A Simple Fix for Dry Hands

My hands get so dry during the winter, with all the washing dishes in hot water, laundry, and bathing the younger kids.  I use lotion after I dry my hands, but sometimes my skin needs a little boost.

About once a week, I make my own exfoliant using simply a teaspoon of salt and about a teaspoon of olive oil.  I pour them into the palm of my hand, and rub my hands, paying special attention to the driest parts, for about a minute.  Rinse the mixture off with warm water and a bit of soap, and your hands feel like they've been to the spa!

Sweet Potato Gooey Butter Cake--our favorite Thanksgiving dessert!

A dessert-making contest was coming up at our local festival earlier this month, and I wanted to make something different to enter with. So I looked at the recipe for Paula Deen's very versatile Gooey Butter Cake (GBC) recipe. She has two pages devoted to Gooey Butter Cakes in her Just Desserts cookbook. There's variations for chocolate, lemon (my favorite), toffee, strawberry, and pumpkin.

Since it was sweet potato pickin' time here in the South, I thought a gooey butter cake with sweet potatoes would be yummy. Paula's recipe for Sweet Potato Gooey Butter Cake is to pretty much substitute a baked, mashed sweet potato for the pumpkin in the Pumpkin GBC recipe. I wanted mine to taste similar to candied "yams," so, banking on my own recipe for that, looking at the amount of pumpkin pie filling that went into Paula Deen's pumpkin GBC recipe, and comparing spices that go into sweet potato pie, I came up with this recipe. It's not as sweet as Paula's original recipe, but it's just as decadent and delicious.

By the way, I won first prize in the "Other Goodies" category at our festival's contest!

Try this recipe for a new Thanksgiving dessert, or for a bring-a-dessert Christmas party.



SWEET POTATO GOOEY BUTTER CAKE
Yields 20 or 24 pieces

3 medium or 4 large sweet potatoes, washed and pricked with a fork.

Bake sweet potatoes at 400 degrees for one hour or til fork tender. Cool til able to handle them, then peel and mash them. Set aside.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 13" X 9" baking pan.

Bottom layer:

1 box spice cake mix
1 egg
1 stick melted butter or margarine

Mix all ingredients with hand/stand mixer. Pat into prepared pan. Set aside.

Top layer:
1 8 oz. block of cream cheese, softened
2 cups cooked & mashed sweet potatoes
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ginger
2 1/2 cups confectioner's sugar
1 stick melted butter or margarine

Whipped cream, optional


With mixer, beat cream cheese til smooth. Add sweet potatoes, eggs, vanilla, brown sugar and spices and mix til well combined. Pour in the confectioners sugar all at once and mix til well combined. Slow mixer and gradually pour in melted butter or margarine.

Pour cream cheese/sweet potato mixture over cake mix layer in pan.

Bake at 350 degrees for 40-50 minutes. Since oven times vary, keep a close eye on the cake after 40 minutes. The center should be slightly gooey. I usually take mine out after 42 minutes--the sides get too brown for me after that. Cool completely before cutting into squares. Serve with a dollop of whipped cream, if you like. Depending on how you cut the pieces, you should get 20-24 squares. Enjoy!

My Favorite Organization Thingy

I have created this "blog" just for Lysa TerKeurst's organization swap! I love this neat tip, because I use it every couple of months when the magazines start piling up.

I was in a dilemma a couple of months ago, because I had run out of magazine storage boxes (the ones libraries use in their periodicals rooms), and had about six months' worth of Southern Livings and Country Livings and new Martha Stewart Livings that I couldn't part with, and the piles of them were getting messy. My aunt suggested something she saw on a craft show--using a large cereal box, cut it like the magazine storage boxes you already have, and voila--you have your own box! I placed some masking tape on the side w/ the title of the magazine, and the starting date of the first issue, and when it's full, write the date of the last issue.

After I did the first one, I decided to look up some instructions on the internet, and found all kinds of instructions, w/ exact measurements, covering the boxes w/ sticky-paper or wall paper--if you like pretty as well as organized, these are great tips! Just do a search for cereal box magazine holder, and there are several websites with instructions and suggestions. It's something your kids can help with, too! (As long as they're old enough to handle scissors!) I don't cover mine, as you can see, because they're in a closet, and no one else sees them but me.


Thank you, Lysa! Maybe I'll start blogging for real soon!