Monday, November 23, 2015

Picture of Kids

Thought I should upload a recent picture of the Bailey Bunch!!  I havent't uploaded a picture of them in probably 7 years!!!!! This was taken last November in Anna Maria Island, Florida

Thanksgiving and Christmas Traditional Breakfast

Okay, this post is for nostalgia purposes.   Bailey kids, this is so you know our typical recipes for the holidays that we love so much!!!  We basically have the same meal for  Thanksgiving and Christmas :).  Growing up in the Booth/Hughes family for me, as a kid, was full of traditions that my brothers and I cherished.  These were things that we looked forward to year after year.  This has past over to us as the Bailey family as well.  Rob loves these traditions too!  The wonderful rituals and habits that our senses grew to desire and look forward to every year was in grained in both of us because we dated from highschool through college.
For Rob, growing up in the Bailey family, their tradition was eat early and fast so you could get to the cabin and HUNT!!!  Having a family of three boys, that was a perfect way for Paw Paw to bond with them.  It was a great fit for their family.  They have great memories about those times.

 I will probably spend more than one post on the holidays.  I'm going to devote this post solely to the Holiday Breakfast. Rob's side didn't grow up on holiday breakfasts because they ate their holiday dinners at about 11:00 so they could go hunting.  Our now Bailey family likes to eat a "Linner" for our holiday dinners and, therefore, we enjoy a good breakfast in the morning to tide us over until the big meal around 5.

Thanksgiving Breakfast:
This part of the day actually varies from year to year, depending on the preferences of the majority voters :).
One thing that DOES NOT CHANGE is the watching of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.  It is a sin in our house not to watch it!  While this parade is on, we eat a breakfast full of warmth and carbs.

Christmas Breakfast:
Christmas morning consists of tortured kids in our bedroom that can't go in the living room until Rob and I SLOWLY get up and get ready.  Then Rob fans the flames by going in the living room first and coming back with reports of either Santa forgetting to come, or leaving out a kid, etc.  Once we finally let them in the living room, I usually put some easy store bought items or the baked french toast recipe that I make the night before and toss in the oven right before we begin the fun of the morning!!!!

Items we choose from:
-store bought cinnamon rolls (orange and regular)- refrigerator section.
-Sister shubert cinnamon rolls, sausage wrap rolls, and blueberry breakfast rolls that I don't think they sell anymore. http://www.sisterschuberts.com/rolls?id=118

-Sara Lee's coffee cakes


On years that we desire a home cooked breakfast, some of the things we have made are:

#1 best!!!!!
Baked French Toast

Ingredients

• 1 loaf sourdough bread (I used Pepperidge Farm, 1.5 pound loaf)
• 8 eggs
• 2 cups milk (I used 1%)
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 Tbsp. vanilla

• Topping:
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1 stick cold butter, cut into pieces (1/4 lb.)



Directions
1. Grease a 9x13 pan with butter. Tear bread into bite-size chunks and place evenly in the pan.
2. Mix together the eggs, milk, cream, sugar, and vanilla. Pour evenly over bread. Cover tightly and store in the fridge for several hours (I put mine in overnight....it was about 12 hours).
3. In a medium bowl mix together the flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt. Cut in the butter with a pastry blender until it all looks nice and crumbly (like small pebbles, according to P-Dub). Place in a ziploc bag and put in fridge.
4. When ready to bake, take pan and bag out of fridge. Remove wrap and evenly sprinkle the crumb mixture over the top. Bake for 1 hour at 350 degrees (or 45 minutes if you like it more soft and pudding-like).

Notes:
Update: IMPORTANT!!!!!!! You must use a dense bread or this dish will turn out soggy. After getting a few comments below about soggy outcomes, I figured I'd better make sure you understand that. You can't use regular ol' sandwich bread because it will NOT soak up the egg mixture! I highly recommend starting with the bread listed in the ingredients above as this has ALWAYS turned out perfectly for me.
You can serve with syrup, but we made a quick glaze with powdered sugar and milk. Delish!
If you don't have brown sugar, mix 1/2 Tbsp. molasses with 1/2 cup sugar until well blended.
Like I said, you can bake it for less time if you like it softer, but I love how the top gets crispy when it's baked for an hour. The underneath part is still somewhat soft. One hour in my 350-oven was just right.
The directions said to scoop out, but I wanted to be able to control the portions so I cut it into 12 servings (they were large, and this is rich, so you could serve other breakfast dishes and use this as more of a side dish and get 24 servings).
If you have a hot oven, cover the dish with foil for the last 15 minutes or so if you notice that it's starting to get too brown (I have never had to do this, though).
If you don't have a pastry cutter, use two knives moving away from each other to cut in the butter for the topping. Do NOT use a fork to mash! It will be a globby mess!



2.    Blueberry Breakfast Crumble Cake

2 cups of cake flour
1 tsp. of baking powder
1/2 tsp. of salt
1/2 tsp. of ground ginger
2 oz unsalted butter
3/4 cups sugar
1 large egg
1/2 cup whole milk
3 cups (15 oz) blueberries, fresh

topping: 3 1/2 oz (1/2 c.) sugar
1 1/2 oz (1/3 c) cake flour
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
2 oz unsalted butter, chilled and cubed

Preheat oven to 375 degrees and grease a 9x9 in  pan.
cream butter and sugar for one minute.  mix dry ingredients together and set aside.  add egg and beat for 30 seconds. add 1/3 cup flour mixture, then 1/3 cup milk.  repeat until combined.  fold in blueberries. pour in pan.

for the topping, combine sugar, flour and nutmeg.  add butter and work dry ingredients in, using a fork.  Continue until its a crumble.  sprinkle on the cake.

bake for 35 minutes on the middle rack.  cool at least 10 minutes (resist!!! :))

3.  We've also done Bisquick coffee cakes, easy and yummy!
http://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/streusel-coffee-cake/6961f214-b8aa-480b-8cd5-d57ea4350757


4.  Bisquick cinnamon rolls are also a delicious option over the refrigerated rolls.
 I use the recipe from
http://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/glazed-cinnamon-rolls/1c3c517d-dbe4-4c62-8eac-bf43da4615c4

This is what we make EVERY YEAR no matter what because of Fern Grace and her gluten freeness:

Gluten Free Cinnamon Rolls

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 3 cups Bisquick™ Gluten Free mix
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 1/4  cups milk
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1/4 cup whipping cream

Directions

1Heat oven to 425°F. Spray 9-inch round cake pan with cooking spray (without flour). In small bowl, mix brown sugar and cinnamon; set aside.
2In large bowl, stir Bisquick mix, granulated sugar, milk and egg until dough forms.
3Place dough on surface sprinkled with additional Bisquick mix; knead 5 times. Roll dough into 16x12- inch rectangle. Brush with 2 tablespoons of the melted butter; sprinkle evenly with brown sugar mixture. Starting at short side, roll up tightly; pinch edge of dough to seal well. Cut into 1 1/2-inch slices. In pan, place slices, cut sides down. Brush with remaining 2 tablespoons melted butter.
4Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown. Cool 5 minutes. Remove from pan.
5In small bowl, mix powdered sugar and whipping cream until smooth. Spread glaze over rolls. Serve warm.



THIS GLAZE IS USED FOR GF AND NON GF ROLLS:

Vanilla Cream Glaze For Cinnamon Rolls

Ingredients
• 1 heaping cup of powdered sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 2 1/2 tablespoons milk

Directions:
Add sugar to bowl and stir in heavy cream and vanilla until mixture resembles a thick batter. Add milk one tablespoon at a time, stirring until smooth – about 3-5 full minutes. Mixture may look lumpy at first but just continue to stir and it will come together.



5.  Baked Pancake- Rob's favorite

Source: http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/aunt-edith-s-baked-pancake#ixzz3JBBVvHZzb

Ingredients

•        3 eggs
•       1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
•       1/2 cup milk
• 2 tablespoons butter, softened
•       Confectioners' sugar
•       Lemon wedges

Directions
In a bowl, beat eggs until very light. Add salt, flour and milk; beat well. Thoroughly rub bottom and sides of a 10-in. cast-iron or heavy skillet with butter. Pour batter into skillet. Bake at 450° for 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 350° and bake 5 minutes more or until set. Remove pancake from skillet and place on a large hot platter. Dust with confectioners' sugar and garnish with lemon. Serve immediately. Yield: 4-6 servings.

6. Sausage balls (Paula Dean's recipe)- another Rob favorite!
 http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/sausage-balls-recipe.html ( I use less Bisquick than they call for).

7.  We are trying a new recipe this year.  Tessa, is wanting to try an egg casserole:
Yummy Casserole
1/2 diced onion
5 oz canadian bacon diced.
12 eggs
1/2 cup cheddar
1/2 cup mozz.
salt and pepper.
wisk together.  grease pan. lay in pan 1 tube buttermilk biscuits.  Pour egg mixture on top.  Top with chives.  Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes.


Of course you must also serve Coffee and Apple Cider!!!
To make the apple cider, put a pot on the stove.  Turn it to simmer.  Pour a large jug of apple juice into it.  Place cinnamon sticks and orange rinds and cloves into the pot.  You can also add red hots if desired.  For extra flavor, put some ground cinnamon, nutmeg, and ground cloves in as well, not too much though.


Thursday, November 15, 2012

Thanksgiving placemat


Noah's ark bulletin board

A craft that toddlers can do!!  The bulletin boards in the toddler rooms at church have been bothering me.  I wanted to have work from the children on there and not just posterboards of Bible stories.  I wanted the boards to be personal and something that the parents could appreciate.  But the delima was... what can 1 and 2 year olds actually do!?!?!  The answer is handprints and coloring!!!

Thursday, March 18, 2010

But you...

 "But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit,  keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life.  And have mercy on those who doubt; save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh."- Jude 20-23  
     These two sentences come after 5 or so paragraphs of Jude warning us to watch out for false teachers invading the church and teaching false doctrine.  He warns us of hedonism (v 4), mysticism (v 8), and humanism (v 10, 11).  These things creeping into our church?  This can be a scary and disconcerting thought!  Wolves in sheep's clothing.  It could make us fearful. It could make us, after reading the first 19 verses, think that this book of the Bible doesn't apply to them.  Until we read 'but you...'  We are given a call.  A call that protects us, encourages us, and tells us what to do to prepare for battle!
    "But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith... We must be continually striving in holiness.  We must be in the Word- reading it, meditating on it, and memorizing it.  As Todd Murray said once, no one 'drifts' into holiness.  We can drift into laziness or worldliness, but no one drifts into holiness.  We must be working at it.  
     We have to know our Bible.  We are blessed to have at least one copy of the Bible in our home, access to the web, and commentaries from wise pastors about the Bible.  We should KNOW that book.  We should know the books of the Bible and the ideas of each book of the Bible.  We should know about salvation and how it works and about being a new creation.

Monday, March 15, 2010

VBS Pilgrim's Progress- Year 2 (Ch 6-8)


VBS- Pilgrims Progress. Part 2, Chapters 6-9 (Four day VBS plan)

Day 1-  Year one VBS (Ch. 1-5) review 
*Memory Verse- Romans 12:21, "Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good."
*Skit of Year one review done by youth group members for introductory meeting.
Preschool would rotate between the reading room, craft room, play room, and snack room, and game time
*Review  chapters 1-5 (edited version).
*Craft Room- (older children worked on a book, a section a day, correlation with the chapter.   Preschool did a project a day.)
* Preschool for day 1-   Work together on dangerous journey map for room.  Each child make their own map afterwards.  Roll up and tie with ribbon.
*Play room (jumpy blow up thing)
*Game time-  Follow the leader
*Snack room

Day2-  Vanity Fair (ch. 6) 
*Memory Verse - Psalms 118:5-6, "Out of my distress I called on the Lord; the Lord answered me and set me free.  The Lord is on my side; I will not fear.  What can man do to me?"
 *Skit of Chapter 6 done by youth group  members .
* Reading of A Dangerous Journey (ch 7)
* Craft Room-   Magazine cut- out collage of things that we might be tempted to covet and desire in this world (stuff, toys, vacations to theme parks, cars, clothes, houses, etc.)
*  Play room
* Game time- Freeze tag
* Snack room

Day 3- Doubting Castle (ch7)
*Memory Verse- 1 Chronicle 28:20 "...Be strong and courageous and do it.  Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed, for the Lord God, even my God, is with you..."
 *Skit of Chapter 7 done by youth group members .
* Reading of A Dangerous Journey(ch 7)
* Craft Room-  decorate plastic key with glitter and glue.  Attach memory verse to 'key ring'.
*  Play room
* Game time- duck duck goose
* Snack room


Day 4- The Dark River (ch 8)
*Memory Verse- 2 Timothy 4:7, "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith."
*Skit of Chapter 8 done by youth group members.
* Reading of A Dangerous Journey(ch 8) 
* Craft Room-  Snow Globe/Jar=  baby food jars filled with water, glitter, glycerine, maybe some charms, and  picture of child (laminated).  Glue lid on tight with craft glue. 
* Game time- Mother May I?
*Snack Room



Monday, March 8, 2010

VBS Pilgrim's Progress- Year 1 (Ch 1-5)


In response to many about the Pilgrim's Progress VBS, here is a guideline that may be helpful. It's not thorough by any stretch of the imagination, but it is a good starting point. If you would like my edited version, email me at mamayebailey@gmail.com and I will send it to you.
Year 1- VBS Pilgrim's Progress (Chapters 1-5) for the younger children
Day 1- The Gate is Narrow
*Memory Verse- Matt. 7:13-14, "Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those that enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and those who find it are few." (underlined part is the memory verse for the younger children)
*Skit of Chapter 1 done by youth group members for introductory meeting.
Preschool would rotate between the reading room, craft room, play room, and snack room, and game time
*Reading of A Dangerous Journey(ch 1) (edited version).
*Craft Room- (older children worked on a book, a section a day, correlation with the chapter. Preschool did a project a day.)
Preschool for day 1, Gate craft. (white card stock, pop sickle sticks for gate, cut out of Christian to glue in the gate (wicket gate).
*Play room (jumpy blow up thing)
*Game time- obstacle course to the wicket gate
*Snack room
Day 2- Cast All Your Cares Upon Him
* 1 Peter 5:7, "Cast all you cares upon Him, because He cares for you."
* Skit of Chapter 2 by youth group members
* Reading of A Dangerous Journey (ch2)
* Craft- make a 'burden' backpack (possibly with paper grocery bags and something heavy to put inside?)
*Play room
*Game time- Ring toss (cast your cares...) or bowling (burden rolling down the hill)
*Snack room-
Day 3- Your Word Is A Lamp To My Feet
* Psalm 119:105, "Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path."
*Skit of Chapter 3 by youth group members
*Reading of edited version of A Dangerous Journey (ch3)
*Craft- Make a parchment paper rolled up with the child's name on it and a ribbon (like the one given to Christian at the Interpreter's house)
*Play room
* Game time- Follow the leader in a dark room; leader has a flashlight., Simon says
* snack time
Day 4- Sword of the Spirit
* Ephesians 6:17 " and take the helmet of Salvation. and the sword of the spirit, which is the Word of God." (underlined part for younger children to memorize)
*Skit of Chapter 4 by youth group members
* Reading of edited version of A Dangerous Journey (ch4) (emphasize that OUR sword against evil in the Word of God)
*Craft- make swords out of cardboard and aluminum foil. Bible coloring sheet- our sword.
*Game time-
*snack time
Day 5- I Will Fear No Evil . Chapter 5, "The Valley of the Shadow of Death"
*Psalm 23:4 "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me; your rod and staff comfort me."
*Skit of Chapter 4 by youth group members.
*Reading of edited version of A Dangerous Journey (ch 5)
*Craft- Possible ending day craft- canvas bags for children to sponge paint, decorate, put sticky letter on to spell their name, or at least have one or two letters for their initials.
* game time- relay races
* snack
Extras-
1. In our gym, we had a mock version of Christian's journey that the kids could go through. The journey was interactive. They would wear their burdens on the journey, get a parchment paper, fight Apollyon, etc.
2. Pictures of each child taken with their burden and sword and parchment paper. This was the picture on the front of their book that the older children were making.
3. Children could 'fight' Appolyon