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Better Eggnog Pound Cake

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It's not often that I love a recipe straight out of the cookbook. Typically I make it the way the recipe says once, then fix it to my satisfaction the next go round. This pound cake is no exception. The first one was good but not quite perfect. This time I nailed it. It's about ingredients, the way I mixed them, and having the perfect pan for the desired result. Here's the finished recipe, modified from the original I found in the November 1990 issue of Southern Living magazine. Kristina's Eggnog Pound Cake 1 c. unsalted butter, softened 3 c. granulated sugar 6 lg. eggs 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract 1 tsp. lemon extract 1 c. commercial dairy eggnog  3 c. all-purpose flour (spooned into dry measuring cup and carefully leveled off; sift if necessary) 1/8 tsp. grated nutmeg Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Grease and flour a 10-inch tube pan, place on baking sheet and set aside. Using a heavy duty mixer, beat butter at medium  speed for 1-2 minut...
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Benediction

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April Benediction Cades Cove, Great Smoky Mountains National Park ©2015 Kristina Plaas, All Rights Reserved Life is a rollercoaster of ups and downs, highs and lows. We don't stay in the same place -- physically, emotionally, or spiritually -- for very long before something changes and we must also change. When we arrive at a high place, a low invariably follows. I'm sliding on the downslope tonight after arriving on a big high this morning. To fight the feelings that accompany downslopes, I pause to reflect on the good things of the past few months. Spring is my favorite season and April is my favorite month of the year. April is dogwoods and redbuds, tulips and daffodils. It's about Easter and Jesus Christ, it's about new life and second chances, it's a celebration of surviving a long, cold winter. April is an explosion of wildflowers that fill me with joy -- trillium, trout lilies, and lady's slippers. As I drove the Loop Road around Cades Cove last Wed...
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Gratitude Day 19: Lifetime Learning

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"Miller's Sunrise" Sunrise over East Miller's Cove and the western crest of the Great Smoky Mountains. Foothills Parkway West © 2014 Kristina Plaas, All Rights Reserved One of the things I love most about life is the never-ending opportunity to learn new things. I'm a naturally curious person and am interested in learning about a ridiculously diverse number of things. Yes, the kind of stuff one learns in school, but even better, the stuff one learns simply because it's there and you see it. In knitting it's about combining stitches and manipulating yarn to create something beautiful, or useful, or both! In nature it's about the earth, the critters, the sky, and the water. For me its started when I was a kid and wanted to understand rock formations and geology. After college it was wildflowers, an obsession to this day. Not only do I want to know what the common name(s) of the wildflower is, I've learned that common names aren't precise or...
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