Welcome to my blog

Hi everyone. This blog is something that I've started because I thought it would be a good way to share recipies that I've developed and continue to develop.

Learning to cook as a child was considered a "chore" in our household growing up. By the age of middle school, I was making breads, danish pastries, whole meals and other baked goods. My mother worked outside the home much of the time while growing up so cooking fell to me most of the time. She and my grandmother taught me most of what I know. My grandmother would "hire" me and pay me a small wage when she had her dinner parties. I usually made some type of bread plus helped in the kitchen and cleaned up while she enjoyed her dinner party. I have fond memories of sitting in her kitchen listening to her tell me how meals should be made. What a special time!

I have the privilege to serve my church (Morning Star Church) by making breakfast every morning for our Production and Worship teams. What they don't know is that I love to fix them surprises every Sunday by making something different and unique that maybe they haven't had before.

This blog will share some receipies that I've been making a long time plus all the new ones I've made for our church group on Sunday Mornings. God says that each one of us has a unique and different gift and/or talent. I think mine is cooking and even though there are only two of us at home now, I get to cook on a regular basis for groups or families in need. When cooking for a family in need, I try to give the recipe along with the meal so that if the family wants to create it again, they can.

I love the ingrediants cinnamon and in Proverbs, it says: "I have sprinkled my bed with myrrh, aloes and cinnamon." So you will see cinnamon in a lot of the recipies I use. Here's the first one called Pumpkin Struesel Nut Coffee Cake. I made it as an original for our group yesterday. They ate it up and there were just a few pieces left over to nibble on today.

Pumpkin Struesel Nut Coffee Cake

1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup softened butter
4 eggs
1 can solid pumpkin (not baking mix)
1 Tablespoon Baking Powder
2 cups floor
1 Tablespoon Cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon Cloves
1/2 teaspoon Ginger

Cream the sugar, butter and eggs together to make a fluffy batter. Add dry ingrediants and pumpking alternately ending with the pumpkin. Pour into an oblong large pan.

Struesel Topping
2/3 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup floor
1 cup chopped nuts
1 Tablespoon Cinnamon
1/2 cold butter

Cut the cold butter into the other ingrediants and crumble over the pumpkin mixture. Dont worry about mixing in or cutting in the struesel with a knife as the topping will melt somewhat into the batter.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 40 minutes until the cake is set in the middle. You can serve hot or cooled. I like to dress it up with cinnamon whipped cream (combing 1 cup whipping cream with 1 teaspoon cinnamon plus 1/4 cup powdered sugar). Whip until the cream is fluffy and serve with the cake.