RIP Grandma Diamond

Zacary's sweet grandma {Bonnie} Diamond passed recently. She lived a long happy life, and in the short amount of time I was blessed to know her I learned she was absolutely full of love.  Her service was as beautiful as the life we will continue to remember. 

Karen {Zac's step mom} spoke at Grandma Diamond's funeral. Bonnie, being the well put together lady she was, provided whomever was to speak at her funeral with exactly what she wanted to be said. A brief story containing her best memories. What a lovely idea, I thought as Karen spoke about how this story was carefully tucked away in the box titled "Funeral Requests." Because life is so unpredictable, I too am starting one of these boxes. 

Grandma Bonnie has 3 kids. One infant daughter whom she is finally reunited with in Heaven, as well as her two precious adopted sons, Randy and Bruce. She has two step sons, 14 grandchildren, an impressive 60 great-grandchildren, and one great-great-grandchild. 

I was only able to know Granda Bonnie a short time, when her health had been failing her. She was still a lovely lady who made you feel special the moment you walked through the door. She welcomed me to the family with open arms, and loved baby Drayze with her everything the moment she set eyes on the boy. One of her precious last days we went to visit her. You wouldn't believe the way she lit up the moment Drayze flashed her his little grin. Everyone kept telling us, "This is the happiest and most awake she has been in days." At the end of each visit, no matter how tired and exhausted she was, she would say, "You don't need to be running off, stay."

I'm told in Bonnie's more lively days she was always to be found in the garden, as she was an expert in all types of pickles. Boy how I would have loved learning everything she knew. Grandma Diamond, you will be greatly missed. We will forever hold a dear spot in our hearts for you. Until we meet again. 

Meet our plant "Bonnie" we adopted from the funeral. We are reminded daily of our Grandma Diamond's beautiful life. 

Rainy Day Baking

There is something about a gloomy rainy day that makes me feel cozy and content. Especially when it happens to be on one of my precious "mommy days." The perfect compliment to the rain is the smell {and taste} of fresh baked bread wafting in the kitchen. This gloomy rainy mommy day was spent in sweat pants while baking/cooking and listening to my favorite music.

 For the first time ever, I found the ambition to try baking bread. It wasn't easy, but it turned out to be a success. If you feel the urge to bake a loaf {or 3} of bread and are a rookie like myself, I recommend this simple{ish} recipe I used. 

Basic White Bread, from The Food Nanny Rescues Dinner

4 cups warm water (105-115 degrees)

2 tablespoons active dry yeast

1 tablespoon salt

1/3 cup canola oil

1/3 cup honey or 2/3 cup sugar

10-12 cups all-purpose or bread flour 

1. Put the water into a very large mixing bowl or the bowl of heavy-duty mixer. Add the yeast, salt, oil, honey, and 5 cups of the flour, and mix to combine. 

2. Knead by hand on a lightly floured surface, or with the dough hook on low for 12 minutes. Cover with a dish town and let dough ride until doubled in bulk, 30-45 minutes. Generously grease three 9x5-inch load pans and set aside. 

3. Punch down the dough, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface, and knead it briefly to remove air bubbles. Divide the dough in thirds, knead each section a few times, and shape into a loaf. Place the dough into the prepared pans. Cover with a dish towel and let rise again 30-45 minutes. The dough is ready to bake when you press down slightly with your finger and the indention remains. 

4. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake the loaves for 30 minutes. Immediately remove from the pans and cool on a wire rack. 

*Freeze extra loaves in plastic freezer bag for up to two months. 

I also baked a loaf of banana chocolate chip bread which didn't turn out "picture perfect" but proved to taste better than it looked. 

3 bananas, cut up

1 cup sugar

1 stick butter (at room temp)

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)

1/2 cup chocolate chips (optional)

1. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Coat 9x5x3-inch load pan with cooking spray. 

2. In learns bowl, mash the bananas. Add sugar and butter. Mix with an electric mixer until smooth. {Or just plop that shit in the magic bullet and push go} Add the eggs and vanilla, mix in low for about 1 minute. 

3. Mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a seperate bowl. Add banana mixture all at once. Stir with a wooden spoon just until combine. Fold in nuts and chocolate chips, if desired. 

4. Scrape the batter into prepared pan and bake 60-70 minutes. Let cool in pan 10 minutes, then turn out onto wire rack.