat eyes. I used yellow.

9. Cut four ears out of felt. I outlined them in silver glitter puff paint. It made them real pretty.

10. Glue ears on top of small pumpkin in the place where ears go. Be very, very careful though! Hot glue on skin DOES NOT FEEL GOOD!!!! Don't learn this lesson the hard way.

11. Take ribbon and wrap it around the cat's neck. Don't choke it! Make it loose enough to breathe....And hot glue the two ends together in the back. But don't burn your finger. Seriously. Take. My. Word. For. It.

12. Set your cat pumpkins up in the yard, on the porch, or in the house. People will love them.

Meet Fritz. People love him.

Meet Hans. People like him too.

Fritz and Hans live in the front yard, and I think they are mostly happy. They watch over the bones of the last trespasser. God rest his soul. They also make sure no one messes with my witches cauldron. I have spells to conduct after all.

*Disclaimer - No cats were actually hurt in the process of making these. However, some pumpkins were. In fact, I don't think Hans will make it munch longer. His head is already rotting. Dang.

To blog or not to blog...that is the question

Well, I may or may not start blogging again. What I do know at this point is:

1. I needed a new design. One that is simple and sleek.

2. I didn't need 2 blogs anymore, so I imported the other one and deleted it.

3. If I do start blogging "regularly again," it will not be daily. I'm just too busy for that.

I have been blogging for about seven or eight years now, and am probably on my sixth blog or something by now. When it was more of a hobby and fun, I was not working as someone who wrote professionally. Being a writer takes the fun out of blogging. And reading. Because its hard to get out of work mode and into casual mode. But we will attempt and see how much I can do and when.

I really wanted to start blogging again because I have a hilarious new project that I"m working on for Halloween. And last night, whilst spray painting black pumpkins in my front yard, I had a little assistance from my two engineering neighbors who circled my project and offered advice on how to really make it work. Pictures will come soon enough, but probably not until next week!

Anyway, this is just a quick note to say I'm going to give a go at blogging again. But you will see new things on SMSA's. It will not be solely on food and cooking anymore. Probably because I haven't been cooking as much lately. I know...but life has been busy and out of sorts for the last several months. Just deal! ; )

So...this blog will be about food, cooking, crafts, life, family, God, etc. Same name. New design. Some new topics.

Maybe people will read it. Maybe not. But it will be there...most likely.

peace love and cake

The Art of Being Neighborly

So, I live in a small town. So, I bake things for my neighbors. So, I'm really Southern. So what!

My sister made fun of me tonight because I baked a batch of brownies for my new neighbors. But, the thing is...I like to bake. AND...when you bake for your neighbors then eventually they might do things for you in return. Like move heavy things. Or kill snakes. At least...that's what I hope will happen in result of the brownies.

I had an idea the other night. I wanted some vanilla brownies. But with chocolate chips. And with cinnamon. But I couldn't find a recipe. So I googled a couple of things, and came up with this:

Vanilla Cinnamon Chocolate Chip Brownies

Ingredients:
2 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened (1 1/2 sticks)
1 1/4 cup white sugar
1 1/4 cup light brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla (I always use Mexican)
3 eggs
2 cups chocolate chips

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 10x15 inch pan. (If you don't have 10x15, use a 9x13, but you will need to bake longer.)

2. In a small bowl, sift together flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

3. In a large bowl, beat butter, sugars, cinnamon, and vanilla until smooth. Gradually add 1 egg at a time, continuing mixing.

4. Slowly add flour mixture to batter and beat until well mixed. Fold in chocolate chips.

5. Spread the batter evenly in the pan and bake for 35-45 minutes.**

6. Cool in the pan on a wire rack. When cooled, cut into squares.


**Watch the brownies as you get near the end of baking. The top of mine started to get a little crunchy, but once it cooled, they cut fine.

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Ummm...these brownies were pretty darn good! Very rich, but good! And I might add a little more cinnamon next time to bring out that flavor. Or some nutmeg. Something to spice it up though.

I think the neighbors were impressed. You know, it never hurts to sweeten them up! I may need their muscles in the future!

Happy cooking!

On fudge and love and remembering

I haven’t blogged in a while, on either site, if you (my three readers) haven’t noticed. I’m a writer by day, and though I love it in my pastime, it’s usually more…emotional and personal when it’s not for work. But yesterday I found the strength to post this, in an edited version, which was written at the end of May. Get out your box of Kleenex’s!
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Ever since I was a child, I have loved to cook. I honestly can’t remember how early I started cooking, or who first introduced me to cooking. It was probably my mother, who comes from a long line of great cooks. I’m sure I helped her back a cake or cookies or something, and somehow just took it on as one of my favorite things to do.

One of my earliest memories is baking around the holidays with my Mamaw (mother’s mom) and my Aunt Gloria (mom’s older sister). We would get together at my grandparent’s house and make all kinds of goodies like chocolate covered everything, buckeye balls, Martha Washington balls, divinity, etc. We would spend an entire day making candy and getting ready for whatever family holiday was to follow.

I have fond memories of the times spent in the kitchen with my aunt and Mamaw. They taught me a lot about baking, measuring, and the science of cooking. (Like how you should make candy on a crisp, cool day with no humidity. It sets better!) They also spent time investing in my life, showing me what it’s like to be family, to be a Christian woman, and to be good in the kitchen.

Every time we baked, we had our very own taste tester. My Papaw had a major sweet tooth, and would always sneak in and take a nibble of what we were up to. He was incorrigible when it came to the kitchen! We absolutely couldn’t keep him away from the candy, but that was okay because it needed to be tested anyway!

Papaw’s favorite homemade treat, or so I recall, was chocolate fudge. (His real favorite candy was chocolate covered cherries. The last thing I gave him was a box of those in the hospital.) Papaw was always a sucker for fudge. Anytime we made it, he came in and stole a piece, or two, or three... Sometimes he wouldn’t even let it set up properly before he stole a piece. I remember teasing him, and slapping his hand away, but always laughing because he was so silly and fun.

I have such good memories of those days with my grandparents. They really loved me and invested their lives in me, and I am so thankful for those times. I am thankful that I lived just a few miles away from them for most of my life, and that they were able to attend choir performances, plays, band recitals, soccer games, etc., etc. They took me camping, to ballgames, to the movies, to church, and were such an integral part of my childhood. I am thankful for their love and support of me over the last 30 years.

On June 6, my grandparents celebrated their 62 wedding anniversary. It’s remarkable to me to have been married so long. It was a blessing to witness how much they loved and cared for each other through the years. They continued to tease one another, flirt, hold hands, bat eyes, and act like two teenagers in love. They were sweet, and truly lived for the other. They showed me what it was like to love someone else unconditionally.


On June 6 my sweet, loving, adoring Papaw joined our savior in heaven. Mamaw was by his side holding his hand.

To say the last month has been hard is an understatement. I know grief is a process, and he is not the first person I have lost. But he is by far the most significant person in my life to go. I still get very sad at times when I think that I will never share a laugh, a hug, or a sweet moment with him. But at the same time I had 30 years of shared moments that will stay with me forever. I will always miss him, and I will always love him. I will always be thankful to our time spent together. And I look forward to one day seeing him again in heaven and worshiping our Lord for eternity.

My Papaw loved fudge. Plain, simple chocolate fudge. Every time I make it, I will think of him.

Love you, Paps!

Easy Chocolate Fudge
Adapted from the Eagle’s Brand Milk recipe

Ingredients
3 cups (18 oz.) semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 (14 oz.) can Fat Free Sweetened Condensed Milk
Dash salt
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Wax paper

Directions:
Line an 8 or 9 inch square pan with wax paper. Slowly melt chocolate chips with the
sweetened condensed milk and salt in heavy saucepan. Be careful not to heat too quickly because it can burn. Remove chocolate mixture from heat and add vanilla. Spread evenly in prepared pan.

Chill fudge for 2 hours until it sets and is firm. Then remove the fudge by lifting the wax paper out of the pan. Cut into small, bite-sized squares with a knife.