Author: Suzanne Degges
Suzanne Degges-White was born in the Piedmont area of North Carolina. She spent the early part of her career as a marketing research analyst for both a trade publications company and a specialty pet food company. After the "motherhood" role was added to her life, she returned to graduate school to earn her MS in Community Counseling and her PhD in Counseling and Counselor Education. She has been a licensed professional counselor in private practice for over two decades and is currently Professor and Chair of the Department of Counseling, Adult and Higher Education at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, IL. She has won several research awards for her research in women's development. Her interest in social relationships and creativity in her work are inspired, in large part, by her three beautiful children. They continue to act as inspiration in many ways as she is at times amazed and other times baffled as she watches them develop into "emerging adults."
Simple & Delicious Cardamom Cake
You’ll need a springform pan for best results and parchment paper to line it or butter to grease it.
Prepping the Pan
3/4 cup sliced almonds
2-3 T granulated sugar
Place parchment paper in bottom of springform pan or butter the bottom. Sprinkle with the sugar evenly over the bottom of the pan, tipping/shaking as needed. Then spread the sliced almonds evenly over the sugar — Crispy Top Crust is the Pay-Off for this Effort
Ingredients & Instructions for the Cake
1 1/3 cups granulated sugar
4 eggs, room temperature
1 1/3 cups flour
1 1/2 T ground cardamom
1/8 tsp salt
1 1/3 sticks of butter melted
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees
- In a small bowl, mix the flour, cardamom, and salt together.
- Beat the sugar and eggs for 5 minutes with an electric mixer until rich and fluffy.
- Fold in the flour/cardamom/salt gently into the sugar and egg mixture.
- Next, gently and thoroughly fold in the melted butter.
- Pour the batter into the pan.
- Bake for 35 – 40 minutes until the cake is set and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Because of the melted butter, the toothpick may be a little damp, but there should be no batter attached to it as you pull it from the cake.
- Let the cake cool in the pan for a few minutes, then run a sharp knife around the inside of the pan, and remove the sides of the pan.
- Flip the cake onto a wire rack and then remove the pan top and parchment paper.
- Let the cake cool before cutting.
Amazingly Easy No-Knead Artisan Bread
Amazingly Easy & Delicious Artisan Bread
Ingredients
3 cups flour (bread OR all purpose)
½ tsp yeast (open 1 package and use only ½ teaspoon)
1 ¼ tsp salt
1 ½ cups warm water (110 degrees or so)
In large bowl, stir together ALL of these ingredients thoroughly. The dough should be “shaggy,” but will become a nice ball of dough.
Cover with plastic wrap and leave on counter for 12 – 18 HOURS
Next Day: WITH DUTCH OVEN
If you have parchment paper, cut a piece to fit the bottom of our Dutch oven. If not, you’ll spray it with cooking spray (Pam) after pre-heating the Dutch oven.
Remove plastic wrap from dough. It should be all bubbly and should have grown pretty large.
Lay out a piece of parchment paper and sprinkle flour over it. Get some flour on your fingers and sprinkle a little on the dough. Now, pull it together and put it on the floured parchment paper. You don’t have to knead it, but do use your hands to work it into a nice little ball or “package.” Just kind of pull the sides over onto the top so it’s a roundish ball that is smooth. Flatten it a little bit and cover it loosely with plastic wrap to rest.
Now preheat the oven AND the Dutch oven to 450 degrees. After 30 minutes of “resting,” take the Dutch oven OUT of the oven (use potholders!) and lift off the lid. Now, lift up the parchment paper and dough and place it in the bottom of the Dutch oven.
Put the lid on the Dutch oven and put it back into the 450 degree oven. After 30 minutes, remove the lid and let it bake for 10-20 minutes more. Check to see of it’s the color you like after 10 minutes (deep golden brown) and leave for 10 more minutes if too pale. When done, lift out the loaf and let cool on a wire rack for 30 minutes. Then slice after cooled.
Next Day: WITH BREAD CLOCHE
Cut and place a piece of parchment paper on the bottom of the cloche. Sprinkle with flour/cornmeal.
With floured fingers, fold the dough over on itself until it is shaped into a nice round ball. This shouldn’t take more than 3-4 folds.
Place the dough on the bottom of the cloche and use a sharp nice to score a cross on the top, not too deep. Put the lid on the cloche and let rise for 1.5 hours at room temperature.
Uncover the dough and brush a little milk over the top and sprinkle with flour. Cover back up.
Put the cloche in a cold oven and turn it to 450 degrees. Bake for 1 hour.
Remove the cloche from the oven, uncover, and let bread cool on the plate for around 30 minutes.
Slice and enjoy!
Interesting Findings on Friendscapes & Friendships
Friends Forever: How Girls and Women Forge Lasting Relationships
From Publishers Weekly
“Best friends forever,” or “BFF,” a phrase said often by many a young girl, may prove, as she grows into a woman and responsibilities leave less time for friends, easier said than done. Gleaning from their own experiences with friends, families, and responsibilities, and supported by hundreds of interviews, Degges-White and Borzumato-Gainey attempt to make sense of female relationships, from why we need them to how to make them. Highlighting the murky differences between female and male friendships, this work is clearly written by women for women. The book tracks and analyzes female friendships from early childhood to late life, tackling milestones like coupling, marriage, and childbirth. Parallel features of female friendships arise at every age, from the obvious (forming friendships based on common interest) to more crucial elements of trust, honesty, and reciprocity. Relatable tales and easy-to-implement recommendations will equip female readers with the confidence to form new, lasting friendships and the language with which to discuss their current ones. In the end, making friends for women of any age, at any stage in life, will seem less daunting and more inviting than ever.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved. –This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved. –This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
From Booklist
Women building and maintaining lasting friendships is a strategy for survival, the authors posit, anchoring their argument in the basics of biology. Namely the fact that women’s brains are more friendship-ready with superior in-utero development of what neuroscientists dub the social brain, which controls communication, nurturing, and understanding of social nuances. Girls enter the world better able to observe and remember emotional details and comprehend nonverbal communication since female biology clearly developed to encourage and support strong alliances as a safety net. Throughout the friendship chronology from early childhood’s first friends through midlife’s reconnection with ourselves and others companionship and the communities formed by older adults, new friendships are always in the offing, thanks to the female biological tendency toward an unfailing authenticity, candid self-awareness, and the ability to focus on the needs and interests of others over ourselves. Degges-White and Borzumato-Gainey’ss authorial collaboration has produced a resource as valuable, perhaps, as a friend. –Whitney Scott –This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
From Rowman & Littlefield: https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781442202016
From Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Friends-Forever-Girls-Lasting-Relationships/dp/1442202017/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1412003261&sr=8-1&keywords=degges-white+friends+forever
Lifetime Connections 