Potluck #51 Holidays and Cooking and Recipes - Oh My!

I love Paula Deen's southern style cooking. I've tried another one of her pound cake recipes. It's sooo good. I decided to convert this new one I've found from her on the Food Network web site. http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paulas-party/sour-cream-pound-cake-recipe/index.html

The original recipe is as follows:

Sour Cream Pound Cake
Recipe courtesy of Paula Deen, 2008

Ingredients
1 stick butter, room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup sour cream
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar together. Add the sour cream and mix until incorporated. Sift the baking soda and flour together. Add to the creamed mixture alternating with eggs, beating in each egg 1 at a time. Add vanilla.
Pour the mixture into a greased and floured loaf pan. Bake for 40 minutes to 1 hour or until toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.

Yield
6 to 8 servings

My downward conversion of Paula's recipe is as follows:

1/2 stick butter, room temperature
3/4 cup or 6 ounces of sugar
1/4 cup sour cream
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cup or 6 ounces of all-purpose flour
1 1/2 eggs
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

I plan to test this recipe this weekend. I will then post an approximate bake time. The recipe should serve 3 to 4 people. Please note: I usually add 2-3 times more vanilla extract than recommended in recipes. The flavor is so much richer.

I used That's My Home Recipe Converter web site to downsize Paula's recipe. http://www.thatsmyhome.com/recipes/converter.htm

Spring Cleaning: Email

I had forgotten that I could create folders in webmail. Once I rediscovered this, I tackled my overgrown email account with a vengeance, deleting some of them and organizing the rest. I realized that I am able to refer back to information quicker now that I have them arranged into categories. I plan to retain this tidy mindset. I will reply, delete, forward, or file!

Spring Cleaning: Uitilizing GTD

GTD provides some practical solutions for organizing tasks. I will use the 2 minute rule daily at work. The rule allows one to be more efficient and to reduce pile up of tasks and clutter. I will also use organizational tools such as the Ta-da list and the Google calendar. I've experimented with making simple lists with Ta-da. I made one for work, but I can see creating lists for every aspect of life such as school assignments, shopping, car maintenance, healthy living, and personal appointments. I like the fact that I can share my lists with others and prevent them from being edited if I choose to do so. I also found the Google calendar quite helpful. I am a visual person so viewing tasks at a glance are beneficial to me. However, I must say that this would only help when used sparingly. I don't have extra time to spend on creating an exhaustive calendar. Finally, I can see using the tickler file sometime in the future. Especially, when I have more pressing responsibility.