Marketplace Monday ..check it out over at Common Ground

 

 

 

 

Do you have an Etsy shop or online boutique ?

 

Then head on over to Common Ground today and link up with Debra's Monday Marketplace !

 

 

 

 We linked up today with our Charming "I Love you Like Biscuits and Gravy" Flour Sack towel ... One of our most loved towels we offer ..and we have to admit it's one of our favorites too !

 

The Marketplace at Common Ground is a great way to do some shopping and find unique vintage and handmade offerings by small business owners like myself.

 

Thanks so much Debra for providing The Marketplace on Monday's !

 

 

 

Sweet Magnolias Farms' ~ First Sneek Peek for The Vintage Marketplace

 

 

 

Yes as I mentioned last time I posted it's that time again ..

 

Time for "The Vintage Marketplace" at the Oaks...

 

And it's time for our first sneek peek ..

 

 

 

 

Our Vintage Display Price Signs Now Turned into Chalkboards ..embellished with Burlap flowers and ties and vintage Silverplate spoons with Spring Time Birds, bees, dragonflies, and crosses ...so so charming and just perfection for the farmhouse !

 

And 2 of our new designs in towels will be making their debut .. Our Farmers Market Flour Sack Towel ... and our "Splish Splash" Bathroom Hand towel ..in fact this will be the first market that we will be offering our bathroom hand towels at ..we have some really sweet designs and can't wait to share them with you in person ..

 

And last ...Our reclaimed Lumber Farm Table ...

 

Abbey and I have been busy bees as always preparing some wonderful new spring and Easter offerings ... we can't wait to share with you ... in fact we have a really awesome new offering that we dreamed up here at the farmhouse and can't wait to show you ..as many of you know in the fall we offer our Farmhouse Pumpkins .. In the Winter we offer our Chunky Wood Christmas Trees ..and now in the spring ..we are offering for the first time our Sweet Magnolias Farm "Junk Bunnies" ... that's it all you get is their name .. so come to the market and check them out ..and for those of you unable to make it we will have lot's of picts to share with you at market time...

 

I hope to have more sneek peeks if I can squeeze them in in the next week ..

 

 

Looking forward to seeing you all March 1st, 2nd, and 3rd...

 

 

 

Happy Valentines Day from Sweet Magnolias Farm

 

Wising Everyone a Beautiful "Valentines Day"

 

 

 

 

 

It's all quiet here on the blog this week and there's good reason why ..We're gearing up for ~ The Vintage Marketplace

 

 

I haven't forgot blogging this week .. No it's been an unbelievably busy week here at the farmhouse ! I have put in 6 - 10 hour days this week and boy am I ever tired

 

Besides filling orders this week .. We have begun gearing up for ~ The Vintage Marketplace ~

 

Yes, it's that time ...and we are on the countdown ...

 

 

 

 

Be sure and Mark your calendars ... for March 1st, 2nd, and 3rd.  All Tickets begin selling at 8:30 each morning of the Market .. a line forms and at 9:00 a.m. they open the gate for everyone to begin their shopping extravaganza ...

 

From what I hear the Market is growing once again .. and there will be even more Vintage and more Handmade than ever before ... Now that's something to get excited about !

 

Plus you won't want to miss the Spring Garden theme .. yes even with this cold weather we are having .. spring is just around the corner ready to show it's face with beautiful buds and blooms !

 

We look forward to seeing you all in March !

 

Lemon Whoopie Pies .. Mmm Mmmmm Good .. ~N~ the kitchen with Sweet Magnolias Farm

 

When Life Gives You Lemons ..

 

Make Lemon Whoopie Pies . !!!

 

 

So are you all ready for some Lemon Whoopie Pie .... ???

 

Well Abbey whipped up these delicious Lemon Whoopie Pies here in the Sweet Magnolias Farm Kitchen today ...

The house was smelling lemon fresh and it wasn't from the cleaning but from the baking

 

If you love yourself a little lemon dessert .. well you're going to love these !

 

Once again this is an easy recipe with ingredients that can be found in your kitchen or at your local grocery ..

 

Soooo Here we go ... !!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ingredients:

•1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
•1/2 teaspoon baking powder
•1/4 teaspoon baking soda
•1/4 teaspoon salt
•6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
•1 cup sugar
•1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
•1 large egg
•1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
•1 teaspoon vanilla extract
•1/2 cup buttermilk

 

 

 

Lemon Cream Cheese Filling:

•6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
•6 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
•1 teaspoon vanilla extract
•1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
•2 tablespoons lemon juice
•2 3/4 cup powdered sugar

 

 

 

 

 

This week I had to give you a quick sneak peek  at how they came out ... and then we'll get to the baking of them ...

 

 

 

 

 ~ Directions ~

 

1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

2.In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; set aside.

3.In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter, sugar and lemon zest on medium speed until smooth, about 3 minutes. Add the egg, lemon juice and vanilla, mixing until blended, about 1 minute. Reduce the mixer to low speed and add half of the flour mixture, mixing until just combined. Mix in the buttermilk. Mix in the remaining flour mixture just until it's combined.

 

 

 

 

4.Drop heaping tablespoons of the dough onto the prepared baking sheets, about 3-inches apart. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until the tops feel firm and a toothpick inserted into the center of the cookie comes out clean. Remove from oven and let cool on baking sheets for 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

 

(TIP.... the above says heaping tablespoons so we used our antique Ice cream scoop to dip the batter which equaled 2 tablespoons)

 

 

5.Once cool, make the filling. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, on low speed beat the butter, cream cheese, vanilla, lemon zest and lemon juice until thoroughly blended and smooth, about 1 minute. Add the powdered sugar and mix until smooth. (If the filling is too soft to hold its shape, chill it in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes.)

 

(TIP.... Our filling was too soft and we did have to refrigerate it for the 30 minutes , it was still a little soft after the 30 minutes and could have chilled a bit longer)





Turn half of the cooled cookies upside down, flat side facing up. Drop a large dollop of filling onto the flat side of the cookie,  leaving a 1/4-inch plain edge. Place another cookie, flat side down, on top of the filling. Press down slightly so that the filling spreads to the edges of the cookie. Repeat until all cookies are used. Place whoopie pies into the refrigerator for 30 minutes to firm up before serving. Serve cold.

 

( TIP.....The original recipe we tried said it would Yield 14 pies .. however we only ended up with 6 ..  and we did as it said scooping heaping tablespoons of batter to make the cookies 2 tablespoons as we mentioned above .. so consider that when making yours.

 

Also we made the full amount of filling and we generously filled the 6 pies and still ended up with 1/2 the filling left in the bowl so it's possible you could cut the filling recipe in half)

Well the whoopee pies came out absolutely Beautiful ...Abbey did an amazing job once again !!!

 

These Lemon Whoopie Pies are sheer decadence .. and are another winner here at the farmhouse !

 

These would be fun to make smaller ..Ours came out 4 inches in diameter by 1-1/2 inches thick when completed. I think making them 2 heaping 2 teaspoons at a time instead would make them more bite size and a fun serving size for parties, Teas, and family get together ..

 

 

These are without a doubt a delightful dessert for the spring ..

 



 

Until Next time ...

 

Wishing you many ...

 

Linking up with On the menu Monday at StoneGables

 

Linking up with Tuesdays The Scoop at the Farmhouse Porch

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks to Sweet Peas Kitchen for sharing this recipe 

 

Our Daily Bread ~ Make me a Blessing .. ...

~ Make me a Blessing ~ 

 

 

If you're a first timer to visiting our blog I just want to say Welcome we are so glad to have you ..and if you are one of our followers I just want to say that we are so grateful that you follow our blog and we hope that each time you visit and share in our posts that you find your time here is blessed...

 

Speaking of Being Blessed .. it's a topic that Abbey and I happened on this week ... as many of you know we enjoy pinning on Pinterest and by the way most that pinning and all those beautiful boards are all created by Abbey ... She has such a wonderful eye for picking out and putting together such beautiful things and scenery and I am ever so grateful for her enjoyment of pinning such lovely things to share... and speaking of pinterest ..if you have followed our boards you may have visited our boards of faith filled with scripture and uplifiting and encouraging sentiments...which brings me to the topic that Abbey and I began discussing this week.

 

She had been pinning several faith based pins on "God Blessing Us" meaning the individual each one of them was asking for God's blessings. And that is most definitely what we are to do is ask for his blessings .. but on the flip side of that .. we discussed that we are always praying and asking the Lord to bless Ourselves.. but did he not call us each individually to be a blessing to one another ?

 

 

Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Phillipians 2:3-4

 

 

God has called us to be a blessing to others and in so doing we should ask for his blessings but shouldn't we be asking him to help us be a blessing to others. There are so many ways to be a blessing to those we come in contact with each day.. to perfect strangers we can be a blessing ..

 

We live near a retirement community and the post office and the grocery store we frequently go to and shop at ... are filled with many men and women that are well into their 70's - 80's - and 90's. It's without saying that we too shall be that age one day if life does not end sooner for us ... Life slows way down when you get to those ages for so many not because you want it to but because the body has grown old and can no longer sustain the quickness or ability or agility it did in it's youth ... I say this to share that this is one place I have found that we can be a blessing when we are out.

 Just this last week we were in the grocery store when an older man was standing beside us on an aisle and asked if we knew where the pudding was and we pointed him to the aisle with the boxed puddings ..once again we met up on that aisle and we inquired if he had found the pudding he was looking for .."No" he replied it's not here. "It's in a tub with a lid on it " asking him "so it's already made up ...?" ..." Yes" he replied .. ...not buying pudding in a box or premade Abbey and I were a bit stumped but showed him the pre-mades in the single serving containers thinking that was it ..and yet still he said that wasn't it. He again reitereated that it was in a tub ....

So Abbey went to the front to ask one of the clerks while I stood and talked with him ..in which he began to share that he knew that they bought the pudding there because it had been purchased for his wife who could only eat soft foods because she had cancer but had since recently passed away and his daughter had last done the shopping and bought it for him but now he was trying to shop for himself and didn't know where to find it. He then went on to talk about daughters and how helpful they were and inquired if I was a daughter and I said I was and he shared with me how important daughters are because they have been taught to do the things mom's and wives do and that boys and men sure do need them and how much his daughter meant to him .. By this time Abbey had arrived back and she found out that the pudding he mentioned was found in the cold case near the milk and yogurt on the opposite side of the store so we wheeled our cart with his down to the other end of the store and helped him sort out where in the cold section the pudding was. We found it .. he loaded it in his cart and thanked us for our help and we told him he was more than welcome and we all went our own ways. I imagine that took near 15 or 20 minutes of time that day ..but I believe we were a blessing to this gentlemen.

 

We didn't start out to help thinking we could be a blessing .. we did it because it's just apart of our hearts to be helpers ..but if being a helper or putting someone else before our selves makes us a blessing then we are all the happier to do so.

 

Being a blessing means we are servant and this week these lyrics from one of the praise songs kept running over in my head ...except I didn't realize I was inserting the wrong word until today when I began this post ...Below are the lyrics .. however where you see the word "Servant" I kept singing "Blessing" ... I suppose Servant and Blessing can be very much one in the same ... to be a servant can truly be a Blessing to others !

 

 

 

Make me a servant, Humble and meek,
Lord, let me lift up those who are weak,
And may the prayer of my heart always be:
Make me a servant today.

 

 

 

 

 

 

So In your prayers and throughout your day when you ask the Lord to Bless your Life , your Husband, Your Children ..your Income .. The Dr. that's perfoming a surgery on a friend or Loved one etc.... Be sure to remember to ask the Lord to allow you to be a Blessing to someone else in life.... You won't regret it I promise.... to be a blessing is to be blessed.

 

Wishing you all a Beautiful Weekend...

 

I have a fun post coming up on the "Scraps" of time my newest Estate Sale find...

 

Until then...