Sweet Potato Bread

This bread is the one I make the most during the Holiday season.
My family and friends love it.

Please try it and let me know how you like it. Enjoy!!!



3 cups Gold Medal® self-rising flour
3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup vegetable oil
3 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon of salt
4 eggs, slightly beaten
3 cup mashed cooked sweet potatoes
1 cup chopped pecans (optional)
1/2 cup golden raisins (optional)


Heat oven to 350°F.
Grease bottom only of 8x4-inch loaf pan with shortening or cooking spray. In large bowl, stir together flour, sugar, nutmeg and cinnamon.

Add oil, milk and eggs; blend well. Stir in sweet potatoes, pecans and raisins until well mixed. Pour into pan.

Bake 1 hour 15 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan 15 minutes. Remove from pan to cooling rack. Cool completely, about 1 hour. Wrap tightly and store at room temperature up to 4 days, or refrigerate up to 10 days.

Life and Love By Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Fast this Life of mine was dying,

Blind already and calm as death,

Snowflakes on her bosom lying

Scarcely heaving with her breath.

Love came by, and having known her

In a dream of fabled lands,

Gently stooped, and laid upon her

Mystic chrism of holy hands.

Drew his smile acress her folded

Eyelids, as the swallow dips;

Breathed as finely as the cold did

Throgh the locking of her lips.

So, when Life looked upward, being

Warmed and breathed on from above,

What sight could she have for seeing,

Evermore....but only Love?

Preacher, Don't Send Me By Maya Angelou

Preacher, Don't send me

when I die

to some big ghetto

in the sky

where rats eat cats

of the leopard type

and Sunday brunch

is grits and tripe.

I've known those rats

I've seen them kill

and grits I've had

would make a hill,

or maybe a mountain,

so what I need

from you on Sunday

is a different creed.

Preacher, please don't

promise me

streets of gold

and milk for free.

I stopped all milk

at four years old

and once I'm dead

I won't need gold.

I'd call a place

pure paradise

where families are loyal

and strangers are nice,

where the music is jazz

and the season is fall.

Promise me that

or nothing at all.

Here is something I read in a book and I believe it to be very true:

But love, is more than three words
mumbled before bedtime. Love
is sustained by action, a pattern
of devotion in the things we do
for each other every day.

Pumpkin Cheesecake

I made this for family and they really loved it!!! A must try Cheesecake.


Crust

1 3/4 cups graham cracker crumbs (about 24 squares)

2 tablespoons granulated sugar

1/2 cup butter or margarine, melted

Filling

1/4cup Gold Medal® all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice

2 tablespoons brandy, if desired

1 can (15 oz) pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix)

4 packages (8 oz each) cream cheese, softened

1 cup packed brown sugar

2/3 cup granulated sugar

5 eggs

1. Heat oven to 325°F. Grease 9-inch springform pan with shortening. In small bowl, mix cracker crumbs, 2 tablespoons granulated sugar and the melted butter. Press crumb mixture in bottom of pan. Wrap foil around outside of pan to prevent drips. Bake crust 8 to 10 minutes or until set. Cool 5 minutes at room temperature. Refrigerate about 5 minutes or until completely cooled.
2. Meanwhile, in another small bowl, mix flour, pumpkin pie spice, brandy and pumpkin; set aside. In large bowl, beat cream cheese with electric mixer on medium speed until smooth and creamy. Gradually beat in brown sugar and 2/3 cup granulated sugar until smooth. On low speed, beat in 1 egg at a time just until blended. Gradually beat in pumpkin mixture until smooth.
3. Pour filling over crust. Bake 1 hour 15 minutes to 1 hour 25 minutes or until set but center of cheesecake still jiggles slightly when moved. Turn oven off; open oven door at least 4 inches. Let cheesecake remain in oven 30 minutes.
4. Run knife around edge of pan to loosen cheesecake. Cool in pan on wire rack 30 minutes. Refrigerate at least 6 hours or overnight before serving.
5. To serve, run knife around edge of pan to loosen cheesecake. Carefully remove side of pan before cutting cheesecake. Store covered in refrigerator.

Beef Stew for the slow cooker

It is getting chilly outside, try this beef stew it is very good. It is easy and best of all it cooks without you being there, or watching over it. It is a great meal serve it with garlic bread.

8 ServingsPrep: 25 min. Cook: 7 hours

Ingredients1-1/2 pounds potatoes, peeled and cubed

6 medium carrots, cut into 1-inch slices

1 medium onion, coarsely chopped

3 celery ribs, coarsely chopped

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1-1/2 pounds beef stew meat, cut into 1-inch cubes

3 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 can (14-1/2 ounces) diced tomatoes, undrained

1 cup beef broth

1 teaspoon ground mustard

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

1/2 teaspoon browning sauce

Directions

Layer the potatoes, carrots, onion and celery in a 5-qt. slow cooker. Place flour in a large resealable plastic bag. Add stew meat; seal and toss to coat evenly. In a large skillet, brown meat in oil in batches. Place over vegetables. In a large bowl, combine the tomatoes, broth, mustard, salt, pepper, thyme and browning sauce. Pour over beef. Cover and cook on high for 1-1/2 hours. Reduce heat to low; cook 7-8 hours longer or until the meat and vegetables are tender.

Yield: 8 servings. Nutrition Facts: 1 serving (1 cup) equals 272 calories, 11 g fat (3 g saturated fat), 53 mg cholesterol, 381 mg sodium, 23 g carbohydrate, 4 g fiber, 19 g protein.

Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night By Dylan Thomas

Though this poem is dedicated to and addresses Thomas's father, who was terminally ill at the time, it still resounds with the poet's characteristic imagery of natural beauty.

Do not go gentle into that good night,

Old age should burn and rave at close of day;

Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,

Because their words had forked no lighting they

Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright

Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,

Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,

And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,

Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight

Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,

Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on the sad height,

Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.

Do not go gentle into that good night.

Rage, rage against the dying of the light.