Wed., June 6, 2018

Psalm 116:6 – The Lord protects simple folk; he saves me whenever I am brought down.

OK – I know some of you will think this is completely silly. Parchment paper. I can hear someone saying, “Are you kidding me?”

But seriously, a role of parchment paper has brought happiness to my life the last two weeks. More than once. In a column about gratitude, expressing gratitude for the simplest of things should be acceptable, right?

And I must attribute this happiness to Joanna Gaines.

In her cookbook, “Magnolia Table,” Joanna shares how she lines a baking dish with parchment paper. This makes it very easy to remove the food from the pan after it is cooked. AND clean-up is so simple. Basically, there is none.

The bread in the pan is Joanna’s banana bread recipe from “Magnolia Table.” In this recipe, she explains how she uses parchment paper when baking. After I used her tip the first time, I realized she was onto something. This pan is the third time I have followed her tip. And the banana bread isn’t bad either.

Of course, the parchment paper I have in the pan does not look nearly as pretty as the pictures in her book. My stylist was more concerned about quick and easy than pretty.

I have had this role of parchment paper in the drawer for awhile. I have used it a couple times. Honestly, I have used in more in the last two weeks than I had ever previously.

There will be some who think parchment paper isn’t great for the environment. Maybe, just maybe, not using so much water to wash the pan off sets this a bit.

It’s super simple. It’s really not a big deal. But each time I when I took this pan out of the oven, my heart sang just a bit.

Lord God – ‘Tis a gift to be simple. May I never forget the value of simplicity. Thanks for bringing something so simple and yet creates such happiness in my life. Amen.

Blessings –

Dianne

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