New York Bound

~ Emily ~ 3 Comments

I realize Primitive Roads has been pretty quite lately. I’m still trying to embrace the seasonal side of blogging, although I wrote that post thinking I was trading consistent blogging for hiking, training for a half-marathon, and fixing up our new house instead of being pregnant. Not that pregnancy has kept me from writing, per se, but my mind and body have been super occupied adjusting to our growing little one (the size of a lemon this week!).

The lake

Tim and I are leaving for a much needed vacation today. We’re trading Lake Coeur d’Alene for another, much smaller, lake in Central New York. Not only do we get to revisit our honeymoon spot, we get to spend time with my parents and brother – a mondo treat for me!

I’m praying this getaway is the time and space I need to refocus and reconnect spiritually – something I’ve felt slip a little the past few months. A sweet friend reignited my passion for women and community recently and I’m excited about connecting and collaborating with her. I couldn’t ask for a more beautiful place to pray and think and hopefully come back with renewed purpose for Primitive Roads.

In the meantime, more blogging silence from me as I soak up the next week!

Banana Cake with Fluffy Peanut Butter Frosting

~ Emily ~ 2 Comments

Banana Cake with PB Frosting

When my mom begins an email with, “gotta share these two new and fabulous recipes with you!”, I know I’m in for a treat.

The summer humidity where my mom lives makes bananas ripen quicker than they get eaten. After making multiple loaves of banana bread, she went searching for a different recipe to utilize her browning nanners and a spare cake mix. What she found was a simple and versatile (you could use any flavor cake mix) recipe that yields a moist, tender cake with a mild, but distinct, banana flavor.

My mom and I share an affinity for banana bread and peanut butter sandwiches. With that in mind she found a fluffy peanut butter frosting to adorn the banana cake and mimic the taste of those tasty sandwiches we so love.

The result of these two new recipes is indeed fabulous!

Banana Cake with Peanut Butter Frosting

Banana Cake {source}

  • yellow cake mix
  • eggs, oil, and water (ingredients listed on the box to make cake)
  • 2 overripe bananas
  • 1 tsp baking soda

Create cake batter according the package instructions. In a separate bowl, mash the two bananas. Mix the baking soda into the bananas until thoroughly mixed – it will look lighter and slightly foamy. Add banana mixture to the cake batter and stir until combined.

Pour banana batter into a greased 9 x 13 pan. Bake according to package directions. Let cool completely and frost with Fluffy Peanut Butter Frosting (below).

Banana cake with PB Frosting

Fluffy Peanut Butter Frosting {adapted from All Recipes}

  • 1/2 cup butter, softened
  • 1 cup creamy peanut butter
  • 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
  • 3 tablespoons heavy cream

Beat butter and peanut butter together until well combined. Beat in the powdered sugar. Frosting will be very dense and thick.  Add heavy cream and beat until fluffy and spreadable. Spread on cooled Banana Cake.

 

Primitive Pleasures: July

~ Emily ~ 11 Comments

July

Between house guests and getting past first trimester nausea, there hasn’t been much interwebbing for me (aside from Pinterest) this month. Despite the brevity of my list, I hope you find something enjoyable.

Happy Summer!

Read

One benefit of feeling less than perky is that I’ve had tons of time to read. I decided to reread the Harry Potter series and am now on book 6. One of my favorite bloggers (Katie from Cardigan Way) shares my affinity for Harry Potter and created one of her Lovely Lines with a quote from HP and the Order Of the Phoenix which I just finished.

I also read all three of Tessa Afshar’s novels. So good. I explain why here.

Watch

Tim (my youth pastor hubs) preached in main service a couple weeks ago on Psalm 13. He weaves much of our personal journey into David’s own lament. I may be biased, but it’s well worth a listen. You can also watch it on CDA Bible Church’s Vimeo account.

Strawberries

Berry picking is one of my favorite summer activities. A couple weeks ago I got to add strawberries to my list of berries picked. Some wonderful friends took me to Carver Farms and we picked over 60 pounds of strawberries. We made several batches of freezer jam (with the trusty recipe found inside boxes of Sure Jell pectin).

Strawberries

Three delicious ways to use extra strawberries:

  • Fresh Strawberry Bars I clipped this recipe from Better Homes and Gardens a few years ago. The base is a dense peanut buttery bar topped with strawberry jam and fresh strawberries.
  • You can’t go wrong with classic Strawberry Shortcake. My mom’s a wizard with biscuits and generally whips up a batch of lightly sweetened cream biscuits for the shortcake part. Martha Stewart has a good video tutorial on sweet biscuits. When I studied abroad in Italy, my host mom served strawberries macerated in both sugar AND a bit of lemon juice. Heavenly. The crowning glory of any strawberry shortcake is the whipped cream. Clouds of REAL whipped cream – heavy cream whipped with a tablespoon or two of powdered sugar.
  • Strawberry Shortcake Cake Yes, I’ve mentioned this Pioneer Woman recipe before. It’s that good.

For Fun

This could be the burrito I ate for dinner, but I’d like to think Baby Gardner is beginning to make an appearance.

Bump

Primitive Pleasures {June}

~ Emily ~ 6 Comments

A day late, but here are some good things from around the interwebs that I found in June!

JuneI have yet to develop a green thumb, so this is only possible in my dreams, but I love Natasha’s guide to growing a backyard herbal tea garden.

Despite my inability to keep my plants alive, I do love flowers! I stumbled on Sarah von Pollaro’s video tutorial on transforming a $10 supermarket bouquet into four beautiful arrangements and then got sucked into the vortex of all her awesome video tutorials. She makes flower arranging seem accessible.

Throwing a dinner party can be stressful, but so also can being a dinner party guest. Shauna Niequist (one of my favorite authors) wrote a superb post about how to be a great dinner guest.

I’ve worked several retail jobs and by far my favorite was my stint at Anthropologie. This is a phenomenal list of DIY Anthropolgie products. However, don’t ever pass up an opportunity to roam an Anthropologie store – they are truly inspirational.

Unfortunately, decisions about motherhood and everything that goes along with it have divisive tendencies in the Christian subculture. Instead of coming alongside women and families, we tend to judge and snub. I deeply appreciate this perspective and call for grace. If you don’t read the whole article, please read the last section!

It’s no secret that I love book lists. The Gospel Coalition has a great column called On My Shelf, “designed to help you get to know various people through providing a behind-the-scences glimpse into their lives as readers.” Kathy Keller, Tim Keller’s wife, had wonderful thoughts on finding Christ in fiction (which is why she’s not likely to have the latests Christian title on her nightstand).

Along the same line, this is a great article on finding God’s truth is literature.

And because this made me smile…