craving bread...

I've been craving bread lately...

Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. 

Whoever comes to me will never go hungry"

John 6:35 (NIV)

 “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; 

yet not my will, but yours be done.”

Luke 22:42 (NIV)

But He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His stripes we are healed

Isaiah 53:5 (NKJV)

Jesus said to them, 

“Very truly I tell you, it is not Moses who has given you 

the bread from heaven, 

but it is my Father who gives you the true bread

 from heaven. 

For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven 

and gives life to the world.”

John 6:32-33 (NIV)

 The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, 

took bread, and when he had given thanks, 

he broke it and said,“This is my body, which is for you; 

do this in remembrance of me."

1 Corinthians 11:23-24 (NIV)

Taste and see that the Lord is good;
    blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.

Psalm 34:8 (NIV)

The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever;
The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.
 More to be desired are they than gold,
Yea, than much fine gold;
Sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb

Psalm 19:9-10 (NKJV)

Is there any greater thanks

than to thank Him for what He has done?

Is there any greater way

to counteract the disappointments of life

than to give thanks?

eucharist = eucharisteo 

giving thanks again today

even when it's hard to make sense of life

Sweeter than Honeycomb Unleavened Bread Recipe:

3/4 c. scaled milk

1 egg

1/4 c. honey

1/4 c. butter, melted

2 1/2 c. flour

mix together milk, egg, honey, and butter.  Stir in flour until well mixed.  Knead on floured board or counter until smooth.  Cut in half.  Roll each half out and cut into desired shapes/pieces.  Bake on ungreased cookie sheet for 8-10 min at 375 or until lightly browned.

{virtual coffee} again...

maybe caffeine would help?!?

Good morning... it's a yucky, rainy, cold and mostly miserable day outside... a GREAT day for {virtual coffee} dontcha think?

Joining up with Amy to sip some virtual coffee together today.  Care to join us?

Ellen and I brought school to the library today.  Doesn't she looked thrilled?  I have to confess that I've kinda let school slide a little lately.  Not that I'm a rigid homeschool mom; but, even to my standards, things have slipped a bit.   What, with writing a book and now working on a sequel, celebrating Christmas and New Year with friends and family, almost running over myself, passing out toys for Toy Time, and waiting for puppies to be born... it seems as if I don't have enough of me to do it all and school too.

I used to worry about such times in our lives... worry that my kids weren't learning enough, getting enough, being enough, whatever enough.  Somehow, putting the two older in school has changed my perspective greatly.  They both were homeschooled.  They both transitioned beautifully.  They both have high GPA's.  They're fine.  Ellen will be fine too.  So, I don't worry anymore over the days when we stay in our pj's and read 3 entire Boxcar Children books or the days when we make Bosco sticks, hot pockets, mini pies, cookies and granola bars for the other kid's school lunches.  

Just think of all the time I've wasted worrying!  So, today we push the "restart" button and we work diligently on our schoolwork while still having fun at the library.

Speaking of libraries... I think mine is about the best around.  You know, we could actually have our coffee here?  Yep, my library is cool like that.  Just make sure you keep the lid on.... ; )

I've been attempting to make my own coffee creamer at home.  So far... I'm undecided on it.  I'd like to do it to cut cost and preservatives but not so sure it's worth it.  I'll keep you posted on different recipes I try.  Here's the one from today...

Honey Almond Coffee Creamer

1 can sweetened evaporated milk

1 1/2 c. milk

1/4. c. honey

1/8 t. almond extract

Pour all into a 1 quart canning jar and tighten lid.  Shake well until all honey and condensed milk is mixed in.  Store in fridge and use with your favorite coffee.

... this is the recipe I like best, thus far.  I've tried vanilla and pumpkin spice.  Still not as good as Sweet Italian Cream, which is, by far, my fave!!

In this little chat, Ellen has finished her school work.  Time for us to move on.  

Hope you have an amazing Tuesday.  Thanks for joining me!

changing his view of lunch...

Suffice it to say, the man-cub was less than thrilled when we informed him that due to budget cuts, he was going to have to take his lunch to school often this year... VERY often.   Apparently, he did not think it was cool (or whatever they say these days) to carry his lunch to school.


Though it seems like a 100 years to him and a couple of years to me, I do remember back to the days of high school.  The same high school that he is now attending.  It wasn't cool to carry your lunch to school, especially if you carried any sort of lunch box.  The geeks and the really nerdy kids carried their lunch boxes and ate their homemade sandwiches and carrot sticks and the rest of us sat as far away as we could.


I made a rash promise to him during that discussion a month ago... I will do everything I can to make sure you don't have to take a pb&j.  


This prompted a lot of prayer... Lord, HELP!  I often send up such prayers and this one was for some divine creativity.  As He always does, God answered abundantly.  The discussion at supper tonight was light years ahead of the discussion last month.  I found out that my homemade ham & cheese minis are in high demand and make for a great trade... one ham & cheese for breadsticks with marinara.  


Even better, the discussion at lunch today centered around which kids were going to start bringing their lunch because Eric's lunch was WAY better than the lunch at school.  Eric looked at us tonight and said, "I'm single-handedly changing the way everyone eats lunch!" 


Well, I doubt that homemade ham & cheese minis are making that big of difference but it did my heart good to know that he is changing his view of lunch.


...currently I freeze all of the following recipes and Eric and Emme grab them from the freezer drawer in the morning and the frozen items serve as ice packs for the rest of their lunch.  At lunch they pop them in the microwave to reheat.


BASIC BREAD recipe... use for hot pockets, sandwiches and bosco sticks
  1/4 c butter melted
  1/2 c. warm milk
  1 c. warm water
  2 T. yeast 
 1/4 c honey
 1 egg
 5-6 c flour


dissolve yeast in 1 c warm water until foamy.  Melt butter, add milk, egg and 1 c. flour.  Mix in yeast mixture and then remaining flour until dough no longer sticks to side of mixing bowl.  Knead for 8 minutes.  Cover and let rest until double.  


HOT POCKETS
filling ideas:
      broccoli and cheese
      turkey and cheese
      taco meat
      pizza sauce, pepperoni, cheese
      scrambled eggs, bacon bits, cheese
      salami and provolone
divide dough into 13-15 equal portions.  Roll each portion out to 1/8 inch thickness.  In the center put filling.  Fold dough over and crimp edges.  Place on greased cookie sheet or pizza stone.  Brush with egg white and bake at 375 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.  Cool.  Wrap in baggie, clear wrap or wax paper and freeze.  At school, reheat in microwave.


MINI SANDWICHES
divide dough into 20 equal portions.  Shape into a ball and flatten.  Place on greased cookie sheet or pizza stone and let rest for 10 minutes.  Bake at 375 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.  Cool.  Cut in half and stuff with favorite sandwich meat and cheese.  Wrap tightly and freeze.  Reheat in microwave.


BOSCO STICKS
divide dough in 12-15 equal portions and roll out to 1/8th inch thickness.  Place unwrapped string cheese stick in center of dough and wrap dough around cheese stick pinching ends and seams tightly.  Place on greased cookie sheet or pizza stone and bake at 375 for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.  Brush with melted garlic butter (1/4 c. melted butter, 1 t. garlic powder) as soon as they come out of the oven.  Cool.  Wrap tightly and freeze.  Reheat in microwave. 

violet jelly

Because my phone went in the laundry on one particularly bad Saturday morning... and because I still haven't spent the money on a new camera (am using an old phone that takes lousy pictures), I have no pictures of this great idea to show you.  I'm so glad Prairieland Herbs has pretty pictures... just pretend my pictures would have looked just like theirs.


Last week while at a softball game, a few of us moms were talking and one of my friends mentioned that her family had made violet jelly that week.  I thought it sounded intriguing and so I did a little internet searching and found this recipe, complete with directions and pretty pictures... http://www.prairielandherbs.com/violetjelly.htm


I couldn't find liquid pectin at our local Kroger store, so I looked a little further and found this recipe at Cooks.com... http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,1723,146174-249197,00.html


By combining the pictures and directions of the first recipe and the ingredients in the second recipe, we were able to make violet jelly yesterday.  It has A LOT of sugar in it and thus, it is very sweet!  And, in Ellen's words "it's delectable on toast!"


It also looks pretty in the little jelly jars that I had left over from years ago.  I'm planning on using it for gifts in the coming year and may even make another batch before the violets all disappear.

Great Pumpkin Dessert recipe..

This recipe originated with my friend, Rachelle.  It's one of those great recipes that I use over and over again, especially around Thanksgiving.  I try to always keep the ingredients on hand for an easy dessert.  

Great Pumpkin Dessert

1-15 oz can pumpkin

1-12 oz can evaporated milk

3 eggs

1 c. sugar

4 t. pumpkin pie spice

1 yellow cake mix

3/4 c. melted butter

1 1/2 c. chopped walnuts, pecans or almonds

In mixing bowl, combine pumpkin, milk, eggs, sugar and spice.  Pour into a greased 12x9 pan.  Sprinkle on dry cake mix and drizzle with butter.  Top with nuts.  Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour or until knife inserted in center comes out clean.  Serve warm with whipped cream or ice cream.

12 Weeks of Christmas Cookies... Gram's sorghum cookies

It's week 8 already of April's 12 Weeks of Christmas Cookies linky party.  Each week I look forward to seeing the pictures of the yummy recipes for Christmas cookies and sweets!

Today's recipe is one that I knew I would include when I first thought through joining April's blog party.  I think these were my grandmother's absolute favorite cookie and she made them all the time!

Gram's Sorghum Cookies

1 c. sugar

3/4 c. shortening

1 egg

1/4 c. sorghum or molasses

1 t. vanilla

2 c. flour

1 t. cinnamon

1 t. ginger

1 1/2 t. baking soda

Mix sugar and shortening together until well blended.  Add egg, sorghum and vanilla.  In a separate bowl, combine the dry ingredients.  Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients until they are completely combined.  Roll dough into 2 inch balls and roll in sugar.  Place sugared balls onto greased baking sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes.

12 Weeks of Christmas Cookies... buckeyes

I'm pretty certain that I have seen at least one other post for Buckeyes during this 12 Weeks of Christmas Cookies link party from Abby Sweets, but I couldn't resist posting a recipe of my own and the memories that go with it.


I can not remember how many times I made Buckeyes for my dad when I was in high school and college.  Honestly, I can't even remember why I made them the first time.  All I remember is that after that first batch, Buckeyes became something my dad asked for every holiday season.


Our family was blessed with the opportunity to go to my grandparent's lake home for Christmas.  My grandparents would go to Arizona each winter and their lake home would be empty.  We would drive 70 miles to "run away" for a few days of no TV, no phone, no company but a lot of laughs, games and eating.  My sisters and I would take turns making goodies in the kitchen while raucous card games would be going on.  


At some point in history, the making of the buckeyes became my sister's job.  To this day, she still makes them and brings them to our family Christmas celebration each year.  My dad still loves them and after all these years, I'm not sure our Christmas celebration would be the same without buckeyes.


BUCKEYES
3/4 c. peanut butter
3 c. powdered sugar
1/2 c. softened butter (not margarine)
1/2 t. vanilla extract
3 whole graham crackers finely crumbed in food processor
1 pkg. semi sweet chocolate chips
1 T. butter


With mixer, mix together peanut butter and butter.  Add vanilla extract.  Slowly add powdered sugar and graham cracker crumbs.  Roll dough into 1 inch balls and freeze until hard, about 30 minutes.
Melt chocolate chips and butter in microwave for 2 minutes.  Stir until completely melted.  Dip peanut butter balls into chocolate covering sides but leaving a small portion of peanut butter showing on top.
Refrigerate after dipping until chocolate is hardened.  
Store in refrigerator.

12 Weeks of Christmas Cookies... rum balls

During my high school and college years, we had a neighbor named Mrs. D.  Mrs. D made all kinds of wonderful treats for us and one of them was rum balls every holiday season.  It's been a few years since I have had Mrs. D's rum balls but when I made these this week I remembered how good these treats are!

RUM BALLS

1/2 c. butter

1 # powdered sugar

4 1/2 tsp rum (or bourbon)

2-3 squares semi-sweet choc. melted

Pecan halves

Beat butter (softened) until lite and fluffy

Gradually beat in sugar, then rum

Wrap in wax paper and chill 1 hr.

Roll balls, dip in choc, top with pecan

Keep in fridge or freezer!!

Enjoy!  Here are the other yummy Christmas treats this week...

12 Weeks of Christmas Cookies... Ferrol's Coco-Crispy Cookies

It's 12 Weeks of Christmas Cookies time with Abby Sweets again!  I am having so much fun looking through my cookbooks and digging out old family favorite recipes as well as trying new ones.


This recipe is from my college roommate, Ferrol.  She is amazing!  She's always on the lookout for recipes that use whole foods.  She loves to feed her family foods that are not only delicious but are also relatively good for them.


My family usually frowns upon "good for you" things.  However, this batch of cookies disappeared almost as fast as I could make them.  We love them!


If you are looking for a healthier alternative to Christmas Cookies, try serving a plate of these.


Ferrol's Coco-Crispy Cookies


1 stick soft butter
3/4 c. raw sugar
1 egg
1 t. vanilla
3/4 c. whole wheat flour
1/2 t. baking soda
1/2 t. baking powder
1 1/2 c. rice crispy cereal
1 c. rolled oats or instant oats
1/2 c. unsweetened coconut


Blend butter and sugar until creamy.  Add egg and vanilla and mix well.  In separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda and baking powder.  Mix dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and stir in cereal, oats and coconut.  Dough will be very stiff and crumbly.  Mix well... it takes a while. ; )


Drop by spoonfuls onto greased baking sheet and bake at 325 degrees for 12-13 minutes.

12 Weeks of Christmas Cookies... snowmints

It's another week of the 12 Weeks of Christmas Cookies hosted by April at Abby Sweets.


My girls LOVE books from the American Girl Company.  So, when we saw this recipe in the American Girl Library Christmas Crafts, we realized this was something we needed to make!  So fun to do together and so minty yummy!  


Though these are not your typical Christmas cookie, they offer fun dimension and festivity to a plate of goodies.


SNOWMINTS


Step 1~ In a small bowl, mix together 1 Tablespoon softened butter (do not use margarine), 1 Tablespoon light corn syrup, 1/8 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon mint extract. Gradually add 1 cup powdered sugar.  When dough becomes too stiff to stir, knead with hands.

Step 2~ Pull off a 1/4 or so of dough and set aside.  With the remaining dough, make 12 snowman by forming 2 or 3 marbles sized balls for each one.  Stack balls on wax paper to make bodies.  To the remainder 1/4 of dough, knead in 1 drop blue food coloring.  Wash hands after kneading blue in.  Cover snowman bodies and blue dough with moist paper towel.

Step 3~ using non-pareils and carnival sprinkles, add eyes, noses and buttons to snowmen.

Step 4~ roll out scarves, shape hats and ear muffs from the blue dough for snowmen and press into place.  Store finished snowmints in the refrigerator and add them to your plate of goodies!

12 Weeks of Christmas Cookies... raspberry cream cheese cookies

We're busy camping this week, so I'm joining up with Abby Sweets for 12 Weeks of Christmas Cookies from the road.  


I originally posted this recipe on my blog in January.  We loved these!  Even before joining up with 12 Weeks of Christmas Cookies, I've been planning on making these for Christmas.  


Check out the other cookies this week at the bottom of this post!

Raspberry Cream Cheese Cookies

2 sticks butter, softened

3 oz. cream cheese, softened

1/2 c. sugar

1 t. vanilla extract

2 c. flour

1-2 T. milk

1/4 c. raspberry jam

1/4 c. sugar, set aside to roll dough in

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Beat butter and cream cheese until well blended. Add sugar and vanilla. Stir in flour until very coarse crumbs. Add milk 1 T. at a time until dough sticks together. Shape dough into 1 inch balls and roll in sugar. Place balls on greased cookie sheet and press thumb or finger into dough to make a well. Spoon small amount of raspberry jam into each well. Bake 12-15 min or until lightly browned.

12 Weeks of Christmas Cookies... Toffee!

It's week 2 of 12 Weeks of Christmas Cookies with Abby Sweets.  I don't know about anyone else but I'm having a blast ... not only thinking of which sweets to make but also looking at everyone else's recipes!  My not-very-scientific count showed 44 links with recipes last week.  How fun!!

Our family has a camping vacation coming up and I've been busy baking and cooking to get a few posts done ahead of their due date.  I'm realizing how much I enjoy different textures, colors, shapes and flavors on a plate of Christmas goodies.  In the end, I think my blog will only have 4-5 cookie recipes... I will, however, have 12 of my favorite yummy recipes to share.

I've adapted this recipe from one I received from my sister.  Each November she and her in-laws get together for a 2-day HUGE cookie/candy making venture.  When they are finished, everyone has a wide variety of Christmas cookies and candy to set out or use as gifts.  When our family gets together for the holidays, everyone waits eagerly for my sister to bring the goodies ... and, I go for the toffee first!

Enjoy! ... and check out the links at the bottom of this post for more yummy recipes!!

TOFFEE

2 c. butter (not margarine)

2 c. sugar (can be either white or brown)

2 T. light corn syrup

1/3 c. water

2 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 c. sliced almonds

Line a 15 x 10 x 1 inch baking pan with foil, extending over edges.  Spray foil with non-stick spray.

In a heavy, 3 qt saucepan melt butter.  Stir in sugar, corn syrup and water.  Cook over medium-high heat to boiling.  Stirring frequently. Clip candy thermometer to pan.  Be sure bulb is well covered and not touching the bottom of pan.

Continuing cooking over medium heat, stirring frequently until thermometer registers 290 degrees (soft-crack stage)... between 15-20 minutes.  The mixture will be a dark golden brown, very thick and pulling away from sides of pan.  Remove thermometer and pour into prepared pan, spreading evenly.  Cool 5 minutes or until top is just set.  

Sprinkle chocolate chips on top of toffee and let stand 2 minutes to melt.  Gently and evenly spread melted chocolate over entire pan of toffee.  Top with nuts, pressing them into the chocolate.  Cool several hours or until set.  

Holding edges of foil, lift candy out of the pan.  Break into pieces.  Store in airtight container.

12 Weeks of Christmas Cookies... week 1

I'm joining April at Abby Sweets for 12 Weeks of Christmas Cookies... mmmm!  For the next 12 Fridays, several bloggers will post a Christmas cookie recipe on the Abby Sweets blog.  Just think of all the yummy new recipes I will have in time for Christmas!  


Check out the links at the bottom of this post for other yummy recipes!

This week, I made mint brownies.  Years ago, I got this recipe from my Mom.  It's been an old standby since... easy to make... delicious to eat... impressive to look at... and my college BFF's favorite!


These brownies are easy to make and very rich to eat.  Adding a few of these small bars to a plate of Christmas cookies gives color and dimension to make it festive.


I didn't really allow myself enough time for these to properly set up before trying to get a picture of them.  I definitely recommend giving the brownies plenty of time to cool and then plenty of time to set up before removing them from your pan.

MINT BROWNIES

BROWNIES:

4-1 oz squares baking chocolate

3/4 c. butter

2 c. sugar

3 eggs 

1 t. vanilla

1 c. flour

Foil line a 9 x 13 inch pan and spray liberally with non-stick spray.

In a microwavable bowl, add 4 squares of bakers chocolate with 3/4 c. butter.  Microwave for 2 minutes.  Remove from microwave and stir gently until all chocolate is melted. 

Stir in sugar and eggs, mixing well.  Add vanilla and flour and stir until completely mixed.  The batter will be very runny.

Pour into prepared pan and bake at 350 degrees for 30 min or until inserted toothpick comes out clean.  Do not over bake.  Cool completely.

MINT LAYER:

2 c. powdered sugar

1/2 c. butter

1 T. water

1/2 t. mint extract

green food coloring

Beat until smooth.  Spread on cooled brownies.  Cool until stiff.

CHOCOLATE TOPPING:

1 1/2 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 T. butter

microwave for 1 minute.  Stir until completely melted.  Gently spread on top of mint layer.  Cool slightly.  

Remove foil from pan and cut into small bars before chocolate is completely set.