Grace at Home No. 259

Welcome to the Grace at Home party! I'm so glad you're here.

Here are some features from last week's party.

Meg from Hello Farmhouse made over her unattractive bathroom into a lovely farmhouse space in just one weekend. Here's an after shot; be sure to read her post to check out the before. You'll be inspired!

Tarah from Grandma's House DIY has some serious do-it-yourself moxie. You'll be amazed at the way she completely remodeled a little guest house on her family's property on a tiny budget. Here's just one of the incredible before-and-after shots.

Pamela from Brooklyn Farm Girl made these scrumptious-looking peanut butter cookies with a secret ingredient: protein powder! What a good idea for adding some nutrition to a treat.

Michelle Bengtson from Hope Prevails offers some wonderful counsel in her post "Why Doesn't God Protect Us from Pain?"

A big thank you to everyone who joined last week's party!  I'm so grateful for each person who links up each week. If you've been featured, feel free to grab the "I was featured" button.  I'd be so proud if you displayed it!

Now for this week's party!  Grace at Home is a place for you to share anything related to making your home a place of grace. I invite you to link posts about

• DIY projects
• decorating
• recipes
• hospitality
• homemaking tips
• parenting
• marriage
• faith
• self-care
• soul care

Whatever you do to make your home a place of grace, I'd like to hear about it.  Here's what I ask of you.  Please include the permalink to your post, not your blog's home page.  Please let people know that you've linked up.  No more than three posts per person, please.  Note that if you link a post here, you are giving me permission to share your post, including a photo.  And visit at least one of the other party participants--that's what really makes it a party!

Midsummer Soul Care

When I'm at my best, I remember that old saying: "The days are long, but the years are short."

On these midsummer days, when the temperature hovers above 90 degrees for weeks on end, I am apt to get stuck in just concentrating on the long, long days.

So this Lord's day, I stop.

Take a deep breath.

Remember my Creator.

And I sing to myself words that I need to hear today:

Grace to you,
Grace to you;
May grace abound in all you do--
Grace to do the will of the Father,
Grace, grace to you.

Perhaps you need to hear them today, too.

God bless you, friends.

Grace at Home No. 258

Hello, friends, and welcome to this week's Grace at Home party. I'm so glad you're here to join in celebrating all the ways we make our homes places of grace.

Here are some links from last week's party I thought you'd enjoy.

Paula from Sweet Pea designed and built this porch swing out of 2x4's, and she shares her process step by step. What a great summertime addition to a home!

Shelley from Calypso in the Country shared seven ways to update your outdoor space for entertaining. Lots of practical tips here.

Barb from Sparkles in the Everyday shared a recipe for making delicious vanilla bean ice cream—no ice cream maker required!

Amy from Wasteland to Graceland is starting a series about grasping the depth of God's love. What a wonderful subject to ponder deeply!

As for me, I shared the story of my grandmother's angel food cake—and shared the scrumptious recipe as well! I'd love for you to check it out.

A big thank you to everyone who joined last week's party!  I'm so grateful for each person who links up each week. If you've been featured, feel free to grab the "I was featured" button.  I'd be so proud if you displayed it!

Now for this week's party!  Grace at Home is a place for you to share anything related to making your home a place of grace. I invite you to link posts about

• DIY projects
• decorating
• recipes
• hospitality
• homemaking tips
• parenting
• marriage
• faith
• self-care
• soul care

Whatever you do to make your home a place of grace, I'd like to hear about it.  Here's what I ask of you.  Please include the permalink to your post, not your blog's home page.  Please let people know that you've linked up.  No more than three posts per person, please.  Note that if you link a post here, you are giving me permission to share your post, including a photo.  And visit at least one of the other party participants--that's what really makes it a party!

A dessert from heaven: Angel Food Cake

Here we are, smack dab in the middle of summertime. Around here, that means we're in the middle of a heat wave. So when I want a special dessert, I crave something light and refreshing.

Cue the angels singing; it's time for their favorite dessert.

This is not just any old angel food cake, mind you: it's my grandmother's homemade angel food. Some of my fondest childhood memories were made in my grandmother's kitchen. Grandma was regionally famous for her angel food cakes, and for good reason: this is the most delightful angel food I've ever eater, hands down.

True story: my grandmother always beat her angel food batter by hand (can you believe that?!). A couple of days before my wedding in 1985, she challenged me to an arm-wrestling competition.  She was 68 years old; I was 21. She beat me without blinking an eye.

This is her recipe. Angel food cake is made from just a few simple ingredients.

I don't mix mine by hand, but my trusty KitchenAid is a pretty fair substitute for my grandmother's muscle power.

There are two secrets to making a delicious angel food cake. One is to avoid any kind of grease or oil. Be sure that your mixer, bowl, and cake pan are completely clean. The other is to use the right flavorings: pure vanilla extract plus just a little pure almond extract. That flavor combination can't be beat.

This is the best angel food cake you'll eat this side of heaven, I promise.

Grandma's Angel Food Cake

1 cup + 2 Tablespoons cake flour
1 1/2 cup sugar, divided
12 egg whites
1 1/2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon almond extract

Sift the cake flour with 1/2 cup sugar 10 times; set aside.

Beat egg whites with cream of tartar and salt until still enough to form soft peaks, but still moist and glossy. Beat in remaining cup of sugar.

Sift one-fourth of the flour mixture over egg whites and fold in gently. Repeat, folding in remaining flour by fourths. Then fold in the vanilla and almond extracts.

Spoon batter gently into a clean (UNgreased) tube pan. Bake at 375 degrees for 40-45 minutes. Remove from oven and invert cake pan onto a glass bottle to cool. When thoroughly cool, run a thin knife around the edges of the pan to loosen cake, then tap cake out onto cake plate.

Cut slices with a serrated knife. Serve plain or with fresh fruit and whipped cream.

Click here for a printable copy.

Do you have a favorite recipe passed down from your grandmother? I'd love to hear!

Joining these parties:

The Scoop at Stone Gable

Inspire Me Tuesday at A Stroll Thru Life
Wow Us Wednesday at Savvy Southern Style

Grace at Home No. 257

Hello, friends, and welcome to this week's Grace at Home party! I'm so grateful you're here.

Here in North Carolina we're well into the hot-hot-hot part of summer. This week I've been working hard at a secret project--but completely indoors! It's too hot to do much of anything outside. What's it like in your neck of the woods?

Here are some features from last week's party:

Lindsey from Repurpose and Upcycle made the most of her living room with just a few farmhouse touches, including curtains made from dropcloths. You'll want to check out her post: these are the easiest-to-make curtains I've ever seen!

I was really interested in this post: Meg from Hello Farmhouse has never used the air conditioning system in her house. Now, she doesn't live in North Carolina, but she does live in an area with hot summers. I was inspired by her post to come up with some ways to reduce my own A/C bill!

Looking for a small project to work on these hot days? Check out this cute farmhouse sign made by Cathy from Vintage, Paint and More. I'd like to try something like this!

If you're like me, you're looking for cool dinner options these days. Pattie from Olla-Podrida shares a recipe for Thai Chicken Salad that looks amazing!

Have you found yourself held back by fears? You'll be inspired by this post from Michelle Bengtson: Five Truths to Defeat Fear.

A big thank you to everyone who joined last week's party!  I'm so grateful for each person who links up each week. If you've been featured, feel free to grab the "I was featured" button.  I'd be so proud if you displayed it!

Now for this week's party!  Grace at Home is a place for you to share anything related to making your home a place of grace. I invite you to link posts about

• DIY projects
• decorating
• recipes
• hospitality
• homemaking tips
• parenting
• marriage
• faith
• self-care
• soul care

Whatever you do to make your home a place of grace, I'd like to hear about it.  Here's what I ask of you.  Please include the permalink to your post, not your blog's home page.  Please let people know that you've linked up.  No more than three posts per person, please.  Note that if you link a post here, you are giving me permission to share your post, including a photo.  And visit at least one of the other party participants--that's what really makes it a party!

Grace at Home No. 256

Hello, friends! Welcome to the Grace at Home party, where we share the ways we make our homes places of grace.

"Home" is one place I've hardly seen in the past couple of weeks, but that's okay with me; instead, I've been in two of my other favorite places.  First I was in the Rocky Mountains:

And now I'm in the Blue Ridge Mountains!

Many times I've talked with people about where they like to get away from it all. It seems that some folks are "beach people" and some are "mountain people." I definitely fall into the latter category!

The time away has been refreshing for my soul, but now I'm eager to see what you've been up to!

A big thank you to everyone who joined last week's party!  I'm so grateful for each person who links up each week. If you've been featured, feel free to grab the "I was featured" button.  I'd be so proud if you displayed it!

Now for this week's party!  Grace at Home is a place for you to share anything related to making your home a place of grace. I invite you to link posts about

• DIY projects
• decorating
• recipes
• hospitality
• homemaking tips
• parenting
• marriage
• faith
• self-care
• soul care

Whatever you do to make your home a place of grace, I'd like to hear about it.  Here's what I ask of you.  Please include the permalink to your post, not your blog's home page.  Please let people know that you've linked up.  No more than three posts per person, please.  Note that if you link a post here, you are giving me permission to share your post, including a photo.  And visit at least one of the other party participants--that's what really makes it a party!