Strawberry Bread

This is a recipe I have been making for years - found it years ago ( late 1970's or early 1908's) in The Total Woman Cookbook.  Anybody out there remember "The Total Woman" ?  It was the title of a book by Marabel Morgan and was a much debated book about how to make your husband happy.  A few years later the cookbook was published and I am still using a few of those recipes to this day.  This one is a keeper - 

Strawberry Bread - Makes 2 (?) loaves.  Terrific with salad for lunch or as a dessert!

• 2 (10 ounce) packages of frozen strawberries, thawed.  ( I can never find 10 ounce any more...I use      what I can find, sometimes mixing in fresh strawberries if I have them to make up the 20 ounces.)
• 4 eggs
• 1 1/4 cup oil 
• 3 cups flour ( I use white, sometimes whole wheat, or add some oat bran)
• 2 cups sugar
• 3 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup chopped nuts ( usually walnuts, but you can use others...)

Preheat oven to 350 degree.  Grease and flour ( or use baking spray) two 9x5 loaf pans.  In a separate bowl combine strawberries, eggs, and oil.

In a separate bowl combine flour, sugar, cinnamon, baking soda, salt and nuts.  

Add the dry ingredients to the strawberry mixture and mix until blended. Pour batter into loaf pans and bake 1 hour or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Before popping in the oven I usually sprinkle some "raw" sugar on top...I don't know the official name of this sugar as you can see I made my own recycled container for it...but you could use regular sugar.  This gives the top of the loaves a nice touch.  Also...see the two little pans ?  Sometimes this recipe makes two big loaves...sometimes, depending on the strawberries and how much liquid they are in it seems to make more batter.  I usually just make two little loaves that are perfect for "tea for two time!"

Let the loaves cool on a rack....

And when cool you can wrap in foil ( NOT plastic wrap...and if you read The Total Woman you know what I mean...) and the loaves can be popped in the freezer until you need them.  Since I was taking a loaf as a gift to a luncheon I wrapped mine - 

I like to buy colorful dishtowels to have on hand for giving loaves as gifts.  Just place the loaf on the towel kind of diagonally...

wrap over two sides, then tie the remaining ends in a knot !  Looks great !

Here is my lovely friend with the bread all sliced up and ready to go on her fabulous lunch buffet!

What a great afternoon with librarian friends enjoying delicious food and catching up with each other's lives! Wonderful to chat with retired friends and those enjoying summer before the start of another school year.  Librarians ROCK !

One BIG Date

Yesterday was a special day...lucky to say it was one of many in our lives.   We have always said that our life together is like "one big date"...we did not plan it this way.  Planned to have a family but it was not in the cards to be blessed with children.  We are very blessed to have each other.  I knew right from the start that my wonderful husband was a romantic - from our first date to see Gone With The Wind, to our perfect engagement, and romantic honeymoon in New York City - and so many other moments over the years.   As we celebrated our 40th Wedding Anniversary on January 8th, he came up with the wonderful idea that we should celebrate the 8th of every month.  "For this 40th year ?" I asked.  "From here on out...as many 8th's as we get" was his reply.   So, we have been celebrating on the 8th of each month.  Sometimes it is lunch and movie, sometimes breakfast out, or a special dinner at home.  Yesterday was 40 years and 6 months...so it called for something special.  

We left home and went to 5:00 PM Mass at St. James in Lancaster.  They have wonderful "jazz Masses" on Saturday night and we love to attend.  Yesterday it was a James Taylor theme...and the songs chosen went so well with the scriptures - and with John's idea of celebrating each month..."Shower the people you love with love, show them the way that you feel..."  After Mass we walked through a sun shower to The Pressroom, because where else in Lancaster should have dinner if you were going to The Fulton to see Newsies ?

Lobster Fuselli with chorzio, onions, and peas.

Shared a dessert called "Lime in the Coconut" - how could we not?  

Coconut cake with lime curd and tropical fruit.

While dining we struck up a conversation with the family next to us...they asked us what we were celebrating and we explained out "anniversary every month" idea.  They loved it, and said they were going to start doing that, too!

A short walk to the show...

Great photo booth 

and the perfect format for the show!

The show was AMAZING!  The Fulton always does a fantastic job and this show was no exception.  The dancing was so acrobatic, the voices were clear and wonderful, and the whole show was a delight. We met some wonderful young people who were sitting behind us - they had just graduated from Grove City College and were either starting careers or graduate school.  So friendly and polite - a delight!

Walking back to our car the Thunder Moon was amazing, downtown Lancaster was buzzing with activity, and we passed this marker.   We had just watched the movie Gettysburg and remembered the sad scene where John Reynolds is shot.

Perfect evening...wonderful life!  This morning we went for a long walk to Stoudtbridge Village and found these charming scenes...

And this - looks like a new shop about to open.  Someone must like Sweeney Todd - 

Wishing everyone a wonderful week.   We will back to packing and getting ready for our big move.  Thanks for reading...I know this is a very basic blog - hope to make it look a bit better after our move.  Until then, celebrate EVERYTHING!

Meant to be...

The purging and packing continues as we get closer to moving day.  Today, while cleaning out the bookshelves, we found these tickets from The Rolling Stones concert we attended in 2013.  All of a sudden, John noticed the section we were seated...205.   Our new apartment home number is 205!   Talk about meant to be!  We can't wait to settle into our new home - Willow Valley Communities.  You can read about the wonderful new place we will be living here - Willow Valley Communities  We will be residing in  Providence Park, in the just completed The Vistas !  One more step on this exciting lifetime journey - together!