Eggnog Pie and Champagne (Updated 1-1-2013)

A Christmas specialty for my family as I grew up was having eggnog pie for Christmas Eve or Christmas. I am pretty lazy, and if I could have found something comparable in a bakery or as restaurant take-out, I would have bought it. This isn’t a family secret recipe, but I have never seen or tasted any pie like this anywhere else. My twin sister and I liked this pie so much that eventually we requested it instead of a cake for our birthday. I don’t know why it is called eggnog pie since there is no eggnog in it, but it is the color of eggnog.

Although I enjoyed the pie on visits “home” for the holidays, I felt apprehensive about making it myself. The results very much depend on doing the right thing at the right time at the right temperatures. However, I decided to make it for New Year’s Eve this year which is also my husband’s birthday. It would have been better to make it with the supervision of my mom or sister who have kept the tradition going. Just what does “thick and creamy” look like? (Not as thick as what I was picturing.) How “hard” is too hard for the  gelatin and water? (Apparently harder than mine because my gelatin incorporated into the milk/egg mixture just fine with a wire whip.) How does one determine that the mixture is “cool enough” to fold in the whipped cream? I am including my sister’s “version” of the recipe as she made notes about critical steps and procedures that my mother’s recipe does not have. The only note on my mom’s version is that if the gelatin is too hard to stir in, one can beat it in with an egg beater.  Despite going solo, the end product tastes and looks like what I remember. Hurray! A toast to me. I discovered today that this pie goes great with champagne.

Eggnog Pie (Serves 6)

1 baked pie shell (I used Keebler Ready-Crust shortbread)
1 cup milk
1/2 cup sugar
2 Tbsp. plus 3/4 tsp. cornstarch
1/4 tsp. salt
3 egg yolks, beaten
1/2 pint whipping cream
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/4 tsp. almond extract
1 tsp. unflavored gelatin
Toasted almonds for garnish

Scald 1 cup milk in top of a double boiler ( a skin forms).
Combine the sugar, cornstarch, and salt. Add mixture to scalded milk.  Soften 1 tsp. of gelatin in 1 Tbsp. of cold water. Set aside gelatin.
Cook milk mixture until thick and creamy, stirring occasionally. (Water in double boiler pan should be barely bubbling.) After reaching this stage, cook 15 minutes more. Remove from heat and stir (drizzle) in the beaten egg yolks. Return to heat and cook approximately 5 minutes for egg to cook.
Remove from heat and add softened gelatin, vanilla, almond flavoring to the milk/egg mixture. Cool in pan of water or sink, but do not let it get cold and set up or it won’t fold into whipping cream properly.
Whip 1/2 pint whipping cream until stiff. Fold into cooled mixture and pour into pie shell. Refrigerate.
Serve with slivered or whole toasted almonds. (About 1/2 cup).

Some post-pie-making thoughts
1. This took much longer than I thought it would. I waited and waited for the milk to scald and for the cooking mixture to thicken up. Maybe I had the water in the bottom of the double boiler not hot enough as I was really concerned about scorching.

2. Most of the recipes in my mom’s 1940s cookbook start out with scalding the milk. I remember being curious about this and learning that unpasteurized milk has enzymes that can affect ingredients being added to milk in cooking. I think one could just gently heat the milk in this recipe before adding the dry ingredients since today most of us use milk in which these enzymes have been destroyed thru pasteurization.

3. The mixture looks creamy rather quickly, but it never got thick in the way I think of thick. It did reduce down as it cooked and got a little denser, but for me thick would have meant stiffer and more effort to stir.

4. The dominant flavor of this pie is from the vanilla and almond. If you have high standards about the flavor of your extracts, be sure to use quality ones.

5. It does need some “crunch” so don’t skip the almonds. I “cheated” and used packaged roasted almond slices, but without almonds the pie is rather unexciting though yummily rich. I think I actually prefer the honey roasted almond slices to the home-toasted whole almonds.

6. I am going to skip the almonds the second time around on New Year’s Day and use Duncan Hines Comstock Limited Edition Berry Medley that I bought at Walmart. I’ll have to let you know how that tastes.

Added 1-1-2013  The topping was OK with the pie. It overwhelmed the delicate flavor though. I prefer it with the almonds alone. 2 pieces left to savor in the next day or two.

7. I appreciate even more the time and effort my mom and sister spent to create and continue this tradition. Love you both.

When I searched the internet, I found most of the eggnog pie recipes did indeed have eggnog. Some quickie versions used vanilla pudding which can't be nearly as tasty as my family's recipe. One recipe that came close to mine had rum and nutmeg. It did have an interesting crust recipe which I will put here. The Keebler shortbread was excellent though.

Stir together cookie crumbs from about 18 crushed Pecan Sandies with 1/4 cup melted butter; press firmly into a greased 9-inch deep dish pieplate. Bake at 350 degrees for 8 minutes. Remove crust from oven and sprinkle 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate morsels onto warm crust. Let stand 5 minutes or until morsels melt; carefully spread chocolate over bottom of crust with a spatula.

Have a Wonderful Christmas

Sweet Potato Casserole

Northerners and Mid-Westerners tend to like marshmallow topping on their sweet potatoes. Southerners prefer to go for sweet potato casserole with brown sugar and pecans. I like either, but I now usually make my holiday side dish like the South. Thanks to Mrs. Lanier (Kathy) Burns for sharing this recipe in Food for Thought the 1988 Dallas Theological Seminary cookbook. I plan to serve this Christmas day.

 

Sweet Potato Casserole

 

4 cups cooked mashed sweet potatoes

1/2 cup sugar

2 eggs, beaten

1/2 cup butter

1/3 cup milk

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon vanilla

Topping:

1/3 cup melted butter

1 cup light brown sugar

1/2 cup flour

1 cup chopped pecans

 

Combine the ingredients for the casserole (not topping) and pour into a greased casserole dish. Combine the ingredients for the topping and sprinkle over casserole. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. (Can be made up in advance and refrigerated, but it will take longer to heat through.)

Choucroute

We have family coming to our house Christmas Eve. We will exchange gifts, play games, work on a jigsaw puzzle. (No, not the new one with kids dancing around the Christmas tree; I already did that one!) I will serve a simple supper of choucroute, spinach salad with oranges, dried cranberries, red onion, honey roasted almonds and poppy seed dressing, rolls, cookies and peppermint ice cream.

Choucroute is a dish from the Alsace-Lorraine area of France. It typically is made with pork, sausages, and sauerkraut, reflecting the German influence in the region. It can be prepared before hand and refrigerated, then baked about 1 hour. It is a very forgiving recipe. I first made this when our church in Dallas had an early Christmas Eve candlelight service. Since I sang in the choir, I always had to be there early. I put the choucroute in the oven before I left the house, but baked it at 325 degrees and used a bit more apple juice so it wouldn’t dry out. It would bake almost 2 hours and still come out fine. It was nice to walk in the door from being at church and have a delicious wonderful-smelling meal ready to eat. I have also cooked this in a crockpot (browning the meat and onions first), and it also turned out well.

This recipe is from Betty Crocker’s Easy Entertaining (c1992). Using this cookbook reminds me of my trip to New York City where I bought the cookbook from Strand, the famous used-book store. I have several photos from Top Of The World lookout atop the World Trade Center which of course was destroyed in the September 11th terrorist attack. So many things have changed, but this recipe has endured thru the years.

Choucroute (Serves 8)

4 Polish sausages (about 3/4 pound) I have omitted this in recent years, and served a whole brat to each person instead
4 bratwurst sausages (about 3/4 pound)
4 boneless pork loin chops, cut in half (about 1 1/2 pounds)
1 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup dry white wine or apple juice
2 tart red apples, cored and sliced
1 jar (32 ounces) sauerkraut, drained I use canned Bavarian sauerkraut with caraway seeds

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Sauté sausages in large skillet, pricking to release fat; drain. Add pork and sauté until brown. Stir in onion and sauté. Mix all ingredients in Dutch oven (or casserole dish); cover. Bake 45 to 55 minutes (longer if it has been refrigerated) or until pork reaches 160 degrees on meat thermometer. Stir occasionally.

Christmas Joy

These cute little kids put a smile on my face. Maybe on yours, too?

Sprucing Up the Closet

Ever since high school, I have liked padded hangers. You know how you go along pretty oblivious to your every-day surroundings, until one day you take a close look and realize things are a little shabby. I have some pink-checked padded hangers that must be over 40 years old. I had noticed that the ribbon covering up the padding had separated some time ago, but only recently did I see the discoloration and stains. Time to replace these faithful old things.

  But have you tried finding padded hangers in recent years? I thought I would find some pastel ones like the one at the top of this post. I had been given this set of pastel satin padded hangers awhile back. I looked at Walmart, Kohl’s, Penneys, Bed Bath and Beyond, Burlington Coat Factory, several department stores. Nothing. Then a few weeks ago, as I was going thru KMart, my eye caught some white padded hangers. Only one color choice, but at $4.99 for 4 hangers a good price.

I have since looked on ebay. Some new pretty printed hangers there and not too expensive. Maybe I will look again after the holidays.

The deluxe “Cadillacs” of hangers are on etsy. Beautiful fabrics, but at $9 per hanger a bit rich for my pocketbook.

 

I have considered some of those velvet flocked hangers for light-weight knit tops. Supposedly, they keep the items from slipping off. Do they cause shoulder sag or stretching though? Anybody tried those? How do you like them? My closet needs a little TLC I decided.

Weeping

The skies above Winona Lake weep today in concert with our country at the great tragedy of Sandy Hook. Blessed are they who mourn for they shall be comforted. We have no words, just the prayer that those who suffered great loss will be comforted.

 

 

Is an e-reader in your future?

More and more people, including seniors, are buying and using tablets. As the prices fall, the trend will grow. The Nook Color I bought last January is already about $100 less than what I paid. Our retirement community purchased 4 Kindles thru a grant, and they will soon be available at the front desk to check out for reading books. My literary club which mainly has members in the 60-90 age bracket will have an e-reader panel in April for those who have e-readers to bring and share how they are using them.

The first thing one needs to determine before purchasing a tablet is how one will use it. In my case, I wanted something that would connect thru Wi-fi so I could check my email and Facebook while away from home. The book reading was almost secondary. Many magazines now offer parallel delivery; i.e., those who subscribe to the paper issue can receive a digital issue on their tablet for no extra cost. We receive Time that way. Though I mostly read the paper issue, I have at times taken the tablet with me to doctor’s appointments to read while waiting. While away from home for several weeks this winter, the digital copy will be delivered and read on the tablet. I will be able to keep current.

If one is going to read magazines on the tablet, then a color tablet is best. Also, if you want to read art books or cookbooks, or children’s illustrated books, a color version is essential. So you need to consider what type of reading you will do. Another issue is the depth of selection. Amazon has Barnes and Noble beat in the amount of choices available. If you want to use apps, Amazon also has more to offer. The Nook Color handles pdf files well if you are going to upload such files from your computer to take with you. The Nooks often have more storage capacity as well. My Nook Color will take an extra storage card to handle more titles. I am curious to compare my experiences and device with others so I am looking forward to my club’s panel.

I am not into apps. Obviously, Amazon sells more apps than Barnes and Noble.  A little known fact, however, is that because Nooks are Android based, there are cards that you can buy on the internet to insert into the extra storage slot that make it possible to load apps available for Android smartphones onto a Nook. Barnes and Noble sales people will tell that you void the warranty, but they have no way of knowing what kind of card you have inserted. The card must be inserted before turning on the device; then, removed again before using the company’s installed standard features, but it does not change the guts of the device in any way. Tech people can hack into the operating system and make permanent changes to avoid having to remove the card, but that will void the warranty. Since I am not big on apps, I haven’t tried this card, but for people coveting more apps this is a possible way to increase the choices.

I was amused when I read an article by blogger So Many Books where she describes that her husband likes his lighted device so he can read in bed. If he nods off, the device eventually shuts itself off but of course remembers where he left off in his reading. This is better than dropping a heavy book onto the floor and losing one’s place. Actually, her blog is a discussion of the physical book versus the digital book. Like her, I would miss the physical feel of a real book if none were available. You can follow the discussion at http://somanybooksblog.com/2012/12/05/the-physicality-of-books/ . It certainly removes “clutter” and frees space in the home to replace physical books with digital ones, but I do have an emotional attachment to the physical book.

Maybe a tablet e-reader will be under your Christmas tree this year. It certainly has many advantages including the ability to increase the size of the font and the portability of many titles to read. If the prices continue to fall, you may have to treat yourself to a gift.

Jigsaw Puzzles

When my husband and I were courting, we discovered that both of our families had a history of enjoying jigsaw puzzles. My family did them in the summer sitting on the porch of the Big Bear cabin. His family did them around holidays, especially Thanksgiving and Christmas; his mom often put a tablecloth over the unfinished puzzle on the dining room table so they could eat and then removed it so the puzzle workers could continue.

Most people probably look for a pretty or interesting picture. We have arrived at certain criteria before adding a puzzle to our collection. Because we like to do puzzles together with family (usually around the holidays), we look for puzzles with “zones.”
This puzzle my sister-in-law brought to our house for Thanksgiving is a good example.

Though there is some repetition of color, there are distinct areas an individual could work on while others worked on other zone areas: the embroidered towel; the small blue and white plate; the medium plate which has a distinct pattern; the garlics; the wooden board and knife; the eggplants in the bowl.

I liked this puzzle so well, that I searched ebay to see if there were other Ceaco Culinary Classics puzzles. There are, but the only one zoned as well as this one is the fruit puzzle.
We have started stocking up on smaller puzzles (less than 1,000 pieces) which gives us a better chance of finishing in one day.

Puzzles with extensive unbroken portions of one color (sky, grass, snow) don’t make it to our house these days either. I will never forget the puzzle I worked on one Christmas at my parents-in-law. Grayish white sky, snow-covered ground with the only “anchor” being a fence that ran thru the middle of the scene. Not at all enjoyable. Yes, I want a challenge, but I want to enjoy it. Complicated puzzles like the one I gave my husband while dating consisting of a pizza means studying the picture extensively to see if the pepperoni lies next to a green olive and a mushroom at a certain angle and are also troublesome. I have experienced plenty of puzzle sessions with box hogs who insist on holding the box lid in their hand or turning it towards his/her self. In this case, that was the only way to do the puzzle.

One Christmas we met in the fellowship room/dining area of my mother-in-law’s senior apartment complex. We had 3 puzzles going at the same time (some claimed we were in competition to see which table finished first, but I never signed on to that), but when we came down to the last half dozen pieces they didn’t fit, and even the colors seemed somewhat off. Turns out we had a roving family member who decided to surreptitiously move pieces from one table to another. All 3 tables of puzzlers found themselves with a conundrum, but we finally figured it out.

Searching ebay for the Culinary Classics got me hunting for a Christmas puzzle. We have a 1,000 piece village scene, but I was hankering for something smaller. Ta-da! I found it, and it arrived Wednesday. The sky will probably be the hardest part, but at least some of it is straight-edged border and there appears to be a shaft of light breaking it into parts. We’ll find out next week when we unbox it and lay it out on the card table.

P.S. The hardest part turned out to be the tree. So many ornaments and candles look alike.

My husband has incorporated puzzle making into his woodworking hobby. He affixes posters or calendar pictures on birch plywood and then creates “figurals” (special shaped pieces relevant to the theme of the puzzle) before cutting the pieces. Many of these have been gifts to family, and he houses the puzzle in special boxes he makes.

 There have also been some free-standing puzzles.
  

  Yep, we are definitely a puzzling family.

Looking Like Christmas

I have almost finished decorating. It is time consuming, but I get to think of all of the memories associated with my Christmas items. This Bavarian Nativity joined us fairly early in our marriage. One Thanksgiving my husband joined his brother at a Lions football game. My sister-in-law and her two children were going to drive me up to Frankenmuth, Michigan. The kids both woke with ear aches. I decided I would go by myself with my sister-in-law’s blessings. This was my purchase at Bronner's, a famous Christmas retail warehouse.

                               

We downsized to a tabletop tree even before we moved to Indiana. Now it is just the right size for our sunroom.

 But I had accumulated lots of ornaments thru the years that wouldn’t be the right scale for the little tree. I have experimented thru the years how to display my favorites from trips and craft fairs and that had graced my gifts. I used a lot of them as package toppers, but I couldn’t part with these yet. This year I put them in the wooden compote dish my husband made last year.

The painted gourd ornament from Santa Fe, New Mexico found a close-by niche.

There are other things though. A collector’s plate that my father had and never used that I was unable to sell on ebay has become central to my lighted bookcase display.

  

 

My mom had a really cute tissue box cover at her house one year when I visited. She asked my cousin to make one for me for the next Christmas. This cousin did these on her long bus ride to work and home.

I have tried a few new things this year. The little pillow my sister gave me one year at her house now sits on the loveseat next to the new wine sherpa throw.

         

My Debbie Mumm plates scooped up at after-Christmas sales at Mervyn’s are too reflective to photograph well. I have some hanging in a plate rack in the sunroom and some in the kitchen cupboard with mugs to use throughout the season.  Here is a photo of one of them from ebay. She sure was popular for awhile. I haven’t heard of her in years; have you? 

 

 

There are a few other touches, but I have rambled much too long. Enjoy your own decorations and memories.

 

 

 

 

 

Mild Day Ends in Pretty Sunset

Up to 63 degrees today. Saw the pretty sunset and went out without a jacket and snapped a few photos. Loving this unusual Indiana December.

Splenda Mint Cheesecake Bars

At my literary club we have quite a few members who are diabetic so we try to offer fruit or a low sugar or sugar substitute refreshment as well as a “regular” choice. This Splenda recipe was served yesterday.

Ingredients
Crust:
2 tablespoons Splenda Sweetener, Granulated
1 1/4 cups of graham cracker crumbs
1/3 cup light butter, melted

Filling:
12 ounces reduced fat cream cheese
1/3 cup Splenda Sweetener, Granulated
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon mint extract
2 drops green food color

Chocolate Drizzle
12 squares (1 oz. each) semisweet chocolate

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Spray one 8” x 8” pan with baking spray. Set aside.
3. Mix crust ingredients in a mixing bowl. Mix well. Press into prepared pan. Bake 8 minutes or until firm.
4. Mix cream cheese and Splenda together until smooth. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add vanilla, mint extract, and green food coloring; mix well.
5. Pour over prepared crust.
6. Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes or until firm.
7. Refrigerate cheesecake bars 2 hours or until chilled and firm. (I refrigerated overnight). Melt chocolate and drizzle over the top. [I melted my chocolate in the microwave, then spooned into a small plastic ziploc bag (which was messy to do), cut off the bottom corner and drizzled. But maybe I should have waited for the chocolate to cool? Because the drizzles hardened almost at once, and then tended to come loose from the surface of the bar when cutting into pieces.]
This was pretty tasty. It did not have the rich creaminess of regular cheesecake obviously. The surface also tended to develop cracks/fissures, but the chocolate covered them pretty well.
Nutritional information (per serving) based on 20 bars per recipe. I cut mine into 16 pieces rather than 20 and even then the portions are pretty small.
Calories: 170  Calories from fat: 100  Fat: 11 grams (saturated 6 g.) Cholesterol: 35 mg  Sodium: 105 mg Carbohydrates: 15 g. Fiber: 1 g. Sugars: 11 g. Protein: 4 g.

I added up the calories from the 4 “missing bars” since I cut 16 rather than 20 bars, and then divided them by 16. The calories climbed to around 212 and the sugar to almost 14 grams.

Notre Dame Game

The Notre Dame vs USC football game is about to begin. You can be sure many Hoosiers are tuned in. The undefeated Irish could clinch a spot in the national play-off game if they win. Thinking about California, I need to go call my mom and see how her Thanksgiving was. 

We are eating pumpkin pie. Though we ate our turkey dinner at a restaurant buffet, I baked a pie yesterday. Time to go view the game; I finished the pie lickety-split.

No recipe to share. I use the one off the Libby’s can. I am definitely not a pie expert.

Happy Thanksgiving

 

Happy Thanksgiving!

A Ledger of Love

Have you ever pondered why Eve and Adam disobeyed God? They were not satisfied with what God had provided for them. They were ungrateful, wanting more. Human kind follows in the steps of the First Parents exhibiting the sin of ingratitude. How well do we give thanks always for all things to God as instructed in Ephesians 5:20?

Ann Voskamp’s friend challenged her to make a list of 1,000 things for which she was thankful; thus, the title of her book 1000 Gifts.
It is pretty easy to see the big picture items like family, health, housing, food, perhaps an extraordinary answer to prayer, but what about small things? To capture 1000 gifts from God in writing or photos, requires being aware and focused on the moments of our days. Why should we even bother to enumerate and give thanks to God for a beautiful sunset, a kind word from a friend, a close parking spot when our energy is flagging?

Because the practice of giving thanks is the way we realize the presence of God in all of the moments of life. It builds and undergirds our relationship with God. Gratitude for the seemingly insignificant plants the seeds for what Ann calls hard thanksgiving, the times of loss, pain, suffering that we all experience in our fallen world. With day after day bathed in thanks, we touch the pulse of God’s love for us and we build a relationship of trust that gets us through the hard times and creates a willingness to say “Thy will be done” to the Heavenly Father. We can give thanks in everything because there is a good God working all things unto the purposes of His plan.

Will you start a ledger of God’s love for you? Take paper and pen or camera and record His gifts throughout your day. Ann has many suggestions on her Joy Dare calendar on her blog. Here are some samples: 1 gift that made you laugh; 1 gift that made you pray; 1 gift that made you quiet. Something above you, something below you, something beside you.

God is evident all around us.

Psalm 136:3-7
v.3 Give thanks to the Lord of Lords; For His lovingkindness is everlasting.
v.4 Give thanks to Him who alone does great wonders; For His lovingkindness is everlasting.
v.5 Give thanks to Him who made the heavens with skill; for His lovingkindness is everlasting.
v.6 Give thanks to Him who spread out the earth above the waters; for His lovingkindness is everlasting.
v.7 Give thanks to Him who made the great lights; for His lovingkindness is everlasting.

Go out and embrace the beauty and goodness of God through the act of thanksgiving.

Abraham Lincoln

A new movie about Abraham Lincoln opens in theaters this weekend. You can read more about the Spielberg movie in the Smithsonian Magazine. Spielberg bought the rights to Doris Kearns Goodwin’s book Team of Rivals before it was even completed. If you have read the book, you realize it is a hefty tome. As the screenwriter started his work, it was soon realized that such a complex person as Lincoln would require coverage that led to a much-too-long film if it was to accurately capture the man and not just be a sketchy caricature. (Be sure to click on some of the other links about Lincoln in the digital article as well.)

The director finally decided to focus on the efforts to pass the 13th Amendment. Lincoln realized his Emancipation Proclamation was on somewhat shaky footing and needed to be represented in the Constitution itself to ensure it wasn’t overturned. The passing of the amendment was also in the final months of Lincoln’s life so it allowed a condensed look at the president leading up to his assassination. This achievement is covered in only a handful of pages of Goodwin’s book. A lot of the “rivals” were active in this time, but many of Goodwin’s great explorations of them are not in the movie. What is fascinating and covered in the magazine article are lesser characters that time has overlooked.

I’m not sure I will see the movie right away, but it is on my to-see list. Since I go to a movie theater maybe twice a year, if that, you can see I think this is a worthwhile movie. In a time when our country seems so divided, it is good to reflect on our history of Civil War and how we moved beyond that divisiveness but at great cost. Lincoln had a heart’s desire to heal the nation, yet he was willing to stand up for emancipation.

Messy Meatloaf

For years, when I made a meatloaf I used one with quick oats in the recipe. It seemed rather dry and except for the BBQ sauce topping rather bland. I eventually gave up and bought the microwavable meatloaves when they went on sale and I had a coupon. Certainly faster, and they tended  to be juicier than my home loaf. However, last night I decided to try a recipe using bread instead of oats. This recipe was in my Dallas church’s recipe book put out by the Women’s Fellowship. It was very moist and quite tasty. BUT it fell apart when I tried to slice it even though I waited about 8 minutes. I noticed when we finished eating and I sliced the left-overs that it had firmed up a bit more, but it still tended to fall apart. Any suggestions? Should I have waited even longer? Should I have used more binder (bread)? I did bake it in a silicon loaf pan rather than the glass pan. Would that matter much? I would be interested in hearing about your favorite meatloaf recipe.

 

2 lbs. ground beef

4-5 slices white bread, toasted and finely crumbed to make 1 cup

3/4 cups milk

1 egg

3/4 cup diced canned tomatoes, drained

3 Tbsp. finely chopped sweet onion

3 Tbsp. finely chopped green pepper

3 Tbsp. finely chopped celery

1 1/2 cups ketchup, divided use

2 tsp. salt

1 1/2 tsp. ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large mixing bowl, combine the bread crumbs, milk and egg; mix together with a fork. Let stand for 10 minutes. Add meat, tomatoes, onion, green pepper, celery, 1/4 c. ketchup, salt and pepper. Mix together with your hands. Put into a 9 x 5 x 3 inch glass pan pressing lightly. Shape into a loaf. Pour 1 cup of ketchup over the whole top. Place the loaf into the preheated oven. Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until internal temperature reaches 160 degrees. Let stand in juices until cool and firm.

God’s Blessing and Blessing God

When it is said that America needs to repent and turn to God so He can bless it, what does that mean? Do we expect to be shielded from the ups and downs of global economic cycles? To avoid natural disasters such as Hurricane Sandy? To have prosperity in an abundance of material possessions?

In OT Hebrew the word “bless” comes from a root meaning  to kneel, i.e., to recognize and value the person being blessed. When the Psalmist sang “Bless the Lord, O My Soul”, he is not suggesting that we somehow enrich God, but that we appreciate the attributes of God and express praise for all that He is.

The Patriarchs uttered blessings over their sons. They recognized and verbalized characteristics of each child and encouraged that child to reach his full potential.

God’s “blessing” to have us reach our full potential may include suffering. His glory (the expression of His character and attributes) sometimes shines brightest thru us in bleak times. God has chosen to use flawed human beings to display His glory. Hard as it is for us to accept, God even uses flawed politicians to accomplish His purposes. God is in control. We have only limited influence in our culture and country; we do have total control, however, over whether we as individuals submit to the Holy Spirit who works thru us to display God’s glory.

We do not turn to God so that we can prosper, but so that His glory is displayed. “God bless America” is not a magical incantation to bring wealth and an absence of trouble, but an invitation to help us reach our full potential to bring glory to Him no matter the circumstances.

Good-bye HMS Bounty

A few summers ago, my husband and I attended the Tall Ship Festival in Bay City, Michigan. We had the opportunity to board and tour the HMS Bounty. This 3-masted beauty was built for the 1962 movie starring Marlon Brando. It was also used in one of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies.
She was a crowd favorite because the tourists could go below deck. The “ceilings” were higher so movie cameras on dollies could be used and this spaciousness could accommodate larger groups during  the festival.
Her engine stopped running and she took on water in the Atlantic amid Hurricane Sandy. There is speculation as to why the captain chose to try to skirt the storm, but the decision resulted in his presumed death and the death of one of the crew and the sinking of the ship off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. 14 people were rescued. 

                                            

Tonight I discovered that this replica ship was built in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, Canada. We saw Bluenose II there at the Maritime Museum. The fraternity of tall ships is fairly small. She will be missed.

Operation Christmas Child

 

I have been participating in Samaritan’s Purse Operation Christmas Child for several years now. After my sister who worked at the North Carolina distribution/shipping point told me that the 10-14 years-old category had the least boxes, I shifted to buying for a girl age 10-14.

I do have some method to my shopping. I always include candy. I start out at Walmart to see what kind of purses/bags have been marked down. Usually I find a cloth bag in denim or other fabric. Last year it was a sunny yellow and white print hobo bag. This year I had to settle for a tote bag. I usually include a solar calculator and pencils and a tablet or booklet. The pencils this year have the sharpener included in the package. Besides the pencils, I try to include something that can be shared with family or friends; this year a package of combs. You would think children in poverty would want to keep items for themselves, but usually they generously share if given the opportunity. This year I added a bright bandana scarf and a pink hat. The box is full.

I have only “tracked” my package once, and I was disappointed that I was told the destination was Africa rather than a specific country in Africa. These are not the cute toys so many boxes have, but they should be enjoyed by a girl on the brink of womanhood. These girls are in the final years of the program, and any decision they make to accept Christ will impact their own children who are probably not too far in the future.

Why don’t you think about filling a box this year?

Dipping Into A Vast Array

We still have some of the “prettiness” of autumn here, but after much wind the past few days the leaves are quickly dropping. November tends to be the bare time in Northern Indiana. We do have two lovely spruce trees we can see from our bedroom window and the trees behind our condo are white pine so there is some foliage, but the overall impression will soon be stark naked tree limbs, empty brown soil in the fields, and few flowers except mums.

I had planned to include some photos of the retirement village library, but when I went over there this afternoon there were several people using the computers and I didn’t want to include them in my shots.

The library has over 2200 titles of fiction, not including maybe 150 mass market paperbacks that are not on the list. When we first took over the supervision, we had zero dollars to spend on acquiring books. We were pretty much dependent on donations. The Winona Literary Club gave us a gift of $100 last spring. We used almost half of that amount to buy some current books on Microsoft Windows and Microsoft Office. The residents who have their own computers wanted to become more skilled using that OS and software. No money doesn’t mean no incoming books, however.  Friday I stopped by for a few minutes to return a book, and I found 4 grocery bags full of books sitting on the floor next to the desk. I am still sorting through them, but so far we have 10 Christian fiction books new to us, and 2 non-fiction that we will definitely keep. Word is starting to get around that when a resident of the retirement community dies and the family needs to clean out the apartment, we will accept the books and dispose of those we don’t keep in a responsible manner.

We have some classics, some best-seller authors (Grisham, Cornwell, Steel, Sparks, Patterson), some fairly recently published books (Through My Eyes by Tebow; The Help by Stockett; Unbroken; No Easy Day), and lots of Christian fiction (Kingsbury, Phillips, Wick, Lewis, Brunstetter, Henderson, Blackstock, Thoene, Oke, Snelling, Gist to name a few). We have two residents who regularly donate their Love Inspired line of books mostly in larger and really large print, about 6-8 books a month.

Since I have little exposure to the Christian fiction genre, I am now starting to read a few of these each week if possible, plucking out different authors. With the holidays approaching, I am not sure I can keep up that pace, but I do have my Operation Christmas Child shoebox packed, though I haven’t started any other Christmas gift shopping.

I feel that my husband and I are making a valuable contribution to our retirement community by working in the library. It has its challenges (mostly limited space), but we have been blessed to see how God provides books for the residents. It has given us an opportunity to become acquainted with some of the apartment residents and some of the staff. The library “bowl” is full.

Applebee’s Brownie Bites

I had big plans for Friday that changed because of scheduling a medical procedure that would make me unalert most of the day. I also could not eat anything for breakfast Friday so I decided to splurge Thursday night. My husband and I had eaten Applebee’s Brownie Bites a few times after our Sunday afternoon meal there. We decided to have a “dessert date” Thursday. This delicious small dessert did not appear on the dessert menu, but when I asked if it was available, the waitress said certainly. I guess it is mostly a lunch menu item, but since they have a brownie dessert for $5-$6, they have the ingredients on hand. Just ask.
Mmm. Warm chocolate brownie with ice cream and fudge sauce. Only $1. A serving just right for 1 person so we each ordered one. My husband’s coffee cost twice as much as the dessert. I had a glass of water. If you need a little pick-me-up or treat, order the Brownie Bite at Applebee’s. The ice cream “shooters” also look interesting, but they cost a little more.

Gray Chilly Autumn Day

             

Today is gray and chilly with a misty rain some of the time. I can see thru the arch window on the front of my condo beautiful red leaves of a tree behind the across-the-street condo. This morning when I opened the blinds on the sliding glass door, a black squirrel was pawing thru the scattered sunflower seeds on the patio. My husband’s squirrel-proof bird feeder triumphed again. Little blackie did find something to eat though and ran off under the white pine to nibble awhile before leaving my sight. We had a mourning dove today, too, besides the sparrows. We put the feeder up Monday and are now starting to see a few visitors.

We have had the furnace running on non-sunny days and now have the electric blanket on the bed. We have been turning to comfort food. Tonight we will eat leftovers of a chicken casserole I baked Thursday. Have some left-over chili, too, which should be tasty tomorrow evening before going to the Second Sunday Series concert.

Three-Cheese Chicken Florentine Casserole
1/2 lb. penne pasta (I used farfalle instead this time)       
1 T. olive oil    
1 c. chopped onion                                                        
1 orange or red bell pepper, chopped   
1/2 lb. fresh mushrooms, chopped                                        
1 (10-oz) pkg washed baby spinach
1 T. dried tarragon
1 tsp. paprika
2 c. cooked chicken, skinned, boned, and bite-size
1 (10-oz) can cream of chicken soup
2 c. cottage cheese  
1/2 c. grated Parmesan cheese
1 c. grated cheddar cheese                                                     

In a large pot, bring 4 quarts of water to a boil. Cook the pasta according to package directions, about 8 minutes. Drain.
Meanwhile, in a large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion, bell pepper and mushrooms to skillet.
Sauté for 4-5 minutes. Add the spinach, tarragon, and paprika. Cook until most of the liquid has evaporated, about 5 minutes. Stir together the chicken pieces with the soup and the 3 cheeses. Spritz a 9 x 13 glass pan with cooking spray. Layer the drained pasta, then the sautéed vegetables, then chicken/cheese mixture. Bake in preheated 350 degree oven until bubbly and brown, about 45 minutes. Serves 8.

Turkey Corn Chili
Use a 3-quart slow cooker
1 lb. or 20 oz. ground turkey
1 small onion, chopped
1/2 green pepper, chopped
1 16-oz. can Brook’s Chili Beans
2 14-oz. cans diced tomatoes (for me one of these is fire-roasted canned tomatoes and I leave out chili powder)
1 11-oz. can whole kernel corn
3/4 c. salsa or picante sauce
1 tsp. chili powder (or to taste)
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. salt, pepper to taste
Cook ground turkey and onion in skillet. Transfer to slow cooker. Stir in green pepper, beans, tomatoes, corn, salsa/picante, chili powder, garlic powder, salt and pepper.
Cover and cook on low for 3-4 hours. Can be cooked in large pot on stovetop until heated through.
Serve with shredded cheese, rolls or cornbread. Freezes well.
Serves 4-6

Fried Green Tomatoes

The fried green tomatoes came out pretty well. Having lived in Texas for 2 decades, I know cornmeal is part of “authentic” fried green tomatoes. However, since this was an unplanned addition to our meal due to God’s bounty thru generous gardeners, I had to adapt the recipe using whatever I had on hand. Instead of bread crumbs and cornmeal, I used some Kroger Private Selection parmesan herbed panko crumbs I had bought on sale recently to try on baked tilapia.

I did see some other recipes using panko when I searched again, but I stuck with the original recipe I had printed from the internet, but substituted the panko crumbs for the cornmeal and bread crumbs.  I did follow some tips from other recipes such as salting the slices about 20 minutes before cooking them in order to draw out the moisture to have crispier results. I also sprinkled a little sugar on the slices at the same time as a few people suggested that the green tomatoes could be rather tart. I filled a non-stick skillet with about 1/4 inch of oil. Many recipes suggested much more oil or even deep fat frying.

I should have halved the recipe though. Way too many fried slices for two people to eat. I wrapped the leftovers in foil and will try reheating them Sunday morning to have with our scrambled eggs, but I suspect they will be soggy. The only other thing I would do differently would be to put the flour on a sheet of waxed paper and likewise the crumb mixture. Too many dirty plates otherwise.

 

Recipe:

4 large green tomatoes             1/2 cup bread crumbs

2 eggs                                             2 teaspoons coarse kosher salt

1/2 cup milk                                  1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 cup all-purpose flour                1 quart vegetable oil for frying

1/2 cup cornmeal

 

Slice tomatoes 1/2 inch thick. Discard ends.

Whisk eggs and milk together in a medium-sized bowl. Scoop flour onto a plate. Mix cornmeal, bread crumbs, and salt and pepper on another plate. Dip tomatoes into flour to coat. Then dip the tomatoes into the milk and egg mixture. Dredge in breadcrumbs to completely coat.

In a large skillet, pour vegetable oil (enough so there is 1/2 inch of oil in pan) and heat over medium heat. Place tomatoes into the frying pan in batches of 4 or 5, depending on skillet size. Do not crowd the tomatoes; they should not touch each other. When the tomatoes are browned, flip and fry the other side. Drain on paper towels and serve hot.

A Walk In the Woods

My husband bought a trail bike about 6 weeks ago. He heads out from our house thru some trees and college cross-country running trails, crosses Pierceton Road, and then enters the world of Winona Lake trail biking. You can see the trail layout and interesting names on this map. It is a pretty extensive system. Today he wanted me to walk some of the paths with him so I could see what he enjoys so much early mornings. He has a more solitary experience than we had today and often sees deer. Lots of people out in the near-perfect weather of 74 degrees this afternoon. A few of the colorful names are not on the map such as Privy Point and Puke Point but there is signage to that effect.

 

I especially liked the first part of the walk as we traveled alongside part of Cherry Creek. Leaves floated down on the gentle breeze and carpeted the forest. As we started out, we saw a downy woodpecker on a tree trunk. I have missed those since moving to our condo. At our former house, there were several dying and decaying trees which attracted them and other woodpeckers and flickers.

 

 

The trees are still wearing the fall foliage. My little point-and-shoot camera doesn’t do them justice.

 

I had my husband drop me off at the congregant housing part of the retirement village. I wanted to photograph the beautiful mums there. A few peppers and tomatoes in the garden. In the dining room the gardening club puts out produce to share. Mostly green tomatoes today. I picked up a few and I am going to try making fried green tomatoes tomorrow for lunch. I have never tried making those; we did enjoy some in a restaurant in Asheville, North Carolina many years ago. I picked a recipe from the internet. What has been your experience with fried green tomatoes? Any recipe suggestions or tips? I’ll let you know how they turn out.

Tomorrow the temps are expected to plunge into the 50s for the daytime. Fried green tomatoes might go well with chicken noodle soup and chocolate chip cookies.

 Last year the bushes along the side of our house had such nice fall color. I ended up with a hodgepodge today.

The tree I see out my bedroom window is already dropping leaves. I think the drought stressed plants and we will see bare trees sooner than usual. Hope you are enjoying autumn, too.

A Different Perspective

When I spotted Sarah Ban Breathnach’s Something More for $1 at Half-Price Books, I hoped I would find it as helpful and enjoyable as Simple Abundance. I would highly recommend Simple Abundance;  Something More (which I’ll refer to as SM)not so much. SM was written shortly after her divorce and that negatively colors her perspective, especially where she deals with the role and status of women in marriage.

The crux of the book is that over time women lose touch with their authentic selves, instead being buried under the expectations and standards and needs of others. She wants us to reconnect with our real person by examining the dreams, loves, and fears of our past to gain self-knowledge and self-worth, to meet our longing for something more. According to her, we need to learn about self-acceptance, self-determination, self-esteem, self-forgiveness, self-respect, self-sufficiency to become authentic. Unfortunately, she crosses from examining to self-absorption. Me, me, me jumps from the pages.

Here is a quote: “Self-sacrifice is not pretty and noble. It is a deadly sin.” Interestingly enough, she goes on to define sin using the Biblical idea of “missing the mark” stating that is where she got the concept. But she’s not talking about the impossibility of meeting God’s holy standard, but of failing to be our authentic self. Sarah has always had a New Age flavor (using Spirit, The Divine instead of God), but in SM she discloses that her spirituality is an amalgamation of ideas and rituals plucked from traditions she finds valuable. Never mind that she uses the New Testament Greek explanation of sin as “missing the mark” out of context; it suits her purpose and thus is borrowed. She speaks of reincarnation several times, too, but then backs off to say it might mean re-embodiments of our true selves in our different stages of life.

Because of this eclectic borrowing, there is no core of beliefs, and she sometimes contradicts herself. She says she believes in love, but her definition of love is not rooted in any faith tradition. She advises her friend that divorcing his wife of 4 decades is a loving thing to do. Not only does it allow him to enjoy his relationship with his new “soulmate”, but his wife deserves a man who loves her and that is no longer him. Thus he is really doing his wife a kindness. Easy to rationalize one’s behavior when one never embraces a religion as a whole.

So, why even read SM? She does have a knack of making thought-provoking statements, asking valuable questions and incorporating stimulating quotes. Here are some examples of things I found of interest:

1. There are only 3 ways to change the trajectory of our lives: crisis, chance, and choice. Your life is a direct result of choices. Conscious choice is the heart of authenticity. Unconscious choice is destructive and how we end up living the life others choose for us or the expectations they have for us.

2. Women loathe themselves because they haven’t quite fulfilled the promise of their astonishing gifts.

3. Dissatisfaction in a relationship settles into detachment whether we physically leave or not.

4. We settle for a passive rather than a passionate life.

5. How do you define comfort? What represents comfort to you? [Earlier in the book she says to get out of one’s comfort zone; here she talks of creating comfort. A contradiction?]

6. What did you love about the various dwelling places throughout your life? Can you incorporate those into your current home?

7. What have been the best moments of your life?

8. How would you define a good relationship? What elements does it include?

9. “The most important thing one woman can do for another is to illuminate and expand her sense of actual possibilities.”—Adrienne Rich. Whose life have you expanded? Who has expanded yours?

10. “You can live a lifetime and, at the end of it, know more about other people than you know about yourself.”—Beryl Markham

11. “Each relationship you have with another person reflects the relationship you have with yourself.”—Alice Deville

Sarah ends SM by encouraging you to reshape, reclaim, and re-create the world in your own image. Discern your authentic needs and wants so you can make the choices necessary to honor them.

Filtering her thoughts thru my perspective, I see a hurting woman trying thru her own efforts to restore a diminished sense of self-worth and lack of self-confidence after a bitter divorce. She hints that we are valuable because we are created by The Divine. There is some truth in that. However, she fails to recognize that she is not worthy of God’s love because of her efforts and behavior, but simply because He chooses to make her the Beloved. She must choose to accept and enter into that relationship to be truly authentic. But it is a path that encompasses self-denial, sacrifice, and service. That is not the something more she is seeking.

 

An Autumn Outing

We started out the day with breakfast at a diner next to Lake Webster. My husband, my sister-in-law, and I next went to a Friends of the Library book sale. Found 18 books for the retirement village library. S-I-L was happy, too, because she found a book she has been looking for (to replace a copy she loaned out and never got back).
Then we went north a short drive to Shock Lake.



The foliage isn’t quite at peak color yet in this location. Can you see the frog? There was another one but it was too far to photograph.
We finished the outing at Pisgah Marsh boardwalk.
Mostly sassafras and sumac in fall color. Saw geese, swans, sandhill cranes, and a blue heron. It was a pleasantly warm day. We had a good time.

More Lamb Talk

Last Tuesday when I went to choir rehearsal, I discovered one of the first songs we will sing in chapel is Like a Lamb Who Needs the Shepherd by Ralph Carmichael.

Where He leads me I must follow, Without Him I’d lose my way.
I will see a bright tomorrow if I follow Him today.
Like a lamb who needs the shepherd, At His side I’ll always stay.
Through the night His strength I’ll borrow, Then I’ll see another day.

Life is like a winding pathway, Who can tell what lies ahead?
Will it lead to shady pastures, or to wilderness instead?
Like a lamb who needs the shepherd, when into the night I go,
Help me find the path that’s narrow, While I travel here below.

Though you walk through darkest valleys and the sky is cold and gray,
Though you climb the steepest mountains He will never let you stray.
Like a lamb who needs the shepherd, By your side He’ll always stay.
‘Til the end of life’s long journey He will lead you all the way.