Favorite Mamma Recipes
Favorite Mamma Recipes
My mamma’s pound cake recipe
2 sticks of butter
1 2/3 cups sugar
5 eggs
2 cups flour – sifted
1 t. vanilla
Bake at 300° for 1 hour 10 minutes
Soften butter and set out eggs to room temperature. Cream together butter and sugar. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each egg. Add flour. Add vanilla last. Pour into a well greased bundt pan.
♥
I’m starting a collection of favorite “mamma” recipes and will soon have a section on my website for these treasures from our mothers, grandmothers and also from sisters, daughters — all the chefs in your family including your own specialties!
Share your recipe in a comment to this blog or email me at annettebridges@gmail.com. And stay tuned for news about the recipe section on my website. I’ll let y’all know when it’s up and running!
Southern Women Authors
Perhaps I’m a wee bit biased, but I do enjoy reading what southern women authors have to say on just about anything! Born in Atlanta, Georgia and raised in the south makes me true “grits” – girl raised in the south. With my early southern upbringing being in the late 1950s and throughout the 1960s, I was well endowed with the knowledge that southern women and especially our mammas always know best.
One of my favorite southern women authors is Ronda Rich. I met Ronda at a trade book show when her book, What Southern Women Know (That Every Woman Should) was making its debut. My daughter and I read this book aloud to each other while we sun bathed at Gulf Shores, Alabama – infamously known as the southern Riviera. I later bought dozens of copies to give to all my lady friends for Christmas. Needless to say, I highly recommend this book. But she has written others since then including What Southern Women Know About Faith and What Southern Women Know About Flirting – to name two.
My daughter, Jennifer, will soon complete her PhD in History with her major focus being women’s history. I asked her who some of her favorite southern women authors are. She said, “Kathryn Stockett’s The Help is fantastic and Emily Griffin’s books are adorable.” She also shared the link below saying: “This is a great little article that culminates some great southern female writers today. I haven’t read all of these women, but check it out!” Ronda Rich is not among this group and she, too, lives in the Atlanta area so the folks at Vanity Fair Magazine didn’t do their homework very well if you ask me. Still, if these southern literary belles were born and raised in the south, then my mamma would say I should read their books. And perhaps you should, too.
http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2011/02/literary-belles-201102
If you have your own favorite southern women authors, I would love to hear all about them for my next blog on the subject!
Remembering a lesson learned – "Be yourself!"
Remembering a lesson learned – Be Yourself!
In my first book, The Gospel According to Mamma, lesson 20 is “Be yourself.” I wrote about my step-dad who is actually step-dad number three and my current step-dad. I praise him for being “one of those fortunate grown-ups who has managed to hold on to his childlikeness.” For example: “When he is in church and inspired by a soloist performance, he lets out a resounding “Amen!” It doesn’t matter that his is the only voice heard. He follows his heart. No one is a stranger to him. Everywhere he goes – restaurants, grocery stores, church – he speaks to anyone who will listen. And he hums constantly!”
Step-dad number three is in the hospital for the second time this year. This time around he had surgery and is currently in the ICU. I think perhaps what has disturbed me most about his health struggles in the past few weeks was there have been no hums. (Actually his hums are more like “do-dahs.”) No “do-dahs” had me very concerned!
Both my mamma and step-dad are comfortable in their own skin and never worry about what others think of them. I’ve often longed for their self-comfort so I could also not worry about what others might think about what I had to say or what I did. My worries have often kept me from being true to myself – from following my dreams, going after a goal, sharing my opinion, or from dancing at a community concert when I really, really wanted to get up and dance.
With my sweet mamma and step-daddy as role models, I’ve been learning how to recapture the unbridled freedom I had in my early childhood. And I’ve been learning how to be my genuine self – the kind of self that children innately know how to be.
As I wrote in my book, “Mamma says God created us childlike – full of wonder, in a state of perpetual discovery, curious, compelled by fascination, satisfied by simple joys, spontaneous, trusting, obedient, confident, expectant, innocent, eager to learn, with a humble spirit, forgiving, ready to explore and investigate, filled with the spirit of adventure, unconditionally loving. She says people sometimes accept other traits and opinions about themselves that aren’t part of their nature as a child of God. We stop remembering our childlike self. But to be childlike is what we truly are. My mamma says we need only be willing to rediscover this self.”
I’ve been giving my mamma’s words of wisdom a daily “Amen!” as I endeavor to follow.
I’m also happy to report that my dear step-daddy let out a couple of “do-dahs” during my visit yesterday. He also joked with his nurse saying, “I don’t have my wallet,” when she brought his dinner tray, so “No tip!” And his legs and feet would not stop moving. When asked about them, he declared, “I’m dancing!” Now I’m convinced he is on the road to recovery. His childlikeness has saved him!
February's Top 3 Good Books for Moms
I’ve got young moms on my mind this month. My top 3 books for February are some that I used and treasured when I was a young mommy.
1. Tips for toddlers by Brooke McKamy Beebe
My paperback copy of this book was opened so many times, its pages are not all intact. Of course, it is almost “thirty” years old. (Sorry baby girl, I keep reminding you of that number!) It was fun getting to know “my old friend” again and seeing some of the tips that I highlighted. I suspect my daughter would tell you she remembers these. Some examples, “Offering limited choices distracts the child from what you want him to do. Say, ‘Do you want to wear mittens or the gloves?’ And “Tell your child stories of your own childhood and how you hated to have your hair brushed, etc. Emphasize how much better she is than you were.” And I’m sure this one is my daughter’s favorite memory, “Some children respond well to the suggestion, ‘Go to your room and find a happy face before you come out.’” All of these – and many more – worked well for us!
2. How to talk so kids will listen & listen so kids will talk by Adele Faber and Elaine Mazlish
Many great and effective roll-play examples in this book! I was working on my master’s degree in Early Childhood Education when I was first introduced to this book. My daughter was around seven years old I think. I brought her to class with me one day and she helped me roll play some examples of arguments between a mommy and daughter but with good mommy listening skills. She had a blast! A couple of lines I underlined back then were “Steady denial of feelings can confuse and enrage kids. Also teaches them not to know what their feelings are – not to trust them.” And “After all we were two separate people, capable of having two different sets of feelings. Neither of us was right or wrong. We each felt what we felt.”
3. Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst
This is a great book with a message for both children and moms! I was first introduced to this book when I was working on my undergraduate degree and taking an education class working as a teacher’s aid in a second grade classroom. “Some days are like that” is a comforting message at the end of what feels like a very bad day. That simple idea helped both my daughter and me to sleep better and be expectant that a new day can and will be better!
Notice to all moms out there! I would love to know what some of your favorite, instructive, helpful and encouraging “mom” books have been and perhaps a sentence or two telling why. Then I will share your recommendations in my blog! Thank you!
Gospel Mamma still welcoming in the New Year!

The Gospel According to Mamma has a new display location at the most adorable boutique in North Texas – Sunny Paige in Whitesboro, just off Hwy. 377!
What Mamma says…
Me and Mamma wish you all a New Year that is happy, productive and filled with lots of good learning and living!
“Mamma says if we stay so focused on our past failings, we won’t be able to move beyond them and learn what we need to know.”
Quote from The Gospel According to Mamma
Last day – Christmas of 1968 continued…
Still recounting my lessons learned from the Christmas of 1968:
“…that joy is not dependent of money and circumstances, and that love is much stronger than hate and can dispel fear, uncertainty, and doubt.”
Excerpt from The Gospel According to Mamma
Merry Christmas! And me and Mamma wish y’all a very happy New Year!
Day 11 – Christmas of 1968 continued…
“Our modest celebration along with those months of modest living taught me that peace and hope can be felt in the midst of threats of violence…..”
Excerpt from The Gospel According to Mamma
Day 10 – Christmas of 1968 continued…
“My memory of those childhood days is not of lack, uncertainty or fear. I never even thought of myself as homeless or poor. I learned that a different outlook can change the course of one’s life.”
Excerpt from The Gospel According to Mamma
Day 9 – Christmas of 1968 continued…
“I suppose I could look at my childhood experience with regret. But those days for me were a great gift – a lesson in how to beat the odds, how to overcome the insurmountable, how to begin anew when all is lost, and how to find something good in every moment.”
Excerpt from The Gospel According to Mamma