Mourning Dove Cottage

I'd like to share with you something very special that Mourning Dove Cottage received in the mail yesterday.

My sweet blogging friend, Deb, from posted from home, sent me a beautiful handmade card with the letters MDC, for Mourning Dove Cottage, and a photo of a baby dove on the front ~ this dove, by the way, is one of her dove babies. How cute!

Enclosed in the card was an article she clipped from a Mary Engelbreit magazine about a beautiful home and garden called Dove Cottage. The article is filled with lovely garden pictures of an enchanting naturescape, herb and flower gardens, and a charming farmhouse built in the 1850's.

Thank you, Deb, for thinking of Mourning Dove Cottage! I've already found some wonderful ideas in the article that I'd like to incorporate in my garden.

How beautiful a day can be

When kindness touches it!

~George Elliston

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I wanted to mention that the 4th of July event at Brier Creek was loads of fun and a very successful day. The fireworks were fantastic!

Baking

A little bit of baking today.........but not Christmas cookies.

I decided to bake a pie and some sugar-coated pecans. Notice I have the back door open in the kitchen. It's unseasonably warm for December (70 degrees). I love days like this, even though it's overcast and gray.
The house right now smells delicious!

Pumpkin pie.

And "Mary Engelbreit's Sugar-Coated Pecans". They're so yummy.



I bake these sugar-coated pecans every Christmas, and give them as gifts.

Here is the recipe.

Mary Engelbreit's Sugar-Coated Pecans

(makes 3 cups)

1 egg white

3 cups (12 ounces) pecan halves

1 cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1/2 stick unsalted butter

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Line a jelly roll pan with aluminum foil. In medium-sized bowl, combine egg white with 1 tablespoon water and whisk until foamy. Add pecans and stir until nuts are coated with egg white. Set aside.

2. In another bowl, combine sugar, salt, and cinnamon. Pour sugar mixture over moist nuts and stir to coat evenly.

3. In preheated oven, melt butter in jelly roll pan. Remove pan from oven and gently stir nuts into melted butter. Spread nuts out evenly and bake for 25 minutes, stirring occasionally. Watch them so they don't burn. Remove from oven and allow to cool directly in the pan.

Easy, and so good!
I put them in clear cellophane bags, and add a little tag.

A nice home made gift for the holidays.