Happy November. Make a joyful noise--Lenora Worth

I can't believe it's November already. On the one hand, I'm so ready for next week to pass. I don't want to get into politics, but I'm ready to focus on being thankful for what's right in the world instead of hearing everyone bickering about what's wrong.

But enough about that. I'm here to celebrate some of the beauty of fall and find out what's happening with the rest of you. If you visited the Love Inspired Harvest Festival on the Harlequin website a few weeks ago, you probably heard some of this there. Fall is a great time to regroup and settle down and snuggle up. Hot chocolate and s'mores, football and falling leaves, good books and crisp breezes in the air. Taking a long walk on a pretty path. Thanking God for the bounty of the earth.

Since I just finished a book ahead of deadline, I'm in a cooking mood. Gumbo, French bread, maybe some pumpkin bread and other yummy fall foods. Red velvet brownies, maybe?

And my favorite--pie:

What are your plans for fall?

Do you find you read a different type of book as the season changes?

What are some of your favorite fall foods?

I hope you have a great fall. As we go into the holiday season, I hope we cling to these verses from Psalms 95:

"Oh, come let us sing to the Lord;

let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!

Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;

let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!"

Thanksgiving and songs of praise. Joy. I pray we always find the JOY!

Epiphany Donuts and Shortbread

Jean C. Gordon here, stretching the holidays out one more day. My family celebrated the Feast of the Three Kings (the Epiphany) yesterday with a special holiday treat. Doesn’t every one celebrate holidays with food? The treat: money donuts, my Grandma Chelikowsky’s and Dad’s version of an Epiphany or king cake.

Unlike the traditional cake, which has a prize in one piece, all of our donuts have a prize in them — a coin — mostly pennies, nickels, and dimes, with one quarter. The person who finds the quarter is the king/queen for the day.

Since I don’t have Grandma’s and Dad’s donut recipe, and not to overlook my Scots’ (Lindsay) heritage or the Gordons, I’m sharing a recipe for another of our holiday treats, shortbread. It’s from my husband’s grandmother (and great-grandmother?), dating back to before 1900. His Aunt Jean added some helpful instructions.

GRANDMA GORDON’S SHORTBREAD

1 lb softened butter (the salted regular butter)
1 cup white sugar
Approx. 4 cups all-purpose (plain) white flour (Be sure to spoon the flour into the measuring cup because you might have to add a few more spoonfuls while you are mixing the batter to be the right consistency,)

Mix the softened butter and sugar together with a spoon and then add the flour one cup at a time and mix the batter with your hands until it feels ready to spread on a cookie sheet. Press the batter on the cookie with your hands until it spreads out evenly and smoothly. (It is not necessary to use a rolling pin unless you so desire.

Then mark the size pieces (leave the pieces on the cookie sheet!) you want with a table knofe and prick each piece a couple of times with a table fork (this lets air circulate through each piece while the shortbread is baking). Depending on how you mark the pieces, you can have 48 or more pieces on a cookie sheet.

BAKE FOR TWO HOURS (2 HOURS) IN A SLOW OVEN (225 TO 235 DEGREES DEPENDING ON YOUR OVEN). Once the shortbread looks a nice golden brown and smells heavenly, remove from the oven and let the shortbread cool on the cookie sheet for about 15 minutes. Then use a table knife to cut each piece on the already marked lines but let the shortbread finish cooling on the cookie sheet.

Once the shortbread is cooled, then you can put the cookie pieces in a zip-lock bag (obviously Aunt Jean added this J), a tight container, or even in the freezer. These shortbread cookies keep for a long time if sealed well and even longer if frozen. They are delicious with a hot cup of coffee or tea. Enjoy this Scottish treat for the holidays or any time. Cheers!

So, what are your favorite holiday — any holiday — foods?